Paul begins his letter with a plea that should touch our inner being. “I urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.”
Two men come to mind as I ponder his plea. Fifty-five years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and declared, “Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last.” Yet, he knew that we were not yet free for he had just noted, “the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.”
Dr. King fed the hunger of his people for justice. His journey began innocently enough as pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Life was routine until Dec. 1, 1955, when Rosa Park refused to move to the back of the bus. That event changed Dr. King’s life and the history of our country. He saw the injustice that had been perpetrated for too long and decided to meet that injustice head on.
He realized that many still hungered for the human rights promised by our fore fathers. The words he spoke that day are still relevant today. “Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy; now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood; now is the time to make justice a reality for all God’s children.” Quietly and eloquently Dr. King led the campaign that aimed to give Black Americans the respect they deserve as children of God until his untimely death.
The year before Dr. King shared his dream, the president of Carroll College in Helena, Montana was appointed at the young age of 41 as bishop of Helena by Pope John XXIII. Little did Raymond “Dutch” Hunthausen know what was in store for him. He passed away last week at the age of 96, the last living American bishop to have attended all four sessions of Vatican II, an experience that profoundly impacted him. A decade after the council ended, Hunthausen became the second archbishop of Seattle, serving our diocese until his retirement in 1991.
During his tenure, he became an outspoken proponent of peace and justice. The placement of Trident Submarines at Bangor prompted him to confront the morality of nuclear arms by withholding half of his income tax that year.
Respected as an outspoken advocate for the poor and the marginalized, Archbishop Hunthausen was also a great advocate for women and their role in the Church and in society. Many would agree that he formed the conscience of a generation of Catholics in Western Washington. Despite how he was treated by the Vatican and his critics locally, Archbishop Hunthausen saw injustice in our land and met it head on. Both he and Dr. King fed the hunger of many for the justice they deserved and yearned for.
Today’s readings describe how God feeds the hunger of his people; first, through the prophet Elisha. While the food presented by the prophet seemed insufficient to feed the crowd, through God’s power the prophet provided not only what was needed but even a surplus. Miraculously, God satisfied their hunger. Jesus did much the same in today’s gospel, multiplying the few loaves and fish to satisfy the bodily needs of the large crowd. In doing so, Jesus teaches them that God will provide in abundance.
God will provide for our hungers as well but first we must ask ourselves, “What is our true hunger?” Certainly the world hungers for food, with many who are literally starving but there are other forms of hunger as well, especially the hunger for peace. Daily world events show the great need for God’s comforting words of peace from the ruins of Syria to the hill country of Afghanistan.
Many hunger also for love, judging by the ongoing tragedy of spousal abuse and broken families. And many hunger for justice, decency and respect. Yes, the world’s peoples and nations cry out for justice. Racial tensions and violence are a constant threat to civil tranquility, here and abroad. Religious injustice exists where there is little tolerance for those of differing faiths. Even here, in the name of religious freedom, we have lost our freedom to freely express our faith at times. Political injustice is still rampant, found in societies victimized by dictatorships and police states.
God’s universal goodness is also the message of today’s psalm. We, and all living creatures, are fed by God’s hand. Jesus is the answer to all the hungers of our world, but as St. Teresa of Avila has written, we are the hands, the feet, and the eyes of the Lord in our world. Thus, it is through our efforts that the hungry must be fed. It is through our effort that the world can know peace when we let go of our biases, which prevent us from respecting others despite our differences. Justice and a spirit of love are brought to the world through our service and example. Our efforts to bear with one another are the efforts of God, working through us.
Through the Eucharist, alluded to in today’s gospel, Jesus provides us with the bread of life, that is, he gives us himself to sustain us in our daily efforts to heed Paul’s plea. Our prayer as stated so well by Amnesty International should be this, “Give bread to the hungry, Lord, and to those who have bread, a hunger for justice.”