I was over at Ali's house for dinner tonight. When she cooks and we sit down to eat I feel like I'm supposed to say grace. And so I do. Which is weird.
When I was growing up, we said my dad's version of grace. It goes, "We thank thee Heavenly Father for this food, and bless it to our use. Help us through this day and night, help us to do right, and save us for Christ's sake, amen."
I looked it up on Google to find out what words are really used (you know how kids hear different words? Like the Jimi Hendrix song where he sings "Kiss the sky" but another person heard "Kiss this guy".), but I couldn't find the prayer out there at all. I even tried different chunks of it the words and couldn't find one that resembled it at all.
We were apparently quite rebellious in our religion. Woo!
My mom's family, on the other hand, was happy to use the grace that the Roman Catholics provided.
"Bless us, O Lord, and these, thy gifts, which we are about receive from thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord, amen."
It's okay. I like my dad's better, though. It feels earthier. The Catholic one you could say when you were filling the car with gas or going to wear perfume. And, to a kid, the Catholic one is just a bunch of words: thy? receive? bounty? through? What's coming through the bounty?
When I look on beliefnet.com, it looks like the Catholics and Protestants have other "prayers before meals" but that's the one that's listed as traditional. It's listed as traditional on the Protestant page, too.
I have now reached the end of my knowledge.
My opinion, of course, doesn't end there. Perhaps it's a good thing to always have a grace to say.
If Ali cooks for me again, I'll treat her to a different one. And, although I have an aversion to rhymey, sing-songy verse, I might have to consider the Johnny Appleseed prayer. "The Lord is good to me, and so I praise the Lord! For giving me the things I need, the sun and the rain and the appleseed! The Lord is good to me!"
Or I might not.
I looked at Buddhist prayers thinking there might be something deep and powerful. Silly Dotty! These people aren't into eating! They're all about living in the moment, nourishing "our bodies so we may work for the benefit of all sentient beings".
I don't know that I'd be interested in eating, at that point. It doesn't feel tasty. I'd probably be feeling like, "Mm, nah, you go ahead and chew on the bamboo stalks. Yes, yes, be sentient, by all means. Oh, help yourself to that pile there! All those rocks are yours for tasting! Don't let me get in your way. I'm going to go suck on my toes or something. You know, fuller flavor."
I'm not really impressed with the prayers that I've found. I think it's good that I'm not the girl assigned by God to listen to grace as it's said all over the world. I'd come to him with a pad of paper written on in every possible spot. I'd say, "You have to do something about that stupid food/good rhyme. I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say, 'God it great! God it good! Now let's thank Him for this Fud.'"
So I might not have the job long.
So grace it is, when Ali's cooking up a storm. And Ali's stuck with prayers already presented or my final, highly educated offerings.
Good bread, good meat, good God, let's eat.
1, 2, 3 Yea God!
Posted by dotty at March 5, 2006 11:11 PM | TrackBack