Prayers
The Celebrant may add one or more of the following prayers
For a safe delivery
O gracious God, we give you humble and hearty thanks that you have preserved through the pain and anxiety of child‑ birth your servant N., who desires now to offer you her praises and thanksgivings. Grant, most merciful Father, that by your help she may live faithfully according to your will in this life, and finally partake of everlasting glory in the life to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
For the parents
Almighty God, giver of life and love, bless N. and N. Grant them wisdom and devotion in the ordering of their common life, that each may be to the other a strength in need, a counselor in perplexity, a comfort in sorrow, and a companion in joy. And so knit their wills together in your will and their spirits in your Spirit, that they may live together in love and peace all the days of their life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
For a child not yet baptized
O eternal God, you have promised to be a father to a thousand generations of those who love and fear you: Bless this child and preserve his life; receive him and enable him to receive you, that through the Sacrament of Baptism he may become the child of God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
For a child already baptized
Into your hands, O God, we place your child N. Support him in his successes and in his failures, in his joys and in his
444Thanksgiving for a Child
