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From: Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a

Israel's Character Forged in the Desert (Continuation)

[2] "And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you
these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you
to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or
not. [3] And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which
you did not know, nor did your fathers know; that he might make you know
that man does not live by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that
proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. [4] Your clothing did not wear out
upon you, and your foot did not swell, these forty years.

God Not To Be Forgotten in the Time of Plenty (Continuation)

[14b] "And you (do not) forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the
land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, [15] who led you through the
great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and
thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the
flinty rock, [16a] who fed you in the wilderness with manna which your
fathers did not know."

Commentary:

8:1-6. The Israelites are reminded about the way they were tested in the
wilderness and how God gave them special protection and fatherly care; and
they are once again exhorted to fidelity. This context needs to be borne in
mind when considering v, 4: it need not be taken literally as some
rabbinical fables did, which took it to mean that in those desert years the
Israelites' clothes did not wear out and their children's clothes increased
in size as they grew tip.

"Man does not live by bread alone" (v. 3): Jesus will quote these words when
rejecting Satan's first temptation in the desert (cf. Mt 4:4).

The relationship between Israel and God, which is compared to that of father
and son (v. 5) was central to Jesus' thinking and teaching. Some other Old
Testament passages, though not many, speak of this relationship (cf., e.g.,
Hos 11:1); a greater number of passages apply this idea to the relationship
between the Lord and the King (cf., e.g., 2 Sam 7:14-15; Ps 2:7; 89:27).

8:7-20. This passage is more profound than might appear at first reading,
because the sacred writer is using the theme of the Land to show the
salvific dimension of God's actions. Israel's "departure from Egypt" marked
the beginning of God's salvific action on behalf of his chosen people. The
"wilderness", described as "terrible", helped to make that people realize
that they needed God and helped them to hope in him. The "promised land", a
"good land", particularly when compared with the wilderness, shows God's
kindness towards Israel: in it they will find rest, peace and happiness. The
only thing they need to guard against is glorying in it, as if they merited
this good fortune. If ever they did give in to that temptation, they would
be lost. Clearly, this theological-moral lesson should be taken to heart by
everyone in his relations with God, whatever his or her circumstances.

The Canaanites went in for coarse and disgusting fertility rites to win the
favor of the gods that protected agriculture and livestock. The Israelites
must do no such thing. They should show their gratitude to the Lord who
sends rain, sun and dew, by offering sober and sensible sacrifices from
field and flock. The Deuteronomic Code (chaps- 12-26) in fact deals with
agriculture-based festivals such as "Weeks" (Deut 16:9-12), "unleavened
bread" (16:3-4), "tithes" (14:22-29), etc. It is through this, and above
all, though living up to the moral demands of the Law, that Israel will show
its fidelity to Yahweh.

The ease with which men (and nations) forget God once they become rich and
prosperous is something readily proved from history. And when that happens
the threat contained in Deuteronomy in vv. 19-20 inevitably becomes a
reality, for "without a creator there can be no creature. [...] Besides,
once God is forgotten the creature is lost sight of as well" (Vatican II,
"Gaudiumn Et Spes", 36); hence the need not to put one's heart on material
things. "You need to realize," St Gregory of Nyssa urges, "the origin of
your life, your mind, your wisdom and, what is more important still, the
fact that you know God, your hope in the kingdom of heaven and your
expectation of seeing God [...], being a son of God, a co-heir of Christ and
(dare I say it) becoming divinized: where do all these things come from; who
causes them to happen?" ("De Pauperum Amore", 23).

Christian writers often apply the benefits the Israelites received during
the Exodus to the graces of Baptism and the Eucharist (cf, e.g., 1 Cor
1.0:1-11). And the Church's liturgy, after recalling, the pillar of fire,
the voice of Moses on Sinai, the manna and the water that flowed from the
rock, prays that our Lord should be for us, through his Resurrection, the
light of life, the word and bread of life (cf. Liturgy of the Hours, Prayer,
Lauds, Tuesday of Week 6, Eastertide).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

From: 1 Corinthians 10:16-17

Idolatry and the Eucharist, Incompatible

[16] The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the
blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the
body of Christ? [17] Because there is one bread, we who are many are one
body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Commentary:

14-22. After illustrating the general principles by reference to what
himself does and the lessons of the history of Israel (cf. note on
chaps. 8-10), St Paul returns to the subject of food sacrificed to
idols. Christians may not attend the banquets which take place at
pagan shrines, for that would amount to idolatry. By eating the meat
of animals offered to Yahweh, Jews participated in the sacrifice and
worship in his honor; and, by receiving the body and blood of the Lord,
Christians unite themselves to Christ; similarly, those who take part
in idolatrous banquets are associating themselves not with false gods--
which have no existence--but with demons. In the Old Testament it is
pointed out that things sacrificed to idols are in fact being offered
to demons, who enemies of the worship of God (cf. Deut 32:17; Ps 106:
36-38; Bar 4:7).

St Paul's words confirm basic truths of faith connected with the sublime
mystery of the Eucharist--its sacrificial character, adverted to here
by drawing a parallel between it and pagan sacrifices (cf. v. 21;
Council of Trent, "De SS. Missae Sacrificio", chap. 1), and the real
presence of Christ, as can be seen by the reference to the body and
blood of Christ (v. 16). The Church's faith has always maintained that
the holy sacrifice of the Mass is the renewal of the divine sacrifice of
Calvary; in every Mass Christ once again offers God the Father His body
and blood, as a sacrifice for all men, with the difference that what was
offered on the cross in a bloody manner is offered on the altar in an
unbloody manner. "In the divine sacrifice that is offered in the Mass,
the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar
of the cross is present and is offered in an unbloody manner (cf. Heb 9:
27). [...] For it is one and the same victim--He who now makes the
offering through the ministry of priests and He who then offered Himself

on the cross; the only difference is in the manner of the offering" ("De
SS. Missae Sacrificio", chap. 2). "The Eucharist is above all a
sacrifice--the sacrifice of Redemption and at the same time the sacrifice
of the New Covenant" (John Paul II, "Letter To All Bishops", 24 February
1980). See also the notes on Mt 26:26-29 and par.

On the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, see the note on 1 Cor
11:27-32.

16-17. The principal effect of the Blessed Eucharist is intimate union
with Jesus. The very name "communion"--taken from this passage of St
Paul (cf. "St Pius V Catechism", II, 4, 4)--points to becoming one with
our Lord by receiving his body and blood. "What in fact is the bread?
The body of Christ. What do they become who receive Communion? The
body of Christ" (Chrysostom, "Hom. on 1 Cor, 24, ad loc.").

St Augustine places these words on Jesus' lips to describe what happens
at Holy Communion: "You will not change me into you as happens with
bodily food; rather, you will be changed into me" ("Confessions", VII,
10, 16).

Due to this intimate union with Christ, the Eucharist is at one and the
same time the sacrament where the entire Church demonstrates and
achieves its unity, and where a very special kind of solidarity is
developed among Christians. That is why it is called a "symbol of
unity" and a "bond of love;" (Council of Trent, "De SS. Eucharistia",
chap. 8; cf. "Lumen Gentium", 7; "Unitatis Redintegratio", 2). The
Fathers of the Church have seen a symbol of this union in the very
materials--bread and wine--used to make the Eucharist. The "St Pius V
Catechism" sums up this as follows: "the body of Christ, which is one,
consists of many members (cf. Rom 12:4-5; 1 Cor 10:17; 12:12), and of
this union nothing is more strikingly illustrative than the elements of
bread and wine; for bread is made from many grains and wine is pressed
from many clusters of grapes. Thus they signify that we, though many,
are most closely bound together by the bond of the divine mystery and
made, as it were, one body" (II, 4,18).

"We who are many ...": the literal translation would be "We the
many...". The text derives from a Hebrew expression indicating plurality
or even totality as distinct from a single entity or a minority; the RSV
catches this idea. The same turn of phrase is found, for example, in Mt
20:28; Mk 10:45; Is 53:11.