Presiders’ pages for the Sundays of July have now been published on the ACP website. This is to facilitate those who prepare the liturgy, who may be planning several Sunday liturgies in advance due to key personnel taking summer vacations.
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Why has it become customary for bidding prayers to be centrally scripted and published in this way? To obviate the need to have lay liturgy groups in parishes?
Too often the result is a routinised pro-forma liturgy with absolutely no local community input – another feature of a church in dire crisis.
Sean O’Conaill (1) raises a very good point.
In the Liturgy of the Mass, the bidding prayers are referred to as the “Prayers of the Faithful”? Apart from these, all prayers at Mass reflect the thinking of the institutional church. Surely Prayers of the Faithful should reflect the current concerns of the people?
Many parishes do design their own prayers but too often the PP falls back on the formulaic, generic prayers provided by the diocese. It is therefore desireable that as far as possible parish volunteers provide prayers which reflect what is happening in the world, in Ireland and in their parish.
However, this is not always possible and suggested prayers on ACP, diocesan or other websites are often very useful in giving ideas.
This is why the Association of Catholics in Ireland website http://www.acireland.ie provides a weekly alternative with prayers to reflect current lay and church concerns. These can be found under the Liturgy heading and the prayers listed for the weekend 19th/20th illustrate this. They do tend to be uploaded late on the Friday of each week but this is to enable them to be as relevant as possible.
That said, hopefully, the ACP website will continue to offer bidders prayers as they are regularly picked up by the ACI website and provide inspiration for others.
The prayers on the ACI website for this weekend provide an illustration of the above.
PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL
SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014
1. In today’s gospel, Jesus warns us not to be sowers of bad seed, of giving bad example to others and leading them astray. We pray to the Lord that in our lives we can be sowers of good seed and earn the reward of eternal salvation promised us by Christ, our Saviour.
We pray to the Lord R. Lord hear our prayer
2. We pray for the families and friends of the victims of this week’s air disaster over the ,Ukraine that the Lord console them in their loss and sorrow. We pray, too, for all those going on holidays that they travel safely and free from harm.
We pray to the Lord R. Lord, hear our prayer
3. As the conflict in Gaza worsened this week, we remember the thousands of innocent civilians who have been displaced from their homes or who have lost family members. We pray that peace be quickly restored, that their sufferings be ended and that they be enable to return to their homes and to a more peaceful life
We pray to the Lord R. Lord hear our prayer
4. We pray for the lonely and for those who feel abandoned, alone and separated from their loved ones. We pray that fractured relationships be healed, that families be reconciled and that those who live alone be the receivers of Christian charity and good neighbourliness
We pray to the Lord R. Lord, hear our prayer
5. Lord, we thank you for the sunshine and the rainfall which you give us here in Ireland so that we have an abundance of food and water. We pray to you today for those in Africa who are now suffering from famine and drought and for the agencies who are striving to bring them food and relief.
We pray to the Lord R. Lord hear our prayer
6. We remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers
We pray to the Lord R. Lord hear our prayer
I would just like to second Des Gilroy (2) in his recommendation of the Prayers of the Faithful on the Association of Catholics in Ireland (ACI) website. I find them to be truly Catholic prayers in their ‘other-centered’ focus. I think that when we take care of the things on God’s heart then God takes care of the things that are on ours. So I have found it beneficial on occasion, to print these prayers and bring them to Mass with me on Sunday as a focus for intercessory prayer beyond my own individual needs.
While you are at it you may want to check out some of the interesting video links on the ACI site at:-
http://www.acireland.ie/category/video-links/
and the recommended reading list at:-
http://www.acireland.ie/category/books/