“Lord, Hear Our Prayer”

by Jimmy Akin on January 22, 2007

in Liturgy

This is just a liturgical pet peeve of mine, but you know how, during certain times of the year, some parishes decide to get "creative" with the response that is used in the prayers of the faithful?

You know, instead of having the faithful say "Lord, hear our prayer" at the end of every petition, they’ll want you to say something else, typically based on the liturgical day or season, like "Come, Lord Jesus" at Christmas or "Come, Holy Spirit" at Pentecost?

I really hate that.

The reasons I hate it are five:

1) It just feels unnatural. I’m used to saying "Lord, hear our prayer," which is a perfectly good response that everyone is comfortable with and that makes sense when it comes at the end of any petition that may be offered.

2) It’s too distracting. Since I’m not used to saying the alternate petitions, they’re distracting, and I find myself thinking more about the response than about the petition, which is what my mind is supposed to be focusing on. Worshipping with unfamiliar responses is like dancing with unfamiliar footwork. You’re thinking too much about the mechanics of what you’re doing and not enough about the flow of the dance.

3) The alternate response is invariably inappropriate for some petitions–or at least it sounds awful odd ("That the Holy Spirit may give us a greater awareness of God’s love for us . . . " —> " . . . Come, Lord Jesus"? That sounds like the Third Person of the Trinity is being identified with the Second). Or even if it doesn’t, I have to devote mental processing time to the question of whether it is appropriate for the petitions.

4) The alternate response may be inappropriate to the day or season in which it is being used. "Come, Lord Jesus" just doesn’t fit for the Christmas season. Once it’s Christmas, Jesus has already come! That response would be more appropriate for Advent.

5) Some people find the force of habit too strong and end up saying "Lord, hear our prayer" anyway, then feeling clumsy about it.

When this kind of response substitution occurs, I personally tend to just give silent assent to the petitions rather than using an oral response.

I thought of all this because this weekend I noticed that my parish was (refreshingly) back to "Lord, hear our prayer" after having dabbled with others during the recent holidays.

Would that it had never been otherwise.

Those are my thoughts. What do you think? Have you heard particularly "creative" responses? Any particularly odd juxtapositions with the petitions?

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Hear our prayers, O God;
Incline your ear to us,
and grant us your peace.
Please pray for a miracle for Heather to get a Job In The Name of Jesus Christ
God bless yell
Thank yell for Praying

Please Pray for Street Bullies In The Name Of Jesus Christ
Pray For Schools
I Pray. Please pray for financial miracle Blessing from Heaven ... for Work & Good pay for each Family Live on Same road I Live on. I pray God will over flow Blessing from Heaven. For each families. The Ones who are not saved In the Blood of Jesus will get save. I Pray For Peace, Love & Joy For each Family on same rode I live on. & please Heal each ones Health. Pray for Each Family Salvation. For each Families In The Name Of Jesus Christ I Pray... Amen... I Do Pray for Anger Kids Will Reach to God Hands For Peace, Love, & Joy That Jesus Christ Can Give to Kids.... I Have Faith God will provide People for Jobs. Heaven is not in no depressing. Pray In The Name Of Jesus Christ.
Seek Kingdom Of Heaven
Matt. 7:7, 8: "Ask, and it shall be given you
I Peter 3:12 - "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer..."
Matthew 7:7-8
“[Ask, Seek, Knock] "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Mark 16:6 But he said to them, "Stop being astonished! You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised. He is not here. Look at the place where they laid him.
Hear our prayers, O God, In The name of Jesus Christ I Pray

I don't see anything wrong by responding with a hearty 'Hooah' when the prayer is for the troops overseas. In that context, it translates into "Lord, hear our prayer"

What do I think? I think you need to get yourself to the traditional Latin Mass, so you will no longer have to put up with such rubbish. Seriously, why do you abuse yourself like this? You live in Southern California. The Indult is available.

Thank you Esau for the voice of reason in your last comment. and thanks for calling me to task for my 'over the top' original post.

what someone shoved up to the priest the week before in an envelope with a $5 bill
You ill-hearted reprehensible reprobate, I know poor old widows who were part of the Altar Society who donated what little they had when submitting petitions for their dead husband or other loved ones in the old parish I used to attend when I was in grade school way back when because they wanted to contribute to the poor parish not because they had too!
One wonders that with the shortening of the mass today by half,
Shortening of the Mass??? When I attended the Tridentine Rite, it was much, much shorter than the Novus Ordo since it only had one reading and the Gospel and hardly a homily and no exchanging of Peace!
all of this allowed innovations,
and the Tridentine wasn't? Again, you neglect the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia that even Rad Trads respect the opinion of.
lay participation why the church pews are not overflowing,
seminaries filled,
Yeah, among other things, I guess the tremendous advances in Science and other Modern developments in our world today had no doing in the faithlessness of modern society.
mass conversions instead of the exact opposite
Oh, is that why so many Protestants and other non-Christians had converted to Catholicism, the likes of which had not been experienced in the past???

What I question is that Our Lord in scripture always preached to be humble and to not expose our good deeds or needs for that matter
There are mass requests one can make for those who are in need, why then does the entire church need to "Pray for peace in the Middle East" or what someone shoved up to the priest the week before in an envelope with a $5 bill. The entire mass seems phony and plays on self worship of man and not God
There is a reason why the Traditional mass in its various form lasted 1969 years and the new mass has been DOA since its inception
One wonders that with the shortening of the mass today by half, all of this allowed innovations, lay participation why the church pews are not overflowing, seminaries filled, mass conversions instead of the exact opposite
The liturgy, though valid is flawed, banal and obviously is not pleasing to God or else he would have blessed it with fruit

We always celebrated Groundhog Day where I went to college, as well as St. Patrick day. We were in a dry county in the south, so all those durn Catholics drinkin' were really a nuisance.
We also used to joke about saying "That Fr. Don would give better homilies..." (Lord, hear our prayer...)
I can't remember where I heard this, but story goes there was a woman who came to daily mass and always had dreadful prayers about infidelity, drinking, etc, and finally the pastor asked her about it afterwords. A little probing revealed that she was a little too engrossed in her daily soap operas....

If I may still jump on the "prayers of the faithful" bandwagon....
Last year in early March (well, I've been there several times) I attended a Friday noon mass at a chapel on the campus of a university that has an "unofficial St. Patrick's Day" celebration--the students secretly pick some day other than the 17th so they can wear green and drink all day without harrassment from the law.
This chapel's practice is to allow the faithful to contribute their own petitions on weekdays; since attendance is light during the week, it doesn't bog things down, and the personal intentions are pretty orthodox.
This one Friday happened to be the "observed" March 17th, so during the petitions a man behind me asked "for an end to the tradition of unofficial St. Patrick's Day." There was a longer pause than usual, and then a somewhat reluctant "Lord, hear our prayer."

Thanks, bill912.
I'm hoping faithful Catholics are vigilant in the face of these 'concealed' assaults against the Church.

You got it, Esau. Any stick to beat the Church with is good enough for him, even if he has to violate a Commandment or two.

Don't think I'm not onto your deceptive methods here.
You're attempting to misrepresent Catholicism much like Hays in order to get folks to believe that this is what 'Orthodox' Catholicism is all about!

Again, Jeb, this is your own 'gloss' on the matter.

Christopher,
I would point out that I'm not aware of a single person appointed to the PBC who might be considered a conservative. In fact, one guy appointed (Wansbrough) said that Genesis 1-11 are as historical as Little Red Riding Hood.
http://www.catholic-ew.org.uk/cn/05/051121.htm
He also said that Ratinzger would attend many meetings of the PBC. Ratzigner also holds higher critial views of the Bible.
Based on the above, I think it is quite reasonable to say that the liberal views of people like Brown are orthodox if not the preferred view. I see no reason to think that JPII and Ratzigner didn't know what they were doing when they supervised the PBC.

Exaudi nos, Domine??? Hear Us, O Lord?

In my Catholic high school, our choir just learned a bilingual response that's very beautifully put to music: "Te rogamos oyenos. Lord, hear our prayer." Oddly enough, the bilingual response has a Latin descant which I can't remember exactly. Something like "exaudi, exaudi nos" but I don't know Latin very well.

Bill912,
The reason why I didn't delve too deeply into all of these abuses in the past was because of all the apparent support they have received from the likes of Pope John Paul II and countless other bishops and priests. Their statutes were approved about 5 years ago, with a trial period, under which the 'specifics' of the organization would be scrutinized.
So, considering all of this 'support' from 'High-ups' in Rome(and you really can't get any higher than JPII), and also, with the NCW members continually reminding others, like myself, of this Vatican support, it was very hard to speak out against the clearly visible liturgical abuses occurring at their Masses. I had no idea what sorts of indults they might have aquired and there is very little internal NCW information available to the public.
So, I was left with the idea that I will be patient. I'll wait for Rome to correct them. And, fortuntely, even as Jimmy posted very well, about a year ago, Rome DID correct them. Or at least they are TRYING to correct them. Cardinal Arinze, I'm sure you are aware, sent them the famous letter to which they have about another 11 months in which to comply (without an extension).
So, as I mentioned, I'm waiting. Once the 11 months is up, I will think of a way to address these abuses. As mentioned, I will probably write or talk with the Cardinal here, or the Papal Nuncio, and present all the evidence against them. Documented liturgical abuses, letters from the Vatican etc...
I'll also continue to teach the many members of this group the official Catholic teachings, especially in "GIRM" and "Redemptionis Sacramentum". In this case I think I can help some of the members of this group, such as my wife, recognize the breadth, depth and FULLNESS of the Catholic Faith as opposed to the limited and distorted faith presented through their devient liturgies, and, I presume, catequisis.

A. Williams: What you have described is a long list of disobedience. The Mass is the Church's public prayer, not some priest's or group's private prayer. The Church tells us that we, the faithful, have the right to hear the Mass read as written. If my parish started doing some of what you've described, I'd protest to the pastor: first with my voice, then with my wallet, then with my feet.

Jesse,
I noted the need to make a list for all the liturgical abuses because it is almost impossible to count them at the current Mass I attend (with my wife who belongs to the NeoCatechumenal Way). But as for patience, think of this. I have attended this mass about 150 times in the last 3 years and not until now have decided to really research all of the abuses! And my motivation for compiling a list is in no way hateful, but on the contrary, for very charitable purposes... which is to teach my wife and all of her NCW community friends, exactly how they stray from Church 'norms' in their celebration of the Eucharist. And I'm not talking about minor aberrations here.
Now, I don't want to make this post into a book, so I'll give you a summary of only last Saturday nights Mass, so you can get an idea. And by the way, in three years, I have never been to a NCW Mass on a 'real' Sunday. If they have them I think they are special events of some kind.
To start, the tabernacle is no where to be seen for about 95% of people in the church. The church has side doors, which are open during Mass and you need to look through these doors, across a small walkway, through another set of doors, into the small chapel to view the Tabernacle. I don't think they even share the same roof.
The Mass was about 2 hours.
The music last week had 7 guitars, 2 tamborines and 1 bongo drum, and about 80% of the congregation clapping loudly for about 50-75% of the songs. Very little sacred silence. Probably not much more than 1-2 minutes in the 2 hour Mass.
There is NO procession of gifts to the alter. The Mass servers bring the gifts from a side table in the sanctuary.
About 50-75 flowers are spread around perimeter and on top of the altar.
Last Sat. was a record. Only 2 lay testamonies before the Deacon gave his homily.(And I think the Pastor orchastrated this for some reason, this week.) These lasted about 8 minutes and only slightly could be considered a commentary on the Gospel reading. Usually there are 6-8 testamonies, which occupies about 20-30 minutes. Taken together these lay testamonies occupy about equal, if not more, the time given the Pastor or Deacon for the sermon, considering that rarely will the priest's or deacon's homily be over an 1/2 hr.
The Priest doesn't consume the Communion at the Altar. He waits until all in the Church have recieved their's, seated in the pews, before partaking, seated in his chair behind the Albo... afterwhich the community follows. I THINK the Mass servers recieve only after distribution to the community (as a means of consuming the left overs?).
The Priest in our Parish never distributes the Communion during the NCW Masses, but does so in his regular Sunday Mass. The deacon, distributes, as do the alter boy/Mass servers. I think there is no INSTITUTED alcolytes or Lectors, or Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, anywhere to be found.
Guitars are strummed at the Albo. If a NCW priest sings the Eucharistic Prayer, a guitar accompanies him. And only 1 Eucharistic prayer is used...all year round.
The Albo is placed right infront of the Celebrants seat, about 10-12 feet away. While there is Guitar music, and during the readings, the Priest is highly obscured. I consider this very insulting to the dignity of the priest! ..and he needs to look squarely at the rear ends of the readers and musicians, and can't view the congregation well. I have seen him contorting his body to view around these readers and musicians in the past.
At the closing hymn, there is dancing around the altar, with about 30-40 of the lay community participating.Although I've been encouraged on countless occasions to join...I politely refrain. Everyone thinks I am too shy to dance!
So, considering that I continue to attend this Mass, and with what I consider to be terrible music.. all for love, consideration and respect for my wife..I think most devout Catholics would classify me in no way as a Pharisee, but rather as an EXTREMELY patient and tolerant Catholic.
However, If the NCW resists changing these abuses after their 2 year grace period is up, according to Vatican instructions...I think my patience will be over with! Then I will go to the Bishop ....
Yes!...with my loooooong and referenced LIST!

There is freedom for variety here, according to the needs of the season, the day, the community. Do not try to bind where the Church has loosed.
Old Zhou:
I think there may be some misunderstanding going on here on this thread -- just who of the commenters above are actually trying to bind people, and, above all, the Church to the "Lord, Hear Our Prayer" resposne?
I have yet to discover a hostile expression from one of the commenters here that has gone to the extreme extent that Jesse claims -- that is, that anything other than "Lord, Hear Our Prayer" is an abomination.
Moreover, I don't even believe that this was Jimmy Akin's intention in this post as well.
Folks, I believe this simple matter (more specifically, regarding the petition response) more than anything else revolves around merely a point of preference, at least that is the point in my case.
After all:
De gustibus non est disputandum.

Somebody mentioned it above, but in the current GIRM, n. 79, the English and Latin texts on this subject are:
The people, however,
stand and give expression to their prayer
either by an invocation said together after each intention
or by praying in silence.
Populus vero
stans precationem suam exprimit
sive invocatione communi post singulas intentiones prolatas,
sive orando sub silentio.
There is no specified "invocation" such as "Lord, hear our prayer."
This is one of those places where the Church specifies a certain amount of liturgical liberty.
I wish that we could both permit, if not enjoy, the freedom where it is specified, and refrain from variation where it is not invited.
In most sung Latin texts for the modern mass, there are two possible invocations specified:
Ut nos exaudire digneris. (That you deign to hear us.)
or
Te rogamus, audi nos. (We ask you, hear us.)
Some variants I've heard:
"Lord, hear us."
"Lord, hear our prayer."
"We pray to the Lord."
"Loving God, hear our cry."
"Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer."
"Hear us, O Lord."
"Make us instruments of your peace."
"Fill us with justice through your Spirit, Lord."
"Have mercy on us."
"Lord, have mercy."
"Christ, have mercy."
"Holy One, hear us."
"Send us your Holy Spirit."
"God, in your grace, hear our prayer."
"Graciously bless us, O God."
There is freedom for variety here, according to the needs of the season, the day, the community. Do not try to bind where the Church has loosed.

Amen to that...Ihate when people takeitupon themself to change any partof th eMass
Christine

Jesse:
About your rant:
I find it hard to believe that using something other than "lord have mercy" for a response to the Prayers of the Faithful is some awful abomination.
It is you who have characterized it as such.
I don't believe that there were actually people here who had actually said that "using something other than 'lord have mercy' (actually, it's "Lord, Hear Our Prayer") for a response to the Prayers of the Faithful is some awful abomination."

A William:
I have a great love for Liturgy and certainly don't want to see it abused or turned into 'amusement' ... it is the worship of God. The problem seems to be though that people have very different ideas of what that means. i find it hard to believe that using something other than "lord have mercy" for a response to the Prayers of the Faithful is some awful abomination. As it is different parishes use responses that differ from one another. the parish I attend now responds 'Hear us O Lord" whilst the parish I used to attend responded "Lord Hear our prayer." So even someone visiting from another parish might have to deal with something different even if the parish never varies from their standard response.
Several people here have noted well that there was plenty of abuse prior to the Council. The priests who celebrate the Tridentine Mass today are especially devoted to it so go our of their wa to celebrate reverently (and as someone noted above perhaps obsessively in regards to the rubrics). In the past many a priest mumbled the latin at lightning speed to get it over with as soon as possible. I have heard priests talk about some of the oldtimers and how quickly the could get the Mass "done." I can't imagine the current Mass being celebrated as quickly as some managed to celebrate the Tridentine Mass. Reverence comes from within ... either the celebrant has the desire to be reverent or he doesnt. the outward form of the liturgy isnt going to change that. The only thing one may be able to argue is that in the Tridentine Mass the priest could very easily hide his irreverence, which isnt possible today in the NO.
Perhaps I am sheltered and havent been exposed to all kinds of horrible abuses. They are certainly out there. i cant argue with that. But I see a certain pharisaicalism in the need to make 'checklists of abuses' to take to Mass. And the obsession with ever minute rubric seems to me to be no different that the attitude against which Jesus railed vis-a-vis the religious authorities of his day. It is the HEART that matters; outward conformity means nothing if the heart isn't in the right place. I have seen blatantly active homosexual priests celebrate with perfect adherence to the rubrics (because the homosexually oriented person has a natural love of ritual and pomp) but they certainly weren't "living out" that which they celebrated on the Altar.
Vatican II was an attempt to free the liturgy from a dead rubricism that saw the letter of the law to be far more important than the spirit. It was a desperately needed renewal and a desperately needed "getting back to basics." Has that been abused? Undoubtedly. Fallen human nature being what it is abuse is inevitable. But we cannot turn into people who worship in letter only and not in "spirit and in truth."

Wow, light a little match and....ka-boom!
Good wrap-up *Sigh". I sure hope we're not really as uptight as we sound. I don't think we'll have a perfect liturgy until we're in Heaven. Let's step back and get a better perspective on this. I think we have bigger battles to worry about.

Whine, whine, whine, everyone whines! The Church, although guided by the Holy Spirit, is all too human. It never was perfect and never will be perfect. When we deal with people, we deal with imperfection. There will be councils, there will be reforms, there will be developments, but what will always remain the same is that Jesus Christ becomes present to us in the Eucharist during the celebration of the Sacred Mysteries whether it is the Tridentine Rite, the Novus Ordo, or the many Eastern Rites. If you don't like the Tridentine Mass, then don't go to it. If you don't like the Novus Ordo, then don't go to it. If you don't like the Eastern Rites then don't go to them but for the love of God, stop fighting about which one is the best!
When we listen to God speak to us in Sacred Scripture and then receive Christ in the Eucharist we are called to respond to those gifts by bringing the Kingdom of God to the world. May we start to build up the Kingdom of God and not waste time bickering and tearing it down. The world has enough negativity.

Jesse,
The problem occurs when liberals and modernists, who care nothing for Church History, The Lives and spirituality of the Saints and Church law want to go and invent any sort liturgy for any sort of occasion. Being that they are not guided by anything historical to base their judgements by, most of these liturgical inventors like to only gratify their own ego's to make themselves into the "pharisees" that you seem to be talking about.
Living in San Francisco for 40 yrs. of my life, I had to be patient with these liberal (and suspected homosexual) music/liturgical directors almost my entire life, often entering Mass in a peaceful state of mind, and leaving the same Mass depressed due to the profane things/songs/art/inventions that took place in those very masses. Yes, when I read the lives of great Saints such as St. Francis of Assisi,St. Dominic, St. Philip Neri, St. Louis de Montfort, and St. John Bosco, I can easily comprehend the subtle and very profound devotion they had for all things religious..and particularly the Mass. With such understanding of the holiness of the Mass, you can see how terrible it is when the Mass is conducted in a lighthearted, profane, or ignorant way. It's those who don't know anything about the Mass, and who really don't care about it, that have no problem with all the wacky abuses!.. For them it's just one more amusement to pass the hour, so they can consider themselves 'religious'.

Jesse:
Just one comment: "Huh?"
Tim:
That would've been an awesome picture to post there! That's actually how I pictured him when I read his comments!

too bad we can't post images here because that one of Jesse popping a blood vessel in his head would have been intense.

"...learn about the LOVE that Jesus came to preach..."
Love? You mean like:
"you people are all SICK"?
"i have never seen a bigger buch of pharisees"?
"you pagans would rip apart Jesus Christ if he deigned to appear in your midst"?
"stupid people like you"?
"so-called 'Catholics' acting with such a holier-than-thou attitude"?
"the church would be well served if ver(sic) last one of you idiots ran of(sic) to some sedevacantist cult and left us authentic Catholics alone"?
"go mumble your Latin and preach your hate"?
Yeah, I can feel the love!

you people are all SICK! a "checklist of abuses"? you have to be kidding me. i have never seen a bigger bunch of pharisees! why don't you try going to mass to worship and be nourished instead of looking for every little thing that you deem to be "wrong"? you pagans would rip apart Jesus Christ if He deigned to appear in your midst! why don't you spend some time reading the Gospel and learn about the LOVE that Jesus came to preach instead of church documents that arent even meant for stupid people like you. it makes my blood boil to see so-called 'Catholics' acting with such a holier-than-thou attitude. who appointed YOU as arbiter of all things liturgical? the church would be well served if ver last one of you idiots ran of to some sedevacantist cult and left us authentic Catholics alone. go an mumble your Latin and preach your hate to like-minded individuals.
For all Latin-lovers out there: in 1248 pope Innocent IV gave Croatians the right to celebrate Mass in the vernacular. And the COuncil of Trent round no dogmatic difficulty with Mass in the vernacular but did not deem it opportune AT THAT TIME to implement such a change.

5) Some people find the force of habit too strong and end up saying "Lord, hear our prayer" anyway
This one is SOOOO TRUE!!!!
I remember this one instance where they went really creative and instead of "Lord, Hear Our Prayer", for some reason, they went with something unusually long and unique.
When the person finished reading the petition (which that, too, was long; but, really, this, itself, wasn't a big deal since, after all, these are our petitions to God asking His help on certain matters -- some of which were serious and critical), half of the parish ended up saying "Lord, Hear Our Prayer" anyway (this was very understandable since, aside from force of habit, due to the dire nature of the petition, it was a plea that came natural to folks then), while the other half of the parish mumbled bits of what they could remember of that creative and unique response they were supposed to say.
It almost reminded me of folks trying to sing a song they hardly knew the words to and, instead, end up substituting other words for the actual lyrics to the song.
In fact, I think there was a movie that showed someone hilariously doing just that, but, for the life of me, I can't recall the title of the film.

Recently ,I've been thinking of making a checklist from which could be checked any of the many possible liturgical abuses that frequently occur during the Mass. I was inspired to do this because I often attend a NeoCatechumenal mass with my wife, who is a member of this group.
My problem is that there are sooo many abuses that I can view on any particular Saturday night Mass that it is hard to keep track of them all. Just yesterday I compiled about 20 items from 'Redemptionis Sacromentum' alone, and I know that the Roman Missal is much more detailed. So, I'm a bit worried that such a list will occupy many pages or even a small book!
However, such a list would be very convenient because it would allow parishioners to check off the abuses noted, with their numbered references, and send a signed copy to the pastor to make him more aware of the abused norms. It might be an 'eye opener' for some to see how many abuses there actually are!
And, speaking of the NeoCats--I think not one of the hundreds that I associate with have ever heard of, or read, "Redemptionis Sacromentum", and I also doubt that even 1 has ever read the "Instructions of the Roman Missal". Also, I think that many of them think I'm attacking them with all my references to Church Canon Law and other Vatican documents! I find myself encouraging, over and over again, that there is nothing to be feared from the Catholic Church Laws!
Really, for those who presume to be called 'Neo Catechumenal' and also who are spending incredible numbers of hours teaching the Catholic Catequism to others-- to be both ignorant of and afraid of the published norms and teachings of the Church-- is, I think, both hypocritical and extremely strange! But God bless and help them to change their ways...and also all of the others who continue to ignore and abuse the liturgical laws of the Catholic Church!

This is how it is done in the East. Maybe the Latin Church could learn a few things from the Eastern Catholic Churches (Byzantine):
PRIEST: In peace, let us pray to the Lord.
PEOPLE: Lord, have mercy.
PRIEST: For peace from on high, and for the salvation of our souls, let us pray to the Lord.
PEOPLE: Lord, have mercy.
PRIEST: For peace in the whole world, for the well-being of the holy Churches of God and for the union of all, let us pray to the Lord.
PEOPLE: Lord, have mercy.
PRIEST: For this holy church and for all who enter it with faith, reverence and the fear of God, let us pray to the Lord.
PEOPLE: Lord, have mercy.
PRIEST: For our holy universal Supreme Pontiff N . . ., the Pope of Rome, for our most Reverend Archbishop and Metropolitan N . . . , for our God-loving Bishop N . . ., for the venerable priesthood, the diaconate in Christ, for all clergy and the people, let us pray to the Lord.
PEOPLE: Lord, have mercy.
PRIEST: For our civil authorities and all our armed forces, let us pray to the Lord.
PEOPLE: Lord, have mercy.
PRIEST: For this city (or: for this village, or: for this holy monastery), for every city, country, and for all-living therein with faith, let us pray to the Lord.
PEOPLE: Lord, have mercy.
PRIEST: For good weather, for an abundance of the fruits of the earth, and for peaceful times, let us pray to the Lord.
PEOPLE: Lord, have mercy.
PRIEST: For those who travel by sea, air, and land, for the sick, the suffering, the captive, and for their safety and salvation, let us pray to the Lord.
PEOPLE: Lord, have mercy.
Special intentions are added at this time.
PRIEST: That we may be delivered from all affliction, wrath, and need, let us pray to the Lord.
PEOPLE: Lord, have mercy.
PRIEST: Help, save, have mercy and protect us, O God, by Your grace.
PEOPLE: Lord, have mercy.
PRIEST: Remembering our most holy, most pure, most-blessed and glorious Lady, the Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us commend ourselves and one another, and our whole life, to Christ, our God.
PEOPLE: To You, O Lord.
These Litanies are sung (in various 4 different forms, in which there is not enough space to put them all) 4 times throughout the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. Meaning that the Eastern Church (Byzantine) prays for the Pope at least twice as much in their Liturgies than the Latin Church!

Much to do about nothing IMHO. I am more concerned about parishioners who cannot follow simple parking and exit signs. Maybe their minds have become mush from all the repetitive Mass responses.

Hey-is not the ICEL working on the what-5th retranslation and now the Bishops are even refusing to say "for many" as it is in their words going to be "to difficult" for the priests to say?
IT is a legit-but flawed bad intentioned form of liturgy (Why would one make the mass shorter and less reverent??) that either will die off in time as other innovation have

When I attended the student parish (Holy Spirit parish) in Berkeley in the '90's, the floor was always open for intentions, and they were often idiosyncratic, trivial, or just plain weird. The one that I recall most vividly was an extended and apparently heartfelt plea that the forthcoming Beatles retrospective album would be of superior quality to the previous retrospective album. Everyone dutifully waited out the intention in silence, and intoned "Lord, hear our prayer." I don't know if He did or not, though.

From the 2002 General Instruction for the Roman Missal:
83. ....The supplication Agnus Dei, is, as a rule, sung by the choir or cantor with the congregation responding; or it is, at least, recited aloud. This invocation accompanies the fraction and, for this reason, may be repeated as many times as necessary until the rite has reached its conclusion, the last time ending with the words dona nobis pacem (grant us peace).

"Redemptionis Sacromentum" explicitly says that the phrase "Lamb of God" has to be repeated 3 times and prohibits any substitutions.
I just had a look, and this instruction does not occur in Redemptionis Sacramentum. Does anyone know where it does occur?

Dan, that you have a preference for one Missal does not mean that it is better than another Missal. Even if you don't like hearing that from me, read the posts from several other people above saying the same thing.
Your periodic getting my name wrong is just as immature as your periodic calls to settle your disagreement with fists with the men and spanking with women. All three show an immaturity that you might want to think about growing out of.

The only thing that I would add is that usually the person changing the script is doing it to "give more to the congregation to do." Sadly, by getting off script and confusing the congregation s/he usually takes away their part and they become reluctant to join back in. Our semi-retired senior associate pastor would be horrified to realize that he manages to trip up even the daily Mass crowd (who could probably recite every Eucharistic prayer from memory).

Heh, I'm with you on this one Jimmy. I get peeved when they say "Lord hear our prayers" with an "s" instead of singular.

All the word changes are ridiculous. They've emasculated even the Christmas carols. It's all feels like dancing with a freaking robot to me. Put the "thous" back in, man, and let us belt it out with some balls, man! Even the Pope said "Screw this crap!" -- well, that's a paraphrase of what he *wanted* to say, I'm sure.

Mary Kate,The Classical Rite mass is most assuredly better than the Novus Ordo Missae.
Both give spiritual sustainance and offer oblation, but the former does it in an immeasurably more melodious and sacredly dense manner.
God bless you.

FWIW - the comment on variations to "Lamb of God" - "Redemptionis Sacromentum" explicitly says that the phrase "Lamb of God" has to be repeated 3 times and prohibits any substitutions. From time to time, this abuse is committed at my parish, and it's distracting and unfortunate, especially since it's such a simple thing to avoid. But what makes it worse, is that if the priest is busy distibuting the Blood of Christ into other cups for Communion while the Lamb of God is being sung - another huge abuse - then the choir repeats the Lamb of God phrase until he's finished, and once that was 5 times. I guess the old saying is true - one abuse leads to another.
Oh, and I prefer the "Lord hear our prayer".

I went to a parish where it was "Lord, hear us" -- steadily, so we didn't have the jolt.
My biggest peeve was the continual petition at one parish: "For those who are sick and listed in the bulletin." Every single time they said that, I thought, And if you aren't listed in the bulletin you can go hang?
"For those who are sick, especially those listed in the bulletin" would have been better. Even "For the sick who are listed in the bulletin." -- it lacks that jolt, even if it means the same thing.

Henry Karlson,
You sound a tad upset. Relax. Go to the novus ordo if you want to. I was suggesting to those fed up with the all-too-common nonsense that the traditional Mass didn't have those problems.
Also, your talk of prayers of the faithful being more "traditional" and that they were removed from the traditional rite is sort-of true, but a little disingenuous. You see, in the past, the Mass didn't get overhauled by committee, it was experienced by the faithful over time as a sort of icon of the sacrifice of calvary. There may, may have been "prayers of the faithful" at an earlier point of time, but they have not existed for at least 500 YEARS, and almost certainly longer.
The traditional Mass is called Tridentine because it was made normative, by and large, following the council of Trent. But the rite itself is at least 1000 years older than that, having sprung from rite used by the Pope and the Roman Church, and is generally believed to have apostolic antecedents.
I am reminded of Martin Mosebach's profound book, The Heresy of Formlessness, in that one of the woes of the current devastation of the Mass is that the faithful attached to the classical rite are forced to become amateur liturgical experts in order to explain themselves to Catholics raised in an environment nearly devoid of catechesis. It is much better to experience the traditional Mass than to explain it.
Anyone who gives it a little time and effort, say, five masses with an open mind?, will be rewarded.

Henry,
Kudos on your clarification. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Annalucia,
I think the same sort of thing could be said about memorizing the responsorial psalm, when it is said and not sung. Magnificat helps with that problem though.

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