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The Rudolf Steiner Archive

a project of Steiner Online Library, a public charity

Prayers for Mothers and Children
GA 40

This collection of special prayers is a wonderful companion for parents and caregivers and will help guide children on their journey to adulthood. It includes verses for every occasion—for parents to recite as the incarnating soul prepares for birth, for the baby after birth, and for children of all ages. Also included are prayers for morning and evening and graces for mealtimes.

This book is a First English Edition, published in 1943. The prayers in this volume offer insight into the greater cosmic relationships in which individuals are immersed before birth, during life, and after death.



Diagram

Spoken by the Mother

BEFORE BIRTH:

And the soul of the child,
Be it given to me
According to Thy will
Out of the worlds of the spirit.

AFTER BIRTH:

And the soul of the child,
Be it guided by me
According to Thy will
Into the worlds of the spirit.

Spoken by the Mother for the Child

May light flow into thee, that can take hold of thee.
I follow its rays with the warmth of my love,
I think with the best glad thoughts of my thinking
on the leaping of thy heart.
They are to strengthen thee, they are to bear thee up,
they are to keep thee pure.
I would fain gather my glad thoughts into thy steps
on the paths of life,
So they link themselves to thine own will of life
That this may find itself in strength in all the world
ever more through its own self.

Evening Prayer

FROM head to foot
I am made in the image of God.
From my heart right into my hands
I feel the breath of God.
When I speak with my mouth
I follow the will of God.
When I behold God
In father and mother,
In all dear people,
In animal and flower,
In tree and stone,
Nothing can fill me with fear,
But only with love for all that is about me.

Morning Prayer

WHEN I look at the sun, then I think God's spirit,
When I move my hand, then lives in me God's soul,
When I take a step, then stirs in me God's will.
And when I behold a man, then God's soul lives in him.
And so too it lives in father and mother,
In animal and flower, in tree and stone.
Never can fear come near to me,
If I think—God's spirit;
If I live—God's soul;
If I bestir—God's will.

Child's Prayer

THE growing plants live
In sun-light's power,
The bodies of men act
In soul-light's might.
And what the heavenly light of the sun
Is to the plant,
That is the soul-light of the spirit
To the body of man.

Child's Prayer

O sun, thou shinest over my head,
Ah stars, you look down upon field and city,
Ye animals, you are busy and move over the face of Mother Earth,
And plants, you live through the force of the earth and the sun.

Grace

THE plants are quickening in the earth's deep night,
The herbs are sprouting through the power of the air,
The fruits are ripening through the sunlight's might.

Thus quickens the soul within the heart's holy shrine,
Thus sprouts the might of the spirit in the light of the world,
Thus ripens the strength of man in the glory divine.

Children's Song

THE light of the sun floods through
All space so wide,
The song of the birds sounds through
The air so free,
The boon of the plants is drawn
From the bosom of earth,
And souls of men lift up
In thankfulness
Their being to the spirits of the world.