NIGHT PRAYER: The eve of All Souls Day...

This Night Prayer anticipates tomorrow's feast, All Souls Day, November 2. Indeed, the whole of November is kept as the Month of All Souls, a special time to remember and pray for those who have gone before us...

Ah, November, Lord…

The gateway, in these parts, to shorter days and colder nights; to “the holidays” and all that they entail; to this year’s end and all the wonder, worry and mystery of what the new year holds in store...

But as in all things living, with November there comes a dying: this inevitable annual ending, sapping the strength of what was bright and beautiful, wonderful and warm…

Comes the harvest, then: a time for raking, burning, plowing under, waiting for the winter… then waiting through the winter…  then waiting for the waiting itself at last to end...

I don’t like the end of things, Lord: the dying, the loss, the giving up, the letting go…  I don't like the end of things...

My soul mourns the loss of summer’s warmth and grieves in greeting autumn, when nature's awesome glory must sadly pass away…

I shiver in the chill November brings... 

And December’s pledge of colder days clouds my hope of spring…

Ah, November, Lord…

What other month might better bear the prayers we offer up for those who've gone  before us: precious leaves, fallen from our family trees…

All those holy souls: gone from this world, found and claimed by you, harvested for life that never ends…

Ah, November, Lord… the month to pause and face our loss of those we prayed might never go - but did…  the month to stop and face the truth: dying's part of living...   But after death there comes a time when we will know your reign of peace and find again the love of those we've lost, the ones who’ve gone before us… 

Ah, November, Lord…   the month of souls whose loss has touched our hearts in ways we cannot bring to speech - though we struggle in our tears to bring our hearts to prayer - for you to touch with healing, with hope that sees beyond the summer’s end, beyond the fall, beyond the winter’s wait for spring and life that has no end...

We lift to you the lives and souls, our love and all our memories, of those who’ve gone before us...  In the quiet of our prayer, Lord, we lift them up by name…

(Take some time, in God's presence,

    to name, remember and pray 

        for family and friends who have died...)

We lift them up in prayer, Lord: welcome them in mercy to the place that you prepared for them, long before all time began... Hold them in your arms, Lord - hold them in your everlasting arms...

And shape our lives according to your word, that one day we might join them when your mercy brings us home to live with you, in peace, and in joy that has no end...

Protect us, Lord, while we're awake, watch over us while we sleep, that awake we might keep watch for you, and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen.

Tonight's musical offering is a little different: composer Liam Lawton reads a remarkably beautiful prayer against the background of simple music...

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Lord 

My heart is numb 

Because the one I love has died 

And I have cried and cried

 

There is an empty space in my heart  

That I long to fill

 

As you wept for Lazarus your friend 

Your human heart was breaking 

Now I take your place

Lift the veil that I might see 

Beyond my grief 

Where love is pure and 

Light will reach beneath 

These empty walls

 

May no harm come to them 

They who have taken leave 

The pilgrims of Paradise 

 

May their journey be gentle

And blessed memory 

Lighten their way

May they see the glimmer 

Of Heaven’s light 

Calling them deeper and deeper

Into eternal beauty

 

May they recognize the kindly faces

Of loved ones, old friends and neighbors 

Who’ve gathered to greet them

And take them by the hand

To the land of eternal summer

 

And may they see you Lord 

As you are 

Radiant in beauty

With a gaze from beautiful eyes 

That will never ever leave them 

 

And may they know the sweet embrace

Of your soft, tanned hands

 

So Lord, in my empty moments

May blessed memory 

Be the bridge 

From my heart to Heaven

 

So rest in peace O gentle soul

Until that day 

When love will call us home

 

- Liam Lawton

 

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