www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Prayer For the victims of the Boston Marathon Massacre

A prayer which I first leanred on this Forum:

O Master, Lord our God, Who in Thy wisdom hast created man, and didst honor him with Thy Divine image, and place in him the spirit of life, and lead him into this world, bestowing on him the hope of resurrection and life everlasting; and after he had violated Thy commandments, Thou O Gracious lover of mankind, didst descend to the earth that Thou mightest renew again the creation of Thy hands.

Therefore we pray Thee, O All-Holy Master give rest to the souls of Thy servants, whose names are not known to us, in a place of brightness, a place of green pasture, a place of repose, and, in that they have sinned in word, or deed or thought forgive them:

For Thou art a good God and lovest mankind and unto Thee do we ascribe Glory, together with Thy Father, Who is from everlasting and Thine All-Holy and good, and ever giving Spirit, now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Prayers for all those involved , the dead , the injured , those caring for them , and the families of all.

Prayers also for the people of Boston , who are asking the unanswerable question - "why ? "

Lord have mercy

Bless, Pastor Thomas, and thank you for posting this.

Prayers for the recovery of the injured and for the families and friends of the dead and injured. Prayers too for those traumatized by witnessing these horrific scenes.

Prayers also for the heroic Boston Police, Fire, and EMS first responders, as well as all the medical personnel involved on-scene and in Boston hospitals, and the heroic bystanders who rendered care, all of whom put aside their own fear, safety, and horror to care for the wounded.

May the memory of those killed be eternal.

"Eternal Father, turn away Your angry gaze from our guilty people Whose Face has become unsightly in Your eyes. Look instead upon the Face of Your Beloved Son, for this is the Face of Him in Whom You are well-pleased. We now offer You this Holy Face, covered with shame and disfigured by bloody bruises in reparation for the crimes of our age in order to appease Your anger, justly provoked against us. Because Your Divine Son, our Redeemer, has taken upon His Head all the sins of His members, that they might be spared, we now beg of You, Eternal Father, to grant us mercy. Amen."

It is being reported that tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. (EDT), an interfaith prayer service for the victims of the bombings will be hosted by the Archdiocese of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

(The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was celebrated on Tuesday, April 16, at 6:00 PM in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, for peace, and for the victims of Monday's terrorist attack on the City of Boston.)

President Obama will attend the services and will deliver a speech touching on the tragedy.

Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us!

Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy on all who are suffering.

The clergy of the Lutheran church located four blocks from the blast site will not attend that service, but instead will be offering their own liturgy (open to the greater community) on Friday evening.

This congregation is part of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod,(LCMS) which, in its zeal for doctrinal purity sometimes behaves in a very sectarian manner. On the other hand, when LCMS clergy participate in public services following national tragedies (as did the LCMS Pastor in Newtown, CT) they can draw wrath from their colleagues and be formally charged with promoting "unionism" and "syncretism".

Prayers for Divine wisdom for them as they walk this treacherous theological tightrope.

A link to the interfaith service [youtube.com]

May the memory of Patrolman Sean Collier, MIT Police Department, be eternal. Officer Collier's ambush death precipitated the subsequent manhunt and lockdown, culminating in the death of one suspect and the capture of the second.

Prayers for the swift and complete recovery of Patrolman Richard Donahue, MBTA (Transit) Police Department, seriously wounded in a gunbattle between police and the suspects sometime after the shooting death of his police academy classmate, Officer Collier.

Lord have mercy.