Reflection on the Eucharist in the Mass: The Concluding Rites

Friday, Jun. 09, 2023

What would have happened if the Apostles witnessed the resurrected Christ and, instead of waiting to be sent out by him at his ascension, they immediately went off on their own and began to talk about the resurrected Christ? Quite clearly, they would have been unprepared (Christ still provided significant instruction after his Resurrection) and they would have focused on the spectacle of the Resurrection rather than what it truly meant for us.

Mass is a prayer in which the community participates together. This prayer is not over after you personally have received the Eucharist. You are still part of the community, and you are still actively participating in this prayer, just as the Apostles patiently waited for Christ to send them out when they were ready. Therefore, you must not leave Mass after Communion. We have just received the greatest gift in the world, one that unites us to the divine and that gives us both a glimpse and a taste of Heaven itself. After we receive the Eucharist, we should return to our seats and reflect deeply on this mystery. Christ has chosen, with our consent, to live within us and to work through us to show himself to the world. This should not be taken lightly.

When we have completed the prayer after communion, the priest begins the final blessing with that familiar, vital phrase: “The Lord be with you.” Through this phrase, we have constantly been reminded, from the beginning to the end of Mass, that we are in the presence of God. Now, this phrase takes on new meaning: The Lord is with us because we have received him physically in the Eucharist. The priest gives the final blessing with the sign of the cross, which we bless ourselves with.

The cross was the means by which we received the sacrifice. The cross enabled us to participate in the Eucharist. By marking ourselves with it in the name of the Holy Trinity, we keep it as a constant reminder that our salvation came from the same sacrifice we just witnessed in the Mass. 

This was God sacrificing himself for us through each Person of the Trinity.

The final words of the Mass are an instruction – “Go forth.” Through this instruction, we are placed in the position of the Apostles at Christ’s Ascension, when the angels told them to go out and bring to the world the message given to them by Christ. We are meant to take the Eucharist that now resides within us and to actively live the Mass outside of the walls of the church.

Through the Eucharist, we are empowered to prepare ourselves even more effectively for the next time we receive it. This is only possible through actively living our faith to the world around us. We agree to do this by responding, “Thanks be to God.” At this moment, we are no longer reliving Salvation History; we are now actively living it and building up the kingdom of God in the world outside.

Once again, the priest kisses the altar upon which our salvation is presented through the sacrifice of Christ. Departing, he now models the Apostles and the disciples by leading us out to the world, to spread the Gospel, and to live the Eucharist.