Prayer for a Deceased Mother: Catholic Prayers for the Loss of a Mother

Lord Jesus, you loved your own Mother with all your heart.
Have mercy on my mother, (name). Forgive her sins, reward her love and her sacrifices,
and bring her home to you, where every tear is wiped away. Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord. Amen.

We beseech thee, O Lord, according to thy great goodness, to show mercy to the soul of thy servant N., that, being now delivered from the corruptions of this mortal life, she may be received into the inheritance of eternal bliss: through Christ our Lord. Amen.

“Lay,” she saith, “this body any where; let not the care for that any way disquiet you: this only I request, that you would remember me at the Lord’s altar, wherever you be.”

I therefore, O my Praise and my Life, God of my heart, laying aside for a while her good deeds, for which I give thanks to Thee with joy, do now beseech Thee for the sins of my mother. Hearken unto me, I entreat Thee, by the Medicine of our wounds, Who hung upon the tree, and now sitting at Thy right hand maketh intercession to Thee for us. I know that she dealt mercifully, and from her heart forgave her debtors their debts; do Thou also forgive her debts, whatever she may have contracted in so many years, since the water of salvation. Forgive her, Lord, forgive, I beseech Thee; enter not into judgment with her. Let Thy mercy be exalted above Thy justice, since Thy words are true, and Thou hast promised mercy unto the merciful; which Thou gavest them to be, who wilt have mercy on whom Thou wilt have mercy; and wilt have compassion on whom Thou hast had compassion.

May she rest then in peace with the husband before and after whom she had never any; whom she obeyed, with patience bringing forth fruit unto Thee, that she might win him also unto Thee. And inspire, O Lord my God, inspire Thy servants my brethren, Thy sons my masters, whom with voice, and heart, and pen I serve, that so many as shall read these Confessions, may at Thy Altar remember Monnica Thy handmaid, with Patricius, her sometimes husband, by whose bodies Thou broughtest me into this life, how I know not. May they with devout affection remember my parents in this transitory light, my brethren under Thee our Father in our Catholic Mother, and my fellow-citizens in that eternal Jerusalem which Thy pilgrim people sigheth after from their Exodus, even unto their return thither. That so my mother’s last request of me, may through my confessions, more than through my prayers, be, through the prayers of many, more abundantly fulfilled to her.

Lord, my mother has gone from this world. I thank you for her life, for the gift of my life through her,
and for every way she loved and cared for me.
Receive her into your mercy. Mary, Mother of God, take her by the hand and bring her to your Son. Amen.

Lord, as we lay my mother to rest, we entrust her to you.
Give her a place of light and peace, and give us the faith to hope that we will see her again. Amen.

Lord, today we remember my mother, (name), who died on this day.
If she still needs your mercy, purify her quickly and bring her into your presence.
Thank you for the years we had with her. Mary, Mother of all mothers, pray for her and for us. Amen.

Lord Jesus, you wept at the tomb of your friend Lazarus.
You know how much I miss my mother. Comfort me, heal my heart,
and help me to carry on the faith and love she gave me. Amen.

For my father and my mother have left me: but the Lord hath taken me up.

As one whom the mother caresseth, so will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.