Vignettes
It was Joanna’s first time to attend a Latin Mass in Rome during a pilgrimage she and her family did last year. Although she couldn’t understand what was being said or read, she tried her best to follow what she was familiar with attending the Mass: the Sign of the Cross, the striking of one’s breast during the Confiteor, and so on.
Her mother explained that attending Mass in Latin (the language of the Roman Catholic Church), was not just a cultural experience, but also something that helped to enrich one’s faith. She add that, except for the language and some minor material details, the Mass was the one Sacrifice offered by Christ through His Church and
His ministers.
“Ite missa est!” The priest said.
“Deo gratias!” The people answered.
These last words caught Joanna’s attention.
As the noonday sun greeted them outside the Basilica, she asked, “Mom, I understand ‘gratias’ means ‘thanks’ but what the priest said didn’t sound like ‘the Mass is ended.’”
Her mother smiled at her, and replied, “That’s because it really means sending us off to carry out our mission after having received Jesus!”
* * *
Joanna’s mom couldn’t have said it better. The Mass, unlike other events, doesn’t usually end with “That’s all folks!” or “The show is over!” As a divinely celebrated event on earth, it is actually ‘sending us off with a mission’ after having received ‘new graces’ that empower us to transform the world.
When the priest bids the people with ‘Ite missa est!’ he is in fact encouraging us “to return to our ordinary occupations to love and serve the Lord. We serve the Lord while fulfilling our usual norms of piety, resting, or working in the presence of God. In this way, we constantly keep alive those dispositions we had during the Mass. (C. Belmonte, Understanding the Mass)”
It is sad to see people, mainly because of ignorance, who are not aware of what the Eucharist is and Who they are about to receive. What seems to weakly prod them to attend is a strange fuzzy unsettling feeling in their conscience. They comply reluctantly, wearing a mask of religiosity for an occasion whose importance they cannot yet meaningfully integrate into their lives.
Our participation in the Holy Sacrifice has the principal goal of identifying ourselves with Christ. Our Lord affectionately reproached St. Augustine, making this holy Bishop realize what transpires within the Mass when one receives Holy Communion: “I do not become you, you become Me!”
Thus, if we are going to fully embrace our mission as Christ’s disciples of baptizing all men in the ‘Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,’ it can only be so if we become Christ Himself. And nowhere else can this take place than within the most Holy Eucharist.
If we daily require food and other supplements to ensure our bodies can carry out our duties, how much more important it is to be constantly strengthened by our Lord’s Body and Blood. Where else will we draw the grace to prepare ourselves for our daily battles against the ‘wiles of [satan] the enemy’, to live the virtues in the varying circumstances of our work and family, and to undertake a genuine hunger for souls and lead them to Christ?
Thus, it is highly suggested to set an Ecclesial and personal mission in every Mass. An Ecclesial mission focuses on praying for the whole Church, the Pope, all the Bishops, priests and religious. All these seem like a lot to pray for, but the Mass can infinitely cover all them for us.
For our personal mission, we may for example, ask for an increase of faith and hope to embrace certain trials, or the grace to forgive someone or simply maintain a grateful spirit before God’s Fatherly and loving providence. Aside from what we intend to personally offer it for, we may also ask for a specific grace that would make us more prompt to respond to God’s demands.
We must strive to ask our Lord through the Holy Spirit to fill us with a sense of mission with every mass we participate. We cannot take for granted the unique grace which only the Eucharist is capable of giving. The Mass always has a mission for us and therefore is for us, a must!