The Lord's Prayer - The Fourth Petition:
Give us today our daily bread.
What is this? or What does this mean?
In fact, God gives daily bread without our prayer, even to all evil people, but we ask in this prayer that God cause us to recognize what our daily bread is and to receive it with thanksgiving.
What then does "daily bread" mean?
Everything included in the necessities and nourishment for our bodies, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, farm, fields, livestock, money, property, and upright spouse, upright children, upright members of the household, upright and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, decency, honour, good friends, faithful neighbours, and the like.
To ponder:
I hunger for filling in a world that is starved. - Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts
Compartir el pan:
My father and mother had a store in South Texas when I was growing up. We sold a great deal of food to folks from both sides of the U>S> - Mexico border. When my parents taught me to treat everyone with respect, that was their way of telling me that everyone had dignity. At times we would give people at the store a pilón, or extra portion. That was our way of sharing and showing gratitude. My mother also would ask me to take plates of food from our kitchen stove to the neighbours or to someone in need. I have fond memories of those days when compartir el pan ("share the bread" in Spanish) meant that I would take a portion of the food from our table and share it with our neighbours.
South Texas was farm country, and often our farmer friends and ranchers would bring their produce to us as gifts of the harvest. We were connected to each other and to the land in a way that revealed the goodness of God for all of the creation. We were sustained by the land and the friendships that gave us life.
Prayer:
Lord, grant me a hunger for just sharing that all may be filled. Amen.
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