Recently, someone asked me about the custom of adding the words, “and for the prayers we hold quietly in our hearts,” at the end of the General Intercessions at Mass. They wondered why sometimes we say it and sometimes we do not. It is a good question, and it gives us an opportunity to return to something we reflected on a few weeks ago: the priestly role of the baptized. 

The General Intercessions, also called the Universal Prayer or Prayer of the Faithful, are one of the clearest expressions of the baptismal priesthood at Mass, yet they are also one of the easiest parts of the liturgy to overlook. 

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) says that, after hearing God’s Word and professing our faith, the people, “exercising the office of their baptismal Priesthood,” offer prayers to God for the salvation of all. The person at the ambo announces the intentions, but the whole congregation prays. When we respond, “Lord, hear our prayer,” we are exercising something priestly: bringing the needs of the world before God. 

The GIRM gives the normal pattern for these intentions: we pray for the needs of the Church; for public authorities and the salvation of the world; for those burdened by any kind of difficulty; and for the local community. It also says the intentions should be “sober, brief, prudently composed, and expressive of the prayer of the whole community.” They should not become miniature homilies, political statements, parish announcements, or lengthy explanations. Their purpose is not to tell people what to think, but to invite the whole assembly to pray. The minister announces what we are praying for; the people then make that intention their own through the common response and through silent prayer. 

That brings us back to the original question. There is nothing wrong with adding, “and for the prayers we hold quietly in our hearts,” but it is not really necessary. We should already be praying silently throughout the Universal Prayer. As each intention is announced, we bring to it the particular people and situations we know: the sick person we love, the family that is struggling, places torn apart by war, or perhaps a relationship in our own life that needs reconciliation. 

The General Intercessions gather our individual concerns into something larger than ourselves. Pope Francis said that the Universal Prayer teaches us to make God’s concern for all His children our own. It stretches our prayer beyond ourselves. 

In this weekend’s Gospel, Jesus tells Peter that forgiveness cannot be measured out seven times, but “seventy-seven times.” We do not come before God carrying only our friends and those we love. Sometimes the person we most need to bring before Him is the person who has hurt us. Instead of clinging to resentment, we place that person into the hands of Christ and ask Him to heal what has been wounded. 

This is part of the priestly vocation of the baptized. We spend the week in families, workplaces, schools, hospitals, and neighborhoods, encountering the joys and wounds of the world. On Sunday, we carry that world with us to Mass. Thus, the Universal Prayer then leads naturally into the Eucharist. As bread and wine are brought to the altar, we bring our own lives with them—our work, relationships, joys, sufferings, failures, and the people for whom we have prayed. All of it is gathered into the one sacrifice of Christ and offered to the Father. 

We bring our needs and prayers to the Lord at the altar, and at the altar, Christ gives Himself back to us. We receive His Body and Blood, His mercy, strength, and life so that we can return to the very people and situations for which we have prayed. 

So perhaps we can approach the Prayer of the Faithful with renewed understanding. It is not filler between the Creed and the collection. The General Intercessions help unite the prayer of the priestly people of God to the prayer of Jesus Christ, our great High Priest. They are “general” precisely so that everyone can make them their own, filling them with the people, needs, and situations we carry in our hearts. The General Intercessions empower us to bring the world to the altar, so that we can bring Christ from the altar into the world.