Layla Karst, associate chair of the Department of Theological Studies at LMU, was quoted in the National Catholic Reporter on the meaning and practice of the sign of peace during Mass. Karst explained that the ritual was originally intended as a radical gesture of familial bonds among Christians, noting that “in the early church, it wasn’t a handshake or a hug, it was a kiss, the way they would greet siblings or family members.”
Source: National Catholic Reporter