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The BreadCast


Daily Exposition of the Readings for Catholic Mass...

as well as Prayers to the Saints on the General Roman Calendar (for the U.S.).  

From the books Our Daily Bread and Prayers to the Saints by James H. Kurt - both with imprimatur.

Oct 3, 2023

(Neh.2:1-8;   Ps.137:1-6;   Lk.9:57-62)

 

“How could we sing a song of the Lord in a foreign land?”

 

Our home is in heaven.  “The foxes have lairs, the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head,” the Lord tells him who would follow His way in our gospel today.  Our home is in heaven, and only there do we find joy.  And only finding our place there should possess our hearts.

We have a sign of the devotion we must have for the Lord and His Kingdom in our psalm and first reading.  Even as the psalmist hangs up his harp and weeps “by the streams of Babylon” for his exile from Jerusalem – “May my tongue cleave to my palate if I remember you not, if I place not Jerusalem ahead of my joy” – so, too, Nehemiah is most “sad at heart” for his separation from and the ruination of “the city where [his] ancestors are buried.”  And as the king takes pity on his servant and sends Nehemiah to help rebuild Jerusalem, so, too, does the Lord look upon those who seek in ardent desire their true home with Him in heaven.  He knows we are sad at our separation from the kingdom of God; He knows only there we shall find peace in our hearts, and so He calls us along the way He walks.

But also He warns that all else must be set aside if we are to discover that which our hearts desire.  “Whoever puts his hand to the plow but keeps looking back is unfit for the reign of God.”  Does love for the New Jerusalem truly possess us as did love of the old for these exiles in Babylon?  Do we, too, recognize our own exile, our own homelessness, and seek with all our souls only the song that is sung in the kingdom of God?  Are we prepared to leave this land of exile, this foreign land in which we find ourselves, to come to Him to build with the wood He provides the new walls which will be our shelter and our place of worship even in this life?  Or do we look back to this world of sin and find ourselves drawn into its sad state?

The Lord awaits the turning of all toward Him and His kingdom.  He desires greatly our returning to His side.  The thought of our heart to give up all for Him He confirms with His blessing and love.  But we must be clear that this commitment is total, that nowhere else we shall find our joy but at His side in heaven. 

*******

O LORD, let us not be separated from you

but give all our lives to following in your way,

even to the Cross.

YHWH, let us set our hearts on you alone and our coming into your kingdom.  Why should anything else possess our souls?  Of what else should we sing?  Should we not proclaim your glory with full voice and so find your reign upon us?  We cannot make our home in any place but Heaven; help us to overcome the sadness of dwelling in this dark place, in this land of exile.  Bring us quickly into your presence.

Your House let us rebuild, O LORD, your House and your City.  Let your favoring hand be upon us this day as we seek to accomplish your will.  All else let us be ready to leave behind in order to do your work upon this plane.  For only in you will we find our joy – hear us as we pray to you.

Let us not be dead, O LORD, dead to your presence in our midst.  Let our hearts burn with love for you!  Let us remember your NAME forever.