Grace before meals

[Miserissima]

Another thread got me to thinking, How do you say grace at home (not in public, but at your family table)?

After belssing ourselves we say,

Bless us O Lord
and these Thy gifts,
which we are about to receive,
through Christ’s bounty, Amen.

And then we bless ourselves again.

I thought it was asking a seperate blessing for both the food and for those about to receive it. However…

1. I heard someone once say,
   “Bless us O Lord, for these are Thy gifts…”
   which I thought was strange – bless us because you have blessed us with your gifts? Huh?
2. At a Protestant dinner I found a line particularly touching:
   “Lord, we ask you to bless this food to our body
   and us to Thy service, Amen.”

I really liked that one. Ain’t used it, though.

So what does your family tradition entail (not dinnertime, just when you have the chance to sit together and actually pray over your meal and for each other? (Yes, even if it’s a Hungry Man Dinner dinner during the basketball game!)

And does anyone say Grace after meals? What do you say?

 

[PhilotheaZ]

Most of the time:
“Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

When there are small children present who don’t know that one:
“God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. Amen.”
(I think they used to use that one on Romper Room, a 1960’s predecessor of Sesame Street. Boy, do I feel old!)

Just for fun:
Good food, good meat, good God, let’s eat!"
(This one from a parish priest back when I was a child. My 78-year-old father likes to remind us about this one.)

 

[canne]

DH usually starts with Bless us O Lord and these thy gifts which we are about to recieve…Then he adds his own prayers giving thanks…family, friends etc…We go around the table…( my 5 year old can take a while because he usually Thanks God for all the dinisaurs and animals etc…he has gotten very good at thinking of others, he will ask for prayers for others and latelty has been asking for safety for anyone on a trip to Alaska or the forest?After we each have said our Thanks…DH ends with an Amen.

 

[MarieVeronica]

Bless us, O Lord…
And these, Thy gifts…
Which we are about to receive…
From Thy bounty,
Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

And then, my dear mother… who suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease says an impromptu prayer. She might thank God for the lovely sun, on a rainy day. She might thank Him for our soup and crackers, when we’re actually having meat and potatoes. But she always, always ends by inviting Our dear Lord and Our Lady to dine with us.

And I am in awe of Gods Love, which shines through the childlike faith of my suffering mothers heart.

 

[Jennifer_G]

Another thread got me to thinking, How do you say grace at home (not in public, but at your family table)?

After belssing ourselves we say,

Bless us O Lord
and these Thy gifts,
which we are about to receive,
through Christ’s bounty, Amen.

And then we bless ourselves again.

I thought it was asking a seperate blessing for both the food and for those about to receive it. However…

1. I heard someone once say,
   “Bless us O Lord, for these are Thy gifts…”
   which I thought was strange – bless us because you have blessed us with your gifts? Huh?
2. At a Protestant dinner I found a line particularly touching:
   “Lord, we ask you to bless this food to our body
   and us to Thy service, Amen.”

I really liked that one. Ain’t used it, though.

So what does your family tradition entail (not dinnertime, just when you have the chance to sit together and actually pray over your meal and for each other? (Yes, even if it’s a Hungry Man Dinner dinner during the basketball game!)

And does anyone say Grace after meals? What do you say?

I’ve heard both “Bless us O Lord, and…” and the “Bless us O Lord, for these thy gifts…” version.

From my Lutheran side, we would say…

“God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food. By His hands we all are fed. Amen”. (Sounds like something a little kid would say)

and something like

“…Let this food be blessed. Amen”. (I think there was another part before it, but it wasn’t said as often except for maybe at Thanksgiving and a few other times)

 

[sancte_joseph]

What about:

Lord we ask you to descend thy blessing upon us and these thy gifts. Help us remember that we do not liveby bread alone but on every word that comes from thy mouth. Amen

 

[brigid12]

Most of the time:
When there are small children present who don’t know that one:
“God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. Amen.”
(I think they used to use that one on Romper Room, a 1960’s predecessor of Sesame Street. Boy, do I feel old!)

I remember that very well, too.

Just for fun:
Good food, good meat, good God, let’s eat!"
(This one from a parish priest back when I was a child. My 78-year-old father likes to remind us about this one.)

This one we do when in a silly mood.

1. At a Protestant dinner I found a line particularly touching:
   “Lord, we ask you to bless this food to our body
   and us to Thy service, Amen.”

Everyone else in my family are protestant, so I grew up with this one a lot.

Usually, now, we do a free-form prayer, thanking Him.

 

[Teelynn]

Bless us, O Lord…
And these, Thy gifts…
Which we are about to receive…
From Thy bounty,
Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

And then, my dear mother… who suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease says an impromptu prayer. She might thank God for the lovely sun, on a rainy day. She might thank Him for our soup and crackers, when we’re actually having meat and potatoes. But she always, always ends by inviting Our dear Lord and Our Lady to dine with us.

And I am in awe of Gods Love, which shines through the childlike faith of my suffering mothers heart.

Ditto on the Bless Us O Lord Prayer before meals. What a Blessing from God your dear sweet mother is!

 

[Andruschak]

In addition to the standard prayers before and after meals, that can be found in most Catholic prayer books, I also use the prayers before and after meals that are printed in the monthly MAGNIFICAT magazine.

BTW, I also, in public restaurants, do the SOTC and say the prayer, if at a very low voice so no one can hear it and object to it. But I do the SOTC, put my hands in the prayer position, and recite the prayer.

 

[kittery]

My DH has always said, “Heavenly Father, we thank you for these gifts which we are about to receive through Christ, Our Lord. Bless those who have prepared them, and those who are going to do without. Amen”

So that’s what we say, and then our 2 and 3 year olds go into a litany of “thank you for [family member])” and "thank you for [family member]), and so on. I love it!

 

[allhers]

Bless us, O Lord…
And these, Thy gifts…
Which we are about to receive…
From Thy bounty,
Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

And then, my dear mother… who suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease says an impromptu prayer. She might thank God for the lovely sun, on a rainy day. She might thank Him for our soup and crackers, when we’re actually having meat and potatoes. But she always, always ends by inviting Our dear Lord and Our Lady to dine with us.

And I am in awe of Gods Love, which shines through the childlike faith of my suffering mothers heart.

I use to think, when people said that they loved someone without even knowing them yet that they had to be talking about a baby in the womb. But now I think they must have also been talking about people like your Mother.
What a wonderful grace and blessing she must be for you.
I am in awe too.

Oh and by the way, we say the same blessing (grace), as you do.

 

[Belle10]

1. At a Protestant dinner I found a line particularly touching:
   “Lord, we ask you to bless this food to our body
   and us to Thy service, Amen.”

My MIL says this one (she’s Methodist) and I’ve always liked it too, though we don’t say it.

Here’s what we pray:

Thank you God for this food
Please help us to share with others
Amen.

It’s one I learned as a child and have always loved and said. It’s simple, which is just what we need sometimes: thanking God and asking for His help to help others, which He has called us to do.

When we’re at my parents’ house, this is the one most often prayed:

Come Lord Jesus, be our guest
And let thy gifts to us be blessed.
Amen.

Again, simple, but heartfelt.

And finally, here’s one one of my siblings learned when we were young and still says:

For all we eat and all we wear
We thank you for our daily care*
In Jesus’ name, amen.

*one night when we were kids, the sibling praying this accidently said “underwear” instead of “daily care.” Ever since then, whenever this grace is prayed when we’re all together, we all giggle as the line approaches…

 

[allhers]

I just noticed that you asked if we pray afterwards also, I usually just say , “Thank You, Lord.”
We pray the same prayer I posted above in public also. (We’re more quiet about it in public though.)
When our children were young, we use to say, “Who would like to say grace tonight”? One of them always pipped up with
“Grace!”, then they would all giggle.
One Thanksgiving Day, we all got together and when my husband asked, “Who would like to say grace?” Again, our oldest said, “Grace!” We all got a good laugh out of that.
Now her children do that to her.
I love it when we eat with our oldest son, on special occasions he says the most beautiful prayers thanking God that we are altogether, thanking Him for the food, etc…you can tell it comes right from his heart. Once it was so beautiful that some of us were in tears before eating…and we’re all cradle Catholics.