The BreadCast

(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...

(Is.60:1-6; Ps.72:1-2,7-8,10-13; Eph.3:2-3a,5-6; Mt.2:1-12) "They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary His Mother." And so our prophecy of Isaiah and our psalm of David come to pass: "Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather and come to you… the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you, the wealth of nations shall be brought to y...

(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 "children of G...

O bishops and doctors, O brothers so united in Christ, united in your desire to find His wisdom and live His virtue, for you what mattered but to be like Christ? All you would have given up to find His way; nothing of this world did you wish but to leave it behind. One in heart and mind, one in word and work and in the food of which you partook… how blessed it is when men live as brothers, when no...

(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 in our...

O Blessed Virgin in whose womb was conceived the only Son of God, who by such grace has brought salvation to our race… What faith is yours in God the Father! What power is upon you by the Holy Spirit! What unutterable wonder we find in your Son! How is it one of our own number could give birth to our Creator? Such glorious union with the Godhead we could never merit nor discover except that the Lo...

(Nm.6:22-27; Ps.67:2-3,5-6,8; Gal.4:4-7; Lk.2:16-21) "The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them." The blessing of God, His holy Son, was upon the shepherds, and it is upon us all. For "God sent His Son, born of a woman" that His "way be known upon earth," "that we might receive adoption as sons." And what greater blessing...

O eminent Shepherd of God's people who led us from the catacombs into the light of day by a blessed peace with the city of man, allowing the Lord's Church to grow and flourish freely in its sacraments, in its worship of the one true God – pray the Body of Christ may again prosper in truth with its divine Head, that the Light that has come into the world may be proclaimed to the ends of the earth a...

(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 hour" to...

(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, "all the...