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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260226
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DTSTAMP:20260428T101638
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UID:14641-1772064000-1772150399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE BOND OF LOVE \nFrom a sermon by St Leo the Great \n◊◊◊ \nAmong all the days which Christian devotion holds honorable in many \nways\, there is none more excellent than the Paschal Feast\, through which the \ndignity of all the solemnities in the Church of God is consecrated. Even the very \nbirth of our Lord from a human mother is credited to this mystery\, for there was \nno other reason for the Son of God to be born than that he could be fixed to a \ncross. Our mortal flesh was taken up in the womb of a Virgin\, and in this mortal \nflesh the unfolding of his Passion was accomplished. Thus the mercy of God \nfulfilled a plan too deep for words: Christ’s humanity became for us a sacrifice of \nredemption\, the destruction of sin\, and the firstfruits of resurrection to eternal \nlife. \nWhen we consider what the entire world owes to our Lord’s Cross\, we \nrealize our need to prepare for the celebration of Easter by a fast of forty days if \nwe are to take part worthily in these sacred mysteries. It is not only the highest \nbishops or the priests of the second order\, nor the ministers who administer the \nsacraments alone\, but the whole body of the Church and the entire company of \nthe faithful who must be purified\, so that in the Temple of God\, whose \nfoundation is its Founder himself\, every stone may be beautiful and all parts \nradiant. \nIf it is reasonable to embellish a king’s palace or governor’s residence with \nevery ornamental art\, so that the greater a person’s importance the more \nsplendid his dwelling\, what zeal ought to be expended in building the House of \nGod himself\, and how distinguished should be its furnishing! No doubt such a \ntask can be neither undertaken nor completed without the architect; \nnevertheless the builder of the house has given it the power to grow in stature \nthrough its own efforts. In the building of this Temple living and intelligent \nmaterials are being used\, which of their own free will assemble themselves into \na single structure at the prompting of the Spirit of grace. There was a time when \nthey neither loved God nor sought him; but he loved and sought them so that \nthey might begin to love and seek him in return. This is what the blessed apostle \nJohn speaks of when he says: Let us love God\, for he first loved us. \nSince therefore the entire company of the faithful and each believer in \nparticular form one and the same Temple of God\, there must be the same \nperfection in each individual as there is in the whole; for even if all are not \nalike in beauty nor is there equal merit in such a diversity of membership\, yet \nthe bond of love ensures communion of beauty among them all. While those \nwho are united in holy love may not all have received the same gifts of grace\, \nthey rejoice nonetheless in their mutual blessings. Nothing that they love can \nbe wanting to them\, for they become rich in their own increase when they \nrejoice in another’s progress.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-401/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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