The BreadCast

O humble child of the Lord whom our Lady blessed with her presence, to whom she gave roses in winter – pray for us who are not humble as you, whose obedience is cold and grown so weak, that she might come to us, too, that she might speak a word to our hearts and we might as children listen and do as she directs, she who directs us only to Jesus, only to His love. Pray this continent be once again renewed by the grace of God; may Our Lady’s image be upon our hearts that we too might proclaim the glory of the Lord and His love for His children.

O holy Temple of the Lord, preeminent member of His Church, you who were destined from all ages to bear the Son of God, to be His chosen dwelling place… you were weaned into His Temple; there you ever remained, becoming yourself the House of God, where He now ever stays – pray we be built into His Temple; pray we become sons and daughters unto you. In you let us make our home, dear Mother, that the holiness of Jesus we shall ever share. We cannot live in Him if apart from you; we cannot be as Christ’s Body, blessed by the Holy Spirit and doing the Father’s will on earth, if you are not our Mother, if you are not the Temple in which we dwell. Pray our holiness mirror your own.

O woman who prayed always and had great mercy on souls, whose missionary zeal led you across the ocean, thousands of miles from your home, to educate the poor and care for the sick, to bring the love of Jesus to those most in need – pray we too shall have a heart set on service of the Lord and remembrance of His presence, that our concern for those apart from Christ will drive us to great ends, even to the ends of the earth, where certainly He dwells. Pray we shall have your courage in facing the unknown, in calling all home to the Heart of God; and through all we do for Him let us remain in prayer, knowing His Heaven here on earth.

O charitable soul who gave all you owned for the sake of the Gospel, though endowed with great riches you embraced lady poverty that you might serve the Lord with a heart beating for the poor. With your own hands you tended the sickest; into your own home you welcomed the most destitute – pray that in our small way we too may follow in the footsteps of Christ and give our lives to the poor whom He loves and to prayer in His presence. Pray our hearts, too, may know His tender care for souls and our own souls meditate upon Him night and day; pray we too shall give up all to find His holy kingdom.

O blessed mystic of Jesus, you were saved by Him from a life of vain pursuit of the things and thoughts of this world to find union with His Sacred Heart, which holds all heavenly treasures. You see Him now (do you not, dear virgin?) in His perfection, even as you saw Him, though only in the shadow of vision, here upon this plane – pray we shall also know His blessed perfection, the beating of His Sacred Heart within our own, the love which surpasses all understanding illumining our soul… that no more will we ever desire than to be with Him where you are now, in His eternal glory.

O devout mother and queen whose concern was ever for your children and your people, that they might ever be fed in body and in soul and so grow unto the fullness of Christ – pray for us, O holy queen, that we the Lord’s poor subjects might receive from His hand all we need to become His sons and daughters. In prayer and gratitude let us remain ever before His throne, that by such holy fear we might be made fruitful as you, bearing children unto Him and raising them to His glory. A heart for the poor may we ever nourish that, as poor as we are, by our King’s gracious blessing we might give what He provides until all enter His reign.

O patron of scientists and philosophers, you of brilliant mind who taught with both human and divine wisdom, who led your students to deeper and purer understanding of God and His world and most especially His Church – pray we partake of your teaching this day, that the light you brought to the minds of your flock will not be lost or forgotten by eyes blind to the truth. Pray the word upon your soul will bring us closer to the Lord that we might partake of Him in sacrament and in preaching. O how shall we see if you do not pray for us, if you do not serve to guide us to the glory that surpasses our poor ability to comprehend Him?

O mother of the faith and helper of the stranger in the New World, you sought with great diligence to preserve the true religion in a land hostile to Mother Church, to assist those in spiritual as well as physical need – pray a measure of your missionary spirit be poured out upon your daughters, upon the many houses you established and all those served by them. Pray the country you took to heart and which became your own will turn resolutely to the Lord and His blood and away from the destruction of its soul, upon which it seems so set. Pray the faith shall be restored from shore to shore and this nation in truth become a light on a hill.

O shepherd thirsty for souls, whose only desire was the unity of the Church under Christ her King and on the Rock of Peter… for this cause you gave your life; for this call from the Lord you shed your blood – pray this day all may be one, that none shall shrink from fulfilling this desire of Jesus but by the power of the Holy Spirit work tirelessly and with great courage to slake the thirst of the Lord. We are all children of one Father; we have but one Brother in Christ and one Mother in the Catholic faith. Pray this truth shall prevail over the deceptions of the devil, who would separate and conquer souls but who is turned back from his evil course when we are willing to die for one another.

O sacrificial shepherd, you gave your life for your flock; a poor and humble man, you gathered the poor and humble of the Lord into the arms of His Church, where they might be fed with His grace. Ever with arms upraised you taught your people ever to pray and founded many houses of prayer; peace you brought to your church that all might serve the one true God – pray we shall be humble and lowly as you, dear shepherd, and so mirror the life of our Lord. Pray our lives be entrusted to Him, that whatever we do be in His will; whether we live or die, let it not matter to us, but only let matter the laying down of our lives, that by such sacrificial offering God’s Word might go forth and all souls be welcomed into Abraham’s arms.