Chapter VI.--The Fifth Clause.
But how gracefully has the Divine Wisdom arranged the order of the prayer; so that after things heavenly--that is, after the "Name" of God, the "Will" of God, and the "Kingdom" of God--it should give earthly necessities also room for a petition! For the Lord had [8797] withal issued His edict, "Seek ye first the kingdom, and then even these shall be added:" [8798] albeit we may rather understand, "Give us this day our daily bread," spiritually. For Christ is our Bread; because Christ is Life, and bread is life. "I am," saith He, "the Bread of Life;" [8799] and, a little above, "The Bread is the Word of the living God, who came down from the heavens." [8800] Then we find, too, that His body is reckoned in bread: "This is my body." [8801] And so, in petitioning for "daily bread," we ask for perpetuity in Christ, and indivisibility from His body. But, because that word is admissible in a carnal sense too, it cannot be so used without the religious remembrance withal of spiritual Discipline; for (the Lord) commands that bread be prayed for, which is the only food necessary for believers; for "all other things the nations seek after." [8802] The like lesson He both inculcates by examples, and repeatedly handles in parables, when He says, "Doth a father take away bread from his children, and hand it to dogs?" [8803] and again, "Doth a father give his son a stone when he asks for bread?" [8804] For He thus shows what it is that sons expect from their father. Nay, even that nocturnal knocker knocked for "bread." [8805] Moreover, He justly added, "Give us this day," seeing He had previously said, "Take no careful thought about the morrow, what ye are to eat." [8806] To which subject He also adapted the parable of the man who pondered on an enlargement of his barns for his forthcoming fruits, and on seasons of prolonged security; but that very night he dies. [8807]