BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey - ECPv6.15.20//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
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:20220313T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20221106T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20230312T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20231105T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20240310T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20241103T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230309
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230310
DTSTAMP:20260430T043114
CREATED:20230305T022240Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230305T022240Z
UID:10248-1678320000-1678406399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart5 \nFrom a sermon by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. \nToughmindedness without tenderheartedness is cold and detached\, leaving one’s life in a perpetual winter devoid of the warmth of spring and the gentle heat of summer. What is more tragic than to see a person who has risen to the disciplined heights of toughmindedness but has at the same time sunk to the passionless depths of hardheartedness? \nThe hardhearted person never truly loves. He engages in a crass utilitarianism which values other people mainly according to their usefulness to him. He never experiences the beauty of friendship\, because he is too cold to feel affection for another and is too self-centered to share another’s joy and sorrow. He is an isolated island. No outpouring of love links him with the mainland of humanity. The hardhearted person lacks the capacity for genuine compassion. He is unmoved by the pains and afflictions of his brothers. He passes unfortunate men every day\, but never really sees them. He gives dollars to a worthwhile charity\, but he gives not of his spirit… \nJesus frequently illustrated the characteristics of the hardhearted. The rich fool was condemned\, not because he was not toughminded\, but rather because he was not tenderhearted. Life for him was a mirror in which he saw only himself\, and not a window through which he saw other selves. Dives went to hell\, not because he was wealthy\, but because he was not tenderhearted enough to see Lazarus and because he made no attempt to bridge the gulf between himself and his brother. Jesus reminds us that the good life combines the toughness of the serpent and the tenderness of the dove. To have serpentlike qualities devoid of dovelike qualities is to be passionless\, mean\, and selfish. To have dovelike qualities without serpentlike qualities is to be sentimental\, anemic\, and aimless. We must combine strongly marked antitheses… \n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe greatness of our God lies in the fact that he is both toughminded and tenderhearted. He has qualities both of austerity and of gentleness. The Bible\, always clear in stressing both attributes of God\, expresses his toughmindedness in his justice and wrath and his tenderheartedness in his love and grace. God has two outstretched arms. One is strong enough to surround us with justice\, and one is gentle enough to embrace us with grace. On the one hand\, God is a God of justice who punished Israel for her wayward deeds\, and on the other hand\, he is a forgiving father whose heart was filled with unutterable joy when the prodigal returned home. \nI am thankful that we worship a God who is both toughminded and tenderhearted… At times we need to know that the Lord is a God of justice.\nWhen slumbering giants of injustice emerge in the earth\, we need to know that there is a God of power who can cut them down like the grass and leave them withering like the green herb. When our most tireless efforts fail to stop the surging sweep of oppression\, we need to know that in this universe is a God whose matchless strength is a fit contrast to the sordid weakness of man. But there is also times when we need to know that God possesses love and mercy. When we are staggered by the chilly winds of adversity and battered by the raging storms of disappointment and when through our folly and sin we stray into some destructive far country and are frustrated because of a strange feeling of homesickness\, we need to know that there is Someone who loves us\, cares for us\, understands us\, and will give us another chance. When days grow dark and nights grow dreary\, we can be thankful that our God combines in his nature a creative synthesis of love and justice which will lead us through life’s dark valleys and into sunlit pathways of hope and fulfillment \n\n\n5 Martin Luther King Jr. Strength to Love. New York: Harper & Row\, 1964. 5-9. \n\n\n  \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-60/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR