Man’s name was taken for name of a sin

By Msgr. Pedro Lopez-Gallo

A reader asks: “Why do priests frequently announce, ‘The intention of this Mass is for the recovery of so-and-so, who is seriously ill,’ or, ‘This Mass is for the repose of the soul of....’ Can a priest restrict the infinite value of the Mass and ‘sell’ the spiritual worth of the sacraments? Was it not such merchandising that led to Luther’s reformation in the Church?”

If the query is referring to the buying or selling of sacred things, giving bribes, or promising material advantage in exchange, for example, for receiving ordination, he is referring to the sin of “simony.” The word comes from the name of Simon Magus, a Samaritan magician who offered money to obtain the spiritual powers the apostles had received from Christ to heal the sick, pardon sins, etc.

St. Peter’s reaction was dramatic: “May you and your money rot, thinking that God’s gift can be bought! You have no share, no rights. God can see your heart is warped in this” (Acts 8:9-24).

Perhaps the reader meant the tradition of praying Holy Mass for our beloved deceased with the offering of a “stipend.” Let me reassure my readers, the Church imposes a severe warning: “Any appearance of trafficking or commerce is to be entirely excluded from Mass offerings” (canon 947).

To dispel any appearance of trafficking in prayers for the departed, the Church approves the tradition started in the Old Testament when, after a ferocious battle, Judas the Maccabee went to gather the bodies of the slain to bury them: “Turning to supplication, they prayed that their sins might be fully blotted out. Then he took a collection among all the soldiers amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view” (2 Macc. 12:38-43).

The Church retained this tradition of praying for the deceased or the intentions of the living: “In accord with the approved usage of the Church, it is lawful for any priest who celebrates or concelebrates Mass to receive an offering to apply the Mass according to a definite intention” (canon 945).

The Archdiocese of Vancouver has severe by-laws regarding Mass offerings. A priest is forbidden to accept stipends for more Masses than he can offer within a year. Intentions of several donors cannot be accumulated, meaning it is forbidden to accept several stipends and say a Mass for two or more intentions.

Before I arrived in Vancouver, the stipend set by the diocese was $2, then it was raised to $5, for 30 years. Now it is set at $10.

Another moving letter sent to me, read: “Dear Father, You said that after Communion we must speak with Jesus, tell Him our needs, pray for people in sorrow, etc. Can you tell me how I can find the words to express my love to Him?”

Dear reader, I cannot teach you what to pray personally and intimately when Jesus is in your heart. I myself prefer to recite the prayer of St. Augustine:

“O eternal truth, true love and beloved eternity. You are my God. To You do I sigh day and night. When I first came to know You, You drew me to Yourself so that I might see that there were things for me to see, but that I myself was not yet ready to see them. Meanwhile You overcame the weakness of my vision, sending forth most strongly the beams of Your light, and I trembled at once with love and dread.

“I sought a way to gain the strength which I needed to enjoy you, but I did not find it until I embraced ‘the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who is above all, God blessed for ever.’ He was calling me and saying: ‘I am the way of truth, I am the life.’

“Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new. You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for You. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which You created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in You they would not have been at all.

“You called, You shouted, and You broke through my deafness. You flashed, You shone, and You dispelled my blindness. You breathed Your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for You. I have received You, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burn for Your peace” (Confessions of St. Augustine).

Msgr. Lopez-Gallo’s columns are available in two volumes for $20 each from St. Andrew’s Church Supply, 305 W. 8 Ave. in Vancouver, toll-free 1-800-663-7161. Proceeds will go to Hogar de Nazareth Orphanage in Mexico, which he sponsors.