A perspective on General Intercessions

From George Weigel's, Lord, please don’t hear this prayer:

...the subscription services that supply many parishes with their general intercessions often turn the petitions into mini-sermons in which various messages, theological and political, are encoded.

I particularly dislike the now-widespread custom of jumping immediately from a pro forma prayer for the universal Church or the Pope to a second, much lengthier petition for some political desideratum, often accompanied by a protracted secondary clause suggesting, not too subtly, that all social goods are to be secured by government action.

I have, for years, remained silent when some of General Intercessions were read. Perhaps, a better solution is to say," Lord, Don't hear our prayer".

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