The Our Father: ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ (CCC2832-2837)
Posted on January 10th 2010 in The catechism explained
The charitable dynamic within the phrase ‘Give us our daily bread’ is the impetus for solidarity with the poor, through sharing, out of love, the material and spiritual goods of the earth. The emphasis on ‘our’ highlights the common ownership of all things, and their ultimate source in God. Connected with the sense of solidarity comes a profound gratitude for the goods given to us, something positively accepted when families say grace before meals.
This sharing of the world’s goods implies another sharing of something more profound still, the Word of God: ‘Man does not live on bread alone but… by every word that comes from the mouth of God’ (Mt 4:4). This Word is the Bread of Life, the Eucharist, and the words, ‘this day’ teaches that each believer both requires this bread, and that this is made possible because of the ever-present Day of the Lord, the Resurrection. Another translation from the original Greek of the Our Father translates ‘daily’ as super-essential, in other words, necessary and divine. This day is an ancient Biblical expression that proclaims the powerful action of God. The Psalmist wrote, ‘You are my Son. Today I have begotten you’. The early Church Fathers applied this to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and whose donation of the Holy Spirit makes all sacraments possible.