Reason 91: Because if we say it enough we might start acting it

When I was a child attending St. Peter's Catholic Church, my favorite part of the Mass was The Peace.  It made me really really happy to stand up and turn to people I knew or didn't know, shake their hands, and say "Peace be with you," or to respond "and also with you."  I visited friends' churches but none of them included The Peace.  "What was that about?" I'd wonder, feeling incomplete.

I now attend St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church and my favorite part of the service is The Peace.  Now we say "God's Peace," or simply "Peace."  If my husband is with the choir, we wave peace signs at each other.  Every Sunday, all of us stop and say Peace.

A long time ago I read a letter in which the writer said, "we say 'Peace be with you' in the Mass, then run over each other in the parking lot trying to get home.  What's the point?" 

Hmmm... good question.  I think the point is that if we keep saying it, we will begin to be it.  Eventually we'll stop running over each other in the parking lot.  Maybe.

So, once more, with feeling:

PEACE BE WITH YOU!

And also with you.