A Tour through the Mass!

The Greeting and Invitation

After the sign of the cross, the priest greets the people either with the ancient greeting “The Lord be with you” or others chosen from the greetings in the Letters of St Paul: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all” or “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”.  To these the people respond “And with your spirit”.  A bishop greeting is “Peace be with you”.

These greetings are more than everyday greetings; they are there to signify that the Lord is present to his gathered people and to alert them to that presence. 

“The Lord be with you” occurs four times during Mass and each of those times is important: at the beginning of Mass; before the gospel; at the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer and at the end of Mass before we “go in the peace of Christ to love and serve him”.  The Lord is with us throughout Mass but especially through his word in the gospel and in the celebration of the Eucharist, but importantly also as we finish Mass to go out and live our lives as his followers.

“And with your spirit” is the people’s reply.  It asks for the Lord to be present in the priest’s very spirit, enabling the fruitfulness of his ministry.

Invitation to the Mass

The priest then invites the people into the celebration of the Mass of that day in a few words.  This is not a mini-homily but a few words whose purpose is to ready the people to enter into the Mass.  These words may take inspiration from the readings but ought to homilise on them.  They may also refer to some event or situation which may be in people’s minds at that time.  These words can also lead in to the Penitential Rite which we will consider next week in this series.  In the appropriate circumstances, these words could be spoken by another minister (GI 50).

By Fr Frank O’Loughlin