The BreadCast

(Ez.34:11-12,15-17; Ps.23:1-6; 1Cor.15:20-26,28; Mt.25:31-46) "Whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me." Jesus is King. It is He to whom the Father has "subjected everything" and who "must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet," until He has "destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power"; and it is He who then "hands over the kingdom to H...

(Prv.31:10-13,19-20,30-31; Ps.128:1-5; 1Thes.5:1-6; Mt.25:14-30) "When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls." And so the Lord is pleased to bless His "good and faithful servant[s]"; for His Church is as His Bride and Her faithful members He invites to share His joy. With more than the talents of "a man going on a journey" are we entrusted by the Lord. To us He is more like the h...

(Wis.6:12-16; Ps.63:2-8; 1Thes.4:13-18; Mt.25:1-13) "Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour." O Lord, "through the night-watches I will meditate on you: you are my help, and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy." "As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied, and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you"; for though "my soul thirsts like the earth, parched,...

(Mal.1:14b-2:2b,8-10; Ps.131:1-3; 1Thes.2:7b-9,13; Mt.23:1-12) "Have we not all the one Father? Has not the one God created us?" And should not those who serve in His stead, bringing the word of God to waiting hearts, be as He is, loving all as He does and thus giving "glory to [His] name"? "I have stilled and quieted my soul like a weaned child. Like a weaned child on its mother's lap, so is my s...

(Rm.11:1-2,11-12,25-29; Ps.94:12-15,17-18; Lk.14:1,7-11) "The Lord will not cast off His people, nor abandon His inheritance." Today the gifts and call of the Israelites, which are "irrevocable," are spoken of beautifully in our readings. Indeed, the majority of Jews rejected and even persecuted Jesus and His followers. But as Paul tells us, the Lord has always and will always leave a remnant amon...

(Rm.8:18-25; Ps.126:1-6; Lk.13:18-21) "Hoping for what we cannot see means awaiting it with patient endurance." We cannot see the coming of the kingdom of heaven. It comes so gradually; it rises imperceptibly, "like yeast which a woman took to knead into three measures of flour." It grows like the tiny mustard seed, which "became a large shrub and the birds of the air nested in its branches." A mo...

(Ex.22:20-26; Ps.18:2-4,47,51; 1Thes.1:5-10; Mt.22:34-40) "If ever you wrong them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry." In this simple statement by the Lord is revealed the essential nature of our God in His relation with His people. It demonstrates certainly what He says of Himself, "I am compassionate," for what is He telling us but that He has an ardent care for the poorest am...

(Is.45:1,4-6; Ps.96:1,3-5,7-10; 1Thes.1:1-5b; Mt.22:15-21) "I am the Lord and there is no other, there is no God besides me." Oh brothers and sisters, how clear our Scripture today makes it that "great is the Lord and highly to be praised; awesome is He beyond all gods." Indeed there is no other God. It is He who grasped the "right hand" of even the pagan king, Cyrus, "subduing nations before him,...

(Rm.4:13,16-18; Ps.105:6-9,42-43; Lk.12:8-12) "All depends on faith, everything is a grace." Faith is our father; it brings us to life for it makes us children of "the God who restores the dead to life and calls into being those things which had not been." By faith we entrust ourselves into God's hands and become as Abraham, who is "our father in the sight of God in whom he believed." "Hoping agai...

(Is.25:6-10; Ps.23:1-6; Phil.4:12-14,19-20; Mt.22:1-14) "On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines." "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son." It may be equated with "juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines," with "calves and fatted cattle ready to be eaten." A great banquet is the kingdom of h...

(Is.5:1-7; Ps.80:9,12-16,19-20,Is.5:7; Phil.4:6-9; Mt.21:33-43) "The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit." "Let me now sing of my friend, my friend's song concerning his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; he spaded it, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines; within it he built a watchtower, and hewed out...

(Zec.8:20-23; Ps.87:1-7,Zec.8:23; Lk.9:51-56) "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." God is with us, brothers and sisters. And though all upon earth turn their faces from Him now, though in ignorance they reject Him and our preaching of His Word – there shall come a day when all nations find their home in Him. In that day the Lord shall reign. As Jesus sets His face toward J...

(Zec.8:1-8; Ps.102:16-23,29; Lk.9:46-50) "The city shall be filled with boys and girls playing in her streets." "Even if this should seem impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people, shall it in those days be impossible in my eyes also, says the Lord of hosts." Sometimes we lose sight of the kingdom of heaven. Sometimes our faith fails because of the difficult circumstances in which we fi...

(Ez.18:25-28; Ps.25:4-9; Phil.2:1-11; Mt.21:28-32) "Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you." Why? How can it be that such sinners gain such privilege, such grace? Is it for their sins? Shall we all become as they? We should be like them, but not in sin – in repentance. For it is because they have "turned away from all [the] sins that [they] committed" that they a...

(Is.55:6-9; Ps.145:2-3,8-9,17-18; Phil.1:20-24,27; Mt.20:1-16) "You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just." Our readings today reveal that the Lord is near, merciful, and just, and that these three qualities are one in God. For the Lord's justice is shown in His mercy, and His mercy in His nearness to us. And so we should "praise [His] name forever." Isaiah conveys to us that t...

(Sir.27:30-28:9; Ps.103:1-4,8-12; Rom.14:7-9; Mt.18:21-35) "Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?" How like the Lord's own wisdom is that of Sirach; how like His teaching. For have we not heard the Master say, "Forgive your neighbor's injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven," in His instruction to His disciples on how to pray? And does He...

(Col.1:24-2:3; Ps.62:6-7,9; Lk.6:6-11) "We admonish all men and teach them in the full measure of wisdom, hoping to make every man complete in Christ." It is Paul's desire to see the nations "enriched with full assurance by their knowledge of the mystery of God – namely Christ – in whom every treasure of wisdom and knowledge is hidden." It is his desire for us all to be filled with this wisdom tha...

(Ez.33:7-9; Ps.95:1-2,6-9; Rom.13:8-10; Mt.18:15-20) "O wicked one, you shall surely die." The Lord declares to the prophet Ezekiel: "You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel." He is to "speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way," that the sinner might not "die for his guilt" and that the prophet himself might not be "responsible for his death" by his silence. As the...

(Jer.20:7-9; Ps.63:2-6,8-9; Rom.12:1-2; Mt.16:21-27) "Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship." Paul says the same as Jesus when the Lord calls us to "take up [our] cross," to lose our lives for His sake. And as Paul instructs the Romans: "Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind," so Jesus teaches Peter,...

(Is.22:19-23; Ps.138:1-3,6,8; Rom.11:33-36; Mt.16:13-20) "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Thus the Lord grants principal authority in His Church to His rock, Peter. Thus He prophesies what He has promised: the power and teaching given those who sit on Moses' seat shal...

(Is.56:1,6-7; Ps.67:2-3,5-6,8; Rom.11:13-15,29-32; Mt.15:21-28) "God delivered all to disobedience, that He might have mercy upon all." (In love let me speak, O Lord.) Brothers and sisters, the Lord has said, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." Yet our scholars and leaders make it a den of unbelief. Like the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' day, they are deaf and blind to...

(1Kgs.19:9a,11-13a; Ps.85:8-14; Rm.9:1-5; Mt.14:22-33) "When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance to the cave." For the Lord was in the "tiny whispering sound." God speaks in silence. His Word sinks deeply into our souls, piercing the spirit within us, and so what can we be but afraid? His still, small voice brings us into His awesome presence. Brother...

(Nm.13:1-2,25-14:1,26-29,34-35; Ps.106:4,6-7,13-14,21-23; Mt.15:21-28) "They forgot the God who had saved them." But He did not forget them. Though He curses them in our first reading for their lack of faith, and though they shall indeed all – except for Joshua and Caleb – die in the desert over forty years, their children shall enter and take the Promised Land from the five tribes which inhabit i...

(Jer.28:1-17; Ps.119:29,43,68,79-80,95,102; Mt.14:22-36) "Let those turn to me who fear you and acknowledge your decrees." Hananiah does not fear the Lord; he cares nothing for His decrees. And so he prophesies that the Lord will bring "the vessels of the house of the Lord and all the exiles back from Babylon" within two years, though the Lord has not said this. And he refuses to turn to Jeremiah...

(Ex.20:1-17; Ps.19:8-11,Jn.6:69; Mt.13:18-23) "What was sown on good soil is the man who hears the message and takes it in." "The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul… The command of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eye… More precious than gold" and "sweeter also than syrup or honey from the comb" is the word of God. How beautifully our psalm speaks of the words of everlasting life w...