Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode

The BreadCast


Daily Exposition of the Readings for Catholic Mass...

as well as Prayers to the Saints on the General Roman Calendar (for the U.S.).  

From the books Our Daily Bread and Prayers to the Saints by James H. Kurt - both with imprimatur.

Jul 25, 2022

(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 world” when the “weeds are collected and burned”?  For in our first reading Jeremiah sees “those slain by the sword” and “those consumed by hunger,” suffering enough to bring tears – but this “blow” struck by the Lord is not one which “cannot be healed.”  “A time of healing” shall indeed come as the nation is brought back from exile only seventy years after its being taken; and soon Jesus shall come to “free [all] those doomed to death,” to set prisoners free… to make permanent the compassionate deliverance of the Lord God.  But at the end of the age, when Jesus comes again and finally, the sentence that is passed against those who have sinned shall have no means of repeal; the death upon souls shall be everlasting.

In our gospel today Jesus speaks in plain terms as He explains “the parable of the weeds in the field.”  This is no mere fable but the delineation of the harvest time that shall come upon all.  To heaven or to hell all shall go, and there shall be no more changing: no more opportunity for redemption for those set upon evil, and no more faltering into wickedness for those set upon good.  Great shall be the eternal gifts showered upon the blessed, but what of the wailing then… what of the wailing?

“We have sinned against you.”  “We recognize, O Lord, our wickedness.”  We pray you shall “remember your covenant with us,” and from all our sin set us free.  “Deliver us and pardon our sins” and we “will give thanks to you forever; through all generations we will declare your praise.”  Keep us safe from your judgment on the Last Day.  Do not “cast [us] off completely,” but raise our lowly hearts unto your kingdom.

*******

O LORD, we are doomed to death for our sin,

but Jesus comes to save us from the fiery furnace

that we might shine your light forever in the kingdom.

YHWH, remember not against us the iniquities of the past but let us be purged of all sin, that we might shine with you in your kingdom.  For the glory of your NAME forgive our wickedness and let us share your glory in your holy Day.

You are right to punish us, LORD, and to condemn us if we harden our hearts on the day of judgment.  But we beg you to hear the sighing of the prisoners and free those doomed to death.  Make us as the sheep of your pasture and we will give thanks to you forever.

Our very lives are dependent on you, LORD our God.  We cannot eat or breathe except that you feed us, except that you give life to our souls.  If you remove your providential hand, we cannot but be destroyed, we cannot but perish in our sins.  But you are our Savior – let your will be accomplished among us and let us be redeemed!  Save us from the fiery furnace and let us stand as citizens of your kingdom, Father of us all.