About the Mass Series: Concluding Rite part 3.

CONCLUDING RITE PART 3

‘DISMISSAL’.

The word Blessing has many meanings. In Scripture it is used to mean: (a) praise, (b) divine favour, (c) a prayer that God shall be with a certain person or thing, (d) the dedication of person or thing to a sacred purpose.

The priest’s greeting and blessing is important. By raising his hand and making the sign of the Cross, he calls down God’s help upon the congregation. The priest then dismisses the congregation with one of the three invocations: 

1. ‘God in the peace of Christ’;

 2. The Mass is ended, go in peace;

 3. Go in the peace to love and serve the Lord.

The congregation respond ‘Thanks be to God’.

From the fourth century, the dismissal statement was ‘Ite missa est’, since the word ‘Missa’ comes from ‘mittere’ which means to send. 

‘Ite missa est’ means simply ‘Go, this is the dismissal’. However, the dismissal formulae which are used today are inspired by the formula of Eastern Syria, and in doing so the East and Rome are united by it.

The priest venerates the altar one last time by kissing it as a sign of reverence to Christ, since on the altar His sacrifice on Calvary is made present to us.    The kiss of farewell at the end of the Mass mirrors the kiss whereby the altar is greeted at the beginning of Mass. Both are gestures venerating the altar as the symbol of Christ.  

Engraved in the marble altar are five crosses, which represent the five wounds of Christ.  In every altar, there are relics of saints placed in it. The farewell kiss looks back to the Eucharist, which has just concluded, and anticipates the next occasion when the congregation will assemble again.

We have heard God’s Word and have been nourished by eating Christ’s body.  Now it is the time for us to leave, to do good works, to praise and bless the Lord in our daily lives. We too then can throughout the week or until the next time we come to Mass say ‘thanks be to God’.