Catholic Wedding Universal Prayer (Prayer of the Faithful)

The Liturgy of the Word in Catholic weddings concludes with the Creed and the Universal Prayer, formerly called the Prayer of the Faithful or General Intercessions. At Sunday Mass, following the homily, we stand and together recite the creed, saying aloud what we believe about God and about how we are to live in response to him. This statement of faith leads us to the Universal Prayer (formerly General Intercessions or Prayer of the Faithful) wherein we pray for the needs of the world, the Church, and often our very particular needs.

You can find some advice for composing your own intercessions for the Prayer of the Faithful here at Together for Life Online.

You can download the sample sets of intercessions from pages 95-96 of Together for Life here: PDF / Word.

(A quick note about terminology: What we call the “intercessions” or “intentions” forms the core of the Prayer of the Faithful, which is a singular liturgical action. Many people talk about the Prayer of the Faithful with the wrong words. Instead of prayers of the faithful, be sure to refer to this liturgical action as the Prayer of the Faithful. The Prayer of the Faithful for a Catholic wedding is technically not a group of prayers of the faithful for a Catholic wedding.  There are no prayers (plural) of the faithful, only intercessions that make up a part of the Prayer of the Faithful.)

During Catholic weddings, the creed is not usually recited and the intercessions are moved to follow The Order of Celebrating Matrimony. There they become the first act of worship of the newly married couple.

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