We often hear the following prayer in services and in private prayer: Eternal rest grant unto him/her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him/her. May he/she rest in peace. Amen. May almighty God bless us with his peace and strength, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The various prayers for the departed have three main purposes: first to pray for the repose of the departed, second, to comfort the living, and thirdly, to remind those who remain of their own mortality. The practice of praying for the dead is rooted in Christian belief in the everlasting life promised in Jesus’s teachings and foreshadowed by his disciples’ experience that God had raised him from the dead.
We gather together at a funeral service not to talk about the deceased but to pray for him/her. We believe that our prayer can help the deceased. We know that prayer is powerful so we pray for the deceased. There is nothing else we can give and prayer is something we can do so easily. Flowers, as in a wreath, will wither but the prayers we offer will never wither. Every prayer lasts into eternity. Prayer has lasting value.
We do so many things during our lives that in the light of eternity, are a waste of time. The priority in our lives must be to put God first. Jesus said in St John’s Gospel that he is the Way, the Truth and the Life. (John. 14:6) If we are not living our lives in union with Jesus then we are not on the way and if we are not on the way then we are lost. In St Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus instructs his followers “Seek the kingdom of God first and all these other things will be given you as well. (Matt 6:33). It follows that when we do as Jesus said and seek his kingdom first, and love the Lord with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength, and our neighbour as ourselves, then, and only then, will we be on the way.