ASK FATHER: Do I Have To Say “Amen” For Weird Prayers of the Faithful at Mass?

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I don’t think any prayer is “weird” if said in good faith.As far as saying Amen that is said for the appropriate prayers through the Mass, " through Christ our Lord ’ the Our Father"etc. Spontaneous petitions, well the person may get a little tongue tied, if they were not expecting to be heard out loud, but that’s ok, God knows what they mean. So, I think we should be a little bit more kinder, remember what we all are at Mass for and may He bless us .
 
Fr. Z is correct.

There are places where the intercessory prayers are indeed highly politicised. I have been present when a prayer has been offered that “all expressions of love might be accepted, not just the traditional”…it was obvious what that was supposed to imply.

As for those locales where impromptu prayers are offered, not everything someone utters is inspired by God. Satan is perfectly capable of inspiring things too.
 
That’s the issue isn’t it…what is the inspiration of the prayer? The Holy Spirit? Personal bias? Political ideology? I’ve encountered liberal priests incorporating their ideology into a prayer request.
 
Yes. The prayers should be something that all the faithful can assent to and pray in unison. Anything political or an ideology in which only some may ascribe to but others may not, should be left out.
 
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yankeesouth said:
I’ve encountered liberal priests incorporating their ideology into a prayer request.
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but, no issues with “conservative” priests?

I can only guess you are speaking of the political ideology of priests, and not the spiritual.

Now, I’m not sure if the issue being raised in this thread is spiritual or political…seems many here can’t separate the two.
 
Elizabeth3 said:
Anything political or an ideology in which only some may ascribe to but others may not, should be left out.
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agreed…but if this call cannot be subscribed to on a social media site like CAF, which is a conglomeration of the faithful, I doubt we will not find any common ground in the prayers of the faithful…SAD…do we need “prayers from the right” and “prayers from the left” with the Bishop adding the tag line, “I’m Bishop xxx, and I approve these prayers…but not these!”?

In the meantime, I will pray the prayers offered at the Mass, without picking and choosing which I feel are acceptable or not…because all earnest prayer is acceptable before God, and there is no evidence of lack of charity in any of the prayers I have ever seen offered at the Mass.
 
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Now, I’m not sure if the issue being raised in this thread is spiritual or political…seems many here can’t separate the two.
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I thought that was the issue of the thread to begin with…some priests not separating the two.

You are certainly free to choose to ignore the reality that there are priests that do conflate the two.
 
yankeesouth said:
You are certainly free to choose to ignore the reality that there are priests that do conflate the two.
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And you certainly are free to ignore the prayers for any reason you choose…I just choose not to, and have never seen any prayers of the faithful offered at Mass as somehow even being close to nefarious.

So, to each his own I suppose.
 
Elizabeth3 said:
I think we recently prayed something about praying for Muslims and realizing we worship the same God. That gave me pause because Muslims don’t worship a Triune God.
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I actually think the Muslims do worship the same God. They are just wrong about facts regarding his nature. The Jews also reject the Trinity. But I wouldn’t say they worshipped a different God.

My problem with that prayer is that it isn’t Christians who need better understanding of Muslims. It is Muslims who need to convert and stop driving Christians from their land or executing them.
 
exnihilo said:
I actually think the Muslims do worship the same God. They are just wrong about facts regarding his nature. The Jews also reject the Trinity. But I wouldn’t say they worshipped a different God.
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Yes, I have read up on that after the first time I heard it at Mass that although we worship the one God, they went off the rails, so to speak, as to their beliefs about Him.

But I didn’t know that the first time I heard the intercession at Mass and because it gave me pause, I felt I couldn’t sincerely pray in assent to that intercession.
exnihilo said:
My problem with that prayer is that it isn’t Christians who need better understanding of Muslims. It is Muslims who need to convert and stop driving Christians from their land or executing them.
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Exactly, even now knowing that it’s not somehow theologically incorrect, it stings a little to pray that Christians have more tolerance and understanding towards their faith, when the extremists among them are beheading Christians.

…and no, before anyone jumps all over me, I don’t think all Muslims have those extreme views or would commit that kind of violence.
 
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It’s not so much the Prayers of The Faithful here, it’s the little ditty Father tacks on at the end. This rode in when the Mass was revised about two years ago. Sometimes sung with help from the choir and a few facilitators planted about the church. Changing with the liturgical season. Not encountered at other parishes and not shown in the worship aid. Probably not licit as this novelty suspends when a different priest presides at Mass, or the bishop visits the parish.
 
Reverent_Howler said:
It’s not so much the Prayers of The Faithful here, it’s the little ditty Father tacks on at the end. This rode in when the Mass was revised about two years ago. Sometimes sung with help from the choir and a few facilitators planted about the church. Changing with the liturgical season. Not encountered at other parishes and not shown in the worship aid. Probably not licit as this novelty suspends when a different priest presides at Mass, or the bishop visits the parish.
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Is it he Taize chant ‘O Lord, hear my prayer…when I call, answer me’. as a matter of interest?
 
I have better things to do with my time than sit around nit-picking the prayers of the faithful.

I agree that the wording of the Muslim example was a little clumsy, but I get the general gist, we want to pray for our Muslim brethren, which is fine. Lord hear our prayer. Next.

If you’re that worried about the wording of some intention, simply tell the Lord, “Lord, that’s written kind of badly. I don’t want you to think I’m putting a non-Christian faith on the level of our one true faith. I pray that all the Muslims come to know and love you.” Problem solved.

If you’re worried about the wording of many intentions, then consider that maybe you are overthinking this.
 
Indeed, no matter how bad the wording is, and even when words utterly fail, Jesus assures us that “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” I often take comfort in this.
 
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Oh I don’t know. I always pray that I will get some beer money by the end of the day. Or that I’ll get a cool new pet that I can sic on people that bother me.
After all, the Mass is all about me!
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How so? Please explain.

To this jaundiced eye it is clear that activists have insinuated themselves into each and every area of the Faith in which they may exercise personal power and drive the agenda: RCIA, Faith Formation, the sacrosanct and politically infested realm of “Social Justice” and yes, the POTF. And, these are not Trump voters, if you catch my drift.

Don’t see it?

OK…

The theological left is always bleating about one’s conscience. Great! If we cannot agree with some of their hare-brained prayers, then no, our conscience demands that we refrain from joining them via our “Amen.”
 
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But one never knows when some Unitarians might wander in. Wouldn’t want to offend them, now, with orthodoxy!
 
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