Some time ago I asked for prayers for Fr. John, the priest at my new church who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. His condition is very grave now, so I’m changing the request to prayers for a holy death. It’s a sad time for the parish and also for his family — he leaves a wife and two boys (I don’t know their ages, but one just graduated high school and the other is working at his first job). He has been a good and faithful spiritual father to the church for many years, and the loss is inestimable.

Here is the Prayer for the Gravely Ill that the church prays for him in a special service on Saturday evenings. I pass it on because I thought it was very helpful to know a prayer to say for someone whose condition isn’t expected to improve. Unfortunately, it’s a situation we all find ourselves in sometimes. Obviously, you can alter it where necessary to apply to others:

O Lord Jesus Christ, our God, for our sake Thou wast born; for our sake Thou didst hunger and thirst. For our sake Thou didst suffer and hand Thy life over to death. Now, as it is Thy will for Thy servant, Fr. John, to share Thy sufferings, make him also to share more abundantly of Thy heavenly grace. May Thy righteousness purge away all his sins, and when he shall stand before Thee, O righteous Judge, do not regard his works, but look rather upon his faith in Thee. As sickness increases in him, so do Thou also increase Thy saving grace and Thy heavenly blessings. Let not his hope waver, nor his faith fail, nor his love grow cold; let not his dread of pain and death cause him to cast away his trust in Thee, or to place it elsewhere but in Thee, but may he persevere in looking unto Thee to the end, saying, “Into Thy hands I commend my spirit,” and being thus shown as an imitator of Thy passion, may he enter Thine eternal Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.