The Power of Saying Grace Before Meals

We live in a culture in which human relationships are breaking down and selfishness has become a virtue. As one of the actions that helps us change the way that we relate to the world around us, Pope Francis urges us to say grace before meals. Saying grace can help us to reorient our thinking by moving us from a focus on ourselves to a focus on God and God’s creation. Grace is effective, however, only if it is not a ritualistic, check-box activity or it is not seen as an unfortunate impediment that stands between us and our meal. Instead, as we say grace with reverence, we reflect on exactly what we are thankful for. When we do this, we recognize our interconnectedness to the world around us in a variety of ways.

Most importantly, we recognize God as the primary provider of the food we are about to eat. It is above all through God’s grace, and only secondarily through human labor or our own efforts, that this food has been placed before us. Saying grace connects us with God.

We also recognize that our food is a cooperative effort, the product of a cooperation between God and numerous people unknown to us. In saying grace, we pray blessing for those whose labor has made this food available – to those who have raised or grown it, harvested it, processed it, driven it to stores, placed it in stores for us to buy, prepared it for us, and brought it to our table. Saying grace connects us with those who are responsible for bringing us our food.

If we are not eating alone, we recognize that we are sharing a meal together. Traditionally, sharing a meal is an expression of human intimacy; that is why the Pharisees were so outraged at Jesus’ eating with tax collectors and sinners (Matthew 9:10-11). Saying grace connects us with those with whom we are sharing our meal.

In saying grace, we recognize that, for reasons that have nothing to do with ourselves and our own merits, we have enough to eat, while many others in our world lack food. We pray for the day that these disparities be eliminated, and that eating be recognized as a basic human right. And we also pray for the day that, with our brethren, we will all be seated at the heavenly banquet (Isaiah 25:6-9). Saying grace connects us with the poor and the oppressed.

Finally, we recognize that we are about to eat the bounty of living organisms, or that we are eating organisms that were once alive. Every living being is created by God and carries its unique dignity. In saying grace, we express our gratitude to these life forms that have yielded their bounty for us, and in some cases have given their lives so that we might be nourished. Saying grace connects us with God’s creation.

We must ensure that our gratitude is expressed not only in words, but also in deeds. Unless there are sound reasons for doing otherwise, we should eat the food that has been placed before us. We should do this without complaint and without picking and choosing. Failing to do this exposes the hypocrisy of our prayer and suggests that God’s provision is deficient.

Sometimes, we might also want to replace our standard prayer with another prayer or a spontaneous prayer. For example, the following prayer expresses many of the thoughts conveyed here: