In the Roman Canon of the Traditional Latin Mass, as well as my Rosaries, I found find myself repeatedly praying for the same major things across the globe and locally. Maybe it’s just my mild OCD, but I was surprised to find that my most important prayer intentions even fit into the beginning of the alphabet! I believe they refer to Holy Mother Church and the salvation of the world. At least, these are the things I find most pressing, and you can join me in prayer for them, too:
A—Abortion and Trafficking, the end of: This has been my main prayer intention for a long time. While I may have added things I think more important (only the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, see letter C) this has been the two most important prayer targets of my 15+ years of priesthood. Abortion kills the bodies of children. Sex-slavery kills their souls. Never in all of world history have numbers been higher for child-killing or child-slavery. Thus, I pray at every Mass for the end of both of these, fervently.
B—Benefactors: My benefactors (including many of you readers) take such good care of me. As you have read a thousand times from me, I get health insurance from my diocese, but my only income comes from you. And even though I don’t take Mass stipends (as it could get too close to simony, at least in my mind) I do try to bring to the Holy Mass about a dozen specific intentions every Mass. These intentions come to me from both donors and non-donors. You can always email me prayer requests, and most of these will go into the Mass. (This is why I rarely offer a Mass for only one of your intentions exclusively.)
C—Complete Restoration of the Catholic Church: These are the words from Our Lady of Good Success. Our Lady of Good Success (or the Good Event) prophesied in the 16th century that things in the Catholic Church would tank in the 20th century. Only after that period of the Church being paralyzed would the Church jump to life again. This must be what Our Lady of La Salette said would be “The Great Harvest” and probably the “era of Peace” as prophesied by Our Lady of Fatima. Anyway, you don’t have to study Marian apparitions as much as me to know God alone can crush the current corruption in the Catholic Church and bring her to total renewal and a “restoration” of our original sacraments and our original dogma.
D—Drugs and Dependence, the reduction of: This is a new one. After the mRNA shot killed so many people, I began studying childhood vaccines and autism. I then started studying the narcotic trade across the Mexican border that kills millions of Americans. I look at the alcoholism that had affected my extended family, but thankfully we are all growing more sober. All of these combined made me place “D” as “Drugs” and “Dependence.” Even though we may not need the total end to all drugs and alcohol before the end of the world, most of it is destructive. Thus, I pray frequently for the reduction of “drugs and dependence” all across the globe, but especially locally and on the borders.
E—Enemies: Recently I came across a description of the Greek word “to forgive.” The description of it was essentially saying the word means “to not hold a debt above anyone’s head” or “to release another from anything they owe.” Even though the presence of enemies’ false-accusations in my life continues to effect my life, I know I am “letting go” of any debt I think they owe me by praying for them. Satan can kick up emotions in our heart, but if we can genuinely release our enemies to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I think we can be confident we are making some progress in the virtue of forgiveness. Obviously, this is even required for entrance into heaven.
F—Family and Friends: Mine are different from yours, but these are obviously important for all of us. Isn’t it nice that friends and family both start with “f” in English?
G—Godchildren: Most people don’t realize that—besides parents—the godparents are most responsible for getting their children to heaven. I have lost touch with the parents of many of my godchildren, but that doesn’t stop me for praying for them by name at most of my Masses.
H—Heathens: As I put in an article titled Praying for Those Who Have Never Heard the Gospel. In that article, I describe an evangelical app that tells me of a different unreached tribe every day. That is, it describes a tribe somewhere in the world that doesn’t know Christ with a picture, their native religion and numbers of unbelievers. Even though the app is Protestant, I use that “tribe of the day” to bring to both Holy Mass and Lauds (the second of eight canonical hours in the old Roman Breviary.) Of course, I do not pray they become merely Christian, but fully Catholic. We as traditional Catholics need to not just be thinking of how to protect our local TLM, but how to reach the entire world for Jesus Christ. Even if you can’t travel as much as me, you can get that app and pray for a specific tribe every day to become Catholic.
I hope you memorize (and use) the above A-H prayer list when you are looking for big things to pray for.