Who Receives the Fruits of the Mass?

There are three ways in which the fruits of the Mass are distributed: to the celebrant in a very special way (specialissime), to the whole Church in a general way (generalissime), and to those for whom the Mass was offered in a particular way (specialiter).

Those who offer the Mass receive the greatest fruit from the Mass. The fruit received is in proportion to the fervor and purity of dispositions with which they offer it. The priest enjoys certain special advantages in that it is easier for him to be fully attentive, since he performs the sacred rite, and he receives grace of state to celebrate the Mass worthily (he may fail to cooperate with that grace, of course, but it is given.

There are two kinds of intentions for which the Mass is offered, general and particular. "Every Mass is offered not for the benefit of only a few, but for the salvation of the whole world." Those for whom the Mass is offered in a particular way would benefit more than those for whom it is offered only in general. The fruits that anyone actually receives from the Mass depend upon the will of God for that individual, and the suitability of that person's dispositions for receiving grace.

For Baptists and Disciples of Christ, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is exclusively a memorial meal. In no sense is it a sacrifice. Presbyterians and Methodists accept the Eucharist as a sacrifice of praise. Some also see it as a sacrament (understood as a sacred sign) through which we offer ourselves to the Father in union with the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, which is commemorated, but not renewed, in the Eucharist. Lutherans continue to reject what the Council of Trent says about the Mass as a propitiatory sacrifice "offered for the living and the dead," since this implies a doctrine of Purgatory which they do not accept.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching