The daily Word of God
Saturday, February 14th, 2026
Saint Cyril, monk, and Saint Methodius, bishop
Mark 8:1–10. They ate as much as they wanted.
Reading 1: 1 Kgs12:26-32; 13:33-34
Jeroboam thought to himself:
"The kingdom will return to David's house.
If now this people go up to offer sacrifices
in the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem,
the hearts of this people will return to their master,
Rehoboam, king of Judah,
and they will kill me."
After taking counsel, the king made two calves of gold
and said to the people:
"You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough.
Here is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."
And he put one in Bethel, the other in Dan.
This led to sin, because the people frequented those calves
in Bethel and in Dan.
He also built temples on the high places
and made priests from among the people who were not Levites.
Jeroboam established a feast in the eighth month
on the fifteenth day of the month
to duplicate in Bethel the pilgrimage feast of Judah,
with sacrifices to the calves he had made;
and he stationed in Bethel priests of the high places he had built.
Jeroboam did not give up his evil ways after this,
but again made priests for the high places
from among the common people.
Whoever desired it was consecrated
and became a priest of the high places.
This was a sin on the part of the house of Jeroboam
for which it was to be cut off and destroyed from the earth.
Responsorial Psalm PS 106:6-7ab, 19-20, 21-22
(4a) Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
We have sinned, we and our fathers;
we have committed crimes; we have done wrong.
Our fathers in Egypt
considered not your wonders.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
They made a calf in Horeb
and adored a molten image;
They exchanged their glory
for the image of a grass-eating bullock.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great deeds in Egypt,
Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,
terrible things at the Red Sea.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Gospel Mk 8:1-10
In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat,
Jesus summoned the disciples and said,
“My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,
because they have been with me now for three days
and have nothing to eat.
If I send them away hungry to their homes,
they will collapse on the way,
and some of them have come a great distance.”
His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread
to satisfy them here in this deserted place?”
Still he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?”
They replied, “Seven.”
He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.
Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them,
and gave them to his disciples to distribute,
and they distributed them to the crowd.
They also had a few fish.
He said the blessing over them
and ordered them distributed also.
They ate and were satisfied.
They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets.
There were about four thousand people.
He dismissed the crowd and got into the boat with his disciples
and came to the region of Dalmanutha.
Valentine’s Day
These days, we hear a lot about empathy, but not so much about compassion. It seems people are a bit suspicious of compassion, thinking it’s a feeling that looks down on those who suffer from a place of superiority. But that’s not it at all.
I actually asked ChatGPT about it, and it told me that compassion goes a step further than empathy, even though they are similar. Empathy is great because it’s about understanding someone else’s feelings. But compassion includes that understanding plus the desire to help. It is love in action.
Today, the Church celebrates Saints Cyril and Methodius, who put their compassion into action by giving their hearts, lives, and souls to a specific task: making sure people could understand God’s Word by translating it into their own languages and alphabets. It was a quiet, sacrificial, and generous way of loving.
Saint Valentine makes a bit more noise today, mostly because of the marketing surrounding this good man. But his real compassion wasn’t about cards or candy; it was about blessing the marriages of persecuted Christians who were about to be martyred. That reality doesn’t have much to do with the flowers, the chocolates, and the thousands of commercial ways we celebrate this day.
Today’s Gospel speaks to us of the original compassion—the kind that is born from noticing the feelings and needs of others. Jesus felt compassion because the crowd had been following Him for three days and had nothing to eat. This is a compassion that looks ahead to the consequences: “If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way.” And that thought moves Him to action.
Cyril and Methodius offered the compassion of the Word. Valentine offered the compassion of relationship and walking with others in difficult times. Jesus offers the deepest compassion of all: the food that keeps us from collapsing on our journey. And that food is Jesus Himself, because nothing else can truly satisfy our hunger. He doesn’t just hand out bread and fish; He gives Himself.
Having felt how the Cyrils, Methodiuses, and Valentines of this world have had compassion on us, we now receive the compassion of Jesus Himself, who gives us His Body—the only thing that truly saves. Now, we are invited to show that same compassion. We are called to have compassion for people’s need for truth, for the Word, for connection, and for companionship. Above all, we are called to have compassion for that deep hunger that can only be satisfied by the Bread of God.
This is our mission as missionary disciples.
Cármen Fernández AguinacoSaturday of 5th Week in Ordinary Time
Bread for the Hungry
Introduction
The first reading describes the efforts of king Jeroboam to strengthen the political separation of the northern tribes of Israel by adding to it a religious separation.
Jesus, on the other hand, brings people together and gives them something to eat when they are hungry, as a sign of his mercy, his efforts toward unity and of the food of the Eucharist. Let us seek this unity and this food.
Opening Prayer
To those who are not filled with themselves,
you reveal yourself Lord, our God,
as the giver of all good things.
Make us yearn for justice and peace
and for all things that endure.
Give us a copious meal
of your word and your life
through him who is our bread of life,
Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord.
Intercessions
For agencies of international aid, for governments and the United Nations, that they may use all human potentials and all the resources of science and nature to feed the hungry and to develop the earth, we pray: For all Christian communities, that they may not abandon anyone in need and that we may open-handedly serve one another, we pray: For this community gathered here to break the Lord’s bread, that the Spirit of the Lord make us the sign of God’s generosity and love, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
God, our generous Father,
in these simple gifts of bread and wine,
of everyday food and drink,
you let Jesus, your Son,
give himself to us
as the bread of life.
In the strength of this bread,
may we become to one another
fresh bread broken and shared
to nourish one another
on our journey to you.
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
We give you thanks, generous Father,
for giving us Jesus, your Son,
as our food for the road
to you and to one another.
Give us the will and the creativity
to bring to a hungry world
food and a fair share
in the goods of the earth.
But help us also to break the bread
of dignity and hope to all.
And be yourself the highest fulfillment
of all our aspirations,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Blessing
When we pray the Our Father, we ask the Lord to give us our daily bread. That is not only the food of every day, and the Eucharist, but all we need from day to day. May God give you this and bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
