Go and Make Disciples

It is very possible that you may not know what “Mass” means.  After all, you probably have always heard the Mass said in your own language.  But “Mass” is derived from the way the Mass was ended in Latin.

“Mass” is an English rendering of the Latin term “missa.”  In Latin the Mass ends with “ite messa est,” which translated into English means, “Go, it is sent,” the “it” being the Church.

Because of the familiarity of the ending, the celebration of our Lord’s Supper eventually became known simply as “Mass.”  There were actually two dismissals in the celebration – one in which those who were not fully Catholic  but wanted to be, known as Catechumens, were dismissed right after the homily, and the dismissal at the end, when all the fully initiated Catholics, the faithful, were dismissed.  There were two “Masses,” namely the Mass of the Catechumens and the Mass of the Faithful.

The fact that we call this greatest of Christian prayers the “dismissal” points to the essence of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.  Our Lord calls us to Himself and through His saving act invites us to a unity with God the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus makes communion with God possible.  But following Jesus does not stop with communion, for once He has united us to Himself, He then sends us forth with a mission – a dismissal.

“Go” is one of His final words to His disciples as He ascends into heaven in the Gospel of Matthew when he commissions them to make disciples of all the nations.  So, the very way every Mass ends with “go” is at the heart of what we come to the Mass for – to be empowered by God and sent forth again.

Saint Peter spoke up for the apostles in John’s Gospel when Jesus asked his disciples whether they wanted to leave Him like those who couldn’t bear it when He said He would give them His flesh to eat.  Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69).

The “go” that is the very meaning of the word “Mass” receives its meaning from our communion with our Lord Jesus Christ during the Mass, where we come to know Him.