The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
November 8, 2025 Column Father De Celles
Virginia Swings Left. Well the forces arrayed against the unborn, parental rights and religious liberty were victorious in Tuesday Virginia elections. Not only will they control all the Statewide offices of Governor, Lt. Governor and Attorney General, but they also increased their majority in the Virginia House of Delegates, moving from 51 to 64 seats. This will mean, I’m afraid, that our schools will be encouraged to continue to abuse children and parental rights, and that the Right to Abortion Amendment to the state Constitution will be on next year’s ballot. This is also a return to power of the Party that closed our churches during the Covid panic.
More bad news. The Party of the Left, i.e., the Democrats, have elected an antisemitic Communist with apparent pro-Jihadist sympathies to be the mayor of New York. What does this tell us about the extreme and deep Leftist foundations of the modern Democrat Party, especially when so many of the Party’s leadership endorsed and campaigned for him—including the Democrats Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives and former President Obama.
Of course, the Church condemns Communism. Recall that Pope Pius XI, in his 1937 Encyclical Divini Redemptoris which he wrote “to contrast with its [Communism’s] false principles the clear doctrine of the Church.” He concluded that Communism is “the satanic scourge.”
What Now? “Jesus gives as the way forward, as we read in last Sunday’s Gospel: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” So, we do not despair, but lift our heads up and continue to trust in Jesus, and pray for those who govern us, for their conversion and the conversion of our Commonwealth and Republic.
Offering Masses: ”Mass Intentions.” The greatest prayer Christians can offer is the Sacrifice of the Mass. We remember that at each Mass the one and only Sacrifice of the Cross on Calvary is made present. This Sacrifice of Jesus was and is the greatest prayer ever offered: God the Son’s great offering to the Father for the expiation of sins and salvation of the world. Because of this, the graces that flow from the Mass are infinite and that grace produces various “fruits,” or benefits: impetratory fruits (spiritual and temporal benefits), propitiatory fruits (forgiveness of sins), and satisfactory fruits (remission of temporal punishment).
The Tradition teaches that these fruits flow to: 1) the whole Church (“general fruits”), 2) those participating in the particular Mass (“special fruits”), to the priest himself (“personal fruits”), and to those for whom the priest is offering the Mass (“ministerial fruits”).
This last type of fruit, ministerial, is what we usually mean when we speak the priest “offering a Mass” for a particular intention, or when the Mass Intention” is announced in the bulletin or at Mass. (Note: contrary to what some seem to think, when this “Mass Intention” is for a person(s), this is not meant to publicly honor that person, nor is the congregation required to pray for the person. The Mass honors God; it bears fruit in us, including the person for whom it is offered.)
These ministerial fruits have infinite power—they flow from the infinite perfect Sacrifice of the Cross. But they are limited by the disposition of the person who receives them. So, for example, when you receive the Sacrament of Penance, you receive all the grace you need to never sin again, but you benefit from that grace only to the extent to cooperate with it, or are “open to it.” Grace isn’t magic, that immediately turns a sinner into a saint. Grace is a gift, that if you choose to use will help you become a saint.
So, when a priest offers the Mass for “John,” John receives infinite graces, but they are only beneficial to him if he is disposed to let them benefit him. So, if John has his heart set on sinning, but has a small opening in his heart to God, then he will benefit from the infinite fruits of the Mass only a small amount.
The same is true for the Souls in Purgatory. So, when a Mass is offered for “Jane” in Purgatory, the Mass will benefit her only to the extent she is purified and is open to that fruit. Because we understand Purgation as sort of a process of purifying and that some souls need more purification than others, the Soul in Purgatory benefits from ministerial fruits of the Mass in a powerful but limited way: they are not yet perfectly open to them, but they are more and more perfectly open to them. So that when multiple Masses are offered for a Soul, he/she will benefit more and more as he/she becomes more and more perfectly disposed to the fruits.
So, “offering Masses” for the dead is absolutely the best way we can help them in their purification/perfection. If you would like to offer a Mass for someone, you can contact the parish office for more information.
Mass Attendance. As you know, during the month of October the Bishop requires us to do a manual/visual attendance count at all the Sunday Masses (including the Saturday Vigils and excluding Columbus Day weekend). This year’s Count showed that our average total Sunday attendance total was 1585 people. This number is up 5% from last year, but still represents a 33% decline from attendance in the 2019/pre-Covid Count. I have not seen the results of other parishes, but anecdotally it seems other parishes are experiencing the same decline.
I will say, however, my own unscientific observation was that the 3 Masses counted in October seemed to my own eyes to be noticeably lower in attendance than the Masses in September and even last Sunday, November 2. I have no explanation for that at all, and maybe I’m crazy, but others have told me the same thing. I think I’m going to do another count in a few weeks or months just to test my theory that for whatever reason October is an outlier month in attendance.
Even so, we need to pray for all those Catholics who are not coming to Mass, and encourage any of them that we know to return to Mass.
PARISH/TOWN HALL MEETINGS. I continue to receive input on the subject of a new building and other facility improvements. I encourage this, and hope you will give me your two or three cents worth. I want to do what the parish wants, not what I want, and I’ve not made any decisions yet. So, email me at fdc@straymonds.org.
Online Giving to the Parish. I understand that many are unhappy with our new direct giving online service after Faith Direct was purchased by ParishSOFT. So am I and our parish staff. We are working on this, and will have solution shortly.
Also, some have complained that we have given their credit card information to ParishSOFT without their consent. That is not the case: please understand that when ParishSOFT acquired Faith Direct it simply took over everything they did and had, including your account information.
Oremus pro invicem. Fr. De Celles