In childhood, my parents taught us to say grace at the dinner table before taking our first bite. It was always the same: “Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen.” In adulthood, my view on the prayer is that it is too routine, impersonal, and just feels unnatural to me.
There are some occasions where one person might say a less routine prayer of thanks on behalf of the entire group. Again, my level of comfort with this varies depending on who is sitting around the table with me. How can I speak for everyone’s thankfulness? So, I’ve opted to skip grace on most days and say it only when it feels right. On those occasions it has been more of a collaborative effort with me starting it off and YaYa contributing to the list when I have finished. That seems to work much better — for me at least.
With guests coming for YaYa’s sacraments and Easter, I would like to come up with a solution that works for not only me but everyone. I am thinking of starting it off with what “I” am thankful for (1-2 things) and then ask for each person in turn to add 1-2 things that they are thankful for. If it works, I’ll have much more to be thankful for; I’ll have something to carry forward.
Whether or not our daily bread is taken with grace out loud or internally to ourselves, I think the new approach will be a nice option to have.
We do “thankfuls” at my husband’s parents’. Not everyone around the table has a “Faith” and this way we all say something we’re thankful for and hold hands, squeezing the next person’s hand when we’re finished. I grew up Catholic and we always said the Grace you listed above, too. :)
I haven’t said those words in a very long time, but I remember that prayer quite well.
we go around the table and do the thankful thing – it was hard at Thanksgiving this year, especially for my little one – it’s always enlightening to hear what is on others’ minds and in their hearts. We’ve never done a formal grace at home but we do kind of “go with the flow” at school and Scout events when it’s offered.
I, personally, don’t like being put on the spot. My faith is deeply personal, and I rarely express it in public or even to other family members.
p.s. not being judgmental, just talking out loud :-)