A 5 minute daily podcast to help you in your Advent preparation.
Today, we hear about the intersection of divinity and humanity and how we tend to treat God like we treat each other.
Card. Bacci contrasts flashy works of pride and quiet works for God.
Yesterday’s podcast HERE.
The Archconfraternity of the Most Holy Trinity of the Pilgrims and Convalescents holding a regular meal for the poor.
Photo from don VP.
Welcome registrant:
mikemo75
Please remember me when CHRISTMAS shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance, utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.
quite possibly the most amazing thing I’ve ever seenpic.twitter.com/IKCZ16lM6H
— Interesting things (@awkwardgoogle) December 19, 2025
White to move. Mate in 4. Pretty easy.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
The Vatican has officially confirmed that Pope Leo XIV will hold an Extraordinary Consistory on January 7-8:
The Vatican’s statement:
“As announced last November, the Holy Father has convened the first Extraordinary Consistory of His Pontificate, to be held on January 7 and 8,… pic.twitter.com/koIsl1crxx
— Edward Pentin (@EdwardPentin) December 20, 2025
We continue our look at the O Antiphons with today’s O Clavis David
Again we hear the theme of Christ as the Liberator.
LATIN: O clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel: qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit: veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris.
ENGLISH: O Key of David, and scepter of the house of Israel, who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man opens: come, and bring forth the captive from his prison, he who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death.
Scripture Reference:
Isaiah 22:22
Revelation 3:7
Relevant verse of Veni, Veni Emmanuel:
O come, thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Do not fall into the trap of thinking that the we are dealing with events isolated solely in the past. Even taking just the image of the key in Scripture, we see how God’s plan is still in effect for us today, and we are all still players in his plan for salvation. The Old Testament reference from Isaiah helps us see this.
In Isaiah we read how the Lord said to Shebna, who was the master of the household of King Hezekiah:
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Helkias, and I will clothe him with thy robe, and will strengthen him with thy girdle, and will give thy power into his hand: and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Juda. And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut and none shall open. And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to the house of his father”.
God established in the House of David an office to be handed down through a succession, an office of jurisdiction. The vicar of the Davidic King would exercise the King’s authority.
This same language and image was used by our Lord when in Matthew 16 He conferred His own authority on Peter to exercise as a office to be handed down in a succession. The Lord, the David King Priest Messiah, gave His keys to Peter. His clear intent, clear from the David key image He used, was to establish an office with a succession.
In Revelation 3:7 the Lord is described as He who still wields David’s key. Even as Peter holds the keys on earth, it is the Lord’s own hand which holds Peter’s hand.
Truly the Lord who came to us at Bethlehem is with us always in His Church until His ultimate Coming at the end of the world. He is, in a real sense, the Key itself which Peter wields to open doors and to shut, to bind chains and to loose.
On the note of the keys, the El-Araj Excavation Project at ancient Bethsaida, the birthplace and home of Peter, Andrew and Philip has a Byzantine mosaic inscription referring to Peter, discovered in an ancient excavated basilica. The church had been described by the pilgrim Willibald in AD 724, built over the home of Peter and Andrew. The inscription names a donor, “Constantinos, servant of the Messiah,” and refers to the “Head and Leader of the Heavenly Messengers,” a Byzantine title for Apostle Peter. So, El-Araj is biblical Bethsaida, hometown of Peter, Andrew, and Philip, and a center of Jesus’ ministry.
Let’s sing about the Key with the help of the terrific Benedictine monks of Le Barroux. NB: They don’t use the flat “ti”.
A 5 minute daily podcast to help you in your Advent preparation.
Bl. Ildefonso on how we are more blessed than the patriarch and prophets.
With reference to the Usus Antiquior Mass for Ember Saturday Pius Parsch looks at those who will accompany the King.
Yesterday’s podcast HERE.
Here is the O Antiphon for 19 December: O Radix Jesse
Again Our Lord is presented as the Liberator.
LATIN: O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, iam noli tardare.
ENGLISH: O Root of Jesse, that stands for an ensign of the people, before whom the kings keep silence and unto whom the Gentiles shall make supplication: come, to deliver us, and tarry not.
Scripture References:
Isaiah 11:10
Romans 15:12
Revelation 5:5
Relevant verse of Veni, Veni Emmanuel:
O come, O Rod of Jesse free,
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o’er the grave.
What urgency there is in this antiphon.
Our Lewis & Short says that radix is “a root, ground, basis, foundation, origin, source”.
Ironically, roots are underground and invisible, but standards, ensigns are raised high in the air.
Something that lies below the earth (a root) stands high into the heavens like a banner!
Vexilia Regis Prodeunt we sing in Lent. The little root of Advent becomes by Lent grows into the Tree of our salvation.
The one from above takes our mortal clay into an indestructible bond. He raises us to the heavens.
Isaiah 11:10 gives us imagery for our reflection today.
The great prophet of Advent tells us that the kingdom of David would be destroyed, but not entirely destroyed. A root would remain. Jesse is David’s father. David is Jesse’s root. David leads to Christ. Christ is the David King Messiah Priest.
After the destruction there remains a root.
No matter what the exigencies of life present to us or how turbulent the vicissitudes of the passing world may be, when we cling to the root we are sure to be victorious in the end. The root bears up on high to the heavens.
Per aspera ad astra. Succisa virescit.
Life includes patterns of destruction and rebuilding, pruning and regrowth, transplantation and rerooting. So long as we are grafted into the Root, we survive and grow.
Exitus. Conversio. Reditus.
Let’s hear the wonderful community at Le Barroux sing this antiphon with the Magnificat.
Welcome registrant:
glselden
Liam
How is it that Fr. Frank Pavone is cancelled — even barred from offering a funeral Mass for his own mother — while James Martin, SJ is celebrated?
One American priest spent his priesthood defending the unborn.
The other distorting Church teaching on homosexuality. pic.twitter.com/DXcajgb6n2— John-Henry Westen (@JhWesten) December 19, 2025
White to move and mate in 2.
And
And… Merry Christmas!
The Krampus Christmas parade, Austria
pic.twitter.com/SM1XBQSGYW— Science girl (@sciencegirl) December 19, 2025
And… Happy Birthday again Marines!
Scotland Honoring US Marines pic.twitter.com/wyT3OKhj6e
— Playteaux (@Playteaux1) December 18, 2025
A 5 minute daily podcast to help you in your Advent preparation.
Joseph Ratzinger zooms to the heights he can reach about faith and reason and emotion and then he gets quite concrete and practical.
Connect that to a note from Fulton Sheen.
Yesterday’s podcast HERE.
Today is 18 December, the Feast of the Old Testament Prophet St. Malachi.
Since the beginning of December, Holy Mother Church has been imitating the Lord on the Road to Emmaus.
She has been reminding us of all the prophecies about the coming of the Messiah who would also be incarnate God.
She has done this subtly, through feast days, but feasts that are not generally visible to most of us. Holy Mother Church has used her “album of the saints”, the Roman Martyrology, to teach about the Old Testament Prophets.
Sometimes you hear people – even priests, for shame – use the word “liturgy” when they mean “Mass”. “In today’s ‘liturgy’…”, they say.
No. The Mass is the greatest expression of the Church’s liturgy, but it is not all there is. There are also the canonical hours of the divine Office. The Office also makes use of the liturgical book called the Roman Martyrology.
Paging through the 2005 Martyrology, we find that many Old Testament figures are counted as saints.
If the general calendar of the Church permits, it would even be possible to celebrate them for Mass!
Today, for example, St. Malachi who pointed to the forerunner of Christ, St. John the Baptist who heralded the coming of the Lord. Christ quotes Malachi on this in Matthew 11.
In a few days we have the Winter Solstice and the Feast of St. Micah. Micah said (5:2)
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days.
About those Old Testament prophets…
Keep in mind that in earlier days, Advent was longer than it is now, from Martinmas. Prophets start popping up in the calendar in the 2005 Martyrology.
19 Nov – Abdia or Obediah. (RomMart 2005, p. 632)
1 Dec – Nahum (p. 652)
2 Dec – Habakkuk (p. 654)
3 Dec – Sophonius or Zephaniah (p. 655)
16 Dec – Haggai (p. 674) and some sources David (others have David on 29 Dec)
18 Dec – Malachi (p. 677)
21 Dec – Micah (p. 680)
24 Dec – “Commemoratio omnium sanctorum avorum Iesu Christi, filii, David, filii Abraham, filii Adam…” (p. 684) Commemoration of all the holy “ancestors” (lit. grandfathers) of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham, son of Adam
Just a little public service announcement.
FYI… other prophets
1 May – Jeremiah (p. 263)
9 May – Isaiah (p. 277)
15 June – Amos (p. 338)
20 July – Elijah (p. 401)
21 July – Daniel (1878 MartRom)
23 July – Ezekiel (p. 408)
4 Sept – Moses (1878 MartRom)
6 Sept – Zachariah (1878 MartRom)
21 Sept – Jonah (p. 528)
17 Oct – Hosea (p. 575)
19 Oct – Joel (p. 579)
The O Antiphons: 18 December – O Adonai
LATIN: O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel, qui Moysi in igne flammae rubi apparuisti, et ei in Sina legem dedisti: veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.
ENGLISH: O Lord and Ruler the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: come, and redeem us with outstretched arms.
Scripture References:
Exodus 3
Micah 5:2
Matthew 2:6
Relevant verse of Veni, Veni Emmanuel:
O come, O come, thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud and majesty, and awe.
“Adonai” is “LORD.” It was the Hebrew word that the Jews used when they found the four-lettered word for God’s name which they held to be too sacred to pronounce aloud. The four letter word for God’s Name, the Tetragrammaton, is still venerated by us to the point that Holy Church asks us not to use it in liturgical song.
Christ is Lord, Lord of Creation. We sang this yesterday in the antiphon “O Sapientia“. Christ is also Lord of the Covenant with the People He chose.
The Lord made covenants with Noah, Abraham, and Moses. He guided them and all the People. He gave them Law. He protected and feed them. The Lord delivered them from bondage to Pharaoh and unending slavery. He went before them with arm outstretched.
This was all a pre-figuring of the great work of redemption that Christ would work on the Cross. He redeemed us His People from Satan and the eternal damnation of hell.
He once appeared clothed in the burning bush that was not consumed by fire.
He is about to appear again clothed in flesh in our liturgical celebration of Christmas.
He will appear again one day in the future to judge the living and the dead.
He appears to us each day in the person of our neighbor.
What amazing contrasts we find in our Lord! He came in thunder and lightening to give the Law on Mt. Sinai. He comes now in swaddling clothes. He will come again in glory. He comes humbly in the appearance of Bread and Wine.
He still goes before us with outstretched arm and our foes are put to flight at the sight of His banner!
Shall we hear the Benedictines of Le Barroux sing the O Antiphon and Magnificat?
Please remember me when CHRISTMAS shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance, utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.
Next stop: Colosseum!
“Mind the gap of two millennia”
Rome’s spectacular new metro station, just inaugurated ???pic.twitter.com/95jU14OQAy
— Mambo Italiano (@mamboitaliano__) December 18, 2025
And… good or bad it was a big deal.
LOTR: THE RETURN OF THE KING was released 22 years ago today. The final film in Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy, and among the most successful movies ever made, a day may come when the story of how it was made fails to entertain. But it is not this day…
1/47 pic.twitter.com/KJnMz1K4nD
— All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) December 17, 2025
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
White to move and mate in 4. Tricky.
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