The BreadCast

(Is.66:18-21; Ps.117:1-2,Mk.16:15; Heb.12:5-7,11-13; Lk.13:22-30) "People will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God." "I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory," even those of "distant coastlands that have never heard of my fame, or seen my glory," says the Lord. The Word goes forth. The Word goes forth to the ends of the earth and it will open the eyes and ears of all peoples. But who shall be ready for its coming? Indeed, Isaiah's prophecy and the verses of our psalm are in harmony with the Lord's own words: all the nations shall come, all shall "praise the Lord," and all shall find a place in His kingdom. The light that goes forth, the glory of the Lord, knows no boundaries, is not limited by constructs of time and place – there are no walls in its way. All nations. All tongues. All peoples at all times and in all places are called forth by the all-encompassing love of our God and our Savior. You are welcome at His table, my brother, my sister, whomever you are, wherever you are. It is the Lord's will that all come to Him who is the Father of all nations and of all creation. But do you know the way? The way of the Lord is not easy; it is narrow and rough – it is one wrought with chastisement, with discipline. "For what 'son' is there whom his father does not discipline?" And how can you expect to come into His paradise if the soil of this world still clings to your soul? The cross is the way to the kingdom; only the scourging discipline of the Lord will enable us to sit with Him. And this discipline, this cross, is of love. Do you see this? Do you see how much the Father loves you in His reproof of your sin? "At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it." If you have not learned this basic lesson of the working of the Lord's love, you "will not be strong enough" to enter His gate. You must "not be disjointed but healed" as the Lord takes from you all that is unfit for His presence. Your suffering the loss of this life is all that will bring you to heaven. We note that even the above words of the Lord are as chastisement to the Israelite people who walk with Him, for He is telling them they are not alone in the call to God; other nations shall indeed enter before they. And as this pride in their heritage must be wrested from them before they are prepared for the kingdom, so all that limits the love of the Lord from working in our lives must be taken from us before we may enter in. Fear not the pain this brings. The "wailing and grinding of teeth" outside His gates is more painful by far – and for this suffering there is no healing anymore. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "There Are No Words" (middle part) from Breath, the Apple Rises, fifth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, teach us always to do what is right that we might be as your sons and enter into your House. YHWH, all peoples are called to your glory, to your kingdom, for all are sons and daughters to you. But truly you must be our Father, we must come from you, we must reflect your image, the image your only Son reflects to us in His way of the Cross, if we are to enter your presence. Relying on accidents of time or place we shall never be saved. Only by accepting the discipline you offer will be made ready for Heaven. Strengthen us, O LORD, by the chastisement you bring to our souls, by the Word of truth come from Jesus' mouth. He knows you and is the way to you – let us be obedient to His call and the call of His apostles to enter through the narrow gate, to leave all of this world behind that we might come rejoicing to your holy mountain with all our brothers and sisters, with all your blessed children. May all men hear your Son's voice this day, that none shall be barred from your kingdom.

O penitential soul whose eyes saw the Lord, whose ears heard His voice calling all to the Cross, obediently you accepted the afflictions that are necessary to attain union with God and His surpassing glory – pray that fearful souls like our own, which turn in complaint from every torment and trouble, however small, may be blessed with a measure of your selfless devotion, that the unfathomable treasure of the Lord's grace might be our own as we endure, and even desire as you, the pains that pave the road to Heaven. Then we shall know Christ even as you and proclaim His glory to all creatures.

(Ruth 2:1-3,8-11,4:13-17; Ps.128:1-5; Mt.23:1-12) "The greatest among you will be the one who serves the rest." Today we can contrast the faith of Ruth with the Pharisees' of Jesus' time. In our first reading, Ruth says to her mother-in-law Naomi, "Let me go and glean ears of grain in the field of anyone who will allow me that favor." She puts herself at ready service in all humility, despite the potential dangers that come with being a foreign woman working in a place dominated by men who may not have the greatest of respect for women in general and especially for her. In contrast, in our gospel Jesus says of the Pharisees, "They bind up heavy loads, hard to carry, to lay on other men's shoulders, while they themselves will not lift a finger to budge them." These Pharisees have no heart for service; they are sooner the oppressors of the poor and vulnerable, and are rather concerned for "places of honor at banquets" and "marks of respect in public" than the needs of others. How stark the contrast is between she who serves and those who are inflated with pride. And how true are Jesus' words: "Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, but whoever humbles himself shall be exalted." Indeed, God's providential hand watches over Ruth as she gleans in the field that "happened to be the section belonging to Boaz of the clan of Elimalech," her father-in-law, and so a close kinsman. Not only does Boaz make provision for her safe and fruitful gleaning of his fields – instructing his young men to do her "no harm" and indeed to leave food behind that it will be easy for her to gather – but he seeks diligently to take her to wife… and through their union she (and Naomi) is blessed with a son who will be grandfather to King David. But what of these Pharisees and their vanity? From them Jesus will take the keys of the kingdom, the teaching authority on earth which they so misuse for their own gain, and give it to others as He builds His Church on Peter and the apostles. And so today we hold up Ruth as a model of faith, while these dead men's bones which walked the earth in whitewashed tombs now find their home rotting in the grave. "You shall eat the fruit of your handiwork," our psalm proclaims. Those like Ruth who "fear the Lord, who walk in His ways… shall be like a fruitful vine" and their "children like olive plants around" their table. However, those inflated with pride, serving no one but themselves, shall come to naught. Let us heed our Lord's warning today not to exalt ourselves in any work we do, but rather set our hearts on serving others. Then we shall truly be fruitful, for then we shall know the fruits of heaven. ******* O LORD, you bless all those who fear you, who are humble before you. YHWH, make us humble before you and before others, ever willing to serve in your NAME. Then we shall be blessed. Then we shall find our place in your kingdom. For then we shall be fruitful and our fruits shall raise us to you. Anyone to whom you lead us, let us serve, dear LORD. Guide our steps to the field where we shall glean grain for food that will sustain us all our days. You alone are our nourishment, and fed by your hand we shall have abundance. But if into pride we fall, exalting ourselves above others, assuming the place reserved for you and your Son, how we shall be cast down! Our hearts and our hands will be empty as our deeds: our vanity will spell our end. No fruit of any worth shall we bear, and so our souls shall starve for want of love. O LORD, let us be truly humble! Let us be like you.

O Queen of Heaven and earth, you radiate the glory of God, for now you stand at His right Hand in the heavenly kingdom. Clothed with the sun, the moon under your feet and a crown of twelve stars upon your head, you give light to all souls who thirst for the grace our Lord and King pours upon us through your intercession. O how the angels rejoiced, how the heavens rang with praise when the Son led you into His presence clothed in gold to be forever His Bride! O pray for us, dearest Queen and Mother, that we too shall be led in among your maiden companions to stand in God's glory forever. Our cause we entrust to your Immaculate Heart.

(Ruth 1:1,3-6,14-16,22; Ps.146:2,5-10; Mt.22:34-40) "Wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God." How well our readings harmonize this day. Jesus speaks plainly to the keepers of the law the greatest commandments – total love of God and neighbor – and Ruth puts them into practice for our witness. And our psalm sings the praises of our great God of love, whose care for "the hungry" and "the strangers," "the fatherless and the widow," we are called to imitate. Alleluia, indeed. Ruth is a foreigner, from a land which follows other gods; yet she is willing to leave "her people and her god" to follow Naomi and the living and true God unreservedly. Oh how this mirrors all our call to leave all of this world behind and follow the Lord and His way. Oh that we had the courage and faith of this Moabite woman who will become the great-grandmother of King David. How well this illustrates God's call and blessing to any and all who seek Him, who long to walk in His steps. And how well His way of compassion and love is shown in His care for this widow Naomi, who came to Moab hungry and leaves now to return to Israel with this blessed daughter-in-law to be with her and serve her without restraint. The words of the Lord are so true: "Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind," and "love your neighbor as yourself." They silence even the hardest of hearts with their radiance. We know that God is love, that through His help we find blessing – that His concern for all those in need extends "through all generations" – and we know that we should be like Him… but how often we fail to practice Ruth's resolve. This day let us cast off our reservations, brothers and sisters, and cast ourselves upon the love and grace of the Lord. Let us resolve never to "abandon or forsake" Him. Knowing clearly the love of God which comes from the lips of our own Lord of love and our blessed psalmist, and which is embodied by Ruth's profession of faith and commitment to love, let us vow in this spirit to return the Lord's boundless love, for in loving we become like Him whom we love and so stand with Him who "shall reign forever" in the eternal kingdom of light and love. Again I say, now is the acceptable time; today is the day of salvation. Follow Him unreservedly. ******* O LORD, may we increase in purity daily, for the hour of your Son's coming is nigh and we must be ready to become His bride. YHWH, help us to trust entirely in you, to love you with all our heart, and our neighbors as ourselves. Help us to leave behind our people and anything that keeps us from you. To you and to your love let us come, and with you make our home. You provide, O LORD, for all those in need, for the widow and the orphan, and the stranger who draws close to you. You make no distinction among people: it is those of faith who are acceptable to you and whom you bless. Those of faith who reflect your great love become as your sons and daughters; these are wed to you. O let us never abandon or forsake you, LORD! Let us go wherever you lead, and make your people our people. With you and with those who follow you let us stay and remain, and we shall dwell securely in your love. You are our only hope – reign over us forever.

O simple priest who became Shepherd of the universal Church and defended her with courage against the errors of the age, you did not waver before the powers that would dilute the purity of the teaching of our Mother but stood strong against the tide attempting to wash her away – are we not yet threatened by falsehood and sin being held up as good, and so do we not yet need your spirit and your prayers? Though the tide may be turning, returning to the solid rock of faith, yet certainly we need your help to see the Spirit of Truth regain and maintain His place in this House. Pray indeed all priests and people be simple and true as children before God.

(Jgs.11:29-39; Ps.40:5,7-10; Mt.22:1-14) "You have made a vow to the Lord. Do with me as you have vowed." As with the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is blessed not so much for giving birth to Jesus – or consecrating herself to God as a virgin – as for hearing and doing the word of God, being the handmaiden of the Lord extraordinaire… so the Lord delights not in "sacrifice and oblation," per se, but in "ears open to obedience." In accepting the sacrifice of her fertility (the greatest sacrifice a woman could make, though it may be difficult to realize in these days of abortion and contraception), Jephthah's daughter demonstrates the obedience required of all the redeemed. "Happy the man who makes the Lord his trust; who turns not to idolatry or to those who stray after falsehood," David proclaims in our psalm today. "The spirit of the Lord" upon him, Jephthah defeats severely the Ammonites, a nation which practiced the sacrifice of their children to their god, Molech. The Lord thus shows disdain for them and their ways. Thus also it should be evident that Jephthah would not do in the spirit of the Lord that which is directly opposed to His will. The sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter is of her fertility – it is her virginity she mourns and not her death. And Jephthah maintains his vow by consecrating her wholly to God, knowing that his generation will cease, since he has no other sons and daughters to bear his name, and thus making a great sacrifice himself. If it were her life itself he offers God, he would be no better than those he destroyed and certainly no son of Abraham, who was taught the truth against such sacrifice so many years before. This aside, we turn to our gospel. It is clear that Jesus is telling the chief priests and elders of the people that they do not have the obedience required of the redeemed. "In the written scroll it is prescribed" that all must do the will of God, but these who know the Scriptures so well, know nothing of them at all… and so the Word goes out to draw the whole world into the kingdom prepared by God. But to these, too, Jesus has a warning: "The invited are many, the elect are few." If we are "not properly dressed for a wedding feast," if we have not aligned our lives with the will of God, we too shall be thrown "out into the night" with the man who had to "wail and grind his teeth." And this wailing shall not come as holy sacrifice unto the ears of God; it shall not demonstrate our obedience to Him, but rather be the inflicting of judgment upon our souls. Let us be obedient to the will of God in all things, brothers and sisters. Let us hear His voice alone and follow where it leads. ******* O LORD, let us offer ourselves as a holocaust to you; then we will be fit to enter your presence. YHWH, how shall we give true worship to you and offer you the sacrifice you are due? Only complete obedience to your will shall bring us into your presence; it is our very lives you desire of us. For you know that only this will make us joyful – only union with you and your Son will fulfill the longing of our hearts. To your wedding feast let us come, O LORD, and there let us remain, ever praising your glory with full voice, happy to be among those you have saved. And so, in purity let us come, single-hearted let us be, and we shall not be cast out into the night but live in your holy light. Your Spirit you send upon those who call upon you, who devote themselves to your will. Let us fulfill our vows to you, LORD; let us turn from all idols and trust in you alone, and we shall be blessed forever in your House.

O great light of the Church who by word and work inspired your brothers and so many others to a life of virtue, to peace and unity with one another and an abiding love for our Lord and His Mother – teach us this day, O blessed preacher, of the way in which Jesus calls us, of the life and love God offers if we but respond in kind in our weak and limited manner. To all souls in His holy Church and throughout the world you brought the Word of God, you imparted the light of His wisdom; please pray, dear father in the faith, that our lives may be conformed to the loving will of the Lord and we become children of His light and bearers of His Good News to the nations, till we stand with you in His surpassing glory.

(Jgs.9:6-15; Ps.21:2-7; Mt.20:1-16) "The last shall be first and the first shall be last." Jesus, the Son of God and true King, who is first, has made Himself last, and so for His humility will be exalted forever; Abimalech, rebellious son of Gideon, who is least of all his brothers, has made himself first, and so will be humbled for his vain pride. In our first reading Jotham curses his brother Abimalech from the mountaintop as this least of the trees is anointed king after having murdered all other of his brothers. (There were seventy sons of the judge Gideon – who himself refused kingship.) The people of Shechem have fallen by pride in this son of their own city and so they, too, are cursed for taking refuge in his dark shadow. Abimalech's thorns shall pierce them and shall prove a bitter medicine of purgation for these wayward Israelites. They shall indeed be the death of one another. In contrast to this false king, in David's psalm we hear of the blessings the true king receives from God, in whom he rejoices and to whom he gives all glory for victory: "O Lord, in your strength the king is glad." It is not by his own will that this king reigns, but by the will of the Father, and so his place is assured and he is exalted and made "a blessing forever." David, too, was the least of his brothers, but unlike Abimalech, who took matters into his own jealous and bloody hands, he trusted always in the Lord and humbled himself before the God of all, and so, "great is his glory in [the Lord's] victory." And, of course, we know that it is the Son of David, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords: in Him is the blessed kingship of God fulfilled. And, of course, it is His great humility which has made Him so exalted. Did He not take the crown of thorns upon His head? Was He not pierced by the pride of man's rebellion? Did He not accept the bitter wine as He died upon the cross? And so should not all trees bow down to this sanctifying tree, this true vine? Is it not by the fruit of this buckthorn that we are purged from our sins against Him who is Most High? He who has been raised on the cross is indeed King of us all, and all others mere pretenders. Brothers and sisters, it is only in Christ and in the shadow of the tree that is the cross that we shall find blessing, that we shall find glory, that we shall be exalted and receive "a crown of pure gold." Follow no other, for false gods abound and their fall is great. Toil only in the vineyard of the Lord and regardless of the length or breadth of your labor you shall receive your recompense, which is oneness with Him who is eternal and whose generous reign knows no bounds. And be not envious of others' entering in if it is you who must toil long – your service of God should be your joy and a source of great humility. ******* O LORD, those who are least in the eyes of the world are first in your eyes, for you love all souls, but despise sin. YHWH, you have sent us a great King, before whom all others must bow, in whose light all other reigns pale. For He is the only true King, the only King whose reign endures. And only in Him is true justice; and only in Him is true charity. Only in Jesus will all be cared for, will all be united with you. Let us serve your Son well, dear LORD. Let us enter His vineyard and do the work set before us by His gracious concern. He seeks to draw us into His realm that we might be blessed by Him; let us not be idle or jealous of His goodness toward all, but treasure every hour we toil in His presence. There are false gods enough to lead any soul astray, but only you are LORD and only on your Son do your majesty and splendor rest. Let us take our refuge, Father, in the shadow of His Cross.

O priest of Jesus and Mary so dedicated to the Hearts of our Lord and Lady and the formation of your fellow priests, how well you preached of our need to be one with Christ our Head; with what zeal you cared for the poorest among us – pray that priests and indeed all Christians will have hearts and souls beating and breathing as one with the Lord, in union with our Blessed Mother; may all serve and glorify the Father by using all their faculties as if they were His alone. O that we might indeed belong to the Son of God and be ruled by Him, His own eternal life coursing through our very veins, His breath upon our tongue!