Lentan Mortification via our Diets

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One of my general intentions, not just for Lent, is to do more spiritual reading.

I am currently reading, among others, The Cure' d'Ars Today, by Father George W. Rutler, a biography of St John Vianney, the patron saint of pastors and confessors. Father Rutler is occasionally seen on EWTN and reeks of erudition and I was nervous about picking up this book. But it is very readable.

Yesterday, an inordinate amount of time was spent on this blog debating our Lentan fasts and diets. Serendipitously, Father Rutler, in commenting on the reaction of his parishioners who lived in a region of France known for its fine cuisine, to Saint John Vianney's very rigorous, what we would call starvation, diet, noted "Now if this had taken place in the Sahara, where there is no food, or among the Saxons and Celts, whose cuisine has struck some as a recipe for mortification, this would have been less remarkable."

Being half Celt, I rolled off the couch in laughter after reading this haughty comment about English and Irish cooking.

Those of you wanting to limit your intake of food this Lent might do well to note Father Rutler's refined, epicurean palate and stick to potatoes and Yorkshire pudding.