Advent is a season of waiting. While our culture urges us to rush toward Christmas, Advent invites us to slow down, to watch, and to wait with faith. Scripture is full of people who waited on God, but one story in particular—found in Matthew 15:21–28—continues to fascinate and challenge us.

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December 16, 2025

Our Morning Offering – 16 December – Creator Alme Siderum – Creator of the Starry Frame


One Minute Reflection – 16 December – “What does this mean, “take up a cross?”

Saint Eusebius propers & commentary (EF)

Feria (The Third Sunday of Advent) propers & the Greater Advent Antiphons (EF)

Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent (Gueranger)(EF)

Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent readings & commentary (OF)

Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent readings & commentary (OF)
Other Commemorations: St. Adelaide, Empress and Widow

Daily Gospel

ADVENTCAzT 2025: 17 – Tuesday 3rd Week of Advent – Patience

Saint Eusebius of Vercelli Bishop

St. Adelaide

Saints of the Day

Audio version of Gueranger
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Apple Sky said:

André Rieu - Out standing.

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Sublime.

Matthew 22:21

Mark 12:17

Luke 20:25

Day 1 — December 16

Hail, and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem in piercing cold.

In that hour, vouchsafe I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayers and grant my petitions through the merits of Jesus Christ and of His most blessed Mother. Amen

(Mention your intentions here)

PRAYER

O Shepherd that rulest Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep, come to guide and comfort us.

Our Father....
Hail Mary....
Glory be....

'Lectures on Revival of Religion'
- Charles G. Finney
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ViaCrucis said:

Take a look again at Isaiah 56:6-7

Perhaps you missed it.

"Who join themselves to the LORD"
"Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and holds fast My covenant"

In other words: Those who join the people of Israel. Converts to Judaism.

I don't feel I even have to bring up verse 7

"Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar;"

Was your argument that, as a Gentile, I should be giving burnt offerings? Is Christ's Sacrifice not sufficient? Must I now also offer sacrifices of goats and bulls? If this passage means I must observe the Sabbath as a Gentile Christian, then this passage also means I must offer burnt offerings. You don't get to have it both ways: That's either what it's saying, or it isn't.

I'd say this was a good attempt. But it wasn't. 0 Points.

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Keeping points on God's Word? I'll think I'll pass on that one.

But lets look at these verses more carefully. Before that some important points…

1. There is no Scripture that God's commandments are only for Jews. They belong to God and only He can tell you want His Laws are and He did. Not written by man, but written by the Holy Spirit. Exo31:18 and its illogical that God only wants Jews to worship Him and Gentiles are free to worship whoever, or Jews can't steal from their neighbor but Gentiles are free to do whatever they want. Jesus addressed this plainly when He said "whoever" breaks the least of these commandments and came with a pretty serious warning Mat5:19-30

2. A covenant is an agreement. God made a covenant with Israel who always represented "His son" Exo4:22 so it was never meant to be literal, but represented God's people. This is what God said about His covenant and the words Psa 89:34 My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. The words of the covenant, the "Ten Commandments" Exo34:28 Deut4:13 was never the issue Psa19:7 Rom7:12, the issue is mans harden heart, which is why God wrote an New Covenant because man broke the first one, it is still with Israel "His son" but now written in the heart- not changing the words of the covenant, which includes the Sabbath because God keeps His promises and why we see the Sabbath being kept by Jesus, the apostles, Jews and Gentiles in the NC just as Jesus predicted.

Lets look at this passage more carefully before dismissing it as it contains a lot of promises.

Note absent the word Jew. This is God speaking, He knows the difference between "man" and "jew" why He said the Sabbath was made for man. And the word He used means mankind. Do you really think God only wants to give blessings to Jews only? And He wants only Jews not to keep from doing evil by profaning the Sabbath which is a deeper problem Eze22:26 Eze20:16

Lets not add our words and ideas to what God said, its something we are told not to.

Isa 56:2 Blessed is the man who does this,
And the son of man who lays hold on it;
Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

Isa 56:6 “Also the sons of the foreigner (Gentiles)
Who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him,
And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants—
Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And holds fast My covenant


This verse is clearly about:
Foreigners / Gentiles
Who join themselves to the LORD
Who keep His covenant


This verse cannot be more clear and it does not say only Jews who love and want to serve Him but EVERYONE who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and holds fast to My covenant that He promised not to alter the Words. To deny these plain Words by God is not going to do anyone favors because God wants to give His blessings Isa59:2 and sanctification Eze20:12 to everyone that join themselves to God because we can't sanctify or bless ourselves and we cannot separate God's blessings Exo20:11 Isa59:22 and sanctification Gen2:3 Eze20:12 from the seventh day Sabbath. Man cannot sanctify themselves Isa66:17 we need God Eze20:12


This passage is prophetic that God said to Isaiah its future- Jesus even quoted from it in the present tense.

Isa 56:7 Even them I will bring to My holy mountain,

This does not just mean Jerusalem, its where God dwells

Psalm 15:1
LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in Your holy hill?

And make them joyful in My house of prayer.

Jesus is speaking of His church and Jesus quotes from this passage in the present tense Mat 21:13 which says plainly its for prayer, not "sacrifices"

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
Will be accepted on My altar;

The earthy animal sacrifices ended at the Cross Heb10:1-10 The earthy temple was just a miniature temple that represents God's Temple in heaven. Heb8:1-5 Rev 15:5 Rev11:19 Sacrifices continues and are spiritual

Heb13:15 By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
Rom 12:1Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service
Psa 141:2 Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
1 Peter 2:5 You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood,
to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ
Rev 5:8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

This cannot be more clear- God's house of prayer is a house of prayer for all nations and what God predicts comes true and we see this clearly in the NT and continuing on forever

Acts 13:42 So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.

Acts 13:44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God.

Acts 18:4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.


8 The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says,
“Yet I will gather to him
Others besides those who are gathered to him.”

Everyone, who loves God and joins themselves to Him to serve Him and keeps His Sabbath, because God wants to bless and sanctify all men, He knows we need Him and can't do this ourselves.

And if you look later in Isaiah this is what the Lord prophesied- which always comes true

His house of prayer will be for All Nations and continues forever


Isa 66:22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth
Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord,
“So shall your descendants and your name remain.
23 And it shall come to pass
That from one New Moon to another,
And from one Sabbath to another,
All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord.

There is not any promises like this even close to Sunday because as a replacement for God's Sabbath commandment doesn't exist in our Bibles.. No promise of blessings, no promises of sanctification, no joining ourselves to Christ, no promise of a house of prayer for all nations, no promises period other than a day God made for work and labors Exo20:9, yes Jesus rose on the first day of the week, but never said one word about that changing any of His promises or transferring those to any other day, because its a man-made tradition competing with the God of the Bible blessings and promises and commandment. Because there is nothing that supports Sunday keeping in lieu of keeping one of God's commandments that God Himself Blessed, that no man can take away His blessing Num23:20 so instead, people spend their time attacking God's Sabbath repeatedly- what message are we sending God who said Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, the Sabbath is My holy day Isa58:13 hallow My Sabbaths and it will be a sign between you and Me Eze20:20 when did God's words and Testimony not mean anything, isn't this the whole point of the Bible to find God? God Himself tells us how to join ourselves to Him Isa56:6 are we going to listen to Him on how we do this or another voice.

Don't let anyone cheat us from the promises of God in His holy word.

Col 2:8 Beware lest anyone [a]cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

SarahsKnight said:

Actually i would say just as badly it's the perpetual misery and fear it has caused in many professing believers, worried that they did something at some point to make God hate them enough to revoke their saved status and now have them marked for eternal misery in hell, ESPECIALLY the professing believers in Christ like myself who have a problem with obsessive compulsive disorder.

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Yes, you're right. And I've been there myself a few times. It never made sense to me when I was taught this doctrine with what we were also being taught about God at the same time.

I think of children who are born without a brain, or at least most of it. Most die from it, I know, but some survive. But when they didn't have, let's say, the visual center at the back of their heads, they still saw. I know that the muscle attachment to the eyes is independent of a brain, and is controlled by the cerebral cortex, so the soul is probably in the cerebral cortex anyway, but they should really be blind when they don't have the "visual" center at the back of their heads:






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Bradskii said:

That's it? So many men, women and children gunned down and you can't even offer a thought for those dead and those still fighting for life? All you can offer is a blazingly unsubtle bumper sticker version of your first political diatribe?

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Welcome to the standard post shooting debrief.

We see the current deadly mass shooting on Bondi Beach in Sydney Australia. What motivated such hatred, how could they kill so many innocent people? What we see, is basically a attack much like the Pogroms of old, to wipe out the Jews.

Antisemitism in the form of persecution and Pogroms were happening way before the Holocaust, and everyone knows what happened in 1492 in Spain, but something else happened that year. In 1492, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castille issue the Alhambra Decree, mandating that all Jews be expelled from the country. History records what happened, "Spanish Jews were forced to renounce their faith or leave their thousand-year homeland behind. Meanwhile, the Spanish economy crumbled as hundreds of thousands prepared for departure, liquidating their assets and scrambling to arrange their affairs."

This had started even earlier back a century before, in 1391, when a wave of anti-Jewish riots swept through Spain, where thousands were killed. Others were forced to accept Christianity, so you can see the problem with the sincerity of these "conversions", so many of these "converts" now became persecuted by the Inquisition. And everyone knows the Roman persecution of the Jews leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, and millions being killed or were exiled or fled for their lives.

So why was there such hatred of the Jews, it cant be explained by the accusation that the Jews were Christ-killers., as anti-Jewish riots swept through Roman Empire as Christians were dying in the Coliseum and spread even in non-Christian areas. So what made them different than the people in the other nations and areas, well the day of worship certainly made them stand out and distinct to say the least.

Praise God that you are able to help your neighbors find peace. Sounds likely you should get involved in deliverance ministry as God brings the opportunities. I will say too that you should look at the gift discerning of spirits. You can learn how to recognize things quickly and efficiently as you turn to God and learn to use all the authority and gifts that he has given you. God bless you and all your efforts!

No need to worry about Egypt, it often ranks second in U.S. foreign aid.
"Egypt consistently ranks as a top recipient of U.S. foreign aid, often second only to Israel, receiving billions in military and economic support since the 1970s for strategic importance, though overall assistance has slightly decreased in recent years, notes U.S. News & World Report, Wikipedia, and USAFacts. It's a major military partner, holding a strong global military rank (around 19th) and receiving significant security assistance for regional stability, as shown by data from Global Firepower and U.S. News & World Report" Google ai

More and more data is coming out on the harms of smoking pot. It always seems weird though that the Federal Government refuses to prosecute Federal laws that are on the books. I guess with pot if is too impractical. But I suppose it still is not federally "legal."

The residents of hong kong have been offered a path to citizenship, and not just asylum, in the UK multiple times over the last decade.


Any who don't take this offer either are prevented by the chinese government or are unwilling or otherwise unable on their end.

The "two systems" were always freedom with an expiry date, and the people of hong kong should have left the country much earlier, when the going was still good.

JSRG said:

No it doesn't. All it says is that Constantine introduced the first civil legislation concerning Sunday. Nothing about making it the day of worship. Indeed, your very link acknowledges that Justin Martyr, who lived more than a century before Constantine was even born, refers to Sunday as the Christian day of worship. So your own link actually refutes the claim that "Constantine made the day of worship on the first day."

Incidentally, something I notice odd about this link, and indeed your links in general. Instead of actually linking to a page, you instead link off to some Google link when then directs you to the actual link. So your above link brings you to Sunday | Rest, Worship, Reflection | Britannica, a Google link which then transfers you to Sunday | Rest, Worship, Reflection | Britannica. Why do you not just give the direct link? Not only does it link directly, it allows them to see beforehand where the link will take them.

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Yes the link does: Quote _ the emperor Constantine I (died337), a convert to Christianity, introduce the first civil legislation, [""which means he made it Law,""] concerning Sunday in 321, when he decreed that all work should cease on that day, except Farmers could work if necessary. That law aimed at providing time for worship, was followed later in the same century, and in subsequent centuries by further restrictions of Sunday activities........ that is what is written IN THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA ON THE LINK I GAVE. You seem to have overlooked that part or maybe you just didn't read it, or refuse understand or acknowledge it, when it is written plainly.

And I use the encyclopedia Britannica because it cannot be said it is bias; most likely the links below can be or will be said by those who believe the Sabbath is now Sunday said is bias
March 7, 321 AD – Constantine’s Sunday Law – The Sabbath Sentinel March 7, 321 AD – Constantine’s Sunday Law


Day of rest / Day of Worship both equal Seventh-Day Sabbath.

Everything You Need to Know About Shabbat Services | Reform Judaism Everything You Need to Know About Shabbat Services

What Is Shabbat? - The Jewish Day of Rest - Chabad.org https://share.google/h6UYVcNPRBgKyq0Rg


And my little device doesn't pull up all the information that is out there throughout the past decade I've seen much more. Your statement Why don't I give direct links - I give the links my device pulls up. - Sorry you have to go through Google to get to the link, does it matter, doesn't that mean a safer search?

Its wrong as it almost like we want to make human "Gods" and only Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit , Holy Spirit and God is Jesus , and ,God and Jesus are the Holy Spirit nothing else there is the Trinity is what i am saying NOT someone building their own human" God " plus it's also playing God it's blasphemy basically .

Ill give it my best shot. If a state leans toward one political party, then the rule is conciliatory and honors the State's Senators who are closer to the needs and wants of that particular state. The GOP in Utah would not like Obama naming a liberal, and Delaware does not want a Trump pick. The tradition shows a little humanity and goodwill to the opposition. Maybe Trump is adamant in Delaware because of Biden? Trump too is all in, he wanted to blow up the filibuster. He is not thinking about the future and how that will play out. Partisanship or the belief that one party or group must do everything is prideful. Government is supposed to be divided, to keep the whole system in check. To nitpick about the US attorney for Delaware is a reach.
I don't like the idea that everyone that does not follow Trump is a RINO. RINO stands for doing non-republican things. But in many ways Trump is a RINO himself in much bigger ways than denying the President a Attorney General, when tradition says otherwise.

Mary had been visited by an angel of God and told that she was going to give birth to the Son of God and that she was to name him “Jesus.” But Mary was a virgin and had not been with a man, so she wondered how this would happen. And the angel told her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, i.e. that the baby would be conceived of the Holy Spirit and not of man. Therefore, when Jesus was born and he lived on the earth, he did not have a sin nature as we did, and he was fully human and fully God (God incarnate).

Sometime after Mary’s encounter with the angel, she went to the home of Zacharias and Elizabeth, and when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby in her womb leaped for joy. And that baby ended up being John the Baptist who God used to prepare the way of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Elizabeth called Mary blessed because she believed that there would be a fulfillment of what the Lord had said to her through the angel. For Mary considered herself the bondslave of the Lord, and so she submitted to God’s will for her life.


Mary gave all the glory and praise and credit to God and to God alone for what the Lord was doing in her life. She recognized that, even though all generations from that time forward would most certainly count her blessed of God, it was because of the great things that God did for her. So she did not raise herself up above all others. She did not desire to be worshiped. She was humble of heart and mind that God would choose her to give birth to the Son of God. So her soul exalted the Lord, and not herself.

And all of us who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives should have the same frame of mind and heart as Mary did in recognizing that God is our source for all the good that he does in and through our lives, and that we should give him all the glory and not take glory for ourselves. If he calls us by his grace to a particular area of ministry or service to him, we should be sure to give him all the glory and praise, and to give him all the credit for what he is doing in and through our lives.

But then Mary went on to talk about God’s mercy upon generation after generation toward those who fear him, as Mary feared God. And to fear God is to be in awe of him and to show him respect, honor, reverence, worship, devotion, and obedience to his commands. It is to take God’s words to heart, to believe them, and to honor them. And we do this when we submit to his Lordship over our lives, and we willingly deny self, die to sin daily, and walk in obedience to his commands, all in the power of God and by his grace.

But those who do not fear the Lord, because they are proud in the thoughts of their heart, he will scatter (dismiss, terminate). For Jesus Christ, in his death on that cross, put our sins to death with him so that, by faith in him, we will now die to sin and live to obey our Lord and his commands. So, all who refuse to bow the knee to him, to humble themselves, and to submit to his will, and who choose their own sinful path, instead, even if they profess faith in the name of Jesus, they will not inherit eternal life with God.

For we learn in 1 John 1-3 that if we claim that we have fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars. If we claim that we know God, but we do not obey his commandments, in practice, we are liars. For it is not the one who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

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My Soul Exalts The Lord
An Original Work / December 16, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

BCP1928 said:

We are well aware of it. Perhaps some us even approve of it and take that position ourselves. What I don't see is a mandate for imposing it on the non-Christian citizens of a secular state.

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The founding document of the United States makes it clear our rights come from God. Our Christian/Judeo heritage, recognizing our gifts come from God, is what makes our nation special. The major laws in our country are decided upon by our moral values. We decide laws based on those values, whether murder is acceptable, whether it be to kill a daughter because she marries into another religion or to kill a baby in the womb. We set an age for marriage, that age is valid for Christians and non-Christians. We even set modesty standards, women are not allowed to walk around topless whereas men are allowed. I suppose all laws can "impose" on some people.

Lord have mercy!

timothyu said:

The fact Gentiles think they are the only Church is telling in itself. They did their best to weed out the Jews but there is absolutely no reason why said Jews cannot maintain their heritage and religion, while also following Jesus. Universal means all, not one group. That is how it was done in the beginning, and so it shall be in the end. The Church is truth from the Father, not Jew or Gentile.

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Actually I think both sides pushed each other away and in some ways this was inevitable in that the majority of Jewish sects at that time and the climate of Jewish revolt against Rome anyone who did not side with the Jews cause was seen as an outsider.

So by the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt in the 130s AD The traditional Jewish sects which more or less bandied together against Rome were calling the Christians traitors and not supporting the revolt.

Which is exactly what the Christians should have done.

But we also see the influence of the Jewish tradition within Christianity up until around the 4th or 5th century and even beyond in some places. The archeological evidence of early churches that look more or less like Jewish synagogues with much of their setup and worship still in the traditional Jewish practice.

And so it should have been the case because Christianity is not a rejection of its traditional roots. Its part of Christianity. But like all positions of power once the church was in bed with the State and became political it began to regulate. Create a divide.

But I think in both cases this was a human created movement designed to make Gods Kingdom an earthly power. They just went about it in different ways. In some ways reactions and a consequence of the establishing of Christs church from all others.

I think the examples of the early church and especially maybe the first 100 years up to the Jewish revolt we see how we should be as a church. Still steeped in the Jewish roots and how this evolved and integrated and not rejected. The symbolism and ritual is very much the same but made so that all nations are able to come to Gods alter to sacrifice themselves as a pure offering to God in Christ.

I think if we lose this connection we lose the true representation and thats when I agree that the Gentiles go too far and try to recreate the church and Christ into their own rationalised and modernised image and not Gods.

So now more than ever the church needs to remember its roots and get back to basics before it lost its ways. .

As this list is a lot larger than the Protestant Canon .. what were your criteria to consider these 'inspired', and does 'inspired' to your understanding also mean 'infallible' ? In other words, what led to your understanding as such?