April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
REFLECTION
There is no bread
There is no bread
The BBC -- the United Kingdom's public broadcasting media outlet -- reported last July on children caught up in the Syrian war. It is a war on childhood in which children are targeted, homes destroyed and schools attacked; children are displaced and forced to live in refugee camps.
The BBC spoke with Kifah, a boy of 14 (if he is still alive): "Tell me what is was like for you inside [the refugee camp]."
His face filled with uneasiness and nervousness, Kifah replied: "Good, normal, but there is some hunger." He then broke down in tears: "There is no bread."
I saved that BBC video on my computer. I look at it periodically. Each morning, I look at Kifah's photo, which hangs with others on my wall. Kifah's is the face of a child of war, representing millions of children around the world -- and also the face of hunger: "There is no bread."
Have you ever experienced hunger? Not the daily grumblings of the stomach when it's mealtime; I mean real hunger, with its accompanying fear and worry if there will be food tomorrow. Have you experienced hunger in the face of the inability to obtain food?
I have never been in want of food. I've always had more than what satisfies. I am, therefore, over a healthy weight. I can afford to eat out. I can afford healthier foods which are more expensive.
How do we relate to hunger? There is a chasm between many of us and the more than 49 million Americans who daily struggle to put food on the table due to unemployment, underemployment and poverty. There is a chasm between us and the one in five American children who live at risk of hunger.
Kifah is not just the face of Syria; he is the face of American hunger, as well. Many of us are the world's affluent, and we often jealously covet more.
It concerns me that in both July 26 passages from Scripture -- 2 Kings 4:42-44 and John 6:1-15 -- excuses are made:
• "How can I set [20 barley loaves] before a hundred people?" (2 Kings 4:43)
• "Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little." "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good is that for so many?" (John 6:7)
Practical but shortsighted questions. Questions of self-preservation, which shelter us from making life-changing decisions or taking any action to change the situation for our brothers and sisters.
In this light, I find embarrassing the norms for Lenten fasting in our Church: A person is permitted to eat one full meal. Two smaller meals may also be taken, but not to equal a full meal. Define "full" in a culture of "super-sizing" food: How many people living in poverty in our country eat three meals of any size every day? How does a Christian experience hunger resulting from fasting, to be in solidarity with the hungry of the world in body and in spirit?
The good news for me is that I won't have to fast next Lent: The norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59, and I'll be 60 years old! How ridiculous -- and yet how many elderly Catholics are proud to tell me they don't have to fast because of the law says they don't. We forget law kills the spirit.
The work of volunteers and outreach from our parishes and diocesan agencies, while commendable, is charity. It does not change a situation. People are hungry the next day. Charity does not end hunger.
Charity, through necessary, is different from the work of justice and advocacy, which strive to address the root causes and bring an end to hunger. Where do we begin to go beyond charity to justice? How is justice lived out in relation to people who are daily hungry?
• Meditate on the phrase, "Give us this day our daily bread..." (Matthew 6:11). What does that mean?
• Reclaim the Christian tradition of praying grace before each meal: a "thank you," an acknowledgment that all food comes from God.
• Reflect on what you purchase at the supermarket, especially for children. What is the quality, the amount? How much food do we waste? Are the bread and wine that become the body and blood of Christ the only sacred food and drink in our lives, or is all food sacred?
• Reflect on how much you eat daily. St. Ignatius of Loyola taught us not to push ourselves away from a table stuffed or hungry, but satisfied.
• Fast one day a week -- a real fast of only water or juices. The desert monks and nuns of the fourth century taught that if you cannot control your tongue and your stomach, you cannot enter on the spiritual path.
• Regularly donate food and/or volunteer time to one of the food-related agencies in our area.
• Educate yourself online at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' website, www.usccb.org, or the Christian agency Bread for the World at www.bread.org.
• Write to our congressional representatives in regard to funding for the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program, the federal Child and Adult Care Feeding Program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps).
Will you give the small amount of time needed to write a letter to feed the Kifahs of our nation?[[In-content Ad]]
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