The BreadCast

(Jb.38:1,8-11; Ps.107:23-26,28-31; 2Cor.5:14-17; Mk.4:35-41) "Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?" Need you ask? If you must, I will tell you: this is He who "shut within the doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb"; He who "set limits for it and fastened the bars of its door" – He who speaks to Job: "Here shall your proud waves be stilled!" This is the Lord, the great I AM! Whe...

(Ez.17:22-24; Ps.92:2-3,13-16; 2Cor.5:6-10; Mk.4:26-34) "They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God." The imagery today is of trees and plants and the growth and strength of the kingdom of God. "The just one shall flourish like a palm tree, like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow," our psalmist rejoices, and adds, "They shall bear fruit even in old age; vi...

(1Kgs.19:9,11-16; Ps.27:7-9,13-14; Mt.5:27-32) "Of you my heart speaks; you my glance seeks." "Your presence, O Lord, I seek. Hide not your face from me," David sings in our psalm; and it is the presence of the Lord that is made known to Elijah in our first reading. And that same presence stands most openly before us in the teaching of Jesus in our gospel. Elijah comes to the mountain of God to fi...

(Gn.3:9-15; Ps.130:1-8; 2Cor.4:13-5:1; Mk.3:20-35) "With the Lord is kindness and with Him is plenteous redemption." We hear today recounted in our first reading our first parents' tragic fall from the grace of God into the boundaries of hell – for now they tend to hide themselves from His glorious face. Oh such disobedience that has caused such painful separation of the crown of creation from the...

(Hos.11:1,3-4,8-9; Is.12:2-6; Eph.3:8-12,14-19; Jn.19:31-37) "With joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation." "Shout with exultation, O city of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel!" From His pierced heart flow forth the waters of salvation; in Jesus' blood we find our life. Oh how wonderful to have a God whose "heart is overwhelmed," whose "pity is stirred," who ble...

(Ex.24:3-8; Ps.116:12-13,15-18; Heb.9:11-15; Mt.14:12-16,22-26) "The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the Lord." The blood of sacrifice, the blood that seals all covenants with God, is upon all our readings today. In our first reading, on the altar Moses has "erected at the foot of the mountain" where he received the commandments of the Lord – an altar surrounded b...

(Dt.4:32-34,39-40; Ps.33:4-6,9,12,18-20,22; Rom.8:14-17; Mt.28:16-20) "You must know now, and fix in your heart, that 'the Lord is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other.'" "Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live?" Moses asks the Israelite nation. "Did any god venture to go and take a nation for Himself" with t...

(Jas.5:13-20; Ps.141:1-3,8; Mk.10:13-16) "Let my prayer come like incense before you; the lifting up of my hands, like the evening sacrifice." "The fervent petition of a holy man is powerful indeed." For indeed Elijah "prayed earnestly" and "no rain fell on the land for three years and six months." Then "when he prayed again, the sky burst forth with rain." And now greater things are accomplished...

(Jas.5:9-12; Ps.103:1-4,8-9,11-12; Mk.10:1-12) "Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness." And we must be like Him. James makes clear that we must "not grumble against one another," nor swear on earth, any oath at all," but rather simply speak "in the name of the Lord": "Let it be 'yes' if you mean yes or 'no' if you mean no. In this way you will not incur condemn...

(Jas.5:1-6; Ps.49:14-20,Mt.5:3; Mk.9:41-50) "You lived in wanton luxury on the earth; you fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter." "You rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries," James warns all those who trust in their wealth. For though they were "contented with their lot," to find which they "condemned, even killed, the just man," yet "like sheep they are herded into the netherwor...

(Jas. 4:13-17; Ps.49:2-3,6-11,Mt.5:3; Mk.9:38-40) "Anyone who is not against us is with us." And whoever is not with the Lord is against Him. There are only two ways by which a man may walk. We choose to place our lives in the hands of God, or we worship the things of this earth. Indeed, anyone who "perform[s] a miracle in [His] name" is with Him, for a tree is known by its fruit. If indeed we com...

(Jas.4:1-10; Ps.55:7-11,23; Mk.9:30-37) "In the city I see violence and strife; day and night they prowl about upon its walls." The violence this world holds is known most poignantly, of course, in "the Son of Man… [being] delivered into the hands of men who… put Him to death," but exists most pervasively and fundamentally in our own bodies, insofar as they are conformed to the spirit of the world...

(Jas.3:13-18; Ps.19:8-10,15; Mk.9:14-29) "The command of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eye." What is the wisdom of which James speaks in our first reading but this enlightening of the eye and the mind by following the command of the Lord? It is the words and the wisdom of Jesus, reflected clearly in the Lord's own life, James relates to the waiting ear this day. What does he instruct but to...

(Acts 2:1-11; Ps.104:1,24,29-31,34; Gal.5:16-25; Jn.15:26-27,16:12-15) "The time for Pentecost was fulfilled." A driving wind comes from the sky. It fills the house. Tongues of fire come to rest on the disciples, and they speak in tongues of every nation. The gathered crowd of "Jews from every nation under heaven" ask in wonder, "How does each of us hear them in his native language?" How is such p...

(Acts1:15-17,20a,20c-26; Ps.103:1-2,11-12,19-20; 1Jn.4:11-16; Jn.17:11b-19) "As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world." Jesus sent the apostles forth, and "none of them was lost except the son of destruction"; and Judas was lost only "that the Scripture might be fulfilled," that the betrayal of the Christ might be accomplished. Otherwise, those whom He sent He also protected, H...

(Acts 10:25-26,34-35,44-48; Ps.98:1-4; 1Jn.4:7-10; Jn.15:9-17) "This I command you: love one another." And so we hear the Lord's essential instruction: love. If we keep His commandments we will love, and if we love we will keep His commandments. His commandment is to love. But what is love? John gives us the simple answer, of course: "God is love," but also indicates further the nature of love, co...

(Acts 9:26-31; Ps.22:26-28,30-32; 1Jn.3:18-24; Jn.15:1-8) "Let the coming generation be told of the Lord..." Let the vine that is Christ continue to grow; let its branches extend to the ends of the world. Anointed by the Spirit, let all His children proclaim the name of Jesus, that "all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord," that in our midst the call upon the Church of God sh...

(Acts 4:8-12; Ps.118:1,8-9,21-23,26,28-29; 1Jn.3:1-2; Jn.10:11-18) "There is no salvation through anyone else." Do not "trust in princes" or in any man; it is by Jesus alone "we are to be saved." Though "the builders rejected" Him, though the princes of this age saw fit to crucify the Lord – yet "God raised [Him] from the dead" and exalted Him above every power on earth and in heaven. And so He is...

(Acts 3:13-15,17-19; Ps.4:2,4,7-9; 1Jn.2:1-5a; Lk.24:35-48) "He is expiation for our sins." Brothers and sisters, "we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one." For us this Savior has come; for our sins He has died on the cross. Even as it is written of Him in Scripture, so all has been accomplished in His Name. And so we need fear no more. We need not be "startled and terr...

(Acts 4:32-35; Ps.118:1-4,16-18,22-24; 1Jn.5:1-6; Jn.20:19-31) "His mercy endures forever." Our psalmist "was hard pressed and was falling, but the Lord helped" him. The disciples were locked in their rooms for fear, but "Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, 'Peace be with you.'" Thomas was hardened in unbelief, but His God appeared to him and said, "Bring your hand and put it int...

(Jer.31:31-34; Ps.51:3-4,12-15; Heb.5:7-9; Jn.12:20-33) "Father, glorify your name." Jesus cries out in supplication to Him who is "able to save Him from death," but He prays not to be saved from death, not to be saved from the sacrifice He must make, but only that in His death the Father might glorify His name. His "hour has come," He knows. He hears from His apostles of the Greeks who seek Him,...

(2Chr.36:14-16,19-23; Ps.137:1-6; Eph.2:4-10; Jn.3:14-21) "By the streams of Babylon we sat and wept." For "practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the Lord's temple," the people of God "were carried captive to Babylon." For all their "infidelity" they were forced to watch as "their enemies burnt the house of God [and] tore down the walls of Jerusalem." And so did their "tongu...

(Ex.20:1-17; Ps.19:8-11; 1Cor.1:22-25; Jn.2:13-25) "The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever." Is it not fear of the Lord, Jesus would instill in the people as He makes "a whip out of cords" and drives those who buy and sell out of the temple? Is His great zeal not to purify His Father's House of all corruption? And will the Temple He will raise up not endure forever? David tells us that "th...

(Gn.22:1-2,9-13,15-18; Ps.116:10,15-19; Rom.8:31-34; Mk.9:2-10) "You shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you." "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love," the Lord instructs Abraham, calling him to sacrifice even as an animal his beloved child, upon whom God's promise rests. To a mountain he is led, with his son carrying wood in tow. And arriving at the...

(Gn.9:8-15; Ps.25:4-9; 1Pt.3:18-22; Mk.1:12-15) "I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth." In times past God made a covenant with Noah and his sons once they had come from the ark "that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all mortal beings," that they and those who would descend from them, indeed all races of men, should experience...