You know, children, that people prepare their food from what, by the grace of God, grows in the fields. If God does not give warmth and rain in due time, then the fields will not produce grain bread of various fruits and herbs; people will have nothing to bake bread with and cook food from, there will be nothing to feed livestock; This means there will be no meat, no milk, no eggs. So, we must remember that the food we eat is a gift from God. But God’s gift must be accepted and used always with prayer and God’s blessing. Therefore, the Holy Church established that Orthodox Christians must pray to God before eating food and after eating it. Cross yourself, children, and say a prayer with me before eating, in conversational language that you can understand.
Lord, the eyes of everyone look to You with hope, and You give them food in a timely manner, You open Your generous hand and fill every living creature with Your mercy.
In this prayer, we express to God that we rely on Him to receive everything necessary for existence, and it is as if we receive the prepared food from the hands of God Himself, Who promptly and generously gives not only people, but also any living creature as many gifts as it can accept. In church terms, this prayer does not sound the same as in colloquial dialect.
Lord, the eyes of all look to You with hope, as the church says: The eyes of all look to You, Lord, to trust. You give them food in a timely manner, according to the Church: You give them food in due season. You open Your generous hand in the church way: You have opened Your generous hand. You fill every living creature with Your mercy, as the church says: fulfilling every animal with good will.
Instead of this prayer, before eating, you can read the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father...
What, children, is our food made from? Why is food called God's gift? Why do you need to pray to God before eating? What prayer is prescribed to be said before eating? What do we express to God in this prayer? How does this prayer sound in a church way? How do you say it in church eyes? How they look with hope - and so on. What words are spoken without change in the church way? Don't people read prayers before eating? Do they read the Lord's Prayer?