The True Manna from Heaven

The Hebrews lived on the manna that God rained down from the sky for them while they wandered in the desert for forty years.  The manna ceased once they reached the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey.  This prefigures the Holy Eucharist, which sustains us while we painfully make our way through this land of our exile to our true home in heaven.  The following reflection is taken from a sermon by St. Albert the Great:

"This Sacrament is food for men.  It is medicinal food against the corruption of the fruit of a death-dealing tree, which was faithlessly infused by the first parents of the human race.  It would be incurable if it had not been remedied by the strongest medicine which could have been applied by the wisdom of God.  Sirach 38, 4: 'The Most High made medicine from the earth' -- that is, from the womb of the Virgin -- 'and the wise man will not shun it.'  As St. Ambrose said: 'The Body of Christ is spiritual medicine which purifies those devoted to it, who taste it with reverence.'  

"To understand the reason for the necessity of the medicine of the Body of Christ, we need to understand that the wicked serpent injected into man the corruption of the three-fold poison of the forbidden fruit: (1) the darkness of ignorance into the soul; (2) the sickness of disordered desire into the body; (3) and death to both the body and soul.  The medicine of the Body of Christ was established against these.  It enlightens the darkness of ignorance, heals the disorder of concupiscence, and destroys our death.  These effects can be described in terms of three sweet foods and medicines for these conditions: for the first, honey; for the second, figs; and, for the third, the fruit of life.

"First, Proverbs 24, 13: 'Eat honey, my child, for it is good.'  Honey signifies the sweetness of the Body of Christ.  It is 'good' because it enlightens the darkness of our minds.  1 Kings 14, 29: 'You have seen that my eyes have been enlightened because I tasted a little of this honey.'  Isaiah 7, 15: 'He shall eat butter and honey so that he may know to reject evil and to choose the good.'  Psalm 26, 1: 'The Lord is my light and my salvation.'  Psalm 33, 6: 'Go to him and be enlightened.'

"Second, Jeremiah 24, 3: 'I see figs, good figs, and very good.'  'Figs' is said twice, signifying the sweetness of the Body of Christ, God and man.  These twice-mentioned figs are 'very good' because they heal the mind and body from the sickness of  disordered concupiscence.  In 4 Kings 20, 7, Isaiah ordered that a lump of figs be brought , and when he placed it on the king's boil, he was cured.  The king's 'boil' is the concupiscence of the flesh.  The lump of 'figs' is the Body of Christ, which contains the sweetness of many good graces as medicine against wicked desires.  

"Third, Luke 1, 42: 'Blessed is the fruit of your womb' -- the Body of Christ, which is the 'fruit' of life, which has power for the destruction of the Gehenna of death and for the acquisition of eternal life.  Proverbs 3, 18: 'The tree of life is for those who lay hands on it' -- that is, the incarnate Wisdom of God.  For this reason, it is written, in Hosea 13, 14: 'I shall be your death, O Death.'  John 6, 51-58: 'I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone should eat this bread, he would live forever.  And the bread that I will give is my Flesh, for the life of the world . . . He who eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him, and he who eats me, will live because of me.'  Hilary of Poitiers: 'Eat the Flesh of The Lord and drink his Blood, that we may be made in him, and he may be made in us.' "