President Eyring blesses Saratoga Springs temple to be a refuge (2024)

Following is the text to the prayer offered by President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency, to dedicate the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple on Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023.

O God, our beloved Father, we come before Thee on this occasion in the sacred name of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, and in the authority of the holy Melchizedek Priesthood to dedicate unto Thee the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We dedicate this beautiful edifice unto Thee for Thy sacred purposes. We dedicate the ground upon which it stands. We dedicate its foundation; its footings; its walls, windows and spire. We dedicate the altars and the interior and exterior walls; the baptistry and confirmation rooms, endowment rooms, sealing rooms, celestial room, administrative rooms and adjacent meetinghouse; and all the support systems required to maintain the beauty and comfort of this sacred temple. We dedicate the beautiful grounds, the trees, the shrubs and the systems necessary to maintain that beauty.

We ask Thee to accept this house as our offering to Thee and to Thy Son as a place worthy of Thy holy habitation. We ask Thee to protect this holy house against any force that would harm or defile it. May it be a physical and spiritual refuge for all who are blessed to come to it. Bless all who even step onto the ground upon which it stands. Bless them to feel Thy presence and to leave with a sense of hope and a desire to draw closer to Thee and to Thy Son.

We thank Thee for the gift of Thy Son, whose sacrifice and Atonement assure us of immortality and enable us to repent and live with Thee forever in families.

We bow before Thee in reverent prayer to honor Thee and to express our gratitude. We thank Thee for the Restoration of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the Prophet Joseph Smith. We are thankful for the keys of the priesthood being conferred through angels, which enables us to perform sacred ordinances in this temple for the eternal benefit of Thy children on both sides of the veil.

We are deeply grateful that Thou hast blessed us with the resources necessary to construct this house of the Lord. We thank Thee for faithful Saints who, in their prosperity or in their poverty, have made sacred offerings for this holy edifice. We thank Thee for devoted workers, skilled craftspeople and many faithful volunteers who labored to create and to beautify this sacred space.

We pray for the families and the individual members who now reside, and who will reside, in the district this temple will serve. Wilt Thou allow them to prosper. Provide them with needed blessings and with the desire to worship in this sacred temple.

We pray for the youth, that they may be drawn to this house of the Lord. We pray for the children, that their hearts may be turned to their parents and their ancestors. Because of faithful service by those who attend here, may ordinances and covenants of salvation and exaltation be offered to all who will receive them — including those living in mortality and those in the spirit world.

Please bless those who will depart from this sacred temple for missionary service. May they go forth with courage and determination to gather Israel in preparation for the coming of the Lord. May the power they receive from keeping the covenants they make in this temple strengthen them in their missions — both in this life and into eternity.

We plead with Thee to bless the current temple presidency and each of the succeeding temple presidents and their counselors, the matrons and her assistants, and all who will offer consecrated service within this holy house. Bless them all with love, kindness and the power of spiritual discernment to know the hearts and needs of all who come to worship here. Bless all who come to the temple to gain greater faith in the glorious future that is ahead of them as they keep the covenants they make here.

May the sacred ordinances they receive here and those they offer to loved ones in the spirit world bring joy, hope and the peace Thy Son promises His faithful disciples.

Beloved Father, we honor Thy holy name and that of Thy Son. We pray that the great plan of salvation will roll forward to bless Thy children. On this joyful day of dedication, we rededicate our lives to Thee and Thy work. And we do so in the sacred name of Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, whom we love and serve, amen.