Prayer for the Grieving
This prayer is from This Season of Grief: Stories, Poetry, Prayers, and Practical Help, an OMF Lit Collection book now available at OMF Lit Bookshops, shop.omflit.com, Shopee, and Lazada. It’s also available as an ebook on Amazon and Google Play Books.
O loving and compassionate God
You understand our grief
Because You witnessed Your own Son, Jesus,
suffering on the cross for the sins of mankind.
You are a Father who lost a Son to save a dying world.
You are the Father of compassion
You are the God of all comfort.
As we grieve our many losses, we know You grieve with us.
Our tears are precious to You.
You grieve much more than we do.
Comfort those who have lost loved ones
from COVID-19 and other diseases,
from extrajudicial killings, from criminal acts,
from natural disasters.
Make them feel they are not alone in this time of sorrow.
Grant them a profound sense of Your presence.
Give them a community that will weep with them
and walk with them.
Help those who have lost livelihood due to the pandemic.
Meet them in their time of need.
Use Your people to reach out to them
with concrete acts of love.
Be their Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides.
For those who have suffered injustice
in the hands of the powerful, fight for them, Lord!
Hear their grievances and grant them the justice they seek.
Punish the evildoers who have oppressed them
and mocked Your name.
We wait for the time You will make things right
for our sake and for Your glory.
Redeem our beloved country from the shackles
of poverty, corruption, ignorance, and idolatry.
We pray, “Your Kingdom come” in the Philippines
and the rest of the earth, as it is in heaven.
Your will be done in our lives as individuals and as a nation.
We exalt Your most holy Name!
Amen.
- written by Yna Reyes
About the book:
In this season of grief, many have suffered different kinds of loss.
We’ve suffered the loss of the physical—loved ones, our health, income, possessions. We’ve suffered the loss of the intangibles— freedom, memories, justice, peace. We’ve also suffered the loss of the ambiguous; we know we have lost them even though we could not name them. We feel all these losses and cry out in a collective, pandemic grief.
This book comes alongside those grieving many kinds of loss — not as an authority hurriedly dismissing a grief but rather, as a gentle friend who says, “I understand…”
Through stories, poetry, prayers, and practical help, this book brings comfort and hope to those languishing in this season of grief.
With writings by:
Ang Tala
Albit Rodriguez
Annabel Manzanilla-Manalo
Carmelo “Mel” Caparros II
Dan Andrew S. Cura
Feliz Lucas
Francis Kristoffer L. Pasion
Ida Torres
J.M.
j. p. berame
Joanna Nicolas-Na
Joey L. Castillo, Jr.
Jophen Baui
Joyce Tongson-Manalang
Karen Huang
Larry Pabiona
Lourdes Batac
Maloi Malibiran-Salumbides
Maria Susan Gonzalez-Lim
Maria Teresa Banzagales-Abiva
Melba Padilla Maggay
Melvin Jansen Ang
Michellan Sarile-Alagao
nathania aritao
Nicodemo S. Estrada
Philip Manuelson D. Arandia
Rico Villanueva
Timothy Ervin T. Ngo
Yna S. Reyes