Catholic Prayer: Prayer of a Rural Family
Description:
For families living a more agrarian life, depending on the seasons for their sustenance, this is a beautiful prayer.
This prayer can be said in conjunction with the novena to St. Isidore the Farmer, feast May 15 in the USA.
Although taken from a separate booklet, this novena was also included in the lovely prayerbook The Rural Life Prayerbook, written and compiled by Alban J. Dachauer, S.J. and printed by the National Catholic Rural Life Conference in 1956 (and recently reprinted by TAN Books).
Prayer:
Wise and compassionate God, accept this our prayer;
Sheltered from storm and darkness, under this roof,
This family kneels to adore You.
For the day just past,
For keeping us safely, body and soul,
Now we most humbly thank You.
For hilltops and verdure,
For sunlight and wind and boundless space,
For rain and sky's rich color,
For boughs and blossoms and cold clean snow,
We are eternally grateful.
For birds and beasts,
For the good black earth and the seeds producing
The plenteous harvest; for times without number
When we have eaten of that same harvest,
We thank You and bless You forever.
Deliver us safely, if such be Your will,
From deluge and drought,
From famine and war and disaster.
Give us tomorrow, as yesterday and today.
All things most needed for rightful living;
And move our hearts that we may have sorrow
For sinning against You.
God of the hearth and the harvest,
Your children, here kneeling, adore You.
Bless now our rest
And cherish us safe till the morrow.
