Archbishop Comensoli: blessing prayers before meals
06 September 2024
Melbourne Catholic
As we travel deeper into this Year of Prayer—and following on from his video reflections on the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be—Archbishop Peter A Comensoli reflects on perhaps the oldest prayer form of all: blessing prayers before meals.
Jesus himself practised this form of prayer with his friends as they gathered with him at the table, Archbishop Comensoli says, and from the time of the ancient Israelites right up to today, these humble prayers of gratitude have drawn us closer to each other and to God.
As well as the most common form of blessing prayer, so familiar to many of us, Archbishop Comensoli points out that there is a Eucharistic form of this prayer, which we pray every time we celebrate the Mass: ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of all creation, for through your goodness, we have received the bread and wine we offer to you.’
‘A blessing prayer,’ he says, ‘can be quite a good teaching and learning experience for our young ones and for families more generally, to give expression to the blessing of God in our lives’, and he gives a few examples of some creative ways families and individuals can incorporate these prayers Into their mealtimes.
Blessing prayers, he concludes, open us up ‘to the great gift of God, who comes to us in the gift of our meals’.
Transcript:
Hello friends.
I wonder if you’ve ever thought about what the oldest prayer is. Quite possibly, it’s a blessing prayer before meals.
We know of blessing prayers for food which go back to the Book of Genesis, to the prehistory of our salvation in the time of the patriarchs. It was a daily part of the life of the ancient Israelites, firstly as they made their journey through the desert, and then in the Promised Land. It was certainly something that Jesus practised, a blessing prayer over meals. And it’s a feature many families today make use of.
The blessing prayer before meals is a simple, grateful, I think, and communal prayer. It’s a humble thing taking place around the table. It’s a family thing. I think you probably already know the most common form of that blessing prayer. It goes: Bless us, O Lord, and these your gifts, which of your goodness, or bounty, we are about to receive through Christ our Lord. Amen.
There’s also a Eucharistic form to the blessing prayer. Every time we celebrate Mass, we say: Blessed be the Lord, the God of all creation, for through your goodness, we have received the bread and wine we offer to you.
A blessing prayer, though, can be quite a good teaching and learning experience for our young ones and for families more generally, to give expression to blessing of God in our lives.
So you might think about ways in which that can be done in your context at home. I’ve seen little boxes of cards with a whole series of prayers written on them, and someone at the table picks up their card and says the prayer at the appropriate time. Another thing I’ve seen is an octagonal block of wood, and there’s a prayer on each of the surfaces, and you make a choice of which one you might have in the family table each time. Or they just do a freelancing prayer of blessing and thanksgiving to God.
The blessing prayer over a meal is great for families, ways in which you can come together as a family over a meal, but doing so with the blessing, and the graciousness of God is present with you.
But it’s also good for the individual. Sometimes we sit and have a meal by ourselves, and we can pray and know that we are not alone in that meal, because God is there with us.
So can I offer you the blessing prayer before meals as something that you might take up? Or if you’re already doing so, to be renewed in that beautiful way of praying. Ancient, it’s good, and it opens us to the great gift of God, who comes to us in the gift of our meals.
