Huh? 'It's over at last - what a relief - thank God - I can leave now'? Well, that's one way of looking at it, for a bored and ill-catechised teenager, possibly (to the shame of us adults).
But, no. Hearing these words of dismissal, we should be reminded of Our Lord's final words on the Cross in St John's account: 'It is completed'.
St John's whole Gospel can be summarised, some say, by Jesus's question to His friends, 'And who do you say that I am?' Johann Sebastian Bach's great St John Passion presents this question in some of the most poignant music ever created, and also proposes our answer to it, as the Passion story unfolds.
The pivotal section of this magnificent work by 'theologian Bach' is the aria Es ist vollbracht ('it is completed'). It is spoken (i.e., sung) by a witness to the Crucifixion, and comes immediately after the death of Jesus, or rather after a minute or two of absolute silence from the performers in which the hearer is invited to contemplate what s/he has just 'witnessed'.
In the Bach St John Passion, the witness is now pondering so quietly, so wonderingly,
'What is completed? Is it... as He said? Is it possible... that this death - which I have just witnessed - is for me? That this Man's death is unlike any other, and in fact gives the whole world, gives me, eternal life and eternal liberation from sin and its appalling consequences?'Suddenly, the singer's voice, the voice of the witness by the Cross, recalls to us all the prophesies of all the ages as the voice breaks out confidently in a loud cry of recognition that the hero of Judah would one day come to us, would struggle with the forces of darkness and corruption and would triumph. And then once again, quietness, as realisation confirms in the witness, in us, a new faith that what has happened is indeed the truth as the ancients, and Jesus Himself, had foretold, and that His death, which so seems like failure at first sight, is in fact the promised triumph, the supreme Divine act of redemption which has been longed-for over centuries, believed by the prophets and the ancestors, and is now actually happening. What He promised has come to pass. His work of Redemption is completed. Es ist vollbracht.
In the Mass, time itself falls away and all is now. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are no longer in time, but in eternity. The Crucifixion of the Lord is present to me now and I am present to the Son of God on His Cross now, as he offers, in pain and suffering and out of love alone, His one eternal sacrifice of His Body and Blood, which is the Mass. At Mass, the Redeemer of the world, the long-promised conquering hero of Judah, is present to me and I am present at the foot of the Cross on which He completes the work of redemption.
At then end of Mass, then, like the witness in Bach's dramatisation of the Passion according to St John, we too recognise and acclaim, 'It is completed'. The Redemption of the world is completed at the completion of the Mass which is the same, one perfect sacrifice.
The only adequate response from our hearts is as we are sent from the church to make Jesus Christ known to the world He has redeemed is, 'Thanks be to God'.
Thy Will be done. Lord, I go from Mass to do Your Will. Thanks be to God.
