Last night I had a small supper, because, frankly, I was too lazy to cook anything. I kept waking up during the night with painful hunger pangs and finally arose at 5 a.m. for breakfast. I thought about the people who go to bed hungry every night.
I remembered a story my cousin’s husband told me about a poverty-stricken boy, whose breakfast consisted of oranges he took from neighbors’ trees on his way to school. This kid suffered from hunger pangs the entire day.
My relatives took the boy under their wings, providing food and clothing, and encouraging him to work hard in school. Today that boy is a husband and the father of three beautiful children with a good job and a fully stocked larder.
That story reminds me of a Lenten facet that’s sometimes overlooked. We usually picture people during this 40-day season sacrificing something like sweets, television or shopping.
But Lent actually has three prongs, which are almsgiving, praying and fasting. True, the word “Lent” doesn’t appear in the Bible, but Christ mentions these aspects in Matthew’s gospel, where he says “when you give alms” and “when you pray” and “when you fast.”
In the Old Testament, we find many admonitions about almsgiving based on Genesis, where man and woman are created in God’s image. Judaism emphasizes that this description applies to all people, no matter what their social or economic status.
Christ took caring for the poor to a deeper dimension, when he described the Last Judgment in Matthew’s gospel. At the end of time, he said, we’ll be judged on how we cared for “the least of these,” who are the hungry, the strangers, the sick and the imprisoned.
He made a mystical connection between impoverished people and himself: “For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me.”
The conclusion for Christians is undeniable. When we reject people in dire need, we reject Christ himself.
This belief has given rise worldwide to Christian charities, such as homes for cancer and AIDS patients, abandoned children and the elderly, the distribution of food and clothing to the needy, plus prison ministries and care of immigrants.
As I ponder my Lenten sacrifices, I’m startled by the luxuries in my life, even though I consider myself middle-class.
One of my friends grew up in a small town in Mexico, where the family had no indoor plumbing, and they had to tote water from the river to the house. Going hungry was a daily feature of their lives – and yet the children still found something to sacrifice during Lent.
Some churches hand out cardboard “rice bowls” during Lent, where families put money they’ve saved by eating simple meals, forgoing cable TV and giving up pricey wines. At Easter, the money is given to the poor.
Almsgiving can continue throughout the year, as we strive to quench the hunger pangs of the poor. Christ said, “Whatever you do for the least of these, you have done for me.” It doesn’t get clearer than that.
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