What Are You Hungry For?
Growing up as a Mexican American Catholic, I experienced Lent as a procession of my mother’s traditional Friday culinary masterpieces. Of her many moles, complex sauces made with rehydrated dried chiles, two stand out: mole de papas, with cubed potatoes and melted cheese, and mole de bolitas de camarón, with cactus and patties made from dehydrated ground shrimp. Other dishes include crispy potato tacos, mojarras fritas, which are whole deep-fried fish served with a lime wedge, vegetable lentils, and chiles rellenos—cheese- stuffed poblano peppers covered in egg batter, fried, and served over a spicy tomato sauce with a distinct cumin flavor. (My father for his part still spends the season dreaming of capirotada, a Lenten bread pudding.) My mother would start the cooking process early in the day, and dinner was perfectly timed so that it would be ready when my father got home from a hard day’s work as a millwright. The aromas filled the house the way the smell of incense fills a church. It was ritual and comfort: abstaining from meat, being steeped in tradition, forging memories of family around the table.
During Lent we focus on abstaining and fasting, but that practice is intended to make room for something else. The spirit must fill the void so that one’s resolve to be guided by the divine might be strengthened. In this Sunday’s Gospel reading, Luke 4:1-13, Jesus is full of the spirit post-baptism. This fullness is the power of God that sustains him as he faces temptations that falsely promise satisfaction. This fullness makes discernment possible. The liturgical Sundays begin with the end in mind. How might we be filled with the spirit so that at Easter we can celebrate and trust in the life sustaining power of the creator?
They say you shouldn’t shop while hungry or you’re bound to make poor choices. Shopping in general has been on the minds of many since Donald Trump’s executive orders rolling back diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives. Major retail stores like Target and restaurant chains like McDonald’s discontinued their own DEI initiatives, triggering mass boycotts in response. Calls were made on social media for people to consider their political power as consumers. Among retail chains, Target wasn’t alone in its actions, but it has been made an example of, criticized for having financially benefited from its DEI initiatives in the past only to abandon them upon Trump’s return. LGBTQ+, Black, and Latino/a communities, and other historically marginalized groups have considered this form of performative allyship an abuse and a betrayal in an era where many support businesses according to shared values.
Since the boycotts began, shoppers explored alternatives. Stores like Costco, which kept their DEI programs in place despite pressure from the Trump administration, saw financial gains. Activists called for an “economic blackout day” on February 28 as a general protest against continued rising prices of food and other goods. On a day when consumers were encouraged not to spend, Costco still saw a 22 percent rise in website traffic. Secondhand shopping and support of local business has been on the rise for some time, but Trump’s alliances with billionaires have led to activists calling for more sustainable consumer practices.
Lent began on the heels of the start of a trade war. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada would impose retaliatory tariffs on more than $100 billion of American goods in response to Trump’s 25 percent tariffs. Mexico president Claudia Sheinbaum said she would announce Mexico’s own retaliatory tariffs on the first Sunday of Lent, while the Chinese embassy in the U.S. quoted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China on X, “If war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end.” Dartmouth College economist Douglas Irwin calculated that Trump’s hikes will lift America’s average tariff from 2.4 percent to 10.5 percent, the highest level since the 1940s. Meanwhile, the U.S. will face continued financial decline and instability. Boycotting stores won’t be so difficult when our budgets won’t permit us to shop in the first place.
In Lukes’s account of the Temptation, Satan presents Jesus with opportunities to satisfy a hunger Satan believes Jesus must be experiencing due to his fasting in the desert. What Satan doesn’t account for is Jesus’ ability to discern in the spirit what is just in the face of hunger and fear.
As an adult, getting to enjoy my mother’s Friday Lenten meals means fighting hours of traffic out of Los Angeles. The opportunities have become fewer and farther between. But I can proudly say I’ve never had a McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish, and that won’t change this year. The Latin American section at major grocery and retail stores are always wanting and the DEI rollbacks haven’t made that better. So, I’ll be shopping locally as I finally learn to prepare my mother’s Mexican Lenten dishes for me and future generations. I want to be filled both with what is life-giving and what is just.
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