Celebration of World Gratitude Day 1980 Sep 22

Filed under Music and Songs | Prayer or silence day - event | Thanksgiving - Gratitude

World Gratitude Day was celebrated by the meditation group 22 September 1980 in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium.

World Gratitude Day is an international day of thanksgiving, falling on the autumnal equinox, and celebrated in several Member States.

Guest speaker for the occasion was Sister Janet Richardson, who offered remarks on behalf of the Holy See Mission

(Sister Janet Richardson expressed the regrets of Archbishop Cheli who had wished to join with the group, but had been called out of the country).

Following are excerpts from the programme, which also included a prayer and expressions of gratitude by Sri Chinmoy on behalf of the meditation group.

PRAYER FOR GRATITUDE DAY

Shraddha

My Lord Supreme, this is a special day, Gratitude Day. Alas, I do not have even an iota of gratitude to offer You. Since I have no gratitude, please tell me what I can offer You instead.

My child, then give Me a soulful promise.

My Lord Supreme, I do not know what a soulful promise is. I always break my promise. I promise in season and out of season. But never do I fulfil my promises. Such being the case, my Lord Supreme, please tell me what I can offer You instead of a soulful promise.

My child, then tell Me that you love Me divinely.

My Lord Supreme, I do not know what divine Love is. How can I offer You divine Love when I do not know what divine Love feels like?

My child, then give Me a fruitful cry. Cry for Me once, only once in your life.

Alas, my Lord Supreme, I do not cry even for myself. How do You expect me to cry for You?

My child, let Me tell you one thing. Both of us deserve two special names. Each of us will have a new name. Your new name will be a secret and clever unwillingness. And My new name will be an unreservedly open and compassionately stupid Forgiveness.

Sri Chinmoy:

On behalf of the meditation group, I wish to offer gratitude to the Soul of the United Nations for having granted us the opportunity to serve its vision and mission unparalleled over the last ten years. We wish to offer our gratitude, sincere and soulful, to the divinely great soul of U Thant who inspired us, encouraged us and helped us to start a meditation group at the United Nations.

Shraddha

I personally wish to offer gratitude from the inmost recesses of my heart to the Holy Father, Pope Paul, who, out of his infinite bounty, granted me an audience three times and blessed our dedicated service at the United Nations.

Also, I wish to offer gratitude from the very, very depths of my heart to the present Holy Father who also. quite recently, encouraged and blessed our meditation group here at the United Nations.

I wish to offer most soulfully my loving and devoted gratitude to our present Secretary-General, for he has been extremely kind to us in every way. There was a time when we went through inclement weather. His kindness-heart helped us pass through the dark clouds. Therefore, all members of the meditation group are extremely grateful to him.

We are also grateful to our Ambassador Rossides who has always been extremely kind, loving and guiding, and to the Ambassador from Panama, our revered brother-friend Illueca, who has been kindness in the purest sense of the term. Since he has been with us, he has been helping and encouraging us far beyond our imagination.

We wish to offer our gratitude to all the delegates and diplomats who have come and encouraged and inspired us. We thank them most soulfully.

Gratitude Day. The Almighty Father, our Beloved Lord Supreme, at every moment showers His choicest Blessings upon o u r devoted heads and surre n de r ed hear ts. He b lesses u s wit h H is infinite Compassion-Light and, in re t urn, if we can offer Him an iota of gr a t itu de from the very depths of our crying hear ts, then this iota of gratitude will undoubtedly be our most hallowed and most precious gift to Him.

Let us all, for a brief second, offer our most precious and most sacred gift to our Beloved Supreme.

Sister Janet Richardson, Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations:

Shraddha

Mr. Keefe asked me to express a few words of our particular gratitude on this day. The first thing that came to my mind and my heart on the way here was our gratitude to the Secretary-General, to the Secretariat, to people in the agencies and to the delegates who continue the difficult, challenging and painful task of keeping peace, of encouraging peace, of reducing violence and resolving conflicts.

I think the second thing that came to my mind and my heart was my gratitude and the gratitude of all of us at the Holy See Mission for the enormous number of people who have responded to Pope John Paul and his call for love of Christ and for a response to the Spirit.

I think the third thing for which I would like to express gratitude is for the Spirit’s touching the hearts of so many young people all over the world urging them and their spiritual leaders to take upon themselves the discipline that meditation requires – a discipline of the total person, and the fruit of that discipline, in the growth of the total person.

Gratitude is very much a part of my tradition. Eucharist is a liturgical celebration that we enjoy every day, and the word “eucharist” comes from the Greek word meaning gratitude.

So we join with you today, and every day, in expressing our gratitude for the many blessings that we are conscious of, as well as the many blessings that we sometimes remember and reflect on long after they have taken place.

We also thank God in anticipation of the great gifts that we know will be showered upon us in His mercy and His kindness.