How grave a sin is not to pray before meals?

[Tamsulosin]

I grew up in a catholic by name only home.My parents were educated,had very good morals and very devoted to us their children.But, although we all received the sacraments,neither of my parents were believers.It was more of a catholic tradition.
We never said any prayer at meals.To this date,I do not.Is that a sin?

 

[LilyM]

There is only ONE particular form of prayer that we MUST do on pain of sin, and that is the prayer of the Holy Mass.

No other form of prayer is compulsory, be it the Rosary, grace before or after meals, Stations of the Cross or whatnot. So there is no sin involved, that I am aware of, even in consciously choosing not to pray grace before meals.

If you never prayed at all outside of Mass, however, and moreover this was consciously done, you would be in sin. However, I doubt that you fail so badly to pray, and it is obvious that your failure to pray grace before meals is not conscious, but rather is simply a case of forgetting because you never learned the habit. So it wouldn’t be sin in your case, let alone mortal sin.

For that matter, I never formed the habit either, which is funny because my parents are quite devout and do say grace at family meals, always have done. I’ll remember reasonably often to say grace AFTER meals (a thanks to God for the food I have received), but almost never remember to say it before. There’s no sin involved in this, however.

 

[Tamsulosin]

I pray everyday in the car, at home, wherever, but not in relation to meals.
It occurred to me to ask, when today, at a fast food restaurant, I saw 2 probably muslin men, devoutedly praying , with their eyes closed, before consuming their sandwich.
I ate mine, without giving a thought, and then I felt the contrast when I noticed them.

 

[LovinmyLife]

Well, it was fast food. I don’t blame them for praying!

I kid, but overall, I would say that while not praying before a meal is not in and of itself a sin, there is another issue surrounding it that could be sinful. For me at least, Grace before meals was always about thanking God for providing us with another meal to physically sustain us. I think as long as you do not forget to thank God throughout the day, and remember to be grateful for all that He has provided, as your post implies you do, then its not a sin. Its when we become ungrateful that it becomes a problem.

 

[Tamsulosin]

Do you say grace before "every meal’, just dinner time,or just on thanksgiving day?
Just asking.

 

[Trishie]

“Grace before meals” isn’t a rule or a set of rules. You do it out of respect and gratitude for God’s blessings, in this case, food.

 

[JaMc]

As others have said - saying Grace before meals is a wonderful practice, and certainly to be recommended. However, one is not required to do so under pain of sin.

Personally, I usually say Grace only before “major” meals (Thanksgiving, etc.); though my wife (“crossed the Tiber” this Easter Vigil!) likes us to say Grace whenever we have dinner together at home, and I rather like it (I am a lawyer, and belong to a bunch of civic organizations, so it’s only right to thank God when we get a chance to eat at home together).

Bottom line: It’s certainly nice to say Grace, but you don’t have to.

 

[choy]

I pray everyday in the car, at home, wherever, but not in relation to meals.
It occurred to me to ask, when today, at a fast food restaurant, I saw 2 probably muslin men, devoutedly praying , with their eyes closed, before consuming their sandwich.
I ate mine, without giving a thought, and then I felt the contrast when I noticed them.

its not a sin to not say a prayer before or after meals

just be thankful to God for the blessings you receive. doesn’t matter when you say your prayer of thanks, at night at bed, Sundays at Church, etc. as long as you’re grateful to God and acknowledge that all these things come from Him

 

[At_Trent]

Don’t forget the after meal prayer

Before: Bless us, O Lord! and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

After: We give Thee thanks for all Thy benefits, O Almighty God, who livest and reignest world without end. Amen. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

I recently saw a joke in which a family was visiting the grandparents. The youngest started eating immediately when they sat down. She was reminded that we pray before eating. The child explained, “But this is grandma’s cooking. She is a good cook so we don’t have to pray over what she cooks.”