December 2025

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. St. Lawrence was a Christian martyr who lived, and died, in the third century under great persecution of the Church by the Roman Emperor Valerian. In the period leading up to his death by being burned alive atop a grill like a steak, many other Christians had been rounded up and put to death, including the pope and multiple priests. The emperor, being greedy for the Church’s money, hoped to gain its treasures for himself. Thus, prior to his martyrdom, St. Lawrence… was summoned before a magistrate andRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our Christmas Day text from Isaiah begins similarly to how the pericope from chapter seven did last Wednesday; a somewhat midstride proclamation set in developments of prophetic detail within a book resplendent with messianic language. If we back up to the beginning of tonight’s fifty-second chapter, Isaiah’s words begin their work of wrangling into our minds images of themes and aspects about the coming Christ encountered in the Church’s yearly cycle. The chapter begins, “Awake, awake!” likely conjuring up fresh memories of singing the stellar hymn “Wake, AwakeRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Holy Christian Church has long held a daily divine office called vespers, a name derived from the Latin meaning evening, for that is when it is held. In the week leading up to Christmas, beginning on December 17, specific verses for each of those seven days would be chanted during vespers right before the singing of the Magnificat, the blessed song of Mary. Those verses, to which we now refer as the O Antiphons, all sourced from the prophet Isaiah, draw attention to specific aspects and propheciesRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Isaiah 45:8a;Psalm 19:1;24:7, 3-4a;145:18, 21;Isaiah 35:4b;7:14b ✠ Lection: Isaiah 2:2-5;Isaiah 7:10-15;Luke 1:26-38a In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is by the prophet Isaiah that we have the prophetic sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel, a name that is especially popular around this time of year as we ponder upon the Advent of our King. It’s a name so popular that countless children have received it as their own over the past millennia, as well as a multitude of schools and churches, causing itRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The first words of the Divine Service proper for this Gaudete Sunday aren’t sourced from the Old Testament as usual. No, on this day the Holy Church takes words that were written after our dear Lord’s first Advent, from an epistle of St. Paul, through whom Christ’s Holy Spirit tells us to Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. We are to rejoice, for we, unlike the unbelieving world, have unfailing eternal riches in Christ that indeedRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Isaiah 30:30a, 29a, c;Psalm 80:1a;50:2-3a, 5;85:6-7; Baruch 5:5a;4:36b ✠ Lection: Malachi 3:1-5;4:1-6a;St. Matthew 11:11-15 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. If you hear what Scripture, what Jesus Himself, says about John the Baptist and believe it, then you have ears to hear Christ and the salvation that He brings, for it is in John’s voice in the wilderness that every valley is exalted and every mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight and the rough places plain. We hear Jesus’ assured words telling us that among those born of women there has notRead More →

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In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. People of Zion, behold the Lord is nigh. He, the kingdom of heaven, is at hand. He came into Jerusalem lowly, mounted on a donkey, bringing salvation unto us who sat in darkness. But we have seen a great Light. We see each and every time that we come into this glorious abode of Light, that this same glorious, saving King comes lowly again and again unto us. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the Blood of Christ? The bread whichRead More →

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✠ Psalmody: Psalm 25:1-3a;25:4;25:3a, 4;85:7;25:1-3a;85:12 ✠ Lection: James 5:7–10; Romans 13:11-14;St. Matthew 3:1–6 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew begins on familiar ground. There’s the genealogy of the Christ, His birth in Bethlehem, the visit of the Magi from the East, the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt, Herod’s slaughter of the Holy Innocents, and Jesus’ return to Nazareth to grow in wisdom, stature, and favor of God. All that is in the first two chapters, out of which St. Matthew takes us right into chapter three with the wordsRead More →