Are you hungry? What are you hungry for? We’re all hungry for something. Knowing what you hunger for is wisdom.

The Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa talk about “the Two Hungers.” There is the Great Hunger and the Little Hunger. The Little Hunger yearns for food while the Great Hunger, the greatest hunger of all, is the hunger for meaning.

Margaret of Scotland was deeply hungry for meaning—and in a beautifully paradoxical way, she found this meaning by feeding the people around her. Margaret was not just a woman of faith. She was also a great queen, and this status gave her the ability to help many people. It was said that she would always feed the hungry before she ate any meals herself. This attitude of service and humility characterized every aspect of her rule. Surrounded by luxury and power, it would have been so easy for Margaret to give into the empty promises of the world. But she knew the only thing that would truly satisfy her was meaning. 

What are you really hungry for and how do you satisfy that hunger?

We pretend our hunger baffles us. We try to feed our hunger in a thousand ways, but still our hunger remains, because it will only be satisfied with meaning. We cannot thrive without meaning. Our need for meaning is as urgent and unceasing as our need for water.

The question then becomes: Where do we discover the meaning that our souls long for? In some ways your answer to that question will be as unique as you are. In other ways, what satisfies our need for meaning is universal: silence, prayer, service, loving sacrifice, deep relationships, growing in virtue, the list goes on.

What are you hungry for in your life right now? Do you know? You may not, and that’s okay. That just means it’s time to explore it anew. But whatever your hunger is, more of the same, more of what you have been trying to satisfy it with until now isn’t the answer. Are you open to trying something new?



Feast Day: November 19

Feast Day Shared By: Saint Matilda and Saint Abdia

Patron Saint of: Scotland

Symbols: Black Cross

Also Known As: The Pearl of Scotland

Canonized: 1250

Canonized By: Pope Innocent IV