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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250211
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250212
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250208T225434Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250208T225434Z
UID:13112-1739232000-1739318399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:St. Benedict Aniane
DESCRIPTION:ST BENEDICT OF ANIANE\nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints 3\n◊◊◊\nBenedict was the son of Aigulf of Maguelone and served King Pepin and\nhis son\, Charlemagne\, as cupbearer. At the age of twenty he made a resolution\nto seek the kingdom of God with his whole heart. He took part in the campaign\nin Lombardy\, but\, after having been nearly drowned in the river Tesino\, near\nPavia\, in endeavoring to save his brother\, he made a vow to quit the world\nentirely. Upon his return to Languedoc he was confirmed in this determination\nby the advice of a hermit called Widmar\, and he went to the abbey of SaintSeine\, \nfifteen miles from Dijon\, where he was admitted as a monk. He spent two \nand a half years here learning the monastic life and bringing himself under\ncontrol by severe austerities. Not satisfied with observing the rule of St\nBenedict\, he practiced those other points of perfection which he found\nprescribed in the Rules of St Pachomius and St Basil. When the abbot died\, the\nbrethren were disposed to elect him to fill the post\, but he was unwilling to\naccept the charge because he knew that the monks were opposed to anything in\nthe shape of systematic reform. \nBenedict accordingly quitted Saint-Seine and\, returning to Languedoc\,\nbuilt a small hermitage beside the brook Aniane upon his own estate. Here he\nlived for some years in self-imposed destitution\, praying continually that God\nwould teach him to do His will. Some solitaries\, of whom the holy man Widmar\nwas one\, placed themselves under his direction\, and they earned their livelihood\nby manual labor\, living on bread and water except on Sundays and great\nfestivals when they added a little wine or milk if it was given them in alms. The\nsuperior worked with them in the fields and sometimes spent his time in\ncopying books. When the number of his disciples increased\, Benedict left to\nbuild a monastery in a more spacious place. In a short time he had many\nreligious under his direction\, and at the same time exercised a general\ninspection over all the monasteries of Provence\, Languedoc and Gascony\,\nbecoming eventually the director and overseer of all the monasteries in the\nempire; he reformed many with little or no opposition. \nIn order to have him close at hand\, the Emperor Louis the Pious obliged\nBenedict to dwell first at the abbey of Maurmünster in Alsace and then\, as he\nwanted him yet nearer\, he built a monastery upon the Inde\, later known as\nCornelimünster\, near Aachen\, the residence of the emperor and court. Benedict\nlived in the monaster yet continued to help in the restoration of monastic\nobservance throughout France and Germany. He was the chief instrument in\ndrawing up the canons for the reformation of monks at the council of Aachen in\n817\, and presided in the same year over the assembly of abbots to enforce the\nrestoration of discipline… Benedict also wrote the Codex Regularum (Codex of\nRules)\, a collection of all the monastic regulations which he found extant; he\nlikewise compiled a book of homilies for the use of monks\, collected from the\nworks of the fathers; but his most important work was the Concordia\nRegularum\, the Concord of Rules\, in which he gives those of St Benedict of\nNursia in combination with those of other patriarchs of monastic observance to\nshow their similarity. \nThis great restorer of monasticism in the West\, worn out by\nmortifications and fatigues\, suffered much from continual sickness in the latter\npart of his days. He died at Inde with great tranquility in 821\, being then\nseventy one years of age. \n3\nLives of the Saints. Butler\, Harper San Francisco\, 1991\, pp. 43-44.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/st-benedict-aniane/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250212
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250213
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250208T230024Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250208T230024Z
UID:13114-1739318400-1739404799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Bl Humbeline
DESCRIPTION:BLESSED HUMBELINE\nFrom the Life of St Bernard 4\n◊◊◊\nFrom earliest childhood Humbeline and Bernard had been drawn together\nby a special bond of affection and sympathy… After her marriage\, forgetful of her\nmother’s example and exhortations\, she began to follow the fashions of the world.\nIn 1117 she came to Clairvaux surrounded with all the splendor of dress and\nattendants that unlimited wealth could bestow\, thinking\, so it seems\, that she was\ndoing her brother honor. Her brother Andrew\, the porter\, in announcing her\narrival\, did not omit to describe to his Abbot the pomp and ceremony that attended\nher. It grieved Bernard to hear that his beloved sister had become a worshiper at\nthe shrine of vanity. He refused to see her himself\, nor would he allow any of his\nbrothers to see her\, but told Andrew to tell her…that with these worldly ornaments\nshe was making herself the devil’s instrument for the ruin of immortal souls.\nAndrew delivered the message\, adding on his own: “Why so much solicitude to\nembellish a body destined for worms and rottenness\, while the soul that now\nanimates it is burning in everlasting flames?” \nHumbeline burst into tears\, crying out: “I deserve it all because I am a\nsinner. Yet it is for such as I that Christ suffered on the Cross. Indeed it is because of\nmy sinfulness that I seek counsel and encouragement from the saints. If my brother\nBernard\, who is the servant of God\, despises my body\, let him at least have pity on\nmy soul. Let him come; let him command; and whatever he thinks proper to enjoin\nI am prepared to carry out.” There was no resisting such an appeal. Bernard and\nhis brothers hastened to meet her and to confirm her in these good dispositions. It\nwas the holy Abbot’s desire that she should enter religion; but as this was unlawful\nwithout her husband’s consent\, he recommended her to live as much as possible\nlike a recluse in the world\, shunning ostentation and all kinds of vanity\, and \ndevoting herself\, after her mother’s example\, to the service of God and the poor.\nShe promised to do so. \nFive years later\, in 1122\, having obtained after much resistance her\nhusband’s consent\, she left the world altogether and entered the convent of Jully\nwhere Elizabeth\, her sister-in-law\, was superioress. When the latter went forth\nabout 1130 to found a new convent in the neighborhood of Dijon\, Humbeline was\nappointed to succeed her. Under her direction the house flourished greatly; the\nnoblest ladies of the land sought admission in such numbers that she was forced to\nmake about a dozen new foundations. She rivaled Bernard himself in her love of\nthe Cross. Of food and sleep she allowed herself much less than the minimum\nwhich nature demands; her clothes were the meanest she could find\, and it was her\nhappiness to be employed in the humblest occupations. When her nuns begged her\nto be more careful of her health\, which seemed in danger of breaking down under\nsuch austere practices\, she replied: “For you\, my dear sisters\, whose lives have been\nconsecrated to the service of God\, this is an excellent counsel. But for me\, who have\nlived so long amidst worldly vanities\, no kind of penance can be excessive.”… \nHer last hours were consoled by the presence of three of her brothers\,\nBernard\, Andrew and Nivard… When about to breathe her last she looked with a\nradiant smile at Bernard and said: “Oh\, how happy I am to have followed your\ncounsel and consecrated myself to God! And what a beautiful reward I expect to\nreceive for the love I have entertained for you in this life! It is to that love that I owe\nthe joy and glory awaiting me in the homeland.” Then turning to the others she\ncried out: “I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of\nthe Lord.” With these words\, she gave up her spirit. \n4\nLife and Teaching of St Bernard by Ailbe J. Luddy\, O. Cist.\, pg. 68-69\, M.H. Gill & Son\, Dublin\, 1937.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/bl-humbeline/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250213
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250214
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250208T230244Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250208T230244Z
UID:13116-1739404800-1739491199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE MEANING OF SUFFERING IN THE\nLIGHT OF THE MIRACLES AT\nLOURDES\nBy Pope St John Paul II 5\n◊◊◊\nThe reality of faith\, of hope and of charity\, the reality of suffering\nsanctified and sanctifying. The reality of the presence of the Mother of God in\nthe mystery of Christ and His Church on earth: a presence which is particularly\nalive in that elect portion of the church which consists of the sick and the\nsuffering. \nThese persons\, if animated by faith\, turn to Lourdes. Why? Because they\nknow that there\, as at Cana\, “There is the Mother of Jesus” and where She is\,\nHer Son cannot be absent. Sick of all sorts go on pilgrimage to Lourdes\, born up\nby hope that\, through Mary\, Christ’s saving power – reveals itself in the\nspiritual sphere above all. \nIt is in the hearts of the sick that Mary makes Her Son’s wonderworking\nvoice heard\, a voice which prodigiously resolves the rigidity of sourness of heart\nand rebellion and gives the soul back eyes with which to see the world\, others\,\none’s own destiny in a new light. \nAt Lourdes the sick discover the inestimable value of their suffering – the\nmeaning that pain may have in their lives\, when interiorly renewed by that\nflame which consumes and transforms in the life of the Church. \nUpright by the Cross of Her Son on Calvary\, the Most Holy Virgin\ncourageously shared in His Passion and knows how to convince ever fresh souls\nto unite their sufferings with Christ’s sacrifice\, in a joint “offertory\,” which\nsurpasses time and space and embraces the whole of mankind and saves it. \n5\nfrom Prayers and Devotions from John Paul II; the K. S. Gininger Company\, Inc.\, 1984.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/weekday-16/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250214
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250215
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250208T230806Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250208T230806Z
UID:13118-1739491200-1739577599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:SS Cyril & Methodius
DESCRIPTION:SAINTS CYRIL AND METHODIUS\nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints 6\n◊◊◊\nIn 862 there arrived in Constantinople an ambassador charged by\nRostislav\, prince of Moravia\, to ask if the emperor would send him missionaries\ncapable of teaching his people in their own language. Photius\, now patriarch of\nConstantinople\, decided that Cyril and Methodius were most suitable for the\nwork; they were learned men\, who knew Slavonic. \nIn 863 the two brothers set out with a number of assistants and came to\nthe court of Rostislav. The new missionaries made free use of the vernacular in\ntheir preaching and ministrations\, and this made immediate appeal to the local\npeople. To the German clergy this was objectionable\, and their opposition was\nstrengthened when the Emperor Louis forced Rostislav to take an oath of fealty\nto him. The Byzantine missionaries\, armed with their pericopes from the\nScriptures and liturgical hymns in Slavonic\, pursued their way with much\nsuccess\, but were soon handicapped by their lack of a bishop to ordain more\npriests. The German prelate\, the bishop of Passau\, would not do it\, and Cyril\ntherefore determined to seek help elsewhere\, presumably from Constantinople\nwhence he came. \nOn their way the brothers arrived in Venice. It was at a bad moment.\nPhotius at Constantinople had incurred excommunication; the proteges of the\nEastern emperor and their liturgical use of a new tongue were vehemently\ncriticized. They came to Rome bringing with them alleged relics of Pope St\nClement\, which St Cyril had recovered when in the Crimea on his way back from\nthe Khazars. Adrian II warmly welcomed the bearers of so great a gift. He\nexamined their cause\, and he gave judgment: Cyril and Methodius were to\nreceived episcopal consecration\, their neophytes were to be ordained\, and the\nuse of the liturgy in Slavonic was approved. \nWhile still in Rome Cyril died\, on February 14\, 869. He was buried with\ngreat pomp in the church of San Clemente on the Coelian\, where the relics of St\nClement had been enshrined. St Methodius now took up his brother’s\nleadership. Having been consecrated bishop he returned\, bearing a letter from\nthe Holy See recommending him as a man of “exact understanding and\northodoxy”. Kosel\, prince of Pannonia\, asked that the ancient archdiocese of\nSirmium (now Mitrovitsa) be revived. Methodius was made metropolitan and\nthe boundaries of his charge extended to the borders of Bulgaria. \n6\nButler’s Lives of the Saints\, edited by M. Walsh\, New York: HarperCollins\, 1991\, pp. 46-47.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/ss-cyril-methodius/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250215
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250216
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250208T231117Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250208T231117Z
UID:13120-1739577600-1739663999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Memorial of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:MARY AND THE FRUITFULNESS\nOF VIRGINITY\nFrom “The Seat of Wisdom” by Fr Louis Bouyer 7\n◊◊◊\nVirginity consecrated to God in Christ has its justification in that it is a\nmeans for engendering offspring without number; and therein lies the real\nnature of its sacrifice. This is the supreme truth revealed to us by Mary’s virginal\nmotherhood\, and\, at the same time\, its supreme justification. By her\nrenunciation in a spirit of perfect faith\, of the very possibility of generation on\nthe earthly plane\, that of the first creation\, she lent herself to be used to generate\nthe human body of the Son of God. And\, since he is\, in himself\, not only the\norigin but the whole of the new creation\, she also brought this to birth in bearing\nhim. The sacrifice inherent in her chosen virginity was fulfilled in that the “Holy\nOne” born of her was the Son of God\, since this made him\, the fruit of her own\nlife\, the absolute Stranger to her. though belonging wholly to her as to no one\nelse\, Christ could not but be the one who was apart from her from the very\nmoment of his birth\, more so than any other child from its parents. At the same\ntime\, her virginity was justified in that it made a birth of the kind possible. And\nall the hopes of renewal that this birth held out to mankind\, in the state it then\nwas in\, justified the seeming refusal of human love by the one most worthy of\nloving and being loved that had been seen on earth since Eve. \nThe counterpart of this is that it is by their participation in Mary’s destiny\nthat\, henceforth\, those vowed to virginity will see and fulfill the purpose of their\nown sacrifice. They renounce all possibility of prolonging and continuing the\npresent order of creation in order to dedicate themselves wholly to engendering\nthe new order which is to redeem the old. Such entire devotion to bringing about\nthe new birth of a humanity regenerated in Christ makes of their virginity\, not a\nnegation of love\, but an act of love of the most exalted kind. \n7\nNew York\, 1962\, p. 98.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/memorial-of-the-bvm-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250216
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250217
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250216T141934Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250216T141934Z
UID:13129-1739664000-1739750399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n6th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nFebruary 16 – 22\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n16\nMon\n17\nTue\n18\nWed\n19\nThu\n20\nFri\n21\nSat\n22\n\n\nOffice\n6th Sunday\nWeekday\nWeekday\nOffice for the Dead\nWeekday\nSt Peter Damien\nChair of St Peter\n\n\nVigils\n1 Kings 15:16-32\n1 Kings 15:33-16:14\n1 Kings 16:15-34\n1 Kings 17:1-24\n1 Kings 18:1-16\n1 Kings 18:17-40\nEzek 3:1-11\, 22-27\n\n\nLauds\nAmos 7:10-17\nAmos 8:1-8\nAmos 8:9-14\nAmos 9:1-6\nAmos 9:7-10\nAmos 9:11-15\nEzek 34:11-16\n\n\nMass\n78\n335\n336\n337\n338\n339\n535\n\n\n1st\nJer 17:5-8\nGen 4:1-15\, 25\nGen 6:5-8; 7:1-5\, 10\nGen 8:6-13\, 20-22\nGen 9:1-13\nGen 11:1-9\n1 Pet 5:1-4\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 15:12\, 16-20\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 6:17\, 20-26\nMark 8:11-13\nMark 8:14-21\nMark 8:22-26\nMark 8:27-33\nMark 8:34-9:1\nMatt 16:13-19\n\n\nVespers\n1 Cor 12:27-13:3\n1 Cor 13:4-13\n1 Cor 14:1-5\n1 Cor 14:6-12\n1 Cor 14:13-19\n1 Cor 14:20-25\n1 Cor 15:1-11
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-104/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250216
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250217
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250216T142254Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250216T142254Z
UID:13131-1739664000-1739750399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 6th Sun Ordinary Time
DESCRIPTION:THE CROWNS OF VICTORY \nFrom a commentary by St John Chrysostom1 \n◊◊◊ \nOnly Christians have a true sense of values\, their joys and sorrows are not \nthe same as other people’s. The sight of a wounded boxer wearing a victor’s \ncrown would make someone ignorant of the games think only of the boxer’s \nwounds and how painful they must be. Such a person would know nothing of the \nhappiness the crown gives. And it is the same when people see the things we \nsuffer without knowing why we do so. It naturally seems to them to be suffering \npure and simple. They see us struggling and facing danger\, but beyond their \nvision are the rewards\, the crowns of victory – all we hope to gain through the \ncontest! \nWhen Paul said. We possess nothing\, and yet we have everything\, what \ndid he mean by “everything”? Wealth of both the earthly and the spiritual order. \nDid he not possess every earthly gift when whole cities received him as an angel\, \nwhen people were ready to pluck out their eyes for him\, or bare their neck to the \nsword? But if you would think of spiritual blessings\, you will see that it was in \nthese above all that he was rich. The King of the universe and Lord of angels \nloved him so much that he shared his secrets with him. Did he not surpass all \nothers in wealth then? Did he not possess all things? Had it been otherwise\, \ndemons would not have been subject to him\, nor sickness and suffering put to \nflight by his presence. \nWe too\, then. when we suffer anything for Christ’s sake\, should do so not \nonly with courage\, but even with joy. If we have to go hungry\, let us be glad as if \nwe were at a banquet. If we are insulted\, let us be elated as though we had been \nshowered with praises. If we lose all we possess\, let us consider ourselves the \ngainers. If we provide for the poor\, let us regard ourselves as the recipients. \nAnyone who does not give in this way will find it difficult to give at all. So when \nyou wish to distribute alms. Do not think only of what you are giving away; think \nrather of what you are gaining\, for your gain will exceed your loss. \nAnd not only in the matter of almsgiving\, but also with every virtue you \npractice: do not think of the painful effort involved\, but of the sweetness of the \nreward; and above all remember that your struggles are for the sake of our Lord \nJesus Christ. Then you will easily rise above them\, and live out your whole \nlifetime in happiness; for nothing brings more happiness than a good \nconscience.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-6th-sun-ordinary-time/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250217
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250218
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250216T142409Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250216T142409Z
UID:13133-1739750400-1739836799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE BEGINNING OF \nCHRIST’S PUBLIC MINISTRY \nFrom “The Lord” by Fr Romano Guardini \n◊◊◊ \nWhat a privilege it must have been to see the Lord at the beginning of his \npublic ministry as he carried holiness into the crowds. How clearly he spoke to \nthe souls of men! Pressed forward by the elan of the Spirit\, he reached out to \npeople with both hands. The Holy Spirit swept the kingdom of God forward and \nthe human spirit was shaken to its foundations. The accounts of these first \nevents are vibrant with spiritual power. Thus Saint Mark: And they were \nastonished at his teaching\, for he was teaching them as one having authority\, \nand not as the scribes. They were astonished\, literally shaken out of themselves. \nSuch was the divine power that poured from his words. Jesus’ sentences were \nnot merely correct as were those of the scribes\, they were the words of one \nhaving authority. His speech stirred\, it tore the spirit from its security\, the heart \nfrom its rest; it commanded and created. It was impossible to hear and ignore. \nSaint Mark’s account continues with a description of the casting out of an \nunclean spirit. Obviously we have here a case of “possession.” The Lord’s \nacceptance of the inevitable struggle with satanic powers belongs to the kernel \nof his messianic consciousness. He knows that he has been sent not only to bear \nwitness to the truth\, to establish contact between God and man\, but also to \nbreak the power of those forces which oppose the divine will. He is to penetrate \nSatan’s artificial darkness with the ray of God’s truth\, to dispel the cramp of \negoism and the brittleness of hate with God’s love\, to conquer evil’s \ndestructiveness with God’s constructive strength. The murkiness and confusion \nwhich Satan creates in people’s groping hearts are to be clarified by the holy \npurity of the Most High. Thus Jesus stands squarely against the powers of \ndarkness; he strives to enter into the ensnared human souls – to bring light to \ntheir consciences\, quicken their hearts\, and liberate their powers for good.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-264/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250218
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250219
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250216T142526Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250216T142526Z
UID:13135-1739836800-1739923199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE MISSIONARY LIFE \nOF THE CHURCH \nBy Fr Jean Danielou \n◊◊◊ \nThe mission of today is\, first of all\, a mystery of unity. The Apostles were \nsent to the ends of the earth to teach all nations\, because Christ\, having risen to \nheaven\, must be present in all creation. It is no more a question\, as at the time of \nthe old covenant\, of God’s taking one people in particular under his protection. \nThe new mission\, determined upon by God from all eternity\, is to reconcile all \nthings by Christ’s blood “and to restore all things in him.” This mystery involves \nall mankind\, and more than mankind\, the whole spiritual universe. \nIn the second place\, the mystery of the mission is the mystery of the \nmissionary. Christ entrusted the spreading of his Kingdom to the Apostles\, to \nthose he had chosen as his tools in the work of evangelizing. This vocation is a \ngreat mystery. It is clear that God could have communicated directly with each \nindividual\, yet he wanted his word to be handed on and his Kingdom to be \nspread by human intermediaries. He wanted us to have a share in saving the \nworld and converting the nations\, and the Apostles’ mission is a direct \ncontinuation of the mission of the Word and the mission of the Holy Spirit. The \nmission of the Apostles is at once a single thing and a very diverse one… Some \nare to be apostles\, some prophets\, evangelists or teachers. The forms of the \napostolate are many\, but they are all one\, because all get life from the same \nSpirit\, all seek the same end. \nThis unity in the diversity of functions is something St Paul insists on as of \nvital importance. Even then he felt the danger of a possible loss of charity \nthreatening the work of the missions. We must\, said St Bernard\, put all the force \nof our action into our own vocation\, but our charity must cover the whole \nworld… He explains that in the order of action we must put our particular duty \nbefore everything else – do not let the contemplative try to do the apostle’s \nwork\, nor the teacher try to care for the sick – but\, he adds\, “in our prayers we \nmust put first what is most excellent in itself.” We must pray more for the most \nimportant interests of the Kingdom\, even if they are not the ones we ourselves \nare engaged in. Charity will then become perfect in us\, for it is proportioned to \nthe reality of things\, not to our personal point of view; selfishness will then be \novercome at every moment. Outwardly we go humbly about our work\, inwardly \nwe are working out the salvation of the whole world. We must be ready to be at \nonce limited in our work and unlimited in the interior order of charity.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-265/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250219
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250220
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250216T142642Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250216T142642Z
UID:13137-1739923200-1740009599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
DESCRIPTION:ETERNAL LIFE \nAND ITS DIFFERENCE \nFrom a sermon by Monsignor Ronald Knox \n◊◊◊ \nThe mistake we are tempted to make\, do make in our moments of idle \nthinking\, is to suppose that eternal life merely means going on living. That\, \nnaturally enough\, was what the pagans thought\, when they dreamed that there \nwas some possibility of a life after death. There is an epigram in the Greek \nAnthology\, often quoted for its beauty\, in which the poet says to his dead friend\, \n“Once\, a morning star\, you shone among the living; now you shine\, an evening \nstar\, among the dead.”… So\, in Virgil’s Aeneid\, the heroes of Elysium are found \nlooking after their horses and chariots: “The same grateful task that was ever \ntheirs\, to feed their sleek horses\, is theirs still\, now that earth has covered them.” \nDo we\, children of a later age\, look forward to an eternity spent in washing down \nthe car? But it is the same mistake we are making\, if we think of eternal life as \nthe mere continuation of living. \nWe unconsciously compare the experience of a future life to that of \nwaking up after an operation; waking up to breakfast and the morning paper. \nAnd\, of course\, if we think of survival after death in those terms\, it becomes an \nopen question for some of us whether we want to survive or not. The unpleasant \nthing is the experience of dying; if we could avoid that\, many of us would be \ncontent to go on living\, even in an atomic age. But when we have once been put \nto all this inconvenience\, would we be sure that we wanted to come back again \nand go on living\, more or less as before?… \nEternal life is not that sort of thing at all. When our Lord said he had come \nthat we might have life\, and might have it more abundantly\, he clearly did not \nmean that he was going to introduce\, into our humdrum\, day-to-day existence\, \nmore joie de vivre. The “life” which he came to bring – we have to call it “life”\, \nbecause that is the nearest thing to it we know – belongs to a different order of \nexistence. It has its own avenues of experience\, its own range of faculties\, its \nown proper activities. And it will find its true medium only in heaven. True\, \nthat life is in us now\, implanted by baptism. But we are not yet in a position to \nenjoy it\, in the sense of savouring its possibilities. We are\, if I may put it so\, \nembryonic citizens of heaven\, borne at present in the womb of matter and of \ntime. And that is why we are foolish if we try to project our present experience \ninto a future life… To wake up after death is not like waking up\, after an \noperation\, from the life of today to the life of tomorrow. It is like waking up from \na dream world into a world\, hitherto unexperienced\, of realities.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-the-dead-17/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250221
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250216T142748Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250216T142748Z
UID:13139-1740009600-1740095999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE GLORY OF \nTHE SAINTS IN HEAVEN \nBy Stephen of Sawley \n◊◊◊ \nAfter you have cleared the battle-line of your mind\, consider next the \nglory and happiness of the heavenly city of Jerusalem. Consider\, for instance\, \nwherein consists the glory of its saints\, or how great is its joy where Beauty itself \nreigns supreme\, where dwells Virtue\, Power\, Magnificence\, Majesty and \nSupreme Goodness—in a word\, the triune God who is all in all\, who enlightens \nall with knowledge and inflames all with love. Here are all the holy angels\, more \nglittering than bright stars\, and the patriarchs\, rejoicing in their victorious faith; \nhere is the stately group of jubilant prophets\, and the glorious choir of the \nApostles. Here are the countless rows of martyrs who were victorious in combat \nand have received their crowns. Here are all the confessors rewarded for their \nfortitude\, and the multitude of virgins crowned with lilies. Here are all the \nblessed who observed God’s commandments and transformed their earthly \nassets into heavenly treasures. \nHow eagerly must we long for their happy and holy company! How \nseverely must we censure ourselves for being sluggish\, lukewarm\, and obdurate \nin the very sight of such majesty! How we must blush that we did not fear their \nholy glances\, but sinned before their very eyes and continue to do so up to this \nvery day. Confess your shortcomings\, therefore\, and say: ‘Father\, I have sinned \nagainst heaven and against you’. I did not fear your holy angels and saints. I am \nnot worthy to be called your son. Treat me\, therefore\, as one of your hired men \nso that\, at least by fearing punishment and hoping for reward\, I may stay away \nfrom sin and fear you\, my Lord\, as your servant\, unworthy as I am to love you in \nthe way a son does. \nAll you angels\, archangels\, virtues\, powers\, principalities\, dominations\, \nthrones\, cherubs\, and seraphs\, all you saints and elect of God who are fellow \ncitizens of heaven and behold God directly in joyful contemplation\, please keep \nme in your prayers so that the enemy may never deceive me and that\, through \nyour intercession\, my prayer may ascend to your holy temple where glory is \ngiven to God the Father\, the Son\, and to the Holy Spirit now and for all ages to \ncome.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-266/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250221
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250222
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250216T142858Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250216T142858Z
UID:13141-1740096000-1740182399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Peter Damien
DESCRIPTION:ST PETER DAMIAN \nFrom a discourse of Pope Benedict XVI \n◊◊◊ \nSt Peter Damian was one of the most significant figures of the 11th \ncentury… a lover of solitude and at the same time a fearless man of the \nChurch\, committed personally to the task of reform. Born during 1007 in the \nItalian city of Ravenna\, Peter belonged to a large family but lost both his father \nand mother early in life. An older brother took the boy into his household\, yet \ntreated him poorly. But another of Peter’s brothers\, a priest\, took steps to \nprovide for his education; and the priest’s own name\, Damian\, became his \nyounger brother’s surname. Peter excelled in school while also taking up \nforms of asceticism\, such as fasting\, wearing a hair shirt\, and spending long \nhours in prayer with an emphasis on reciting the Psalms. He offered \nhospitality to the poor as a means of serving Christ\, and eventually resolved to \nembrace voluntary poverty himself through the Order of Saint Benedict. \nThe monks he chose to join\, in the hermitage of Fonte Avellana\, lived \nout their devotion to the Cross of Christ through a rigorous rule of life. They \nlived mainly on bread and water\, prayed all 150 Psalms daily\, and practiced \nmany physical mortifications. Peter embraced this way of life somewhat \nexcessively at first\, which led to a bout with insomnia. Deeply versed in the \nBible and the writings of earlier theologians\, Peter developed his own \ntheological acumen and became a skilled preacher. The leaders of other \nmonasteries sought his help to build up their monks in holiness\, and in 1043 \nhe took up a position of leadership as the prior of Fonte Avellana. Five other \nhermitages were established under his direction. \nSerious corruption plagued the Church during Peter’s lifetime\, including \nthe sale of religious offices and immorality among many of the clergy. Through \nhis writings and involvements in controversies of the day\, the prior of Fonte \nAvellana called on members of the hierarchy and religious orders to live out \ntheir commitments and strive for holiness. \nIn 1057\, Pope Stephen IX became determined to make Peter Damian a \nbishop\, a goal he accomplished only by demanding the monk’s obedience \nunder threat of excommunication. Consecrated as the Bishop of Ostia in \nNovember of that year\, he also joined the College of Cardinals and wrote a \nletter encouraging its members to set an example for the whole Church. With \nPope Stephen’s death in 1058\, and the election of his successor Nicholas II\, \nPeter’s involvement in Church controversies grew. He supported Pope \nNicholas against a rival claimant to the papacy\, and went to Milan as the \nPope’s representative when a crisis broke out over canonical and moral issues. \nIn 1067\, Peter Damian was allowed to resign his episcopate and return \nto the monastery at Fonte Avellana… In 1072\, Peter returned to his own \nbirthplace of Ravenna\, to reconcile the local church with the Pope. The monk’s \nlast illness came upon him during his return from this final task\, and he died \nafter a week at a Benedictine monastery in Faenza during February of that \nyear. Never formally canonized\, St Peter Damian was celebrated as a saint \nafter his death in many of the places associated with his life. In 1823\, Pope Leo \nXII named him a Doctor of the Church and extended the observance of his \nfeast day throughout the Western Church.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-peter-damien/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250222
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250223
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250216T143009Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250216T143009Z
UID:13143-1740182400-1740268799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Chair of St Peter
DESCRIPTION:THE CHAIR OF ST PETER \nBy St John Henry Newman \n◊◊◊ \nThe very first act of the Apostles after Christ was gone out of their sight\, \nwas the ordination of Matthias in the place of the traitor Judas. That ordination \nis related very minutely. Every particular of it is full of instruction; but at \npresent I wish to draw attention to one circumstance more especially: namely\, \nthe time when it occurred. It was contrived (if one may say so) exactly to fall \nwithin the very short interval which elapsed between the departure of our Lord\, \nand the arrival of the Comforter in His place: on that ‘little while\,’ during which \nthe Church was comparatively left alone in the world. Then it was that St Peter \nrose and declared with authority\, that the time was come for supplying the \nvacancy which Judas had made. ‘One\,’ said he\, ‘must be ordained;’ and without \ndelay they proceeded to the ordination. Of course\, St Peter must have had from \nour Lord express authority for this step. Otherwise it would seem most natural \nto defer a transaction so important until the unerring Guide\, the Holy Spirit\, \nshould have come among them\, as they knew he would in a few days. \nOn the other hand\, since the Apostles were eminently Apostles of our \nIncarnate Lord\, since their very being\, as Apostles\, depended entirely on their \npersonal mission from him…one should naturally have expected that he himself \nbefore his departure would have supplied the vacancy by personal designation. \nBut we see it was not his pleasure to do so. As the Apostles afterwards brought \non the ordination sooner\, so he had deferred it longer than might have been \nexpected. Both ways it should seem as if there were a purpose of bringing the \nevent within those ten days\, during which\, as I said\, the church was left to \nherself; left to exercise her faith and hope\, much as Christians are left now\, \nwithout any miraculous aid or extraordinary illumination from above. Then\, at \nthat moment of the New Testament history in which the circumstances of \nbelievers corresponded most nearly to what they have been since miracles and \ninspiration ceased\, — just at that time it pleased our Lord that afresh Apostle \nshould be consecrated\, with authority and commission as ample as the former \nenjoyed. In a word\, it was his will that the eleven Disciples alone\, not himself \npersonally\, should name the successor of Judas; and that they chose the right \nperson\, he gave testimony very soon after\, by sending his Holy Spirit on St \nMatthias\, as richly as on St John\, St James\, or St Peter.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-chair-of-st-peter/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250223
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250224
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250223T124252Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250223T124252Z
UID:13149-1740268800-1740355199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema: 7th Week in Ordinary Time
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n7th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nFeb. 23 – March 1\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n23\nMon\n24\nTue\n25\nWed\n26\nThu\n27\nFri\n28\nSat\n1\n\n\nOffice\n7th Sunday\nWeekday\nWeekday\nOffice for Vocations\nWeekday\nWeekday\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\n1 Kings 18:41-19:3\n1 Kings 19:4-21\n1 Kings 20:1-22\n1 Kings 20:23-34\n1 Kings 20:35-43\n1 Kings 21:1-16\n1 Kings 21:17-29\n\n\nLauds\nHabakkuk 1:1-4\nHab 1:5-11\nHab 1:12-17\nHab 2:1-4\nHab 2:5-8\nHab 2:9-14\nHab 2:15-20\n\n\nMass\n81\n341\n342\n343\n344\n345\n346\n\n\n1st\n1 Sam 26:2\, 7-9\, 12-13\, 22-23\nSir 1:1-10\nSir 2:1-11\nSir 4:11-19\nSir 5:1-8\nSir 6:5-17\nSir 17:1-15\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 15:45-49\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 6:27-38\nMark 9:14-29\nMark 9:30-37\nMark 9:38-40\nMark 9:41-50\nMark 10:1-12\nMark 10:13-16\n\n\nVespers\n1 Cor 15:12-19\n1 Cor 15:20-28\n1 Cor 15:29-34\n1 Cor 15:35-44\n1 Cor 15:45-49\n1 Cor 15:50-58\n1 Cor 16:1-9
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-7th-week-in-ordinary-time/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250223
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250224
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250223T124919Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250223T124919Z
UID:13152-1740268800-1740355199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:7th Sunday in Ordinary Time
DESCRIPTION:MERCY AND FAITHFULNESS\nFrom a commentary by St Augustine of Hippo 1\n◊◊◊\nWe have here a tremendous statement on the subject of faithfulness and mercy. Mercy is mentioned because it is not our deserts but his own goodness that God regards. He forgives us all our sins and promises us eternal life. But is also speaks of faithfulness\, because God never fails to honor his promises. Acknowledging this to be so\, let us practice these virtues ourselves in our present circumstances.. Just as God has shown us His mercy and faithfulness – his mercy by forgiving our sins and his faithfulness by keeping his promises – so we too should practice mercy and faithfulness in our own lives. Let us show mercy to the sick and needy\, even our enemies\, and practice faithfulness by refraining from sin. Never let us add sin to sin\, because whoever presumes too much on God’s mercy has secretly consented to the suggestion that he can cause God to be unjust. Such a person imagines that even if he persists in sin and refuses to give up his wrong doing\, God will still come and give him a place among his obedient servants. \nWould this be justice\, for God to assign an obstinate sinner like you the same place as those who have turned their backs on sin? Would you be so unjust as to expect God to be unjust too? Why then are you trying to bend God to your will? Bend yourself\, rather\, to his. Yet how many people do\, in fact\, bend their wills to God’s? Only those few of whom it is said: The one who perseveres to the end will be saved. \nIt is with good reason that Scripture asks: Who will seek God’s mercy and faithfulness for his own sake? What precisely does for his own sake mean?\nSurely it would have been enough to say Who will seek without adding for his own sake. \nThe answer is that many people seek to discover God’s mercy and faithfulness from the sacred books\, and yet\, when their learning is done\, they live for their own sake and not for God’s. They are intent on their own interests\, not those of Jesus Christ. They preach mercy and faithfulness without practicing them. Their preaching proves that they know their subject\, for they would not preach without knowledge. But it is a different matter in the case of someone who loves God and Christ. When such a person preaches God’s mercy and faithfulness\, he seeks to make them known for God’s sake\, not his own. This means that he is not out to gain temporal benefits from his preaching; his desire is to help Christ’s members\, that is\, those who believe in him\, by faithfully sharing with them the knowledge he himself possesses\, so that the living may no longer live for themselves\, but for him who died for all. \n1\nJourney with the Fathers – Year C – New City Press = 1982 = pg 82.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/7th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250224
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250225
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250224T040439Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250224T040439Z
UID:13154-1740355200-1740441599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE LOVE OF ONE’S NEIGHBOR\nBy Alan of Lille 2\n◊◊◊\nCertainly he who cuts himself off from the love of his neighbor strays from the love of God\, for: “Anyone who does not love his neighbor whom he has seen\, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” O man\, surely\, you wish that your neighbor should love you for God’s sake? Love him for your own sake. \nAs Seneca\, the moral philosopher\, says: “If you wish to be loved\, love.” O happy love…which is truly grafted into the nature of the highest good\, which is content without envy. Such love possesses its delight within itself; it does not grow anxious; it rests in tranquility. It does not dissolve into mockery. O how joyous it is to find your very self in another! It is indolence and negligence to let the employment of love fall into disuse\, and not to exercise the most noble of the virtues. It is the glory of true friendship to be the instrument of purging the last dregs of merely superficial delight. \nYou have a friend\, not so that he should visit you when you are sick\, or feed you when you are famished\, or comfort you in prison\, but so that you should visit him in prison\, feed him when he is hungry\, give him drink when he is thirsty; if he is a wanderer\, take him in. If you love a poor neighbor\, you give him alms out of love alone\, for the alms of the heart are much greater than that of the body. Love alone is enough\, in almsgiving\, without earthly substance. That which is given physically is not enough\, unless it is bestowed in a kindly spirit. Keep therefor to the order of love. Love God above all\, yourself next\, and your neighbor as yourself\, the flesh least of all. \nLove the flesh\, not so that you may be its slave\, but so that you may set it right with discipline. Love it for its good\, not for the sake of worldly debauchery. Do not heed its will\, but force it to heed yours. Like a good doctor\, cure by this means what is weak\, broken or diseased. So let it grieve now that it may rejoice in eternity. Let it now taste the bitterness of medicine\, that the soundness of eternal health may follow. \n2\nCF 23:93-94
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/weekday-17/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250225
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250226
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250224T040845Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250224T040845Z
UID:13156-1740441600-1740527999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Weekday
DESCRIPTION:HOW FAITH CRIES OUT TO BE LIVED\nBy Catherine de Hueck Doherty 3\n◊◊◊\nWhat is faith? Some say they have lost it. Some hunger for the first taste. Some are indifferent to whether they have it or not. Others fight against it\, hate it\, and want to destroy it in others. What is faith? A Catholic can easily answer from early catechetical instructions in childhood. Faith is a free gift from God\, given to a person at Baptism. A Catholic will say too that no one can really acquire faith by his own efforts. He will repeat over and over again that it is indeed a free gift from God. \nYes\, faith is a free\, loving gift of God to us. Faith is the cradle of love and of hope. But this gift given to us at Baptism can grow\, must grow\, must be incarnated into our lives\, must become part of us\, must become\, like breathing\, an utterly integral part of us. \nHow can it become all these things? By prayer. God never refuses a prayer for the deepening and growth in faith. Prayer is the food that will make faith grow\, strengthen it\, root it with deep and lasting roots into human hearts. Faith grows by living it out. Faith is a pilgrimage toward the Absolute. Faith gives every Christian sandals and a pilgrim’s staff and bids him to arise and go in search of him whom every Christian longs for – God. \nFaith appears to be blind sometimes but in reality it sees very deeply. It alone can walk in utter darkness. It alone can fold the wings of the intellect when necessary and open them when it needs to. Chasms\, abysses\, steep mountains present no problem or difficulty to faith. On the contrary\, all of life – pains\, sorrows\, joys symbolized by these chasms – becomes its food and its nourishment. Faith grows until it leaves all darkness behind and walks like a child bathed in the light of God’s love. \nNo one can keep or hide faith for himself alone. It will escape and extend itself to others. Faith never walks alone\, but always walks with love and hope. Faith can be transmitted by words\, but it is best communicated by actions. Faith cries out to be lived\, to be incarnated\, incarnated in love. For love is a Person\, love is God\, and faith is his gift to us. The hands of faith are filled with gifts for those who embrace her. Gifts of peace\, love\, joy and strength. Gifts of courage and laughter. Faith is a child who smiles at theologians and at human wisdom. Faith invites them to come and play with God. \n3\nTHE GOSPEL WITHOUT COMPROMISE\, Catherine de Hueck Doherty (Ave Maria Press IN 1976) pp. 127-128.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/weekday-18/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250226
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250227
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250224T041415Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250224T041415Z
UID:13158-1740528000-1740614399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:FOLLOWING CHRIST\nFrom a commentary by St Jerome 4\n◊◊◊\nPeter spoke up and said to Jesus\, “Look\, we have given up everything and have followed you. What are we going to possess?” \nGreat self-confidence! Peter was a fisherman\, he had never been wealthy\, he earned his bread by his labour and skill; and yet he confidently asserts\, “We have left everything.” And since it is not enough merely to leave everything\, he completes his thought by adding\, “And we have followed you. We have done what you commanded. How then will you reward us?” \nBut Jesus said to them\, “Amen I say to you that you who have followed me\, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory\, you shall also sit on twelve thrones\, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Jesus did not say\, “you who have left everything.” For…many others besides have shown contempt for wealth. What Jesus did say was\, “you who have followed me.” This applies only to the apostles and believers. \nIn the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of his glory\, when even the dead will rise incorrupt from their state of corruption\, you also shall sit on judgment seats….And everyone who has left house\, or brothers\, or sisters\, or father\, or mother\, or wife\, or children\, or lands\, for my name’s sake\, shall receive a hundredfold\, and shall possess life everlasting. \nThis passage agrees with that other statement of our Saviour\, where he says\, “I have come not to send peace\, but a sword. For I have come to set a man at variance with his father\, and a daughter with her mother\, and a daughter-in-law with her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household”. Those\, therefore\, who\, for the sake of their faith in Christ and the preaching of the gospel\, have sacrificed their natural feelings and all the wealth and pleasures of this world — they shall receive a hundredfold\, and shall possess life everlasting. \n4\nIn Matth.\, 3\,19. PL 26\, 138-139. Trans. from “Cistercian Lectionary Project\, 1968\,” 40-41.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/office-for-vocations-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250227
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250228
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250224T041933Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250224T041933Z
UID:13160-1740614400-1740700799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE CHURCH AS\nTHE COMMUNITY OF PARDON\nFrom “Seasons of Celebration” by Thomas Merton 5\n◊◊◊\nLet us remember especially that the Church is a community of pardon. All who have entered the common life of the body of Christ have done so by the way of pardon. And they remain in the Body of Christ only through pardon\, through the mystery of Christ: not only of Christ\, as Head\, but also of Christ in His members. \nThe mercy and pardon of Christ must be continually at work in all the members and through all the members of the Mystical Body. This is what makes the Church truly a Mother: she gives life by gentleness\, understanding\, love and pardon. She forgives sins\, that is to say she heals separations. Sin is separation from God\, and from those who love God. Sin is a cutting off from life. It is a spiritual death and pardon is the restoration of life. \nThe Spirit by which the Church lives is the Spirit of love\, of unity. Unity can be preserved or restored only by understanding\, acceptance and pardon. The Church is a body of people who know they are forgiven and who forgive repeatedly because they are themselves forgiven repeatedly. \nThe Church is then not so much a body of people who are pure and never offend\, but of those who\, in their weakness and frailty\, frequently err and offend\, but who have received from God the power to forgive one another in His name. They possess the Holy Spirit and they can give the Holy Spirit in some sense\, to one another. The Holy Spirit Himself moves them to do this\, and acts in them\, to save others. \nWe\, then\, who form one body in Christ\, share with one another the message of Christ’s divine truth\, we share His word\, we share His worship\, we share His love\, we share His Spirit. \nIn building a community of pardon which is the temple of God\, we have to recognize that no one of us is complete\, self-sufficient\, perfectly holy in himself. No one can rest in one’s own virtues and interior life. We do not live for ourselves alone. To live for oneself alone is to die. We grow and flourish in our own lives in so far as we live for others and through others. What we ourselves lack God has given them. They must complete us where we are deficient. \nOften the good that is given us by God is given us only to be shared with another. If God sees that we will not pardon and will not be open\, that we will not share\, then the good is not given us. But to the one in whom there is the greatest readiness to share with all\, most is given. \nThe greatest of gifts then is this openness\, this love\, this readiness to accept and to pardon and to share with others\, in the Spirit of Christ. If we are open we will not only offer pardon\, but will not disdain to seek it and recognize our own desperate need of it. \n5\npp. 225-230.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/weekday-19/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250228
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250301
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250224T042520Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250224T042520Z
UID:13162-1740700800-1740787199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Weekday
DESCRIPTION:SERVING EACH OTHER\nIN JUSTICE AND CHARITY\nBy William of St Thierry 6\n◊◊◊\n[The Apostle Paul says that]\, if because of your food your brother is grieved\, you no longer walk according to charity. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. For a proper reason we should sometimes avoid what is licit\, but we are not commanded to do what is illicit for any reason. \n[He also says\,] Let our good not be spoken of as evil. What is this good of ours? It is the good proper to Christ’s disciples\, of which he himself says\, ‘By this shall all men know that you are my disciples\, if you have love for one another’. Just as the disciples of Christ are distinguished by the sign of mutual charity\, so when charity is neglected the entire brilliance of the Christian religion seems to be obscured. Then this wonderful teacher proclaims the mystery of the kingdom of heaven in order to restrain the faults of the present time by the authority of a future mystery\, and in order to establish the form of the Church. \n[He says]: For the kingdom of God is not food and drink. As if he said\, ‘Why do we deal so much with food when we are hastening to the kingdom of heaven? For there\, just as they do not marry\, and are not given in marriage\, so they neither eat nor drink\, but are like the angels of God.’ Thus\, with a most perfect and clear teaching the Apostle establishes that there is no need of food and drink in the kingdom of heaven\, but that there is justice and peace. And because fleshly joy usually accompanies food and drink\, he adds here joy\, but in the Holy Spirit. These things effect the kingdom of heaven in us here\, but in the future they lead us where these same things are possessed more certainly and more firmly. There is justice in work; peace is in the heart or conscience; joy is in the Lord. Whoever has these things already has the kingdom of God within him. \nFor he who in this way serves Christ pleases God and is approved by men. He who serves Christ in the Holy Spirit pleases God and is approved by men in justice\, and he dwells harmoniously with himself in peace. \nLet us pursue the things of peace outside because of the disposition of peace that we enjoy within; and from a disposition for justice let us keep the things that are edifying. What does justice demand more clearly than that we not destroy on account of food the work of Christ’s redemption in our brothers? \nAll things are indeed clean\, but it is evil for a man to eat with offense\, because he wounds the conscience of inner justice if the soul of his brother is endangered by that with which he refreshes himself. \n6\nCF 27 : 252-253.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/weekday-20/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13164-1740787200-1740873599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Memorial of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:MARY AND HER SON\nBy Fr Romano Guardini 7\n◊◊◊\nThe life of Mary\, as the Gospel tells it\, is as humanly true as it can possibly be\, but in this human quality it is filled with a mystery of divine communion and love the depth of which is unfathomable. \nJesus is the substance of Mary’s life\, just as the child is the life-blood of its mother\, for whom it is the one and all. But\, at the same time\, He is also her redeemer\, and that another child cannot be for its mother. Not only was Mary’s existence as a human mother achieved in her relation to Jesus\, but also her redemption. Becoming a mother\, she became a Christian. By living with her child\, she lived with the God whose living revelation He is. Growing humanly along with the child\, as do all mothers who really love; releasing him on the road of life with so much resignation and pain\, she ripened in God’s divine grace and truth. \nFor this reason\, Mary is not only a great Christian\, one among a number of saints\, but she is unique. No one is like her\, because what happened to her happened to no other human being. Here lies the authentic root of all exaggeration about her. If people cannot be extravagant enough in their praises of Mary\, and even say reckless and foolish things\, they are still right in one respect: even though the means are faulty\, they seek to express a fact the tremendous depth of which must overwhelm everyone who realizes it. But exaggerations are useless and harmful\, because the simpler the word expressing a truth\, the more tremendous and at the same time the more deeply realized the facts become.\n7\nThe Rosary of Our Lady\, New York\, 1955\, pp. 30-31.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/memorial-of-the-bvm-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13173-1740873600-1740959999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n8th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nMarch 2 – 8\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n2\nMon\n3\nTue\n4\nWed\n5\nThu\n6\nFri\n7\nSat\n8\n\n\nOffice\n8th Sunday\nSt Katherine Drexel\nOffice for the Dead\nAsh Wednesday\nThursday after Ash Wednesday\nFriday after Ash Wednesday\nSaturday after Ash Wednesday\n\n\nVigils\n1 Kings 22:1-28\n1 Kings 22:29-40\n1 Kings 22:41-53\nDan 9:1-19\nHeb 1:1-14\nHeb 2:1-18\nHeb 3:1-19\n\n\nLauds\nHab 3:1-7\nHab 3:8-15\nHab 3:16-19\nSir 17:20-32\nExod 1:6-14\nExod 1:15-22\nExod 2:1-10\n\n\nMass\n84\n347\n348\n219\n220\n221\n222\n\n\n1st\nSir 27:5-8\nSir 17:20-24\nSir 35:1-12\nJoel 2:12-18\nDeut 30:15-20\nIsa 58:1-9a\nIsa 58:9b-14\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 15:54-58\n\n\n2 Cor 5:20-6:2\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 6:39-45\nMark 10:17-27\nMark 10:28-31\nMatt 6:1-6\, 16-18\nLuke 9:22-25\nMatt 9:14-15\nLuke 5:27-32\n\n\nVespers\n1 Cor 16:10-24\nPhilem 1-11\nPhilem 12-25\nEph 2:4-10\nDeut 1:3-8\nDeut 4:1-8\nDeut 4:25-31
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-105/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13176-1740873600-1740959999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 8th Sunday Ordinary time
DESCRIPTION:THE DISCIPLE IS NOT \nABOVE HIS TEACHER \nFrom a commentary by St Cyril of Alexandria \n◊◊◊ \nThe disciples were to be the spiritual guides and teachers of the whole \nworld. It had therefore to be clearly seen by all that they held fast to the true \nfaith. It was essential for them to be familiar with the gospel way of life\, skilled \nin every good work\, and to give teaching that was precise\, salutary\, and \nscrupulously faithful to the truth they themselves had long pondered\, \nenlightened by the divine radiance. Otherwise they would be blind leaders of the \nblind. Those imprisoned in the darkness of ignorance can never lead others in \nthe same sorry state to knowledge of the truth. Should they try\, both would fall \nheadlong into the ditch of the passions. \nTo destroy the ostentatious passion of boastfulness and stop people from \ntrying to win greater honor than their teachers\, Christ declared: The disciple is \nnot above his teacher. Even if some should advance so far as to equal their \nteachers in holiness\, they ought to remain within the limits set by them\, and \nfollow their example. Paul also taught this when he said: Be imitators of me\, as \nI am of Christ. So\, then\, if the Master does not judge\, why are you judging? He \ncame not to judge the world\, but to take pity on it. \nWhat he is saying\, then\, is this: “If I do not pass judgment\, neither must \nyou\, my disciple. You may be even more guilty of the faults of which you accuse \nanother. Will you not be ashamed when you come to realize this?” The Lord uses \nanother illustration for the same teaching when he says: Why do you look for \nthe speck in your brother’s eye? \nWith compelling arguments he persuades us that we should not want to \njudge others\, but should rather examine our own hearts\, and strive to expel the \npassions seated in them\, asking this grace from God. He it is who heals the \ncontrite of heart and frees us from our spiritual disorders. If your own sins are \ngreater and worse than other people’s\, why do you censure them\, and neglect \nwhat concerns yourself? \nThis precept\, then\, is essential for all who wish to live a holy life\, and \nparticularly for those who have undertaken the instruction of others. If they are \nvirtuous and self-restrained\, giving an example of the gospel way of life by their \nown actions\, they will rebuke those who do not choose to live as they do in a \nfriendly way\, so as not to break their own habit of gentleness.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/8th-sunday-ordinary/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13178-1740960000-1741046399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Katherine Drexel
DESCRIPTION:ST KATHERINE DREXEL \nAn excerpt from “All Saints” by Robert Ellsberg \n◊◊◊ \nKatherine Drexel came from one of the wealthiest families in America. \nHer father was an extremely successful banker\, a Catholic of Austrian descent. \nKatherine did not know her mother\, who died five weeks after her birth. But a \nyear later her father was remarried to another eminent Catholic\, Emma \nBouvier\, who exerted a strong influence on Katherine and her two sisters. When \nFrances Drexel died he established a trust for his three daughters of \n$14\,000\,000. Inspired by their Catholic faith\, they all three regarded this \nfortune as an opportunity to glorify God through the service of others. \nThis was the great era of Catholic immigration\, as American cities \nstretched to accommodate new arrivals from Europe. The Church responded \nwith an extraordinary system of schools\, hospitals\, orphanages\, and other \ncharitable institutions\, proving to the world that Catholics knew how to “look \nafter their own.” There were certainly plenty of claims on the generosity of a \nyoung Catholic heiress. But Katherine Drexel’s concern extended to those \noutside the church\, indeed to those all but excluded from American society – \nnamely\, Indians and blacks. She began by endowing scores of schools on Indian \nreservations across the country. In 1878 during a private audience with Pope \nLeo XIII she begged the pope to send priests to serve the Indians. He responded\, \n“Why not become a missionary yourself?” \nAt this point Katherine realized that it was not enough to share her \nwealth. God was calling her to give everything. Consequently she embarked on a \nlong search to find a religious order corresponding to her own sense of mission. \nBut when none could be found\, she received the support of her bishop to \nestablish her own religious congregation. In 1891 she was professed as the first \nmember of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People. \nWithin the year ten other women had joined her order. \nThough Katherine embraced a vow of personal poverty\, she continued to \nadminister the income from her trust – an enormous sum of $400\,000 a year. \nShe might have spent the money to endow the establishment of her own \ncongregation\, but she insisted that her own Sisters rely on alms… In the 1920’s \nshe contributed toward the founding of Xavier University in New Orleans\, the \nfirst Catholic college established for blacks. All told she was personally \nresponsible for establishing 145 Catholic missions and 12 schools for Indians\, \nand 50 schools for black students. \nMother Drexel died on March 3\, 1955\, at the age of ninety-six\, her life \nhaving spanned the era of slavery and the Indian wars to the dawn of the \nmodern civil rights movement. It was a period in which blacks and Indians\, the \ncommunities to which Mother Drexel devoted her life\, were far from the \nconsciousness of most American Catholics. Her charitable works did little \ndirectly to challenge the structures of racism and discrimination. But in the era \nof rigidly enforced racial segregation her work had a profound “witness value.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-katherine-drexel/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13180-1741046400-1741132799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
DESCRIPTION:THE SUPREME RISK \nby Gustave Thibon \n◊◊◊ \nThe being who runs the least risk is that being who\, down here\, comes \nnearest to nothingness: the one who risks nothing is nothing. The risk is made to \nbe run: every being carries within itself what it takes to overcome the risks to \nwhich its nature or its vocation exposes it. The greatest risk of all concerns our \nhighest destiny… The acceptance of death is the only risk which is in any way \nproportionate to the supernatural destiny of the soul\, and anyone who is not \nready to run it is not truly Christian. Where are we to find the counterpart of \neternal life if not in the total annihilation of temporal life? One sole risk \nmeasures up to the absolute promise of God\, and that “sole risk” is to risk what \nlooks like losing everything. \nEveryone’s destiny is governed by our inward response to this question: \nwhich of the two is an illusion\, love or death? Those who are Christians bank on \nlove\, and for love they are ready to risk death. They belong among those who\, \nbelieving in love\, can no longer believe in death. The Christian risk consists in \ngoing all the way in subordinating death to love. Since Calvary\, death has given \nup working for its own ends: love never gives up stealing its victory from it. The \nsupreme risk has become the supreme hope. \nEveryone exercises discretion according to the nature of their treasure\, of \ntheir heart. True discretion has two eyes: one is fixed on the goal to be obtained\, \nthe other on the risk to be run; discretion sees all the way to the end\, and for that \nreason it can take on the risk. False discretion is\, in a sense\, one-eyed. Its one \neye is fixed only on the risk\, it sees no further than the risk\, and for that reason it \nrefuses to let itself run the risk. Deprived of both the healthy outlook which sees \nthe goal and of the holy inclination which leads towards it\, it no longer has any \ndesire but at all costs to escape the risk. Those who do this are then given up \neither to stagnation or to regression; they no longer dream of anything but shell- \nback coverings or protective railings\, and life is transformed into a vast \nenterprise of “insurance against all risks”. \nThere is no greater indiscretion than this false discretion. By being over- \nanxious to preserve themselves\, such people destroy themselves. Those who\, in \norder to take better care of themselves\, confine themselves to their own lower \nelements\, work for their own ruin\, for they are acting against a central demand \nof nature and of life\, and they compromise beyond repair the inferior good that \nthey claim to save… For we are not down here to remain on a steady level\, and if \nwe refuse to climb we increase the chance of falling. For the fruitful task of life \nand love\, false discretion substitutes everywhere the sterile risk of egoism and \ndeath.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-the-dead-18/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13183-1741132800-1741219199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Ash Wednesday
DESCRIPTION:THE GOD OF LENT \nby Thomas Merton4 \n◊◊◊ \nLent is not a season of punishment so much as one of healing… a season of \nspecial reflection and prayer\, a forty-day retreat in which each Christian\, to the \nextent he is able\, tries to follow Christ into the desert by prayer and fasting… \nThe cross of ashes\, traced upon the forehead of each Christian… is the sign of \nChrist’s victory over death. The words “Remember man that thou art dust\, and that \nto dust thou shalt return” are not to be taken as… a kind of “sacrament of death”… \nThe declaration that the body must fall temporarily into dust is a challenge to \nspiritual combat\, that our burial may be “in Christ” and that we may rise with Him \nto “live unto God.”… \nTo say there is joy in Ash Wednesday is not to empty the procession of its \nsorrows and anguish. “Save me O God… for the waters are come in even unto my \nsoul.” This is not a song of joy. If we present our selves before God to receive ashes \nfrom the hand of the priest it is because we are convinced of our sinfulness… A \nsinner is a drowning man\, a sinking ship. The waters are bursting into him on all \nsides… They are closing over his head\, and he cries out to God: “the waters are \ncome in even unto my soul.”… Ash Wednesday is for people who know what it \nmeans for their soul to be logged with these icy waters: all of us are such people\, if \nonly we can realize it… The light of Lent is given us to help us with this realization. \nNevertheless\, the liturgy of Lent is not focused on the sinfulness of the \npenitent but on the mercy of God… Nowhere will we find more tender expressions \nof the divine mercy than on this day… In the Introit for Ash Wednesday we sing: \n“You have mercy upon all\, O Lord\, and hate none of those which You have made.”… \nThe God of Lent is like a calm sea of mercy. In Him there is no anger. This \n“hiding” of God’s severity is not a subterfuge. It is a revelation of His true nature. \nHe is not severe… He is love. Love becomes severe only to those who make Him \nsevere for themselves. Love is hard only to those who refuse Him. It is not\, and \ncannot be Love’s will to be refused. Therefore it is not and cannot be Love’s will to \nbe severe and punish… Those who refuse Him are severe to themselves\, and \nimmolate themselves to the blood-thirsty god of their own self-love. It is from this \nidol that Love would deliver us. To such bitter servitude\, Love would never \ncondemn us. \n  \n4 Seasons of Celebration – Farrar\, Straus & Giroux – NY – 1965 – pg. 1189 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-ash-wednesday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13185-1741219200-1741305599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE HAVEN OF LENT \nBy St Caesarius of Arles \n◊◊◊ \nBehold\, dearest brethren\, through the mercy of God the season of Lent is \nupon us. Therefore I beseech you\, beloved\, with God’s help let us celebrate these \ndays\, salutary for bodies and healing for the soul\, in so holy and spiritual a \nmanner that the observance of a holy Lent may lead to progress for us and not \njudgment. For if we lead a careless life\, involving ourselves in too many \noccupations\, not applying ourselves to fasting and vigils and prayers\, neither \nreading Sacred Scripture ourselves nor willingly listening to others reading it\, \nthe very remedies are changed into wounds for us. As a result of this we shall \nhave judgment\, where we could have had a remedy. \nFor this reason I exhort you\, dearest brethren\, to rise rather early for \nvigils\, and above all to come to Terce\, Sext and None. Let no one withdraw \nhimself from the holy Office unless either infirmity or public service or at least \ngreat necessity keeps him occupied. Let it not be enough for you that you hear \nthe divine lessons in church\, but read them yourselves in your room or look for \nsomeone else to read them and willingly listen to them when they do. \nRemember the thought of our Lord\, brethren\, when he says: “If he were to gain \nthe whole world and destroy himself in the process\, what can a man offer in \nexchange for his very self?” Finally\, if you cannot do more\, at least labor as much \non behalf of your soul as you desire to labor for the sake of your body. \nFor this reason\, dearest brethren\, “Have no love for the world\, nor for the \nthings the world affords\,” because “the world with its seductions is passing \naway.” What\, then\, remains in a person except what each one has stored up in \nthe treasury of his conscience for the salvation of his soul by reading or prayer or \nthe performance of good works? For miserable pleasure and dissipation \nthrough a passing sweetness prepare eternal bitterness; but abstinence\, vigils\, \nprayer and fasting lead to the delights of paradise through the briefest \nhardships. The Truth does not lie when He says in the Gospel: “Straight and \nnarrow is the road that leads to life\, and how few there are who find it!” \nFor this reason\, dearest brethren\, by fasting\, reading\, and prayer in these \nforty days we ought to store up for our souls provisions\, as it were\, for the whole \nyear. Although through the mercy of God you frequently and devoutly hear the \ndivine lessons throughout the entire year\, still during these days we ought to \nrest from the winds and the sea of this world by taking refuge\, as it were\, in the \nhaven of Lent\, and in the quiet of silence to receive the divine lessons in the \nreceptacle of the heart. Devoting ourselves to God out of love for eternal life\, \nduring these days let us with all solicitude strive to repair and compose in the \nlittle ship of our soul whatever through the year has been broken or destroyed or \ndamaged by many storms\, that is\, by the waves of sin. And since it is necessary \nfor us to endure the storms and tempests of the world while we are still in this \nfrail body\, as often as the enemy wills to lead us astray by means of the roughest \nstorms\, with God’s help may he always find us prepared against him. \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-267/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13187-1741305600-1741391999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE HOLY DAYS \nOF LENT \nFrom a sermon by St Leo the Great6 \n◊◊◊ \nDuring this holy time we should not hear the sound of discord coming \nfrom those to whom the consolations of holy joy are never wanting. And when \nyou are engaged in works of mercy\, do not fear a lessening of your own earthly \npossessions. Christian poverty is ever rich; for that which it possesses is greater \nthan that which it does not possess… \nBut be certain\, dearly beloved\, that the devil\, the enemy of all virtue\, will \nlook with envy upon these pious practices to which we trust you freely give \nyourselves; and he will bring against them all the force of his malice\, so that \nfrom piety itself he may weave snares against piety\, so that those he could not \ndestroy through despair he will seek to undo through vainglory. For standing \nclose at hand to all our actions is the iniquity of pride; and vanity lies ever in wait \nfor virtue; for it rarely happens that the praise of men is not given to those who \nlive worthy lives\, unless\, as was written\, “Whoever glories\, let him glory in the \nLord” \nLet us therefore\, dearly beloved\, be watchful against the deceits of the \ndevil\, not only against the enticements of gluttony\, but even in our very purpose \nof fasting. For he who knew how to bring death upon all by means of food\, \nknows how to injure us even in our fast. For just as by a serpent he brought it \nabout that what was forbidden was eaten by Adam and Eve\, so by the same \nserpents he persuades mortals to shun what is lawful. \n\nWhatever is given us as food and as drink is clean and holy\, no matter \nwhat it may be. But if it is indulged in with unmeasured appetite it will dishonor \nboth those who eat it and those who drink it. Yet it is not the nature of the food \nthat defiles us. For “all things are clean to the clean; but to those that are defiled \nand to unbelievers\, nothing is clean\, but both their mind and their conscience \nare defiled” \nBut you\, dearly beloved\, the holy offspring of the Catholic Mother\, whom \nthe Spirit of God has taught in the School of Truth\, use your freedom of action \nwith right reason\, knowing that it is good to abstain\, even from what is lawful; \nand when you must practice self-denial\, so abstain from food as merely putting \naside its use\, not as condemning its nature. \nEnter then with pious devotion upon these holy days of Lent; and prepare \nfor yourselves the works of mercy\, that you may merit the Divine Mercy. \nExtinguish the fires of anger\, wipe away all hate\, love the bond of unity\, give way \nto each other in the simplicity of true humility. \nRule your servants with justice\, and likewise all who are subject to you. \nLet there be an end to vengeance. Let offenses be forgiven. Let harshness be \nchanged to mildness\, disdain to gentleness\, and discord into peace. Let us all \nstrive to be modest\, let all be gentle\, all be kind\, so that our fasting may be \npleasing to God. To Him we shall offer a true sacrifice of self-denial and \ndevotion if we keep ourselves from all iniquity; being helped in all things by \nalmighty God\, who with the Son and the Holy Spirit is One in divinity\, one in \nMajesty\, for ever and ever. \n  \n6 The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers\, vol 2\, Henry Regnery Co\, Chicago\, 1958\, pg 30.13 \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-268/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13189-1741392000-1741478399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:HE CAME TO CALL SINNERS \nFrom a letter by St Maximus the Confessor7 \n◊◊◊ \nGod’s will is to save us\, and nothing pleases him more than our coming \nback to him with true repentance. The heralds of truth and the ministers of \ndivine grace have told us this from the beginning\, repeating it in every age. \nIndeed God’s desire for our salvation is the primary and preeminent sign of his \ninfinite goodness\, and it was precisely in order to show that there is nothing \ncloser to God’s heart than the divine Word of the Father. With untold \ncondescension\, he lived among us in the flesh\, and did\, suffered and said all that \nwas necessary to reconcile us to God the Father\, when we were at enmity with \nhim\, and to restore us to the life of blessedness from which we had been exiled. \nHe healed our physical infirmities by miracles; he freed us from our sins\, many \nand grievous as they were\, by suffering and dying\, taking them upon himself as \nif he were answerable for them\, sinless though he was. He also taught us in \nmany different ways that we should wish to imitate him by our own kindness \nand genuine love for one another. \nSo it was that Christ proclaimed that he had come to call sinners to \nrepentance\, not the righteous\, and that it was not the healthy who required a \ndoctor\, but the sick. He declared that he had come to look for the sheep that was \nlost\, and that it was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel that he had been sent. \nTo give the same lesson he revived the man who\, having fallen into the \nhands of brigands\, had been left stripped and half-dead from his wounds; he \npoured wine and oil on the wounds\, bandaged them\, placed the man on his own \nmule\, and brought him to an inn\, where he left sufficient money to have him \ncared for\, and promised to repay any further expense on his return. \nAgain\, he told of how that Father. Who is goodness itself\, was moved with \npity for his profligate son who returned and made amends by repentance; how \nhe embraced him\, dressed him once more in the fine garments that befitted his \nown dignity\, and did not reproach him for any of his sins. \nSo too\, when he found wandering in the mountains and hills the one \nsheep that had strayed from God’s flock of a hundred\, he brought it back to the \nfold\, but he did not exhaust it by driving it ahead of him. Instead\, he placed it on \nhis own shoulders and so\, compassionately\, he restored it safely to the flock. \nSo also he cried out: “Come to me\, all you that toil and are heavy of heart. \nAccept my yoke”\, he said\, by which he meant his commands\, or rather the whole \nway of life that he taught us in the Gospel. He then speaks of a burden\, but that \nis only because repentance seems difficult. In fact\, however\, “my yoke is easy”\, \nhe assures us\, “and my burden is light”. \nThen again he instructs us in divine justice and goodness\, telling us to be \nlike our heavenly Father\, holy\, perfect and merciful. “Forgive”\, he says\, “and \nyou will be forgiven. Behave toward other people as you would wish them to \nbehave toward you”.     \n  \n7 The Liturgy of the Hours – vol II – pg 304 – Catholic Book Publishing co – 1976.15 \n\n  \n.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-269/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250309
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250310
DTSTAMP:20260403T173259
CREATED:20250309T142539Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250309T142539Z
UID:13196-1741478400-1741564799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n1st Week of Lent\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nMarch 9 – 15\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n9\nMon\n10\nTue\n11\nWed\n12\nThu\n13\nFri\n14\nSat\n15\n\n\nOffice\n1st Sunday of Lent\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\n\n\nVigils\nHeb 4:1-13\nHeb 4:14-5:10\nHeb 5:11-6:20\nHeb 7:1-10\nHeb 7:11-28\nHeb 8:1-13\nHeb 9:1-10\n\n\nLauds\nExod 2:23-3:6\nExod 3:7-10\nExod 3:11-15\nExod 3:16-22\nExod 4:10-17\nExod 5:1-5\nExod 6:2-9\n\n\nMass\n24\n224\n225\n226\n227\n228\n229\n\n\n1st\nDeut 26:4-10\nLev 19:1-2\, 11-18\nIsa 55:10-11\nJonah 3:1-10\nEsth C:12\, 14-16\, 23-25\nEzek 18:21-28\nDeut 26:16-19\n\n\n2nd\nRom 10:8-13\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 4:1-13\nMatt 25:31-46\nMatt 6:7-15\nLuke 11:29-32\nMatt 7:7-12\nMatt 5:20-26\nMatt 5:43-48\n\n\nVespers\nDeut 4:32-40\nDeut 5:1-10\nDeut 5:11-15\nDeut 5:16-22\nDeut 5:32-6:3\nDeut 6:4-9\nDeut 6:10-15
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-106/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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