The BreadCast

(1Sm.18:6-9,19:1-7;   Ps.56:2-3,5,9-14;   Mk.3:7-12) “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” And Jesus His millions.  He slays an untold number of “unclean spirits [who] would catch sight of Him, fling themselves down at His feet, and shout, ‘You are the Son of God.’”  “A great crowd followed Him from Galilee, and an equally great multitude” from all the surrounding regions. ...

(1Sm.17:32-33,37,40-51;   Ps.144:1-2,9-10;   Mk.3:1-6) “You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the Lord.” “The battle is the Lord’s” is the simple truth David proclaims to all those who stand in arms.  To “all this multitude,” he declares “that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves.”  Thus with David’s defeat of the Philistine giant i...

(1Sm.16:1-13;   Ps.89:20-22,27-28;   Mk.2:23-28)  “Man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.” Indeed, how different the vision of God from the vision of man, and how well the Lord illustrates this in His rejection of Saul and His choosing of David.  When Samuel sees Eliab, whose appearance and “lofty stature” are reminiscent of Saul, even this great seer is blinded by his eyes and...

(1Sm.15:16-23;   Ps.50:8-9,16-17,21,23;   Mk.2:18-22) “Does the Lord so delight in holocausts and sacrifices as in obedience to the command of the Lord? The answer to the question Samuel puts to Saul is, in a word, “No.”  “Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission than the fat of rams.”  Nothing does the Lord deem greater than our hearing and heeding His Word, than our obedience to His wi...

(1Sm.9:1-4,17-19,10:1;   Ps.21:2-7;   Mk.2:13-17)  “You are to govern the Lord’s people Israel, and to save them from the grasp of their enemies round about.” Tall and handsome, Saul gives every appearance of a king.  And so God gives the people what they want in this “handsome young man” who “stood head and shoulders above the people.”  But with Saul the Lord shall indeed prove that it is not upo...

(1Sm.8:4-7,10-22;   Ps.89:2,16-19;   Mk.2:1-12)  “We have never seen anything like this!” What the Lord can do, no one else is able to do – no king, no prophet, no priest.  Though all may do in His name, nothing is done except through Him.  He alone forgives sins; He alone heals.  He alone fights our battles, for He alone rules over us. In asking Samuel to appoint a king over them, the Israelites...

(1Sm.4:1-11;   Ps.44:10-11,14-15,24-25,27;   Mk.1:40-45)  “Our souls are bowed down to the dust; our bodies are pressed to the earth.” The Israelites suffer “a disastrous defeat” at the hands of their worst enemy.  Not only do they lose thirty thousand men, but the ark of God – “who is enthroned upon the cherubim” which protect it – the tabernacle which holds the manna and the tablets of the Ten C...

(1Sm.3:1-10,19-20;   Ps.40:2-5,7-10;   Mk.1:29-39)  “To do your will, O Lord, is my delight.”  O how Samuel shows the “ears open to obedience” we all must have.  For when called, even from sleep, he immediately and repeatedly rises and presents himself for service to the Lord.  Even from his youth he is with the Lord and in His will.  Such readiness to serve is also revealed in Peter’s mother-in-l...

(1Sm.1:9-20;   1Sm.2:1,4-8;   Mk.1:21-28)  “May the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of Him.” For He holds all authority.  “He gives orders to unclean spirits and they obey.”  “The Lord puts to death and gives life; He casts down to the nether world; He raises up again.”  All He wills, He does – nothing is beyond His reach and power.  And His desire is to answer your prayer.  If you are...

(1Sm.1:1-8;   Ps.116:12-19;   Mk.1:14-20) “Hannah was childless.” And so she would “weep and refuse to eat,” for it was “a constant reproach to her that the Lord had left her barren.” But He will not leave her barren long.  Her husband’s love for her despite her condition and her own prayers will soon be answered: she will give birth to the great prophet and priest, Samuel, who will anoint kings i...

(1Jn.5:14-21;   Ps.149:1-6,9;   Jn.3:22-30)   “The Son of God has come and has given us discernment to recognize the One who is true.”   John’s disciples had difficulty recognizing “the One who is true.”  They saw everyone “flocking to Him” and away from their master, so they came to their master questioning.  But John was forthright: “I am not the Messiah,” he said, “I am sent before Him.”  And n...

(1Jn.5:5-13;   Ps.147:12-15,19-20;   Lk.5:12-16)   “Whoever possesses the Son possesses life.”   What does our psalmist mean when he sings: “He has granted peace in your borders; with the best of wheat He fills you,” but that we are in Christ?  What are those “borders” but the flesh of Christ?  What is this wheat but the manna, the Sacrament of His Body He gives us to feed upon during our earthly...

(1Jn.4:19-5:4;   Ps.72:1-2,11,14-15,17;   Lk.4:14-22)   “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”   Today the Son has come into our midst.  Today He has “unrolled the scroll” of the Word of God and read aloud the words written of Him for all to hear.  Today the WORD is brought to life.  As “appealing” as is the discourse which flows forth from His gracious lips, so much greater...

(1Jn.4:11-18;   Ps.72:1-2,10,12-13;   Mk.6:45-52)   “If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is brought to perfection in us.”   Jesus has just fed the five thousand men with the five loaves and two fish.  He has performed a great miracle before the eyes of His disciples and through their hands.  Yet “their minds were completely closed to the meaning of the events,” and when He comes...

(1Jn.4:7-10,   Ps.72:1-4,7-8,11;   Mk.6:34-44)   “Justice shall flower in His days, and profound peace, till the moon be no more.”   Our psalm (of Solomon, the king of peace and wisdom) relates the infinite justice of God, He who “defend[s] the afflicted among the people” and “save[s] the children of the poor.”  Such is the judgment of our God, who “rule[s] from sea to sea, and from the River to t...

(1Jn.3:22-4:6;   Ps.2:7-8,10-11;   Mt.4:12-17,23-25)   “Every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God.”   And for every spirit that acknowledges Him, He answers all prayers: “Whatever we ask we shall receive at God’s hands.”   “Ask of me and I will give you the nations for an inheritance…”  And so, when “they carried to [Jesus] all those afflicted with various diseas...

(1Jn.2:29-3:6;   Ps.98:1,3-6;   Jn.1:29-34) “Look there!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” “This is God’s chosen One.”  This is He upon whom “the Spirit descend[s]” – who takes away our sins and makes us pure by His own baptism “with the Holy Spirit.”  He who walks with Him walks in holiness, for “everyone who acts in holiness has been begotten by Him” – we have become “childr...

(1Jn.2:22-28;   Ps.98:1-4;   Jn.1:19-28) “Remain in the Son and in the Father.” In our gospel John the Baptist tells the priests and Levites sent by the Pharisees, “There is… one who is to come after me – the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to unfasten.”  This Messiah has come, “The Lord has made His salvation known: in the sight of the nations He has revealed His justice,” David proclaims i...

(1Jn.2:18-21;   Ps.96:1-2,11-13;   Jn.1:1-18)   “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.”   And we must dwell with Him, remaining in His light, walking in His way.  “Through Him all things came into being,” and we who have come into being by Him, “who believe in His name,” must “become children of God.” In our first reading, John warns against the antichrists who come in this “final...

(1Jn.2:12-17;   Ps.96:7-11;   Lk.2:36-40)   “The world with its seductions is passing away but the man who does God’s will endures forever.”   Upon what is your eye fixed?  Do you seek the Lord as has Anna these many years, “constantly in the temple, worshiping day and night in fasting and prayer,” or are you seduced by “carnal allurements, enticements for the eye, the life of empty show.”  Indeed...

(1Jn.2:3-11;   Ps.96:1-3,5-6,11;   Lk.2:22-35)   “The way we can be sure we are in union with Him is if one who claims to abide in Him conducts himself just as He did.”   “The darkness is over and the real light begins to shine,” and we must live in that light.  “My eyes have witnessed your saving deed displayed for all peoples to see,” declares Simeon in his prophecy over the Christ child.  “In a...

(2Sm.7:1-5,8-12,14,16;   Ps.89:2-5,27,29;   Lk.1:67-79)   “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever.”   The Lord builds a house for us; He is that House. “Forever will I confirm your posterity and establish your throne for all generations,” the Lord promises David, and accomplishes His word by Himself entering the line of the king.  Thus “He has visited and ransomed His people.  He has rais...

(Mal.3:1-4,23-24;   Ps.25:4-5,8-10,14,Lk.21:28;   Lk.1:57-66)   “His name is John.”   Yes, “the hand of the Lord [was] upon him,” whose name signifies the grace of God, who comes at the end of the age to turn men’s hearts back to God, who prepares the way we must walk to find the instruction and purgation of the Lord. We must be purified by “the refiner’s fire.”  We must be purged of all dross “li...

(1Sm.1:24-28;   1Sm.2:1,4-8;   Lk.1:46-56)   “His mercy is from age to age on those who fear Him.”   The Magnificat of Mary mirrors but, if I may say, far surpasses the Canticle of Hannah in beauty, in wonder, in grace… even as the perfection of the Son she bears far exceeds the blessing of the prophet Samuel.  As Jesus brings to fulfillment the greatness of all who came before Him, so Mary’s song...

(Is.7:10-14;   Ps.24:1-7,10;   Lk.1:26-38)   “Blessed are you among women.”   “The virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and shall name Him Immanuel because ‘God is with us.’”  “The virgin’s name was Mary.”  And she has given birth to the Savior. “Who may stand in His holy place?” King David sings in our psalm.  “Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord?”  Clearly Jesus is He.  But as clear is...