Three Part Structure

The priest regulates the Universal Prayers by introducing them from the chair prior to the intentions being read. This introduction is addressed to the congregation and it calls them to prayer. All of our formularies include this introduction as a sentence or two, but it can switch out for a simple alternative such as "Let us pray."

Intentions

The "The intentions announced should be sober, be composed with a wise liberty and in few words, and they should be expressive of the prayer of the entire community." (GIRM 71) This means that the intentions should be universal and not overly specific. Additionally, there are normally four intentions following the specific order of for the needs of the Church, for public authorities and the salvation of the whole world, for those burdened by any kind of difficulty, and lastly for the local community. These intentions are addressed to the people and essentially explain what the community is praying for.

Response

The people's response to the intentions is the true prayer of petition. In a moment of silence, a verbal response, or a combination of these the people pray for the intention that was just announced. All of our formularies use the common call and response, but this can be substituted for another form.

• We pray to the Lord,

• Lord hear our prayer.

The last portion of the Universal Prayer is the priest concluding with a final prayer that is similar in structure to a collect, but utilizes the shorter ending that is used for the Prayer over the Offerings.