A Hard Question
When the disciples came to Jesus with the request to
dismiss the people to go find food, Jesus challenged them with the question:
“Why do you not give them something to eat yourselves?” That question should
haunt us today.
More than enough
food is grown to feed everyone on this planet. “Why do you not give them
something to eat yourselves?”
More than 60,000 people will die of hunger on this feast
of the Body and Blood of Christ. Two-thirds of them will be children. “Why do
you not give them something to eat yourselves?”
Nearly one in five people worldwide is chronically
malnourished—too hungry to lead a productive, active life. “Why do you not give
them something to eat yourselves?”
One-third of the world’s children are significantly
underweight for their age. “Why do you not give them something to eat
yourselves?”
The amount of money the world spends on weapons in one
minute could feed 2,000 malnourished children for a year. “Why do you not give
them something to eat yourselves?”
Jesus is our living bread. It is his obvious intention
that we be well fed. The Eucharist, a great gift from the same God that sent
the manna in the desert, should strengthen the determination of both the hungry
and the satisfied to do what it takes to eliminate hunger.
If a person is in extreme necessity, he has the right to
take from the riches of others what he himself needs.
(Vatican II, Constitution on the Church in the Modern
World, 1965: 69)
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