Prayer: Grace at Meals

Grace is a prayer of thanksgiving said before one starts to eat a meal.

Saying grace is a good time to develop family prayer. A good practice is to pray for the concerns of the family and close with a grace. Family members can take turns praying. Family prayer helps children develop their prayer life by giving them an opportunity to pray with their parents and by seeing their parents pray, which tells them that praying is a part of life.

Below are graces and prayers for other occasions from the Book of Alternative Services. They can be memorized with enough practice. Some of the graces can be sung.

Graces

Creator of the universe, you give us this gift of food to nourish us and give us life.

Bless this food that you have made, and human hands have prepared. May it satisfy our hunger, and in sharing it together may we come closer to one another. Amen.

Bless, O Lord, this food to our use and bless us to your service, and make us ever mindful of the needs of others; thorough Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God is great, God is good, and we thank him for this food. By his hand we all are fed; give us Lord, our daily bread. Bless our home with peace and love, and grant in Christ a home above.

All Good gifts are around us are sent from heaven above, then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for all his love.

For health and strength and daily food, we praise your name, O Lord.(This grace can be sung as a round)

On the Anniversary of a Baptism

Blessed are you, Lord God, ruler of the universe; we praise you for your love and mercy which you have shown to all your people;
Today we give you thanks and glory as we celebrate the anniversary of the day when you make N you son/daughter in baptism.
Give him/her the grace to live in your love, and help this family to come closer to you by faith, prayer and example.
All glory is yours, Father, through Jesus your Son in the communion of your Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

For a Birthday

God our Father, the birth of your Son Jesus Christ brought great joy to Mary and Joseph. We give thanks to you for N, whose birthday we celebrate today. May he/she ever grow in your faith, hope, and love. We ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For the Anniversary of a Marriage

Gracious God, on this our special day we remember with thanksgiving our vows of love and commitment to you and to each other in marriage. We pray for you continued blessing. May we learn from both our joys and sorrows and discover new riches in our life together in you. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.