Mass never ends?

[LighthouseRon]

My wife and I went to Mass while on vacation and at the “end” of Mass when the priest normally says “The Mass has ended, go in peace”, the priest said “The Mass never ends, let us go in peace to preach the gospel to others”. I was discussing this with a former RE director who also teached RCIA and she said she always taught that the Mass never ends and everyday life is part of Mass. I don’t get it. My understanding is Mass itself is indeed an event and not life in general, and while we are called to live as Catholic Christians always, the Mass is something much much more than most aspects of life.

Am I all wet or is this possibly the reason the RE director isn’t one anymore?

Thanks,

Ron

 

[jwinch2]

My wife and I went to Mass while on vacation and at the “end” of Mass when the priest normally says “The Mass has ended, go in peace”, the priest said “The Mass never ends, let us go in peace to preach the gospel to others”. I was discussing this with a former RE director who also teached RCIA and she said she always taught that the Mass never ends and everyday life is part of Mass. I don’t get it. My understanding is Mass itself is indeed an event and not life in general, and while we are called to live as Catholic Christians always, the Mass is something much much more than most aspects of life.

Am I all wet or is this possibly the reason the RE director isn’t one anymore?

Thanks,

Ron

They could be referring to the idea that the Mass itself is a “sending” where the faithful are to go out to the world and share the good news of Christ. In that sense, we are continually sent and must always share the gospel through the witness of our lives. What we hear preached and what we practice at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not to be left in that building but rather taken with us be used as the seed that produces fruit in the world.

I think that is where they are going with that but I could be wrong…

 

[Vincent1984]

My wife and I went to Mass while on vacation and at the “end” of Mass when the priest normally says “The Mass has ended, go in peace”, the priest said “The Mass never ends, let us go in peace to preach the gospel to others”.

This is a sadly persistent abuse. It used be endorsed by the fashionable “LifeTeen” programme, which has recently officially stopped it, but of course the rot runs deep and their U-turn has not stopped all of its occurances, either inside or outside of that programme.

I think that jwinch2’s summary is an accurate portrayal of where they are coming from. Still, that’s no excuse for acting like they know how to say Mass better than the Church.

Am I all wet or is this possibly the reason the RE director isn’t one anymore?

We live in hope

 

[Leticia]

That was what father dale fuschek (sp?) (laisized) priest that started lifeteen used to say at the end of Mass.

 

[TheMc]

This is an abuse, and should not be tolerated. Yet another reason why lifeteen is not something I would ever endorse.

 

[SMHW]

How old school! (And illicit.) Where ever did you attend Mass that such a thing is still being said?!?!

 

[revertfromLDS]

It could also have been said with the intention of a sentiment like “the sun never sets on the ______ Empire” meaning that mass never ends because there’s always a mass going on somewhere in the world, not unlike the presence of Christ through the Eucharist.

It’s not Christ-like to speak or even think so negatively about people or institutions of the Church.

Peace

 

[TheMc]

It could also have been said with the intention of a sentiment like “the sun never sets on the ______ Empire” meaning that mass never ends because there’s always a mass going on somewhere in the world, not unlike the presence of Christ through the Eucharist.

It’s not Christ-like to speak or even think so negatively about people or institutions of the Church.

Peace

But it is certainly not Christ-like to disobey Christ’s church, that has made clear these things are wrong. There is nothing wrong with thinking negatively about an institution, especially when it deserves it, such as LT does.

Minor point: LifeTeen is not an “institution of the church”.

 

[Vincent1984]

“the sun never sets on the ______ Empire” meaning that mass never ends because there’s always a mass going on somewhere in the world, not unlike the presence of Christ through the Eucharist.

It’s OK for a priest in a catechetical context to say what you have just said, though one would have to be careful of implying that each Mass is not distinct. Changing the words of the Mass from their approved version to something-trendy-that-I-heard-at-a-clergy-fraternal-twenty-years-ago is not OK, because

1. It deprives the People of God of their right to hear the Eucharstic Celebration offered in complete obedience to the Church, and
2. It introduces an incorrect idea of the Mass. Mass isn’t just a fuller expression or experience of the whole of the Chistian life; it’s a definite and separate act of worship with a beginning, middle and end.

 

[Cristiano]

My wife and I went to Mass while on vacation and at the “end” of Mass when the priest normally says “The Mass has ended, go in peace”, the priest said “The Mass never ends, let us go in peace to preach the gospel to others”. I was discussing this with a former RE director who also teached RCIA and she said she always taught that the Mass never ends and everyday life is part of Mass. I don’t get it. My understanding is Mass itself is indeed an event and not life in general, and while we are called to live as Catholic Christians always, the Mass is something much much more than most aspects of life.

Am I all wet or is this possibly the reason the RE director isn’t one anymore?

Thanks,

Ron

The priest is wrong with his statement. When the priest says “The Mass has ended, go in peace”, he refers to the end of that specific Liturgy as in “public work of worship in kronos”. Of course the Mass will never end but that refers to the kairos and that is why during consecration and communion we transcend time (kronos). Once we will die and we will be in heaven, then we will be in living in kairos (eternal present) and it will be a never ending Mass.

 

[TheMc]

1. It introduces an incorrect idea of the Mass. Mass isn’t just a fuller expression or experience of the whole of the Chistian life; it’s a definite and separate act of worship with a beginning, middle and end.

Exactly. The Mass begins with the introit, or lacking the introit, the sign of the cross. It ends when the people respond “Thanks be to God” after the dismissal. Anyone else who says “the Mass never ends” is just speaking a bunch of hullabaloo.

 

[LighthouseRon]

How old school! (And illicit.) Where ever did you attend Mass that such a thing is still being said?!?!

It was a small mission church on the Oregon coast where a visiting priest was celebrating Mass. He’s a retired priest and one I’ve never encountered before.

 

[benedictgal]

It could also have been said with the intention of a sentiment like “the sun never sets on the ______ Empire” meaning that mass never ends because there’s always a mass going on somewhere in the world, not unlike the presence of Christ through the Eucharist.

It’s not Christ-like to speak or even think so negatively about people or institutions of the Church.

Peace

It is not a licit expression. In fact, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments expressly told LifeTeen to cease and desist from using that form of a “dismissal”. The priest must use the official text that the Church presents in the Roman Missal. Even the four new dismissals given in the coming revised English translation of the Roman Missal do not have such langauge.