Lenten reflection: Ite missa est (3)

Looking around, I see that there is much discussion about the meaning of "Ite missa est". I'm not even remotely qualified to add anything even vaguely like an authoritative opinion. But when has that stopped me? It seems to me that the simplest interpretation is the most literal minded one. It means "get out of here" or, as I said before "be scattered". I take it as a healthy reminder of something.

Most devout Catholics will spend less than one hour per week in church. That is less than one hour of every 168 hours which is a little over one half of one percent of their time. My mother taught me (and I think she was right) that one reason we go to mass is to be reminded who we really are. And who I really am is the person I am supposed to be. If those last words do mean "be scattered", that tells us something of the real purpose of the mass. We go in order to come out. We go in to be strengthened to better become who we are supposed to be the rest of the time.


Update: There are some similar, but more elaborate, thoughts here. I doubt Mark Shea would feel comfortable with my approach but we are more or less on the same page. I also wish I had written this:

Now, “Go! You are sent!” is a radically different statement than “The Mass is ended, go in peace.” The former has the sound of a trumpet in it. .... It’s like translating, “Veni, Vidi, Vici” as “I visited France. I saw a lot of interesting things. I decided live there as an important official in the Italian Ministry of Peacekeeping for Indigenous Peoples.”

That is wonderful. I'm not so sure I agree with Shea about Ite missa est being a call to evangelize. The bit I leave out of the quote above includes this:

It’s a clarion call to bring Christ to the whole world, to cast down the mighty in their arrogance and lift up the meek and lowly.

It might be important to do that but I don't think we can honestly leap from Ite missa est to all that. The old pastors—I think—meant something considerably humbler than that.