Homily for the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time, August 11, 2024. Gospel of St. John 6:41-51. Theme: Soul Food
As I was pondering today’s gospel, in which Jesus says he will satisfy our deepest hunger, I thought of what Mother St. Teresa of Calcutta once said about poverty in the USA compared to that in India. She said: “Hunger in America is so much deeper and so much worse than in India because it is the hunger of the soul; a hunger for God and for love. There is so much wealth in the USA but at the same time there is so much spiritual poverty, so much spiritual hunger.” Mother Teresa was right in saying that we who are counted among the most materially satisfied on the globe are in reality starving and even dying spiritually. And sadly, statistics bear this out. Even though we Americans have just about everything we need to satisfy our physical demands, our nation has a soaring rate of addiction. This reveals the deep and desperate form of poverty that Mother Teresa was talking about.
Bill Wilson, one of the pioneers of the 12-Step Addiction Recovery movement, would agree with Mother Teresa. Way back in the 1940’s he wrote that addiction is a spiritual hunger that can only be relieved with a spiritual remedy. And that remedy is God because God is unconditional and perfect love. You see, addiction usually happens in response to someone experiencing a deep spiritual or emotional wound in their soul that causes spiritual hunger pangs to grow within them. As this spiritual and emotional suffering intensifies, it becomes a pain that is too great to bear. And so the person reaches out for whatever promises to satisfy the spiritual hunger, for whatever might bring some comfort to that space within them that is reserved for God alone and which can only be filled by accepting his love.
The dynamics of this spiritual hunger mimics those of physical hunger. When our body is really hungry we'll grab anything that is at hand, anything that can quickly stifle the pangs and satisfy the need. And of course, junk food is so often our first resort because it’s easy to get and delivers instant gratification. However, junk food is a kind of a culinary lie because it’s really only a quick fix that satisfies us for a short bit of time. In reality, it does nothing to truly nourish us, to promote our growth and to support good life in the long-run.
And the same kind of thing can be said about our spiritual hunger. When we are starving for something to fill up the emotional need, we’ll reach for anything that promises to bring us relief and comfort. We don't stop to ponder the possible outcomes and the long-term consequences. And in our world today there’s a whole cafeteria of spiritual junk food that makes all kinds of false promises in this regard. And so we see all around us, and even among our own families and friends, addictive and codependent behavior related to alcohol, drugs, sex, pornography, shopping, gambling, food, compulsive work, and obsessive fitness. These and other junk foods of the soul actually end up making the hunger even worse and can lead to spiritual starvation and death.
But as we heard in today’s Gospel Jesus comes to us as the Bread of Life precisely to meet our needs and satisfy our deepest spiritual hunger. He comes as a Savior to heal our wounds and restore us from the inside out. He speaks words of truth so that our minds can be enlightened and set free from lies and false promises. He feeds us with the heavenly remedy of the Eucharist so that our wounded hearts and souls can experience the warmth and compassion of his loving presence within us. This is precisely why the Mass is composed of both the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Christians who are struggling to free themselves from the junk food of addiction need to make the Bread of Life a central and vital part of their recovery because it is only the True Bread from Heaven, the Living Bread which is Christ, that will heal the wound of the nagging pain and satisfy their deepest hunger.
Icon of the Mother of God of the Inexhaustible Cup
Patroness of addiction and Instrument of many miraculous recovery cures.
Notice that in this icon Jesus is presented in context of the Eucharist
which is the life-giving and healing remedy for our spiritual hunger.
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