GRACE

"How can we create the proper soul mood to prepare for a meal? This question is especially pertinent if we realize the close relationship between the body and the soul-spiritual. Modern behavioral science has hardly recognized (in fact it has not even noticed) the importance of the "table prayer" - the saying of grace.
Rudolf Steiner supplied a prayer which is valid for persons of all ages and also meets the needs of modern man. This prayer addresses the soul which sprouts within as do the plants outside which provide our nourishment. It points to the relationship of the germinating, sprouting, ripening of this earth food with the soul-spiritual sprouting and ripening process.

In the darkness of the earth the seed is awakened.
In the power of the air the leaves are quickened.
In the might of the sun the fruit is ripened.
Thus in the shrine of the heart the soul is awakened.
In the light of the world the spirit is quickened.
In the glory of God man's power is ripened.

One can readily feel the harmonizing force that flows from these words and united the soul in the right way with earth nourishment. And it will soon be recognized as a matter of fact in a proper nutritional hygiene that such a table prayer should be said when man sits down to eat.

Rudolf Steiner allegedly said once that through these words, if spoken in the proper manner, a health-giving element will affect man down into his digestive processes."
Gehard Schmidt,
Dynamics of Nutrition