Sunday, November 2, 2008

A Prayer in a Country Cemetery


DEAR Lord, here lie in their last rest, the boys and girls, the men
and women that worked on the land. They knew the meaning of
hard work. They knew the joy and peace that is the product of
labor. Now we trust they know the peace and happiness of
everlasting life with You.

They watched the sun rise often, winter and summer, over these
hills and fields. They worked hard by its light, and turned willingly
to their rest at its setting. Now they walk in the light of a Sun that
knows no setting. Lord, if they are still in the waiting room of
heaven--in purgatory--bring them speedily to the light of Your
peace and the happiness of Your presence.

These men and women all their lives long labored to supply the
food and drink necessary to sustain human life. Now, or soon,
they enjoy in all its fullness the life that You, Lord, came down
to earth to give men, and to give more abundantly.

Dear Lord, bless us who labor now in the fields and hills where
these dear dead have worked. Grant that we may remember
them with charity and kindness, walking reverently in the ways
that they have left behind them. Grant, too, that we may finally
meet these men and women, these boys and girls, in the eternal
mansions that You are even now preparing for us.

AMEN.

- The Rural Life Prayerbook

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