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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260221
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SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Saturday after Ash Wednesday
DESCRIPTION:THE MANNER OF KEEPING \nTHE LENTEN OBSERVANCE \nFrom a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux \n◊◊◊ \nI beseech you\, most dearly beloved\, to enter with all possible fervor upon \nthis Lenten time\, which is commended to us not only by the law of abstinence\, \nbut also and much more by the mystery it contains. Oh\, with what devotion \nshould we observe what has been transmitted to us as an inheritance from the \nrighteous Moses who\, by a special privilege granted to no other prophet\, spoke \nto the Lord face to face. With what eagerness should we embrace a practice \ncommended to us by the example of Elias\, who was taken up to heaven in a fiery \nchariot. \nWe are encouraged to undertake this fast by the example of Moses and \nElias\, who\, illustrious though they may be\, are still our fellow-servants. But \nmuch greater encouragement should be given in the example of our Lord Jesus \nChrist Who also fasted for forty days. What kind of monk\, or even what kind of \nChristian\, would one be who would submit only with reluctance to an \nobservance given to us by Christ?… We ought to imitate His example with all the \nmore fervor knowing that He fasted not for His own sake but for ours… \nThey are clearly in error who suppose that these few days are sufficient for \nthe practice of penance\, since it is obvious that the whole period of our earthly \nlife is ordered for no other purpose. “Seek the Lord\,” says the prophet\, and not \nonly during forty days\, but “while He may be found”. “Call upon Him while He is \nnear”… Therefore since the Lord is near during all this time of mercy\, “seek \nHim\,” most dearly beloved\, “seek Him while He may be found; call upon Him \nwhile He is near.” \nNevertheless we ought to seek Him with greater ardor during these forty \ndays of Lent\, which is not only a part\, but the most sacred part of the whole \nseason of mercy. If\, then\, at other times we have allowed our zeal to grow slack\, \nit is fitting that our hearts should now be warmed with a renewal of spiritual \nfervor. If the stomach alone has sinned\, let the stomach alone fast\, and that \nsuffices. \nBut if the other members have sinned also\, why should they not be made \nto fast as well as the stomach? Therefore let the “eye which has wasted the soul” \nbe made to fast. Let the ear\, too\, be made to fast\, and the tongue\, and the hand\, \nand even the soul herself. Let the eye fast from curious looks\, so that\, \nwholesomely humbled\, it may now be kept in penitential restraint. Let the ear \nfast from news and idle tales and from all that is vain and worthless with regard \nto salvation. Let the tongue fast from detraction and murmuring\, from \nunprofitable\, vain and frivolous words\, and – because of the great importance of \nsilence – sometimes even from words that seem necessary. Let the hand fast \nfrom every work not sanctioned by obedience. \nBut above all\, let the soul fast from vice and the following of her own will. \nFor without this kind of fasting\, all the rest will have no value in the eyes of God. \nFor we read in the prophet Isaiah that when the people said to the Lord: “Why \nhave we fasted and you have not regarded?”\, they received this answer: “Behold \nin the day of your fast your own will is found.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-saturday-after-ash-wednesday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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