A Walkthrough the Mass at a Catholic Peninsular Malaysian Church - Commissioning

Commissioning
Finally it is time for us to take leave and go home. At Mass, we call this the Concluding Rite. We prepare to go back to that world in which we will live for the coming week. Prior to the Final Blessing by the priest, there may be some announcements concerning the upcoming activities of the parish or other news to be noted.

Most parishes would have a bulletin which you could take home with you. It is strongly suggested that you take a copy of the bulletin, as it would be easier to keep up to date with what is going on in the parish. Also, the bulletin would specify the Mass times for the week, or any changes to the Mass times. This is important, since there have been several instances where people still call up the church to find out the Mass times, when they could have easily found out from the bulletin, or even by checking the internet at the church website.

The priest then again says, “The Lord be with you”, the ritual phrase serves now as a farewell. We bow our heads to receive a blessing. As the priest names the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, we make the Sign of the Cross. The priest then dismisses the assembly: “Go in peace.” And we give our liturgical “yes” by saying, “Thanks be to God.” While we have been dismissed, it is a mark of respect to allow the priest and assisting ministers to leave first.

Epilogue
In some situations, the church may have more than one Mass celebrated quite close to each other, with possibly half an hour or one hour interval. If so, and if you plan to stay on for other church activities, it may be advisable to move your vehicle and park it in another location, so that others who would want to attend Mass would be able to get a place. Some churches have limited parking space within the church compound, and we should be generous in offering the space to others, especially if we are going to be in church for quite a while.

Once we have taken our leave, we are charged to be Eucharist in every other part of our lives – in our family life, in our work life, in our neighborhood life. We are sent to be the Body of Christ, and to live out our Catholic identity, so that through our words and actions, others may know what it means to be Christian.