A Food Blessing

for you and your community

I wrote this food blessing for a regional cookbook compiled by a local community center here in the mountains of Northern New Mexico. It is rooted in this unique land and culture, but I hope its essence will carry into yours. Feel free to tinker with the language to fit the shape of your community.

A Food Blessing

Gracias, Madre Mía, Great Spirit, Divine Beloved,
For the gift of food,
beautiful and vitalizing.

Thank you for the colors that sing together on our plates:
the greens and reds of our chiles,
the golden yellows of corn and squash,
the earthy browns of beans and bread.

Let us pause as we receive your bounty into our bodies,
and give thanks for the invisible steps that lead to this moment:
the bursting of grains from their husks inside the womb of earth,
the breaking through of slender stems that unfold into vegetables,
the gentle touch of rain,
the dangerous explosion of hail,
the healing radiance of sunlight,
the strong hands that harvest what we eat,
the innocent animals who surrender their flesh.

Let us remember the people in need around the world,
and utter a silent prayer that all who hunger will be filled.

Thank you for your love,
offered as the gift of good food.

Amen.

(Mirabai Starr)

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