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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260515
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260516
DTSTAMP:20260512T081411
CREATED:20260509T231517Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260509T231517Z
UID:14909-1778803200-1778889599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Pachomius
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nTHOMAS MERTON \n◊◊◊ \nObedience is the distinctive factor of the new [communal] monasticism of \nSt Pachomius. The whole Pachomian structure is [actually] built on obedience\, \n[which] is not just the docility of the hermit to a director\, but the lifelong \nobedience of the subject to the superior\, as well as of the son to the Father. It \nimplies a real concept of self-emptying and subjection\, a real renunciation of \none’s own freedom\, “for keeps.” Accordingly\, all are to obey the Rule\, superiors \nand subjects. No one in the monastery is to follow his own will. [Even] the heads \nof houses and their assistants\, [for example\,] had to weave a certain number of \nbaskets in a certain time\, as a norm for the others to meet… \nHowever\, the superior must command\, and he is to be obeyed as God. \nFurthermore\, the brethren are to obey one another\, but above all the superiors. \nIn commanding\, the superior himself obeys God who wants him to command \naccording to the Rule. All must obey meekly and willingly\, without murmuring. \nUnwillingness and resistance show lack of faith and seriously affect the spiritual \nvitality of the mystery of the common life. It is not just an individual defect\, it \naffects the community. \nObedience is the highest value—with charity—in the common life. It is \n“greater than sacrifices.” That is to say that emphasis is systematically placed on \nwhat is enjoined by obedience\, over what may be inspired by our own \nspontaneous religious desires\, however good [they may be in and of \nthemselves]. This is another fundamental principle [of communal monastic \nlife\,] of cenobitism. What is enjoined in the name of the community…leads to \nlife much more surely and effectively than what is merely suggested by \nindividual inspiration… \nTo illustrate the importance this\, Pachomius burned 500 mats that had \nbeen woven by the cook in the kitchen\, while he was cooking. He had been \nordered to cook only\, not ordered to weave mats. Work over and above what was \none’s duty was not acceptable\, because it was outside obedience. Hence\, works \nof extra sacrifice are acceptable only when the approval of obedience brings \nthem within the ambit of the common will and the common life. When a good \nwork\, of personal choice\, is approved by the superior\, then it becomes part of \nthe common spiritual striving and merit of the community—it becomes a work \nof Christ. But any work\, however good\, that is deliberately kept out of and apart \nfrom the common life stream\, ceases to be a work of Christ. Hence it is not \nblessed. Hence it is a potential danger\, to the individual and to the community. \nLastly\, obedience is according to the Rule: there is no longer any purely \nsubjective and arbitrary command permitted. In commanding\, the superior \nmust himself obey the Abba\, the founder\, and carry on the founder’s will… The \nRule represents the personal thought and desire of Abba Pachomius\, and is not \na mere legal document. \nThus\, obedience\, for Pachomius\, strikes deep into the heart of the \n“mystery” of common life. If superiors do their own will and inferiors merely \ncomply with that will\, then there is not yet a religious mystery. This [mystery] \nis constituted by the participation of all in the sacrifice and obedience of \nChrist\, in His self-emptying. All have renounced their will. When this \nhappens in a community\, the Holy Spirit then breathes in and through all its \nmembers.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-pachomius/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260516
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260517
DTSTAMP:20260512T081411
CREATED:20260509T231620Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260509T231620Z
UID:14911-1778889600-1778975999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “On the Sacraments” by \nST AMBROSE \n◊◊◊ \nYou were asked: ‘Do you believe in God the Father almighty?’ You replied: \n‘I believe’\, and you were immersed: that is\, buried. You were asked for a second \ntime: ‘Do you believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and in his Cross?’ You replied: ‘I \nbelieve’\, and you were immersed: which means that you were buried with \nChrist. For one who is buried with Christ rises again with Christ. You were asked \na third time: ‘Do you believe also in the Holy Spirit?’ You replied: ‘I believe’\, and \nyou were immersed a third time\, so that the threefold confession might absolve \nthe manifold lapses of the past. \nWe can give you an illustration of this. The holy Apostle Peter appeared to \nlapse through human weakness during the Lord’s Passion. To wipe out and \nabsolve the fault of his denial\, he was asked by Christ three times if he loved \nhim. Peter replied: Lord\, you know that I love you. He answered three times so \nas to be absolved three times. \nThus the Father forgives sin\, so does the Son\, and so does the Holy Spirit. \nDo not be surprised that we are baptized in one name: in the name\, that is\, of the \nFather and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; because Christ spoke of only one \nname where there is one substance\, one divinity\, one majesty. This is the name \nof which it is written: In this must all find salvation. It is in this name that you \nhave all been saved\, that you have been restored to the grace of life. \nSo the Apostle exclaims\, as you have just heard in the reading\, Whoever is \nbaptized\, is baptized in the death of Jesus. What does in the death mean? It \nmeans that just as Christ died\, so you will taste death; that just as Christ died to \nsin and lives to God\, so through the Sacrament of Baptism you are dead to the \nold enticements of sin and have risen again through the grace of Christ. This is a \ndeath\, then\, not in the reality of bodily death\, but in likeness. When you are \nimmersed\, you receive the likeness of death and burial\, you receive the \nSacrament of his Cross; because Christ hung upon the Cross and his body was \nfastened to it by the nails. So you are crucified with him. \nThe font has the shape and appearance of a sort of tomb. When we believe \nin the Father\, the Son and the Holy Spirit\, we are received and immersed in it; \nthat is\, we are restored to life. You also receive the myrrh\, that is\, the chrism\, \nover your heads. Why over your heads? Because the faculties of the wise man \nare situated in his head\, says Solomon. Wisdom without grace is inert; but \nwhen wisdom receives grace\, then its work begins to move toward fulfillment. \nThis is called regeneration. \nWhat is regeneration? You can read in the Acts of the Apostles that a verse \nfrom the second Psalm\, You are my son\, today I have begotten you\, seems to \nrefer to the Resurrection. That is why he is also called The firstborn from the \ndead. For what is resurrection except that we rise from death to life? So it is in \nBaptism\, which is an image of death: when you are immersed and rise up again\, \nthere\, certainly\, is an image of the Resurrection. So as Christ’s Resurrection is \ninterpreted by the Apostle as a regeneration\, so also this resurrection from the \nfont is a regeneration.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-432/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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