Our “Daily Bread”

We say it in the “Our Father”.  What does it mean?  We don’t know.

Catholic voices on the question

“Our daily bread” occurs in the middle of the “Our Father”:  “Our daily bread” is a translation from the original Greek word, ἐπιούσιον (epiousion).  As far as we know, the word exists nowhere else in Greek.  Nobody knows what it means.   Some have translated it as “supersubstantial bread.”  We translate it “our daily bread.”  Perhaps it really means something like, “the bread we can’t wrap our minds around” or “what-the-heck-is-it bread.”    

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tackles the question: “Daily” (epiousios) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament.  Taken in a temporal sense, this word is a pedagogical repetition of “this day,” to confirm us in trust “without reservation.” Taken in the qualitative sense, it signifies what is necessary for life, and more broadly every good thing sufficient for subsistence. Taken literally (epi-ousios: “super-essential”), it refers directly to the Bread of Life, the Body of Christ, the “medicine of immortality,” without which we have no life within us.  Finally in this connection, its heavenly meaning is evident: “this day” is the Day of the Lord, the day of the feast of the kingdom, anticipated in the Eucharist that is already the foretaste of the kingdom to come. For this reason, it is fitting for the Eucharistic liturgy to be celebrated each day.  (CCC 2837)

St. Augustine took a crack at it:   The Eucharist is our daily bread. The power belonging to this divine food makes it a bond of union. Its effect is then understood as unity, so that, gathered into his Body and made members of him, we may become what we receive.... This also is our daily bread: the readings you hear each day in church and the hymns you hear and sing. All these are necessities for our pilgrimage.

St. Thomas Aquinas goes theologically deep: Thus Christ, the true bread, gives life to the world by reason of his divinity; and he descends from heaven by reason of his human nature…he came down from heaven by assuming human nature: ‘He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.  (Commentary on The Gospel of John).

What do you think?  Contemplate the question.  Ask the Holy Spirit for the Gift of Understanding, to give you insight into this sacred Mystery.