Wednesday of the First Week of Advent

On this mountain the Lord of hosts
will provide for all peoples
A feast of rich food and choice wines,
juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. 

Ours is a materialistic religion. No matter how “spiritual” we might get, we never get very far from the demands of the body. We need food, water, air, rest and so forth. I was the director of a retreat house once. I soon discovered our retreatants would forgive us for tiresome sermons. But bad food? Forget it. Likewise we had to provide clean, comfortable beds, hot water in the showers, cool air in the summer and warmth in the winter.

But many people never came on retreat because they thought we’d put them in austere, flea-bitten cells and feed them bread and water! In fact we tried to provide as generously as the Lord promises, though we didn’t usually offer “pure, choice wines.”

Our faith appreciates the human needs of our body and eagerly anticipates That Day when the Lord will usher us into the banquet hall of heaven. 

In the meanwhile we feel the challenge of our faith to “provide for all peoples” the basic necessities of life. Because our God is the Lord of all the earth he clearly intends that all people should be fed, clothed, sheltered and protected. From Jesus’ frequent feeding of thousands of people and by his gathering disciples around a common table, we know there is plenty for everyone if we will only share what we have. 

Grasping, hoarding and greed have no place among us. If people are hungry it’s not because there is not enough food, it’s because we lack the political will and have yet to build a distribution system to feed everyone.

Jesus’ teaching is simple: if I am hungry I eat; if another is hungry I feed him. Another’s hunger is just as demanding of me as my own. Why should I esteem my own hunger over another's?

Those who celebrate family values at the family table know there is something fundamentally wrong with hunger. In a home, country or planet where some people are well fed there should be no hunger.

As Christmas approaches we look forward to that day when the Lord of All will govern us and our resources, directing a fair and just distribution to every human being.