Benediction before a meal, and grace after: what does that mean?

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Future_Prodigy

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I’m reading a book on judaism for christians and it talks about how the orthodox say a benediciton before every meal, even before drinking a glass of water, and then say grace after a meal. What is the difference between these terms?
 
The word “benediction” comes from the Latin word meaning “blessing.” The word “grace” comes from the same root as the word “gratitude.”

What you describe parallels the traditional Catholic prayers before and after meals. Before we eat we ask for God’s blessing:

Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
After meals we give thanks for what we have received:

We give Thee thanks for all Thy benefits, O Almighty God, who livest and reignest forever. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
There are variations on these prayers, and we can certainly pray in our own words. The important thing is that we do remember to pray at mealtime. (And we witness to our faith when we do it in a restaurant.)
 
what exactly does blessing the food mean? I never understood what blessing something did/meant. I still dont see why one blesses a rosary, as if it somehow imparts a spirtual power to the user if it is blessed.

p.s. where can i get more variations of those prayers…i was never raised christian (converted only a couple years ago) and my piety is very self taught and i personally dont pray before and after a meal but would liek to learn more about that.
 
basically i have a hard time praying any sort of thanksgiving as i was raised in a secular household and anything i had was by the hardwork of my parents. I feel guilty thanking God for these things when my parents sacrificed to get them for me… and not only that i know where these foods have come from (3rd world citizens making barely enough to get by and who can hardly feed themselves yet i am thanking God for their neo-slavery in producing these gift so i can get fat).
 
Future_Prodigy said:
what exactly does blessing the food mean? I never understood what blessing something did/meant. I still dont see why one blesses a rosary, as if it somehow imparts a spirtual power to the user if it is blessed.

p.s. where can i get more variations of those prayers…i was never raised christian (converted only a couple years ago) and my piety is very self taught and i personally dont pray before and after a meal but would liek to learn more about that.
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Wake up Catholics! :highprayer:

Can’t one of you answer Future Prodigy’s questnions? Better hurry up or I’ll put in my two cents. 😃
 
Future_Prodigy said:
basically i have a hard time praying any sort of thanksgiving as i was raised in a secular household and anything i had was by the hardwork of my parents. I feel guilty thanking God for these things when my parents sacrificed to get them for me… and not only that i know where these foods have come from (3rd world citizens making barely enough to get by and who can hardly feed themselves yet i am thanking God for their neo-slavery in producing these gift so i can get fat).
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Nothing wrong with it; You’re just thanking God that at least You’re fortunate to have food at Your table for which your parents worked hardto give you.
 
Future_Prodigy said:
what exactly does blessing the food mean? I never understood what blessing something did/meant. I still dont see why one blesses a rosary, as if it somehow imparts a spirtual power to the user if it is blessed.
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From the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Glossary):

“A blessing or benediction is a prayer invoking God’s power and care upon some person, place, thing, or undertaking. The prayer of benediction acknowledges God as the source of all blessing.”

So when a priest (or deacon) blesses a rosary, he is really asking God to bless, or care for, the person who uses it. When we “bless” the food we are about to eat, we are really asking God to bless us, who are about to eat it. In that way, we are nourished not only physically, but also spiritually. The simple act of calling God to mind in our prayer is in itself a blessing, as it strengthens our relationship with Him.
Future_Prodigy said:
p.s. where can i get more variations of those prayers…i was never raised christian (converted only a couple years ago) and my piety is very self taught and i personally dont pray before and after a meal but would liek to learn more about that.
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I got the following from the www.catholic.org website:

Grace before meals (the best known one is first):
  • Bless us, O Lord, and these Your gifts, which we are about to receive from Your bounty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
  • Lord Jesus, our brother, we praise You for saving us. Bless us in Your love as we gather in Your Name, and bless this meal that we share. Jesus, we praise You for ever. Amen.
  • Father of us all, This meal is a sign of Your love for us. Bless us and bless our food, and help us to give You glory each day. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Grace after meals:
  • We give thanks for all Your benefits, almighty God, who lives and reigns forever. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
  • Loving Father, we praise You for all the gifts You give us: for life and health, for faith and love, and for this meal we have shared together. Father, we thank You through Christ our Lord. Amen.
  • Thank You, Father, for Your gifts: help us to love you more. Amen.
If you like variety, here is a book with mealtime blessings for every day of the year: amazon.com/Blessings-Table-Mealtime-Prayers-Throughout/dp/0764809830/ref=sr_1_1/102-0521029-7008937?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187123709&sr=1-1
Future_Prodigy said:
basically i have a hard time praying any sort of thanksgiving as i was raised in a secular household and anything i had was by the hardwork of my parents. I feel guilty thanking God for these things when my parents sacrificed to get them for me…
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Also from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#2834):

[citing St. Benedict:] “Pray and work.” [citing St. Ignatius Loyola:] “Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you.” Even when we have done our work, the food we receive is still a gift from our Father; it is good to ask him for it and to thank him, as Christian families do when saying grace at meals.

Yes, your parents worked hard for what they gave you. But really, everything they gave you, they received first from God: their lives, their health/strength that enabled them to work hard, etc. To become holy, we must realize that, ultimately, we are dependent upon the goodness of God for everything. Absolutely everything! And it is our duty as God’s creatures to cooperate with His graces and to be grateful for them.
Future_Prodigy said:
and not only that i know where these foods have come from (3rd world citizens making barely enough to get by and who can hardly feed themselves yet i am thanking God for their neo-slavery in producing these gift so i can get fat).
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I applaud your concern for these overworked, underpaid third world citizens. Yet this injustice should not make us ungrateful to God, who is the source of all goodness. Rather, it should spur us to do our part to relieve the plight of those who are treated unfairly, in whatever way we feel able (donations to relief agencies, political activism, etc.).
 
PhilotheaZ said:
Also from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#2834):

[citing St. Benedict:] “Pray and work.” [citing St. Ignatius Loyola:] “Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you.” Even when we have done our work, the food we receive is still a gift from our Father; it is good to ask him for it and to thank him, as Christian families do when saying grace at meals.

Yes, your parents worked hard for what they gave you. But really, everything they gave you, they received first from God: their lives, their health/strength that enabled them to work hard, etc. To become holy, we must realize that, ultimately, we are dependent upon the goodness of God for everything. Absolutely everything! And it is our duty as God’s creatures to cooperate with His graces and to be grateful for them.

I applaud your concern for these overworked, underpaid third world citizens. Yet this injustice should not make us ungrateful to God, who is the source of all goodness. Rather, it should spur us to do our part to relieve the plight of those who are treated unfairly, in whatever way we feel able (donations to relief agencies, political activism, etc.).
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Could you elaborate on these two points some more. Im having a real hard time with these two areas.

Like i don’t feel right thanking God for things I have when others do not have the basic necessities it is almost a mockery… and to top that off taking into consideration that i was raised in a nonreligious household i find it problematic to thank God for what my parents achieved. I can thank Him for the laws of science that allowed them to do that but i find it hard to make prayers of thanksgiving in todays globalized world.
 
I’m a convert to Roman Catholic (completed RCIA classes a few years ago). However, before that I was (and perhaps still am) a “born-again” Christian. It may well be that my previous experience is the basis for my answer to the original question.

I’m the only Catholic in my family and go to Mass on Saturday nights (I sing in the Choir), and I go with my wife and children to the Baptist Church on Sundays.

What does it mean to say grace at meals?

It means that we want to share our lives with Jesus. That we have found Jesus to be more than a good friend and that we enjoy having Him with us. And in praying grace together as a family, we are showing our children that we identify our family as a Christian family. And as parents we pray that they too will grow up and do the same.

As for having a variety of prayers to pray before or after meals. I subscribe to the Magnificat. And each month’s issue has “Blessings for the Table” – both Grace Before the Meal and Grace After the Meal. There are different prayers each month, and they often reflect various times in the Church calendar. With the main meal on Sundays in my home we pray these prayers together. I say the words and we all hold hands or are otherwise in a state of prayer. Even if the prayers have Mary in them it doesn’t matter we pray them all the same anyway.

Prayer before and after meals (aside from going to Church) is mainly the only time we all pray together as a family. And those Sunday meals are generally the only time we eat together as a family.

Prayer before and after meals is not solely a Roman Catholic practice, and it should be the practice of all Christians at least on Sundays.

During the week, I tend to pray at other times. I pray the Rosary often. But I also pray at work at noontime. Sometimes my weekday noontime prayer is before my lunch and sometimes afterwards. At work, I’ve been praying the prayer that is on the calendar page – I have a calendar from the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (the Basilica in NW Washington DC). It has been a great thing for me this year, since I was at most only briefly familiar with most of those prayers. And many of the prayers were new to me. I haven’t really learned the prayers from memory yet, but I think I recognize some of them now when I hear them.

jmm08
 
I always have some simple thoughts in mind:
  • praying before meal is to thank God for the food and to ask Him to bless those who work hard to make the food (the farmers, the cook, etc …) and other thanksgiving.
  • grace after meal: this is funny but I always thanks God for a good meal and that I am still alive after eating them - no food poisoning. 😃
 
water said:
I always have some simple thoughts in mind:
  • praying before meal is to thank God for the food and to ask Him to bless those who work hard to make the food (the farmers, the cook, etc …) and other thanksgiving.
  • grace after meal: this is funny but I always thanks God for a good meal and that I am still alive after eating them - no food poisoning. 😃
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I don’t know, am i the only one who has this residual problem within where it is hard to thank God for things. I have no problem thanking the capitalist system or the farmers, etc for diner but when it comes to thanking Him for it, there i find it hard to do. I can acknowledge and ask Him to bless all those who gather there but never in thanks for this food.
 
Future_Prodigy said:
I don’t know, am i the only one who has this residual problem within where it is hard to thank God for things. I have no problem thanking the capitalist system or the farmers, etc for diner but when it comes to thanking Him for it, there i find it hard to do. I can acknowledge and ask Him to bless all those who gather there but never in thanks for this food.
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Have you ever just done it anyway? Maybe by doing it; you’ll begin to understand better as to why thanking God is so important in all things just not our food. He has provided it all for us; our thanksgiving and prayer pleases Him and brings us closer to Him.
 
Future_Prodigy said:
I don’t know, am i the only one who has this residual problem within where it is hard to thank God for things. I have no problem thanking the capitalist system or the farmers, etc for diner but when it comes to thanking Him for it, there i find it hard to do. I can acknowledge and ask Him to bless all those who gather there but never in thanks for this food.
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If we know that the health of the farmers, the nice weather for their crops, the knowledge that God gives to people, etc … are granted by God, we thank God for that.

Without God, there are no farmers, no crops, no nothing. 🙂
 
I use the “Bless us, Oh, Lord” before meals; I remember watching a bishops’ conference on EWTN several years ago, and they were breaking for lunch, and they used that child’s grace before they went to lunch. I found that interesting.

Coming from a Protestant tradition, I wasn’t (and still am not) used to an after-meal grace. The only prayer I can come up with is, “Dear LORD, that was good! THANK you!”

😃
 
water said:
If we know that the health of the farmers, the nice weather for their crops, the knowledge that God gives to people, etc … are granted by God, we thank God for that.

Without God, there are no farmers, no crops, no nothing. 🙂
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I guess this is where im slippin in a lot of my orthodox beliefs. I see God especially through deistic lens mixed with quais ortthodox beliefs. With regards to what i men, like i know God sustains the laws that govern our world (and without them we don’t exist) but i don’t see him handling our day to day health… i can only see that in matters of spirtual health, not physical. I find we slip into a too supernatual realm if we go that way. Secular science can prove a lot of what sustains our health and its not necessarilly a Creator saying I am going to live this long. Its my access to water, education, clean food, shelther, etc.

In extension of this… i find it hard to thank Him for the food, for in our globalized world the food we now eat on our silk cushions has come to us via great expenses/injstices on behalf of many third world country citizens. It’s like syaing infront of a starving beggar, “Thank You God for this food that i now eat while this man goes hungry and won’t make it past 30 yrs old, just so i can eat this… Bless Us.” Seems hypocritical.
 
Basically I can’t see the God of Love’s hand in the actions that fatten the few at the expense of making skinny the many. I am not refering to just physical food either… but also monetary money lending matters, neo-colonial forign policies, etc
 
just say grace! Poor people say grace. If but for the Grace of God go I. So I thank God for what I’ve got. It’s not about some philosophical solve the worlds problem dilemma; it’s just grace!

Maybe for your grace you can include a prayer for all the poor people of the world that are picking through trash heaps for their dinner; while you munch out on your pizza and beer.
 
I agree with Elizabeth – just say Grace! Just say “thanks” even if you don’t quite understand why. Sometimes we just have to do what scripture and our tradition has told us is pleasing to God.

Saying grace, particularly as a family in public felt very strange as we were adult converts from pretty much no real religion (I was brought up a non-observant Jew, my hubbie a big nothing). Just like some of the devotionals, saints, sacrementals, etc., it seemed weird.

But as I was convinced that the Catholic Church was the original church, instituted by Christ, then I believed that when in doubt, I had to submit. Little by little, I found all my doubts and questions resolved at a heart level. We seldom forget anymore as my son was raised from birth to hear grace, so he keeps us on the up and up.

Now I’m practicing thanking God in all things – which means thanking and praising Him for our challenges, tragedies and so forth… THIS IS HARD!!! But I highly recommend the practice. Disciplines like this keep us pointed towards God, and staying oriented there brings many blessings.

So just thank God for your meal. You can say, “Lord, you gave us all things and want us to thank you for them, so thank you. Please bless all who go hungry this day and bless all who were involved in producing this meal, especially the poor and overworked.” Write something down you are comfortable with on a 3X5 card and read it before each meal. I guarantee your earlier difficulties about thanking Him will gradually dissolve.

Prayer doesn’t change God, it changes us – and it pleases Him.

sojo
 
Future_Prodigy said:
I guess this is where im slippin in a lot of my orthodox beliefs. I see God especially through deistic lens mixed with quais ortthodox beliefs. With regards to what i men, like i know God sustains the laws that govern our world (and without them we don’t exist) but i don’t see him handling our day to day health… i can only see that in matters of spirtual health, not physical. I find we slip into a too supernatual realm if we go that way. Secular science can prove a lot of what sustains our health and its not necessarilly a Creator saying I am going to live this long. Its my access to water, education, clean food, shelther, etc.

In extension of this… i find it hard to thank Him for the food, for in our globalized world the food we now eat on our silk cushions has come to us via great expenses/injstices on behalf of many third world country citizens. It’s like syaing infront of a starving beggar, “Thank You God for this food that i now eat while this man goes hungry and won’t make it past 30 yrs old, just so i can eat this… Bless Us.” Seems hypocritical.
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Future Prodigy, we’re reminded in Scripture to pray without ceasing. Why would we not pray with gratitude to our Creator when we sit down for a meal, which is an important part of our lives, whether we’re rich or poor or in-between? No matter how inadequately we humans distribute the resources God gives us, we thank Him and praise Him for every gift. Everything good, including our labors and the labors of others, comes from God.

If you’re feeling guilty when you eat because you believe you are eating at the expense of someone else’s suffering or poverty, then offer your guilt up to our Lord, and vow to eat a little less during the week. You can donate the money you save to people who are in need. Personal sacrifice can be a form of prayer. But no matter what, thank God for all that is good.

I don’t fully understand your comment “I find we slip into a too supernatual realm if we go that way” – God is always present, and whether we acknowledge this or not, He should be the center of our lives. In my opinion there is no such thing as a “too supernatural realm.” Ritual prayer, such as before and after meals, can be a way of self-discipline, in remembering to pray (communicate with and maintain our relationship with our Creator).

By the way, I’ve never had a silk cushion. If I did, I probably would be too conscious of spilling food on it to have it near the dinner table. 🙂
 
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