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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250327
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UID:13257-1743033600-1743119999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE SPIRIT OF LENT \nFrom a meditation by Dom Alban Boultwood \n◊◊◊ \nIn Chapter 49 of the Holy Rule\, “On the Observance of Lent\,” St Benedict \nbegins by saying that the spiritual man ought really to be living at all times in the \nspirit of Lent\, that is\, in wholehearted conversion to God. Our frailty causes us \nto fail often in this\, but if we do not try to live in this spirit during the holy season \nof Lent\, when shall we ever do so? \nSt Benedict sees the spirit of Lent not as one of unhappiness\, but rather as \na spirit of free and joyful oblation: “so that everyone of his own will may offer to \nGod\, with joy and the Holy Spirit\, something beyond the measure appointed to \nhim”. The Church herself has been preparing us for this\, first by drawing us and \ninspiring us by the sublime glimpse of divine love unveiled at Christmas\, and \nthen by summoning us to hear the Savior’s call as he manifests his divine \nmission and power after the Epiphany. And now we are called to follow him\, in \nthe work of his oblation and redemptive sacrifice which he now so lovingly takes \nup. Our Lord calls us to unite ourselves with him in his oblation to his Father’s \nwill\, for this is his mission. \nOur response to this divine invitation has led us to the “oblation” by which \nas [monks] we offer ourselves wholly to God\, and it seems specially fitting for us \nduring Lent\, to renew\, solemnly\, sincerely\, reflectively\, our formal [offering] of \nourselves to God through the Rule of St Benedict. It is true that our [offering] is \nreally made once and for all but the point lies in the renewal of the spirit of our \n[offering]. It is not enough to set up a religious program in our life\, Even in the \nmonastery itself\, where the vows and the whole rule of life establish a wonderful \nreligious machinery to guide and speed us towards God\, yet these things still \n5 Alive to God [Benedictine Studies VII]\, Baltimore-Dublin\, 1964\, pp. 72-75.11 \nremain in themselves just the machinery of our life; and we soon find\, here too\, \nprecisely that tendency for things to become mechanical in the bad sense. And \nso we are always having to renew our spirit\, deepening\, clarifying\, purifying\, \nreaffirming\, our interior [offering]\, as the years bring us the daily opportunities \nof fulfillment. \nWe must go forward in faith and in hope and in love\, one step at a time\, \ntrying to be ready to recognize God’s will as it comes to us day by day\, and trying \nto give ourselves to it with all our heart. As occasion arises\, the “instruments of \ngood works” [which St Benedict mentions] will be offered to us; so many \nspiritual tools\, yet all but a part of the first great one to love the Lord with your \nwhole heart.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-284/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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