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Holy Monday Morning: Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts Gospel Reading: Matthew 24:3-35 In the Gospel today and tomorrow we hear Jesus’ teachings about the Last Things. Matthew says that on Monday the disciples (small town boys from up north) were marveling at the great buildings in Jerusalem. Jesus said, “I tell you, the time is coming when […]

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Why, you ask, are we having Matins (usually served in the morning) in the evening? Why do we have Vesperal Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts (obviously an evening service) in the morning? I’m sorry you asked. Here’s my guess: it’s because our Matins hymn “The Bridegroom cometh in the middle of the night” was written […]

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  Giovanni di Paolo, 1326 Yesterday we celebrated the raising of Lazarus which was, as we sang, the “prefiguring of the General Resurrection”, when all mankind will be raised from death – “those who have done what is good will rise to life, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be […]

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Vespers for Palm Sunday Here are the key words from the Old Testament Readings: Genesis 49:1-2; 8-12 – Jacob’s last words to his sons: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between His feet, until He comes to whom it belongs; and to Him shall be the obedience of the […]

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This is the first of my annual Twice-daily Commentaries on the Holy Week Services and their Scripture readings. These are talks I gave for many years at Holy Week services at Saint Nicholas, Cedarburg, and now on this Blog for the last four years. If you’ve read them before, you won’t find much new here – though […]

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