Enough Bread Isn’t Enough There is nothing sadder than the sight of starving children whose bodies are wasting away in famine-torn countries. What is even sadder is that it doesn’t have to be that way since God has created the earth to produce more food than is sufficient to feed every one of its human inhabitants. People who lack sufficient nutrition are a visible sign of the imbalance in the distribution and use of natural resources. It reflects the sinfulness of those who have and who refuse to share with those who are without. The amount of food wasted in every European country every day would go a long way in reducing starvation in under-developed countries. But, alas, the absurdity of politics and the egotism of greed guarantee that this doesn’t happen. In Europe today many children suffer from obesity while children in other parts of the world are malnourished. God created the earth for “man’s use and benefit,” not for the benefit of some men or a few men BUT for all men. The state of the world today reflects the fact that mankind has ignored God’s will. Ignoring God’s will always results in evil reflected in lust, pride, greed, sloth, wrath, covetousness, and gluttony. These sins are evident in the chasm between those who have more than enough and those who don’t have the basic necessities for life.The Difference between Needs and Wants
Bread symbolizes food, but is it enough to satisfy human needs? If everyone had enough bread would that be enough for everyone? The Catholic Church through organizations such as Trocaire (Mercy) in Ireland and “Bread for the World” in America attempt to ensure that no one is physically hungry. Is this an impossible task? No. It simply requires a consciousness-raising that the world can produce enough to meet the needs of all its inhabitants. It also requires human beings to look out for one another and make sure that no one has less than he or she needs. However, satisfying bodily needs doesn’t satisfy the needs of the soul which is crucial for contentment and peace. If these organizations do not attend to people’s spiritual needs the relief they provide is only temporary and can lead to selfishness. There is a big difference between what a person needs and what a person wants. God didn’t create the universe to satisfy man’s wants. When we focus on our wants rather than our needs we seek more than we need and that causes us to be blind to those who can’t meet their needs. To be fully human we must meet our needs but not our wants. Therefore it’s very important to distinguish between our needs and our wants. We want to satisfy our bodily desires when in fact we need to discipline them in order to meet the needs of our soul.What Fills Our Body Isn’t Fulfilling
Hungry people think that if they had enough bread, they would be happy. People who are committed to feeding the hungry often fall into the trap of thinking that once people’s bellies are full their needs are fully satisfied. Europe and America certainly have enough bread for everyone. The evidence shows that many eat too much bread, leading to dieting becoming a business and the heightening of weight consciousness. We see that having plenty of bread on its own doesn’t make people happy or satisfied. Why? Satisfying the human body and its desires doesn’t satisfy other and equally important hungers such as the hunger for friendship and spiritual hunger which encompasses freedom, justice, love, peace, and truth. These are hungers of the soul and can be satisfied only by God. Enough bread isn’t enough to satisfy our deepest yearnings which are spiritual.The Miracle’s Lesson
Jesus addresses this fact when He taught that, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4). Thousands of people came to hear Jesus’ teaching and by evening He saw that they were hungry and mightn’t have enough strength to return home (My 14:13-21). He turned to His apostle, Philip, and asked, “Where can we buy bread for all these people to eat?” Philip concluded that providing food for such a large crowd in a deserted place was impossible. Jesus’ apostle, Andrew, had a glimmer of hope when he told Jesus there was a boy there who had five loaves and two fish and. But the hope faded when he concluded, “But what are these among so many!” Jesus was testing His apostles as part of their training to see how they would handle seemingly impossible situations. Would they believe what Jesus asked them to do or would they let human limitations deter them? Jesus knew that later on they would need to rely on supernatural Faith rather than on facts if they were to be successful in their mission. Jesus taught them to believe in His power and do as He asked when He fed over 5,000 men, besides the women and children, by miraculously multiplying a few loaves and a couple of fish. Not only did each person have enough, but there were twelve baskets of leftovers. In telling the Apostles to collect the leftovers he was teaching them that God provides more than enough to satisfy the hungry. He was also reminding them to “waste not, want not.”They Saw Jesus as Their Baker
How did the people view Jesus after the miracle? St. John tells us that, “When the people saw the sign He had performed, they began to say, ‘This is undoubtedly the Prophet who is to come into the world.’ At that, Jesus realized that they would come and carry Him off to make Him king, so He fled back to the mountain alone” (6:14-15). Jesus called them out on their reason for following Him: “I assure you, you are not looking for me because you have seen miracles but because you have eaten your fill of the loaves. You should not be looking for perishable food but for food that remains unto life eternal, food which the Son of Man will give you; it is in Him that God the Father has set His seal” (Jn 6:26-27). The people wanted to make Jesus their king not to save them from sin but to satisfy their bellies. They wanted a baker, not a Messiah. Jesus didn’t come to fill people’s bellies but to fill people’s souls with His presence and clear away their sins. We learn here that we’re so ruled by our bodily needs and wants that we forget our greatest need which is to be freed from sin by Jesus. Jesus was preparing His disciples and His listeners to realize that mankind had a deeper kind of hunger than that of the body, namely a spiritual hunger whose needs only God could satisfy. He revealed that the kind of “bread” necessary to satisfy spiritual hunger would be Himself. Here He was teaching them that only He could fully satisfy the human person because what makes us human is our soul, not our body. The purpose of the body is to be the instrument through which our soul expresses itself. A man’s or woman’s body can be well fed but if his or her soul isn’t properly nourished he or she will not be fulfilled and be a lopsided malcontent. We can have all the food in the world but unless Jesus is dwelling in our soul as its “bread” we’ll be spiritually starved, which causes our humanity to gradually deteriorate and wallow in self-pity. Jesus identified Himself as our Saviour from spiritual starvation when He stated publicly: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (Jn 6:35).How Do We Ensure that Our Soul’s Hunger is Fed?
All four Gospels and St. Paul record that Jesus made Himself available to mankind as the “bread of life” by instituting the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper. There in the Upper Room, in the company of His Apostles, while celebrating the Passover Supper, Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it declaring: “Take this and eat it, this is my body.” Then He took a cup filled with wine, gave thanks and gave it to the Apostles saying, “All of you must drink from it …for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant to be poured out in behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26:26-28). Jesus then ordained His Apostles to “Do this in memory of me,” thereby ensuring, through His Catholic Church’s bishops and priests, that all people until the end of time would be given the opportunity to believe in Him and receive Him into their bodies and souls in Holy Mass. We need bread to nourish our bodies but we also, and more importantly, need “bread” for our souls. That bread is Jesus Himself. We must commit ourselves to ensuring that people have enough to eat for bodily nourishment and sustenance. But we have an equal, if not a more important obligation, namely to help people know how to ensure the spiritual life of their souls by receiving Jesus through His Word and Sacrament in the Holy Mass. Having enough bread to feed the body isn’t enough to feed the soul. When your soul is well-fed, you’re enthusiastic, creative, and productive. When it is starved you become a malcontent, entitled, slothful, and absorbed with your body, which is getting closer to the grave every day. Hell is full of starved souls who now have no hope of ever being fed. (fr sean) A Contradictory World Reflects Starved SoulsWe live in a soul-starved world where:ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖs lecture society and the Church on morals;Transvestites and Transitioners lecture society and the Church on human biology;Abortionists lecture society and the Church on human rights;Marxists/Socialists lecture society and the Church on economics.Is there anything more hypocritical?
Topic: Forgive So We Can Live and Let Live (Read 1847297 times)