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

Saint Margaret Mary

Saint Margaret Mary: Feast Day October 16th  “Look upon yourself as a tree planted beside water, which bears its fruit in due season; the more it is shaken by the wind, the deeper it strikes its roots into the ground.” ~ Saint Margaret Mary ~ Faith is a gift—an undeserved and valuable grace granted by the Holy Spirit. Each of us has the capacity to seek The Way, The Truth, and The Life, for this longing has been inscribed within our hearts. Yet, in our free will, we have the choice and ability to ignore and turn from this divine call. Like the image of the tree Saint Margaret Mary describes above, if we seek Jesus and are rooted in our faith, nothing can shake us. Our water is the Church, and Jesus, in the Holy Eucharist, is who makes our roots deep and strong enabling us to withstand the winds of the world and produce good fruit in His name.  Jesus offers us so many opportunities to find Him, and so many ways to live with Him in Heaven. In the 1600s, He appeared to Saint Mar...
Post a Comment
Read more

Baptism of the Lord

Baptism of the Lord: The Last Day of Christmas  “I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11) Today we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. Since Jesus is God and, therefore, sinless and perfect, he didn’t need to be baptized, but by being baptized, he gave us a sacrament for adoption into his family—a means to become children of God. What makes the Sacrament of Baptism important? (1) Baptism claims us as children of God, forgiving us of our sins, (“I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”), it is the first sacrament of initiation into the Church and Her mission, and through Baptism, God gifts us with grace. What exactly is grace? The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines it as: “Grace is favor, the free undeserved help that God gives us to respond to His call to become children of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saints Joachim and Anne

Saints Joachim and Anne: Feast Day July 26th Have you ever thought about the fact that Jesus had grandparents? When God the Son took on human flesh, he also paced himself within the dynamics of the human family. Although there is no specific reference in the Bible to the Blessed Virgin Mary’s parents by name, the Church celebrates Jesus' maternal grandparents under the names Saint Joachim and Saint Anne. It took a special father and mother to raise, care for, and help prepare the Blessed Virgin Mary for her future vocation and extraordinary relationship with God the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and her saintly husband, Saint Joseph; and those special parents were no doubt saints themselves. Speaking of Saint Joseph, his parents would also have been grandparents of the Lord. Celebrating Jesus' grandparents today, reminds us that grandparents are the keepers and transmitters of family history and tradition, and are the patriarchs and matriarchs of families, holding generatio...
Post a Comment
Read more