This book is available for purchase at the St Michaels Catholic Community Calgary Gift shop
The hunger for bread is related to the hunger for God. The soul that yearns for God is substantially united with the body that needs the nourishment for material strength. In the language of social activists, one can hardly pray to God or stare at the stars with an empty stomach. The theological reason for the Church to advocate and work for the elimination of hunger and poverty in our world is that people can hardly pray when they are hungry or angry. Action on behalf of justice and peace is constitutive of Christ’s mandate to preach the good news to the poor and freedom to those who are oppressed by their own selfishness and greed. This is the reason we take on the church-mandated poverty-alleviation programs like the society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Inn from the Cold, or the All Roads Lead Home.
In a way, the hunger in our world is due to the deeper hunger of people for what is right and just. Food experts are convinced that our world can provide more than enough food for everyone. The solution to the world’s problem of hunger and poverty is rooted in justice and peace. The abundance of the earth’s resources is enjoyed by the rich of few at the expense of the deprivation of the poor majority. The earth’s rich resources are meant for all to share. And as God’s children, we are to work for the just distribution of the world’s wealth.