19.
"That it may bring forth bread out of the earth." What bread? Christ. Out of what earth? From Peter, from Paul, from the other stewards of the truth. Hear that it is from the earth: "We have," saith St. Paul, "this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." 1 He is the bread who descended from heaven, 2 that He might be brought forth out of the earth, when He is preached through the flesh of His servants. The earth bringeth forth grass, that it may bring forth bread from the earth. What earth bringeth forth grass? Pious, holy nations. That bread may be brought forth out of what earth? The word of God out of the Apostles, out of the stewards of God's Sacraments, who still walk upon the earth, who still carry an earthly body.
