Jon's Blessing #3

Abundant God,
We thank you for this food before us,
That satisfies our immediate hunger.
And we thank you for your food from above,
That provides lasting satisfaction.
Help us enjoy this food
And enjoy the pleasure it gives to our bodies.
Remind us of what real hunger is like,
So that we might hunger and thirst after a world
Where hunger-pains are no more,
And all your children can have their desire for well-being satisfied.
Amen

This prayer is an attempt to incorporate some of the themes from “Food for Life.” The theme of satisfaction was mentioned in a quote from one of my favorite author’s, Wendell Berry, who speaks of consumerism always promising satisfaction but never delivering. I wanted to contrast food’s impermanent satisfaction of our hungers with God’s Bread of Life. Jung speaks a lot about God’s intent for food being enjoyment, so I wanted to incorporate this as well. But this enjoyment can only be fully understood in light of the physical knowledge of hunger. I think most of us in the West have lost sight of what it means to be really hungry, and a deeper experience of this might help our efforts in combating hunger.