The Holiness of Hunger

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio - articles - email ) | Aug 03, 2026

Most of us agree that our cycle of hunger and nourishment is a pleasing feature of human life. Will we be hungry in heaven? In its original design, hunger is a gift rather than a deprivation.

In their Original Innocence, Adam and Eve needed God’s sustenance. God supplied the Tree of Life as His gift of immortal life. Our first parents experienced the goodness of creation, including the natural rhythms of labor, rest, and nourishment.

After the Fall, work became arduous, and hunger became a chronic, often desperate need. Although distorted by sin, marital love, the love of life, human work, and hunger remained elements of human nature.

During the Exodus, hardship and hunger reveal Israel's temptation to return to the slavery of Egypt even after God liberates them. In their hunger, the Israelites rebelled, threatening to return to the “fleshpots” of Egypt. Yet God did not abandon them. He sent the mysterious manna, “the bread from heaven,” foreshadowing the promise of the Eucharist.

As the Word made Flesh, Jesus also experienced hunger. When He fasted in the desert for forty days (cf. Matthew 4), the Devil sought to exploit His hunger: “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But Jesus, quoting Deuteronomy, reveals the ultimate meaning of hunger: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Human hunger for bread finds its fulfillment in communion with Jesus, the Living Bread.

Throughout His public ministry, Jesus sanctifies ordinary meals. He attends the wedding feast at Cana. When Zacchaeus climbs a sycamore tree to see Him, Jesus invites Himself to dine with him. The Pharisees and scribes complain that Jesus “ate and drank with sinners.” The cycle of hunger and sustenance is woven into the humanity of Christ.

Jesus unites our hunger for bread with our hunger for God's Word. When He teaches us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” He also prepares us, through the multiplication of the loaves and His “Bread of Life” discourse, to anticipate the Eucharist. St. Jerome rendered the phrase as "supersubstantial bread." Hints of the Eucharist are unmistakable.

Christ’s compassion during the multiplication of the loaves feeds the multitude and draws them toward the Bread of Life. St. John alone records the long Eucharistic discourse (cf. John 6) that follows. Jesus declares:

• “I am the bread of life.”
• “The bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
• “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”

Jesus does not abolish our hunger for bread. He fulfills it. The natural desire for food becomes the gateway to the supernatural hunger for the Bread of Life. The departure of the perplexed disciples underscores the realism of Jesus' teaching and reinforces the Catholic understanding of the Real Presence.

Our hunger for bread points to our deeper hunger for Jesus under the appearances of bread and wine. The Apostles could not fully understand His teaching. Yet Peter remains faithful to the Word: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

At the Last Supper, Jesus celebrates the first Eucharist with the Apostles, the first priests of the New Covenant. At Mass, Jesus elevates our hunger for food and drink into a hunger for communion with Him.

With the Tree of Life restored by the Triumphant Cross, we encounter the risen Lord in the sacraments. After the Consecration, the Body of Jesus under the appearance of bread is real food, and His Blood under the appearance of wine is real drink. Our hunger for bodily sustenance is fulfilled in our hunger for the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, we must not over-spiritualize hunger. After the miraculous catch of fish on the Sea of Tiberias, the risen Jesus prepares a charcoal fire with fish and bread. He tells the disciples, “Come and have breakfast” (John 21:12) and shares the meal with them. Sinful inclinations never distorted His human hunger. His willingness to eat after the Resurrection reveals that bodily nourishment is compatible with our future glorified state.

Hunger remains part of our earthly life. God's grace and the virtues overcome gluttony and greed. We share meals with family and friends, provide generously for the poor, and unite our physical hunger with our spiritual hunger for God's Word as we receive Holy Communion. Priests visit the sick with the sacraments. The Incarnation guarantees that no technology can substitute for sacramental personal encounters at Mass and around parishes, or even for the taste and touch of bread.

The loss of a healthy appetite is often a sign of sickness and approaching death: “They loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death” (Psalm 107:18). In the same way, the loss of our hunger for God can lead to eternal separation from Him. In hell, there will be no hunger for God’s Word, no desire for communion with Him, but only isolation, horror, and disgrace.

The absence of holy hunger is not freedom but a return to slavery. A holy hunger extends into eternity. The Book of Revelation promises a new heaven and a new earth. In heaven there will be no hunger born of lack or deprivation. Yet the blessed will rejoice in an ever-deepening participation in God’s goodness, an eternal delight that never reaches exhaustion. Hunger is a human impulse rooted in love—a longing that finds its ultimate fulfillment in God.

Jesus says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” (Matthew 24:35) As we pray the Lord's Prayer, we may add: “Lord, heaven and earth will pass away, but may my hunger for your Word—and for the Bread of Life—never pass away.“