A Service Visiting a Cemetery
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
During the month of November, it is appropriate to visit your deceased loved ones. Sometimes people do not know exactly what to do. Personal prayer is wonderful but sometimes we have trouble with the words. This is also a very good time to take your family to the cemetery. Take a few minutes to explain the family history to the children. Then use the following as your own personal prayer service. You can bring a candle or holy water.
A lay minister greets those present in the following words:
Praise be to God our Father, who raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Blessed be God for ever.
All: Blessed be God for ever.
The minister using these or similar words, says:
My dear friends, we gather today to pray for our brothers and sisters whose bodies lie here in rest. They have passed from 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.
READING OF THE WORD OF GOD
Brothers and sisters, listen to the words of the first letter of Paul to the Thessalonians 4:13-18:
We shall stay with the Lord for ever.
We do not want you 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 are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel 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 the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus, we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, console one another with these words.
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Psalm 25
R. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
In you I trust; let me not be put to 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. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
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. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your kindness are from of old.
The sins of my youth and my frailties remember not;
in your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
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. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
All the paths of the LORD are kindness and constancy
toward those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
For your name’s sake, O LORD,
you will pardon my guilt, great as it is.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
LITANY
While the following litany is sung or recited, the minister sprinkles the graves with holy water and, if desired, may also incense them.
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
Saint Michael, pray for them
Saint John the Baptist, pray for them
Saint Joseph, pray for them
Saint Peter, pray for them
Saint Paul, pray for them
Saint Andrew, pray for them
Saint Stephen, pray for them
Saint Ann, pray for them
Saint Teresa, pray for them
Saint Catherine, pray for them
Saint Frances Cabrini, pray for them
Saint Elizabeth Seton, pray for them
(The names of other saints or the names of your deceased loved ones may be added.)
All holy men and women, pray for them
Christ, pardon all their faults: Lord, hear our prayer
Christ, remember the good they have done: Lord, hear our prayer
Christ, receive them into eternal life: Lord, hear our prayer
Christ, comfort all those who mourn: Lord, hear our prayer
Lord, have mercy
Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy
Lord, have mercy
The minister then invites those present to pray the Lord’s Prayer, in these or similar words:
With Christ there is mercy and fullness of redemption; let us pray as Jesus taught us:
All:
Our Father . . .
PRAYER
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.
R. Amen.
CONCLUDING RITE
The minister says:
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.
R. And let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace.
R. Amen.
May their souls and the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
R. Amen.
And may almighty God bless you all,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
R. Amen.
May the Lord bless you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen