Dear Parish Family,
We also offer Mass Intentions at our weekday Masses, but currently, those names are not heard on the weekends. Additionally, someone who attends an 8:30 Mass never gets to hear who is being remembered at the 4:00 or the 11:15.
One possible solution to this is to have all the names of those having Mass Intentions that week to be read at each weekend Mass when the whole community is present.
With this approach, we would no longer divide the list by saying:
“For those who have recently died, including ______.” … And then say:
“For those we remember at this Mass: ___ , ___ and ____.”
It would be nicer to instead say, “For all who have died, including…” and list all those beloveds we’re remembering that week: those who’ve recently died… along with the names of all who are being remembered at the Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday Masses that week. Doing this would make the list longer – some weeks there would be 20 names there. But even then, it would add no more than 30 seconds to the prayer and it would sound so much more cohesive.
Consider also how many more people would hear the names! Our combined weekend in-person attendance is usually around 500 people. All of them would hear the names of those being prayed for that week. Further, about 700 people join us for Mass on our Livestream. Currently, they only hear the names of those being remembered at 4:00 on Saturdays. They’d get to honor the lives of all those being remembered that week.
Remembering our beloveds in heaven as a family is a beautiful and subtle way to bring us closer together. Hopefully this attempt at bringing all those prayers into one each week will be a blessing for us all.
Your grateful pastor,
Father Scott