Our Daily Bread
Give us this day our daily bread.
Reading (Mark 8: 1-9)
Jesus saw that the crowd had nothing to eat. He said to his disciples, "My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because they have been with me for three days, and they have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry, some of them will faint on the way, for they have come a long distance."
Then he asked, "How many loaves do you have?"
"Seven," they answered.
He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. He took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and blessed them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the crowd. When they had eaten, the disciples picked up the fragments and filled seven baskets. The crowd numbered about four thousand.
Song (Psalm 105)
He spread a cloud for a covering,
And fire to give light by night.
They asked, and he brought them quail,
With bread from heaven he filled them.
He split the rock and water gushed forth,
It flowed through the desert like a river.
For he remembered his sacred promise
To Abraham his servant.
He brought his people out with joy,
His chosen ones with singing.
Reflection
We have no greater need than to satisfy our hunger for the bread of the spirit.Our prayer is not for bread for the body. God has provided amply for the needs of the body by his abundant gifts of the earth. It is our responsibility to see that they are not wasted, but are shared with all people.
Our prayer is for spiritual bread, the food of the soul. It is the food that gives us the strength of spirit we need to abide faithfully in this world until the day of our return to our Father's house.
But what is this spiritual bread? What does it look like? What does it taste like? It is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, who fills the hearts of men and women with the grace of God.
It is an abundant gift, too deep a mystery for man to understand; yet it is contained in earthen vessels. It is borne in the inspired words of evangelists, in common objects like bread and wine, in the ritual acts of priests, in the testimony of preachers, and in the ordinary acts of goodness of faithful people.
The bread of the spirit is given in abundance like manna. We need only trust the Lord God to give it.
Prayer
God our Father, we hunger for your life-giving Spirit. Without you we are nothing. Give us bread for this day's journey, and faith for tomorrow's, that we may be sustained until we reach the end of our journey in heaven.