“Give us this day our daily bread.”

According to “InStore Buyer,” a supermarket trade journal, sales of donuts actually increase by 27% during Lent, a liturgical season that is supposed to be set aside for fasting and abstinence. There may be a big, gooey hole in our nation’s thinking about what it means to live a Christian lifestyle. We may be a little too fond of our “comfort foods.”

The average American household wastes 14 percent of its food purchases, says a researcher at the University of Arizona. Fifteen percent of the waste includes foods still within their expiration date but never opened. Since the annual food budget for an American family of four ranges from $6,000 to $7,200 (depending on the age of the children), the waste amounts to roughly $19.00 per day. To put that figure in perspective, 1.5 billion people world-wide survive on $1.25 a day, or less. And that meager sum must pay not only for their food, but also for their clothing, tools, fuel, supplies and shelter. We spend $3.65 per day just on chips, candy, pop, and tobacco.

There is a message for us in those statistics, one we would do well to take to heart during the 40 days of Lent.

When Jesus taught His followers to pray, He said to ask our Heavenly Father for our daily bread. A single day’s food supply. That’s all. No pecan nut rolls. No cinnamon buns. No Krispy Kremes. Just some flour, yeast and water. Your basic staples of life. His message would have made perfect sense to many of those listening to Him because they lived a hand-to-mouth existence. It makes just as much sense today, even though we are surrounded by an abundance of foods to satisfy every appetite, every whim.

In the midst of plenty, it’s easy to take false comfort in the foods we eat. But sooner or later we become hungry for more; our appetites become insatiable; and we discover a big hole in the middle of our lives. That’s what happens when we confuse comfort with contentment. The two are very different.

We can never know comfort for long. As soon as we become accustomed to our creature comforts, we tire of them and want more. On the other hand, to be content is to feel blessed and satisfied, regardless of our circumstances.

Saint Paul put it this way in Phiippians 4:11: “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content.”

Lasting comfort can only be found in communion with the Lord. When we participate in daily Mass and receive Holy Communion, we partake of true spiritual comfort food, the bread of eternal life.