I’m virtually sweeping out the family room in time for our guests tomorrow.

Tom you know from the Blog-alogue and Bret you’ve come across from previous mentions of The Meal Box.  Bret and Tom will be “virtually visiting” the blog on Thursday.  They are both husbands and fathers and have a passion for making mealtimes a “sacred space” for families to talk and bond with each other.   They know all about the realities of overly-scheduled lives and so their suggestions for family discussion and reflection are neither overly-pious or heavy.

Bret & Tom will be delighted to talk with you about any questions or issues you might have surrounding families and faith.  Please don’t leave them sitting alone with me in the family room.  Come and join in the conversation.

You can buy The Meal Box at the special discount price of $6.97 from today until Monday.  Click here and enter pfomeal as you check out.

Here’s Tom’s response to my blog-alogue posting on the Sacrament of Reconciliation. [I swear I didn't set him up to do a plug for the DVD...]

Paul,

Your reminiscence about the stern confessor who felt it was his duty to alert you to your imminent damnation reminds me of that lovely Gospel passage where Jesus walked through Galilee informing men, women, and especially little children that they were going to hell. Oh…. no, I guess I don’t recall seeing that passage at all. So I wonder why so many Christians feel it’s their duty to be on damnation patrol.

What piques my interest when I hear your enthusiasm for the Sacrament of Reconciliation is how eager you are to help people find their way out of their messes and into the light of Christ. Of course we’re all sinners–what’s the news there? The real news–the Good News–is that there’s a way out of sin and into a new and more abundant life, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation can be a source of that freedom. I heard this message from you especially in the Jesuits on…Reconciliation video from Loyola Productions which I recommend to anyone who wants to better understand how confession can truly be good for their soul.   

Believe it or not, I DO enjoy going to confession, though I am careful about who I confess to, trusting only those who convey a sense that they’ve recognized their own need for the great grace of God’s mercy and received it in abundance.

Tom

Tom McGrath is in fine fettle but is still digging himself out of an email mountain.  We will get back to the Blog-alogue, I hope and pray, but in the meantime…   Regular readers will know how much I love the poetry of Mary Oliver.  Here are a few lines from Mysteries, Yes:

Let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers.
 
Let me keep company always with those who say
“Look!” and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.

The gift of wonder is a pearl of great price.

Welcome to the second day of the First Annual People for Others Blog-Alogue (blog dialogue). Today my colleague Tom McGrath, author of Raising Faith-Filled Kids and co-author with Bret Nicholaus of The Meal Box, responds to my question with another question. Clearly he’s been hanging around Jesuits too long. Tom writes: 
  
Paul:
 
You got our blog-alogue off to a great start by responding to my question, “What’s the one personality trait in St. Ignatius that you most admire?”  Constancy? That’s a great quality to raise up in a culture that likes to keep it’s options open.
 
One of the questions you put to me connects to a trait I admire in Ignatius so I’ll give that one a whack. You asked, “How do you know God loves you?” Not to get too Bill Clinton on you, but it depends on the meaning of “know” y’know? I struggled with the essence of the question of trusting in God’s love for many years until I accepted that there are many ways of knowing beyond the cerebral. Once I was willing to give credence to the wisdom of my body, my intuition, my heart and my soul I realized I have always known God’s love. The main question is whether I will accept it or not.
 
Which brings me to Ignatius. The trait I admire most in him was his willingness to question his own mental processes and to explore and integrate what he learned from his emotions, his desires, the whole range of his experiences. For someone with a reputation as a cerebral sort, Ignatius offers a great method of welcoming the whole person, fully human and fully alive.
 
So, Paul, how do you know God loves you? Inquiring minds want to know.
 
Tom

Blog-logue!, Blog-alogue, the third, Blog-alogue, IV

Welcome to the First Annual People For Others Blog Dialogue [Blog-alogue] between your genial host and Tom McGrath, author of Raising Faith-Filled Kids and, with Bret Nicholaus, of The Meal Box.  Over the next several days, I will answer a question from Tom.  He will respond either by reacting to what I wrote or by responding to one of the questions I have already given to him.

The first question Tom asked surprised me a little: “What’s the one personality trait in St. Ignatius that you most admire?” 

Hmm.  His constancy.  After being injured by a cannon ball at Pamplona, he took quite a bit of time to consider what to do with the rest of his life.  Once he decided to follow Christ as a pilgrim, however, he never seems to have faltered or looked back. 

He made mistakes, (letting himself get to a Howard Hughes-level of unkemptness at one stage and considering murdering a Muslim for a perceived slight against the Virgin Mary are two examples that spring immediately to mind), but his love for, and complete dedication to, His Lord Jesus Christ never changed or lost any ardor.

As someone who has trouble committing definitively to vanilla icecream over strawberry, I admire people who make their choices and stick with them through thick and thin.

Blog-logue, part deux, Blog-alogue, the third, Blog-alogue, IV

TV, video games, iPods and cell phones mean that our lives are filled with noise.  The quantity of this communication, however, comes at the expense of quality.  It is a sad commonplace that most parents and children talk to each other for less than 5 minutes a day – one knowledgable source I asked about this suggested it was about 2.6 minutes per day.  How sad is that?

For this reason, Bret Nicholaus and Tom McGrath of Loyola Press have put together “The Meal Box,”  a deck of 52 cards with a fun and thought-provoking question on one side and a practical tip for parents on the other side which helps them apply the question to their family’s faith live.

For example,

“If someone gave you $1,000 in cash – in the form of ten $100 bills – and told you that you had to give it all away within twenty-four hours, to whom would you give the money?

Food for Family Thought:  Advertising fills our children’s imaginations with many things they can acquire and possess. Counter that by showing your child the joy of being a creative giver.  For example, invite your child to donate toys and clothes to those in need or to assist a neighbor who could use a helping hand.”