First corporal work of mercy: ‘For I was hungry ...’

Our responsibility is to provide food for the hungry, just as God feeds our soul

Published: March 19, 2016

By Daniel S. Mulhall
Catholic News Service

Arkansas Catholic file / Dwain Hebda

Jonathan Semmler of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Hot Springs Village joins other Catholic Charities Summer Institute participants in sorting and packing canned food items at the Arkansas Foodbank in Little Rock in July 2013.

Arkansas Catholic file / Dwain Hebda

Summary of Jesus’ teachings

The corporal and spiritual works of mercy serve as a shorthand synthesis of Jesus’ teaching.

If you want to follow Jesus, then you have to practice these works of mercy: care for those in need, physically, emotionally, socially, psychologically or spiritually. The corporal and spiritual works of mercy are all found in the Gospels, especially in Matthew’s Gospel, and primarily in two passages: Matthew 5-7 and Matthew 25:31-46.

Food for thought

Pope Francis has talked about hunger and food throughout his papacy. Shortly after he was elected pope in 2013, he spoke of the “scandal” of those who go hungry and those who think of it as if “it were an inevitable fact.”

The pope said that it was a “sad sign of a globalization of indifference that is slowly making us get used to the suffering of others as though it were a normal thing.”

As we find ourselves in the Year of Mercy, we have to remember that feeding the hungry is the first of the corporal works of mercy — a core belief of St. Francis of Assisi, whose name the pope took on.

“The planet has enough food for all, but it seems that there is a lack of willingness to share it with everyone,” the pope said in a homily at a Mass opening the general assembly of Caritas.

Feeding the hungry is one of the corporal works of mercy. This teaching of Jesus comes from the Gospel of Matthew 25:35 where, in a parable, Jesus says, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink.”

The responsibility to provide food and drink for those in need is found throughout the Old and New Testaments. For example, in Deuteronomy 15:11, God instructs the Israelites to share freely the gifts of the land with those in need:

“The land will never lack for needy persons; that is why I command you: ‘Open your hand freely to your poor and to your needy kin in your land.’”

In Deuteronomy 24:19-21, we are told that a part of every harvest belongs to the poor: “When you reap the harvest in your field and overlook a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. ... When you knock down the fruit of your olive trees, you shall not go over the branches a second time. ... When you pick your grapes, you shall not go over the vineyard a second time; let what remains be for the resident alien, the orphan and the widow.”

This practice is known as gleaning. We do this, Deuteronomy 24:19 says, “so that the Lord, your God, may bless you in all your undertakings.”

There are moments in Scripture where feeding the hungry takes on a miraculous nature. For example, in 1 Kings 17:10-15, the prophet Elijah repays a woman’s generosity by promising that “the jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry” until the famine ends.

In 2 Kings 4:42-44, the prophet Elisha feeds the masses on 20 barley loaves. Then, of course, there is the example of Jesus feeding the 5,000 on five loaves and two fish (Luke 9:10-17).

What is important to understand in all of these readings is that there is more going on than simply providing nourishment to someone in need. Each of these events shows God’s amazing power at work.

When we feed the hungry we come in touch with the divine. We participate in God’s ongoing work of mercy, which each of us experiences in some way.

When we open our hearts and act with generosity toward those in need, we allow God to work through us.

And when that happens, amazing things occur far beyond our own limited imaginations, as Abraham discovered when he fed two travelers in Genesis 18:1-15 and became the father of a nation. The person you are feeding is a representative of God.

As Jesus says in Matthew 25:40, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”

Now that is food for thought.

Summary of Jesus’ teachings

The corporal and spiritual works of mercy serve as a shorthand synthesis of Jesus’ teaching.

Food for thought

The pope said that it was a “sad sign of a globalization of indifference that is slowly making us get used to the suffering of others as though it were a normal thing.”

“The planet has enough food for all, but it seems that there is a lack of willingness to share it with everyone,” the pope said in a homily at a Mass opening the general assembly of Caritas.

Click for the Holy Year of Mercy index