The Mass: Synagogue Service and Last
Supper
Catholic Christians celebrate the Eucharist in the
liturgical act
called the
Mass. The word Mass comes from the
Latin missa
("sent"). It was taken from the formula
for dismissing the
congregation: Ite
missa est ("Go, the
Eucharist has been
sent forth") referring to the ancient custom of
sending
consecrated bread from the bishop's Mass to the sick
and
to the other churches.
