“With Your Spirit” graphic by the monks of Weston Priory, © 1980 The Benedictine Foundation of the State of Vermont, Inc.

©2007-2012 FCA Ministry.  All rights reserved.  Last page update 12/20/2010.

In what sense are the General Intercessions or Prayer of the Faithful “general”?

As persons baptized into the priesthood of Christ, it is our duty--and privilege--to intercede for the world to God the Father through Jesus his Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.  (That is why we dismiss the catechumens from Mass before the Prayer of the Faithful.)  The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (53) states, and the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (69) repeats, that, in the Prayers of the Faithful (General Intercessions) we are to pray “for the holy Church, for the civil authorities, for those oppressed by various needs, for all people, and for the salvation of the entire world.”  The General Intercessions thus remind us that God gathers us for Eucharist not only for our own sake but, even more, for the sake of the world.  The General Intercessions, or Prayers of the Faithful, are “general” in that they reach far beyond the needs in our personal or community life.

.