This morning, I read this during the morning prayer of the daily office: "Nourish your people, Lord, for we hunger for your word.
As I was praying it for us, I thought, "Can I pray this? Because I'm not sure we really hunger for God's word."
Then I realized that I was placing too much importance on our own awareness. Realize it or not, we are hungry. Starving even.
There comes a point when a person is starving (in the sense of actual, life-threatening starvation, not in the 'argghhh! I haven't eaten in like 6 hours' sense most of us are used to) when the hunger pains the person once felt fade away. This is because the body has begun to eat itself! At this point, even the though of food becomes unappetizing. But this does not mean the person is not malnourished. Is not slowly descending to death.
So, we certainly hope we become aware of our condition. But until then, we pray, "Please do not wait, O Lord! For we are starving for your word."
This leads to a more truthful understanding of the next line I prayed: "Rescue us from the death of sin and fill us with your mercy, that we may share your presence and the joys of all the saints."
