593. What is the specifically Christian sense of this petition?
(Comp 593) Since “man does not live by
bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4),
this petition equally applies to hunger for the Word of God and for the Body of
Christ received in the Eucharist as well as hunger for the Holy Spirit. We ask
this with complete confidence for this day – God’s “today” – and this is given
to us above all in the Eucharist which anticipates the banquet of the Kingdom
to come.
“In brief”
(CCC 2861) In the fourth petition,
by saying "give us," we express in communion with our brethren our
filial trust in our heavenly Father. "Our daily bread" refers to the
earthly nourishment necessary to everyone for subsistence, and also to the
Bread of Life: the Word of God and the Body of Christ. It is received in God's
"today," as the indispensable, (super-) essential nourishment of the
feast of the coming Kingdom anticipated in the Eucharist.
To deepen and explain
(CCC 2837) "Daily"
(epiousios) occurs nowhere else in
the New Testament. Taken in a temporal sense, this word is a pedagogical
repetition of "this day" (Cf. Ex 16:19-21), to confirm us in trust
"without reservation." Taken in the qualitative sense, it signifies
what is necessary for life, and more broadly every good thing sufficient for
subsistence (Cf. 1 Tim 6:8). Taken literally (epi-ousios: "super-essential"), it refers directly to the
Bread of Life, the Body of Christ, the "medicine of immortality,"
without which we have no life within us (St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Eph. 20, 2 PG 5, 661; Jn 6:53-56).
Finally in this connection, its heavenly meaning is evident: "this
day" is the Day of the Lord, the day of the feast of the kingdom,
anticipated in the Eucharist that is already the foretaste of the kingdom to
come. For this reason it is fitting for the Eucharistic liturgy to be
celebrated each day. The Eucharist is our daily bread. The power belonging to
this divine food makes it a bond of union. Its effect is then understood as
unity, so that, gathered into his Body and made members of him, we may become
what we receive.... This also is our daily bread: the readings you hear each
day in church and the hymns you hear and sing. All these are necessities for
our pilgrimage (St. Augustine, Sermo
57, 7: PL 38, 389). The Father in heaven urges us, as children of heaven, to
ask for the bread of heaven. [Christ] himself is the bread who, sown in the
Virgin, raised up in the flesh, kneaded in the Passion, baked in the oven of
the tomb, reserved in churches, brought to altars, furnishes the faithful each
day with food from heaven (St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermo 67 PL 52, 392; Cf. Jn 6:51).
Reflection
(CCC 2835) This petition, with the responsibility it
involves, also applies to another hunger from which men are perishing:
"Man does not live by bread alone, but… by every word that proceeds from
the mouth of God" (Deut 8:3; Mt 4:4), that is, by the Word he speaks and
the Spirit he breathes forth. Christians must make every effort "to
proclaim the good news to the poor." There is a famine on earth, "not
a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the
LORD" (Am 8:11). For this reason the specifically Christian sense of this
fourth petition concerns the Bread of Life: the Word of God accepted in faith,
the Body of Christ received in the Eucharist (Cf. Jn 6:26-58). (CCC 2836)
"This day" is also an
expression of trust taught us by the Lord (Cf.
Mt 6:34; Ex 16:19), which we would never have presumed to invent. Since
it refers above all to his Word and to the Body of his Son, this
"today" is not only that of our mortal time, but also the
"today" of God. If you receive the bread each day, each day is today
for you. If Christ is yours today, he rises for you every day. How can this be?
"You are my Son, today I have begotten you." Therefore,
"today" is when Christ rises (St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 5, 4, 26: PL 16, 453A; cf. Ps 2:7).
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