The BreadCast

(Rm.11:29-36; Ps.69:14,30-31,33-34,36-37; Lk.14:12-14) "God has imprisoned all in disobedience that He might have mercy on all." I begin to see "how deep are the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God." For though I am far from knowing "the mind of the Lord," yet He does offer me a certain insight this early morning about Him whom Paul says, "From Him and through Him and for Him all things...

(Wis.3:1-9; Ps.23:1-6; 1Cor.15:51-57; Jn.6:37-40 Note: there are any number of readings possible for this day) "The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them." Is this not what it means to be a Christian? To have faith in the resurrection from the dead. To believe that after our time of trial there shall be peace, that we shall be refined by the hand of God to stand...

O God's holy ones, His apostles and martyrs, His virgins and confessors, all who have borne witness to Him with your lives, who have washed your robes in His blood, whose hands are clean in His sight and so are clothed in white, all you who have suffered under the Cross in the flesh in this world and so now stand in His light in the Spirit before His throne in Heaven… O all holy ones of the Lord f...

(Rv.7:2-4,9-14; Ps.24:1-6; 1Jn.3:1-3; Mt.5:1-12) "Everyone who has this hope based on Him makes himself pure, as He is pure." All our readings speak of this purity this holy day. In the first reading we hear of the saints who "have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Our psalm tells us it is "one whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean," who stands in God's pres...

(Rm.9:1-5; Ps.147:12-15,19-20; Lk.14:1-6) "They could not answer." The Pharisees are dumb. The leaders of the Jewish nation cannot speak as to whether a man should be healed on the sabbath. How far they have fallen from the presence of God. We know the Israelites were God's chosen people. This is proclaimed clearly by both Paul and our psalmist today: "Theirs were the adoption, the glory, the cove...

(Rm.8:31-39; Ps.109:21-22,26-27,30-31; Lk.13:31-35) "For your sake we are being slain all the day long." And yet, "in all this we are more than conquerors because of Him who has loved us." We die. Each day we die, we sacrifice our lives. We are "as sheep to be slaughtered." This is our call, to be as our Lord who was crucified – our King wears a crown of thorns. And yet in all this apparent weakne...

(Rm.8:26-30; Ps.13:4-6; Lk.13:22-30) "Lord, are they few in number who are to be saved?" We question. We wonder. With the man who spoke to the Lord as He made His way toward Jerusalem, as He approached His own death, we question Jesus, "Who will be saved?" particularly as we face our own imminent death. Jesus answers the man, and so He responds to us, too. His answer is simple: "Come in through th...

O zealous and loving apostles, to the ends of the earth you brought the Word of the Lord; calling sinners to repentance, seeking healing for all souls, you carried the light of Christ to all the world – pray we shall match your zeal for the Gospel; pray we serve to impart the mercy of God unto life everlasting for all children of the Lord. May the power and glory upon you in the name of Jesus Chri...

(Eph.2:19-22; Ps.19:2-5; Lk.6:12-16) "You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God." And whom is this building founded upon but our Lord Jesus Christ; He is the cornerstone by which the apostles and prophets are set in place, and we are built upon this firm foundation, all integrated as one "holy temple in the Lord." This Church is "the dwelling place for God in the...

(Rm.8:12-17; Ps.68:2,4,6-7,20-21; Lk.13:10-17) "All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." It is the Spirit of God that led the poor stooped woman in our gospel today to the synagogue to see and hear the teaching of Jesus the Lord, and to find a healing for her infirmity. "This daughter of Abraham… in the bondage of Satan for eighteen years" was by the Lord "released from her shackles"...

(Sir.35:12-14,16-18; Ps.34:2-3,7,17-19,23; 2Tm.4:6-8,16-18; Lk.18:9-14) "O God, be merciful to me a sinner." "The one who humbles himself will be exalted," for it is the lowly the LORD hears. And in no greater way, and for no greater benefit, do we humble ourselves than to recognize our sinfulness before God. It is then we prove ourselves His own, for it is then Truth is with us. We must guard our...

(Rm.8:1-11; Ps.24:1-6; Lk.13:1-9) "You will all come to the same end unless you reform." We hear again today in our readings of the distinction between those who are of the flesh, and so of sin, and those who are of the spirit and justice. And since "the tendency of the flesh is toward death but that of the spirit toward life and peace," rightly does Jesus warn us that we will die in our sin if we...

O zealous apostle who traveled throughout the earth driven by the fire of the Holy Spirit, you labored strenuously, rejoicing in poverty and welcoming hardships as you gave your very life for the flock in your care – pray the love of Christ will urge us on to holy zeal that we might approach your apostolic spirit, desiring to inflame all men with the fire of God's love. Concerned always and only f...

(Rm.7:18-25; Ps.119:66,68,76-77,93,94; Lk.12:54-59) "Why do you not judge for yourselves what is just?" Do we not have the law of God at work in us now? Must we yet subject ourselves to the judge of this earth, who cannot but condemn us for our sin? If we cried out with our psalmist for the Lord to teach us His "commands," His "statutes," His "law," and His "precepts," His "promise" of "compassion...

O tireless preacher of God's Word, how well, how completely, you called all men, and especially the priests of the Lord, to a life of holiness, to shine the light of Christ; with patience and sound doctrine and the example of a blameless life you sought to save souls throughout the world and bring them into the fold of Holy MotherChurch – pray this day apostles go forth in the brightness of holine...

(Rm.6:19-23; Ps.1:1-4,6,40:5; Lk.12:49-53) "The Lord watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes." The division is clear. The Lord Himself has stated, "I have come for division." Far from establishing "peace on the earth," His message makes clear the distinction between the evil and the good, the wicked and the just, drawn so well in our psalm today. He has "come to light...

O great Pontiff who stood as a bulwark against the culture of death threatening to overtake mankind, who served to bring down the Enemy with the sacrifice of your life and your many works: under the Mantle of Our Mother, you gathered the youth of the world as one to hear your ringing exhortation; you enlightened minds assailed by doubt and despair; you taught men and women the language of love the...

(Rm.6:12-18; Ps.124:1-8; Lk.12:39-48) "Offer yourselves to God as men who have come back from the dead to life." If we have come back from the dead to life, should we then offer ourselves up to death again? As Paul questions, "Are we free to sin?" How absurd a thought! If we are sinners, let us give ourselves freely to sin, and find the condemnation which comes from this. But if we are men of just...

(Rm.5:12,15,17-21; Ps.40:7-10,17; Lk.12:35-38) "To do your will, O my God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart!" "May those who love your salvation say ever, 'The Lord be glorified.'" May we who love the Lord "exult and be glad" in Him. May we who take refuge in His grace sing aloud His praise. What greater gift could we have than Jesus Christ, whose "single righteous act brought all me...

O true lover of the Crucified, always you celebrated the feast of the Cross in the temple of your soul, uniting yourself with the will of God by taking upon yourself the torments of the Lord in a silent joy and so finding the food of sacrificial love which sustains us in this world – pray we shall be as Christ, that we shall walk the path He marks out for us, and so in embracing the Cross find tru...

(Rm.4:20-25; Lk.1:68-75; Lk.12:13-21) "We should serve Him devoutly and through all our days be holy in His sight." For "this very night your life shall be required of you." Always and forever our faith is required of us, if we are to draw breath. Always and forever the Lord asks us what fruit we have produced. Always and forever we must be careful not to toil in vain, but to live according to His...

O heroic witnesses to the faith, O loyal followers of Jesus who took up the cup of torture and death willingly, with desire only to join your Lord, with delight and joy at the deadly blows… your offering of body and blood is unsurpassed because it was one with Christ's own, done with love for those who killed you – pray we shall so completely embrace our call, embrace the cross provided us by the...

(Ex.17:8-13; Ps.121:1-8; 2Tm.3:14-4:2; Lk.18:1-8) "Call out to Him day and night." How faithful is the Lord. How true is He. As our psalmist so well states, "He neither slumbers nor sleeps." Indeed, "He is beside [us] at [our] right hand"; always "the Lord will guard [us] from all evil" – "The Lord will guard your coming and your going, both now and forever." But are we so faithful to Him, turning...

O bringer of the Good News, the light of the Gospel, to many nations… a thorough account you have given us of all Jesus did and taught and of the Holy Spirit's work among His disciples; and so the Lord's peace may enter our homes, and we embrace Him with Mary – pray, dear physician, that the Word of the Lord may indeed come to our hearts through the words you declare, and we be healed by His grace...

(2Tm.4:9-17; Ps.145:10-13,17-18; Lk.10:1-9) "The Lord stood by my side and gave me strength, so that through me the preaching task might be completed and all the nations might hear the Gospel." As I read of Jesus' instruction to the disciples as He "sent them in pairs before Him to every town and place He intended to visit," and particularly His words to them to "eat what they set before you," I a...