Feeding the Hungry

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enough, feeding, food, handout, Jesus, John the Baptist, loaves and fishes, Matthew, metanoia, needs of the world, peaceable kingdom, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There is a line from Matthew’s gospel in the story called variously “the loaves and the fishes” or “the feeding of the five thousand” (CH 14) that always goes straight to my heart. It appears today and catches me as usual. It is late in a day that began with Jesus trying to escape the crowds to grieve the death of John the Baptist. Failing that, Jesus responds to the needs in what has turned into a long and likely tiring session of healing people. The narrative picks up with the apostles saying to Jesus that he ought to send the people away because it’s late and there’s no availability of food to buy in the deserted place where they are. They will need to go to one of the villages nearby to buy food. There is no need for them to go away, Jesus says. Give them something to eat yourselves. The gospel continues with the miracle of feeding the whole crowd on five loaves and two small fish.

How often the needs of the world seem that impossible to fulfill! And it is true that we cannot achieve such a goal alone. It will take a monumental – miraculous even – metanoia (conversion) to get our world on track toward the “peaceable kingdom” where all are fed and cared for. My question for today, however, is this: how shall we be until that possibility comes into view? Whom and how am I being asked to feed today? Am I awake to the people who need a kind word or a sandwich to help them through the day? Is it enough that I go through the day mindful of those for whom I have promised to pray? There wasn’t much to go on when Jesus started that “handout” but the result, worked through his helpers, fed them all.

Can we believe that what we have to give is enough?

 

 

 

 

 

Proclaim a Fast

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abstinence, Ash Wednesday, consciousness, fasting, food, fundamental human right, hungry, Isaiah, Lent, Lenten journey, oppessed, Roman Catholic Church, sharing, Sisters of St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, unjust

My mind is racing already after reading the lectionary texts today. I don’t know if I can settle on one topic emerging from the message of Isaiah. Perhaps it isn’t always necessary to be able to wrap my words up into a tight, cohesive package. I may just strive this morning for coherence and leave cohesion by the wayside. We’ll see how it goes.

Here is what Isaiah shouts today in God’s name on the topic of fasting that definitely reverberates down through the ages. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high!…This is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn and your wound shall quickly be healed. (IS 58:1-9A)

On Wednesday (Ash Wednesday, still an official day of fast and abstinence in the Roman Catholic Church – one of only two in Lent these days) I was so aware of my eating. Running through my mind was the rule that “two small meals equal the one main meal” and “no meat at any meal.” The challenge was not finding what I could eat to fit that description but in the second part of the stricture of no eating between meals. The issue was consciousness. Happily, I was on the road working about 80 miles away from home because when I’m home the challenge is always to notice when I pick up a cracker or a grape walking through the kitchen if I feel hungry – or even if not. But there was the moment on Wednesday when I stopped to fill my car’s gas tank at a station with a convenience store attached. I had to remind myself not to go in and pick up a candy bar or a small bag of potato chips, “just in case…” Food is so accessible in my life; I need to be more responsible to that fact.

Yesterday I read an article in the semi-annual publication of our province of Sisters of St. Joseph. Our Social Justice Coordinator was writing about a collaboration between two organizations uniting to fight hunger. One, Great Nations Eat, is using the technology of media like TV, radio, or even billboards and internet like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to raise consciousness. “We put a man on the moon. Feeding our people shouldn’t be rocket science” and “America can’t be great on an empty stomach” are two of their slogans aimed at making people think. The other organization, Share Our Strength, is similarly motivated to call on Americans to unite in the effort to fight hunger. “It [hunger] affects the life of one in six Americans. That doesn’t happen in any other developed nation. It shouldn’t happen here,” says founder and CEO, Billy Shore. “Ending hunger is possible. It will take public awareness and political outreach to build the necessary national will…”

So it isn’t just about eating or not eating; it’s more about consciousness that setting free the oppressed and unbinding the yoke of others in our midst or in our world can start with feeding the hungry. Here recent images on the news of emaciated children in war-torn places in the Middle East come to mind. It’s all connected and we are all responsible. My province of the Sisters of St. Joseph has committed us to address this issue in the following ways: 1. to promote and to advocate for the recognition and realization that food is a fundamental human right, and 2. to be part of developing and implementing a comprehensive strategy to end hunger on the local, national and international levels. That is a big order and it is clear that we do not assume we can do it alone. Even small steps, tiny actions are important. On yesterday’s local news, for example, there was a report of elementary school children from Owego, NY – a rural area – collecting cans of soup last week in the run-up to the Super Bowl game to donate to homeless people served by the Tioga County rural outreach organization directed by one of our Sisters. These children gave Sister Mary 524 cans of soup and learned a great lesson of caring at the same time.

Enough! We all have our own work to do to respond to God’s call through Isaiah. Who will you notice on your Lenten journey who needs your help? How will you recognize his/her hunger? What will you do to feed it? And what about me? What will I do next time? It’s about each of us and all of us. May we walk together into a brighter, more caring future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No More Hunger

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action, crops, farming, food, food as a human right, food pantry, hunger, Isaiah, Matthew, Sisters of St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, thought into action

I’ve often said that in my next life I would like to be a farmer. My declaration is non-specific regarding the kind of farming I would hope to do. I am partial to cows but my heart soars at the sight of wheat fields, corn and other vegetables growing.  I haven’t really weighed the costs, physically and otherwise, that farming takes but I do admire farmers for their dedication and their goal of providing food for the hungry. I am often saddened these days upon hearing of the failure of crops and/or of farmers declaring bankruptcy. It is a hard life, to be sure, but one I value for its closeness to the earth, the rhythmic nature of the work and the products of the labor for the world.

This morning the prophet Isaiah predicts a time when everyone will have a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines with God as the host of this meal. (IS 25:6) The gospel text contains Matthew’s telling of the multiplication of the loaves (MT 15:29-37). In conjunction with many other organizations, my province of the Sisters of St. Joseph has taken as a justice focus “food as a human right.” It is our hope and our goal that someday soon there will be a more just distribution of what experts say is the sufficiency of food that already exists in the world so that no one will die of hunger or lack the necessary nutrition to live a full life.

As I ponder the way I can ready my heart today to receive the fullness of Christ’s presence at Christmas I may need to visit a grocery store and then a food pantry as I think of the hungry people in my own town. I might look for the catalog I have received from Heifer International where I’m able to buy chickens or a share of a cow for a family who will then have milk and eggs and then might pass on the next generations of those animals to others who have nothing. I might strike up a conversation with someone today on the topic of hunger and the necessity of action and come home to write a letter to my government officials to support legislation of the same. We are all in this world together. We need to find ways to feed each other. Today is a good day to move thought into action.

Good Food to You

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bread alone, food, Israelites, Jesus, manna, Matthew, Numbers, psalm 81, The Awakening Tales, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, the spiritual center, wisdom

Everything in today’s readings speaks of food. The Israelites in the desert grumble because instead of fish or meat to eat they have the manna sent from heaven. (NM 11:4-15). Jesus feeds a huge crowd with five loaves and two fish. (MT 14:13-21) Psalm 81 ends with the promise: I myself will feed you from the finest wheat. I will satisfy your longing for earth’s sweetest food, with honey I so carefully extracted from the rock. But it is the verse before the gospel that brings it all together with the lesson I will carry with me through the day. One does not live on bread alone, it says, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. (MT 4:4).

There is a lovely story* familiar to many of our friends and the people who come to our home, the Spiritual Center, for retreats or workshops. Set in a beautiful glen, inhabited by animals and a wise, kindly Wizard, it tells of the day a human comes to the Glen. He arrives just as some of the animals are sharing breakfast at the Crystal Pool. When Fawn approaches him with a greeting of “Good food to you!” the man retorts, “Strange way to say ‘Good morning.'” Fawn replies, “Mornings are always good. It’s food I wish for you, stranger.” Then follows a wonderful exercise where the animals show the man what they mean. At the Crystal Pool, Fawn and Joyhopper, the Rabbit, stand close to the water, first look into each other’s eyes and then into the Crystal Pool saying, “Good food of sweet grass to you, Fawn” and “Good food of young carrots to you, Joyhopper.” The wind stirs the water and miraculously a bunch of young carrots and a pile of sweet grass appear in front of the animals. The man, Alan Stuck, misunderstands the miracle and thinks that he has a way to obtain treasure, going to the pool and commanding, “Jewels!” (Nothing happens.) “Gold,” he yells. (Nothing.) “Steak with all the trimmings!” (No luck.) It takes a lesson from the Indigo Wizard for Alan to understand that it is in generosity and community that one receives the food necessary to live well.

So my wish today is for “Good Food to all.” May the God of wisdom grant us all that we need to make the world a better place.

*The book, The Awakening Tales (book one of The Tales of the Indigo Wizard) is available by writing to hrtcenter12@gmail.com for more information.

Hospitality

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another self, courtesy, entertainment, food, generosity, geniality, Hebrews, hospitality, kindness, Paul, prisoners, prisons, Sister Maura Rhode, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels. (HEB 13:1) This familiar adage greeted me as I turned to the morning’s lectionary. What got me thinking though was what came next that was not so familiar. Paul writes: Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment and of the ill-treated as of yourselves for you are also in the body. Some of the qualities of hospitality that I found in the dictionary to expand my reflection were kindness, geniality, courtesy, generosity, entertainment and food to guests, visitors and strangers.

I think of the overcrowded prisons in our country and elsewhere as well as wrongful imprisonment and the violent outbreaks that occur because of prisoner malice or mistreatment by guards. This seems in our society a problem that cannot be fixed; it is so complex that it defies any solution. In the face of this monumental conundrum, I see as well our Sister Maura Rhode, chaplain to the Onondaga County Correctional Facility, who greets and treats each prisoner as “another self” – consciously living the total message of what Paul has articulated this morning. I am proud of her example, as I am of the heritage of the first Sisters of St. Joseph who, unwilling to embrace cloister in the service of God, went out dividing the city among them and ministering to prostitutes and prisoners that all might come to recognize the universal and profound love of God. It is only that love that will save us from our divisions.

Today I will pray for prisoners and those people who are distained or ignored. I will examine myself for my failure to open my heart to these “other selves” and pray God for the grace to recognize more each day our common humanity. May it be so!

Good Food

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ask, bread, consistent prayer, eggs, fish, food, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Luke, perseverance, spiritual gifts, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I noticed something in the gospel for this morning (LK 11:5-13) in which Jesus is speaking about perseverance in prayer. It’s the “ask and you will receive, seek and you will find…” passage where he mentions several food items (loaves of bread, fish and eggs) that should be given when asked for and other things (snakes, scorpions…) that no one – especially a parent – would give to a child. I always interpreted the passage according to those parameters, but the last verse of the reading (always there but overlooked by me) gives a different spin to the whole thing. If you know how to give good gifts to your children, he says, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask?

So Jesus uses the analogy of feeding our children with good food for the purpose of talking about spiritual gifts. The answer to consistent prayer might not be the kind of “food” we’re looking for, but if we are awake enough to ask for God to fill us with the Holy Spirit, our discernment will lead us to what is truly good for us and that will be our strength.