If you grew up in a Catholic household like mine, you probably learned the entire Our Father long before you could even spell your own name. The Our Father is a prayer I have recited a few million times in my life and counting. While I have always revered it as the words Jesus gave us, I found myself drawn into the prayer anew today. “Give us this day our daily bread.” I have generally read and recited these words quite literally. Jesus invites us to ask God to provide nourishment for our physical bodies. What if we venture to go a bit deeper here and posit that we are…

We read from John’s Gospel this week Ch. 6 verses 22-59. Jesus refers to Himself over and over again as The Bread of Life sent from the Father to give eternal life to those who believe. But what did He mean by referring to Himself as bread? First, Jesus meant to mention Himself as sustenance quite literally. “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” JN 6:55. The Jewish people were confounded by this statement. How could they be expected to eat the flesh of Jesus and to drink of his blood and yet all they needed to do was to be reminded of the Passover…