Concluding Rite

Explanation

Today we cover the final section of the mass, which is the Concluding Rite. And this is shortest section. It begins when the priest says “Lord be with You” after communion, and ends when Father gives the final blessing. And yet, many saints and theologians would say that this section is the 2nd most important in the mass, 1st being the Liturgy of the Eucharist. This section is so important that we name this whole liturgical celebration after it: “mass”. The word “mass” comes for the final words of the priest when it used to be prayed in Latin. The priest would say “Ite, missa est”. Go, you are sent forth.

This mirrors what Jesus did in His earthly life with the disciples. He spent 3 years living with them and teaching them. Even after he gave His life on the cross and rose from the dead, he spent another 40 days before ascending into heaven. He invested that time into strengthening their faith, showing how to live out holiness, and preparing the disciples to become apostles. You see disciple means “follower or student” and in the context of Christianity, a disciple is someone who has invited Jesus into their life and is seeking a relationship with Him, desiring holiness. Apostle means “messenger” or some one who is sent out. An apostle is someone who brings Jesus and His love to others so that they can become disciples.

The Church documents explain this same simple concept in different words. They describe two terms called the “universal call to holiness” and the “universal call to mission”. Now what does that mean? Those seem to be complicated terms. Universal — means every baptized person, whether young or old, rich or poor, married or single. Everyone.

Call to holiness, what does that mean? It means having Jesus at the very center of our life. Everything we do, we do because He has asked us to, and because we love Jesus. Holiness means embodying the words of Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane when He says to the Father, “not my will but yours be done”. Holiness means a radical, total surrender to God.

Call to mission, what does that mean? It means introducing Jesus to others. After having encountered Jesus and having put Him the center of our lives, having experienced the love, joy, hope, peace of God, we share that with everyone else, especially those who have yet to know meet Him and know His love and mercy.

In the early Church, every single Christian was “missionary” — they had all embraced this call to mission. They would share Jesus with others through their words and their actions, even when it meant risking their lives to do so. We see this in the saints who lived through times of extreme persecutions. They had experienced the love and mercy of God, and did everything they could to bring as many people as possible to experience the same love and mercy.

But over time, this sense of the universal call to mission was forgotten by most Catholics. Most western countries had become Christian and Catholic, so many thought that there was no need to answer this call to mission any more. Everyone was Catholic. And for a time, this was the case to some degree. But we are no longer in that world anymore. The dominant culture is not Catholic but Secular. Vast majority of people don’t know Jesus. Maybe they have been baptized, maybe they have received first holy communion, confirmation, got married in the Church. But they don’t know Jesus anymore. Maybe they never did. They don’t have a relationship with God. They don’t talk to him or want to hear what He has to say.

And can we blame them? Not really. People throughout their lives, people in the Church, people in the Schools, they may have taught them about Jesus, but never introduced them to the person of Jesus, who is alive and loves them, and wants to have a relationship, forgive their sins and spend eternity with them. They don’t know this Jesus.

And Jesus knows this problem. There are so many people are in desperate need of Jesus in their lives, and they don’t even know it. The world today is starting to look more and more like the world 2000 years ago. And the solution He has for us is the same solution He had then. Take His disciples (His followers) and send them out into the world, making them apostles so that they can introduce people to Jesus.

That is what is about to happen here in the mass in a few moments. Father will say “Go”. And when He says that, it is Jesus who is saying that. Jesus is saying I have just come to you in the Eucharist. I have given you my Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. I have given you my life. Now go give it to others. Before you leave the Church here today, I invite you to take a moment. Ask God who is one person in your life that needs Jesus but doesn’t know it. And ask Jesus how you can introduce them to Jesus. Ask Him to show you how you can do that with genuine love, not manipulating them, not forcing them, not coercing them, and not shaming them. Ask God, how can I help them meet you?