Father Mulcahy stands still, his head bowed. Then he moves, making a tiny sign of the cross. He opens the small container of holy water and dips his fingers in, sprinkling several droplets over the shroud-wrapped body, and then he looks up, at all of the somber faces.
"Into your hands, O Lord, we humble entrust our brother Tony. In this life you embraced him with your tender love; deliver him now from every evil and bid him enter eternal rest.
"The old order has passed away: welcome him then into paradise, where there will be no sorrow, no weeping nor pain, but the fullness of peace and joy with your Son and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen."
He pauses, then says quietly, "I would ask that those who know it would join me in a prayer.
"Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven..."
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timeasmymeasure
Re: The Blessing
Date: 2006-08-25 01:06 am (UTC)"Into your hands, O Lord, we humble entrust our brother Tony. In this life you embraced him with your tender love; deliver him now from every evil and bid him enter eternal rest.
"The old order has passed away: welcome him then into paradise, where there will be no sorrow, no weeping nor pain, but the fullness of peace and joy with your Son and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen."
He pauses, then says quietly, "I would ask that those who know it would join me in a prayer.
"Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven..."