Lk 11, 3 Give us each day our daily bread

(Lk 11, 3) Give us each day our daily bread
[3] Give us each day our daily bread

(CCC 2805) The second series of petitions unfolds with the same movement as certain Eucharistic epicleses: as an offering up of our expectations, that draws down upon itself the eyes of the Father of mercies. They go up from us and concern us from this very moment, in our present world: "give us… forgive us… lead us not ... deliver us...." The fourth and fifth petitions concern our life as such - to be fed and to be healed of sin; the last two concern our battle for the victory of life - that battle of prayer. (CCC 2806) By the three first petitions, we are strengthened in faith, filled with hope, and set aflame by charity. Being creatures and still sinners, we have to petition for us, for that "us" bound by the world and history, which we offer to the boundless love of God. For through the name of his Christ and the reign of his Holy Spirit, our Father accomplishes his plan of salvation, for us and for the whole world. (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). (CCC 2834) "Pray and work" (Cf. St. Benedict, Regula, 20, 48). "Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you" (Attributed to St. Ignatius Loyola, cf. Joseph de Guibert, SJ, The Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and Practice, (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1964), 148, n. 55). Even when we have done our work, the food we receive is still a gift from our Father; it is good to ask him for it with thanksgiving, as Christian families do when saying grace at meals.