The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is traditionally celebrated on the first Thursday after the second Sunday after Pentecost.  St. Albert the Great, who lived in the thirteenth century, wrote a marvelous commentary on the Holy Mass, the offering of the Sacrifice of this Body and Blood to the Father. His comments on the phrase, Ite, missa est, describe the work of the Mass:

"[The deacon] adds, 'He is sent' [Missa est], meaning that the Sacrifice of the Son has been offered, and the sacramental species consumed, and he [the Son] is "sent" to the right hand of the Father, that there he may offer us, within himself, to the Father, so that . . . he may prepare a place for us there, as it is written in John 14, 2: I go to prepare a place for you."

St. Albert is saying here that all the faithful who are joined to Christ as his members in Baptism, are strengthened in this union with him in the reception of the Blessed Sacrament, and are then "sent" with him into heaven, where The Lord pleads for us at the right hand of the Father.  We are joined to him, for in receiving him in Holy Communion, he receives us, so that we are truly "within" him.

Ite, Missa est, was, in fact, a commonly used dismissal of a public gathering, comparable to our modern, "Court is adjourned".  It was a natural enough way for the priest or the deacon to dismiss the people after the Mass was completed.  But the words usually ending the Mass, according to St. Albert, are not primarily about our own "going forth", but about The Lord's going to the Father at the culmination of his Sacrifice.  Reflection on St. Albert's words remind us that the Holy Mass is not about us so much as it is about God.