Transcript

Let's start in with a prayer in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women; and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Our Lady's seat of wisdom, pray for us.

Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

So this 10th episode of our Eucharist Course is on the fruits of the Mass, and we're going to ask a simple question, "Why many Masses?" All right.

So, why many Masses?

I think we've already sufficiently answered it, but we want to bring it together.

So we said that, um, the sacrifice of Calvary is infinite, it's not repeated in different Masses, but made present in mystery and power.

And so the sacrifice of the Mass actualizes, re-presents...

Re-presents here with a hyphen.

In other words, not simply a theatrical representation, but making present again, sacramentally.

That is, a mystery in the life of the church in every time and place, from the rising of the sun to the setting of it.

Malachi 1:11.

It makes Calvary present by allowing the Church to participate in the act of offering, and by enabling Calvary's effects of grace to be poured out abundantly on the Church and on the world.

Now, in the last episode, we looked at, um, enabling us to participate, and in this episode, I want to focus on the second part, enabling Calvary's effects of grace to be poured out abundantly on the Church and the world.

Now, this is not...

I'm not saying that this is necessary for God.

In other words, God could pour out graces on the world without the sacrifice of the Mass.

But he has chosen to link the pouring out of these graces with the presentation of the sacrifice of...

The re-presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary and Masses offered every day throughout the Catholic world.

In other words, this is God's plan, to, um, sh- shower down on the world the effects of Calvary through the mediation of the Church in making present again, sacramentally, that same sacrifice, um, in our alt- on our altars in every parish in the world.

So every Mass, again, by the will of God, not by strict necessity, but by the will of God, every Mass applies to the world some of the effects won universally by the sacrifice of Calvary.

So we could compare Calvary to a fountain, right?

An infinite fountain.

And the sacrifice of the Mass, celebrated many times and places, two streams flowing out from that one fountain to water all the earth.

The Council of Trent spoke on this in Session 22, and said, "The fruits of this oblation," the bloody one of Calvary, "are received in abundance through this un-bloody oblation," the Mass.

By no means then does the latter, the Mass, detract from the former, Calvary.

Therefore, it is rightly offered, according to apostolic tradition, not only for the sins' punishments satisfaction and other necessities of the faithful who are alive, but also for those who have died in Christ, but are not yet wholly purified.

That is, for those in purgatory.

Right?

And that's why we say the Mass is offered for the living and the dead, right?

Not the dead who are blessed in heaven, nor the dead who are, um, God forbid, in, in hell, but for all those who are in purgatory.

And it's offered for the whole world, right?

In a series of concentric circles.

I'll come back to that.

So because the Mass, the sacrifice of the Mass applies the fruits of the sacrifice of the cross to mankind in a given time and place, the Mass is subordinated to the cross, right?

We're not saying that the...

We're not making the Mass above the cross.

All of its power comes from the cross, which the Mass mysteriously makes present here, right?

Like the real presence, um, in...

That we discussed earlier through transubstantiation, right?

They're, they're related, analogously, these two mysteries.

And we can understand it, um, as a relation between the universal cause, Calvary, and the particular cause, its sacramental re-presentation here and now, this morning.

Right?

So, uh, a sculptor analogy, I used to be a sculptor, I like sculptor analogies.

As Michelangelo's chisel doesn't detract from his, um, idea, his inspiration in his mind, but applies it in a particular way, so the Mass doesn't detract from the source of its power, Christ's cross, but makes it present in the world and active here and now.

This is true of all the sacraments, in a different way.

So all of the sacraments apply the merits won through the sacrifice of Calvary.

But the Mass does so in a special way, in that it alone is not only a sacri- sacrament, um, that transmits the grace it represents, but also a sacrifice that is pleasing to God, so as to call down upon the world......

graces to water the whole earth.

Graces for those who can receive the sacraments, but also graces for those who are still outside, drawing them in.

And so, this is unique about the Eucharist.

The other sacraments benefit those who receive them, but the Eucharist is offered as sacrifice also for those who are not baptized, right?

It's offered for the whole world.

And drawing in, drawing down graces upon them, upon all, so that all are drawn in.

Pius the 12th speaks about this in Mediator Dei, his encyclical, great encyclical on the liturgy, and from 1947.

He says, um, speaking of Calvary, "This purchase," right, Calvary purchased, merited all graces, um, given to mankind from the beginning of history to its end.

"This purchase does not immediately have its full effect." Right?

Those graces have to be given day by day, year by year, place by place.

So, he continues.

"Since Christ had to redeem the world at the cost of his own blood, still must come into complete possession of the souls of men.

Wherefore, that the redemption and salvation of each person may be effectively accomplished and acceptable to God, it is necessary that men should individually come into vital contact with the sacrifice of the cross, so that the merits which flow from it should be imparted to them." Again, he uses that analogy of the fountain and the streams, right?

Calvary is the fountain, the Mass applying its fruits to the world today.

Is, so he says, quote, "On Calvary, Christ built a font of purification and salvation, which he filled with the blood he shed.

But if men do not bathe in it and dare wash away the stains of their iniquities by having baptism, but, or come in contact with it, um, they cannot be purified and saved.

He wished that all should approach and be drawn to his cross, especially by means of the sacraments and the Eucharistic sacrifice to obtain the fruits, the salutary fruits produced by him on the cross." All right, so he's putting forth the, the Mass as the great instrument by which the merits won on Calvary are distributed to the faithful.

Again, it's not the only instrument.

God isn't restricted.

His grace, um, transcends the sacramental order.

But nevertheless, He's a God of order, and He's established the sacraments as the ordinary channels, and He's est- established the sacrifice of the Mass as the ordinary channel by which His super abundant generosity and mercy, um, is en- enabled to, um, to win its full effect on the earth.

Right?

And that gives glory to Jesus, who's offered, and to the church, who participates in the offering.

Okay, let's look at, um, the purposes of the sacrifice.

I mentioned this in an earlier talk, uh, episode, um.

So Catholic tradition speaks of four ends of the Mass, um, which are also the ends of all prayer and the liturgy, right?

Adoration, thanksgiving, petition, and expiation of sin or contrition.

And there's the acronym ACTS, adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, supplication.

So the Mass realizes each of these four ends in a supreme way.

Right?

It's the best way by which we do all four of those things.

Objectively, the best way.

Right?

Um, and so adoration, first purpose.

Um, and this, we see this throughout the Eucharistic liturgy, this often called doxology, glorifying, um, glorifying God.

Through Him, with Him, and in Him, oh, God, Almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours forever and ever.

Right?

No better way to give glory to the Father than by offering the Son to the Father, making present, um, the supreme offering of Calvary, right?

And joining our lives to it.

And so, the best way to adore God is to go to Mass, right?

Yes, I love to adore God also outside of Mass, in my God corner, waking up in the morning and throughout the day.

But the Mass is the greatest way, because I'm doing it together with Jesus, glorifying his Father.

Thanksgiving.

Uh, what better way to give thanks to the Lord than to join again with His Son, offering Himself to the Father?

Right?

Psalm, uh, 116 verses 12 and 13 speak of this.

"What shall I render to the Lord for all His bounty, His goodness to me?

I will lift up the cup of salvation," is the answer.

"I will lift up the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord." And so we, we give thanks for everything.

For our creation, for our redemption, for all the graces we received by joining in the perfect offering of thanksgiving.

And that's why the Eucharist is called Eucharist, which in Greek means thanksgiving.

All right, supplication.

The Mass is the best way to bring everything, um, that I want to receive to bring my petitions, um, to the Lord.

Right?

Yes, we bring those petitions outside of Mass, the Our Father, and throughout the day.

But the Mass is the best way, because I'm bringing those petitions together with the perfect offering.

Right?

And we see this in the Eucharistic liturgy.And also, a scripture, Hebrews 12 says that the, "In the mass where we have the blood of Christ poured out for us, that it speaks more graciously, more eloquently than the blood of Abel." But this effect depends also on our dispositions.

Now also, I mentioned this in the preceding episode that the participation of the people is part of the divine plan and that's why we ask for him to look kindly upon our offering.

Christ's part is perfect, ours is not.

And therefore, the better dispositions we bring to the mass and the more participate, right?

This is why it's not a, a small thing that many Catholics don't come to mass, right?

That, that weakens as it were the offering of the church even though it doesn't weaken Christ's offering.

Right, so our dispositions matter, um, and so we want to bring our dispositions though, our dispositions matter, but they fall short, and so we want to bring them together with the perfect sacrifice of Christ.

Finally, um, oh, and by the way, that's why in fact in the Eucharistic prayers we pray for all the needs of the whole church and the world.

Right?

It's the best way to make those intercessions, and that, a beautiful example of this is the, um, liturgy of Good Friday, the solemn, um, prayer for the whole world, right, in a series of concentric circles.

Not just for those who are inside the church, but also those who are outside, like the Jewish people, the, um, our, um, Muslim brothers and sisters who believe in the one God, and also for atheists, which I used to be, right, previous life.

Right, so every mass is offering for, um, the needs of the whole world, and above all, the spiritual needs, but also the physical needs.

All right.

Sacrifice of contrition.

The mass is the perfect propitiatory sacrifice, right?

Um, in other words, it's the most perfect way of bringing, um, or, uh, of joining in Christ's satisfaction for sin.

It doesn't dispense me from going to the sacrament of penance, right?

I have to, um, make use of that sacrament as well, but, um, in the mass, it's the most, because it's the summit of the church's life, it's the summit of our joining with our Lord in offering sacrifice for sins, including our own, and those of our, our society and world.

In order to understand this, it's helpful to consider that there are two effects or consequences of sin, and the masses efficacious in expiating both as it were.

All right.

What are they?

Um, in every sin, let's, let's think of a mortal sin, um, one turns away from the Lord, the will of the Lord as known in conscience, to some created satisfaction.

So there's a turning away from God and thus a turning away of my own will from the Lord, and that's the guilt of sin.

And repentance involves turning back around to the Lord in our hearts, and that's the first, but once I've done that, I've turned back in repentance to the Lord, there's still disorder in the world as a result of my sin, right, and my turning back to the Lord hasn't changed the, that disorder, right?

The extreme case, let's suppose I've murdered someone, right, that murder then remains.

And so in addition to turning back in our hearts to the Lord, we need to offer something in addition that's called satisfaction, um, to make up for the disorder that our sin has introduced into the world.

And this, um, is referred to in Catholic theology as the temporal punishment due to sin.

All right.

Maybe not the most perfect terminology, but it's, it's the idea that in addition to turning my heart back to God, I still need to offer something.

The best way to think about this is suppose, um, I've offended, let's say, my spouse.

Um, I ought to apologize, but, um, in addition to repenting and apologizing, I also ought to offer something that would be more pleasing than my sin was displeasing, and that might be hard to do.

Um, and in the case of our sins with respect to God, we can't do that, right?

We can't make perfect satisfaction for them, and that's why our Lord has satisfied on Calvary.

But nevertheless, he wants us to participate, and I expressed this earlier saying the logic of the atonement is solidarity rather than substitution.

Right?

He hasn't simply substituted for us, taking away all need for satisfaction.

That would be the, kind of the more extreme Protestant view.

But rather, he's offered what we can't offer of perfect satisfaction, um, and given us grace so that we can offer our own proportionate satisfaction with him, right?

And so in the mass, we can, um, the mass is offered for this end, right, to atone for the temporal punishment due to sin, um, and to win the graces for repentance for those who are still, um, unrepentant.

Right?

In other words it, the mass wins graces for both of these effects.

Graces of conversion for those who have turned away from the Lord, and graces, um, enabling satisfaction for those who have already, um, turned their hearts back to him.

Right?

And, and it's in this second sense that it's offered for those in purgatory, right?

Those in, in purgatory are in purgatory because before they died, they, in their hearts, turned back to God and repented, but they're in purgatory because they didn't sufficiently make satisfaction for their sins.And that's...

And they can't anymore, right, because they're in purgatory.

They can't do the acts of...

See, the Latin acts of alms giving, prayer and, and penance, um, for, for, um, for others.

They...

Yes, they pray in purgatory but...

And, and are purified.

But we can aid them, right?

And we aid them precisely by offering the sacrifice of the mass on their behalf as well.

Right?

And this is in...

This was part of the Reformation controversy, right?

Luther objected to this as a human work, um, and objected to the very notion of purgatory, because of the idea of substitutionary punishment, right?

Christ took the hit for all.

There should be no more satisfaction.

But that's not the church's tradition.

And we can see this going way back, that all the ancient liturgical prayers, Eucharistic prayers, speak of this, um, purpose of the mass, um, of being offered for not just the living, but also the faithful departed.

And this has been defined by the Council of Trent as a dogma of faith.

So the Council of Trent says if anyone says that the sacrifice of the mass is merely an offering of praise and thanksgiving, or that it's a simple memorial of the sacrifice offered on the cross and not propitiatory, or that it benefits only those who communicate and should not be offered for the living and the dead, for sins, punishments, satisfaction of the necessities, let him be anathema.

Right?

So that Trent is defined that it has this effect, um, of benefiting the faithful departed who are still in purgatory.

But we see this going far before the Council of Trent.

One of my, um...

So Saint Cyril of Jerusalem in his Catechesis to the Neophytes after Easter, in Easter week, explains the mass to the neophytes, the newly baptized.

And he says, "After the, um..." It's after the consecration.

"After that, we pray on behalf of the holy fathers and bishops, and in general, all amongst us already gone to their rest, for we believe that these souls will obtain the greatest help if we make our prayers for them while the holy and most awesome sacrifice is being offered." Right?

This is the middle of the fourth century in Jerusalem.

And we find it throughout the, um, um, the patristic period.

All the ancient liturgies pray for not just the living, but the dead.

And he goes on to explain it more.

Um, another testimony, m- maybe my favorite, is that of Saint Monica, um, as recounted by Saint Augustine, um, her son, in his confessions.

So there's a beautiful dialogue between Saint Monica and Augustine as she's on her deathbed, um, shortly before she dies.

And, and she was on her way back to Africa, um, and her plan was to be buried with her husband in a, a...

You know, in a, um...

Together with him.

But, um, she got sick in the port of Rome, Ostia, and that couldn't...

She couldn't go back.

And, um, Augustine's brother expressed his regret at that.

And Monica said, "Oh, bury this body anywhere.

Let its care give you no concern.

Only one thing do I ask of you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord, wherever you may be." Right?

So she's asking, um, her sons to remember her in the celebration of every mass.

Right?

And that's showing this ancient faith of the church, that this sacrifice of the mass benefits those who are in purgatory, right?

Probably she didn't have to go to purgatory.

She's Saint Monica.

But nevertheless, um, we should all think that we, um, have imperfectly made satisfaction and thus, um, we should ask for masses to be celebrated.

And Saint Augustine then goes on to say, "After her death, the sacrifice of redemption was offered for her." Now, we can...

So kind of summarizing what we've said so far, so far.

Um, the sacrifice of the mass, in addition to its effective glorifying and thanking the Lord, also has this descending effect of, um, winning graces for conversion.

That is, graces for repentance and conversion, graces for continued satisfaction.

Simply the graces of the Christian life and the graces of conversion for those outside the church.

Um, and we can see this as the universal effect of every mass.

But in addition to that universal effect, um, the mass also has particular effects that we pray for particularly.

Right?

And so we can speak of different classes of recipients of the benefits of the mass.

All right?

So the first class we said is the whole world and those in purgatory, right?

Offered for the living and the dead.

And every mass has this universal effect, and that's why every mass shouldn't be considered to be merely private, right?

So even if there are, um, none of the faithful present, it's still an offering ex-...

Um, of the whole church and benefiting the whole church and the whole world.

But in addition to that universal effect, the mass also has a special fruit that corresponds to the special intentions for which it's offered by the priest, right?

And this normally corresponds to, um, um, the intention of the faithful, um, who offer a stipend, right?

The mass stipend, um, which is represe-...

Is the sign, right?

Of the interior desire of the faithful, um, who offer, right?

Um, who offer the mass.

Um, and this, um, special intention can be for the living or the dead, right?

So for those of the faithful departed who ha- passed, but also for intentions for the living.

Right?

And so this is a great work of charity for our loved ones who have passed away and our loved ones who haven't passed away....

I thought it's the special intention, um, for which the Mass is offered.

But in addition to that, there's also a personal fruit for the priest who celebrates, so he can have an additional intention, um, and all of the faithful who are present with devotion, who also have their own intentions.

All right?

And that's also mentioned in the various Eucharistic prayers, um, such as the Roman Canon.

Right?

And it follows from this, that the greater the devotion of priest and faithful, the greater will be their personal fruit.

Now, obviously, God can, um, can distribute his graces as he wills, but we said he's a God of order and this is the ordinary way that, um, greater devotion in the offering, that means greater desire, right?

Greater hunger and thirst for these fruits, the more fruits will be given, right?

And that's a law of the Gospel.

Jesus says, "It seems unfair to us, but to he who has more, more will be given." And here, by more we mean, above all, desire.

Right?

And that's what we want to ask for greater desire.

All right?

So this personal fruit is not strictly dependent on receiving communion.

Right?

It's, one can receive this fruit, because it's a fruit from the offering, right, joining devoutly in the offering and imploring its, its fruits.

Now, obviously, the best way to implore those fruits is also to receive communion.

We'll come back to that in a later talk.

But whoever cannot receive communion can still gain this fruit from devout participation in the Mass.

Okay.

So we've said there's the universal, um, effect, there's the special intention, and there are the personal intentions of priest and faithful and, um, the faithful who are present, but also the faithful who can't be present, right, due to sickness or other, um, impediment.

Okay, so going back to our original question, why many Masses?

I think we've answered, given many reasons for that, um, but is there a value in multiplying Masses?

And the answer, based on all that we've said, is clearly yes, but it's not strictly a matter of quantity, it's a matter of quality together with quantity, right?

Based on what we've said.

So we want to multiply the representation of Calvary, but we also want to multiply the desire of the faithful.

Right?

Um, and yes, this is why there's Sunday Mass obligation, but it's...

A mere obligation doesn't produce that increase of quality and desire.

Right?

We need catechesis, prayer, and the spiritual life, and, um, good examples.

All right.

But somebody could make this objection: Every Mass is an infinite sacrifice, and that's true, because it's Christ's sacrifice which has infinite power, um, represented on the altar.

So if...

What's the point of multiplying infinities, right?

Are a million infinities more infinite than one?

Um, no.

Um, so it's not...

So how should we answer that?

Multiplying the celebration of the Mass doesn't multiply Christ's sacrifice.

All right?

That's really important.

Christ died once and for all.

His sacrifice is one, and we don't multiply it, we simply make it present in every Mass.

But what gets added is the participation of the Church, and that really does get added, um, by multiplying Masses, and, but, and that's why it's not just about quantity, but it's, above all, about quality.

In other words, um, we participate and that, God takes into account in, um, showering graces on the world.

Saint Thomas, um, argues for this in his Summa, um, the Pardon of the Eucharist, Question 79, Article 5, and he speaks about these fruits of the Mass as being dependent on our dispositions.

He says, um, "In making satisfaction, the affection of the offerer is weighed more than the quantity of the offering." Right?

Hence, our Lord says that, "The widow, the poor widow who offered two mites, cast in more than all the rest." Right?

Another s- good analogy there.

It's not the, the objective, um, um, thing so much in making satisfaction as the desire of the heart and the gift of the heart.

All right?

And so, um, now, applied to the Mass, yes, obviously the objective part is principle, because that's Christ's offering, but yes, that's once and for all, and what we join to that is the offering of our own hearts.

Right?

And so that's, um, that's very significant for the fruits of grace in the world.

And so the application of the Mass, we could say, is measured, um, to the words of the great theologian, Charles Journet, "They are measured by the fervor of those who, through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ, pray for the salvation of the world." Right?

And it's further conditioned by the dispositions of those for whom we pray.

Right?

And likewise, for those in purgatory, right?

And that's why you can't simply say, "Well, I'll offer one Mass for those in purgatory and we're done." We don't know the dispositions of our, um, loved ones who have passed away.

Right?

And maybe they need more Masses, because of their dispositions, or maybe less, and we can't know that.

All right?

So since each Mass applies these blessings and graces to the world, the multiplication of the acts of offering the sacrifice, and that is of our joining to it, does bring down more blessings on the world.

And the more we join, the more that's true.

Okay.

You can see th- this whole question is, um, there's a logic of superabundance.

Jesus, in instituting his Church and its sacramental economy...And, and the mass is not looking at the minimum, right?

One mass would be enough for all time, but it's looking for a maximum, right?

To maximize, because he...

just as he super abundantly redeemed us, so he wants to super abundantly shower graces on the world and have us involved in that process.

Christ could have given his church a lesser sacrifice than his own sacrifice of Calvary, but he chose to give us this super abundant offering, and having given us the mass, he could have willed that it be offered rarely, right?

But the logic of super abundance indicates that it should be offered frequently, right?

If possible, daily, in every place by every priest.

Right?

The right question isn't whether a smaller number would be sufficient, but how best to correspond to the Lord's logic of super abundance.

Right?

And it's not because of any insufficiency of Calvary, and we're not multiplying Calvary, but we're joining ourselves day by day with Calvary and then multiplying the acts of offering, right?

Not multiplying in the sacrifice of Calvary, but multiplying our acts of joining in the offering.

Multiplying the priestly acts, ministerial priests, but also that of the common priesthood of the faithful, right?

And that gives glory to God and wins fruit for the Earth.

We'll, uh, leave this episode here.

We give you thanks, almighty God, for having given to your church the mass abundantly offered so that you can, um, shower the Earth with its fruits through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.