LITURGY LESSON: THE
TIME AFTER COMMUNION AND THE CONCLUDING RITE
(Given:
Feast of Christ the King
Today is the Feast of Christ
the King, the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year. In 1925
Pope Pius XI, in the face of rising nationalism & Fascism, instituted the Feast of Christ the King to reassert Christ’s sovereignty over all
forms of political governance.
We also conclude our Liturgy
Lessons today. The past two weeks we
have heard about receiving Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ. After the reception of Eucharist there is a
time of prayerful reflection. As a
community we have listened to the Word of God, received Jesus in Communion, and
now pray silently together as a People of God.
In the early Church the
celebration of Eucharist seems to have ended immediately after Communion. Christians soon felt a psychological need to
round off the liturgy with a concluding rite.
There is a concluding prayer
by the priest, which is meant to gather all of our prayers of Thanksgiving.
There is a blessing and then
a dismissal proclaimed by either the priest or deacon.
The most common one being
“The Mass is ended, go in peace.” Our
response is one of thanksgiving, “Thanks be to God”.
As a final act the priest
kisses the altar, the symbol of Christ and the place of sacrifice.
The ministers gather at the
foot of the altar, bow to reverence the altar and then turn to leave. We conclude with a recessional hymn or in
silence.
It is now time for us to take
the message of Jesus to others as we go about our everyday lives.