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Hello,

I have heard a while ago that Masses can be offered for particular intentions.

I would like to ask a priest I know if he could add a request of mine to the intentions, namely, to help people convert (my beloved ones in particular).

I am sorry to stand by and not be able to do much.

Is this something that can be done? If so, is it free or is it necessary to make a small offering to the Church to support it?

And to do it, is it simply enough to ask, or does one need to do something else to add to the intentions?

Salve,

Priest’s reply

Dear Matthew,

1. The celebration of the Holy Mass is nothing other than making Christ’s sacrifice present among us. Christ’s sacrifice is the source of every blessing, that is, of every gift and every grace.

2. This is why Christians from the very beginning celebrate Holy Mass essentially for four reasons. The first: with Christ’s sacrifice we offer God proper worship for his greatness. There is no greater act of worship than the Holy Mass. As a sign of this at the end of the Eucharistic prayer the priest says: “through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honour is yours, almighty Father, forever and ever.” If one weighs these words one by one, one immediately realizes the enormous significance of such an act of worship. Joined to Christ and his sacrifice, united to the infinite love of the Holy Spirit, we give God all honour and glory. And we conclude by saying that we want “all honour and glory” to be given to him for ever and ever. This is the so-called latreutic or worship end.

3. The second purpose is thanksgiving. We give thanks for all the benefits God has given us and in particular for the incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Mass is the most beautiful way by which we are able to thank God the Father because we are united with Jesus Christ and his thanksgiving at the Last Supper. It is a thanksgiving that has infinite value and merit. At Mass we thank the Father for all the gifts He has given us. And we thank him with the most beautiful and most appreciated thanksgiving, that is, Jesus Christ. This is the so-called Eucharistic or thanksgiving purpose of the Mass. And because we sometimes receive graces that are particularly dear to us, some of the devotees conveniently have a Holy Mass celebrated in thanksgiving for the grace they received. St Thomas recalls that saying thanks disposes the soul to receive further graces.

4. The third purpose is atonement for sins.

We should not forget that the Holy Mass is the memorial of the Lord’s passion and that in his passion Christ atoned for our sins. It is the so-called satisfying end. Many people rightly have Holy Masses celebrated in suffrage for the souls in purgatory or even to obtain the grace of conversion for a specific person. 

5. The fourth purpose is to implore graces. Jesus Christ has already earned for us all the graces we need through his passion, which is made present and real at the altar during Holy Mass. In this way Christ through the Holy Mass places before us the source of every blessing. This is the so-called impetratory end. This is why many people have Holy Masses celebrated to obtain some special graces.

6. I like to recall that when the father of St. Therese of the Child Jesus saw that his little daughter was dying and close to death, he decided to have a novena of Holy Masses celebrated and accompanied this request with a very large offering of several gold coins. On the very last day of the novena, which coincided with the feast of Pentecost, Theresa suddenly recovered.

7. So with the testimony of the father of Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus we come to the offering. Why do we accompany the request to celebrate Holy Mass according to our intentions with an offering? Because in this way we feel we are uniting ourselves to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in a stronger, closer and more concrete way because we are accompanying it with a personal sacrifice. You can certainly ask the priest to remember a particular intention of yours during the celebration of mass. You can do this without giving him an offering. The priest will gladly remember you.

8. But, in order to have the Mass celebrated according to your intentions (which is quite different from a simple remembrance), the Church suggests you unite yourself more closely to Christ’s sacrifice with a personal sacrifice. The personal sacrifice is the offering. The example of St Teresa’s father is very eloquent. He did not merely ask to be remembered in the Mass. In this way, his involvement would have been more ideal than real. He needed a great grace. And he wanted to accompany such a great request with an equally great personal sacrifice.

9. As to practical issues, you can have Masses celebrated for any intention. For example: in honour of the Holy Trinity. Or in honour of one of the various mysteries of life (His Nativity, Passion, Death, Resurrection). Or you can have Masses celebrated in honour of Our Lady or some saint: so that the Lord may further glorify them by allowing them to dispense graces upon graces to the Church and to you in particular, who have that Mass celebrated. You can have the Holy Mass celebrated in suffrage of some deceased person. Most of the time people do that. But you can also have it celebrated for the conversion of sinners or of a particular person. Finally, you can have a Holy Mass celebrated for your particular intentions. You do not need to manifest them to the priest.

10. Having decided this on your part, you must present yourself to the priest and ask him if he can celebrate a Holy Mass according to your intentions. You can keep these intentions secret, or you can manifest them to him, especially if it is for suffrage, because in this case the name of the deceased is also mentioned during the Mass and those present can pray for him. You can also indicate a date and he will inform you if on that day he will have to celebrate for other intentions. In this case, you will indicate another date. The offering can be given to him immediately or at the end of the Mass.

11. For an indication of the amount of the offering, do not stick to the minimum as if you were going to buy something. My advice is to always be generous, keeping in mind that the Lord will do the same for us.

I bless you and remember you in prayer.

Father Angelo