The Word of the Lord - 6

The Israelites pitched their camp at Gilgal and kept the Passover there on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening in the plain of Jericho. On the morrow of the Passover they tasted the produce of that country, unleavened bread and roasted ears of corn that same day. From that time, from their first eating of the produce of that country, the manna stopped falling. And having manna no longer, the Israelites fed from that year onwards on what the land of Canaan yielded. (Joshua 5:10-12)



We too have Manna from above,
The bread that came from heaven;
To us the same kind hand of love
Hath living waters given.
A Rock we have, from whence the spring
In rich abundance flows;
That Rock is Christ, our Priest, our King,
Who life and health bestows.

O let us prize this blessed food,
And trust our heavenly Guide;
So shall we find death's fearful flood
Serene as Jordan's tide,
And safely reach that happy shore,
The land of peace and rest,
Where Angels worship and adore,
In God's own presence blest.

[Please note - I am fully aware that today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (indeed I was deacon at the Vigil Mass celebrated in Westminster Cathedral last night), but I am going through important stories in Scripture in a definite order - and Our Lady will appear later on in Advent. Happy Feast!]