Everyday grace
Lord, thank You for this food and for the hands that made it. Bless our meal and our time together, and make us thankful people. Amen.
“Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever.”
A one-line grace
For food, for family and for Your faithful love, we thank You, Lord. Amen.
“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
A busy weeknight grace
Father, we are tired and hungry and grateful. Thank You for this meal and for each other. Give us rest tonight, and be with us at this table. Amen.
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
A grace with guests
Lord, thank You for the food before us and the friends around us. Bless this table, and let everyone here feel welcome, the way You welcome us. Amen.
“Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.”
Traditional graces
Many Christians pray the same words at the table that their grandparents prayed. Here are three of the best known, with where each one comes from.
Bless us, O Lord is the traditional Catholic grace. It is the English form of an old Latin grace that begins “Benedic, Domine,” and it is listed in the Roman Ritual without any author's name. It most likely began in monasteries.
Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest is the table prayer Lutherans call the Common Table Prayer. It began in German. It is often credited to Martin Luther, but it is not found in any known writing from the Reformation era; its earliest known printing is in a German schoolbook from 1698.
Psalm 145:15-16 is the grace Martin Luther gave families in his Small Catechism (1529): say these verses at the table, then the Lord's Prayer, then a short blessing asking God to bless us and His gifts. In the King James Version, “meat” simply means food.
Bless us, O Lord (Catholic)
Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
“For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”
Come, Lord Jesus (Lutheran)
Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen.
“And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.”
“The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.”
A prayer for daily bread
When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He included a request for food: bread for today. Many families pray the whole Lord's Prayer before meals, and this grace grows out of that one line in Matthew 6:11.
Our daily bread
Father, Jesus taught us to ask You for bread for today, so we ask You now, and we thank You, because here it is. Give us what we need tomorrow too, and provide for those who are still waiting for theirs. Teach us to trust You one day at a time. Amen.
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
Prayer before meals for kids
Children pray best with short words and a little rhythm. Let them take turns leading, or go around the table and let everyone name one thing they are thankful for. Very young children can repeat a grace one line at a time. The call-and-response grace follows the pattern of Psalm 136, where every verse ends with the same answer. For bedtime and other moments, see these prayers for children.
A rhyming grace
God who made the sun and rain, God who made the fields of grain, thank You for this food today. Bless our table, Lord, we pray. Amen.
“He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth”
A repeat-after-me grace
Dear God, thank You for our food. Thank You for our family. Help us to share and be kind. Amen.
“O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”
A call-and-response grace
Leader: For the food on our plates. All: Thank You, God! Leader: For the people at this table. All: Thank You, God! Leader: For Your love that never ends. All: Thank You, God! Amen.
“O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”
Thanksgiving dinner prayer
For the one meal of the year when everyone may be at the table, including people who do not usually pray. Keep it warm and short, and remember anyone who is missing. For more, see our Thanksgiving prayers.
A Thanksgiving grace
Gracious God, thank You for this table and everyone around it: for those who traveled far and those who cooked all day, for old friends and new faces. Thank You for the harvest and for every hand that brought this food to us. We remember the people we miss today and hold them in our hearts. Bless this meal and the conversation that follows, and make us generous people all year long. Amen.
“The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.”
Christmas dinner prayer
A grace for Christmas dinner that remembers whose birth we are celebrating, and the people for whom this season is hard.
A Christmas grace
Lord Jesus, on the day we celebrate Your birth, we thank You for coming to be with us. Thank You for this meal, for the people we love and for the joy of being together. There was no room for You at the inn; make room for You at our table and in our hearts. Comfort anyone here who is grieving or lonely this year. Amen.
“they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
A grace that remembers people who are hungry
A full table is a good moment to remember people whose tables are not full. Scripture links God's blessing with sharing bread, and a grace like this one can lead to something small and real: a bag for the food bank, a meal for a neighbor, a seat at your table.
For those who are hungry
Lord, thank You that we have enough today. Many do not. Be near to every family that will go to bed hungry tonight, and to every child who is not sure of the next meal. Do not let us eat and forget. Show us what we can share this week, and give us glad hearts to share it. Amen.
“He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.”
Why Christians say grace before meals
Saying grace goes back to Jesus. When He fed four thousand people, “he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake” (Mark 8:6, KJV), and after His resurrection He blessed and broke bread with two disciples at Emmaus (Luke 24:30). Paul gave thanks for bread on a ship in a storm, “in presence of them all” (Acts 27:35, KJV), so grace is not only for quiet kitchens.
It is also an old way of remembering. Israel was told, “When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God” (Deuteronomy 8:10, KJV). Before a meal or after it, a grace says out loud what is easy to forget: food is a gift, and so are the people we share it with.
Frequently asked
What is a good grace before meals?
A simple one is: “Lord, thank You for this food and for the hands that made it. Bless our meal and our time together. Amen.” Any honest thanks will do. Many families also use a traditional grace, such as the Catholic “Bless us, O Lord” or the Lutheran “Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest.”
What is the Catholic prayer before meals?
The traditional Catholic grace is: “Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen.” It is the English form of an old Latin grace that begins “Benedic, Domine,” which appears in the Roman Ritual without an author's name.
What is the Lutheran prayer before meals?
Many Lutheran families pray the Common Table Prayer: “Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen.” It began in German, and its earliest known printing is in a schoolbook from 1698. It is often credited to Martin Luther, but it is not found in any known writing from the Reformation era. Luther's Small Catechism (1529) gives a different grace: Psalm 145:15-16, the Lord's Prayer and a short blessing.
Why do Christians pray before eating?
Because Jesus did. He gave thanks before He fed the crowds and blessed the bread at Emmaus, and Paul teaches that food is good when it is received with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:4-5). A grace before meals is a simple way to remember that food is a gift from God and to bring Him into an ordinary part of the day.
What is a good prayer before meals for kids?
Keep it short and simple: “Dear God, thank You for our food. Thank You for our family. Help us to share and be kind. Amen.” Rhymes and call-and-response graces help children join in. Letting each child take a turn leading, or name one thing they are thankful for, makes grace their own.
Who should say grace at Thanksgiving dinner?
Anyone can. Often the host prays or asks someone else to, and it can be lovely to let a child or a grandparent lead. Keep it short and warm, especially if some guests do not usually pray: thank God for the food, the cooks and the people at the table, remember anyone who is missing, and say amen.
Grace at a messy table
Real family meals are rarely calm. Someone is late, someone spills, the baby will not sit still and the food is getting cold. That is fine. Grace does not need a quiet room. A ten-second thank you, said over the noise, is still a family turning toward God together, and children learn more from the habit than from any single prayer.
If your family likes to read a little Scripture after dinner, Faithero can read any chapter aloud, verse by verse, while you clear the table. Matthew 6, where Jesus teaches the Lord's Prayer, is a good place to start.
Short prayers before meals
A grace does not need to be long. Each of these takes about ten seconds, and any of them can be prayed by a child or a guest.