Ite Missa Est
Throughout my time in seminary and as a priest, I have heard many priests and deacons bemoan the first option of the dismissal: “Go forth, the Mass is ended.” It’s often so bemoaned that even Dr. Timothy O’Malley in his book Bored Again Catholic titles the final chapter after the third option, “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life,” and, in the same chapter, calls the first option the tersest one (O’Malley, 185). To be fair to these folks, I understand that, to most people, the dismissal sounds like, “The Mass is over!” to which we respond, “Thanks be to God! Hurray!” And yet, despite knowing how it sounds, I always opt for, “Go forth, the Mass is ended.”
In the first place, it is the most literal rendering of the original Latin phrase, “Ite, missa est.” It is not the best rendering, but of the three we have, it is the most literal. A more accurate translation would be, “Go forth, having been dismissed.” After all, “missa” does look like the word “dismissal.”
But, an even better rendering is, “Go forth being sent.” As Adrian Fortescue notes in his book The Mass: A Study of the Roman Liturgy, “missa” is being used in its archaic form, being more closely related to “missio,” meaning, “to send” (Fortescue, 392). And I hope the reader has caught on to what English word “missio” looks like: mission. I picked on O’Malley earlier, but he is correct when he says, “We leave Mass with a job to do” (O’Malley, 186). So, what is the mission?
The mission is precisely the mission of the Church, the mission Jesus Christ himself gave to the Apostles before he left this world: “Go forth and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20). When we envision this scene, we might picture this being given to just the Eleven (remember, Judas is out of the picture at this point), and that was 2000 years ago anyways…certainly, that does not apply to us! And even if it did, the Apostles appointed successors in our bishops who then ordain priests to do that. That is not my job!
But in fact, it is. Maybe it is because we as Catholics know that priests are ordained to be in persona Christi, in the person of Christ, so that we do not have to be. Most of us might not remember it, but we were all given the grace to act in persona Christi. In one of the prayers for Confirmation, just before the bishop extends his hands over the candidates, he prays “that [God] will graciously pour out the Holy Spirit upon them (the candidates) with his abundant gifts, and through his anointing conform them more fully to Christ, the Son of God” (Order of Confirmation, emphasis mine).
Being Christ in the world is not just my job as a priest…it is your job as someone who received the fullness of the Holy Spirit. We have all received the same Holy Spirit that the Apostles received 2000 years ago. It is evident the Church wants us to call this to mind, as our Gospel reading for this Pentecost comes from Jn 20: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn 20:21). This may have been directed to the Apostles in context, but the Church is using this passage to speak to all of us.
This theme is further explained in the Church’s choice for our second reading in 1 Corinthians, where St. Paul says, “There are different workings but the same God who produces them in everyone” (1 Cor 12:6). So, although God gave the Apostles and continues to give their successors a particular mission, the overall mission to make disciples falls on everyone in their own particular way.
Later in the same chapter, the Apostle explains further, “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it” (1 Cor 12:27). Every one of us together makes up the Body of Christ. At Baptism and Confirmation, we are endowed with the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit. What does a body plus a soul equal? A whole Person! If we make up the Body of Christ and are endowed with His Spirit, then we are the whole Person of Christ. St. Augustine taught this very aspect of the Mystical Body of Christ when he said that the whole Christ (Totus Christus) is the Head plus the Body, or Jesus plus us.
This reality that we become the Body of Christ is consummated every single time we receive the Most Holy Eucharist, the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. We are what we eat, and that is all the more true with the Eucharist. The Eucharist is not merely a cookie that we get when we have been good boys and girls who avoid mortal sin. The Eucharist radically transforms us into Jesus Christ, not for our own sake, but for the sake of the entire universe.
The very name “Mass” comes from the word “missa.” This is more evident in the Romance languages, such as the Spanish "misa.” There is a reason we as Catholics do not say that we are going to service or merely that we are going to church on Sundays. We say that we are going to Mass because what we are really saying is that we are going on mission.
Most of us may think that the entire purpose of Mass is to receive the Eucharist. Some may remember the Baltimore Catechism teaching that the two ends of Mass are the glorification of God and the sanctification of man. But the ultimate purpose of Mass is that we are sent. The Eucharist is a beautiful gift, but what good is turning bread and wine into Christ if we ourselves do not become Christ? We very much should worship God and desire greater holiness, but what good are those if we do not lead others into that worship or bring others into Christ’s peace?
So, the next time your priest or deacon chooses the option, “Go forth, the Mass is ended,” realize that yes, we are saying, “The Mass is over! Hurray! Thanks be to God!” But it is not because Mass was boring or because we do not want to be there. We rejoice because we are sent on mission. We rejoice because we get to bring Christ to others by being Christ to others. We get to light the whole world on fire with the fire of the Holy Spirit’s love. Ite, missa est, alleluia, alleluia. Go forth, having been sent on this apostolic mission. Thanks be to God, alleluia, alleluia!
