Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread – The Eucharist

If you look back throughout our Salvation History you will see the consistent preparation of our God to present himself to us in the Eucharist. It is a very consistent and persistent theme throughout the Old Testament, which leads us to the ultimate miracle and gift of Christ Himself in the Eucharist.

Bread (and wine) were very specific and important supplements to the Jewish people in ancient times. During the Exodus God provided Bread from Heaven to the people of Israel in the form of Manna. This Manna appeared to them on a daily basis for 40 years, and only stopped when they reached the Holy Land. Many ancient Jewish people believed that Manna existed since the beginning of time, and was with the Word before time itself.

The Bread of the Presence was also a very important and significant to the Jewish people; they believed and offered this Bread and Wine as sacrifice to God as early as the Old Testament and Abraham. This Bread of the Presence was revered and God even gave instructions to the Israelites on the construction of a special table, that this Bread was to be placed and offered up to him upon. Once this Bread was offered up as a sacrifice it was then considered to be Holy. See Exodus 25.

When Jesus first entered into his Human Existence as an infant, he was wrapped and place in a manger. A manger is a feeding trough for animals. How very prophetic and fitting that the “Bread from Heaven’ come down to Earth in human form, be place in a feeding trough. I never caught the symbolism of this until this very Christmas, after being enlightened about the History of the Eucharist in a book I read titled “Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist”. By Brant Pitre

During the life of Jesus, he refers to the Eucharist in his Bread of Life Discourse, John 6. This is the most obvious reflection of what is to come for us in this wonderful everlasting sacrifice, but there is more foreshadowing of how important Jesus as the Bread of Life will be:

His very first miracle is changing water to wine, at a marriage feast at the insistence of his Mother.

He feeds thousands with just a few loaves of bread on different occasions, there are six accounts of Jesus multiplying loaves of Bread in the Gospels:

1.Matthew 14:15-21

2.Matthew 15:32-39

3.Mark 6:35-44

4.Mark 8:1-9

5.Luke 9:12-17

6.John 6:1-13

There is the last supper of course, in which, he actually instituted the Eucharist formally. It is the Last Supper that most obviously outlines our Liturgy of the Eucharist and its’ importance and extraordinariness.

There is one other place though that we find Jesus referring us to the Eucharist, and it is as a daily offering. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to ask God for our Daily Bread. I think that the true meaning of this part of the prayer is lost on most of us, and I just recently have seen it myself. The Daily Bread is not just our daily sustenance for food, as I have always assumed, it is our Daily Eucharistic Bread, that Jesus is instructing us to ask for. Immediately after this, he instructs us to ask for our forgiveness, and to forgive others all of their trespasses, because only then can we have the Grace required to receive him in this way. He also instructs us to ask for help in not succumbing to temptations. Of course, the Eucharist and the Grace it gives to us, can assist us with that as well.

It is interesting, because the Lord’s Prayer, is a universal prayer used by most Christian denominations, but I really truly believe that Jesus is referencing the Eucharist as our Daily Bread. We, as Catholics, have the opportunity to receive this Bread, the Eucharist, on a daily basis. We all have the opportunity of Daily Mass, offered throughout the world. The Lord’s Prayer, is relatively short, but it packs a punch, and each and every word has intense meaning and instruction. It is a prayer about the search and discovery of spiritual needs; and daily bread as food for physical sustenance is not what Jesus was referring to. If it was, why would he not include water, the need for that type of physical requirement as well?

Bread, our spiritual food, has been important and meaningful since the beginning of time or before. How incredible is this? These are just a few examples of how Bread from Heaven has been with us throughout the history of man. There are many others. I encourage you to investigate all the references. As you uncover the truths about Eucharist in Scripture and History, the true depth of Christ’s gift to us, will become more meaningful and miraculous to you. Mass will become more meaningful and miraculous to you. You will begin to change, and you will never be the same. The more that you learn and immerse yourself in our amazing Faith, the more it will transcend you. The more you will be able to transcend others in turn. There is a miracle in that as well.