Feeding the hungry: the first corporal Work of Mercy with Carlo Miglietta

The Works of Mercy through the eyes of a biblist

In preparation for the meeting promoted and organized by spazio + spadoni to be held from July 17 to 28, 2023, aimed at creating tools for spreading awareness of the Works of Mercy throughout the world, a daily reflection on a specific Work of Mercy prepared by our friend and biblist Carlo Miglietta will be published.

The days taking shape in July will see the participation of friends of spazio + spadoni coming from various parts of Italy, as well as from Burkina Faso, Benin, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, India, Burundi; others will connect from Albania, Uganda, South Sudan, and Mexico. These are regions where projects of spazio + spadoni have come to life both in the form of social enterprises (HIC SUM) and through initiatives devoted to the dissemination of the Works of Mercy.

The first corporal Work of Mercy is “feeding the hungry”

The biblist points out that whoever performs this work is similar to:

• God, who in the desert gave Israel “bread from heaven for their hunger” (Neh 9:15), “gives food to the hungry” (Ps 145:7), “gives them their food in due season” (Ps 103:27), “has filled the hungry with good things” (Lk 1:53), and promises to the blessed in His Kingdom: “They shall hunger no more” (Rev 7:16).
• Jesus, who urged the multiplication of loaves and fish for the hungry crowds. This miracle is recounted by all four Evangelists, and both Mark and Matthew recount it twice (Mk 6:30-44; 8:1-16; Mt 14:13-21; 15:32-39; Lk 9:10-17; Jn 6:1-13). “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger” (Jn 6:35).
• Tobit: “They gave their bread to the hungry” (Tob 1:17).

The biblist also reminds us that whoever feeds the hungry listens to the Word of God. Below are some excerpts:

• “Do not grieve the hungry” (Sir 4:2).
• “Give of your bread to those who are hungry” (Tob 4:16).
• “Is not this rather the fast that I choose…? Does it not consist in sharing your bread with the hungry” (Is 58:6-7,10).
• “If one shares bread with the hungry…, he is just and shall live” (Ezek 18:7,16).
• “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat” (Prov 25:21).
• “You yourselves give them something to eat” (Mk 6:37).

The biblist leaves us at the conclusion of this work with a challenging question: Can we truly be “fishers of men” (Mk 1:17), recognizing those who feed the hungry and proclaiming to them the beatitude of Mercy that states: “Blessed are the merciful” (Mt 5:7)?

The re-Evolution of spazio + spadoni

The re-Evolution that spazio + spadoni aims to generate is essentially directed toward emphasizing the importance of praying the Works, so that the Lord may enhance our capacity to awaken in others—at the very moment of action and in everyone without distinction—the awareness of God’s Mercy.

Photo by Michael Ali on Unsplash

Image created digitally by spazio + spadoni

Source: Carlo Miglietta – The Works of Mercy