By Irina Pino
HAVANA TIMES – “The bread of our daily sustenance, give it to us today…” is a fragment of the Christian prayer, Our Father (Pater Noster in Latin), written by Jesus of Nazareth, according to the Gospel of Saint Matthew and the Gospel of Saint Luke in the New Testament.
Christ multiplied five loaves and two fish, food for more than five thousand people who followed him, after the beheading of Saint John the Baptist.
The second multiplication symbolized spiritual food: it was the Bread of God, the Bread of life. It was unleavened bread to overcome sin, so that Christ could live in each one of us.
Many do not know or care about these biblical passages; their only concern is filling their stomachs, alleviating their needs, as is the case with the people of Cuba, who have endured different phases of hunger for sixty-five years.
In Mexican culture, bread serves to bring the family together for breakfast. For Cubans, it is a similar act because it is consumed almost always in the early hours.
I remember that before the pandemic and the (mis)monetary ordering (reforms), one could buy bread freely, as much as one wanted. It was a fact. But this has become a page from happier times.
If the saying goes, “Man does not live by bread alone,” we s