“You have given them Bread from Heaven. Having all sweetness within it.”
Following the Exodus into the desert the Israelites began to complain that they were thirsty and hungry and thus desired to return to their slavery. At this God told Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you.” It was this manna that they ate in order that they would be strengthened for their journey.
In 1st Kings we are told of Elijah who went on a journey into the desert. At the command of an angel he was instructed to “get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you.” He came to be strengthened by that nourishment that he received and was able to undergo his forty day and night journey to the mountain of God, Horeb.
In our Gospel we are told that the Lord is “the bread of life” for He is “the bread that came down from heaven.” This is a reference made to what took place in the Book of Exodus. As Psalm 78 references this mana, “Man ate the bread of angels.” The Eucharist is that fulfillment of this bread. What the Israelites received was wondrous, but what we come to to receive in the Eucharist is more profound for we receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ our Lord.
Some will claim that the Eucharist is only a symbol. If this statement were true we would be professing that the Eucharist is lesser then the bread that we given to the Israelites. This cannot be for “your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.”
It is the Eucharist that must become food for our journey. The Eucharist nourishes our soul and strengthens us for all that we will undergo in this life. In coming to receive the Eucharist we must realize the importance of this gift. This is not mundane food, but truly the presence of the Lord who has come down from Heaven to dwell among us.
In our prayer we must ask, What do we place before this gift? In understanding this answer we must come to find our refuge with the Lord. He is the One whom our heart longs for, so let us allow Him to become food for our journey from the life to life which is to come.
In the words of Saint Thomas Aquinas from the Panis Angelicus, “May the Bread of Angels Become Bread for mankind; the Bread of Heaven puts an end to all symbols; O thing most wonderful! The Lord becomes our food poor, a servant, and humble.”
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