till the fiery stream overtook them, and that same fire which destroyed
them preserved the bread, as a sign of God's goodness and man's
ingratitude.

There is yet another thought about the corn, which ought to make us
feel how dependent we are upon God for our _daily_ bread. Unlike the
grass which is permanent as a food for cattle, or certain trees which
bring forth fruit season by season, corn must be sown annually. Man
depends upon the result of each year's sowing for the staff of life.
And we are told that as a fact there is only as much corn in the world
in each year as the world can consume in that time. "It is not
probable that there was ever a year and a half's supply of the first
necessary of life at one time in the world." Thus, as every
harvest-time comes round, we are almost looking famine in the face, and
then God opens His Hand and filleth all things living with
plenteousness. Rightly indeed do we pray, "Give us day by day our
daily bread."

And now let us look at the spiritual meaning of all this. As corn is
the special gift of God to man, so is the gift of grace and pardon.
God gives us what we cannot obtain for ourselves, does for us what we
are powerless to do. As He feeds our bodies with the bread of corn, He
feeds our souls with the Bread of Heaven. His Holy Catholic Church all
over the world is a great granary stored with precious food. Just as
corn grows wherever man lives, so wherever two or three are gathered
together in Christ's Name there is He in the midst of them, feeding
their souls. The exile in a foreign land can sow his corn seed, and
gather the same food as in the fields of home. The same exile can find
beneath other skies the same holy teachings, the same blessed
Sacraments, the same prayers, as in the Church of his childhood. The
bread of earth and the Bread of Heaven are God's two universal gifts to
man. The penitent sinner can kneel at the Feet of Jesus, and find the
grace of pardon beneath the skies of England, and India, and New
Zealand, alike. The faithful Churchman can come to the Altar and
receive the Body and Blood of his Saviour, even the Heavenly Bread to
strengthen man's heart, all over the Christian world. As God gives us
everywhere light and food, without which we cannot live, so does He
give light and food for our soul. As says a Saint of old (S. Thomas a
Kempis), "I feel that two things are most especially necessary to me in
this life; prisoned in the d