‘The light shines in the darkness
and the darkness has not overcome it’
Lighting a candle is small action that all can share.
Let’s light a light for Melbourne and Victoria.
Every night at curfew place a light
in your window and pray with us.
#CandlesAtCurfew
‘I will be lighting a candle at my home tonight, placing it into the window facing the street on which I live. I invite people across our communities to light up the windows of their rooms, apartments and houses. Together we can spread the light as a sign of hope in these dark days’.
Archbishop Philip Freier
Lighten our darkness,
Lord, we pray; and in your mercy
defend us from all perils and
dangers of this night;
for the love of your only Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Prayers to use at this time
Lord God, whose Son, Jesus Christ,
understood people’s fear and pain
before they spoke of them,
we pray for those in hospital or sick at home;
surround the frightened with your tenderness;
give strength to those in pain;
hold the weak in your arms of love,
and give hope and patience
to those who are recovering;
we ask this through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
Keep us, good Lord,
under the shadow of your mercy
in this time of uncertainty and distress.
Sustain and support the anxious and fearful,
and lift up all who are brought low;
that we may rejoice in your comfort
knowing that nothing can separate us from your love
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ,
you taught us to love our neighbour,
and to care for those in need
as if we were caring for you.
In this time of anxiety, give us strength
to comfort the fearful, to tend the sick,
and to assure the isolated
of our love, and your love,
for your name’s sake.
Amen.
God of compassion,
be close to those who are ill, afraid or in isolation.
In their loneliness, be their consolation;
in their anxiety, be their hope;
in their darkness, be their light;
through him who suffered alone on the cross,
but reigns with you in glory,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
For Christians lighting a candle is a symbol of God’s light piercing into the darkness of our own despair. It’s our saying that God’s hope is the power that motivates us as we continue to endure these limitations and experience the sacrifice of this time.
Archbishop Philip Freier
