"Excuse me, but is that your book?" Debbie asked me as we were filing out the door after Mass this morning. She had spotted the Valentine's gift I had given to my husband this year. It's by "the Cooking Priest", an award winning cook and television host who uses the occasion of dinner time to bring families closer together.
There is a wonderful You Tube clip that shows Fr. Leo in action and will give you an idea of how wonderful his ministry to families is. It is available on his website called "Grace Before Meals."
If you've seen Fr. Leo on TV before, then you'll be glad to know that, even better, he is coming to Raleigh on March 10-12, 2013. Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church is hosting him for their Lenten Mission, open to everyone at no charge, from 7-8:30 PM each night to share his philosophy of family togetherness as presented in his book "Grace Before Meals."
The book I gave to Jim is Fr. Leo's second one called, "Spicing Up Married Life" which he wrote in honor of his parents' 50th wedding anniversary. After hearing about this book, I checked local bookstores and amazon.com, but couldn't find it anywhere. I was able to order it directly from his website.
The idea behind his book is that we should celebrate our marriages not just annually, but at least every month on our special date throughout the year. And he offers recipes, reflections, and conversation starters to help couples do just that. Tonight Jim and I are going to follow the first chapter since it is the 26th, the monthly anniversary of our wedding date more than twenty-four years ago. To that end, I've read the chapter, shopped for the ingredients for the first meal, made arrangements for our son to eat on his own ("Mom, why don't you get me some more of that baked potato and cheddar soup and you and dad eat on your own?"), and planned to set up a special table in front of the fireplace to enjoy our "date night" together.
"Kids at high school have been celebrating their monthly dating anniversaries since the beginning of time," our son Connor advised us. "It's probably because they never know how long their relationships will last."
Well, we can take it from the experts on romantic love. And pray that with God's love in the center, our love will last our whole lives through.
Thanks for the blog post and FB post on Fr. Leo, showed it to my hubby and we're gonna try to make it to the Sunday night March 10th with Fr. Leo...will also check out his website and books, sounds like he's on to something!
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