Food from Heaven
The Body and Blood of Christ
“The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.” 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
God sustained the people of Israel for forty years in the desert with manna sent down from heaven, and Moses doesn’t want them to forget it. God brought forth water from stone for them to drink, and Moses doesn’t want them to forget this, either. And Moses tells them—twice—that the food that God sent was a food that neither they nor their ancestors before them had ever experienced before.
Jesus too speaks of food come down from heaven, food that the Jewish people had never experienced before. Recalling the manna in the desert, Jesus doesn’t want them to forget it either, explaining that he is the food and drink of eternal life. And Paul reiterates to the Corinthians and to all of us that in the bread and in the cup, we share in the body and blood of Christ.
Readings of the Week
Monday: 1 Kgs 21:1-16; Ps 5:2-3ab, 4b-7; Mt 5:38-42
Tuesday: 1 Kgs 21:17-29; Ps 51:3-6ab, 11, 16; Mt 5:43-48
Wednesday: 2 Kgs 2:1, 6-14; Ps 31:20, 21, 24; Mt 6:1-6, 16-18
Thursday: Sir 48:1-14; Ps 97:1-7; Mt 6:7-15
Friday: Dt 7:6-11; Ps 103:1-4, 6-8, 10; 1 Jn 4:7-16; Mt 11:25-30
Saturday: 2 Chr 24:17-25; Ps 89:4-5, 29-34; Lk 2:41-51
Sunday: Jer 20:10-13; Ps 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35; Rom 5:12-15; Mt 10:26-33