Love Letters to the Latin Mass 10: The Last and First Gospel

From “Catholic Stand” (adapted)

[In my parish] we follow a liturgical calendar that has been in place for hundreds of years and celebrate our Mass as the medieval Saints did. One of the most beautiful aspects of our Mass is the way in which it ends.
After we respond to “Ite, Missa est” (“Go, you are dismissed.”), we kneel, receive Father’s blessing, and then stand again as he goes to read the first Gospel of John, a practice first introduced into the Mass in the 16th century.

“In the beginning was the Word….” At the end of each Mass, we are reminded how everything began with Jesus. We are taken back to the beginning before we leave to face our future. After that, in a practice begun over 100 years ago, we pray three Hail Marys, Hail Holy Queen, and the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. How necessary it is now!

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen

We close with an invocation to Jesus, begun in 1904, and repeated three times: Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

The Latin Mass carries with it all of the prayers, pleas, and propriety of several centuries. It was the Mass for the Saints we admire, the ancestors we love, offered in the same language throughout the world, and through generations from time immemorial. It is reverent, precious, and solemn.

It has become my love letter to God each Sunday, and now I can’t imagine a Sabbath without it. God bless all who have carried it down and carry it on for us.

Deo Gratias.