Grace (meals)

A grace is a short prayer or thankful phrase said before or after eating. The term most commonly refers to Christian traditions. Some traditions hold that grace and thanksgiving imparts a blessing which sanctifies the meal. In English, reciting such a prayer is sometimes referred to as "saying grace". The term comes from the Ecclesiastical Latin phrase gratiarum actio, "act of thanks". Theologically, the act of saying grace is derived from the Bible, in which Jesus and Saint Paul pray before meals (cf. Luke 24:30, Acts 27:35). The practice reflects the belief that humans should thank God who is believed to be the origin of everything.

Quotes

Christianity

• Thou visitest the earth and blessest it: thou makest it very plenteous. The river of God is full of water: thou preparest their corn, for so thou providest for the earth. Thou waterest her furrows, thou sendest rain into the little valleys thereof; thou makest it soft with the drops of rain, and blessest the increase of it. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness.
  • Psalm 65 (BCP)

• That he may bring food out of the earth, and wine that maketh glad the heart of man: and oil to make him a cheerful countenance, and bread to strengthen man’s heart.
  • Psalm 104:15 (BCP)

• The eyes of all wait upon thee, O Lord: and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand: and fillest all things living with plenteousness.
  • Psalm 145 (BCP)

• And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
  • Luke 24:30 (KJV)

• Benedic, Domine, nos et haec tua dona quae de tua largitate sumus sumpturi. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
  • Bless us, O Lord! and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord.
  • Catholic grace, reported in John Daudet, A Short and Easy Catechism of the Catholic Religion (1870), p. 6

• Mensae caelestis participes faciat nos, Rex aeternae gloriae. Amen.
  • May the King of everlasting glory make us partakers of the heavenly table. Amen.
  • Catholic grace, reported in The Saint Andrew Missal (1962), p. 852

• Ad cenam vitae aeternae perducat nos, Rex aeternae gloriae. Amen.
  • May the King of everlasting glory lead us to the banquet of life eternal. Amen.
  • Catholic grace, reported in Handbook of Prayers (1988), p. 325

• For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful. Amen.
  • Anglican grace, quoted in Bernard Shaw, The Devil's Disciple (1897), act I

• For what we are about to eat,
  Thank God—and the British Fleet.
  • "An Old Form Grace", quoted as an epigraph in Geoffrey Shakespeare, Let Candles be Brought In (1949), Ch. 12

• Their Beer was strong; Their Wine was Port;
  Their Meal was large; Their Grace was short.
  • Matthew Prior, "An Epitaph", Poems on Several Occasions (1718)

• O Lord, when hunger pinches sore,
    Do thou stand us in stead,
  And send us from thy bounteous store,
    A tup or wether head! Amen.
  • Robert Burns, "Grace before Meat", in Poetical Works, ed. A. Smith, vol. 2 (1865), p. 72

External links

• Mealtime Prayers from The Prayer Guide
• Catholic Encyclopedia article