The BreadCast

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Spirit-filled daily reflections on the Mass Readings of the Roman Catholic Church from the book Our Daily Bread by James Kurt (with imprimatur). The daily podcasts are voice only, while the podcasts for Sundays and Solemnities are produced with music and other elements. Another podcast recently added: Prayers to the Saints - a prayer to each saint on the calendar for the US. Also with imprimatur.

  1. 6h ago

    September 22 - Tuesday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II

    (Prv.21:1-6,10-13; Ps.119:1,27,30,34-35,44; Lk.8:19-21) "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act upon it." Our readings today are filled throughout with one line pearls of wisdom culminating with Jesus' above instruction in our brief gospel. And though each individual proverb or paean to the command of the Lord seems a separate entity distinct from the others which surround it, in fact, all speak of the same sword of truth that separates the way of the wicked from that of the just. In even thousands of proverbs there is but one word – that we must be hearers and doers of the word of God. "Like a stream is the king's heart in the hand of the Lord; wherever it pleases Him, He directs it." Oh that such blessed obedience could be all our own! Oh that we would follow Him so perfectly, for "happy are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord"; and they become as His only Son. "To do what is right and just" must be our constant aim, our eternal prayer. "Lead me in the path of your commands," we must beg of our God, for in it alone we know the light of His grace; in His way alone we find all our "delight." Only in observing His decrees, walking in His love, do we become brother and sister and mother to the Christ. For the wicked shall not enter His embrace, shall not be counted among His family. "Haughty eyes and a proud heart" the Lord will not countenance, for "the tillage of the wicked is sin" and with sin the Holy One has no relation. Thus we may be certain "there is One who brings down the wicked to ruin." As grandiose as his plots may seem and as adamantly as he may pursue them with "a lying tongue," he is but "chasing a bubble over deadly snares" and shall be caught in the trap he himself has laid. "When the wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge"; he draws ever closer to the light of the Lord as he drinks in His Word. Let us be as those who "meditate on [the Lord's] wondrous deeds." Let us beg Him with our psalmist: "Give me discernment, that I may observe your law and keep it with all my heart." When Jesus speaks let us be quick to listen and follow in His way, that truly we may become His blessed family, one in the Church modeled by the Mother of God. ******* O LORD, open our ears to hear your Word and walk in your way. YHWH, if we are haughty of eye and proud of heart, how can we know you and become one with you? You are holy and only those who strive for holiness walk in your way. Help us, LORD, to be as your Son and follow always your blessed commands. O LORD, let our hearts ever be directed by your hand; let our obedience be such that we simply go as your guide led ever by your Spirit. In your Son there was no question as to what should be done or whether He should do good or ill – He did nothing of His own will but only yours. Help us to be perfect as He in living your Word, in embodying your truth. Then we shall be brothers to Him, for then you shall be our Father. Let us be made in your image, LORD, doing what is right and just in all things. Your law of love let us observe – let us thirst for your wisdom and knowledge. Nothing let us desire but to be one with you and your only Son. Then we shall be blessed as His Mother.

  2. 1d ago

    September 21 - Prayer to St. Matthew

    O faithful apostle who so readily answered the call of the Lord, leaving your station in this world to follow in His footsteps and so find your place in Heaven, who even with these first steps brought others to the Christ as you opened your heart as well as your home to Him and to the least of His brothers – pray, dear brother through whom the Spirit has spoken, that we too shall follow Jesus and so find His grace and mercy, and so find our way to the Father. Pray our hearts will ever be so open to hear His voice and invite Him in to our table, where He may eat and speak with us, feeding us with His presence. And pray we may be blessed as you in drawing others to the Word, our God, till all are one in His Body.

  3. 1d ago

    September 21 - St. Matthew

    (Eph.4:1-7,11-13; Ps.19:2-5; Mt.9:9-13) "Through all the earth their voice resounds, and to the ends of the world, their message." "Till we become one in faith and in the knowledge of God's Son, and form that perfect man who is Christ come to full stature," the Word of the Lord shall be carried forth by all His "apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers"; indeed, "each of us has received God's favor in the measure in which Christ bestows it," and each of us plays a role in bringing to fulfillment the Gospel of our "one Lord." "Matthew got up and followed Him." He was called, he was chosen, and he answered the Lord's call without hesitation. And he brought the Lord in immediately to dine with Him, welcoming Him fully at his table. And because of his openness to God and His Word, and because of his generous response, we see that it is Jesus who in fact feeds him, that he in turn might feed others with the true teaching, "the one faith" in the "one God and Father of all, who is over all, and works through all, and is in all," from the least of sinners to the greatest of apostles. We are all thus called to follow Jesus Christ, to find the mercy He so greatly desires to impart to our sinful lives, that we might be whole and able to serve Him well. One day we shall come to perfection in Him; in Him it is already fulfilled. And now insofar as we share His love, insofar as we "live a life worthy of the calling [we] have received, with perfect humility, meekness, and patience," the Spirit who is indeed the origin of our unity in Him works through us and we, even with the twelve apostles, serve to bring His blessed peace, His divine life of salvation, to the world. Yes, "day pours out the word to day, and night to night imparts knowledge," and soon that Word will reach to the ends of the earth; and soon it will come to fulfillment in our sight. Brothers and sisters, we are called to a great hope, and to a great mission to bring it to light. Let us keep our hearts set on the Gospel and the promise it contains, and "build up the Body of Christ" until we stand with Him, as Him, in His eternal kingdom which stands in our midst even today through the words of His apostle and evangelist, in the breath of the Spirit upon us and in its message. Written, read & chanted by James Kurt; produced by Roger Fortney. Music by Roger Fortney; used by permission. ******* 96 800x600 Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} O LORD, let us all be drawn as one into the Body of your Son, that we poor sinners may become His saints. YHWH, you are over all and work through all and in all, and your Gospel message goes out to all the world through your apostles and evangelists. O let us listen to your voice as it comes to us in the words of Scripture and through your prophets' preaching! Let us be quick as Matthew to answer your call, that the Body of your Son might be built up on this earth and soon come to fulfillment in Heaven. We are all sinners, O LORD; you see this and you know this. Help us to see this as you do and so come readily to the table Jesus spreads before us, a table of mercy and grace in answer to our repentance. Let us recognize that only in Him will we find our place with you in the kingdom. And help us to proclaim your love and your peace with your apostles, that in the one faith all might be baptized and come as your children to praise your Name. You are our hope, O LORD; let your Spirit go forth.

  4. 2d ago

    September 20 - Prayer to Sts. Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang and Companions

    O blessed, holy martyrs who won for yourselves the crown of salvation by your undying faith in God, who cherished well the prize of persecution the Lord offered your souls, who stood fast despite the death that raged around you – pray we shall know as you that all the hairs of our head are numbered by God and in His all-embracing providence He has care over us all, that we might stand as strong in our little trials and sufferings as you did before the face of the executioner. To all people be a witness to the faith that reaches ever unto Heaven.

  5. 2d ago

    September 20 - Sunday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time, Year A

    (Is.55:6-9; Ps.145:2-3,8-9,17-18; Phil.1:20-24,27; Mt.20:1-16) "You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just." Our readings today reveal that the Lord is near, merciful, and just, and that these three qualities are one in God. For the Lord's justice is shown in His mercy, and His mercy in His nearness to us. And so we should "praise [His] name forever." Isaiah conveys to us that the Lord's thoughts and ways are "as high as the heavens are above the earth" with respect to our own thoughts and our own ways. As David proclaims, "His greatness is unsearchable." But the prophet also encourages the faithful to "seek the Lord while He may be found, [to] call Him while He is near"; and the king declares, "The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth." And is not the closeness of our great God – made most evident in the presence of Jesus among us – illustrated in the Lord's parable? Does not the landowner go out at all times of day to draw laborers into his vineyard? Even to the final hour He invites us into His kingdom, coming to us always with the hope of making us fruitful workers upon His land. And why does the Lord remain so near? Why does He call to us so incessantly? Is it not because He is so "generous and merciful," because He is "good to all and compassionate toward all His works"? Is it not that we should turn from our idleness and the wickedness of our thoughts and ways that He ventures into the marketplace to find us? Does Jesus not come to redeem us from this world of sin? And should we not therefore "turn to the Lord for mercy, to our God who is generous in forgiving," whose calling us to work in His vineyard is more that He should be able to give us all we need than that we might labor for Him? And is His mercy not proven by His form of justice? For does He not give all a full day's pay, even those with Him but an hour? Do not all who come to His kingdom know the blessings He pours forth? This is His way, this is His justice – the way of mercy and love. And it is by this love He remains so near us who may now proclaim with Paul: "Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death," for His love is inseparable from us who believe, who have entered into His vineyard and share in His blood. And should we not be merciful as He? Should His justice not become our own? We should not be as those servants who "grumbled against the landowner" for His generosity, courting envy in our hearts, but allow the Lord to be "free to do as [He] wish[es] with [His] own money." Should we not wish the same joy upon all souls as we ourselves have been blessed to know? Though we may have had to bear "the day's burden and the heat," should this limit our generosity to others who have come late? We should rather with our Lord desire all to enter His vineyard, to be close to us, that all might receive the benefit of His merciful justice. We should thank Him that His ways are not our own, for then never would He have come near to us, and empty and idle we would be standing still. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Stumblebum" from Cleansing Human Frailty, fourth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, how our envy would kill us – let us rejoice in your mercy toward all, counting ourselves blessed to do your will. YHWH, truly you are generous in forgiving, gracious and merciful to all, coming even at the eleventh hour to save us from our sin and share with us all the blessings of your kingdom. Let us set to work for you this day, this hour, rejoicing always that we might labor for you. O LORD, we thank you that your ways are far above our ways, for where we would condemn, you would forgive, and so we would ourselves be condemned without your mercy. It is indeed your desire to save all souls and we need but turn our desire to you to find you present to us. Help us to leave the ways of this world behind and follow in the way of your Son, embracing the Cross as though it held all treasure for us, as if it is the greatest gift you give… as if it were the way to Heaven, which it is. 96 800x600 Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} O LORD, why should we complain against your generosity, your mercy? Should we not rather seek to be like you? Then we would share in all the riches of your kingdom with nothing to keep us from praising your Name.

  6. 3d ago

    September 19 - Prayer to St. Januarius

    O protector of your sheep, you laid down your life for them, giving your blood for the service of souls that all might witness the surpassing love of the Lord and the glory that awaits those who die in Him – pray for shepherds who feed their sheep, not lording it over them or seeking what gain they might find for themselves, taking the milk and wool of their flock and leaving them naked and lifeless… but living the call of Christ as you, dear shepherd, have done. Pray those who govern God's Church will be ready even to die for Him and the people they serve. Let all be protected by the blood of the Lamb.

  7. 3d ago

    September 19 - Saturday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II

    (1Cor.15:35-37,42-49; Ps.56:10-14; Lk.8:4-15) "Just as we resemble the man from earth, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven." It is not difficult to recognize our earthly bodies. They are with us always, and make themselves known in the "weakness" that befalls us. Adam's sin is upon us his children and reminds us always that we are human, of the earth. But as we know this body of the earth so "subject to decay," so "ignoble" in itself, so we should know the "spiritual body [that] comes up" as this "natural body is put down" by us. Here is the meaning of Jesus' teaching that we must lay down our lives, that we must die to this world to be raised up in His presence. For the earthly form we know so well by the weakness and sin inherent in its confines we must set aside, not nourish in its passions, that ever the Spirit might take shape in our lives… that we might take on the likeness of Christ. And so even our corrupted nature may bring growth and fruit of great significance when we sow it in the ground, when we place it back whence it has come. In this death is life. "A farmer went out to sow some seed." This farmer is, of course, Jesus, the spiritual Man who casts seed of the Spirit for all waiting hearts to receive and nourish to growth as a "full-blown plant" in the Father's light. If we heed the Word He proclaims to us with exclamation, if we become ourselves as "the seed sown on good ground," given rebirth in the Gospel of Christ, resurrection of our weakened form we will know; even now it shall begin to mature within us. But if we are empty as "those on the footpath" or rootless as "those on rocky ground" or stifled as "the seed fallen among briars," how then shall we escape the natural body and its corruption and reach up to the kingdom of heaven? It cannot but be that we shall die – and in this death there will be no resurrection to life. O brothers and sisters, let us be as David, who declares in faith, "Now I know that God is with me" and asks with such confidence, "What can flesh do against me?" How indeed can the flesh hold us down, pressed to the earth though it may be, if we have God's Word in us growing so surely? In God let us "trust without fear," and on the day of full growth, when this "earth formed from dust" has died completely and the Man of Spirit has His kingdom revealed, we shall rejoice with David and sing: "You have rescued me from death… that I may walk before God in the land of the living." Then the Spirit so real we shall know. ******* 96 800x600 Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} O LORD, let your Word take root in our hearts and grow unto your heavenly kingdom. YHWH, let your Word be firmly planted in our hearts; let us bear fruit unto Heaven. Let us be raised with your only Son and walk in the light of your presence. Let us be men of the Spirit. Your Son comes casting seed upon this earth, dearest LORD. He seeks to plant your Spirit within our souls. O let us have ears to hear His Word! Let us have hearts open to His call. Why should we wish to die in sin? Why would we be subject to decay as our natural bodies? Should we not rather put on the body of Jesus and be thus spiritual men? O may we bear the likeness of the Man from Heaven! Let us have no fear, LORD, as we grow with Jesus; let the flesh hold no sway against our coming to you. Help us to lay down our bodies that our spirits may rise and we may make our home in your eternal light. Open our eyes in your presence.

  8. 4d ago

    September 18 - Friday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II

    (1Cor.15:12-20; Ps.17:1,6-8,15; Lk.8:1-3) "Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep." This is the heart of our faith. This is the "Good News," the Gospel preached in our midst. This is our firm belief. Upon it all our hopes stand. Christ has been raised, and His disciples will follow Him. As surely as we accompany Him here in His mission on earth, so surely will we find ourselves in His presence in heaven. Dying in Him means rising in light. But "if our hopes in Christ are limited to this life only, we are the most pitiable of men." We could then be said to have truly wasted our time, for then the very heart of our faith would have been torn out, and what but scoffing would we have to hold? A dead Christ we would carry in our arms, and we "the deadest of the dead" with Him. Paul speaks of this quite pointedly; he pulls no punches in this regard, declaring openly: "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is void of content and your faith is empty too." Yet there are those today, as then, who "say there is no resurrection of the dead," that "Christ was not raised" – and these would call themselves Christian. And in the same manner there are many who do not truly believe the resurrection, yet wear the Christian nametag. If we have doubt in our hearts, or, worse yet, if we preach against the core of the faith, what do we do but kill ourselves? What do we do but work against the very Gospel of Christ? And how then do we merit the name of Christian? Brothers and sisters, we must know in our hearts and be assured that Jesus is risen from the dead. We must realize that God has "attend[ed] to [David's] outcry," that He has "hearken[ed] to [his] prayer" – that the most urgent longing of our souls has been answered by the "savior of those who hope in [Him]." With David, we of faith should say with his resolve: "On waking, I shall be content in your presence." Has the resurrection not been indicated in the "women who ha[ve] been cured of evil spirits and maladies" and who now accompany Jesus? Does not Mary Magdalene, "from whom seven devils had gone out," give clear example of hope in Christ fulfilled? For she is not at all as she was, and this woman once so completely possessed by death itself is the first to see the Lord risen. We must know the resurrection in our lives on earth; this is the only way we will comprehend it in heaven. Release from sin allows us to see already the eternal fruits of the kingdom. Accompanying Him now, our sins behind us, already upon heaven's road we tread. And we know of a certain we shall pass through these "towns and villages" even unto His kingdom. ******* O LORD, your Son has been raised from the dead; may we be raised with Him and be at your side. YHWH, your Son is raised from the dead for us that we might enter your glorious presence. Though in the shadow of the wings of the Cross on this earth we make our home, it but prepares us for the kingdom. For even here our sins are taken away, and we come to new life in the Spirit. We cried out to you, O LORD, and you heard our voice and sent your Son to walk among us. And if we follow in His steps we shall come to where He leads – we shall come to you. The path He trod must be our own, for it is the way of salvation. Through death on the Cross we come to life, for as we die with Him so we are raised. 96 800x600 Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} Let us rejoice in His resurrection, O LORD; let us have faith in the new life at work in us even this day, and look with hope to our place in your kingdom. On waking may we look upon your face and be content in your eternal presence. For your glory let us ever strive, giving all to you as we walk in your way.

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Spirit-filled daily reflections on the Mass Readings of the Roman Catholic Church from the book Our Daily Bread by James Kurt (with imprimatur). The daily podcasts are voice only, while the podcasts for Sundays and Solemnities are produced with music and other elements. Another podcast recently added: Prayers to the Saints - a prayer to each saint on the calendar for the US. Also with imprimatur.

Information

  • Creator
    jameshkurt@gmail.com
  • Years Active
    2005 - 2026
  • Episodes
    884
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © James Kurt
  • Show Website
    The BreadCast