Prayer After Meals Before Meals!

A very easy way to pray for the poor holy souls in purgatory is to pray 'Prayer After Meals':

We give Thee thanks for all Thy benefits, O Almighty God, who livest and reignest forever. And may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

But if you're anything like our family, the big question is: when does the meal end? We have been praying Prayer After Meals for years, but with difficulty, and only after supper because of that difficulty. Tiny tots end their eating at various times. Little children aren't able to sit at the table quietly and wait till everyone is done eating so that we can pray and end our meal simultaneously. And I imagine that a family with numerous middle-schoolers and teenagers may have a problem of people finishing their meal at various times because they are dashing off to evening events.

We tried our best and would let children be excused, but then call them back to the table (no easy task) to say the Prayer After Meals. Or, if most people were done eating, we'd announce that we were going to pray the concluding prayer, but that anyone still eating could finish up afterward. Awkward, at best.

Then we discovered that we know two families (each twice as large as ours) who have figured out an innovative solution to the awkwardness: pray Prayer Before Meals and Prayer After Meals at the start of the meals! As far as I know, the Prayer Police aren't going to knock on our door and tell us we're doing it wrong, all wrong.

Now all three meals start like this:

Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts which we are about to receive from Thy Bounty, through Christ, Our Lord. Amen. We give Thee thanks for all Thy benefits, O Almighty God, who livest and reignest forever. And may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

The meals end more peacefully, with children being excused as they finish eating--having to be called back only to help clean the kitchen, which is all the adventure I need each night. I calculate that with this simple change we've increased our prayers for the poor holy souls by more than 300%!