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Every two-and-a-half seconds a human being dies of starvation—about 30,000 people per day. While agencies like Catholic Relief Services ask us for donations to help put an end to this problem, Jesus chose the image of hunger and neediness to make an important point: "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied" (Matthew 5:6).
Jesus wants us to know that those who are hungry for God will be blessed. He wants us to know that those who seek the Lord because of this hunger will find him—and that, having found him, they will be filled.
Most of us have a hard time understanding what real hunger feels like. When we say that we are hungry, it usually means that we have gone a few hours without food, not that we are in the desperate situation that afflicts so many others. Think, for example, of a severe famine that occurred in Rome in 436 b.c. The situation was so desperate that people began to jump into the Tiber River, because they considered drowning a better alternative to starving to death.
People this desperate have their eyes set on one thing—food. And this is Jesus’…
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As Moses, David, and Paul hungered for God, I too hunger and thirst to be closer to Jesus. Knowing that these men of God were sinners reassures me of our Lord’s love for us all just the way we are. Gracias for these articles that are an inspiration and get me through my day. “Lord let me shine, shine like the moon a reflection of you in all that I do. Lord let me be light for your truth, light of the world I want to be used to shine for you.” (from the song Shine from the group Salvador)