I hope you rested well and that you have awakened happy and grateful for this beautiful day. I feel very grateful this morning. Grateful for all I have and all I am.
Join me now, and we will see where the story we are going to listen to this morning from Taking Flight: A Book of Story Meditations by Anthony de Mello, S.J. will take us this time – to a place of gratitude, perhaps?
Please listen with your eyes and see with your heart.
The Muslim mystic Farid was prevailed upon by his neighbours to go to the court in Delhi and obtain a favour from Emperor Akbar for the village. Farid walked into the court and found Akbar at his prayers.
When the Emperor finally agreed to the favour, Farid asked, “What sort of prayer did you make?”
“I prayed that the All-Merciful would bestow success and wealth and long life on me: was the reply. Farid promptly turned his back on the Emperor and walked away remarking, “I came to see an Emperor. What I find is a beggar no different from the rest!”
Ponder that a while and then join me in this prayer of thanksgiving.
O Creator God, thank you for the glory of this beautiful day. We thank you for all you have blessed us with: our time, our talents and our treasures. We thank you for your teaching and wisdom, which allows us to be in charge of our own lives and calls us to use our gifts to serve all your people. We thank you God for our Communities – family and friends and all with whom we share life – and for your world that we all share together. Help us to keep this gratitude in our hearts always. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen
I am really feeling grateful and while preparing this I came upon two pieces of music I wanted to share, one, as a theme of Father Anthony’s story, and one, because I love it and feel so blessed this morning. Both of these versions came to us by way of the popular music lexicon, although one we can find in our hymn books. Both help tell our story. Blessings to you all and have a great day. “I Can See Clearly Now” “Morning Has Broken”
