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 — Reception of the Body

Almighty God, look with pity upon the sorrows of your servants for whom we pray. Remember them, Lord, in mercy; nourish them with patience; comfort them with a sense of your goodness; lift up your countenance upon them; and give them peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Found in the Prayer Book

  • Burial Of The DeadThe Burial of the Dead

Provenance

American Episcopal 1789

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

A prayer for mourners at the reception of the body, this collect draws its frame from Lamentations 3 and its closing blessing from the Aaronic priestly benediction. It originated in the first American Book of Common Prayer (1789) as a prayer for an individual under affliction, and was brought into the burial service's Reception of the Body rite by the 1979 revision.