A Look at the Mass: The Greeting of the People: Part 1

Due to the many options for this part of the Mass, and some of the complexities involved in its development, I've had to divide it into two sections for the sake of length. This won't be the standard for these posts. I try to keep them confined to one post.

Now when I refer to the greeting of the people I do not mean "Good morning." I can't stand that. It's one of the biggest buzz kills I know, but more on that below. Instead, I mean the, "The Lord be with you," or, "Peace be with you," or one of the alternatives.

We are all certainly familiar with this part of the Liturgy, since it is perhaps the most noticeable change since the recent re-translation of the Mass in 2012. In fact, it's still how we can tell you hasn't been going to a Catholic Mass in a while. At weddings, funerals, and such, they still respond with "And also with you," creating a disturbance in the normal harmonious response. Before we get into my thoughts and conclusions about this act, however, let us look at some of the historical details of this liturgical greeting, or more properly so called, "invitation," or even "introduction."

There are three options for the greeting of the people at this portion of the Mass - "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all," and, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," and the simple, "The Lord be with you." Additionally, a bishop uses the greeting, "Peace be with you." All of these are taken directly from Scripture. While the first two, and "Pax vobiscum," are taken from the New Testament, Dominus vobiscum, goes back into the Old Testament. In the Book of Ruth, Boaz greets his workers in this way. He says, "'The Lord be with you!' And they answered 'The Lord bless you (Ruth 2:4).'" This simple "Dominus vobiscum" became the standard greeting within the Mass, and even within the Church in general. Before any formal prayer led by a man in Holy Orders, or before a blessing, the Dominus vobiscum is always used as the greeting.

Within the Extraordinary Form, this greeting occurs eight times, within the standard Mass. However, in the Ordinary Form, that number has been cut in half. Withholding a commentary on my feelings in regards to this, I believe we can use this as an opportunity to see the many layers and the deep content of the Dominus vobiscum.

Jungmann asserts, "The Dominus vobiscum is then, in the first instance, an address to the people and, without over-stressing its content . . . it serves to arouse the attention and to denote, each time, an important moment in the course of the liturgy. Besides, the use of a greeting form enables the congregation to return the greeting, and so, through this religious setting of reciprocal salutation, the feeling of God's nearness is intensified (362-363)."  

At this point in the Liturgy, there seems to be much more of an aspect of greeting to the Dominus vobiscum. For support of this claim, I cite the other optional greetings for a priest, i.e. "The grace of our Lord...," and, "Grace to you...." The second greeting is directly taken from the beginning of all of Paul's letters found in the New Testament. It is his form of greeting to the various churches. We here are able to rejoice that the Lord has brought us together for the celebration of the mystery. I do not wish to overemphasize the aspect of community, for that's not what we primarily rejoice in. Nevertheless, there is an importance to the coming together of many people.

Allow me to elaborate with the idea of a birthday party. The idea of the party is to allow many to come together to celebrate the birth and continued life of the person. Everyone rejoices together, and joy is found in the coming together of many, even though the coming together is not the reason for rejoicing. Of course, the Mass is infinitely higher in dignity than a birthday party, but analogies always fall short.

Within the context of the Mass, the rejoicing is twofold. We rejoice that we have been brought together as priest and people to celebrate the Sacred Mysteries and to here be given the grace to go out and evangelize to the world. Our attention then shifts to the Lord. For this reason we respond with, "And with your spirit." We realize that the priest is the one who will perform the sacred actions through which we can be sanctified, and so like at a birthday party, the focus shifts from all of the people, to the one who is celebrated, or more properly speaking, to the action being made present.

The second cause for rejoicing derives from this. Although at the Crucifixion only a handful of women and St. John were present, at the Mass we have all come together, even though it has entailed a sacrifice. Now the sacrifice varies in intensity. Sometimes it is simply that we had to give part of our day to the Lord, and other times it is risking one's life. This should also help to focus our attention to what is about to begin. Our Lord is pleased that we have come to the Sacrifice and invites us to enter deeply into it.

Nevertheless there is an element of prayer to this part of the Mass as well. For, as I said above, whenever Dominus vobiscum is used, it can more properly be called an invitation. We have been invited by the Lord to participate in this most sacred action. Our minds should be focused to what is about to happen and pray that the Lord may be with us, for it is only by His grace that we will be able to acceptably offer ourselves in union with the Sacrifice of Calvary and to receive the graces offered to us. The invitation is that the Lord be with us, but our response is that the Lord may also be with the priest, for it is through him that the graces are made available to us. We depend upon him.

However, I also said Dominus vobiscum may properly be called an introduction. This is different than a greeting, for as Jungmann notes, the Dominus vobiscum is used anytime an important action is about to begin. The important action here is, of course, the Mass proper. We have invoked the Holy Trinity in the sign of the cross, and now we pray for the Trinity to be with us throughout the Mass.

All historical information taken from:
Rev. Joseph A. Jungmann, S.J. The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development. Volume 1. Part III: The Collect. The Inclusion of the Congregation Assembled, 359-372. Translated by Rev. Francis A. Brunner, C.SS.R. (Christian Classics: Notre Dame, Indiana, 1951).