In this season, there are days coming from different traditions on which we may honor our ancestors, and remember friends and family who have died.

Halloween – All Hallows’ Eve – October 31
Samhain – October 31
The Day of the Dead – Día de los Muertos – November 1
All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day – November 1 and 2

Prayer for the Deceased

For You, who have gone on,

First, always first, I miss you. This is and will always be part of my love for you, to mourn your absence and wish to see you, to hug you, to laugh with you and confide in you and share life, breath, heartbeat and feel my hand in your warm hand again.

After the grief comes gratitude: for all that you brought into my life, if only briefly. I am grateful for your wisdom, your honesty, for the way you could always see me and know my heart. Even when I was confused, you remained sure of me. Even when I felt unworthy or afraid, you drew me to your heart. You knew we were kin. Even now, we are always, always family.

After the gratitude comes determination: to remember, to carry forward the best of you, to offer others the love, respect, and holy connection that you showed me. I must embody your work and my own, for you have become an ancestor, and you have become part of the sacred trust that I have been called to carry on until my own time is done.

You have gone on, but you are also here still, within me, yes!  But also in the sacred moments of endarkening, the moment when the stars become visible again, though they were always there. You are here, even in my flesh, which you never disparaged, never valued less than my mind or heart or the sacred seat of mystery that is my soul. You are gone, but you are also here and your love sustains me even now.

I miss you, Beloved. And I am grateful. And I am determined to carry on.
 

—  Sean Parker Dennison
Conversations with the Sacred: A Collection of Prayers (pp. 52-53), Skinner House Books
Edited by Manish Mishra Marzetti and Jennifer Kelleher

Rev. Sean Parker Dennison is the minister at Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Ashland, Oregon. Ordained in 2000, Rev. Dennison has served congregations in California, Utah, and Illinois and cofounded TRUUsT, an organization for transgender UU religious leaders, in 2004. They are also an artist, parent, poet, and grandparent.