January 27 - Friday of the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time, Year I

The BreadCast

(Heb.10:32-39; Ps.37:3-6,23-24,39-40; Mk.4:26-34) “You need patience to do God’s will and receive what He has promised.” Brothers and sisters, “we are not among those who draw back and perish, but among those who have faith and live.” Whatever “great contest[s] of suffering” may be before us or behind us or upon us even now, we do not “surrender [our] confidence” in the Lord but stand strong, enduring all by our “trust in Him” and so coming by these means to the kingdom of God. My friends, we know we have “better and more permanent possessions” in heaven, and so “the confiscation of [our] goods” upon this earth, the “insult and trial” we have to endure, and even the prison into which we may be thrown, hold no sway over our souls and do not deter our resolve to follow the way of Christ – in fact, they but increase our firmness in the Lord. For seeing how “He delivers [us] from the wicked and saves” us when we “take refuge in Him” reveals to our souls the firmness of His hand upon us and the passing nature of any vain temptation or torture. We comprehend hereby that we need but “commit to the Lord [our] way… and He will act”; He is the one who preserves us from all harm and sees that fruit is born in our lives. And so, day by day we come to Him; night after passing night we approach His presence. We grow in His sight even as “the soil produces of itself first the blade, then the ear, [and] finally the ripe wheat in the ear.” Even unto the day of judgment we shall grow so gradually, so blessedly, steadily producing fruit in His glorious light, and thus avoid any condemnation. For He has taken possession of our souls; His hand is upon us now, and from such marvelous grace we cannot turn our faces away. “A brief moment, and He who is to come will come; He will not delay,” says the Lord; and so, brothers and sisters, let us “live by faith” as the Lord’s “just man,” knowing full well that “He will make justice dawn for [us] like the light,” that on His Day we shall be drawn into the kingdom of God. “Bright as the noonday shall be [our] vindication,” so let us endure all patiently and bravely in this world, ever bearing fruit in His name. ******* O LORD, help us to endure all persecutions that we might grow steadily unto your kingdom. YHWH, let us take refuge in you and there find protection and blessing. Let us grow gradually unto your kingdom, enduring all with patience and faith. Your justice will dawn for the man who remains steadfast in your sight. O LORD, what should we care if we must suffer persecution, if our goods are confiscated and we are thrown into prison? For what blessed possessions we have in you, those which last forever. And so, increase our faith day to day as we see your hand continually rescue us from all distress, from every trial; let us ever grow unto your presence and make our home in your branches. If we could but be the man you desire us to be, LORD, for our own sakes! If we could but trust in you and your constant blessings! Then we would forever be sustained, knowing that you will not delay your coming but very soon we will be with you in eternity. Be with us as we wait here.