Just last week we began our journey as a parish to the new normal having our Welcome Back Week filled with a huge, well-attended picnic, Vacation Bible Camp, and the return of the Donut Social.  Upon opening of those boxes of donuts, we are enticed by a variety of flavors, textures, and shapes…a little something for everyone. In the book of Exodus, we read how God supplied the gift of manna for 40 years in an amazing display of his generous love, care, and concern for His beloved children.  In the book of Wisdom, we hear that God “manifested your sweetness toward your children; and the taste, conforming to the desire of the one who took it, was changed to suit everyone’s liking” (Wisdom 16:21).  We are also told of how the Israelite people prepared it by making little cakes (or pastries), then baking them in oil (Numbers 11:8).  Sure sounds like it was a 40 year daily donut social in the wilderness…not bad at all.  But from time to time, they grumbled because even a Krispy Kreme gets old after a while. 

Last week our thoughts were about not What the manna was, but Who the manna is. So let us dive deeper into what our eyes perceive in the Eucharist; what is truly present in the reality in which we partake and are fed.  The manna is described in Exodus 16 as small, round, white and sweet and falls with the dew.  As the true bread of angels (panis angelicus), Jesus also made himself small and humble. First, becoming flesh in the stable at Bethlehem, he dwelt among us.  Second, notice that the roundness of the host has no start or finish. It is just as our Lord is described: the “alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13).  Third, the color white is the perfect symbol of purity for us as a remembrance of our beloved Savior: born sinless for us but made “sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Fourth, the sweetness of the manna is honeylike which calls us to reflect upon Psalm 119:103, “How sweet are your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”  This verse transforms our understanding when we realize that Christ is the Word of God made flesh (John 1:14).

Finally, just as the Manna appeared when the dew descended upon the camp, we hear in priests petition prior to the Eucharist asking that God will transform the small, round, white and sweet host into the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus when the Spirit descends upon gifts “like the dewfall.” 

Let us pray that with fresh eyes we may see not just what appears to be manna, but Who is contained within the form of simple bread: the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ.