Blessing for a Meal

Great Spirit,
We thank you for the gifts of this food.
We send blessings of peace, love, and release to all whose bodies and
energies went into bringing us this nourishment.
We honor you in our enjoyment and utilization of this meal.
May it bring us health and joy.
Reminding us of our interconnections with All That Is.
As we receive, so do we give back
And give thanks for this gift in the Cycle of Life.
Younger children:
Thank you, Great Spirit
Thank you, chicken and peas and milk (other foods)
Thank you, Mother Earth
We love this food.
When you cook for another, you are giving health and pleasure. Always
cook with love and it will be received with love.

Author Unknown
Summer 1997

But since you must kill to eat, and rob the young of its mother's milk to quench your thirst, let it then be an act of worship,

And let your board stand an altar on which the pure and the innocent of forest and plain are sacrificed for that which is purer and still more innocent in many.

When you kill a beast say to him in your heart,

"By the same power that slays you, I to am slain; and I too shall be consumed. For the law that delivered you into my hand shall deliver me into a mightier hand.

Your blood and my blood is naught but the sap that feeds the tree of heaven."

And when you crush an apple with your teeth, say to it in your heart,

"Your seeds shall live in my body,

And the buds of your tomorrow shall blossom in my heart,

And your fragrance shall be my breath,

And together we shall rejoice through all the seasons."

And in the autumn, when you gather the grapes of your vineyard for the winepress, say in you heart,

"I too am a vineyard, and my fruit shall be gathered for the winepress,

And like new wine I shall be kept in eternal vessels."

And in winter, when you draw the wine, let there be in your heart a song for each cup;

And let there be in the song a remembrance for the autumn days, and for the vineyard, and for the winepress.

Kahlil Gibran

http://leb.net/gibran/