OMNIPOTENT, ETERNAL, AND MERCIFUL GOD, You are the Savior of all. especially those who believe (1 Timothy 4:10).
You have commanded through the apostle that prayers be offered for everyone (1 Timothy 2:1). On behalf of all who are suffering under affliction and hardship, I beg you to uphold them with the consolation of Your grace and to support them with the help of your might. Clothe with heavenly power and strength those who sweat in the most grievous agony of satanic temptation. Make the partakers of Your victory, O Christ, powerful victor over the devil. May the refreshment of Your heavenly grace encourage those whose bones are dried up by the fire of sorrow. Uphold all those who fall and raise up all who are bowed down (Psalm 145:14). Be gracious in allowing illness so physical sickness may b a spiritual medicine. May those who are ill recognize that sickness is an attendant of sin and a forerunner of death. Give to them strength of faith and patience, O true Physician of souls and bodies. Restore them to their former health, provided that it is advantageous to their eternal salvation.
Protect those who are with child; support those who are giving birth. It is You who bring infants from the confines of their mothers' womb and enlarge the human race by Your blessing. Be with those who are in the pains of labor, O Lover and Giver of Life, so they are not oppressed with excessive pain. Nourish orphans who are forsaken of all help.
Protect those who have lost their spouse because You have called Yourself the Father of the the fatherless and the Defender of the widowed (Psalm 68:5). May the tears of those who have been widowed break through the clouds and not be quieted until they reach Your throne (Sirach 35:15ff).
Hear those who are in danger at sea and cry out to You. Give freedom to the captives so they may proclaim Your kindness with grateful hearts. Make firm those who suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness so they may be victorious over all their enemies and receive the eternal crown of martyrdom (Matthew 5:10). Help those who are suffering dangers and misfortunes so they may possess their souls by true patience (Luke 21:19) and, denying their own will, take up their cross (Matthew 16:24). As they take up their cross, may they follow Him in whom they believe and who died on the cross.
Kindest Father, I specifically entrust to Your care those who are poised at the gates of death, those who hover between time and eternity and who wrestle with all their might with this last foe. Make them them firm, O powerful Victor over death. Free them, O glorious Ruler of life, so they are not drowned by the waves of temptation but are brought to the port of tranquility.
Have mercy on all, You who are the Creator of all.
Have mercy on all, You who are the Redeemer of all. To You be praise and glory for all eternity.
AMEN.
Meditations on Divine Mercy. Johann Gerhard, author. Matthew C Harrison, translator. CPH:2003. pgs 148-150.
Object creator: Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder
Object title / description: Altarpiece of Hannover Kreuzkirche: The Martyrdom of the seven sons of St Felicity [left wing, verso]
Object date: about 1530 - 1535
http://lucascranach.org/DE_NLMH_PAM776a
