The Incredible Catholic Mass Part 2 | Fr. William Rock, FSSP

Hello. I am Father William Rock of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter. And this is TAN Books Year of the Latin Mass. And this is the second of two videos discussing this work, The Incredible Catholic Mass by Father Martin von Cochem. And again, I hope I'm pronouncing his name correctly. Uh this is the second part, as I said, discussing this book. And I'd like to begin with some general critiques that I think are helpful, or at least that I came across in reading this work which might be helpful for readers. The first is that in chapters 4 through 10, the author goes through the various ways that various events and incidences from our Lord's life and mission are made present in the sacrifice of the Mass. Um but I feel that he didn't do maybe a strong enough job of emphasizing that the way that different things are present in the Mass are different, that there's different modes. So, for example, say, well, you know, our Lord's crucifixion is present in the Mass, but also our Lord's incarnation and birth is present in the Mass. But I feel that while that's true, um that they're not present in the same mode. The crucifixion, our Lord's sacrifice, is made present uh sacramentally, uh but his birth and incarnation are there in a different mode. And I just feel that the distinction wasn't necessarily clear that he was presenting that. He sort of just presented that though, you know, all these different events are of our Lord's life are present, but not necessarily specifying that, okay, there there is a difference between the way some of these things are present. Um be that as it may, I mean, the information is still very good. It's good for reflection and to bring to mass with us, but uh the distinctions maybe could have been a little bit stronger there. Also, he does seem to have some historical misunderstandings about certain ceremonies and developments in the mass over time. Uh this could just be due to the scholarship that was available at the time when he was writing. Scholarship that's since been expanded and updated. Um so definitely I would say you could use this book for theological purposes, for devotional purposes, but not as necessarily history of the mass when he's talking about different historical things. There are more recent works that go into more detail about the uh the mass and how the ceremonies evolved over time. Um but maybe not so much this work would be a reference for that. I would also point out that he does have what could be called a low mass mentality where he is approaching the celebration of the mass and the explanation of the ceremonies as the low mass being the point of reference. And given the time that he's writing, this is understandable. Uh the low mass was much more prevalent at that time. Sung masses, solemn high masses would have been rare and or at least rarer than it would be today. So it's understandable that he would be approaching from a low mass perspective cuz this is what uh most of his readers probably would have been familiar with. Um especially maybe in Germany with the way things were done there with the mass. Um but so for example, he would say say at the prayers at the foot of the altar and at the response they are at the fratres that the servers are acting on behalf of the faithful. But it's more probably accurately say or I would say it is more accurate to say that they're actually at those points acting on behalf of the deacon and subdeacon. Now there are parts in the mass where the servers are acting on behalf of the people, but not every instance are they. Uh because if you look through the lens of a sung Mass or solemn high Mass, during the prayers of the foot of the altar, the choir is singing the introit chant, the entrance chant. They're singing the Kyrie maybe, depending on how things are moving along with the Mass. And at a solemn high Mass, the celebrant with a deacon and subdeacon and the servers are praying the prayers of the foot, but they're not audible to the faithful. And because the solemn high Mass really should be the reference, it is the normative Mass, um even if it's not the one that's celebrated most frequently and most frequently, it is the normative Mass. And so, at a low Mass, really the servers are taking the place of the deacon and subdeacon. The same would be true with the Orate Fratres. It's spoken, it's not sung. It's said in in a little bit of a lower voice. And the deacon and subdeacon are the ones who make the response, not the faithful. Um this is maybe a little thing, but it does sort of help frame the approach to the Mass to make sure that we are uh approaching the Mass through the proper lens. Uh my final critique has to do with the second part of the Mass or what we would call maybe the Eucharistic liturgy or the Mass of the faithful. And that he divides it up into three different parts where he says that there's the offertory, there's the consecration, and communion. And he's basing this division based on Christ's actions at the last supper, but I think a fourfold division would actually be better cuz if we take a look at what uh is written about our Lord and the last supper particularly with the bread, it said, you know, our Lord who the day before he suffered took bread into his holy and venerable hands, with his eyes lifted up towards heaven unto thee, God his almighty Father, giving thanks to thee, he blessed, broke, and gave it to his disciples. And again, this is from the canon uh of the mass. And but we actually see that there's four things that our Lord did. First, he took bread, which can be corresponded to the offertory in mass. Where it says, he lifted up his eyes uh towards heaven unto thee God as almighty Father, giving thanks to thee, blessed it. And this would correspond with the preface and the Canon. The looking up to God, giving thanks, and blessing it. Uh especially in in the Hebrew tradition, to give thanks and to bless are basically interchangeable. So, we get to see this is one action, which is the the main Eucharistic action, the combination of the preface and the Canon. And then, that our Lord broke it, which would correspond to the fraction, then gave it to his disciples, which is communion. So, I think a fourfold division of the Eucharistic action of the mass of the faithful is more fitting, where there's the offertory as the first part. Second part is the preface and Canon. The third part is the fraction. And the first fourth part is the communion, reception of communion. So, that all being said, I'd like to go on to some theological points that the author uses throughout his work, but maybe doesn't um spend too much time developing them, or that it's kind of scattered, and I'd like to kind of bring it together for my a tighter explanation of these theological principles. The first has to do with grace. Uh so, generally speaking, we can say that grace is a supernatural gift from God, which produces a real change in the recipient. And there are two types of grace that we can generally identify. One is actual grace, and the other sanctifying grace. And both are referenced by the author. Now, actual grace is generally described as a light to the mind and a strength to the will to do good and to avoid evil, order towards one's sanctification or growth in holiness, depending on where one is in one's uh faith journey. Now, the thing about actual grace is that this light to the mind and strength to the will is given for that particular moment. So, it's given by God for this particular moment. One either uses it or one doesn't, and then it's gone. Which is different from sanctifying grace. Sanctifying grace is a grace which elevates the individual into a new supernatural mode of existence. It produces a real supernatural elevation in the one who has it, and it remains with the individual unless the individual, God forbid, commits a mortal sin. So, with an actual grace, it's something that's given, it's either used or not, and then it goes away. Sanctifying grace is something that remains with the possessor unless it's lost through mortal sin. Again, God forbid that that were to happen. And the last theological point I'd like to touch on, which the author uses throughout the work, although he doesn't sort of explicitly call it out in these terms, are the fonts of supernatural benefits which are present in the mass. And this is distinct from the reception of Holy Communion. So, if someone receives Holy Communion, they receive certain graces and supernatural benefits that go along with it, but the mass itself, considered apart from Holy Communion, the reception of Holy Communion, is also, and additionally, a font of supernatural benefits to those that participate in the mass. And the author is making use of this throughout the book, but I think it is helpful to give a more sort of concise understanding of this. So, when he's kind of referencing things here and there, um we can understand what he's trying to explain. So, we talk about the fonts of the supernatural benefits of the mass, the theologians recognize that there are three general fonts from which the faithful can draw supernatural benefits. The first font is the ceremonies of the mass. The second font is the priest himself. And the third font is the mass as sacrifice, and we'll just sort of briefly discuss each of those in turn. So, the first font is or are the ceremonies of the liturgy being celebrated. Now, it's important to note here that the ceremonies which accompany the mass or which are present in the mass, which accompany the consecration, are all sacramentals. Now, most of us are going to be familiar with the idea of a sacramental being a blessed object like a blessed rosary. But, the actual church's understanding of a sacramental is broader. There's actually four different types of sacramentals. The first type of sacramental recognized by the church or what we could call independent ceremonies such as blessings. The second would be the blessed objects themselves. And the third would be the use of the blessed objects. So, for example, the ceremony used to bless a rosary is a sacramental. The blessed rosary itself is a sacramental. And the use of the blessed rosary is also a sacramental. The fourth type of ceremony or sacramental ceremony are those which are used to frame the sacraments. So, the various ceremonies you say in the celebration of baptism, confirmation, the anointing of the sick, the celebration of mass are all also considered sacramentals. Now, it's important to note that the efficacy or the power of a sacramental is based on the ceremony that's used. And this is why, for example, there are 10 or so different types of blessed water in the Roman Ritual, because each of them have a different ceremony, each of them have a different efficacy, and different effects. And the intended effects or the expected effects, the expected efficacy of a sacramental is based upon the ceremonies which are used. And so, if we take that over to the mass, that means the sacramental efficacy or power of the mass is going to vary depending on the ceremonies used. So, for example, there is going to be more sacramental efficacy in a sung mass than there will be in a low mass because there's greater ceremonies. And similarly, there's a greater sacramental efficacy in a solemn high mass than there would be in a sung mass. And even more so again than a low mass. So, the ceremonies of the mass do matter. They do affect the amount of supernatural benefits that are being presented to those that are participating in it. But here, I think it's important to note that there is a distinction to be made between what is received by a given individual and what is offered. Cuz what is received by an individual is going to be based on their disposition. So, it could be that at a given mass, you have the priest who's celebrating, and then there's the pious old lady near the back of the church who's praying her rosary. And it could be that even though more is being offered to the priest, and we'll get into the reasons why in a little bit, but if more is being offered to the priest, he might actually be receiving less than the lady praying her rosary because she's actually better disposed than the priest is. So, for example. So, it's it's how you have to take into account both the disposition of the individual and what's being offered to get an a sense or an idea of how much one is benefiting from the mass supernaturally. So, moving on from there. So, again, the first font is the ceremonies, the sacramental ceremonies surrounding the celebration of the Eucharist, surrounding the consecration. The second font is actually the priest himself. So, the holier the priest, the more will be offered to the faithful, the more benefits will be offered to the faithful. And the author actually does a pretty good job on pages 305 and 306 of explaining why that is. So, I would just encourage you who are watching to go back and read read that in the book itself. Um as he does a good job there. But, this does mean that the condition of the priest does actually affect what is being made available to the faithful in the celebration of mass. So, please pray for your priest so they can be good and holy for their own sake, but also for your own. And the third font of the supernatural benefits is the mass viewed as sacrifice. And these are specifically called the fruits of the mass. And under this category of mass as sacrifice, there are four categories of fruits that have been identified by the theologians. The first uh set is what are called the general fruits. And the general fruits are the supernatural benefits offered to all the members of the entire church at every celebration of mass. So, every time mass is celebrated, fruits, supernatural benefits are being made available to every member of the church, whether or not they are physically present at the celebration of mass. The second group, second set of fruits is or are what are called the special fruits. The special fruits are what are specifically offered to those who are somehow participating in this particular mass being celebrated right here, right now. And uh this primarily would affect those who are attending the mass in person. So, those who are attending the mass in person would be offered special fruits. Uh but there are other ways that one can be offered special fruits. Because anyone who is in any way contributing to the celebration of this particular mass will be offered special fruits. So, for example, if someone bought and donated the vestments and these vestments are being used, they would get special fruits for that. If someone purchased and donated the flowers or helped set up the flowers being used, then they will get special fruits in that way. If those helped pay for the church or the candles or anything like that, the sacred vestments, the sacred vessels, they will be offered special fruits for each and every instance that they contributed to that. Uh and in order to receive these type of special fruits, one does not even need to be present at mass. So, if one donated, for example, the candles that are being used at this mass, even if one is not physically present, because the candles are being used, then those fruits are being offered to that individual. And within this category of special fruits, one can have more than one source one is drawn from. Someone could be physically present and also donated the candles, then there's going to be two sources that are giving fruits to this individual, rather than one who is just attending but didn't donate the candles, then they won't get the the candle sort of direction or donation uh benefit. Uh >> [snorts] >> but also too, that means special fruits would be offered to the servers at mass over those that are participating just in the pews because they're more involved in the mass. And so, there's various ways that this can play out. Uh the next set of fruits are called the very special fruits and those are given to the celebrating priest himself. And the last set are what are called the ministerial fruits. And the ministerial fruits are those which are offered to those for whom the mass is being offered, particularly as the mass intention. So, if you ever go to a mass and maybe beforehand an announcement is made, it says, you know, this mass is being offered for this particular intention or the intention is listed in the bulletin for a particular mass, the fruits the of the mass, particularly what are called the ministerial fruits, or what are being applied to that intention. So, you have the ministerial fruits, again tied to the mass intention, which the priest is making based on whatever is going on in terms of the bulletin or donations or a list or however it might be that it's being worked out, but it is something very special. So, having a mass set for someone or for an intention means that you're tapping into the ministerial fruits of the mass. Now, regarding these various ways of getting supernatural benefits from the mass, it is important to note that for some of them, right, one does not need to be present. So, as we talked about with the general fruits and depending on the special fruits and the ministerial fruits. And this is why it's very highly recommended that in one's morning offering, one makes the intention to gain all of the fruits or all of the supernatural benefits that are being offered to them throughout the course of the day from all the masses said throughout the world, even if one's not attending mass that day, because it could be maybe someone is having a mass said for for you. And that means so you could draw from the ministerial fruits or maybe you donated candles that are being used this week at the church, which means you could draw from the special fruits, even if you're not present at mass. And of course, we're always being offered the general fruits of every mass being offered every day throughout the entire Catholic world. So, we want to make sure that we're tapping into that. By way we can do that is having that intention in the morning to gain all of the fruits that are being offered from all the masses throughout the world that day and that they be fruitful in our lives. So, I think that brings to an end what I'd like to say about this work, The Incredible Catholic Mass. Again, this is part two. So, if you haven't seen part one, I'd recommend that you go back and watch that as well. Um that will be good. I think that's all for now. God bless and we'll see you at Mass.