Merry Christmas, unless you wear a mask

A friend had the following experience at a Catholic Christmas mass this morning. This happened in a purplish small town in central Michigan. In the Catholic liturgy, immediately after the Lord’s Prayer, this happens:

The sign of peace is a liturgical action that is a spontaneous greeting as a reciprocal token of neighborly love. Following the Lord’s Prayer at Mass, the priest extends a greeting of peace to the congregation adding that all should offer each other such a sign to show that they are at peace. As a symbol of union and love, they exchange a sign according to local custom. Not only does the sign of peace have a relationship to the Lord’s Prayer, particularly the final petition of forgiveness, but it establishes an intimate link with the Communion that follows.

All should consider this action a prayer, a sincere pledge of reconciliation and peace on a personal level because of the Communion that follows and the forgiveness that took place. Thus it becomes a seal and pledge of the fellowship and unity of the Spirit, found in the bond of peace. Each culture should seek the most meaningful expression of reconciliation and peace, and several methods might be used depending on the circumstances: the kiss, an embrace, bowing, a handshake. The handclasp is the most usual in the United States. With the gesture some greeting is usually formulated: “Peace be with you.”

Note that in every version of orthodox Christian theology I’m aware of, forgiving those who have harmed you (your “enemies”) is an absolute non-negotiable precondition of receiving divine forgiveness. Hence the end of the Lord’s Prayer: forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us.

My friend was seated next to a man wearing an NRA jacket. My friend extended his hand, and Mr. NRA refused to take it because my friend was wearing a mask. He then spent the next several minutes complaining to his wife about how, per my friend, “wearing masks was dumb.” So the refusal had nothing to do with fears of infection, unless being infected with Liberalism counts.

What I find most telling about this heartwarming little vignette is that the man was objecting to the supposed symbolic politics of mask wearing (70,000 people have died from Covid in the USA this year, while some other dangerous infectious diseases such as RSV have been epidemic this fall and early winter), while wearing an NRA jacket. At Christmas mass.

Ain’t that America?