January 22, 2025

By Father William Muench
NCC columnist

Today, I would like to begin by congratulating my former parish secretary who is celebrating retirement. She is Diane Snyder, who has been the parish secretary at St. Mary’s, Ticonderoga, for many years. Diane has been secretary for several pastors at St. Mary’s. I was one of them, and I want to assure you she kept me very organized.

I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that I have had many magnificent secretaries in each of the parishes where I acted as pastor. I am sure they were gifts to me from the Lord. I am truly grateful for each of them. They continue to be in my prayers. By the way, they always made me look good.

In addition, today, my attention has been absorbed with news of the terrible fires in California. Those people have suffered so much lately. They have lost so much; they have completely lost their homes. I find it rather heartbreaking. While I do not know anyone out there, I am certainly praying for them all. I pray that God gives them the faith and courage to deal with this tragedy. They are my companions in this country, on this planet.

Our celebration of the Mass is a perfect time for bringing our intentions to the Lord. Just before the Eucharist, the Mass pauses for us all to call to mind our intentions. This is the Prayer of the Faithful. We turn to the Lord with our needs and intentions, our hopes and dreams. We offer our prayers for our community and country, in fact, our whole world. We may not know anyone involved in a tragedy, but we are all People of God on this planet.

I have an image that I like to use for this Prayer of the Faithful. I encourage people at Mass to spiritually bring their intentions to the altar of the Lord, placing them there for the time of the Eucharist. As we celebrate the Eucharist, our intentions are blessed by the Lord, it is a sacred place on the altar near the Body and Blood of the Savior, and our promises and dedications for each day are blessed by the Lord.

Let me add here that it is important for us to add to our intentions at Mass and participate in the Mass – a prayer for each person who is participating at Mass with us. This congregation at Mass is meant to be joined as a family. We are brought together in a family as we are united in our participation at Mass. It might well be true that some of those participating with us may not have need for our prayers. But, who knows, I believe that there is often someone with us on this day who desperately has real need and longs for the prayers of others.

I want to share with you an example in our liturgy. During the Penitential Rite at the beginning of Mass, the beginning of the Confiteor starts in this way: “I confess to Almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters that I have greatly sinned.” At that moment we welcome others worshipping with us into our confidence. “I have greatly sinned.” And all those others there are willing to admit to me that they are sinners. And as we go on in that prayer, we ask them all to pray for each other.

I like to encourage people to look around as they begin to participate in Mass. These are the ones I must be willing to pray for, and these are the ones who will be praying for me at this Mass.