The BreadCast

O strong and holy apostle, soldier for the Lord Jesus and defender of His Church, you gathered together an army to labor in mission fields, to educate the masses, to serve and die as loyal sons of the Christ and His Pope – teach us this day to follow in the way of Jesus, to meditate on His life and be fruitful in His works. Pray your own sons and all the children of MotherChurch not waver in the faith which sustains them on this earth but that in all truth steadfast Christ’s disciples shall stand and proclaim in strength the salvation that comes only through Jesus and the Vine He has planted, through whose teaching and sacraments His very Spirit and blood flow.

O you of golden words, of angelic tongue, of sermons refined seven times by the Spirit of God… O how you made present on earth the invisible Creator even as He was made for us in the womb of the Virgin, so tangible had His grace become through the preaching the Lord inspired in your soul – pray we shall indeed be vivified by the eternal grace of God, by the gift of His becoming Man, to become like Him, heavenly spirits in His reign. How could we comprehend such blessing; how could such surpassing joy these earthen vessels hold? Let us come close to Christ our Savior, close to Him as now you stand in His radiant glory.

O servants of the Lord who welcomed Him into your home, fulfilling all the duties of hospitality, and yet realized as He taught that it is He who serves us poor creatures, who is the resurrection and the life… in whose House we make our home – pray that even as we fulfill the duties of our station in life we too shall come to believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who comes to us to serve us in His need, allowing Himself to be fed by us that He might feed our souls with everlasting life, with the Spirit that passes not away with the body.

(2Kgs.4:42-44; Ps.145:10-11,15-18; Eph.4:1-6; Jn.6:1-15) "They shall eat and there shall be some left over." O Lord, "the eyes of all look hopefully to you, and you give them their food in due season; you open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing." You are He who is "just in all His ways and holy in all His works," and eating the food you offer, we become holy as well. Brothers and sisters, if we "live in a manner worthy of the call [we] have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of spirit through the bond of peace," what shall not be ours? Will the cup upon our table not overflow? For then we shall be holy as He is holy. And what does it mean to be holy but to be perfect, to be complete? Did not those reclining on the grass eat as much bread "and also as much fish as they wanted"? Is it not true that they "had their fill"? And will those who come to the table of the Lord today, to partake of the sacrifice offered on His altar, be found wanting? No, certainly not. For as far as Jesus' miracle of feeding the five thousand with five loaves surpasses Elisha's feeding the hundred with twenty loaves, thus far and more does Jesus' feeding our bodies and souls with His Bread and Wine surpass the miracle we hear of today in our gospel. For now billions eat. Now all who come are fed. Without limit souls are satisfied, and satisfied unto heaven. Two notes I would make regarding our readings today. The first is that when Jesus performed this miracle of feeding the five thousand, "the Jewish feast of the Passover was near." The Evangelist does not state this in vain: it is on the feast of the Passover Jesus shall offer Himself as the new Lamb of whose flesh all must partake – it is this day He shall institute the Eucharist. And note, too, Elisha's immediate words upon being offered the twenty barley loaves as a gift: "Give it to the people to eat." What is given him he offers to all, and so prefigures our Lord's generous sacrifice of Himself – and so exemplifies the attitude we all must have to whatever the Lord provides. For then it is we show faith in our God's providential hand; and it is then we participate in the abundant outpouring of His gifts upon all who await His blessing. "One body and one Spirit" are we all, and to this oneness there is no limit. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "The Whole Whale" (first third) from The Whole Whale, eighth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, it is by your hand we are fed – let us look not upon the things of this earth. YHWH, in our hunger our eyes look hopefully to you, and you do not disappoint our longing; you feed us by the hand of your only Son – upon His Body we feast. For He gives Himself to us that we might never hunger again, for to the abundance of this food there is no end. All who desire shall eat, and there shall be some left over. We need not fear that the food you provide shall run short and we be left alone in a desert place. No, to all who call upon you in truth you are very near, O LORD, very ready to answer our pleas. How much closer could you be to us than in the flesh and blood of your only Son? What more could you give us to eat than His presence? We are one in you, O LORD, one in body and one in spirit through your Son; we are all your children, dear God and Father, and in the love of Jesus that oneness is fulfilled. And so we praise your surpassing glory.

(Jer.7:1-11; Ps.84:2-6,8,11; Mt.13:24-30) "Reform your ways and your deeds, so that I may remain with you in this place." We hear again today of the failure of "the temple of the Lord" and its sacrifices to bring the Israelites to the eternal presence of God. For though the Lord "sowed good seed in His field," though He made His temple a house of prayer, it has become "a den of thieves" in the eyes of His chosen. And the Lord "see[s] what is being done." And because they "steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, [and] burn incense to Baal," the Israelites break the covenant upon which the temple is founded, and it can but fall to ruin. The Lord spells out what they must do to preserve the integrity of His temple: "If each of you deals justly with his neighbor; if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place, or follow strange gods to your own harm…" but though He repeatedly warns them of what it takes to maintain His presence in their midst, yet they repeatedly turn from His blessings and the words the prophets offer. Unable to "thoroughly reform [their] ways and [their] deeds," they cannot but lose the temple. But, again, there is hope. For what has not been preserved on earth shall be made permanent in heaven. Though "an enemy came and sowed weeds through His wheat," and though in this world they are not rooted out from our midst – though our worship fall short of the Lord's eternal glory, yet Jesus comes to perfect God's will in us, drawing us to the Temple not made by human hands… and with Him the weeds are no more. Yes, because of our sin we lose His blessing; but by His grace our worship is made whole in His sight. "My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God." In the heart of Jesus I would dwell; in His flesh we find the Temple. And His Temple we become as we eat His Body and drink His Blood. As we follow this Word made flesh, we are redeemed and our home with God blessed permanently. And so in truth and with His love welling up in our souls, we cry with our psalmist: "I had rather live at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked"; and so, "happy" indeed we are. Praise the Lord for His eternal goodness, for in Him "even the sparrow finds a home." ******* O LORD, the weeds are bundled for burning, for sin cannot stand in your sight; only the pure of heart enter your House. YHWH, be with us in this place; gather us as wheat into your barn. Make our bodies the temple of your Spirit, that we shall be pleasing to you and so with you remain. There are weeds among your wheat, LORD, and there are sins that prick our hearts and move to separate us from you and your love, and your presence with us. O let us reform our ways and our deeds! that our lives may find your blessing and we dwell forever in your holy Temple. Our heart and our flesh cry out to you, O living God, that we might live in your sight, that we might be as your own precious children united in heart and flesh with you. Even in this land let us be with you; let this land become as Heaven by your Body and Blood among us, by our joining ourselves in joy with you… by the reform of our lives according to your Word.

O parents of the Virgin Mary, grandparents of the Lord our God, you who gave birth to our Blessed Mother, through whom we are blessed for all ages… O you through whom the promise to David came to be fulfilled, you whose virtues found favor with the Lord, you whom He chose to bring forth His Mother and the Mother of all the redeemed – pray our posterity shall endure even as your own, that we shall bear fruit even in our old age and see our children’s children in a happy Jerusalem. Pray we shall know the Virgin as intimately as you and so come to know our Lord in the kingdom where He reigns.

O martyred apostle, first to endure the death of Christ, you have indeed drunk of His cup, fully accepting the sacrifice to which all are called, and so blazed the path of service for others to follow – pray all God’s children, all those blessed to be called as sons, as brothers of the Lord, will have the courage and strength that comes from the Spirit to lay down their lives as a ransom for many and so find a place beside our Savior Jesus in His heavenly kingdom. Pray the blood of Christ in which you shared so intimately pour upon His Church and all souls be blessed to drink thereof unto the world’s salvation.

O solitary prayer, alone with the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament you offered your life for the salvation of souls; in penance you lived, and so a light shone even from your tomb to show the presence of Christ and His miraculous powers at work in the world – pray all souls seek perfection in prayer, the perfection of being with Jesus, of remaining always in His presence with a heart of love poured out for our fellow man. Pray even now for the salvation of all, for what else matters but that we come to dwell with you in the light of our Lord, adoring Him forever?

(Jer.1:1,4-10; Ps.71:1-6,15,17; Mt.13:1-9) "O God, you have taught me from my youth, and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds." So does the seed grow, and bear fruit in the sight of the Lord. Our psalmist declares, "On you I depend from birth; from my mother's womb you are my strength." Indeed we are planted in our mother's womb and we grow by the grace of the Lord. And as our bodies grow so gradually from the womb of our mother, so our spirits, too, grow from the womb of our Mother, the Church, in whose womb the Lord plants us and nurtures us with His water, the Holy Spirit. For it is the Lord who prepares the ground for our planting. As He declares to Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you." So even before we are planted as seed the Lord holds us in His Hand, and that Hand of love shall never leave us. And what does the Lord expect of the seed He plants and nurtures but that it sprout and bear much fruit? What does He do but call us forth to proclaim His Word with our lives: "To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak" – what He requires of Jeremiah He requires of us all. As "the Lord extended His hand and touched [the prophet's] mouth, saying, 'See I place my words within your mouth!'" so He reaches out to us all, planting His Word within our hearts and expecting it to grow and blossom forth. Into the light our works must come to reveal His heavenly presence. "The crowd stood along the shore" as rows of plants in an ordered garden, and Jesus watered them with His teaching. And in whom would His Word take root? Who would grow unencumbered in His light? Who would bear fruit unto the kingdom of God? "Let everyone heed what he hears!" Make the Lord your "rock of refuge" and He will "rescue [you] from the hand of the wicked" and nurture you with His Bread and the Word of Life. And your "mouth shall declare [His] justice, day by day [His] salvation" as you come gradually and invariably – you know not now – to the kingdom our Savior prepares with His Blood. ******* O LORD, let the seed we sow with you bear fruit by your blessing. YHWH, from the womb you call us; from our conception you bless us with your Word to nourish us and help us grow in your sight, that upon maturity we might praise your NAME and share your Word with all. Help us indeed to grow each day in you and do your will with all our lives. O LORD, may we bear fruit a hundredfold! May we be planted in good soil, in the womb of your Church, that fruitful indeed we might be. Touch our mouth with your hand that our tongue may be purified to speak of your glory and so serve to plant seeds of life in souls with ears to hear your voice. Let us not wither and die in our sin or be choked by the cares of this world; keep the clutches of Satan far from us, and we will be your own children, declaring your salvation until your Son returns. O LORD, we depend on you for our very lives, for the breath in our nostrils and the love in our hearts. Shine your light on us this day and let our fruit be pleasing to you.

O seer of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the scourges and the nails, of the blows and mockery He endured, of the blood which covered His face and all His skin… O you who have witnessed all His suffering and sought so diligently to share in it with Him – pray that we who are so blind to the pain and anguish our Savior bore under the weight of the Cross we build by our sin may by His grace have our eyes opened, and so turn from our own condemnation to the blood of redemption He has shed for our sakes and take refuge in the penance that leads all souls to the kingdom.