Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 523 – Part II.

YOUCAT Question n. 523 - Part II. Why does man not live on bread alone?

(Youcat answer repeated) “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4, citing Deut 8:3).

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 2836) "This day" is also an expression of trust taught us by the Lord (Cf.  Mt 6:34; Ex 16:19), which we would never have presumed to invent. Since it refers above all to his Word and to the Body of his Son, this "today" is not only that of our mortal time, but also the "today" of God. If you receive the bread each day, each day is today for you. If Christ is yours today, he rises for you every day. How can this be? "You are my Son, today I have begotten you." Therefore, "today" is when Christ rises (St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 5, 4, 26: PL 16, 453A; cf. Ps 2:7).

 Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) This passage of Scripture reminds us that men have a spiritual hunger that cannot be satisfied by material means. One can die for lack of bread, but one can also die because one has received bread alone. In a profound sense we are nourished by the one who has “the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68) and a food that does not perish (Jn 6:27): the Holy Eucharist.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 2837 a) "Daily" (epiousios) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. Taken in a temporal sense, this word is a pedagogical repetition of "this day" (Cf. Ex 16:19-21), 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 (Cf. 1 Tim 6:8). 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 (St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Eph. 20, 2 PG 5, 661; Jn 6:53-56).

(This question: Why does man not live on bread alone?  is continued)