What satisfies our true hunger

IT’S God, of course. No one and nothing else can satisfy

our true hunger and thirst. Our problem is that we do not even know

what our real hunger and thirst are. We tend to base our idea of

hunger and thirst on the merely biological, physical or material. Or

at best, we equate it with the many curiosities we have regarding the

many worldly and temporal things that catch our attention and fuel our

interest.

            The big challenge we have today is precisely to know what

our real hunger should be. And knowing that, to develop or stir that

hunger, because it is a hunger that does not come automatically, nor

does it come out loud and clear through our merely bodily and social

processes.

            Yes, we will always have some inkling of it, since in the

end we have been created or designed for that kind of hunger. Our

Catechism teaches us so:

            “The desire for God is written in the human heart, because

man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to

himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never

stops searching for.” (CCC 27)

            But with our human condition that is wounded by sin, it is

a hunger that is often muted or drowned out by the many other forms of

hunger which, though legitimate, do not lead us to the proper and

eternal satisfaction.

            We have to be wary of the many factors that tend to deaden

our appetite for God by replacing it with merely earthly appetites. We

all know that the inordinate fascination for worldly pleasures, be it

in food and drinks, sex, sports, entertainment, etc., can easily

dominate us. Thus, we need to be properly guarded.

            That’s why Christ told us that if we want to follow him,

we need to deny ourselves and carry the cross. It’s not that we have

no right to have these earthly pleasures. We can have them as long as

they are legitimately and morally resorted to, that is, they begin and

end with God, giving glory to him, our Father and Creator, which is

what we are all supposed to be doing all the time.

            We should give priority to our need to exercise always our

spiritual duties of praying and making sacrifices, because only in

this way would we manage to feel this yearning for God. We have to

learn how to be cautious and circumspect even as we immerse ourselves

in the very dynamic and intoxicating world of our work and other

worldly concerns.

            What also would be most helpful is to connect our earthly

forms of hunger and thirst with our ultimate yearning and desire for

God. This can always be done if we would just put our mind and heart

to it.

            That way, the temporal satisfaction of these temporal

forms of hunger would not detract but would rather reinforce the

eternal satisfaction of our real hunger. We would put into practice

what the Book of Revelation already foretold:

            “Never again will they hunger. Never again will they thirst.” (7,16)