The BreadCast

(Rm.3:21-30;   Ps.130:1-7;   Lk.11:47-54)   “This generation will have to account for the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world.”   And so shall it be with Christ’s own blood, the fulfillment of all the martyrs’ sacrifice; for these same scribes and Pharisees whom Jesus proclaims guilty of the prophets’ murders will indeed devise the murder of the Son of God.  And they p...

(Rm.2:1-11;   Ps.62:2-3,6-7,9,13;   Lk.11:42-46)   “Your hard and impenitent heart is storing up retribution for that day of wrath when the just judgment of God will be revealed.”   “He will repay every man for what he has done…  Yes, affliction and anguish will come upon every man who has done evil…  But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who has done good.”  This is the just judg...

(Rm.1:16-25;   Ps.19:2-5;   Lk.11:37-41)   “They stultified themselves through speculating to no purpose, and their senseless hearts were darkened.”   If these words do not refer to modern man most poignantly, then I imagine nothing can be said of anything.  In ancient times, “they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images representing mortal man, birds, beasts, and snakes” and bowed down...

(Rm.1:1-7;   Ps.98:1-4;   Lk.11:29-32)   “You have a greater than Jonah here.”   Greater than any prophet is He.  Wiser than Solomon is the Lord who is the source of all wisdom.  For it is He of whom the prophets speak; it is His promised coming “the Holy Scriptures record.”  The fulfillment of prophets and kings is in our midst.  Our high priest is with us offering the sacrifice of Himself.  Let...

(Jl.4:12-21;   Ps.97:1-2,5-6,11-12;   Lk.11:27-28)   “Near is the day of the Lord in the valley of decision.”   And so, “blest are they who hear the word of God and keep it.”  For though “sun and moon are darkened and the stars withhold their brightness,” though “mountains melt like wax before the Lord,” “light dawns for the just,” and for them “the mountains shall drip new wine, and the hills sha...

(Jl.1:13-15,2:1-2;   Ps.9:2-3,6,8-9,16;   Lk.11:15-26)   “It is near, a day of darkness and of gloom, a day of clouds and somberness!”   And we must be prepared.  We must rend our hearts and not our garments.  We must “spend the night in sackcloth,” repentant of our sins.  We must “proclaim a fast” and “cry to the Lord,” “for near is the day of the Lord.”  The prophet Joel sounds this alarm severa...

(Mal.3:13-20;   Ps.1:1-4,6,40:5;   Lk.11:5-13)   “For you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.”   Both our psalm and first reading make clear the distinction between the blessed and the condemned: “The Lord watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes,” our psalmist declares.  The wicked are “like chaff which the wind drives away,” wh...

(Jon.4:1-11;   Ps.86:3-6,9-10,15;   Lk.11:1-4)   “Your kingdom come.”   “You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in clemency, loathe to punish.”  How beautifully Jonah speaks of God’s blessed compassion on His people.  And how poorly he is able to accept and live that grace.  The Lord’s forgiveness extends now to the ends of the earth; let us not be loathe to offer it unto all. In...

(Jon.3:1-10;   Ps.130:1-4,7-8;   Lk.10:38-42)   “He repented of the evil that He had threatened to do them; He did not carry it out.”   Ninevah is spared.  Because “they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth,” because they repented of their sin and called “loudly to God,” He did not punish them for their iniquity but forgave them and withheld “His blazing wrath.”  An...

(Jon.1:1-2:1,11;   Jon.2:2-5,7-8;   Lk.10:25-37)   “A Samaritan who was journeying along came on him and was moved to pity at the sight.”   First let me note that the book of Jonah is not a parable, not an imaginary story, as popular scholarship would have us believe.  How do I know this?  I have faith, yes, which those who would explain away any miracle of God so sorely lack; but I know it, too,...

(Bar.4:5-12,27-29;   Ps.69:33-37;   Lk.10:17-24)   “He who has brought disaster upon you will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy.”   That enduring joy which comes to us after this time of trial is our theme today.  Not only does Baruch come to it in his exhortation for the people to “fear not” anymore but to turn to God and be glad, but it is David’s song as well: “You who seek God, may y...

(Bar.1:15-22;   Ps.79:1-5,8-9;   Lk.10:13-16)   “We have been disobedient to the Lord, our God, and only too ready to disregard His voice.”   Woe is upon us for our sin.  We “have sinned in the Lord’s sight and disobeyed Him,” and so “the evils and the curse which the Lord enjoined upon Moses… cling to us even today.”  And if we do not recognize our sin, as Baruch does so beautifully in our first...

(Neh.8:1-12;   Ps.19:8-11;   Lk.10:1-12)  “They understood the words that had been expounded to them.” What a blessed day we hear of in our first reading.  And what a blessed reception the Word of God finds in the hearing of the people!  For “the whole people gathered as one man” and “listened attentively to the book of the law” of Moses as “Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that had been...

(Neh.2:1-8;   Ps.137:1-6;   Lk.9:57-62)   “How could we sing a song of the Lord in a foreign land?”   Our home is in heaven.  “The foxes have lairs, the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head,” the Lord tells him who would follow His way in our gospel today.  Our home is in heaven, and only there do we find joy.  And only finding our place there should possess...

(Zec.2:5-9,14-15;   Jer.31:10-13;   Lk.9:43-45)   “They shall come streaming to the Lord’s blessings.”   The Kingdom is being prepared.  And as bleak as things may seem upon this earth, the glory of the Lord awaits us all.  This is the message of Jeremiah in our psalm and the message given Zechariah by the angel in our first reading.  “I will turn their mourning into joy, I will console and gladde...

(Hg.1:15-2:9;   Ps.43:1-5;   Lk.9:18-22)   “Greater will be the future glory of this house than the former, says the Lord of hosts.”   “Take courage… and work!  For I am with you,” the Lord says through the prophet Haggai to the remnant of the people returned from exile as they prepare to rebuild the temple.  “My spirit continues in your midst; do not fear!”  Of course, we know these words of enco...

(Hg.1:1-8;   Ps.149:1-6,9;   Lk.9:7-9)   “He who earned wages earned them for a bag with holes in it.”   “Bring timber, and build the house that I may take pleasure in it and receive my glory.”  Rebuild the house of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit you are.  Shore up the breaches in its walls and solidify its foundation, that you might “sing to the Lord a new song of praise in the assembly of th...

(Ezra 9:5-9;   Tb.13:1-4,6-8;   Lk.9:1-6)  “Turn back, you sinners! do the right before Him: perhaps He may look with favor upon you, and show you mercy.” As the Word of the Lord comes to our villages and enters our houses, we must treasure it and heed its warning to turn from our sins.  If we harden our hearts against its grace and mercy, if we fail to recognize our sin in the blessed light it br...

(Ezra 6:7-8,12,14-20;   Ps.122:1-5;   Lk.8:19-21)   “The elders of the Jews continued to make progress in the building, supported by the message of the prophets.”   And so, returning from exile and with the permission and indeed the financial support of the Gentile king, Darius, the Jews completed the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem.  And so, the prophecy of the return to the Lord from their...

(Ezra 1:1-6;   Ps.126:1-6;   Lk.8:16-18)   “Those that sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.”   The Israelites toiled in tears for four hundred years under the yoke of the Egyptians, then rejoiced to finally enter the Promised Land (after wandering forty years in the desert).  For seventy years Judah had been exiled to Babylon, but rejoiced when, remarkably, the king of Persia called them to return t...

(1Tm.6:13-16;   Ps.100:2-5;   Lk.8:4-15)   “Keep God’s command without blame or reproach until our Lord Jesus shall appear.”   The Lord’s “kindness endures forever, and His faithfulness, to all generations,” and we must endure with Him, ever showing forth His kindness and faithfulness to the world, until we come to dwell with Him eternally “in inapproachable light.” When God brings His appearance...

(1Tm.6:2-12;   Ps.49:6-10,17-20,Mt.5:3;   Lk.8:1-3)   “Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation, and a trap.”   Today we hear Paul’s famous words: “The love of money is the root of all evil.”  They are oft-quoted, but how well are they understood and practiced in the avoidance of excessive possessions and inflated bank accounts.  Paul tells us, verifiably so, that men “have come to gr...

(1Tm.4:12-16;   Ps.111:2,7-10;   Lk.7:36-50)   “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; prudent are all who live by it.”   If “the works of His hands are faithful and just,” as His children living in His Word and as His image, we must “be a continuing example of love, faith, and purity.”  If we do not attend to this duty, “so that everyone may see [our] progress,” how shall we “bring to salva...

(1Tm.3:14-16;   Ps.111:1-6;   Lk.7:31-35)  “God’s wisdom is vindicated by all who accept it.” “The Church of the living God” is the “pillar and bulwark of truth,” as Paul tells us.  And it is those who live the faith, “professing it” with all their beings, who prove its truth.  “Wonderful, indeed, is the mystery of our faith”; no greater grace or wisdom could we hope to attain. “He was manifested...

(1Tm.3:1-13;   Ps.101:1-3,5-6;   Lk.7:11-17)   “He who walks in the way of integrity shall be in my service.”   “God has visited His people.”  What the people said when Jesus raised the widow’s son from the dead should be said of us all as we pass through this world.  That same love that moved Jesus to pity upon seeing the tears of this poor mother should move us all.  To all we should say, “Do no...