Saturday, February 10 : Baldwin of Ford

Jesus broke the bread. If he had not broken the bread how could its portions have come even to us? But he broke it and distributed it, “he has dispersed and given to the poor” (Ps 111:9 Vg.). Through grace he broke it to break his own and his Father’s wrath. As God has said: he would have broken us if his Only beloved, “his chosen one, had not stood in the breach before him, to turn away his anger” (Ps 106[105]:23). He stood before God and appeased him; by his indestructible strength he stood upright and unbroken. As for himself, he willingly broke and offered his flesh, broken down by suffering. There it was that he “shattered the power of the bow” (Ps 76[75[:4), “crushed the heads of Leviathan” (Ps 74[73]:14), of all our enemies, in his anger. And there he broke, as it were, the tablets of the first covenant so that we might no longer be under the Law. There he broke the yoke of our captivity. He broke all that was breaking us to restore in us all that was broken and to “set the oppressed free” (Is 58:6). For we were, indeed, “bondsmen in want and in chains” (Ps 107[106]:10). Good Jesus, even though you have broken your wrath, still, today, break the bread for us who are yet hungry, poor beggars that we are (…) Each day, then, break this bread for those who hunger. For today and every day we gather up some crumbs, and every day we are in need of our daily bread again. “Give us this day our daily bread” (Lk 11:3). If you will not give it to us, who will? In our destitution and our need there is no one to break bread for us, no one to feed us, no one to restore us, no one except you, O our God. In every consolation you send, we gather up the crumbs of the bread you break for us and taste: “how sweet is your mercy” (Ps 108:21 Vg.).
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team