The New Liturgy of the Revised Roman Missal Liturgical Minutes No. 28 The Concluding Rite – The Dismissal

When it comes time for the conclusion of the Mass, the new Concluding Rite will begin with the familiar, “The Lord be with you,” and again we will answer with the new response, “And with your spirit.”

The deacon or priest will then dismiss the people from the liturgy. The original Latin for the dismissal is Ite missa est (ētā mees-ah est). The word missa is the root for Mass and thus gives the Mass its name. The word missa is simply translated from the Latin as “dimissal.” But this dismissal means so much more than merely, “The Mass is ended, time to go,” because truly, the Mass never ends.

The Mass should bear fruit in our lives. God sanctifies us in the liturgy, through which the Holy Spirit comes to us to make us grow in holiness, and the dismissal and final blessing can be viewed as a commissioning for the mission of bearing witness to Christ in response to his command to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”

A new form of dismissal beautifully affirms this mission as the priest or deacon proclaims: “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.” Having been nourished with the body and blood of Jesus, we are sent forth to love and serve the Lord in our families, workplaces, and community. This is serious – and it must be said that those who leave Mass before the dismissal, miss this vital commissioning, and the blessing that strengthens us to accomplish it, “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”