Grace - before meals

He is God! Behold us, O Lord, gathered at this board, thankful for Thy bounty, our gaze turned to Thy Kingdom. O Lord! Send down unto us Thy heavenly food and blessing from Thee. Verily, Thou art the Generous, and verily, Thou art the Beneficent, the Merciful.

HM Balyuzi, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Centre of the Covenant, p. 307

He is God! O Lord! How shall we thank Thee! Thy bounties are limitless, and our gratitude but limited. How can the limited render thanks to the limitless? Incapable are we of offering thanks for Thy mercies. Utterly powerless, we turn unto Thy Kingdom, and beg Thee to increase Thy bestowal and bounty. Thou art the Giver, Thou art the Bestower, Thou art the Powerful.

HM Balyuzi, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Centre of the Covenant, p. 307

He is God! O Lord! We are assembled here in the utmost love and are turned toward Thy Kingdom. We seek none other but Thee and desire not but Thy good pleasure. O Lord! Make this food heavenly and make those assembled here of the hosts of Thy Supreme Concourse so that they may become life-giving and the cause of the enlightenment of the world of man, that they may arise to guide all the people of the world. Thou art the All-Powerful, the Almighty, the Forgiving and the Kind.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Mahmud’s Diary, page 372-373

He is God!  Thou seest us, O my God, gathered around this table, praising Thy bounty, with our gaze set upon Thy Kingdom.  O Lord!  Send down upon us Thy heavenly food and confer upon us Thy blessing.  Thou art verily the Bestower, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Mahmud's Diary, page 327

O my Lord, my Hope! Praise be unto Thee, for Thou hast sent down unto us this spiritual table, supreme benefit and heavenly blessing. O our Lord! Strengthen us to partake of this heavenly food, so that its fine essence may run through the pillars of our spiritual being and that we may thereby obtain a celestial power for serving Thy Cause, promulgating Thy signs and adorning Thy vineyard with lofty trees, the fruits whereof shall be near (to gather) and of perfuming fragrances. Verily Thou art the Possessor of great bounty! Verily Thou are the Clement, the Merciful!

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá v1, p. 166-168

O my Lord, my Hope! Thanks be unto Thee for these foods and benefits. O Lord! Suffer us to ascend to Thy Kingdom and to sit at the tables of thy divine world. Nourish us with the foods of Thy meeting and cause us to attain to the sweetness of beholding Thy beauty, for as much as this is the utmost wish, the mightiest gift and the greatest bestowal. O Lord, O Lord! Make this feasible unto us. Verily Thou art the Beneficent, the Giver! Verily Thou art the Bestower, the Mighty, the Merciful.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá v1, p. 166-168

O Thou kind Lord, we render thanks unto Thee that thou has brought us from the farthest lands of the East to the most distant lands of the West and gathered us at this table arrayed with the finest, most diverse, sweetest and most delicious material foods. We thank Thee especially for the presence of those who have turned toward the Kingdom of Thy favor and have fixed their eyes upon the horizon of Thy Kindness. O Lord! These souls have turned toward Thee, they desire Thy pleasure and are grateful for Thy blessings. They walk in the ways of Thy will. O Lord! Grant them heavenly food; enable them to partake of the Lord’s supper. Exalt this nobly lady in Thy Kingdom, bestow everlasting life upon her and grant her Thine eternal favour. As Thou has given u these earthly blessings so, too, give us heavenly food. Bestow upon us Thine everlasting grace. Strengthen us to arise in praise and gratitude to Thee that we may be aided and assisted to do that which beseems Thy glorification.

Thou art the Mighty, the Generous, the Compassionate.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Mahmud’s Diary, page 372-373