The BreadCast
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The BreadCast episodes

  • January 30 - Sunday of the 4th Week in Ordinary Time, Year C
    (Jer.1:4-5,17-19; Ps.71:1-6,15,17; 1Cor.12:31-13:13; Lk.4:21-30) "I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord." When God calls Jeremiah to prophesy "against Judah's kings and princes, against its priests and people," He tells him to "gird [his] loins" and commands: "Be not crushed on their account." For though his people "will fight against" him, they shall "not prevail over" him. The Lord makes Jeremiah "a fruitful city, a pillar of iron, a wall of brass" able to stand against attacks of any in "the whole land"; He preserves His prophet's life despite any danger or threat. In our gospel Jesus is likewise protected by God from any harm His people would inflict upon Him. Here in the synagogue of Nazareth, Jesus is called to prophesy against the faithlessness of the people; and though before He spoke His harsh word of truth they had "all spoke[n] highly of Him," now "filled with fury" they drive Him "out of the town, and lead Him to the brow of the hill… to hurl Him down headlong." But the deliverance promised Jeremiah and sung of so beautifully by our psalmist is with the Lord's only Son as it had been with His prophet, and "Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away." Though they would not accept the deliverance He brings, He is delivered from them. "O my God, [you] rescue me from the hand of the wicked"; you indeed are "my rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety." O Lord, "let me never be put to shame," but "in your justice rescue me, and deliver me." For you are "my rock and my fortress," "my hope" who never fails to save. May I walk through all the difficulties of this world, all the darkness of sin and temptation and suffering, with you at my side, therefore with nothing to fear. Make me strong as your prophet, as your Son, for my life is in your Hand. Brothers and sisters, soon all persecution will pass away with all the imperfect trappings of this desolate earth, and only God's love will remain. Let us be as He who "endures all things"; let us be of love. And nothing of this world shall touch us as we pass through its midst, shielded by the Word of God, guarded by His eminent love. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Is This Your World?" from Remove the Mask of Lies, second album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, you rescue us from the hand of the wicked; from our mother's womb you are our stronghold. YHWH, it is you who deliver us from all harm, from the fury of this world, from the anger of those unable to bear your truth. In chastising us you would show us the greatest love; but who is of love as are you, and so who is able to rejoice in your truth? Few there are, O LORD, who desire to know their sins that they might turn from them and be saved. Few there are who trust in you from birth even unto death – who can place his whole life in your hands? Yet if we do not take refuge in you alone, we shall surely die. If we open not our hearts to your love, to your Word of truth that would redeem our souls, we will perish in our sin. The hardened heart of man would hurl your Son to the ground from the hill He builds His town upon. Break our pride, LORD, that we might be saved. Open our hearts to your Chosen One, to the love He brings to us, that we might see you face to face.
    6 min
  • May 26 - Wednesday of the 8th Week in Ordinary Time, Year I
    (Sir.36:1,5-6,10-17; Ps.79:8-9,11,13; Mk.10:32-35) "Take pity on your holy city, Jerusalem, your dwelling place." The prayer of the wise man is good, but I see that the same answer the Lord gave James and John when they asked to sit "one at [His] right hand and the other at [His] left" in His glory, could be given to Sirach: "You do not know what you are asking." For neither knows the implication of their request – neither can see that it will only be fulfilled in a painful death. In our gospel Jesus is leading the disciples "on the road going up to Jerusalem," a crowd following behind. There He will "fulfill the prophecies spoken in [His] name." There He will "fill Zion with His majesty, [His] temple with [His] glory." But the keepers of the keys of the temple "will condemn Him to death"; they will thereby destroy the Temple itself. In this way only will the "prophets be proved true." In this way only He will "deliver us and pardon our sins." In this way only will He "with [His] great power free those doomed to death." For the prophets have said that the Servant must suffer. The prophets have said that the Son must die. There is no other way that "three days later He will rise." There is no other way for Him to redeem those condemned to die. This must sink into our hearts; this we must understand, we who run so freely from the cross, who think it is a facile thing to "inherit the land." The Lord will indeed have pity on our souls; He will indeed answer "the prisoners' sighing" and forget "the iniquities of the past." But Heaven is attained only by those who drink from His cup; the glory of God is known only by those who share in Jesus' "bath of pain." No other way will we be cleansed of our sins. No other way will we be made ready. The cross is the path to the New Jerusalem, and we must walk it with our Lord. And so, be not lazy about the work He has set before you; fail not to "serve the needs of all." If you think of yourself and some vain reward, you will never find the blessing which awaits "those for whom it has been reserved." His "compassion come[s] quickly to us" if we but share in His blood. ******* O LORD, your Son has come to die that we might be freed from the death of sin; on this path of sacrifice let us join Him. YHWH, you are the eternal God. We are but sinful men. And so, how shall we come into your kingdom? Only by the bath of pain, only by drinking from the chalice of your Son – only by His death on the Cross. He will be condemned to death. He will be spit upon and mocked. He will indeed be crucified. It is we who lead Him there, we who by our sin and selfishness push Him along the road to Calvary. O LORD, have mercy on our souls! Hear our sighing in this dark prison; let us live in exile no more. Bring us back to your holy dwelling place… your glory may we somehow know. We call out to you from the ends of the earth, LORD; have compassion on our cries. Your prophets will be proved true: your Servant will suffer a terrible death. Give us the courage to walk with Him, LORD, to share in the sacrifice He makes.
    5 min
  • July 23 - Tuesday of the 16th Week in Ordinary Time, Year I
    (Ex.14:21-15:1; Ex.15:1,8-10,12,17; Mt.12:46-50) "Thus the Lord saved Israel on that day from the power of the Egyptians." The Lord fought for the Israelites, His people. Working great wonders, He brought them forth from the land of Egypt. Indeed, "the Israelites marched into the midst of the sea on dry land, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left." So great was His love for His chosen ones that He saved them in this miraculous fashion, casting their enemies into the sea. Them "the earth swallowed," but His people crossed unharmed. Here is the prefigurement of the Lord's saving us from sin by His death and resurrection; through the waters of Baptism we now come to "the mountain of [the Lord's] inheritance," our enemies dying in that same water which saves us. In the dark of night, in the death of Christ, we enter the realm of the sea; at dawn we see our enemies lying dead on the shore. But it is no longer those who are related to the Lord by flesh and blood who are brought through the waters to His sanctuary. The chosen ones are no longer of a particular race. "Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is brother and sister and mother to me." It is a spiritual kingdom to which we are now called, and it is in the Spirit His children are now born. Shocking this word must have been to the ears of those so used to judging the blessings of the Lord by bloodline. Here is the beginning of Christ's teaching that any and all are called to the table of the Lord. How shocked even Peter was when directed to go to the Gentile people, when instructed to eat, as it were, of the unclean food (Acts 10:13-14). But the Lord makes all clean by His blood. His death and resurrection open the gates of heaven to all who would enter there. To anyone who would follow in His footsteps, the Lord leads on dry land to the promised glory. But do not think, as I so often hear, that there are no casualties in this new exodus. Do not hold so foolishly to the idea that the God of the Old Testament was harsh in His destruction of the Egyptian army but the God of the New effects no such punishment. See that the casualties in this battle suffer a fate worse than drowning in the sea: eternal condemnation awaits those who now harden their hearts against the word of Christ. The warfare is now spiritual rather than physical, and the judgment Jesus passes on the evil generation is now far worse than any before His time had come. As He Himself has said elsewhere, "It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea, than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin" (Lk.17:2). We are brothers and sisters of the Lord, my friends, and so He saves us from the day of judgment. As long as we do His will, His blessing shall be ours. Let us rejoice this day in the justice of God, that He cares for all those who love Him, even as He casts their enemies into the sea. ***** O LORD, let us live according to your will that we might be saved, that we might be one with Jesus in Heaven even as all our enemies perish. YHWH, your servant Moses did your will; through Him you revealed your glory to the people, and they triumphed over their enemies. May we serve you as has Moses and so become brother and sister and mother to Jesus, and so become as your children. May your Son extend His hands toward us and bless us with His sanctifying Word, that all sin may flee from our midst and we become as your chosen. Through the sea let us pass on dry ground, LORD, the water like a wall to our right and to our left. Through Baptism we are redeemed by the power of your hand; to Jesus let us be configured. Horse and chariot you cast into the sea – it is not by our own strength we are saved. It is by the grace and blessing that come from you, LORD, and by our joining ourselves to your will. In fear shall our enemies retreat from your glance, O LORD, for you fight for your lowly ones.
    7 min
  • April 28 - Prayer to St. Gianna Beretta Molla
    O blessed wife and mother, extraordinary in ordinary devotion to your family and God, you who freely gave your life that your child might live, who put the fruit of your womb before your personal concern – in this age when so many mothers in freedom and seemingly without care are more inclined to destroy the life in their wombs than nourish it or sacrifice themselves for their children's sakes, pray that these same may turn to the love you have shown and find the call of the Lord upon their souls in the heart beating innocently and plaintively within them. Pray this holocaust shall be ended.
    2 min
  • August 7 - Monday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time, Year I A
    (Nm.11:4-15; Ps.81:2,12-17; Mt.14:22-36) "How little faith you have!" It is the Lord's exclamation to His holy apostles, to the foundation of His Church – to His Rock. And certainly it applies to all of us as it does, too, to the Israelites in the desert. All need greater faith to come upon the new shore of paradise and find healing for all our ills. As the Israelites tramp through the desert, they grow tired of heavenly food and desire something earthen. Their faith in God is shaken by the lusts of their belly, and their outcry against the Lord grieves His servant Moses. He finds himself unable to carry this stiff-necked people "like a foster father carrying an infant." He breaks under the burden of "all the people" even as Peter – who shall have to carry the whole Church upon his shoulders – trembles at the wind upon the sea. Moses asks for death to find relief, and Peter cries as he begins to sink… and the Lord will "at once stretch out His hand" and catch them both, His ears ever open to the prayers of His holy ones. But greater faith will they both need to have to lead God's people forward. Peter will find it after Pentecost (though not before denying Him three times), and the stubbornness of the Israelites, "the hardness of their hearts," will keep Moses from the earthly Promised Land; only in the next world will he discover paradise. The faith we need to make it through the desert that is this world and come into the heavenly kingdom of our Lord and God is spoken by those trembling in the storm-tossed boat: "Undoubtedly you are the Son of God," and exhibited by the men of Gennesaret. For they "brought Him all the afflicted, with the plea that He let them do no more than touch the tassel of His cloak." Thus, the same faith the woman in the crowd with the open wound for years had shown Jesus on His way to raise the little child is shown here by these poor sinners, for "as many as touched it were fully restored to health." A word from His mouth. A drop of His blood. The touch of His hand. The hem of His garment. A crust of bread from His table… This is all we need. If we have faith, in a moment we will be restored to life; we will be redeemed from all our ills, from all our sins – from all the temptations of our bellies and this desert. The sea may rage and contend with the wind, but we will remain calm and patient in His presence: we will walk on water, we will find "honey from the rock," if we have but faith. It is not far away, and that the size of a mustard seed is all we need. Find relief from all your distress by calling upon the Savior. ******* O LORD, what little faith we have! – how quickly we forget you are our loving God. YHWH, how can we face the distress of this world, the wind and the waves that threaten to overcome us, the disobedience of those in our care? It is a weight too heavy for us to bear! How could Moses carry your people through the desert; how does Peter hold up your Church? Indeed, it is only by faith we have any strength at all – indeed, it is you who bear all our burdens. Under the weight of the Cross Jesus has sweated and died. All He has taken upon Himself. And we need but say: "Undoubtedly you are the Son of God!" to the One you have sent to save us, and all our burdens will be lifted from us, and we will be preserved from death. But what little faith we have, O LORD! and how much we need your help. But you are faithful when we call out to you, dear God. You desire to feed us with finest wheat. You would heal all our ills and bring us to the farther shore, if we but believed in your loving Son.
    6 min
  • February 26 - Sunday of the 8th Week in Ordinary Time, Year A
    (Is.49:14-15; Ps.62:2-3,6-9; 1Cor.4:1-5; Mt.6:24-34) "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides." Today's gospel is the Lord's beautiful exhortation not to be anxious about the things of this world: God takes care. "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear," Jesus instructs us. And how true it is that "the birds of the sky," who "do not sow or reap," are fed in abundance, and that there is nothing more splendidly clothed than the flowers of the field. And do we indeed think the Father will not care just so for our lives? Yet all we do is worry about these passing things, even as our soul calls us to peace. "Only in God is my soul at rest; from Him comes my salvation," David so poignantly and appropriately sings. And with this trust in his rock of refuge he knows he "shall not be disturbed at all." Similarly, St. Augustine has declared, from his own experience of pursuing worldly cares, that only in God do our souls find rest. Are these witnesses not enough to trust in the salvation that comes from God alone? Then hear of the undying love God holds for His creatures in the prophecy of Isaiah: to those who fret, "The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me," he asks the simple yet profound question, "Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb?" Yet greater than a mother's love is the Lord God's care for us, for "even should she forget" (as seems to happen all too often in this age of abortion), the Lord states with certainty and full assurance, "I will never forget you." And much like this inclination to anxiety about the cares of life, and coming from the same faithless source, is our proclivity to judge others. How many of us heed St. Paul's warning not to "make any judgment before the appointed time, until the Lord comes"? How many cannot trust that "He will bring to light what is hidden," that all things He sees – that we need not do His job for Him. "The one who judges me is the Lord," Paul states. Really, who else can do so? As by no other hand does our food come, so by no other tongue shall all be judged. "Trust in Him at all times, O my people! Pour out your hearts before Him." Try it, and you will see – He alone provides all things. Set your hearts on Him and He will take care. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Breathing for a Living" from Breath, the Apple Rises, fifth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, let us take rest in your arms and not in the world's distress. YHWH, you alone provide for all our needs; in you alone our souls find rest. We cannot be at peace unless we give our lives in service of you, for serving the world we find only distress. What is the motive of our hearts? Whom do we truly serve? What is it we seek with our lives? Only you know our hearts, LORD. Only you can see where our desire lies. We cannot deceive you, and any attempt at deception, at pretending love for you above all, will only leave us in the same state of unrest as our openly seeking the things of this world. Let them all die, all our errant desires, all of our fears about the things of tomorrow. What indeed is food and drink and clothing? Where do they lead us in themselves? And what is not in your hands, O LORD? Then why do we not trust ourselves into them? There is no hope for us apart from you. Let the peace of which your Son speaks be with us always, dear God.
    6 min
  • June 19 - Sunday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time, Year C
    (Zec.12:10-11,13:1; Ps.63:2-6,8-9; Gal.3:26-29; Lk.9:18-24) “They shall look on Him whom they have pierced.” Jesus is the Christ of God. It is He who suffers, He who has been pierced for our sins, and He whose blood cleanses us as we look upon Him, as we cry out in tears for the pain we have caused Him and resolve to follow Him now in His way of the cross. What is the “fountain to purify from sin” but the blood poured forth in His sacrifice, and what is it we thirst for but to drink in full the grace contained therein? And it is our great grace to suffer with Him, to take up our cross daily and share in His sacrifice, denying ourselves to find Him and His life. This is what makes us one, with Him and so with one another: this is the baptism that redeems us and makes us whole. Do we live out our baptismal vows? Do we follow Him in the way of the cross? Are we truly longing for the Lord, pining for Him, gazing upon Him – what is the banquet we seek to satisfy our souls? Are we one in His Spirit, loving Him above all others? Or do we set our souls on the empty pleasures of this life? These we must lose to find Him. Here in solitude the Lord tells the disciples quietly and sincerely, knowing the vanity and thirst for power the devil would plant in their souls – “The Son of Man must suffer greatly.” How He desires them to hear His teaching. How He longs to keep them from the evil one and see that their hearts are not fixed on this life. He knows only this will save them. He knows only repentance brings the life of God, and so He approaches them in the silence of God that His words might sink deeply into them. And they will listen. And they, too, will all die. They will understand the sacrifice that leads to life. And what of us? The Lord speaks to us, too, today. His words are here written down and proclaimed for our ears to treasure. Do we turn to this fountain of forgiveness, mourning for our sins “as one mourns for an only son”? And does our mourning lead us to lay down our lives? Nothing of this world will suffice. His Body and Blood alone are our food and drink here in this life. They make us one and make us strong, and by them He will uphold us, if our hearts are set on losing this life to find Him. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Blood in My Palate" from Loving Spirit, third album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, in the Cross let us find your cleansing fountain. YHWH, we look toward your sanctuary and what do we see but your Son pierced for our sins? And so we mourn, and so we cry… and it is in these tears we are washed clean – baptism in His blood purifies us of sin. And so, in the shadow of His wings we rejoice. For now, O LORD, our souls may cling to you; by the sacrifice of your Son we are made one with Him and with one another. And His call to take up our own cross, to share in His sacrifice, we receive with great joy; for He has shown us that it is this path that leads to salvation, that leads to eternal glory in your presence. O let us enter your sanctuary this day, LORD our God! Let us join ourselves to the offering Jesus makes for our sakes, eating His Body and drinking His Blood and doing your will as He has done. At the banquet of Heaven let our souls be satisfied!
    7 min
  • June 5 - Sunday of the 10th Week in Ordinary Time, Year C
    (1Kgs.17:17-24; Ps.30:2,4-6,11-12; Gal.1:11-19; Lk.7:11-17) “O Lord, you brought me up from the netherworld.” “You preserved me from among those going down into the pit.” For I was dead, but now I live. These should be the words of us all, for the Lord indeed is our salvation – our life breath comes from Him, and He will preserve us from all death. No longer in sin, we rise to new life. The resurrecting power of God is clearly evident in our readings today. We see both Jesus and Elijah raising the dead. And perhaps the rising of Paul from the blind pit into which he’d fallen, which led him even to persecute and attempt to destroy the Church, is the most remarkable resurrection. What we should take from today’s readings is the sure knowledge that God is life and that life has no origin other than Him. Paul proclaims the Word he preaches comes only from God through the revelation of Jesus Christ – emphasizing that no man taught him the Word which burns in his soul (a Word which gives life to all who hear it) – and in both the gospel and the first reading those who witness the raising of the dead attribute rightly its source to the Lord. In one they proclaim, “God has visited His people,” and in the other the widow of Sidon states of Elijah: “The word of the Lord comes truly from your mouth.” This is the character of the Word, this is the quality of God – He gives life. And so we know Him. And we indeed are all as the widows in today’s readings; we are all bereft of our only sons, of the light of our eyes and our very life. We mourn for the loss of our souls which is imminent because of our sin. And we, too, weep. Who shall save us? Who shall speak a word to us to revive us, to return our life’s breath, to restore our souls? Jesus comes to us. He visits our city, He comes to our door. His Word approaches our hearts and calls to us to arise – He breathes upon us the breath of new life. His apostles go forth from the foundation set in Peter, and this true Gospel is that which shall save the world, which shall bring it from its mourning to joy. But do we mourn the loss of our souls? Do we bewail that which is taken from us by sin? Do we see the death upon us? We must come as widows calling upon the Lord to find His Word at work in our hearts, bringing us to life. And we must share that Word with others. Once raised from the dead, we must proclaim what the Word has done for us. We must recognize His power at work in the world. May the Word go forth to the ends of the earth, speaking of the saving power of God. May it raise all from death. Written, read and chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Be Well" from Cleansing Human Frailty, fourth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, let the life breath return to your children; by your grace let us rise from the dead to praise you. YHWH, your Son looks with pity upon our poor condition, He sees that we are bereft of our only Child, of the light of our eyes – He sees our souls descend to the nether world and desires only to raise them from such darkness to the eternal light of your presence… and He prays for us… and He calls to us… and we rise and are held in our Mother’s arms. To the Church Jesus entrusts our souls; our very lives are in the hands of our Mother on earth. Dearest God, let us never be separated from the life-giving Breath you give us through your apostles, through the magisterium, through the teaching of your Son which they guard so assiduously. In your House let us remain all the days of our life. What hope have we if you call attention to our guilt, to the sin upon our souls? But in your compassion you preserve us from certain death, and for this we praise you. Thank you, LORD, for visiting your people and changing our mourning into dancing before you.
    6 min
  • February 19 - Sunday of the 7th Week in Ordinary Time, Year B
    (Is.43:18-19,21-22,24b-25; Ps.41:2-5,13-14; 2Cor.1:18-22; Mk.2:1-12 “It is I, I, who wipe out, for my own sake, your offenses; your sins I remember no more.” What a wonderful promise the Lord makes to us today, and proves His word true in Jesus His Son. Yes, the Lord “has regard for the lowly and the poor,” and so He looks with pity on the paralytic lowered through the roof for healing. Jesus “help[s] him on his sickbed” and “take[s] away all his ailment,” both spiritual and physical, first granting him forgiveness of sins, then calling him to “rise, pick up [his] mat, and go home.” And so indeed his sins are gone, remembered no more, and so he is made whole… and so the home to which he returns is more than the one with walls and a roof – he returns to his eternal home in the arms of the Lord. How the Lord indeed reveals that He is “doing something new!” For do not all the people exclaim, “We have never seen anything like this” at the healing of the paralytic? And is it not right that they should glorify God in such a manner? What could be more remarkable than the teaching and healing and forgiving presence of Jesus in our midst? How could God fulfill His promises in a greater way? It could not be. “God is faithful,” indeed, and “the Son of God, Jesus Christ” is He who is the Father’s “yes” to all His promises. What can we do but rejoice in such grace? “O Lord, have pity on me; heal me, though I have sinned against you.” “In the desert [you] make a way, in the wasteland, rivers”; to the desert and wasteland of my sinful soul bring your cleansing waters. As you took pity on the paralytic, as you called him to rise from the unyielding pull of his mat, so call me to lift myself up from the mire of sin into which I have fallen. Let your promise be fulfilled in me: wipe out my offenses and remember my sins no more, that I might walk resolutely to my home in heaven and there “stand before you forever.” I give you my “yes” of faith this day. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "I Used To Be So Weak" from Cleansing Human Frailty, fourth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, you now work something new in our sight – our very salvation; forgive us all our sins. YHWH, what wonders you work in our midst through the Person of Jesus, for He comes to us as a stream in the desert, forgiving us all our sin and restoring us to health in your sight. Here indeed is something new, your very presence among us. O LORD, let us not fail to call upon you, let us not fail to come to you with all our ills, that you might readily heal us because of our faith. We shall be raised from our sickbeds if we but believe in the power upon your Son. Yes, the Spirit is with Him, and shall be with us if we but give ourselves over to you. Let us not remain dead in our sin, O LORD, doubting your goodness and your grace; let us put our faith in the One you have sent, and we will be blessed, and we will come to the home you prepare for us through the ministry of your only Son… and we will praise you forever.
    6 min
  • March 6 - Sunday of the 9th Week in Ordinary Time, Year A
    (Dt.11:18,26-28,32; Ps.31:1-4,17,25; Rom.3:21-25,28; Mt.7:21-27) “Take these words of mine into your heart and soul.” Our first reading and gospel are virtually identical today. In one, Moses tells the Israelites: “I set before you here, this day, a blessing and a curse”; in the other, Jesus tells His disciples a parable of the same blessing and curse. Moses speaks of the “blessing for obeying the commandments of the Lord” and the “curse if [the Israelites] do not obey the commandments of the Lord”; and Jesus states clearly, “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock… and everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand.” The blessing and the curse – following the Word of God and not following the Word of God. And we must note that there are two parts to be fulfilled to obtain the blessing of the Lord. In Jesus’ words, we must both “listen” and “act.” And though it seems Moses stresses acting in his call for obedience, it is his words that are quoted above – and what is it to take words into our heart and soul but to listen? The Lord must first dwell in us. As St. Paul conveys so beautifully, we “are justified freely by [the Lord’s] grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God sent forth as an expiation, through faith, by His blood,” and therefore we must listen to this grace and open ourselves always to this grace at work in our hearts. And then we must act upon it. We must hear God speaking to us and do His will. It does no good only to sit and listen, for then our faith will soon die. Nor does it do any good to act without listening to God, for then we are as an empty gong. The faith we profess must be realized in the works of the Lord; without either faith or works we have nothing at all, and find but the Lord’s curse. Brothers and sisters, today let us call out to God with our brother David: “Be my rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety.” Let us “take courage and be stouthearted, all [we] who hope in the Lord.” For if we take His words to heart and if we do the will of God, we will be “set solidly on rock.” Indeed it shall be said one day, “The rains fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house.” All houses shall be touched thus by the hand of God. Let it be said of our house that it “did not collapse,” but – taking our strength in the Lord, dwelling in His Word – like a “fortress” stood ever in the blessing of His light. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Solid Rock, Unshakable Foundation" from The Innocent Heart, first album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt.
    7 min

About The BreadCast

From the publisher's feed

Spirit-filled daily reflections on the Mass Readings of the Roman Catholic Church from the book Our Daily Bread by James Kurt (with imprimatur). The daily podcasts are voice only, while the podcasts…