In the first book of Kings we learn about when Elijah was fed bread by
ravens in the midst of a drought and then how, as the drought worsened, he
came to a widow for food. The Lord made the little flour and oil that she had
last as long as necessary so she could feed Elijah, so he then could live and also
so she could feed herself and her son, saving them starvation. (I Kings 17:7-16)
Like the bread the widow had, the Lord’s love does not run out.
In the New Testament we learn that the Lord was born in Bethlehem,
which means in Hebrew, the House of Bread. And we see that the Lord Himself
fed crowds of four and five thousand people. And finally, as one of His last acts
before being crucified, He offered the bread of the Last Supper to His disciples.
So when we think about all of these stories in the Word, and many others,
we can see how the Lord feeds throughout the Word with bread that gives life.
But did you know that these stories in the Word about the Lord feeding
with bread nourish the angels too? The Lord teaches in the Heavenly Doctrine
how this works:
When bread is mentioned in the Word, the angels become aware not of material but
spiritual bread; thus instead of bread they perceive the Lord, who is the Bread of life.
. . . And because they perceive the Lord, they perceive what is from the Lord, thus
His love toward the universal human race. (Arcana Coelestia 4217)
The angels see in these stories from the Word how the Lord is filling us
with His love even in the most difficult times of life – like the Israelites starving
in the wilderness, like David fleeing from a murderous Saul, like Elijah during
a terrible drought, or the disciples in the New Testament who knew that the
Lord was increasingly becoming the target of the Pharisees’ plot to kill Him.
When we are having a hard time, spiritually starving, fleeing from evil
around us, or worried about terrible events that seem to be unfolding, now
we can think like the angels do about the Lord as the Bread of Life because we
have the teachings that the Lord has given us from heaven, reminding us that
the Lord is with us and feeding us with His love. All the time.
The Lord teaches:
The manna signified the Lord’s Divine Human. And because it signified the Lord’s
Divine Human, it signified heavenly food, which is nothing else than love and
charity together with the goods and truths of faith. This food is given by the Lord in
the heavens to the angels every moment, and thus perpetually and to eternity. This
also is what is meant in the Lord’s Prayer by “Give us this day our daily bread”; that
is, every instant to eternity. (Arcana Coelestia 2838.4)
Like the angels, we too receive the Lord’s love every moment, and with
these teachings from the Lord, now we can recognize it. We can know that
His love is behind any good thing we do. We can know that His love is behind
any truth that we learn and we know that His love is the only thing that really
sustains us and gives us life.
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