Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey

Skema
2025-08-03
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
18th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (I)
August 3 – 9, 2025

Sun
3
Mon
4
Tue
5
Wed
6
Thu
7
Fri
8
Sat
9

Office
18th Sunday
St John Vianney
Weekday
Transfiguration of the Lord
St Cajetan
St Dominic
Memorial of the BVM

Vigils
Gen 37:1-20
Gen 37:21-36
Gen 38:1-30
2 Cor 3:7-4:6
Gen 39:1-23
Gen 40:1-23
Gen 41:1-32

Lauds
Hos 7:11-16
Hos 8:1-7
Hos 8:8-14
Exod 24:12-18
Hos 9:1-9
Hos 9:10-17
Hos 10:1-8

Mass
114
407
408
614
410
411
412

1st
Eccl 1:2; 2:21-23
Num 11:4b-15
Num 12:1-13
Dan 7:9-10, 13-14
Num 20:1-13
Deut 4:32-40
Deut 6:4-13

2nd
Col 3:1-5, 9-11

2 Peter 1:16-19

Gospel
Luke 12:13-21
Matt 14:13-21
Matt 14:22-36
Luke 9:28b-36
Matt 16:13-23
Matt 16:24-28
Matt 17:14-20

Vespers
Phil 2:1-11
Phil 2:12-18
Phil 3:2-11
Heb 12:18-29
Phil 3:12-16
Phil 3:17-21
Phil 4:1-9

Vigils Reading - 18th Week
2025-08-03
THE GENEROUS INVITATION
From a commentary by St Basil the Great
◊◊◊
“The land of a rich man produced abundant harvests, and he thought to
himself: What am I to do? I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones.”
Now why did that land bear so well, when it belonged to a man who would
make no good use of its fertility? It was to show more clearly the forbearance of
God, whose kindness extends even to such people as this. He sends rain on both
the just and unjust, and makes the sun rise on the wicked and the good alike.
But what do we find in this man? A bitter disposition, hatred of other
people, unwillingness to give. This is the return he made to his Benefactor. He
forgot that we all share the same nature; he felt no obligation to distribute his
surplus to the needy. His barns were full to the bursting point, but still his
miserly heart was not satisfied. Year by year he increased his wealth, always
adding new crops to the old. The result was a hopeless impasse: greed would not
permit him to part with anything he possessed, and yet because he had so much
there was no place to store his latest harvest. And so he is incapable of making a
decision and could not escape from his anxiety. What am I to do?
Who would not pity a man so oppressed? His land yields him no profit but
only sighs: it brings him no rich returns, but only cares and distress and a
terrible helplessness. He laments in the same way as the poor do. Is not his cry
like that of one hard pressed by poverty? What am I to do? How can I find food
and clothing?
You who have wealth, recognize who has given you the gifts you have
received. Consider yourself, who you are, what has been committed to your
charge, from whom have you received it, why have you been preferred to most
other people? You are the servant of the good God, a steward on behalf of your
fellow servants. Do not imagine that everything has been provided for your own
stomach. Take decisions regarding your property as though it belonged to
another. Possessions give you pleasure for a short time, but then they will slip
through your fingers and be gone, and you will be required to give an exact
account of them.
What am I to do? It would have been so easy to say: “I will feed the
hungry, I will open my barns and call in all the poor…proclaiming good will
toward everyone.” I will offer the generous invitation: “Let anyone who lacks
bread come… You shall share, each according to need, in the good things God
has given, just as though you were drawing from a common well.”

Vigils Reading - St John Vianney
2025-08-04
PRAYER IN THE LIFE
OF THE CURÉ D’ ARS
From the encyclical “Sacerdoti Nostri Primordia” by St John XXIII
◊◊◊
To the priests of this century, apt to be sensitive to the effect of action and
easily tempted by a dangerous activism, how beneficial is that model of
assiduous prayer in a life given up entirely to the care of souls, which was the
Curé d’Ars! O What prevents us priests from being saints, he said. It is lack of
reflection. We don’t search our hearts; we don’t know what we do. Reflection,
prayer, union with God, are the things we need. He himself remained, according
to contemporary evidence, in a state of continual prayer from which he was not
distracted by the wearisome burden of confessions nor by his other pastoral
cares. He preserved a constant union with God in the midst of an exceedingly
busy life.
Let us listen to him again: he is unfailing on the subject of the joy and
blessing of prayer. Man is a beggar who needs to be asking everything from God.
How many souls we can convert by our prayers! And he would repeat: prayer is
all man’s happiness on earth. This happiness he long enjoyed himself with his
eyes, lit by faith, contemplating the divine mysteries and, in adoration of the
Word incarnate, his pure and simple soul lifted towards the Holy Trinity, the
supreme object of his love. And the pilgrims who thronged the Church of Ars
realized that the humble priest was confiding to them something of the secret of
his own inner life with the frequent exclamation dear to him: A Being loved by
God, united to God, living in the presence of God: oh, what happiness in life and
in death!
We could wish that all priests might be convinced, by the witness of the
holy Curé d’Ars, of the need to be men of prayer and of the possibility of being5
so, whatever the heavy and sometimes severe load of the labors of their
ministry. But we need an intense faith, such as moved Jean-Marie Vianney and
made him able to work miracles. What faith! exclaimed one of his colleagues.
Enough to spread over a whole diocese!
With St Pius X, let us consider it certain and well-founded that a priest, in
order to occupy his station properly and fulfill his duty, must devote himself
before all else to prayer. Above all he should obey Christ’s precept: We ought
always to pray, a precept earnestly recommended by St Paul: Continue
steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. Pray constantly.
The prayer of the Curé d’Ars, who, so to speak, spent the last thirty years
of his life in his church where he was kept by his numerous penitents, was above
all a prayer of thanksgiving. His devotion to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament
of the altar was indeed wonderful. He is there, he would say, he who loves us so
much; how could we not love him? And most certainly he loved him and felt
irresistibly drawn towards the tabernacle: We do not need many words to pray
well, he explained to his parishioners. We know that God is there, in the holy
tabernacle; we open our hearts to him; we rejoice in his holy presence. This is
the best prayer of all.

Vigils Reading
2025-08-05
THE LIVING STONES
OF THE CHURCH
From a homily by Origen
◊◊◊
All of us who believe in Christ Jesus are called “living stones” in the words
of Scripture: “You, too, are living stones, built as an edifice of spirit, into a holy
priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ.”
You know that in the case of earthly stones the builder takes care to lay
first the strongest and most massive stones as the foundation, so that the whole
weight of the building can then rest upon them. The next stones, of not quite
such good quality, are laid upon the foundation stones; and so on according to
the strength of the stones: the weakest are laid at the top, near the roof. The
same is true of living stones, some of which are the foundation of our spiritual
building. Who are these stones that are laid at the foundation? “The apostles
and prophets.” This is Paul’s teaching: “You form a building which rises on the
foundations of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the
capstone.”
To prepare yourself more zealously to construct this building, to be one of
the stones near the foundation, you must realize that Christ himself is the
foundation of the building which we are describing. Paul the apostle declares
this to be so: “No one can lay a foundation other than the one that has been laid,
namely Jesus Christ.” Happy are they who have built holy, religious buildings,
on such a noble foundation!
Now in this building which is the Church there must be an altar.
Moreover, I believe that there are among you those who as “living stones” are
able to become an altar – those of you who have resolved to dedicate yourselves
to prayer, to offer God supplications day and night, and to immolate your
sacrifices – and that it is with you that Jesus builds his altar.
Think of the worth to be discerned in altar stones. “Joshua built an altar to
the Lord,” says Scripture, “of unhewn stones on which no iron tool had been
used, in keeping with the command of Moses.” What do you think these unhewn
(whole, perfect) stones represent? It is for each one’s conscience to say whether
we have integrity, whether we are without impurity or spot…
To my mind these whole, spotless stones must be the holy apostles who
together form but one stone because of their unity of heart and soul. Indeed, it is
said that “all with one accord devoted themselves to constant prayer,” and that
they said: “O Lord, you read the hearts of men.” For those who can pray with one
accord, with one voice and one spirit, are indeed worthy to have been built
together into a single altar on which Jesus offers sacrifices to his Father. But we,
for our part, must strive to “agree” in what we say, “united in spirit and ideals;
never acting out of rivalry or conceit,” but “be united in mind and judgment,” so
that we too may try to become altar stones.

Vigils Readings - Transfiguration of the Lord
2025-08-06
THE GLORY OF GOD
From the last “Angelus” message of Pope St Paul VI
◊◊◊
The Transfiguration of Our Lord, recalled by the liturgy of today’s
solemnity throws a dazzling light on our daily life, and makes us turn our mind
to the immortal destiny which that fact foreshadows. On Mount Tabor, Christ
reveals for a few moments the splendor of his dignity, and he manifests himself
to chosen witnesses as he really is, the Son of God, “the glory of God and the
very stamp of his nature”. But it also shows the transcendent destiny of our
human nature, which he assumed in order to save us, and which is destined –
because redeemed by his sacrifice of irrevocable love – to participate in the
fullness of life, “in the inheritance of the saints in light”.
That body, which is transfigured before the astonished eyes of the
apostles, is the body of Christ our brother, but it is also our body called to glory.
That light, which bathes it, is and also will be our share of inheritance and of
splendor. We are called to share such great glory because we are “partakers of
the divine nature”. And incomparable destiny awaits us if we honor our
Christian vocation, if we live a life that is logically consistent in word and deed
with the commitments that our baptism imposes on us…

Vigils Reading - St Cajetan
2025-08-07
ST CAJETAN
From Butler’s Lives of the Saints
◊◊◊
St Cajetan was son of Caspar, Count of Thiene, of the nobility of Vicenza,
where he was born in 1480. Two years later his father was killed, fighting for the
Venetians against King Ferdinand of Naples. Cajetan went for four years to
Padua University, where he distinguished himself in theology, and took the
degree of doctor in civil and canon law in 1504. He then returned to his native
town, of which he was made senator. In pursuance of his resolve to serve God as
a priest he received the tonsure. In 1506 he went to Rome. Soon after his arrival
Pope Julius II conferred on him the office of protonotary… On the death of
Julius Cajetan refused his successor’s request to continue in that office, and
devoted three years to preparing himself for the priesthood. He was ordained in
1516, being thirty-three years old, and returned to Vicenza in 1518.
Cajetan had re-founded a confraternity in Rome called “The Oratory of
the Divine Love”, which was an association of zealous and devout clerics who
devoted themselves to labor with all their power to promote God’s honor and
the welfare of souls… but consisted only of men in the lowest station of life. This
circumstance gave great offense to his friends, who thought it a reflection on the
honor of his family. He persisted, however, and sought out the sick and the poor
throughout the whole town, served them and cared for those who suffered from
the most loathsome diseases in the hospital of the incurables. He founded a
similar oratory at Verona and then went in 1520 to Venice where he took up his
lodgings in the new hospital of that city… He introduced exposition of the
Blessed Sacrament in that city, as well as continuing the promotion of frequent
communion.
The state of Christendom at this time shocked and distressed Cajetan, and
in 1523 he went back to Rome to confer with his friends of the Oratory of Divine
Love. They agreed that little could be done other than by reviving in the clergy
the spirit and zeal of those holy pastors who first planted the faith, and a plan
was formed for instituting an order of regular clergy upon the model of the lives
of the Apostles. The first associates of Cajetan were John Peter Caraffa, who
later became pope under the name of Paul IV. The institute was approved by
Clement VII, and Caraffa was chosen as the first provost general. From the
name of his episcopal see of Theatensis these clerks regular came to be
distinguished from others as Theatines…
In 1527, when it still numbered only a dozen members, the army of
Emperor Charles V sacked Rome. The Theatines house was demolished and the
members had to escape to Venice. Cajetan was sent to Verona, where both the
clergy and the laity were opposing the reformation of discipline, which their
bishop was endeavoring to introduce among them. A general improvement was
the fruit of his example, preaching and labors.
Worn out with trying to appease civil strife in Naples, and disappointed at
the suspension of the Council of Trent, from which he hoped so much for the
Church’s good, Cajetan had to take to his bed in the summer of 1547. The end
came on Sunday, August 7. Many miracles wrought by his intercession were
approved at Rome after rigorous scrutiny, and he was canonized in 1671.

Vigils Reading - St Dominic
2025-08-08
ST DOMINIC
And the History of the Order of Preachers
◊◊◊
Dominic possessed such great integrity and was so strongly motivated by
divine love, that without a doubt he proved to be a bearer of honor and grace.
And since a joyful heart animates the face, he displayed the peaceful composure
of a spiritual man in the kindness he manifested outwardly and by the
cheerfulness of his countenance.
Wherever he went he showed himself in word and deed to be a man of the
Gospel. During the day no one was more community-minded or pleasant
toward his brothers and associates. During the night hours no one was more
persistent in every kind of vigil and supplication. He seldom spoke unless it was
with God, that is, in prayer, or about God; and in this matter instructed his
brothers.
Frequently he made a special personal petition that God would deign to
grant him genuine charity in caring for and obtaining the salvation of others.
For he believed that only then would he be truly a member of Christ, when he
had given himself totally for the salvation of others, just as the Lord Jesus, the
Savior of all, had offered himself completely for our salvation. So, for this work,
after a lengthy period of careful and provident planning, he founded the Order
of Friars Preachers.
In his conversations and letters he often urged the brothers of the Order
to study constantly the Old and New Testaments. He always carried with him
the gospels according to Matthew and the epistles of Paul, and so well did he
study them that he almost knew them from memory.
Two or three times he was chosen bishop, but he always refused,
preferring to live with his brothers in poverty. Of him Pope Gregory IX
declared: “I knew him as a steadfast follower of the apostolic way of life. There
is no doubt that he is in heaven, sharing in the glory of the apostles themselves.”

Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
2025-08-09
MARY AND
THE VIRTUE OF HOPE
By Fr Romano Guardini
◊◊◊
Elizabeth calls the Virgin Blessed because she had faith – for everything
would happen as the Lord had told her; through the power of the Holy Spirit she
would become the Mother of the Redeemer, and in this find the fulfillment of
her life and salvation. To be assured of this was not always easy. When the
Gospel speaks of Mary and her son, one perceives a great love, but also a
remoteness.
The answer of the twelve-year-old boy in the temple; the answer Jesus
gave at the wedding feast of Cana; his words to the bystanders, when Mary, at
the door, asks for him; what he said to the woman who exalted his Mother; and
his last testament in which he committed her to the care of the disciple – in each
of these, something is revealed that removes him from her, and we always sense
the possibility that she might have become perplexed about God’s guidance. But
each time her confidence increased and she placed all into his hands. Mary lived
completely through her confidence in God’s power, a power that is capable of
consummating all, even in darkness and opposition.
Hope is confidence in God’s power to accomplish all things. He has
promised that we shall become new persons, and that his creation shall be a
“new heaven and a new earth”. This is gainsaid by the impression made on us by
worldly things; by the course our life is taking; by the opinions of people around
us; by our own daily insufficiency and sin – by everything. Hope is the
“nevertheless” of faith. In spite of all contradiction, the new life is within us, and
God will complete it if we trust in him despite all opposition. But that is difficult,
sometimes impossible. So we must ask again that the Lord “may strengthen our
hope.”

Skema
2025-08-10
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
19th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (I)
August 10 – 16, 2025

Sun
10
Mon
11
Tue
12
Wed
13
Thu
14
Fri
15
Sat
16

Office
19th Sunday
St Clare
Office for the Dead
Weekday
St Maximilian Kolbe
Assumption of the BVM
Weekday

Vigils
Gen 41:33-57
Gen 42:1-17
Gen 42:18-38
Gen 43:1-34
Gen 44:1-34
Eph 1:15-2:10
Gen 45:1-28

Lauds
Hos 10:9-15
Hos 11:1-7
Hos 11:8-11
Hos 12:1-7
Hos 12:8-15
Sir 24:1-11
Hos 13:1-8

Mass
117
413
414
415
416
622
418

1st
Wis 18:6-9
Deut 10:12-22
Deut 31:1-8
Deut 34:1-12
Josh 3:7-10a, 11, 13-17
Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a; 10ab
Josh 24:14-29

2nd
Heb 11:1-2, 8-19

1 Cor 15:20-27

Gospel
Luke 12:32-48
Matt 17:22-27
Matt 18:1-5, 10, 12-14
Matt 18:15-20
Matt 18:21-19:1
Luke 1:39-56
Matt 19:13-15

Vespers
Phil 4:10-14
Phil 4:15-23
Col 1:1-8
Col 1:9-14
1 Cor 15:50-58
Eph 2:1-10
Col 1:15-23

Vigils Reading - 19th Sunday
2025-08-10
AWAITING
THE MASTER’S RETURN
From a commentary by St Gregory of Nyssa
◊◊◊
When the Lord says: Let your loins be girded and your lamps lit, he is
warning us to stay awake, for a light shining in one’s eyes drives away sleep, and
a tightly fastened belt also makes sleep difficult, as the discomfort prevents
relaxation. But the real meaning of the parable is perfectly clear: a person girded
with temperance lives in the light of a clear conscience before God. And so, with
the light of truth shining, the soul stays awake and is not deceived. It does not
dally with illusive dreams.
If following the guidance of the Word we attain this goal, our lives will in a
way be like those of the angels, for we are compared with them on the divine
command: You must be like people waiting for their master to return from a
wedding, ready to open the door immediately when he comes and knocks. It
was the angels who were awaiting the Master’s return from the wedding. They
sat with unsleeping eyes at the heavenly gates, so that when he returned the
King of glory might pass through them once more into the heavenly bliss from
which, as the psalm says, he had come forth like a bridegroom from his tent.
He took us to himself as his virgin bride, our nature once prostituted to
idols being restored by sacramental rebirth to virginal incorruptibility. After the
marriage, when the Church had been wedded to the Word – as John says, He
who has the bride is the bridegroom – and admitted to the bridal chamber of
the sacred mysteries, the angels awaited the King of glory’s return to the
blessedness which is his by nature.
And so the Lord said our lives should be like theirs. Just as they, living
lives far removed from sin and error, are ready to receive the Lord at his coming,
so we also should keep watch at the entrance of our houses, and prepare
ourselves to obey him when he comes to our door and knocks.

Vigils Reading - St Clare
2025-08-11
THE MIRROR
WITHOUT CLOUD
A letter from St Clare to Blessed Agnes of Prague
◊◊◊
Happy indeed is she who is granted a place at the divine banquet, for she
may cling with her inmost heart to him whose beauty eternally awes the blessed
hosts of heaven; to him whose love inspires love, whose contemplation
refreshes, whose generosity satisfies, whose gentleness delights, whose memory
shines sweetly as the dawn; to him whose fragrance revives the dead, and whose
glorious vision will bless all the citizens of that heavenly Jerusalem. For he is the
splendor of eternal glory, the brightness of eternal light, and the mirror
without cloud.
Queen and bride of Jesus Christ, look into that mirror daily and study well
your reflection, that you may adorn yourself, mind and body, with an
enveloping garment of every virtue, and thus find yourself attired in flowers and
gowns befitting the daughter and most chaste bride of the king on high. In this
mirror blessed poverty, holy humility and ineffable love are also reflected. With
the grace of God the whole mirror will be your source of contemplation.
Behold, I say, the birth of this mirror. Behold his poverty even as he was
laid in the manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes. What wondrous humility,
what marvelous poverty! The King of angels, the Lord of heaven and earth
resting in a manger! Look more deeply into the mirror and meditate on his
humility, or simply on his poverty. Behold the many labors and sufferings he
endured to redeem the human race. Then in the depths of this very mirror,
ponder his unspeakable love which caused him to suffer on the wood of the
cross and to endure the most shameful kind of death. The mirror himself, from
his position on the cross, warned passersby to weigh carefully this act, as he
said: All of you who pass by this way, behold and see if there is any sorrow like
mine. Let us answer his cries and lamentations with one voice and one spirit: I
will be mindful and remember, and my soul will be consumed within me. In
this way, queen of the king of heaven, your love will burn with an even brighter
flame.
Consider also his indescribable delights, his unending riches and honors, and
sigh for what is beyond your love and heart’s content as you cry out: Draw me
on! We will run after you in the perfume of your ointment, heavenly spouse. Let
me run and not faint until you lead me into your wine cellar; your left hand rests
under my head, your right arm joyfully embraces me, and you kiss me with the
sweet kiss of your lips. As you rest in this state of contemplation, remember your
poor mother and know that I have indelibly written your happy memory into my
heart, for you are dearer to me than all the others.

Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
2025-08-12
THE GOD
OF THE LIVING
By Maurice Zundel
◊◊◊
The dead have disappeared from our sight. They have not disappeared
from the sight of God. He knows where they are, He knows their lot, He “who
loved them to the end.” But, can we meet them, can we communicate with them?
Some of them occupied such a large place in our life; they were the light of our
eyes, the source of our happiness, the soul of our soul. Is all this now finished
forever?
How can it be finished, if we are more spirit than flesh, and if we have
truly been in communion with what was most intimate and spiritual in them?
But how shall we find them again? By what means shall we reach them? By
entering into what is most intimate in ourselves.
If in truth they sleep in Christ, as we may always hope, they are certainly
freed from the divisions of space and time, from all material constraints, from
all the changes of the outer world. There is, therefore, no means of meeting
them, more certainly efficacious, than to establish ourselves on that internal
plane which they have reached, and strive to live their life. Since their life is
plunged deep in the interior of God, since He is their home, their food and, as
our prayers so touchingly express it, their sleep, if we identify ourselves more
closely with Him, and enter more deeply into His Life, we shall enter into their
life, and the converse broken off on the visible plane will be resumed in a more
living fashion in the silent commerce of souls.
It is indeed within that we must seek, if we would not go astray in a world
beyond, constructed with shadows of the visible world, imagining relations with
our dear ones which would tend to hold them back on the external plane… If
they are withdrawn from the vicissitudes of the sensible world, have been born
to the Life of the Spirit, are in God, we cannot conceive a bond between
ourselves and them more sublime than the communion, always closer, of an
inner life of which God is the source, the center and the gift.
In this way our love not only safeguards its profound reality, it is also most
efficacious. For by the strength of our love for God we can in a sense give Him to
our departed, if they are still detained in the stages of purification which
constitute the mysterious state of Purgatory; or increase in some way their joy in
possessing Him, if they have already reached the beatific vision. To live so as to
be always worthy of God, this surely is the most certain way to be always with
our dead.
They are in God, the very heart of Love. But we also may approach this
Divine Love, for it is in God “that we live, and move and have our being”. We
also are in God, though not yet so completely as they. And God is in us. Christ
exceeded our most daring hopes by making the [unity] of the Divine Persons the
bond of our mutual intimacy…
There can be no surer comfort than this active and sanctifying
communion with our dear ones in an intimacy continually increasing as our
union with God becomes closer. God has not taken them from us: He has hidden
them in His heart that they may be closer to ours. “God is not a God of the dead
but of the living.”

Vigils Reading
2025-08-13
HOLINESS BEFITS
YOUR HOUSE, OH LORD
From a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux
◊◊◊
“Our bed is covered with flowers; the beams of our houses are of cedar,
the paneling of cypress.” She is singing her marriage-song, describing in
beautiful language the marriage bed and bridal suite. She invites the
bridegroom to repose: for the better thing is to remain at ease and be with
Christ; but necessity drives one forth to help those who are to be saved. So now
when she feels that the opportunity presents itself, she announces that the
bridal suite has been furnished, and pointing to the bed with her finger she
invited, as I have said, the Beloved to rest there. Like the disciples on the way to
Emmaus she cannot contain the ardor in her heart, but entices him to be the
guest of her soul, compels him to spend the night with her. With Peter she says:
“Lord it is good for us to be here.“
Let us now seek the spiritual content of these words. And indeed in the
Church the ‘bed’ where one reposes is, in my opinion, the cloisters and
monasteries, where one lives undisturbed by the cares of the world and the
anxieties of life. This bed is seen to be adorned with flowers when the conduct
and life of the brothers brightly reflect the examples and rules of the Fathers, as
if strewn with sweet smelling flowers. By ‘houses’ understand the ordinary
communities of Christians.
Those who enjoy high office, the Christian leaders of both orders, strongly
bind them together with laws justly imposed, as beams bind the walls, lest living
by their own law and will, they should fall apart from each other like tilting walls
and tottering fences, and thus the whole building fall to the ground and be
destroyed. The paneling however, which is firmly attached to the beams, and
impressively adds to the beauty of the house, seems to me to designate the
courteous and disciplined behavior of a well-trained clergy, who carry out their
duties correctly. For how shall the clerical orders stand and fulfill their duties
unless they are sustained, as by beams, by the beneficence and munificence of
those who govern and protect by their power?…
The cedar, an incorruptible and fragrant wood of great height,
sufficiently indicates the qualities of the men who ought to be selected for the
role of beams. Hence it is necessary that those who are appointed over others
should be strong and reliable, tenacious in hope, their mind directed to
supernatural truths, radiating everywhere the good odor of their faith and
conduct. With the Apostle they can say: We are the incense offered by Christ to
God in every place. The cypress too, a wood that is equally incorruptible and
fragrant, shows that every cleric ought to be of unblemished life and faith, that
he may be seen as an ornamental paneling for the beauty of the house. For it is
written: “Holiness befits your house, O Lord, for evermore,” which expresses
both the beauty of virtue and the constancy of unfailing grace.

Vigils Reading - St Maximilian Kolbe
2025-08-14
A TESTIMONY FROM
THE BEATIFICATION PROCESS
OF ST MAXIMILIAN KOLBE
◊◊◊
Fr Kolbe and I worked together in May or June 1941. We were bringing
sand up from the Sola River. This was some of Auschwitz’s heaviest work, so our
squad had a very hard time indeed. The work itself was very painful; we were
lightly and very insufficiently dressed, and yet we had to wade into the cold
water to dig the sand. In addition, the guards beat us cruelly or sometimes
killed prisoners outright. From the first time I saw Father Maximilian I was
struck by his dignity and calm, so different from others. In spite of the terrible
conditions and bad treatment, he never complained nor did he curse. Instead,
he tried to comfort the other prisoners and lift our spirits. During the three
weeks we worked together, I sometimes saw the kapo beat Father Kolbe with a
big stick. Each time, Father Kolbe took it without a murmur.
The news of his death was an enormous shock to the whole camp. We
became aware someone among us in this spiritual dark night of the soul was
raising the standard of love on high. Someone unknown, like everyone else,
tortured and bereft of name and social standing, went to a horrible death for the
sake of someone not even related to him. Therefore it is not true, we cried, that
humanity is cast down and trampled in the mud, overcome by oppressors, and
overwhelmed by hopelessness. Thousands of prisoners were convinced the true
world continued to exist and that our torturers would not be able to destroy it.
More than one individual began to look within himself for this real world, found
it, and shared it with his camp companion, strengthening both in this encounter
with evil. To say that Father Kolbe died for one of us or for that person’s family
is too great a simplification.
His death was the salvation of thousands. And on this, I would say, rests
the greatness of that death. That’s how we felt about it. And as long as we live,
we who were at Auschwitz will bow our heads in memory of it as at that time we
bowed our head before the bunker of death by starvation. That was a shock full
of optimism, regenerating and giving strength; we were stunned by his act,
which became for us a mighty explosion of light in the dark camp night.

Vigils Reading - Assumption of the BVM
2025-08-15
FROM ESTEEM TO ESTEEM
From a homily by Amadeus of Lausanne
◊◊◊
Who would not hasten, who would not run from the ends of the earth to
gaze upon the beauty of the venerable majesty [of the Mother of God] and to
behold the countenance endowed with all manner of sweetness and with
commanding dignity and unique power? Indeed, nothing was found like to her
among the sons and daughters of Adam, none such among the prophets,
apostles or angels. Heaven and earth have put forth nothing like her. Who in the
clouds would equal her, or be like the Mother of the Lord among the sons of
God?
And see how fittingly before her Assumption her wonderful name blazed
forth in the whole world and her renown was everywhere spread abroad before
her grandeur was raised above the heavens. For it was fitting that the Virgin
Mother, for the honor of her Son, should reign first upon earth and then, at last,
receive the heavens with glory; should tarry in the depths that she might enter
the heights in the fullness of sanctity; and just as she was carried from virtue to
virtue, so by the Spirit of the Lord [should she] be borne from esteem to esteem.
While present in the flesh she tasted in advance the first-fruits of the
future kingdom; now [she is] going forth to God in unspeakable sublimity, now
in wondrous charity condescending to her neighbors. On the one side she was
attended by the services of angels, on the other venerated by the devotion of
man. Gabriel, the groomsman, with the angels was at her side; John, with the
apostles, ministered to her, rejoicing that at the cross the Virgin Mother was
entrusted to him. [The angels] rejoiced to see their queen; [the apostles
rejoiced] to see their lady, and all obeyed her with pious devotion.
But she, dwelling in the lofty citadel of the virtues and enriched by an
ocean of divine gifts, poured out in generous diffusion upon a believing and
thirsting people an abyss of graces, in which she surpassed all others. She
brought health to their bodies and cure to their souls, being powerful to raise
them from the death of body and soul. Who ever went away from her sick or sad
and not knowing heavenly mysteries? Who did not return to his home glad and
joyful, having obtained from the Mother of God his wish?

Vigils Reading
2025-08-16
THE COMMON LIFE
By Baldwin of Ford
◊◊◊
There is still another sort of communion: that of those who live in a
[monastic] community. It is said of them: ‘The multitude of believers had but
one heart and one soul; no one said that any of the things he possessed was his
own, but they had everything in common.’ What makes the common life,
therefore, is one heart, one soul, and having everything in common. Such a life
is an earthly copy—so far as human weakness allows—of the life of the angels.
Since they have but one heart and one soul and all things in common,
there is concord and unanimity throughout, and they always put the general
profit and the common good before their own individual convenience. They so
far renounce themselves and what is theirs that none of them, if indeed he is
[truly] one of them, whether in [making] decisions or in [giving] advice,
presumes to make a stubborn defense of his own opinion, nor to strive hard
after his own will and the desires of his own heart, nor to have the least thing
which could be called his own. Instead, as servants of God, they humble
themselves for the sake of God under the hand of one of their fellow servants,
and in him all power is vested. His judgment alone determines the decisions,
regulates the will, and governs the needs of all. He alone can want something or
refuse it, for the others have renounced their own power and freedom [of will].
Thus, they are not permitted to want what they want, nor to be able [to do]
what they are able [to do], nor to feel what they feel, nor to be what they are, nor
to live by their own spirit, but by the Spirit of God. It is he who leads them to be
sons of God, and it is he who is their love, their bond, and their communion. The
greater their love, the stronger is their bond and the more perfect is their
communion: and conversely, the greater their communion, the stronger is their
bond and the more perfect is their love.

Skema
2025-08-17
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
20th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (I)
August 17 – 23, 2025

Sun
17
Mon
18
Tue
19
Wed
20
Thu
21
Fri
22
Sat
23

Office
20th Sunday
Weekday
Bl Guerric
St Bernard
St Pius X
Queenship of the BVM
Weekday

Vigils
Gen 46:1-7, 26-34
Gen 47:1-26
Gen 47:27-48:22
Sir 50:5-20
Gen 49:1-27
Gen 49:28-50:14
Gen 50:15-26

Lauds
Hos 13:9-14:1
Hos 14:2-10
Obadiah 1-7
Sir 39:6-11
Obad 8-14
Obad 15-18
Micah 1:1-9

Mass
120
419
420
641, 660, 574
422
423, 627
424

1st
Jer 38:4-6, 8-10
Judg 2:11-19
Judg 6:11-24a
Wis 7:7-10, 15-16
Judg 11:29-39a
Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22
Ruth 2:1-3, 8-11; 4:13-17

2nd
Heb 12:1-4

Phil 3:17-4:1

Gospel
Luke 12:49-53
Matt 19:16-22
Matt 19:23-30
Matt 5:13-19
Matt 22:1-14
Luke 1:26-38
Matt 23:1-12

Vespers
Col 1:24-29
Col 2:1-8
2 Tim 1:6-14
1 Jn 2:12-17
Col 2:9-15
Col 2:16-23
Col 3:1-11

Vigils Reading - 20th Sunday
2025-08-17
THE PERFECTION
OF DIVINE LOVE
From a commentary by Denis the Carthusian
◊◊◊
I have come to cast fire on the earth. In other words, I have come down
from the highest heaven and appeared to men and women through the mystery
of the incarnation in order to light the fire of divine love in human hearts. And
how I wish it were already ablaze! How I wish it were already kindled, fanned
into flame by the Holy Spirit, and leaping forth in good works.
Christ foretells that he will suffer death on a cross before the human race
is inflamed by the fire of this love; for it was by his most holy passion that he won
so great a gift for humankind, and it is chiefly the recollection of his passion that
kindles the flame of love in Christian hearts.
There is a baptism which I must undergo. By divine decree there remains
for me the duty of receiving a baptism of blood, that is, of being bathed, soaked
upon the cross not in water but in my own blood poured out to redeem the whole
world. And what constraint I am under until that has been achieved – until my
passion is love and I say: It is accomplished. For Christ was impelled incessantly
by the love within him.
The way to attain the perfection of divine love is then stated. Do you think
that I have come to bring peace on earth? In other words: Do not imagine that I
have come to offer people a sensual, worldly, and unruly peace that will enable
them to be united in their vices and achieve earthly prosperity. No, I tell you, I
have not come to offer that kind of peace, but rather division – a good, healthy
kind of division, physical as well as spiritual. Love for God and desire for inner
peace will set those who believe in me at odds with wicked people and make
them part company with those who would turn them from their course of
spiritual progress and from the purity of divine love, or who attempt to hinder
them.
Good, interior, spiritual peace consists in the repose of the mind in God,
and in a right ordered harmony. To bestow this peace was the chief reason for
Christ’s coming. This inner peace flows from love. It is an unassailable joy of the
mind in God, and it is called peace of heart. It is the beginning and a kind of
foretaste of the peace of the saints in heaven – the peace of eternity.

Vigils Reading
2025-08-18
KEEP GUARD
ON YOURSELF
From “The Golden Epistle” by William of St Thierry
◊◊◊
In order that your solitude may not appall you and that you may dwell the
more safely in your cell three guardians have been assigned to you: God, your
conscience and your spiritual father. To God you owe devotion and the entire
gift of yourself; to your conscience the respect which will make you ashamed to
sin in its presence; to your spiritual father the obedience of charity and recourse
in everything…
I will add a fourth and provide you with a monitor for as long as you are
small and have not learned to keep the presence of God before your mind…
Choose for yourself a man whose life is such that it will serve as a model to
impress upon your heart, one whom you will so revere that whenever you think
of him you will rise up because of the respect you feel for him and put yourself in
order. Think of him as if he were present and let the charity you feel for one
another act in you to correct all that needs to be corrected, while your solitude
suffers no infringement of its secret. Let him be present to you whenever you
wish and let him come sometimes when you would have preferred him to stay
away. The thought of his holy severity will make it seem as if he were rebuking
you; the thought of his kindness and goodness will bring you consolation; the
purity and sanctity of his life will set you a good example. For you will be driven
to correct even all your thoughts, as if they were open to his gaze and visited by
his rebuke, when you consider that he is watching.
So, as the Apostle bids: “Keep guard on yourself” with the greatest care
and, in order to have your eyes always on yourself, turn your gaze away from all
else. The eye is a remarkable instrument of the body – if only it could see itself as
it sees other things. Now the inner eye is enabled to do this. If then it follows the
example of the outward eye and neglects itself, giving its attention to the affairs
of others, it will not be able to return to itself, however much it may wish to do
so. Give your attention to yourself; you yourself constitute abundant matter for
solicitude for yourself. Shut out also from your outward eyes what you have
grown unaccustomed to see, from your inner eyes what you no longer love, since
nothing so easily reasserts its claims as love…
Be yourself a parable of edification for yourself. You have one cell
outwardly, another within you. The outward cell is the house in which your soul
dwells together with your body; the inner cell is your conscience and in that it is
God who should dwell with your spirit, he who is more interior to you than all
else that is within you. The door of the outward enclosure is a sign of the
guarded door within you, so that as the bodily senses are prevented from
wandering abroad by the outward enclosure so the inner senses are kept always
within their own domain.

Vigils Reading - Bl Guerric
2025-08-19
THE POOR OF CHRIST
From a sermon by Blessed Guerric of Igny
◊◊◊
What then shall we bring to the Lord, my brothers? Bring to the Lord
glory of gold and honor of incense; bring to the Lord glory for his name, myrrh
for his burial. But Christ’s disciple, Peter’s son, tells me: “Silver and gold I have
none, nor bags of those foreign wares, myrrh and incense.” Will you then appear
empty-handed in the Lord’s sight… O rich poverty, O wealthy nakedness –
provided it is Christian and freely willed. With what riches do you not abound,
not only gold but the very best gold, gold that has been fired, not only myrrh and
incense but also all the fragrant powders of the merchant. Indeed who else can
abound in riches of this sort but the poor of Christ?
But I am not aware, you will say, that I have received anything of the sort,
or that anything so precious as gold, incense and myrrh is to be found in my
possession. For I am a man well acquainted with poverty, finding it hard to beg
my daily bread, leading an impoverished life. You think, you say, that you have
not received any such thing. Is it not rather that you have squandered in riotous
living the inheritance you received from your father?
But I pass over that. As the Sage says, “One who turns away from sin to
become wise is not to be reproved.” Rather I would wish that you had the energy
to examine if there be not some slight remnant of your paternal inheritance in
your hands with which you could begin to recover the whole. I would wish you to
dig within yourself, for valuable treasures are wont to lie hidden in the recesses
of the earth. That treasure, the desire of which drove a man to sell all he had, was
hidden in a field. The ten Israelites who escaped the murderer’s sword did no by
declaring that they had treasure hidden in a field.
O what treasures of good works, what riches of devotion lie hidden in the
field of one’s body; and how many more in the depths of the heart, if only we will
take the trouble to dig… Our reason and natural endowments, with the help of
grace, are a seed-bed of all the virtues. If then you will ponder in your heart and
train your body, you need not doubt that you will find worthwhile treasure – if
not gold or incense at the very beginning, certainly of myrrh, and that is not
useless. It is not for you to describe as useless what Christ accepts as a gift. With
this he willed that the burial of his body should not only be foreshadowed when
it was offered to him but also be completed when he was embalmed with it.

Vigils Reading - St Bernard
2025-08-20
THE SAME ETERNAL GOAL
A letter from Pope St John Paul II to the Cistercian Abbots General
◊◊◊
Our age is frequently called “the hour of the laity” due to the fact that it
highlights the efforts made to offer the laity within the Church those ministries
which correspond to their state in life. No less truly, we could also call the times
in which St Bernard lived such because while the Church was making efforts to
break her ties with feudal institutions, a movement of the laity was born which
undertook holy enterprises under the banner of the cross, and moreover, the
laity, already in the 12th century began to make its voice heard as much in
preaching the word of God as in poetry and in other disciplines. The religious
movement which launched the construction of magnificent churches could be
called the first European labor movement.
The Abbot of Clairvaux…very frequently had to abandon the silence of the
monastery in order to involve himself with the life of the laity, in order to have a
guiding hand in the unfolding of the events and above all in order to bring peace
between kings and princes, and between kings and cities. As it has been stated of
St Bernard in the “Vita Prima”, he taught the path of perfection and wisdom to
spiritual persons as one who was “cultured among the cultured” and “simple
among the simple”; he adapted himself to everyone in his desire to gain them for
Christ”.
To the clerics and the laity he pleaded that they unite into one body:
“Since the Lord has commanded us to ‘watch and pray that we may not fall
into temptation’, it is evident that without the common effort of the faithful
(laity) and the custodians (clerics), it is not possible to maintain the city with
security, nor the beloved (spouse), nor even a single sheep. Do you want to know
the difference that exists among them? They are one and the same thing.
In his opinion it is incumbent upon the laity in collaboration with the
clergy, to build the Church, a thing that they can accomplish above all by means
of exercising obedience and the works of charity, especially the corporal works
of mercy. In fact, addressing himself to the laity, he states: “Obey your bishop
and other authorities of the Church who counsel you on what you have to do.
Practice hospitality for many have pleased God by it… Welcome the Lord of the
angels in the pilgrims, feed him in the hungry, clothe him in the naked, visit him
in the sick, set free the captives.
Consequently, the Abbot of Clairvaux, although he dealt principally with
monastic life and considered it as a third order along with that of clerics and
laity, yet being a father of souls, he had the same esteem for the laity of the
Church; thus he was convinced that all of them, whatever be the order to which
they belong, tend toward the one and the same eternal goal.

Vigils Reading - St Pius X
2025-08-21
THE SANCTITY OF
ST PIUS X
From the writing of Leonard von Matt
◊◊◊
Pius X, the canonized Pope, holds a special place in the hearts of the
faithful. But this devotion of the faithful did not begin only at his canonization,
when the Church publicly proclaimed the holiness of his life: it began from the
moment when he ascended the papal throne. At once there grew up an
understanding between the Shepherd and his flock. The first to understand him
were the simple, humble people, who recognized him for what he was.
The obvious quality which led to his canonization was his outstanding
holiness. With Pius X, sanctity seemed to be the most natural thing in the
world. It quietly enlivened all that he said or did. Yet it would seem that
Giuseppe Sarto’s natural temperament inclined to a certain violence, easily
inflamed, and no one will ever know how much struggle it cost him to achieve
that gentleness and unruffled goodness for which he was so renowned. We can
follow him on the narrow path which he set himself as church-student, curate,
parish-priest, bishop, cardinal and Pope; but the moment of his vocation to the
priesthood and the beginning of his heroic sanctity are secrets known to God
alone.
A certain holiness seems to have been his from the beginning: his striving
after a virtuous life seems never to have been interrupted, his charity never
diminished. But it was when he began what he called the Ascent of Mount
Calvary, when he became Pope, that his great sanctity became evident. It was
his conscientiousness that turned the enormous responsibility of the office into
a crucifixion: he gave himself unstintingly to the service of the Church, and
spent himself without reserve for the love of God and everyone. His sanctity lay
in this total dedication: it was thus an inner and in a great measure a hidden
sanctity: there were no spectacular penances, no remarkable practices beyond
those of a normal, good Christian. It might almost be said that Pius X became a
saint in spite of himself by sanctifying himself and his nature and by not
resisting God’s grace that drew him on.

Vigils Reading - Queenship of the BVM
2025-08-22
THE QUEENSHIP OF MARY
From the writing of Thomas Merton
◊◊◊
Mary alone, of all the saints, is, in everything, incomparable. She has the
sanctity of them all and yet resembles none of them. And still, we can talk of
being like her. This likeness to her is not only something to desire – it is one
human quality most worthy of our desire: but the reason for that is that she, of
all creatures, most perfectly recovered the likeness to God that God willed to
find, in varying degrees, in us all…
It is most fitting to talk about her as a Queen… But this should not make
anyone forget that her highest privilege is her poverty and her greatest glory is
that she is most hidden, and the source of all her power is that she is as nothing
in the presence of Christ, of God.
This is often forgotten by Catholics themselves, and therefore it is not
surprising that those who are not Catholic often have a completely wrong
conception of Catholic devotion to the Mother of God. They imagine, and
sometimes we can understand their reasons for doing so, that Catholics treat
the Blessed Virgin as an almost divine being in her own right, as if she had some
glory, some power, some majesty of her own that placed her on a level with
Christ himself. They regard the Assumption of Mary into heaven as a kind of
apotheosis and her Queenship as a strict divination.
Hence her place in the Redemption would seem to be equal to that of her
Son. But this is all completely contrary to the true mind of the Catholic Church.
It forgets that Mary’s chief glory is her nothingness, in the fact of being the
“Handmaid of the Lord,” as one who in becoming the Mother of God acted
simply in loving submission to his command, in the pure obedience of faith. She
is blessed…in all her human and womanly limitations as one who has believed.
It is the faith and the fidelity of this humble handmaid, “full of grace” that
enables her to be the perfect instrument of God, and nothing else but his
instrument. The work that was done in her was purely the work of God. “He that
is mighty has done great things in me.” The glory of Mary is purely and simply
the glory of God in her, and she, like anyone else, can say that she has nothing
that she has not received from him through Christ…
This is precisely her greatest glory: that having nothing of her own,
retaining nothing of a “self” that could glory in anything for her own sake, she
placed no obstacle to the mercy of God and in no way resisted his love and his
will. Hence, she received more from him than any other saint. He was able to
accomplish his will perfectly in her, and his liberty was in no way hindered or
turned from its purpose… She was then a freedom that obeyed him perfectly
and, in this obedience, found the fulfillment of perfect love.

Vigils Reading
2025-08-23
THE TABERNACLE
OF GOD’S GLORY
By St Gertrud the Great
◊◊◊
How wondrous is your temple, God, king of virtues. How glorious your
dwelling-place, where you, God most high, preside in your majesty over all
things. The virtue of my soul grows faint in its yearning to enter into your glory.
God, my God, love and jubilation of my heart, refuge and virtue, God, my glory
and my praise, oh when will my soul praise you in the church of the saints?
O when will my eyes see you, my God, God of gods? God of my heart, oh
when will you gladden me with the sight of your face? Oh when will you bestow
upon me the desire of my soul by manifesting your glory? Oh when will I enter
into your might to see your virtue and glory? Oh when will you clothe me with
the mantle of your praise instead of a spirit of sorrow so that, together with the
angels, all the parts of my body may render you praise?
God of my life, oh when will I enter into the tabernacle of your glory in
order that I, too, may proclaim to you the most splendid alleluia and that my
soul and my heart may confess to you in the presence of all your saints that you
have magnified your mercies toward me. My God, my very bright inheritance,
oh when, after the snares of this death have been destroyed, will I personally see
you without mediation, and praise you? Oh when will I dwell in your tabernacle
forever in order that I may assiduously praise your name and sing to your
magnificence a new hymn about your limitless mercies?

Skema - 21st Week
2025-08-24
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
21st Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (I)
August 24 – 30, 2025

Sun
24
Mon
25
Tue
26
Wed
27
Thu
28
Fri
29
Sat
30

Office
21st Sunday
Weekday
Office for Vocations
St Monica
St Augustine
Martyrdom of St John the Baptist
Memorial of the BVM

Vigils
Esther A:1-17
Est 1:1-22
Est 2:1-11
Est 2:12-23
Est 3:1-13
2 Cor 4:7-5:8
Est B:1-(3:15)

Lauds
Mic 1:10-16
Mic 2:1-7
Mic 2:8-13
Mic 3:1-4
Mic 3:5-8
Wis 3:1-9
Mic 3:9-12

Mass
123
425
426
427
428
634
430

1st
Isa 66:18-21
1 Thess 1:1-5, 8b-10
1 Thess 2:1-8
1 Thess 2:9-13
1 Thess 3:7-13
Jerm 1:17-19
1 Thess 4:9-11

2nd
Heb 12:5-7, 11-13

Gospel
Luke 13:22-30
Matt 23:13-22
Matt 23:23-26
Matt 23:27-32
Matt 24:42-51
Mark 6:17-29
Matt 25:14-30

Vespers
Col 3:12-17
Col 3:18-4:1
Col 4:2-9
Col 4:10-18
1 Thess 1:1-10
Acts 13:16-26
1 Thess 2:1-8

Vigils Reading - 21st Sunday Ord
2025-08-24
THE PRICE OF HEAVEN
From a commentary by St Anselm of Canterbury
◊◊◊
God cries out that the kingdom of heaven is for sale. The glorious bliss of
this kingdom surpasses the power of mortal eye to see, mortal ear to hear,
mortal heart to conceive. If anyone asks the price that must be paid, the answer
is: The One who wishes to bestow a kingdom in heaven has no need of earthly
payment. No one can give God anything he does not possess, because everything
belongs to him. Yet he does not give such a precious gift gratis, for he will not
give it to anyone who lacks love. After all, people do not give away what they
hold dear to those without appreciation. So since God has no need of your
possessions but must not bestow such a precious gift on anyone who disdains to
value it, love is the one thing he asks for; without this he cannot give it. Give
love, then, and receive the kingdom: love and it is yours.
To reign in heaven simply means exercising a single power with God and
all the holy angels and saints through being so united with them in love as to
want only what they want. Love God more than yourself, then, and already you
will begin to have what you desire to possess fully in heaven. Be at one with God
and with other men and women – so long as they are not at variance with God –
and already you will begin to reign with God and all the saints. The desires of
God and all the saints will be the same as yours in heaven, if your desires now
are the same as those of God and other people. So if you want to be a king in
heaven, love God and other people as you should and then you will deserve to
become what you desire.
But you cannot have this perfect love unless you empty your heart of every
other love. That is why those who fill their hearts with love of God and neighbor
desire nothing but the will of God or that of some fellow human being –
provided this is not contrary to God. That is why they devote themselves to
prayer, spiritual conversations, and reflection, for it is a joy to them to long for
God and to speak, hear and think about him whom they dearly love. That is why
they rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, show
compassion to those in distress, and give to the needy, since they love others as
themselves. Hence too their contempt for riches, power, pleasure, honor, and
praise. Those who love these things frequently offend against God and their
neighbor – for the whole law and the prophets depend on these two
commandments. So those who wish to possess the fullness of that love which is
the price of the kingdom of heaven should love contempt, poverty, toil and
subjection, as do the saints.

Vigils Reading
2025-08-25
THE JUDGE’S SENTENCE
From “Rule of Life for a Recluse” by St Aelred of Rievaulx
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Imagine now that you are standing before Christ’s judgment-seat
between these two companies and have not yet been assigned to one or the
other. Turn your eyes to the left of the judge and gaze upon that wretched
multitude. What horror is there, what a stench, what fear, what grief? They
stand there miserable and unhappy, gnashing their teeth, their bare flesh
shaking with fear, dreadful to look upon, their faces distorted, cast down from
shame, in confusion because of their body’s degradation and nakedness. They
want to hide and they are not allowed, they try to flee and it is not granted them.
If they raise their eyes the Judge’s fury bears down upon them from above. If
they lower them they are filled with the horror of hell’s pit. They have no excuse
to offer for their crimes nor is there any chance of claiming that the judgment is
unfair, since whatever is decided their own conscience will recognize as just.
See now how you should love him who has set you apart from this doomed
company by his predestination, separated you by his call, cleansed you by his
justification. Now turn your eyes to the right and look at those among whom he
will place you by glorifying you. What grace is there, what honor, what
happiness, what security. Some take their seat on high to give judgment, some
are resplendent in martyrs’ crowns, some are bearing the white flower of
virginity, some display the fruit of almsgiving, some are illustrious for their
doctrine and their learning, but they are all united by the bond of charity. Jesus’
face shines upon them, not terrible but lovable, not bitter but sweet, not
frightening but attractive.
Now stand in the middle, not knowing to which company the Judge’s
sentence will assign you. O what a dreadful waiting. Fear and trembling have
come upon me and darkness has covered me. If he sends me to join those on the
left I cannot complain of injustice; if he sets me among those on the right it is to
be attributed to his grace, not to my merits. Truly, Lord, life is at your disposal.
You see then how your spirit should be absorbed in his love.
Although in all justice he could have extended to you the sentence passed
on the wicked, he preferred to place you among those who are to be saved.
Now imagine yourself associated with that holy company and hearing his
voice utter the decree: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom
which was prepared for you from the beginning of the world,” while those other
wretched souls hear the harsh words, full of anger and fury: “Depart from me, ye
accursed, into eternal fire.” “Then,” we read, “they will go to eternal
punishment, but the just to eternal life.” What a harsh separation, what a
miserable lot.

Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
2025-08-26
THE MEANING OF VOCATION
By Pope St John Paul II
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Faith and love are not just words or vague feelings. Believing and loving
God means a consistent life, lived wholly in the light of the Gospel. This is not
easy. It often calls for great courage in going against the trends of fashion and
the opinions of our world. But this is the one requirement for a truly successful
and happy life.
If, in spite of your personal effort to follow Christ you are sometimes weak
and do not live in conformity to the law of love, to the commandments, do not be
discouraged. Christ continues to wait for you. He, Jesus, is the Good Shepherd
who searches for the lost sheep and who tenderly bears it on his shoulder. Christ
is the friend who never lets you down.
In the gospel story we see that the young man, having affirmed that he has
kept the commandments, adds: “What do I still lack?” The young heart, moved
by God’s grace, felt a desire for greater generosity, more commitment, greater
love. This desire for more is characteristic of youth; a heart that is in love does
not calculate, does not begrudge, it wants to give of itself without measure.
“Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, come, follow me.”
To those who entered the path of life by observing the commandments,
the Lord proposes new horizons; the Lord proposes to the means that are loftier
and calls them to commit themselves to his love without reserve. To discover
this call, this vocation, is to realize that Christ is looking on you and inviting you
by his glance to give yourself totally in love. Before this glance, before his love,
the heart opens its doors gradually and is capable of saying yes.
If some of you hear the call to follow Christ more closely, to dedicate your
entire heart to him, like the apostles John and Paul, be generous, do not be
afraid, because you have nothing to fear when the prize that you await is God
Himself, for whom, sometimes without ever knowing it, all young people are
searching.
Young people who are hastening to me, young people who more than
anything else want to know what you must do to gain eternal life, always say yes
to God and he will fill you with his happiness.
“There is one thing you lack, come, follow me”. Is Jesus perhaps repeating
to some of you today: “There is one thing you lack?” Is he perhaps asking for
even more love, more generosity, more sacrifice? Yes, the love of Christ involves
generosity and sacrifice. To follow Christ and to serve the world in his name
requires courage and strength. There is no place for selfishness – and no place
for fear! Do not be afraid, then, when love makes demands. Do not be afraid
when love requires sacrifice.
To each one of you I say, therefore: Heed the call of Christ when you hear
him saying to you: “Follow me!” Walk in my path! Stand by my side! Remain in
my love! There is a choice to be made: a choice for Christ and the way of life, and
his commandment of love.

Vigils Reading - St Monica
2025-08-27
MONICA AND AUGUSTINE
From the “Confessions” of St Augustine
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We were alone, my mother and I, we stood leaning in a certain window
from which the garden of the house we occupied at Ostia could be seen. Here in
this place, removed from the crowd, we were resting ourselves for the voyage
after the fatigues of a long journey. We were conversing alone, very pleasantly
and “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.”
We were in the present—and in the presence of Truth, which God is —
discussing together what is the nature of the eternal life of the saints: “What no
eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived…”
What we said went something like this: “If to anyone the tumult of the
flesh were silenced; and the phantoms of earth and waters and air were
silenced; and the poles were silent as well; indeed, if the very soul grew silent to
herself, and went beyond herself by not thinking of herself; if fancies and
imaginary revelations were silenced; if every tongue and every sign and every
transient thing—for actually if anyone could hear them, all these would say, ‘We
did not create ourselves, but were created by Him who abides forever’. And if,
having uttered this, they too should be silent, having stirred our ears to hear
Him who created them; and if then He alone spoke, not through them but by
Himself, that we might hear His word, not in fleshly tongue or angelic voice, nor
sound of thunder, nor the obscurity of a parable, but might hear Him, Him for
whose sake we love these things—if we could hear Him without these, as we two
now strained ourselves to do, we then with rapid thought might touch on that
Eternal Wisdom which abides over all. And if this could be sustained, and other
visions of a far different kind be taken away, and this one should so ravish and
absorb and envelop its beholder in these inward joys that his life might be
eternally like that one moment of knowledge which we now sighed after—would
not this be the reality of the saying, “Enter into the joy of your Lord”? But when
shall such a thing be? Shall it not be “when we shall all rise again,” and shall it
not be that “we shall all be changed”?
Then my mother said, “Son, for myself I have no longer any pleasure in
anything in this life. Now that my hopes in this world are satisfied, I do not know
what more I want here or why I am here. There was indeed one thing for which I
wished to tarry a little in this life, and that was that I might see you a Catholic
Christian before I died. My God has answered this more than abundantly,
inasmuch as I see you now, having spurned earthly felicity, become His servant.
What more am I to do here?”

Vigils Reading - St Augustine
2025-08-28
THE IMMORTALITY
OF WISDOM
From the “Confessions” of St Augustine
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My studies which were deemed respectable had the objective of leading
me to distinction as an advocate in the law courts, where one’s reputation is high
in proportion to one’s success in deceiving people… I wanted to distinguish
myself as an orator for a damnable and conceited purpose, namely delight in
human vanity. Following the usual curriculum I had already come across a book
by a certain Cicero, whose language (but not his heart) almost everyone
admires. That book of his contains an exhortation to study philosophy and is
entitled Hortensius. The book changed my feelings. It altered my prayers, Lord,
to be towards you yourself. It gave me different values and priorities. Suddenly
every vain hope became empty to me, and I longed for the immortality of
wisdom with an incredible ardour in my heart. I began to rise up to return to
you. For I did not read the book for a sharpening of my style, which was what I
was buying with my mother’s financial support now that I was 18 years old and
my father had been dead for two years. I was impressed not by the book’s
refining effect on my style and literary expression but by the content.
My God, how I burned, how I burned with longing to leave earthly things
and fly back to you. I did not know what you were doing with me. For with you
is wisdom.
‘Love of wisdom’ is the meaning of the Greek word philosophia. This
book kindled my love for it. There are some people who use philosophy to lead
people astray. They lend color to their errors and paint over them by using a
great and acceptable and honorable name. Almost all those who in the author’s
times and earlier behaved in this way are noted in that book and refuted. That
text is a clear demonstration of the salutary admonition given by your Spirit
through your good and devoted servant Paul: See that none deceives you by
philosophy and vain deduction following human tradition; following the
elements of this world and not following Christ; in him dwells all the fullness of
divinity in bodily form.
At that time, as you know, light of my heart, I did not yet know these
words of the apostle. Nevertheless, the one thing that delighted me in Cicero’s
exhortation was the advice ‘not to study one particular sect but to love and seek
and pursue and hold fast and strongly embrace wisdom itself, wherever found.’
One thing alone put a brake on my intense enthusiasm – that the name of Christ
was not contained in the book. This name, by your mercy Lord, this name of my
Saviour your Son, my infant heart had piously drunk in with my mother’s milk,
and at a deep level I retained the memory. Any book which lacked this name,
however well written or polished or true, could not entirely grip me.
