The BreadCast

(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 his tr...

O strong and holy apostle, soldier for the Lord Jesus and defender of His Church, you gathered together an army to labor in mission fields, to educate the masses, to serve and die as loyal sons of the Christ and His Pope – teach us this day to follow in the way of Jesus, to meditate on His life and be fruitful in His works. Pray your own sons and all the children of MotherChurch not waver in the f...

(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 Jeremiah,...

O you of golden words, of angelic tongue, of sermons refined seven times by the Spirit of God… O how you made present on earth the invisible Creator even as He was made for us in the womb of the Virgin, so tangible had His grace become through the preaching the Lord inspired in your soul – pray we shall indeed be vivified by the eternal grace of God, by the gift of His becoming Man, to become like...

(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 particular d...

O servants of the Lord who welcomed Him into your home, fulfilling all the duties of hospitality, and yet realized as He taught that it is He who serves us poor creatures, who is the resurrection and the life… in whose House we make our home – pray that even as we fulfill the duties of our station in life we too shall come to believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who comes to us to serve us...

(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 that C...

(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 the w...

(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 the Lo...

O parents of the Virgin Mary, grandparents of the Lord our God, you who gave birth to our Blessed Mother, through whom we are blessed for all ages… O you through whom the promise to David came to be fulfilled, you whose virtues found favor with the Lord, you whom He chose to bring forth His Mother and the Mother of all the redeemed – pray our posterity shall endure even as your own, that we shall...

(1Kgs.3:5,7-12; Ps.119:57,72,76-77,97,127-130; Rm.8:28-30; Mt.13:44-52) "The revelation of your words sheds light, giving understanding to the simple." Wisdom. The "pearl of great price." How precious the ability "to distinguish right from wrong" by the grace of God, and to choose the right way at all times. For finding the pearl is one thing, a gift from the Lord, but wisdom is revealed in him wh...

O martyred apostle, first to endure the death of Christ, you have indeed drunk of His cup, fully accepting the sacrifice to which all are called, and so blazed the path of service for others to follow – pray all God's children, all those blessed to be called as sons, as brothers of the Lord, will have the courage and strength that comes from the Spirit to lay down their lives as a ransom for many...

(2Cor.4:7-15; Ps.126:1-6; Mt.20:20-28) "Continually we carry about in our bodies the dying of Jesus, so that in our bodies the life of Jesus may also be revealed." In His apostles the death and resurrection of Jesus are most clearly shown. It is particularly their place to suffer persecution, to be "afflicted" and "crushed", "constantly being delivered to death for Jesus' sake"; and it is particul...

(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!' or...

O seer of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the scourges and the nails, of the blows and mockery He endured, of the blood which covered His face and all His skin… O you who have witnessed all His suffering and sought so diligently to share in it with Him – pray that we who are so blind to the pain and anguish our Savior bore under the weight of the Cross we build by our sin may by His grace...

(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 to eat...

O woman of great love whose heart burned with desire for the Lord, whose soul thirsted for the living God… the tears you cried became the source of the greatest joy as from your sins the Christ released you, as your eyes beheld your blessed Teacher – pray for us this day, O Mary, that our hearts shall be set aflame with faith and love as we hear the news you bring us: that our Lord is no longer in...

(Sg.3:1-4 or 2Cor.5:14-17; Ps.63:2-6,8-9; Jn.20:1-2,11-18) "Whom are you looking for?" Let us stand with Mary Magdalene at the tomb of our risen Lord. Let us weep a little that our hearts might bleed with her same love, and so our eyes be opened to see Jesus standing before us. Let us hear Him call us by name. O let us search night and day for our God, thirsting for Him "like the earth, parched, l...

O great preacher of the Word of God, you who were entrusted with this angelic office to bring light to Christian minds and dispel the darkness of sin and error – pray all souls this day may be blessed with hearing the Word of God you spoke so well, that all hearts might turn in faith to the Lord purged by its cleansing fire. O blessed teacher, pray men of every tongue be told of the truth, that al...

(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." This is Hi...

O suffering shepherd severely persecuted for your work of evangelization, you ever continued to preach the faith and convert multitudes despite all the tortures the ravenous beasts of this earth could muster; a true apostle you proved to be, martyred even as Christ's Twelve – how shall we find a measure of your conviction, of your persistence in spreading the Gospel of the Lord? Pray for us, bless...

(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 shall w...

(Ws.12:13,16-19; Ps.86:5-6,9-10,15-16; Rom.8:26-27; Mt.13:24-43) "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn." Such are the Lord's instructions to the harvesters, His angels that come "at the end of the age," when "just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire," so will "all who cause others to sin and all evildoers" be thrown "into the fie...

O servant of the sick whose compassionate heart melted at the sight of every suffering soul, who constantly visited Christ as He lay in hospital… how deep was your charity, how complete your love and dedication to the poor – pray that we too shall leave the cares of the world behind and have only concern for serving Christ and our fellow man; pray the hard hearts of this age will be saved by the L...

(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 and...