Give us this day our daily bread
Bread – something so simple, every day, earthly. And yet there is a place for it in the prayer that our Lord has left us. What is behind this request, which some people make maybe even several times a day?
The Knowledge and Care of God the Father
When we open the Gospel of Matthew in the place where Jesus gives the content of the Lord's Prayer, the sentence preceding this passage reads as follows: Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Mt 6:8). These words show us that God really knows best what we need at a given moment in our lives. When we ask for "daily bread", we are not only praying that no one will lack the basic necessities of life, such as food or drink, although this is of course very important. But let us look a little deeper. In the words we speak, we ask God to give us on a given day what we need most, because we deeply believe that He knows what we need and, as a good Father, wants to give it all to His children. One priest once gave an example related to this prayer: If you ask God for what you need most, why are you surprised if someone comes to admonish you on a given day? If you pray in faith, perhaps this is the correction you needed most today. And here the question may arise: do we want the words of prayer that we speak to actually be realized in our lives?
Our bread
The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes us aware that we ask for bread for everyone, not only for ourselves. What does that mean? God, in addition to personal interventions, very often uses another person to do something. A Christian is a person who asks himself: "God, how do you want to use me? Who, with my help, do you want to bestow good?" The Church's teaching reminds us: “The presence of those who hunger because they lack bread opens up another profound meaning of this petition. The drama of hunger in the world calls Christians who pray sincerely to exercise responsibility toward their brethren, both in their personal behavior and in their solidarity with the human family. This petition of the Lord's Prayer cannot be isolated from the parables of the poor man Lazarus and of the Last Judgment” (CCC 2831). No Christian should make this request without thinking of his real responsibility for those in the world who lack the necessities of life. Where are the needy? Jesus says to his disciples: “The poor you will always have with you” (Mt 26:11). Just look around.
Spiritual hunger
“Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4). You can die from lack of bread, but you can also die because you only got bread. People in their lives feel spiritual hunger. It is the desire to listen to the Word of God and to be nourished by the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. This hunger cannot be satisfied by any material means. We are fortunate that our access to the Bible or the Eucharist is practically unlimited. Question: to what extent do we use this grace of God?
Today
This one word is an expression of the trust that man, a child of God, has in his Father in heaven. Today – that is: I believe that God will take care of me today. The Chosen People walking through the desert experienced God's care for themselves. When he sent them food every day. He did not leave them hungry (Exodus chapter 16). Jesus did likewise when He fed thousands of people by multiplying bread. God cares for man. Maybe sometimes it is difficult to see, to understand, but it is worth discovering, seeing, because then we actually think of God as a good Father who takes care of his children.
Mission
Saint Teresa of Calcutta once said: “There is a hunger for ordinary bread, but there is also a hunger for love, for goodness, for mutual respect – and this is the great poverty from which so many people suffer today”. God gives us bread. But he invites us to a mission so that we too may be able to share our bread with others. Not only bread, but all the good that we have in our life.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george