October 2026

In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Today we remember the Lutheran Reformation; the events, the people that God aused to return His Church to the purity and truth of His Holy Word just over 500 years ago. A lowly monk had questions that he wanted to discuss with the learned men of the Church, because his own wrestling with and meditation upon the Scriptures had opened his eyes to the spiritual danger Christ’s Church was increasingly facing due to doctrines and desires of men being exalted above those of God. It is by thisRead More →

In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He has visited and redeemed His people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David. St. Luke tells mightily of this Lord God, of this visitation, of this redemption, of this horn of salvation, of this eternal house. He tells of this mighty Lord Who, while yet in His humiliation, appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He HimselfRead More →

In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. If you have read much classical literature, especially originating from Western Europe, you cannot help but notice how much the Church Year comes up matter-of-factly. Even in imaginative plot and story, the reality of what is good pervades how fictional characters mark time as it passes. You may read that such-and-such was taking place in the week prior to Judica (the fifth Sunday in Lent), that winter was already overly harsh by Epiphany, or that this thing over here happened the second week after Michaelmas. I specifically makeRead More →

In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. At that time: The Pharisees gathered together and came to Jesus. Apparently, not all coming to Jesus moments are good ones, for the Lord desires mercy and not sacrifice, meaning that not even the majestic grace poured out in His holy, precious blood from the altar is always good, at least not for the receiver. We do not believe in ex opere operato, a phrase meaning that simply by us doing the act is the benefit to us from the act given. There is no gift in theRead More →