Have you ever stopped to think
that the Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father, is the most recited prayer that we have
in our repertoire? I’ve lost count of
the number of times I’ve uttered it: at Mass, at weddings, at funerals, while
reciting a rosary, while anointing someone lying in a sick bed … but for the
number of times the words of this prayer have tumbled from my lips, I must
admit that there are still times when parts of this prayer cause me to stop
what I’m doing and to truly wonder in awe at what has just come out of my
mouth.
Give us this day our daily bread.
It seems like a simple enough phrase, but what does it truly mean? I’m sure that when the disciples learned this
prayer, they were perhaps thinking about the unleavened bread (not unlike a
pita) that was so commonly on their table.
Perhaps they also thought of the mannah in the dessert that we heard
about in the first reading today, but I wonder if they were even dimly aware of
the depth of these simple words. I
wonder if we today realize their true meaning.
Our daily bread is everything
that we need to live today, everything that we need to live a life of faith,
everything that we need to be happy, everything we need, but nothing more. Our daily bread is a promise made by God that
he will provide for us, but it’s also an act of faith on our part, and a
promise that we will be content with what is given to us today. Tomorrow is another day. We will receive tomorrow what we need for
tomorrow: blessings as well as challenges.
If we learn to see life like this, perhaps we will eventually learn to
see Jesus as the true bread, the bread of heaven. Perhaps we will learn a little each day to
come to him with our joys and our troubles, and discover each day his promise
that people of faith will never be hungry.
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