[ConorMacNessa]

They are on a tight schedule. Our choir sang for "Mass For Shut-ins" at the National Shrine a few years ago. There was a man next to the camera holding up signs with the number of minutes remaining.

The last time I attend a Mass so short was daily Mass at my old parish, St. Mary's in Rockville, MD before Vatican II. Our pastor, Fr. Hahn, went through the liturgy like lightning. I never had the chance to go back and see how he handled the vernacular.

I have no particular objection to the "Sign of Peace." We do it in my parish - in the choir, most of us exchange handshakes - some do not. Similarly, some link hands during the Our Father, while others do out.

I have not researched the question of whether the "Sign of Peace" has any historical antecedent in the Liturgy.

"Dia shábháil ar fad anseo!"

This is the Arabic character "nun" – the first letter of the word "Nazarene." I post it as my avatar in solidarity with people of all faiths suffering persecution at the hands of Islam. Many of them are members of the oldest of our Christian Communities, dating from the days of the Apostles. They endure cruel, merciless and unrelenting persecution. They are Orthodox and Catholic, Protestant and Evangelical, Coptic, Pentecostal, and Baptist. To the persecutors they, and we, are all "Nazarenes."

[Heart-Rest]

That (simple handshakes) is how most people in our parish do it too (with some people choosing to just nod at the people directly around them, and couples often kissing each other).

For EWTN, I've wondered at times whether they ever held up some kind of sign like "Get a move on!" or something, if the priest's homily seemed to be getting a bit long and wordy for the constraints of the televised Mass.    :-)