Blessings and Prayers from various religions and cultures. (March 2021)

Susan's Thursday Morning Note March 25, 2021.  
Blessings and Prayers from around the world.

Good morning! Stillness on this side of the windowpane. Busy action in the little world of my birds outside the pane. How the little animals must love the early moments of spring. They must notice what we wish we noticed. The first sign of the tip of grass as it breaks the earth. The dew on the grass giving them an early morning possibility of their winter dreams of first worms. The sensation of awakening daily to the sounds and smells that we only get to experience early morning on walks or if awakening in a tent. Quiet beautiful sounds of birds trying their calls and smells only found on spring mornings. A gift of this day. This cold overcast day. But from the perspective of my little hopping friends outside – luxury and gifts from their Creator. They have their own angel of dawn arriving each morning with their own little gifts. My angel of dawn has arrived at my door handing me a gentle smile to help me focus on what is beautiful. My life. This day. This beautiful gift graciously handed to me at my front door again this morning. Handed to me with a chorus of birds helping me to become again aware of what beauty and music surrounds this day.

In looking for a bedtime blessing this week I lost myself reading various prayers and blessings throughout history from around the world. Below are a few that found a permanent location to burrow inside my thoughts. May you find words that help you find the beauty in this day. To find perspective regardless of movement your particular song in life is on this day. To find reason for continuing your song. To see the beauty of the eternal view. To find your soul in reflection and silence, even if this reflection and solitude is only inward because of your outward responsibilities and realities.

I weave a silence onto my lips.
I weave a silence into my mind.
I weave a silence within my heart.

I close my ears to distractions.
I close my eyes to attractions.
I close my eyes to temptations.

Calm me, O Lord, as you stilled the storm.
Still me, O Lord, keep me from harm.
Let all tumult within me cease.
Enfold me, Lord, in your peace.
                                              Alexander Carmichael, 1900

May the Earth teach you stillness
     as the grasses are stilled with light.
May the Earth teach you suffering
     as old stones suffer with memory.
May the Earth teach you humility
     as blossoms are humble with beginning.
May the Earth teach you caring
     as the mother who secures her young.
May the Earth teach you courage
     as the tree which stands all alone.
May the Earth teach you limitation
     as the ant which crawls on the ground.
May the Earth teach you freedom
     as the eagle which soars in the sky.
May the Earth teach you resignation
    as the leaves which die in the fall.
May the Earth teach you regeneration
     as the seed which rises in the spring.
May the Earth teach you to forget yourself
     as melted snow forgets its life.
May the Earth teach you to remember kindness
     as dry fields weep with rain.
                                                            Ute Blessing

May God bless you with discomfort
     at easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships
     so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
     at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people
     so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears
     to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war
     so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and
     to turn their pain into joy.

May God bless you with foolishness
     to believe that you can make a difference in the world
     so that you can do what others claim cannot be done
     to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
                                                A Franciscan Benediction

May the blessing of light be on you,
     light without and light within.

May the blessed sunlight shine upon you and warm your heart till it glows,
     like a great peat fire, so that the stranger may come
     and warm himself at it, as well as the friend.

And may the light shine out of the eyes of you,
     like a candle set in the windows of a house,
     bidding the wanderer to come in out of the storm.

And may the blessing of the rain be on you – the soft sweet rain.
     May it fall upon your spirit so that all the little flowers may spring up,
     and shed their sweetness on the air.

And may the blessing of the great rains be on you,
     that they beat upon your spirit and wash it fair and clean,
     and leave there many a shining pool, and sometimes a star.

And may the blessing of the earth be on you – the great round earth;
     may you ever have a kindly greeting for people you pass
     as you are going along the roads.

And now may the Lord bless you, and bless you kindly.
                                                                                      Traditional Irish Blessing

May your endings be embraced with fervor equal to what
     you gave your beginnings.
May the stopping places in your life create a space
     for what is yet to be known.

Instead of sorrow, may you find joy.
Instead of hopelessness, may you find possibility.
Instead of terror, may you find peace.

When you face an ending,
     may you know it as another beginning
     tinged with the potential of a small seed in dark soil.

In the blackness of grief may life push through
     and soften your sadness.
                                                 Lenton Blessing

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe,
     who makes the bands of sleep fall upon my eyes,
     and slumber upon my eyelids.
                                           Hebrew Bedtime Blessing

Thank you for letting me enter your Thursday morning again. Words now finding spaces in our minds to help us live a life worthy of what our Creator intended our lives to be. May the stopping places in your life create a space for what is yet to be known.   I weave a silence into my mind. May the blessing of the great rains be on you, that they beat upon your spirit and wash it fair and clean, and leave there many a shining pool, and sometimes a star. When you face an ending, may you know it as another beginning. May God bless you with foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world so that you can do what others claim cannot be done. May the Earth teach you courage as the tree which stands all alone. Let all tumult within me cease. Enfold me, Lord, in your peace. Tonight we will again be given the chance to write words in stone. Moments today that will pass through our sand-timers. Will we be able to concentrate on a few of the grains as they pass through? Will we be able to consciously stop a few moments. To be grateful. To pray. To look into eyes. To find out who we are. To find our soul. As Kabir wrote, “But if a mirror ever makes you sad you should know that it does not know you.” Today. A beautiful gift. The only given is that we will be with ourselves. Will we find beauty in our thoughts? Will we read and think about what will be worthy of our growth to make us who we would like to meet in five years from today when we meet ourselves on the sidewalk? When we meet our eyes in the mirror in five years. Who will we be because of what we read and thought about today? Have a beautiful day. Thank you for letting me write for you and for letting me have this beautiful store. I hope you can come over soon. We are waiting with hot coffee, smiles, and a place to enter to find a rest note in your song. Susan

Latin for this week:
Beatus – blessed, fortunate
Dominus vobiscum – The Lord be with you.

Prayer to Guardian Angel (Angele Dei) taught to little children to pray at bedtime:
Angele Dei, qui custos es mei,
Me tibi commissum pietate superna;
Hodie, Hac nocte illumina,
custodi, rege, et guberna. Amen.

Angel of God, my guardian dear,
to whom His love commits me here,
ever this night be at my side,
to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.