Every so often, I have people ask about the meaning of Mass intentions.  You have probably noticed that when we offer the Prayers of the Faithful, we always include an intention for a specific person.  In the bulletin, you will notice the list of Mass intentions that are coming up for the week ahead.  But what is this all about?  What exactly are Mass intentions?

When a priest celebrates Mass, he does so with two specific intentions in mind.  First, he offers Mass according to what the Church expects of him.  Priests are encouraged to pray the following prayer each time before they celebrate Mass:

My purpose is to celebrate Mass and to make present the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the rite of the holy Roman Church to the praise of our all-powerful God and all his assembly in the glory of heaven, for my good and the good of all his pilgrim Church on earth, and for all who have asked me to pray for them in general and in particular, and for the good of the holy Roman Church.  May the almighty and merciful Lord grant us joy and peace, amendment of life, room for true repentance, the grace and comfort of the Holy Spirit, and perseverance in good works.  Amen.

Let me draw your attention one line, where the priest promises to pray “for all who have asked me to pray for them in general and in particular.”  The “in particular” mentioned here is the second specific intention, where the priest will intend to offer that particular Mass so that the fruits of the Mass will be applied to that person in particular.  To be sure, each Mass will benefit the entire Church, but it is also the case that individuals can receive special graces when a Mass is offered specifically for them.

One common misconception is that Mass intentions are only for those who are deceased.  That makes it pretty awkward when you see somebody’s name listed in the bulletin and you just saw them last week!  Having masses offered for the deceased is probably much more common, as this is one of greatest gifts we can offer souls who have died.  The Church’s presumption is that when people die, they need purification in Purgatory before being admitted to Heaven.  These souls rely on our prayers to assist them in their final steps toward Heaven, and the Mass is the greatest means to help achieve that end.  But masses can be offered for the living as well.  Several members of our diocesan Catholic Pastoral Center staff have had masses celebrated for them at the Cathedral on or near their birthdays.  In that regard, this past Friday (August 5) at the 5:15 pm Mass we had a Mass intention for Bishop Paprocki on the occasion of his 70^th Birthday!  Many blessings to him in gratitude for his leadership to our diocese!  On Sundays and Holy Days, there will also be a Mass offered for the parish family, as required by Canon Law.

In addition to the priest who has a particular Mass intention at every Mass, it is customary for all the faithful to bring a Mass intention with them to offer up with the priest.  This is made clear when, at the Offertory, the priest says to the people: “Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the Father Almighty.”  By virtue of our Baptism, we have a share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, though not in the same way as ordained priests.  Nevertheless, we are all priests in the general sense, and one of the primary things that a priest does is to offer sacrifice.  Part of that sacrifice is the intention we offer at Mass for somebody, living or dead.  Keep that in mind the next time you are at Mass.  Before Mass begins, take a moment before each Mass to name that intention in your heart, and unite it to the sacrifice being offered by the priest on your behalf at that Mass.

Father Alford

Ok, we complete our examination of the Church’s calendar of feast days this week.  We have seen how, because of such a spectacular number of saints, you cannotalways celebrate a saint on their actual day of death, or, at least they cannot all find a place on the Universal Calendar. For some saints, like Mary, Martha, and Lazarus who we started this whole project with, we do not know the day they died since we simply do not have records of that. For others, we have to move their feast-day to celebrate something more important, for instance St. Dominic, who we will celebrate on August 8th, actually died on August 6^th, but because Our Lord’s Transfiguration is celebrated on the 6^th, St. Dominic is bumped forward 2 days, onto a day which may not be his heavenly-birth-day, but happily falls on the day of his earthly birth. 

Why did we begin this investigation with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus? Well, because two years ago, Pope Francis changed the feast on July 29^th from just being for St. Martha, to also include her sister Mary, and brother Lazarus. These are the kinds of smaller changes that happen constantly in the life of the Church that perhaps we don’t notice, but which gradually impact our life of faith. Why might Pope Francis have done this? If I had to guess, it actually has to do with St. Mary Magdalen, who has sometimes been conflated with Mary of Bethany, but whom scholarship has gradually shifted to thinking that the two Mary’s were different disciples of Jesus. Pope Francis, in 2016, upgraded the feast day of St. Mary Magdalen (on July 22^nd) from the level of an obligatory memorial to a feast, (this primarily means that she now has more of her own prayers at Masses on that day). After giving greater emphasis to St. Mary Magdalen, and focusing on the gift of mercy that she received from Jesus, Pope Francis wanted to give greater emphasis to the other Mary, reminding all of us of what it looks like to have close friendship with Jesus. He does not just forgive, He also wants to spend time with us in our homes!  

I should mention that saints are not always added or upgraded on the calendar. Sometimes Popes choose to remove saints from the calendar, and not simply for space reasons. St. Pope Pius V, who we saw preceding Pope Gregory XIII, did some preparatory work for his successor and removed whole bunch of saints from the yearly calendar (Sts. Joachim and Anne, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and others) as well as some feasts we may now consider rather odd (the feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis, for instance).  Other feasts he “downgraded” to a lower class so they would not trump important seasons such as Advent and Lent. After Vatican II, something similar happened, with dozens of saints losing their feast day (examples being St. Philomena, St. Ursula, and St. Christopher) and others being moved to other days or upgraded/downgraded as far as their “class” of feast goes. There are a variety of reasons for this. Sometimes because devotion or knowledge of a saint has waned they may be removed, or other saints who are considered more impactful, loved, or needed at this particular time might take their spot. 

Here we can see how popular devotion actually ends up impacting the Church’s liturgical life. As saints grow, or shrink, in popularity, this can eventually change the Church’s celebration of them. That said, the Church also has an obligation to push back on fads and whims, holding before the world saints who challenge and shock us. You get into heaven not because of a popular vote but because of complete surrender to God! Still, each of us personally should choose saints as particularly close friends both for the ways that they challenge us, but also for the ways their lives or virtues attract us. Even if it is not a saint on the universal calendar, we can and should look up their feast day and celebrate accordingly!

A final nugget found in researching these essays: Hurricanes were originally not given alphabetical names, but the name of the saint on whose feast day they first made landfall. See the “San Calixto” hurricane (named after St. Pope Callixtus I, October 14^th, 1780), “San Ciriaco” (after St. Cyriacus, August 8^th, 1899, though his day has now been stolen by St. Dominic), or even Hurricane Betsy, nicknamed “Santa Clara” (after St. Clare, August 12^th, 1956, though her feast since 1970 has been restored to her actual day of death of August 11^th.) 

– Fr. Dominic Rankin has seen a shift in popular devotion to the saints over just the past year or two, with far more children choosing St. Gianna and St. Teresa of Calcutta as their patron saint at confirmation than before. This could be because we shifted to younger children receiving that sacrament over that same period so I wonder if the stories of Gianna and Teresa more easily captivate our young ladies’ hearts?

Last month, the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade which granted legal access to abortion in our country.  In the years following that decision, it is estimated that more than 63 million abortions have taken place in our country alone, a staggering statistic to consider.  While this Supreme Court decision was a welcome step in the right direction for the protection of human life, there is much work to be done.  To some extent, changing laws is easy (though it may not seem that way), but the work of changing hearts and changing the culture is FAR more difficult.  But this is where the most important work of the Pro-Life movement lies.  To be sure, every effort, including working for a change in legislation, is necessary when it comes to building a culture of life.  But the work of converting hearts is where we have the most hope for lasting success.  Jesus Himself makes the call to conversion a central theme in His preaching, and it continues to be at the heart of the Church’s work in our world.

In that regard, a new grassroots effort has begun which is inviting the people of Illinois to undertake a campaign of prayer and fasting for the conversion of those in our state. Central to this effort is the recognition that Illinois is one of the states where the legal access to abortion continues, and our state is becoming a place where others will come in order to obtain an abortion.  Even though the recent Supreme Court decision promises to reduce abortions in many places in our country, the opposite will be true for our state.  As Catholics in this state, we cannot be unmoved by this sad situation, thus the invitation to turn to our two most powerful tools in combatting evil and sin – prayer and fasting.

This campaign is asking the faithful to pray and fast every Friday on bread and water, offering up these acts for the conversion of Illinois.  To be sure, we hope that one day the laws of our state will reflect our beliefs in the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death.  And while our primary focus with this campaign is protecting innocent life in the womb, it must extend to other areas of life as well, including proper care for the poor, mentally ill, prisoners, etc.  Perhaps as important as anything to pray for is the conversion of heart that is necessary with regards to how we consider one another.  Division has never felt so strong and people on every side of every issue seem more ready to attack those who oppose them, verbally and physically.  While some division is to be expected as we seek to pursue truth and justice, the type of division that is becoming more common in how we speak of and treat others is nothing short of demonic.  That may sound strong, but consider that the primary work of the devil is to divide us, and he will never cease to find ways of making us see others as the enemy and worthy of our fiercest reactions.  The Lord invites us, however, to see others as our neighbors, as brothers and sisters.  Sometimes siblings and neighbors disagree, and there can be a place for that, but we must never lose sight of the necessity of always approaching others with charity, which is to will the good of the other.  And one of the greatest goods we can will for another is their conversion to truth according to God’s will, which will bring about the unity the Lord desires for us as His beloved children.

So let us join in praying and fasting for the conversion of those in our state, recognizing that the first ones for whom we offer our prayers for conversion is ourselves.  Only from that place of being converted ourselves will we be able to work for the conversion of others, motivated always by charity, and never by bitterness, anger, or hatred.

Father Alford

I don’t usually talk about current Church events in my Weekly column, but recently I have felt drawn to think about and follow Pope Francis’ penitential pilgrimage to Canada. I admit that I have only been reading a few articles here and there about his time visiting our neighbor to the north, but I soon hope to sit down for a while to watch some videos, read his homily transcripts, and see how the indigenous peoples of Canada received his visit. Pope Francis has been very clear about the reason for his visit to Canada this week. He is there to apologize for the ways in which the Catholic Church historically mistreated various indigenous peoples, especially in the administration of boarding schools in which native language and dress was prohibited. Recently, graveyards of students have been discovered, probably the remains of students who passed away from illness while studying, with no funds to return their bodies home. 

When I first heard about the Pope’s plan to travel to Canada, I was surprised because it didn’t seem like the Catholic Church was the only or even the primary perpetrator of these sins. The government paid for these schools, and other churches and organizations also administered similar schools. But, these facts do not excuse Catholics from the duty to do what we can to correct injustices of the past. The Church leads the world in many ways, and offering authentic apologies is another way for the Church to lead the world down the path of reconciliation. After Pope Francis met with Canadian Indigenous leaders in Rome, he said, “any truly effective process of healing requires concrete action.” Pope Francis’ concrete action in this case is to humbly ask for forgiveness with sorrow. Although the wounds may still feel fresh to many indigenous people, it is hard to ignore the authenticity and love that Pope Francis carries in his demeanor and words. Pope Francis is an 85-year-old man, and to make the journey to Canada, mostly in a wheelchair, is a striking sign of his authenticity. 

When a Pope visits a certain place, the ripple effect of those events lasts for generations. My first time seeing the pope in person (at least I’m assuming that I saw him, as I was four years old) was when Pope John Paul II came to St. Louis in 1999. Recently some parishioners told me that they were at the same event in 1999 with Pope John Paul II. In 1993, Pope John Paul II had also visited Denver. Although I wasn’t born yet, I have heard that the Pope’s time in Denver impacted an entire generation of young Catholics. His visit contributed to the re-opening of their seminary, the establishment of the Augustine Institute, and several other evangelistic initiatives. In 2015, Pope Francis came to Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia to celebrate the canonization of St. Junipero Serra. I was there with my seminary at the canonization Mass. Although these events are only a very small part of what popes do in their ministry, the impact of their visit reverberates far beyond the few days spent there. I hope that Pope Francis’ time in Canada is fruitful. In a way, he represents every Catholic around the world, and he shows us how we should respond to sin: not with denials or cover-ups, but with humility and love for the one who has been hurt by the sin. 

On Monday, Pope Francis concluded a homily with the following words. May we all seek true reconciliation in our lives, always through the Cross. 

Dear friends, the reconciliation brought by Christ was no agreement to preserve outward peace, a sort of gentlemen’s agreement meant to keep everyone happy. Nor was it a peace that dropped down from heaven, imposed from on high, or by assimilating the other. The Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus reconciles by bringing together, by making two distant groups one: one reality, one soul, one people. And how does he do that? Through the cross (cf. Eph 2:14). Jesus reconciles us with one another on the cross, on the “tree of life”, as the ancient Christians loved to call it.