Compassionate One,
a humble gratitude accompanies us in our grief.
We cherish the opportunity to love and be loved.
To be changed by your Divine Presence enfleshed in the world.
To encounter life’s most precious gifts in the lives around us.
Be gentle with our pain and patient with all that remains unresolved in our hearts.
Our sadness is an offering of praise.
An act of thanks for a particular presence we will miss.
An honest witness to the fleeting miracles of life.
For your abiding love,
the kind company of friends and neighbors,
and the lingering presence of all who go before us,
we are grateful.
[with invitation into collective sharing of disciple’s prayer:
And in this spirit,
we join with all the saints, who through struggle and celebration
prayed this prayer across the centuries:]