RITE for VISITING a CEMETARY and PRAYING for the DEAD
(This order is a solemn commemoration of the departed whose bodies lie in a cemetery. This may be adopted for use by individuals when they visit the grave of a friend or relative. When this service is used by a family, one of the family members takes the minister’s parts.)
+ In the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Minister: Praise be to be God our Father, who raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Blessed be God for ever.
Minister: My dear friends, we gather today to pray for our brothers and sisters whose bodies lie here in rest. They have passed from the death to life in company with the Lord Jesus,Who died and rose to new life, and are purified now of their faults. We pray that God may welcome them among all the saints of heaven.
We do not want to be unaware, brothers and sisters, 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. Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who have fallen asleep. From the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an arch-angel and the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, The Word of the Lord.
All: thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm: To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
In you I trust; let me not be put o shame, let not my enemies exult over me. No one who waits for you shall be put to shame; those shall be put to shame who heedlessly break faith…R/
Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths, guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior, And for you I wait all the day…R/
Good and upright is the Lord; thus he shows sinners the way. He guides the humble to justice, he teaches the humble his way…R/
L I T A N Y
(While the Litany is recited, the minister sprinkles the graves with holy water)
Lord, have mercy… Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy… Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy... Lord, have mercy
Holy Mary, Mother of God... Pray for them
Our lady of Guadalupe…
St. John the Baptist…
St. Paul…
All holy men and women…
Christ, pardon all the faults… Lord, hear our prayer
Christ, remember the good they have done…
Christ, receive them into eternal life…
Christ, comfort all those who mourn…
Lord, have mercy… Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy… Christ, have mercy…
Lord, have mercy… Lord, have mercy…
Minister: With Christ there is mercy and fullness of redemption; let us pray as Jesus taught us:
All: Our Father…
Minister: All powerful God, whose mercy is never withheld from those who call upon you in hope, look kindly on your servants (N. and N.), who departed this life confessing your name, and number them among your saints for evermore. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord… And let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace… Amen.
May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of
Minister: May almighty God bless us, and keep our hearts and minds in the love of God,
in the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
