Give us this day our daily bread  

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Israelites in Exodus collecting manna, divine sustenance from God, daily in the desert. I explained that this was a prefigurement of the Bread of Life that we receive from our Lord Jesus Christ, His ultimate sacrifice for our redemption in the Kingdom of Heaven. Keeping a close eye on God's practice of daily nourishment for His people, it is (( notable )) that we should also receive daily Holy Communion. 

St Pius: Sacra Tridentia 

 In 1905, Pope Pius X issued the Sacra Tridentia Synodus, a decree that reintroduced frequent and daily Communion in the Roman Catholic Church. This is a great read on the history and disputes regarding daily Mass, and St. Pius explains that the fall from daily Mass from the early church was influenced by the over rigorousness of Janeism during the middle ages. Pope Pius states:    I pray that all of you can make it to Mass daily. If you cannot, please consider keeping up on the daily readings which you can find on USCCB.org. If you have never attended a daily Mass, they are shorter in length, generally about a half hour, and easy to fit into a busy schedule.

Ezekiel in the Daily Readings
In addition to the glorious Catholic blessing of almost daily Eucharist offered here at Prince of Peace – an honor bestowed on us from our Messiah – we have the added bonus of week long meditations on readings from selected books in the liturgical cycle. 
This last week, and into next week, the daily readings for Mass focuses on the Book of Ezekiel. Easily rivaling any cinematic fantasy drama we see today, this Old Testament prophecy packs in wild visions of an awestruck Ezekiel. We get descriptions of a bright, brilliant, fiery God on a throne of sapphire; spectacular four faced cherubim on wheels that sound like the roar of mighty waters; Ezekiel commanded to eat a scroll that tastes like honey; and a command from God Almighty to Ezekiel to begin his dramatic prophecy against a rebellious and sinful Israel. 

Cross on the Forehead in Ezekiel
St. Augustine said about the Old and New Testaments in the Bible: “The new is in the old concealed; the old is in the new revealed.” In Ezekiel 9, God commands His angel to go through Jerusalem and mark the foreheads of everyone who despaired at the state of sin. This mark protected them from the coming sentence to death of all those who defiled the Temple and lived in sin. Sound familiar? More than echoing the death plague in Egypt and protection of the Israelites with the lambs blood, we also pinnacle on 40 years of Exodus in the desert before reaching the Promised Land. 

How remarkable that in Ezekiel 40, God shows Ezekiel the New Temple. Every year on Ash Wednesday, Catholics receive ashes on our foreheads to begin the solemn observation of the 40 days of Lent, an observance of Jesus’ 40 day fast in the desert and temptation by Satan. He came into the world and suffered for our sins, then submitted to the Cross, was crucified, resurrected, and became the New Temple. 
We are exactly seven months away from Lent in the 2025 Liturgical Cycle. 

One more passage from Ezekiel:
Ez 46:15 - The lamb, the grain offering, and the oil you must bring every morning as a perpetual burnt offering.

The Catholic Church offers so much more than one hour on Sunday. We are the embodiment of the Living Word, our scripture cycles carefully planned, our actions deeply meaningful and symbolic, and our commitment to our Lord Jesus Christ is offered up in a Eucharist raised to the heavens every hour, in an estimated 350,000 Masses said every day. 

I invite you to be a part of this divine miracle!

As St. Paul told us in his letter to the Ephesians this weekend:
“Make most of every opportunity...giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.”

Keep an eye out for future Adult Formation sessions here at Prince of Peace. I plan to discuss Papal documents like Sacra Tridentia, heresies, and theology of the Church.

IHS,
Jill