Loving God, you made your children with gifts and talents and personality. They, along with our family, friends, and life experiences, make us who we are. What happens when we are no longer that person? Dementia and delirium steal our our selves, tiny piece by tiny piece or all at once. Catastrophic trauma can set us on our heads. Our own minds can lie to us, our own senses can go on the fritz. And what of family and friends, who love a person who is gone, but whose living body remains? Holy Father, this agony is playing out in homes and hospitals all over our world, with families and friends caught in its slow motion horror. Please give us treatments and strategies for living with and dying from mental disorders and decline. Please hold our hands and never let go. Amen