Prayer And Bread

Procedente oratione postulamus et dicimus: Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie. Quod potest et spiritaliter et simpliciter intelligi, quia et uterque intellectus utilitate divina proficit ad salutem. Nam panis vitae Christus est, et panis hic omnium non est, sed noster est. Et quomodo dicimus Pater noster, quia intelligentium et credentium pater est, sic et panem nostrum vocamus, quia Christus eorum qui corpus ejus contingunt panis est. Hunc autem panem dari nobis quotidie postulamus, ne qui in Christo sumus et Eucharistiam quotidie ad cibum salutis accipimus, interecedente aliquo graviore delicto, dum abstenti et non communicantes a coelesti pane prohibemur, a Christi corpore separemur, ipso praedicante et monete: Ego sum panis vitae qui de coelo descendi. Si quis ederit de meo pane, vivet in aeternum. Panis autem quem ergo dedero caro mea est pro saeculi vita. Quando ergo dicit in aeternum vivere si quis ederit de ejus pane, ut manifestum est eos vivere qui corpus ejus attingunt et Eucharistiam jure communicationis accipiunt, ita contra timendum est et orandum ne, dum quis abstentus separatur a Chrsiti corpore, procul remaneat a salute, comminante ipso et dicente: Nisi ederitis carnem Filii hominis et biberitis sanguinem ejus, non habebitis vitam in vobis. Et ideo panem nostrum, id est Christum, dari nobis quotidie petimus, ut, qui in Christo manemus et vivimus, a sanctificatione ejus et corpore non recedamus. Sanctus Cyprianus, De Oratione Dominica Source: Migne PL 4.531a-532b

As the prayer proceeds, we ask and say, 'Give us this day our daily bread.' 1 And this may be understood both spiritually and simply, because either way of understanding is divinely useful for salvation. For Christ is the bread of life, and this bread does not belong to all men, but it is ours. And as we say, 'Our Father,' because He is the Father of those who understand and believe, so we call it 'our bread,' because Christ is the bread of those who are joined with His body. And we ask that this bread should be given to us daily, lest we who are in Christ and daily receive the Eucharist for the food of salvation, by the interposition of some grave sin, are prevented, while abstaining and not communicating, from partaking of the heavenly bread and are separated from Christ's body, as He Himself predicts, and warns: 'I am the bread of life which came down from heaven. If any man eat of my bread, he shall live forever. The bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.' 2 When, therefore, He says that whoever shall eat of His bread shall live forever, so it is manifest that they live who partake of His body and receive the Eucharist by the right of communion are living, and thus, on the other hand, we must fear and pray lest any one, while abstaining and being separate from Christ's body should remain far from salvation, as He Himself warns, saying: 'Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you.' 3 And therefore we ask that our bread, that is, Christ, may be given to us daily, that we who remain and live in Christ may not depart from His sanctification and body. Saint Cyprian of Carthage, Treatise On The Lord's Prayer 1 Mt 6.11 2 Jn 6.51-52 3 Jn 6.54