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What is a Mass intention?
A Mass intention is one Mass, celebrated for one person or one need. It is the most complete thing the Church can offer for anyone — and it is widely misunderstood, so this page is deliberately plain.
The short answer
At every Mass the priest prays for the whole Church, for the living and the dead. A Mass intention narrows that: this particular Mass is applied to this particular person or need — a sick relative, a deceased parent, a thanksgiving, a difficult decision.
Nothing about the Mass changes. The same liturgy is celebrated. What changes is who it is offered for, and that is stated out loud by the priest.
How it differs from your own prayer
When you pray, you pray. When a Mass is offered, the Church prays — the whole Church, in the one Sacrifice of Christ. That is not a matter of intensity or of better words; it is a different order of thing.
This is why a Mass intention is asked for at the hardest moments — a funeral, a diagnosis, an anniversary — when a person cannot pray well and does not need to.
For whom you can ask
For the living: for someone ill, for someone in difficulty, for a child, for yourself. You do not need their permission and you do not need to tell them.
For the dead: for a parent, a spouse, a friend, a person nobody else remembers.
In thanksgiving: for a recovery, a birth, an anniversary, or simply because something went well and you want to say so properly.
What the offering is — and what it is not
It is not a price. It does not buy grace, and it does not make the Mass more effective. It is a gift to the priest who celebrates, and Canon 945 §1 allows him to accept it for this purpose.
It is not income for a parish budget or for a fund. Canon 947 requires that it be kept entirely for the celebrant. If an organisation keeps part of it, it is acting against that canon.
We state our own position because it is not universal: our fund takes no share of any offering. Whatever is given for a Mass intention reaches the priest in full. A Mass is never revenue for us.
How much should you give
Whatever you can. There is no required amount and no minimum that makes a Mass “valid”. In many places the customary offering is small; in others it is larger. A person who can give nothing is not turned away.
If you are choosing an amount, choose one you will not regret — that is the whole of the rule.
How to ask for one
Give the name, whether the person is living or deceased, and what you are asking for. Say whether you want a single Mass, a novena of nine, or a Gregorian series of thirty.
If a date matters — an anniversary, a birthday, the day of a diagnosis — say so and we pass it on, so the Mass falls near it where the priest’s schedule allows.
You will not receive a photograph, a certificate, or a video. You will have the thing you actually asked for: the Church has prayed for that person.
FAQ
What is a Mass intention, in one sentence?
One Mass, applied to one person or one need, at the request of someone who asks.
Can I ask for a Mass for a living person?
Yes. For the sick, for someone in difficulty, for a child, for yourself. No permission is needed and you do not have to tell them.
Is the offering a payment for the Mass?
No. It is a gift to the priest who celebrates, and Canon 947 requires that it be kept entirely for him. It is not a price and it does not buy grace.
Is there a minimum amount?
No. There is no amount that makes a Mass valid and no amount that makes it invalid. Give what you can.
What do I receive afterwards?
No photograph or certificate — those are not what a Mass is. What you have is that the Church has prayed for that person.