by Chase Hawkins
In this past Sunday’s Gospel from Luke’s account, Jesus’ disciples say, “Lord teach us to pray.” In response, Jesus gives them what we now call the Lord’s Prayer or the Our Father. As I listened to the Gospel this past Sunday, a line that stood out to me was from the Lord’s Prayer which reads, “Give us each day our daily bread”. This line reminded me of a consistent prayer of mine while I was in Tiger, Georgia for seven weeks this summer as a summer missionary at Life Teen Camp Covecrest.
First off, it’s safe to say that this summer camp was probably the best experience of my life thus far just because of the amazing community of missionaries, the wonderful teens we loved and ministered to, the beautiful mountains of North Georgia, and most importantly the way in which God revealed Himself in new ways each day. The last five weeks of my time in Georgia were actual weeks of summer camp where about 200-250 teens came each week to grow closer to Christ. Each week, we missionaries did the same exact thing schedule-wise and also ate the exact same food (which wasn’t a bad thing, considering how great the food was! Thanks Kevin & the kitchen crew!).
One trap that is easy to fall into when you’re in a situation where you do the exact same activities every week for five weeks is letting the monotony hinder the mission. So, as weeks three, four, and five rolled along, we had to remind ourselves that this was the first week of camp for the teens who were coming. So, my prayer became “Lord, give me this day my daily bread.” This was my prayer for three reasons:
First, the missionaries began every morning with a “holy half” which was a half hour of adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament. This time with Jesus became crucial in our mission work. Without this time set aside with only Jesus, we would have certainly crashed and burned as a missionary team. On days when I got to go white water rafting early in the morning, I was unable to get a holy half in the morning. This showed when at about three or four o’clock I felt like I was dragging myself through the rest of the day. This daily time with the Eucharist every morning gave me the strength to wake up and greet the teens with true joy and excitement.
First off, it’s safe to say that this summer camp was probably the best experience of my life thus far just because of the amazing community of missionaries, the wonderful teens we loved and ministered to, the beautiful mountains of North Georgia, and most importantly the way in which God revealed Himself in new ways each day. The last five weeks of my time in Georgia were actual weeks of summer camp where about 200-250 teens came each week to grow closer to Christ. Each week, we missionaries did the same exact thing schedule-wise and also ate the exact same food (which wasn’t a bad thing, considering how great the food was! Thanks Kevin & the kitchen crew!).
One trap that is easy to fall into when you’re in a situation where you do the exact same activities every week for five weeks is letting the monotony hinder the mission. So, as weeks three, four, and five rolled along, we had to remind ourselves that this was the first week of camp for the teens who were coming. So, my prayer became “Lord, give me this day my daily bread.” This was my prayer for three reasons:
First, the missionaries began every morning with a “holy half” which was a half hour of adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament. This time with Jesus became crucial in our mission work. Without this time set aside with only Jesus, we would have certainly crashed and burned as a missionary team. On days when I got to go white water rafting early in the morning, I was unable to get a holy half in the morning. This showed when at about three or four o’clock I felt like I was dragging myself through the rest of the day. This daily time with the Eucharist every morning gave me the strength to wake up and greet the teens with true joy and excitement.
Second, of the 50 days that I was in Georgia for camp, we were blessed to celebrate Mass every day except for the first. That’s 49 days in a row in which we were able to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. This created a sort of reliance on the Eucharist in which I desired to receive the Eucharist each day and I hungered for a taste of Heaven in a tiny host.
Third, since every day was the same schedule each week, I did not want any day to become routine or monotonous. So I tried to find the blessings that God gave to me each day of camp. This wasn’t hard because once I opened my heart, God allowed my eyes to be open to the abundant blessings that He poured out each day. When I prayed the Our Father, I recalled the superabundant ways in which God provided for me my daily bread.
This part of the Lord’s Prayer is significant because it wraps up the relationship between the Old and the New Testament into one small line. Give us this day our daily bread. In Exodus chapter 16, the Israelites are grumbling and complaining that they are stuck in the wilderness after they had just witnessed God part the sea for them. The Lord tells Moses, “I am going to rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus I will test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not. On the sixth day, however, when they prepare what they bring in, let it be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” (Ex. 16:4-5). So, in the morning, the Israelites find bread layered on the ground like hoarfrost. The Israelites are to gather the amount of bread that they need for the day and for that day alone. Some disobey and keep bread to themselves over night until the next morning. But in the morning, they find that this leftover bread “became wormy and stank” (Ex. 16:20… yes, that is what it actually says in Scripture!). Then, per the Lord’s command, the Israelites gather twice as much as needed on the sixth day so that the next morning (the Sabbath), they have enough bread since God did not send down bread on the Sabbath.
What can we gather from this chapter of the Old Testament? First, that God provides. In the case of the Israelites, God blessed them by providing them with food to sustain them each and every day. And when the Israelites tried to hoard the blessings of the day until tomorrow, they found the blessings were old and gross and that they had to rely on the new blessings of the new day. This is a reminder to us that God wants to give us new blessings each day; He does not want us to rely on the blessings of yesterday, He wants us to trust that He will provide us with new blessings tomorrow. With each sunrise, the Lord scatters His blessings upon us like hoarfrost.
BUT, in the New Testament, God fulfills these promises in a new way, in a new covenant: His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. In one of the most beautiful and powerful passages of the Bible, God reveals to us His new bread from Heaven. In John 6: 22-70, Jesus gives what is called the Bread of Life discourse. This discourse is just too awesome to even try to summarize, so I’ll just quote it. Bear with me, but trust me, this is some good stuff. So context time first… Jesus has just multiplied the loaves of bread and the fish and now the crowds are looking for Him again:
This part of the Lord’s Prayer is significant because it wraps up the relationship between the Old and the New Testament into one small line. Give us this day our daily bread. In Exodus chapter 16, the Israelites are grumbling and complaining that they are stuck in the wilderness after they had just witnessed God part the sea for them. The Lord tells Moses, “I am going to rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus I will test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not. On the sixth day, however, when they prepare what they bring in, let it be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” (Ex. 16:4-5). So, in the morning, the Israelites find bread layered on the ground like hoarfrost. The Israelites are to gather the amount of bread that they need for the day and for that day alone. Some disobey and keep bread to themselves over night until the next morning. But in the morning, they find that this leftover bread “became wormy and stank” (Ex. 16:20… yes, that is what it actually says in Scripture!). Then, per the Lord’s command, the Israelites gather twice as much as needed on the sixth day so that the next morning (the Sabbath), they have enough bread since God did not send down bread on the Sabbath.
What can we gather from this chapter of the Old Testament? First, that God provides. In the case of the Israelites, God blessed them by providing them with food to sustain them each and every day. And when the Israelites tried to hoard the blessings of the day until tomorrow, they found the blessings were old and gross and that they had to rely on the new blessings of the new day. This is a reminder to us that God wants to give us new blessings each day; He does not want us to rely on the blessings of yesterday, He wants us to trust that He will provide us with new blessings tomorrow. With each sunrise, the Lord scatters His blessings upon us like hoarfrost.
BUT, in the New Testament, God fulfills these promises in a new way, in a new covenant: His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. In one of the most beautiful and powerful passages of the Bible, God reveals to us His new bread from Heaven. In John 6: 22-70, Jesus gives what is called the Bread of Life discourse. This discourse is just too awesome to even try to summarize, so I’ll just quote it. Bear with me, but trust me, this is some good stuff. So context time first… Jesus has just multiplied the loaves of bread and the fish and now the crowds are looking for Him again:
“And when they found him across the sea they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you get here?’ Jesus answered them and said, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, for on him the Father, God, has set his seal.’ So they said to him, ‘What can we do to accomplish the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.’ So they said to him, ‘What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna [bread] in the desert, as it is written: “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world’” (John 6:25-33).
Pause. Recap: Jesus tells the crowds to work for food that endures forever, which the Son of Man (Jesus) will give them. Then the crowds basically say, “What sign can you give us? God gave our ancestors bread that came down from heaven.” To which Jesus says that the true bread from heaven gives life to the world. They want life for the world sooooo:
“So they said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen me, you do not believe… ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. 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. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.’ (John 6:34-36, 47-51).
Pause. Recap: They ask Jesus to give them bread from heaven which gives life to the world so Jesus says that HE is the bread of life. Twice, actually. He reminds them that although the Israelites ate manna, they died whereas this new bread from heaven will give them eternal life. THEN He says this bread is His flesh for the life of the world. Whoa. Some crazy things for Jesus to say. So naturally:
“The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.’ (John 6: 52-58).
Pause. Recap: The Jews are confused that Jesus says to eat His body and drink His blood. This makes sense, who wouldn’t be confused at this point? So, instead of watering down the message or saying to eat bread and drink wine as a symbol of His body and blood, Jesus continues by saying once again – and quite explicitly this time – that whoever literally eats His flesh and drinks His blood will have life. And now, Jesus says, sure, God gave the Israelites bread from Heaven, but He is the true bread that comes from Heaven and whoever eats this bread will live forever. Since Jesus’ words are pretty intense, the disciples who were in the crowd can’t really handle it:
“Then many of his disciples who were listening said, ‘This saying is hard; who can accept it?’ Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, ‘Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.’ Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him… As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, ‘Do you also want to leave?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.’” (John 59-69).
Jesus knew that saying these things about eating His body and blood would cause many disciples to leave Him, yet He spoke these things anyway. This proves that Jesus is not about customer satisfaction. He is not about the number of followers He has. He is about the Truth. He is the Truth. And speaking the Truth, through the words of spirit and life, He tells us that in order to have eternal life we must eat His flesh which is true food and drink His blood which is true drink. How do we do this? We do so by consuming the Eucharist, which we do every time we go to Mass. So, when we say “Give us this day our daily bread”, we not only recall the blessings that God gives us each day by remembering the manna in the desert, but we also recall that “our daily bread” from Heaven is the Eucharist.
Whenever you pray, “Lord, give me this day my daily bread”, you can look at it in a twofold manner: God provides blessings each day and God provides us with His saving Body and Blood each day in daily Mass. My challenge to myself and to you is to try to go to daily Mass once or twice (or more if you can!) a week in order to receive the daily bread from Heaven in the Eucharist. This may be hard, especially for those in high school or who work, but if your schedule allows it, find a time for daily Mass at a local Catholic Church and let God pour out His blessings upon you through the Holy Eucharist. If daily Mass simply won’t work at all for your schedule, I have another challenge: each day, view everything that happens to you each day as a blessing from God and give Him thanks for those blessings.
Lord, give us this day our daily bread. Amen.
Mesi, Bondye, Mesi!
(Haitian Creole for "Thank you, God, Thank you!")
Chawkins.
"Do This in Memory of Me" by Chris Muglia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfEDLTCwSJY
"Rise" by Housefires
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDcA4t3nmgs
Whenever you pray, “Lord, give me this day my daily bread”, you can look at it in a twofold manner: God provides blessings each day and God provides us with His saving Body and Blood each day in daily Mass. My challenge to myself and to you is to try to go to daily Mass once or twice (or more if you can!) a week in order to receive the daily bread from Heaven in the Eucharist. This may be hard, especially for those in high school or who work, but if your schedule allows it, find a time for daily Mass at a local Catholic Church and let God pour out His blessings upon you through the Holy Eucharist. If daily Mass simply won’t work at all for your schedule, I have another challenge: each day, view everything that happens to you each day as a blessing from God and give Him thanks for those blessings.
Lord, give us this day our daily bread. Amen.
Mesi, Bondye, Mesi!
(Haitian Creole for "Thank you, God, Thank you!")
Chawkins.
"Do This in Memory of Me" by Chris Muglia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfEDLTCwSJY
"Rise" by Housefires
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDcA4t3nmgs