A HEALING PRAYER TO ST.

JUDE Most holy Apostle, St Jude, friend of Jesus, I place myself in your care at this difficult time. Pray for me; help me know that I need not face my troubles alone. Please, join me in my need, asking God to send me consolation in my sorrow, courage in my fear, and healing in the midst of my suffering. Ask our loving God to fill me with grace to accept who ever may lie ahead for me and my love ones and to strengthen my faith in Gods healing power. Thank you St. Jude, for the promise of hope you hold out to all who believe and inspire me to give this gift of hope to others as it has been to me. AMEN

PRAYERS OF AN AGING PERSON A Prayer of Acceptance Lord, You have given me so many wonderful things in my life. Now, Lord, You are taking back many of those things. But I accept that Lord! I gave them back to You! You have taken away my youth and my health, Lord, but I give them back to You! You have taken away my energy, the steadiness of my feet, the skills of my hands, the sharpness of my eyes and my memory. But thats ok, Lord I give them back to You! You have taken away my mother and father, Lord, and many of my friends and relatives. But I give them back to You, happy that they are in heaven with You, waiting for me. When I think about all the things You have given in my life, Lord and what You have taken away from me in my aging years, I want to pray with You, The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away . Blessed be the name of the Lord! A Prayer of Thanks A lot has been taken away from me as I grow older, Lord my health, my energy, my capacity to work for long hours on end. But there is something very important that I still have. It is the power to pray and praise and thank You , lord. You gave me life, Lord, and You have supported me for so many years. I praise and thank You, Lord for that. In my aging years now, I dont have that much to give. But I can still pray and give You praise and glory. I thank You Lord, for my past and what my life has been. I thank You for the moments of joy and love that You gave me. They have been good times, Lord. I thank You for the energy and the wonderful health that was mine and for the moments when your presence consoled me. I thank you for all the moments of love and successes that came into my life.

You gave me such wonderful gift, Lord. I thank you for every day that you gave me for the gift of waking up every morning and joy of breathing, the pleasure of taking a shower and combing my hair, the happiness of playing with my grandchildren, the wonder of the sun and the sky and the freshness of the grass and the trees the satisfaction of my work each day and doing little things for others. I thank You, Lord, for every day of life and love that You gave me. I thank You for Your blessing, Your forgiveness, Your love, Your hope and comfort, Your peace and Your joy. I thank You, Lord for what waits for tomorrow, for all the days of life that are left to me. I thank You for the joy and the peace that I know You will give to me, that will help me smile and love. For many years I have given my life to You, I have given You my work, my prayer, my love, I have sacrificed for You. But now I praise and thank You, Lord. That is what I want to do more than anything else in the world. A Prayer of Trust Lord, I believe You are still working through my aging, I know my aging moments are instruments of your grace. You are building an eternal kingdom through my aging. I believe that through my weakness You are giving me strength to many young men and women I meet and talk with each day. Through my darkness You are bringing eternal light into many lives. Through my loneliness you are bringing love to many o f Your children. I believe Lord, You are working through my life in a wonderful way. I thank You for that, Lord , You must increase, Lord , and I must decrease! There is an old Quaker piece of wisdom that says; I expect to pass through this world only once, Lord. Any good things, therefore, that I can do or any kindness and love that I can show to any of my fellow creatures, let me do it now. Let me not postpone it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.

A Prayer for Death Receive , Lord, the gift of my life. You have given it to me and now I return the gift of my life to You. Psalm 73 says My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever! I am going back to You Lord. In the morning of my life, You brought me forth from mommys womb, Lord and gave me life and joy and energy. In the noontime of my life, I was happy with people who were close to me and with the work that needed to be done for You. Now , in the evening of my life, I am going back to You, Lord. I am waiting for You, Lord. I long for the day when You will come. I know that days coming and it will be the most important day in my life, the day that I have longed for more than any other day. The years of youth and my maturity were wonderful years, Lord. But now I put those years behind and wait for the greatest moment of all the moments when I finally meet You! It will be the beginning of my life. How I long for it. As I wait for that important journey to You, Lord, I want to travel light. I want nothing to bother or worry me as I come closer to meeting You. I have no room in my bag for petty desires or hurts or anger. I let go of them all now as I get ready for my journey to You, Lord. I put aside my regrets about the past, my lingering feelings of guilt, my fears about what may be coming, my caring about success and worrying about problems of life, my concern about whether people agree with me or not, I no longer have any time for those things since I am now waiting for You, lord. I am waiting for You! I reach out to You! I long for You!.

Lifes Most Important Journey One of the existentialist philosophers we studied in the Jesuit seminary in Cebu years ago says, Death is a journey to life. Thos who have the love and the courage to sit with a dying person in the silence that goes beyond words will know that the moment of death is neither frightening nor painful. An unavoidable event, death is a journey that is made by believers in courage and on hope. Only when we come to grips with our unavoidable mortality will be begin to truly understand the wonder of the gift of immorality, that death is not the end but the beginning of a journey to life! And it is lifes most important journey! St. Paul says in his letters to the converts in Rome: I have become absolutely convinced that nothing can separate us from Gods love neither death nor life, neither angels nor devils, neither what happens today (as we grow old) or what happens tomorrow (when we die), neither the powers from on high nor the power from below. Nothings in Gods world has any power to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus Our Savior. There is a very beautiful thought in one of the songs of Hootie and the Blowfish. They sing very beautifully; Youll walk with me (Lord)/Youll talk with me/When I leave this world/I will remember all You did for me!