Prayer for a Month of Blessings

May the month of August
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 August and this map of the 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.

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

A Month of Blessings

August 1: Blessing Is Natural
August 2: The Special Aliveness of Blessing
August 3: Three Meanings of Blessings
August 4: Contagious Blessings
August 5: A Blessing as an Affirmation
August 6: A Coach's Blessing
August 7: A Blessing as an Enzyme for Growth
August 8: A Blessing as a Moment of Meeting
August 9: A Blessing for Everything
August 10: Blessed Participation
August 11: God Bless You
August 12: Life as One Continuous Blessing
August 13: Bless Food
August 14: Bless the Crowd
August 15: Bless Strangers Quietly
August 16: Bless Objects
August 17: After a Loss, Bless
Someone Else
August 18: Say "Bless You"
August 19: Wear a Blessing Cord
August 20: Bless Here and Bless There
August 21: Become a Blessing
August 22: Recall Your Blessings
August 23: Count Your Blessings
August 24: A Blessing for the Animals
August 25: A Blessing for a Dream
August 26: A Wigilia Blessing
August 27: A Blessing for a Child
August 28: A Blessing for Putting on Your Shoes
August 29: A Bathroom Blessing
August 30: Listen for Blessings
August 31: Make Me a Blessing