Word to the Wise
Wednesday, July 20, 2011 - Wednesday in the 16th Week in Ordinary Time
[Exod 16:1-5, 9-15 and Matt 13:1-9,1021]The Lord spoke to Moses and said, "I have heard the grumbling of the children of Israel. Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the Lord, am your God."
Whenever my father wanted to use an image of fine food, he would speak of "quail on toast!" That image comes to mind when I encounter the incident in the desert where the "grumbling" of the Israelites results in the Lord sending them quail and manna! The interesting thing is that it is not quail that is later remembered as the important dish, but the manna! "Manna in the desert" has become an expression for food that arrives at just the right moment. Later on, manna figures in Jesus' arguments with his opponents in the Gospel of John [Chap. 6]: "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness... Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven....." John 6:31-32.
The early Christian community, in reading the Old Testament in the light of the life of Jesus, saw in the manna a prefigurement of the Eucharist. "Heavenly food" becomes the primary reference and ties together God's continual providential care "so that you may know that I, the Lord, am your God." Although there are many ways in which Christ becomes "really present" to the community, the Eucharist is unique in that it may be consumed physically. Perhaps we should thank the Israelites for their grumbling on this occasion! Maybe it's also a good thing that the quail were more or less forgotten! AMEN