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The time of General Intercession is a “graced
moment” that must not
be allowed to become sterile, routine or trivial.
The Prayer of the Faithful
By W. Patrick Cunningham
In the fevered days of liturgical experimentation and change that followed the promulgation of Sacrosanctum Concilium by Vatican Council II, one of the alterations most obvious to ministers and congregants alike was the new “Prayer of the Faithful.” This “common prayer” was ordered to be restored after the gospel and homily, “especially on Sundays and holidays of obligation” (SC 53). Unfortunately, since that initial surge of enthusiasm, little has been written in English on the theology and practice of this important part of the Liturgy of the Word. Yet, if a popular survey were taken to identify changes that improved the Mass as common prayer, without engendering controversy, the General Intercessions would certainly be in the top two or three.
In history, the General Intercessions can be attested from at least the third century, but if the reference in 1 Tim. 2:1-2 is to an early liturgical usage, then formal General Intercessions go back to the time of the apostles. Furthermore, when these prayers fell out of use, the perceived need for special prayers did not go away. Thus did numerous popes insert “various suffrages into the Mass.” For example, in 1213, Innocent III ordered that Psalm 78 be sung with a collect after the Pater Noster and before the communion.1
Because this prayer is so highly regarded, and has such potential for restoring a spirit of humble intercession in the Church and individual Catholics, it is imperative that we focus on improving our own understanding of it. Then, through praxis, writing, catechesis and homily, we can share developed insights with the whole Catholic community, and help them improve their community and individual prayer lives.
What it is
All prayer constitutes the “vital and personal relationship with the living and true God” (Catechism, 2558). God, who needs nothing of ours, condescends to thirst for us “that we may thirst for Him” (Ibid. 2560). The inexhaustible fountain of good, the Triune God, asks us to want what he is, and what he has, so that, when we humbly open ourselves to his grace, he freely and generously floods us with that grace through the actions of the Holy Spirit in us (Ibid. 2627).
Prayer is traditionally separated into four modes: Praise, Thanksgiving, Petition and Repentance. Although this division is a useful reminder to us to maintain balance in our lives of prayer, it may tempt us to artificially segregate our prayers, or forget that most prayer tends to be “mixed” in mode-petitions full of thanks, praise laced with repentance.
The “Prayer of the Faithful” is perhaps best titled “General Intercessions,” because it is the special type of petition called “intercessory prayer.” The Catechism reminds us that intercessory prayer joins us in a special way to the mission of Jesus, who is the one intercessor with the Father for all men, especially sinners (Ibid. 2634). At the right hand of the Father, Jesus constantly intercedes for us, and is joined in that eternal action by Mary and all the saints (Lumen Gentium, 49, 69). There can be no doubt, then, that the liturgical action of intercessory prayer, whether done at the formal “prayer of the faithful” or in the other prayers of the Liturgy, is the earthly reflection of the eternal Liturgy of the Lamb (cf. Rev. 8). Because it is the prayer of all for the needs of all, it especially manifests the reality that all the baptized share in the priestly work of Christ.2
In a sense, the General Intercessions act as a bridge or conduit for the act of redemption. Jesus died once for all, and his redemptive sacrifice is an eternal reality, celebrated by the Church in all three of her existences—militant, suffering and triumphant. The Intercessions act as part of the Eucharistic sacrifice to bring that saving grace into the present.
What we ask
Sacrosanctum Concilium directs that intercession be made for “holy Church, for the civil authorities, for those oppressed by various needs, for all mankind, and for the salvation of the entire world.” The GIRM specifies that this be the sequence of petitions, except that prayer for civil authorities be sequenced with prayers for the world’s salvation. On special occasions, more specific prayers for newly confirmed, ordained, married or deceased persons are to be added.
The ancient Liturgies, and the Mass of Paul VI, assign the chanting or recitation of the intercessory prayers of the Eucharist to the deacon.3 Typically, the presiding priest intones a call to prayer reminiscent of the day’s scriptural readings, and the deacon intones each of several petitions to God on behalf of the people. For example, in the ancient Liturgy of St. James, the deacon begins: “In peace let us beseech the Lord. For the peace that is from above, and for God’s love to man, and for the salvation of our souls, let us beseech the Lord.”4 The congregation then responds accordingly, for instance with the plea Lord, have mercy or Lord, hear our prayer.
Why is the deacon especailly tasked with this ministry, and why is it a mistake to take this task from him and assign it to a lay lector or commentator? The deacon is ordained specifically for Christian service, even as the priest is ordained especially for sacrifice. These divine works are inextricably intertwined with the character of ordination, so much so that the very name “deacon” means “servant,” even as “priest” means “sacrificer.” On a practical level, the deacon is the ordained person who must understand and plan to meet the corporal and spiritual needs of the community, who works with the laity on these needs daily, and who then at daily Mass voices these needs to the Father in Christ.
Despite this eminence of the deacon during the Intercessions, GIRM makes it very clear that the priest “presides” over the prayer, and symbolizes that presidency by making the invitation to prayer and the collect his own. The priest, then, has ultimate responsibility for what is said during the intercessory prayers, and should take an active part in their composition or selection, and in critiquing those composed by others, when necessary.
Because the various instructions are not more specific in telling us how to compose the General Intercessions, we ought to understand what the great masters of prayer, the saints, had to say about the subject. Not surprisingly, St. Thomas Aquinas has left us useful advice in the Summa Theologica.
Thomas reminds us that it is always good to ask for “certain goods which man cannot abuse, because they cannot result in evil” (II-II, Q83 Art 5). Therefore, our prayers should focus on requests for growth in virtue, thirst for union with God, and the spiritual gifts.
When asked “whether man ought to ask God for temporal things when he prays,” Thomas concurs, citing Augustine (ibid. art. 6). Specifically, we ought to ask for a sufficiency of material goods, according to our station in life, and we should pray that we not lose them. Nonetheless, we should avoid putting these concerns in first place in our prayer, as well as praying for goods that are “superfluous and inordinate.”
Thomas asks also if one should pray for others, and specifically if one should pray for one’s enemies. Citing James 5:16, Thomas insists that charity actually requires us to pray for one another, and that even if sin prevents the object of our prayer from benefitting from it, we ourselves will benefit from the prayer. Even though in Thomas’s day the General Intercessions were only used at the Good Friday service,5 he reminds us that “the prayers of a multitude are more easily heard.” Finally, he encourages us to “pray for our enemies in the same manner as we are bound to love them.” That is, we must love them in themselves, and not love their sin, and therefore pray for their welfare and conversion. He concludes that “it is a matter of obligation that we should not exclude our enemies from the general prayers which we offer up for others.” This prayer does not end the matter, of course. “When we intercede, we do not ‘wash our hands’ of the . . . issue or need . . . there is no cheap intercession.”6 We are still enjoined to work for the good of both friend and foe, as far as possible.
Some principles of prayer
With these ideas in mind, we can derive some principles to be used in planning and praying the General Intercessions at daily or Sunday Mass. Our prayer will then be freed from some of the less obvious errors and can be more in tune with the mind of the Church.
1. We should address the prayer to God, through Jesus Christ. The collect should usually end in one of the traditional ways: “through Christ our Lord” or one of the longer conclusions. But because the intercessions are prayers in themselves, not just invitations to pray, the formula “Let us pray to the Lord” should be replaced with “We pray to You, O Lord.” Likewise, innovations such as “a moment of silence to allow us to make [the prayers] our own, before we all say the response”7 tend to be confusing and disruptive, and should be avoided.
2. Whenever possible, the intercessions should be sung. Singing is a double prayer, as Augustine reminded us. Song makes prayer sink deeper into the soul, and it summons up a more heartfelt response from the congregation. There should be no need for instrumental accompaniment to a simple chant; such accompaniment detracts from, rather than adds to, the prayerfulness of a monodic chant.
3. Prayers should remain rather general, except when they must be particular to be meaningful. For instance, to pray “for our Pope,” without naming him, is at least strange (some manuals of General Intercessions make this mistake). When formulating prayers for a funeral, it makes sense to pray for the deceased “and all the faithful departed.” But the practice of inviting members of the congregation to shout out their particular intentions (“so that I might pass my calculus exam”) actually trivializes the intercessions.8 It also leads to absurdities such as individuals asking for general prayer “for a special intention.”
4. Whenever possible, the prayers should be composed for the particular Mass. This is not a hard-and-fast rule. There is room for the use of books of pre-written prayers. However, the chronic use of some other parish’s or some other pastor’s work not only can lead to the leader’s loss of facility with writing prayers, it loses the opportunity to pray for general areas of virtue and temporal advancement that are needed by the local community. In our parish we have also found that formula prayers can be adapted to the needs of our day and time by inserting phrases such as “and especially for our brothers and sisters in East Timor.”
5. Ocassionally, we should pray for our enemies. It would be scandalous, as Thomas notes, to totally avoid opportunities to pray for those who perpetrate violence, such as mass murderers, abortionists, and genocides. Thomas notes that we might legitimately pray for temporal inconveniences for our foes, so that they might be forced to consider repentance. We cannot, of course, pray for evil things to happen to them. Thus one might, in the course of an anti-abortion campaign, rightly ask that the Fire Marshal close down a “clinic” for violations of the fire code; to ask that the “clinic” burn down, however, would be wrong, and might even provoke an injustice.
6. Ask for temporal goods in sufficiency, especially for the poor. This can be a challenge, because it should issue in followup actions in behalf of the poor. That would be a fitting prayer just before a collection for the work of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
The time of General Intercession is a “graced moment” that must not be allowed to become sterile, routine or trivial. Because it signs forth the whole community’s participation in the eternal intercession of Christ and the saints, it is a powerful witness of prayer to the Church and to the world.
1 Migne, PL 216, 821, cited in L. Sheppard The Mass in the West, Hawthorn, 1962 at 77. This practice was retained by the Carmelites and Carthusians into the modern era.
2 Cf. Tom Coyle, This Is Our Mass, 23rd Publications, 1989: “The prayer of the faithful [is] the special prayer of baptized Christians” (p. 39).
3 GIRM 47: “the intentions themselves are best proposed by a deacon, a cantor or some other assistant.” To assign these to the lector confuses the liturgical roles and takes away one of the more meaningful signs of the diaconal ministry.
4 In studying the early Liturgies, the reader cannot fail to be impressed by the interplay between the roles of priest, deacon and congregation, as well as by the extreme formalism and intimate language which characterize the prayers.
5 Josef Jungmann, The Mass, Historical, Theological and Pastoral Survey, Liturgical Press, 1975 at 183.
6 Thomas McKeon, “God Awaits Our Prayer,” Emmanuel, June 1997 at 292.
7 Coyle, op. Cit., p. 40.
8 One of the youngsters on our parish liturgical committee solved the “particular intention” problem by suggesting a prayer altar with a bowl into which parishioners and visitors can put slips of paper with their prayer intentions. Other parishioners are encouraged to take an intention and pray for that person during a week’s time.
Mr. W. Patrick Cunningham received his B.A. and M.A. in theology from St. Mary’s University in Texas. He also earned an M.A. in education from Stanford University. He has taught business ethics at Incarnate Word College and is now on the adjunct faculty of the University of Texas at San Antonio. Mr. Cunningham is now studying for ordination to the diaconate for the Archdiocese of San Antonio and works in Holy Spirit Parish there. His last article in HPR appeared in May 1999.
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