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X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251107
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251108
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251101T212538Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251101T212538Z
UID:14219-1762473600-1762559999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils: Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH\nFrom “The Spirit of Catholicism” by Fr Karl Adam 6\n◊◊◊\nWherever we encounter the God of revelation\, we do not find a characterless God of some feeble pastoral play\, but a God of holiness and justice\, a God who requires vigorous action and moral decision\, the athlete’s struggle for the crown and perseverance in the race until the prize be won. The new order of grace does not displace the old order of moral responsibility before God. And that is true not only of the members of the Church\, but also of the Church as such. \nThe Church too is subject to the great law that the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence. It is true that as the supra-personal unity of redeemed mankind\, a unity based upon the God-man\, the Church has her own essential nature\, her own law and her own life. And the Holy Spirit will abide always with her\, so that she may remain true to her God-given nature. But on the other hand it is equally true that the nature of the Church must be expressed through the faithful\, and not without them. The Body of Christ must maintain and perfect itself in its members and through them. Therefore the Church is not only a gift to the faithful\, but also a task for them. They have to prepare and foster that good earthly kingdom in which the seed of the Kingdom of Heaven may take root and flourish. \nIn other words\, the life of the Church\, the development of her faith and her love\, the progress of doctrine\, morals\, worship and law\, stand in an immediate relation to the faithful and loving personal life of the members of the Body of Christ. God rewards the merit or punishes the demerit of the faithful by the rise and fall of the earthly Church. We may truly say\, therefore\, with St Paul that the Church founded by Christ is at the same time co-built by the faithful. St Augustine says profoundly: “The temple of God is still being built” and “The house (the Church) is now being constructed.” \nGod willed a Church which in her ripening and perfecting should be the fruit of the true grace-inspired life of the faithful\, of their prayer and love\, of their fidelity\, penitence and devotion\, and therefore God did not found her from the beginning as a thing complete and perfect\, but as an incomplete thing\, which leaves room for and calls for a continual activity of construction\, and in whose inward history God’s Holiness and Justice continually triumph. \n6\nThe Spirit of Catholicism\, New York 1948\, 261-262.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-weekday-7/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251108
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251109
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251101T213139Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251101T213139Z
UID:14221-1762560000-1762646399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils: Memorial of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:LET US PRAISE MARY\nFrom a sermon by St Aelred of Rievaulx 7\n◊◊◊\nLet us…behold [Mary]; let us behold her excellence\, her humility\, her charity\, and her purity; let us behold her and praise her not only in voice\, but by our imitation of her. For if we truly wish to praise her\, let us as much as we can imitate her most holy way of life and—what is of greatest use to us—her humility… If our soul still experiences some servitude to sin and suffers some contrariness from its servant\, that is\, from the flesh\, and if we dare not praise\, then let us not be slow to pray and implore her help… \nWe can be sure that as she is more excellent and blessed than any creature\, so she is more favorable and merciful than every creature. Therefore let us confidently beseech her and place our trust in her. For we have many examples of her love. We know that many have been snatched away from the snares of the devil through her love; many\, who were often in despair were reconciled through her favor; many who were in great torments after death were snatched from these very punishments\, because they loved her and zealously commended themselves to her in their lifetime. \nTherefore let her be our common joy\, our common glory\, our common hope\, our common consolation\, our common reconciliation\, and our common refuge. If we are sad\, let us fly to her so that she may gladden us. If we are disheartened\, let us fly to her so that she may make us cheerful. If we are in despair\, let us fly to her so that she may raise us up. If we are troubled\, let us fly to her so that she may console us. If we are suffering persecutions\, let us fly to her so that she may protect us. If we are at odds with her son\, let us fly to her so that she may reconcile us. Let her be our guardian in this life and our protection at death. May she protect us from sin even now\, and later may she present us to her beloved son… \nLet us lift our hearts and the eyes of our heart to her\, our Lady\, our advocate\, our helper. Think of how much confidence we can have in her who\, having been wonderfully illuminated by the sun of justice\, dispels by her own brilliant light the darkness that the first woman\, Eve\, brought into this world. Therefore let us confidently pray to her who is able to help us through her excellence and wishes to do so through her mercy. Let us pray that she may intercede for us as much as she can to her son\, so that just as he deigned to be born from her for us\, through her he may deign to have mercy [on us]. \nTherefore let us honor her as much as we can…and let us love her as much as we can\, calling upon her most tender mercy\, so that she may deign to pray for us to her most sweet son\, that what we are unable to do by our own merits we may obtain by her patronage and the efficacy of the same Jesus Christ\, our Lord\, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. \n7\n(CSQ 32:124-125).
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-memorial-of-the-bvm-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251109
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251110
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251108T235900Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251108T235900Z
UID:14235-1762646400-1762732799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n32nd Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nNovember 9 – 15\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n9\nMon\n10\nTue\n11\nWed\n12\nThu\n13\nFri\n14\nSat\n15\n\n\nOffice\nLateran Basilica\nSt Leo the Great\nSt Martin of Tours\nWeekday\nAll Benedictine Saints\nWeekday\nGethsemani Church\n\n\nVigils\nExodus 40:1-34\nDaniel 5:13-6:1\nDaniel 6:2-29\nDaniel 7:1-15\nDan 7:1-3\, 9-22\, 27\nDaniel 7:16-28\nRev 21:9-22:5\n\n\nLauds\nJerm 7:1-7\nZech 12:7-14\nIsa 58:6-12\nZech 13:1-6\nWisdom 5:1-5\, 14-16\nZech 13:7-9\nEzek 37:21-28\n\n\nMass\n671\n491\n492\n493\n573\, 677\n495\n701.2\, 704.2\, 706.4\n\n\n1st\nEzek 47:1-2\, 8-9\, 12\nWis 1:1-7\nWis 2:23-3:9\nWis 6:1-11\nIsa 61:9-11\nWis 13:1-9\n2 Chron 5:6-10\, 13-6:2\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 3:9c-11\, 16-17\n\n\n\n\n\nEph 2:19-22\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 2:13-22\nLuke 17:1-6\nLuke 17:7-10\nLuke 17:11-19\nJohn 15:1-8\nLuke 17:26-37\nJohn 4:19-24\n\n\nVespers\nHeb 10:19-25\n2 Pet 1:10-15\nGal 6:1-5\n2 Pet 1:16-19\nRev 7:9-17\n2 Cor 6:14-7:1\nHeb 3:1-6
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-132/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251109
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251110
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251109T000037Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251109T000037Z
UID:14237-1762646400-1762732799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 32nd Sunday
DESCRIPTION:DEDICATION OF \nTHE LATERAN BASILICA \n◊◊◊ \nThe blessed Pope Sylvester I instituted the rites which the Roman Church \nobserves in consecrating churches and altars. For although from the ages of the \napostles places had been dedicated to God where assemblies were held every \nSabbath\, yet those places had not been consecrated by a solemn rite before this. \nUp to the time of Sylvester an altar was not erected under title\, which\, anointed \nwith chrism\, symbolizes our Lord Jesus Christ\, who is our Altar\, our Victim\, our \nPriest. \nBut when the Emperor Constantine obtained health and salvation \nthrough the sacrament of Baptism\, then for the first time\, by an edict published \nby him\, the Christians throughout the world were permitted to build churches; \nhe himself encouraged this holy building by his own example\, as well as by this \nedict. For in his own Lateran palace he dedicated a church to the Savior and \nfounded adjacent to it a Basilica\, under the title of St John the Baptist\, on the \nvery spot where he had been baptized by St Sylvester and cleansed from the \nleprosy of unbelief. This basilica the same Pope consecrated on November 9\, \nand the memory of this consecration is celebrated today\, when\, for the first \ntime\, a church was publicly consecrated at Rome\, and there appeared to the \nRoman people an image of the Savior depicted on the wall. \nAlthough later on St Sylvester decreed that from that time forward all \naltars should be built of stone\, yet the altar of the Lateran Basilica was built of \nwood. This is not surprising. For since\, from St Peter down to Sylvester\, because \nof persecutions\, the Pontiffs could not dwell in any fixed abode\, they offered the \nHoly Sacrifice [of the Mass] wherever necessity compelled them\, whether in \ncrypts or in cemeteries\, or in the homes of the faithful\, upon a wooden altar \nwhich was hollow like a chest. \nWhen this altar had been placed in the first church\, the Lateran\, St \nSylvester decreed that from that time on\, no one except the Roman Pontiff \nshould celebrate Mass upon it\, in honor of the Prince of the Apostles and of the \nrest of the Popes who had been accustomed to use it. This same church\, having \nbeen destroyed by fires\, pillaging\, and earthquakes\, and repaired by the \nlaborious effort of the Supreme Pontiffs\, was afterwards rebuilt anew. Pope \nBenedict XIII\, a Dominican\, consecrated it on April 28\, 1726\, by a solemn rite.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-32nd-sunday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251110
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251111
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251109T000202Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251109T000202Z
UID:14239-1762732800-1762819199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Leo the Great
DESCRIPTION:THE WORKS OF \nGOD’S SERVANTS \nBy St Leo the Great \n◊◊◊ \nIt is a great and very precious thing\, beloved\, in the Lord’s sight\, when \nChrist’s whole people engage together in the same duties\, and all ranks and \ndegrees of either sex co-operate with the same intent: when one purpose \nanimates all alike of declining from evil and doing good; when God is glorified in \nthe works of God’s servants\, and the Author of all godliness is blessed in \nunstinted giving of thanks. \nThe hungry are nourished\, the naked are clothed\, the sick are visited\, and \npeople seek not their own but “that which is another’s”\, so long as in relieving \nthe misery of others each one makes the most of one’s own means; and it is easy \nto find “a cheerful giver\,” where one’s performances are only limited by the \nextent of one’s power. \nBy this grace of God\, “which works all in all\,” the benefits and the deserts \nof the faithful are both enjoyed in common. For they\, whose income is not like\, \ncan yet think alike\, and when one rejoices over another’s bounty\, his feelings put \nhim on the same level with him whose powers of spending are on a different \nlevel. \nIn such a community there is no disorder nor diversity\, for all the \nmembers of the whole body agree in one strong purpose of godliness\, and one \nwho glories in the wealth of others is not put to shame by personal poverty. For \nthe excellence of each portion is the glory of the whole body\, and when we are all \nled by God’s Spirit\, not only are the things we do ourselves our own but those of \nothers also over the doing of which we rejoice… \nBut because we possess this greatness of heart\, and yet it is truly a pious \nthing for each one not to forsake the care of one’s own\, we\, without prejudice to \nthe more perfect sort\, lay down for you this general rule and exhort you to \nperform God’s bidding according to the measure of your ability. \nFor cheerfulness becomes one who is benevolent\, who should so manage \nliberality that while the poor rejoice over the help supplied\, home needs may not \nsuffer. “And he who ministers seed to the sower shall provide bread to be eaten \nand multiply your seed and increase the fruits of your righteousness.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-leo-the-great-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251111
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251112
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251109T000317Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251109T000317Z
UID:14241-1762819200-1762905599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Martin of Tours
DESCRIPTION:ST MARTIN AND THE PAUPER \nBy St Sulpicius Severus \n◊◊◊ \nOne day\, at the gate of the city of Amiens\, Martin met a poor man who was \nnaked. Martin’s clothing was reduced to his armor and his simple military \ncloak. It was the middle of a winter which had been more severe than usual\, \nand\, indeed\, many had perished from the extreme cold. Those who had passed \nthat way had been begged by the pitiable pauper to have compassion on him\, \nbut all had gone by. Martin\, however\, filled with God’s grace\, saw that it was for \nhim\, when others had denied their mercy\, that the suppliant was being reserved. \nYet\, what should he do? \nHe had nothing except the cloak he was wearing; he had already devoted \nthe rest of his clothing to similar purposes. Then\, drawing the sword which he \nwas wearing\, he cut the cloak in two; one part he gave to the pauper; in the other \nhe again dressed himself. Meanwhile\, some of the bystanders began to laugh\, \nfor it was an inelegant figure Martin cut\, dressed in half a garment. Yet\, many\, \nof saner mind\, sighed deeply. When they\, who had more to give\, might have \nclothed the pauper with out making themselves naked\, they had done nothing of \nthe sort. \nWhen night had come and he was deep in sleep\, Martin beheld Christ\, \nclothed in that part of his own cloak with which he had covered the pauper. He \nwas bidden to look attentively upon the Lord and to recognize the garment he \nhad given. And soon\, to the throng of angels standing about\, he heard Jesus \nsaying in a clear voice: Martin\, still a catechumen\, has covered me with this \ncloak. \nThe Lord\, in declaring that it was He who had been clothed in the person \nof the pauper\, was truly mindful of His own words uttered long ago: As long as \nyou did it to one of these my least\, you did it to me. Further\, to strengthen the \nevidence of such a good deed\, he deigned to show Himself in the very garment \nthe pauper had received. \nThe blessed man was not puffed up with human pride because of this \nvision. Rather\, recognizing God’s goodness in his own act\, he was baptized \nwithout delay. He was then eighteen.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-martin-of-tours-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251112
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251113
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251109T000421Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251109T000421Z
UID:14244-1762905600-1762991999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:GLORIFY THE LORD \nFrom the Catechetical Lectures of St Cyril of Jerusalem \n◊◊◊ \n“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”; for in the \nthought of God\, let the thought of Father be included\, so that the glory we \nascribe to the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit may be perfectly free from \ndifference. For the Father has one glory and the Son another\, but their glory is \none and the same; since the Son is the Father’s sole-begotten\, and when the \nFather is glorified the Son shares in enjoyment of His glory… And whenever the \nSon is glorified the Father of so excellent a Son is greatly honored. \nNow the mind thinks with great rapidity\, but the tongue needs \nexpressions and a long outpouring of words before it reaches a conclusion. For \nin one instant\, the eye takes in a vast multitude of stars\, but if anyone should \nwant to discourse on any particular stars…he will need to say a good deal. Again \nin like manner the mind comprehends earth and sea and all the bounds of the \nworld in a flash\, but it takes many words to express what it understands in an \ninstant… \nWhat we say about God is not what should be said (for that is known only \nto Him) but only what human nature takes in\, and only what our infirmity can \nbear. For what we expound is not what God is… We have no sure knowledge \nabout Him… Our chief theological knowledge is confessing that we have none. \nTherefore\, “magnify the Lord with me\, and let us exalt His Name together”… \nNow if the heavens and all they contain cannot worthily sing the praises of \nGod\, how possibly can earth and ashes\, the least and slightest of existing things\, \nraise a worthy hymn to God\, “who holds in His hand the circle of the earth\, and \nconsiders the inhabitants of it as grasshoppers.” If anyone would attempt to \ndiscourse on God\, let them first expound what are the bounds of the earth. The \nearth is your dwelling\, and yet you do not know the extent of your dwellingplace\, \nearth! How then can you have any adequate thoughts of its Creator? \nBut someone will ask: If the divine Being is incomprehensible\, what is the \ngood of the things you have been saying? Come now\, am I not to take a \nreasonable drink because I cannot drink the river dry? Or supposing I were to go \ninto a huge garden where I could not possibly eat all the fruit on the trees\, would \nyou have me leave it still hungry? I praise and glorify our Maker\, seeing that “Let \neverything that breathes praise the Lord” is a divine command. I am now trying \nto glorify the Master\, not to expound His Nature\, for I know quite well that I \nshall fall far short even of glorifying Him as He deserves. Nevertheless I hold it \nto be a religious duty at least to make the attempt. For the Lord Jesus comforts \nme for my insufficiency by saying “No one has seen God at any time.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-364/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251113
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251114
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251109T000529Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251109T000529Z
UID:14246-1762992000-1763078399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - All Benedictine Saints
DESCRIPTION:THE COMMUNION OF THE SAINTS \nBy Baldwin of Ford \n◊◊◊ \nI believe\, O Lord\, in the Holy Spirit\, the holy catholic Church\, the \ncommunion of saints. Here is my hope\, here is my trust\, here is my confidence\, \nhere is my security -however small it may be- which I have in the confession of \nmy faith\, in the generosity of the Holy Spirit\, in the unity of the catholic Church\, \nin the communion of the saints. If it be granted me from above to love you and to \nlove my neighbour\, then even though my own merits are poor and meager\, I \nhave a hope which is above and beyond all my merits: I am sure that through the \ncommunion of charity the merits of the saints will profit me and that the \ncommunion of the saints can make good my own imperfection and \ninsufficiency. The prophet comforts me when he says\, “I have seen an end of all \nperfection\, but your commandment is exceeding broad.” \nO charity\, so broad and so extensive\, how great is the house of God\, how \nvast is the place of his possession! We need not be distressed in our heart; we \nneed not be confined by the boundaries and limits of our insignificant \nrighteousness. Charity extends our hope to the communion of the saints\, and we \ncan therefore share with them their merits and their rewards. But the sharing of \ntheir rewards is [reserved] for the time to come\, for it is the sharing of the glory \nwhich shall be revealed in us. \nThus there are three sorts of sharing\, [three forms of communion\, three \nways in which we have things in common]: the sharing of nature\, which is \nassociated with the sharing of sin and the sharing of wrath; then the sharing of \ngrace; and thirdly\, the sharing of glory. By the sharing of grace\, the sharing of \nnature begins to be restored and the sharing of sin is removed\, but by the \nsharing of glory\, the sharing of nature will be fully and perfectly restored and the \nsharing of wrath wholly removed. It is then that God shall wipe away all the \ntears from the eyes of the saints. It is then that all the saints will be as one heart \nand one soul\, and they will have all things in common when God will be all in all. \n[Our hope is] that we\, too\, may come in common to this communion and \ncome together as one [and therefore we pray that] the grace of our Lord Jesus \nChrist and the charity of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit may be with \nus all always.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-all-benedictine-saints-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251114
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251115
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251109T000635Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251109T000635Z
UID:14248-1763078400-1763164799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE TRUE CHRISTIAN \nFrom a treatise by St Augustine \n◊◊◊ \nLet us not flatter ourselves in the mere fact that we are called Christians; \nrather\, let us believe that we deserve to be judged if we assume a name to which \nwe have no claim. Or\, if there are any who are so unbelieving\, so unfaithful\, so \npersistent\, so obstinate\, so bold\, that they do not fear the imminent anger and \nindignation of God the judge\, let them at least feel abashed before human \njudgments. Let them realize how dull\, how foolish\, and how senseless they are \nconsidered even by other people\, since their vanity and madness are so great \nthat they take upon themselves a name to which they are not entitled. For\, who \nis so conceited and so pitiable that he would dare to establish himself as a lawyer \nif he is uneducated? Who is so mad and bereft of reason that he would proclaim \nhimself a soldier if he does not know how to use arms? One does not choose \nsuch a name without reason. \nTo be called a cobbler\, one must repair shoes; to be looked upon as an \nartisan or workman\, one must produce proof of one’s art; to be recognized as a \ntrader\, one exhibits costly objects originally purchased at a smaller price. From \nexamples of this sort we realize that there is no name without the corresponding \nact and\, furthermore\, that every name is derived from the antecedent act. Now\, \nthen\, are you called a Christian when you perform no distinctively Christian \nacts? \nThe name Christian connotes justice\, goodness\, integrity\, patience\, \nchastity\, prudence\, humility\, kindliness\, innocence and piety; how do you \ndefend your assumption of that name when your conduct manifests so few out \nof so many virtues? One is truly a Christian who is one not in name only but also \nin deed; who imitates and follows Christ in all respects; who is holy\, innocent\, \nundefiled\, chaste; in whose heart evil finds no room\, since this heart is \ndominated by piety and by a goodness which\, knowing only how to bring help to \nall\, knows not how to harm or injure anybody. \nWe are Christians when\, according to the example of Christ\, we are \naccustomed to do good to those who oppose us and to pray for our persecutors \nand our enemies rather than to hate them. Whoever is quick to hurt or harm \nanother person lies when he calls himself a Christian; we are truly Christians \nwhen we can say in all honesty: “I have harmed nobody; I have lived in justice \nwith all.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-365/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251115
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251116
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251109T000754Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251109T000754Z
UID:14250-1763164800-1763251199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Gethsemani Church
DESCRIPTION:THE DEDICATION OF OUR CHURCH \nFrom a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux \n◊◊◊ \nMy brethren\, we ought to observe today’s festivity all the more devoutly \nfor the reason that it is so peculiarly our own. All the other sacred solemnities \nwhich we keep are common to us with the faithful in general. But this is so \nproper to ourselves that if we do not keep it\, it will not be kept at all. It is our own \nfeast\, because it is the feast of the dedication of our own church. It is still more \nour own because it is the feast of our own selves. For what of sanctity can belong \nto these dead walls which cause them to be honored with a religious solemnity? \nThey are undoubtedly holy\, but it is because of your bodies. Will anyone \nquestion that your bodies are holy\, since they are “the temples of the Holy \nSpirit”? \nConsequently your souls are sanctified because of the spirit of God “Who \nis in you”\, your bodies are sanctified because of your souls\, and this house is \nsanctified also because of your bodies. The Psalmist prayed “Preserve my soul \nfor I am holy”. Truly “God is wonderful in His saints”\, not alone in His saints in \nheaven\, but also those on earth. For He has His saints in both places and shows \nHimself wonderful in them all\, beatifying those above\, consummating the \nsanctity of those below. \nAccordingly it is your own festival\, dearest brethren\, your very own\, that \nyou are celebrating today. You have been dedicated to the Lord and the Lord has \nchosen and adopted you as His own peculiar people. Oh\, how wisely you have \nacted…in renouncing all that you might have possessed in this world\, since by \ndoing so you have deserved to become the peculiar people of the world’s \nCreator\, and to have Him as your special possession\, for He is undoubtedly “the \nportion and inheritance” of His own! \nSee\, therefore\, if it is not right to observe as a festival the day on which the \nLord adopted us as His own and took formal possession of us through His \nministers\, thus accomplishing in fact what He had promised long ago\, saying\, “I \nin the midst of them shall be their God”\, while we should be “the people of His \npasture and the sheep of His hand”. For when this house was consecrated to the \nLord by the ministry of the Bishop\, it was manifestly for our sake it was done; \nnot only for the sake of those who were actually present then\, but also for the \nsake of all those who until the end of time shall serve God in this holy place. \nTherefore\, dearest brethren\, it is necessary that what has already been \naccomplished in the walls in a visible manner should be invisibly accomplished \nin ourselves.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-gethsemani-church-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251116
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251117
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251116T120922Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T120922Z
UID:14262-1763251200-1763337599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n33rd Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nNovember 16 – 22\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n16\nMon\n17\nTue\n18\nWed\n19\nThu\n20\nFri\n21\nSat\n22\n\n\nOffice\n33rd Sunday\nWeekday\nOffice for Vocations\nSt Mechtild\nWeekday\nPresentation of the BVM\nSt Cecilia\n\n\nVigils\nDaniel 8:1-14\nDaniel 8:15-27\nDaniel 9:1-19\nDaniel 9:20-27\nDaniel 10:1-11:1\nDaniel 11:2-20\nDaniel 11:21-45\n\n\nLauds\nZech 14:1-5\nZech 14:6-11\nZech 14:12-15\nZech 14:16-21\nMalachi 1:1-5\nMal 1:6-10\nMal 1:11-14\n\n\nMass\n159\n497\n498\n499\n500\n501\n502\n\n\n1st\nMal 3:19-20a\n1 Macc 1:10-15\, 41-43\, 54-57\, 62-63\n2 Macc 6:18-31\n2 Macc 7:1\, 20-31\n1 Macc 2:15-29\n1 Macc 4:36-37\, 52-59\n1 Macc 6:1-13\n\n\n2nd\n2 Thess 3:7-12\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 21:5-19\nLuke 18:35-43\nLuke 19:1-10\nLuke 19:11-28\nLuke 19:41-44\nLuke 19:45-48\nLuke 20:27-40\n\n\nVespers\n2 Pet 1:20-2:3\n2 Pet 2:4-10a\n2 Pet 2:10b-16\n2 Pet 2:17-22\n2 Pet 3:1-7\n2 Pet 3:8-13\n1 Cor 15:20-28
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-133/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251116
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251117
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251116T121232Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121232Z
UID:14264-1763251200-1763337599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 33rd Sunday
DESCRIPTION:BY PATIENT ENDURANCE \nFrom a commentary by Nilus of Ancyra \n◊◊◊ \nIn time of trial it is of great profit to us patiently to endure for God’s sake\, \nfor the Lord says: By patient endurance you will win life for yourselves. He did \nnot say by your fasting\, or your solitude or silence\, or your singing of psalms\, \nalthough all these are helpful in saving your soul. But he said: By patient \nendurance in every trial that overtakes you\, and in every affliction\, whether this \nbe insolent and contemptuous treatment\, or any kind of disgrace\, either small \nor great; whether it be bodily weakness\, or the belligerent attacks of Satan\, or \nany trial whatsoever caused either by other people or by evil spirits. \nBy patient endurance you will win life for yourselves\, although to this \nmust be added wholehearted thanksgiving and prayer\, and humility. For you \nmust be ready to bless and praise your benefactor\, God the Savior of the world\, \nwho disposes all things\, good or otherwise\, for your benefit. \nThe apostle writes: With patient endurance we run the race of faith set \nbefore us. For what has more power than virtue? What more firmness or \nstrength than patient endurance? Endurance\, that is\, for God’s sake. This is the \nqueen of virtues\, the foundation of virtue\, a haven of tranquility. It is peace in \ntime of war\, calm in rough waters\, safety amidst treachery and danger. It makes \nthose who practice it stronger than steel. No weapons or brandished bows\, no \nturbulent troops or advancing seige engines\, no flying spears or arrows can \nshake it. Not even the host of evil spirits\, nor the dark array of hostile powers\, \nnor the devil himself standing by with all his armies and devices will have power \nto injure the man or woman who has acquired this virtue through Christ.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-33rd-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251117
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251118
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251116T121421Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121421Z
UID:14266-1763337600-1763423999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE INNER SELF \nFrom the writing of Thomas Merton \n◊◊◊ \nThe inner self is not a part of our being\, like a motor in a car. It is our \nentire substantial reality itself\, on its highest and most personal and most \nexistential level. It is like life\, and it is life: it is our spiritual life when it is most \nalive. It is the life by which everything else in us lives and moves.. If it is \nawakened\, it communicates a new life to the intelligence in which it lives\, so that \nit becomes a living awareness of itself: and this awareness is not so much \nsomething that we ourselves have as something that we are… \nThe inner self is as secret as God\, and like Him\, it evades every concept \nthat tries to seize hold of it with full possession. It is a life that cannot be held \nand studied as an object\, because it is not a “thing.” It is not reached and coaxed \nforth from hiding by any process under the sun\, including meditation. All we \ncan do with any spiritual discipline is produce within ourselves something of the \nsilence\, the humility\, the detachment\, the purity of heart\, and the indifference \nwhich are required if the inner self is to make some shy\, unpredictable \nmanifestation of his presence. \nAt the same time\, however\, every deeply spiritual experience\, whether \nreligious or moral\, or even artistic\, tends to have in it something of the presence \nof the interior self. Only from the inner self does any spiritual experience gain \ndepth\, reality\, and a certain in communicability. But the depth of ordinary \nexperience only gives us a derivative sense of the inner self. It reminds us of the \nforgotten levels of interiority in our spiritual nature\, and of our helplessness to \nexplore them. \nFrom THE INNER EXPERIENCE quoted by William Shannon in his book: Thomas Merton’s Dark Path\, Farrar- \nStraus-Giroux N.Y.\, 1987\, pp. 116-117. \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-366/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251118
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251119
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251116T121529Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121529Z
UID:14268-1763424000-1763510399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:FOR THE GOOD OF ALL \nBy Henri Le Saux \n◊◊◊ \nVocations are as diverse as temperaments are diverse. More simply\, we \ncould say that certain temperaments are more predisposed to the solitary life \nand others to life in the world. Among the great vocations there are the Sages \nand there are the Prophets. There are those whom the Holy Spirit compels them \nto withdraw within themselves and to meditate night and day on the Law of the \nLord\, like the inspired scribes of Israel and those first hermits of Mount Carmel. \nAnd there are those who are called to proclaim the Word of God to others. \nIn the world we must have people who testify that God is beyond all \nsymbol\, people who witness to the absolute. We must have people who\, in the \nname of the world\, place the world at the center and who live in this center \nwhere God dwells. We needed some of them even in the Church to ward off \npragmatism which constantly threatens it\, even under the finest outward \nappearances of pastoral and missionary zeal. We need people who take literally \nthe call of Christ to poverty\, to freedom from concern about the morrow\, to \nindifference to all but the one essential thing. We are so made that it is only in \nfellowship\, in collaboration and in one person complementing the qualities of \nanother\, that we are completely capable of putting the Gospel into effect. \nIndeed\, alongside the people who witness to the immutability of God\, \nthere must be people who witness to his activity. Alongside the people who \nwitness to his transcendence\, there must be those who witness to his \nimmanence. There must be people who enter with all their abilities into the \nDivine plan for the development of the universe and for the growth of the \nmystical body of the Lord. God did not intend everything in universe to be made \nall at once. He chose to have his creation – and above all\, humanity – working \nwith him. It is through secondary causes that God leads the world to find its \nconsummation. \nAt the human level\, this collaboration becomes freedom. At the same \ntime it becomes understanding. This means that we are called to use our \nintelligence to discover how best to improve the conditions of human life. We \nare responsible and intelligent collaborators in the work of creating and of \nruling the world. We cannot refuse to take part in it without refusing God \nhimself. That is inscribed in our human birth and in the condition of \ncommunion (or koinonia)\, which is the condition of our existence\, human as \nwell as Christian. \nHowever\, not everyone is called to collaborate in the same way. There are \nkings and there are farmers; there are doctors and there are merchants. The \nimportant point is that each one\, wherever God has placed them\, should always \nwork for the good of all. Selfishness is not only the act of someone who may \nwithdraw to the desert out of laziness or cowardice. It is no less present in the \none who has chosen to live in the world\, but who uses the world for their own \nexclusive gain. Every vocation is a service\, both in the church and in the world. \nEach of us is at the service of each other.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-25/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251119
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251120
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251116T121648Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121648Z
UID:14270-1763510400-1763596799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Mechtild
DESCRIPTION:OUR SERVICE OF GOD \nAn excerpt from “The Book of Special Grace” by St Mechthild of Hackeborn \n◊◊◊ \nIf any obstacle arises in our service of God\, whether from the attitude of \nothers\, from external circumstances\, from our own desires\, memories\, or from \nany other cause – whatever the impediment\, we should take it as a messenger \nfrom God\, sending it back to Him\, so to speak\, with praise and thanksgiving. \nThree things very pleasing to God are: first\, never to abandon one’s \nneighbors in their needs\, and to excuse their shortcomings and sins as much as \npossible; second\, in tribulation to seek refuge only in God\, abandoning to Him \nalone all that disquiets the heart; third\, to walk with Him in truth. \nWhen it is time to eat or to sleep\, say in your heart: “Lord\, in union with \nthe love with which you created this useful thing for me\, and yourself made us of \nit when you were on earth\, I take it for your eternal praise and for my bodily \nneed.” The Blessed Virgin tells us: “if you wish to be truly holy\, stay close to my \nSon; he is holiness itself\, making all things holy.” \nWe should be lovingly grateful not only for the spiritual blessings God \ngives us\, but for all bodily necessities\, such as food and clothing\, receiving them \nwith a sincerely thankful heart and considering ourselves unworthy of them. \nWe should also thank God for everything that he has given to his Mother and to \nthe angels. \nWorks which give no human satisfaction may nevertheless be very \npleasing to God. What best pleases God in members of religious orders is purity \nof heart\, holy desires\, gentle kindness in conversation\, and works of charity. \nWhen you are alone\, raise your heart constantly to God\, speak with him and \ndirect all your desire to him with great intensity. You can never be in so large a \ncrowd that you are not alone with him. \nWhen those who receive from the Lord the gift of a fine orchard\, they \ncannot taste the fruit until it is ripe. Likewise\, when one receives a special grace\, \nany interior joy is not experienced until by the practice of mortification one has \nbroken the hard rind of earthly pleasure.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-mechtild/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251120
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251121
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251116T121758Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121758Z
UID:14272-1763596800-1763683199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE ONE BODY OF CHRIST \nFrom a commentary by Origen \n◊◊◊ \nThe temple and the body of Jesus\, seem to me…to be a type of the church \nsignifying that it is built of living stones\, a spiritual house for a holy priesthood… \nThe temple will be rebuilt and the body will rise again on the third day\, after the \nday of evil which threatens it and the day of consummation which comes after. \nFor the third day will rise on the new heaven and the new earth when these \nbones – the whole house of Israel – will rise again on the great day of the Lord\, \nvictorious over death. \nThus it is that the already completed resurrection of Christ\, including his \nsufferings on the cross\, contains the mystery of the resurrection of the whole \nbody of Christ. But as that physical body of Jesus was crucified and buried and \nthen raised up\, so the whole body of Christ’s saints is crucified with Christ and \nnow lives no longer…For Scripture says: All my bones are scattered. \nBut when the actual resurrection of the true and more perfect body of \nChrist takes place\, then those who are now the members of Christ\, (for they will \nthen be dry bones) will be brought together\, bone to bone\, and fitting to fitting\, \nto the measure of the stature of the fullness of the body of Christ. Then the many \nmembers will be the one body\, all the members of the body\, though they are \nmany\, becoming one body. But the distinction between foot and hand and eye \nand ear and nose\, which in one sense fills out the head and in another sense \nrepresents the feet and the rest of the members\, the weaker and the humbler\, \nthe less honorable and the more honorable – this distinction is for God alone to \nmake who will put together the body and\, more than he does now\, will give the \ngreater honor to the inferior part\, that there may be no discord in the body\, \nbut that the members may have the same care for one another\, and if one \nmember suffers\, all suffer together; if one member is honored\, all rejoice \ntogether.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-367/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251121
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251122
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251116T121940Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121940Z
UID:14274-1763683200-1763769599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Presentation of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:THE VIRGIN AND THE TEMPLE \nFrom the writing of Fr Yves Congar6 \n◊◊◊ \nThe only occasion on which the Gospels expressly mention the Virgin \nMary in connection with the Temple are in the account of her Purification and of \nthe Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the finding of the child Jesus in the \nTemple after four days’ absence on his part and three anxious searching by his \nparents. To these very brief indications\, the piety of Christians very soon added \nthe idea of the presentation of Mary in the Temple at the age of three to be \nconsecrated to the service of God. We are dealing here with a symbolical \nrepresentation of a profound spiritual reality about which the tradition and the \ndoctrine of the Church provide us with valid information. \nMary\, predestined to be the Mother of Jesus\, true God and true man\, and \nto be worthy of her vocation\, was prepared by the gift of exceptional graces and \nlived with unfailing fidelity a most pure life of inner consecration to the God of \nAbraham\, Isaac and Jacob. As the type of all faithful souls and of the Church \nherself\, Mary expressed spiritually and supremely in her life the “presentation” \nwhich\, for each one of us\, is to begin by the service of faith and to be \nconsummated in heaven. \nIt is obvious that the tradition and doctrine of the Church may\, without \nfalling prey to the imaginary productions of the apocrypha\, propound \nstatements concerning the status of the Mother of God in relation either to the \nJewish messianic temple going far beyond what we are explicitly told in the \nthree short passages from the Gospel which narrate the incidents mentioned \nabove. \nIf Mary is the Mother of God\, she has a special relation to the body of \nChrist which is the true temple – to his physical body and doubtless also\, in a \ncertain sense\, to his body the Church. She is herself a temple of God in a quite \nspecific and sublime way\, both because Christ was within her from the moment \nof his conception until that of his birth\, and because of the exceptional spiritual \ngifts she received in preparation for her divine motherhood and as a reward for \nher free acceptance of this vocation\, not only after the Annunciation but during \nthe whole of her life. Hence the liturgy – the Oriental liturgy in particular – \nshows a profound understanding of the mystery of Mary when it constantly uses \nthe texts concerning the Temple and the tabernacle in order to express it. \n6 The Mystery of the Temple\, Westminster(Maryland) 1962\, p.254-255.11
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-presentation-of-the-bvm-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251122
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251123
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251116T122310Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T122310Z
UID:14276-1763769600-1763855999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Cecilia
DESCRIPTION:THE VIRGINITY OF \nST CECILIA \nFrom a homily by Fr Ronald Knox \n◊◊◊ \nThe legends of the early Roman saints\, among whom St Cecilia is \nnumbered\, do not always command great attention from the critically minded \nhistorian. But whether the story of St Cecilia as it is told in her acts is all true or \nonly partly true\, there is a simplicity about the whole story and a simplicity \nabout St Cecilia’s character in the story which demands a retelling. \nLet me remind you in the most general way of her story: how she was \nmarried to a young pagan called Valerian\, but persuaded him to respect her vow \nof virginity\, because her guardian angel would make him sorry for it if he did \notherwise; how Valerian wanted to see this guardian angel\, but Cecilia\, with her \ninnocent craft\, said he could not do that unless he was baptized first; how he was \nbaptized\, and saw the angel at her side as she prayed; how he made a convert of \nhis brother Tiburtius\, and how first the two brothers\, and then Cecilia herself \nwere punished with death for professing the Christian religion. It is an old story\, \nand a familiar one: and while we do all homage to other great saints for their \npublic witness to Christ\, we shall always need St Cecilia as well\, quietly working \nat home for the conversion of her own husband and his family. \nNot that St Cecilia herself was in the position of a modern wife. Like so \nmany Christian ladies of her time\, she had taken\, in imitation of our blessed \nLady\, a vow of perpetual virginity. These virgin martyrs were martyrs because \nthey were virgins: it was because they insisted on keeping their vow when their \nparents wished them to marry that the secret of their attachment to the \nChristian faith was discovered; and it was their persistency in maintaining it \nthat led to their martyrdom. \nIt would be hard to estimate…how much the unpopularity in Roman \nsociety of the Christian faith owed to its tradition of virginity. Virginity is an \nideal which the pagan had no right to misunderstand. For\, in theory\, they\, too\, \nhonored it; and it should have commended itself to their heathen instinct for \nsacrifice. For the point of a sacrifice is that the victim should be spotless\, the \nbest of its kind. You must offer not what you can well afford to spare\, but what \nwill cost you something. That is the pagan idea of sacrifice; and the Christian \nidea of sacrifice is based on the same principle. In order to give up something to \nGod\, we forgo\, not the sinful pleasures which we have no right to in any case\, but \nthe lawful pleasures which he has given us to enjoy if we will. \nSo\, let St Cecilia’s feast remind us to take our Christian vocation seriously\, \nto follow out in our lives the words we profess with our lips. And may this \nRoman maiden pray for us who worship here and for those who minister to us\, \nthat when Christ\, the Master she served\, comes again in judgment\, we may be \nfound blameless before almighty God.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-cecilia-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251123
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251124
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251122T143440Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251122T143440Z
UID:14278-1763856000-1763942399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n34th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nNovember 23 – 29\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n23\nMon\n24\nTue\n25\nWed\n26\nThu\n27\nFri\n28\nSat\n29\n\n\nOffice\nChrist the King\nSt Andrew Dung-Lac & Companions\nSt Catherine of Alexandria\nWeekday\nWeekday \nThanksgiving\nWeekday\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nIsa 33:2-22\nDaniel 12:1-13\nDaniel 13:1-33\nDaniel 13:34-64\nDeut 26:1-19\nDaniel 14:1-22\nDaniel 14:23-42\n\n\nLauds\nJerm 23:1-6\nMal 2:1-9\nMal 2:10-16\nMal 2:17-3:4\nJoel 2:21-27\nMal 3:6-12\nMal 3:13-21\n\n\nMass\n162\n503\n504\n505\n943.3\, 944.3\, 947.6\n507\n508\n\n\n1st\n2 Sam 5:1-3\nDan 1:1-6\, 8-20\nDan 2:31-45\nDan 5:1-6\, 13-14\, 16-17\, 23-28\nIsa 63:7-9\nDan 7:2-14\nDan 7:15-27\n\n\n2nd\nCol 1:12-20\n\n\n\nCol 3:12-17\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 23:35-43\nLuke 21:1-4\nLuke 21:5-11\nLuke 21:12-19\nLuke 17:11-19\nLuke 21:29-33\nLuke 21:34-36\n\n\nVespers\nRev 19:11-16\n2 John 1-6\n2 John 7-13\n3 John 1-8\n\n3 John 9-15\nRev 1:1-8
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-134/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251123
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251124
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251122T143653Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251122T143653Z
UID:14280-1763856000-1763942399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Christ the King
DESCRIPTION:IN THE STEPS \nOF THE MARTYRS \nFrom a homily by St Augustine \n◊◊◊ \nLet us not imagine that in keeping the feast of the Martyrs with great \nsolemnity\, we are benefiting them. They who are in the joy of heaven with the \nangels have no need of our honors and if they rejoice with us\, it is at being \nimitated\, not at being honored. However\, though this veneration does not \nbenefit them\, it is useful for us: but to honor them without imitating them\, \nwould be lying flattery. If then these solemnities have been instituted in the \nChurch of Christ\, it is only to unite all the members of Christ and to enlist them \nas followers in the steps of the martyrs of Christ. Such is the fruit of today’s \nfestival; there is no question of any other. \nWhen\, in fact\, we propose God himself as our example\, human weakness \nreadily answers that it is above its power to imitate him to whom it cannot be \ncompared. In that case Jesus Christ our Lord will be proposed to it as model \nwho\, being God\, clothed himself in mortal flesh in order the better to persuade \nus also clothed in this same flesh\, adding word to example; Christ\, it is written\, \n“suffered for our sake\, and left you his own example; you were to follow in his \nfootsteps”. \nYet will not frail humanity reply again: “What comparison is there \nbetween me and Christ? He was one of us\, but he was God. He took flesh\, but \nwithout ceasing to be the Word\, assuming a new nature without losing that \nwhich was proper to him. For\, as St Paul says\, “God was in Christ\, reconciling \nthe world to himself”. Once again\, how can I compare myself with Christ? \nTherefore\, to remove all pretext from the faithlessness of the weak\, the \nMartyrs have made a broad way for us. It was necessary that the foundation \nshould be solid as stone\, in order that our footsteps should be steady: they have \ncemented it with their blood and their testimony\, and finally\, reckoning nothing \nof their bodies\, they have thrown them under the feet of Christ as he advances to \nthe conquest of the heathen\, as\, On Palm Sunday\, the people threw their \ngarments under the feet of the ass on which he rode. Who would be ashamed to \nsay: “I am inferior to God”? I grant you are very much so. “I am inferior to \nChrist”? Yes\, certainly\, and even to his humanity. \nBut Peter was what you are; so was Paul\, and the Apostles and Prophets \nwere all what you are yourself. If the example of our Lord alarms you\, at least \nimitate those who are like you his servant. They go before you in dense crowds: \nno more excuse for your lukewarmness. Will you say to me again: “I am very far \nfrom Peter and Paul”? Are you then also far from truth? There where the \nilliterate receive the crown\, there is no excuse for vanity. Are you less than \nchildren? \nWatch then…that in celebrating the sufferings of the Martyrs you fill \nyourself with the desire to imitate them. They knew that they must choose a \ngood cause if their work was to be made fruitful. They remembered that not \nonly had our Lord said: “Blessed are the persecuted”\, but: “blessed are those \nwho suffer persecution in the cause of right”. Choose yourselves the good cause\, \nand do not be disturbed by what you suffer in so doing.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-christ-the-king/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251124
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251125
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251122T143827Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251122T143827Z
UID:14282-1763942400-1764028799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Andrew Dung-Lac & Companions
DESCRIPTION:IN THE STEPS \nOF THE MARTYRS \nFrom a homily by St Augustine \n◊◊◊ \nLet us not imagine that in keeping the feast of the Martyrs with great \nsolemnity\, we are benefiting them. They who are in the joy of heaven with the \nangels have no need of our honors and if they rejoice with us\, it is at being \nimitated\, not at being honored. However\, though this veneration does not \nbenefit them\, it is useful for us: but to honor them without imitating them\, \nwould be lying flattery. If then these solemnities have been instituted in the \nChurch of Christ\, it is only to unite all the members of Christ and to enlist them \nas followers in the steps of the martyrs of Christ. Such is the fruit of today’s \nfestival; there is no question of any other. \nWhen\, in fact\, we propose God himself as our example\, human weakness \nreadily answers that it is above its power to imitate him to whom it cannot be \ncompared. In that case Jesus Christ our Lord will be proposed to it as model \nwho\, being God\, clothed himself in mortal flesh in order the better to persuade \nus also clothed in this same flesh\, adding word to example; Christ\, it is written\, \n“suffered for our sake\, and left you his own example; you were to follow in his \nfootsteps”. \nYet will not frail humanity reply again: “What comparison is there \nbetween me and Christ? He was one of us\, but he was God. He took flesh\, but \nwithout ceasing to be the Word\, assuming a new nature without losing that \nwhich was proper to him. For\, as St Paul says\, “God was in Christ\, reconciling \nthe world to himself”. Once again\, how can I compare myself with Christ? \n2 Sermon 325. Trans.\, Lectionary and Martyrology\, ed. Encalcat Abbey\, 1956\, 509-510.5 \nTherefore\, to remove all pretext from the faithlessness of the weak\, the \nMartyrs have made a broad way for us. It was necessary that the foundation \nshould be solid as stone\, in order that our footsteps should be steady: they have \ncemented it with their blood and their testimony\, and finally\, reckoning nothing \nof their bodies\, they have thrown them under the feet of Christ as he advances to \nthe conquest of the heathen\, as\, On Palm Sunday\, the people threw their \ngarments under the feet of the ass on which he rode. Who would be ashamed to \nsay: “I am inferior to God”? I grant you are very much so. “I am inferior to \nChrist”? Yes\, certainly\, and even to his humanity. \nBut Peter was what you are; so was Paul\, and the Apostles and Prophets \nwere all what you are yourself. If the example of our Lord alarms you\, at least \nimitate those who are like you his servant. They go before you in dense crowds: \nno more excuse for your lukewarmness. Will you say to me again: “I am very far \nfrom Peter and Paul”? Are you then also far from truth? There where the \nilliterate receive the crown\, there is no excuse for vanity. Are you less than \nchildren? \nWatch then…that in celebrating the sufferings of the Martyrs you fill \nyourself with the desire to imitate them. They knew that they must choose a \ngood cause if their work was to be made fruitful. They remembered that not \nonly had our Lord said: “Blessed are the persecuted”\, but: “blessed are those \nwho suffer persecution in the cause of right”. Choose yourselves the good cause\, \nand do not be disturbed by what you suffer in so doing.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-andrew-dung-lac-companions/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251125
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251126
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251122T143928Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251122T143928Z
UID:14284-1764028800-1764115199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Catherine of Alexandria
DESCRIPTION:ST CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints \n◊◊◊ \nSince about the tenth century\, veneration of St Catherine of Alexandria \nhas been marked in the East\, but from the time of the Crusades until the 18th \ncentury her popularity was even greater in the West. Numerous churches were \ndedicated in her honor\, including the parish church of Gethsemani Abbey at \nNew Haven\, KY. She was venerated as patroness of maidens and women \nstudents of philosophers\, preachers and apologists. Adam of St Victor wrote a \npoem in her honor; hers was one of the heavenly voices heard by St Joan of Arc. \nBut not a single fact about her life or death has been established. \nIt is said in her Acts that she belonged to a patrician family of Alexandria \nand devoted herself to learned studies\, in the course of which she learned about \nChristianity. She was converted by a vision of Our Lady and the Holy Child. \nWhen Maxentius began persecuting Christians\, Catherine went to him and \nrebuked him for his tyranny. He could not answer her arguments against his \ngods\, so summoned fifty philosophers to oppose her. These confessed \nthemselves convinced by the learning of this Christian girl\, and were therefore \nburned to death by the infuriated emperor. \nThen he tried to seduce Catherine with an offer of a consort’s crown\, and \nwent off to inspect a camp. On his return he discovered that his wife and an \nofficer had gone to see Catherine out of curiosity and had both been converted\, \ntogether with two hundred soldiers of the guard. They accordingly were all slain \nand Catherine was sentenced to be killed on a spiked wheel. When she was \nplaced on it\, her bonds were miraculously loosed and the wheel broke\, its spikes \nflying off and killing many of the onlookers. Then she was beheaded. \nAll the texts of the “acts” of Catherine state that her body was carried by \nangels to Mount Sinai\, where a church and monastery were afterwards built. In \n527 the Emperor Justinian built a monastery for hermits of the place\, and the \nbody of Catherine was said to have been taken there in the 8th or 9th century. \nThe monastery has borne her name since then. \nThe great monastery of Mount Sinai still claim the alleged relics of St \nCatherine\, in the care of the monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church. \nArchbishop Falconio of Santa Severina said that the meaning of the “angels” is \nthat her body was carried by the monks of Sinai to their monastery. Tradition \nhas referred to the monastic life as “the angelic life”. This is still a current \nexpression in Eastern monasticism.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-catherine-of-alexandria-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251126
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251127
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251122T144033Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251122T144033Z
UID:14286-1764115200-1764201599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:OF TOMBS AND GARDENS \nFrom the writing of Blessed Guerric of Igny \n◊◊◊ \nWhose voice is fittingly heard in the assembly of brethren and friends\, \nthat is\, in the Church of the saints\, the Bridegroom himself indicates when he \nsays: “You who dwell in the gardens\, friends are listening; let me hear your \nvoice.” \nIt is not I to whom this should be said; I am not one who dwells in gardens \n—I seem to myself rather to be of those who dwell in tombs. For what are the \nbodies of sinners but tombs of the dead. Therefore they who are devoted to their \nbodies dwell not in gardens\, but in tombs and exasperate God until he who leads \nforth prisoners in strength cries with a loud voice: “Lazarus\, come forth”; and he \ngives his disciples the command: “Loose him and let him go free.” \nTo be sure there is a great difference between tombs and gardens. The \nformer are full of every filth and of dead men’s bones\, the latter are full of \nflowers or fruits in all their sweetness and grace. What if tombs are sometimes \nseen in gardens – for the Lord was buried in a garden? \nIf there are tombs in a garden surely there are not gardens in tombs. Yet \nperhaps there are\, but in the tombs of the just. There indeed a certain most \nagreeable pleasantness which belongs to gardens will flourish as in spring\, the \nspringtime\, that is\, of their resurrection when their flesh will blossom again. \nNot only the bones of the just man will sprout like grass\, but also the whole of the \njust man will sprout like a lily and bloom forever before the Lord. \nNot so the godless\, not so. They are buried with the burial of an ass. \nWithout any hope of a better resurrection\, they are subject to corruption\, as a \nforetaste of their future fate. Concerning their tombs I had begun to say that as \ngreat as is the difference between their filth and the beauty of gardens in flower\, \nincomparably greater is the difference between the delight of spiritual men and \nthe pleasure of carnal joys. \nIt is you then\, if I am not mistaken\, who dwell in gardens\, you who \nmeditate on the law of the Lord day and night” and walk about in as many \ngardens as you read books\, pick as many apples as you select fine thoughts. And \nblessed are you for whom all the apples\, both old and new\, are kept\, that is\, for \nwhom the words of the prophets\, evangelists and Apostles are laid up\, so that to \neach of you those words of the Bride to the Bridegroom seem to be said: “All the \napples\, new and old\, my Beloved\, I have kept for you.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-368/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251127
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251128
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251122T144210Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251122T144210Z
UID:14288-1764201600-1764287999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Thanksgiving
DESCRIPTION:THE FULLNESS \nOF THANKSGIVING \nBy Xavier Léon-Dufour \n◊◊◊ \nThe first reality of biblical history is the gift of God\, gratuitous\, \nsuperabundant\, without return. The encounter with God does not put human \nbeings simply in the presence of the absolute; it completes them and transforms \ntheir lives. Thanksgiving appears as the response to this progressive and \ncontinual grace which one day should blossom in Christ. At the same time there \nis an intense awareness of the gifts of God\, a spirit of soul permeated with \nwonder because of God’s generosity\, a joyous recognition before the divine \ngreatness; thus thanksgiving is essential in the Bible because it is a fundamental \nreligious reaction of creatures when they discover\, in a tremor of joy and \nveneration\, something of God’s greatness and glory… \nAt the time of the New Covenant thanksgiving truly breaks forth\, \nbecoming present everywhere in the prayer and the life of the Christians as it \nhad never existed before among the just of the past. Biblical thanksgiving is \ntruly and essentially Christian. It is not exclusively Christian\, however\, to the \nextent that\, as was written in the Old Testament\, “Israelites praise without \ngiving thanks.” If the Old Testament does not yet know the fullness of \nthanksgiving\, it is because it has not yet tasted the fullness of grace. \nIf praise\, more spontaneous\, more exteriorized\, holds therein perhaps a \ngreater place than thanksgiving properly so called\, more reflective\, more \nattentive to God’s actions and self revelation\, it is because the most holy God is \nrevealed only progressively\, unveiling little by little the amplitude of the action \nand the depth of the gifts of God. \nBecause it is the revelation and the gift of perfect grace\, in the person of \nthe Lord\, it is also the revelation of the perfect thanksgiving rendered to the \nFather in the Holy Spirit. The supreme act of the Lord is thanksgiving; the \nsacrifice which Jesus made of His life in consecrating it to the Father in order \nthat He may sanctify His own is our Eucharist. At the last supper and on the \ncross\, Jesus reveals the drive of all His life and that of His death: thanksgiving \nfrom the heart of the Son. \nThe passion and death of Jesus were necessary that He might fully glorify \nthe Father\, but all His life was an incessant thanksgiving\, which sometimes was \nmade explicit and solemn\, to draw all to believe and return thanks to God with \nJesus. The essential object of this thanksgiving is the work of God\, the \nMessianic realization\, notably manifested by miracles\, the gift of His word \nwhich God has made to everyone. \nThe gift of the Eucharist to the church expresses an essential truth: only \nJesus Christ is our thanksgiving\, just as He alone is our praise. It is He first of all \nwho gives thanks to the Father\, and Christians afterwards in Him. In Christian \nthanksgiving\, Christ is the sole model and sole mediator. In the heavenly \nJerusalem\, with the Messianic work fulfilled\, thanksgiving becomes pure praise \nof glory\, dazzling contemplation of God and the eternal marvels.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-thanksgiving-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251128
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251129
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251122T144317Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251122T144317Z
UID:14290-1764288000-1764374399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE GENTLENESS OF CHARITY \nFrom “The Mirror of Charity” by St Aelred of Rievaulx \n◊◊◊ \nLet anyone who finds it pleasant to enjoy his friend see to it that he enjoy \nhim in the Lord\, not in the world or in pleasure of the flesh\, but in joyfulness of \nspirit. But\, you ask\, what does it mean to enjoy ‘in the Lord’? About the Lord\, the \napostle Paul said: By God he has been made for us wisdom\, sanctification\, and \njustice. Since the Lord is wisdom\, sanctification\, and justice\, to find enjoyment \nin the Lord is to find enjoyment in wisdom\, sanctification\, and justice. By \nwisdom worldly vanity is banished\, by sanctification the vileness of the flesh is \nforsworn\, and by justice all flattery and fawning are checked. \nThen it is charity\, if it comes\, as the apostle says\, from a pure heart\, a clear \nconscience\, and unfeigned faith. A pure heart accepts wisdom\, modesty calms \nthe conscience and unfeigned faith adorns justice. There are those who take \nenjoyment in vain and ludicrous things\, in worldly pomp and mundane \nspectacles\, in the pursuit of vanity\, and in reveling in falsehood. They do not \nenjoy themselves in wisdom\, nor in him who is the strength of God and the \nwisdom of God. Others\, although not worse\, are certainly more vile. In them \nthere is almost nothing human. Obscene depravity has transformed them into \nbeasts who find enjoyment in self-indulgent banqueting and impure desires. \nSince they do not enjoy themselves in the sanctification which consists of the \ngentleness of charity\, they do not\, of course\, enjoy the Lord who was made our \nsanctification by God. \nThere are others who take enjoyment in flattery\, patting each other on the \nback and conniving with each other. While taking care not to offend one \nanother\, they incur each other’s ruin because they do not enjoy themselves in \nthe liberty of justice or in the Lord. \nIf our mutual exchange of words is delightful\, let our talk therefore be \nabout our habits and about Scripture. Let us now grieve together over the \nmiseries of the world\, now rejoice together in the hope of future happiness. Let \nus now refresh one another by confiding our mutual secrets\, now long together \nfor the blessed vision of Jesus\, and for heavenly well-being. \nIf we relax our tense spirits with some pleasant and less lofty subjects\, as \nis sometimes useful\, let these moments of relaxation be filled with rectitude and \nfree of frivolity. Although these subjects may not be weighty\, let them never lack \nconstructiveness. Let us enjoy one another in sanctification\, so that each may \nknow how to possess his vessel—that is to say\, his own body—in sanctification \nand honor\, and not in the passion of desire. Let us take enjoyment in justice\, so \nwe may mutually encourage one another in the spirit of freedom. Let us correct \none another\, knowing that wounds from a friend are better than an enemy’s \ndeceitful kisses.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-369/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251129
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251130
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251122T144426Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251122T144426Z
UID:14292-1764374400-1764460799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
DESCRIPTION:MAIDEN AND MOTHER \nFrom “The Son’s Course” by Gerald Vann \n◊◊◊ \nIn the Church’s devotion to Mary great emphasis is laid on the fact that in \nher motherhood she yet remained a maiden as well; and we shall miss all the \nrichness of the mystery if we think of this insistence as being purely or even \nprimarily concerned with physical conditions. Motherhood produces \nfundamental psychological changes in a woman: it means the loss of some \nqualities and the acquisition of others\, a different mentality\, a different outlook. \nThe mother has known the deep experience of love and joy\, of pain and danger \nand sorrow: we think of her as the symbol of wisdom because she has known in \nher own body the mysteries of good and evil. \nThe girl on the other hand is the symbol of opposite qualities: of a \nfreshness and spontaneity and purity of heart which comes precisely from \ninexperience\, knowing that reality can be ugly\, not yet made wise through \nlessons of sorrow: her courage\, her strength\, her wisdom\, her joy\, are from other \nsources. In Mary alone\, the Maiden-Mother\, these opposite sets of qualities co- \nexist; it is this that gives her personality a richness which is unique; and it is \nbecause of this richness that she can teach us so much. \nMary’s life then is a song at once of innocence and of experience; and as \nthis double richness means a double fear so it means also a double love; and the \nlove in its turn produces a double wisdom\, a double trust\, and therefore a double \ncourage. Mary pondered all these things in her heart: it is her song of \nexperience\, and the source of her wisdom. She knew how He-that-is-mighty \nhad done great things in her; she knew the overshadowing power of the Most \nHigh; she knew the gradually unfolding self-revelation of her Son; and knowing \nthese things she could sense of the resurrection through the cross\, the joy \nthrough the pain\, the triumph through failure; and so she could find the courage \nto meet the sword. \nBehold the handmaid of the Lord: there\, on the other hand\, is her song of \ninnocence: whatever may come it will be well because it is his will\, because he is \nLove: hers are eyes too that can look out untroubled on a future which is veiled\, \nsimply because she has implicit trust in the God she loves\, even before the trust \nhas been justified by experience; and as the mother can say\, I can do all things \nin him who has strengthened me\, so the girl can say\, I can do all things in him \nwho will strengthen me.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-bvm-20/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251130
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251201
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251129T230231Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251129T230231Z
UID:14305-1764460800-1764547199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema\, 1st Week of Advent
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n1st Week of Advent\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (II)\nNovember 30\, – December 6\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n30\nMon\n1\nTue\n2\nWed\n3\nThu\n4\nFri\n5\nSat\n6\n\n\nOffice\n1st Sunday of Advent\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nSt Francis Xavier\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\n\n\nVigils\nIsa 6:1-13\nIsa 7:1-17\nIsa 8:1-18\nIsa 9:7-20\nIsa 10:5-21\nIsa 11:1-16\nIsa 13:1-22\n\n\nLauds\nMicah 7:14-20\nIsa 1:10-18\nIsa 1:21-27\nIsa 2:6-11\nIsa 2:12-21\nIsa 3:8-15\nIsa 5:1-7\n\n\nMass\n1\n175\n176\n177\n178\n179\n180\n\n\n1st\nIsa 2:1-5\nIsa 4:2-6)\nIsa 11:1-10\nIsa 25:6-10a\nIsa 26:1-6\nIsa 29:17-24\nIsa 30:19-21\, 23-26\n\n\n2nd\nRom 13:11-14\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 24:37-44\nMatt 8:5-11\nLuke 10:21-24\nMatt 15:29-37\nMatt 7:21\, 24-27\nMatt 9:27-31\nMatt 9:35-10:1\, 5a\, 6-8\n\n\nVespers\nRev 22:12-21\nRom 1:1-12\nRom 1:13-17\nRom 2:1-11\nRom 2:12-16\nRom 2:17-24\nRom 3:21-26
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-1st-week-of-advent/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251130
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251201
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251129T231247Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251129T231247Z
UID:14307-1764460800-1764547199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:1st Sunday in Advent
DESCRIPTION:CHRIST’S TWOFOLD COMING\nFrom a commentary by Paschasius Radbertus 1\n◊◊◊\nWatch\, for you do not know the day or the hour. Like many other scriptural texts\, the admonition is addressed to all of us\, though it is formulated in such a way that it would seem to concern only Christ’s immediate audience. We can all apply it to ourselves because the Last Day and the end of the world will come for each of us on the day we depart this present life. This means we must make sure we die in the state in which we wish to appear on the Day of Judgment\, Bearing this in mind each of us should guard against being led astray and failing to keep watch\, otherwise the day of the Lord’s return may take us unawares. If the last day of our life finds us unprepared\, then we shall be unprepared on that day also. \nI do not for a moment believe the apostles expected the Lord to return in judgment during their own lifetime. All the same there can be no doubt that they took every care not to be drawn from the right path. They kept watch\, observing the universal precepts their master had given to his disciples so as to be ready when he came again. \nConsequently we must always be on the lookout for Christ’s twofold coming\, the one when we shall have to give an account of everything we have done\, and the other when he comes day after day to stir our consciences. He comes to us now in order that his future coming may find us prepared. If my conscience is burdened with sin what good will it do me to know when the Day of Judgment will be? Unless the Lord comes to my soul beforehand and makes his home with me\, unless Christ lives in me and speaks his word in my heart\, it is useless for me to know if and when his coming will take place. Only if Christ is already living in me and I in him will it go well with me when he comes in judgment. If I have already died to the world and am able to say\, The world is crucified to me\, and I to the world\, then\, in a sense\, his final coming is already present to me. \nConsider also our Lord’s warning: Many will come in my name. It is only the Antichrist and his members who\, albeit falsely\, claim the name of Christ\, though they lack his works and his true doctrine and wisdom. You will never find the Lord in Scripture actually declaring\, “I am the Christ.” His teaching and miracles revealed it clearly enough\, for the Father was at work in him. Louder than a thousand acclamations his teaching and mighty works proclaimed: “I am the Christ.” And so whether or not you find him describing himself in so many words\, the works of the Father and his own message of love declared what he was\, whereas the false christs who possessed neither godly deeds nor holy doctrine loudly claimed to be what they were not. \n1\nJourney with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press – New York – 1992 – pg 16
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/1st-sunday-in-advent/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251201
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251202
DTSTAMP:20260404T072606
CREATED:20251129T231811Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251129T231811Z
UID:14309-1764547200-1764633599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Advent Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE MISSION OF CHRIST\nBy Pope St John Paul II 2\n◊◊◊\nIn Christian discipleship and love for the person of Christ there are a number of points concerning the growth of holiness in the consecrated life which merit particular emphasis today. In the first place\, there is need for fidelity to the founding charism and subsequent spiritual heritage of each Institute. It is precisely in this fidelity to the inspiration of the founders and foundresses\, an inspiration which is itself a gift of the Holy Spirit\, that the essential elements of the consecrated life can be more readily discerned and more fervently put into practice. \nFundamental to every charism is a threefold orientation. First\, charisms lead to the Father\, in the filial desire to seek his will through a process of unceasing conversion\, wherein obedience is the source of true freedom\, chastity expresses the yearning of a heart unsatisfied by any finite love\, and poverty nourishes that hunger and thirst for justice which God has promised to satisfy. Consequently the charism of each Institute will lead the consecrated person to belong wholly to God\, to speak with God or about God…so that he or she can taste the goodness of the Lord in every situation. \nSecondly\, the charisms of the consecrated life also lead to the Son\, fostering an intimate and joyful communion of life with him\, in the school of his generous service of God and neighbor. Thus the attitude of consecrated persons is progressively conformed to Christ; they learn detachment from externals\, from the tumult of the senses\, from all that keeps man from that freedom which allows him to be grasped by the Spirit. As a result\, consecrated persons are enabled to take up the mission of Christ\, working and suffering with him in the spreading of his Kingdom. \nFinally\, every charism leads to the Holy Spirit\, insofar as it prepares individuals to let themselves be guided and sustained by him\, both in their personal journeys and in their lives of communion and apostolic work\, in order to embody that attitude of service which should inspire the true Christian’s every choice. \nIn fact\, it is this threefold relationship which emerges in every founding charism\, though with the specific nuances of the various patterns of living. This is so because in every charism there predominates a profound desire to be conformed to Christ to give witness to some aspect of his mystery. This specific aspect is meant to take shape and develop according to the most authentic tradition of the Institute\, as present in its Rule\, Constitutions and Statutes. \nInstitutes of Consecrated Life are thus invited courageously to propose anew the enterprising initiative\, creativity and holiness of their founders and foundresses in response to the signs of the times emerging in today’s world. This invitation is first of all a call to perseverance on the path of holiness in the midst of the material and spiritual difficulties of daily life. But it is also a call to pursue competence in personal work and to develop a dynamic fidelity to their mission\, adapting forms\, if need be\, to new situations and different needs\, in complete openness to God’s inspiration and to the Church’s discernment. But all must be fully convinced that the quest for ever greater conformity to the Lord is the guarantee of any renewal which seeks to remain faithful to an Institute’s original inspiration. \n2\nJohn Paul II\, Post-Synodal Exhortation Vita Consecrata\, 36-37.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/advent-weekday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251202
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CREATED:20251129T232326Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251129T232326Z
UID:14311-1764633600-1764719999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Advent Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE COMING OF CHRIST\nFrom a treatise by St John Chrysostom 3\n◊◊◊\nThe prophets foretold not only that God would become man but also they predicted the manner of his coming. He was not going to come in the midst of thunder\, lightning\, earthquake\, or tumult from the heavens. He was not going to stir up any consternation. His birth struck no man with fear\, for he was born with no one to witness it\, without tumult or confusion\, in the house of a carpenter\, in an ordinary and undistinguished home… \nFor Micah said: “And you\, Bethlehem\, the land of Judah\, are by no means the least among the princes of Judah. For out of you will come the leader who will shepherd my people\, Israel: and his going forth is from the beginning\, from the days of eternity.” Micah was pointing out both the divinity and the humanity of Christ. When he said: “His going forth is from the beginning\, from the days of eternity\,” he revealed his existence before all ages. When he said: “There will come the leader who will shepherd my people\, Israel\,” he revealed Christ’s birth in the flesh. \nAnd notice here that he makes clear another prophecy. Micah not only said where Christ would be born but also that the place would become well known even if it was a little town and little known. For he said: “You are by no means the least among the princes of Judah.” So it is that now the whole world rushes to see Bethlehem\, where he was born and laid in a manger. The place became famous\, and there is no other reason than this why people go there. \nAgain\, another prophet made clear the time of his coming\, when he said\,… “A chief shall not depart from Judah\, nor a ruler from his loins till he come for whom it is reserved\,” meaning Christ. For the first registration was held just at the same time that he was born\, and this was after the Romans had conquered the Jewish nation and had brought them under the yoke of their empire. Something further is meant by the words: “Even he is the expectation of the nations.” For after he had come\, he did draw all the nations to himself. \nAnd Isaiah when on to tell of other marvels and showed how Christ cured the lame\, how he made the blind to see\, and the mute to speak: “Then will the lame man leap like a stag\, and the tongue of those with impediments of speech will be clear and distinct.” And this did not happen until his coming. \n3\nDemonstration Against the Pagans That Christ is God. Trans. Paul W. Harkins\, Fathers of the Church Series\, vol. 73. Washington\, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press\, 1985. pp. 197ff.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/advent-weekday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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