Now she carries on the tradition of making family dinners and hosting gatherings with her own husband and children. When this happens it’s a tragedy because we are made for relationship by a God of relationship.”Ĭatherine felt called to write Gather Together to offer a remedy for the disconnectedness of our day, encouraging people to build relationships through gatherings centered on faith, family and community.Ĭatherine’s love for cooking and entertaining came from helping in the family kitchen when she was growing up. Combined with the distractions of technology and devices, you can miss the person sitting right across from you. While producing The Dating Project, Catherine saw how much disconnected relationships have impacted our world, and especially young people, observing, “Often the problems in the dating realm link back to the lack of foundational family and friend relationships. This spirit of family relationship is something that is lost in our culture.” And the fruit of that has borne out because my siblings are all faithful Catholics and have relationships with one another as adults. Our family was like a little city of activity, but dinner was when we all hit pause to come together. That is where we learned about our faith and our heritage. My father and mother had their own businesses but they made time to sit around the table with their family every night. “The home I was raised in appreciated the Catholic faith by conversion,” she said. It can elevate making dinner to a spiritual practice and act of love.” “A meal can be simple, but if it is made with love, connections are formed and lives can be changed. It holds a beautiful symbolism because this is when we recognize one another too,” she said. “Amazingly, they did not recognize Jesus until the Breaking of the Bread. She shared that she is always struck by the story of the disciples meeting Jesus on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection. It is an opportunity to connect the spiritual to the physical.” “Although we need food for practical reasons, food has a deeply spiritual component, which is why the special moments of our lives - like birthdays, sacraments, and all sorts of celebrations - are built around dinner. “When we sit down at a table, we have the chance to connect with an intentional, undivided attention that doesn’t happen at other times,” she said. For everyone, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, who embraces family gatherings and mealtimes, Catherine Fowler Sample’s book, Gather Together: Recipes and Reflections to Inspire Faith and Friendship Around the Table ( Ave Maria Press and available on Amazon) underscores the spiritual and personal values of togetherness.
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