Intercessory Prayer

Last week I talked about praying the Rosary, so I think that I will continue with another prayer for this week. In the Church, we sometimes hear the phrase “Intercessory Prayer.” This is a prayer for someone or something. It can be for the health of someone, or for something to be done in a certain situation. During the Mass we do the Prayers of the Faithful, which are Intercessory Prayers. These are for the general needs of the Church and local needs. Usually, we pray first for the leaders of the Church, then civil leaders, for the sick, other needs, and finally for those who have died. Each person at the Mass can also add a silent intention themselves, for something that each of us need. It is a wonderful thing to think of those that we care about or a need that we have at this time in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Intercessory Prayer is something that we do more often than we realize, every time we say a prayer for our children, spouse, family, friends, etc. we are doing it. We have a prayer request email and phone line here at the parish for people to be able to request the prayer chain to pray for them. The phone extension is 2016 from the office phone, during the day someone can forward you to it if you would like to leave a message, or after hours, you can get to it via the phone tree. On the main page of the website, there is a button on the right side that can take you to the prayer request with the information. There is a group of people that will pray for your intention.

The question can be also, if someone asks you to pray for them, or you say that you will pray for someone, do we actually do it? That is something that we should always make sure that we do. I know people that carry a little notebook to write down people that they are praying for, and others schedule a short time in their calendar for some intention, and still others keep the notes in other ways. No matter how we do it, we should always be reminded to keep praying for others, or even intentions that we need.

One of the other ways we pray for someone is at the Mass, each Mass we celebrate, we have an intention that the priest is praying for. Usually, the intention for the Mass is either for the people of the parish, or someone who has passed away. But in some instances, it can be for a significant life event, for example a 25th or 50th wedding anniversary. If you would like to have a Mass said for a loved one, you can contact the parish office and have it scheduled, there is usually a small stipend offered to the parish for it, but there is not a “charge” for it.

Keep praying for those needs that all of us have each and every day. Part of my daily prayer is for the people of the parish and their needs, and I ask that you all pray that myself, Fr. Ryan, Bishop Joensen, the deacons, and all Church leaders will serve Holy Mother Church to the best of our abilities.

God bless,
Fr. Ken