Following is the text of the dedicatory prayer for the Buenos Aires Argentina Temple offered by President Thomas S. Monson. The temple was dedicated Jan. 17-19, 1986.
O God, our Eternal Father, Thou great Elohim. Creator of the heavens, the earth, and all things thereon, we come before Thee this sacred and blessed day with bowed heads, with full hearts and with subdued spirits.
We pray to Thee, our Father, in the name of Thy Beloved Son, Thine Only Begotten in the flesh, our Redeemer and our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord. Our thoughts turn to Thee as we contemplate Thy goodness to us, Thy infinite mercies, Thy watchful care and the gift of Thy Beloved Son. We know that through obedience to Thy divine commandments, we may return to Thee and be blessed with life eternal in Thy exalted presence.
We are grateful for this long-awaited time, when Thy house has been completed. The sacrifice of the saints through the years of patient waiting and constant striving has helped bring to fulfillment this glorious day of dedication. Let peace prevail as we lift our voices in songs of praise and words of prayer for Thy beneficent blessings unto us.
We thank Thee for the restoration of Thy glorious gospel. We marvel at Thy saving doctrines. We rejoice in Thy plan of salvation. Unto Thee we raise our voices in thanksgiving for the lives and ministries of the Prophet Joseph Smith and each succeeding president of Thy Church here upon the earth. Bless with health and wisdom Thy servant, President Ezra Taft Benson, whom Thou hast called to lead Thy Church in this day. Reveal to him Thy mind and will concerning the growth and advancement of Thy work among the children of men. We love and sustain him wholeheartedly. As we pray for President Benson, so we pray for his counselors and all the General Authorities, stake and mission, ward and branch officers and teachers everywhere.
Particularly do we thank Thee, our Father, for the faithful missionaries who have served, and continue now to labor, in this and surrounding lands, who teach Thy truths and who lead Thy children by Thy everlasting light. We remember that it was in this very city of Buenos Aires, on Christmas Day in the year 1925, just sixty years ago, that Elder Melvin J. Ballard, an apostle of the Lord, dedicated all of South America for the preaching of the gospel. What a fulfillment to an inspired prayer is evident today. Stakes of Zion have been organized in ever-increasing numbers, temples dot the landscape and faith is exemplified in the daily lives of the members of Thy Church.
Thy sons and daughters have prayed fervently for the completion of this, Thy Holy House. Our tears of gratitude flow freely as we contemplate the precious washings and anointings, the holy endowments and sacred sealings which await the worthy. To know that we shall have the privilege and opportunity to bring to loved ones who have left this mortal life these same blessings so essential to exaltation prompts the silent sobbings we experience.
Bless all, dear Father, who have labored in the erection of this temple, who have contributed their means and efforts to the advancement of Thy work. Bless the faithful tithe payers throughout the world who have made this dream a reality. May each be comforted and blessed.
Now, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ and in the authority of the Holy Priesthood in us vested and under assignment from Thy prophet in this day, we dedicate unto Thee, our Father, and unto Thy Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, this, the Buenos Aires Argentina Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We consecrate it for the sacred purposes for which it has been erected. We dedicate it unto Thee as a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God. We dedicate the ground on which it stands. We dedicate the shrubs, the flowers and vegetation which add beauty, provide fragrance, bid welcome and invite holy meditation and inspired thought. We dedicate this sacred structure from the deepest footing to the highest spire. We dedicate each room and hall, every furnishing and fixture, each element and all equipment which have been brought together to form Thy house.
Watch over this magnificent temple. Protect it, we pray, from the storms of nature, the rumblings of the earth, the ravages of time and from any evil designs of men.
Accept of our offering, hallow it by Thy Holy Spirit and protect it by Thy power. May this temple ever stand as a beacon of righteousness, pointing to all the way of life eternal. As we dedicate this temple, we dedicate our very lives. We desire to lay aside anything petty or sordid and reach to Thee in daily prayer and supplication, that our thoughts may be pure, our hearts and hands clean and our lives in conformity with Thy teachings.
Wilt Thou, our Father, continue to bless the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and likewise the descendants of Lehi and Nephi, that the promises contained in the Holy Bible and in the Book of Mormon may be brought to fulfillment and our homes and families blessed abundantly.
May all who enter this, Thy house, be privileged to say, as did the Psalmist of old, "We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company."
We express to Thee our abiding love. We desire to honor Thee and Thy Son each day of our lives. May our posterity follow the example of Thy Son and "increase in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man."
We pray Thou wilt accept of our offering and hallow this house which we have built. Bless our lives. Magnify our service and prosper Thy work.
May we, Thy children, be pure and holy before Thee, thereby meriting Thy bounteous blessings and Thy watchful care, we pray in the name of Thy Beloved Son, even the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord. Amen.
