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Hunger
In the Gospel for today Jesus responds to hunger. The people obviously are fascinated by Jesus. They are fascinated by his ability to command a paralytic to get up and walk; his ability to heal a withered hand; his ability to return a dead child to his grieving mother alive. They are more fascinated by his words. That is why they came from far and wide. Preaching the Kingdom of God, there’s a passion in his voice. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” he says, “for theirs is the Kingdom of God.” “The Kingdom of God is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. When he finds the pearl of great prize, he gives up all to acquire it.” “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these other things [that you work for and worry about] will be given to you.” Wrapped up in his preaching, awed by his power, thrilled by his presence, the people forgot that they had not eaten. Looking at the crowd, Jesus had compassion on them. They were hungry. He responded to their hunger. That, I believe, is the Good News for this Sunday. People are hungry. We are hungry. Jesus responds to hunger. He responds as his Father’s response to our hunger. In love, he acts to still hunger. People are hungry. This is a fact that we cannot deny, even if our own tables may be bountifully blessed. Today some 850 million people in our world are hungry; they are chronically malnourished. Some 200 million children under the age of five suffer from chronic malnutrition. Some 13 million children die each year from preventable diseases; malnutrition is among the major killers of these children. Malnutrition causes low-weight babies; low weight babies cause growth retardation; and growth-retarded mothers have low-weight babies. Malnourishment conditions heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. Malnourishment deprives its victims of such as iron and iodine and VitamineA – all of which are essential for healthy and well-functioning human beings. People are hungry even in the Philippines. In the period since July 1988, when the Social Weather Station first began measuring hunger, the indications for hunger have not been greater than today. A whopping 16.9 percent of Filipinos now report themselves to be hungry; one forth of these report themselves to be severely hungry. We are not spared hunger and malnourishment in Bikol. With VAT and rising prices of transportation and electricity, people are eating less in Bikol. And they are sacrificing much – like education – in order to make sure they do not have yet less food on their tables to eat. As Israel and the Hezbollah fire millions of dollars worth of missiles to annihilate one another, driving the cost of crude oil still higher, and holding back development in our country, people are hungry. It is huge hunger. Jesus responds. It is he who looks into the crowds and rejects hunger. It is he who acts to still it. But he does not do so alone. There is a boy in the crowd with five barley loaves and two fish. He was willing to give Jesus everything he had. “Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave them out to all who were sitting ready; he did the same with the fish, giving out as much as was wanted.” After all had had their fill, there were twelve hampers filled with the left-overs of what had been distributed. Alone, we have only five barley loaves and two fish against so much hunger. Offered to the Lord, however, the Lord has material for the miraculous, the Lord has enough to vanquish hunger with much left over. This Sunday, we do well to be more conscious of hunger, ours and that of others. If there is much on our table we do well to be grateful that in God’s providence over and over again our hunger is stilled. In gratitude, we do well to respond to the hunger of others, perhaps by offering the Lord our loaves and fish. If there is little on our table, as on the tables of 850 million malnourished people in our world, we do well to bring our hunger to the Lord. He acts to still hunger – often through the miracle of many sisters and brothers willing to break their bread and share their fish in love. He stills hunger as the sisters here share of their food with those who come to them in hunger, as the Missionaries of Charity go on foot to the most remote of barangays bring rice to the poorest of the poor, as the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart organize groups to feed the malnourished children. He stills hunger as foundations, non-government organizations, academe, and nations-united combat hunger in the world through science and enlightened politics, and as families invite the hungry to their tables – or support the work of others in feeding especially the malnourished. For to the malnourished there is only one appropriate Christian response: food. At the same time, we also do well to recall that hunger is not confined to the craving only for physical food and nourishment. Hunger in man and woman is much deeper than just for food. Let this hunger now be our prayer: Lord, I am hungry for many things. I hunger for food, for sleep, for money, for success, for love, for attention. But above all I hunger for you, O Lord. I desire you. I reach out for you. I hunger for your presence, Lord. I want you to be close to me. I want you to be with me in everything that I do. I hunger for your presence, O Lord. I hunger for your blessing, O God. I want to feel that you approve of my life, that you say yes to my life. I hunger for you blessing, O God. I hunger for your newness and freshness, Lord. I long for the day when your creative power makes my life and the world new. I hunger for your newness, Lord. I hunger for your love, O l.ord. I long to be close to you. I want to leave everything else to that I can be with you and with you alone. I hunger for your love, O Lord. Jesus responds to this hunger. But we must give him our five loaves and two fish which do not still our hunger. It is the Lord who does. Only the Lord.
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© 2003 Philippine Jesuit Foundation |
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