Dear God,
Please bless our grandparents.
Thank you for the life they gave my parents and for the life they give to me.
For the ways they helped me and made me strong, I give thanks.
For the ways they love me no matter what, I rejoice.
For the ways they have paved the road that leads me here, I am grateful.
Let them grow in wisdom and joy in life.
Let them find peace and rest from their work.
Let them be healed of every sickness and pain.
And let them see with their own eyes the glory of your Son, Jesus,
in the love of their children and grandchildren.
Bless them always until they come to rest in you.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Lord Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary,
daughter of Saints Joachim and Anne,
look with love on grandparents the world over.
Protect and support them!
As they grow older, may they continue to be for their families
strong pillars of Gospel faith,
guardians of noble ideals,
living treasuries of sound religious traditions.
Lord Jesus, help families and society to value the presence and roles of grandparents.
Mary, Mother of all the living,
keep grandparents constantly in your care,
accompany them on their earthly pilgrimage,
and by your prayers, grant that all families
may one day be reunited in our heavenly homeland,
where you await all humanity for the great embrace of life without end.
Amen!
Benedict XVI
Virgin Mary, Mother of faith and hope, an example for this humanity bent by indifference, make me as willing as You to accept the will of God, to magnify and praise His Mercy. Mary, Mother of fortitude, you who knows my heart, do not allow me to become discouraged. I confidently surrender my life into your hands. Heal my wounds. May your tenderness accompany me on the way. Your presence, Mother of love, brings us to experience the joy of seeing our families united. Help me to transmit the tenderness and Love of God to the grandchildren and youth so that, in addition to praying for them, we can pray with them. Mary, may the gift of the Holy Spirit intercede for me: sustain my weakness; breathe into my heart the consolation that I may leave traces of faith among the young, bearing witness to the beauty of life, knowing that life has a limit and that beyond it lies before us our Father's embrace. Amen.