From Pope Benedict XVI’s public address on Italy’s Thanksgiving Day, November 12, 2006:

Today … the annual Day of Thanksgiving is being observed…. In our families, we teach the little ones to thank the Lord always before eating, with a brief prayer and the sign of the cross. This custom must be kept or rediscovered, because it teaches [us] not to take our ‘daily bread’ for granted, but to recognize in it a gift of Providence. We should get into the habit of blessing the Creator for each thing: for air and water, precious elements which are the foundation of life on our planet; as well as for food that, through the fecundity of the earth, God gives us for our sustenance. Jesus taught his disciples to pray, asking the heavenly Father not for ‘my’ but for ‘our’ daily bread. Thus, he wanted every man to feel co-responsible for his brothers, so that no one would be without what is necessary to live. The earth’s products are a gift given by God for the whole human family.