Give us this day our daily bread.
When God brought his people out of slavery into freedom, he fed them with manna in the desert. (cf. Exodus 16). Each day the people went out to gather up this mysterious food, and there was always enough for everyone. The day before the sabbath, they gathered two days’ worth – God did not make them violate his law of sabbath rest. But every other day, if they gathered more than they needed, the “extra” would spoil, because God would provide the bread they need – each day.
In teaching us to pray for our “daily bread”, Jesus draws our attention back to that desert wandering. Then, God showed his presence and care by feeding his people with bread every morning and with flesh – a flock of quail that surrounded the camp at night – in the evening. Now Jesus himself gives us his very flesh as the bread of life.
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven…the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (John 6:51)
Like the manna that came every day, Jesus gives himself to us daily in the offering of the Mass. Although no one has to go to daily Mass – though many who want to come are unable to do so because of their schedules – yet every day men and women, young and old are drawn to receive this “daily bread” of the Holy Eucharist. Even when we are unable to receive our Lord in Holy Communion, we can make a spiritual communion each day. “Jesus, although I cannot receive you sacramentally today, I ask you to come into my heart. I long for you, I hunger for you.”
My parents taught me as a child to make the sign of the Cross whenever we passed a Catholic Church, a sign of reverence for the Lord present there in the Eucharist. What a simple reminder of the presence of Jesus, right there in the tabernacle, right in the midst of this day. And I learned to long for the next time I could receive Him at Mass.
Every time you drive past the Church, every time you say the Lord’s prayer, reach out for that “daily bread” which is Jesus himself, and look forward to the next time you can receive him in Holy Communion.
-Fr. Tom
