A Collect for Care in Grief and Sorrow

Gentle Father, who knows our weaknesses and needs, care for us tenderly when our griefs and sorrows keep us from trusting in you and our eyes are too clouded to see you clearly, for we are small and frail, and our hearts are not always strong enough to hold on to your promises, and we need your mercy to hold us up, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit love all creation with great care. Amen. ‘But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”‘ – John 20:24-25