Heavenly Father,
Source of every life and Author of every heart,
we give You thanks for the great gift of humanity—
each person formed in Your image and likeness,
each soul precious in Your sight,
each life a unique reflection of Your infinite love.
We thank You especially for those closest to us:
for our families, bound by blood and by grace,
for our friends, companions on the journey,
and for our relatives near and far,
living and departed.
In their joys and their struggles,
in their presence and their memory,
You have given us living signs of Your faithfulness.
Grant us, O Lord, the pure eyes of faith
to recognize You in every face we meet—
in the poor and the powerful,
in the stranger and the familiar,
in the suffering and the rejoicing.
Help us to see Christ in all Your people,
and to love them as You have loved us.
Open our hearts also to the wonder of Your creation:
the earth, the skies, the seas, and every living thing.
May we never grow blind to the beauty that proclaims Your glory,
nor deaf to the quiet voice of Your presence
in all that Your hands have made.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who became one of us so that we might see the Father,
and in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
Amen.