A Concord Pastor Comments: Pause for Prayer: ALL SOULS DAY 2024

When November wraps its damp shroud
‘round nature’s shrugged shoulders:
our souls know well the chill, Lord,
of summer gone and winter drawing near...

Bare limbs scratch against gray skies,
and snatch the mourner’s veil
from hearts laid bare in shivering loss,
alone, exposed in grief…

November, Lord: no other month

could better claim the name All Souls

or set the scene for praying, weeping,

grieving those before us gone,

marked with faith's redeeming Cross…

So this November morning, Lord,

I offer you my loved ones:

created by your hand,

claimed by saving grace

now held, I pray, in your embrace…

I offer you from my heart's depths
   the ones I can't let go…

I offer from my hands to yours
   the ones whose hands held mine...

I offer you my prayer of tears
   for those whose absence haunts my days…

I offer from my aching heart
the ones I hurt and bruised:
   I pray you heal the wounds I caused,
   and in mercy pardon me...

I offer you a prayer, O Lord,
for those with none to pray for them:
   brothers, sisters never met,
   yet sisters, brothers nonetheless
   for all are one in you...

I offer you all souls who wait
   your final healing touch
       to ready them for heaven,
           for life with you forever,
           for peace that has no end...

(Take a few moments now to remember,
to write down or speak aloud,
the names of those who've died
and for whom you pray this All Souls Day...)

I offer you my grief, O Lord:
   refresh me in your care
   and help me trust I'll see again
   the ones I've lost, for whom I pray,
   when gathered in your kingdom's peace

we'll all be one in you

and in joy for ever more...

Amen.

For your prayer this day:

Pie Jesu from Requiem by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Below are the words in Latin and English.

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Pie Jesu,
   qui tollis peccata mundi,
   dona eis requiem.
Agnus Dei,
   qui tollis peccata mundi,
   dona eis requiem,
   sempiternam, sempiternam requiem.

Sweet Jesus,
   you take away the sins of the world,
   give them rest.
Lamb of God,
   you take away the sins of the world,
   give them rest,
   eternal rest.