The BreadCast

(Eph.4:1-6; Ps.24:1-6; Lk.12:54-59) "Make every effort to preserve the unity which has the Spirit as its origin and peace as its binding force." Is this not what Jesus instructs the crowds in saying, "When you are going with your opponent to appear before a magistrate, try to settle with him on the way"? Do not both Paul and Jesus speak of the love we must have one for another, even for those who may seem our enemies? Again, in the House of God there is unity, there is peace. Among His children there should be understanding, there should be grace. We must make every effort to have no enemies – to hate no one, to bear no grudge against any – in this life or the next. Brothers and sisters, we are called to live as one, "bearing with one another lovingly," for "there is but one body and one Spirit" in Christ; "there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism," which we all share, and so we should live as children of the "one God and Father of all." On our oneness in the Lord our hearts should be set, and nothing should disturb the peace we find in Him. We see so many other things, we understand so much of the world and its ways… why do we not understand this? Why do we not know and practice God's way? "The Lord's are the earth and its fullness; the world and those who dwell in it." This David tells us: all are one under the Lord God. But only those "whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean," "may stand in His holy place." We cannot "ascend the mountain of the Lord" if we are not made perfect as He. And so the Lord warns us of the necessity of settling all our accounts here, now, while there is time – while we yet have breath and eyes to see – lest we come to the judge at the end of time with the darkness of sin upon our soul. Now is His mercy offered forth, and we are called in turn to offer it freely to others. Then will be grave punishment for sin, for failures to love and maintain unity. "A blessing from the Lord" awaits us all. He "that seeks the face of the God of Jacob" shall receive his reward. Even now the Spirit of the Lord grants us a foretaste of such grace. But we must be ever diligent to maintain it. We must be ever ready to forgive one another if we are to remain in Him. And so I ask: forgive me, brother; forgive me, sister, any wrong I have done you… and be assured of my forgiveness. ******* O LORD, help us to stand in your holy place, as reflections of your peace and your love for all. YHWH, you are LORD of Heaven and earth and all is under your watchful care. We are in you and in your Son and have your one Spirit at our heart's core. Let us live in peace! Let us live as your children, holy as you are. If we maintain not humility and peace in our souls, can we be said to be your own? O LORD, if we settle not with our opponent here on this earth, how can we come unto your heavenly presence? There can be no anger or hatred in us; indeed, our hands must be sinless if we are to enter your eternal kingdom and make our home in you. And so, dear LORD, help us to forgive one another, to love all as you love them – let us be the race that seeks ever your holy face and never turn aside from such desire for utter love in your presence. Forgive all those who sin against us, and please let us be forgiven in your sight.

O great Pontiff who stood as a bulwark against the culture of death threatening to overtake mankind, who served to bring down the Enemy with the sacrifice of your life and your many works: under the Mantle of Our Mother, you gathered the youth of the world as one to hear your ringing exhortation; you enlightened minds assailed by doubt and despair; you taught men and women the language of love the Lord wrought into our very bodies… for you knew the power of the Cross and carried it till the end, finding light in the dark night of suffering. The gates of Hell could not stand against your invocation of the Spirit – pray we too shall open wide the doors for Christ and fear no evil as we entrust ourselves entirely to our Redeemer and His Divine Mercy.

(Eph.3:14-21; Ps.33:1-2,4-5,11-12,18-19; Lk.12:49-53) "Do you think I have come to establish peace on the earth?" Strong contrast we find in our readings today. Jesus speaks of the division He has come to bring by the fire of truth He lights on this earth – fire like a sword separating even the closest of family members one from another; whereas Paul speaks of "the breadth and the length and the height and the depth of Christ's love" and the great oneness found in "the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name." How does one reconcile this apparent contradiction? Is the Lord of peace or division? Brothers and sisters, there is no contradiction here. Paul speaks of the "glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus" which exists "through all generations" and which we share "with all the holy ones" for whom "charity [is] the root and foundation of [their] life." As our psalmist proclaims, "Happy the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen for His own inheritance." In the House of God is peace. In His Church is the oneness of perfect love, and all its members "experience this love which surpasses all knowledge" and "attain to the fullness of God Himself." Then whence the division the Lord emphasizes? The division exists here on earth, as He Himself states. When the light of truth comes up against the darkness that is this world, when the holy ones of God meet up with the children of this evil age, there is necessarily division. Despite the best efforts of the just to bring peace to all, how often is our offering of peace rejected – how frequently is Christ nailed to the cross. So, though we yet hold love for all as the disciples of our living Lord, it cannot but be that many will cling to darkness and so find an enemy in the light. And thus division comes. Though in heaven and in the Church there is nothing but peace, the world breeds only division. Brothers and sisters, "may Christ dwell in your hearts through faith." "May [the Father] strengthen you inwardly through the workings of His Spirit" as you undergo the anguish of the baptism His Son has known. May He keep you in peace and "bestow on you gifts in keeping with the riches of His glory." For soon division will be gone and His peace will be all that is known. ******* O LORD, how your love separates the evil from the good! – may we know the fullness of your love at work in our lives. YHWH, great is your glory, far above the ways of men – how can we grasp this surpassing knowledge, how can we know your all-encompassing love? Though you dwell beyond our reach, in your kindness you stoop down to us, to share with us the great riches of your glory. And so, what should we do but praise your NAME? What should we do but thank you in song? For you have looked upon us in our lowliness and delivered us from death and sin, and made us one with all your holy ones in your eternal kingdom. But what of those who reject you, LORD? What of those who spurn your love, who desire not the peace which surpasses understanding? What can they do but fight against your Church? And those may be of our own family. Then where are we? How shall there be peace on this earth among those who despise your gifts? Give us strength to share in the baptism of your Son, in the fire we must endure on our way to Heaven; help us to conquer all division and stand always with you.

(Eph.3:2-12; Is.12:2-6; Lk.12:39-48) "When much has been given a man, much will be required of him." Yes, "more will be asked of a man to whom more has been entrusted," and today we see two of the men to whom the most has been entrusted. First, of course, is Peter, who queries the Lord and to whom the Lord addresses His question, "Who in your opinion is that faithful, farsighted steward whom the master will set over his servants to dispense their ration of grain in season?" knowing full well it is to the blessed Rock of His Church He speaks. And Paul tells us how "through the gift God in His goodness bestowed on [him] through the exercise of His power, [he] became a minister of the Gospel." Paul has been "given the grace to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ and to enlighten all men on the mysterious design which for ages was hidden in God, the Creator of all." The Rock of the Church and its great Apostle – how much has been entrusted to these two men! And what has been entrusted to these is entrusted to all who follow in their wake, to all "the holy apostles and prophets" to whom "the mystery of Christ" is "revealed by the Spirit." And so the same responsibility is upon them as well. The Lord has promised, "With joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation," and how can the faithful find such life-giving water if the Lord's priests and preachers do not offer it forth freely as it has been given them? If they withhold the children's food and their tongues cleave to the roofs of their mouths, how shall the Church be fed, how shall she be instructed in the way she should walk? If the guardians of the truth are not vigilant, but rather begin "to abuse the housemen and servant girls, to eat and drink and get drunk," feeding only themselves, their own bellies… what shall become of the Body of Christ? And what shall become of those who have allowed the Lord's House to be broken into? "Sing praise to the Lord for His glorious achievement; let this be known throughout all the earth": that "God indeed is [our] Savior," and all are called unto Him. Brothers and sisters, we all share in the priesthood of Peter and the evangelical ministry of Paul, and so, "drawing near Him with confidence," we must all "among the nations make known [the Lord's] deeds." All have been given a measure of the Lord's grace and power, and all are responsible for fulfilling the "master's wishes" with regard to our call. This is our gift from God, to share in His work of service, in His cross. Let us embrace it as readily as have Peter and Paul. ******* O LORD, may we all be faithful stewards of your manifold gifts and find our salvation in your Son. YHWH, you are in our midst and you call us all to your work, to service of your Church in your holy NAME. Through your Son Jesus Christ we all may share in your manifold wisdom, in the salvation to glory wrought by His blood… Let us give thanks to you and acclaim your NAME, serving you faithfully all our days. LORD, it should be our joy to serve you; it should be our very food. What greater gift could we hope for than to share in your promise and in your blessed ministry with Peter and Paul? One are we in your Body, in the flesh of your Son, and freely may we come to you now with all our petitions and find you ready to answer our plea – what blessing is ours by your grace! Let us draw water at the fountain of salvation, LORD; let us drink freely of the glory you offer forth. Remaining ever faithful to your will, let us draw ever closer to you, till we sing your praises forever in your kingdom.

O true lover of the Crucified, always you celebrated the feast of the Cross in the temple of your soul, uniting yourself with the will of God by taking upon yourself the torments of the Lord in a silent joy and so finding the food of sacrificial love which sustains us in this world – pray we shall be as Christ, that we shall walk the path He marks out for us, and so in embracing the Cross find true joy in the grief we suffer, in the blessing of oneness with our crucified Lord and so with His Father in Heaven. You who have been transformed into your Beloved, pray we shall join you through the Passion of Christ.

(Eph.2:12-22; Ps.85:9-14; Lk.12:35-38) "You who were once far off have been brought near through the blood of Christ." We who "were excluded from the community of Israel," who were not of His chosen people upon whom His Spirit rested and so were "without hope and without God in the world," now are "fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God" by the great grace of the cross of Christ. Now, "in Him [we] are being built into this temple"; now all "have access in one Spirit to the Father." "He came and 'announced the good news of peace to you who were far off, and to those who were near" – to us who were far off, we of the nations apart from "the covenant and the promise," that the promise might be ours as well; but also to those who were near, those to whom the covenant had been given. For those who were near were also far off; they too were blind to His presence in their midst and needed their eyes opened by the living Christ. For though the word and the sacrifice were at their hands, far was He from their hearts, and so the blessed coming of the Messiah is for these, of course, as well. He came, in fact, for them first of all. "Near indeed is His salvation to those who fear Him." Gentile or Jew, it does not matter. Now there is but one race: Christian. Now there is but one Savior for all. For now indeed there is "glory dwelling in our land," and any who come to it become children of its light and are fitted into the House of the Lord. "He proclaims peace" now unto all, that all might know "His benefits." And are we ready for His coming again? Do we heed our Lord's exhortation in our gospel today? Do we serve Him constantly, ever keeping a place for Him in our hearts and at our tables, that when He comes the great promise He makes to His servants – "He will put on an apron, seat them at table, and proceed to wait on them" – we will know? Will we be gathered into His heart and His home? Brothers and sisters, "become a dwelling for God in the Spirit." Realize the blessing that is ours now through the cross. If under its blessed shade we take refuge, if we heed the call to come from our former residences so distant from Him and draw near to the love of the Lord, then already we will sense "the master's return" upon us, and holy light it will bring to our souls. ******* O LORD, let us be built into your Temple and become your dwelling place in the Spirit – your light in our eyes, your peace in our souls, your love in our hearts at all times. YHWH, let us be prepared for the second coming of your Son; may the blood He shed make us one with you and with one another, that in peace we might wait for His return, that in your Spirit we might dwell even this day. As your holy temple let us be, that we might know your call in our souls and do your will in all things. You look down upon us in kindness, LORD, and so your Son you have sent. He is Truth walking among us, leading us on the way of peace. And so, your benefits we may know; our work may yield its increase – our lives may be made worthy of your coming kingdom. O LORD, let our eyes be open, looking for your Son's return; let our hearts be set on the promise He leaves us. O let Him freely enter our homes and we be fed by His hand alone – please let us be joined to your saints in Heaven, forming one House in your NAME.

O heroic witnesses to the faith, O loyal followers of Jesus who took up the cup of torture and death willingly, with desire only to join your Lord, with delight and joy at the deadly blows… your offering of body and blood is unsurpassed because it was one with Christ's own, done with love for those who killed you – pray we shall so completely embrace our call, embrace the cross provided us by the Lord, that with your same thirst for truth we shall lay down our lives for our brothers.

(Eph.2:1-10; Ps.100:2-5; Lk.12:13-21) "It is owing to His favor that salvation is yours through faith. This is not your own doing, it is God's gift." Brothers and sisters, salvation is no "reward for anything [we] have accomplished." It is nothing we make by our own hands, but comes only by God's "kindness to us in Christ Jesus." "God is rich in mercy." Here is the great truth; this is our great hope: "Because of His great love for us He brought us to life with Christ when we were dead in sin." By our own hands we had but built up our condemnation and so "deserved God's wrath." Like the foolish rich man, we thought we could take our refuge in the things of this earth, that in them we would "have blessings in reserve for years to come." But however much we "pull down [our] grain bins and build larger ones," filling them with all the "grain" and "goods" of the world, we yet will have nothing; yet will we be empty and in need. For our life is in His hands alone. "He made us" and not we ourselves; "we are truly His handiwork," and so, dependent on Him for all things. And if not for His mercy we would yet be dead in our sin. Brothers and sisters, we must not "live at the level of the flesh"; we cannot give our "allegiance to the present age and the prince of the air" and remain in the favor of God. "Following every whim and fancy of our own" will but lead us down a dark road, and all the "piled-up wealth" we can amass will give us no light for the night ahead. Truly we must realize that we are "created in Christ Jesus to lead the life of good deeds which God prepared for us in advance." Now that by His mercy He has saved us, has lifted us from the mire into which we'd sunk, it is ours to "serve the Lord with gladness" and "come before Him with joyful song." "In Christ Jesus [God] raised us up and gave us a place in the heavens, that in the ages to come He might display the great wealth of His favor." And should we not but accept this gift from Him "whose kindness endures forever"? Should we not humble ourselves before our Holy Lord and "enter His gates with thanksgiving"? All He requires of our souls is to accept the salvation He brings us, and to grow "rich in the sight of God." ******* O LORD, make us rich in your sight; by the favor you have granted us through the salvation wrought in Christ Jesus, remake us in your image. YHWH, you made us and have remade us in the image of your Son who has died for us that we might be dead in sin no more. Let us praise the great favor from you and live always according to your Word. We have accomplished nothing, LORD, nothing but our own condemnation, nothing but distraction from you as we turn to the flesh and riches of this world. As to the evil spirit we give our allegiance, we find your wrath upon us; we find the death we have wrought by sin. But you are merciful, LORD, and call us through your Son to salvation from this darkness that has enveloped our souls. You would indeed remake us in Christ; He would indeed restore us to our former glory and carry us to your kingdom. O let us not set our hearts on the riches of this earth but seek only the grace that comes to us at your hands, in His blood. Let us enter your courts with songs of praise this day.

O bringer of the Good News, the light of the Gospel, to many nations… a thorough account you have given us of all Jesus did and taught and of the Holy Spirit's work among His disciples; and so the Lord's peace may enter our homes, and we embrace Him with Mary – pray, dear physician, that the Word of the Lord may indeed come to our hearts through the words you declare, and we be healed by His grace and illumined by His Spirit; the glory of the kingdom pray we know. Though He has been taken from our sight, let us proclaim His presence with great joy, for He yet speaks to all our souls in the words you have recorded, in the fire of God that guided your hand.

(Is.45:1,4-6; Ps.96:1,3-5,7-10; 1Thes.1:1-5b; Mt.22:15-21) "I am the Lord and there is no other, there is no God besides me." Oh brothers and sisters, how clear our Scripture today makes it that "great is the Lord and highly to be praised; awesome is He beyond all gods." Indeed there is no other God. It is He who grasped the "right hand" of even the pagan king, Cyrus, "subduing nations before him, and making kings run in his service." The heart of this king and all kings and all lands are in His hands – He alone rules all nations! Do you see this? Do you understand that if He calls this foreigner by "name, giving [him] a title," that there is none that is beyond His reach, that is not under His eye? By the Lord's power this pagan has conquered the nations of the world. And why? Why does He arm him who knows Him not? "So that toward the rising and the setting of the sun people may know that there is none beside [Him]." Our psalmist sings so well of the singular power of the Lord God: "All the gods of the nations are things of naught, but the Lord made the heavens." Again I ask, do you see this? All nations recognize Him who made the heavens and the earth; even these "tremble before Him." And so all are called to "tell His glory among the nations, among all peoples, His wondrous deeds." For all must be encouraged to "give the Lord the glory due His name"; all must be offered the honor of knowing the greatness of our God. One of these nations who have come to knowledge of the one God we hear of in our second reading. Paul calls the Thessalonians "brothers and sisters loved by God" for their "work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ." He gives thanks to God the Father that this Gentile people has come to faith in Him "with much conviction." What has been proclaimed so long now bears fruit. For even the millennium before our psalmist had called the "families of nations" to "bring gifts, and enter His courts," to "worship the Lord in holy attire." None has ever been barred from adoring Him who is the One God and Father of all. But now the Gospel comes not "in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit." Now the word is anointed by Jesus' blood. So now all nations indeed come before Him, giving "the Lord glory and praise." And when Jesus says, "Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God," He does not remove anything from under God's domain. For even the things of Caesar are in God's hands (as is the coin between Jesus' fingers today), as the Son makes clear in His words before Pilate: "You would have no power over me if it had not been given to you from above" (Jn.19:11). And, "the Lord is King" and King is His Son, and "He governs the peoples with equity." Let all declare the glory of Him besides whom "there is no other." Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "The World Is a Work of Art (Made by the Hand of God)" (1st half) from The Whole Whale, eighth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, all the earth belongs to you; let us run in the way you command, ever giving praise to the glory of your NAME. YHWH, there is none beside you – you are the Most High God, the only God, the living God… and greatly should we praise you. We should worship you alone, for you alone are worthy of worship. O let us sing to you all the day long! All the nations are in your hands, LORD and God; all kings run in the way you lead them. There is none above your power or beyond your reach – the world is at your command. As Jesus holds the coin of Caesar between His fingers, so all this earth is under your power, to be disposed with as you desire. Send your Spirit into us, dearest LORD, O mighty God, that your power might come to us and conform us to your will, that we might labor each day for you and our poor work find your favor. Let us test you not, O LORD, but trust in your goodness toward us and be obedient to your Word. Praise you for your glory, LORD! Let all souls give you due praise, that we might join with you who made us, that we might share in your surpassing glory.