Q: Thank you for your insightful answers.

GIRM 69 seems rather clear. Visiting various churches, many tend to ignore the usual suggestions a) and b). Some parishes have 8-9-10 prayers. Is there a specific number of prayers?  Then there are redundances: 1) Let us pray for all the faithful departed that they be shown Gd’s Mercy, let us…. Then 2 prayers later, let us pray for all the faithful departed, including John Doe, for whom this Mass is offered, let us pray tot he Lord…. Any suggestions on how to approach these situations? Thanks for your help,

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A: There’s no set number of petitions, but the implication is at least four. Examples in the fifth appendix of the missal all use only four petitions.

The petitions are not to be redundant. I think that’s why GIRM 70 never mentions a petition for the dead. We pray for them in the eucharistic prayer. Still, it’s hard not to pray for the dead in the universal prayer, especially since the Mass intention fits rather neatly in the list.

Fewer, well crafted, unique prayers are better than numerous, longer, and repetitive ones.

Still, apart from the fifth appendix, the missal resists writing prayers for you. That part of the Mass is to be composed parish by parish. We can expect variety in composition.

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