That Daily Hungers May Be Fed

The car breaks down, or news arrives,
fragments the plans we've laid.
We turn to juggle jags and gyves,
the crises of the day.

Yet measure out the flour and salt,
the water and the yeast,
for in the midst of life and all 
we're called unto the feast.

So let this be th'unbroken plan,
the rule that guides our days:
to do whatever need demands
and offer it as praise,

to sink our hands into the mess
of water, salt, and flour,
to knead the dust that it may bless
the table and the hour.

Look down, O Christ, upon this bread,
these little things we lift
that daily hungers may be fed,
and make of it a gift.

Then join us at the table here
to bless the food we take
for ease and comfort—O, draw near
and share the bread we break!

Woman baking bread (c. 2200 BC); Louvre, By Rama, CC BY-SA 3.0 fr, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69938567

Manna

“I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes down from heaven
so that one may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
—John 6:41-51

You sank your fingers in the earth
to dredge the furrows of our birth
and planted first a garden there
with seeds you made, all good to bear.

All times and seasons you have set
to plow and plant, to reap and rest.
You turn the earth and send it rain,
and you yourself prepare the grain.

So all we harvest is your gift:
You fill the empty hands we lift;
you fill the earth to stir the seed;
you fill us, too, who see our need.

Not earth's alone, but heaven's bread
you give us, Lord, and we are fed.
As every day we eat and live,
our life is in the bread you give.

You are yourself the bread of life,
and those who eat will never die,
no more as seeds to fall and sleep
but evermore your feast to keep.

Though still we hunger, knowing this
our daily bread a foretaste is.
You grow and bless; we take and eat,
and every bite is manna sweet.

Albert Samuel Anker – Still-Life with Coffee, Bread and Potatoes By Albert Anker – http://www.sightswithin.com/Search/albert%20anker/Page_2/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37060415

Baking

Though it's little, take and bless it,
all I offer you, O Lord,
since my hands would now be empty
had not goodness overflowed.
From the sun you made and lifted
all the world is warmed and fed,
and the grain you first had given
has become my daily bread.

I am dust, but you have seen me;
you have filled my hands with flour.
In the mixing and the kneading
I am copying your power,
for you kneaded us and made us
from the rich and fertile soil.
God, the bread that I am baking
carries your creation's joy.

It is little, almost nothing,
but what else could little give?
Yet it bears the weight of loving:
Gracious Lord, receive my gift.
By your gifts alone I've made it,
seed and sunlight, rain and earth.
Take this little; bless and break it
for the feeding of the world.

Woman baking bread (c. 2200 BC); Louvre By Rama, CC BY-SA 3.0 fr, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69938567

O God of Hunger and of Want

O God of hunger and of want,
of every hollow space,
you made us empty in the dawn:
Come, fill us by your grace.

As vessels from the potter's wheel,
so we were made to hold
and shaped, each one, but to be filled,
as you made all the world.

And from your hand we come the same,
all hungry, all athirst
for all the fruits of sun and rain,
of labor and of earth.

Now empty all we stand and wait
for what your goodness gives,
to savor heaven in the taste
of all that lets us live.

O, bless us with our daily bread,
in fasting and in feast:
It's from the table you have set,
choice wine and finest wheat.

And let us pour your bounty out
as you have poured it first.
O, let your rains on all come down
to fill us in our thirst!

The Gathering of the Manna by James Tissot – https://thejewishmuseum.org/collection/26365-the-gathering-of-the-manna, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8849141