WE ARE flesh-and-blood creatures. We need bread in order to live. Daily bread. Fresh bread. Food. We are souls destined for eternity, but these souls are embodied with digestive systems. If we don’t eat we won’t pray.Eugene H. Peterson, Tell It Slant
“[YOU] GIVE US”: this means that the ultimate source of all this for us is God himself, his love, his concern for us; in whatever form or from whomever we may receive the gift, all is from him. But this means that the first meaning and goal of these gifts is God himself.Alexander Schmemann, Our Father
TO ASK with such confidence implies a relationship of trust. If we have problems trusting in God, it’s not likely we’ll be able to pray this petition from our heart. It’s not likely, either, that we will have much of a personal relationship with our God. Michael H. Crosby, The Prayer That Jesus Taught Us
THOSE WHO give away their clothing on demand still have things to wear. That is because they are still receiving the daily bread and other necessities they pray for. They still give because God still provides.Telford Work, Ain’t Too Proud to Beg
[W]OE, WOE, to the persons or institutions or economic systems that keep people hungry. They stand between the God-given gift of food and God’s intended recipients!Arthur Paul Boers, Lord, Teach Us to Pray
MOST OF US perish from too much bread rather than too little, filling the gnawing emptiness within through ceaseless consumption. … For us, we ought to pray for the grace to be able to say, in a culture of consumption, “Give us the grace to know when enough is enough” or, “Help us to say ‘no’ when the world entices us with so much.” William H. Willimon and Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us
A GLUTTON is one who raids the icebox for a cure for spiritual malnutrition. Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC
GIVE ME neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God. Proverbs 30:8-9
[T]HE PRAYER to the Father for daily bread was part of [Jesus’] wider and deeper agenda. At the heart of it stood a central biblical symbol of the kingdom: the great festive banquet which God has prepared for his people. … The banquet, the party, is a sign that God is acting at last, to rescue his people and wipe away all tears from all eyes. … “Give us this day our daily bread” means, in this setting, “Let the party continue.”N. T. Wright, The Lord and His Prayer
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