Sunday Mealtime Prayers

This volume encourages families to pray to God in a way that unites them with the Universal Church and each other. The "Liturgy of Hours" (formerly called the "Divine Office") is the prayer of the Church, yet it has remained a largely unfamiliar and unused form of daily prayer because of its length and complexity. This book brings this prayer of the Church to families, "the little churches," in a simplified form. This set of 18 prayers, arranged according to the seasons of the liturgical year, blends mealtime prayers (at midday or in the evening) with traditional elements of the Church's daily prayer - psalms, scripture readings and intercessions. The prayers are provided in two forms and can be alternated for variety. Some Sundays also have proper prayers, for example, "Holy Family" and "Epiphany", "Passion" and "Palm Sunday" and "Easter Sunday". The psalms and scripture readings are taken from the Contemporary English Version of the Bible and the "Liturgical Psalter, and can be read and understood easily by people of all ages.
Psalms for seasonal use have been divided into parts for soloists, and are followed by a prayer asking for God's blessing on the meal and those who share it. Father Michael Kwatera is the author of three booklets in the "Ministry" series published by The Liturgical Press.