During the opening and closing ceremonies and throughout the various Feasts, people have shared their prayers, poems, and blessings that moved many of us. We did our best to collect readings, here.
In honor of the Sufi Tradition, a poem by Jelaluddin Rumi, a 13th Century Persian Mystic*
A new moon teaches gradualness and deliberation,
and how one gives birth to oneself slowly.
Patience with small details
makes perfect a large work, like the universe.
What nine months of attention does for an embryo
forty early mornings alone will do
for your gradually growing wholeness.
(*this poem inspired the Feast for the Soul.)
In honor of African American Tradition: A Poem by Don’Angelica Silva, What If God Wanted?
What if in knowing everything, suddenly something else.
Rose from deep within and got outside itself.
What if God decided how wonderful it might be,
To look through half blind eyes and see a rotted tree.
What if God were to wonder what it really might be like,
To never pass a test; be chased on a stolen bike.
What if God wanted no matter what the cost?
To feel what it was like to be utterly, completely lost.
What if God wanted to feel powerless as if She had no choice?
Having no one to really listen, because She had no voice.
If God was always nice, grateful, and apologized.
But had to know the feeling of being detested and despised.
Flowers in the springtime. Oh, how sweet the rose.
If God could only smell them through a long and crooked nose.
What if all the glory and riches out of the way.
God left the store dejected without enough to pay.
What if she wanted a beautiful child with a loving mate,
Only to learn it was too old. She couldn’t buy a date.
What if God wanted bad luck and cheap turned over shoes?
To be so unimportant, always last to get the news.
What if God wanted to rush off to the place where She worked.
To prevent from being fired by Her boss who was a jerk.
What if God desperately wanted to try real hard then quit?
Often caught in lies, no courage to admit.
What if God wanted to eat foods all fat and fried?
Chased by something dreadful She had to run and hide?
What if for no good reason; not even a need to grow;
God wanted to feel things just so She could know.
What if She couldn’t stop at goodness, or the gentleness of a lamb?
What if unless God does everything, She couldn’t say I Am?
In honor of the Jewish Tradition: Shabbat Morning Liturgy
Could song fill our mouth as water fills the sea
And could joy flood our tongue like countless waves-
Could our lips utter praise as limitless as the sky
And could our eyes match the splendor of the sun-
Could we soar with arms like an eagle’s wings
And run with gentle grace as the swiftest deer-
Never could we fully state our gratitude
For one ten-thousandth of the lasting love
that is your precious blessing, dearest Divine,
Granted to our ancestors and to us
In honor of the Natives of the Americas:
Quero Apache Prayer
Looking behind, I am filled with gratitude, looking forward, I am filled with vision, looking upwards I am filled with strength, looking within, I discover peace.
We are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For – A Hopi Elder Speaks
You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour.
Now you must go back and tell the people that this IS the Hour.
And there are things to be considered: Where are you living? What are you doing? What are your relationships? Are you in right relation? Where is your water? Know your garden.
It is time to speak your Truth. Create your community. Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.
Then, he clasped his hands together, smiled, and said,
“This could be a good time!”
There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold on to the shore.
They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination.
The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open and our heads above the water.
And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate.
At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all, ourselves.
For the moment we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over.
Gather yourselves!
Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
Prayers in the Christian tradition:
Christ Has No Body: the St Teresa of Avila Prayer
Christ has no body but yours,
no hands, no feet on Earth but yours,
yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
no hands, no feet on Earth but yours,
yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on Earth but yours.
Prayer to God who Welcomes Everyone to his Light
Dear God,
Today I pray for peace for all. In a time of uncertainty when so many are hurting and so many things are unknown and out of our control, we look to God to put his hands on every person around the world so that we can have hope, happiness, and health but most of all, peace. Thank you for Feast for the Soul and this special time to come together as a global human race to celebrate the power of mindfulness, no matter your spiritual beliefs, to grow together and have peace in our hearts and minds. Give us strength God to continue on and find peace through you. In your name, we pray, AMEN.
A Blessing in the Celtic Tradition by John O’Donohue, from To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings
Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,
May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul.
As the wind loves to call things to dance,
May your gravity be lightened by grace.
Like the dignity of moonlight restoring the earth,
May your thoughts incline with reverence and respect.
As water takes whatever shape it is in,
So free may you be about who you become.
As silence smiles on the other side of what’s said,
May your sense of irony bring perspective.
As time remains free of all that it frames,
May your mind stay clear of all it names.
May your prayer of listening deepen enough
to hear in the depths the laughter of god.
A Blessing for Beauty by John O’Donohue
May the beauty of your life become more visible to you, that you may glimpse your wild divinity.
May the wonders of the earth call you forth from all your small, secret prisons and set your feet free in the pastures of possibilities.
May the light of dawn anoint your eyes that you may behold what a miracle a day is.
May the liturgy of twilight shelter all your fears and darkness within the circle of ease.
May the angel of memory surprise you in bleak times with new gifts from the harvest of your vanished days.
May you allow no dark hand to quench the candle of hope in your heart.
May you discover a new generosity towards yourself, and encourage yourself to engage your life as a great adventure.
May the outside voices of fear and despair find no echo in you.
May you always trust the urgency and wisdom of your own spirit.
May the shelter and nourishment of all the good you have done, the love you have shown, the suffering you have carried, awaken around you to bless your life a thousand times.
And when love finds the path to your door may you open like the earth to the dawn, and trust your every hidden color towards its nourishment of light.
May you find enough stillness and silence to savor the kiss of God on your soul and delight in the eternity that shaped you, that holds you and calls you.
And may you know that despite confusion, anxiety and emptiness, your name is written in Heaven.
And may you come to see your life as a quiet sacrament of service, which awakens around you a rhythm where doubt gives way to the grace of wonder, where what is awkward and strained can find elegance, and where crippled hope can find wings, and torment enter at last unto the grace of serenity.
May Divine Beauty bless you.
The Prayer of St Francis
Lord make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred,
Let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, Joy.
O Divine Master grant that I may
Not so much seek to be consoled
As to console;
To be understood,
As to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
And it is in dying that we are
Born to eternal life.
A Prayer honoring the Hindu Tradition: Krisha to Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita
Still your mind in me, still yourself in me,
And without doubt, you shall be united with me,
Lord of Love, dwelling in your heart.
But if you cannot still your mind in me,
Learn to do so through the practice of meditation.
If you lack the will for such self-discipline,
Engage yourself in selfless service of all around you,
For selfless service can lead you at last to me.
If you are unable to do even this,
Surrender yourself to me in love,
Receiving success and failure with equal calmness
As granted by me.
Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice.
Better than knowledge is meditation.
But better still is surrender in love,
Because there follows immediate peace.
A Poem from the Quaker Tradition: While Waiting by Mary Ann Petersen
Things to do While Waiting
Interview your walls, doors, circulation, and power source
Plane down resentments
Drain sorrows
Sweep out excuses
Hang injuries on the line to blow away
Restructure internal combustion
While waiting, there are things to do
Arrange for pick-up of unfinished business dating back from 1 to 100 years
Discontinue delivery of negativity
Review user agreements and delete outdated engagements
Weed out clumps of resistance to life as movement
Release fermented ruminations
Forgive blocked paths and start new ones
Adopt several life tonics
Switch out inner tension belts for softer flexible bio bands
If you’re still waiting for
A season
Someone else to do something
All to be revealed A feeling
A sign
The weather
Stars to align
Resolution
Validation, recognition, evolution,
Stop waiting.
A Poem Honoring the Goddess: Our Deepest Fear by By Marianne Williamson
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.
We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine,
As children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us;
It’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we’re liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.
A Poem Honoring the Angelic Realm: The Graceful Warriors Gather by Allison Knox
Those who heard the Calling came; The Graceful Warriors.
Answering a Silence that was only heard within their Hearts.
Yes, they came; the brave and the bold, the fearful and the broken, the shy and the forgotten ones, they came and found each other.
Some came dressed in finery, carefully chosen for it was High Calling they answered and they wished to show respect for the Holy.
Others came as they were, dressed in the dirt of the day, work soiled and weary, they came as themselves as it was all they had to offer.
And when they found each other, gathered beneath a red moon, they were quick to smile into each other’s eyes, and whisper “My friend, I know you, I am so glad to have found you”
There were tears; of course there were tears, and there was a laughter… a great surge from the belly of Creation which rocked the Earth and awoke the sleeping Mother within.
The Warriors leaned well into each other, resting head upon shoulder, arm against arm, there was no heart left untouched on the perimeter of their love.
The moon showed them all as golden-skinned Glories, touched by a Divine Light that rendered even the most ancient crone as a soft fleshed maiden, and the broken-backed toiler of the fields as handsome as lions.
This is how they were.
Someone had prepared food, and others opened flasks of drink to pass around the throng: musicians took to their instruments, and those with voices sang.
Those who were moved to, danced; there were none who gave nothing to the moment.
Every morsel shared, every drop savoured, every note left hanging in the crystal air belonged to Her.
The Great Mother had called and her children had answered, traversing their own dreamscapes and wishing themselves to never awaken from this moment.
Those who knew Her, unfurled in Her presence and showed their wings.
Those who did not, begged to be taught Her ways and to know Her that they may unfurl too.
The Graceful Warriors came; they asked not “Why” or “How” but “When?” and “How may I serve?”
In their thousands the Warriors held their moment; in Grace they saw each other in Her, and Her in each other, and knew.
They breathed one mighty out-breath, as One, with Creation, and as they did so, dawn broke and they saw Her give birth to another day.
They wept with gratitude that this day was born alive and whole, and that it was theirs to do with as they wished.
Each one returned to their own place, awoken by the sun, and wondering how they had made that Sacred journey, some doubting that they ever did.
And yet, the Warriors as they met about their business, spoke of their gathering and bore gentle witness to each others’ dream.
Those who heard the Calling came; I swear I saw you there.
Prayers from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition:
Bodhisattva Prayer For Humanity* by Shantideva, 8th-century CE Indian philosopher, Buddhist monk
May I be a guard for those who need protection,
A guide for those on the path,
A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood.
May I be a lamp in the darkness,
A resting place for the weary,
A healing medicine for all who are sick,
A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles.
And for the boundless multitudes of living beings,
May I bring sustenance and awakening,
Enduring like the earth and sky
Until all beings are freed from sorrow,
And all are awakened.
(*recited daily by the Dalai Lama)
Another Excerpt from Shantideva’s Way of the Bodhisattva
May all beings everywhere
Plagued by sufferings of body and mind
Obtain an ocean of happiness and joy
By virtue of my merits.
May no living creature suffer,
Commit evil, or ever fall ill.
May no one be afraid or belittled,
With a mind weighed down by depression.
May the blind see forms
And the deaf hear sounds,
May those whose bodies are worn with toil
Be restored on finding repose.
May the naked find clothing,
The hungry find food;
May the thirsty find water
And delicious drinks.
May the poor find wealth,
Those weak with sorrow find joy;
May the forlorn find hope,
Constant happiness, and prosperity.
May there be timely rains
And bountiful harvests;
May all medicines be effective
And wholesome prayers bear fruit.
May all who are sick and ill
Quickly be freed from their ailments.
Whatever diseases there are in the world,
May they never occur again.
May the frightened cease to be afraid
And those bound be freed;
May the powerless find power,
And may people think of benefiting each other.
For as long as space remains,
For as long as sentient beings remain,
Until then may I too remain
To dispel the miseries of the world.
A Poem honoring the Zen Buddhist Tradition:
Ten thousand flowers in Spring by Wu-men
Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn,
a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter.
If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things,
this is the best season of your life.
Hokosai Says by Roger Keyes
Hokusai says look carefully.
He says pay attention, notice.
He says keep looking, stay curious.
He says there is no end to seeing
He says look forward to getting old.
He says keep changing,
you just get more of who you really are.
He says get stuck, accept it, repeat
yourself as long as it is interesting.
He says keep doing what you love.
He says keep praying.
He says every one of us is a child,
every one of us is ancient
every one of us has a body.
He says every one of us is frightened.
He says every one of us has to find
a way to live with fear.
He says everything is alive —
shells, buildings, people, fish,
mountains, trees, wood is alive.
Water is alive.
Everything has its own life.
Everything lives inside us.
He says live with the world inside you.
He says it doesn’t matter if you draw,
or write books. It doesn’t matter
if you saw wood, or catch fish.
It doesn’t matter if you sit at home
and stare at the ants on your veranda
or the shadows of the trees
and grasses in your garden.
It matters that you care.
It matters that you feel.
It matters that you notice.
It matters that life lives through you.
Contentment is life living through you.
Joy is life living through you.
Satisfaction and strength
is life living through you.
He says don’t be afraid.
Don’t be afraid.
Love, feel, let life take you by the hand.
Let life live through you.
(Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese artist (1760-1849). Roger Keyes is a poet and art historian and curator of Japanese art who ‘translated’ what he saw in Hokusai’s paintings into this poem.)
Poems Honoring You:
Chakra Garden of Jewels by Julie Lusk with inspiration from Kabir
Don’t go outside your house to search for jewels.
Don’t even bother with that excursion, my friend.
There are jewels inside yourself. Precious, profound and ready to be discovered.
These jewels are just like flowers.
Some are taking root. They are in the process of being fertilized and getting ready to sprout.
Others are growing and budding, preparing to flower.
There are also beautiful blooms inside, brimming with fragrance and lively vitality.
Others are in stages of decline, getting ready to retreat, recycle themselves, and naturally cycle back to the beginning.
Like a bouquet of flowers, there are jewels within you.
There is a sparkling ruby red jewel and it’s so stabilizing and protective.
There is an orange carnelian jewel too. It lights up your senses, creativity and ability to feel.
There is a beautiful amber jewel, radiating confidence, inner strength and courage.
There is an emerald jewel too. The glowing emerald green jewel is loving, forgiving and kind.
There is a bright sapphire blue jewel shining with truth and sparks your creativity.
There is an amethyst glowing inside that awakens your intuition and shows you the big picture.
There is a crystal clear diamond, shining with spirit, connecting the Holy Ones with you.
Don’t go outside your house to search for jewels. Don’t bother with that excursion, my friend.
There are jewels inside yourself, waiting to be discovered, polished and ready to beam beautifully.
The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, ‘Yes.’
It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.
It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
Fire in my Heart by Ellen Grace O’Brian
Some days I sit near your fire
feeding it the kindling of desire.
Live in the way, the Buddha said,
and the light will grow in you.
Sorrow and joy come in
sit down together as friends.
Everything that is needed appears.
Other days I forget about the light
set out alone in the dark –
ambitious prodigal with damp wood
determined to start my own fire.
When the invitation to the heavenly feast
arrives from the universe, I politely decline.
I have prepared a feast for you,
Will you come?
No, I am too busy
with matters of life and death.
I insist on my own way, saying no to love
until no becomes sand in my mouth.
Why all this suffering I ask?
Come, sit by the fire,
forget about life and death,
being and doing,
coming and going.
Soon the sitar will begin,
its notes will make you weep
for everything lost and gained
for the extravagant mercy of the One.
Your Coming Changes Everything by Nina Dauban
Come in from the cold weary traveller
Feel the warmth here of a humane kind
We celebrate your arrival
Your genius has been eagerly anticipated
As we need your unique destiny
But you have known this dear another
Have you not been haunted all your years
By the dreams of a greater mutuality
A place of love and sharing with no ego
A place where all is divine by design
Not perfect but learning together in joy
Have you spent many of your days in despair
At the state of lonesome human lives
Cast adrift from their fellows
At distance from their purpose
The state of disconnection,
where the struggle for mere survival becomes paramount
yet meaningless and lacking in any true nourishment
where the going on is fraught with abuse
every day in large and small ways
the dog, the girl, the occupation, the nation
the war, inside and out – relentless
Rest now dear friend
put that heavy bag of sorrow down
for you are amongst family here
the Joy family, we are your true kin and you our brother
let us hug and rejoice your homecoming
Sit awhile my friend, feel the stillness, peace lives here
let the gentleness melt all fears
let the kindness warm your heart
and let Love be your way now
as you have found yourself, you have found us
we love you.
Where in the sharing of what you love
We shall magnify your genius by placing it
in the fertile ground of our deep value
the consummation of your part with us seeds a new tomorrow
Your Coming here, will change everything.