Article December 20, 1999 Issue

The gentle art of blessing

It is impossible to bless and to judge at the same time.

By Pierre Pradervand

On waking, bless this day. It is full of unseen good that your blessings will call forth, for to bless is to acknowledge the unlimited good that is inherent in the very texture of the universe and awaiting each and all.

On meeting and talking to people, bless them in their health, their work, their joy, their relation to God, to themselves, and to others. Bless them in every conceivable way, for such blessings not only sow seeds of healing, but one day will spring forth as flowers of joy in the waste places of your own life.

As you walk, bless the city in which you live, its government and teachers, its nurses and street sweepers, its children and bankers, its priests and prostitutes. The minute anyone expresses the least aggression or unkindness to you, respond with a blessing. Bless them totally, sincerely, joyfully, for such blessings are a shield that protects them from the ignorance of their misdeed, and deflects the arrow that was aimed at you.

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