The other day I was walking past a shop in town that sells jewelry. I was surprised to see how many different forms of crosses were still for sale even though we live in such a secular society. Crosses are basically just a fashion item like any other and many people wear them with no real knowledge of their meaning. It would be a lot less attractive to many people if they realised that it was one of the cruelest killing machines used in history, and that it was so barbaric that even the Romans, a people not known for their nice ways, later abolished it. Very few people would walk around wearing a miniature guillotine or garrote.
Symbols are a very important way in which our soul can grasp truth.
The image of bread taps in to the basic instinctive understanding for anyone for whom bread is the staple food. It was not for nothing that in many countries there have been riots when the price of bread went up excessively. In recent years Morocco, Jordan and other countries experienced this. At one time King Hussein of Jordan actually financed bread for the poor in his country out of his own pocket in order to maintain stability in his country. This is bacause in those countries anxiety about the availability of bread was the same as anxiety about starvation.