How does manna prefigure the Eucharist?
Catechism Meditation:
It is on this harmony of the two Testaments that the Paschal catechesis of the Lord is built, and then, that of the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church. This catechesis unveils what lay hidden under the letter of the Old Testament: the mystery of Christ. It is called “typological” because it reveals the newness of Christ on the basis of the “figures” (types) which announce him in the deeds, words, and symbols of the first covenant. By this re-reading in the Spirit of Truth, starting from Christ, the figures are unveiled. Thus the flood and Noah’s ark prefigured salvation by Baptism, as did the cloud and the crossing of the Red Sea. Water from the rock was the figure of the spiritual gifts of Christ, and manna in the desert prefigured the Eucharist, “the true bread from heaven.” ―No. 1094
REFLECTION: The manna from heaven given by God to His people in the desert during the Exodus is clearly an anticipation or foreshadowing of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is “the new manna.” In fact, the Jewish people expected that there would be a new miracle of manna when the Messiah came. As God fed the people with bread from heaven on their journey in the desert to the promised land, so God feeds us with bread from heaven on our journey through the desert of this life to the promised land of heaven. The bread is different, however, since the bread of the Eucharist is the Bread of Life; it is Jesus, His flesh that gives life through the Holy Spirit.
We are reminded of the gift of manna in the Second Eucharistic Prayer, especially with the more accurate English translation which now reads: “Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.” During the Exodus, dew fell upon the camp of the chosen people in the desert and, when it evaporated, the heavenly manna was there on the ground. The dewfall yielded food from heaven for the Israelites on their pilgrimage. For us, in the Eucharist, the dewfall of the Holy Spirit yields the Body and Blood of Christ for our pilgrimage to heaven.
PRAYER. Lord God, you cared for your people as they journeyed through the wilderness to the Promised Land. You care for me as I journey through life to the heavenly promised land. Just as you gave your people manna for their journey, give to me the New Manna of the Eucharist and fill my soul with your grace.
Timeless Wisdom Quote:
“In the desert the people always called bread “manna,” meaning “What is it?” But on one occasion, when they despised the manna, they had called it “light bread.” So they now made light of this gift. Our Lord took up the challenge; He said that the manna that they had received from Moses was not Heavenly Bread, nor had it come from heaven; furthermore, it nourished only one nation for a brief space of time. More important still, it was not Moses who gave the manna; it was His Father; finally, the Bread which He would give would nourish unto life everlasting. When He told them that the true Bread came down from heaven, they asked: Give us this bread.” ― Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen