The BreadCast

(1Mac.4:36-37,52-59; 1Chr.29:10-13; Lk.19:45-48) "Let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it." In both our reading and gospel today, we hear of the cleansing of the temple, and we see its purpose and fulfillment. "My house is meant for a house of prayer," declares Jesus. A house of prayer, and a house for teaching: "He was teaching in the temple area from day to day." It is a house of music, for by the Israelites after the Maccabean revolution it "was reconsecrated with songs, harps, lutes, and cymbals." It is a place for humility: "All the people prostrated themselves…" and worship: "…and adored and praised Heaven." Praise is most fitting for the house of the Lord, for His holy temple, for it is this which unites us with our God. When we sing of His greatness – "Yours, O Lord, are grandeur and power, majesty, splendor, and glory. For all in heaven and on earth is yours" – we are joined to Him who is "exalted as head over all." For in proclaiming the truth of His "power and might" over all, we ourselves are cleansed and become as temples of the Lord, holy and radiant as gold. "The entire populace was listening to Him and hanging on His words." To whom did the people listen but the Temple itself? What was begun by the Maccabee brothers is accomplished in Jesus. It had long been the hope and desire of the Israelites, and indeed the longing of all mankind, to have a holy place to worship God, to offer sacrifice to Him who is the greatest love of all hearts. And now He stands before them, now He speaks to them. And He effects the renewal of the temple not so much by His "ejecting the traders" who had made it "a den of thieves," as by His presence in their midst. For the temple exists not so much in the walls adorned "with gold crowns and shields" as in the flesh of Christ; and it is this Temple we become when we follow Him, when we hear and heed the words which issue forth like a cleansing stream from these sacred lips and heart, and when we eat His body and drink His blood. The destruction of this Temple will come. Even now the leaders of the people are "looking for a way to destroy Him." But in three days the Temple will be rebuilt and dedicated forever in perfect purity for all who desire to enter there. ******* O LORD, purify our hearts that we might rejoice in your Temple, our prayer ever rising up to you. YHWH, may your Temple be cleansed that we might offer true worship to you here in your Church. Let all souls be purified by your Son and by His sacrifice, that your children might sing your praise forever. From eternity to eternity you are exalted, you are the Most High – O let us freely bless your holy NAME! O LORD, may we know the great blessing of falling prostrate before you who are God. May we find the grace of adoring you alone. May we ever be in prayer in your holy House, and so become holy ourselves in your eternal presence. Let your sanctuary be purified; let it be dedicated to you, dear God. Let all that is sinful be cast from us by your Son that we might indeed be blessed to be as He is; listening always to His teaching and obeying His every word, let us become a House of prayer for you.

(1Mac.2:15-29; Ps.50:1-2,5-6,14-15,23; Lk.19:41-44) "We will not obey the words of the king nor depart from our religion in the slightest degree." The king of heaven shall soon come into the city of peace, humble and riding on an ass, but today He weeps as He sees Jerusalem and knows of its imminent destruction for its sins. Yet He shall ride into Jerusalem, yet He shall be dragged within its walls… and the death He proclaims upon all its children, He Himself shall know, He Himself shall undergo, that there may be means of escape for us all, for all who turn from the prince of this world and his seduction and seek to remain true to the commands of our God. The persecution of the Jews some two hundred years before Christ's own we continue to hear of in our reading from Maccabees: "The officers of the king in charge of enforcing the apostasy came to the city of Modein to organize the sacrifices." And though many go over to the enemy, Mattathias and his sons remain faithful, remain true to the Lord. Great is their zeal in the face of the threat and in the sight of the ways of the evil one. And flee the city and its abominations Mattathias did with all the righteous, to make a home apart in the desert. For he recognizes the time of visitation and the destruction of faith upon his city and his people; he has not "completely lost" vision of "the path to peace" but remains faithful even in time of persecution. "Days will come upon you when your enemies encircle you with a rampart, hem you in, and press you hard from every side," Jesus prophesies as He weeps over Jerusalem. He wishes not to see the persecution come, nor to have to die Himself. But the people do not recognize with their hearts the love He offers forth… and so what can He do but die; and so what can they know but destruction. But His sacrifice shall prove redemptive for those who turn; a place in the desert He shall prepare for those who desire to be holy, to be set apart from the wickedness of this race. "From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth" and His "faithful ones" gather before Him. In their praise of His glory they fulfill their "vows to the Most High" and so the king of this world holds no power over them. In the New Jerusalem with the risen Lord they live, beyond the destruction of the old. ******* O LORD, you will come to visit your people; let us flee the sin of this world or we will be destroyed. YHWH, it is better for us to dwell in a desert apart if it means we can remain with you. Better for us to leave all our possessions behind than to be enslaved by the silver and gold and many gifts this world offers to those who abandon their faith. Let us remain steadfast with you and fight always for what is just in your sight. Days will soon come when there will not be one stone left on another. Indeed, our enemies come to encircle us and close in upon us. But we need not fear the darkness, the powers of this dying age. For with you, O LORD, we are strong, stronger than death itself. Let us ever offer a holy sacrifice to you; forever let us praise your NAME. Jesus weeps for the blindness of the people to His presence among us. They hear Him not as He speaks and summons them to the kingdom. Let us not be so blind and deaf, dear LORD, but obey your every word, and we shall be rescued.

(2Mac.7:1,20-31; Ps.17:1,5-6,8,15; Lk.19:11-28) "He, in His mercy, will give you back both breath and life, because you now disregard yourselves for the sake of His Law." When the Lord returns "crowned as king" He will call all before Himself and judge each according to the profit he has made with his life. If we are like the seven brothers who suffered and died for the faith, if we have been like the good servants who invested wisely the gifts left with them by the Lord, we shall come into His reign. If we have wasted His talents or, God forbid, have persecuted, as Antiochus – who "contrived every kind of affliction for the Hebrews" – those who strive with the Lord to remain faithful to His call, we "will not escape the hands of God." He will come to judge; in justice He is known. "On waking, I shall be content in your presence," sings David in our psalm, expressing the hope of those whose "steps have been steadfast" in the paths of God. And how this hope in the coming kingdom is embodied by the seven brothers with their mother "who were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king" – how well they presage the suffering and death of Jesus, and the sword which pierces His mother's heart. The mother's words are particularly beautiful and wise as she witnesses to her sons that she was not the author of their lives: "It was not I who gave you the breath of life, nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed," thus stirring them to faith in "the Creator of the universe who shapes each man's beginning" and holds the life of all in His hands. Hear her words of exhortation to faith spoken to her youngest son: "I beg you, child, to look at the heavens and the earth and see all that is in them; then you will know that God did not make them out of existing things." And so she encourages him to "accept death, so that in the time of mercy [she] may receive [him] again." Here, certainly, is our faith in essence. Here the hope we have in the Lord is lived. The Lord has gone from us to the "faraway country" of heaven to receive His kingship and return for our souls. He has left with each of His servants gifts for the time of waiting. Today He and His heavenly kingdom are not far away for He is very present in His Church, in her priests and the sacraments, in the Word of God revealed to us, in the sky upon which we gaze to see His handiwork… in all things we know Him and for all our needs He provides. Let us not be afraid to live with Him and so to die for Him, to disregard our very lives in the employment of His talents… and the breath and life we do so cherish shall be ours forever in heaven. ******* O LORD, Jesus goes to the Cross, but He shall return; He shall return and judge the souls of all. YHWH, your Son has gone from us to a faraway land, to your side in the kingdom of Heaven. And if we wish to join Him there, we must employ well the talents He leaves us now in His stead. We must be willing to lay down our lives as He has done if we are to enter into His reign in the time of mercy. O may your Son come to us even this day, dear LORD! May we know His presence among us in the gifts and graces He leaves us in His sacraments and in His Word. And may we work each day to increase their yield upon this earth, until He returns in glory. Soon He shall return and we must stand strong in the face of death and torture, before the evils contrived by the hands of men. For you, O LORD, who made the heavens and the earth shall reward every man who gives witness to your love. We shall wake in your presence; breath and life will be ours in your eternal kingdom.

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.

(2Mac.6:18-31; Ps.3:2-8; Lk.19:1-10) "I fear not the myriads of people arrayed against me on every side." Zacchaeus' running up ahead and climbing a tree in order to be able to see Jesus as He passed along the way may not be a witness on the order of Eleazar, who "declared that above all he would be loyal to the holy laws given by God" and went willingly to torture and death, "leaving in his death a model of courage and an unforgettable example of virtue not only for the young but for the whole nation," but the same faith inspired both. And perhaps this wealthy man giving half of his belongings to the poor does approach the heroism of Eleazar. The principal figures in both our reading and gospel today indeed give witness to the faith in the salvation which Jesus has come to bring to all our houses. And both reflect the strength needed to overcome the myriad of obstacles set in our paths. "O Lord, how many are my adversaries!" David cries in our psalm. "Many rise up against me!" Eleazar is threatened by the systematic persecution of his faith and his people by the pagan king and his minions, but in the face of "the instrument of torture" this noble old man tells his persecutors "to send him at once to the abode of the dead," for he would not bring "shame and dishonor" on himself nor lead the people astray by giving in to an unlawful act. And in our gospel Zacchaeus finds himself surrounded by the murmuring crowd accusing him of being a sinner. But he stands his ground in the face of this persecution, justified or not, and proves himself worthy to be at the side of Jesus. "The Son of Man has come to search out and save what was lost." It is His desire to bring us to salvation. Yet if we do not seek Him, He will not find us. If we do not call to Him, He will not hear us. And if we do not stand our ground and give witness to Him when put to the test for our faith, He cannot stand with us. Temptations must necessarily come. We cannot escape persecution. But we must not listen to those who say, "There is no salvation for him in God." We must remember that God stands with us if we stand with Him, and that it is just such as us He has come to save. ******* O LORD, help us to stand strong in your NAME in the face of persecution; let us endure all with you. YHWH, our adversaries surround us on every side saying there is no salvation for us in God because of our sins against you, or because they doubt your existence. Thus the darkness closes in upon us, the wickedness of this evil place. But standing with you we are saved. When we call on your NAME, when we climb the tree of life, your holy mountain, to gaze on your face, you are there to receive our souls: though we die we shall wake with you. Why should we be afraid, LORD, though myriads of people are arrayed against us, though they threaten us with torture and death? Even if our sins should accuse us, even if rightly we should be condemned, yet your Son comes to seek us out and redeem us from condemnation to stand with Him in your kingdom. O let Him come to our house this day! and with Him let us remain faithful till the end.

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.

(1Mac.1:10-15,41-43,54-57,62-63; Ps.119:53,61,88,134,150,155,158; Lk.18:35-43) "Terrible affliction was upon Israel." Oh how the nation had become so blind. Oh how they had turned from their God. Some "preferred to die rather than be defiled with unclean food or to profane the covenant," but most ate freely of the poisonous fruit of the tree of abomination, and so became as the blind man begging by the side of the road – so spiritually bereft were they. Our reading from Maccabees tells of a terrible time of persecution upon the Israelite nation less than two hundred years before the coming of Christ, and it shows that that persecution comes from within the community itself, as "men who were breakers of the law" sought alliance with the Gentiles and their pagan worship, thinking so foolishly that this would bring them blessing and comfort. How readily "they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath." And the date is given here when "the king erected the horrible abomination upon the altar of holocausts," signifying Israel's complete turn from God and His laws to the vain worship of false gods. Our psalm speaks repeatedly of "the snares of the wicked," "the oppression of men," the "malicious persecutors," the "sinners," the "apostates" who turn from the law and attempt to "twine" others about in their evil. This is man's sin from the beginning – attempting to form God of his own hands, refusing to be obedient to the ways the loving Father has imparted for his salvation, for his blessing. Man gives himself over to the lusts of this world and the imagination of a proud mind, and through such exaltation of self finds himself soon lost in the confusion that such vanity can only bring. But in the meantime he persecutes the just who hold to the way of truth; for a while he fools himself by the glamour of his idols. But soon the blindness sets in, and soon the salvation of the just shall come. If we are in affliction because of the persecution of this world of sin that surrounds and closes in, we should consider ourselves blessed; this affliction is proof of our faith, and upon it the Lord looks with favor. If we are afflicted with the blindness of the nations wrought by our wallowing in sin, we'd best cry out to the Lord as He passes us on the way to Jerusalem. He will hear us and He will stop, if we are persistent in our cries. And it is so that our faith will make us whole. Let us find our sight by the intercession of Christ and "giving God the glory" begin "to follow Him," whatever cross may await us. ******* O LORD, woe to those who forsake your law! – let them cry out to you with full voice that they may be saved. YHWH, how blind we have become, turning from your law, from your holy ways, to worship the false and empty gods of the nations. O may your Son turn to us and have pity this day that we might see His goodness before us and follow Him to the New Jerusalem. Let us not be counted among those who forsake your Law and profane your Temple; let us rather die than break your Covenant. By the side of the road we sit and cry for all the afflictions our sin has brought upon us. What hope have we, O LORD, of being taken from this dark place, how could we escape the snares of the wicked round about us, if your Son did not stop and call us to Himself, if He did not come into the midst of the darkness to save us. Glory to you, O God, and to you alone, for your promise you have not forgotten. From all evil keep us safe.

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.

(Mal.3:19-20; Ps.98:5-9; 2Thes.3:7-12; Lk.21:5-19) "For you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays." The end comes. The end of the Church year approaches, and the end of time is always upon us. What shall it mean for us, the fact that "there will not be left a stone upon another stone"? That day comes "blazing like an oven" for all evildoers, but for the just the healing rays of the Son of God shine down – will we be burned with the proud like stubble, or made whole in the presence of God? Yes, "He comes to rule the earth; He will rule the world with justice and the peoples with equity." He is just and so He cannot but judge with justice. How shall we prepare for His coming? What do we do as we wait? Paul gives us wise instruction, simple instruction, which should be simply heeded: "Work quietly." It is not for us to be anxious or afraid; it is not for us to fall into disorder or become lazy… it is but for us to remain occupied with the work of God, however simple, however wonderful, that working be. We may be as St. Theresa and her little way, giving ourselves to the Lord in the simple tasks we perform day to day; or we may be as the missionaries for whom she prayed, going out to the ends of the earth, handed over to "synagogues and to prisons," being "led before kings and governors" to give witness to the name of Christ – "and they will put some of you to death" – but to whatever we are called, always it must be the Lord and His Spirit which are at work in us, helping us to persevere to the end. Not all shall die in the cause, but all must remain faithful to His voice. Brothers and sisters, sometimes it is the hardest thing simply to go on day to day. Regardless of our situation, we can become distracted and, failing to find the wisdom of Christ, seek to "prepare [our] defense beforehand," to put the words of the Lord into our own mouths – to decide for ourselves what the Lord would have us do. It is the simplest thing to accept His will, to bask in the rays of His glory… and yet so anxious do we become in our waiting that we cannot hear His still, small voice speaking to our hearts. We must persevere. We must go on. We must listen. He is coming, and if we fear His holy Name, we shall have nothing else to fear: we shall be made whole. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "The End of the World Courses through a Day" from Bearing the Birth Pangs, tenth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, let us do your work now on this plane that we might rejoice in your coming Day. YHWH, help us to persevere until the Day of your Son's return; that Day is at hand, we know – let us be ready for its purging fire. And as we stand yet on this earth, let us be ever willing to do your work, to give witness to you and to your Son even with our own lives. Our lives are nothing apart from His sacrifice, and so, O LORD, let us lay them down freely in any way you call. Give us words to speak to those who accuse us unjustly; put your testimony in our hearts and in our mouths. Your Spirit be with us to guide us in all things, that in all things we might act with wisdom. We shall not fear the destruction of this world, dear LORD, if Jesus remains always at our side. Come now with your justice, O God, and let us forever praise your NAME. Your holy will be done even this day.