I have been suffering from a bout of the blues lately. This often happens to me around Thanksgiving, as I get my house and kitchen ready and begin preparing the family meal. It makes me think of Thanksgivings past and then I start missing old friends and beloved family who are no longer with us, either through distance or death. And then I get blue. It just happens. It’s a Thanksgiving appetizer – one I would very much like to do without.
And the news doesn’t help. Doom and gloom, doom and gloom. Many people have lost money, homes, jobs and more. So today, as I was preparing the cornbread stuffing and the mushroom stuffing, I tried to concentrate not on what I don’t have, but on what I have – what I am grateful for. Here, in the form of prayer for an Anglican and a Catholic rosary, is what I came up with. I’ll site my sources at the end.
On the Cross (Catholic and Anglican)
God to enfold me,
God to surround me,
God in my speaking,
God in my thinking.
On the Invitatory Bead (Anglican)/First Our Father Bead (Catholic)
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart (Psalm 111)
[With the Catholic Rosary Only – On the First Three Hail Mary Beads]
1 – Oh Lord, open my eyes to behold your presence
2 – Oh Lord, open my ears to to hear your voice
3 – Oh Lord, open my heart to receive your love
On the Cruciform Beads (Anglican)/Our Father Beads (Catholic)
God our creator, you have created me in every part. Bless me through and through that I may delight to serve you to the full.
On the First and Third Weeks Beads (Anglican)/First, Third and Fifth Decades Beads (Catholic)
1 – I thank you for my eyes, that I may discern the beauty you give.
2 – I thank you for my ears, that I may hear you in the music of sounds
3 – I thank you for my sense of smell, that your fragrance may fill my being.
4 – I thank you for my lips, that I may speak your truth and sing your joy.
5 – I thank you for my hands, that they may play, write and touch as you guide them.
6 – I thank you for my feet, that they may be messengers of your peace.
7 – I thank you for my imagination, that I may be fired with wonder in your truth.
8 – I thank you for my heart, that I may be filled with your love.
9 -I thank you for the love you make me feel, that I may share it with others.
10 – I thank you through and through, that I may delight to serve you to the full.
On the Second and Fourth Weeks Beads (Anglican)/Second and Fourth Decades Beads (Catholic)
1 – I thank you for my family, who uphold me in times both good and bad.
2 – I thank you for my friends, who keep me honest.
3 – I thank you for my animal companions, who remind me of your unconditional love.
4 – I thank you for my home, which gives me an anchor in the world.
5 – I thank you for my mind, which helps me earn a living.
6 – I thank you for my talents, which give me joy and meaning.
7 – I thank you for my health, through which I enjoy all else I have.
8 – I thank you for my life, which because of you has meaning.
9 – I thank you for your love, which is the greatest gift you give.
10 – I thank you for the food I will eat today, which enables me to know and enjoy all these things.
Sources – The prayer for the cross is an old Celtic prayer; the prayer for the Firth Three Hail Mary Beads is from a Celtic prayerbook by David Adam; the prayer for the First and Third (and Fifth) sets of beads were adapted from the Episcopal Prayer Book for Australia; I wrote the prayers for the Second and Fourth sets.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.