I Praise Thee, Lord, With My Breasts

“…There is for some of us beyond the sexual experience a further one, in which there comes a spiritual blessing of the body. While this is not in the least pious it is intensely held and when it happened to me I found myself murmuring, ‘I praise thee, Lord, with my breasts, I praise thee with my womb, I praise thee with my whole body and all my love…’ I had been in some suffering and was determined, if I could, to remain faithful to my marriage and to those I had such affection for. I had asked in prayer to be fed, but when this experience came it was quite unexpected. From the moment that this blessing came I knew that my hunger of body and spirit was appeased. I found that all my love had been renewed, both for my husband, children, and for my animals and the world outside…

A spiritual blessing of the body brings a safety into loving. Obsession ends; and love is more deeply rooted in divine charity, by which the body is comfortable and fed.”

— Damaris Parker-Rhodes, 1977 (source)
Quaker political activist