Kvell

During Lent, Catholics are traditionally invited to engage in fasting.  This practice can remind us that something is more important than immediately satisfying our worldly desires.  It can be an act of solidarity with those in our world who hunger daily.  It is a reminder that there is a Bread of Life Who supersedes our earthly hunger.

Mother Teresa says that the hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.  Are there faces I breeze by who I could stop and share with, for a moment, in this meal of love?  Pope Benedict urges us to “give people the look of love they crave” (Deus Caritas Est).

This week I learned a Yiddish word—kvell—that conveys the look of love and pride a parent has for a child.  In pausing before we immediately satisfy our whims, perhaps we can remember that One looks at us with such a love, and that we are foremost invited to share in this meal. 

"Man does not live on bread alone."  Matthew 4:4