This blast is coming a few days after the official Family Day celebration on September 22, 2008. On this day, families are encouraged to turn off their televisions, spend some time with each other, and have a meal together.
This annual event is sponsored by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, which studies, among other things, the sociological benefits of having a regular family meal. R esearch shows that regular family meals are linked to reduced risks of teen pregnancy, suicide , and drug addiction . R egular family meals can even improve student s’ standardized test scores. Can all those benefits really come from the simple act of eating together ? Yes!
If you don’t believe me, look to Jesus, who specifically used mealtime and food analogies to teach, heal, and protect his sheep . He ate with his disciples to teach them and ate with his enemies in order to befriend them and heal divisions. By feeding his sheep , he protected them from digesting the poison of false teachings. This is a message that I’ve been taking to churches and communities all over the world. T he result is always the same – a renewed understanding of the power of the meal.
So, I offer this blast, even if it is a few days late, as a reminder this celebration can’t be limited to a single day. The hope is that families will continue this practice every day, because children are starving for their parent s’ attention. I also want to remind our readers that Family Day is not limited to a particular country.
The Grace Before Meals movement is calling together families from around the world to celebrate the blessing of food on the table and more importantly, the blessings of the people around the table.
This weekly message is not about boasting, it simply celebrates the fact that the Grace Before Meals movement is bringing our world a little closer together . Several months ago, Moyo from Nigeria emailed me to say that she wanted to call this “our” movement. She’s 100% correct. Families in Japan, Vietn am, the Philippines, Australia, parts of Europe, and America have sent prayers, pictures, and recipes. All over the planet, people are reclaiming something that a busy world wants to take away – the family.
Thank God people are responding. And now, I humbly ask that we continue to do as Christ would do: keep inviting others. Consider doubling your efforts to spread this message to family, friends, and parishioners. God willing, someone out there will step forward and help us get this movement to the airwaves by sponsoring our show. God only knows we need to promote positive, not perfect, examples of families on TV.
Between now and the time that we find a sponsor and home network to air Grace Before Meals, I ask you to please pray for me and the entire Grace Before Meals team, so that we may feature your stories and families to inspire and strengthen good, holy relationships in the home. After all, it is with prayer that we truly celebrate Grace Before Meals.
So, happy Family Day. Even though I’m a few days late, it’s ok ! We should celebrate with our families every day.
Pupusa – El Salvador Celebrates Grace Before Meals
Juan de Dios Miraflores and his wife, Rebecca, of El Salvador, sent me a wonderful recipe for celebrating the Transfiguration of the Lord (August 6).
Instead of waiting to post this recipe for next year’s celebration of the Transfiguration, I have posted it today. W hy don’t we transform our families NOW with a regular family meal? Thanks Juan and Rebecca for being part of our family and for gracing us with this week’s recipe .
Click here for the recipe.
Family, Family, Family!
This past week, Zenit.org posted an article that spoke about the importance of families. Instead of a prayer, I’d like to share part of the article with you. I hope these words affirm who we are as members of God’s family. I pray that your families will be, as Cardinal Ennio Antonelli would say, “A burning fire” of beauty for the world.
VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 19, 2008 (Zenit.org) – Christian families must be a "burning fire" in society to show plainly the beauty of Christian life, says the president of the Pontifical Council for the Family. Cardinal Ennio Antonelli affirmed this Thursday when he met with a group of journalists to present the 6th World Meeting of Families, which will be held Jan. 13-18 in Mexico City. The theme is "The Family as Educator in Human and Christian Values." Benedict XVI had hoped to attend the meeting, but Vatican officials have recently reported that he will not make the trip.The "beauty of the family must be witnessed in a concrete way," explained Cardinal Antonelli, who called for "building genuine Christian families that can be a burning fire, a point of reference for all." He encouraged families characterized by "profound unity, respect of differences, generous openness to life" and "the care of the weakest." The cardinal mentioned the "two general lines of work" for the pontifical council he heads: to promote "respect for human life, the ethics of life, namely, so-called bioethics," and "the appreciation of the family in the Church, in culture and in civil society." He added, "Life and the family are fundamental goods of the person, who is not only an individual, that is, a unique subject, unrepeatable, free and self-conscious, but is constitutively in relation with others and with the Other."
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