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Reflections on manna in the desert

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (A), Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a (Lectionary 167, May 29, 2005)

Just as last Sunday’s overture reading dealt with the foundations of God’s revelation of the Holy Trinity, so this Sunday’s first reading deals with the primary intimations of the Holy Eucharist.

This reading comes from the Book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is a kind of summary of the law that God had given to His chosen people. Deuteronomy consists of a series of discourses that are attributed to Moses at the end of the 40 years’ wandering in the desert. It portrays Moses reflecting on what had transpired between God and the people as the people stand ready to pass into the land that the Lord had promised them. Deuteronomy presents the last will and testament of Moses, his final exhortation to the people that God had brought out of Egypt.

This Sunday’s selection from Deuteronomy is from the eighth chapter in which Moses is reflecting on the lessons that the people had been taught in their wanderings in the desert. The basic lesson is the lesson of dependence: God takes care of His people.

As the passage has been edited and is presented to us in the Lectionary, we have two paragraphs, each structured like the other, each providing the same teaching.

Moses calls on the people to recall what God had done for them. God directed their journey out of Egypt and through the wilderness. They underwent all kinds of privation and affliction. God’s purpose for permitting these trials was to test the people and to teach them that faithfulness to their Lord could be costly, painful and frightening. They even had to experience the lack of basic human needs like food and water.

But God came to their rescue. He miraculously provided water for them from the rock and manna to eat, a new kind of food "unknown to your fathers." This special food expressed God’s care for His people. It demonstrated that God takes care of those He loves even when natural means seem to fail them. All it takes is God’s will and God’s command issuing from God’s mouth. God teaches them that their life depends not so much on what they can provide for themselves when things are normal (ordinary bread) as on the power of God’s word. God’s love provides for the people when human means fail.

These reflections on the manna in the desert offered to us today are obviously meant to teach us something about the Eucharist. There are two items that seem to call for our attention when we read this passage in the context of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

The first is that the Eucharist, like the manna in the desert, is a gift from God that comes to us through the word and the will of God. We can’t provide the Eucharist for ourselves. Only God can bring it to be. Only God can present it to us as our food for the life journey on which we are embarked. This reality is what we express when we profess that the Eucharist can only come to be through the action of an ordained priest. It is not that the priest is born a different kind of human being with powers that others do not have. It is rather that God has chosen to work through those who have been touched by the sacrament of Holy Orders. The power of the priest is the power of God, conferred on the priest through God’s sacramental intervention.

The second element that calls for comment is the newness of the gift of manna and of the gift of the Eucharist. Twice in our reading we hear that the manna was "unknown to your fathers." The manna wasn’t something that the people wandering in the desert had any right to expect. It wasn’t part of their cultural inheritance. It was an unexpected gift of God to the people. The Eucharist is the same. Who could have imagined God giving us His own life under the appearances of ordinary human food? Who could have expected that God would nourish and energize us with a kind of food that is nothing less than His own being, His own energy, His own Trinitarian community?

Moses’s invitation to his people to recall God’s gift to them of manna in the desert is an invitation to us to renew our appreciation of the gift of the Eucharist. Both are unexpected, unimaginable gifts; both come only through the power of God. Both call for gratitude.

For reflection and discussion

How does the Eucharist nourish me in my life’s journey?

What would my life be like without the Eucharist?



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	*Overtures* Reflection on the first readings of the Sunday liturgy By Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk Reflections on manna in the desert Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (A),** Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a (Lectionary 167, May 29, 2005) Just as last Sunday’s overture reading dealt with the foundations of God’s revelation of the Holy Trinity, so this Sunday’s first reading deals with the primary intimations of the Holy Eucharist. This reading comes from the Book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is a kind of summary of the law that God had given to His chosen people. Deuteronomy consists of a series of discourses that are attributed to Moses at the end of the 40 years’ wandering in the desert. It portrays Moses reflecting on what had transpired between God and the people as the people stand ready to pass into the land that the Lord had promised them. Deuteronomy presents the last will and testament of Moses, his final exhortation to the people that God had brought out of Egypt. This Sunday’s selection from Deuteronomy is from the eighth chapter in which Moses is reflecting on the lessons that the people had been taught in their wanderings in the desert. The basic lesson is the lesson of dependence: God takes care of His people. As the passage has been edited and is presented to us in the Lectionary, we have two paragraphs, each structured like the other, each providing the same teaching. Moses calls on the people to recall what God had done for them. God directed their journey out of Egypt and through the wilderness. They underwent all kinds of privation and affliction. God’s purpose for permitting these trials was to test the people and to teach them that faithfulness to their Lord could be costly, painful and frightening. They even had to experience the lack of basic human needs like food and water. But God came to their rescue. He miraculously provided water for them from the rock and manna to eat, a new kind of food "unknown to your fathers." This special food expressed God’s care for His people. It demonstrated that God takes care of those He loves even when natural means seem to fail them. All it takes is God’s will and God’s command issuing from God’s mouth. God teaches them that their life depends not so much on what they can provide for themselves when things are normal (ordinary bread) as on the power of God’s word. God’s love provides for the people when human means fail. These reflections on the manna in the desert offered to us today are obviously meant to teach us something about the Eucharist. There are two items that seem to call for our attention when we read this passage in the context of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. The first is that the Eucharist, like the manna in the desert, is a gift from God that comes to us through the word and the will of God. We can’t provide the Eucharist for ourselves. Only God can bring it to be. Only God can present it to us as our food for the life journey on which we are embarked. This reality is what we express when we profess that the Eucharist can only come to be through the action of an ordained priest. It is not that the priest is born a different kind of human being with powers that others do not have. It is rather that God has chosen to work through those who have been touched by the sacrament of Holy Orders. The power of the priest is the power of God, conferred on the priest through God’s sacramental intervention. The second element that calls for comment is the newness of the gift of manna and of the gift of the Eucharist. Twice in our reading we hear that the manna was "unknown to your fathers." The manna wasn’t something that the people wandering in the desert had any right to expect. It wasn’t part of their cultural inheritance. It was an unexpected gift of God to the people. The Eucharist is the same. Who could have imagined God giving us His own life under the appearances of ordinary human food? Who could have expected that God would nourish and energize us with a kind of food that is nothing less than His own being, His own energy, His own Trinitarian community? Moses’s invitation to his people to recall God’s gift to them of manna in the desert is an invitation to us to renew our appreciation of the gift of the Eucharist. Both are unexpected, unimaginable gifts; both come only through the power of God. Both call for gratitude. For reflection and discussion How does the Eucharist nourish me in my life’s journey? What would my life be like without the Eucharist?

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