THE CATHOLIC MASS
The greeting of the Assembled people
The Priest greets the assembly by saying:
The Lord be with you, or The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all, or The grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. These words are both a statement of fact and a petition. They express how close God is to us already and they are a prayer that our hearts will be open to welcoming God’s presence during the Mass. These words center our attnetion on God who leads us beyond ourselves into the adventure God has planned for our lives.
These phrases the Priest speaks at the beginning of the Mass originate in the Bible. “The Lord be with you” is a traditional Jewish greeting in the Old Testament, found specifically in Ruth 2:4. This phrase served as a way to greet poor laborers working in the fields. This friendly greeting was also a sincere prayer that God would help these suffering people in their struggles, their fatigue, and their labors.
This phrase is used by king Saul to David while sending him to fight against the Philistine, Goliath a champian, he said, “Go, the Lord be with you”, 1 Samuel 17:37. It reminds us of the strength we hold when we feel His presence. We become like a mighty mountain.
Christians recognize that God answered this prayer through the birth of Jesus as Emmanuel, which means “God is with us” Mt 1:23. The Son of God chose to enter into the struggles of our human condition, so that we would know that we are not alone when we are going through problems and suffering. The Lord is with us!
Thus, at the beginning of the Mass these words are both a friendly greeting to acknowledge that the congregation is already in relationship with God and prayer that the congregation will experience God’s presence in the Mass.
The phrase “The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all” comes from St. Paul who used these words both as a greeting and as a prayer in his writings to the early Christian communities (2 Corinthians 13:13). Another similar greeting of St. Paul is also an option for the beginning of Mass: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. This greeting is present in many of the letters attributed to St. Paul: 2 Cor 1:2; Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:3; Gal 1:3; Ephe 1:2; Phili 1:2; Thess 1:2; Philemon 3.
Certainly, these words were extremely important in the early Church as St. Paul’s repeated use demonstrates.
They reinforce the same message of the Old Testament greeting “The Lord be with you”, while giving emphasis to bonds of communion that God was forming among the members of the early Christian communities. This emphasis on unity is significant because ususally the reason St. Paul wrote to early Christian communities was precisely because they were experiencing conflict, division, misunderstanding, and tension of some kind. Thus, this greeting and prayer of St. Paul was meant to say: “I know that your community is facing challenges right now, but you do not need to solve these problems with your own talents and strength alone. God is present and working in your midst! I am praying that God’s grace will work powerfully right now to bring you closer together.”
The Lord be with you, repeated several times during the Mass, before the Gospel reading, in the Eucharistic prayer, and in sending forth, assures us His mighty presence.
Source: What Nobody Ever Told Us-A guide to Getting More Out of the Catholic Mass.
Fr. Raj