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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20241120T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20241120T170000
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241117T022208Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T022208Z
UID:12842-1732089600-1732122000@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:DISCIPLINE IS A CROSS \nBy Baldwin of Ford4 \n◊◊◊ \nA person who is tempted by the flesh\, and who yields to this temptation\, \nhowever\, is someone who feels his passions and gives them his full consent. The \nmore carnal he is\, the more provision he makes for the flesh in gratifying its \ndesires. He does not give his consent to the spirit against the flesh but allies \nhimself with the flesh\, whose desires are opposed to the spirit. \nSuch a person loves wine and good things\, ease and security and plenty. \n[He loves] to be clothed in purple and fine linen and to feast sumptuously every \nday. Nor does he refuse his eyes whatever they desire. He allays all his desires \nimpulsively and willingly\, and whatever does not serve the delights of flesh he \nregards as vain. He reckons that the best thing for him is to enjoy good things in \nhis lifetime\, and he gains nothing more than this by all the toil at which he toils \nunder the sun. The end that carnal man will come to is shown in the gospel \nparable of the rich man and the poor man\, where it says\, “The rich man died and \nwas buried in hell.” And of Babylon it is written\, “As she exalted herself and lived \nin her delights\, so give her a like measure of torment and sorrow!” \nIt is better for us\, then\, to deliver such a man to death for the destruction \nof the flesh than to be drawn with him into the pit of destruction. Our flesh\, \ntherefore\, should be mortified and crucified\, so that the body of sin may be \ndestroyed. Such is in accord with the voice of the prophet speaking to the Lord: \n‘Pierce my flesh with your fear’. \nBecause it is said to carnal man\, ‘You have hated discipline\, If we can find \nno better cross on which to crucify carnal man than the austerity of regular \ndiscipline\, for the discipline which he hates is a torment to him. Regular \ndiscipline is a cross\, and the two pieces of wood from which it is built symbolize \nthe laws of abstinence and continence. Abstinence tempers gluttony\, and the \nlaw of continence restrains excess in all the senses of mind and body: and it is \nprecisely these things which are characteristic of the carnal man.’
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-231/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241121
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241122
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241117T022326Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T022326Z
UID:12844-1732147200-1732233599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Presentation of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:THE VIRGIN AND THE TEMPLE \nFrom the writing of Fr Yves Congar5 \n◊◊◊ \nThe only occasion on which the Gospels expressly mention the Virgin \nMary in connection with the Temple are in the account of her Purification and of \nthe Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the finding of the child Jesus in the \nTemple after four days’ absence on his part and three anxious searching by his \nparents. To these very brief indications\, the piety of Christians very soon added \nthe idea of the presentation of Mary in the Temple at the age of three to be \nconsecrated to the service of God. We are dealing here with a symbolical \nrepresentation of a profound spiritual reality about which the tradition and the \ndoctrine of the Church provide us with valid information. \nMary\, predestined to be the Mother of Jesus\, true God and true man\, and \nto be worthy of her vocation\, was prepared by the gift of exceptional graces and \nlived with unfailing fidelity a most pure life of inner consecration to the God of \nAbraham\, Isaac and Jacob. As the type of all faithful souls and of the Church \nherself\, Mary expressed spiritually and supremely in her life the “presentation” \nwhich\, for each one of us\, is to begin by the service of faith and to be \nconsummated in heaven. \nIt is obvious that the tradition and doctrine of the Church may\, without \nfalling prey to the imaginary productions of the apocrypha\, propound \nstatements concerning the status of the Mother of God in relation either to the \nJewish messianic temple going far beyond what we are explicitly told in the \nthree short passages from the Gospel which narrate the incidents mentioned \nabove. \nIf Mary is the Mother of God\, she has a special relation to the body of \nChrist which is the true temple – to his physical body and doubtless also\, in a \ncertain sense\, to his body the Church. She is herself a temple of God in a quite \nspecific and sublime way\, both because Christ was within her from the moment \nof his conception until that of his birth\, and because of the exceptional spiritual \ngifts she received in preparation for her divine motherhood and as a reward for \nher free acceptance of this vocation\, not only after the Annunciation but during \nthe whole of her life. Hence the liturgy – the Oriental liturgy in particular – \nshows a profound understanding of the mystery of Mary when it constantly uses \nthe texts concerning the Temple and the tabernacle in order to express it.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-presentation-of-the-bvm/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241122
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241123
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241117T022444Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T022444Z
UID:12846-1732233600-1732319999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Cecilia
DESCRIPTION:THE VIRGINITY OF \nST CECILIA \nFrom a homily by Fr Ronald Knox6 \n◊◊◊ \nThe legends of the early Roman saints\, among whom St Cecilia is \nnumbered\, do not always command great attention from the critically minded \nhistorian. But whether the story of St Cecilia as it is told in her acts is all true or \nonly partly true\, there is a simplicity about the whole story and a simplicity \nabout St Cecilia’s character in the story which demands a retelling. Let me \nremind you in the most general way of her story: how she was married to a \nyoung pagan called Valerian\, but persuaded him to respect her vow of virginity\, \nbecause her guardian angel would make him sorry for it if he did otherwise; how \nValerian wanted to see this guardian angel\, but Cecilia\, with her innocent craft\, \nsaid he could not do that unless he was baptized first; how he was baptized\, and \nsaw the angel at her side as she prayed; how he made a convert of his brother \nTiburtius\, and how first the two brothers\, and then Cecilia herself were \npunished with death for professing the Christian religion. It is an old story\, and \na familiar one: and while we do all homage to other great saints for their public \nwitness to Christ\, we shall always need St Cecilia as well\, quietly working at \nhome for the conversion of her own husband and his family. \nNot that St Cecilia herself was in the position of a modern wife. Like so \nmany Christian ladies of her time\, she had taken\, in imitation of our blessed \nLady\, a vow of perpetual virginity. These virgin martyrs were martyrs because \nthey were virgins: it was because they insisted on keeping their vow when their \nparents wished them to marry that the secret of their attachment to the \nChristian faith was discovered; and it was their persistency in maintaining it \nthat led to their martyrdom. It would be hard to estimate\, I think\, how much the \nunpopularity in Roman society of the Christian faith owed to its tradition of \nvirginity. Virginity is an ideal which the pagan had no right to misunderstand. \nFor\, in theory\, they\, too\, honored it; and it should have commended itself to \ntheir heathen instinct for sacrifice. For the point of a sacrifice is that the victim \nshould be spotless\, the best of its kind. You must offer not what you can well \nafford to spare\, but what will cost you something. That is the pagan idea of \nsacrifice; and the Christian idea of sacrifice is based on the same principle. In \norder to give up something to God\, we forgo\, not the sinful pleasures which we \nhave no right to in any case\, but the lawful pleasures which he has given us to \nenjoy if we will. \nSo\, let St. Cecilia’s feast remind us to take our Christian vocation \nseriously\, to follow out in our lives the words we profess with our lips. And may \nthis Roman maiden pray for us who worship here and for those who minister to \nus\, that when Christ\, the Master she served\, comes again in judgment\, we may \nbe found blameless before almighty God.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-cecilia-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241123
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241124
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241117T022549Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T022648Z
UID:12848-1732320000-1732406399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Columban
DESCRIPTION:TRUE DISCRETION \nFrom “The Rule of St Columban for Monks”7 \n◊◊◊ \nHow necessary discretion is for monks is shown by the mistake of many\, \nand indicated by the downfall of some\, who beginning without discretion and \npassing their time without a sobering knowledge\, have been unable to complete \na praiseworthy life; since\, just as error overtakes those who proceed without a \npath\, so for those who live without discretion intemperance is at hand\, and this \nis always the opposite of virtues which are placed in the mean between each \nextreme. Therefore we must pray God continually that He would bestow the \nlight of true discretion to illumine this way\, surrounded on every side by the \nworld’s thickest darkness\, so that His true worshippers may be able to cross this \ndarkness without error to Himself. \nSo discretion has got its name from discerning\, for the reason that it \ndiscerns in us between good and evil\, and also between the moderate and the \ncomplete. For from the beginning either class has been divided like light and \ndarkness\, that is\, good and evil\, after evil began through the devil’s agency to \nexist by the corruption of good\, but through God’s agency Who first illumines \nand then divides. \nWhat things then are good? Doubtless those which are untouched\, and \nhave remained in the undefiled state of their creation; which God alone created \nand prepared\, according to the Apostle\, that we should walk in them; which are \nthe good works in which in Christ Jesus we were created\, namely goodness\, \ninnocence\, righteousness\, justice\, truth\, pity\, love\, saving peace\, spiritual joy\, \ntogether with the fruit of the Spirit – all these with their fruits are good. Since \nthis is so\, the good must be firmly held by those that have God’s help\, which is \never to be prayed for in prosperity and in adversity\, lest either in prosperity we \nbe lifted up to pride\, or in adversity be cast down to despair… We must always \nrestrain ourselves from either danger\, that is\, from all excess by a splendid \ntemperance and true discretion\, which cleaves to Christian lowliness and opens \nthe way of perfection to Christ’s true soldiers\, namely by ever discerning rightly \nin doubtful cases. \nThus between the little and the excessive there is a reasonable measure in \nthe midst\, which ever recalls us from every superfluity on either side\, and in \nevery case provides what is universally fixed by human need\, and spurns the \nunreasonable demand of superfluous desire. And this measure of true \ndiscretion\, weighing all our actions in the scales of justice\, in no way allows us to \nerr from what is just\, or to suffer a mistake\, if we ever follow straight behind it as \nour leader. For while we must always restrain ourselves from either side\, \naccording to that saying: “Keep yourselves from the right and from the left\,” we \nmust ever proceed straight forward by discretion\, that is\, by the light of God\, \nwhile very often we say and sing the victorious psalmist’s verse: “My God\, \nenlighten my darkness\, since in You I am rescued from temptation. For \ntemptation is the life of humans on earth.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-columbine/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241124
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241125
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241124T130910Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T130910Z
UID:12852-1732406400-1732492799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n34th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nNovember 24 – 30\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n24\nMon\n25\nTue\n26\nWed\n27\nThu\n28\nFri\n29\nSat\n30\n\n\nOffice\nChrist the King\nSt Catherine of Alexandria\nWeekday\nWeekday\nWeekday Thanksgiving\nWeekday\nSt Andrew\n\n\nVigils\nEzek 34:11-31\nBar 6:29-50\nBar 6:51-72\nObad 1-11\nDeut 26:1-19\nObad 12-21\nEzek 47:1-12\n\n\nLauds\nJerm 10:1-10\nJob 38:1-12\nJob 42:1-6\nJob 42:7-11\nJoel 2:21-27\nJob 42:12-17\nSir 14:20-27\n\n\nMass\n161\n503\n504\n505\n943.3\, 944.3\, 947.6\n507\n684\n\n\n1st\nDan 7:13-14\nRev 14:1-3\, 4b-5\nRev 14:14-19\nRev 15:1-4\nIsa 63:7-9\nRev 20:1-4\, 11-21:2\nRom 10:9-18\n\n\n2nd\nRev 1:5-8\n\n\n\nCol 3:12-17\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 18:33b-37\nLuke 21:1-4\nLuke 21:5-11\nLuke 21:12-19\nLuke 17:11-19\nLuke 21:29-33\nMatt 4:18-22\n\n\nVespers\nEph 1:15-23\n1 Cor 15:20-28\n1 Cor 15:29-34\n1 Cor 15:35-41\n1 Cor 15:42-49\n1 Cor 15:50-58\nRev 1:1-8
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-93/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241124
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241125
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241124T131050Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T131050Z
UID:12854-1732406400-1732492799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 34th Sunday - Christ the King
DESCRIPTION:THE KINGDOM OF \nTHE BELOVED SON \nFrom a commentary by St Augustine1 \n◊◊◊ \nBanish the groundless fear that filled Herod the Great on hearing that \nChrist was born. More cruel in his fear than in his anger\, he put many children \nto death\, so that Christ also would die. But my kingdom is not of this world\, says \nChrist. What further reassurance do we seek? Come to the kingdom not of this \nworld. Be not enraged by fear\, but come by faith. In a prophecy Christ also \nsaid…God the Father has made me king on Zion his holy mountain. But that \nkingdom and that mountain are not of this world. \nWhat in fact is God’s kingdom? It is simply those who believe in him\, \nthose to whom he said: You are not of this world\, even as I am not of this \nworld. He willed\, nevertheless\, that they should be in the world\, which is why \nhe prayed to the Father: I ask you not to take them out of the world\, but to \nprotect them from the evil one. So here also he did not say my kingdom is not \nin this world\, but is not of this world. And when he went on to prove this by \ndeclaring: If my kingdom were of this world\, my servants would have fought to \nsave me from being handed over… he concluded by saying…my kingdom is not \nfrom here. \nIndeed\, his kingdom is here until the end of time\, and until the harvest it \nwill contain weeds. The harvest is the end of the world\, when the reapers who \nare the angels\, will come and gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin\, and this \ncould not happen if his kingdom were not here. But even so\, it is not from here \nfor it is in exile in the world. Christ says to his kingdom: You are not of the \nworld\, but I have chosen you out of the world. They were indeed of the world \nwhen they belonged to the prince of this world\, before they became his \nkingdom. Though created by the true God\, everyone born of the corrupt and \naccursed stock of Adam is of the world. On the other hand\, everyone who is \nreborn in Christ becomes the kingdom which is no longer of the world. For so \nhas God snatched us from the powers of darkness\, and brought us into the \nkingdom of his beloved Son: that kingdom of which he said My kingdom is not \nof this world; my kingly power does not come from here
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-34th-sunday-christ-the-king/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241125
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241126
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241124T131154Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T131154Z
UID:12856-1732492800-1732579199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Catherine of Alexandria
DESCRIPTION:ST CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints2 \n◊◊◊ \nSince about the tenth century\, veneration of St Catherine of Alexandria \nhas been marked in the East\, but from the time of the Crusades until the 18th \ncentury her popularity was even greater in the West. Numerous churches were \ndedicated in her honor\, including the parish church of Gethsemani Abbey at \nNew Haven\, KY. She was venerated as patroness of maidens and women \nstudents of philosophers\, preachers and apologists. Adam of St Victor wrote a \npoem in her honor; hers was one of the heavenly voices heard by St Joan of Arc. \nBut not a single fact about her life or death has been established. \nIt is said in her Acts that she belonged to a patrician family of Alexandria \nand devoted herself to learned studies\, in the course of which she learned about \nChristianity. She was converted by a vision of Our Lady and the Holy Child. \nWhen Maxentius began persecuting Christians\, Catherine went to him and \nrebuked him for his tyranny. He could not answer her arguments against his \ngods\, so summoned fifty philosophers to oppose her. These confessed \nthemselves convinced by the learning of this Christian girl\, and were therefore \nburned to death by the infuriated emperor. Then he tried to seduce Catherine \nwith an offer of a consort’s crown\, and went off to inspect a camp. On his return \nhe discovered that his wife and an officer had gone to see Catherine out of \ncuriosity and had both been converted\, together with two hundred soldiers of \nthe guard. They accordingly were all slain and Catherine was sentenced to be \nkilled on a spiked wheel. When she was placed on it\, her bonds were \nmiraculously loosed and the wheel broke\, its spikes flying off and killing many \nof the onlookers. Then she was beheaded. \nAll the texts of the “acts” of Catherine state that her body was carried by \nangels to Mount Sinai\, where a church and monastery were afterwards built. In \n527 the Emperor Justinian built a monastery for hermits of the place\, and the \nbody of Catherine was said to have been taken there in the 8th or 9th century. \nThe monastery has borne her name since then. The great monastery of Mount \nSinai still claim the alleged relics of St Catherine\, in the care of the monks of the \nEastern Orthodox Church. Archbishop Falconio of Santa Severina said that the \nmeaning of the “angels” is that her body was carried by the monks of Sinai to \ntheir monastery. Tradition has referred to the monastic life as “the angelic life”. \nThis is still a current expression in Eastern monasticism.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-catherine-of-alexandria/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241126
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241127
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241124T131358Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T131358Z
UID:12858-1732579200-1732665599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY \nFrom “The Faith and Modern Man” by Fr Romano Guardini3 \n◊◊◊ \nWe associate the word saints with the idea of exceptional persons. In the \nNew Testament\, however\, it signifies Christians generally. Being a Christian at \nall was extraordinary. For the Christians stood out sharply from the \nenvironment; either one lived in the Old Testament world\, or in the Hellenistic- \npagan world\, and by both they were regarded as something strange if not \nhostile. The experience of conversion lifted them out of the environment. A \nsense of the reality of God not learned from natural religious experience or from \nthe teaching of the Old Testament had shaken and\, at the same time\, blessed \nthem. \nIn the existence of Christ\, God’s countenance had been unveiled. The life \nof Christ had made them aware of how God is minded toward us. These \nexperiences had changed their whole lives. They had acquired new ideas of God\, \nnew standards of judging the world. The “renewal of mind” of which the Gospel \nspeaks and which they had begun to fulfill\, now consisted not only in a \nconversion to a good and pious life\, but in a change of direction in their whole \nway of thinking. Thus for them\, actually\, “all things had become new” -and with \nall these “new things” they found themselves still in an old world\, a world which \nregarded them with distrust and hostility. All this is\, in itself\, extraordinary \n-indeed the very essence of the extraordinary\, and the “saint” was one who led \nthis existence. \nBut the spread of Christianity and its increase in members tended to \nobscure its unique nature. Time went on\, the Gospel grew familiar\, and the \nsense of newness wore off. Christianity became the state religion and\, as such\, \nthe official order of society. Thus the fact that being a Christian at all was in itself \nextraordinary faded out of people’s consciousness\, and Christianity grew to be \nregarded as normal and usual.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-232/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241127
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241128
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241124T131458Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T131458Z
UID:12860-1732665600-1732751999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE WOUNDEDNESS \nOF ALL MORTALS \nFrom a sermon by Isaac of Stella4 \n◊◊◊ \n“Jesus\, when he saw how great was their number\, went up to the \nmountainside.” Today\, dear friends\, we see our heaven-sent Physician \nunsealing the precious perfumes that he has brought with him from the bosom \nof the Father; brought to heal the wounds of the man who\, on his way down \nfrom Jerusalem to Jericho\, fell in with robbers. This unnamed man on his way \ndown represents Adam and all his descendants. It was only right that he should \nfall in with robbers\, he was but paying for the freely chosen folly of his journey. \nHad he but chosen it\, Adam could have remained in the happy state bestowed \non him at his creation\, in that wealth of good things safe from all loss. He freely \nfell because he chose to do so\, and because he journeyed down\, he fell into the \ngrip of the ruthless. He had to endure what he did not wish precisely because he \nrefused to stay where suffering could never have touched him. \nThese malicious robbers are not only the evil spirits\, but also the many \npassions of our bodies and spirit that wounded the Psalmist and made him \ngroan\, “Oh\, how often you have burdened me with bitter trouble.” Yes\, he \nsuffers unwillingly although deservedly; the price (I beg to repeat) of his freely \ndeciding to descend was his meeting robbers and suffering at their hands. Never \nwould the Lord of mercy have allowed man to fall into such cruel hands had not \nman by his own personal and conscious wickedness first deserted him to whom \nhe should have looked for strength. Man forsook God\, man went his way down\, \nand because he went down\, he was forsaken by him who did not go down. \nForsaken by God\, man fell into the power of him to whom such power was \npermitted\, the devil. He showed no pity\, but robbed\, wounded\, and left him \nhalf-dead. He who is altogether dying left man half-dead\, in other words half- \nalive. And such is the life of mortal man: a living dying. The devil’s dying\, on the \nother hand\, is completely deadly\, leaving no room for recall to life. The angels’ \nliving in its turn\, is fully vital\, having no tendency toward death. \nMortal man\, then\, is left half-dead — though alive\, he tends inevitably \ntowards death\, though dead\, he is open to cure. “They wounded him\,” the \nGospel tells us. We must look into this\, see what these wounds are\, even if our \nsituation teaches us what it means far better than any explanation. In addition \nto the weaknesses and afflictions of the body\, themselves “past all numbering”\, \nthe wounds inflicted on and infecting mankind\, in and from our first parent\, are \nof seven kinds\, of many species\, and beyond all counting. The infections that \nstem from Original Sin and afflict us all are only seven\, but they beget a \nwayward\, viper-like brood that caters to all sorts of sinful tendencies.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-233/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241128
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241129
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241124T131614Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T131614Z
UID:12862-1732752000-1732838399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Thanksgiving
DESCRIPTION:THE FULLNESS \nOF THANKSGIVING \nBy Xavier Leon-Dufour5 \n◊◊◊ \nThe first reality of biblical history is the gift of God\, gratuitous\, \nsuperabundant\, without return. The encounter with God does not put human \nbeings simply in the presence of the absolute; it completes them and transforms \ntheir lives. \nThanksgiving appears as the response to this progressive and continual \ngrace which one day should blossom in Christ. At the same time there is an \nintense awareness of the gifts of God\, a spirit of soul permeated with wonder \nbecause of God’s generosity\, a joyous recognition before the divine greatness; \nthus thanksgiving is essential in the Bible because it is a fundamental religious \nreaction of creatures when they discover\, in a tremor of joy and veneration\, \nsomething of God’s greatness and glory. The capital sin of pagans\, according to \nPaul\, is “not to have rendered to God either glory or thanksgiving”. And\, in fact\, \nin the mass of hymns created by the piety of Mesopotamia\, the sentiment of \nthanksgiving is rare; while it is very frequent in the Bible and brings out \npowerful outpourings of the soul. \nAt the time of the New Covenant thanksgiving truly breaks forth\, \nbecoming present everywhere in the prayer and the life of the Christians as it \nhad never existed before among the just of the past. Biblical thanksgiving is \ntruly and essentially Christian. It is not exclusively Christian\, however\, to the \nextent that\, as was written in the Old Testament\, “Israelites praise without \ngiving thanks.” If the Old Testament does not yet know the fullness of \nthanksgiving\, it is because it has not yet tasted the fullness of grace. If praise\, \nmore spontaneous\, more exteriorized\, holds therein perhaps a greater place \nthan thanksgiving properly so called\, more reflective\, more attentive to God’s \nactions and self revelation\, it is because the most holy God is revealed only \nprogressively\, unveiling little by little the amplitude of the action and the depth \nof the gifts of God. \nBecause it is the revelation and the gift of perfect grace\, in the person of \nthe Lord\, it is also the revelation of the perfect thanksgiving rendered to the \nFather in the Holy Spirit. The supreme act of the Lord is thanksgiving; the \nsacrifice which Jesus made of His life in consecrating it to the Father in order \nthat He may sanctify His own is our Eucharist. At the last supper and on the \ncross\, Jesus reveals the drive of all His life and that of His death: thanksgiving \nfrom the heart of the Son. The passion and death of Jesus were necessary that \nHe might fully glorify the Father\, but all His life was an incessant thanksgiving\, \nwhich sometimes was made explicit and solemn\, to draw all to believe and \nreturn thanks to God with Jesus. \nThe essential object of this thanksgiving is the work of God\, the Messianic \nrealization\, notably manifested by miracles\, the gift of His word which God has \nmade to everyone. The gift of the Eucharist to the church expresses an essential \ntruth: only Jesus Christ is our thanksgiving\, just as He alone is our praise. It is \nHe first of all who gives thanks to the Father\, and Christians afterwards in \nHim. In Christian thanksgiving\, Christ is the sole model and sole mediator. In \nthe heavenly Jerusalem\, with the Messianic work fulfilled\, thanksgiving \nbecomes pure praise of glory\, dazzling contemplation of God and the eternal \nmarvels.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-thanksgiving/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241129
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241130
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241124T132147Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T132147Z
UID:12864-1732838400-1732924799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE VIRGINITY OF SPIRIT \nBy Thomas Merton \n◊◊◊ \nThe monastic life of humility\, obedience\, liturgical prayer\, lectio divina\, \npenance\, manual labor\, contemplation\, tends to ever purify the soul of the monk \nand lead him to intimacy with Christ in that sacred virginity which makes him \nworthy of marriage with the Word of God. This spirit of virginity is the true \nessence of the contemplative life which is our vocation. \nWe are not contemplative by the mere fact of living an enclosed and \npenitential life. We can indeed be more active\, more restless and more \ndistracted in the cloister than we would be in the active life\, if we do not possess \nthe interior virginity of spirit\, the silence and peace of soul\, which enable us to \nfind God in His word\, to listen to the words of Christ\, to move with the \nbreathings of the Holy Spirit within us. \nThe virginity of spirit to which we are called is a purity of heart in which \nour souls preserve their baptismal innocence\, or the innocence of the second \nbaptism of our vows\, and offer themselves in perfect purity to God. Virginity of \nsoul does not preclude temptation and trials\, but the deep spirit of faith which it \nimplies enables us always to rise above the flesh and its storms in order to \nmeditate on the incorruptible beauty of the Word. St Augustine defines \nvirginity as: “Perpetual meditation\, in corruptible flesh\, of what is \nincorruptible.” The life of the virgin soul that is the spouse of Christ is a life \nlived in the pure\, limpid radiance of the Word Himself. \nThe virginity of spirit which keeps us united to the Word is the perfection \nof the monastic life. By it\, the monk not only renounces human marriage\, but \nrather lays hands upon the supernatural and mystical reality of which marriage \nis only an external symbol – the union of love which joins the soul to God “in \none spirit. \n” Virginity of spirit keeps the soul in constant contact with the Holy \nWord of God\, the sanctity of God Himself. Above all\, sacred virginity makes \nvisible the union of the Church with Christ her Divine Spouse. Pope Pius XII \nsays: \n“The most delicate fruit of virginity is this: that virgins make \ntangible as it were the perfect virginity of their Mother the Church \nand the sanctity of her intimate union with Christ. The greatest \nglory of the virgins is undoubtedly to be the living images of the \nperfect integrity of the union of the Church and her Divine \nSpouse.” \nThis is the end and the perfection of the monastic vocation: to find Christ\, \nthe Word\, to cling to Him in the purity of perfect love and unalterable peace\, and \nto say with the Bride in the Canticle: “I found Him whom my soul loves: I held \nhim: and I will not let Him go” \n.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-234/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241130
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241201
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241124T132346Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T132346Z
UID:12866-1732924800-1733011199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Andrew
DESCRIPTION:THE APOSTLE\, \nST ANDREW \nFrom a sermon by St John Henry Newman7 \n◊◊◊ \nSt John the Evangelist\, [introduces St Andrew in his gospel] under \ncircumstances which show that\, little as is known of this Apostle now\, he was\, in \nfact\, very high in the favour and confidence of his Lord. In his twelfth chapter he \ndescribes Andrew as bringing to Christ certain Greeks who came up to \nJerusalem to worship and who were desirous of seeing Him. And\, what is \nremarkable\, these strangers had first applied to St Philip\, who\, though an \nApostle himself\, instead of taking upon him to introduce them had recourse to \nhis fellowtownsman St Andrew… “Philip comes\, and tells Andrew; and again\, \nAndrew and Philip tell Jesus.” \nThese two Apostles are also mentioned together in the sixth chapter of the \nsame Gospel\, at the consultation which preceded the miracle of the loaves and \nfishes; and there again Andrew is engaged\, as before in the office of introducing \nstrangers to Christ. “There is a lad here\,” he says to his Lord\, a lad who perhaps\, \nhad not courage to come forward of himself\, “who has five barley loaves and \ntwo small fishes.”… After our Lord had predicted the ruin of the Temple\, “Peter\, \nJames\, John\, and Andrew asked Him privately: ‘Tell us when shall these \nthings be?‘” and it was to these four that our Saviour revealed the signs of his \ncoming\, and of the end of the world. Here St Andrew is represented as in the \nspecial confidence of Christ; and associated too with those Apostles whom he is \nknown to have selected from the Twelve\, on various occasions\, by tokens of his \npeculiar Favour. \nLittle is known of St Andrew in addition to these inspired notices of him. \nHe is said to have preached the Gospel in Scythia; and he was at length martyred \nin Achaia. His death was by crucifixion; that kind of cross being used\, according \nto the tradition\, which still goes by his name. Yet\, little as Scripture tells us \nconcerning him\, it affords us enough for a lesson\, and that an important one. \nThese are the facts before us. St Andrew was the first convert among the \nApostles; he was especially in our Lord’s confidence; thrice is he described as \nintroducing others to him; lastly\, he is little known in history\, while the place of \ndignity and the name of highest renown have been allotted to his brother Simon\, \nwhom he was the means of bringing to the knowledge of his Saviour. \nOur lesson then is this; that those persons are not necessarily the most \nuseful in their generation\, nor the most favored by God\, who make the most \nnoise in the world\, and who seem to be principals in the great changes and \nevents recorded in history; on the contrary\, that even when we are able to point \nto a certain number of persons as the real instruments of any great blessings \nvouchsafed to humankind\, our relative estimate of them\, one with another\, is \noften very erroneous: so that\, on the whole\, if we would trace truly the hand of \nGod in human affairs\, and pursue his bounty as displayed in the world to its \noriginal sources\, we must unlearn our admiration of the powerful and \ndistinguished\, our reliance on the opinion of society\, our respect for the \ndecisions of the learned or the multitude\, and turn our eyes to private life\, \nwatching in all we read or witness for the true sign of God’s presence\, the graces \nof personal holiness manifested in his elect; which\, weak as they may seem to \nhumankind\, are mighty through God\, and have an influence upon the course of \nhis Providence\, and bring about great events in the world at large\, when the \nwisdom and strength of the natural man are of no avail.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-andrew-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241201
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241202
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241201T211313Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241201T211313Z
UID:12873-1733011200-1733097599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n1st Week of Advent\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nDecember 1 – 7\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n1\nMon\n2\nTue\n3\nWed\n4\nThu\n5\nFri\n6\nSat\n7\n\n\nOffice\n1st Sunday of Advent\nAdvent Weekday\nSt Francis Xavier\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nSt Ambrose\n\n\nVigils\nIsa 1:1-18\nIsa 1:21-2:5\nIsa 2:6-22\nIsa 3:1-15\nIsa 10:5-21\nIsa 19:11-25\nIsa 21:1-12\n\n\nLauds\nMicah 7:14-20\nIsa 6:1-7\nIsa 6:8-13\nIsa 7:1-9\nIsa 7:10-16\nIsa 5:1-7\nIsa 5:15-25\n\n\nMass\n3\n175\n176\n177\n178\n179\n180\n\n\n1st\nJer 33:14-16\nIsa 2:1-5\nIsa 11:1-10\nIsa 25:6-10a\nIsa 26:1-6\nIsa 29:17-24\nIsa 30:19-21\, 23-26\n\n\n2nd\n1 Thess 3:12-4:2\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 21:25-28\, 34-36\nMatt 8:5-11\nLuke 10:21-24\nMatt 15:29-37\nMatt 7:21\, 24-27\nMatt 9:27-31\nMatt 9:35-10:1\, 5a\, 6-8\n\n\nVespers\nRev 22:12-21\nRom 1:1-12\nRom 1:13-17\nRom 2:1-11\nRom 2:12-16\nRom 2:17-24\nRom 3:21-26
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-94/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241201
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241202
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241201T211443Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241201T211443Z
UID:12875-1733011200-1733097599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 1st Sunday Advent
DESCRIPTION:THE COMING OF \nYOUR ETERNAL JUDGE \nFrom a commentary by St Gregory the Great1 \n◊◊◊ \nThe Lord says: Heaven and earth will pass away\, but my words will not \npass away. He means: Nothing that is lasting in your world lasts for eternity \nwithout change; and everything that in Him is perceived as passing away is kept \nfirm\, without passing away. His utterance\, which passes away\, expresses \nthoughts that endure without change. \nTherefore\, my friends\, do not love what you see cannot long exist. Keep in \nmind the apostle’s precept\, in which he counsels us not to love the world or the \nthings in the world\, because if anyone loves the world\, the love of the Father is \nnot in him. The day before yesterday…you heard that an old orchard was \nuprooted by a sudden hurricane\, that homes were destroyed and churches \nknocked from their foundations. How many persons who were safe and \nunharmed in the evening\, thinking of what they would do the next day\, suddenly \ndied that night\, caught in a trap of destruction? \nWe must reflect that to bring these things about our unseen Judge caused \nthe movement of a very slight breeze; he called a storm out of a single cloud and \noverthrew the earth; he struck the foundations of many buildings\, causing them \nto fall. What will the Judge do when he comes in person\, when his anger is \nburning to punish sinners\, if we cannot bear him when he strikes us with an \ninsignificant cloud? What flesh will withstand the presence of his anger\, if he \nmoved the wind and overthrew the earth\, stirred up the air and destroyed so \nmany buildings? Paul referred to this severity of the Judge who is to come and \nsaid: It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. \nDearly beloved\, keep that day before your eyes\, and whatever you now \nbelieve to be burdensome will be light in comparison with it. The Lord says of \nthis day through the prophet: Yet once more and I will shake not only the earth \nbut also the heavens. \nYou see how he moved the air\, as I said\, and the earth did not withstand it. \nWho then will bear it when he moves the sky? What shall we call these terrors we \nsee but heralds of the wrath to come? We must reflect that these troubles are as \nmuch unlike the final one as the herald’s role is unlike the judge’s power. Give \nhard thought to that day\, dearly beloved; amend your lives\, change your habits\, \nresist and overcome your evil temptations. The more you now anticipate his \nseverity by fear\, the more securely will you behold the coming of your eternal \nJudge.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-1st-sunday-advent/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241202
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241203
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241201T211544Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241201T211544Z
UID:12877-1733097600-1733183999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE ADVENT OF GOD \nFrom “Pathways in Holy Scripture” by Dom Damasus Winzen \n◊◊◊ \nThe word Advent had for the people of old a magic sound. It put before \ntheir eyes the glorious scene of the king’s return from a victorious war. Preceded \nand followed by the might of his arms\, carrying with him the spoils of victory\, \nthe hosts of the captives\, the treasures of the enemy\, he stands on his chariot\, \nvested in the purple of triumph\, the golden wreath of victory on his head. The \nwhole city is in a delirium of joy. The festive throngs of the citizens line the \nstreets. They greet their king with the royal shout\, acclaiming him as savior and \nkyrios with incense and hymns. In the evening thousands of lights appear on \nwindows and doorways\, on temples\, gates and palaces\, for the light is come\, and \nthe glory of the king is risen upon the city. \nThe Advent of our Ecclesiastical Year does not celebrate the triumphant \nentry of an earthly king into his capital\, but it sees the King of kings whose might \ncovers the earth like a cloud\, returning to the world which He had left because of \nits sin\, crushing His enemies\, extirpating sin and establishing a kingdom of \npeace for those who believe in Him. This is the Divine Action of salvation which \nconstitutes the real meaning of history\, although it may take centuries and \ncenturies to be accomplished. That the birth of Mary’s little babe in the humble \nmanger of Bethlehem is the beginning of this glorious Advent would be hidden \nfrom the eyes of men\, had the glad tiding not been announced from heaven and \nhad the Holy Spirit not spoken in times past to the fathers by the prophets. It is \nreally the vision of the prophets which opens the eyes of the faithful to see \nbeneath the humble form of man the glory of God\, and to realize that Christ’s \nFirst Coming in patience and charity is the beginning of the Day of judgment \nwhich will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven to receive the \nEternal Kingdom from the hands of the Father. It is the unique gift of the \nprophets to see sign and reality\, the human and the divine\, the present and the \nfuture in their compenetration. Therefore\, they “rendered service not so much \nto them selves but to us\,” [as it is written in the first letter of Peter\, us] who \ncelebrate the Advent of God in that incomparable compenetration of visible sign \nand divine reality which is the liturgy of the Church.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-235/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241203
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241204
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241201T211658Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241201T211658Z
UID:12879-1733184000-1733270399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Francis Xavier
DESCRIPTION:ST FRANCIS XAVIER \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints \n◊◊◊ \nFrancis Xavier was born in Spanish Navarre at the castle of Xavier\, near \nPamplona\, in 1506\, the youngest of a large family. He entered the college of St \nBarbara and in 1528 gained the degree of licentiate. It was here that he met \nIgnatius Loyola\, and later joined with him in the first band of seven who vowed \nthemselves to the service of God at Montmartre in 1534. With them he received \nthe priesthood at Venice three years later and in 1540 Ignatius appointed him to \njoin Fr Simon Rodriguez on the first missionary expedition the Society sent out \nto the East Indies… \nThey arrived at Goa\, India on May 6\, 1542\, after a voyage of thirteen \nmonths. Francis opened the mission with the Christians of Goa\, instructing \nthem in the principles of religion and forming the young to the practice of virtue. \nHe walked through the streets ringing a bell to summon the children and slaves \nto catechism. He offered Mass with lepers each Sunday. For the instruction of \nthe very ignorant or simple he versified the truths of religion to fit popular \ntunes\, and this was so successful that the practice spread till these songs were \nbeing sung everywhere\, in the streets and fields and workshops… \nBut before he left he heard about Japan for the first time from Portuguese \nmerchants. The next fifteen months were spent in endless traveling between \nGoa\, Ceylon and Cape Comorin\, consolidating his work and preparing for an \nattempt on that Japan into which no European had yet penetrated. In April 1549 \nFrancis set out\, accompanied by a Jesuit priest and lay-brother and three \nJapanese converts. On the feast of the Assumption they landed in Japan\, at \nKagoshima on Kyushu. \nFrancis set himself to learn Japanese. A translation was made of a simple \naccount of Christian teaching\, and recited to all who would listen. The fruit of \ntwelve months labor was a hundred converts\, but then the authorities began to \nget suspicious and forbade further preaching. So\, leaving one of the Japanese \nconverts in charge of the neophytes\, Francis pressed further with his \ncompanions and went by sea to Hirado\, north of Nagasaki. Before leaving \nKagoshima he visited the fortress of Ichiku\, where the baron’s wife\, her steward \nand others accepted Christianity. Xavier left the rest in the care of the steward\, \nand twelve years later the Jesuit lay-brother\, Luis de Almeida\, found these \nisolated converts still retaining their first fervor and faithfulness. \nAt Hirado the missionaries were well received by the ruler and they had \nmore success in a few weeks than they had had at Kagoshima in a year. Xavier’s \nobjective was Miyako (Kyoto)\, then the chief city of Japan. In due time he was \nable to be received by the authorities\, who gave him permission to preach and \nprovided an empty Buddhist monastery for a residence. He preached with such \nfruit that he baptized many in that city. \nFrancis decided to revisit his charge in India\, from whence he hoped to \nextend his mission to China. After dealing with matters in India\, Xavier set sail \nfor China. In august 1552 the convoy reached the desolate island of Shang- \nchwan\, half-a-dozen miles off the coast and a hundred miles south-west of Hong \nKong. Here Xavier fell sick with a fever and died on December 3. He was buried \non the island\, but his body which was found to be incorrupt\, was later moved to \nGoa. He was canonized in 1622 at the same time as Ignatius of Loyola.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-francis-xavier-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20241204T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20241204T170000
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241201T211803Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241201T211803Z
UID:12881-1733299200-1733331600@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE JOY OF ADVENT \nBy Thierry Maertens & Jean Frisque \n◊◊◊ \nThe announcement of John the Baptist’s birth has put in relief the salient \ntraits of his personality. The circumstances of his birth hardly add new \nelements. Neither the birth nor the circumcision are told for themselves. They \nserve only as a framework for the imposition of the name already proclaimed by \nthe angel. \nThanks to the unexpected agreement of Zechariah and Elizabeth\, the \nname of John the Baptist appears to be willed by heaven. The healing of \nZechariah’s dumbness too is a sign of a heavenly manifestation. Luke dwells on \nthe astonishment and joy caused by the manifestation. These are characteristic \nsymptoms of messianic times. The swiftness with which the news spreads\, \nimage of the swiftness of the spread of the gospel\, is also a sign of the presence of \nheaven among human beings. \nAt the very time these two first chapters of Luke were first put out\, the \ncontemporary world was singularly bereft of joy. The Jewish nation was \ncrushed under the heel of an occupying power\, while the Greek peoples were \nreduced by apathy to alienation. \nAre things very different now\, with uneasiness on every horizon\, in a \nworld where the majority of people are ignored and alienated?… Yet Luke’s \nmessage remains valid. Joy resides in the assurance that one has communion \nwith God\, and that God is present even in human events. It is not however an \nimmediate consequence of belief in God’s presence. The God of the Jansenists \nis not a joyful God\, nor is the God of the pious. The God who gives joy is the God \nwho is present in the whole texture of a human being’s life\, in secular activities\, \nin the most private thoughts and the deepest encounters\, in sufferings that \nsurmount discouragement. The joy of messianic times is this joy.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-236/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241205
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241206
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241201T211902Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241201T211902Z
UID:12883-1733356800-1733443199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:OUR NEED OF \nTHE INCARNATION OF CHRIST \nFrom an oration by St Gregory of Nazianzus \n◊◊◊ \nThe very Son of God\, older than the ages\, the invisible\, the \nincomprehensible\, the incorporeal\, the beginning of beginning\, the light of \nlight\, the fountain of life and immortality\, the image of the archetype\, the \nimmovable seal\, the perfect likeness\, the definition and word of the Father: he it \nis who comes to his own image and takes our nature for the good of our nature\, \nand unites himself to an intelligent soul for the good of my soul\, to purify like by \nlike. He takes to himself all that is human\, except for sin. He comes forth as God\, \nin the human nature he has taken\, one being\, made of two contrary elements\, \nflesh and spirit. Spirit gave divinity\, flesh received it. \nHe who makes rich is made poor; he takes on the poverty of my flesh\, that \nI may gain the riches of his divinity. He who is full is made empty; he is emptied \nfor a brief space of his glory\, that I may share in his fullness. \nWhat is this mystery that surrounds me? I received the likeness of God \nwhen I was created\, but I failed to keep it. He takes on my flesh\, to bring \nsalvation to the image\, immortality to the flesh. He enters into a second union \nwith us\, a union far more wonderful than the first. \nHoliness had to be brought to us by the humanity assumed by one who \nwas God\, so that God might lead us back to himself through the mediation of his \nSon. The Son arranged this for the honor of the Father\, to whom the Son is \nclearly obedient in all things. \nThe Good Shepherd\, who lays down his life for the sheep\, came in search \nof the straying sheep to the mountains and hills on which you used to offer \nsacrifice. When he found it\, he took it on the shoulders that bore the wood of the \ncross\, and led it back to the life of heaven. \nWe need God to take our flesh and die\, that we might live. We have died \nwith him\, that we may be purified. We have risen again with him\, because we \nhave died with him. We have been glorified with him\, because we have risen \nagain with him.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-237/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241206
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241207
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241201T212009Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241201T212009Z
UID:12885-1733443200-1733529599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE SUMMIT OF WAITING \nBy André Rétif \n◊◊◊ \nJohn’s stay in the desert was simply a burning expectation of the Savior. \nAll the aspirations of the prophets and the just in Israel and the extremely \nfervent desire of the remnant of the holy people found in him their concentrated \nand almost explosive expression. Christ was certainly present to John in his \nsolitude. And so\, when he saw Him with his eyes\, his body did not quake. His \nfaith was so lively and enlightened that he thought his eyes of flesh had seen \nHim previously. \n“A happy life\,” says St. John Chrysostom\, “is to leave humans\, seek the \ncompany of angels\, flee the cities and find Christ in solitude.” Can better words \nbe found to express at once both the focal point of his expectation and its \nrealization? To find Christ in renouncing and abandoning all. This chaste man \nof faith had been the first to light his lamp and was like a person waiting. He was \ngoing to be the first to hear the shout in the night: “Behold\, the Bridegroom \ncomes!” This friend of the Bridegroom who gives his heart free rein\, is the first \nto leap with celestial joy when his Beloved approaches. He was\, it has been said\, \nstarving\, but only for the One who was to come. Hence\, he continues to be the \nmodel of every Christian and every missionary\, whom each dawn and each \nsunset should find awaiting the return of the Son of Man anxiously\, but without \nagitation\, joining in that expectation of the last things\, which we know throbbed \nin the hearts of the early Christians. \nTo John the outline of the Messiah\, which became clearer as he prayed \nand meditated on the sacred passages\, was exceptionally real\, tangible and \nelectrifying\, and the whole world\, contained in the Baptist’s soul\, was sighing for \nHis presence far more ardently than the stag after living water. \nWe must not think that\, because John the Baptist fled from the world\, he \nwas insensible to the ardent longings of his times. Just as a landscape has to be \nviewed from high above in order that one may appreciate its vast expanse\, John \nhad to leave the world to understand it and discover its immense distress; for\, \nwhen viewed in God\, things become extraordinarily clear and well defined. \nJohn\, preceding his captain\, the Messiah\, was the first to test his strength with \nthe devil and sense that the fate of a great number of souls depended on the \noutcome of the conflict. John was the first to take upon himself responsibility \nfor the crowds whom he reached through the light of God without knowing \nthem\, and to pronounce the cry of pity for the sheep without a shepherd. Was he \nnot already the shepherd of that immense flock that was to be led back to the \nfold of God? Was he not an invisible and unknown shepherd who would be \nimprisoned and decapitated in going to find his sheep? \nJohn the Baptist is like all true contemplatives\, monks and saints in being \neminently of his own times\, which\, however\, he surpasses no matter what angle \nwe view him from. Together with Mary\, whose expectation preceded his own \nand was superior to it\, he is the summit of the waiting for the Messiah\, and he \nresembles those peaks on which the sun is already shedding its faint red rays \nwhen everywhere else night still reigns. If we are really to be men of our own \ntimes\, do we not have to free ourselves from them in order to discover through \nGod the whole of their inner meaning?
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-238/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241207
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241208
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241201T212112Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241201T212112Z
UID:12887-1733529600-1733615999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Ambrose
DESCRIPTION:REMAIN WITHIN \nFrom a letter by St Ambrose \n◊◊◊ \nIf someone has taken up residence in the heavenly city\, let him not leave \nits life and customs\, since he is an inhabitant. Let him not again depart\, or \nretrace the steps\, I do not say\, of the body\, but of the heart. Let him not come \nback from there. Behind him is wantonness; behind is impurity. Your feet \nshould not turn back\, neither should your actions turn back. Your hands should \nnot hang idle\, nor should the knees of your devotion and faith become weak. Let \nno weakness cause your will to backslide\, nor evil deeds recur. You have made \nyour entrance\, now remain. You have reached this place\, stand firm. ‘Being safe\, \nsave thy life.’ \nIn your ascent\, take the straight path; it is not safe to turn back. Here is \nthe road; there is downfall. Here is the path upward; there\, a precipice… The \nLord who is powerful will protect you if you are grounded and hedged round \nwith the ramparts of the Prophets and the bulwarks of the Apostles. For this \nreason\, the Lord says to you: ‘Enter and tread the grape\, for the vintage time is \nhere.’ Let us be found within\, not out of doors. In the Gospel\, too\, the Son of God \nsays: ‘Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take his vessels.’ Surely\, He \ndoes not mean our present dwelling but that one of which ‘He has spread the sky \nlike a roof.’ \nRemain within\, therefore\, within Jerusalem\, within your soul which is \npeaceful\, meek\, and tranquil. Do not leave it or go down to take your vessels \nwith honors or riches or pride. Remain within\, so that strangers may not pass \nthrough you\, so that neither sins nor vain works nor useless thoughts may pass \nthrough your soul. This will not happen if you wage a holy war against the snare \nof the passions on behalf of devotion and faith and in the pursuit of truth\, if you \nwill put on the armor of God in your fight against spiritual diseases and the \ncunning of the Evil One who tempts our senses with cunning and fraud. Yet\, he \nis easily crushed by the gentle warrior who does not sow discord\, but\, as befits \nthe servant of God\, attaches faith with moderation and refutes those who are his \nadversaries. Of this man Scriptures says: ‘Let the warrior who is gentle arise\,’ \nand the weak man says: ‘I can do all things in him who strengthens me.’
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-ambrose-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241208
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241209
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241207T135237Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241207T135237Z
UID:12899-1733616000-1733702399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n2nd Week of Advent\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nDecember 8 – 14\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n8\nMon\n9\nTue\n10\nWed\n11\nThu\n12\nFri\n13\nSat\n14\n\n\nOffice\n2nd Sunday of Advent\nImmaculate Conception\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nOur Lady of Guadalupe\nSt Lucy\nSt John of the Cross\n\n\nVigils\nIsa 22:8b-23\nRom 5:12-21\nIsa 24:19-25:5\nIsa 25:6-26:6\nProv 8:32-9:11\nIsa 27:1-13\nIsa 29:1-8\n\n\nLauds\nIsa 4:2-6\nIsa 43:1-7\nIsa 9:1-6\nIsa 11:1-9\nSir 4:11-18\nZeph 3:14-20\nIsa 11:10-16\n\n\nMass\n6\n689\n182\n183\n690A\n185\n186\n\n\n1st\nBar 5:1-9\nGen 3:9-15\, 20\nIsa 40:1-11\nIsa 40:25-31\nRev 11:19a; 12:1-6a\, 10ab\nIsa 48:17-19\nSir 48:1-4\, 9-11\n\n\n2nd\nPhil 1:4-6\, 8-11\nEph 1:3-6\, 11-12\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 3:1-6\nLuke 1:26-38\nMatt 18:12-14\nMatt 11:28-30\nLuke 1:39-47\nMatt 11:16-19\nMatt 17:9a\, 10-13\n\n\nVespers\nRom 5:1-11\nGal 4:21-5:1\nRom 8:18-27\nRom 6:16-23\nGal 3:23-29\nRom 8:1-6\nRom 8:9-17
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-95/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241208
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241209
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241207T135346Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241207T135346Z
UID:12901-1733616000-1733702399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 2nd Sunday of Advent
DESCRIPTION:PREPARE A WAY FOR THE LORD \nFrom a commentary by Origen of Alexandria \n◊◊◊ \nThe word of God was addressed to John\, son of Zechariah\, in the desert\, \nand he went through all the Jordan valley. Where else could he go but through \nthe Jordan valley\, where there would be water at hand to baptize those wishing \nto amend their lives? \nNow the word Jordan means descent or coming down. Coming down and \nrushing in full flood is the river of God\, the Lord our Savior\, in whom we were \nbaptized. This is the real\, life-giving water\, and the sins of those baptized in it \nare forgiven. \nSo come\, catechumens\, and amend your lives so that you may have your \nsins forgiven in baptism. In baptism the sins of those who cease to sin are \nforgiven\, but if anyone comes to be baptized while continuing to sin\, that \nperson’s sins are not forgiven. This is why I urge you not to present yourselves \nfor baptism without thinking very carefully\, but to give some evidence that you \nreally mean to change your way of living. Spend some time living a good life. \nCleanse yourselves from all impurity and avoid every sin. Then when you \nyourselves have begun to despise your sins\, they will be forgiven you. You will be \nforgiven your sins if you renounce them. \nThe teaching of the Old Testament is the same. We read in the prophet \nIsaiah: A voice cries out in the desert: Prepare a way for the Lord. Build him a \nstraight highway.What way shall we prepare for the Lord? A way by land? \nCould the Word of God travel such a road? Is it not rather a way within ourselves \nthat we have to prepare for the Lord? Is it not a straight and level highway in our \nhearts that we are to make ready? Surely this is the way by which the Word of \nGod enters\, a way that exists in the spaciousness of the human body. The human \nheart is vast\, broad\, and capacious\, if only it is pure… You ought to judge it not \nby its physical size but by its power to embrace such a vast amount of knowledge \nof the truth. \nBut so that I may convince you that the human heart is large by a simple \nexample from daily life\, let us consider this. Whatever city we may have passed \nthrough\, we have in our minds. We remember its streets\, walls\, and buildings\, \nwhat they were like and where they were situated. We have a mental picture of \nthe roads we have traveled. In moments of quiet reflection our minds embrace \nthe sea that we have crossed. So\, as I said\, the heart that can contain all this is \nnot small! \nTherefore\, if what contains so much is not small\, let a way be prepared in \nit for the Lord\, a straight highway along which the Word and Wisdom of God \nmay advance. Prepare a way for the Lord by living a good life and guard that way \nby good works. Let the Word of God move in you unhindered and give you a \nknowledge of his coming and of his mysteries.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-2nd-sunday-of-advent/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241209
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241210
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241207T135501Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241207T135501Z
UID:12903-1733702400-1733788799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Immaculate Conception
DESCRIPTION:IMMACULATE MARY \nBy Fr Hugo Rahner \n◊◊◊ \nFrom the first instant of Mary’s human existence until her assumption \ninto heaven\, every detail of her life that Revelation has provided is a ‘type of \nwhat is to come.’ The Church is symbolized in Mary. \nThat is true of the first and underlying mystery of her life\, which we know \nfrom the sources of Revelation and from the solemn declaration of the Church\, \nnamely that Mary in the first instant of her conception\, in virtue of the \nredemptive death to come of her divine son\, was preserved free from all stain of \noriginal sin. She possessed from the beginning also\, precisely as a member of \nthe human race redeemed by Christ\, that gift of sanctifying grace which was \ndestined originally for the whole human race from Adam and Eve\, and restored \nto every believer by the death of Christ\, the son of Mary. Thus it is that Mary \nImmaculate is already an essential symbol of the restoration to grace\, a work \nwhich began on the Cross and will have its entire fulfillment at the end of time \nby presenting to the eternal father the family of our first parents\, redeemed into \nthe one glorified Body of Christ: a symbol therefore of the Church. This is how \nthe early fathers saw in Mary Immaculate the Ecclesia Immaculata\, and in this \nfigure of the Church Immaculate the glorious conclusion of the work of \nredemption\, which will be revealed on that day when God who is able to \npreserve you without sin will present you spotless before the presence of his \nglory with exceeding joy\, in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. \nGod’s first word of salvation\, spoken outside the locked gates of Paradise\, \nalready indicates a woman\, a single woman\, who could never be overcome by \nSatan: I will put enmities between you and the woman\, and your seed and her \nseed. This woman was first of all Eve\, to whom the astounding promise was \nmade that the Redeemer should come from her race. But the full meaning of the \nprophecy is only realized\, when we see foreshadowed in Eve the other Mother of \nall the living\, who herself should actually give birth to the Savior. But already \nthen\, said Augustine\, Mary was included in Eve; yet is was only when Mary \ncame\, that we knew who Eve was. The woman who crushed the serpent’s head \nwas the mother of God Incarnate. From the beginning of catholic theology the \ntext has been thus interpreted. Christ\, the son of the woman of the promise\, \nwould conquer Satan\, and therefore God put enmities between the serpent and \nthe woman\, until the promised seed came to crush its head\, the seed of Mary.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-immaculate-conception-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241210
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241211
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241207T135601Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241207T135601Z
UID:12905-1733788800-1733875199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:COME\, LORD JESUS \nBy Fr Johannes Pinsk \n◊◊◊ \nAdvent means coming\, the coming of the Lord. If we want to celebrate \nAdvent with the Church\, we must first seek to understand what this means: \n“God is coming.” the word “coming” may be regarded as one of the primordial \nwords in the language of religion\, for if religion is the loving and unifying \nencounter with God\, it can only be realized when God comes. Unfortunately the \nsame thing happens with God’s coming to us as with his loving us — in both \ncases we want to take the second step before the first one. We think that we must \nlove God first so that he will love us first; and yet\, in his first letter Saint John \nstates expressly\, Here is love\, not that we loved God\, but that he loved us. Yes\, \nwe must love God because he first loved us. We cannot come to God unless he \nfirst comes to us. \nThis coming of God is not merely an interior\, spiritual affair; it happens \nrather in palpable\, concrete forms. So the coming of God has the same meaning \nas the revelation of God. Those\, therefore\, who carefully read and contemplate \nthe words of holy scripture\, which are a sign of his continued and continuous \ncoming\, will not find it difficult to understand that the actual content of \nscripture is the proclamation of the coming of God. His coming is the key to the \nhistory of the Old Testament and the basic theme of its people\, but this is only a \nprelude to that coming of God in which the Word was made flesh. \nAll these are ideas with which we are very familiar\, so familiar in fact that \nwe tend to think that everything has already been fulfilled. God has come in \nJesus Christ; through him he is with us in his grace by faith and the sacraments. \nGospels: Year A; introduced and edited by John E. Rotelle\, Hyde Park\, NY: New City Press\, 1995\, pp. 16-17.7 \nEach individual Christian personally\, and the Church of Christ as a community\, \nis a sign of the fact that God has come and is with us forever. Lo\, I am with you \nalways\, even to the end of the world. These are the words of our Lord at the end \nof Saint Matthew’s gospel. \nWe Christians today are so conscious of the joy of our belief in the \npresence of the Lord\, above all in the Eucharist\, that we almost forget that Christ \nhimself continued to speak of his coming right up to the end of his earthly life\, \neven though he was already present\, He spoke of a further coming\, beyond the \nChurch and the sacraments. \nAlthough the One who is to come has already appeared\, the New \nTestament\, like the Old\, is full of the promise and expectation of a new coming \nof Christ. The gospels speak of it\, so do the apostolic letters\, and most of all the \nRevelation of Saint John. This final book of the Bible teaches us: The Spirit and \nthe Bride say\, “Come.” Let him who hears say: “Come.” He who testifies to \nthese things says: Yes\, indeed\, I am coming soon\, and the congregation of the \nfaithful cries out once more: Come\, Lord Jesus!
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-239/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241211
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241212
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241207T135710Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241207T135710Z
UID:12907-1733875200-1733961599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:PATIENCE WITH THE PROVISIONAL \nBy Fr Karl Rahner \n◊◊◊ \nPeople of Advent\, of waiting for God\, of burning longing for the eternal\, can \nbe overcome by the most terrible and dangerous impatience that there is\, a \nreligious radicalism which has the appearance of being glorious and sublime but \nin reality is the contrary of the truly advent attitude. \nWe thirst for God\, hope in him\, hope that he will soon establish his \nkingdom. He wills the unconditional\, the radiant truth whose splendour at once \nburns every doubt from the mind\, the radical goodness which would destroy all \nfear that goodness itself is only a form of self-seeking. But only precursors ever \ncome; only beginnings are made; messengers come but always with God’s truth \nstill in merely human words which obscure it. Those messengers of God are \nhuman beings with human traits and sometimes inhuman ones. All that ever \nhappens are God’s saving deeds (called sacraments) in human ceremonies. All \nthese provisional things simply continue to proclaim that they themselves are not \nthe reality. The reality is merely hidden there in al those non-real words\, human \nbeings\, signs. \nThen human beings who even in their purest religious feeling are sinners\, \nmay lose patience. What are you doing in religion\, you human beings\, words\, \nsigns\, if you are after all not the reality\, not the unveiled God immediately \npresent? Then the impatient think that this God may perhaps be found outside \nthe human beings\, the words and the signs of the Church: in nature\, in the infinity \nof their own heart\, in political projects to establish for ever by force here and now\, \nthe Kingdom of God. Or somewhere else. But in the end these impatient people \nrealize\, very often too late\, that they have wandered into the wilderness of their \nown empty hearts where the devils dwell\, not God; into the loveless desert of a \nblind and cruel nature which is only benevolent on Sunday afternoons; into the \narid wasteland of the world where the waters of ideals ooze away the farther one \nadvances; into the desolate wilderness of a politics which brings about not the \nKingdom of God but simply the tyranny of naked forces. \nNo\, we are not spared it. We must have the patience of men and women of \nadvent. The Church is only the voice of one crying in the wilderness\, announcing \nthat the final radiant Kingdom of God is still coming and that when God wills\, \nnot when it suits us. We cannot try to ignore the voice of precursors simply \nbecause it comes from the mouths of human beings; we cannot disregard the \nmessenger of the Church because he too is not worthy to loosen the shoelaces of \nthe Lord whose forerunner he is\, or because he cannot call down fire from \nheaven like Elijah. For it is still advent. The Church itself is still an advent \nChurch; for we are still waiting for him who is to come in the unveiled radiance \nof unconditional Godhead with the eternal Kingdom. The Church rightly tells to \nprepare of this God the true way\, the way of faith\, of love\, of humility\, and the \nway of patience with its unimpressive provisional messengers of their poor \nwords and small signs. For then God will certainly come. He only comes to \nthose who in patience love his forerunners and the provisional.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-240/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241212
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241213
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241207T135827Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241207T135827Z
UID:12909-1733961600-1734047999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Our Lady of Guadalupe
DESCRIPTION:THE APPEARANCE OF THE \nBLESSED VIRGIN MARY \nAT GUADALUPE \nFrom the first written Aztec account of the apparition \n◊◊◊ \nUpon his reaching the top of the hillock\, Juan Diego catches sight of a \nwoman\, one who has been taking her stand there. She beckons him to come on\, \ncloser up to herself. Upon reaching her presence\, he greatly marvels at her \nextreme\, her surpassing\, her perfect wonderfulness. \nHer garments are as the sun\, gleaming\, glittering. Even the boulder\, the \ncrag\, on which she takes her stand sparkles in resplendence\, like fine emerald \njade or a bangle when it shines\, like the swarming glow of a rainbow in the \ngloom. Even the soil\, the brambles and prickles and the rest of the varied weeds \nthat struggle to survive there are shining like emerald\, like divine turquoise\, to \nthe tip of every leaf; are glittering like the golden scourings of the gods up every \nstalk and twig and thorn. \nIn her presence he prostrates; he listens to her utterance\, her declaration. \nThese are as of one who sets others at ease\, one whose manner is to attract\, one \nwhose attitude is to esteem. She addresses him: “Do listen to me\, my littlest one\, \nJuanito!… “Do know this\, do be assured of it in your heart\, my littlest one\, that I \nmyself\, I am the entirely and ever Virgin Saint Mary\, Mother of the True \nDivinity\, God Himself: Because of Him\, life goes on\, Creation goes on; His are \nall things afar\, His are all things near at hand\, things above in the heavens\, \nthings here below on the earth. How truly I wish it\, how greatly I desire it\, that \nhere they should erect me my temple! Here would I show forth\, here would I lift \nup to view\, here would I make a gift of all my fondness for my dear ones\, all my \nregard for my needy ones\, my willingness to aid them\, my readiness to protect \nthem. For truly I myself\, I am your compassionate mother\, yours\, for you \nyourself\, for everybody here in the land\, for each and all together\, for all others \ntoo\, for all folk of every kind\, who do but cherish me\, who do but raise their \nvoices to me\, who do but seek me\, who do but raise their trust to me. \nFor here I shall listen to their groanings\, to their saddenings; here shall I \nmake well and heal up their each and every kind of disappointment\, of \nexhausting pangs\, of bitter aching pain… Therefore\, to realize all that my \nclemency claims\, go to the palace of the Bishop of Mexico\, and say that I sent you \nto make manifest to him my great desire; namely\, that here in the valley a temple \nshould be built to me. Tell him word for word all that you have seen and heard and \nadmired. Be assured that I shall be grateful and that I will reward you\, for I will \nmake your life happy and cause you to become worthy of the labor you have taken \nand the trouble you perform to do what I enjoin you. Now you have heard all my \nbidding\, least of my sons. Go and do your utmost.’ \n“At this point he bowed before her and said\, ‘Lady\, I go to do your bidding. \nAs your humble servant\, I take my leave of you.’ Then he went on to accomplish \nher will\, taking the causeway that leads directly to Mexico City.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-our-lady-of-guadalupe-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241213
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241214
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241207T143410Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241207T143410Z
UID:12911-1734048000-1734134399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Lucy
DESCRIPTION:ST LUCY \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints \n◊◊◊ \nSt Lucy is said to have been a Sicilian\, born in the city of Syracuse of noble \nand wealthy parents and brought up a Christian. She wished to devote her life to \nGod and to give her fortune to the poor\, but during the Diocletian persecutions \na man\, usually represented as a Roman soldier\, tried to rape her\, and she \nresisted. He denounced her as a Christian\, and she was arrested\, tortured and \nkilled. \nThough these traditions have no ascertainable historical basis\, her \nconnection with Syracuse and the existence of an early cult connected with her \nname are well established. A fourth-century inscription mentioning that a girl \ncalled Euskia died on Lucy’s feast-day survives at Syracuse. Lucy was honoured \nat Rome in the sixth century as one of the most illustrious virgin martyrs whose \nlives the Church celebrates. Her name is included in the Canons of the Roman \nand Ambrosian rites and occurs in the oldest Roman sacramentaries\, in Greek \nliturgical books\, and in the marble calendar of Naples. Churches were dedicated \nto her in Rome\, Naples\, and eventually Venice. In England two ancient \nchurches were dedicated to her\, and she has certainly been known since the \nend of the seventh century. St Aldhelm\, bishop of Sherborne (23 May)\, \ncelebrated her in both prose and verse\, though he unfortunately relied on \nspurious sources. \nPossibly on account of her name\,which has connotations of light and \npurity (Latin lux/Lucia)\, legends have long gathered around St Lucy. Some of \nthe legends and many paintings relate to her eyes. One gruesome story is that \nshe tore her eyes out rather than surrender to her attacker\, and she is sometimes \nshown offering them to him. Oddly\, she is the patron saint of those with eye \ntrouble\, and a gentler interpretation is that this is because the eyes are the \nsource of our awareness of light. Her feast-day had long been the occasion for \nspecial ceremonies connected with virginity. It occurs near the shortest day of \nthe year and is especially celebrated in Sweden as a festival of light\, with a \nprocession of young girls dressed in white and crowned with lighted candles. \nThe song “Santa Lucia” celebrates her memory.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-lucy-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241214
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241215
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241207T143534Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241207T143534Z
UID:12913-1734134400-1734220799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St John of the Cross
DESCRIPTION:LOVE OF THE CROSS \nFrom an essay by St Edith Stein \n◊◊◊ \nWe hear repeatedly that St. John of the Cross desired nothing for himself \nbut to suffer and be despised. We want to know the reason for this love of \nsuffering. Is it merely the loving remembrance of the path of suffering of our \nLord on earth\, a tender impulse to be humanly close to him by a life resembling \nhis? This does not seem to correspond to the lofty and strict spirituality of the \nmystical teacher. And in relation to the Man of Sorrows\, it would almost seem \nthat the victoriously enthroned king\, the divine conqueror of sin\, death and hell \nis forgotten. Did not Christ lead captivity captive? Has he not transported us \ninto a kingdom of light and called us to be happy children of our heavenly \nFather? \nThe sight of the world in which we live\, the need and misery\, and the abyss \nof human malice\, again and again dampens jubilation over the victory of light. \nThe world is still deluged by mire\, and still only a small flock has escaped from it \nto the highest mountain peaks. The battle between Christ and the Antichrist is \nnot yet over. The followers of Christ have their place in this battle\, and their \nchief weapon is the cross… \nThe entire sum of human failures from the first Fall up to the Day of \nJudgment must be blotted out by a corresponding measure of expiation. The \nway of the cross is this expiation. The triple collapse under the burden of the \ncross corresponds to the triple fall of humanity: the first sin\, the rejection of the \nSavior by his chosen people\, the falling away of those who bear the name of \nChristian… \nThe Savior is not alone on the way of the cross… The archetype of \nfollowers of the cross for all time is the Mother of God. …Everyone who\, in the \ncourse of time\, has borne an onerous destiny in remembrance of the suffering \nSavior or who has freely taken up works of expiation has by doing so canceled \nsome of the mighty load of human sin and has helped the Lord carry his \nburden.… The disciples\, both men and women\, who surrounded [the Savior] \nduring his earthly life\, assist him on the second stretch. The lovers of the cross \nwhom he has awakened and will always continue to awaken anew in the \nchangeable history of the struggling church\, these are his allies at the end of \ntime. We\, too\, are called for that purpose… \nBut because being one with Christ is our sanctity\, and progressively \nbecoming one with him our happiness on earth\, the love of the cross in no way \ncontradicts being a joyful child of God. Helping Christ carry his cross fills one \nwith a strong and pure joy\, and those who may and can do so\, the builders of \nGod’s kingdom\, are the most authentic children of God. And so those who have \na predilection for the way of the cross by no means deny that Good Friday is past \nand that the work of salvation has been accomplished. Only those who are \nsaved\, only children of grace\, can in fact be bearers of Christ’s cross. Only in \nunion with the divine Head does human suffering take on expiatory power. To \nsuffer and to be happy although suffering\, to have one’s feet on the earth\, to walk \non the dirty and rough paths of this earth and yet to be enthroned with Christ at \nthe Father’s right hand\, to laugh and cry with the children of this world and \nceaselessly sing the praises of God with the choirs of angels — this is the life of \nthe Christian until the morning of eternity breaks forth.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-john-of-the-cross-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241215
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241216
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241215T123652Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241215T123652Z
UID:12918-1734220800-1734307199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n3rd Week of Advent\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nDecember 15 – 21\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n15\nMon\n16\nTue\n17\nWed\n18\nThu\n19\nFri\n20\nSat\n21\n\n\nOffice\n3rd Sunday of Advent\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\n\n\nVigils\nIsa 29:13-24\nIsa 30:15-26\nIsa 45:1-13\nIsa 46:1-13\nIsa 47:1-15\nIsa 48:1-11\nIsa 48:12-22\n\n\nLauds\nZech 2:10-17\nIsa 12:1-6\nIsa 40:1-5\nIsa 40:6-11\nIsa 40:25-31\nIsa 41:1-10\nIsa 41:11-16\n\n\nMass\n9\n187\n193\n194\n195\n196\n197\n\n\n1st\nZeph 3:14-18a\nNum 24:2-7\, 15-17a\nGen 49:2\, 8-10\nJer 23:5-8\nJudg 13:2-7\, 24-25a\nIsa 7:10-14\nSong 2:8-14\n\n\n2nd\nPhil 4:4-7\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 3:10-18\nMatt 21:23-27\nMatt 1:1-17\nMatt 1:18-24\nLuke 1:5-25\nLuke 1:26-38\nLuke 1:39-45\n\n\nVespers\nRom 9:1-8\nRom 10:1-13\n1 Thess 5:16-24\nPhil 1:3-11\nPhil 3:17-21\nPhil 4:4-9\n1 Cor 1:1-9
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-96/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241215
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241216
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20241215T123813Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241215T123813Z
UID:12920-1734220800-1734307199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 3rd Sunday of Advent
DESCRIPTION:YOU MUST BUILD UPON ROCK \nFrom a commentary by Origen of Alexandria \n◊◊◊ \nThe baptism that Jesus gives is a baptism in the Holy Spirit and in fire. \nBaptism is one and the same no matter who receives it\, but its effect depends on \nthe recipient’s disposition. He who is portrayed as baptizing in the Holy Spirit \nand in fire holds a winnowing fan in his hand\, which he will use to clear the \nthreshing floor. The wheat he will gather into his barn\, but the chaff he will \nburn with fire that can never be quenched. \nI should like to discover our Lord’s reason for holding a winnowing fan \nand to inquire into the nature of the wind that scatters the light chaff here and \nthere\, leaving the heavier grain lying in a heap – for you must have a wind if you \nwant to separate wheat and chaff. \nI suggest that the faithful are like a heap of unsifted grain\, and that the \nwind represents the temptations which assail them and show up the wheat and \nchaff among them. When your soul is overcome by some temptation\, it is not the \ntemptation that changes you into chaff. No\, you were chaff already\, that is to \nsay\, fickle and faithless; the temptation simply discloses the stuff you were \nmade of. On the other hand\, when you endure temptations bravely it is not the \ntemptation that made you faithful and patient; temptation merely brings to \nlight the hidden virtues of patience and fortitude that have been present in you \nall along. Do you think that I had any other purpose in speaking to you\, said the \nLord to Job\, than to reveal your virtue? In another text he declares: I humbled \nyou and made you feel the pangs of hunger in order to find out what was in \nyour heart. \nIn the same way\, a storm will not allow a house to stand firm if it is built \non sand. If you wish to build a house\, you must build it upon rock. Then any \nstorms that arise will not demolish your handiwork\, whereas the house built \nupon sand will totter\, proving thereby that it is not well founded. \nSo while all is yet quiet\, before the storm gathers\, before the squalls begin \nto bluster or the waves to swell\, let us concentrate all our efforts on the \nfoundations of our building and construct our house with the many strong\, \ninterlocking bricks of God’s commandments. Then when cruel persecutions is \nunleashed like some fearful tornado against Christians\, we shall be able to show \nthat our house is built upon Christ Jesus our rock. \nFar be it from us to deny Christ when the time comes. But if anyone \nshould do so\, let that person realize that it is not at the moment of his public \ndenial that apostasy took place. Its seeds and roots had been hidden within him \nfor a long time; persecution only brought into the open and made public what \nwas already there. Let us pray to the Lord then that we may be firm and solid \nbuildings that no storm can overthrow\, founded on the rock of our Lord Jesus \nChrist.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-3rd-sunday-of-advent/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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