The BreadCast

(1Jn.5:14-21; Ps.149:1-6,9; Jn.2:1-12) "He hears us whenever we ask for anything according to His will." In our gospel, the waiters come to Mary; their misfortune is witnessed by her compassionate heart: "They have no more wine," she tells her Son. She knows what she is saying, she knows what she is asking… and Jesus knows, too. And though He seems not prepared to answer her concern (you see, our concern is her concern, and she makes it His), yet she says to the servants standing by the words which perhaps best exemplify the Mother's relationship to the Son – "Do whatever He tells you." Has Jesus a choice now? Can He rebuff her request to "reveal His glory"? It is a miracle she asks for the benefit of those in need, and the Lord cannot turn her down. Do you see this? Do you understand the significance of this scene, here at the very inception of Jesus' ministry, especially those who doubt our Blessed Mother's intercessory power with her Lord, her Son? And do you think the power for finding answer to prayer with her beloved Jesus, the Son of God, is somehow shortened in ensuing days? Does death conquer it? Is she no longer the blessed of all generations? Has this blessed generation come to an end? "We know that He hears us whenever we ask" and that "what we have asked Him for is ours." This is our confidence in God's compassion and love. And we know too that the Blessed Mother stands beside our Lord and prepares the prayers we would offer Him, putting them into the words, the Spirit, we cannot express. If we give them all to her, they will all be made effective, and we will taste of "the choice wine" which has been kept in store for us until these latter days. Through this miracle at Cana "His disciples believed in Him." Here He offers them a sign of His divinity – here they find "discernment to recognize the One who is true... the true God and eternal life." And so the wedding feast truly begins. And so we "praise His name in the festive dance" and "sing praise to Him with timbrel and harp." "The children of Zion rejoice in their king," for He has answered their deepest prayer: here in our midst is the Son of God. ******* O LORD, reveal yourself to us in your Son; hear our petition. YHWH, your Son has come and given us the grace to recognize Him. And so we have confidence to approach Him with our petitions, especially through His Blessed Mother. And we know that our petitions shall thus be granted and we shall sing praise to you in the assembly of all the faithful in your holy kingdom. From sin take us all, dear LORD, from that which holds us to this world. Your glory alone may we seek, the eternal life we find in your only Son. He is true, He is God, and if we are in Him we may rejoice in you. Increase our faith in Him this day; let our eyes not be blinded to His miraculous presence. O let us taste the water become wine! and the wine become the blood of your Son. Let us be inebriated with this fruit of the choicest Vine whose time has come and celebrate your glory in our midst. For by His flesh and by His blood we are wed to you, O God, and for what greater cause could we dance and sing? All sin He takes from us that life in you we may know.

(Is.56:1-3,6-8; Ps.67:2-3,5,7-8; Jn.5:33-36) "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." The Truth has come, and all nations are drawn to Him. None is excluded in the House of God; His holy Temple is a place where all take refuge, where all find fulfillment, where all find joy. He only asks that we heed His testimony, that we see the works which He performs and act in accordance with His holiness. "Observe what is right, do what is just, for my salvation is about to come, my justice, about to be revealed," the Lord says to us all. Set yourselves on right paths with Him who has come, and you will be readily accepted into His presence. "Loving the name of the Lord and becoming His servants," this is what brings us into His house. No matter who we are, no matter where we are, no matter when we are, we will be brought "to [His] holy mountain and [made] joyful in [His] house of prayer," if we follow His ways. Exult in the light of the Lord, know that Jesus is the Temple to which your heart is drawn and your "holocausts and sacrifices will be acceptable on [His] altar." His justice is for all; His love extends to the ends of the earth. David's prayer is answered in Jesus: "May your way be known upon earth, among all nations your salvation." For now does He "rule the peoples in equity"; now "the earth has yielded its fruits." Now the blessing of our God falls upon all whose hearts turn to Him. "May all the ends of the earth fear Him!" Then will all be drawn into His house of prayer and know His love. This day shall not be long in coming; come now to "the lamp, set aflame and burning bright" for all eternity. Enter into the flesh of Christ. ******* O LORD, you sent your Son that the light of your face might shine upon us and all peoples might learn to love your NAME. YHWH, let us exult in the eternal light that is your Son. He has come among us to draw all souls into your House of prayer, that all might offer holy sacrifice to you on high. And you accept all who come through Him; those who do what is right and keep your day holy you join to yourself. O may all men know such blessing! May all the ends of the earth glory in your presence. All the nations you gather into your arms, O LORD, by the intercession of Jesus. Your works He performs in our midst to reveal your glory to us and so draw us to the truth, to your holy mountain – to the Heaven where you dwell. May we not be kept apart from your kingdom by any evildoing, by any ignorance of the Word your Son brings to us. Let us enter under your rule. If we wish to be your children, you will welcome us, LORD. If it is our desire to give you worship, if our hearts are set on prayer, you will bless us. In your Son we will find answer to our prayer, if we believe His testimony, if we believe in the divinity He shares with you.

(Is.54:1-10; Ps.30:2,4-6,11-13; Lk.7:24-30) "For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great tenderness I will take you back." We are "the barren one who did not bear," the "wife married in youth and then cast off" by our God. Once "forsaken and grieved in spirit," blushing for the "shame of [our] youth," now the Lord takes us home and promises us His love. "My love shall never leave you nor my covenant of peace be shaken," the Lord in His mercy assures us. Though we be as those in the days of Noah, deserving of His destructive wrath, yet He takes pity on us, not only sparing our lives, but also promising to expand our space, to increase us in His blessed generosity beyond what we could imagine. "At nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing." Yes, our sin has made us sad; our separation from God has invited His wrath and made us less than what we are. But though the Lord may punish in His justice, yet "His anger lasts but a moment; a lifetime His good will." David sings, "You changed my mourning into dancing," for indeed great is His mercy toward us; tender is His touch upon us as He brings us "up from the netherworld" and places us at His side in the kingdom, as His holy bride. And the Baptist makes the way the redeemed must walk. Necessary is "the baptismal bath he administered" in order to realize God's plan for the salvation of our lives. He is the messenger who goes ahead of the Lord, preparing the path that leads to our being "born into the kingdom of God," where our greatness cannot be measured for it will be in union with Him who is "God of all the earth." Indeed, we must turn from our sins to find our way to this unity; we must repent in tears and turn back to Him. And He will be quick to rescue us, and we will be blessed to rejoice forever, to "break forth in jubilant song" at the graces poured forth upon us by our God in the forgiveness of our sins. His tender Hand is near us, waiting to touch us. Is it your will to be wed to the Most High God? Then receive the baptism He requires and you will be made fruitful in the kingdom of God. ******* O LORD, take us back to you; may our hearts be prepared to receive your glory. YHWH, we must be cleansed in your baptismal bath, for you wish to draw us back to you from our sin; you wish to turn our mourning into dancing, but we cannot approach you, we cannot enter your kingdom if our shame still clings to us, if the dust of this earth remains upon our souls. We have been made barren by the evil our hands have done; we deserve to be drowned in the waters of the flood, to be cast to the nether world… but you look upon our desolation with mercy and seek to wed us unto you that we might again bear fruit, that we might spread out across all the earth. Bring your Heaven to this desert place, we pray. Weeping we have known. Abandonment we have suffered, O LORD. Let us now hear your voice crying out to us, calling us back to your loving arms. Our sins indeed please wash away. Never leave us again, we pray; assure us of your abiding love. Into your kingdom let us come with all your holy people.

(Is.45:6-8,18,21-25; Ps.85:9-14,Is.45:8; Lk.7:18-23) "There is no just and saving God but me." Jesus is "He who is to come"; His deeds speak for themselves. "There is no other!" "Justice shall walk before Him, and salvation, along the way of His steps." How evident this is in Jesus' life, for wherever He goes He teaches wisdom; whomever He touches He heals. God created the world "not to be a waste" but "to be lived in," and so Jesus sets free all captives – the blind, the lame, the deaf… He releases all from sin. Yes, "the Lord Himself will give His benefits; our land shall yield its increase." The justice which descends from the heavens, which falls from His lips "like dew from above," will cause "salvation [to] bud forth." "Near indeed is His salvation to those who fear Him." We see Him. We hear Him. If our hearts are open to Him, we witness His working every moment of our lives. For He is "the creator of the heavens… the designer and maker of the earth," and His Hand is at work in all things – He cannot be separated from His creation. The light and the darkness are made by Him, and for us who love Him "truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven." "For He proclaims peace to His people." For those who love Him, there is only light. And we know that Light is Jesus. It is to witness to Him the Baptist came; and now he hears of the fulfillment of the way he has prepared. We must find "no stumbling block" in the Lord. We must join in proclaiming His good news, in walking in His way – in letting our deeds speak for themselves as wrought by the Hand of the loving Creator and His redeeming Son. Be of light, brothers and sisters, of justice, of peace. Let kindness and truth meet in all your words and deeds and you will be sons and daughters of the one "just and saving God" – and you will be blessed forever. ******* O LORD, may every knee bend before you who created us and redeemed us. YHWH, in your goodness you have made the earth and all who dwell in it, and by your grace your Son has served to redeem Creation. From the beginning you designed this world to be lived in, you desired that all your creatures should flourish, and though woe has come upon us because of our disobedience, now Jesus has come among us to make the deaf hear and the blind see, to raise us from the death of sin. O let us walk before you in justice! You are the only just and saving God; beside you there is no other. And should we not rejoice in your presence, O LORD? Your justice rains down upon us from Heaven now, and should we not spring up from the earth declaring your truth and your glory? Should we not be one with your Son who is our salvation and so find your blessings, and so yield an increase of holy fruit? O let us be healed of all our afflictions! that we might know your glory dwelling in our land.

O brother of the Rock of our Church, you who brought him to our Lord, you who were crucified on the Cross of our Savior, who shed your blood freely for His cause… you who thirsted for His coming and welcomed Him so readily into your life – bring us also to the Messiah’s side and pray we shall receive Him as well as your brother has done; pray we, too, will abandon our boats, our moorings in this world, to follow the Christ along the way He leads, even apart from home and family. Brothers to the Son pray we become, accomplishing the Father’s will with our lives; capture us in His net this day that we too might stand in His light with all the redeemed of Israel.

(Rv.22:1-7; Ps.95:1-7,Rv.21:20; Lk.21:34-36) "Remember, I am coming soon!" And when He comes what blessings there shall be for those who have been faithful to Him. They shall eat of "the trees of life which produce fruit twelve times a year," which grow either side of "the river of life-giving water, clear as crystal" flowing from "the throne of God and of the Lamb." Healed entirely shall they be by the medicine of their leaves. Then, brothers and sisters, if we wish to eat of this blessed, holy fruit, let us not now "become bloated with indulgence and drunkenness and worldly cares." For the bitter fruit of this earth will only poison our souls with sin and so prevent our tasting the food of the heavenly kingdom. "Nothing deserving a curse shall be found there," so let us remove all of this world's bitterness from our tongues. Oh my dear brethren, the promise is great for those who "serve Him faithfully," who "acclaim the Rock of our salvation," the Lord, the "great God," and Jesus Christ His Son. Listen to what our blessed brother John imparts to us today, for "these words are trustworthy and true," and oh so beautiful: "They shall see Him face to face and bear His name on their foreheads. The night shall be no more. They will need no light from lamps or the sun, for the Lord God shall give them light, and they shall reign forever." Do you hear these words? Does the promise take root in your hearts? Oh let your heart be upon His light! Let the glory of His face be all you aspire to, for it is not far from you. "Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the Lord who made us." For "the Lord, the God of prophetic spirits, has sent His angel to show His servants what must happen very soon." Let us listen to His words. "Happy the man who heeds the prophetic message of this book!" who eats the Bread God provides. His dawn is on the horizon. ******* O LORD, come; send your Son a second time and let us enter your kingdom. YHWH, that we might be able to stand secure before your Son on His coming Day, that great and terrible day that leads to the eternal kingdom! O that we might eat the fruit of the crystal river that flows from your throne and that of the Lamb, that heals us of all our illness and enables us to live forever! O that we might stand in your holy light, that we might look upon your face, your NAME written on our foreheads! O that we might forever reign with you! O LORD, let us sing your praise even this day that we might come to sing your praise always in your kingdom. Let us bow down in our worship and kneel before you who have made us. You are our God, you alone; let our hearts not be set on any of the things of this world but on you who have made them all, that we might transcend this earth and all its emptiness and come quickly into your presence. O let us heed your Word this day and ever serve you faithfully. Glory to you, O LORD our God!

O virgin pure and brilliant, you gave your life in defense of the faith, refuting all arguments to its contrary; though you were but a child yourself, you stood strong before your tormentors, enduring the persecution and torture they struggled in vain to muster against you, ever shining the light of purity and truth before their corrupted minds and hearts – pray for those who defend the faith and all those who would explain it away, that the light of pure reason will dispel all doubt and darkness and the verity of the faith be known by all souls on this earth, undeniable as it is by the mind of any man. Pray we not waste words or time but live a holy life before God, giving witness to His presence in the world and in the Church, and come finally to rest on His mountain.

O you who were martyred over three centuries of persecution in a country so bitter toward the faith, bishops and priests and laymen alike, native to the land and foreign-born, all innocent souls who suffered even torture in joy, all for the sake of the Lord and His Church – pray we shall be as ready as you to bear witness to the faith with our lives, that all as one in the Body of Christ we will be willing even to die to satiate our thirst for the kingdom and for the salvation of souls. O what joy to be as Jesus, to walk in His steps even to the Cross! No greater blessing could any soul know on this corrupted plane… Pray we shall come with you to Heaven.

O father of holy monasteries who dug deeply in the earth, in the heart of man, and laid their foundation on the Rock that is Christ that they might be made in His image, in the image of Him who created us – pray we shall love the Lord as He commands and so be holy as He is holy, truly reflecting the image of our God and living in His surpassing peace. Pray austerity serve well to make us in the Lord’s image, to purge from us all that is not of Him; may we be blessed to serve with untiring devotion and care the will of our Lord in all things, in worship of Him, in prayer, and in genuine love of our neighbor, that the Gospel may go forth to the ends of the earth not just in words but in our very flesh and blood.

O successor to Peter, Shepherd of God’s Church, Father of all the churches in the Body of Christ, these you instructed well; these you gave a shepherd’s care… for these and for the Lord you shed your blood – pray for God’s Church even this day, that she shall remain united under her one Lord and Savior, each member serving the good of all as wholly as you have done. Pray we all work together in Jesus’ name and in His blood to do the Father’s will and so become as holy as He, as holy as you were blessed to become. Pray the teaching of the apostles ever ring in our ears that we shall never forget the way the Christ marks out for us, the way of truth that leads to life.