The BreadCast

(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 is emph...

O soldier for Christ who sought with such courage to embrace His Cross, to die a death worthy of such a Lord, you whose heart was so set on imitating the suffering only He knew and so were rewarded with the crown of martyrdom – where is our courage; where is our strength? Pray for us, O warrior of our Lord and God, that our lives may bear witness to approach your own, that we shall not shrink from...

O Holy Father of the Church, Pastor of the sheep of our Lord who have given your life freely for the name of Christ and its spreading throughout the earth, you whose blood was shed by the persecutors of the body but whose soul was ever in the Hand of God – pray our lives shall be lived in integrity and our death correspond, that a blessed witness we too shall give to the glory of God and His Son J...

(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 must...

(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 will. An...

(Is.49:3,5-6; Ps.40:2,4,7-10; 1Cor.1:1-3; Jn.1:29-34) "I am made glorious in the sight of the Lord, and my God is now my strength!" John the Baptist testifies that Jesus is "the Son of God," the One upon whom he has seen "the Spirit come down and remain." And we are all His servants, made holy only in Him. John declares his own servitude, speaking of "the one who sent [him] to baptize with water,"...

O father of monks and all who would give themselves completely to the Lord, you who have been so obedient to the word of God, to His call to sell everything, to renounce all possessions and follow Him – how we need your prayers this day, when love for material things possesses our very bodies and souls, when prayer and penance seem things of the distant past. Make present to us the blessed call of...

(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 upon appea...

(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 reject t...

(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 Command...

(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-law, who,...

O shepherd and doctor of God's holy Church, is this not what you would declare with all your breath to the ends of the earth: "Jesus is the Son of God and God Himself"? Would you not proclaim the true light of Scripture and the Word, the Light, become flesh in our midst? Know, O saint of the Lord, that your words reach our ears and our hearts even to this day, and this day we proclaim you holy and...

(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 faithful...

(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 in Isr...

(Is.42:1-4,6-7; Ps.29:1-4,9-11; Acts 10:34-38; Mt.3:13-17) "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power." And so He anoints us all in the baptism our Savior has wrought. As Jesus humbled Himself to be baptized by John, so must we bow our heads before Him and receive holy baptism at His hands. As He has laid down His life for us, so must we lay down our lives for one another. As "...

(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 now that He...

(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 journey? A...

(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 is the Spir...

O redeemer of captive slaves, those enslaved to sin and those enslaved by the clutches of the world – preach to us this day the freedom found under the Cross of Christ and in the repentance of heart blessed by the grace upon the Church. Teach us well the path to Heaven, which is wrought not in comfort and peace but in struggle against sin, in the laying down of our lives before our persecutors. Ra...

(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 walking t...

O friend of the lowly, humble child of St. Joseph, servant of the poor and counsel to the afflicted through whom the Lord worked miracles… how He blessed your ignorance with His wisdom, your weakness with His strength; unattached to this passing world, you drew souls to the world to come – pray we be as poor and lowly as the dust you swept each day, as the Child Jesus in the manger at Bethlehem. P...

(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 the ends o...

O shepherd who walked in the humble stead of your flock, who worked so diligently among those in your care, speaking to their hearts; you who gathered into schools the little ones, who saw to the education of the children… and all this in a foreign land – pray for the country in which you ministered, that its lambs once again be raised in the faith and its strangers be once again shepherded by one...

(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 diseases and rack...

O mother through marriage and religious Mother, who indeed became mother of many, many sisters whom you led in the faith and many children whom you taught in your schools – in your wisdom teach many still the path of Christ, the way of charity He has trod, that renewed will those be who call you Mother, and instructed well those in their classrooms throughout the land. What should we teach our chi...