The BreadCast

(2Sm.7:18-19,24-29; Ps.132:1-2,3-5,11-14,Lk.1:32; Mk.4:21-25) "If your sons keep my covenant and the decrees which I shall teach them, their sons, too, forever shall sit upon your throne." Yes, "the Lord has chosen Zion; He prefers her for His dwelling." His blessings are upon His Church and its people, for "the Lord swore to David a firm promise from which He will not withdraw: 'Your own offsprin...

O wise doctor of the Church who ate the bread of angels in your long hours of prayer and study and writing and shared with us the knowledge you gained of the sublime truth of God, shedding the light of reason upon the faith we hold so dear – teach us this day to know God that we might better love and serve Him, that we might not be blind to His presence in our midst, to the holiness to which He ca...

(2Sm.7:4-17; Ps.89:4-5,27-30; Mk.4:1-20) "Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever." David seems intent on establishing the Lord's presence forever by building a permanent house in which He might dwell, but how well our God answers the great king's thoughts with the promise of making "his posterity endure forever." It is the Lord who establis...

O holy virgin and spiritual mother to the poorest of girls, whom you protected and guided in wisdom and love, keeping them from the snares of the world and raising them in Christ; you who fulfilled so well the twofold call to love God and save souls – pray for those who so easily go astray this day in a world of great corruption, where souls are in danger of being captured by the wiles of Satan an...

(2Sm.6:12-15,17-19; Ps.24:7-10; Mk.3:31-35) "Lift up, O gates, your lintels; reach up, you ancient portals, that the King of glory may come in!" In our first reading David leads all the Israelites in, "bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and to the sound of the horn." "Dancing before the Lord with abandon," he brings the ark into Jerusalem and sets it within its tent or tabernacle....

O blessed disciples of Paul and shepherds of the Church who imitated so well your father in the faith who imitated only the Lord Jesus Christ and thirsted for His Cross – pray this holy Apostle be our father, too, and you with him, that we too might embrace the Cross; teach us the sound doctrine handed on to you that we may hand it on and all souls might fight the good fight and run the race with...

(2Sm.5:1-7,10; Ps.89:20-22,25-26; Mk.3:22-30) "Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven." How different are the scribes who come to Jesus from the Israelites who come to David to crown him king. "The tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said: 'Here we are, your bone and your flesh.'" So united would they be to him whom the Lord had said would "shepherd [His] people...

O you who persecuted the Church of God but then preached the faith in earnest, you upon whom abundant mercy fell, whose weakness became strength as each day in bearing extraordinary torments you grew closer to God – show us the way to Heaven. Pray we fall continually from our horse, from our pride, and allow the Lord to change our lives. Pray repentance be our constant food, that the love of Jesus...

(Is.8:23-9:3; Ps.27:1,4,13-14; 1Cor.1:10-13,17; Mt.4:12-23) "Light has arisen." "Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness: for there is no gloom where but now there was distress." Yes, "a light has shone"; Jesus has come. No longer do we walk in darkness. So we should proclaim with David: "The Lord is my light and my salvation"; we should long to dwell in the Temple He has built, "gaz[ing] on...

O most devout spiritual guide, great pastor of your flock and of all souls, you who speak to us even this day with your words of wisdom and blessed direction – pray every branch of Jesus' vine may aspire to His perfection; in whatever state we find ourselves, let us set our hearts on loving the Lord and serving Him and neighbor prayerfully. Teach us to pray faithfully, to offer our lives in all si...

(2Sm.1:1-4,11-12,19,23-27; Ps.80:2-7; Mk.3:20-21) "They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan." For David's leading his men in mourning for Saul, it might have been said of him what was said of Jesus: "He is out of His mind." But even to the end David proves himself sincere in his respect for God's anointed, even slaying the man who claims to have dispatched the k...

O lover of the least, the most wretched of society, whom you embraced when no one else would; how like St. Francis you were in your care for the lepers, in your living the Gospel as an image of Christ: He was hungry and you fed Him, thirsty and you gave Him drink, naked and you clothed Him and cared for Him when He was sick – pray our hearts will burn with the same sacrificial love you bore so wel...

O martyr of the Lord extraordinaire who suffered unspeakable torture but was not bowed by such savagery, who spoke of great faith, singing of God's glory even as your limbs were crushed, even as all the brutality the world could inflict sought to break your spirit – help us to conquer the world as you have done, as the Lord has done in you, not to be afraid but rather to serve our Savior and His C...

(1Sm.24:3-21; Ps.57:2-4,6,11; Mk.3:13-19) "Sovereignty over Israel shall come into your possession." Today we see David at perhaps his most humble and obedient in the sight of God – we see why he is the great king of Israel. David is being hunted down by Saul once again in his jealousy. His psalm, our psalm today, is his cry for protection from the Lord in whom he trusts: "I call to God Most High,...

(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. So grea...

O holy virgin martyr, O innocent child who offered your life more freely than a bride to her husband, more courageously than a warrior in battle, who though lacking in years was not lacking in faith nor desire to honor your only Spouse… you who were honored by the Fathers of the Church and are remembered to this day as a holy offering, a lamb of God sacrificed in flames yet professing ever your lo...

(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...