Food for the tummy that feeds the heart

Fr. Leo Patalinghug gave us a call this morning on Daybreak, and wow, did he make us hungry! His  Grace Before Meals movement, which has started a Catholic foodie frenzy on the web is growing into T.V. shows, and two very popular cookbooks which you can find here. Fr. Leo's whole philosophy is that the simple act of creating and sharing a meal can strengthen all kinds of relationships. It works! After all, Jesus Christ himself used that message when he shared the Last Supper with the Apostles. The video below gives you a little taste of Fr. Leo's philosophy:

The most striking part about Fr. Leo is his sense of fun, joy and his knowledge that God permeates everything that we do. He mentioned that he has prayed about what he is going to cook at his next dinner. God, he said, is interesting in EVERYTHING that is going on in your life! There is nothing you can tell him that he is not interested in. He wants to be a part of everything, including your next meal. So what are some things that we can do to make our meal time a time of formation and growth? Fr. Leo has the answers:

1. Eat meals with your family 5x per week, or as many as possible. The meals don't have to be fancy, they just have to be eaten together!
2.  Engage in family conversation while preparing meals. This can be a great time to accomplish something together!
3.  Say Grace before each meal. For a blessing, click here.
4.  Turn off the T.V. while eating dinner. This is a no-brainer. If you are focused on your family, you don't need any other for of entertainment.
5.  Introduce interesting topics for your family to discuss during dinner time. Get to know your kids, get to know your spouse again, and use that time to get to know them! 

 Put these tips into practice, and your meal time will be transformed into an hour of spiritual and human formation that builds your family into the kind of family that builds up the culture and the Church. For more information, visit gracebeforemeals.com. And make sure to tune into his weekly show on EWTN called Savoring our Faith, every Sunday at 8:30 EST!

Blessed are the peacemakers!

Today we had Fr. Scott Courtney in the studio. His characteristic joy spread all over the studios of Daybreak, and now we are ready to go out and be peacemakers! He pointed us to Matthew 5:3-12, the Beatitudes, that blueprint for living the Christian life.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be children of God."

What does this mean? Father Courtney says it means a whole lot more than just thinking peaceable thoughts. It means turning the other cheek, giving of yourself, and loving the person is your life who is just so hard to love. Ah, how difficult this is! How could I ever become a peacemaker?

Luckily for me, whenever I send these questions to the heavens, the Lord answers quickly and decidedly by putting me in situations where I can, in fact, practice being a peacemaker. (Geez, Lord, couldn't we have talked about this for a little while before you go and make me do it? No, he responds, Christians are people of action, people of heart!) Seriously, I walked out of the studio and BAM!, I was confronted with the the minor murmurings of the world. My spirit fell. "But Lord," I said, "I just felt really good about being peaceful a few minutes ago! Why do my circumstances insist on trying to thwart that?"

I went back to the Diary of Divine Mercy from St. Faustina, paragraph 1760:

Jesus said: "My daughter, I want to teach you about spiritual warfare. Never trust in yourself, but abandon yourself totally to my will. In desolation, darkness, and doubts, have recourse to ME and your spiritual director....Do not bargain with any temptation, lock yourself immediately in my heart...Put your self-love in LAST place...and bear yourself with great patience. Do not neglect interior mortifications. Shun murmerers like the plague... If someone causes you trouble, think what good you can do for the person who caused you to suffer.

"Jesus, you are right! There are plagues and troubles in every day, but with your strength and comfort, I can defeat evil the evil that inevitably weasels it's way into my mind today." I think of St. Therese of Lisieux, who once broke a sweat trying not to be irritated at one of her fellow sisters. Temptation plagues us all, my friends. But Father Courtney left us with one awesome challenge: Being a peacemaker does not mean you roll over and take a beating. It means you rise, and with courage and the confidence that Jesus Christ himself will guide your heart, you confront the temptation, praying for the mercy that you will defeat it.

The Catholic Church speaks for Truth

Today on the show, we spoke with Stacy Molai, a missionary with the Fellowship of Catholic University Students who is taking part in a class-action lawsuit against the Obama administration regarding the new HHS Mandate that requires all insurance companies to provide free birth control, sterilizations and abortifacients to every person living in the United States of America regardless of what their conscience tells them. Is this the land of the free, or is this the land of birth control? As Catholics, we need to stand up for our freedom and our consciences, while still providing education to those who may not have had the benefit of learning the Church's rich and wonderful teaching about the body and sexuality.

Stacy mentioned how many of her freedoms would be taken away should the mandate not be repealed. Bishop Lori, the lead for the USCCB’s Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty said: “We will continue our strong defense of conscience rights through all available legal means. Religious freedom is at the heart of democracy and rooted in the dignity of every human person. We will not rest until the protection of conscience rights is restored and the First Amendment is returned to its place of respect in the Bill of Rights.”

The Bishops have made it clear. There is no room for interpretation, we must defend our religious freedom, or submit to an environment of persecution. 

Watch this video where Fr. John Hollowell, a priest in Indianapolis, explains just where the Catholic Church stands on this matter. he is responding to  Cecile Richards, the CEO of Planned Parenthood, who challenged women to make their voice heard and stand up for their right to gain birth control.

No matter your political affiliation, now is the time to stand up for your Catholic faith. Let's go out and be Catholic today!

Listen to Stacy's interview on Daybreak with TJ and Rachel

Praying for Our Priests

We have heard over and over this week about how important it is to pray for our priests. They are the men who are out on the front lines, they are the men who battle for souls every day.

As our dear friends, the Brides of the Victorious Lamb mentioned, without our priests, we would not have the sacraments. We need the sacraments to deepen our relationship with God, and hopefully end up enjoying the eternal presence of Him in Heaven.

They are our conduits to grace! Because they hold this special vocation to the world, Pope Benedict the XVI says : “A priest must really be a man of God, he must know God intimately and know him in communion with Christ and so we must live this communion. Our being, our life and our heart must be fixed in God, in this point from which we must not stir.” Pope Benedict encourages the laity to pray for priests in the video below:

A group called Praying for our Priests took this request seriously, and collaborated with Msgr. Peter Dunne of Boystown to write a book of reflections and record audio prayers to help the laity keep in mind the holiness of the Priesthood and guide their prayers.

For resources to aid you in your call to pray for priests, visit http://prayingforourpriests.org/

Let them eat...humble pie?

Today on Daybreak, we talked with Fr. Andrew Roza, the chaplain at Columbus Scotus Catholic High School about the grisly subject of pride, and how we can conquer it through the freeing and ever-illusive virtue of humility. 

Father Roza said: "The only person that you need to be concerned about is the person God sees you as." When you're only focused on that, you allow God to love you into humility. You are free! Because you aren't so worried about what other people think, but just acting in love of God. This freedom actually makes for more boldness! Today, he challenged, allow Jesus to heal and evenaglize every part of your heart. 

One kicker that always helps is this famous Litany of Humility:

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being loved...
From the desire of being extolled ...
From the desire of being honored ...
From the desire of being praised ...
From the desire of being preferred to others...
From the desire of being consulted ...
From the desire of being approved ...
From the fear of being humiliated ...
From the fear of being despised...
From the fear of suffering rebukes ...
From the fear of being calumniated ...
From the fear of being forgotten ...
From the fear of being ridiculed ...
From the fear of being wronged ...
From the fear of being suspected ...

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I ...
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease ...
That others may be chosen and I set aside ...
That others may be praised and I unnoticed ...
That others may be preferred to me in everything...
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…

Lent is the perfect time to ask Jesus to purify us of our pride, and love our hearts into humility. 

Mother Delores Hart walks the red carpet again

Mother Prioress Delores Hart, O.S.B. made an appearance
at the Oscars last night. "God is Bigger than Elvis" - a documentary
about her turn from Hollywood to the Monastery was nominated.

Mother Delores Hart - it wasn't the name on the movie script, but it's been her name for 49 years after leaving Hollywood to become a Benedictine nun. Last Friday, we interviewed Mother Delores Hart - O.S.B., former Hollywood starlet whose life inspired a documentary that was nominated for the Oscars this year.

 It was absolutely enchanting to speak with her, as you can imagine. Her nostalgic and warm way of speaking about her happy days before entering the convent, her convicted passion for her life as a Benedictine...it was the perfect interview. She warmed my heart in a way that I can't explain. Anyway, this weekend, she made her appearance on the red carpet, much to the delight of popular media. The New York Times actually reported this morning that she presented at the Oscars in 1959! Can you imagine leaving that life to become a cloistered nun? It's something people in our day have a hard time imagining, but Mother Delores told us of a Hollywood that was much different from today's. She was actually quoted in a newspaper telling the story of how she and Elvis used to break open the bible every day before they went on set! Who knew that Elvis was a bible geek at one time.

Listen to her interview on Daybreak with TJ and Rachel. Make sure you scroll all the way down to see it.

What a beautiful role model of holiness and authenticity! For Mother Delores, she had to say goodbye to Hollywood to say yes to the Lord. What do you have to say goodbye to? We all have little "Hollywoods" on our life. Is God trying to tell you, that maybe, he is bigger than those things?

Rachel's Five Bright Ideas for Lent

Like we said on the show, we want to become 1% more Catholic each day of Lent. That's 40% more Catholic by the end of Lent. If everyone (1.1 billion Catholics in the world) does this, the world will be 44 BILLION PERCENT MORE CATHOLIC! How awesome is that?

Rachel’s 5 Ideas for a Super-Catholic Lent

      1. Pick up a challenging spiritual read. You know, the kind that you have to go to the adoration chapel with to acquire enough concentration to get through. It’ll work your spiritual muscles as well as your brain!

2. Pay close attention to what the Holy Father is praying for. It’ll connect you to the universal Church, and it will be a good exercise in praying of others, even the ones you can’t see!

3    3. Spinning off of Daybreak’s favorite housekeeping guru, the Fly Lady’s advice, make a resolution to purge your house of one possession each day of Lent. That’s 40 items pitched or given to charity. You’ll end with a cleaner, simpler life!

4      4. Strive to use Sundays for authentic recreation. This doesn’t mean zoning out in front of the T.V., this means spending time building relationships with your family, friends, and the LORD. Perhaps this would be a good time to spend time teaching your children about the Catholic faith!

5     5. And here’s a humdinger to end on: Resolve to say 5 positive things about other people, ideas, things, whatever, for every negative thing you say. This isn’t about being sun-shiney, this is about acknowledging Christ’s victory in the world!

No matter what you do, make sure you follow the priest's advice: Make sure it brings you closer to JESUS.