By Rocio Granados - La Voz Catolica
Photographer: Courtesy
Father Luis Largaespada, pastor of St. Hugh Church in Coconut Grove, is pictured here celebrating a Mass at the parish back in April 2020. The Mass was being livestreamed via social media due to the shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
MIAMI | When a loved one dies, Catholics ask for a Mass intention for that person — so that the faithful will pray for the repose of the soul who went home to the Lord.
“So that her soul will see the glory of God, that she may be at rest,” said Ramón Cápiro, recalling when he asked for a Mass intention at his parish after the death of his mother.
Cápiro learned as an adolescent, from his grandmother, that Mass intentions for the dead “help their spirit and soul find the light and go to heaven.” Those present at the Mass contribute to that intention with their prayers.
He not only asked for Mass intentions for his mother after her death. “I asked for the health of my brother who was ill with COVID and when he had just died. I also put in a Mass intention for myself, for my health,” he said.
Cápiro thinks it is important to be present at the Masses that are celebrated for the intentions of his loved ones. In the case of his mother, “I felt such peace that she was watching over me”; and for his brother, “that he would feel that I was present there, praying for him, for his soul and his spirit.”
WHY ASK FOR MASS INTENTIONS?
“Asking for Mass intentions for loved ones is an act of love,” said Father Luis Largaespada, pastor of St. Hugh Church in Coconut Grove.
“There is no more powerful prayer than the Mass,” the priest said. “You can offer Masses for the living and the dead, and it’s important because it’s asking God, in the best way possible, for mercy, be it for the sick person, for health or for whatever intention one might have. Offering a Mass is the best gift we can give to someone alive or dead.”
Requesting Mass intentions for loved ones is a sign of love, like taking flowers to the gravesite or lighting candles in their memory.
“The Mass is the best way to be remembered, and it’s important that we teach that to our children. If we don’t pass on that tradition, they won’t pray for us, no one will offer Masses for us,” Father Largaespada said.
Father Patrick Charles, pastor of St. Stephen Church in Miramar, said people ask for Mass intentions because “we know the intentions work. That’s why when people want something they come to church and ask us to pray for their personal intentions, be it for the sick or sometimes for an immigration or work situation. It’s an active faith, a faith in action.”
Intentions offered for the dead help their souls get out of purgatory. When people die and do not deserve hell, but also lack the total purity needed to enter the presence of God in heaven, they go to purgatory. Purgatory, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “is the place where we atone for the bad things we have done and which we had not the opportunity to atone for in life,” Father Largaespada said. “With our prayers, which are love, we repair the love that the souls in purgatory are lacking to enter into the presence of God.”
During this past year-and-a-half of pandemic, the Mass intentions for the sick have increased at both St. Hugh and St. Stephen. But intentions can also be offered in thanksgiving for blessings received, for wedding anniversaries and birthdays, as well as for anniversaries of someone’s death.
St. Hugh usually opens its book of Mass intentions in November, at the start of the new liturgical year. The faithful can then ask for Masses to be celebrated for their intentions on special days throughout the year.
“We have to exhort people to have that piety of offering Masses for the living and the dead and the Lord will work wonders. We have no idea of the power of a Mass. I think only when we enter into the presence of God will we realize the infinite worth of the Mass, of attending and offering Masses,” Father Largaespada added.
IS THERE A CHARGE FOR MASS INTENTIONS?
According to the Code of Canon Law, “it is not a charge, it is a donation, a stipend to provide for the church to buy the hosts, the candles. It’s a way of helping, like a gift, an offering to the Lord given for that intention,” Father Largaespada said.
The priest can only receive one donation, though there might be as many as five or 10 intentions at a particular Mass. And Mass is celebrated for the intentions of the faithful even if no offering is received.
HOW TO ASK FOR MASS INTENTIONS
According to the Code of Canon Law, every Christian can ask a priest to offer a Mass for a particular intention, for both the living as well as the eternal salvation of the dead.
To request a Mass intention, contact your parish, either via its website or by telephone, so that your loved one’s name may be included in the Mass.
JOIN POPE'S WORLDWIDE PRAYER NETWORK
Each month, through his Worldwide Prayer Network, Pope Francis offers a prayer intention that expresses his great concerns for humanity and the mission of the Church. His prayer intention for the month of October was Evangelization – Missionary Disciples. His prayer intention for the month of November is People who Suffer from Depression.
To learn more about the pope’s prayer intentions for 2021, go to https://www.popesprayer.va.
