2715. Duties of the Priest as to the Application of Mass.—(a) For Whom May Mass Be Applied?—Mass may be offered for all objects not forbidden. From the divine law it is forbidden to offer Mass for those who are incapable of receiving its benefits (e.g., the demons, infants who died without Baptism, the Saints), or for intentions that are displeasing to God (e.g., for success in evil). From the ecclesiastical law certain restrictions are made on the application of Mass in order to safeguard reverence and prevent scandal. Thus, Mass may be said only privately (that is, without publicity or special liturgical solemnity) and prudently (that is, with avoidance of scandal, for example, by the declaration that Mass is said for the faithful departed with the purpose of aiding also a departed unbeliever, if this is pleasing to God) for the living and dead outside the Church, such as infidels, heretics, schismatics, and the excommunicated. Moreover, for a _vitandus_ Mass may be applied only when the intention is his conversion (Canon 809).
(b) How Mass Must Be Applied.—The intention must be formed by the priest, since he represents Christ. But since his application does not produce but only bestows the fruits, it suffices that his applicatory intention be habitual and implicit, as when the celebrant has forgotten the intention formed before Mass, or applies according to the mind of his superior. The person or purpose to which Mass is applied must be at least implicitly determined, and the application must be made at least before the second consecration. If there are two conflicting intentions, the stronger prevails (2667), and, if it is doubtful which one was stronger, Mass should be next offered for the intention which God knows was not satisfied. It is unlawful to apply Mass by anticipation for the next person who will offer a stipend.
2716. Mass Stipends.—It is not unlawful to receive a stipend for the application of Mass, but irreligion, injustice, avarice, scandal and disobedience must be avoided. (a) Irreligion is committed if the stipend is offered or taken as the price of the Mass, or if Mass is said only because of the stipend, or is requested only for the sake of human favor (see 2333); (b) injustice is committed, if an excessive stipend is exacted; (c) avarice is committed when one is over-anxious about large stipends; (d) scandal is given when there is commercialism or the appearance of it in dealing with stipends; (e) disobedience is incurred when the laws of the Church on the amount of a stipend, the number of stipends that may be taken, their distribution, satisfaction, etc., are violated (see Canons 824-844). It is forbidden to require two stipends for one Mass, or one stipend for mere celebration and another for application.
Art. 3: REPENTANCE; PENANCE; EXTREME UNCTION
(_Summa Theologica_, III, qq. 84-90; Supplement, qq. 1-33.)
2717. Penance is the name both of a virtue and of a Sacrament of the New Law. The virtue was at all times necessary; the Sacrament is necessary since its institution by Christ. Having considered in the previous Article how the spiritual life is begotten, matured and preserved through the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist, we shall consider in the present Article how spiritual death and infirmity are overcome by the remedies of Penance and Extreme Unction. But first we shall speak of the virtue of penance or repentance which is a requisite for the fruitful reception of the Sacrament of Penance and of its complement, Extreme Unction.
2718. The Virtue of Repentance.—This virtue is a gift of God and a permanent habit of the soul, but there are certain acts by which man cooperates with God and prepares himself for the gift. Sometimes a sinner is converted through consideration of God’s goodness or of the rewards of heaven; but usually those who have been drawn by sinful delights are first deterred from them by the thought of God’s justice, and amendment begins from fear. Faith, hope, fear and love, at least virtually, are always found in the process of turning to God, and usually they follow one another in that process in the order here given. (a) The beginning of conversion is with God who draws the heart: “Convert us to Thee, O Lord, and we shall be converted” (Lament, v. 21). (b) Then follows the movement of faith, for he that would come to God must first believe that He is (Heb., xi. 6). (c) Next follow servile fear, which removes one from sin, and hope, which leads one to God, for faith holds out both threats of punishment and promises of mercy. (d) Then come the movements of love, which detests sin for its own sake, and of filial fear, which offers satisfaction to God out of reverence.
2719. Repentance.—Repentance may be defined as “a moral virtue that inclines the will of one who is subject to sin to grieve over it and to make reparation to God for the injury it does to His rights.”
(a) Thus, repentance has its remote subject in one who is subject to sin, that is, in a person who has sinned or who is able to sin. Hence, it is not in Christ, who is impeccable, nor in the holy Angels, whose wills are fixed in good; but it is found in the Saints, inasmuch as their former sin is displeasing to them and their former contrition and satisfaction pleasing.
(b) The proximate subject of repentance is the will, for its acts of regret, resolution, and reparation belong to the higher appetitive faculty, Hence, repentance does not consist in emotional sorrow, and it does not need to be sensibly felt or joined with tears.