Prayer for All Souls Day (submitted by Pat Ferrick)
Merciful Father,
On this day, we are called to remember those who have died,
Particularly those who have died in the past year,
And pray for their joyful reunion with you, their loving creator.
As your son taught us to call the stranger neighbor, our fallen are many—
Names we will never know, voices we have never heard, in lands we may never visit,
Yet brothers and sisters all.
And so we pray.
For victims of war, caught in the crossfires of conflicts we could not quell,
for soldiers and civilians, adults and children, we pray ….Grant them eternal rest, O Lord.
For those migrants who have died seeking a haven where they hoped to find safety
and opportunity for themselves and for their families, we pray ….Grant them eternal rest, O Lord.
For victims of hunger, denied their share in the bounty you have placed before us, we pray …
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord.
For victims of AIDS, Malaria, Ebola, Covid, and other infectious diseases,
who died before adequate care could reach them, we pray ….Grant them eternal rest, O Lord.
For those refugees seeking asylum from war, who died in a land that was not their home, we pray …
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord.
For victims of emergencies and calamities everywhere, who died amid chaos and confusion, we pray …
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord.
For our sisters, relatives, friends and benefactors….Grant them eternal rest, O Lord.
You raised your son from the dead that all may share in his joyful resurrection. In Jesus' name, we pray…
Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.
Amen.
