In the beginning and at the end of something is where you find the parts of the thing that have perhaps the most power to stick in your mind. It's just a property of how the human mind works. Of course the really important parts generally have to go in the middle, but it is impossible to overstate the importance of the first and last impressions in contributing to that middle. The first sets the tone for the main body and the last should sum it up in a short conclusion.
Anyone who reads or writes texts in Latin is highly aware of this, perhaps even more than speakers of other languages, because the Latin freedom to choose word order leaves you with no excuse not to choose deliberately. For instance, in the poems Catullus wrote to mock or taunt people he didn't like, he would often make sure an insulting word would go at the end of the last line, just to make sure that's what the reader was left with.
So with this heightened sense of awareness of first and last words in mind, especially with regard to things composed in Latin, I was thinking about the Mass. What's the first thing that's said? Not "Hello," not "Good morning;" not even the opening hymn is the beginning, properly speaking. "In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti" - the Trinity and the Cross, and after that, one of the greeting formulas from the New Testament Letters.
How about the end? It would seem that "amen" might be a good choice - it's what we use so often to conclude and intensify a prayer or vocally ratify one and make it our own after hearing it, and it was so often on the lips of our Lord. But when you think about what the Mass is, and the aforementioned rules about what the last thing should be...you've heard in a hundred homilies what the word eucharist means: thanksgiving. Thanks be to God - Deo gratias.
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