Father, we thank you for all those who bear suffering with courage and patience. We thank you for the way their lives enlighten and inspire our own. Give to them a sense of their high calling. May they find strength in knowing that they are sharing in the sufferings of their Master and following His perfect example. Be close to them and grant them your strength and your peace. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Lord, we pray for all who are weighed down with the mystery of suffering. Reveal yourself to them as the God of love Who bears all our sufferings. Grant theat they may know that suffering borne in fellowship with You is not waste or frustration but can be turned to goodness and blessing. Something greater than if they had never suffered. Through Him who on the cross suffered rejection and hatred, loneliness and despair, agonizing pain and physical death and yet rose victorious from the dead, conquering and to conquer, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
     George Appleton