BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey - ECPv6.17.1//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20250309T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20260308T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20261101T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20270314T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20271107T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260724
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260725
DTSTAMP:20260719T112124Z
CREATED:20260719T112124Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260719T112124Z
UID:15209-1784851200-1784937599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “New Seeds of Contemplation” by \nTHOMAS MERTON \n◊◊◊ \nEvery moment and every event of a person’s life on earth plants \nsomething in the soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds\, \nso each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest \nimperceptibly in the minds and wills of every individual. Most of these \nunnumbered seeds perish and are lost\, because people are not prepared to \nreceive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the \ngood soil of freedom\, spontaneity and love. \nThis is no new idea. Christ in the parable of the sower long ago told us that \n“The seed is the word of God.” We often think this applies only to the word of \nthe Gospel as formally preached in churches on Sundays. But every expression \nof the will of God is in some sense a “word” of God and therefore a “seed” of new \nlife. The ever-changing reality in the midst of which we live should awaken us to \nthe possibility of an uninterrupted dialogue with God. By this I do not mean \ncontinuous “talk\,” or a frivolously conversational form of affective prayer which \nis sometimes cultivated\, but a dialogue of love and of choice. A dialogue of deep \nwills. \nIn all the situations of life the “will of God” comes to us not merely as an \nexternal dictate of impersonal law but above all as an interior invitation of \npersonal love. Too often the conventional conception of “God’s will” as a \nsphinx-like and arbitrary force bearing down upon us with implacable hostility\, \nleads people to lose faith in a God they cannot find it possible to love. \nSuch a view of the divine will drives human weakness to despair and one \nwonders if it is not\, itself\, often an expression of a despair too intolerable to be \nadmitted to conscious consideration. These arbitrary “dictates” of a \ndomineering and insensible Father are more often seeds of hatred than of love. \nIf that is our concept of the will of God\, we cannot possibly seek the obscure and \nintimate mystery of the encounter that takes place in contemplation. We will \ndesire only to fly as far as possible from Him and hide from His Face forever. \nSo much depends on our idea of God! Yet no idea of Him\, however pure and \nperfect\, is adequate to express Him as He really is. Our idea of God tells us more \nabout ourselves than about Him. We must learn to realize that the love of God seeks \nus in every situation\, and seeks our good. His inscrutable love seeks our \nawakening.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-29/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR