A Grace Before Meals

As we begin this meal with grace, let us become aware of the memory carried inside the food before us: the quiver of the seed awakening in the earth, unfolding in a trust of roots and slender stems of growth, on its voyage toward harvest, the kiss of rain and surge of sun; the innocence of animal soul that never spoke a word, nourished by the earth to become today our food; the work of all the strangers whose hands prepared it, the privilege of wealth and health that enables us to feast and celebrate. --John O’Donohue