Bless us, O Lord, and these Your gifts,

which we receive from Your bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

or, as the late Jean-Paul Ranieri would pray to begin the Sanctuary's feasts back in the day: Thanks for everything, Dad.



As I prepare, with the other folk in my household, to prepare the Thanksgiving feast --- tentative menu: roasted turkey thighs, baked sweet potatoes, baked squash (probably acorn, possibly butternut, one or the other), roasted onions/carrots/parsnips, green bean casserole with fresh beans, Splendad cranberry crisp --- here's the table grace of St. Brigid of Kildare, the great Irish abbess:

I should like a great lake of the finest ale
for the King of kings.

I should like a table of the choicest food
for the Family of Heaven.

Let the ale be made from the fruits of faith,
and the food be forgiving love.

I should welcome the poor to my feast,
for they are God's children.

I should welcome the sick to my feast,
for they are God's joy.

Let the poor sit with Jesus at the Highest Place,
and the sick dance with the Angels.

God bless the poor.
God bless the sick.
God bless our human race.
God bless our food.
God bless our drink.

All homes, O God, embrace.
Amen.

.