The BreadCast

(Is.35:4-7a; Ps.146:2,6-10; Jas.2:1-5; Mk.7:31-37) "He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak." The Lord makes all whole. He "sets captives free" from all their afflictions as He redeems us from all our sin. "Here is your God, He comes with vindication; with divine recompense He comes to save you." This is He who "has done all things well"; this is the Lord Jesus Christ. "And immediately the man's ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly." By a word: "'Ephphatha!' – that is, 'Be opened!'" the deaf mute is healed by Jesus, causing all to be "exceedingly astonished." And in their astonishment their eyes are opened, for "the Lord gives sight to the blind." And so He who sustains "the fatherless and the widow" and "gives food to the hungry" stands before the eyes of all now; and so indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: "Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared… Then the tongue of the dumb will sing." And so streams "burst forth in the desert" and "the lame leap like a stag," for He comes – He comes to heal all nations. Brothers and sisters, God chose "those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that He promised to those who love Him." He chose the blind; He chose the lame; He chose the deaf and the mute – He chose the hungry and oppressed. He chose you and me in all our sin, in all our weakness before Him, and came to release us from all fear. Making no distinction except to favor the soul who thirsts for Him, He came bringing "springs of water." And these waters heal. And these waters set us free. And these waters remove our "shabby clothes" and don us "with gold rings and fine clothes" spun by the hand of God. Brothers and sisters, "adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ." For He is glorious indeed, and coming into His assembly with all your imperfections purged from your soul, you shall know such glory and not be able to withhold yourself from proclaiming such glory. Yes, you shall be one with "the Lord [who] shall reign forever." He shall be "your God, O Zion, through all generations," and with tongue loosened and renewed you shall sing "Alleluia" to the Lord forevermore. Know now His power upon you. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder" (2nd half) from Listening to the Lamp, ninth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, open our ears that we might hear your voice and follow in your way. YHWH, you chose the poor to inherit your kingdom. The deaf, the blind, the lame – to these you bring your healing touch. You come to those who recognize their need for you and take them to yourself. In your Son you fulfill your will for the good of all who desire you. For this we can but praise you. O LORD God, you keep faith forever, you eternally offer forth love to us, the rivers of grace known in the work of Jesus. You can but love us; you can but desire our good. For you are all good, you are all love, and so you look with pity upon those in need, upon fallen man so separated from your love. O may we all be cleansed of our sin! O may we all be made whole in your sight! Let the touch of your Son be upon us, dear LORD, that we might sing of your glory forever. O let our hearts be open to your love!

(Dt.4:1-2,6-8; Ps.15:1-5; Jas.1:17-18,21b-22,27; Mk.7:1-8,14-15,21-23) "Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls." Welcome it, yes, and "be doers of the word and not hearers only." For how else shall you show that the word of God is planted in you except that you bear fruit? All that is planted well indeed grows and bears fruit in the light of God. Brothers and sisters, God "willed to give us birth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of firstfruits." "What great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law?" Indeed the Law of God is whole, the Law of God is perfect – the Law of God gives life. For this reason Moses instructs the people: "You shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it," for the Law is holy as He, and keeping it we prove ourselves to be so holy; keeping it we cannot but "give evidence of [our] wisdom and intelligence to the nations." Yes, with the Lord "there is no alteration or shadow caused by change." His light is perfect, and His light is eternal, and we must be children of His holy light. But what of those for whom the washing of hands has become more important than keeping the commandments of God? What about those over whom Isaiah prophesies: "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me"? Woe to these, for they have not the word of truth planted in them and so only evil things "come out from within," and thereby they are defiled. Oh may the Lord never pronounce over our souls: "In vain do they worship me"! Oh let us never be producers of the evils of this world! "Every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights," and he "who thinks the truth in his heart and slanders not with his tongue" knows the gifts of the Creator and walks in His holy light. No "great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the Lord, our God, is to us whenever we call upon Him." For His truth is indeed within us and this word comes straight to His ear. The beat of our hearts is known to our God as we worship in spirit and in truth. The only food that saves souls is laid upon our table. The Word of God we consume and so are made His children, caring for "orphans and widows in their affliction" and keeping ourselves "unstained by the world." Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "What Is In Your Heart" from Remove the Mask of Lies, second album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, if we walk according to your Word, we shall be saved. YHWH, your Word you have planted within us and so call us to follow in your way. Your Law comes to our ears that we might observe your commandments and so have life. But if we do not welcome the Word you give, if we do not do as we are commanded, we shall be empty vessels in which corruption may find a home. O LORD, let us walk blamelessly before you, cherishing the truth in our hearts and guarding our tongues from all evil. You give us the grace to approach perfection; you are close to us when we call upon you, when you and your glory are our desire. May we be innocent of all sin, our hands clean from all defilement, and we shall be blessed all our days. Let your Word live in us and grow in us, dear God. Let there be no room in us for greed or deceit or any of the wickedness known to man. With our very lives let us honor you – O let us be truly wise!

O witness to the Truth, to the Light that has come among us, you gave your very life and death for the sake of Christ, who redeemed us in His blood, blood you shed with your Savior; you who were a pillar of iron against the whole land and against its king, you who stood so strong against the lust of the world, suffering its persecution so willingly, fortified even in death by the Lord and His promise – how can our meager lives measure up to your blessed sacrifice; how can we who are so weak of knee endure our exile so bravely? Pray for us, O forerunner of the Christ both in word and in the giving of your life, that our blood may be joined to your own and so to that of our holy Lord.

O shepherd made anew by Him who is within, Him who made us all, the Light above and beyond every soul who gave His life, His flesh as food that we might live – pray that the Lord and God of all will break through our deafness and dispel our blindness, that He will breathe His fragrant Spirit upon us and we too will be created anew, saved by His grace from the sin that has kept us from Him and thirsting for the wisdom which became your own, with which you shepherded His people apart from the things He created to His very Beauty itself, that all souls might rest in Him who made them.

O tearful mother whose persistent cries for the soul of your son were heard in time by the Lord our God and so led to his conversion, to his becoming not only a Catholic Christian but a bishop and doctor of the Church, a saint like yourself – pray for the prayers of all mothers who cry for their wayward sons; pray indeed that all souls may turn and come to know so deeply the love of our Lord and God and the blessing upon His holy Catholic Church. Pray that all who stray, many as they are, shall be raised from the death of sin and come to the life of Heaven, where you wait with your son to welcome all his brothers.

(2Thes.1:1-5,11-12; Ps.96:1-5; Mt.23:13-22) "Which is more important, the offering or the altar which makes the offering sacred?" The Pharisees in their blindness taught: "If a man swears by the altar it means nothing, but if he swears by the gift on the altar he is obligated." Indeed, "How blind [they] are!" For what do they do but exalt that which is secondary beyond that which is primary? What do they do but invert logic? And what is the significance of their blindness? Why does it bring them "an evil day"? What the Pharisees essentially do in their thinking and their teaching is place the created ahead of the Creator, themselves before their God. For we are the gift upon the altar and the Lord Jesus the altar that receives and consumes our offering. It is He who makes us holy, and not we Him; it is we "who belong to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," and not vice-versa. He is above; we are below. The divine order of things must not be skewed. Yes, "the Lord made the heavens" and we who dwell below the heavens, and we must bow down before Him and praise His name. "Awesome is He, beyond all gods." Above every created thing He stands, He towers, for all these things, including our souls, are in His almighty hands. "All the gods of the nations are things of naught," idols of so much dust and sand, devised alone by human hands and serving to inflate the pride of those who make them. These we must leave aside. Our false ideas we must abandon. To Him alone must we come. "Tell His glory among the nations," brothers and sisters, "for great is the Lord and highly to be praised." It is He who is "seated on [the] throne" of heaven, He alone who merits our songs of praise. So let our song rise up to Him from our place upon His altar; let our offering be acceptable in His sight. Let us pray "that our God may make [us] worthy of His call, and fulfill by His power every honest intention and work of faith," that "the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in [us] and [we] in Him, in accord with the gracious gift of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." May He make us holy. ******* O LORD, let us sing of your salvation as we strive to put you before all things and grow constantly in your love. YHWH, you are seated on the throne of Heaven, far above all gods – you alone are worthy of our praise, for you alone are holy. All things of this world let us leave behind to find your glory. LORD, bless our work and make us worthy of your call; in faith let us endure every persecution and trial and be fruitful in your sight, that we might be found in your kingdom. There is nothing but you that we should desire – may you alone be praised by all the ends of the earth. How shall we lose our blindness, LORD, and come to see that you are all in all? How shall we learn to put you first at all times, always remembering your holy NAME? How might we be blessed to announce your salvation in all we think, say, and do? By you alone let us live our lives, O LORD and God, striving to do your will in all things by the grace of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him we shall know you and find you; through His Cross we shall come to your kingdom.

O guardian angel of poor children who formed them in the image of Christ, an education of body and soul you provided those most in need, those most impressionable and thirsting for the Lord’s care, and led so many others in this work for the least of our brothers – pray we shall become fellow workers with Jesus in the cause of truth and teach with deep love, the greatest patience, and profound humility, the souls He places in our hands. May the desire to see all attain eternal life be that which most impels us and especially those whose responsibility is the formation of Christian youth, that all men might rejoice at the straight paths these walk to the kingdom. Your zeal despite persecution may we maintain in our call from the Lord.

O loyal subject of the Lord and of His Church on earth, though a king you did not exalt yourself but listened rather to the words of your Savior and chose to serve Him, doing His work in this world: the poor you cared for, your children you raised in the teaching of Christ, and for all those in your reign you sought true justice and maintained concern for their spiritual welfare – pray we poor souls will emulate your desire for penance and prayer, and your faithful obedience to God and MotherChurch. May we be blessed as your sons to have your wisdom in our ears, a wisdom reflective of Jesus’ own.

(Jos.24:1-2a,15-17,18b; Ps.34:2-3,9,16-21; Eph.5:21-32; Jn.6:60-69) "Do you also want to leave?" How like the questions pertaining to the marriage vows is our Lord's inquiry of the Twelve, and Joshua's statement to the Israelites he has just brought out of the wilderness into the Promised Land. "If it does not please you to serve the Lord, decide today whom you will serve," Joshua says, "as for me and my household we will serve the Lord." And Jesus seeks to find from His apostles if they will be like "many of His disciples [who] returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied Him" after His teaching on the Bread of Life. Do you take Jesus to be your husband? To honor and obey, to love… to "become one flesh" with Him who is "the Holy One of God"? You are free to leave, or you are free to come unto Him. Though He knows your heart and your choice, yet you are free to make it as you please. How shall you answer the Lord? Paul renders a beautiful account of the love of husband and wife, relating it well "to Christ and the Church." "Husbands should love their wives as their own bodies… no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the Church." And what can the good wife do when loved "as Christ loved the Church and handed Himself over for her," bleeding and dying on the cross to wash away all our sins – what can she do when confronted with such utter sacrifice for her sake alone but revere her husband and respect his every wish? In loving such a man she finds her joy. (How the wife of Joshua must have beamed to hear her husband's public declaration that he and his household would follow the Lord! Who could argue with such blessed authority?) And now, what of you and I, brothers and sisters, we who have the most faithful husband of all? Do we "bless the Lord at all times"? Does our "soul glory in the Lord" as King David's today? Do we realize how He "watches over all [our] bones" and makes them pure as His own? Or will we be fool enough to leave His loving embrace? The words must come from your mouths as well, and mean them: "We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God." Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Marriage" from The Innocent Heart, first album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, to whom else shall we go, to whom else shall we be wed… for you alone are God? YHWH, let us never leave you but be wed to your Son and become as His Body in this world. O let His Spirit be upon us to bring us to eternal life! What need we do but be obedient to Him and serve one another in His love? You will certainly watch over and guide us safely in all things if we are united to Jesus. He left you, O Father in Heaven, to be joined to us, to save us, to pour out His blood as a cleansing shower to purify us from all sin, that we might be able to join you in Heaven with Him. In splendor may He present us to you; let us be faithful until the coming of His Day. Flesh of His flesh and blood of His blood, you cannot but look upon us with favor, dear LORD. And so, let us praise you all our days, never turning from worship of you, the one true God. Let all your children serve you alone.

O apostle of the Lamb, man without guile led by love to the Lord, you who declared Jesus Son of God and King of Israel, whose eyes of faith were illumined by angels’ wings – pray we shall be found by the Christ under our fig tree in peace, in prayer, and carry with you His holy Gospel to the very ends of the earth. With you as a foundation stone, one of the Twelve, may the Bride of the Lamb be led to her Husband, her heart burning with love for Him alone; her soul thirsting only for God’s presence, may her eyes be opened to see her Lord. To vision of Heaven pray we all come by an angelic belief in the Son of Man.