Angel food cake supposedly got its name from its texture. It’s
so light that angels having devoured it could still fly. Imagine
that: angels long to eat the food of humans!
Psalm 78 marvels instead that human beings, “ate the
bread of angels.” It refers to the manna that the Israelites ate
in the desert, which the refrain of today’s responsorial psalm
also calls “bread from heaven.” God sent food from above so
that the lowly could eat on their journey to new life.
Members of the crowd gathering around Jesus recalled
this incident from the book of Exodus, marveled at the wondrous
food their ancestors enjoyed, and presumptuously
asked Jesus, “What can you do?” You can almost hear Jesus
sigh in exasperation when he says, “My Father gives you the
true bread from heaven.” That bread gives life to the world.
During the Eucharistic Revival in the United States, the faithful
reflect anew on what a popular hymn calls, Panis angelicus,
“the bread of angels.” César Franck composed the setting that
most people know. The words are the last stanzas of Sacris
solemniis, the traditional hymn still part of the Office of Readings
for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of
Christ. It recalls that ever since the Last Supper, priests offer the
sacrifice so that even the lowly may eat the bread of angels.
As we prepare for the Eucharist this Sunday, let us marvel
anew at the bread from heaven. Its texture conceals the fullness
of life. Eating it, we fly.

Fr. Paul Turner

Paul Turner is the pastor of the Cathedral of the Immaculate
Conception in Kansas City, Missouri. He is coeditor of the Liturgy
and Life Study Bible and the author of numerous books, including
the forthcoming Sacred Time and Eucharistic Reservation.