There’s a quote that I really like that goes: “Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.” I really like that quote. Just because we get what we WANT in this life, doesn’t mean that we’ll be truly happy. I know that sounds a little, well, wrong, but think about the last time you really wanted something that you ended up getting. Was your life really made monumentally better by getting that thing? How long did it take you to lose interest in that one thing you just HAD to have, before you started wanting something else? Things we NEED, on the other hand are always good. The petition “Give us this day our daily bread” in the Lord’s Prayer is about those things we NEED—our basic essentials for survival.
Obviously, the “daily bread” concept is directly linked to the Eucharist. It’s no coincidence that Jesus decided to use bread as the medium for how we continually ask God to bless us with the presence of the Risen Christ in the Eucharist. Think about how much bread is mentioned in the Bible. Bread is painted as THE essential food item needed for survival. When the Hebrews wandered in the desert after being freed from slavery in Egypt, God gave them bread from heaven so they could have food. Jesus multiplied 5 loaves of bread (and 2 fishes) to feed the 5,000 (5,000 men, that is…sorry, ladies, it was written to a patriarchal society…counting women and children, it was probably closer to 15,000, which is WAY more impressive). Think about the references to wheat, also. In fact, there’s a whole metaphor for the Christian journey wrapped up in the concept of bread.
Bread is made from wheat. Wheat is sown in a field, then cared for so it can grow. It must be planted in fertile soil so it can root well. If a sower is sowing seeds, and they fall on a path, they will never have a chance to take root and will be eaten by the birds. This is like someone who is not brought up to have a firm foundation of faith in Christ and will be “eaten up” by the negativity of today’s society. If they fall on rocky ground with little soil, they will root up quickly, concentrating on the stalk, rather than the roots, and when the sun comes, it will kill the plants because they do not have a firm root system. We might learn about Jesus, but instead of nurturing our relationship with him deeply, we might let the world (especially in today’s society) take us down because we don’t have a firm foundation of faith. If the seeds are sown among the thorns, they will grow, but the weeds will choke out the plants and they won’t produce grain. Even if we try to live a good life, if we surround ourselves with people who don’t have our best interests in mind, we can be led away from God and won’t be able to be productive members of the universal Church. The seed that is sown in fertile soil, however, will spring up, produce grain, and can be harvested. (Read Mark 4 for that) That wheat is then cut down and ground in a mill. Much like Jesus tells us we have to take up our cross daily and follow him, there’s an element of sacrificing ourselves for the will of God that draws a parallel to the “wheat motif.” Once it’s made into flower, it’s mixed with water to make dough. Out of our suffering and sacrifice, we are given new life by God (water is used over and over again in the Bible as a symbol for life…since we need water to live). When we are given that new life, we are kneaded like dough and shaped, molded, and formed into what GOD needs us to be—what God CALLS us to be (our “vocation”). Once the dough is shaped, it still needs to be put in the oven and exposed to heat (fire) so that it can truly fulfill its purpose. In the same way, once we pursue our true vocation, we will come under “fire” in our own ways so that we can truly become what we’re meant to be. Another old saying is, “That which does not kill us only makes us stronger.” This is the general idea of what is going on here. We’re continually tested and strengthened by God so that we can be prepared to handle whatever it is we’re meant to handle in our lives.
…So there’s the whole “bread” analogy for the Christian life. Now that we see the importance of bread in the Bible, it makes sense that when Jesus taught us how to pray, he decided to get metaphorical and say, “Give us this day our daily bread,” rather than being simple and saying, “Give us this day our basic needs.” The Lord’s Prayer is a profound prayer that Jesus asks us to pray, and it asks for things as large as God’s will being done above our own will, and as small as asking to be blessed with the basic necessities we need for survival. There’s more to come, though, ‘cause this prayer’s far from over. Next we get to the REALLY hard prayers about forgiveness. Until then………..
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