The BreadCast

(Gn.17:3-9;   Ps.105:4-9;   Jn.8:51-59)   “Before Abraham came to be, I AM.”   Abraham is a great man, the blessed patriarch, to whom God made the promise: “I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.”  So Abraham becomes “the father of a host of nations,” not just by linea...

(Nm.21:4-9;   Ps.102:2-3,16-21;   Jn.8:21-30)   “From heaven He beheld the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoners, to release those doomed to die.”   As the Lord has said to the Pharisees: “You belong to what is below; I belong to what is above.”  And truly, how could we come to where He is unless He reached down to lead us there? The Israelites show just how much they are of this world belo...

(Dn.13:1-9,15-17,19-30,33-62;   Ps.23:1-6;   Jn.8:1-11)   “Let the man among you who has no sin be the first to cast a stone at her.”   “Then the audience drifted away one by one, beginning with the elders.”  And no one was left to accuse her. In both our gospel and our first reading a woman is accused of adultery, one justly, the other unjustly.  Yet both are freed.  For under the old law the inn...

(Jer.11:18-20;   Ps.7:2-3,9-12;   Jn.7:40-53)   “Let us destroy the tree in its vigor; let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be spoken no more.”   With these words “they were hatching plots against” Jeremiah, and in the same way against Jesus.  And so, “like a trusting Lamb led to slaughter,” “like the lion’s prey, to be torn to pieces, with no one to rescue” are th...

(Ws.2:1,12-22;   Ps.34:17-21,23;   Jn.7:1-2,10,25-30)   “He calls blest the destiny of the just and boasts that God is His Father.”   And for such He shall be persecuted; for such He shall be killed.  For to the wicked “He is the censure of [their] thoughts; merely to see Him is a hardship” for those who stray from the Lord’s commands.  And so, in vain attempt to spare themselves the just judgment...

(Is. 49:8-15;   Ps.145:8-9,13-14,17-18;   Jn.5:17-30)   “Just as the Father possesses life in Himself, so He has granted it to the Son to have life in Himself.”   Here the great mystery of the unity of Father and Son is revealed, and so also our salvation. God is life.  The Father is the great I AM, He who will be what He will be and do what He will do – He who holds the world and all its wonders...

(Ez.47:1-9,12;   Ps.46:2-3,5-6,8-9;   Jn.5:1-3,5-16)   “There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High.”   Brothers and sisters, Jesus is our living water. In our first reading, Ezekial speaks of his heavenly vision of the river of God which runs from His holy temple.  The water, which increases as it flows further from its source, eventually “empties i...

(Is.65:17-21;   Ps.30:2,4-6,11-13;   Jn.4:43-54)   “You changed my mourning into dancing.”   Here in the midst of Lent we find the purpose of all our suffering, the hope to which we all are called.  “At nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing.”  And thus does this time of penance and fasting lead to the abundance found in Easter joy.  For what is darkness but the world in which...

(Hos.6:1-6;   Ps.51:3-4,18-21,Hos.6:6;   Lk.18:9-14)   “As certain as the dawn is His coming, and His judgment shines forth like the light of day!”   It is night.  There is darkness.  In this world of sin we are afflicted on account of our guilt, for our failures to love God.  And so David cries out in our psalm, “Have mercy, O God, in your goodness”; and so the tax collector in our gospel “beat[s...

(Hos.14:2-10;   Ps.81:6-11,14,17;   Mk.12:28-34)   “Hear, O Israel!  The Lord our God is Lord alone!”   “There is no other than He,” and so what should we do but “love the Lord [our] God with all [our] heart, with all [our] soul, with all [our] mind, and with all [our] strength”?  What promise the Lord makes to us if only we would return to Him and love Him: “If only my people would hear me, and I...

(Jer.7:23-28;   Ps.95:1-2,6-9;   Lk.11:14-23)   “They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.”   The Lord calls His people to “listen to [His] voice,” to “walk in all [His] ways,” that they “may prosper.”  But with whom is there obedience?  How many harden their hearts against Him! Of the people of Jeremiah’s time the Lord says, “Faithfulness has...

(Dt.4:1,5-9;   Ps.147:12-13,15-16,19-20;   Mt.5:17-19)   “What great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law?”   “He has proclaimed His word to Jacob, His statutes and ordinances to Israel.”  The Lord in His grace “sends forth His command to the earth; swiftly runs His word!”  And as the snow and the rain come down to nourish the land, to bring life to the earth, so His...

(Dn.3:25,34-43;   Ps.25:4-9;   Mt.18:21-35)   “With contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received.”   The Lord “guides the humble to justice, He teaches the humble His way,” and so it is the prayer of these He receives; upon them He showers His mercy.  For His mercy is His justice and it is known by those who humbly share the same. Azariah makes his prayer for mercy for his people Israel who...

(2Kgs.5:1-15;   Ps.42:2-3,43:3-4;   Lk.4:24-30)   “There is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.”   “There is a prophet in Israel,” brothers and sisters, and this prophet is God.  Jesus Christ has come, salvation from the Jews.  Do you recognize Him?  Will you accept Him? It is only in “the waters of Israel” that we are made clean.  As wonderful as may be the waters of our native land, it ma...

(Mic.7:14-15,18-20;   Ps.103:1-4,8-12;   Lk.15:1-3,11-32)   “While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him and was deeply moved.”   “He ran out to meet him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him.”  Amen.  Such is the forgiveness of the Lord, that even while we are far from Him, yet while we are sinners, He sees our hearts turn to Him and welcomes us into His embrace. W...

(Gn.37:3-4,12-13,17-28;   Ps.105:5,16-21;   Mt.21:33-43,45-46) “They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.” “The stone which the builders rejected has become the keystone of the structure.”  Hear what Scripture says.  As he who was “sold as a slave” by his brothers became “lord of [the king’s] house and ruler of all his possessions,” so He whom the elders of the people could...

(Jer.17:5-10;   Ps.1:1-4,6,40:5;   Lk.16:19-31)   “He is like a tree planted beside the waters, that stretches out its roots to the stream.”   “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord.”  For he shall be like the tree “that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade.”  He shall never be “like a barren bush in the desert” or “like chaff which the wind drive...

(Jer.18:18-20;   Ps.31:5-6,14-17;   Mt.20:17-28)   “Can you drink of the cup I am to drink of?”   Do you know what He asks, brothers and sisters?  And do you know where it leads? In our gospel today, Jesus is very deliberate in His instruction to His apostles.  As He starts out “to go up to Jerusalem,” where the chief priests and scribes “will condemn Him to death” and the Romans crucify Him, He t...

(Is.1:10,16-20;   Ps.50:8-9,16-17,21,23;   Mt.23:1-12)   “To him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.”   “Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good.”  For it is only following in the way of the Lord we shall be saved; for mere words, vain pretense, the Lord has no patience. Indeed it is so, what Isaiah proclaims: “Though your sins be like s...

(Dn.9:4-10;   Ps.79:8-9,11,13,103:10;   Lk.6:36-38) “Deliver us and pardon our sins for your name’s sake.” It is a cry for forgiveness our psalmist makes to our compassionate God.  “Remember not against us the iniquities of the past,” he begs, seeking release from sin’s prison for himself and his people.  And Daniel does the same; acknowledging with full throat the sins of Judah and all Israel, he...

(Dt.26:16-19;   Ps.119:1-2,4-5,7-8;   Mt.5:43-48)   “You will be a people sacred to the Lord, your God.”   The promise made to the Israelites through Moses is also a command, and is fulfilled in the command of Jesus. In our first reading Moses tells the people the Lord will raise them “high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations,” but makes it clear that this shall be so only as lo...

(Ez.18:21-28;   Ps.130:1-8;   Mt.5:20-26)   “Settle with your opponent while on your way to court with him.”   We are all on our way to court, brothers and sisters.  The judgment of the Lord awaits us all on the Last Day, and the Last Day is upon us here at the end of the age.  There is no time to lose; we must be “reconciled with [our] brother”; we must turn from sin today and find the Lord’s gra...

(Est. C:12,14-16,23-25;   Ps.138:1-3,7-8;   Mt.7:7-12)   “My Lord, our King, you alone are God. Help me, who am alone and have no help but you.”   In our gospel we have today a few of our Lord’s most famous words: “Ask, and you will receive.  Seek, and you will find.  Knock, and it will be opened to you.”  Jesus encourages us to faithfulness in prayer, assuring all that our “heavenly Father [will]...

(Jon.3:1-10;   Ps.51:3-4,12-13,18-19;   Lk.11:29-32)   “At the preaching of Jonah they reformed.”   Let us learn from the people of Ninevah, who heeded the message of repentance given Jonah.  At Jonah’s cry they “believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.”  Even the king “laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes” in hop...

(Is.55:10-11;   Ps.34:4-7,16-19;   Mt.6:7-15)   “Give us today our daily bread.”   Our daily bread comes from the mouth of God; it is His Word that nourishes us.  His Word “water[s] the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to him who sows and bread to him who eats.”  By His Word our spiritual lives are anointed with holiness; the breath of His mouth makes us whole, and so we become f...