05/18/2026
The table has been set, your friends have gathered, and the food is ready to be served.
But what do we do now?
Friends are gathered about your table on a Sunday afternoon. Dishes of fresh, hot food send delicious aromas around the room. Everyone is ready to dig in.
But then there is a pause. For a moment, everyone looks around with a little hesitation. Who is going to say Grace?
Luckily, someone begins with the Sign of the Cross and suddenly there is a chorus of friends reciting:
“Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
We are all thankful for this prayer and how widespread it is. It makes it easy for communal meals to begin with a shared moment of prayer. But where did this prayer come from and why do almost all Catholics know it?
The practice of saying a prayer before meals dates back to ancient times and has its origins in Jewish tradition. The Old Testament contains numerous references to blessing God before eating. For example, Deuteronomy 8:10 instructs, “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.”
Early Christians adopted this Jewish custom, incorporating it into their daily lives. The Didache, a 1st-century manual on Christian practices, includes instructions for giving thanks before meals.
During the medieval period, the practice of saying grace before meals became more formalized within the Church. Monastic communities, in particular, placed a strong emphasis on communal prayers, including those said before meals. These prayers often varied in length and content but always maintained the core purpose of expressing thanks to God.
It is likely in this medieval period that the “grace before meals” mentioned above was written. Although there is no clear author of this common prayer, its language, brevity, and simplicity are all indicative of medieval monastic influences.
So, to whichever monk or nun, man or woman, who composed the commonly known “grace before meals”—thank you! We will think of you each time our friends and families break out in communal prayer before a shared meal!
