Manna, Sabbath rest, and the bread from heaven

In the shadows of Moses, we seek the truth contained within them, drawing forth both new and old insights from the treasury of divine wisdom.

If you desire, whatever we gather here in preparation, having rested in that place on the Sabbath, we will discover there and be sustained by it.

Long ago, God provided bread from heaven to His people, a sustenance that never fails, fully sufficient for every delight, responding precisely to what each person desired.

Such is the nature of the word that nourishes the soul: it adapts its form according to the capacity of the one who receives it.

When the law feeds an infant, it becomes milk; when it feeds a weak soul, it becomes vegetables; when it feeds a perfect one, it becomes solid food.

Yet this manna does not come to those who remain idle, but to those who go forth outside the camp—I speak of the body, in which the soul is presently confined.

For the soul must no longer dwell in flesh, but in spirit.

No one who bears the image of the earthly man can partake of heavenly bread, because the natural person does not receive the things of the Spirit.

Regarding this food, you too were taught to pray.

Therefore, if you take the daily bread—the one that does not withdraw, does not refuse, but is continually given back into the substance of the soul—when I reflect on God, on Christ, on His divinity, on His indwelling in the human body and soul, I eat the bread of angels, that is, the manna.

Having found it and marveled at it, I will speak wonderfully: 'Manna—what is this?' And this utterance shall become the name of that bread.

Pray that God may send us provision for true satisfaction—not merely to taste, but also to be filled with the words of life, and to be strengthened by them.

Yet the preceding food is this very manna.

While eating the manna, the Hebrews said: 'Nothing, except that our eyes were directed toward the manna.'

We recalled that we had sat down by the meat pots in Egypt, and we accused those people of having sinned at that time, failing to recognize that the very same sins are taking place within ourselves; instead of turning to the spiritual Scripture, we crave to eat foul-smelling greens and onions that damage the soul’s sight, and we long to be filled with the pleasures that come from sinful, stinking indulgences.

And as we yearn for the cleansing of the world and the purification of our bodily nature, we thirst for hard labor, and having stripped away what does not contribute to the soul’s true substance, we desire to partake of cucumbers; furthermore, since we do not want the heavenly bread—of which prophets, heralds, and the righteous are spoken of as clouds due to their lofty stature—we turn instead to these earthly, corrupt desires.