The BreadCast

(Eph.4:32-5:8;   Ps.1:1-4,6,Eph.5:1;   Lk.13:10-17)   “There was a time when you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.”   Brothers and sisters, remember always that “God has forgiven you in Christ.”  Once you “walk[ed] in the way of sinners,” but now you are as he who “delights in the law of the Lord.”  And so as God has shown His mercy to you, so should you do unto others; we must “be...

(Jer.26:11-16,24;   Ps.69:14-16,30-31,33-34;   Mt.14:1-12)  “In truth it was the Lord who sent me to you, to speak all these things for you to hear.” Jeremiah speaks to the people in the Lord’s name, even as he is threatened with death: “Reform your ways and your deeds; listen to the voice of the Lord your God, so that the Lord will repent of the evil with which He threatens you,” he declares at h...

(Jer.26:1-9;   Ps.69:5,8-10,14;   Mt.13:54-58)  “No prophet is without honor, except in his native place, indeed in his own house.” How consonant are our readings today, speaking all of the persecution the prophet of God must bear in bringing the truth to His people.  (Indeed I had thought to refer to the incident in our gospel before having even come to it, while still reading the words from Jere...

(Jer.18:1-6;   Ps.146:1-6;   Mt.13:47-53) “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.” “I went down to the potter’s house and there he was, working at the wheel.”  According to the Lord’s words Jeremiah goes, and a marvelous sign is provided him.  For there in the hands of the potter and in his work, he sees the Lord huddled over His creation.  And what in parti...

(Jer.15:10,16-21;   Ps.59:2-4,10-11,17-18;   Mt.13:44-46) “If you repent, so that I restore you, in my presence you shall stand.” The Lord called Jeremiah even from before he was formed in his mother’s womb, but it seems he falls short of fulfilling that call, for the Lord says to His prophet today, “If you bring forth the precious without the vile, you shall be my mouthpiece.”  Indeed it seemed t...

(Jer.14:17-22;   Ps.79:8-9,11,13;   Mt.13:36-43) “Remember not against us the iniquities of the past; may your compassion quickly come to us, for we are brought very low.” If the prophet’s “eyes stream with tears day and night, without rest, over the great destruction which overwhelms the virgin daughter of [his] people, over her incurable wound,” how many more tears will there be “at the end of t...

(Jer.13:1-11;   Dt.32:18-21;   Mt.13:31-35) “You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you. You forgot the God who gave you birth.” So Moses says of the people he led through the desert.  So Jeremiah is told of the Lord’s chosen at the time of the Babylonian exile.  So it is with those who are deaf to Jesus’ parables.  And so we, too, forget the Lord whenever we turn from Him in sin. So close were...

(Jer.3:14-17;   Jer.31:10-13;   Mt.13:18-23)  “At that time they will call Jerusalem the Lord’s throne; there all nations will be gathered together to honor the name of the Lord at Jerusalem.” I would like today to focus the attention particularly of the Lord’s chosen race on the following prophecy of the great Jeremiah: “They will in those days no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord!...

(Jer.2:1-3,7-8,12-13;   Ps.36:6-11;   Mt.13:10-17) “They look but do not see, they listen but do not hear or understand.” Oh how “sacred to the Lord was Israel, the first fruits of His harvest.”  And oh how they loved the Lord “as a bride,” following Him so closely.  But oh how they have forgotten “the devotion of their youth” and turned from Him.  For when He “brought [them] into the garden lands...

(Mic.7:14-15,18-20;   Ps.85:2-8;   Mt.12:46-50)  “Then extending His hands to His disciples, He said, ‘There are my mother and my brothers.’” The Lord’s blessing rests upon all who worship Him in spirit and in truth, and it comes to us primarily through the forgiveness of our sins.  For the Lord extends His hands to His disciples first of all to “cast into the depths of the sea all our sins.”  Thi...

(Mic.6:1-4,6-8;   Ps.50:5-6,8-9,16-17,21,23;   Mt.12:38-42)  “The Lord has a plea against His people, and He enters into trial with Israel.” “God Himself is the judge,” brothers and sisters.  And so He declares: “Gather my faithful ones before me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”  All are brought before His throne, and all must “present [their] plea” in His presence. And what...

(Mic.2:1-5;   Ps.10:1-4,7-8,12,14;   Mt.12:14-21) “When the Pharisees were outside they began to plot against Jesus to find a way to destroy Him.” Is it not of these David sings when he declares, “He lurks in ambush near the villages; in hiding he murders the innocent; his eyes spy upon the unfortunate”?  And though He withdraw from them this day, though He will silently subject Himself to torture...

(Is.38:1-8,21-22;   Is.38:10-12,16-17;   Mt.12:1-8) “Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord.”  “When Hezekiah was mortally ill, the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came and said to him: ‘Thus says the Lord: Put your house in order, for you are about to die.’”  When the Jewish race was about to perish for lack of love, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to the Pharisees and declar...

(Is.26:7-9,12,16-19;   Ps.102:13-21;   Mt.11:28-30) “The Lord looked down from His holy height, from heaven He beheld the earth, To hear the groaning of the prisoners, to release those doomed to die.” Yes, “we cried out in anguish under [His] chastising.  As a woman about to give birth… we conceived and writhed in pain, giving birth to wind.”  Empty were our works; dead in sin were we.  But the Lo...

(Is.10:5-7,13-16;   Ps.94:5-10,14-15;   Mt.11:25-27)  “Shall He who instructs nations not chastise, He who teaches men knowledge?” Again we learn the basic teaching of the Lord: The exalted are humbled and the humbled exalted.  In our first reading “the Lord of hosts” promises to “send among His fat ones leanness” – condemning Assyria for the pride it takes in its “own power”; and in our gospel Je...

(Is.7:1-9;   Ps.48:2-9;   Mt.11:20-24) “Unless your faith is firm you shall not be firm!” “Take care you remain tranquil and do not fear; let not your courage fail.”  For “great is the Lord and wholly to be praised in the city of our God” and “renowned is He as a stronghold.”  But the faithless shall be as the rebellious nations which came against the Lord and His anointed: these “shall not stand”...

(Is.1:10-17;   Ps.50:8-9,16-17,21,23;   Mt.10:34-11:1) “Your hands are full of blood! Wash yourselves clean!” Elsewhere in Scripture we read, “The Lord chastises those whom He loves” (Heb.12:6), and this truth is made evident in our readings today.  The Lord commands us through the prophecy of Isaiah, “Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good.”  Our psalm cont...

(Is.6:1-8;   Ps.93:1-2,5;   Mt.10:24-33)  “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts,’ they cried one to the other. ‘All the earth is filled with His glory.’” Hear the angels’ song.  It is their praise, which fills the heavens like fragrant incense, that our psalmist proclaims: “The Lord is king, in splendor robed; robed is the Lord and girt about with strength.”  Exalted is the majesty of the Father...

(Hos.14:2-10;   Ps.51:3-4,8-9,12-14,17;   Mt.10:16-23)  “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.” Hosea instructs the Israelites, “Take with you words, and return to the Lord,” and this David does in his psalm of sorrow.  In “sincerity of heart” he begs the Lord’s forgiveness for his sin and finds that the Lord creates “a clean heart” for him.  “In [Him] the orphan finds com...

(Hos.11:1,3-4,8-9;   Ps.80:2-4,15-16;   Mt.10:7-15)  “I am God and not man, the Holy One present among you.” And He comes to us as do the disciples today, blessing each home as He enters.  And “if the home is deserving, [His] blessing will descend upon it.  If it is not, [His] blessing will return” to Him.  Be careful to receive the blessing of the Lord, for if you reject Him, He will leave you, s...

(Hos.10:1-3,7-8,12;   Ps.105:2-7;   Mt.10:1-7)  “Jesus sent these men on mission as the Twelve.” And in these men the Lord founds His Church, choosing “first Simon, now known as Peter,” as the Rock upon whom the Building rests, and in like fashion all the twelve apostles, upon whom He places His Spirit.  And so the foundation is set.  And so none can separate themselves from these and their teachi...

(Hos.8:4-7,11-13;   Ps.115:3-10;   Mt.9:32-38) “Our God is in heaven; whatever He wills, He does. Their idols are silver and gold, the handiwork of men.” In Israel, the people have turned from worship of the living God and “with their silver and gold they made idols for themselves, to their own destruction.”  As the golden “calf of Samaria” is “destined for the flames,” so they “shall be like them...

(Hos.2:16-18,21-22;   Ps.145:2-9;   Mt.9:18-26) “When the crowd had been put out He entered and took her by the hand, and the little girl got up.” How like Hosea’s prophecy today is the Lord’s raising of Jairus’ daughter in our gospel.  For the Lord speaks through His prophet, saying, “I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart,” and Jesus does this when He puts the crowd out of the ho...

(Amos 9:11-15;   Ps.85:9,11-14;   Mt.9:14-17) “I will bring about the restoration of my people Israel.” Of the city of David, the Lord promises, “I will wall up its breaches, raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old.”  Beautiful imagery is given indeed through the prophet Amos to illustrate the renewal of the land now fallen: “The juice of grapes shall drip down the mountains, and...

(Amos 7:10-17;   Ps.19:8-11;   Mt.9:1-8)  “The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” Amos says of himself in our first reading: “The Lord took me from following the flock, and said to me, Go, prophesy to my people, Israel.”  And so he can say, “Now hear the word of the Lord!”  And so he can speak for God.  And so he can reveal the Lord’s will to the people, calling them to return to...