Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
	Does the scene of the disciples being sent out two by two bring to mind any other scripture? After the flood, Noah opens the door of the ark and sends his passengers out to renew the face of the earth. Certainly, Jesus has the same purpose. The purpose is fulfilled in your communion in the Body of Christ today, and in your being sent from the Eucharist into the world. The sending is so important that our word “Mass” derives from it. In Latin, the last words of worship are Ite, missa est, which means “Go, you are sent.” From that, people began to call Catholic worship the missa, or in English, the “Mass.” Our English words dismissal, missal, emissary, and mission are all related. We are not sent into the workaday world alone, but in relationship to one another.
	Some people have acquired the unhappy habit of leaving worship as soon as they receive Communion and therefore miss the prayer, the dismissal, and the solemn blessing that are essential parts of the Mass. The dismissal is a seal on our Communion and reveals its purpose. Thanks be to God!
—Rev. James Field