A Tour of the Madonna House Training Centre

Our Kitchen and Cooks

Now, let us proceed on our tour just a few steps away, to the Madonna House kitchen, where something delicious is baking in the big wood stove. The Madonna House cooks are gathered around, listening to Catherine Doherty as she talks to them. Let's join them now and hear what Catherine has to say about the kitchen:

The kitchen is a holy place. It is the heart of the home. Any place where human beings gather together to break bread becomes the centre of life. From the dawn of history, eating was a tremendous act of very great importance. How food was acquired could condition a whole civilization, turning its people into hunters or nomads. Thus the ‘kitchen,’ whether it was an open fire under a tree, or a primitive abode stove or fireplace, was always at the heart of the family, group, or tribe.

From time immemorial, man knew instinctively that eating is somehow part of worship. Even primitive man recognized that what he ate was given to him by a power greater than himself. Eating, therefore, has always been surrounded with quasi-religious rituals. Sharing one's food with a stranger was considered a sign of friendship and hospitality. The preparation of food, as well as its acquisition, was an expression of love.

Yes, the kitchen is a holy place. But it became exceedingly holy with the advent of Christ. His mother sanctified it in a very special manner by transforming the fruits of the earth for the nourishment of his human body which he had assumed for our sake. Then it became holy because Christ the Lord used bread and wine to feed us by transforming them into his Body and Blood. Thus, ordinary bread and ordinary wine became the food of saints, God giving himself to us in Communion.

The holiness of a kitchen is beyond the ability of human words to express. There we lovingly and joyfully transform — transubstantiate — the raw products of God's earth into food to feed our brothers and sisters. This is a service and a privilege almost beyond compare.

Besides the holiness of the task, they also fulfil the commandment of God — to love their neighbour as themselves. We are truly blessed if they perform these tasks in the right spirit — the spirit of love and joy, realizing the tremendous privilege that is ours. Our Lord said, ‘Whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren, you do to me.’ He was very explicit about it all. What we do for our brethren will be done to him and earn us his gratitude.

We are to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoners, give drink to the thirsty. Those who work in the kitchen assuredly feed the hungry.

Those who are privileged to work in the kitchen, who teach others how to give love through food, who know how to change the raw materials of God's earth into palatable food for their brothers and sisters — are exceedingly blessed. They should rejoice that they have been given such a holy task!

They should be humble also, realizing that they have truly entered the school of God's love where they learn to express love in a most tangible manner. Let them study the ways and means of preparing food with intense concentration and with prayer. Each day should begin with prayer, continue with prayer, and end with prayer. Let them prepare their food under the sign of love and salvation — the Cross of Christ — and let them make that sign over all the things that they cook. Let them also remember to have recourse to St. Martha and St. Zita, and, of course, to Our Lady, the patroness of all cooks and kitchens.

May the Lord who used bread and wine to feed us so lovingly with himself bless all cooks and show them his face in the faces of all those who sit down to partake of the meals they so lovingly prepare.

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