Non Solum: The Dismissal

The Roman Missal provides several dismissals for the end of Mass:

  • “Go forth, the Mass is ended.”
  • “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.”
  • “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.”
  • “Go in peace.”

In my experience, the first dismissal is overused. In reflecting on the dismissal, I wonder if certain dismissals are more appropriate to specific liturgical seasons, rites, and celebrations? For instance, perhaps “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord” is most apt during Advent and Christmas as we await the coming of our Lord and then celebrate his arrival. “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life” or the simplified “Go in peace” might best be used during Lent or after a Mass of Reconciliation.

I wish that we were more discerning in our usage of the dismissal. While it is a small component of the Mass, it carries an immense burden. It reminds us that our celebration of the Eucharist is deeply connected to the rest of our lives.

Do you have a preferred dismissal? Does your community have any specific practices surrounding which dismissal is used?

Please comment below.

Nathan Chase

Nathan P. Chase is Assistant Professor of Liturgical and Sacramental Theology at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, MO. He has contributed a number of articles to the field of liturgical studies, including pieces on liturgy in the early Church, initiation, the Eucharist, inculturation, and the Western Non-Roman Rites, in particular the Hispano-Mozarabic tradition. His first book The Homiliae Toletanae and the Theology of Lent and Easter was published in 2020. His second monograph, published in 2023, is titled The Anaphoral Tradition in the ‘Barcelona Papyrus.’

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Comments

35 responses to “Non Solum: The Dismissal”

  1. Ray MacDonald

    “Go forth, the Mass is ended.”
    That’s all that has ever been said since 2011 in our parish.

    Reply
  2. Linda Reid

    Our pastor and deacon use the second one exclusively.

    Reply
  3. Matthew J. Meloche

    The Deacons at the Cathedral of Phoenix, with varying levels of singing ability, all manage to chant the dismissal at every Sung Mass. I’m very glad to work with these clerics who are so willing to sing their parts of the Mass (including the invitation to the sign of peace). Different deacons tend to favor different options, but I’ve noticed most gravitate toward 3 (with 2 as a close second).

    Reply
  4. Don Donaldson

    I will use all four depending on the season, and often in the direction taken in the homily.

    Singing the dismissal tends to bring about a more thorough response from the congregation. More people respond, less looking for their keys and the exit.

    Like the greeting before the Gospel, it is one of those elements that (the Deacon) should always be intoning.

    Reply
  5. Dave Matthews

    The community whose priest I am goes for:

    Priest/Deacon: The Mass is ended:
    Go in peace and glorify the Lord by your life
    Everyone replies: In the Name of Christ. Amen

    in Ordinary Time/seasons ‘of the Year’ and during Penitential Seasons, using the spoken form.

    In Christmastide and Paschaltide, we go for the first option, sung.

    Reply
    1. Ellen Rossman

      @Dave Matthews – comment #5:
      Huh?

      Reply
  6. Chuck Middendorf

    We also use a solemn blessing/prayer over the people 52 Sundays of the year. The reason: Once we’ve worked our way through 5 announcements, 1 guest announcement, and a blessing of him or her or this or that, we found we needed a bit more than “just” the dismissal to center people on the Mass. With 48 options in the Roman Missal (plus others scattered throughout feasts and season), we carefully select one of those related to the feast and readings. And thus the dismissal that follows always seems relevant.

    Reply
    1. Jeff Rexhausen

      @Chuck Middendorf – comment #6:
      This seems like a great approach! How did you come to it? How did you explain it to the community? Any opposition?

      Reply
      1. Chuck Middendorf

        @Jeff Rexhausen – comment #22:
        Come to it? Well, the idea originally came from the 1998 ICEL sacramentary that had a prayer over the people for every Sunday in Ordinary Time. We just adopted it to the new Roman Missal (especially since they make you flip there for Solemn Blessings, too).

        No opposition: people like extra blessings, and it only adds 15 seconds to the Mass. The key is finding something that fits each Sunday. Honestly, half of the prayers over the people are extremely negative in tone. But most of the solemn blessings are positive and uplifting. And thus lead to a dismissal that’s substantial and inspirational, even if brief.

  7. Fr. Jack Feehily

    The missal should have contained examples, like the ones provided for the penitential act. This is too important a transition to be reduced to a trite ritual exchange. At most daily Masses I say: This Mass is ended, let us go in peace to glorify God by the way we live our lives. At our youth Masses we often say: The Mass is never ended, it must be lived. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. I think even temple police would be hard pressed to make a big deal about the words of the dismissal, but who knows.

    Reply
  8. Fritz Bauerschmidt

    When speaking, I always use the second. When singing, I always use the fourth.

    The first sounds a bit to much like we’re saying “thank God Mass is ended” and for some reason the second doesn’t sit right with me–it’s something about the word “announce.”

    I was quite happy with “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord,” but I suffer too much from scruples to still use it.

    Reply
    1. Paul Inwood

      @Fritz Bauerschmidt – comment #8:

      I was quite happy with “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord,” but I suffer too much from scruples to still use it.

      At the risk of shameless self-promotion, I yesterday received printed copies of my latest OCP octavo. It’s a dismissal song whose title (and first line) is in fact “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord” — which means that now everyone will be able to sing those words to each other…

      Reply
  9. Jim Pauwels

    The deacons and priests almost always use the third one in our parish. I do use the second one when it seems to relate in some way to the readings or the homily. I think I am the only one who uses anything other than the third. I guess the only other exception is during the the octave of Easter, when we chant “Go in peace, alleluia, alleuia”.

    Reply
  10. Jim Pauwels

    I have to admit, it never occurred to me to chant the dismissal. I just looked at the chants in the missal. No issues with the chants themselves, but we’d need to teach the response. That’s not an insuperable barrier, of course, but chances are I’d be the only one chanting it, and I’m at different masses from weekend to weekend. I wonder if maybe we missed our window of opportunity to teach it when we were teaching the other ‘parts of the mass’ a few years ago.

    Reply
  11. Jim Pauwels

    I’ve never cottoned to the first one. “Go forth, the mass is ended” seems like speaking aloud what needn’t be said as it is already obvious to everyone, and doesn’t seem to amount to much more than, “we’re done; scram.” The fourth one just seems kind of curt.

    Reply
  12. Karl Liam Saur

    Two perspectives to offer:

    1. It’s a ritual punctuation, so efforts to imbue the specific words with instrumentally effective meaning misunderstand its function. The more important thing is that it have the habit of ritual, not that changing the words will have more effect.

    2. It’s better as a chanted dialogue (very simply done).

    Reply
    1. Matthew Roth

      @Karl Liam Saur – comment #12:
      Agreed!

      As far as its use goes, I would also add that announcements in that place are just awful. Before the homily isn’t ideal, but if the end of Mass is important, then don’t do it there. And the fact that we have to decide how to best refocus people is indicative, to me, of a problem.

      I prefer the Ite, Missa est and its translation. It’s neat and clean, especially in the chant. It’s the only one in the 1962 Missal. “Mass” is derived from “missa,” so it has a very Roman character. Its use ought to be encouraged more often, especially when the Roman Canon is used.

      Since this was brought up: are 48 forms of blessings really needed in MR3? Also, if we are ok with adding those 15 seconds to Mass, why aren’t we ok with just one extra minute and a half to use the Canon?

      Reply
  13. Todd Flowerday

    Our associate pastor uses three nearly all the time. Our pastor, after giving up paging to the spot, lacks Fritz’s scruples. I think it’s fine, so I don’t bother with fussing on it. But don’t you know: one of our students has zeroed in on this as a “liturgical abuse.”

    Reply
  14. Charles Day

    Talk about overused – the priest says This is My Body at every single Mass! Can’t we punch that up a bit? Just kidding 😉 But my point is that the translation is already problematic; there’s not much virtue in throwing the congregation a curve just to gain style points. When I used to train lectors, we had one fellow who did not feel like “The Word of The Lord” was sufficient. On his own he wanted to add “that my brothers and sisters is the Word of The Lord”.

    Reply
  15. Brendan Kelleher SVD

    Just realized I use a “Dismissal” that isn’t in the RM3 English translation. I’ve just returned from a meeting of Directors of Liturgical Commissions Diocese here in Japan. I have that unenviable role for the DIocese of Nagoya here in central Japan. Our translation of RM3 is slowly grinding its way through the system. Some of the suggested adaptations for Japan to be noted in the GIRM have finally been accepted by the CDWDS, but they aren’t 100% happy with some of the proposed texts for the Dismissal. The road ahead is getting shorter but…..

    Reply
  16. Jordan Zarembo

    In my parish “Go forth, the Mass is ended” is used at said Masses. Ite, missa est is sometimes sung at the parish high Mass.

    I wish that Benedicamus Domino, “Let us bless the Lord” could be an option. This would be an appropriate choice during Advent and Lent. I never fully understood why Pope St. John XXIII suppressed this dismissal on days when the Gloria is not said or sung.

    Reply
  17. Philip Endean SJ

    Let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord

    Reply
    1. Nicholas Elder

      @Philip Endean SJ – comment #17:
      Church of England default setting… V: Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. R: In the name of Xst, Amen. Often sung. Seasonal variations are available.

      Reply
  18. Pádraig McCarthy

    The final blessing and the dismissal are one single piece making up the Concluding Rites.
    I usually preface the Rite by saying something like this: “With God’s blessing we go forth to live the mystery we have celebrated.”
    Then the blessing, and the dismissal in whatever form (OK: I confess: usually a combination, or a pre-R3 form!)
    A few times a year I use the Two Minute Rule: “On your way out, take two minutes to talk, not to people you already know, but to people you don’t yet know!”

    Reply
  19. Dennis Smolarski, SJ

    I’m preferring #2 (Go and announce …) and #3 (Go in peace, glorifying …) more and more. Both of these (to me) suggest we take what we have celebrated around the tables of the word and sacrament and bring them to the world. #1 (Go forth, the Mass is ended) and #4 (Go in peace) merely say “we’re done” and (to me) don’t hint that we need to take the fruits of the celebration and help make a difference in our world.

    Reply
  20. Adam Booth, CSC

    I almost always use #3 (except during the Easter octave and at Pentecost). I’ve preached before about the importance of the singular number of “life.” It’s a rut, but I don’t think it’s a bad one to be in, especially as we have three priests at our parish, and the others have different ruts. If I was ever in a situation where I was the only regular celebrant for a particular community, I’d make more of an effort to mix it up.

    Reply
  21. Jeff Rexhausen

    Re: Karl @ #12, point 1 – The ritual punctuation works differently when the concluding rites immediately follow the prayer after communion than they do when a parade of announcements intervenes. I suspect this is why many find the first and fourth options to be inadequate at Sunday Mass, which suggests it is difficult to consider the dismissal without examining what closely precedes it.

    Reply
    1. Karl Liam Saur

      @Jeff Rexhausen – comment #21:
      I get that. Then again, I find the parade of announcements in that location to be unfortunate, not a testimony of vibrancy of a community but something less lofty.

      Reply
      1. Jeff Rexhausen

        @Karl Liam Saur – comment #23:
        I definitely agree. In a parish I belonged to years ago, we took a few minutes before Mass to note important events in the community from the previous and upcoming weeks, as a part of saying “This is who we are as we begin our liturgy,” which was followed by a minute of silent prayer.

        These were the only “announcements” we had. If something couldn’t be part of this framing, it was only included in the bulletin.

        Two things made this work: although this began at the nominal “Mass time,” people treated it as a part of our parish worship and arrived before it, and we worked hard to make the bulletin an engaging read that people wanted to go through.

        As a result, we could go from the prayer after communion, which included “mostly” silent communal reflection that culminated in the official prayer, directly into the dismissal rite.

  22. Elisabeth Ahn

    Greetings from Korea!

    The priest at my church here today said (loosely translated): “Let us go (together) with the Lord to practice the Gospel.”

    Don’t know what “the book” says, but I liked it, a lot.

    Reply
  23. Todd Flowerday

    @Scott Knitter – comment #29:
    I don’t see it as a false choice between cookbook or talk show, as is often presented by conservatives. There’s an artistry to good liturgy that is lacking in the STBDTR methodology. That’s all.

    Reply
  24. Scott Knitter

    Todd Flowerday : @Scott Knitter – comment #29: I don’t see it as a false choice between cookbook or talk show, as is often presented by conservatives. There’s an artistry to good liturgy that is lacking in the STBDTR methodology. That’s all.

    I don’t see it as that false choice, either, but that’s because I don’t accept the two caricatures set as choices. The text of the liturgy is a given; any artistry involves skill and grace in saying that text well.

    Reply
  25. Gerry Davila

    I wish I heard the traditional option 1 all the time, or “Ite, Missa est.” All I ever hear are options 2 or 3. I also wish the “Benedicamus Domino” was a valid option for Advent/Lent.

    Reply
    1. Matthew Roth

      @Gerry Davila – comment #28:
      Also agreed…

      Reply
  26. MIchael Slusser

    I modulate to “Let us go in peace,” since I shall be the first (OK, the third or fourth) out of the church.

    Reply

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