Who is not familiar with the setting where a person, or family, begins a meal with a short prayer? Even a non-Catholic is familiar with the concept, having seen it portrayed in moving pictures as a traditional and common thing to do. Unfortunately, today, even Catholics relegate the practice to an unnecessary, if not old-fashioned practice. Some, it seems, would even take the non-Catholic attitude that it is something superstitious! What Catholic would think such a thing? Holy Scripture reveals this was practiced by St. Paul the Apostle:
"...taking bread, he gave thanks to God in the sight of them all; and when he had broken it, he began to eat. Then they were all of good cheer, and they also took some meat." (Acts 27:35,36)
Just what is the teaching and practice of the Church in regard to this? Here is a quote from "A Catholic Dictionary (1931):
"GRACE AT MEALS (Lat. gratiae, thanks).
It does not give a reason why (at the time of that writing) the practice was tending to become more and more of a "private devotion" in English-speaking countries. But are we to imagine that, somehow, the English language itself had something to do with it? No. This was most likely due to the characteristics of English-speaking countries which have been known, especially of late, more for their worldliness, materialism and Protestant influences than other countries.
"Pray without ceasing. In all things give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you all." - (I Thess. 5:17,18)
To get a better view of the teaching and practice of the Catholic Church on this subject, here are a few quotes from various sources.
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The Blessing before Meals.
Q. 111. Say the Grace after Meals.
Q. 112. What does "Grace" at meals mean?
Q. 113. Why should we say "Grace" at meals?
Q. 114. Is it wrong to despise or waste our food?
Q. 115. Is it a sin to neglect "Grace" at meals?
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Thanksgiving before and after Meals
The word grace, which, as applied to prayer over food, always in pre-Elizabethan English took the plural form graces, means nothing but thanksgiving. (Cf. the Latin gratiarum actio and the Italian grazie, "thanks".) Although the expression of gratitude to God for His bounty when He has supplied the wherewithal to satisfy the most primary of human needs is an idea which is by no means exclusively Christian (see Deut., viii, 10; Ex., xviii, 12; Livy, XXXIX, xliii; Athenaeus, iv, 27), still in the Christian dispensation, following the personal example of our Saviour (John, vi, 11 and 23), the obligation of thanksgiving seems to have been emphasized from the very beginning. Thus, under conditions which altogether exclude the idea of a Eucharistic celebration, we are told of St. Paul (Acts, xxvii, 35) that "taking bread he gave thanks to God in the sight of them all and when he had broken it he began to eat" (Cf, I Tim., iv, 3-5; Rom. xiv, 6; I Cor., x. 30). Passing over the "Didache", in which the formulae of prayer over food may be connected with the Eucharist of the Agape, we find (C.A.D. 123) the apologist Aristides declaring of his fellow Christians that "over their food and over their drink they render God thanks" (Camb. Texts and Studies, I, 49). Similarly Tertullian, "We do not recline at a banquet before prayer be first tasted -- in like manner prayer puts an end to the feast" (De orat., xxv). In nearly all the Fathers similar passages may be found. In particular the Christian poet Prudentius, at the beginning of the fifth century, has a set of hymns "Ante cibum" and "Post cibum" in which occur such verses as the following (Cath. Hymn., III, Ante cib., ii, 10 sq.):
"Without Thy presence, nought, O Lord, is sweet,
Many anecdotes also might be cited from such early writers as Gregory of Tours and Bede, clearly attesting the prevalence of the practice of saying grace. Bede, for example, when he wishes to tell us that Oswald and Bishop Aidan were about to begin dinner, remarks that "they were on the point of stretching out their hands to bless the bread" (Hist. Eccl., III, vi). The Welsh legal codes, ascribed to the ninth and tenth centuries, when speaking of the king's three indispensable attendants, name first "his priest to say Mass and bless his meat and drink", while the function of the queen's priest is also to bless her meat and drink (Haddan and Stubbs, I, 231 and 235). William of Malmesbury (Gest. pont., IV, 140) refers to St. Wulstan's blessings at table as if they perpetuated some custom that was peculiarly English; but that the Normans were no strangers to such a practice is curiously proved by a scene in the Bayeux tapestry, where we look on Bishop Odo at Bayeux as he stands up before the table at the banquet, while the inscription beside him tells us: "Et hic episcopus cibum et potum benedicit."
"The Lord merciful and compassionate, has perpetuated the memory of His wonders. He has given food to them that fear Him."
Another early grace may be found in the "Apostolic Constitutions", VII, xliv.
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Chapter I. Gratitude
Definition. Gratitude is the virtue which inclines man to acknowledge (mentally and in words) gifts received and to make at least some return for the gift.
Explanation. The duty of gratitude arises from the acceptance of a gift which represents a voluntary and useful payment freely made to a person through the feeling of benevolence. If the gift is given by a superior, v.g. by God or one's parents, the act of gratitude to which it gives rise belongs to other virtues also, such as religion, piety, etc. Gratitude consists in an internal state - viz. in a grateful heart - rather than in any external effect, i.e. a real return for the gift. Therefore everyone, including the poor, is capable of gratitude.
There are three duties of gratitude: 1. to acknowledge the receipt of the gift; 2. to express gratitude in words, such as praising the benefactor, by expressing thankfulness to him; 3. to make some return in deed for the gift, in so far as that is possible.
The qualities of gratitude. Gratitude must be: 1. prompt - that is to say, it must be shown as soon as possible after receiving the gift; 2. internal and not merely external - viz. it must proceed from the heart and not be expressed merely in words devoid of all feeling; 3. humble, with an acknowledgment that the gift is something useful; 4. free from all covetousness - that is to say that gratitude must no be expressed with the principal purpose of receiving further gifts from the benefactor.
The vice opposed to gratitude is ingratitude which is either formal (contempt of the benefactor or his gift), or material - the omission of due thanks without any implication of contempt.
The asking of a blessing on the food before meals and making a thanksgiving thereafter seems to have been regarded as an obligation by Christians from the very earliest times and is mentioned in the New Testament, e.g., Acts xxvii,35. In English-speaking countries the custom has not yet fallen into desuetude of family prayers, but tends to become more and more a "private devotion." In seminaries, monasteries and elsewhere the forms provided in the Breviary are used, differing slightly for dinner and supper and at certain seasons of the year; in other places the short prayers for before and after dinner extracted from these longer forms are said. The Rule of St. Benedict (cap. xliii) prescribes penalties for those who are late for grace, which include the docking of their wine."
At times it may be prudent to avoid displaying our prayer too ostentatiously in a public restaurant, especially in areas that are hostile to Catholicism, but the practice itself is a solid Catholic practice. We are morally obligated to explicitly thank God for everything, to show proper gratitude, because everything good ultimately comes from the hand of God. Although we are not strictly obligated to show this gratitude explicitly at every meal, we ARE obligated to otherwise thank God explicitly, and in general, in times of prayer. But, knowing fallen human nature and the tendency for us only to "petition" the Lord in prayer rather than to thank Him, does it not make sense to make a practice of saying grace at every meal so as to assure that our duty of gratitude is fulfilled? What a good occasion to help instill in our children a Catholic prayer life each day! What a chance to give good example to our relatives if not the casual observer in a restaurant!
Remember, St. Luke the Evangelist, who wrote the Acts of the Apostles, was inspired to make mention of this practice in the account of St. Paul's voyage to Rome, and shipwreck. (Acts. 27:35) What a excellent way, also, to heed the exhortation of the Apostle who wrote, by the Holy Ghost, to the Christians in Thessalonica, in 52 .A.D.
[The Baltimore Catechism, 1921]
Bless us, O Lord! and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
A. We give Thee thanks for all Thy benefits, O Almighty God, who livest and reignest for ever; and may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
A. "Grace" at meals means the thanks we offer God for the food we are about to receive or have just taken.
A. We should say "Grace" at meals to show our gratitude to God, who has given us all we possess and daily supplies our wants.
A. It is wrong to despise or waste our food, because we thereby slight the goodness of God, who owes us nothing.
A. It is not a sin to neglect "Grace" at meals, but only a mark of our ingratitude; for if we are to thank God for all His gifts we should do so especially at the time they are given.
[From The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913]
No pleasure to our lips can aught supply.
Whether 'tis wine we drink or food we eat,
Till Grace divine and Faith shall sanctify."
In the religious orders, naturally the custom of grace was much insisted upon. A special section is assigned to it in Chapter 43 of the Rule of St. Benedict, and this was much amplified in later expositions. The early monastic rules in fact generally required that each dish brought to table should be separately blessed before it was set before the community. In the "Ancren Riwle" (C.A.D. 1200), which preserves perhaps the earliest instance of the word "graces" in an English treatise, the grace is described as said standing, and, since it included the "Miserere", it must have been pretty long. The souls of the faithful are also prayed for in the thanksgiving after meat. Great importance was attached to the proper learning of the grace by children. It is commonly a prominent feature in the Books of Curtesye and other medieval works for the instruction of the young. Moreover most educational foundations, like the English public schools and the colleges at the universities, had special forms of grace prescribed for them, often metrical in part, some of which are maintained to the present day. The grace officially provided by the Church is contained in the "Breviarium Romanum" under the heading "Benedictio Mensae". The form for supper, both before and after eating, varies slightly from that assigned for dinner, and during the octaves of certain greater festivals special verses are substituted for those in ordinary use. Grace begins with the acclamation "Benedicite", which is spoken by the officiant and repeated by all present. The "Grace before and after meals" commonly found in the catechisms for children and used by the laity consists substantially of a translation of two items in the longer Latin grace, the blessing spoken before the meal and the thanksgiving afterwards.
As or this longer Latin grace contained in the Breviary, Abbot Cabrol says with reason that the whole series of formulae with their appropriate citations from the Psalm, particularly Ps. xxxiii, possess a very high antiquity. In point of fact a great part of the existing forms can be traced back to the ninth century. See for example Rhabanus Maurus, "Deins. cleric.", II, x. The benediction, "Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts", etc., which is retained in our short grace, is to be found in the "Gelasian Sacramentary", which is considerably earlier. Moreover, without precise verbal coincidence, it may be said that our existing longer grace echoes the language of the very earliest document of the kind preserved to us. This is contained in a treatise dubiously ascribed to St. Athanasius, but certainly of early date and, probably at least, the work of a contemporary. It is upon this treatise that G. von der Goltz largely bases his theory of the development of grace for meals out of the primitive Eucharist (Goltz, "Tischgebete und Abendmahlsgebete", pp. 33 sq.). This work (De virginitate) is remarkable for the circumstance that the writer recommends as a prayer which we find in the "Didache" in connection seemingly with a Eucharistic celebration. We also find in this fourth-century document the versicle, "Our merciful and compassionate God has given food to them that fear Him", and in the existing Breviary grace we have:
[Handbook of Moral Theology (1957), by Dominic M. Prummer, O.P.]
