Bread of Angels

A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, August 4th, 2024:
​Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Psalm 78

R. The Lord gave them the bread of heaven.

Things that we have heard and known, that our ancestors have told us, we will not hide; we will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. 

R. The Lord gave them the bread of heaven.

He commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven; he rained down on them manna to eat, and gave them the bread of heaven. 

R. The Lord gave them the bread of heaven.

Man ate of the bread of Angels; he sent them food in abundance. And he brought them to his holy hill, to the mountain that his right hand had won. 

​R. The Lord gave them the bread of heaven.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

“I eat food because I know I have to.” 

A new colleague said this to me several months ago. My immediate response to her comment was: “Then I’m sorry we can’t be friends.” Okay, so I said it in my head, not out loud. And it was a joke. Mostly. I am one of those people who is thinking about her next meal while in the midst of eating a current meal. Those who know me know I love food of almost any kind. And there is nothing better than the smell of freshly baked bread. Well, except for maybe the first butter-slathered bite of that freshly baked bread. Apologies to my gluten-free, dairy-free friends!

So, I was struck by the use of bread in Psalm 78. The psalmist recalls the story of God providing Moses and the Israelites manna when they thought they would go hungry, a reminder to today’s reader that God provided then and will now just as He has for generations. In using the most common of all forms of nourishment, bread, God shows that He wants to answer even the most basic of our needs. Bread is as plentiful as God’s desire to nourish us, but the bread that God offers is so much more. The Bread of Angels is offered to us in his Son, in the Eucharist. It is the greatest gift and an act of love that sustains us. The hymn Panis Angelicus came into my mind, in particular the Matt Maher version of this ancient Latin hymn. Part of it goes like this: 

Bread of the Angels
Now is the bread of man
Bread of the future
World without an an end
Bread of the eight day
Food of resurrection
And where the stone rolled away is where all symbolism ends.

It’s a miracle, what a miracle
That God became a miracle
For a miracle 
That all be saved
It’s a miracle, what a miracle
That God became a miracle
For a miracle That all be saved
It’s a miracle, what a miracle
We join the heavens and the saints
Give him all the thanks and praise
Bread of Angels.

In praying with this song and the psalm, I realized two things. First, God’s food not only sustains my life but draws me into new life, a new life with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Second, the miracle that God offers is not just for me but for all of us. He offers us everlasting food that will strengthen our relationship with Him and with others. God gives us this gift freely and abundantly, and He calls us to eat.

I guess that when it comes to God’s “food,” I can agree with my colleague’s sentiment after all: I eat food that God gives me because I know I have to.



Aurea Sadi

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