Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40 / Romans 8:14-17 / Matthew 28:16-20
One of the common types of food that we eat is the humble bread.
Although rice is a common Asian staple food, bread has its place in our diet.
Maybe because it has a slight advantage in terms of durability. It can be left around for a couple of days at room temperature and still be consumable.
For those of us who are into baking bread, we know that at least three ingredients are needed - wheat flour, yeast and water.
There can be other things added to it, like raisins, nuts and herbs, but bread is essentially a mixture of wheat flour, yeast and water and then baked accordingly.
Freshly baked bread is delicious in itself and it can also go along with all sorts of spreads and fillings.
In the Bible, bread is not just seen as food for the sustenance of life. Bread also has a symbolic spiritual meaning.
In the 1st reading, Moses reminded the people of the wonders the Lord God has done for them in freeing them from slavery in Egypt.
Where once in Egypt they ate the bread of slavery and suffering, now they eat the bread of freedom and they eat in freedom.
So, in the Bible, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, bread has this symbolic meaning of the blessings of God and His love.
During the 40 years in the desert, God fed his people with manna, and it is often called the “bread from heaven” because it literally came down from heaven.
So, in the Old Testament, God is seen as the Protector and the Provider for His people. God protects His people and He feeds them.
Then in the New Testament, Jesus, the Son of God, taught us how to pray with that prayer that begins with the two words “Our Father”.
Jesus taught us to call God “Our Father” and in union with Jesus, the Son of God, we become children of God the Father through baptism.
In that prayer, there is also this verse: give us this day our daily bread.
That daily bread is the bread for life, but it also points to the bread of life, which is the blessings and the love of God, the spiritual bread for our spiritual life.
Jesus is our Bread of Life, and He is the true bread that came down from heaven to teach us who God is and His saving love for us.
Today as we celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday, we profess that God is Trinity, Three Persons in one God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The 2nd reading tells us that it is the Holy Spirit who moves us and makes us cry out to God with “Abba, Father” and that as coheirs with Christ and as children of God, we share in the mission of Christ, we share in His sufferings and His glory.
In the humble bread, we see this spiritual symbol of the Holy Trinity, and the Holy Spirit moves us and forms us to become the spiritual bread for the world.
We share in the bread of suffering with the world, and we also share the bread of life and love with the world.
We believe and profess that God is Trinity. We have been fed with the Heavenly Bread.
We are called to be the spiritual bread for the world so that the world will come to know who God is.
So, the next time when we hold the humble bread in our hands, may we be reminded of who God is, and who we are, and what we are called to do.
By our lives and our faith, may we bear witness that God is our loving Father, that Jesus is our Saviour, and that the Holy Spirit empowers us to be the spiritual bread for others, so that they will come to know God and to love Him.