How to Be Hungry

Now for a little reflection on the title of my blog.

It is easy to generate physical hunger: all we have to do is not eat. But spiritual hunger seems different somehow. If we avoid all spiritual involvement, we do not become so much hungry as numb – and that’s not the same thing. Maybe we seek numbing because we are afraid to be hungry, so we satiate our innate longings with “junk food” replacements for real spiritual food. We keep our brains busy with TV, movies, Facebook, electronic games. We fill our lives up with activity (even worthwhile activity). We avoid silence. These things do not create in us a spiritual hunger. Rather, they do not allow that hunger to develop. But they do not satisfy, either – like the way an ice cream sundae takes away our appetite but does not satisfy our body’s nutritional needs.

Maybe there is a deep parallel between physical and spiritual hunger. Just as we have basic nutritional requirements that can be bypassed by lousy eating habits (thus we don’t experience hunger but our cells starve anyway), so also we have essential spiritual “nutritional” requirements that can be circumvented by mental and even physical distractions.

Earlier I talked about the value of a healthy hunger for food – of not being afraid of getting hungry, and to let the hunger itself work a greater good in us: unselfishness, patience. Does that apply to spiritual hunger as well?

I think it might. But what should I deny myself in order to experience this spiritual hunger? Surely not worship, or prayer. The most obvious answer is to give up the distractions: turn off the TV. But that alone cannot generate spiritual hunger; there must be something more.

When I got accustomed to eating whole grains, fresh fruits and greens, and reduced my reliance on sweet and salty non-nutritive foods, my taste buds changed. The things that once were appealing became less so, sometimes even disgusting. Perhaps there is a parallel here with deep, symbolically rich and nourishing forms of prayer and worship, such as the Liturgy of the Hours and the Mass. My experience with these has definitely made me less satisfied with superficial distractions. It is undoubtedly a good thing to increase our participation in both structured and unstructured forms of prayer and worship.

Ultimately I think the thing that increases our hunger the most, the thing that helps us to be hungry, is to spend time with Christ. Jesus is the wholesome, natural food that alone can nourish us. We must encounter him intimately at Mass, in the Word and in the Eucharist. We also need to meet Jesus in our own Scripture reading and walk with him in daily prayer. We need to see him in the people we come across every day. We need to hear and to read about him and how he has worked in the lives of others. We need to contemplate his life, his teachings and his Passion. We need to follow him by ministering to and advocating for the weak, the disenfranchised. We need to embrace the unfathomable mysteries of his life, death and resurrection.

Our search for Christ, the true bread of heaven, increases our desire. As he draws us closer we become more like him and at the same time recognize how unlike him we really are. It makes us hungry for more. It works in us virtues like humility and kindness. We want to be like him, to serve God and people, to realize the kingdom of heaven on earth.

So be hungry!