Today I'm working on my term paper on St. Bonaventure's Tract on Preparing for Mass. I'm just finishing an exposition of the first chapter, which concludes with advice on forming the proper intentions for prayer.
For whom should we pray at the altar? Bonaventure offers a little list to help us remember:
"Propose to pray for the Pope, the cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, doctors, rectors, priests, clerics, monks, religious, monasteries and all of Christ’s servants; for kings, generals, princes and all the nobility; for virgins, widows, orphans, pilgrims, prisoners, the afflicted, the crippled, the sick and for all the people of God; also for the pagans, schismatics and heretics, that they may return to the true God and to the unity of the holy Church."
I guess that's everybody.
3 comments:
Amen! Cathy
Catechumens, and unborn/unbaptized children are not in any of these categories and are also need our prayers.
Also, we may wish to pray for Jews. They don't seem to be "pagans, schismatics or heretics," but, as unbaptized people, they are not quite a part of "all of the people of God" either.
And for our enemies and all those who persecute us and would do us harm. They really need our prayers.
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