People from all parts of the globe have been inspired by Fr. Leo and Grace Before Meals. Here are just a few of their personal stories. If you have a story or tip you’d like to share, send it to comments@gracebeforemeals.com.
I want to thank you personally and on behalf of our parishioners for your wonderful contribution to our "Little Flower Retreat." I have heard rave reviews from those who attended. They greatly appreciated your spiritual insights and your spirited homilies. We all benefit from an enriched spiritual life here at the Church of the Little Flower. Many thanks! Be assured of my prayers for your continued success in bringing the Word of God to His People. Please come back and spend some time with us.
Thank you again for the beautiful job you did at Little Flower, reviving and inspiring us. You remain in our prayers as you continue to pursue your vocation. Surely you too will continue to touch many lives and feed many hungry souls. May God continue to bless you! I look forward to reading your book and keeping up with you on PBS. And of course I’ll remember to subtract at least 5 pounds from your TV image!
Gratefully in the Lord,
Rev. Msgr. Peter J. Vaghi, Pastor
Church of the Little Flower, Bethesda, MD
For me, food is such an important way to connect with people. I was fortunate to learn this from my mom, who taught me to “ring the doorbell with your elbow.” She was always delivering bread and baked goods, a pot of soup to elderly neighbors and others in need. Even though we didn’t have much money to spare, she always found a way to share. She always had a moment to talk with people, a kind word to say, time for a cup of tea and to sit and listen in a sincere, unhurried way. Even though she was not famous, she touched many lives and those whose lives she touched, even briefly, were the better for it. And so were their stomachs.
Thank you again for the beautiful job you did at Little Flower, reviving and inspiring us. You remain in our prayers as you continue to pursue your vocation. Surely you too will continue to touch many lives and feed many hungry souls. May God continue to bless you! I look forward to reading your book and keeping up with you on PBS. And of course I’ll remember to subtract at least 5 pounds from your TV image!
I saw that you were in CO – my home state. If you return keep us posted on your tour!
Suzanne P.
Bethesda, MD
Greetings Father Leo,
I really enjoy your recipes and emails!! We cooked the Mango Chutney Grilled Ckn – that was awesome! My favorite so far! I Just wanted to provide you with encouragement to keep up your great work for Our Lord with the gifts given you. You are doing great things!
I saw that you were in CO – my home state. If you return keep us posted on your tour!
God Bless you,
Joe
Dear Fr. Leo,
If you wont mind can I forward this message to friends both international and around USA. It is my desire not only to read your emails but to spread the good news. I will tell them about you, Fr. Leo. I'm impressed. Our best wishes to you and the whole family.
Keep up the good work.
Regards,
Jaime W and Family
Thanks to you I won a gift certificate for lunch for two at a local culinary school worth about $40.00 I stumped the chef because he didn't know what goya is- I wouldn't have known either without your web site. So THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
Janet S.
Father,
It was such a huge blessing to us and our community to have you as our speaker for the BLD Youth Toronto Convention. You have touched the hearts of our Youth and the parents.
I visited your website and it is awesome. I just have to control myself listening and watching your shows during office hours.
Father, can you touch on a topic on your video or how can we balance the needs of our family, work and our responsibility for our church/community in general? Sometimes, we confuse things and more often trade our family’s needs with church work. I would think it would be good if you enlighten us on this.
Thank you and God Bless
Natty N.
Toronto, Ontario
Good Morning Father Leo,
I will certainly cherish the "time" you spent showng such genuine LOVE to the "BLD YIC 2008" this past weekends. Those 3 days were actually and certainly a "calling" for all the Kids of BLD - especially our kids in Cincinnati.
Through your vibrant and powerful messages, you have touched my heart by GOD's mysterious way, HIS LOVE AND HIS GRACE . I know there are many conservative families that still struggle with "Self directed lifestyles" versus "Christ directed lifestyles." We ARE prone to this worldly behaviour if we are not careful…Like Jesus says, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is not.
Thank you Father Leo for these messages. My family loves you…and we will be praying for you as you continue to spread the gospel and awesomeness of our Lord Jesus Christ.. We hope to see you one day!
Your Brother in Christ,
Mavi O.
Cincinatti, OH
Dear Father Leo,
It was a pleasure for me and my wife to finally meet you even just how brief it was. We really enjoy reading your articles and they certainly have nurtured my mind and even have lasting impact, spiritually.
We will continue to pray for you and may you always be showered with strength and wisdom to carry on your mission.
God Bless
Archie
Hello Father Leo,
I have to tell you that I absolutely love your show! I was raised to believe that family meals were a great way to help our brood grow closer and stay updated on what was going on in everyone's busy lives. It was pretty noisy because there were 9 of us (7 kids) but it really made a lasting impression on all of us.
We now host "Sunday Dinner" at our house each week and my adult children come and bring their friends. We all have a great time. We take turns cooking and many times we'll do things that everyone can have a hand in like pizzas or shish kabobs. Sharing food, fun and quality time with these bright young adults is very satisfying and in the end they have all become part of our big happy family.
My youngest daughter and I now watch your web casts religiously. No pun intended but it works! I sent the link for your website to all of my siblings as I know they too will find your message (and great recipes!) to be enjoyable and meaningful. I look forward to hearing you speak at the Atlanta conference next week.
Best Regards,
Jill J.
Dear Father Leo,
Thank you for coming to our parish today to share your wonderful
message. The lunch was delicious and you were delightful!
I want you to know that you made me really think about how often we
are too busy to eat as a family. I shared this with my daughter and
she is very excited to have more family dinners at the table instead
of standing around the kitchen or in the family room with the tv on.
While we nearly always eat as a family, there are too many
distractions and we aren't connecting.I am eager to try your recipies and conversation ideas. I purchased
two extra cookbooks for Mother's Day but have already given my Mother
hers! She was thrilled to have a personalized copy. Again, thank you!
I look forward to your show and hope to see you make a big difference
in our often off track society. I plan to share your website and
concept with as many people as I can in hopes of helping you spread
your message.Good luck to you and thank you again for the lesson, lunch and
laughs. You are truly brilliant and God must be proud of your work.God bless,
Heather R.
Dear Father Leo:
I have been so touched and renewed by the visit of our Holy Father that I just needed to reach out to someone in the clergy to share my thoughts. As a subscriber to your blog for over a year, I know that you can relate to my joy and I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to briefly share a few thoughts with you. I so want our Church to move forward from the recent scandals and negative press and I would never have expected that the Holy Father's visit would be such a catalyst to this healing process. His critics have said that he lacked the personality and ability to reach and touch the people that his great predecssor had, and they will be eating thier words after this visit. In the early stages of his visit, the press focused on protesters with signs and the public seemed to be divided in receiving him. But as his visit progressed, an overwhelming majority of people of all races, religions, political and social affiliations seemed to join in the positive and touching grace of his presence. His words were perfectly constructed to address the issues of the day and seemed to firmly establish that his Church stands strong and ready to move forward. So many times this weekend, I found myself moved to tears as I watched and listened to Pope Benedict. I know that you as a loyal servant of our Church must be so proud to be wearing the collar representing your commitment to Christ. I am sure that you are always proud, but I hope that the response you get from Catholics and non-Catholics will be enhanced by the unifying words and presences of the Holy Father. What an awesome time to be a Catholic in our country! I feel that we can move from a cautious and sometimes defensive posture to a positive and healing way. I continue to pray for you in your mission and predict that you will be hearing similar comments from others as a result of this visit. God be with you Father Leo and thank y ou for your efforts to reach out to our youth. You to do wonderful in your efforts to spread the word. I think the next few months may be busy for those priests responsible for the development of vocations. Hopefully, some young men were touched by the Holy Father and will step forward to explore a commitment to Christ through vocation.
Thank you,
Joe O'Donnell
I think this ministry is very important in the life of the Church -- parents are always looking for ways to share their faith & often the only strategy open to them is trying to force their kids to go to church! Reminding them of the special opportunity to be together in faith at an ordinary daily event like a meal is truly a gift.
Father Gilbert Martinez, CSP
Church of Saint Paul the Apostle
NY, NY
From February 24-26 we had the pleasure of hosting Fr. Leo Patalinghug to lead our Lenten parish mission. Although we are a relatively small parish of 411 families, the response was great. We had almost 200 people each night as Fr. Leo spoke about finding Jesus in the Communion of Saints, the Blessed Mother and the Eucharist.
What really stood out to me was the wide variety of age groups that were attracted; from elementary students and high school students to college students, married couples and retirees. Fr. Leo used his many gifts of teaching (not to mention martial arts, cooking and break dancing!) to render a presentation that was prayerful, entertaining and inspiring. His work was a perfect super-charger for us in the midst of our Lenten journey.
Fr. Tim McKeown
St. Matthew Parish
Statesboro, Georgia
My children and I have the best time during our meals together. This is the time when we have our best conversations. We play a game together once a week — “The Mexican Lottery”, — an equivalent to bingo — and they love it.
Your idea is just great, and it is something so simple — be together, eat together, and pray together.
Father, God Bless you always in everything you do.
Laura, NC
Our family is a newly retired military family. The past 4 years have been filled with stress and constant transition. Prior to moving to Germany in 2003, we had a standard 5:30pm family meal time. Once our boots hit European soil, we were going in so many directions we were lucky if I cooked a home made dinner once a week!
Returning stateside in 2006 didn't see much change as my husband’s schedule in the Army Band and our daughter’s activities rarely meshed, and we became fast food or frozen dinner junkies eating according to our individual schedules.
Our girls (now in high school) are still very busy with clubs and activities and rarely get home before 5pm. My husband’s new work schedule, though predictable, doesn't get him home at dinner time at all. So, not wanting to live on frozen dinners forever or always dining alone, I changed dinner time to 8pm.
On the days my girls do not have after school activities, I surprise them with an afterschool snack, brownies, cookies, deviled eggs, sliced apples and dip, even celery and peanut butter — stuff they loved when they were preschoolers! They may be cool teenagers now, but they still like the comfort of an afterschool snack made by mom and perhaps look forward to coming home to see what surprise I've made.
Finally, we are back on track as a family, connecting once again over the dinner table and home cooked meals. I can visibly see the stress and tension evaporating from my family as I rediscover the joy of cooking, and they enjoy my cooking again!
Kathleen
