Grace Before Meals

We had a parish mission this week at church. Fr. John had been talking about it for a few weeks and proclaimed that this mission would open our eyes and renew our faith as we enter Pentecost. When we heard more about the priest coming to talk to us I learned that he is a chef and that drew me in to go even more. Anything with food sign me up!!

His name is Father Leo Patlinghug and he has a wide background. He currently has a cooking show on EWTN called Grace Before Meals. He was also on Throwdown with Bobby Flay and BEAT him!! 

For the first three nights he gave insightful and realistic talks on the saints, our Holy Mother, and the Eucharist. He found a way to speak to us and make us realize that we should be proud of our faith and embrace what the Church wants for us. He was hilarious and easily kept everyone's attention.

 I went with my mom and dad and several family members joined us each night. With each night I noticed that the church got a little fuller with people wanting to grow closer to God. The last night he did a cooking demonstration in the KJT hall and it was packed! He has such a wonderful way of preaching the word of God in an everyday life and funny manner. Fr. John did a great job on making this mission a reality and wanting his flock to be inspired to renew their faith in growing closer to God.

Here are a few pics from the last night

The crowd watching the cooking demonstration

Our dinner: Bacon and butternut squash with brandy sauce. It was absolutely, melt-in-your-mouth, delicious. To make the huge amount of food Aunt Tina got to help out and learn from him to make it for the big event. 

I bought one of his cookbooks, Spicing Up Married Life and had it signed by him.

I had to take a picture with him. He was such a sweet man and you can see how he has such a deep love for what he does. God is truly using him in as an instrument.

I want to start DVR-ing his cooking show and using his cookbook. My goal is to use one recipe form his cookbook a week.The cookbook also came with conversation starters for you and your spouse weaved into the pages to help you grow closer at dinner time. His big theme for the last night was to bring dinner back to the table. We see how quickly that has changed with the "fast food mentality" in our world, but we need to bring it back so we can keep our families rooted in faith. I want to start family meals at the table and begin with grace as we enter parenthood. Once we realize that we cannot do this alone, we can allow God to enter our lives and become a member of the family.