Prayer For The Graduate
Our Father, God, how wonderful are the works of Your hands. As we gather here
today to celebrate a step forward into new places with new people and new
experiences, let us not forget the blessings that follow behind us. For this school, which
has given us a safe place to learn and a strong foundation to build upon as we take this
next step into Your world. For our teachers, who have so richly loved and cared for us,
even at our worst. For our families, who have cheered us on to the finish line and stood
by our side's through the many bumps in the road. And on this day especially, we thank
You for the friends that we have found among our classmates. For all the jokes that we
will laugh about in years to come, for the hardships and tears we have endured together
side by side, and for Your Love which has been made evident through the relationships
we will carry with us beyond these walls. Just as our school verse says, let us continue
to lay down our lives for each other just as You gave up Your life for each of us. Let us
love each other fearlessly and seek Your will earnestly all the days of our lives.
In Your Name we pray,
Amen.
Loving Lord, how I thank You for my for precious daughter and what a joy she has been in my life. You formed her in my womb and breathed Your life into her tiny form. You helped me as I taught and trained her through her infant day and early years. I have watched her grow into the lovely young woman that she is today, and thank You for the privilege of being her mother.
Today Lord, I bring this dear daughter to You, as she prepares in excitement for her graduation ceremony. May it be a time that she will clothe herself in mature womanhood as she steps out onto the frontier of life.
Lead her Lord, in Your path of righteousness and love. Guard her and guide her through the ups and downs that will shadow her path. Bind her heart to the truth of Your Word, keep her under the shadow of Your wing and may she move out into life with a scriptural foundation that will not be shaken.
Bring up a child in the way they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it. Lord, I claim that promise for my precious daughter. May she continue to grow in grace and in a knowledge of her Lord and Saviour, until her life's end. In Jesus' name I pray,
Amen.
Heavenly Father, how I thank You for the life of my son and for bringing him to this important milestone in his life, a graduating ceremony that ends such an important period of his journey through life, and gives way to the twists and turns that he will inevitably face in the future.
I pray that he will apply all that he has learned up to now, and that You would continue to teach him Your ways and to guide him along the path that You would have him go. Give him wisdom in the choices that he will have to make, and I pray that he will have sound judgements in the challenges that lie ahead of him.
I pray that he has learned the lessons of responsibility, integrity and grace that he has been taught throughout his life, and that what he has learned will manifest itself in the direction that he chooses to go. Keep him steady in his faith and may he maintain his trust in You, especially when he starts to be bombarded with the inevitable temptations and taboos in life, that cause so many young people to go astray.
As he faces a working world, I pray that he will maintain his trust in You. I also ask that with the many additional responsibilities of life he now faces, that You will guide him socially, financially and spiritually in all things and that he will turn to You as his Guide. Help him Lord, to stand fast in the faith in which he has been grounded from being a little boy and keep him from being influenced by unethical business practices or any unhealthy social contacts.
I pray that he will turn to You in all his needs and necessities, and that in Your time and in Your way You will bring a godly wife into his life, so that together they my stand firm against the tide of humanity that seeks to swamp all those that trust in You.
Father, thank You that You are my Father and for giving me the privilege of being a father to my own son. I pray that in his adult life He will keep You as the Rock upon which he is grounded, and his ever present helping time of need. In Jesus' name I pray,
Amen
As we prepare to watch the graduate walk across the stage to
receive a diploma, we want to take a moment to thank You for keeping
him/her safe and guiding him/her to this point.
Lord, touch him/her now with wisdom to be able to handle the next stage
of his/her life in a way that will be pleasing to You, and that will set
him/her on a path of living a life that will be a blessing to others.
Amen
Amen
This is a special day in the life of the graduates.
As they embark on the next chapter in their lives we pray
that the same hand that has kept them thus far will continue to be in their lives.
May Your hand of protection be about them, and may Your Word continue to be
a light unto their path. Help them to make wise decisions and to always keep
You first in everything that they do.
Amen
Loving God, we thank you for all who graduate from grade school, high school and college this time of the year. You have blessed them during their years in school with wisdom, friendships, and skills. You continue to challenge them to make this world a better place because of their education.
Help them to look forward to their next steps: continuing in their education or entering the work world. Particularly help those who are seeking employment to find a job suitable to their education.
Give them faith and a sense of purpose in their next steps.
Show them how to serve others in effective ways.
And may they be always be aware in everything they do that they will find fulfillment in doing your will, that you will be with them always, and that you will being to completion the good work you have begun in them.
Amen.
Gracious and Loving God,
We ask, now, for your almighty hand to be upon our graduates as they and their families celebrate this grand milestone.
May they find comfort from our community's continued embrace and support as they journey through life.
May they find strength in the excellence of their academic preparation and the long line of the Jesuit educational tradition - for with it, today, they join a nearly 500 year old network of local, national and global alumni who are their kindred companions.
Bless their lives from this day on with goodness and success.
Enable them
- to stay true to their dreams for your greater glory,
- to discern what is right, good and just, and
- to use their gifts wisely and in service to others.
Empower them to walk into the future with faith, hope, and great love guided by your light so that they may use their talents to, in the words of St. Ignatius Loyola, "Go forth and set the world on fire."
Grace be to them, grace be to us all.
"God, today is like any other. The sun rises. The winds blow. Rain falls. Rain does not fall. People are born. They laugh. They cry. They dance. They die. Today "chronos" time is as it has been since You gave it beginning, and will be as it is until you bring things to an end. Today is like any other.
Today is also fresh and new, and like no other day. Today is a "kairos" moment of opportunity that has come and will pass in a moment. Today is a passage from one epoch to another. Today is a gift from you. Grant grace to see it and seize it.
Today is a graduation, a passage, a completion, an inauguration. Today we pray for all those who have met the challenge and kept the faith to the commitments of their studies. Now they have a new "kairos" before them. We first offer thanks for the success of their journey. We thank for you granting them focus and direction and then strength and endurance. You created the knowledge and understanding they have mastered. You have created the curiosity and capacity for determination that led them in pursuit. All these good things came from you. Thank you.
Today we also pray for tomorrow. This graduation opens another door to another time. As you have led in the past, lead now into the future. Give them focus and clarity and a calling from you to understand their purpose and the courage to respond and step toward that purpose.
We pray in the words of scripture: 'Bless them indeed. Expand their territory. Let your hand be with them. Keep them evil, that they will not cause or experience pain.'
Today, we bless our graduates"