Wednesday Liturgy: October Prayer Intentions
ROME, OCT. 19, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.
Q: Please help me to understand the monthly prayer intentions of the Church. I am puzzled by the way we select the prayer intention of the Church. For example, October is the month for the rosary and yet it is also the month for the missions. How does this work, and which intention takes precedence? -- P.B., Harare, Zimbabwe
A: The possibility of prayer intentions is unlimited, and there is no contradiction in having more than one commemoration in the same month. Nor is there any real need to establish a priority in this case.
The association of the month of October with the holy rosary is earlier than with the missions.
The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on Oct. 7 originated as Our Lady of Victory and commemorated the decisive Christian victory over the Turks at the naval battle of Lepanto in 1571. Pope St. Pius V, a member of the Dominican Order, had organized special processions in Rome on that same day and had requested that Catholics pray the rosary for the Christian fleet. Since then, the feast is a continual reminder of the importance of the rosary and an occasion for promoting its use.
The advent of World Missionary Sunday is relatively recent. St. Thérèse of Lisieux was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1925 and proclaimed patron of the missions along with St. Francis Xavier. Although Thérèse never left her convent she had a deep love for the missions, prayed continually for missionaries, and corresponded by letter with some missionary priests. She herself had requested to become a missionary and had been assigned to a Carmelite convent in Hanoi, in French Indochina, but her failing health prevented her departure.
The fact that her feast falls on October first probably led the Superior Council of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith to propose the second to last Sunday in October as "A day of prayer and propaganda for the missions to be celebrated on the same day by all the parishes and institutes of the Catholic world."
The reasons for the initiative were clearly explained in the request: "It would foster better understanding of the vastness of the missionary task and greater missionary zeal among the clergy and the people; it would be an opportunity to make the Society for the Propagation of the Faith more widely known, encourage membership and offerings for the missions; but above all, like a holy crusade, it would exert sweet violence on the most Sacred Heart of Jesus to hasten universal recognition of His divine sovereignty."
The mention of Christ's divine sovereignty indicates another reason for proposing the penultimate Sunday of October. At that time the feast of Christ the King was celebrated on the last Sunday of October. This feast had also been instituted by Pius XI in 1925 and was very dear to his heart at a time when the Church was threatened by a rising tide of militant atheism.
Pius XI approved the request for the day of prayer for the missions in April 1926.
Over the last eight decades it became customary for the prefect of the congregation to issue a message on the occasion of Mission Sunday. In October 1965 Pope Paul VI issued a message "to add once again Our fervid contribution to the clarification of the essential missionary character of the Holy Church of Christ, presented with supreme effectiveness in these days by the Ecumenical Council [Vatican II]."
Since then, his successors have continued this tradition. This year Pope Benedict XVI's message for World Mission Day on Sunday, Oct. 24, has as its theme "Building Ecclesial Communion is the Key to Mission."
The Little Flower's combination of contemplation and missionary zeal holds the key as to why there is no contradiction between promoting the rosary and fostering the missions.
As a form of prayer the rosary contemplates the principal mysteries of salvation history so as to penetrate their meaning and apply them to our lives. Together with contemplation the rosary, like other forms of prayer, can also have specific intentions which we entrust to God through the mediation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
This dual aspect of the rosary as contemplation and intercession means it is perfectly compatible to pray the rosary for the intention of the missions, and, indeed, for vocations, for those in need, and for any other intentions we choose.
Another aspect is the Holy Father's monthly intentions. This is a specific activity of the Apostleship of Prayer. Since its foundation in France in 1844, this apostolate has transformed many lives and reaped copious fruits of grace for the Church. Further information on the apostolate can be found at www.apostleshipofprayer.org.
An editor's note on this site explains the monthly intention: "Apostleship of Prayer receives monthly prayer intentions from Pope Benedict XVI and urges Christians throughout the world to unite in prayer for those intentions." As Catholics we firmly believe in the power of prayer and so the Holy Father commends specific intentions every month so that the faithful around the world can join with him in praying for these intentions. This can be done either by specifically praying for this intention or, as explained above, by adding them to our intentions while assisting at Mass, praying the Liturgy of the Hours, the rosary, or other prayers and devotions.
Q: Please help me to understand the monthly prayer intentions of the Church. I am puzzled by the way we select the prayer intention of the Church. For example, October is the month for the rosary and yet it is also the month for the missions. How does this work, and which intention takes precedence? -- P.B., Harare, Zimbabwe
A: The possibility of prayer intentions is unlimited, and there is no contradiction in having more than one commemoration in the same month. Nor is there any real need to establish a priority in this case.
The association of the month of October with the holy rosary is earlier than with the missions.
The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on Oct. 7 originated as Our Lady of Victory and commemorated the decisive Christian victory over the Turks at the naval battle of Lepanto in 1571. Pope St. Pius V, a member of the Dominican Order, had organized special processions in Rome on that same day and had requested that Catholics pray the rosary for the Christian fleet. Since then, the feast is a continual reminder of the importance of the rosary and an occasion for promoting its use.
The advent of World Missionary Sunday is relatively recent. St. Thérèse of Lisieux was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1925 and proclaimed patron of the missions along with St. Francis Xavier. Although Thérèse never left her convent she had a deep love for the missions, prayed continually for missionaries, and corresponded by letter with some missionary priests. She herself had requested to become a missionary and had been assigned to a Carmelite convent in Hanoi, in French Indochina, but her failing health prevented her departure.
The fact that her feast falls on October first probably led the Superior Council of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith to propose the second to last Sunday in October as "A day of prayer and propaganda for the missions to be celebrated on the same day by all the parishes and institutes of the Catholic world."
The reasons for the initiative were clearly explained in the request: "It would foster better understanding of the vastness of the missionary task and greater missionary zeal among the clergy and the people; it would be an opportunity to make the Society for the Propagation of the Faith more widely known, encourage membership and offerings for the missions; but above all, like a holy crusade, it would exert sweet violence on the most Sacred Heart of Jesus to hasten universal recognition of His divine sovereignty."
The mention of Christ's divine sovereignty indicates another reason for proposing the penultimate Sunday of October. At that time the feast of Christ the King was celebrated on the last Sunday of October. This feast had also been instituted by Pius XI in 1925 and was very dear to his heart at a time when the Church was threatened by a rising tide of militant atheism.
Pius XI approved the request for the day of prayer for the missions in April 1926.
Over the last eight decades it became customary for the prefect of the congregation to issue a message on the occasion of Mission Sunday. In October 1965 Pope Paul VI issued a message "to add once again Our fervid contribution to the clarification of the essential missionary character of the Holy Church of Christ, presented with supreme effectiveness in these days by the Ecumenical Council [Vatican II]."
Since then, his successors have continued this tradition. This year Pope Benedict XVI's message for World Mission Day on Sunday, Oct. 24, has as its theme "Building Ecclesial Communion is the Key to Mission."
The Little Flower's combination of contemplation and missionary zeal holds the key as to why there is no contradiction between promoting the rosary and fostering the missions.
As a form of prayer the rosary contemplates the principal mysteries of salvation history so as to penetrate their meaning and apply them to our lives. Together with contemplation the rosary, like other forms of prayer, can also have specific intentions which we entrust to God through the mediation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
This dual aspect of the rosary as contemplation and intercession means it is perfectly compatible to pray the rosary for the intention of the missions, and, indeed, for vocations, for those in need, and for any other intentions we choose.
Another aspect is the Holy Father's monthly intentions. This is a specific activity of the Apostleship of Prayer. Since its foundation in France in 1844, this apostolate has transformed many lives and reaped copious fruits of grace for the Church. Further information on the apostolate can be found at www.apostleshipofprayer.org.
An editor's note on this site explains the monthly intention: "Apostleship of Prayer receives monthly prayer intentions from Pope Benedict XVI and urges Christians throughout the world to unite in prayer for those intentions." As Catholics we firmly believe in the power of prayer and so the Holy Father commends specific intentions every month so that the faithful around the world can join with him in praying for these intentions. This can be done either by specifically praying for this intention or, as explained above, by adding them to our intentions while assisting at Mass, praying the Liturgy of the Hours, the rosary, or other prayers and devotions.
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