Prayer for all Souls Day By Joyce Rupp in Prayer Seeds

We turn to you, Comforter and Sustainer of Hope. We remember the presence of those we knew. Once more we entrust them to your abiding love, praying for their peace and ours, too. We gather strength from kinship with those whose hearts also ache with the absence of their loved ones. Grant us freedom from our grief. With your grace we will surrender at best we can to the mystery of death and what lies beyond it. In you we place our trust. Amen.

Prayer for all Souls Day

By Joyce Rupp in Prayer Seeds

Namaste. I greet the strength of the ancestors in you.

Leader: In the spirit of indigenous people who believe in their unity with the ancestors, and who often call the spirits forth into their gatherings, let us call forth into midst the presence, the memory, and the strength of those who influenced and shaped our beliefs and values.

Prayer (alternate sides) Spirit of our ancestors,

this day we join in acknowledging the blessedness

of the many who inspired us and shaped our faith.

We turn in memory and appreciation

toward those ancestors in our family of origin

who influenced and encouraged us to live as our best selves.

We remember, too, those ancestors who left this world

with hurts unresolved. We open our deep self to you

and pray that any woundedness we’ve inherited

will be healed through your grace and our love filled hearts.

We bring to mind others beyond family who enriched our lives

and led us further on our journey of personal transformation.

We honor all those who sacrificed and suffered

in order for peace and justice to be furthered on the planet.

We give thanks and rejoice for the countless, unnamed persons

whose lives left a lasting mark of kindness and compassion.

May the remembrance of each of these blessed ones

inspire and increase our personal commitment

to leave a trace of goodness wherever we go.

When we depart the sphere of life may our inner strength

Have contributed to individual and world peace.