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Published: January 28, 2010
Lord, Please Don't Hear This Prayer
The Down Side of Liturgical Aids
This is from a January 22 George Weigel column published in the Tidings, LA archdiocese.
 This past Dec. 28, I was jolted out of my morning fog at 8 a.m. Mass when the deacon offered this petition:
"For those who are considering abortion: may our prayers and the intercession of the Holy Innocents whom we honor today help them choose life as the best option, let us pray to the Lord."
I can't remember whether I blurted "What?" loud enough to be noticed by my faithful companions at daily Mass - many of whom wear hearing aids - but I know I certainly didn't answer with the prescribed "Lord, hear our prayer."
The best option? Oh, so the decision whether to carry a child to term is a pragmatic calculation, and we're to pray that those concerned get the calculation, er, right? How did this morally degrading nonsense get written? How did it get past an editor with any theological grain of sense?
It happened because the parish I was attending, like many others, uses canned general intercessions for weekday Masses, bought from a "liturgical aids" service: the daily intercessions come with a tacky binder in a tear-'em-out-after-you-use-'em format, they fit neatly inside the ambo - so why not?
Well, Dec. 28 illustrated why not: because more often than we'd like to admit, these intercessions are thoughtlessly written, reflecting the ambient cultural smog rather than the truth of Catholic faith. Moreover, they're typically organized to suggest that the world of politics is, somehow, the real world: after a brief intercessory nod to the pope, the bishops or both, we're immediately invited to pray for sundry social and political causes, never identified as such but wrapped in the gauziness of Feel Good Prayer.
To read the full commentary, Click Here.
Posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 4:26 AM By irene
In my parish, during the intercessions, they announce the newly Baptised with the line 'and bless our baby christians, their parents and their godparents' - no mention of the word baby Catholics (which they are now, duh! Then again, we don't want to offend anyone). So sad....
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Posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 5:07 AM By djbyrnes
What George Weigel is pointing out is that to call it "the best option" is to imply that the other options are either good or better and that's what we don't want to be caught praying for. "Good" or "better" would therefore always result in a dead baby and that's why the prayer is so stupid.
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Posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 6:32 AM By Isabella
Hmmm. I'm not sure I understand this argument. What is wrong in praying for women to make the life giving choice? I do it all the time! It's time we stand up for what we know is right.
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Posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 6:43 AM By Central Valley
Yet another reason to attend Mass in the extraordinary form. Why be ordinary when you can be extraordinary.
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Posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 7:06 AM By Tom Amadeo
Nothing new here--because in the policically correct New-Order church the 5th commandment should read:Thou shalt not choose the option of choosing to commiting murder,of the born or the unborn. Signed,God(as given the imprimatur of Sean Cardinal O'Malley)
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Posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 8:15 AM By David
It should have said "choose LIFE as the only option".
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Posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 8:46 AM By Elaine
I was amazed at how refreshing it was, on a recent trip to Dallas, to finally hear a parish pray prayers thoughtfully originally, and carefully written. I hope more parishes will become like Pius the X and lead the people in heartfelt, and not canned, prayer. Just another example of liturgical laziness.
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Posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 9:29 AM By Maryanne Leonard
Denying that women have always had options regarding their pregnancies is obviously a head-in-the-sand posture. What George Weigel is reacting to is the jarring reminder in the context of Mass that women now have socially sanctioned, legal options allowing them to murder babies that they did not have earlier in American history. While the placement of the wording is unfortunate, the fact that others find the words jarring in that context is proof of the power of words. I am encouraged that many Catholics are still shocked and appalled by the very use of this word which is a word employed by our misguided opponents to cover up the fact that they are in favor of women being assisted in the age-old act of murdering their babies. Thank goodness we are not inured by years of being subjected in society to this deceptive misuse of the term, "option," when the correct word is murder. Even the word abortion has a clean, medical sound, when the murder of innocent unborn babies is perhaps the most heinous of all possible human crimes against humanity. Thanks for going eruditely ballistic over such a subtle point, but really, women do have this option, and let's not castigate our priests for saying so. Instead, let's pray (and keep working for!) a future in which the misuse of that that hair-raising word is no longer heard in any context, whether that be churches or in the larger world.
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Posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 11:11 AM By WOODY GUIDRY
A SIGN OF THE TIMES is the fear of the "gotcha" fees, misleading grocery coupons, etc., in addition to the fury stirred up daily in lawsuits and contract disputes. It's hard to drop your guard anywhere these days, even in churches where you sat easy and knew that deceit was not an option. Can you remember those days?
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Posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 12:30 PM By Marlene
I agree with Mr. Weigel, but I am not surprised that such a terribly written intention was used in a service in the Vatican II church. It only goes to show the liberalism that has crept-in and there to stay just like all the other protestant denominations. Liturgical committees and all the other social-religious venues adopted from other protestant denominations have not improved the health of Vatican II members souls. I agree with Elaine too! Discover your Catholic Heritage visit and spend a sunday at a Tridentine Latin Mass (TLM) Parish where they only say the TLM and perform the ancient 7 Holy Sacraments. Talk with the Pastor who is in-charge and leads his Parish by example. You won't find controversial stuff like this going on. Oh yes you Vatican II liberals may not like what you hear as it may impinge/cramp your self-centered--free anything goes--to each his/her own life-style, but you will learn the true position of the Roman Catholic Church and receive many graces from God Almighty on-high. Angel of God my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day be at my side to light, to guard, to rule, and to guide. Amen.
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Posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 5:37 PM By JLS
People at the New Emotive Hullabaloo Masses are easy to pitch error to, because their senses are stirred up and their minds dulled down. It serves for millions as a a bottle of whisky or a syringe of heroin does in pacifying them. Those who awaken from this Satanic ruse and realize that Mass is to worship God, often while He is on the Cross suffering, and to suffer with Him at those time then go and do that. Like Weigel they are better prepared to cut through the b.s. coming from readers who live lives of b.s. instead of lives of faith.
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Posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 5:42 PM By Jon
Methinks you all are being too hard on whoever wrote the prayer. At least the prayer is being said. At least the prayer tacitly acknowledges that abortion means "death" ("choose life"). If there were no prayers for the unborn, you all would complain; now that there is a prayer for the unborn, you all still complain. Surely there is a chapter and verse to describe this.
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Posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 6:32 PM By Jim
It should have read, "for an end to the evil of abortion, and an increased repect for life at all stages, we pray to the Lord." The political correctness that has infected society should not be allowed to creep into the Church. A women "choosing" to kill the tiny baby growing in her womb is just as evil as a women deciding to kill her baby sleeping in crib in the bedroom. No difference! God is Mercy, so we pray that those who have made this decision, will repent and return to the Lord, not remain obstinate in their sin. Maybe an appropriate petition should be, "for an end to the sugar coating of sin by Christians, we pray to the Lord."
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Posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 7:18 PM By Bob
We are going to the outer edge again. This could be described as much ado about nothing. Is no abortion not the best option? Let's stop parsing each and every word than anyone says, and think of the intended meaning. And, on an other note, who can claim that attendance at the TLM is better than attendance at an English, Polish, Spanish, French mass? That is not the teaching of the Catholic Chruch. Those who say it is so are speaking bad dogma and it is a scandal. All of the masses are of equal value - Christ is on the altar - Body and Blood, no matter the language. The small minority ( I know that is redundant) who are carping all the time about their view of what is Catholic and what is not, are generally wrong and in defiance of the Church's teachings. Let't review the teachings before expounding our own wrong beliefs. Anyone willing to try that approach?
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Posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 9:42 PM By BJ
What a bunch of nonsensical whining and complaining. Sorry Mr. Weigel that someone didn't write the petitions just right for you. Perhaps a petition for those suffering from Narcissism and obsessive-compulsiveness is in order?
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Posted Friday, January 29, 2010 10:22 AM By Janek
Sorry but yes, this does boil down to the Traditional Latin Mass and the "fabricated" Novus Ordo where anything goes. When you attend the Holy Mass according the Tridentine rite you know exactly what you are getting. You are there "with" the priest on calvary with need I say "Full Participation" and it will always be the same Holy Mass whether you are in Germany, Brazil, England, or any other place on earth because it is unchanged and the Latin language binds ALL people of regardless of race, creed, language hence the word CATHOLIC meaning universal. Deo Gratias
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Posted Friday, January 29, 2010 2:16 PM By Anne T.
Perhaps the person who wrote the prayer did not know English very well or was in a hurry. I would leave out "as the best option" in the prayer above. Otherwise, I find no problem with it. I would say: For those who are considering abortion, may our prayers and the intercession of the Holy Innocents, whom we honor today, help them to choose life. Lord hear our prayer.
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Posted Friday, January 29, 2010 4:58 PM By Marlene
Bob, Please be a leader and begin your own catholic education. We will follow suit. Discover your Catholic heritage through Catholic books and films made before Vatican 2. Before you read, view, and study them begin with a prayer to the Holy Ghost that He will open up your heart and mind to hear His Truth, then read, view, and study them with great thought absorbing them. You might want to start with an old St Joseph's or St Andrew's or Father LaCance, or Marion Missal from before 1962. You might like to read books of the Saints, read Pope St Pius the Vth, Pope St Pius the XIth and other great popes encyclicals before John the XIIIrd. Trying reading Whatever Happened to the Catholic Church and Tumultous Times. Watch Bishop Sheen's Sunday Telecasts from the 1950s - 1960s. Watch some old Catholic movies like Our Lady of Fatima, Saint Bernadette, St Francis, and Marcellino Pontevino not just following the story line, but look at the surroundings, the attitudes, the morals of the people, and the reverence portrayed to God. Don't forget to pray in-between that God will show you His truth. Be not afraid of what you find and come to realize. May all of us follow Bob's lead so that we will all see God's Light! Pray your Rosaries.
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Posted Friday, January 29, 2010 5:08 PM By Marlene
Bob, Please be a leader and begin your own catholic education. We will follow suit. Discover your Catholic heritage through Catholic books and films made before Vatican 2. Before you read, view, and study them begin with a prayer to the Holy Ghost that He will open up your heart and mind to hear His Truth, then read, view, and study them with great thought absorbing them. You might want to start with an old St Joseph's or St Andrew's or Father LaCance, or Marion Missal from before 1962. You might like to read books of the Saints, read Pope St Pius the Vth, Pope St Pius the Xth and other great popes encyclicals before John the XXIIIrd. Trying reading Whatever Happened to the Catholic Church and Tumultous Times. Watch Bishop Sheen's Sunday Telecasts from the 1950s - 1960s. Watch some old Catholic movies like Our Lady of Fatima, Saint Bernadette, St Francis, and Marcellino Pontevino not just following the story line, but look at the surroundings, edits of the TLM, Sacraments, the religious and laity Christ-centered attitudes, the high morals of the people, and the great reverence portrayed to God. Don't forget to pray in-between that God will show you His truth. Be not afraid of what you find and come to realize. May all of us follow Bob's lead so that we will all see God's Light! Pray your Rosaries.
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Posted Friday, January 29, 2010 11:46 PM By A
Or better yet, "For an end to abortion. Lord hear our prayer."
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Posted Saturday, January 30, 2010 7:39 AM By Bob
Thanks Marlene. I grew up "high catholic", attended conservative parochial school, have my St. Joseph missal next to my desk and refer to it often, still know most of the latin responses from my 12 years as an altar boy before English was allowed, was glued to the tv each Sunday to listen to Bishop Sheen, lived in a time when gestures an surroundings seemed more important than faith, etc., etc. With over 70 years fo experience in the church, I can tell you that I never want to go back. I trully believe that people who go to church today are much more attuned to their faith than any time in my lifetime. They attend because they know it is the right thing to do, not because the "had" to. Their faith is strong. They are led by faith, not gestures and statues. Our focus should be on our faith, not how many times we bow and sway or kneel or stand and sit. And, no, the mass should not be the same in every area of the country or parts of the U.S. for that matter. In our Diocese, mass is said for about 30 cultures in 30 different languages, with music appropriate to each and sermons appropriate to each. How do you(and don't say Latin) pastor to a parish in which English is not the language of the people, or where people are not literate in their native language? St. Joseph's missal would not help, because they could not read the part in their own language. Our's is not a simple church any more. The U.S. catholic population represents only 6% of the Catholics of the world. The primary language of the church is Spanish and the African languages. We have people in Haiti who need rescuing. Why are we arguing about languages and styles of mass. For the thousands who showed up for the mass in French in the capital of Port O Prince, do you think they were upset because the mass was not in Lating or that the priest was not wearing a Chasible? Let's focus on the real issues.
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Posted Monday, February 01, 2010 5:35 PM By Marlene
Bob, You've missed the point and been deceived by progressive reasoning. Pray and rediscover your Roman Catholic heritage the way it was back when you were a child and the hundreds of years before you birth. Progressive reasoning does not superseed the reasons of the Holy Fathers for centuries! They were committed to preserve the Catholic Faith. Look around you today, the faith is imploding, it is in a shambles. Unfortunately many have been deceived by the progressives and not taught about the Roman Catholic Church i.e. the way it was. Diluting and shallowing of the Faith left little to be passed-on to later generations. I disagree when you said "people who go to church today are much more attuned to their faith than any time in my lifetime". How do you account for the hundreds of millions of souls whom have left the Catholic faith world-wide (they don't attend anymore!) or have become protestants, agnostics, or worse pagan worshipers since Vatican 2 liberalization? Vatican 2 followers are shallow. Gestures of kneeling and bowing are pleasing to God but not pride-filled men. It is God whom we should please in God-centered worship, not men "of dust" in man-centered variety-services. Statues were never meant for adoration, they are simply images for us to better connect in-our-minds and hearts to the Saints, we see their modesty, reverence--holy gestures, and on a Crucifix, our Lord's anguish and suffering that He did to save your soul, and other accepting christians. The Popes and Bishops before Pope St Pius the Vth through Pope Pius the XIIth would disagree with you on mulit-culture and vernacular language services and sacramental rituals because those are composed by men, not by God. Read the book "How Christ said the First Mass" by Fr. Meagher (see Amazon). You will learn why ancient Catholic Rituals and Practices are the way they are and still steadfastly practiced in "traditional" Roman Catholic Parishes. You said St Joseph's missal wouldn't help the non-Anglo speakers? How naïve! Missals were written in most foreign languages world-wide and God's will overrides all local cultures. Pray to God to refind His Truth.
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Posted Monday, February 01, 2010 6:43 PM By JLS
Bob, I hate to disillusion you, but the Church began in cultures with innumerable languages; multiple cultures is not a new thing at all. In the south Pacific there are 50 thousand languages, half of them not related to any other linguistically. Your logic is not going to fare very well there. Also, Bob, children can learn multiple languages rather easily. Adults can learn other languages ... where there is a will there is a way.
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