The Gravitas of Greeting

Greeting people these days is a challenge.  Everyone, it seems, is looking down.  The continual texting and checking of emails might make technological connections easier, but it’s not very conducive to face to face communication.   We are so buried in our ‘I’-phones, ‘I’-pads and ‘I’-pods, that we scarcely catch a glimpse anymore of the ‘eyes’ of those around us.

This is a far cry from what the liturgy envisions in its opening exchange.   The Church offers the priest-presider three options with which to greet the body of Christ at the beginning of mass.  Perhaps the most used and best known is the simple phrase “The Lord be with you.”   These words, as do many of the words in our liturgy, come from scripture.  We find them in Ruth 2:4, Judges 6:12, 2 Chronicles 15:2, and Luke 1:28.  “The Lord be with you” was a common greeting in biblical times and a constant reminder of the Lord’s presence among his people.   That greeting is not changing in the new translation of the Roman Missal. 

 However, our current response, “And also with you,” will be changing to “And with your spirit.”   These words reflect more closely the original Latin phrase, “Et cum spiritu tuo.”  This phrase can also be found in scripture in 2 Timothy 4:22, Galatians 6:18, Philippians 4:23, Philemon 25.   They conclude the letters of St. Paul to these various Christian communities.   Here, Paul is saying more than just “Good-bye.”   He is reminding those communities that they live a new existence, one which is guided by the Spirit who dwells among them.  Likewise, this exchange opens our liturgy to remind us that we gather in the name of the triune God who is continually present within and among us.  Despite our “I” madness, let us pray that these new words can help us form a greater “we” for the life of the world.

O Lord, help us to be more attentive to one another.  AMEN.