His gaze can be one of purifying love if we allow it to be (cf. However, this feeling says more about us than about God. It is possible that his gaze of love will cause us pain if we are stuck in sin, or if we are conscious of any of our many betrayals. Spoiler alert: His gaze is always and only one of love. In fact, whenever we pray, it is good to begin by calling to mind the presence of God and how God looks at us. We can gaze at the true “Bread” of Presence and of the Face of God and remind ourselves of what the Old Testament priests said regarding its precursor: “Behold how God loves you!” We can think of those times he fed us in famine or rescued us from a threat. Adoration can remind us of those times in which we participated in the heavenly banquet, those times in which we “saw” or certainly experienced God’s love. What can we learn from these thoughts? When you and I are at Eucharistic Adoration, we are looking at the True “Bread” of the Presence, the Face of God. The Bread of the Face of God was a memorial, a remembrance, of a heavenly banquet during which Moses and the elders had “seen” God. It is alluded to in this line from the book of Exodus: “They beheld God, and ate and drank” (Exodus 24:11, Pitre, 121). It was something from the Holy of Holies that all were allowed to see. It is also known as the “Bread of the Presence” or again, it is called “Bread of the Face of God” (Pitre, 121). I draw attention to it now because it can provide an Old Testament example and anticipation of what is a far greater gift in the Eucharist.Ĭonsider the other names for what often gets called “showbread” in our translations. They are priests according to the order of Melchizedek (Pitre, 137). This gesture suggests that David and his companions are also priests, and indeed they are. Typically, by this time, this bread was only eaten by the priests. Escaping from the threats of King Saul, David and his soldiers are given the holy bread of the Tent of Meeting to eat. The showbread makes an earlier appearance in the life of David and his troops. When you and I are at Eucharistic Adoration, we are looking at the True “Bread” of the Presence, the Face of God. The old bread that was replaced would be consumed by the priests. The priests would bake bread with incense mixed into it, and then pass it through the Holy of Holies before leaving it on a table in the sanctuary next to the tabernacle for the next week. That priestly sacrificial offering of bread and wine was repeated in the Temple liturgy on a weekly basis. Melchizedek feeds God’s pilgrim people in the persons of Abraham and his companions with a sacrificial offering of bread and wine. Melchizedek is that mysterious priest, king of Salem (“salem” means peace-you and I know this priest-king’s town as Jerusalem). ![]() The showbread of the Temple has a very interesting history in itself that may date back to Melchizedek (see Brant Pitre, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, 127). The priests are lifting up the holy bread (known also as “showbread”) on a golden table for everyone to see, saying, “Behold God’s love for you.” As you approach the outside of the temple, you notice a commotion. Imagine that you are on pilgrimage to Jerusalem during one of the high feast days during the first century.
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