Taize November: Remembering those we have lost

As we gather for this November Taize Prayer, we gather during a month in which the Catholic Church especially remembers those who have died during the past year.

This November we acknowledge the more than 230,000 people who have died in the United States because of the coronavirus. For every one of those who have died there are probably 50 to 100 people who are grieving their loss. We lament with them in this prayer. We acknowledge their pain, their hurt, and our own pain.

Because of the inability to gather for funeral services because of the coronavirus, there is a lot of unresolved grief. That too we lament and offer up in prayer.

Many also carry grief because of the loss of significant events like graduations, weddings, class reunions and family gatherings. For those who grieve these losses, we lament and pray.

Let us pray together these words:

Lord of Life and Death,
today we remember the deaths of so many loved ones
whose lives touched ours
and added to the richness of our existence.

We recall the good times that we shared together
and we are grateful that these are imperishable treasures
which we will carry with us into eternity. 0

Within the Mystery of Your Divine Plan,
our life-pathways came together
and blended as parallel pathways.

We are grateful today
for all that we shared in our times together,
for humor and work,
for affection and trust,
for the celebration of life.

Lord of Compassion,
we are all sinners and in need of Divine Healing,
so grant to our loved ones whatever is needed
so that they can rejoice forever
in Your Divine Friendship and Eternal Care.

Gracious Lord,
we lift up into Your Divine Heart
our friends
and ask that You grant them Eternal Peace
and the Perpetual Company of Your Saints.

Amen.

Image above “Mountain cemetery” is by Wolfgang Eckert from Pixabay. Opening and closing music is “Dies Irae” (Mass for the Dead, Sequence, Male Voices) sung by the Alfred Deller Consort.

The article “Reclaiming the power of lament” by Dominique D. Gilliard is from the Faith and Leadership website sponsored by Leadership Education at Duke Divinity, Duke University. Read the full text here.

Join the Precious Blood Renewal Center team for a prayer service in the Taize style. This video any time on these three locations.

• Our Website: find all the Taize videos here. 
• On YouTube: at bit.ly/2BmDJcE
• On Facebook beginning at 7 p.m.: facebook.com/preciousbloodrenewalcenter/

Taizé Prayer is sung, ecumenical community prayer. It originated with a monastic community in France and has spread to numerous spots around the world. The prayer service uses chant melodies and simple accompaniment along with moments of silence in a meditative atmosphere, to allow the finger of God to touch one’s soul.

Nothing is more conducive to communion with the living God than meditative common prayer. When the mystery of God becomes tangible through the simple beauty of symbols, when it is not smothered by too many words, then a common prayer awakens us to heaven’s joy on earth.

Precious Blood Renewal Center welcomes everyone. It is a safe and sacred place for all people, offering healing and hope, renewal and reconciliation. The center is a ministry of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, a Roman Catholic religious congregation.

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