  In this paper the problem of comparing initial data to a reference solution
for the vacuum Einstein field equations is considered. This is not done in a
coordinate sense, but through quantification of the deviation from a specific
symmetry. In a recent paper [T. B\"ackdahl, J.A. Valiente Kroon, Phys. Rev.
Lett. 104, 231102 (2010)] this problem was studied with the Kerr solution as a
reference solution. This analysis was based on valence 2 Killing spinors. In
order to better understand this construction, in the present article we analyse
the analogous construction for valence 1 spinors solving the twistor equation.
This yields an invariant that measures how much the initial data deviates from
Minkowski data. Furthermore, we prove that this invariant vanishes if and only
of the mass vanishes. Hence, we get a proof of the positivity of mass.
