Food and Drink

What did Fr Alan said about food and drink?

I have already mentioned Fr Alan said we have not been called to be puritans and on feast days the vino must flow. 

During the first year of me worshiping at St Charles, Ogle Street, W1, I heard Fr Alan saying on one Easter Sunday morning that there were lamb, fish on the table during the Easter morning breakfast and vino was flowing. 

At that time I was rather surprised that people could eat fish, lamb and drink wine early on Easter morning.

Fr Alan also said it was impossible for people to pass drinks and food on to one's enemies if they were sitting together having a meal. This was because passing on food and drink to another person was a sign of wanting the other person to live. 

One Lent, a sister told me that I should give up cooking and baking for Lent. Fr Alan got to hear of this and he immediately said to everybody, "Definitely not!"  Fr Alan said, "When Juyee cooks, she is giving life to others and this must not be stopped, especially during Lent."

This Sunday's Gospel reading from Luke 14, Jesus said, ". . . when you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; that they cannot pay back . . ."

And again in 2 Corinthians 9:7, St Paul wrote, "For God loves a person who gives cheerfully."

So be generous, cook without counting the cost and give with a cheerful heart and do not expect any repayment.

Why? This is because God will not be outdone by one's generosity.  So trust in God and just give without counting and God will reward you a hundredfold. 

Fr Alan told me a story, one lunch time, that there was a handicap centre in India where people were constantly ill. The leader of the charity realised the cook was very angry and he changed the cook and people stopped getting ill.

So the moral of this story is to have a happy disposition if one is cooking for others.

The last note about what Fr Alan said about food: Fr Alan said dessert was the main course of the meal. Fr Alan had a sweet tooth and when I cooked for him, I paid a particular interest on the dessert and would spend the majority of my time preparing a good dessert. Since then, I have always love dessert, in memory of Fr Alan.

May Fr Alan eats lots and lots of desserts in heaven with lots of evaporated milk [not cream] and no Chinese food! LOL

How I have enjoyed my time cooking and eating with Fr Alan! How I have missed Fr Alan!

Heavenly Father! Thank you for putting Fr Alan in front of me. Thank you for his wonderful teachings on how to lead a Christian life. I pray he is having his reward in full in heaven, eating lots of delicious desserts everyday. Amen.