Guild Prayer - Sign Language
“Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes, who are deaf, yet have ears!”
People of all ages can develop hearing conditions through life or from birth which can make full, active participation in the liturgical life of the church difficult for them. Those with mild needs may access facilities such as hearing aid loop systems and other aids, but for those with more extreme cases of hearing loss, more resources are often required.
Fr Keith Stoakes, the National Director of the Guild of St Stephen has a long history of supporting the deaf community in the Westminster Archdiocese. He provides a Mass to the deaf community each month in British Sign Language (BSL), as do many other dioceses around England and Wales, and around the world.
Altar Servers are of course no different, and to support them we have commissioned a short video translating the Guild Prayer in British Sign Language. Find it below and please pass it on to anyone you feel would benefit.
Our thanks to the Caritas Deaf Service of the Archdiocese of Westminster for filming this for us.
O God, you accept our ministry and allow us to serve at your altar;
grant that while serving you we follow the example of our Patron,
St Stephen, the first martyr, and that we may, like him,
come to see Jesus standing at your right hand in the Kingdom of Heaven.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, your Son.
Amen.
