The following prayer will conclude our prayer liturgy at the blessing of the grave at Glenwood Cemetery in Yazoo City, Mississippi for the parishioners of St Mary Catholic Church of Yazoo City.
Let us pray –
God of Abraham and
God of Moses,
Lord of the living,
who visited Jesus within his grave
And filled him with
the fullness of eternal life,
Hear our prayers this
day as we come to Glenwood Cemetery, this holy place of burial.
With reverence, we
visit here where the sacred bodies of our loved ones have been placed in the
womb of the earth to await the final day of glory.
We pause in silence
to be united with our loved one. (Pause)
Lord, we have come on
this pilgrimage of prayer in order to keep the flame of love alive in our
hearts.
As we bless these
graves with our prayers and with holy water and incense, we give thanks that
the names of these loved ones buried here have been written for all ages in the
palm of your hand.
May the breath of
creation that surrounds these holy graves – the trees, the grass, the birds,
the wind, and the sun – join us today in prayer.
May this pilgrimage
remind us of what our faith teaches us – that our souls do not die, but rather
are transformed into new life through Christ.
Holy are these
resting places. Holy is this earth that
has held in gentle embrace the bodies of all who are buried in this cemetery.
Lord, with reverence,
we leave our prayers and our love at these graves, and we remember in faith the
reality of that earthen Easter morning when all the holy dead shall rise in the
splendor of your glory.
Until that day,
eternal rest be unto those whose graves we visit today, and to all the holy
dead.
We place this prayer before you through Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Adapted from Edward Hays)
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