A Concord Pastor Comments: Monday Morning Offering: ALL SOULS DAY

November wraps its dampened shroud

‘round nature’s shrugged shoulders:
our souls know well the chill, Lord,
of summer gone and winter oh-so-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 signed 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 a prayer of tears
   for those whose absence haunts my days…

I offer from my selfish heart
the ones I hurt and bruised:
I pray you heal the wounds I caused
and with your gentle mercy, Lord,

forgive and 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 purging touch
to ready them for heaven,
   for life with you forever,
       for peace that has no end...

I offer you my grief, O Lord,
refresh me in your tender care:
   help me trust I'll see again
       the ones I've lost to death, when
   gathered in your kingdom's joy,
       your mercy brings us home...

Beneath November’s canopy

walk others, Lord, who know as well as I

the depths of this month’s memories

and All the Souls for whom we pray:

make us gentle with each other,

mindful of the loss and grief

that binds us in your love…

Accept my mourning offering
on this dark November day

until it dies and wakes again,

a new day born,

a promise

of what's yet to come:
the day that has no end...

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

May these and all souls of the faithful departed,
through your mercy, O God,
rest in peace...

Amen.

For your prayer this day: Pie Jesu from Requiem by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Below are the words in both 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.