Curb Your Hanger

Feeding others before feedings ourselves

08/07/2017

Matthew 14:13-21 When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, "This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves." He said to them, "There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves." But they said to him, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have here." Then he said, "Bring them here to me," and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over–twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.

           Most Americans have never experienced real hunger. If someone is hungry, it’s not due to a real lack of food, but more likely to ignorance of where to find it. Deacon Greg tells me there are nine free meals served in Fort Smith every day. Maybe you’ve experienced being “hangry,” when hunger makes you angry (the word “hangry” is a portmanteau of hungry and angry). Catholics voluntarily experience a little hunger while fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. I always tell people this rule of thumb about fasting: “If it didn’t hurt a little, you didn’t do it right.” Nevertheless, all these hunger pains are a far cry from the dire need of those who truly cry out with hunger.

            The depths of real hunger came home to me in a particularly poignant scene in the recent movie, “The Lion.” It’s about a very poor family in India who survive by the two small boys going out to look for valuables in the trash which they then sell for food. But even more compelling is the scene where they sit down to a meager meal with their mother, who forgoes the food herself so there would be enough for her two boys. She overcame her “hanger” with love, and in a sense, her food was her fondness for her sons. We don’t feel so hangry when we sacrifice food for the sake of love.

In the gospel today, we hear the very familiar story of the multiplication of the loaves and fish. Jesus takes five loaves of bread and two fish and feeds the “vast crowd” Matthew says, whom he later describes as “5,000 men, not counting women and children.” But equally enlightening as the miracle itself was what Jesus does not do. None of the gospels record Jesus eating himself. That is, Jesus, like the mother in the movie “The Lion,” was nourished by another kind of food, namely, fondness for his children, his disciples. Jesus’ joy came from feeding others. Jesus overcame feeling “hangry” by feeding others first.

            We will probably not experience severe hunger in our lives, but we may frequently feel the pangs of being “hangry,” where our hunger pains may cause us to become irritable and unfriendly toward others. Here are a few simple suggestions on how you can curb your hanger, that is, by thinking of feeding others before ourselves. When I was studying in Rome, I learned that you should always pout wine into other people’s glasses before you refill your own glass. Feed others first. Here in America children are taught not to take the last cookie, or the final French Fry, but to leave that for someone else. Feed others first. Personally, I leave the last bite of my dessert for Elijah (sometimes it’s not a very big bite!). Feed others first. By practicing these small habits, we learn that there is another kind of food, a more nourishing, spiritual food, called “love,” that fills not our stomachs but our hearts. Indeed, love is the most satisfying food of all.

            The best way to curb your hunger - as well as to curb your hanger - is not with diet supplements or protein shakes, but by feeding others first. Even more so, when you feed others first, you will feel the joy of Jesus, which is love.

Praised be Jesus Christ!