Commontide

Preparation for Personal Prayer

Holy Spirit, breath of God and fire of love, I cannot pray without your aid: Kindle in me the fire of your love, and illumine me with your light; that with a steadfast will and holy thoughts I may approach the Father in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ my Lord, who reigns with you and the Father in eternal union. Amen.

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Commontide
Prayer
Prayers

The Burial of the Dead — Additional Prayers

Grant, O Lord, to all who are bereaved the spirit of faith and courage, that they may have strength to meet the days to come with steadfastness and patience; not sorrowing as those without hope, but in thankful remembrance of your great goodness, and in the joyful expectation of eternal life with all who love you. This we ask in the Name of Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

Found in the Prayer Book

  • Burial Of The DeadThe Burial of the Dead

Provenance

Episcopal Church 1979

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

A prayer of pastoral courage for the bereaved, composed for the modern Anglican burial rite. It asks God to give the grieving the spirit of faith and courage to face the days ahead with steadfastness and patience, closing with the distinctly Christian note of 1 Thessalonians 4:13: not sorrowing as those without hope. It appears first in the 1979 Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and has been carried, with minor revision, into the ACNA BCP 2019.