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A Prayer of Thanksgiving for My Life

I thank You, Lord Jesus Christ, our God and our Sure Hope, for all the good things you have poured out so abundantly on me in this life. I thank you for the good people that you have placed in my life; for those who sponsored me to the Font of Life and the Laver of Regeneration; for those who trained me in the Faith and for those who have given and still give me strong, firm example; for those who have been my spiritual directors, confessors, and teachers; for those around me, brothers and sisters by Baptism and Chrismation, who share with me at Your Bloodless Sacrifice for the remission of all our sins and for a sure defense on the Day when You come for us.

I thank you for the Gift of the True Faith; for the Apostles, Saints and Martyrs who have gone before me and passed to me the purity of what You taught here on earth for all of us to have as our Way of Salvation; and for those whose quiet example may never get them canonized but who are the hidden treasures You take delight in.

I thank you for giving me the cross I bear and for the disappointments as well as the joys. I know it is because You love me and want to wear off all the rough edges so that I can become like You: forgiving, long-suffering, of great goodness to others, joyful in all that comes my way because I know deep inside me that Your Gracious Hand sends me everything.

I thank You, too, for having the patience that you have with me. I know that I can be troublesome, stubborn, and a hard one to teach.

Thank you for the opportunity to be among the good people on this Forum who nourish me and my spiritual life. Bless them. Give to each one whatever You know is necessary for health of soul, mind, and body in this life and in the life to come grant each one a favored place at the Table at the Wedding Feast in Your Kingdom. Grant, also, to each one who asks us to pray whatever is Your Will for the intention expressed.

Fill me and all my brethren in the Faith, at this season and always, with the Joy of Your Salvation and an abundance of the love You have for us. Let the love You pour so generously into each of us, poor vessels that we are, flow out to others so that all may experience it around us.

Lord, may Your Holy Name be praised and may this praise be also to Your Father Who is from everlasting and to the All-Holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit, who is our guide and protection, now and ever and unto ages of ages. AMEN.

Holy Mother of God, pray for us your humble and burdened servants. Spread your Protecting Veil over us until that day when you present us to Your Son. Thank you, Holy Mother, for the "yes" to God that allowed for our salvation. AMEN.

Bob, praying in thanksgiving for trials is such a sign of spiritual maturity.

It reminds me of one of my favorite petitions from a 1941 Litany from the Evangelical & Reformed tradition:

For all the discipline of life;
for the tasks and trials by which we are trained to patience, self-knowledge and self conquest,
and brought to closer sympathy with those who suffer;
for problems which have lifted us nearer to you
and drawn us into deeper fellowship with Jesus Christ;
let us bless the Lord: R/ Thanks be to God.

But my favorite petition is this:

For the sacred and tender ties which bind us to the unseen world,
for the faith which dispels the shadows of earth,
and fills the saddest and the last moments of life with an immortal hope;
let us bless the Lord: R/Thanks be to God.

Pastor Thomas:

I've written a prayer for the end of my night prayers. Some parts follow. The remainder gets specific about the members of my family, spiritual fathers, and others who have had a profound effect on my life, both the living and those gone before me so I won't post it in full.

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Commendation at the end of the Day and at the end of the Night Prayers
I thank you, Lord, from the bottom of my heart for all the good things You have poured out so abundantly on me, Your sinful, slothful, and unworthy servant. I thank You for the gift of life—for every breath and every heartbeat; for every blessing, for every talent, for every success, for every opportunity, for every chance to serve You, especially in the brothers and sisters in the Faith and in the flesh You have put in my path. I thank You for every failure, for every setback, for every set of tears, for every humiliation—for everything that has caused me to turn time and time again to You, whether in thanksgiving or to ask for Your help. I thank You that Your Providential Hand has sustained me at every turn and every step of my life from the day You began to knit me together in my mother’s womb as a wonderful creation to the present day and hour. And I thank you for my parents, N and N, who have cooperated with You in giving me life.

. . .

I thank you for all my relatives, friends, and benefactors in the Faith by Baptism and for all my relatives, friends, and benefactors in the flesh. Give to all those who have gone before me whatever purification You know is needed so that they may have a rapid entrance into the Mansions of the Just and to Your Wedding Feast which is without end, so that they may praise Your Holy and All-Venerable Name forever, together with that of Your Father Who is from everlasting, and that of the All-Holy, Good, and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.

. . .

I thank you for my relatives, friends, and benefactors in the Faith by Baptism and for all my relatives, friends, and benefactors in the flesh who still walk the pilgrim way with me. I ask You to give each of them whatever You know is necessary for health of soul, mind, and body in this life so that each one may end his pilgrimage at the Gates of Your Kingdom, hearing You say “well done, good and faithful servant.” Grant that at the end of their lives, they, too, might enter the Mansions of the Just and to Your Wedding Feast which is without end, so that they may praise Your Holy and All-Venerable Name forever, together with that of Your Father Who is from everlasting, and that of the All-Holy, Good, and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.

. . .

I thank You that Your Holy Spirit has given me the gift of prayer and that it comes so often and so spontaneously to thank You throughout each day and to ask blessings on the people I touch—people that I know need Your blessing as much as I do. I thank You for all the clergy counselors and confessors You have given me to guide my growth in faith, and life, and spiritual understanding. Bless each one of these men who have answered Your call to serve Your People in the Holy Priesthood and grant them a special and favored place in Your kingdom. Finally, I ask You to give me some share in the inheritance of the saints, with Mary, the All-Holy, Ever-Virgin, Mother of God, who is, by Your Gracious Gift from the Cross, our Mother, with the Holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, and with all the other Apostles, Saints, Martyrs, Patriarchs, Prophets, and other blessed spirits You have gathered into Your Kingdom from every race, nation, people, culture, and time, and with all the choirs and legions of the Angels and Heavenly Powers who praise Your Holy and All-Venerable Name forever, together with that of Your Father Who is from everlasting, and that of the All-Holy, Good, and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.

Master, if I must come before You this night to give account of my life and my stewardship of Your talents and gifts, grant me two things, in Your Mercy. Grant me five minutes of the tears of true and perfect repentance, one for each of Your Five Wounds that I have caused by my own sin, my own fault, and my own volition. Then grant me a merciful judgment, for Your Mercy is my hope and Your Judgments are right and just—all of them holy. In the end I do not know if I have begun to be Your servant, but I trust You.

Into Your Hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit, because You have redeemed me. Bless me, have mercy on me, and bring me to new and everlasting life. Amen.