To hunger and thirst for righteousness, then, means we should urgently pursue righteousness. The ultimate righteousness is God himself. Thus to hunger and thirst for righteousness is to hunger and thirst for God. No one else nor anything else will ultimately and totally fulfill the inner longing in each person. God out of love created us in his own image and likeness so that in him we may find complete happiness.

Pope Leo the Great : “This hunger is not for bodily food, this thirst is not for any earthly drink: it is a longing to be blessed with righteousness, and, by penetrating the secret of all mysteries, to be filled with the Lord himself. Happy is the soul that longs for the food of righteousness and thirsts for this kind of drink; it would not seek such things if it had not already savored their delight. When the soul hears the voice of the Spirit saying to it through the prophet: Taste and see that the Lord is good [Ps. 34:9], it has already received a portion of God’s goodness, and is on fire with love, the love that gives joy of the utmost purity.”