Daily Meditation: Tuesday, July 5, 2005

Plate of lentils - given to Jacob by Esau. Its symbolism

07/05/2005

You are familiar with the episode from the Old Testament in which Esau, who is famished, gives his birthright to his brother Jacob in exchange for a plate of lentils. It is obviously a symbolic story which requires interpretation. Esau represents the human being who is prepared to sacrifice his esteem in the eyes of the heavenly Father in exchange for immediate pleasures. Hunger is synonymous with all our appetites and desires. How many hungers other than physical hunger demand to be satisfied and cause human beings to lose their birthright, their dignity as children of God! Each time someone gives way to an instinct, and I am talking not only about greed, but also about sensuality, anger, jealousy, ambition or hate, he sells his birthright, his inner royalty, for a plate of lentils and becomes impoverished and enslaved. In exchange for something worthless, he abandons his most precious possession: the divine life.