My addiction to Grace

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Hello all. It’s been a while since I’ve posted about something I started a while back. I began publicly saying grace quietly but with the sign of the cross. It’s been well over a year and maybe even longer than that.

So, today I was noticed at a church service and the fellow catholic woman said to me that she saw me say grace at subway. I was absolutely thrilled and replied “oh someone noticed? Haha!” She said “oh yes and it was absolutely wonderful!”

So I keep giving thanks before everything I eat whether in public or not… and it’s making me more friends than enemies (besides the devil and his followers quite obviously)
 
I find this story lovely. There’s value to giving grace. As there is value to catholics recognizing each other for being catholic.

However, let us be cautioned to never expect social gains from public demonstration of faith
Mt 6:5. “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Mt 6:6. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
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Thanks for the warning, I never receive any sort of praise for doing it except today. I do it because it’s the right thing to do and a priest once told me it’s a good way to evangelize.
 
CatholicSpirit said:
and a priest once told me it’s a good way to evangelize.
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It is a way to give witness by visible reminder. That much is also up to one’s individual conscience. A public testimony requiring both conviction and courage. Just never be tempted into thinking of any ulterior personal gains, least it become vain.
CatholicSpirit said:
So, today I was noticed at a church service and the fellow catholic woman said to me that she saw me say grace at subway. I was absolutely thrilled and replied “oh someone noticed? Haha!” She said “oh yes and it was absolutely wonderful!”
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There is great human joy to be found in a meeting of brothers and sisters in Christ.

God bless.
 
Gratitude. Like the stars of the sky and Abraham, we cannot count the reasons to be grateful. As to the most visible sign of our faith, Pope Benedict XVI had these inspiring words:
The Sign of the Cross

The most basic Christian gesture in prayer is and always will be the sign of the cross. It is a way of confessing Christ crucified with one’s very body … To seal oneself with the sign of the cross is a visible and public Yes to him who suffered for us; to him who in the body has made God’s love visible, even to the utmost; to the God who reigns not by destruction but by the humility of suffering and love, which is stronger than all the power of the world and wiser than all the calculating intelligence of men. The sign of the cross is a confession of faith: I believe in him who suffered for me and rose again; in him who has transformed the sign of shame into a sign of hope and of the love of God that is present with us. The confession of faith is a confession of hope: I believe in him who in his weakness is the Almighty; in him who can and will save me even in apparent absence and impotence. By signing ourselves with the cross, we place ourselves under the protection of the cross, hold it in front of us like a shield that will guard us in all the distress of daily life and give us the courage to go on. We accept it as a signpost that we follow … The cross shows us the road of life — the imitation of Christ … Whenever we make the sign of the cross, we accept our Baptism anew; Christ from the cross draws us, so to speak, to himself … We make the sign of the cross on ourselves and thus enter the power of the blessing of Jesus Christ. We make the sign over people to whom we wish a blessing … Through the cross, we can become sources of blessing for one another.

Pope Benedict XVI
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I had never seen that painting before in my life. I kid you not I sat and stared at it for a good ten minutes!

My family and I have just started taking a step in faith and praying before meals in public. We used to be too shy, and it’s still a little awkward because we JUST started, so thank you so much for sharing this! We want to honor Jesus always. <3
 
Which reminds me, I’m having dinner this week with a native English speaker @CatholicSpirit . How do you say grace in English?
 
I just say thanks for what I have and keep it short but there is a grace prayer that is more formal. I know it includes the word bounty
 
I do that too, but in a very unobvious way so I think no one notices. Actually I say the rosary too and no one notices that either. I never thought of it being evangelising, lol. I just worried about creating a terrorist incident on a train by making it obvious I am praying and causing the whole train to be stopped etc. so I keep it quite discreet even though I dont look the part. I am a retired police officer so it’s my go to thought.
 
One Friday night we went out for dinner with a couple of other families. Big buffet, very popular and crowded hundreds and hundreds of people pass through that restaurant every week.

All of the adults and kids had their plates and, as we always do, the whole group stopped together made the SOTC and prayed “Bless us, O Lord and these thy gifts…”

A couple of minutes later a lady who was busing tables came up to us and said “Catholic?” and made the SOTC. Between our little bit of Spanish and her little bit of English, she had been in the US for awhile but she did not know where she could go to Mass.

One of the group had a bulletin in the car, we were able to get her in touch with some leaders in the Spanish speaking community and she just had tears running down her face, because finally she had found Catholics.

All of those people she has encountered in that restaurant at slow times and busy times, she had never seen anyone make the sign of the cross. Wow.

I will always pray in public because of this one lady.
 
I was taught that prayer by the sisters at Catholic school 62 years ago.

Full tummies, tables cleared, lunchtime concluded with: We give thee thanks, for all thy blessings, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
 
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Quite liturgical really. Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. God bless them.
 
I got verbally attacked by an Evangelical Christian for saying grace before a meal.

Of course, not all Evangelicals do this but this particular one did.

What offended him was not the prayer itself but me doing the sign of the cross which to him was offensive.
 
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I’ve never been verbally attacked but I get a lot of blank stares for doing the SOTC in public.
 
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