The BreadCast

(Is.58:9-14; Ps.86:1-6,11; Lk.5:27-32) "Repairer of the breach," they shall call you, "restorer of ruined homesteads." "Levi gave a great reception for Jesus in his house," but it is Jesus who invites him, and all sinners, "to a change of heart" and to join Him in the home He makes for us all in heaven. As Levi (or Matthew) has done, so must we all: we must leave our "customs post," that which roo...

(Is.58:1-9; Ps.51:3-6,18-19; Mt.9:14-15) "Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high!" Brothers and sisters, in this day of fasting and penance, first we must "acknowledge [our] offense" as David in our psalm. We must cry out to our God: "Against you only have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight." This is our leaven of truth. "A contrite spirit, a heart contri...

(Dt.30:15-20; Ps.1:1-4,6,39:5; Lk.9:22-25) "The Lord watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes." In our first reading, Moses makes clear the choice we all must face: "I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse." "By loving the Lord… heeding His voice, and holding fast to Him," the Israelites will be blessed with "long life" in the Promised Land; the...

(Jl.2:12-18; Ps.51:3-6,12-14,17; 2Cor.5:20-6:2; Mt.6:1-6,16-18) "Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning." "We implore you, in Christ's name: be reconciled to God!" Paul exclaims; and the people of God today raise a cry, rending their hearts, begging His forgiveness… turning from their sins to find His healing grace. The trumpet is blown...

O seven men who lived as one in service of the Lord under the mantle of Our Lady, you who left everything of this world, all you bought and sold, that you might discover the riches of Heaven: to the mountain you went to find perfection – to the mountain let us come to live with God. Led by the prompting of our Lord and Lady, let us, too, be fruitful on this plane, founded in humility and love and...

(Jas.1:12-18; Ps.94:12-15,18-19; Mk.8:14-21) "He wills to bring us to birth with a word spoken in truth." But how deaf we are to His speaking. The disciples exhibit a remarkable degree of ignorance in our gospel today. It would be comical were it not so usual, were it not such a defining trait of us humans. Preoccupied with their forgetfulness to bring bread for their journey, when the Lord mentio...

(Jas.1:1-11; Ps.119:67-68,71-72,75-77; Mk.8:11-13) "Count it pure joy when you are involved in every sort of trial." How well James explicates the wisdom of the cross. First he encourages us to "realize that when [our] faith is tested this makes for endurance," and then to "let endurance come to its perfection so that [we] may be fully mature and lacking in nothing." This is the wisdom of our suff...

(Sir.15:15-20; Ps.119:1-2,4-5,17-18,33-34; 1Cor.2:6-10; Mt.5:17-37) "Oh, that I might be firm in the ways of keeping your statutes!" The clear theme of today's readings is the need to "exactly observe" the commands of the Lord, to keep His law "with all [our] heart." It is this walking "in the law of the Lord" that makes us blessed in His sight. It is popular to believe that Jesus' coming somehow...

O brothers in the faith who brought that same faith to the peoples entrusted to your care, who extended the reach of the Church, gathering in lands under her holy roof and into her blessed arms… faithful you were unto death in proclaiming the word of God – please pray that we, too, shall be holy brothers of Christ, offering our work, our lives, for the sake of the nations yet to be called into His...

(1Kgs.12:26-32,13:33-34; Ps.106:4,6-7,19-22; Mk.8:1-10) "Whoever desired it was consecrated and became a priest of the high places." For this sin "the house of Jeroboam… was to be cut off and destroyed from the earth." Not only will their king be so punished, but the whole Israelite nation will find the wrath of the Lord for such idolatrous action. Not learning from their forefathers, whom the Lor...

(1Kgs.11:29-32,12:19; Ps.81:9-15; Mk.7:31-37) "My people heard not my voice, and Israel obeyed me not; so I gave them up to the hardness of their hearts." The Lord has said, "There shall be no strange god among you nor shall you worship an alien god," but the people did not listen. Led by their corrupted king, "they walked according to their own counsels" and took to themselves the perverse gods w...

(1Kgs.11:4-13; Ps.106:3-4,35-37,40; Mk.7:24-30) "It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs." Jesus speaks these words to a foreign woman, a pagan Greek, who "beg[s] Him to expel the demon from her daughter." They seem harsh. Some may interpret them so. After all, in our gospel we find Jesus traveling to the northernmost part of Israel where "He retired to a certain...

O lovely Lady who appeared to Bernadette, Mary, Blessed Virgin and Mother of our Lord – let our eyes, too, see your beauty and hear your voice calling us to pray for sinners, calling us to come to you with our prayers and to wash ourselves clean in the water you provide through Jesus your Son. O Immaculate Conception, so pure, so full of grace, cleanse all our sickness from us; let us be immersed...

(1Kgs.10:1-10; Ps.37:5-6,30-31,39-40; Mk.7:14-23) "The mouth of the just man tells of wisdom and his tongue utters what is right." Today in our readings we have a passage to illustrate the great extent of the wisdom and riches of King Solomon. "The queen of Sheba, having heard of Solomon's fame, [comes] to test him with subtle questions." She had not believed the report she'd heard of him, but hav...

O innocent soul, pure as an angel, meek as a lamb, from slavery you were taken to the house of God, where freedom you found in faith in the Lord – pray for the freedom of all slaves chained in soul or body, that they shall be released from the snares of this world to walk at liberty with Jesus. Pray His goodness reign in all His children, in all who would be gentle as this Lamb; may all those in n...

(1Kgs.8:22-23,27-30; Ps.84:2-5,10-11; Mk.7:1-13) "Can it indeed be that God dwells among men on earth?" Well does Solomon do in stating, "If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple which I have built!" For though the Lord will heed Solomon's prayer and "listen to the petitions of [His] servant and of [His] people Israel which they offer in this place," He...

(1Kgs.8:1-7,9-13; Ps.132:6-10; Mk.6:53-56) "Let us enter into His dwelling, let us worship at His footstool." "Advance, O Lord, to your resting place, you and the ark of your majesty." Yes, in our first reading, "the elders of Israel and all the leaders of the tribes" come to bring the ark of the Lord into the temple Solomon has built in Jerusalem. "For the occasion [they] sacrificed before the ar...

O innocent soul, pure as an angel, meek as a lamb, from slavery you were taken to the house of God, where freedom you found in faith in the Lord – pray for the freedom of all slaves chained in soul or body, that they shall be released from the snares of this world to walk at liberty with Jesus. Pray His goodness reign in all His children, in all who would be gentle as this Lamb; may all those in n...

O soldier for the Lord and servant of the poor who trusted in God alone and gave your life for those in need – may we, too, become friends of the one Lord, purified of all dross by the trials we endure and by doing His will in this world. His children let us become as we care for the children most in need, those who seem abandoned by Him. His hands and His heart let us be, that in such love we sha...

"Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father." And how shall "your light break forth like the dawn" except that you "share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own." Indeed, you must "remove from your midst oppression, false accusation, an...

(1Kgs.3:4-13; Ps.119:9-14; Mk.6:30-34) "He began to teach them at great length." "Who is able to govern this vast people of yours?" Solomon asks in his plea to God for wisdom. And "upon disembarking Jesus saw a vast crowd" who "were like sheep without a shepherd," our gospel tells us. The apostles have just "returned to Jesus and reported to Him all that they had done and what they had taught," ho...

O proclaimers of the faith even unto death, death on a cross, you who have followed in the way of our Lord so completely, loving your enemies even as they killed you, encouraging your brothers even with your last breath – may the blood you shed not be forgotten by those of the nation in which you preached and by all souls who seek God; may it nourish the land and bring it to bear much fruit unto H...

(Sir.47:2-11; Ps.18:31,47,50-51; Mk.6:14-29) "Herod feared John, knowing him to be an upright and holy man." O how the Lord has given power to His great men. It is He who "gave great victories to [the] king." David "called upon the Most High God, who gave strength to his right arm"; and as David "made sport of lions as though they were kids," as he "slew the giant" and his "tens of thousands" in b...

O good child of God who gave your life so willingly for the sake of Christ and so wore His holy blood upon your robes, you who were blessed to remain ever faithful to the Lord even as those around you turned from His presence – pray for us this day that our lives too may be holy and blessed as your own, that we too might give witness to the Lord with the same pure love you did so readily show. Pra...

(1Kgs.2:1-4,10-12; 1Chr.29:10-12; Mk.6:7-13) "Yours, O Lord, is the sovereignty; you are exalted as head over all." Solomon begins his reign, and the apostles begin their mission. But how different is their manner of rule. Solomon sits in sovereignty upon a throne, while the apostles are sent in poverty to all towns. Solomon's reign is of the physical universe, with the riches of the world at his...