Inbox Inspiration: Grace before Meals: February 6, 2019

Grace before Meals

Dear Friends, 
A prayer before meals – we call it Grace – has real value for us.
Our Grace before meals is first a way of thanking God.
We thank God for our food and recognize that it is a gift – a grace – from God.
Besides this thankfulness, we also ask God’s blessing.
We ask God to bless this food and, through it, bless us:
may God and this meal transform us more and more into his likeness.
All of this is the meaning of our traditional Catholic Grace before Meals:
“Bless us O Lord and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. “
Sometimes it is helpful to have variety in our Grace before Meals.
For example, we might just pray in our own heartfelt words.
Or we might try a Grace composed by another.
Below is an example of an alternative Grace.

“We give you praise, Lord God, king of the universe:
you have sent your beloved Son, Jesus Christ,
to fill us with grace and truth.
Bless our meal,
those who have prepared it, 
and those with whom we share it.
May the love which gathers us here
become our gift to all in need,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.” 

From Give Us This Day by Fr. Michael Kwatera. (1950—. Benedictine priest. Director of Liturgy for Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota.)

May God nourish our faith and hope and energize us for living in the love of Christ. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner