On the Fourth Petition.

415. What is bread for subsistence? 1 The bread which we need in order to subsist or live.

416. With what thoughts should we ask of God this bread? Agreeably with the instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should ask no more than bread for subsistence; that is, necessary food, and such clothing and shelter as is likewise necessary for life; but whatever is beyond this, and serves not so much for necessity as for gratification, we should leave to the will of God; and if it be given, return thanks to him; if it be not given, we should be content without it.

417. Why are we directed to ask for bread for subsistence only for this day ? That we may not be too anxious about the future, but trust for that to God. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself: sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matt. vi. 34 . For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Matt. vi. 32 .

418. May we not ask for something farther under the name of bread for subsistence? Since man is made of both a bodily and a spiritual substance, and the substance of the soul far excels that of the body, we may and should seek for the soul also that bread of subsistence without which the inward man must perish of hunger. (See Cyril. Hier. Lect, Myst. iv. 15; Orthod. Confess. Pt. II. Q. 19.)

419. What is the bread of subsistence for the soul? The Word of God, and the Body and Blood of Christ. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Matt. iv. 4 . My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. John vi. 55 .