Bulletins
December 4, 2016
Download the Bulletin as a PDFThis past Friday evening a few dozen of our young parishioners received the Sacrament of Confirmation from His Excellency The Most Reverend Timothy Broglio, Archbishop for the Military Services USA. He prayed over them and then anointed them with Sacred Chrism on the forehead saying “Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.” Each replied “Amen.” and then he said:
“Peace be with you.”
to which they replied
“And with your spirit.”
When next you witness our soon-to-be-newly-installed Bishop of Arlington The Most Reverend Michael Burbidge offer Holy Mass, you will hear and see him make the Sign of the Cross and then greet you with the words:
“Peace be with you.”
to which they replied
“And with your spirit.”
There is no liturgical moment when a priest says the words “Peace be with you” to the congregation. It is given only to bishops to do so. As a successor of the Apostles he alone is entrusted with the message of the Risen Christ to the same Apostles on Easter and the Sunday following, bearing the wounds of the Cross as the marks of His authenticity and the trophies of His victory (John 20,1.21;20,26).
* When you do exchange the Sign of Peace, the Church encourages you to accompany it with “The peace of the Lord be with you always.” and “Amen.” It need not seem stilted and awkward. It is rather noble actually. In the ancient, traditional and Extraordinary Form of the Mass the Kiss of Peace is exchanged with the words “Pax tecum” and “Et cum spiritu tuo”, which mean “Peace be with you” and “And with your spirit”. This then obviously is a noble privilege in the Sacred Liturgy. You who initiate the Sign of Peace are a herald of the Resurrection on behalf of Christ Himself. Yours is the episcopal salutation that priests may not speak at the beginning of Mass. What bishops impart to all of us, we are able to impart to each other, one person at a time.
Non dat quod non habet. What we have received we are able to give. We are not able to give anything that we don’t possess. The Lamb of God is the cause of our peace. His is the only peace that will last forever.
May the peace of Christ and of the church abound in our hearts!
Rev. Christopher J. Pollard
* During these sniffly and sneezy months your priests will continue to follow our long-standing practice of refraining from prompting you to share the Kiss of Peace. Next week we will discuss how to exchange the Sign of Peace without extending your or reaching for a germ-laden paw.
