Prayers for dead children

Prayer for a Dead Child

O Lord who watches over children in the present life and in the world to come because of their simplicity and innocence of mind, abundantly satisfying them with a place in Abraham’s bosom, bringing them to live in radiantly shining places where the spirits of the righteous dwell: receive in peace the soul of Your little servant (name), for You Yourself have said, “Let the little children come to Me, for such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Amen.

Basilica of St. Mary 2011-03-21T12:49:59+00:00

St. Mary Orthodox Church is a parish of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.

stmarylivonia.com

Pope Francis has asked for prayers for his nephew’s wife and children, who died today in a car crash in Argentina. Below, prayers for the the dead, even for the death of a child:

Prayer When A Child Dies

With a mother’s strong love
you shelter us in your shadow, Lord
and you mourn as we do the death of this child.
Hold this child gently in your hand
and help us to await in joyful hope
the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come.
-Gabe Huck

Prayer for the Death of a Child

Deliver us from all evil, O God,
for we would not lose hope,
would not forget your love.
Love this child forever
as we have loved him/her.
Guide our steps in the way of peace
till with our eyes we behold you
and shall praise you with all the saints
for ever and ever.
– Gabe Huck

Order of Christian Funerals

Lord Jesus Christ,
by your own three days in the tomb,
you hallowed the graves of all who believe in you
and so made the grave a sign of hope
that promises resurrection
even as it claims our mortal bodies.
Grant that our brothers and sisters may sleep
here in peace
until you awaken them to glory,
for you are the resurrection and the life.
Then they will see you face to face
and in your light will see light
and know the splendor of God,
for you live and reign for ever and ever.

Orthodox Liturgy

O gaping earth!
Receive the body formed of you by the hand of God
and again returning to you as its mother;
for what has been to his image, the Creator has already
reclaimed,
Receive then this as your own.

Psalm 103:15-18

Surely God knows how we are made,
And recalls that we are dust!
Our human life is a reed,
A flower that blooms in the meadow.
It is gone when the wind blows over it;
Its place recalls it no more,
But the grace of the Lord is eternal,
Resting forever on those fear God.
God’s justice belongs to their offspring,
To all who keep the covenant;
Who remember to do what God commands.

Thessalonians 4:13-14

We do not want to be unaware about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest who have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

On Grief

“It is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of what he has given me: rather, that I should raise it up on the last day.” (John 6:39) That is our faith conviction about life in Christ.  But we need to know what we do.  We counter the mystery of death with a greater mystery still, the mystery of risen life.  In the meantime there is grief, and nothing in Christian faith asks us to deny grief.  We have known, all of us, someone who made an immense difference.  We thank God for just that much.  And we ask God for just enough strength to handle our grief.”  – Gerard S. Sloyan

Mother of God Light in all Darkness

Mother of God, Light in all darkness,
Shelter Christ;
our flame of hope,
with your tender hands.
And in our times of dread and nightmares,
let Him be our dream of comfort.
And in our times of physical pain and suffering,
let Him be our healer,
And in our times of separation
from one another,
Let Him be our communion.
– William Hart McNichols

thecatholiccatalogue.com

Therefore, we see panikhidas and prayer at home for the dead are beneficial for them, as are good deeds done in their memory, such as alms or contributions to the church. But especially beneficial for them is commemoration at the Divine Liturgy. There have been many appearances of the dead and other occurrences which confirm how beneficial is the commemoration of the dead. Many who died in repentance, but who were unable to manifest this while they were alive, have been freed from tortures and have obtained repose.

How important commemoration at the Liturgy is may be seen in the following occurrence: Before the uncovering of the relics of St. Theodosius of Chernigov (1896), the priest-monk (the renowned Starets Alexis of Goloseyevsky Hermitage, of the Kiev-Caves Lavra, who died in 1916) who was conducting the re-vesting of the relics, becoming weary while sitting by the relics, dozed off and saw before him the Saint, who told him: “I thank you for laboring me. I beg you also, when you will serve the Liturgy, to commemorate my parents”—and be gave their names (Priest Nikita and Maria).** “How can you, O Saint, ask my prayers, when you yourself stand at the heavenly Throne and grant to people God’s mercy?” the priest-monk asked. “Yes, that is true,” replied St. Theodosius, “but the offering at the Liturgy is more powerful than my prayer.”

 Therefore, we see panikhidas and prayer at home for the dead are beneficial for them, as are good deeds done in their memory, such as alms or contributions to the church. But especially beneficial for them is commemoration at the Divine Liturgy. There have been many appearances of the dead and other occurrences which confirm how beneficial is the commemoration of the dead. Many who died in repentance, but who were unable to manifest this while they were alive, have been freed from tortures and have obtained repose. In the Church, prayers are ever offered for the repose of the dead, and on the day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, in the kneeling prayers at vespers, there is even a special petition “for those in hell.”

St. Gregory the Great, in answering in his Dialogues the question, “Is there anything at all that can possibly benefit souls after death?” teaches: “The Holy Sacrifice of Christ, our saving Victim, brings great benefits to souls even after death, provided their sins (are such as) can be pardoned in the life to come. For this reason the souls of the dead sometimes beg to have Liturgies offered for them … The safer course, naturally, is to do for ourselves during life what we hope others will do for us after death. It is better to make one’s exit a free man than to seek liberty after one is in chains. We should, therefore, despise this world with all our hearts as though its glory were already spent, and offer our sacrifice of tears to God each day as we immolate His sacred Flesh and Blood. This Sacrifice alone has the power of saving the soul from eternal death, for it presents to us mystically the death of the Only-begotten Son” (Dialogues IV: 57, 60, pp. 266, 272-3).

St. Gregory gives several examples of the dead appearing to the living and asking for or thanking them for the celebration of the Liturgy for their repose; once, also, a captive whom his wife believed dead and for whom she had the Liturgy celebrated on certain days, returned from captivity and told her how he had been released from his chains on some days—the very days when the Liturgy had been offered for him. (Dialogues IV: 57, 59, pp. 267, 270).

Protestant theologians find the Church’s prayer for the dead to be somehow incompatible with the necessity of finding salvation first of all in this life: “If you can be saved by the Church after death, then why bother to struggle or find faith in this Life? Let us eat, drink, and be merry…” Of course, no one holding such a philosophy has ever attained salvation by the Church’s prayers, and it is evident that such an argument is quite artificial and even hypocritical. The Church’s prayer cannot save anyone who does not wish salvation, or who never offered any struggle for it himself during his lifetime. In a sense, one might say that the prayer of the Church or of individual Christians for a dead person is but another result of that person’s life: he would not be prayed for unless he had done something during his lifetime to inspire such prayer after his death.

St. Mark of Ephesus also discusses this question of the Church’s prayer for the dead and the improvement it brings in their state, citing the example of the prayer of St. Gregory the Dialogist for the Roman Emperor Trajan—a prayer inspired by a good deed of this pagan Emperor.

**These names had been unknown before this vision. Several years after the canonization, St. Theodosius’ own Book of Commemoration was found in the monastery where he had once been Abbot, which confirmed these names and corroborated the vision. See the Life of Elder Alexis in Pravoslavny Blagovestnik, San Francisco, 1967, No. I (in Russian).

Excerpt from The Soul after Death by Fr. Seraphim Rose

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November is the Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory. If you aren’t in the habit of hanging out in cemeteries and praying for the dead with your kids . . . well, you’re really missing out. And so are your kids. AND so are the dead.

We believe that Jesus will come at the end of time to judge all human beings who have ever lived. This is called the general judgement. But those who die before Jesus comes again, face what is called the particular judgement.

“There are three possible outcomes to the particular judgment. Those whose love for God has been perfected in this life are taken straight to heaven, where they enjoy endless happiness in the face to face vision of God. Those who die in God’s love but still love Him imperfectly must be purified in the intermediate state of purgatory. Those, however, who reject God’s love by mortal sin and die without repenting are condemned to the everlasting torments of hell. The general judgment at the end of time simply solemnly confirms the particular judgments of each one, with the difference that then the body as well as the soul will receive what is due it. And all God’s judgments will be revealed as most just.”   -Rev. William G. Most

1. The Church Militant: That’s us. “Militant” because we are fighting . . .  against our inclination towards sin, against our fallen natures, against temptation, against the devil.

2. The Church Triumphant: That’s the saints. Everyone who has died and gone to heaven is a saint. Some saints lived lives of such heroic virtue that the Catholic Church recognizes them by name, and holds them up as models for us to emulate.

3. The Church Suffering: That’s who we are praying for this month, the holy souls in purgatory.

“Those in purgatory cannot pray for themselves, this is why they are called “poor” souls.  They can no longer merit anything for themselves and rely entirely on others to pray and make sacrifices on their behalf. As they are nevertheless part of the communion of saints, they depend upon us to help ease their suffering and quickly advance them through their purification so that they can join the saints in heaven.
Prayers for the faithful departed please God, who makes use of our prayers to help purify these souls that He loves. It is an act of charity that we can give for those we have known and loved, for our ancestors who gave us life, for those souls whose memory is lost, and for those who have no one else to pray for them.” -Gretchen Filz

Death, and dying, and the dead are all things we mostly try to keep far, far away from our children. I did, anyway. But I don’t anymore. And praying for the dead, especially in November, ESPECIALLY especially this week, has become a really beautiful family tradition for us.

In case you aren’t in the habit of hanging out in cemeteries with your kids, I figured I’d share the whens and whys and hows.

WHEN Now. Like RIGHT now.

The whole month of November is dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. This week, from All Saints Day on November 1st through November 8th, there is a special indulgence available.

A partial indulgence can be obtained by devoutly visiting a cemetery and praying for the departed, even if the prayer is only mental. One can gain a plenary indulgence visiting a cemetery each day between November 1 and November 8. These indulgences are applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory.

WHY One of the Spiritual Acts of Mercy is to Pray for the Living and the Dead. It truly is a beautiful act of charity to pray for these souls who cannot pray for themselves, and to make sacrifices for them since they cannot make sacrifices for themselves.

Frankly, I wasn’t sure how my kids would take it. But we’ve been doing special prayers for the dead every November for the past few years, and my kids love it.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory as a “purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven,” which is experienced by those “who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified” (CCC 1030). It notes that “this final purification of the elect . . . is entirely different from the punishment of the damned” (CCC 1031).
The purification is necessary because, as Scripture teaches, nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven (Rev. 21:27) and, while we may die with our mortal sins forgiven, there can still be many impurities in us, specifically venial sins and the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven.

They really get that these are people who need their help. It’s something important and meaningful and useful that kids can do just as well as grownups. Maybe better. At least with more enthusiasm.

HOW 1. On All Souls Day itself, if you visit a church, and pray the Our Father and the Creed, you can be granted a plenary indulgence applicable to the souls in purgatory.

A plenary indulgence can be gained only once a day. In order to obtain it, the faithful must, in addition to being in the state of grace (as opposed to being in mortal sin):
—have the interior disposition of complete detachment from sin, even venial sin (which isn’t the same thing as never sinning);

—have sacramentally confessed their sins within a few weeks;

—

receive the Holy Eucharist within a few days (it is certainly better to receive it while participating in Holy Mass, but for the indulgence only Holy Communion is required);

—pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff.

2. Any time between November 1st and 8th, you can visit a cemetery and pray for the dead. Any time of the year, you can obtain a partial indulgence for praying for the dead in a cemetery, but this week you can obtain a plenary (or full) indulgence. You can obtain one on each of those days. This year, on All Souls Day, we met two other families at a cemetery and the kids all (devoutly) ran around the cemetery praying for the dead by name and leaving a flower at the gravestone. It was beautiful and sweet and moving and fun.

We can always pray for specific souls like this, or for our own loved ones, by name. If that soul doesn’t need our prayers, God will pass them along to another soul in need.

3. A partial indulgence, applicable only to the souls in purgatory, can be obtained when the Eternal Rest (Requiem aeternam) is prayed. This is a good prayer to recite any time, but it’s especially appropriate during the month of November:

Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

4. Soul Cakes! I like the idea of having special foods we make that are associated with the liturgical year. During Lent, we make soft pretzels, during Christmas, we bake special cookies, for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, we make soul cakes.

I use this recipe from Lavender and Lovage, but it’s in British. Here’s a translation of measurements:

• 1.5 sticks butter
• 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 3 1/3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp mixed spice (I used cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves)
• 2/3 cup raisins
• A little milk (I use buttermilk if I have it on hand)

If you’d like to keep track of ALL the feasts of the Catholic liturgical year, I’ve created a wall calendar to help you do it!

It features the all the feasts and fasts of the Universal Calendar and then some, illustrated with images featuring the traditional Catholic monthly devotions. It’s an easy visual way to bring liturgical living into your home. You can keep track of the feasts and fasts and seasons of the Catholic year, and be reminded to focus your prayer on a different aspect of our faith each month.

January:The Holy Name of Jesus 

February: The Holy Family 

March: St. Joseph 

April: The Blessed Sacrament 

May: Mary 

June: The Sacred Heart of Jesus 

July: The Precious Blood 

August Immaculate Heart of Mary 

September: The Seven Sorrows of Mary 

October: The Holy Rosary 

November: The Poor Souls in Purgatory 

December: The Immaculate Conception 

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