Skip to main content

Praying at Meals & Cultivating Gratitude

Praying at Meals & Cultivating Gratitude:

With Thanksgiving drawing near, I started thinking, how many times does my family take the food we have to eat for granted? Do we stop to think how blessed we are to have the food in front of us? To have the availability of so many foods at grocery stores nearby, and the financial means, to not just buy healthy food for our bodies, but often cookies and other treats because we can? Growing up, my family prayed before eating dinner, and my husband and I are teaching our children to pray at breakfast and lunch as well. It’s good to be thankful and express gratitude, and helping our children appreciate and be grateful for what they have is something we see as a valuable lesson. I know, as a busy mom, eating breakfast often takes place in rounds at my home, and by the time I finally get to eat, I sometimes start eating and then with the bite in my mouth realize I’ve forgotten to pray. So, if you haven’t prayed before meals in a while or, like me, sometimes forget to when you get caught up preparing food for others, don’t worry, just try again. If you’ve never payed before a meal, here is a traditional Catholic dinner prayer to help get you started:

“Bless us, oh Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive, from Thy bounty through Christ, our Lord, Amen.”

This is the prayer I remember saying as a kid and the one my husband and I pray together with our children before meals. I’m so used to hearing the words of the prayer, however, that I often forget to take in the meaning of what I’m saying. “Bless us our Lord...” Lord, please bless my family. “And these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive, from Thy bounty through Christ our Lord. Amen...” Lord also bless the food before us, which are gifts and blessings from you, that we humbly have been given and now receive from the abundance of your goodness, through Jesus, your son, and our Lord and Savior, Amen—it is so.” Reflect upon the gift you have been given in the food before you and your family. 

When I read the book, Divine Mercy for Moms, by Emily Jaminet and Michele Faehnle, one of the things the authors suggested to do as an act of mercy, was to pray while cooking for your family and for those who do not have food to eat. What a wonderful opportunity to pray before eating and reflect on being thankful! I’m not always good at remembering to do this every time I cook dinner, but I’ve been trying to add this as part of my daily prayer life and have found it to be a beautiful addition and blessing. 

Today, as you cook and prepare meals and eat together with your family, reflect upon the blessings you have before you and pray before your meal with a heart of gratitude!

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Make a Rosary Garden—Planting Flowers and the Seeds of Prayer

Make a Rosary Garden—Planting Flowers and the Seeds of Prayer:  On the lawn outside of my family's parish, there is a stepping-stone Marian-Rosary garden. Often, after attending daily Mass, on warm or non rainy days, my children love to run around the rosary stones, encircling the statue of Mary, and sit upon the garden's benches. The days when they would run around, only able to exclaim the words, "Hail, Mary! Hail, Mary! Hail Mary!" for each stone, are precious treasured memories I hold within my heart. When we entered the pandemic shutdown, in the spring of 2020, I didn't realize just how much I missed the rosary garden tradition my children and I had after Mass. When my husband and I scheduled confession with our pastor, twelve days into the shutdown, we took turns waiting with our children and letting them play and pray in the rosary garden, while we participated in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I'd always desired to make a Mary/Rosary garden in our ba...
Post a Comment
Read more

Invite Your Parish Priest Over for Dinner:

Invite Your Parish Priest Over for Dinner: Four months after moving into our new house, my husband and I decided to invite our parish priest over for dinner and to bless our new home. We still had piles of unpacked boxes, our toddlers were bouncing off the walls with excitement, and my husband and I were a little nervous. Was our home clean enough? Would we be able to engage in good conversations with our guest? When the doorbell rang, our children raced to the door, and began bouncing around, welcoming Father inside. During dinner, we found that the conversations flowed easily. We shared stories about where we grew up, our families, and various other details as we got to know one another outside of church. We laughed as our daughter spilled the beans that my husband and I were expecting our third child, and when we shared our due date, our priest began enthusiastically sharing all sorts of common, as well as some crazy sounding, saint names for days on and near our due date.  Afte...
1 comment
Read more

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Feast Day: Nov. 17th  Saint Elizabeth of Hungary has always held a special place in my heart since she is my confirmation saint. If I'm being honest, when I was reading about saints back in the eighth grade, trying to choose which saint I wanted to take as my patron, my requirements were as follows: (1) She couldn't die a horrible death, (2) She was married with kids, (3) and her life was pretty good allowing her to serve God and others through the blessings she'd been given. In hindsight, my list of "requirements" was probably a little superficial, but now as an adult I focus more on the virtues and saintly qualities of Saint Elizabeth, and find inspiration in how she lived. She was humble, a kind and loving wife and mother, and very generous to the poor. She also made plenty of time to pray and grow in her relationship with the Lord. On her wedding day, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, who was a princess, did not wear a crown. Instead she s...
Post a Comment
Read more