John 6:32-33 - Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

When things seemed grim for the Israelites, God sent manna from heaven to sustain them on their sojourn in the desert. Here, in what is often called the Bread of Life Discourse, Jesus says that he is the Bread of Life come from heaven to give life to the world.

Ancient Christians tell us that the "bread of heaven" is nothing other than the Word of God, which normally sustains the angels and has become foor for us in the Incarnation. A mother nursing her infant is an apt metaphor. We cannot eat the food of heaven as we are but infants not ready for the solid food. This food must first be made milk. The food is made milk for us only by passing through the flesh. The metaphor here is saturated with an excess of meaning, and Christians have pondered this to great lengths, but the important thing is that the Word of God, by whom the angels are sustained, has become True Bread for us.

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