Trusting the Living God in Grief

ALMIGHTY FATHER! in the days of His flesh Thy Son did say that Thou wert not the God of the dead, but of the living. Give us right understanding of these words of the Lord. Let not our hearts be saddened by thinking that Thou art for us only now. We think of generations gone by, of apostles and martyrs, and uncanonized saints, and these, we rejoice, live in Thee; to us no more passed away, for do they not live in Thee? We turn with glad thoughts to the Living God. We believe in the communion of saints; and that we may be of the number, we do beseech Thee.

Look, O Lord! in mercy on each of us, and so guide and govern and instruct us that we may build up an obedient life. Be patient with our struggles, and grant that we may continue to struggle into the path of life. Forgive our sins; they have been, and will be. Comfort us that we may rejoice that the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting.

The dead have tasted of Thy mercy, and the living shall taste it. There is mercy in all Thou doest, but our hearts are too stubborn always to acknowledge it. It is easy to say, Great is Thy mercy, when our spirits are unburdened; easy when Thy gifts to us are many, but Oh, teach us a higher lesson; teach us when our spirits are weary and sad, and the burden of the mystery weighs us down, to say, Great is Thy mercy. Teach us to sing in the night, when we cannot see the notes. Still let us feel Thy mercy where we have no vision.

All things are within Thy mercy, birth and, life, death and the grave. Oh, let us truly feel this and may we at last be able to say with sad valour, "The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away." In the pleasant land, flowing with milk and honey, it is easy to praise Thee; but in the desert, with the waters of bitterness near by, then it is hard, and we need Thy help. Oh, send Thy Comforter to us, that with patient and valiant spirits, looking for and longing for, we may at last attain the blessed deliverance into Life Eternal.—AMEN.