Commontide

For Guidance

O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you would have us do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices; that in your light we may see light, and in your straight path we may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Commontide
Litany
Sickness & Healing

Litany at the Time of Death

Ministry to the Dying

O God the Father, Have mercy on your servant. O God the Son, Have mercy on your servant. O God the Holy Spirit, Have mercy on your servant. O Holy Trinity, one God, Have mercy on your servant. Lord Jesus Christ, deliver your servant from all evil, sin, and tribulation; Good Lord, deliver him. By your holy Incarnation, by your Cross and Passion, by your precious Death and Burial, Good Lord, deliver him. By your glorious Resurrection and Ascension, and by the Coming of the Holy Spirit, Good Lord, deliver him. We sinners beseech you to hear us, Lord Christ: That it may please you to deliver the soul of your servant from the power of evil, and from eternal death, We beseech you to hear us, good Lord. That it may please you mercifully to pardon all his sins, We beseech you to hear us, good Lord. That it may please you to give him joy and gladness in your kingdom, with your saints in light, We beseech you to hear us, good Lord. That it may please you to raise him up at the last day, We beseech you to hear us, good Lord.

Found in the Prayer Book

  • Ministry To The DyingMinistry to the Sick & Dying

Provenance

BCP 2019

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

A gentle, ancient-rooted litany prayed at a deathbed, asking God's mercy on the dying person and deliverance "by the Cross and Passion... Good Lord, deliver him." The wording here is the ACNA 2019 Book of Common Prayer's revision of a litany first compiled for the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, and its deprecations echo prayers used at the bedsides of the dying for centuries.