  As we search for an ever deeper understanding of the structure of hadronic
matter one of the most fundamental questions is whether or not one can make a
connection to the underlying theory of the strong interaction, QCD. We build on
recent advances in the chiral extrapolation problem linking lattice QCD at
relatively large ``light quark'' masses to the physical world to estimate the
scalar polarizability of the nucleon. The latter plays a key role in modern
relativistic mean-field descriptions of nuclei and nuclear matter (such as QMC)
and, in particular, leads to a very natural saturation mechanism. We
demonstrate that the value of the scalar polarizability extracted from the
lattice data is consistent with that needed for a successful description of
nuclei within the framework of QMC. In a very real sense this is the first hint
of a direct connection between QCD and the properties of finite nuclei.
