The Bread of Life

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” – John 6:51

BY BRENDA The other day while meditating KINDELAN on a Nativity scene, I noticed a few sprigs of wheat next to Jesus in the manger. Within an instant, I connect the edible wheat in the manger (feeding trough) with Jesus as the Eucharistic Bread of Life. I then remembered that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which in Hebrew means “House of Bread.”

Why Bethlehem? Nazareth was the hometown of Joseph and Mary and since Mary was in her ninth month, they must have already prepared for Jesus’ birth in Nazareth. But Caesar Augustus changed their plans when he called for a census.

So, they embarked on the cold four-day journey to a crowded Bethlehem where Mary “gave birth to her first-born son, wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” Lk 2:7

Even though those were not the accommodations Joseph and Mary had in mind, they trusted in God’s Providence. They trusted God could use circumstances that seem lowly in the eyes of the world to give us the greatest heavenly gift: The Incarnation of the Word made flesh.

This Christmas, I want to prepare my heart to be a manger for baby Jesus. To prepare for His coming, I have asked Joseph and Mary to join me on my advent journey.

I look to their example to teach me how to surrender to whatever comes my way so that I can accept God’s will! I want the faith, trust, and humility of Joseph and Mary to help me know that “All things work for good for those who love the Lord…” Rom 8:28

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Reflect: St. Cyril of Alexandria from the 5th century said the manger points us to the Eucharist since through sin, men become like animals, “Christ lies in the trough where animals feed, offering them, not hay, but his own body as life-giving bread.”

Pray: Jesus, you laid in the wooden manger, sat at the Passover table, died on the cross, and rose from the dead. Now, you truly are “God with us”, as the Eucharistic Bread of Life. O come, O come, Emanuel. O come rest in our hearts.