A PRAYER OF REMEMBRANCE

As we gather to remember the Leaders of 1916, mindful of their dreams, their sacrifice and their love for Ireland, we dedicate ourselves once again to work for a more just, inclusive and environmentally friendly society. We give thanks to our loving God, for the political and religious liberties and the rights that we enjoy today. We endeavour to continue to build a society of compassion, inclusion and engagement, where it is good to be alive and good to care for others and our common home.

Loving God, we are challenged in these uncertain times as a Nation and as a Global community; physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, financially and environmentally. Listen to our hearts longings for the healing of our world. Help us to realise, we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors but borrow it from our children. In the spirit of the 1916 Leaders –  poets, dreamers, artists, writers, fighters for justice and equality, brave hearts, courageous activists, and inspirational idealists – help us also to be generous in our response to ensure the safety of others, so we too, from a distance, may ‘stand shoulder to shoulder’, gualainn le ghualainn, at this difficult time.

Shoulder to shoulder with our family, neighbours and friends,

Gualainn le ghualainn with our health and front-line workers, our sick and senior citizens

Shoulder to shoulder with all providing essential services at this time.

Gualainn le ghualainn with planet earth; our fragile home, our environment with all its richness and living beings.

Shoulder to shoulder with all who have died and with you who miss them.

The grief of one is the wound of all because of our common humanity, shared citizenship and lived values.

Deep down we know that we are not abandoned by You, Lord God, in these testing times but that we are loved more deeply than we can imagine.  Help us to dream our way toward new beginnings and to allow a rebirth of our true depths, whether as individuals or collectively as nations and religious traditions, so that joined with our courageous leaders of the past, we too may be open to the deep well-springs of what we have not yet remembered. In our time of darkness, we believe in the sun even when we do not see it, we believe in love even when we do not feel it, and we believe in You, Almighty God, even when you seem silent.

We offer these prayers in all the Holy names of God. Amen.

In memory of our 1916 Leaders and all our deceased sisters and brothers of Ireland, we make our solemn and respectful tributes in appreciation, prayer and military honours.