St Fiacre & Food

Yesterday…

…I learnt that St Fiacre is the patron saint of vegetable growers. I’d spent some of the weekend tidying up our vegetable garden…

Apparently Fiacre was born c600 in Ireland and emigrated to France where he lived in a hermitage. There he prayed, fasted and established a vegetable garden, providing shelter, food and healing for passing travellers and for the sick, poor, needy…

Fiacre is now remembered as the patron saint of vegetables growers, ploughboys, Parisian taxi-cab drivers, those with haemorrhoids, infertility, venereal disease… (and more!!)

…Our family came round for dinner. Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding was well received… Rachel’s fruit pavlova and coffee cake was consumed with enjoyment and enthusiasm!

We then looked at some pictures of food that son-in-law-Allan is enjoying in Brazil. We’re familiar with rice and beans, meat and fish, but some of the fruit is less familiar!

…Andy preached at church. We learnt about his eating habits… Every day Andy has Rice Krispies for breakfast, and his wife Liz prepares his ham rolls for lunch…

As a car mechanic he likened food to fuel for his body… He considers going out for a meal a waste of time… presumably going to the petrol station is functional – not something to be celebrated and enjoyed!!

Andy preached on John 6… Jesus had fed 5000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fishes. In the following discussion Jesus says: ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.’

Andy helped us to reflect on what our spiritual food is, the hunger that Jesus claimed to satisfy, and how we can feed on Jesus, the Bread of Life…

Musing… Fiacre’s food as a generous gift, demonstrating hospitality and care… Our family food, enjoyed with enthusiasm… Andy’s food that’s functional, providing energy and strength… the mystery of Jesus, the Bread of Life… what it is ‘never to be hungry.’