Goodbye, Dear Father, Dear Stranger . . .

My father died on Friday, and I lamented his loss with questions of why. On Saturday, I moved in a haze of numbness seeking distraction from reality. On Sunday the tears seem never-ending because there are so many unanswered questions.

My father was an enigma. In anger, he sought vengeance, valued beauty and wealth, and yet seldom recognized it. He threw away those most needful of him and therefore denied himself a blessed life.

We were estranged for many years, but age and ill health erased many of the reasons, and I am thankful for the reconciliation, but now he’s gone, and I can only pray. . .

***

O Lord! In this Most Great Dispensation Thou dost accept the intercession of children in behalf of their parents.  This is one of the special infinite bestowals of this Dispensation.  Therefore, O Thou kind Lord, accept the request of this Thy servant at the threshold of Thy singleness and submerge his father in the ocean of Thy grace, because this daughter hath arisen to render Thee service and is exerting effort at all times in the pathway of Thy love.  Verily, Thou art the Giver, the Forgiver and the Kind!

‘Abdu’l-Bahá

    

O my God! O Thou forgiver of sins! Bestower of gifts! Dispeller of afflictions!
Verily, I beseech Thee to forgive the sins of such as have abandoned the physical garment and have ascended to the spiritual world.
     O my Lord! Purify them from trespasses, dispel their sorrows, and change their darkness into light. Cause them to enter the garden of happiness, cleanse them with the most pure water, and grant them to behold Thy splendours on the loftiest mount.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá

THE  LOVE OF GOD
Bahá'í prayer booklet is published by the
Bahá'í Publishing Trust
27 Rutland Gate,
London SW7 1PD

Comments are disabled. Thank you for the kind words, thoughts, and prayers.