The BreadCast

(Jas.2:14-24,26;   Ps.112:1-6;   Mk.8:34-9:1)  “Faith without works is as dead as a body without breath.” How dead indeed is a body without breath; how short a time we can go without breathing before dying.  And so how much is our faith dependent on works to remain alive. Brothers and sisters, we are human, we have bodies – of the earth, of flesh and bone, we are.  We are not angels.  And having b...

(Jas.2:1-9;   Ps.34:2-7;   Mk.8:27-33)  “You are not judging by God’s standards but by man’s!” This is a most important statement Jesus makes; it really cuts to the heart of His teaching, and to His sacrifice for our sins. He has just finished asking His apostles, “Who do you say that I am?” and for perhaps the first time heard their belief that He is the Messiah.  This is a critical moment.  But...

(Jas.1:19-27;   Ps.15:1-5;   Mk.8:22-26)  “Jesus laid hands on his eyes, and he saw perfectly.” What is it to see perfectly but to be as “the man who peers into freedom’s ideal law and abides by it”?  For to see perfectly is to see as God sees, not looking upon the surface of things – that which is reflected in a mirror – but to see the light of God reflected off the souls of His children.  And no...

(Sir.36:1,5-6,10-17;   Ps.79:8-9,11,13;   Mk.10:32-35)   “Take pity on your holy city, Jerusalem, your dwelling place.”   The prayer of the wise man is good, but I see that the same answer the Lord gave James and John when they asked to sit “one at [His] right hand and the other at [His] left” in His glory, could be given to Sirach: “You do not know what you are asking.”  For neither knows the imp...

(Phil.1:1-11;   Ps.111:1-6;   Lk.14:1-6)   “My prayer is that your love may more and more abound.”   Paul’s prayer is addressed to the Philippians, who “have all continually helped promote the Gospel from the very first day” he came into their midst preaching.  He overflows with love for them himself and finds them present “to a man” sharing in his “gracious lot,” even as he “lie[s] in prison” far...

(Hb.1:12-2:4;   Ps.9:8-13;   Mt.17:14-20)  “They trust in you who cherish your name, for you forsake not those who seek you, O Lord.” “Why could we not expel it?” the disciples asked Jesus regarding the boy so severely possessed by a demon.  “‘Because you have so little trust,’ He told them.” Brothers and sisters, is it the Lord who “delays”?  Is it He who fails to cast wickedness and misery from...

(Jer.30:1-2,12-15,18-22;   Ps.102:16-23,29;   Mt.15:1-2,10-14) “Every planting not put down by my heavenly Father will be uprooted.” Is it not these Pharisees of whom Jeremiah speaks when he prophesies, “Incurable is your wound, grievous your bruise”?  Truly there is “no remedy for [their] running sore, no healing for [them].”  Blind shall they ever be, for they do but harden their hearts when the...

(Ex.14:21-15:1;   Ex.15:1,8-10,12,17;   Mt.12:46-50)   “Thus the Lord saved Israel on that day from the power of the Egyptians.”   The Lord fought for the Israelites, His people.  Working great wonders, He brought them forth from the land of Egypt.  Indeed, “the Israelites marched into the midst of the sea on dry land, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.”  So great was His...

(Nm.11:4-15;   Ps.81:2,12-17;   Mt.14:22-36)   “How little faith you have!”   It is the Lord’s exclamation to His holy apostles, to the foundation of His Church – to His Rock.  And certainly it applies to all of us as it does, too, to the Israelites in the desert.  All need greater faith to come upon the new shore of paradise and find healing for all our ills. As the Israelites tramp through the d...

"Let us destroy the tree in its vigor; let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be spoken no more."