The BreadCast

O bride of our Lord Jesus Christ, in your virginity and in your dying you have given yourself entirely to the Lord of Heaven and earth. O how like Him you were in your purity and in your suffering! and so how close to Him you must be in Heaven – pray that a ray of His light might come to us who sit in darkness, we whose hearts are not as strong as your own. His heavenly light we wish to enter; by your prayers may we see His glory.

(Sir.48:1-4,9-11; Ps.80:2-4,15-16,18-19; Mt.17:10-13) "Like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah whose words were as a flaming furnace." Elijah has come, to "restore everything." The word has fallen like fire from heaven to prepare a path for the Lord to tread. The Baptist has cried out as a voice in the wilderness for us to make our hearts ready for the coming of the Lord. But, sadly, "they did not recognize him and they did as they pleased with him." They rejected the voice crying to them and attempted to cover over the way the word had cleared before them. He who came "to turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons, and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob," was himself turned back; and they cast him into prison and beheaded the great prophet. Yet the way remains open to us. He whom the prophet hailed has come into our midst, and His presence cannot be taken away – even to the end of the age (which is upon us). And we must join with our psalmist today in calling upon Him to "come to save us," to "look down from heaven, and see," to "take care of this vine" planted by His right hand. "Give us new life, and we will call upon your name," must be our prayer, especially in this Advent season, for we must awaken and enliven the path to God the Baptist has served to blaze in our hearts. We must know now Him whom he has hailed. And, yes, with this Elijah and with the Son of Man, we too will suffer at the hands of those who would silence the Word, who would extinguish the fire set upon the earth. But the fire is eternal and its light and power cannot be dimmed, much less extinguished. It will purify those who seek the face of God and destroy those who turn from Him. It cannot be otherwise. Now that the Lord has come, His angels wait in expectation to purge the world. Once more only the prophet Elijah will appear and the flaming furnace his words prepare will be fulfilled in God's eternity by the return of the Son of Man. In absolute glory the Lord will reign. ******* O LORD, Elijah has come and the way of the Cross has been prepared; your Son is now present to save us. YHWH, rouse your power and come to save us; purge us in the fire your Son has set upon the face of the earth. The Baptist has come in the spirit of Elijah – the way of the Savior is now prepared in our midst. But we must walk this way of fire; we must be sanctified by the Holy Spirit, if we are to walk in the way of your Son. If our hearts are to be turned to you, LORD, we must have faith in the One to come. And this path is one of persecution; it is one that reduces us to straits. For nothing unholy can enter your presence, and so we must be prepared along the narrow way. O LORD, make us strong in following you this day! The Son of Man is now among us, He who has suffered and died for our sake. May the fire of the Spirit He sends, LORD, make us ready to share in His death, and so His glory.

O Patroness of the Americas and Protectress of the Unborn, look upon our troubled state, where lust and greed abound, where thousands are killed in the womb every day, where the poor and the rich are separated by steel walls and thirsting souls die in the desert – help us, dear Mother, to discover life, to find your guidance in this land of opportunity and broken dreams, in these hearts that have grown so cold that more are sacrificed on unholy altars than when you first came to turn our hearts to the Lord! Pray for us, Our Lady, or we shall surely die in a soulless pride.

(Zec. 2:14-17; Lk.1:46-55; Lk.1:29-47) "Silence, all mankind, in the presence of the LORD! for He stirs forth from His holy dwelling." And His own stirring forth causes John the Baptist to stir forth, to "leap for joy" – thus is opened the mouth of the one who will proclaim His way. On this the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe we celebrate the Lord's stirring forth in astounding fashion in the Americas. As the Lord looked upon His humble servant Mary to bring forth the only Son of God, so He smiles upon the humble Juan Diego, to bring the conversion of a continent. His Mother comes humble and with child to bring new birth to a land in darkness… And how that land sits in darkness now, awaiting renewal by the graces from His hand. "He has looked upon His handmaid's lowliness" once, and again; let us pray a humble spirit He shall once more find in this place and on this earth, that indeed "the hungry shall be filled with good things," that He who has "lifted up the lowly" will remember them now that they are trodden down, now that the most humble are destroyed in the womb. "Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day." And many have. But how sincere is their commitment to Him? Are they truly "His people," and so will "He dwell among" them? Have we cause to "sing and rejoice," to be as she who "proclaims the greatness of the Lord" – or to cry tears of sorrow for the land to which we have come? For the womb is barren; the spirits are proud – and in these the Lord takes no joy. Silence before Him we must find once again, that He might turn to us and bring new birth to this land. "Stir forth, O Lord, from your holy dwelling," and renew our languishing souls. Written, read & chanted by James Kurt; produced by Roger Fortney. Music by Roger and Carie Fortney; used by permission. ******* O LORD, may our hearts stir to life at the sound of Mary's voice, at the approach of your Son. YHWH, you sent the Mother of your Son to a land in darkness, to a barren place, that the people might be converted to the faith, that the blood upon their hands might be washed away. May she come again to this continent and this world that unholy sacrifice might again be stopped by her humble presence. O LORD, bring us new life! LORD, we would rejoice in you and in your presence in our midst. We would see all the nations gathered into your arms. But how can you come to a place that despises life, that kills its children in the womb? Have pity on us, dear LORD, and send Mother Mary to prepare the second coming of your Son. The Baptist awoke and leapt in his mother's womb when Mary brought his Savior to him. O let us awake this day, dear God, awake from our slumber in such darkness and come into the light of your day. Let us be humble and lowly as she who bore your Son, and we shall be lifted with her to your side. Save us, O LORD our God.

O bishop of Rome who guided the bark of Peter through difficult waters, who kept her on the course set for her by the Lord even as she grew in this world from a Church of the blood of martyrs to one entering the light of day, of acceptance by the city of man… you who sought so diligently to preserve the memory of the martyrs lest it should pass away, and the Cross of Christ with it – pray that today, too, the Church will remember its root, the root of Jesse and His sacrifice, and that as she grows our Mother on earth will be well understood by those called into her walls. Pray the martyrs pray for us, that in their blood we always find our growth.