For the first hours

For the moment when it has just happened.

Someone you love has died, perhaps within the hour. There is nothing useful to say and everything to pray. These are the prayers the Church puts in your mouth when you cannot find your own.

At the Moment of Death

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen.

The Prayer

Lord Jesus, You wept at the grave of Your friend.

Receive [name], whom You made and whom we love.
Forgive whatever needs forgiving.
Heal whatever was broken in their life,
and bring them into the light.

For us, who are still here:
steady us through the calls that must be made,
the arrangements, the people arriving,
the first night of sleeping in a world without them.

We give them back to You, Lord.
We did not have them for long enough.
Nobody ever does. Amen.

In the Room

• Say their name.
• Pray the Our Father, Hail Mary and Eternal Rest aloud.
• Ask a priest for the prayers after death, and arrange a funeral Mass.
• Have a Mass offered for them — the oldest and greatest thing you can do for someone who has died.

About These Prayers

Catholics pray for their dead, not merely about them, and that is a real comfort: love has something to do. It does not stop at the moment of death; it changes job.