Episode Transcript  

One

Hunger and Thirst

Stop for a moment and try to remember the last time you were really, really hungry. For some of us, it’s been a while. We’re constantly surrounded by so much food that we are never hungry. Maybe there was a day with a lot of traveling, or a day when you were so busy you just didn’t have any time to eat. Or maybe you were doing a cleanse or some serious fasting for Ash Wednesday or Good Friday. In any case, if you can remember, then you remember what it’s like. Hunger hurts. It burns. It’s not something that comes and goes; it’s a steady ache, a need that doesn’t go away, doesn’t leave you alone. Poor people in the developing world, who go days without eating and have to watch their own children go days without eating, know what real hunger is. It’s something fearful, brutal. An urgent thirst can quickly become even more desperate than the most acute hunger.

It’s remembering that fundamental, scary experience of hunger and thirst that should make us stop and think when we hear Jesus say, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. For they shall be satisfied.”

Two

Righteousness

What exactly is righteousness? What does that word mean? What is this thing that we are blessed if we hunger and thirst for it?

Put very simply, righteousness is when human beings are conformed to God. Righteousness, conformity to God, exists on three levels. First of all, in order to be righteous, we must follow the commandments, which forbid doing evil. Blasphemy, murder, adultery, idolatry, superstition, deception, gossip, envy, lust, gluttony, and drunkenness. Those acts disfigure the image of God, so we must remove them from our lives to be conformed to God. 

Secondly, righteousness demands that we “love one another” as Christ has loved us. Honoring our parents, laying down our lives for our spouse, patience with our kids, generosity towards others, and, the most difficult of all, love of enemies and forgiveness of those who have wronged us seventy times seven times. We can’t be like Christ unless we love our neighbor the way Christ loved our neighbor. 

Thirdly, righteousness demands that we love the Lord Our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. In the end, we become what we love. So if we want to be righteous, like God, we must love Him with all our heart, soul, and strength. That’s what righteousness is. That’s what we have to hunger and thirst for.

Three

The Constancy of Hunger and Thirst

Real hunger and thirst won’t leave you alone. You might distract yourself for a while, but you’ll be constantly aware of how hungry you are. So here is the question: Does hunger for righteousness gnaw at you? When you attend meetings, or fold laundry, or read a book to the kids, does your mind continually revert back to ways you need to watch out for temptation, or ways you can serve your neighbor, or ways you can grow in love for the Lord?

If not, then we’re not yet at the place where we’re hungering and thirsting for righteousness. And we’re not yet fully blessed.

Four

The Discomfort of Hunger and Thirst

Hunger and thirst, especially when it’s acute, aren’t pleasant. You can do fun things while you’re hungry and thirsty. You can watch a movie or talk on the phone to a good friend. But as soon as you stop, and even a little when you’re in the process of your fun activity, you’re aware that something’s not right. A hungry person is constantly looking around to see if there’s something they can grab to take the edge off their hunger. 

Are we like that with righteousness, with conformity to God? Are we constantly looking for temptations to avoid, ways to love and serve others concretely, a way to spend more time with Jesus in friendship and prayer?

That kind of hunger, that kind of constant opportunism for holiness, that’s where blessedness is found.

Five

Cultivating Hunger: the Daily Resolution

Usually you don’t want to make yourself more hungry, but in this case, you do! We want to stir up a deep hunger and thirst for union with God. But how do you do it? How do you get yourself to spend your day thinking about righteousness and seizing the opportunities as they come? By starting your day with prayer, with meditation on the Word of God, and a concrete resolution.

When you pray in the morning, you remember what matters most in life. You make yourself aware of the need for righteousness, for perfect conformity to Christ. And when you end your prayer with a resolution, it means you settle on a strategy for the day. A strategy for avoiding temptation, for loving your neighbor, for growing in love for God. Then throughout the day, you’ll look for opportunities to carry out that resolution, to implement your strategy whenever possible. And when you get firmly into that mindset, you’ll be hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

Suggested Resolutions:

Choose one resolution for today to help you grow closer to God, or create your own. Here are some ideas to inspire you. 

• Foster a deep hunger for righteousness by actively seeking God out throughout your day, taking every possible opportunity to pray, go to Adoration, daily Mass, and offer sacrifices.

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