Ad Te Levavi

✠ 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 →

In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Except for the young among us, we all have memories to some degree and in some ways of “good ol’ days”. Considering what we face day in and day out in our present world, even the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ tends to look back longingly at such times as what we read about in the book of Acts, in historical records about how our great fathers battled heresies and the Gospel made great headway, and even back to when Church pews were regularly full in ourRead More →

✠ Psalmody: Psalm 25:1-3a;25:4;25:3a, 4;85:7;25:1-3a;85:12 ✠ Lection: James 5:7–10; St. Matthew 3:1–6 In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Sundays in the Church Year function not as stand alones, but as the very thing that they are, that is, the first day of a week of days. So, for example, if you’ve ever wondered how it is decided which color the paraments and vestments will be in a Saturday or weekday service, the days following Sunday typically inherit the preceding Sunday’s color, with some notable exceptions like the upcoming Ember Days following Gaudete. Church seasons tendRead More →