Prayer for a Month of Blessings
"May [this month]
be a month of blessings:
blessings of goodness,
blessings of joy,
peace and kindness,
friendship and love,
creativity, strength,
serenity,
fulfilling work
and dignity,
satisfaction, success,
and sustenance,
physical health
and radiance.
May truth and justice
guide our acts,
and compassion
temper our lives
that we may blossom
as we age
and become
our sweetest selves.
May it be so."
— Marcia Falk in A Book of Blessings
Welcome to this map of a month on the blessing path. The Celtic people charted the rhythms of the day with special blessings for getting up, cooking, working in the fields, eating, and tending the fire. The Jewish path has been called the Blessing Way because there are blessings for every imaginable situation. In the Christian tradition, people are used to having clergy offer blessings at various rituals and ceremonies. But this spiritual practice can be used by anyone. In his book Blessing: The Art and the Practice, David Spangler notes:
"At heart, giving a blessing is really quite simple. We innately know how to do it, precisely because it comes from the heart, from a sense of caring and helpfulness. Every time you create safety and reassurance where before there was fear, you are giving a blessing. Every time you perform an act of kindness, providing money where there was poverty, shelter where there was vulnerability, food where there was hunger, love where there was loneliness, comfort and encouragement where there was despair and depression, you are being a blessing. There is no special technique other than having an open, generous heart and a loving, aware mind."
We have divided this map to the Blessing Way into three parts: (1) definitions or approaches to the art of blessing, (2) spiritual practices of blessings, and (3) blessing prayers. For those who want to post a quote in a prominent place to remind themselves to do blessings throughout the month, here are a few choices:
- "To be blessed is to be oneself a blessing."
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer - "To bless is to put a bit of yourself into something."
— Macrina Wiederkehr and Joyce Rupp - "Blessing is the lifeblood throbbing through the universe."
— David Steindl-Rast - "Blessing is a way of acknowledging that the God who created us goes on lavishing life upon us all our days."
— Joan Chittister - "When we bless others, we offer them refuge from an indifferent world."
— Rachel Naomi Remen
May you be blessed on this blessing path.
- Blessing Is Natural
- The Special Aliveness of Blessing
- Three Meanings of Blessings
- Contagious Blessings
- A Blessing as an Affirmation
- A Coach's Blessing
- A Blessing as a Moment of Meeting
- A Blessing for Everything
- Blessed Participation
- God Bless You
- Life as One Continuous Blessing
- Bless Food
- Bless the Crowd
- Bless Strangers Silently
- Bless Objects
- After a Loss, Bless Someone Else
- Say "Bless You"
- Wear a Blessing Cord
- Bless Here and Bless There
- Become a Blessing
- Recall Your Blessings
- Count Your Blessings
- A Blessing for the Animals
- A Blessing for a Dream
- A Wigilia Blessing
- A Blessing for a Child
- A Blessing for Putting on Shoes
- A Bathroom Blessing
- Listen for Blessings
- Make Me a Blessing