Fascinating! I have never heard of the Sarum Missal. Just returned from Mass. In the Maronite Divine Liturgy, the Intercessions are given after the Invocation of the Holy Spirit (Epiclesis) with the consecrated species on the altar. Immediately following the list of intercessions, the celebrant offers up this prayer:
Remember, O Lord, the faithful departed. Accept this offering on their behalf. They put their hope in Your mercy and compassion and await Your graces. Grant them rest in the bosom of Abraham and call them to be guests in Your kingdom. Grant also to us a peaceful death and blot out our offenses, for no one on earth is without sin except Your only-begotten Son, through whom we hope, along with them, to receive pardon for our sins.
And we pray to You, O Lord.
To which the congregation responds:
Grant them rest, O lord, and forgive all our sins and failings: Those sins we have committed knowingly and those things we have done without knowledge.
The liturgy is ancient ... some of the prayers date back to the 4th century. Is there no equivalent of this prayer in the Novus Ordo?
As for Kennedy, what struck me most about this 10 page letter is that 1) he was able to submit it to the pope via "his" president, a privilege not available to any one of us. He used his "connections". And 2) his purpose in writing it seems to be an acknowledgement of his failings. He speaks of following his Catholic faith in matters of social concern, none of which benefit the slaughtered innocents. It's a twisted logic that has permeated nearly half the Catholic populace, not only here but in other parts of the world as well.
Faced with imminent death, would it ever occur to you to write the pope? It's as if he were trying to justify his actions before God, hoping the pope will 'intercede' on his behalf. Perhaps he was hoping that the pope would condone his work so he could then absolve himself before God, pointing the finger at the pope. Or am I reading too much into this?
Re Kennedy's letter (though I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't write it himself, or at least without a great deal of input from Pelosi or someone else), it's interesting that they didn't release the whole thing, just excerpts. Probably just another attempt -- like Pelosi's failed stab at getting a good photo op with the Pope -- to get the Pope to say something (utterly ludicrous) like, "Oh, you liberals do so much good, surely God will overlook that you facilitated the murder of 40,000,000 human beings." So it didn't work again.