The readings in the Mass today are about hunger. As the antiphon in the Psalm tells us, "The hand of the Lord feeds us, he answers all of our needs." God designed us in such a way that we hunger for that which we need.
We human beings experience thirst because our bodies need water. We experience hunger because our bodies need food.
However, unlike other mammals, we human beings hunger for more than just food and water. From a very young age, we hunger for truth. We want to know about the world around us. Also, from a very young age, we hunger for justice. We want to see people who do wrong punished and we want to see people who do good rewarded. We also hunger to belong. We hunger to receive the love of someone greater than us - a heavenly Father - God- and we hunger to be loved by our fellow human beings in our family and our Church.
However, these spiritual hungers are not yet satisfied fully in this life and so we are given grace in their absence. In the absence of satisfying knowledge, we are given faith. In the absence of satisfying hunger to see justice done, we are given hope. However, as we grow in our relationship with God and His Church, our hunger for love is more sated. We are able to experience the love of God because God became a human being in the person of Jesus and Jesus chose to remain with us in the Eucharist and in His Mystical Body the Church so that we might be able, even in this life, to experience His Love.
God bless,
Fr. Scott