More about GIRM - Go forth to love and serve: the concluding rite

by Jane Bernard Hanson

In our last three articles on the basic structure of the Mass (gather, listen, do and go), we explored the Gathering Rites, The Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. This article will focus on the GO part, the Concluding Rite.

Once there was a family who forgot to set their clocks ahead for Daylight Savings Time. They scampered about quickly to get ready but arrived at their Episcopal Church just as the assembly was leaving. Slightly out of breath, the mother said to the pastor, "Oh, no, we’re late for the service." The pastor, a kind and wise person, smiled and replied, "Our worship for this Sunday is complete but the service has just begun!"

Now, there is a fine understanding of what the Concluding Rite is all about!

Thanksgiving at Great Aunt Martha’s house . . . I am well-fed with conversation, companion-ship and her wonderful cooking. When it is time to go, the conversation goes something like this . . . Great Aunt Martha says, "Be good, dear one!" and I reply, "I will! Thanks, Great Aunt Martha! This was great!" Off I go with a full tummy and a full heart . . . to be good.

It’s like that at Mass too. The priest or deacon says, "The Mass is ended. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord." And we say, "Thanks be to God." We are not saying, "Thanks be to God that’s done for another week. I have fulfilled our Sunday obligation." We are making a commitment to "be good" for God and for all the people we meet in the coming week. We are really saying, "Thanks be to God that we have been nourished and strengthened for our work of discipleship." "Thanks be to God that we have been called and sent to be healers and reconcilers just like Jesus." "Thanks be to God that we together as God’s people can be Christ in the world for the life of the world!"

We are not dismissed from the Mass. We are dismissed to the world. And we are dismissed with a mandate. That mandate is found in the entire Eucharistic liturgy. Just as God invites us to come and gather to give thanks and praise, we are called to invite others to come. Just as Christ speaks to us in the scriptures, we are called to proclaim the Good News. Just as Christ feeds us with his Body and Blood, we are called to be nourishment for a hungry world. Just as we are sent forth to love and serve, we are called to encourage others to share the mission and ministry of Christ. An old hymn, Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service, sums it up well.

Lord, whose love in humble service
Bore the weight of human need,
Who did on the cross forsaken,
Show us mercy’s perfect deed;
We, your servants bring the worship
Not of voice alone, but heart:
Consecrating to your purpose
Every gift which you impart.
Still your children wanderhomeless;
Still the hungry cry for bread;
Still the captives long for freedom;
Still in grief we mourn our dead.
As, O Lord, your deep compassion
Healed the sick and freed the soul,
Use the love your Spirit kindles
Still to save and make us whole.
As we worship, grant us vision,
Till your love’s revealing light,
Till the height and depth
and greatness
Dawns upon our human sight:
Making known the needs and
burdens
Your compassion bids us bear,
Stirring us to faithful service,
Your abundant life to share.
Called from worship into service
Forth in your great name we go,
To the child, the youth, the aged,
Love in living deeds to show;
Hope and health, good will
and comfort,
Counsel, aid, and peace we give
That your children, Lord, in
freedom,
May your mercy know and live.

Our worship for this Sunday is complete but the service has just begun. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Be good!

Amen. Alleluia!

There’s more to come!

More about GIRM is a brief look at the recent history of the Sacramentary (the big red book of prayers.) The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) mandated that the order of Mass and all the sacraments be revised and renewed. The first revision was published in 1969 by Pope Paul VI. It introduced the changes in the Mass envisioned by the Council Fathers. Knowing that all living things, including the liturgy, evolve and develop, the Sacramentary was revised again in 1975. That revision took into consideration the experience of the changes in the Mass and the revisions of the other rites of the church. And now, based on the wisdom gleaned from more than 30 years of liturgical renewal and pastoral practice, the Sacramentary is again being fine-tuned. It is hoped that the revised GIRM will be ready for use in parishes on the first Sunday of Advent, December 1, 2002.

Jane Bernard Hanson is director of the Office of Worship & Spiritual Life for the Diocese of New Ulm.