Worldly Fullness and Spiritual Hunger

GOSPEL THOUGHTS

*Ordinary Season:  Twenty Third Week :  Wednesday*

*Gospel : Lk 6:20-26*

*First Reading : Ps 145:2-3, 10-11, 12-13ab*

*Responsorial Psalm : Col 3:1-11*

*Worldly Fullness and Spiritual Hunger*

*Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry*

*1) Worldly Fullness Often Masks Inner Emptiness*

When Jesus says “filled now,” He likely means more than just food. It includes:

Wealth

Status

Entertainment

Busyness

Self-sufficiency

These things can give the illusion of fullness—but they don’t feed the soul. 

They can numb the deeper hunger that only God can satisfy.

*2) The Tragedy of a Satisfied Life Without God*

Many people live what looks like a full life—careers, relationships, pleasures—but remain spiritually malnourished.

You can have a full bank account and an empty heart.

You can have full schedules and an aimless soul.

You can be full of yourself, and starved for grace.

Jesus' warning is not just about future judgment—it’s about spiritual reality:

If you're filled only with the temporary, you'll eventually experience the eternal hunger that those things can never satisfy.

*3) Spiritual Hunger is a Gift, Not a Curse*

Paradoxically, to be spiritually hungry is a blessing. 

It means you're awake, aware, and longing for what’s real and lasting.

Those who hunger for righteousness, truth, justice, and God will be filled (Luke 6:21; Matthew 5:6).

Those who have numbed their hunger with lesser things may never even realize what they’ve lost—until it's too late.

*4) Fullness vs. Fulfillment*

There’s a difference between being full and being fulfilled.

Worldly things fill us temporarily.

Only God fulfills us deeply and eternally.

The “woe” is not because God is angry with those who are full, but because they’re in danger:

They’re satisfied with too little, and may miss the greater feast of God's Kingdom.

*5) A Call to Exchange: Empty to be Filled*

Jesus seems to be offering an invitation hidden in a warning:

If you want to be truly filled, you may first need to be emptied—of pride, of noise, of excess, of false comforts.

As St. Augustine said: *“You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”*

*6) What We are "Full" Of??*

What are you "filled" with right now? Comfort? Pride? Achievement? Entertainment? Material success?

This verse invites us to reflect: Is my current state of being full hindering my spiritual growth?

It challenges us to consider whether we are depending too much on temporary satisfactions rather than seeking deeper, eternal sustenance.

*7) The Spiritual hunger beyond this World*

The rich man feasted every day, while Lazarus, a poor beggar, starved at his gate.

After death:

Lazarus is comforted in Abraham’s bosom.

The rich man is in torment, begging for a drop of water.

Though he had been “filled” in life, he is now desperate, not just for physical relief, but for mercy, relationship, and redemption—things he had no hunger for while he was alive.

This is a clear image of spiritual hunger after death—a deep awareness of need, but too late to satisfy it.

*Think about it*

*God bless you and your family. Praying for you and your dear ones*

*Fr Maxim DSouza*

*Jeppu Seminary*

*Mangalore*