Commontide
Merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection and the life: Raise us, we humbly pray, from the death of sin to the life of righteousness; that when we depart this life we may rest in him, and at the resurrection on the last day we may be found acceptable in your sight, and receive that blessing which your well-beloved Son shall then pronounce to all who love and fear you: “Come, you blessed children of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.” Grant this, O merciful Father, through Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Redeemer. Amen.
Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.
One of the oldest Anglican burial prayers, this collect has accompanied English Christian funerals since Thomas Cranmer's first prayer book of 1549. Its closing words – borrowed from Jesus's parable of the Last Judgment – have been spoken over the grave for nearly five centuries.