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“For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat.”

“For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat.”

Last updated on: December 21, 2017 at 5:39 pm by Dan Peterson

“For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat.” 2017-12-21T17:39:45-07:00 Dan Peterson

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J. J. Tissot, “The Widow’s Mite” (“Le denier de la veuve”)
Wikimedia Commons public domain

Today is the twenty-first day of the “Light the World” campaign, sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The theme for today is

“For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat.”

An excellent way to act on today’s theme can be found at the Liahona Children’s Foundation.

You know that I’ve been urging donations — even small ones — to the Interpreter Foundation. It’s a cause in which I deeply, deeply believe. My own limited financial and other resources are, to a large extent, pledged in that direction.

But I’m painfully aware that there are many other urgent needs, worldwide. Here’s one:

Approximately 100,000 Latter-day Saint children suffer from malnutrition.

This absolutely ought not to be.

The principal context of Doctrine and Covenants 38:27, which we often quote in the Church, is plainly economic:

24 And let every man esteem his brother as himself, and practice virtue and holiness before me.

25 And again I say unto you, let every man esteem his brother as himself.

26 For what man among you having twelve sons, and is no respecter of them, and they serve him obediently, and he saith unto the one: Be thou clothed in robes and sit thou here; and to the other: Be thou clothed in rags and sit thou there—and looketh upon his sons and saith I am just?

27 Behold, this I have given unto you as a parable, and it is even as I am. I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.

World poverty is a horrific thing, with many causes. But it seems to me that terrible poverty and gross economic inequality within the Church are, or at least should be, a particular scandal to believing Latter-day Saints.

We should remember King Benjamin’s words:

And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness.

But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.

And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish. . . .

I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants. (Mosiah 4:14-16, 46)

This doesn’t, I think, mean that every Church member needs to live in a large, multi-story house and drive a new, high-end car. But it does, I believe, mean that Church members shouldn’t go to bed hungry or lack adequate housing and clothes, that their children shouldn’t suffer permanent brain damage or stunted growth from lack of necessary nutrition.

As I understand its work, the Liahona Children’s Foundation doesn’t turn the children of non-members away. But it does have a special mission to Latter-day Saint children. And this is one of the several reasons that it has caught my attention.

Not that Latter-day Saint children are intrinsically more valuable, or more beloved in the eyes of God, than the children of non-Mormons. Not at all.

No. But one reason for simply throwing one’s hands in the air, despairing, and (in the end) giving nothing to charity is the sense — all of us have felt it at some point or another — that the world’s problems are simply overwhelming. That they’re too big. That they cannot be solved. That our little pittance, our pathetically small contribution, will make no difference. That it will be swallowed up, without trace or effect, in the unfathomable ocean of the world’s need.

And, truly, world hunger — for one — is a vast problem.

But the malnutrition of 100,000 Latter-day Saint kids? That’s a finite problem. It can be overcome. It could be overcome in fairly short order, in fact. Small donations can make a measurable difference. And there’s satisfaction in that.

So, as this year winds to its close, I hope that you’ll consider making a donation to the Liahona Children’s Foundation. At least look around their website. I think you’ll be impressed and moved.

Perhaps it can be part of your response to the Church’s 2017 Christmas initiative.

For me, personally, receiving gifts on Christmas has long since ceased to be particularly satisfying. Giving to a really good cause, though? That will make for a pleasant glow all day long.

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