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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241030
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241031
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241027T110650Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241027T110650Z
UID:12757-1730246400-1730332799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE SAINT AND THE MISSION\nAn excerpt from “The World of Prayer” by Adrienne von Speyr4 \nA saint’s standing before God with a community within is no plain and simple fact. The saints can be in God’s presence in such a personal way that\, involuntarily or even voluntarily\, they forget their mission. And between these two poles there is a whole spectrum. It may happen involuntarily when God alone wishes it so because he wants to have his saint to himself. It happens voluntarily when the saint feels it right on this occasion to be alone in God’s presence\, leaving the particular mission out of focus in the background. \nThere is another extreme in relation to these two forms of prayer\, namely\, the prayer of those saints who never appear before God except in the very midst of their mission\, whether because God wills it so or because the saint will not have it otherwise. Here too there are gradations. One is inclined to a certain suspicion of those who always do everything completely deliberately and of their own free will\, choosing whether to go before God with or without the mission entrusted to them\, whereas there can be no grounds for suspicion in the case of the saint who\, involuntarily and only as God requires\, is always standing before God in one sense or another. In general\, however\, there is an alternation: There are times and moments in which the saint is more important to God than the individual mission\, and others when the mission itself is the most important thing. \nIf the saints themselves make no choice\, God can work in them or in their mission or in both\, within the relationship he chooses. But if the saint and the mission constitute a single unity as willed by God\, God’s shaping influence on the one will always benefit the other. It can happen\, then\, that when a particular mission begins to make itself felt it brings difficulties for the saint in standing before God in prayer. But these difficulties and their mastery contribute to the saint’s fruitfulness. They never take the form of insuperable obstacles but of a gain at a higher level\, be it a deeper insight or a better adaptation to God’s will or a closer integration of saint and mission. Mission here always means an embodiment of the community. It is what\, in the saint\, is of and for the community: the seed of community\, a task within the community\, a fruit entrusted to the community. This fruit is greater than the I; it is the Thou\, in all its manifold forms\, which has been entrusted to the I. Ultimately this multiplicity belongs to the Church and indeed can be the Church. \n4\nThe World of Prayer\, Adrienne von Speyr\, Ignatius: San Francisco 1985. pp.255-256.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-weekday-12/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241031
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241101
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241027T110809Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241027T110809Z
UID:12759-1730332800-1730419199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST\nFrom the Second Vatican Council’s declaration Nostra Aetate5 \nFor the Church of Christ acknowledges that\, according to the mystery of God’s saving design\, the beginnings of her faith and her election are already found among the patriarchs\, Moses\, and the prophets. She professes that all who believe in Christ\, Abraham’s sons according to faith are included in the same patriarch’s call\, and likewise that the salvation of the Church was mystically foreshadowed by the chosen people’s exodus from the land of bondage. \nThe Church\, therefore\, cannot forget that she received the revelation of the Old Testament through the people with whom in God’s inexpressible mercy deigned to establish the Ancient Covenant. Nor can she forget that she draws sustenance from the root of that good olive tree onto which have been grafted the wild olive branches of the Gentiles. Indeed\, the Church believes that by His cross Christ\, our Peace\, reconciled Jew and Gentile\, making them both one in Himself. \nAlso\, the Church ever keeps in mind the words of the Apostle about his kinsmen\, “who have the adoption as sons\, and the glory and the covenant and the legislation and the worship and the promises; who have the fathers\, and from whom is Christ according to the flesh”\, the son of the Virgin Mary. The Church recalls too that from the Jewish people sprang the apostles\, her foundation stones and pillars\, as well as most of the early disciples who proclaimed Christ to the world. \nAs holy Scripture testifies\, Jerusalem did not recognize the time of her visitation\, nor did the Jews in large number accept the gospel; indeed\, not a few opposed the spreading of it. Nevertheless\, according to the Apostle\, the Jews still remain most dear to God because of their fathers\, for He does not repent of the gifts He makes nor of the calls He issues. In company with the prophets and the same Apostle\, the Church awaits that day\, known to God alone\, on which all peoples will address the Lord in a single voice and “serve him with one accord”.\nSince the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so great\, this sacred Synod wishes to foster and recommend that mutual understanding and respect which is the fruit above all of biblical and theological studies\, and of brotherly dialogues. \nTrue\, authorities of the Jews and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ; still\, what happened in His passion cannot be blamed upon all the Jews then living\, without distinction\, nor upon the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of God\, the Jews should not be presented as repudiated or cursed by God\, as if such views followed from the Holy Scriptures. All should take pains\, then\, lest in catechetical instruction and in the preaching of God’s Word they teach anything out of harmony with the truth of the gospel and the spirit of Christ. \n5\nThe Documents of Vatican II\, Decree on Non-Christians. General Ed. Walter M. Abbott SJ\, Herder & Herder\, 1966\, pp. 664-666.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-weekday-13/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241101
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241102
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241027T111013Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241027T111013Z
UID:12761-1730419200-1730505599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - All Saints
DESCRIPTION:MERCY AND JUDGMENT\nby Isaac of Stella6 \n“Happy are the merciful\, for they shall obtain mercy.” Even a righteous person cannot contend safely with the all-righteous God. It is silly to go out with ten thousand men to meet him who comes against you with twenty. The sensible thing is to send a messenger and ask for terms\, before the other has advanced too far; to say\, in a word\, “Enter not into judgment with thy servant\, O Lord\, for in thy sight shall no one living be justified.” Who\, then\, is this ambassador of peace? His name is mercy. For only by showing mercy can we hope to get it. Without mercy\, righteousness is cruel and brings no one salvation. Only the merciful will have the joy\, at the last day\, of hearing the king say\, “Come\, you blessed of my father\, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry\, and you gave me meat… For that is as much as to say\, “You showed mercy\, and now you are obtaining it.” “Happy\,” therefore\, “are the merciful\, for they shall obtain mercy.” \nDavid\, you remember\, sings of “mercy and judgment” in that order\, mercy first. For mercy must first be shown\, and then sought at the judgment seat. The one who has shown no mercy will be sentenced without mercy too. \nThere are two kinds of mercy\, one giving\, one forgiving. “Give\, and it shall be given unto you\,” says the Lord\, “forgive\, and you shall be forgiven.” And that in proportion to what we ourselves do. “Forgive us\, as we forgive them that trespass against us.” “With what measure you mete\, it shall be meted unto you.” \nIn the first degree of giving mercy a person gives to others some of his own possessions. This is in accord with the Lord’s command\, “Give alms\, and all things shall be pure unto you.” \nIn the second degree one gives all one’s possessions. In that\, one is like the apostles\, who said\, “Lo\, we have left all and followed thee. What shall we have\, then?” \nIn the third degree one gives oneself. The apostle Paul did that\, who said\, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you.” No one has a greater love than this. One who possesses it gives himself to the Lord to the full extent of his capacity for giving. \nThe matter stands similarly with the other kind of mercy\, the forgiving kind. You can remit some of the debts that other people owe you. Or you can remit them all. Or you can give back the debtor’s very self to him\, as when an owner frees a slave.\nWe religious have renounced all property. We cannot practice either kind of mercy in material things. But there are other things that we can give: advice\, our prayers\, a good example and so forth. And we can forgive injuries. \n6\nCistercian Studies \, vol.2\, no.1 1967. “Selections From the Sermons of Isaac of Sella” by Sr. Penelope. pp.262-263.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-all-saints-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241102
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241103
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241027T111127Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241027T111127Z
UID:12763-1730505600-1730591999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - All Souls
DESCRIPTION:PRAYING TO THE SAINTS\nby Fr Karl Rahner7 \nNothing can come ‘between’ God and us. On the other hand\, one of the conditions for this closeness to God is that we should belong to the communion of the saints. But perhaps this still does not make it quite clear how the communion of the saints\, which can certainly be effected by means of a specific\, explicit act\, can take the concrete form of appealing to the saints to ask for their intercession. Although this communion with the saints is included in the official liturgy of the Church\, the saints themselves are not addressed directly. Why? How can this still be possible? No clear-cut answer has so far been found to this question\, chiefly because we cannot take it for granted that we can address the saints directly simply because they exist\, as is attempted in spiritualist gatherings. \nThe following short anecdote might help us to proceed in our investigations. When I was in Rome during the Council I had the opportunity\, together with a group of others\, to meet the great Protestant theologian Karl Barth. Our discussion turned to the veneration of the Virgin. I asked Karl Barth whether an individual may ask another Christian to pray for him. After a short hesitation\, he replied that the individual should ask his fellow Christian to pray with him. The conversation then moved on to other topics. I admit that for many years I thought Barth’s answer was intentionally evasive\, that he wished to avoid the issue of veneration of the Virgin. Now I wonder if we should not pursue his point. \nTo start with\, there is nothing new about the saints’ intercession on our behalf with God. On the contrary it is central to their entire history and to eternal salvation; they rest in God’s presence yet are also joined in perpetual communion with us. Their intercession for us depends of course on the degree of intensity\, explicit or otherwise\, with which we participate in their act of communion\, which in turn reflects on our relationship to God. The saints pray ‘with us’ and thus ‘for us’. Our plea for their intercession is not therefore an attempt to create some new\, individualistic kind of spiritualistic communication. The concrete reality of the communion of saints exists already\, and through it we worship God. It is the practical realization of this communion which freely embraces a wide variety of religious acts. Hence it can include a petition for intercession\, while still remaining essentially the faithful realization of the communion of saints in which we stand before God\, and in which we may expect his mercy and help. Seen in these terms\, calling on the saints for their intercession in no way interposes ‘between’ us and God. \nOn the contrary it provides concrete evidence of the fact that God loves each one of us as a unique being. He loves every single being he has created\, and forms us into a community in which we can all love one another. We do not invoke the help of the saints because otherwise they would not intercede on our behalf; rather\, in their eternal salvation they do nothing but intercede for us. In praying to the saints we show that we believe in this perpetual intercession because it enables us to accept and make use of its beneficial effects. \n7\nTHE COURAGE TO PRAY\, by Karl Rahner (Crossroad\, NY 1981) pp. 69-71.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-all-souls-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241103
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241104
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241102T222947Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241102T222947Z
UID:12773-1730592000-1730678399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n31st Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nNovember 3 – 9\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n3\nMon\n4\nTue\n5\nWed\n6\nThu\n7\nFri\n8\nSat\n9\n\n\nOffice\n31st Sunday\nSt Charles Borromeo\nWeekday\nWeekday\nOffice for Vocations\nWeekday\nLateran Basilica\n\n\nVigils\nWis 14:12-24\nWis 14:25-15:6\nWis 15:7-19\nWis 16:1-15\nWis 16:16-29\nWis 17:1-15\nExodus 40:1-34\n\n\nLauds\nJob 7:7-11\nJob 9:1-12\nJob 9:13-21\nJob 9:25-10:1a\nJob 10:1b-9\nJob 11:1-9\n1 Macc 4:52-59\n\n\nMass\n152\n485\n486\n487\n488\n489\n671\n\n\n1st\nDeut 6:2-6\nPhil 2:1-4\nPhil 2:5-11\nPhil 2:12-18\nPhil 3:3-8a\nPhil 3:17-4:1\nEzek 47:1-2\, 8-9\, 12\n\n\n2nd\nHeb 7:23-28\n\n\n\n\n\n1 Cor 3:9c-11\, 16-17\n\n\nGospel\nMark 12:28b-34\nLuke 14:12-14\nLuke 14:15-24\nLuke 14:25-33\nLuke 15:1-10\nLuke 16:1-8\nJohn 2:13-22\n\n\nVespers\nRom 5:1-11\nRom 6:1-11\nRom 8:18-27\nRom 6:16-23\nRom 7:14-25\nRom 8:1-6\nHeb 10:19-25
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-90/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241103
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241104
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241102T223113Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241102T223113Z
UID:12775-1730592000-1730678399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading  - 31st Sunday
DESCRIPTION:OUR REASON FOR LOVING \nFrom a commentary by St Francis de Sales1 \n◊◊◊ \nBecause God created us in is own image and likeness\, he ordained that our \nlove for one another should be in the image and likeness of the love we owe him\, \nour God. He said: You must love the Lord our God with your whole heart. This \nis the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it. You must love \nyour neighbor as yourself. \nWhat is our reason for loving God? God himself is the reason we love him; \nwe love him because he is the supreme and infinite goodness. What is our \nreason for loving ourselves? Surely because we are the image and likeness of \nGod. And since all men and women possess this same dignity we love them as \nourselves\, that is\, as holy and living images of the Godhead. It is as such that we \nbelong to God through a kinship so close and a dependence so lovable that he \ndoes not hesitate to call himself our Father\, and to name us his children. It is as \nsuch that we are capable of being united to him in the fruition of his sovereign \ngoodness and joy. It is as such that we receive his grace and that our spirits are \nassociated with his most Holy Spirit and rendered\, in a sense\, sharers in the \ndivine nature. \nSo it is then that the same charity produces together acts of love of God \nand of our neighbor. As Jacob saw that the same ladder touching heaven and \nearth was used by the angels both for ascending and descending\, so we can be \nsure that the same charity cherishes both God and our neighbor\, raising us even \nto spiritual union with God\, and bringing us back to loving companionship with \nour neighbors. \nIt must always be understood\, however\, that we love our neighbors for \nthis reason\, that they are made in the image and likeness of God\, created to \ncommunicate in his goodness\, share in his grace\, and rejoice in his glory. \nTo have a Christian love for our neighbors is to love God in them\, or them \nin God; it is to cherish God alone for his own sake\, and his creatures for love of \nhim. When we look upon our neighbors\, created in the image and likeness of \nGod\, should we not also say to each other: “Look at these people he has made – \nare they not like their maker?” Should we not be drawn irresistibly toward \nthem\, embrace them\, and be moved to tears for love of them? Should we not call \ndown upon them a hundred blessings? And why? For love of them? No indeed\, \nsince we cannot be sure whether\, of themselves\, they are worthy of love or hate. \nThen why? For love of God\, who created them in his own image and likeness\, \nand so capable of sharing in his goodness\, grace\, and glory; for love of God\, I say\, \nunto whom they exist\, for whom they exist\, through whom they exist\, for whom \nthey exist\, and whom they resemble in a very special manner. \nThis is why divine Love not only repeatedly commands us to love our \nneighbors\, but also itself produces this love and pours it out into our hearts\, \nsince they bear its own image and likeness; for just as we are the image of God\, \nso our holy love for one another is the true image of our heavenly love for God.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-31st-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241104
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241105
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241102T223255Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241102T223255Z
UID:12777-1730678400-1730764799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Charles Borromeo
DESCRIPTION:THE LEGACY OF \nST CHARLES BORROMEO \nFrom a homily by Fr Ronald Knox2 \n◊◊◊ \nWhen our Lord’s apostles came to look back upon that terrible night in the \nLake of Galilee\, when they strained every nerve against the tempest while their \nMaster lay sleeping in the boat\, they found in it an allegory of their own \nsituation\, as they launched out the frail bark of his Church upon waves so \ntroubled\, with prospects so uncertain. And in every age the Church has looked \nback to that picture and taken comfort from it in times of adversity. [With great \nconfidence]\, the Church of God\, which is Peter’s boat\, has breasted the waves all \nthrough her troubled history. It is not upon the captain’s judgment or the pilot’s \nexperience\, not human wisdom or human prudence\, that she depends for her \nsafe voyage: she rests secure in the presence of her inviolable passenger. \nYet we should do ill if we grudged recognition and gratitude to those \nservants of his who at various times have steered our course for us through \ndifficult waters\, and especially to the saints of the Counter-Reformation — that \nremarkable group of saints whom God raised up at the time of Europe’s \napostasy\, by whose influence\, humanly speaking\, the faith survived that terrible \nordeal. And not the least\, nor the least prominent\, of these is [St. Charles \nBorromeo]\, who ruled the Church of Milan in the latter part of the sixteenth \ncentury… \nWhatever be the rights and wrongs of all the controversies we hear about \nthe medieval Church\, this at least is clear\, that in the days of the Council of Trent \nits organization needed reform. And reform needs more than mere legislation to \ndecree it; it needs administration to execute it. That is St. Charles’s \ncharacteristic legacy to the Church: it was the influence of his example\, in great \nmeasure\, that molded her organization on the new model which Trent had \ndecreed. The bishop has got to be the center of everything in his diocese\, and the \nclergy of the diocese are to be his clergy — a family of which he is to be the father\, \na guild of which he is to be the master. \nSee how fond St. Charles was of synods: the whole of his comparatively \nshort episcopate is a long record of the synods he gathered amongst his clergy. \nSee how enthusiastic he is for the seminary idea; the bishop\, henceforth\, is not \nmerely to ordain people\, he is to know whom he is ordaining. And above all what \nwas characteristic of St. Charles was the institute which he left behind him — a \nbody of secular priests\, putting themselves at the disposal of the bishop as \nabsolutely as the religious puts himself at the disposal of his superior. Yes\, there \nis much about St. Charles’s life which is more exciting\, and much which is more \nattractive\, than all this; his boundless generosity to the poor\, the relentless \nmortification that regulated his busy\, competent life. But what makes him stand \nout among the saints more than either is his intense devotion even to the most \nuninspiring details of diocesan routine.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-charles-borromeo-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241105
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241106
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241102T223429Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241102T224211Z
UID:12779-1730764800-1730851199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:VOLUNTARY POVERTY \nFrom a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux3 \n◊◊◊ \nJesus entered into a certain fortified town\, and a certain woman\, named \nMartha\, received him into her home. The fortified town where Christ entered is \nvoluntary poverty\, which protects its inhabitants from twin attacks that assault \nlovers of this world: one’s own envy\, of course\, and that of another. You see\, \npoverty\, as long as it is considered wretched\, is not envied by others. And \nbecause poverty is voluntary\, it envies no one anything. \nThese two sisters signify the two lifestyles of those who love poverty. \nCertain careful people\, with Martha\, prepare two dishes\, that is\, correction of \nworks with the salt of contrition\, and works of piety with the seasoning of \ndevotion. But those who\, with Mary\, give all their time to God alone\, \ncontemplating what God is in the world\, what in human beings\, what in angels\, \nwhat in himself\, what in the condemned\, contemplate God as ruler and pilot in \nthe world\, liberator and helper of human beings\, flavor and beauty of angels\, \nbeginning and end in himself\, terror and horror of the condemned: wonderful \nin creatures\, lovable in human beings\, desirable in angels\, incomprehensible in \nhimself\, intolerable in the condemned. \n3Sermo 48\, Bernard of Clairvaux Monastic Sermons\, CF 68. pg. 244.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-225/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241106
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241107
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241102T223601Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241102T224329Z
UID:12781-1730851200-1730937599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:GOD REQUIRES ONLY LOVE \nA letter to Hugh the Recluse from St Anselm of Canterbury4 \n◊◊◊ \nThe person who will have the grace to reign in the kingdom of heaven will \nsee the realization of everything desired in heaven and on earth\, and nothing \nunwanted will be realized in heaven or on earth. The love which will unite God \nwith those who will live there\, and the latter among themselves\, will be such that \nall will love one another as themselves\, and all will love God more than \nthemselves. \nIf someone asks what price\, here is the response: the one who offers a \nkingdom in heaven has no need of earthly money. No one can give God what \nalready belongs to God\, since everything that exists is God’s. Yet God does not \ngive such a great thing unless one attaches value to it; God does not give it to one \nwho does not appreciate it. For no one gives what he prizes to someone who \nattaches no value to it. Hence\, although God has no need of your goods\, God will \nnot give you such a great thing as long as you disdain to love it; God requires \nonly love\, but without it nothing obliges God to give. Love\, then\, and you will \nreceive the Kingdom. Love\, and you will possess it. \nAnd since to reign in heaven is nothing other than to adhere to God and all \nthe saints\, through love\, in a single will\, to the point that all together exercise \nonly one power\, love God more than yourself\, and you will already begin to have \nwhat you wish to possess perfectly in heaven. Put yourself at peace with God and \nwith others – if the latter do not separate themselves from God – and you will \nalready begin to reign with God and all the saints. For to the extent that you now \nconform to the will of God and to that of all others\, God and all the saints will \nconcur with your will. Hence\, if you want to be king in heaven\, love God and all \nothers as you should\, and you will merit to be what you desire. \nHowever\, you will not be able to possess it to perfection unless you empty \nyour heart of every other love… This is why those who fill their hearts with love \nfor God and their neighbor have no other will than that of God – or that of \nanother\, provided it is not contrary to God. That is why they are faithful in \npraying as well as in carrying on a dialogue with and remembering heaven; for it \nis pleasing to them to desire God and to speak of someone whom they love\, to \nhear him spoken about\, and to think of him. It is also why they rejoice with \nthose who are joyful\, weep with those who are in pain\, have compassion on the \nsuffering\, and give to the poor; for they love others as themselves.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-226/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241107
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241108
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241102T223713Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241102T224115Z
UID:12783-1730937600-1731023999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:DIVINE CALLS \nFrom a sermon by St John Henry Newman5 \n◊◊◊ \nWe find in scripture a remarkable instance of a Divine Call\, and the \nmanner in which it is our duty to meet it. Samuel was a mere child when he was \nbrought to the house of the Lord; and in due time he was called to a sacred \noffice\, and made a prophet. He was called\, and he forthwith answered the call. \nHe did not understand at first who called\, and what was meant; but on going to \nEli he learned who spoke\, and what his answer should be. So when God called \nagain\, he said: “Speak\, Lord\, for your servant hears.” Here is prompt obedience. \nVery different in its circumstances was St Paul’s call\, but resembling \nSamuel’s in this respect\, that\, when God called\, he also promptly obeyed. When \nSt Paul heard the voice from heaven\, he said at once\, trembling and astonished\, \n“Lord\, what will you have me do?” This same obedience is stated or implied in \ntwo accounts which he himself gives of his miraculous conversion. In chapter 22 \nhe says\, “And I said\, What shall I do\, Lord?” and in ch. 26 he tells King Agrippa: \n“Whereupon\, O King Agrippa\, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision”. \nSuch is the account given us in St Paul’s case of that first step in God’s gracious \ndealings with him\, which ended in his eternal salvation. “Whom He foreknew\, \nHe also predestined – and whom He predestined\, He also called” – here was the \nfirst act which took place in time – “and whom He called He also justified\, and \nwhom He justified\, He also glorified”. Such is the Divine series of mercies; and \nyou see that it was prompt obedience on St Paul’s part which moved Divine \ngrace forward. \nThis\, then\, is the first lesson taught us by St Paul’s conversion\, promptly \nto obey the call. If we do obey it\, to God be the glory\, for He it is Who works in us. \nIf we do not obey\, to ourselves be all the shame\, for sin and unbelief work in us. \nSuch is the state of mind expressed by holy David: “When you said\, Seek \nMy face\, my heart said to you: Your face\, O Lord\, will I seek”. And this also is \nillustrated in the case of many other saints in scripture shown in word and deed. \nFor instance\, we read of the apostles that “Jesus\, walking by the sea of Galilee\, \nsaw two brothers\, Simon called Peter\, and Andrew\, his brother\, casting a net \ninto the sea\, for they were fishers. And He said to them\, Follow me\, and I will \nmake you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets and followed him”. \nAgain\, when He saw James and John with their father Zebedee\, “He called \nthem; and they immediately left the ship\, and their father and followed Him.” \nAnd so also with St Matthew at the custom house\, “He said to him\, Follow Me; \nand he left all\, rose up and followed Him.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-18/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241108
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241109
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241102T223841Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241102T223841Z
UID:12785-1731024000-1731110399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:HIS CROSS IS MY GLORY \nFrom a homily by William of St-Thierry6 \n◊◊◊ \nIt is to my crucified one that I turn. His cross is my glory: its mark is on my \nbrow; it gives joy to my mind\, direction to my life\, love even for death itself. May \nthey not despise me for this\, O Lord\, they who are worthy to behold you\, seated \nas you are on your throne\, the exaltation of your godhead\, filling all the earth \nwith your majesty. The mysteries of your dealings with men here and now fill \nthe temple of every mind\, great and small. May your holy angels have the \nhonour that is their due in heaven: but may they sometimes also share their \ngrace and favours with us here on earth. For he loves us to make progress in our \nlives: and their blessed perfection is sweet to him. \nAs the Apostle says: God’s many-splendoured wisdom has been \nmanifested to principalities and powers in heaven through his dealings with the \nChurch. Wherefore may they pardon us\, Lord\, even if your love should \nsometimes so captivate us that we desire to see\, with them\, what with them we \nalready love: with a full heart we felicitate them\, as they behold what we are not \nyet worthy to behold. \nMay they blissfully contemplate your divine majesty residing in your \neternal wisdom: those things to be\, seen before this our mortal wayfaring and \nafter it\, everything that is\, past and future\, enfolding it all within his eternal \npresent: it reaches in its power and strength from one extremity to another. But \nour temporal passage\, belonging to your dealings with men as a whole\, he has \nstrewn with his charity\, disposing all things in sweetness\, for the sake of the \ndaughters of Jerusalem\, the devout but as yet infirm souls. They who have not \nthus far their elevated gaze fixed on contemplating the sublime would fain \nundergo hardship for your servants and be transformed so as to belong among \ntheir fellows. Among these\, O Lord\, may my spirit some day be taught to adore \nyou\, spirit as you are\, in spirit and in truth\, flesh no longer desiring what is \ncontrary to the spirit\, nor yet holding it back. \nBut now that for the moment you are kept from boldly taking possession \nof what is to be yours\, make a proper disposition of what is his\, with what grace \nand harmony you best can\, as befits him\, the true owner. I have not yet risen \nabove the rough-hewn figures of my earthly imagination: but may you indulge \nand be gracious to my feeble spirit\, as it expresses its true nature in letting its \nfancy play on your more humble creatures. Behold! the meager enfolding the \nnewly born\, the holy child being adored; the footprints of the crucified one being \nlicked\, as he hangs on the cross; his feet being held and kissed now that he is \nrisen; the hand\, put in the place where the nails went; and then the exclamation \n– My Lord and my God!
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-227/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241109
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241110
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241102T223958Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241102T223958Z
UID:12787-1731110400-1731196799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Lateran Basilica
DESCRIPTION:DEDICATION OF \nTHE LATERAN BASILICA7 \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-lateran-basilica-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241110
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241111
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241110T101603Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241110T101603Z
UID:12814-1731196800-1731283199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n32nd Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nNovember 10 – 16\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n10\nMon\n11\nTue\n12\nWed\n13\nThu\n14\nFri\n15\nSat\n16\n\n\nOffice\n32nd Sunday\nSt Martin of Tours\nWeekday\nAll Benedictine Saints\nWeekday\nGethsemani Church\nSt Gertrude the Great\n\n\nVigils\nWis 17:16-18:4\nWis 18:5-13\nWis 18:14-25\nDan 7:1-3\, 9-22\, 27\nWis 19:1-12\nRev 21:9-22:5\nWis 19:13-22\n\n\nLauds\nJob 11:13-20\nIsa 58:6-12\nJob 12:1-10\nWisdom 5:1-5\, 14-16\nJob 13:6-19\nEzek 37:21-28\nJob 13:20-27\n\n\nMass\n155\n491\n492\n573\, 677\n494\n701.2\, 704.2\, 706.4\n496\n\n\n1st\n1 Kgs 17:10-16\nTitus 1:1-9\nTitus 2:1-8\, 11-14\nIsa 61:9-11\nPhlm 7-20\n2 Chron 5:6-10\, 13-6:2\n3 John 5-8\n\n\n2nd\nHeb 9:24-28\n\n\n\n\nEph 2:19-22\n\n\n\nGospel\nMark 12:38-44\nLuke 17:1-6\nLuke 17:7-10\nJohn 15:1-8\nLuke 17:20-25\nJohn 4:19-24\nLuke 18:1-8\n\n\nVespers\nRom 8:9-17\nGal 6:1-5\nRom 9:1-8\nEph 6:10-18\nHeb 3:1-6\n2 Cor 6:14-7:1\nRom 10:1-13
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-91/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241110
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241111
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241110T101749Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241110T101749Z
UID:12816-1731196800-1731283199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils reading - 32nd Sunday
DESCRIPTION:LET US GIVE GLADLY \nFrom a commentary by St Paulinus of Nola1 \n◊◊◊ \nWhat have you\, asks the Apostle\, that you have not received? This \nmeans\, beloved\, that we should not be miserly\, regarding possessions of our \nown\, but should rather invest what has been entrusted to us. We have been \nentrusted with the administration and use of temporal wealth for the common \ngood\, not with the everlasting ownership of private property. If you accept the \nfact that ownership on earth is only for a time\, you can earn eternal possessions \nin heaven. \nCall to mind the widow who forgot herself in her concern for the poor\, and \nthinking only of the life to come\, gave away all her means of subsistence\, as the \njudge himself bears witness. Others\, he says\, have given of their superfluous \nwealth\, but she\, possessed of only two small coins and more needy perhaps than \nmany of the poor – though in spiritual riches she surpassed all the wealthy – she \nthought only of the world to come\, and had such a longing for heavenly treasure \nthat she gave away\, all at once\, whatever she had that was derived from the earth \nand destined to return there. \nLet us then invest with the Lord what he has given us\, for we have nothing \nthat does not come from him; we are dependent upon him for our very \nexistence. And we ourselves particularly\, who have a special and greater debt\, \nsince God not only created us but purchased us as well – what can we regard as \nour own when we do not possess even ourselves? \nBut let us rejoice that we have been bought at a great price\, the price of the \nLord’s own blood\, and that because of this we are no longer worthless slaves. \nFor there is a freedom that is baser than slavery\, namely\, freedom from justice. \nWhoever has that kind of freedom is a slave of sin and a prisoner of death. So let \nus give back to the Lord the gifts he has given us; let us give to him who receives \nin the person of every poor man or woman. Let us give gladly\, I say\, and great joy \nwill be ours when we receive his promised reward.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-32nd-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20241111T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20241111T170000
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241110T102012Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241110T102012Z
UID:12818-1731312000-1731344400@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Martin of Tours
DESCRIPTION:ST MARTIN\, \nA MAN OF PRAYER \nFrom a letter by Pope John XXIII2 \n◊◊◊ \nIf St Martin was a bishop and a zealous pastor who can well be imitated in \nthe practice of charity\, he was also and first of all a monk. You might even say \nthat the only reason he was such a marvelous man of action was that he was first \nof all a man of prayer. And from this point of view too\, he has a great lesson to \ngive to the Christians of today. \nEager for solitude and union with God\, this giant of the apostolate lived in \nconstant prayer: “he never turned his mind away from prayer\,” according to the \nexpression -later picked up by the liturgy- of his contemporary and first \nbiographer Sulpicius Severus\, who adds that once he was elevated to the \nepiscopacy\, the servant of God “remained what he had been before and bore the \ndignity of bishop without abandoning the design of life and the virtue of a \nmonk.” \nWas not his principal means of evangelization to found churches and \nmonasteries everywhere?… And thus it was that\, thanks to him\, monasticism \nwas introduced into France. \nThrowing light on this side of the activity of the great convert-maker is a \nway of reminding us of the immense benefits that the monks brought to their \ncountry; it is a way of drawing their attention\, which is so easily distracted at the \npresent time by the agitated pace of modern life\, back to the lasting greatness \nand beauties of monastic life; it is a way of inviting them to hold this form of life\, \nand\, in general\, the grace of a religious vocation\, high in their esteem… \nThe example of St Martin\, which has been confirmed by the experience of \ncenturies\, shows what invaluable instruments for spiritual elevation cloisters \nare in Christian society and what an effective contribution they make to the \napostolate of the Church.… \nMay the great Bishop\, model of the monk and the pastor\, succeed in \nstirring up a new spirit of fervor for the service of God.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-martin-of-tours-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241112
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241113
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241110T102150Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241110T102150Z
UID:12820-1731369600-1731455999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE CALL TO REPENTANCE \nBy Pope Paul VI3 \n◊◊◊ \nChrist\, who during his life always did what he taught\, spent forty days and \nforty nights in fasting and prayer before beginning his ministry. He began his \npublic mission with this joyful message: “The kingdom of God is at hand”\, and \nimmediately added this command\, “Repent\, and believe in the Good News”. In a \ncertain way\, the whole Christian life is summarized in these words. \nRepentance is the only way of attaining to the kingdom which Christ \nproclaimed\, in other words\, by the total and intimate change and renewal of the \nwhole person\, in thought\, judgment\, and life. This change and renewal effects \nitself in man through the light of that holiness and love of God which has been \nshown and communicated to us wholly in the Son. \nThe Son’s call to repentance becomes all the more obligatory for us \nbecause he not only preached it but offered himself as an example. Christ is\, in \nfact\, the supreme example for penitents. He chose to suffer\, not for his own sins \nbut for those of others. \nWhen anyone comes into Christ’s presence they are enlightened by a new \nlight\, for they see the holiness of God and the gravity of sin. Through Christ’s \nword they receive the message which summons them to conversion and bestows \npardon on sin. They receive these gifts in their fulness through baptism which \nmolds them in the likeness of Christ’s passion\, death and resurrection. After \nbaptism\, their whole life is lived in the light of this mystery. \nTherefore every Christian must follow their Master in self-renunciation\, \nin bearing their cross and in sharing Christ’s suffering. Thus\, transformed in the \nlikeness of his death\, they are able to meditate on the glory of the resurrection. \nThey also follow the Master in living no longer for themselves\, but for Christ \nwho loved them and gave himself for them\, and for their brothers and sisters as \nwell\, completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body\, \nthat is the Church. \nMoreover\, [because] the Church [is] intimately bound to Christ\, the \npenitence of each Christian is also a real and intimate link with the whole \necclesial community. Indeed\, it is not only in the womb of the Church that\, \nthrough baptism\, they receive the initial gift of repentance\, but this gift is \nrestored and reaffirmed—through the sacrament of penance—for those \nmembers of the body of Christ who have fallen into sin. Those who come to this \nsacrament of penance receive there\, through God’s mercy\, pardon for the wrong \nthat they have done. At the same time they are reconciled with the Church\, \nwhom their sin has wounded and who\, by means of love\, example and prayer\, \nlabors for their conversion. \nLastly\, in the Church\, the little work of penance imposed on each penitent \nin the sacrament has a special part in Christ’s infinite expiation; while\, within \nthe order of the Church\, the penitent may unite to sacramental satisfaction \neverything that they do\, suffer and endure. Thus the baptized Christian\, at each \nmoment and in every aspect of their life\, bears the sufferings and death of Jesus \nin his body and soul.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-228/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241113
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241114
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241110T102421Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241110T102421Z
UID:12822-1731456000-1731542399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - All Benedictine Saints
DESCRIPTION:IN PRAISE OF \nTHE MONASTIC VOCATION \nFrom “The Golden Epistle” by William of St-Thierry4 \n◊◊◊ \nSurely it is right to feast in the Lord and rejoice because the fairest part of \nthe Christian religion\, which seemed to come into close contact with heaven\, has \nreturned to life after having died\, has been found after being lost. \nOur ears had heard tell of it\, but we did not believe\, we read in books of it \nand marveled at the ancient glory of the solitary life and at the great grace of God \nmanifested in it; when suddenly we found it in the clearings of a wood\, on \nGod’s mountain\, on the fertile mountain\, where the fair places of the desert now \nwax fat on its richness and the hills are girt with exultation. \nFor there\, through you it now offers itself to all and in you it displays itself. \nHitherto unknown\, it stands revealed in a few simple men. He who brings it \namong us is the same who by means of a few simple men subjected the whole \nworld to himself\, to the amazement of that world. “Do not be afraid then\, you\, \nmy little flock\,” says the Lord\, “but show utter trust\, because your Father has \ndetermined to give you his kingdom”… It is not for you to concern yourselves \nfeebly with the ordinary commandments nor to give your attention only to what \nGod lays down as of obligation; you must seek his desires\, fulfill in yourselves \nwhat is God’s will\, the good thing\, the desirable thing\, the perfect thing. \nIt is for others to serve God\, it is for you to cling to him; it is for others to \nbelieve in God\, know him\, love him and revere him; it is for you to taste him\, \nunderstand him\, be acquainted with him\, enjoy him. \nThis is no slight matter\, no easy goal; but he who\, in his love\, makes you \nsuch promises is almighty and good. He will be faithful in fulfilling them and \nuntiring in giving help. To those who in their great love for him pledge \nthemselves to great things and\, believing and trusting in his grace\, undertake \nwhat is beyond their own strength\, he imparts both the will and the desire; and \nhe follows up the grace to will by bestowing also the power to achieve. Let the \ncalumniator calumniate as he will: if a person faithfully does what is humanly \npossible for him to do\, God himself in his mercy will give judgment for his poor \none\, will champion his cause\, because the person did what he could. \nYet…let all exaltation be far from the opinion you have of yourselves. \nConsider [others] as being far above you in strength and admire their glory\, \nthose who are mighty with both hands – who use their left hand as readily as \ntheir right. As long as they are allowed\, they love to stay inside and devote their \nleisure with all devotion to the contemplation of truth in charity; then when \nnecessity summons or duty impels\, they go out without a moment’s hesitation to \ngive themselves to the practice of charity in truth. \nRather\, in fear and trembling work out your own salvation. Do not \nwonder what others are like but\, to the best of your ability\, what they may \nbecome through your influence; not only those who are now alive but also those \nwho will come after you and take you as their models in the pursuit of their \nvocation. For it is from you\, from your example\, from your authority that all the \nfuture of this holy Order in these parts will derive its character.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-all-benedictine-saints-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241114
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241115
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241110T102533Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241110T102533Z
UID:12824-1731542400-1731628799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE INSTRUCTIONS OF MARY \nQUEEN OF THE ANGELS \nGiven to Venerable Mary of Agreda5 \n◊◊◊ \nYour astonishment at the singular favor conferred by me on my \nservant…at his death\, affords me an occasion to tell you of a privilege confirmed \nto me by the Almighty at the time when I bore the soul…to heaven. Although I \nhave already on other occasions revealed to you something of this secret\, you \nshall now understand it more fully in order to increase your filial devotion \ntoward me. When I brought to heaven the happy soul…the eternal Father spoke \nto me: \n“My Daughter and Dove…let my courtiers\, angels and saints \nunderstand that\, for the exaltation of my holy name\, for your glory and for the \nbenefit of mortals\, I now give you my royal word\, that if men\, in the hour of \ntheir death invoke you and call upon you with affection…I will bend to them in \nclemency and look upon them with eyes of fatherly mercy; I will defend and \nguard them against the dangers of that last hour; I will ward off the cruel \nenemies that seek the perdition of souls in that hour; I will furnish them \nthrough you with great helps for resisting these enemies and gaining grace\, if \nthey wish to avail themselves of this help; and you shall present to Me their \nsouls to be rewarded by my liberal hands.” \nFor this privilege the whole triumphant Church\, and I with it\, sang hymns of \nthanks and praise to the Most High. \nSince I see you desirous of knowing how you can obtain from me this \nfavor so precious to the soul\, I answer your pious wish by exhorting you to take \ncare lest you make yourself unworthy by ingratitude and forgetfulness; and \nbefore all\, to gain for yourself that inviolate purity\, which I expect of you… For \nthe great love which I owe and cherish toward God\, obliges me\, with sincerest \naffection and charity to demand of all the observance of his holy law and the \npreservation of their friendship and grace with God. This you must prefer before \nyour life and be willing to die rather than offend your God and highest Good. \nI wish that you set about obeying me\, act out my instructions\, and work \nwith all your might to imitate what you see and write of me; that you permit no \nintermission in your love\, nor forget for one moment the heartfelt affection you \nowe to the liberal mercy of your Lord; that you be thankful for all his blessings \nand to me\, since your obligations are far beyond the power of fulfillment by you \nin this mortal life. Be faithful in your correspondence\, fervent in your devotion\, \nready to do what is most holy and perfect. Let your heart expand and do not \nnarrow it…following the instigations of the devil. Extend your hand to strong \nand powerful deeds\, filled with confidence in the Lord; be not oppressed by \nadversities\, thus impeding the will of the Lord in you\, and the high ends of his \nglory. Retain vivid faith and hope\, even in the greatest assaults and temptations. \nIn all this let…the certain knowledge of possessing through me the happy \nsecurity of those who live under the protection of the Most High… Raise up your \nheart…and withdraw it from these deceits; aspire to that which is most pure and \nholy\, since with you shall be the arm of the Almighty\, who wrought such great \nwonders in Me.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-229/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241115
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241116
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241110T102705Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241110T102705Z
UID:12826-1731628800-1731715199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Gethsemani Church
DESCRIPTION:THE FOUNDATION OF \nGETHSEMANI ABBEY \nBy Dom Eutropius Proust6 \n◊◊◊ \nWe left Louisville on the twentieth of December\, and were to arrive that \nevening at Bardstown. Here we were to call on the Jesuit Fathers\, who conducted \nthe College of St Joseph\, and to whom we had a letter of introduction from Mgr. \nFlaget. We should arrive by daylight at Bardstown\, which was twelve miles from \nGethsemani; but the unfavorable weather delayed us very much\, and we were yet \nnine miles from the town\, when a dark and dreary night set in. We did not stop to \ntake any nourishment by the wayside\, but refreshed ourselves as best we could\, in \nthe wagons\, with bread\, cheese and fruit. The good God supplied the drink. The \nrain did not cease to fall abundantly the entire day\, so that\, alighting from the \nwagons\, we resembled water rats that came out of the river. \nWe arrived at eleven o’clock. The streets were so full of water and mud that \nwe were knee-deep therein. We went directly to St Joseph’s College… Our difficulty \nwas to find the entrance\, for one could not see a yard ahead. Taking with me two \nIrish religious\, we made a circuit of the house to find the entrance…We kept on \nseeking and groping until we succeeded in finding the door. We knocked again and \nagain\, but no answer. Not knowing what to do\, we called aloud together the word \n“Trappist.” In this we were successful. As soon as the good fathers heard that word \nthey opened the windows. I told them who we were\, where we were going\, and that \nI had a letter of introduction to them from Mgr. Flaget\, asking them to give us \nlodging for the night. In an instant three or four of the fathers arose\, with as many \nbrothers\, and the doors were opened for us. A good fire was made in the hall\, and \nthe brothers prepared for us something to eat. At the end of half an hour we were \nled into the refectory\, where we took at the same time our breakfast\, dinner and \nsupper. \nThe following day\, having heard Holy Mass and received Holy Communion\, \nour conductors arrived\, with a new wagon\, borrowed by them at Bardstown. After \nthanking our hosts for their kind hospitality\, we installed ourselves in the wagons \nand pursued our way to Gethsemani. About two o’clock in the afternoon\, we \narrived at the entrance of a large forest\, after passing the little village of New Haven \non the Nashville Railroad. We were informed that this was the beginning of our \nproperty. It is difficult to express the feelings that this announcement produced in \nour souls. I had the wagons stop. Falling on our knees we recited a “Pater and Ave” \nto salute the good guardian angels of Gethsemani; and we kissed the earth soon to \nbe watered by our sweat and even by our tears. We re-entered our wagons and \ncontinued our journey through the woods for three-quarters of an hour. Our hearts \nswelled with emotion. With what feelings of joy and admiration\, did we not \ncontemplate these magnificent woods. We were astonished in finding ourselves so \nrich\, after having made the vow of poverty…We climbed a hill on which are situated \nwooden cottages\, declining with age. We were going to find at last the crib of our \nDivine Saviour at Bethlehem. Such\, too\, were the thoughts of all our religious. \nThey were in transports of joy in beholding these ten or twelve cottages\, thrown \nhere and there on the sloping hillside\, facing the sun. These composed the entire \nmonastery of Gethsemani.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-gethsemani-church-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241116
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241117
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241110T102813Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241110T102813Z
UID:12828-1731715200-1731801599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Gertrude the Great
DESCRIPTION:TO BE ONE WITH GOD \nFrom “The Spiritual Exercises” by St Gertrude the Great7 \n◊◊◊ \nO love\, the fruition of you is that worthiest coupling of your Word and the \nsoul which is brought about by perfect union with God. To use you is to become \nintertwined in God. To enjoy you is to be one with God. You are that peace which \nsurpasses all understanding and you are the road by which one comes to the \ninner chamber. \nOh\, if only it happened to me\, too\, miserable as I am\, to repose for a \nmoment under your dearest cloak of cherishing-love so that my heart might be \nemboldened by one consolatory utterance of your living Word\, or that my soul \nmight hear this good and pleasant word from your mouth: ‘I am your salvation; \nbehold\, now the bedchamber of my heart is open to you.’ \nWhy\, then\, O love so unwavering\, have you deeply loved someone so foul\, \nso ugly\, if not to make her beautiful in you? Your loving-kind charity attracts \nand allures me… \nLet me not be confounded in my expectation but grant me to find rest for \nmy soul in you. I have found nothing more desirable\, I have judged nothing \nmore lovable\, I have wished for nothing more dear than to be held tight\, O love\, \nin your embraces\, to rest under the wings of my Jesus\, and to dwell in the \ntabernacle of divine charity. \nO love\, O radiant noonday\, I would die a thousand times to be at rest in \nyou. If only you would bend to me your face of such beautiful cherishing-love… \nOh\, if I were granted to come exceedingly close to you so that I might now \nfind myself not only next to you but within you. Then\, through you\, sun of \njustice\, flowers of all the virtues might arise in me\, who am dust and ashes. With \nyou as a husband\, my Lord\, such fecundity might enter my soul that the \nrenowned offspring of total perfection would be born in me. Then\, having been \nsnatched from the valley of this misery\, I might be able to glory in you forever in \nthe presence of your desirable face; for you\, mirror without spot\, have not \nscorned to be\, in truth\, coupled with a sinner like me.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-gertrude-the-great-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241117
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241118
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241117T021612Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T021612Z
UID:12834-1731801600-1731887999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n33rd Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nNovember 17 – 23\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n17\nMon\n18\nTue\n19\nWed\n20\nThu\n21\nFri\n22\nSat\n23\n\n\nOffice\n33rd Sunday\nWeekday\nSt Mechtild\nWeekday\nPresentation of the BVM\nSt Cecilia\nSt Columban\n\n\nVigils\nBar 1:1-22\nBar 2:1-26\nBar 2:27-3:14\nBar 3:15-38\nBar 4:1-29\nBar 4:30-5:9\nBar 6:1-28\n\n\nLauds\nJob 14:1-6\nJob 16:1-12b\nJob 29:1-10\nJob 30:9-19\nJob 30:20-28\nJob 31:2-11\nJob 31:16-23\n\n\nMass\n158\n497\n498\n499\n500\n501\n502\n\n\n1st\nDan 12:1-3\nRev 1:1-4; 2:1-5\nRev 3:1-6\, 14-22\nRev 4:1-11\nRev 5:1-10\nRev 10:8-11\nRev 11:4-12\n\n\n2nd\nHeb 10:11-14\, 18\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMark 13:24-32\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\nRom 11:13-20\nRom 11:25-36\nRom 13:8-14\nRom 15:4-13\n1 Cor 15:1-11\n1 Cor 15:12-19\nRev 19:11-16
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-92/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241117
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241118
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241117T021819Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T021819Z
UID:12836-1731801600-1731887999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 33rd Sunday ORD
DESCRIPTION:THE REAPERS OF THE HARVEST \nFrom a commentary by St Gregory Palamas1 \n◊◊◊ \nAll those who hold to the true faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and show \nproof of their faith by good works\, guarding themselves from sins or cleansing \nthemselves from their stains by confession and repentance; who practice the \nvirtues opposed to those sins – temperance\, chastity\, love\, almsgiving\, justice \nand fair dealing – all these\, I say\, will rise again to hear the king of heaven \nhimself saying to them: Come\, my Father’s blessed ones\, inherit the kingdom \nprepared for you since the creation of the world. So they will reign with Christ\, \nreceiving as their inheritance that heavenly kingdom which cannot be shaken\, \nliving forever in the ineffable light that knows no evening and is interrupted by \nno night\, having fellowship with all the saints who have lived from the \nbeginning of time\, and enjoying delights beyond description in Abraham’s \nembrace\, where all pain has fled away and all grief and groaning. \nFor just as there is a harvest for inanimate sheaves of wheat\, so for the \nrational wheat which is the human race\, there is a harvest that cuts people away \nfrom unbelief\, and gathers into faith those who accept the proclamation of the \ngood news. The reapers of this harvest are the Lord’s apostles and their \nsuccessors\, and in the course of time the teachers of the Church. Of them the \nLord said: The reaper receives his wages\, and gathers a crop for eternal life\, \nfor teachers who instruct others in piety will in their turn receive from God such \nrecompense as befits those who gather the obedient into eternal life. \nBut there is yet another harvest: the transfer of each one of us by death \nfrom the present life into that which is to come. The reapers of this harvest are \nnot the apostles but the angels\, who have a greater responsibility than the \napostles\, because after the harvesting they sort out the good and separate them \nfrom the wicked like wheat from darnel. The good they send on to the kingdom \nof heaven\, but the wicked they throw into hell fire. \nAs for us\, who in this present age are God’s chosen people\, a priestly race\, \nthe Church of the living God separated from all the impious and ungodly\, may \nwe be found separated from the darnel in the age to come as well\, and united to \nthose who are saved in Christ our Lord\, who is blessed for ever.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-33rd-sunday-ord/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241118
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241119
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241117T021930Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T021930Z
UID:12838-1731888000-1731974399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:CHRIST THE CORNERSTONE \nBy Dom Damasus Winzen2 \n◊◊◊ \nStone is firm and lasting. Builders test their stones\, selecting the most \nsolid for foundations on which to rear the whole building\, for cornerstones to \nhold the wall together\, or for headstones which will lock into a single mass the \nentire structure. Stone likewise offers firm resistance to the thrust of an enemy; \nit will crush him upon whom it falls; it will bruise those who fall against it. \nGod is the “Stone of Israel”\, because he is a God of truth and his mercies \nendure forever. His faithfulness towards his people is the firm and precious \ncornerstone which is laid in Zion. In Christ Jesus\, God’s loyalty becomes \nmanifest. He is the stone that the leaders of Israel rejected when they crucified \nhim… He became the cornerstone when he rose from the dead. When we try to \npenetrate into the meaning of the symbolism of the cornerstone\, we discover \nthat various ideas are fused in this picture. The idea of the foundation stone is \nclearly expressed in Isaiah: Thus says the Lord God: behold I laid in Zion for a \nfoundation a stone\, a tried stone\, a precious cornerstone\, a sure foundation: \nhe that believes shall not make haste. Christ is the foundation stone\, for \nanother foundation no one can lay but that which is laid\, which is Christ Jesus. \nHe alone has wrought our redemption by dying for us and rising for us. We \ndepend entirely on his work and on his strength. The Hebrew word used in \nPsalm 117\, rosch pinnah — still surviving in our word “pinnacle” — has been \ntranslated in various ways as “head of the corner\,” “cornerstone\,” or “head \nstone.” The idea of the cornerstone implies that Christ is a part of the \nfoundation\, but its most important\, visible part\, the part which binds the walls. \nThis is true of Christ\, because in him the two walls of God and mankind\, of the \nJews and the Gentiles\, and the Old and the New Testament meet… \nIn recent years\, more and more scholars agree that rosch pinnah is rather \nthe head stone\, or capstone\, which holds a vault or arch together. The Risen \nSavior is indeed the headstone of the spiritual Temple in which the whole \nbuilding culminates\, which holds it together and defines its design. This three- \nfold meaning of Christ as the cornerstone is well expressed by Cynewulf in his \npoem “Christ.”… \nThou art the wall stone \nthat the workers once threw out from the work\, \nwell it becomes thee that thou be head \nof a mighty hall and weld together \nits wide walls in fast union\, \nFlint unbreakable\, that throughout earth’s dwelling \nall that have eyes may wonder ever more\, \nO Lord of glory.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-230/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241119
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241120
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241117T022059Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T022059Z
UID:12840-1731974400-1732060799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Mechthild of Hackeborn
DESCRIPTION:OUR SERVICE OF GOD \nAn excerpt from “The Book of Special Grace” by St Mechthild of Hackeborn3 \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 necessaries\, 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 your 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-mechthild-of-hackeborn/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20241120T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20241120T170000
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241117T022208Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T022208Z
UID:12842-1732089600-1732122000@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:DISCIPLINE IS A CROSS \nBy Baldwin of Ford4 \n◊◊◊ \nA person who is tempted by the flesh\, and who yields to this temptation\, \nhowever\, is someone who feels his passions and gives them his full consent. The \nmore carnal he is\, the more provision he makes for the flesh in gratifying its \ndesires. He does not give his consent to the spirit against the flesh but allies \nhimself with the flesh\, whose desires are opposed to the spirit. \nSuch a person loves wine and good things\, ease and security and plenty. \n[He loves] to be clothed in purple and fine linen and to feast sumptuously every \nday. Nor does he refuse his eyes whatever they desire. He allays all his desires \nimpulsively and willingly\, and whatever does not serve the delights of flesh he \nregards as vain. He reckons that the best thing for him is to enjoy good things in \nhis lifetime\, and he gains nothing more than this by all the toil at which he toils \nunder the sun. The end that carnal man will come to is shown in the gospel \nparable of the rich man and the poor man\, where it says\, “The rich man died and \nwas buried in hell.” And of Babylon it is written\, “As she exalted herself and lived \nin her delights\, so give her a like measure of torment and sorrow!” \nIt is better for us\, then\, to deliver such a man to death for the destruction \nof the flesh than to be drawn with him into the pit of destruction. Our flesh\, \ntherefore\, should be mortified and crucified\, so that the body of sin may be \ndestroyed. Such is in accord with the voice of the prophet speaking to the Lord: \n‘Pierce my flesh with your fear’. \nBecause it is said to carnal man\, ‘You have hated discipline\, If we can find \nno better cross on which to crucify carnal man than the austerity of regular \ndiscipline\, for the discipline which he hates is a torment to him. Regular \ndiscipline is a cross\, and the two pieces of wood from which it is built symbolize \nthe laws of abstinence and continence. Abstinence tempers gluttony\, and the \nlaw of continence restrains excess in all the senses of mind and body: and it is \nprecisely these things which are characteristic of the carnal man.’
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-231/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241121
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241122
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241117T022326Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T022326Z
UID:12844-1732147200-1732233599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Presentation of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:THE VIRGIN AND THE TEMPLE \nFrom the writing of Fr Yves Congar5 \n◊◊◊ \nThe only occasion on which the Gospels expressly mention the Virgin \nMary in connection with the Temple are in the account of her Purification and of \nthe Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the finding of the child Jesus in the \nTemple after four days’ absence on his part and three anxious searching by his \nparents. To these very brief indications\, the piety of Christians very soon added \nthe idea of the presentation of Mary in the Temple at the age of three to be \nconsecrated to the service of God. We are dealing here with a symbolical \nrepresentation of a profound spiritual reality about which the tradition and the \ndoctrine of the Church provide us with valid information. \nMary\, predestined to be the Mother of Jesus\, true God and true man\, and \nto be worthy of her vocation\, was prepared by the gift of exceptional graces and \nlived with unfailing fidelity a most pure life of inner consecration to the God of \nAbraham\, Isaac and Jacob. As the type of all faithful souls and of the Church \nherself\, Mary expressed spiritually and supremely in her life the “presentation” \nwhich\, for each one of us\, is to begin by the service of faith and to be \nconsummated in heaven. \nIt is obvious that the tradition and doctrine of the Church may\, without \nfalling prey to the imaginary productions of the apocrypha\, propound \nstatements concerning the status of the Mother of God in relation either to the \nJewish messianic temple going far beyond what we are explicitly told in the \nthree short passages from the Gospel which narrate the incidents mentioned \nabove. \nIf Mary is the Mother of God\, she has a special relation to the body of \nChrist which is the true temple – to his physical body and doubtless also\, in a \ncertain sense\, to his body the Church. She is herself a temple of God in a quite \nspecific and sublime way\, both because Christ was within her from the moment \nof his conception until that of his birth\, and because of the exceptional spiritual \ngifts she received in preparation for her divine motherhood and as a reward for \nher free acceptance of this vocation\, not only after the Annunciation but during \nthe whole of her life. Hence the liturgy – the Oriental liturgy in particular – \nshows a profound understanding of the mystery of Mary when it constantly uses \nthe texts concerning the Temple and the tabernacle in order to express it.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-presentation-of-the-bvm/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241122
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241123
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241117T022444Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T022444Z
UID:12846-1732233600-1732319999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Cecilia
DESCRIPTION:THE VIRGINITY OF \nST CECILIA \nFrom a homily by Fr Ronald Knox6 \n◊◊◊ \nThe legends of the early Roman saints\, among whom St Cecilia is \nnumbered\, do not always command great attention from the critically minded \nhistorian. But whether the story of St Cecilia as it is told in her acts is all true or \nonly partly true\, there is a simplicity about the whole story and a simplicity \nabout St Cecilia’s character in the story which demands a retelling. Let me \nremind you in the most general way of her story: how she was married to a \nyoung pagan called Valerian\, but persuaded him to respect her vow of virginity\, \nbecause her guardian angel would make him sorry for it if he did otherwise; how \nValerian wanted to see this guardian angel\, but Cecilia\, with her innocent craft\, \nsaid he could not do that unless he was baptized first; how he was baptized\, and \nsaw the angel at her side as she prayed; how he made a convert of his brother \nTiburtius\, and how first the two brothers\, and then Cecilia herself were \npunished with death for professing the Christian religion. It is an old story\, and \na familiar one: and while we do all homage to other great saints for their public \nwitness to Christ\, we shall always need St Cecilia as well\, quietly working at \nhome for the conversion of her own husband and his family. \nNot that St Cecilia herself was in the position of a modern wife. Like so \nmany Christian ladies of her time\, she had taken\, in imitation of our blessed \nLady\, a vow of perpetual virginity. These virgin martyrs were martyrs because \nthey were virgins: it was because they insisted on keeping their vow when their \nparents wished them to marry that the secret of their attachment to the \nChristian faith was discovered; and it was their persistency in maintaining it \nthat led to their martyrdom. It would be hard to estimate\, I think\, how much the \nunpopularity in Roman society of the Christian faith owed to its tradition of \nvirginity. Virginity is an ideal which the pagan had no right to misunderstand. \nFor\, in theory\, they\, too\, honored it; and it should have commended itself to \ntheir heathen instinct for sacrifice. For the point of a sacrifice is that the victim \nshould be spotless\, the best of its kind. You must offer not what you can well \nafford to spare\, but what will cost you something. That is the pagan idea of \nsacrifice; and the Christian idea of sacrifice is based on the same principle. In \norder to give up something to God\, we forgo\, not the sinful pleasures which we \nhave no right to in any case\, but the lawful pleasures which he has given us to \nenjoy if we will. \nSo\, let St. Cecilia’s feast remind us to take our Christian vocation \nseriously\, to follow out in our lives the words we profess with our lips. And may \nthis Roman maiden pray for us who worship here and for those who minister to \nus\, that when Christ\, the Master she served\, comes again in judgment\, we may \nbe found blameless before almighty God.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-cecilia-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241123
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241124
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241117T022549Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T022648Z
UID:12848-1732320000-1732406399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Columban
DESCRIPTION:TRUE DISCRETION \nFrom “The Rule of St Columban for Monks”7 \n◊◊◊ \nHow necessary discretion is for monks is shown by the mistake of many\, \nand indicated by the downfall of some\, who beginning without discretion and \npassing their time without a sobering knowledge\, have been unable to complete \na praiseworthy life; since\, just as error overtakes those who proceed without a \npath\, so for those who live without discretion intemperance is at hand\, and this \nis always the opposite of virtues which are placed in the mean between each \nextreme. Therefore we must pray God continually that He would bestow the \nlight of true discretion to illumine this way\, surrounded on every side by the \nworld’s thickest darkness\, so that His true worshippers may be able to cross this \ndarkness without error to Himself. \nSo discretion has got its name from discerning\, for the reason that it \ndiscerns in us between good and evil\, and also between the moderate and the \ncomplete. For from the beginning either class has been divided like light and \ndarkness\, that is\, good and evil\, after evil began through the devil’s agency to \nexist by the corruption of good\, but through God’s agency Who first illumines \nand then divides. \nWhat things then are good? Doubtless those which are untouched\, and \nhave remained in the undefiled state of their creation; which God alone created \nand prepared\, according to the Apostle\, that we should walk in them; which are \nthe good works in which in Christ Jesus we were created\, namely goodness\, \ninnocence\, righteousness\, justice\, truth\, pity\, love\, saving peace\, spiritual joy\, \ntogether with the fruit of the Spirit – all these with their fruits are good. Since \nthis is so\, the good must be firmly held by those that have God’s help\, which is \never to be prayed for in prosperity and in adversity\, lest either in prosperity we \nbe lifted up to pride\, or in adversity be cast down to despair… We must always \nrestrain ourselves from either danger\, that is\, from all excess by a splendid \ntemperance and true discretion\, which cleaves to Christian lowliness and opens \nthe way of perfection to Christ’s true soldiers\, namely by ever discerning rightly \nin doubtful cases. \nThus between the little and the excessive there is a reasonable measure in \nthe midst\, which ever recalls us from every superfluity on either side\, and in \nevery case provides what is universally fixed by human need\, and spurns the \nunreasonable demand of superfluous desire. And this measure of true \ndiscretion\, weighing all our actions in the scales of justice\, in no way allows us to \nerr from what is just\, or to suffer a mistake\, if we ever follow straight behind it as \nour leader. For while we must always restrain ourselves from either side\, \naccording to that saying: “Keep yourselves from the right and from the left\,” we \nmust ever proceed straight forward by discretion\, that is\, by the light of God\, \nwhile very often we say and sing the victorious psalmist’s verse: “My God\, \nenlighten my darkness\, since in You I am rescued from temptation. For \ntemptation is the life of humans on earth.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-columbine/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241124
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241125
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241124T130910Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T130910Z
UID:12852-1732406400-1732492799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n34th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nNovember 24 – 30\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n24\nMon\n25\nTue\n26\nWed\n27\nThu\n28\nFri\n29\nSat\n30\n\n\nOffice\nChrist the King\nSt Catherine of Alexandria\nWeekday\nWeekday\nWeekday Thanksgiving\nWeekday\nSt Andrew\n\n\nVigils\nEzek 34:11-31\nBar 6:29-50\nBar 6:51-72\nObad 1-11\nDeut 26:1-19\nObad 12-21\nEzek 47:1-12\n\n\nLauds\nJerm 10:1-10\nJob 38:1-12\nJob 42:1-6\nJob 42:7-11\nJoel 2:21-27\nJob 42:12-17\nSir 14:20-27\n\n\nMass\n161\n503\n504\n505\n943.3\, 944.3\, 947.6\n507\n684\n\n\n1st\nDan 7:13-14\nRev 14:1-3\, 4b-5\nRev 14:14-19\nRev 15:1-4\nIsa 63:7-9\nRev 20:1-4\, 11-21:2\nRom 10:9-18\n\n\n2nd\nRev 1:5-8\n\n\n\nCol 3:12-17\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 18:33b-37\nLuke 21:1-4\nLuke 21:5-11\nLuke 21:12-19\nLuke 17:11-19\nLuke 21:29-33\nMatt 4:18-22\n\n\nVespers\nEph 1:15-23\n1 Cor 15:20-28\n1 Cor 15:29-34\n1 Cor 15:35-41\n1 Cor 15:42-49\n1 Cor 15:50-58\nRev 1:1-8
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-93/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241124
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241125
DTSTAMP:20260403T164854
CREATED:20241124T131050Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T131050Z
UID:12854-1732406400-1732492799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 34th Sunday - Christ the King
DESCRIPTION:THE KINGDOM OF \nTHE BELOVED SON \nFrom a commentary by St Augustine1 \n◊◊◊ \nBanish the groundless fear that filled Herod the Great on hearing that \nChrist was born. More cruel in his fear than in his anger\, he put many children \nto death\, so that Christ also would die. But my kingdom is not of this world\, says \nChrist. What further reassurance do we seek? Come to the kingdom not of this \nworld. Be not enraged by fear\, but come by faith. In a prophecy Christ also \nsaid…God the Father has made me king on Zion his holy mountain. But that \nkingdom and that mountain are not of this world. \nWhat in fact is God’s kingdom? It is simply those who believe in him\, \nthose to whom he said: You are not of this world\, even as I am not of this \nworld. He willed\, nevertheless\, that they should be in the world\, which is why \nhe prayed to the Father: I ask you not to take them out of the world\, but to \nprotect them from the evil one. So here also he did not say my kingdom is not \nin this world\, but is not of this world. And when he went on to prove this by \ndeclaring: If my kingdom were of this world\, my servants would have fought to \nsave me from being handed over… he concluded by saying…my kingdom is not \nfrom here. \nIndeed\, his kingdom is here until the end of time\, and until the harvest it \nwill contain weeds. The harvest is the end of the world\, when the reapers who \nare the angels\, will come and gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin\, and this \ncould not happen if his kingdom were not here. But even so\, it is not from here \nfor it is in exile in the world. Christ says to his kingdom: You are not of the \nworld\, but I have chosen you out of the world. They were indeed of the world \nwhen they belonged to the prince of this world\, before they became his \nkingdom. Though created by the true God\, everyone born of the corrupt and \naccursed stock of Adam is of the world. On the other hand\, everyone who is \nreborn in Christ becomes the kingdom which is no longer of the world. For so \nhas God snatched us from the powers of darkness\, and brought us into the \nkingdom of his beloved Son: that kingdom of which he said My kingdom is not \nof this world; my kingly power does not come from here
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-34th-sunday-christ-the-king/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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