Wednesday, October 7, 2009

The Bread of Presence

"You shall also make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, a cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high. You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it. And you shall make around it with a frame, a handbreadth high, with a molding of gold around the frame. You shall also make four rings of gold for it and fasten them at the four corners, one at each leg, on two opposite sides of the frame as holders for the poles to carry the table.These poles for carrying the table you shall make of acacia wood and plate with gold.Of pure gold you shall make its plates and cups, as well as its pitchers and bowls for pouring libations. And you shall set the bread of Presence on the table before me always.
Book of Exodus25: 23-30

"And you shall make a lampstand of pure gold...the lamp shall be setup so as to give light to the space in front of it."
Book of Exodus25:31,37

The Early Church fathers recognized the prototype of the Eucharist in God's instructions to Moses . The bread in by the Ark of the Covenant was a reminder of the bread from heaven, the manna that fed His people. Jesus is the New Covenant in which we are nourished by Christ, Himself, who is our bread in the Real Presence of the Eucharist. The lampstand lighted the way for those who were to be in God's presence. Christ is now the Light of the World shinning the truth that leads to His Heavenly Father. The Old Testament points towards the New. St Augustine wrote "Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet, Vetus in Novo patet" The New Testament in the Old lies concealed the Old in the New is revealed."

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