A COMMEMORATION OF THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED AND CELEBRATION OF ALL THE SAINTS KNOWN ONLY TO GOD
+ Give rest, 0 Christ, to your servants with your saints, where sorrow and pain are no more, neither sighing, but life everlasting.
Glory and honour and power:
are yours by right, 0 Lord our God;
For you created all things:
and by your will they have their being.
Glory and honour and power:
are yours by right, 0 Lamb who was slain:
For by your blood you have ransomed for God
a kingdom of priests from every race and language, from every people and nation.
And so we give you thanks for the whole company of your saints in glory. The glorious company of the apostles praise you; the noble fellowship of the prophets praise you; the white-robed army of martyrs praise you; the whole church does acknowledge you.
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest
United in the company of all the faithful and looking for the coming of the kingdom, we offer our prayers to the God of us all for a life of holiness and faithfulness:
Lord have mercy.
Empower us by the gift of your Holy and Life-giving Spirit that we may be transformed into the likeness of Christ from glory to glory:
Lord have mercy.
Hold in your embrace all who witness to your love in the service of the poor and needy; all those who minister to the sick and dying, and all who bring light to those in darkness:
Lord have mercy.
Lord God, creator of all,
you have made us creatures of this earth,
but have also promised us a share in life eternal. According to your promises,
may all who have died in the peace of Christ share with your saints in the joy of heaven where there is neither sorrow nor pain,
but life everlasting.
Alleluia! Amen.
You only are immortal, the creator and maker of all: and we are mortal, formed from the dust of the earth, and unto earth shall we return.
For so you did ordain when you created me, saying, 'Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'
All we go down to the dust;
and weeping o'er the grave we make our song:
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
+Give rest, 0 Christ, to your servants with your saints, where sorrow and pain are no more, neither sighing, but life everlasting.
Hear us, 0 merciful Father, as we remember in love
those whom we have placed in your hands. Acknowledge, we pray, the sheep of your own fold, lambs of your own flock, sinners of your own redeeming.
Enfold them in the arms of your mercy, in the blessed rest of everlasting peace,
And in the glorious company of the saints in light.
Amen.
A Reading from an oration of Gregory of Nazianzus
'What are human beings that you should be mindful of us, mere mortals that you should care for us?' What is this new mystery confronting me? I am both small and great, both lowly and exalted, mortal and immortal, earthly and heavenly. I am to be buried with Christ and to rise again with him, to become a co-heir with him, a son of God, and indeed God himself.
This is what the great mystery means for us; this is why God became human and became "poor" for our sake: it was to raise up our flesh, to recover the divine image in us. to re-create humankind, so that all of us might become one in Christ who perfectly became in us everything that he is himself. So we are no longer to be 'male and female, barbarian and Scythian, slave and free' - distinctions deriving from the flesh - but to bear within ourselves only the seal of God, by whom and for which we were created. We are to be so formed and moulded by him that we are recognised as belonging to his one family.
If only we could be now what we hope to be, by the great kindness of our generous God! He asks so little and gives so much in this life and in the next, to those who love him sincerely. In a spirit of hope and out of love for God, let us then 'bear and endure all things' and give thanks for everything that befalls us, since even reason can often recognise these things as weapons to win salvation. Meanwhile let us commend to God our own souls and the souls of those who, being more ready for it, have reached the place of rest before us although they walked the same road as we do now.
Lord and creator of all, and especially of your human creatures, you are the God and Father and ruler of your children; you are the Lord of life and death; you are the guardian and benefactor of our souls. You fashion and transform all things in their due season through your creative Word, as you know to be best in your deep wisdom and providence. Receive this day those who have gone ahead of us in our journey from this life.
And receive us too at the proper time, when you have guided us in our bodily life as long as may be profitable for us. Receive us prepared indeed by fear of you, but not troubled, not shrinking back on the day of our death or uprooted by force like those who are lovers of the world and the flesh. Instead, may we set out eagerly for that eternal life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. To him be the glory for ever and ever.
References in Revelation Ch.4, 21,22. for further meditation on the new Jerusalem
