We have heard your prayer for the world in these times, and for the mother and for her sons, and for the one who has gone to be with Jesus, El Elyon, God Most High. We join you in bringing these before our Heavenly Father, who knows that we have need of all these things. He is not only God, but your Father, and such a Father does not overlook His children in their need.
In grief and in waiting, we find comfort not in looking to our own strength, but in the promise of life which is in Jesus Christ. That promise is our hope, and hope that is seen is not hope. We do not seek all things here, for He has not made us only for dangers and sorrows in this life, but for eternal life where grief and mourning flee away. For the one who has gone with Jesus, we give thanks that to be with Christ is the true comfort, and we ask God to keep that hope steady in your heart.
For you who remain, and for the mother and her sons and for all who are weighed down, we pray that God who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace would comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work and word. When the soul is shaken it can do no good work, but when it is established by God it bears all things with patient endurance. So we exhort one another gently, to support the weak, to comfort the fainthearted, and to be patient toward all.
Take the Scriptures as medicines for the soul. If grief befalls you, dive into them as into a chest of medicines. Keep the New Testament, the Gospels, the Apostolic Epistles and the Acts as your constant teachers, and keep them in your mind. There you will find again and again that our afflictions, when borne with faith, work for our comfort and salvation, and that our hope through God is steadfast.
We pray now: Heavenly Father, have mercy on this world and on all who are caught in the troubles of these times. Remember this mother and her sons, keep them in your care, supply what they need, and lead them in your truth. Comfort all who mourn the one who has departed to be with Jesus, and let the certainty of the resurrection lift their sorrow into hope. Establish our hearts in faith, that we may live with a pure conscience before you and look for the life to come through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.