Why is the Eucharist our daily bread?
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to ask, “Give us this day OUR DAILY BREAD.” You could fruitfully meditate on them during your times of mental prayer this week.
This petition comes from a creature looking up to his Creator, of children looking up to their father and mother, of children of God looking up to God their Father. The look is one of need, and of trust, and of gratitude.
This petition is our own call to help create a world in which these MATERIAL GOODS are supplied. It calls up the promise that God will give us everything. It reminds us of the daily work we do to get our daily bread.
This petition refers also to SPIRITUAL HUNGER: The Bread of Life is the Word of God accepted in faith, and the Body of Christ received in the Eucharist. Man needs God.
“This day” pertains also to the EUCHARIST, celebrated each day, our daily bread.
It means most deeply, “Give us You, Lord," which he does in the Eucharist.
Our daily bread, the Eucharist, finally, becomes a PLEDGE OF THE GLORY TO COME, an anticipation of the happiness of heavenly life.
But for now, in every Mass, the work of our redemption is carried on, and we break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ.
There is such a deep meaning in just one petition of the Lord’s Prayer. It takes time to “read” its meaning. We do so in silence in the presence of God, talking to him about it. The riches are there, but we may never see them unless we take the time to look.
Mental prayer invites God into this conversation, focusing it on something specific, like the Gospel reading for today’s Mass, or how my spouse is doing, or what my kids might need, or a hundred other matters that matter to you and to God.
But so, mental prayer should normally be done
- at a set time,
- for a set amount of time,
- in a set place, in a place conducive to prayer. Our Lord said we should go into our room and close the door. That room could literally be our bedroom, or some other place in our house, or while walking early in the morning, or in a chapel in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
Conditions don’t always have to be perfect for us to have this conversation. If necessary, we can do it in the car.
This conversation can be helped with the Scriptures in front of us, or a good book for meditation or a journal where we write personal notes, advise received in spiritual direction, and resolutions.
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