The BreadCast

(Is.40:1-5,9-11; Ps.85:9-14; 2Pt.3:8-14; Mk.1:1-8) "Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way." And so, "John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." And so comes "the voice of one crying out in the desert," in the desert that is our fallen lives: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths." Turn from your sins, brothers and sisters. Repent. It is the Lord's will that "all should come to repentance," that all should be "found without spot or blemish" on the day of His coming, on the day all "the elements will be dissolved with fire." With the fire of the Holy Spirit does the Lord Jesus come now to baptize, that what John has cleansed from our souls might be gone forever – that the new person we become by this baptism of water might be made complete, might become hardened and lasting in the furnace of His love. God "proclaims peace to His people. Near indeed is His salvation to those who fear Him." Hear what His prophet says, for he cries "out at the top of [his] voice" that indeed all hearts might listen: "Here is your GOD! Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who rules by His strong arm." Yes, "the mouth of the Lord has spoken," and now the WORD is in our midst, walking amongst us as our shepherd and "leading the ewes with care." The "justice [that] shall walk before Him, and prepare the way of His steps," has come, and now the level highway that leads to His kingdom we must tread – there is no denying the road that is set before us. Christ is coming, brothers and sisters, and Christ has come. The Baptist has prepared His path, and He, the Son of God, has walked it. And now we await His return in glory. And "the Lord does not delay His promise"; His return is sure. Already we see the "glory dwelling in our land." He waits for you to come now to Him. In patience He looks for you to turn. Turn to Him now in earnest; with all your soul cry out His Name. "Jesus Christ the Son of God" dawns on the horizon. Embrace His love; walk His sacred path. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Please Even Me Out" from Cleansing Human Frailty, fourth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, may peace be proclaimed to your people and we follow on your way of salvation. YHWH, let your Word be proclaimed to the ends of the earth that all hearts might be prepared for the return of your Son, for the Day when all the elements will be dissolved by fire and the thoughts and deeds of every soul revealed. John the Baptist has come and prepared the way for the first coming of Jesus. Now His disciples go forth, now the Gospel is cried out from the heights of Zion – now every man shall plainly see that you, O LORD, are God; and peace shall come to him who turns to your glory. With fire let us be baptized today, LORD, with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Washed clean from our sins let us now be perfected for life in your kingdom. Let us not fear the coming Day but welcome it and hasten it by living uprightly before you. In your patience you wait for us to turn from all sin and embrace your presence in our midst. Let us make straight your way into our hearts.

(Is.63:16b-17,19b,64:2-7; Ps.80:2-4,15-16,18-19; 1Cor.1:3-9; Mk.13:33-37) "Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways!" "O Lord of hosts, look down from heaven, and see." "Rouse your power, and come to save us." Do not "let us wander, O Lord, from your ways, and harden [not] our hearts so that we fear you not." We are your fruitful vine, but "we have all withered like leaves… for you have hidden your face from us and delivered us up to our guilt. Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay and you are the potter." "May your help be with the Man of your right hand." May we be formed in His image and so be pleasing to you. May we be ready for His return, and our final meeting with you, our Lord and God. Brothers and sisters, we must be as the Corinthians, among whom "the testimony of Christ was confirmed," who "are not lacking in any spiritual gift as [they] wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ." He travels now abroad in the kingdom of His Father, but He will return. And He has indeed left us "each with his work"; all are gifted by God and called to bear fruit in the time that is ours now… "May He not come suddenly and find [us] sleeping." When He "rend[s] the heavens and come[s] down, with the mountains quaking before [Him]," may we not be found quaking as well, having slipped into the slumber of sin, having been covered with this world's darkness. Rather, let Him meet us doing right at whatever hour He may come. Let us constantly serve our God and "He will keep [us] firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." "What I say to you, I say to all: 'Watch!'" In many ways does He indeed say it: "Be watchful! Be alert!" Keep your eyes open! Stay awake! Be ready! But ever He tells us to remember that we are "called to fellowship with [the] Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." And as "God is faithful" so must we too be faithful to our call, giving witness always to the glory of our Lord. Now is the time to turn from our sin and be formed in His image. Let the prophet not say over us: "There is none who calls upon [His] name, who rouses himself to cling to [Him]." Let us prepare ourselves for His coming by walking rightly in His ways. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Warm Forehead" from Bearing the Birth Pangs, tenth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, let us enter into fellowship with your Son, becoming one with Him and watching for His return. YHWH, let us be mindful of our ways as we wait for the return of your Son. May we be blessed with every spiritual gift as we watch for His coming. Though our good deeds have become as polluted rags, He makes them new, bringing us back to you. Give us new life, O LORD, that we might call upon your NAME. You are our Father, our God; let us no longer be separated from you and your glory. We are the work of your hands, dear God – remake us in the image of your Son that when He comes we might stand with Him in your presence. Make us irreproachable, LORD, by your grace, by your mercy, by your rending of the heavens and coming down to us. Let us lack nothing for the hour of Jesus' return but be ready to enter the kingdom. May our eyes be open and our hearts awaiting our salvation.

O brother of the Rock of our Church, you who brought him to our Lord, you who were crucified on the Cross of our Savior, who shed your blood freely for His cause… you who thirsted for His coming and welcomed Him so readily into your life – bring us also to the Messiah’s side and pray we shall receive Him as well as your brother has done; pray we, too, will abandon our boats, our moorings in this world, to follow the Christ along the way He leads, even apart from home and family. Brothers to the Son pray we become, accomplishing the Father’s will with our lives; capture us in His net this day that we too might stand in His light with all the redeemed of Israel.

(Ez.34:11-12,15-17; Ps.23:1-6; 1Cor.15:20-26,28; Mt.25:31-46) "Whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me." Jesus is King. It is He to whom the Father has "subjected everything" and who "must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet," until He has "destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power"; and it is He who then "hands over the kingdom to His God and Father… that God may be all in all." Yes, "when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit upon His glorious throne, and all the nations will assemble before Him." And He who is the Good Shepherd will separate the sheep beneath His rule "one from another": it is He who will say to the righteous, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world"; and to the unrighteous, "Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." He will judge all souls, for all souls are in His hands. Yes, He is King. And yet this King is with His subjects; this Shepherd is hidden in His sheep – He is the Shepherd who "finds Himself among His scattered sheep." Indeed, in His power He promises to "pasture [His] sheep": "The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal"… but more than this, more than this is our King to us. For He is a King who not only serves the poor and broken, but who is the poor and broken Himself. Though all power and glory and honor are with Him who is exalted as Head over all, He travels with the least of His children; He makes Himself one with the least of all creatures. Does He not say, "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me"? Oh how He unites Himself with our humanity! His love is beyond our comprehension. And, brothers and sisters, it should be obvious what we are now called to do; if we wish to be "brought to life… each one in proper order," following "Christ the firstfruits," we must walk in His way. If we wish to sing with David His humble king, "You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows" – if indeed we desire to share in His eternal kingship, we must on the dust of this earth serve Him in the least among us… we ourselves must be the least, as He is. Alleluia to our exalted King! Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Coat of Warmth" from Cleansing Human Frailty, fourth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, walk among us and shepherd us well in the reign of your Son, that we might love as you love. YHWH, how shall we come to dwell in your House forever? How shall we be the sheep at your right hand? Only by becoming as your only Son. Only by making ourselves present among the least. For you have a compassionate heart which reaches out to all in need. You have hands that bind up the wounds of your little ones, that care for the hungry and the sick. You prepare for all righteous souls a place in your kingdom, and your Son shows us how to be like you, that we might enter your presence. O Jesus, O Lord, who reign above all as our Head, as our God, as the Savior of all righteous souls… how shall we love as you have loved; how shall we see you in the needs of our fellow man? Blind we are and crawling in the dust – how shall we be exalted with you at the Father's right hand? It is by your walking amongst us, O Lord and King, that we are saved from all selfishness and find the compassion and humility we need to enter into the Father's heart. Give us the rest we desire, set us free from sin and death… raise us up to dwell with you as we make our lives like your own.

O virgin pure and brilliant, you gave your life in defense of the faith, refuting all arguments to its contrary; though you were but a child yourself, you stood strong before your tormentors, enduring the persecution and torture they struggled in vain to muster against you, ever shining the light of purity and truth before their corrupted minds and hearts – pray for those who defend the faith and all those who would explain it away, that the light of pure reason will dispel all doubt and darkness and the verity of the faith be known by all souls on this earth, undeniable as it is by the mind of any man. Pray we not waste words or time but live a holy life before God, giving witness to His presence in the world and in the Church, and come finally to rest on His mountain.

O you who were martyred over three centuries of persecution in a country so bitter toward the faith, bishops and priests and laymen alike, native to the land and foreign-born, all innocent souls who suffered even torture in joy, all for the sake of the Lord and His Church – pray we shall be as ready as you to bear witness to the faith with our lives, that all as one in the Body of Christ we will be willing even to die to satiate our thirst for the kingdom and for the salvation of souls. O what joy to be as Jesus, to walk in His steps even to the Cross! No greater blessing could any soul know on this corrupted plane… Pray we shall come with you to Heaven.

O father of holy monasteries who dug deeply in the earth, in the heart of man, and laid their foundation on the Rock that is Christ that they might be made in His image, in the image of Him who created us – pray we shall love the Lord as He commands and so be holy as He is holy, truly reflecting the image of our God and living in His surpassing peace. Pray austerity serve well to make us in the Lord’s image, to purge from us all that is not of Him; may we be blessed to serve with untiring devotion and care the will of our Lord in all things, in worship of Him, in prayer, and in genuine love of our neighbor, that the Gospel may go forth to the ends of the earth not just in words but in our very flesh and blood.

O successor to Peter, Shepherd of God’s Church, Father of all the churches in the Body of Christ, these you instructed well; these you gave a shepherd’s care… for these and for the Lord you shed your blood – pray for God’s Church even this day, that she shall remain united under her one Lord and Savior, each member serving the good of all as wholly as you have done. Pray we all work together in Jesus’ name and in His blood to do the Father’s will and so become as holy as He, as holy as you were blessed to become. Pray the teaching of the apostles ever ring in our ears that we shall never forget the way the Christ marks out for us, the way of truth that leads to life.

O holy virgin and martyr, you sang a song of love to Jesus, a song that could not be dimmed, could not be taken away, for you were protected by an angel of the Lord and willing to give your life to maintain your love for Him – pray for us poor souls of this day and age from whom purity is so far removed, who need deep conversion to believe, to see the angel at your side, to know the path to which the Lord calls us, the Cross which is every Christian’s song. So far removed, so far removed are we, and so impassible is the way to Him… inspire in our souls, dear saint, the desire for the incorruptible that beat in your heart, that we too might sing a song to Jesus pleasing to His ears.

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.