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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240730
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240731
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20240727T235947Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240727T235947Z
UID:12336-1722297600-1722383999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
DESCRIPTION:THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD TO COME \nFrom “Sacraments and Orthodoxy” by Fr Alexander Schmemann3 \n◊◊◊ \nThe liturgy of Christian death does not begin when one comes to the \ninescapable end and their corpse lies in church for the last rites while we stand \naround\, the sad yet resigned witnesses of the dignified removal of one from the \nworld of the living. It begins every day as the Church ascending into heaven\, \n“puts aside all earthly care”; it begins every feast day; it begins especially in the \njoy of Easter. The whole life of the Church is in a way the sacrament of our death\, \nbecause all of it is the proclamation of the Lord’s death\, the confession of his \nresurrection. \nThe Church is the entrance into the risen life of Christ\, communion in life \neternal\, “joy and peace in the Holy Spirit.” And it is the expectation of the “day \nwithout evening” of the Kingdom; not of any “other world\,” but of the fulfillment \nof all things and all life in Christ. In him death itself has become an act of life\, \nfor he has filled it with himself\, with his love and light. In him “all things are \nyours; whether the world\, or life\, or death\, or things present\, or things to come; \nall are yours; and you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” \nAnd if I make this new life mine\, mine this hunger and thirst of the \nKingdom\, mine this expectation of Christ\, mine the certitude that Christ is Life\, \nmy very death will be an act of communion with Life. For neither life nor death \ncan separate us from the love of Christ. I do not know when and how the \nfulfillment will come. I do not know when all things will be consummated in \nChrist. I know nothing about the “when’s” and “how’s.” But I know that in Christ \nthis great Passage\, the Pascha of the world has begun\, that the light of the “world \nto come” comes to us in the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit\, for Christ is risen \nand Life reigns. \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-the-dead-13/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240731
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240801
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20240728T000123Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240728T000123Z
UID:12338-1722384000-1722470399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Ignatius of Loyola
DESCRIPTION:THE INTERIOR GRACE OF PRAYER \nFrom “The Spiritual Journal” of St Ignatius of Loyola4 \n◊◊◊ \nIn the usual prayer\, from beginning to end\, I had the help of a very interior \nand gentle grace\, full of warm devotion and very sweet. While preparing the \naltar and vesting\, I saw a representation of the name of Jesus with much love\, \nconfirmation and increased desire to follow him\, accompanied by tears and \nsobs. \nAll through the Mass very great devotion\, on the whole\, with many tears\, \nand several times loss of speech\, all devotion and feeling being directed to Jesus. \nI could not apply myself to the other Persons\, except to the First Person as \nFather of such a Son\, with spiritual answers\, how he is Father\, how he is Son! \nHaving finished Mass\, I had during the prayer that same feeling towards the \nSon\, and how I would have desired the confirmation of the Most Holy Trinity\, \nand felt that it was given to me through Jesus\, when he showed himself to me \nand gave me such interior strength and certainty of the confirmation\, without \nany fear of the future. The thought suggested itself to me to beg Jesus to obtain \npardon for me from the most Holy Trinity. I felt an increased devotion\, tears \nand sobs\, and the hope of obtaining the grace\, when I found myself so vigorous \nand strengthened concerning the future. \nLater…there was a fresh representation of Jesus with great devotion and \nmovement to tears. Later\, as I walked through the street\, I had a vivid \nrepresentation of Jesus with interior movements and tears. After I had spoken \nwith [Cardinal] Carpi\, and was on the way home\, I felt great devotion. After \ndinner\, especially when I passed through the door of the Vicar\, in the house of \nthe Cardinal of Trani\, I felt or saw Jesus\, had many interior movements and \nmany tears\, begging and praying Jesus to obtain pardon for me from the Most \nHoly Trinity\, while I felt remaining in me a great confidence of being heard. \nAt these times\, when I sensed or saw Jesus\, I felt so great a love within \nme that I thought that nothing could happen in the future that would separate \nme from Him\, or cause me to doubt about the graces or confirmation I had \nreceived. \n  \n4 reprinted in Light from Light\, ed. by L. Dupre and J. Wiseman\, OSB\, New York: Paulist Press\, 1988\, pp. 266-267.9 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-ignatius-of-loyola/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240801
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240802
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20240728T000307Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240728T000307Z
UID:12340-1722470400-1722556799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Alphonsus Ligouri
DESCRIPTION:THE FULLNESS OF HIMSELF \nFrom a sermon by St Alphonsus Ligouri5 \n◊◊◊ \nAll holiness and perfection of soul lies in our love for Jesus Christ our \nGod\, who is our Redeemer and our supreme good. It is part of the love of God \nto acquire and to nurture all the virtues that make one perfect. \nHas not God in fact won for himself a claim on all our love? From all \neternity he has loved us. And it is in this vein that he speaks to us: “O consider \ncarefully that I first loved you. You had not yet appeared in the light of day\, nor \ndid the world yet exist\, but already I loved you. From all eternity I have loved \nyou.” \nSince God knew that we are enticed by favors\, he wished to bind us to his \nlove by means of his gifts: “I want to catch mortals with these snares\, these \nchains of love in which they allow themselves to be entrapped\, so that they will \nlove me.” And all the gifts which he bestowed on us were given to this end. He \ngave us a soul\, made in his likeness\, and endowed with memory\, intellect and \nwill; he gave us a body equipped with the senses; it was for us that he created \nheaven and earth and such an abundance of things. He made all things out of \nlove for us\, so that all creation might serve us\, and we in turn might love God \nout of gratitude for so many gifts. \nBut God did not wish to give us only beautiful creatures; the truth is that \nto win for himself our love\, he went so far as to bestow upon us the fullness of \nhimself. The eternal Father went so far as to give us his only Son. When he saw \nthat we were all dead through sin and deprived of his grace\, what did he do? \nCompelled\, as the Apostle says\, by the superabundance of his love for us\, he \nsent his beloved Son to make reparation for us and to call us back to a sinless \nlife. \nBy giving us his Son\, whom he did not spare precisely so that he might \nspare us\, he bestowed on us every good: grace\, love and heaven; for all these \ngoods are certainly inferior to the Son: He who did not spare his own Son\, but \nhanded him over for all of us; how could he fail to give us along with his Son \nall good things? \n  \n5 The Liturgy of the Hours – vol. III – pg 1568 – Catholic Book Publishing Co – New York – 1975.11 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-alphonsus-ligouri-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240802
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240803
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20240728T000626Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240728T000626Z
UID:12342-1722556800-1722643199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:CONSOLATION AND DESOLATION \nFrom “The Spiritual Exercises” of St Ignatius of Loyola6 \n◊◊◊ \nI call it consolation when an interior movement is aroused in the soul\, by \nwhich it is inflamed with love of its Creator and Lord\, and as a consequence\, can \nlove no creature on the face of the earth for its own sake\, but only in the Creator \nof them all. It is likewise consolation when one sheds tears that move to the \nlove of God\, whether it be because of sorrow for sins\, or because of the sufferings \nof Christ our Lord\, or for any other reason that is immediately directed to the \npraise and service of God. Finally\, I call consolation every increase of faith\, \nhope\, and love\, and all interior joy that invites and attracts to what is heavenly \nand to the salvation of one’s soul by filling it with peace and quiet in its Creator \nand Lord. \nI call it desolation what is entirely the opposite of what is described above\, \nas darkness of soul\, turmoil of spirit\, inclination to what is low and earthly\, \nrestlessness rising from many disturbances and temptations which lead to want \nof faith\, want of hope\, want of love. The soul is wholly slothful\, tepid\, sad\, and \nseparated\, as it were\, from its Creator and Lord. For just as consolation is the \nopposite of desolation\, so the thoughts that spring from consolation are the \nopposite of those that spring from desolation. \nIn time of desolation we should never make any change\, but remain firm \nand constant in the resolution and decision which guided us the day before the \ndesolation\, or in the decision to which we adhered in the preceding consolation. \nFor just as in consolation the good spirit guides and counsels us\, so in desolation \nthe evil spirit guides and counsels. Following his counsels we can never find the \nway to a right decision. \nThough in desolation we must never change our former resolutions\, it will \nbe very advantageous to intensify our activity against the desolation. We can \ninsist more upon prayer\, upon meditation\, and on much examination of \nourselves. We can make an effort in a suitable way to do some penance. \nWhen we are in desolation\, we should be mindful that God has left us to \nour natural powers to resist the different agitations and temptations of the \nenemy in order to try us. We can resist with the help of God\, which always \nremains\, though we may not clearly perceive it. For though God has taken from \nus the abundance of fervor and overflowing love and the intensity of His favors\, \nnevertheless\, we have sufficient grace for eternal salvation. \nWhen one is in desolation\, he should strive to persevere in patience. This \nreacts against the vexations that have overtaken him. Let him consider\, too\, \nthat consolation will soon return\, and in the meantime\, he must diligently use \nthe means against desolation which have been given above. \n  \n6 Trans.\, Louis J Puhl SJ\, Loyola Chicago\, 316. 3. pp 142-143.13 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-209/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240803
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240804
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20240728T000726Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240728T000726Z
UID:12344-1722643200-1722729599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
DESCRIPTION:MARY AND GOD’S REDEMPTIVE PLAN \nFrom “Seasons of Celebration” by Thomas Merton7 \n◊◊◊ \nIn Mary is perfectly realized God’s whole creative and redemptive plan. \nThat is why she is said to be for us a light of truth and a pattern of life. That is \nwhy her spiritual beauty includes in itself all the beauty which we see here and \nthere\, in partial and incomplete form\, in the universe. In her is all the beauty of \nthe world\, transfigured and elevated to a level beyond our comprehension: and \nyet since that perfection was reached by the fulfillment of the obediential \npotency in her nature\, which is also our nature\, there is a certain connaturality \nin us which makes us respond to her transcendent radiance even though it \nremains obscure to us. We cannot help but see that she is\, like ourselves\, a \nhuman creature whose littleness has been glorified in the light of Christ and \nwho has been saved from the power of darkness and evil by the grace of His \ncross. \nIt remains then for us to celebrate her immaculate beauty\, to open our \nhearts to the same light of truth which sanctified her\, the same grace which \nmade her pleasing to the Most High\, Who is her creator as He is ours\, and who \nwishes to see realized in us the same ineffable mystery of light. More than that\, \nHe wishes to see the whole world saved and transfigured in that light\, by reason \nof our perfect acceptance of His gift\, His love\, and His grace\, and our \ntransmission of the power of His love to all people and to all other beings by our \nwork\, our prayers and our love. \n  \n7 New York\, 1965\, pp. 169-170.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-bvm-8/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240804
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240805
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20240804T130639Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240804T130639Z
UID:12353-1722729600-1722815999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n18th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nAugust 4 – 10\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n4\nMon\n5\nTue\n6\nWed\n7\nThu\n8\nFri\n9\nSat\n10\n\n\nOffice\n18th Sunday\nWeekday\nTransfiguration of the Lord\nSt Cajetan\nSt Dominic\nSt Teresa Benedicta\nSt Lawrence\n\n\nVigils\n1 Sam 20:1-24a\n1 Sam 20:24b-21:1\n2 Cor 3:7-4:6\n1 Sam 21:2-22:5\n1 Sam 22:6-23\n1 Sam 23:1-28\nExodus 18:13-26\n\n\nLauds\nHab 2:15-20\nHab 3:1-7\nSir 48:1-11\nHab 3:8-15\nHab 3:16-19\nZephaniah 1:1-6\nTobit 4:5-11\n\n\nMass\n113\n407\n614\n409\n410\n411\n618\n\n\n1st\nExod 16:2-4\, 12-15\nJer 28:1-17\n2 Peter 1:16-19\nJer 31:1-7\nJer 31:31-34\nNah 2:1\, 3; 3:1-3\, 6-7\n2 Cor 9:6-10\n\n\n2nd\nEph 4:17\, 20-24\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 6:24-35\nMatt 14:13-21\nMark 9:2-10\nMatt 15:21-28\nMatt 16:13-23\nMatt 16:24-28\nJohn 12:24-26\n\n\nVespers\nTitus 1:1-9\nTitus 1:10-16\n1 Jn 5:9-12\nTitus 2:11-15\nTitus 3:1-8a\nTitus 3:8b-15\nJas 1:1-11
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-79/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240804
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240805
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20240804T130802Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240804T130802Z
UID:12355-1722729600-1722815999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 18th Sunday
DESCRIPTION:THE BREAD OF LIFE \nFrom a commentary by Theophylact of Ohrid1 \n◊◊◊ \nOur ancestors ate manna in the desert\, as it is written\, “He gave them \nbread from heaven to eat.” Wishing to persuade Christ to perform the kind of \nmiracle that would provide them with bodily nourishment\, the people in their \ninsatiable greed called to mind the manna. What was the reply of Our Lord \nJesus\, the infinite wisdom of God? It was not Moses who gave you bread. In \nother words\, “Moses did not give you the true bread. On the contrary everything \nthat happened at that time was a prefiguring of what is happening now…” \nOur Lord refers to himself as the true bread not because the manna was \nsomething illusory\, but because it was only a type and a shadow\, and not the \nreality it signified. \nThis bread\, being the Son of the living Father\, is life by its very nature\, \nand accordingly gives life to all. Just as earthly bread sustains the frail substance \nof the flesh and prevents it from falling into decay\, so Christ quickens the soul \nthrough the power of the Spirit\, and also preserves the body for immortality. \nThrough Christ\, resurrection from the dead and bodily immortality have been \ngraciously bestowed upon the human race. \nJesus said to the people: “I am the Bread of Life. Whoever come to me \nshall never hunger\, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” He did not \nsay the bread of bodily nourishment\, but the bread of life. For when everything \nhas been reduced to a condition of spiritual death\, the Lord gave us life through \nhimself\, who is bread because\, as we believe\, the leaven in the dough of our \nhumanity was baked through and through by the fire of his divinity. He is the \nbread not of this ordinary life\, but of a very different kind of life which death3 \nwill never cut short. \nWhoever believes in this bread\, will never hunger\, will never be famished \nfor want of hearing the Word of God\, nor will such a person be parched by \nspiritual thirst through lack of the waters of baptism and the consecration \nimparted by the Spirit. The unbaptized\, deprived of the refreshment afforded \nby the sacred water\, suffer thirst and great aridity. The baptized on the other \nhand\, being possessed of the Spirit\, enjoy its continual consolation.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-18th-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240805
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240806
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20240804T130904Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240804T130904Z
UID:12357-1722816000-1722902399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:AN INDESTRUCIBLE TEMPLE \nFrom a homily delivered at the Council of Ephesus \nby St Cyril of Alexandria1 \n◊◊◊ \nI see here a joyful company of Christians met together in ready response \nto the call of Mary\, the holy and ever virgin Mother of God. Now the joyful \nsaying of David the psalmist: How good and pleasant it is for brothers to live \ntogether in unity has come true for us. Therefore\, holy and incomprehensible \nTrinity\, we salute you at whose summons we have come together to this church \nof Mary\, the Mother of God. \nMary\, Mother of God\, we salute you. Precious vessel\, worthy of the whole \nworld’s reverence\, you are an ever-shining light\, the crown of virginity\, the \nsymbol of orthodoxy\, an indestructible temple\, the place that held him whom \nno place can contain\, mother and virgin. Because of you\, the holy Gospels could \nsay: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. \nWe salute you\, for in your holy womb he\, who is beyond all limitation\, \nwas confined. Because of you\, the holy Trinity is glorified and adored; the cross \nis called precious and is venerated throughout the world; the heavens exult; the \nangels and archangels make merry; demons are put to flight; the devil\, that \ntempter\, is thrust down from heaven; the fallen race of humans is taken up on \nhigh; all creatures possessed by the madness of idolatry have attained \nknowledge of the truth believers receive holy baptism; the oil of gladness is \npoured out\, the Church is established throughout the world; pagans are brought \nto repentance. \nWhat more is there to say? Because of you\, the light of the only-begotten \nSon of God has shone upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of5 \ndeath; prophets pronounced the word of God; the apostles preached salvation \nto the Gentiles\, the dead are raised to life\, and kings rule by the power of the \nholy Trinity. \nWho can put Mary’s high honor into words? She is both mother and \nvirgin. I am overwhelmed by the wonder of this miracle. Of course\, no one could \nbe prevented from living in the house he had built for himself\, yet who would \ninvite mockery by asking his own servant to become his mother? \nBehold then the joy of the whole universe. Let the union of God and man \nin the Son of the Virgin Mary fill us with awe and adoration. Let us fear and \nworship the undivided Trinity as we sing the praise of the ever-virgin Mary\, the \nholy temple of God himself\, her Son and spotless Bridegroom. To him be glory \nfor ever and ever.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-210/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240806
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240807
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20240804T131031Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240804T131031Z
UID:12359-1722902400-1722988799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Transfiguration of the Lord
DESCRIPTION:THE TRANSFIGURATION OF JESUS \nBy Han Urs von Balthasar1 \n◊◊◊ \nThe Gospel of the Transfiguration is preceded by the first reading telling \nthe story of Abraham’s sacrifice. And for good reason\, for the Transfiguration \nof the Lord was to be the Father’s demonstration of what his “beloved Son” truly \nis\, the One whom he will permit to be ‘slaughtered’ for and by mankind. For the \nJews\, Abraham’s sacrifice is … the climax of their relationship with God\, and \nthey emphasize that it was a double sacrifice: the sacrifice of a father\, who draws \nhis knife\, and the sacrifice of a son\, who agreed to his own slaughter …. [The \nevent represents] the extreme form of what God can require … from a man who \nis in a covenant relationship with him. The horror of it consists not in the \ncommand to kill the son of one’s own body …; rather\, the horror lies in the fact \nthat this son was miraculously given by God and destined to imitate and \naccomplish the divine promises. In his command God contradicts himself. Yet \nthough the command may be incomprehensibly contradictory to man\, he must \nobey because God is God. \nThe second reading resolves the apparent paradox by showing that God \nreveals himself as love in essence\, a love that does not contradict itself if it sends \nthe Son of God into real death and thereby fulfills the promise to “give \neverything”\, namely\, to bestow eternal life. Here the extreme is not the one- \nsided obedience of man in the face of an incomprehensible command of God; \nrather it is the way the Son’s obedient willingness to enter death for the sake of \neveryone is united with the Father’s willingness to sacrifice … [everything\, even \nto the point of not holding back his Son]. In this\, God is not only “with us”\, as \nin the Old Testament’s “Emmanuel”\, but is ultimately “for us”\, his chosen ones. \nIn this he has not merely given us something great\, but has given us everything \nhe is and has …. \nIn this perspective the true meaning of the light… radiating from the Son \non the mountain in the Gospel can be understood. In no way is this light \nproduced through absorption in oneself; rather it is the radiant … light of \nperfect surrender: it shows what the Father has really given up to “slaughter” \nfor the world\, what the new Isaac permits to be done to himself out of obedient \nlove toward the Father\, what the “overshadowing” luminous cloud veils [in the] \ndivine mystery. Fear and chatter on the part of the men necessarily follow\, but \nthey are commanded to avoid abusing by empty talk what they have witnessed. \nIt will interpret itself in the death and Resurrection of the Lord.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-transfiguration-of-the-lord-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240807
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240808
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20240804T131139Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240804T131139Z
UID:12361-1722988800-1723075199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Cajetan
DESCRIPTION:ST CAJETAN \nFrom the writing of Alban Butler1 \n◊◊◊ \nSt Cajetan was son of Caspar\, Count of Thiene\, of the nobility of Vicenza\, \nwhere he was born in 1480. Two years later his father was killed\, fighting for \nthe Venetians against King Ferdinand of Naples. Cajetan went for four years to \nPadua University\, where he distinguished himself in theology\, and took the \ndegree of doctor in civil and canon law in 1504. He then returned to his native \ntown\, of which he was made senator. In pursuance of his resolve to serve God \nas a priest he received the tonsure. In 1506 he went to Rome. Soon after his \narrival Pope Julius II conferred on him the office of protonotary… On the death \nof Julius Cajetan refused his successor’s request to continue in that office\, and \ndevoted three years to preparing himself for the priesthood. He was ordained \nin 1516\, being thirty-three years old\, and returned to Vicenza in 1518. \nCajetan had re-founded a confraternity in Rome called “The Oratory of \nthe Divine Love”\, which was an association of zealous and devout clerics who \ndevoted themselves to labor with all their power to promote God’s honor and \nthe welfare of souls… but consisted only of men in the lowest station of life. This \ncircumstance gave great offence to his friends\, who thought it a reflection on \nthe honor of his family. He persisted\, however\, and sought out the sick and the \npoor throughout the whole town\, served them and cared for those who suffered \nfrom the most loathsome diseases in the hospital of the incurables. He founded \na similar oratory at Verona and then went in 1520 to Venice where he took up \nhis lodgings in the new hospital of that city… He introduced exposition of the \nBlessed Sacrament in that city\, as well as continuing the promotion of frequent \ncommunion. \nThe state of Christendom at this time shocked and distressed Cajetan\, and \nin 1523 he went back to Rome to confer with his friends of the Oratory of Divine \nLove. They agreed that little could be done other than by reviving in the clergy \nthe spirit and zeal of those holy pastors who first planted the faith\, and a plan \nwas formed for instituting an order of regular clergy upon the model of the lives \nof the Apostles. The first associates of Cajetan were John Peter Caraffa\, who \nlater became pope under the name of Paul IV. The institute was approved by \nClement VII\, and Caraffa was chosen as the first provost general. From the \nname of his episcopal see of Theatensis these clerks regular came to be \ndistinguished from others as Theatines. \nThe success of the new congregation was not immediate\, and in 1527\, \nwhen it still numbered only a dozen members\, the army of Emperor Charles V \nsacked Rome. The Theatines house was demolished and the members had to \nescape to Venice. Cajetan was sent to Verona\, where both the clergy and the \nlaity were opposing the reformation of discipline\, which their bishop was \nendeavoring to introduce among them. A general improvement was the fruit of \nhis example\, preaching and labors. \nWorn out with trying to appease civil strife in Naples\, and disappointed \nat the suspension of the Council of Trent\, from which he hoped so much for the \nChurch’s good\, Cajetan had to take to his bed in the summer of 1547. The end \ncame on Sunday\, August 7. Many miracles wrought by his intercession were \napproved at Rome after rigorous scrutiny\, and he was canonized in 1671.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-cajetan-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240808
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240809
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20240804T131257Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240804T131257Z
UID:12363-1723075200-1723161599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Dominic
DESCRIPTION:THE PRAYER OF ST DOMINIC1 \n◊◊◊ \nThe holy father Dominic also had another beautiful way of praying\, full of \ndevotion and grace. After the canonical Hours and the grace which is said in \ncommon after meals\, the father would go off quickly on his own to a cell or \nsomewhere\, sober and alert and anointed with a spirit of devotion which he had \ndrawn from the divine words which had been sung in choir or during the meal; \nthere he would sit down to read or pray\, recollecting himself in himself and \nfixing himself in the presence of God. Sitting there quietly he would open some \nbook before him\, arming himself first with the sign of the cross\, and then he \nwould read. And he would be moved in his mind as delightfully as if he heard \nthe Lord speaking to him. \nAs the Psalm says\, “I will hear what the Lord God is saying in me.” It was \nas if he were arguing with a friend; at one moment he would appear to be feeling \nimpatient\, nodding his head energetically\, then he would seem to be listening \nquietly\, then you would see him disputing and struggling\, and laughing and \nweeping all at once\, fixing his gaze\, submitting\, then again speaking quietly and \nbeating his breast. If anyone was inquisitive enough to want to spy on him \nsecretly\, he would find that the holy father Dominic was like Moses\, who went \ninto the innermost desert and saw the burning bush and the Lord speaking and \ncalling to him to humble himself. The man of God had a prophetic way of \npassing quickly from reading to prayer and from meditation to contemplation. \nWhen he was reading like this on his own\, he used to venerate the book \nand bow to it and sometimes kiss it\, particularly if it was a book of the gospels \nor if he was reading the words which Christ had spoken with his own lips. And \nsometimes he used to hide his face and turn it aside\, or he would bury his face \nin his hands and hide it a little in his scapular. And then he would also become11 \nanxious and full of yearning\, and he would also rise a little\, respectfully\, and \nbow as if he were thanking some very special person for favours he has \nbestowed. Then\, quite refreshed and at peace in himself\, he would continue \nreading his book.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-dominic-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240809
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240810
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20240804T131400Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240804T131400Z
UID:12365-1723161600-1723247999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Teresa Benedict
DESCRIPTION:THE EUCHARIST \nAS A MEANS OF SALVATION \nFrom an essay by St Edith Stein1 \n◊◊◊ \nChrist’s suffering and death are continued in His mystical Body and in \neach of His members. Everyone must suffer and die. But if that person is a \nliving member of the Body of Christ\, their suffering and death will receive \nredemptive power from the divinity of the Head. This is the objective reason \nwhy all the saints have desired to suffer. This is not a pathological pleasure in \nsuffering. It is true\, to natural reason it appears as a perversion. But in the light \nof the mystery of salvation it shows itself to be highly reasonable. And thus\, the \none who is united to Christ will remain unmoved even in the dark night of \nfeeling estranged from\, and abandoned by God. Perhaps divine providence is \nusing his agony to deliver another\, who is truly a prisoner cut off from God. \nTherefore\, we will say: “Thy will be done” even\, and particularly so\, in the \ndarkest night… For God has come to redeem us\, to unite us to Himself and to \neach other\, to conform our will to His. He knows our nature. He reckons with \nit\, and has therefore given us every help necessary to reach our goal… \nThe Savior\, knowing that we are and remainA men who have daily to \nstruggle with our weaknesses\, aids our humanity in a manner truly divine. Just \nas our earthly body needs its daily bread\, so the divine life in us must be \nconstantly fed. “This is the living bread that came down from heaven”. If we \nmake it truly our daily bread\, the mystery of Christmas\, the Incarnation of the \nWord\, will daily be re-enacted in us. And this\, it seems\, is the surest way to \nremain in constant union with God\, and to grow every day more securely and \nmore deeply into the mystical Body of Christ…13 \nIs it really demanding too much to make room in our life for the \nEucharistic Savior\, so that He may transform our life into His own? We have \ntime for so many useless things: we read senseless rubbish in books\, periodicals \nand newspapers… All these are distractions by which one wastes time and \nstrength… \nThus\, being a child of God means to become small and at the same time \nto become great. Living eucharistically means quite naturally to leave the \nnarrowness of one’s own life and to grow into the breadth of the Christ life… \nWho could assist at the Holy Sacrifice with a receptive mind and heart and not \nbe filled with the sacrificial spirit\, burning with the desire that his own small \npersonal life should be merged into the great work of the Savior?
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-teresa-benedict/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240810
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240811
DTSTAMP:20260403T143949
CREATED:20240804T131456Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240804T131456Z
UID:12367-1723248000-1723334399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Lawrence
DESCRIPTION:ST LAWRENCE \nBy St Augustine1 \n◊◊◊ \nThe Roman Church commends to us today the anniversary of the triumph \nof St. Lawrence. For on this day he trod the furious pagan world underfoot and \nflung aside its allurements\, and so gained victory over Satan’s attack on his \nfaith. As you have often heard\, Lawrence was a deacon of the Church at Rome. \nThere he ministered the sacred blood of Christ; there for the sake of Christ’s \nname he poured out his own blood. St John the Apostle was evidently teaching \nus about the mystery of the Lord’s supper when he wrote: Just as Christ laid \ndown his life for us\, so we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. My \nbrethren\, Lawrence understood this and\, understanding\, he acted on it. Just as \nhe had partaken of a gift of self at the table of the Lord\, so he prepared to offer \nsuch a gift. In his life he loved Christ; in his death he followed in his footsteps. \nBrethren\, we too must imitate Christ if we truly love him. We shall not be \nable to render better return on that love than by modeling our lives on his. \nChrist suffered for us\, leaving us an example\, that we should follow in his steps. \nIn saying this\, the Apostle Peter seems to have understood that Christ suffered \nonly for those who follow in his steps\, in the sense that Christ’s passion is of no \navail to those who do not. The holy martyrs followed Christ even to the shedding \nof their life’s blood\, even to reproducing the very likeness of his passion. They \nfollowed him\, but not they alone. It is not true that the bridge was broken after \nthe martyrs crossed; nor is it true that after they had drunk from it\, the fountain \nof eternal life dried up. \nI tell you again and again\, my brethren\, that in the Lord’s garden are to \nbe found not only the roses of his martyrs. In it there are also the lilies of the \nvirgins\, the ivy of wedded couples\, and the violets of widows. On no account15 \nmay any class of people despair\, thinking that Christ has not called them. Christ \nsuffered for all. What the Scriptures say of him is true: He desires all to be saved \nand to come to knowledge of the truth. \nLet us understand\, then\, how a Christian must follow Christ even though \nhe does not shed his blood for him\, and his faith is not called upon to undergo \nthe great test of the martyr’s sufferings. The apostle Paul says of Christ our Lord: \nThough he was in the form of God he did not consider equality with God a prize \nto be clung to. How unrivaled his majesty! But he emptied himself\, taking on \nthe form of a slave\, made in human likeness\, and presenting himself in human \nform. How deep his humility! \nChrist humbled himself. Christian\, that is what you must make your own. \nChrist became obedient. How is it that you are proud? When this humbling \nexperience was completed and death itself lay conquered\, Christ ascended into \nheaven. Let us follow him there\, for we hear Paul saying: If you have been raised \nwith Christ\, you must lift your thoughts on high\, where Christ now sits at the \nright hand of God.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-lawrence-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240811
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240812
DTSTAMP:20260403T143950
CREATED:20240811T102418Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240811T102418Z
UID:12373-1723334400-1723420799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n19th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nAugust 11 – 17\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n11\nMon\n12\nTue\n13\nWed\n14\nThu\n15\nFri\n16\nSat\n17\n\n\nOffice\n19th Sunday\nOffice for Vocations\nWeekday\nSt Maximilian Kolbe\nAssumption of the BVM\nWeekday\nWeekday\n\n\nVigils\n1 Sam 24:1-25:1\n1 Sam 25:2-22\n1 Sam 25:23-43\n1 Sam 26:1-25\nSir 24:1-16\n1 Sam 27:1-12\n1 Sam 28:1-25\n\n\nLauds\nZeph 1:7-13\nZeph 1:14-18\nZeph 2:1-7\nZeph 2:8-15\nJosh 4:4-10\nZeph 3:1-7\nZeph 3:8-13\n\n\nMass\n116\n413\n414\n415\n622\n417\n418\n\n\n1st\n1 Kgs 19:4-8\nEzek 1:2-5\, 24-28c\nEzek 2:8-3:4\nEzek 9:1-7; 10:18-22\nRev 11:19a; 12:1-6a; 10ab\nEzek 16:1-15\, 60\, 63\nEzek 18:1-10\, 13b\, 30-32\n\n\n2nd\nEph 4:30-5:2\n\n\n\n1 Cor 15:20-27\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 6:41-51\nMatt 17:22-27\nMatt 18:1-5\, 10\, 12-14\nMatt 18:15-20\nLuke 1:39-56\nMatt 19:3-12\nMatt 19:13-15\n\n\nVespers\nJas 1:12-18\nJas 1:19-27\nJas 2:1-13\nEph 2:1-10\nRom 8:28-39\nJas 2:14-17\nJas 2:18-26
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-80/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240811
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240812
DTSTAMP:20260403T143950
CREATED:20240811T102555Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240811T102555Z
UID:12375-1723334400-1723420799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 19th Sunday
DESCRIPTION:HIS MOST DIVINE LIFE \nFrom a commentary by Denis the Areopagite1 \n◊◊◊ \nIn his goodness and love for humankind\, Jesus\, the most divine Word\, \none\, simple\, and hidden\, assumed our nature\, appearing though unchanged in \nhis own nature as a being both composite and visible. Graciously he received us \ninto unifying communion with himself\, joining our lowliness to his sublime \ndivinity\, under the sole condition that we in our turn should adhere to him as \nmembers of his body by living a pure and godly life like his\, and not giving reign \nto ruinous\, death-dealing passions\, which would make us incapable of union \nwith those completely healthy and divine members. \nIf we aspire to communion with Jesus\, we must fix our eyes upon the most \nholy life he lives in the flesh and follow the example of his divine innocence so \nas to become pure and godlike. Then\, in a manner befitting us\, he will give us a \nresemblance to himself. \nThe bishop manifests these truths in the sacred rites he performs when \nhe publicly unveils the hidden gifts\, divides them into many parts\, and by the \nperfect union of the sacrament he distributes with those who receive it\, admits \nthe recipients to communion with it. For by thus presenting Jesus Christ to our \neyes he shows us the very life of our spirit and understanding in a way \nperceptible to our senses\, as it were pictorially. He shows us how Christ came \nforth from his divine concealment to assume for love of humanity our human \nform\, becoming completely human without loss of his own identity\, how while \nremaining unchanged he descended from his natural unity to the level of our \ndivisibility\, and how through the beneficent deeds inspired by his love for us\, \nHe calls the human race to communion with himself and to share in his \nblessings. He asks only that we unite ourselves to his most divine life by3 \nimitating it to the best of our ability\, so as to enter into a real communion with \nGod and his divine mysteries.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-19th-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240812
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240813
DTSTAMP:20260403T143950
CREATED:20240811T102721Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240811T102721Z
UID:12377-1723420800-1723507199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:THE DIVINE CALL \nFrom the writing of Hans Urs von Balthasar1 \n◊◊◊ \nChristian revelation is primarily a revelation of hearing\, not of seeing. \nAlthough the image of seeing is not excluded – for “we see now through a \nmirror in an obscure manner”; wisdom\, when it appears\, is the “mirror … and \nimage” of the divine goodness; and Christ is “the image of the invisible God” \nso that\, in seeing him\, we also see the Father – nevertheless the comparison \nwith hearing is the dominant one in revelation: the Second Person is heard \nprimarily as “Word” and faith in him comes by hearing. The hearing of the Word \nis by no means a temporary substitute for the seeing that is wanting to us here \nbelow. On the contrary\, it is the lasting proof that God never is and never will \nbe a mere “object” of knowledge to us\, but is rather the infinitely sovereign \nmajesty of a Trinity of Persons that makes itself known in whatever way and to \nwhomever it wills. \nThat God speaks to us in his personal word is a greater grace than that we \nare allowed to see him: That we are deemed worthy of his word is the grace of \ngraces that makes us partners in a divine\, even Trinitarian\, conversation. That \nthe word of God is spoken to us is the highest revelation and honor the personal \nGod can bestow upon us\, for it presumes that God considers us capable of \nunderstanding his word through the gift of his grace and of possessing the Spirit \nwho “searches all things\, even the deep things of God\, that we may know all \nthings that have been given us by God”. So tremendous is this grace that the \ncreature thus addressed by God must forget its own wishes and desires\, even its \nlonging for “eternal happiness” and for the “vision of God” so that\, trembling \nin the depths of its being\, it may fall to the ground and hear his voice only to \nask: “What shall I do\, Lord?”5 \nBut one who has been thrown to the ground by the impact of this \ncompelling voice is also “set upon his feet” by it. When God speaks\, He wants a \npartner. He wants one who is erect\, who\, hearing his voice\, is yet able to stand \nupon his feet and answer: “…I fell upon my face\, and I heard the voice of the \none that spoke. And he said to me: Son of man\, stand upon your feet\, and I will \nspeak to you. And the Spirit entered into me after he spoke to me\, and he set \nme upon my feet; and I heard him speaking to me…”. \nWhen God speaks personally\, he wants to be understood personally; \nwhen he utters his personal word into the world\, he wants that word to be \nreturned to him\, not as a dead echo\, but as a personal response from his \ncreature in an exchange that is genuinely a dialogue even though it can be \nconducted only in the unity of the divine Word that mediates between the \nFather and us. But just as that divine Word proceeds from the Father\, yet is not \nthe Father\, but only declares the Father\, so the creature can give back to the \nFather this word it has received by uttering itself in it – or better\, by letting itself \nbe uttered by it.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-15/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240813
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240814
DTSTAMP:20260403T143950
CREATED:20240811T102844Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240811T102844Z
UID:12379-1723507200-1723593599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE CENOBITIC LIFE \nFrom the writing of Baldwin of Ford.1 \n◊◊◊ \nThe common life of the angels is a sort of copy of that common life which \nis in God\, of God\, and is God. It is united in perfect peace by the Holy Spirit\, \nwho is its love\, its bond\, and its communion. ‘By the word of the Lord the \nheavens were established\, and all their virtue by the spirit of his mouth.’ The \nheavens are the angels in whom God dwells as their common life and common \nblessedness\, and in his love they live in concord and happiness. Each of them \nloves all the others\, and all of them love each; they all want the same things and \nall are averse to the same things; what pleases one is displeasing to none\, and \nwhat one wants\, they all want. There is one purpose and one will for all; all feel \nthe same thing\, and all sense the same thing. \nThere is no one here puffed up with pride\, no one consumed with envy\, \nno outbursts of anger\, no quarrels or discord\, no murmurs of impatience\, and \nno one is defamed by treacherous tongues. Here all is at peace\, all is calm\, all is \ntranquil. There is nothing disordered\, nothing undisciplined\, nothing contrary \nto order or obedience\, nothing secretly put away with the intention of keeping \nit for oneself. Everything is open and aboveboard\, everything is plain\, and \nthings which are proper to each individual are common to all through the \nsharing of love and the love of sharing. They are all [assembled] in one temple \nand raise their shouts of joy to God in common; all at the same time read and \nmeditate and contemplate in the book of life; and they all refresh themselves \ncommunally at one and the same table. They take their rest together in the place \nof eternal repose\, and there is no one who does anything on his own which can \ndisturb or damage their common peace\, obedience\, or order. \nSuch is the fellowship— the happiest and most joyous [of fellowships] — \nof the citizens of the realms above who live the common life\, and we who are \nstill upon earth should follow their way of life by [living] the common life after \ntheir example. Thus\, we might deserve to be joined with them in intimate \ncompanionship\, a companionship which will be the more intimate the more it \nis granted us from above to imitate their life\, through the grace of our Lord \nJesus Christ\, the charity of God\, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-211/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240814
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240815
DTSTAMP:20260403T143950
CREATED:20240811T103056Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240811T103056Z
UID:12381-1723593600-1723679999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Maximilian
DESCRIPTION:A TESTIMONY FROM \nTHE BEATIFICATION PROCESS \nOF ST MAXIMILIAN KOLBE1 \n◊◊◊ \nFr Kolbe and I worked together in May or June 1941. We were bringing \nsand up from the Sola River. This was some of Auschwitz’s heaviest work\, so \nour squad had a very hard time indeed. The work itself was very painful; we \nwere lightly and very insufficiently dressed\, and yet we had to wade into the cold \nwater to dig the sand. In addition\, the guards beat us cruelly or sometimes \nkilled prisoners outright. From the first time I saw Father Maximilian I was \nstruck by his dignity and calm\, so different from others. In spite of the terrible \nconditions and bad treatment\, he never complained nor did he curse. Instead\, \nhe tried to comfort the other prisoners and lift our spirits. During the three \nweeks we worked together\, I sometimes saw the kapo beat Father Kolbe with a \nbig stick. Each time\, Father Kolbe took it without a murmur. \nThe news of his death was an enormous shock to the whole camp. We \nbecame aware someone among us in this spiritual dark night of the soul was \nraising the standard of love on high. Someone unknown\, like everyone else\, \ntortured and bereft of name and social standing\, went to a horrible death for the \nsake of someone not even related to him. Therefore it is not true\, we cried\, that \nhumanity is cast down and trampled in the mud\, overcome by oppressors\, and \noverwhelmed by hopelessness. Thousands of prisoners were convinced the true \nworld continued to exist and that our torturers would not be able to destroy it. \nMore than one individual began to look within himself for this real world\, found \nit\, and shared it with his camp companion\, strengthening both in this encounter \nwith evil. To say that Father Kolbe died for one of us or for that person’s family \nis too great a simplification. \nHis death was the salvation of thousands. And on this\, I would say\, rests \nthe greatness of that death. That’s how we felt about it. And as long as we live\, \nwe who were at Auschwitz will bow our heads in memory of it as at that time we \nbowed our head before the bunker of death by starvation. That was a shock full \nof optimism\, regenerating and giving strength; we were stunned by his act\, \nwhich became for us a mighty explosion of light in the dark camp night.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-maximilian/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240815
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240816
DTSTAMP:20260403T143950
CREATED:20240811T103204Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240811T103204Z
UID:12383-1723680000-1723766399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Assumption of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:TODAY SHE HAS FOUND HIM \nFrom a sermon by St Aelred of Rievaulx1 \n◊◊◊ \nAmong all those who are Christ’s\, she who tastes his goodness more \nintimately and more delicately is of greater excellence\, more blessed\, and more \nattractive. She is to him not only a creature\, a handmaid\, a friend\, and a \ndaughter\, but also a mother. So\, then it is only right that we welcome her feast \nwith greater delight and gladness. But today even more we should rejoice with \nher because today her joy was completely fulfilled. Great was her joy when the \nangel greeted her. Great was her joy when she felt the coming of the Holy Spirit\, \nwhen that marvelous fusion of the Son of God with her flesh took place in her \nwomb\, so that he\, one and the same\, was the Son of God and her Son. Great was \nher joy when she held such a Son in her arms\, when she listened to his words\, \nwhen she saw his miracles. And because her sorrow was so great at the Passion\, \nshe took wondrous joy again in his resurrection and greater still at his \nascension. But all these joys were surpassed by the joy which she receives today. \nUp to this day…Mary\, the blessed Mother of God\, knew her dearest Son \nin the flesh. Although she fastened all her desires and all her love there\, where \nhe was\, after her dearest Son and Lord ascended into heaven\, so long as she \nremained in this corruptible flesh\, what she had seen of him in the flesh could \nnot fade from her memory. For his deeds and words were always coming to her \nmind and above all there lingered in her heart the features of his exquisite face. \nToday\, however\, she passed from this world and went up to the heavenly \nkingdom. There she began to contemplate his brightness\, power\, and divinity\, \nand her joy and her longing were fulfilled. So with good reason could she say: “I \nhave found him whom my soul loves”. She holds him and she does not let him \ngo… Today she has found him whom her soul loves\, she has found him in spirit\,11 \nshe loves him in spirit\, she holds him in spirit and therefore she will never again \nlose him… \nShe loved him more than anyone else did\, so she yearned for him more \nthan anyone else did\, and therefore sought him more persistently. But him \nwhom until now her flesh loved\, now her soul loves. And now she says: “I will \nrise and go the rounds of the city”. Today the Blessed Virgin went up into heaven \nand went round the whole of that heavenly city in the full natural vigor of her \nmind. Today she entered that heavenly court. She saw the white robes of the \nvirgins\, the ruddy crowns of the martyrs\, the thrones of the apostles\, and in the \nmidst of them she found her Son reigning. Ascending higher than the very \nhighest of the saints\, she has arrived at such knowledge of the divinity that she \nthen glories in having found him for the first time… She holds him in the \nembraces of an utterly perfect love and she can never lose him because she can \nnever love him any less. \nLet us lift up our hearts therefore\, brothers\, to Our Lady\, our Advocate. \nLet us reflect on how much hope we have in her. Just as she surpasses every \ncreature in excellence\, so also she is more merciful and kinder than any \ncreature. Let us then confidently entreat her who can by her excellence assist us \nand by her mercy chooses to do so\, that she may implore her Son for us so that \nas he deigned to be born of her for us\, he may through her deign to have mercy \non us.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-assumption-of-the-bvm/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240816
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240817
DTSTAMP:20260403T143950
CREATED:20240811T103312Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240811T103312Z
UID:12385-1723766400-1723852799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:IN PRAISE OF \nTHE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY1 \nFrom a sermon by Amadeus of Lausanne1 \n◊◊◊ \nSince we have\, at the bidding of God\, embarked upon the praises of the \nBlessed Virgin\, it remains for us to complete her praise from the bottom of our \nheart and with dutiful voice. Let us gaze upon her glory and\, entering the depth \nof so great a light\, let us with swelling heart and unspeakable joy hasten through \nthe vivid brightness of the paths\, saying with Solomon\, ‘Her paths are lovely and \nall her ways are peaceful’. What if\, as the same prophet says\, ‘the path of the \njust\, as a shining light\, goes forth and grows into the perfect day’? Who will be \nable to express the light and brightness of her paths? Yet we shall try to explain \nin part the progress and additions of her paths so that she may be perceived as \nglorious in her steps and be proclaimed in each of them. \nFor she possessed progress clearly marked and distinct growth\, so that \nshe advanced according to the fairest order of Charity and\, going forward from \nvirtue to virtue\, she saw the God of gods in Sion\, being changed from glory to \nglory as by the Spirit of the Lord. \nFirstly\, therefore\, she was deemed worthy to be adorned with the beauty \nof all the virtues. Secondly\, she was united to the Holy Spirit in a bond of \nwedlock. Thirdly\, she was found the Mother of the Savior. Fourthly\, a sword \npierced her soul and by the flesh taken of her flesh the ruin of the lost world is \nrestored. Fifthly\, she rejoices in her Son arising and ascending above the heaven \nof heavens to the right hand of the Father. Sixthly\, she is caught up from this \nworld and as the Lord hastens to meet her she is places above the denizens of \nheaven. Seventh\, she will be completed when the fullness of the Gentiles shall \nhave entered and all Israel shall be saved. For beyond what it is right to be said13 \nor believed\, she rejoices in the general salvation of the elect\, knowing that it was \nfor them that the Son of God took flesh from her. Therefore\, she will then be \nfulfilled\, God providing a better thing\, lest without us she should not be made \nperfect.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-212/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240817
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240818
DTSTAMP:20260403T143950
CREATED:20240811T103425Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240811T103425Z
UID:12387-1723852800-1723939199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A SONG OF INNOCENCE AND \nEXPERIENCE \nBy Gerald Vann1 \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 knowing15 \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 \nis Love: hers are eyes too that can look out untroubled on a future which is \nveiled\, simply because she has implicit trust in the God she loves\, even before \nthe trust has been justified by experience; and as the mother can say\, I can do \nall things in him who has strengthened me\, so the girl can say\, I can do all things \nin him who will strengthen me.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-213/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240818
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240819
DTSTAMP:20260403T143950
CREATED:20240818T001307Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240818T001307Z
UID:12399-1723939200-1724025599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n20th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nAugust 18 – 24\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n18\nMon\n19\nTue\n20\nWed\n21\nThu\n22\nFri\n23\nSat\n24\n\n\nOffice\n20th Sunday\nBl Guerric\nSt Bernard\nSt Pus X\nQueenship of Mary\nSt Rose of Lima\nSt Bartholomew\n\n\nVigils\n1 Sam 29:1-11\n1 Sam 30:1-25\nSir 50:5-20\n1 Sam 31:1-13\nNehemiah 1:1-11\nNeh 2:1-20\nGen 28:10-22\n\n\nLauds\nZeph 3:14-20\nHaggai 1:1-8\nWis 8:2-13\nHag 1:9-15\nHag 2:1-9\nHag 2:10-14\nDeut 18:15-19\n\n\nMass\n119\n419\n641\, 660\, 574\n421\n422\, 627\n423\n629\n\n\n1st\nProv 9:1-6\nEzek 24:15-23\nWis 7:7-10\, 15-16\nEzek 34:1-11\nEzek 36:23-28\nEzek 37:1-14\nRev 21:9b-14\n\n\n2nd\nEph 5:15-20\n\nPhil 3:17-4:1\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 6:51-58\nMatt 19:16-22\nMatt 5:13-19\nMatt 20:1-16\nLuke 1:26-38\nMatt 22:34-40\nJn 1:45-51\n\n\nVespers\nJas 3:1-5a\n1 Jn 3:19-24\n1 Jn 4:7-16\nJas 3:5b-12\nJas 3:13-18\nJas 4:1-4\nJas 4:5-12
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-81/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240818
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240819
DTSTAMP:20260403T143950
CREATED:20240818T001442Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240818T001442Z
UID:12401-1723939200-1724025599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 20th Sunday ORD
DESCRIPTION:REAL FOOD \nAND REAL DRINK \nFrom a commentary by Theophylact of Ohrid1 \n◊◊◊ \nWe have heard that unless we eat the flesh of the Son we shall not have \nlife. We must have unwavering faith\, then\, when we partake of the sacred \nmysteries\, and not inquire “How?” Unspiritual people\, that is\, those led by a \nnatural way of thinking\, are not open to spiritual realities surpassing the natural \norder\, and so lack understanding of the spiritual nourishment the Lord’s flesh \naffords. \nThose who do not share this flesh do not share in eternal life because they \nreject Jesus the true life. What is consumed is the flesh not merely of a man but \nof God\, and being one with the Godhead\, it has power to deify. This is real \nnourishment: its sustaining power does not last only for a time; it does not \ndecompose like perishable food. But helps us to attain everlasting life. \nLikewise\, the cup of the Lord’s blood is real drink\, for it does not quench our \nthirst only for a time\, but keeps those who drink it free from thirst forever\, as \nthe Lord said to the Samaritan woman: Whoever drinks the water that I shall \ngive will never thirst again. Whoever receives the grace of the Holy Spirit by \nsharing in the mysteries will never suffer from spiritual hunger and thirst the \nway unbelievers do. \nThose who eat my flesh and drink my blood\, live in me and I in them. As \nI draw life from the living Father who sent me\, so whoever eats me will draw \nlife from me. From these words we can begin to understand the mystery of \ncommunion. Those who eat and drink the Lord’s flesh and blood lives in the \nLord and the Lord lives in them. A marvelous and inexplicable union occurs by \nwhich God is in us\, and we are in God. Does this not fill you with awe as you \nlisten? \nIt is not God alone that we eat\, for he is intangible and incorporeal; he can \nbe apprehended neither by our eyes nor by our teeth; nor\, on the other hand\, is \nit simply the flesh of a man\, which would avail us nothing. Rather\, in a union \ndefying explanation\, God has made flesh one with himself\, so that the flesh now \nhas life-giving power. This not because its nature is changed into the nature of \nGod. Of course not! A comparison may be made with iron put into fire. It \nremains iron but displays the energy of fire. So also\, the Lord’s flesh remains \nflesh\, but it has the life-giving power because it is the flesh of the Word of God. \nAnd so\, Christ says\, As I draw life from the Father\, or in other words\, as \nI was born of the Father who is life\, so those who eat me will draw life from me\, \nbecause they will be united to me and\, as it were\, transformed into me\, who am \npossessed of life-giving power.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-20th-sunday-ord/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240819
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240820
DTSTAMP:20260403T143950
CREATED:20240818T001601Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240818T001601Z
UID:12403-1724025600-1724111999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Bl Guerric
DESCRIPTION:THE LIFE OF \nBLESSED GUERRIC OF IGNY \nBy Fr Hilary Costello\, OCSO1 \n◊◊◊ \nGuerric of Igny was born around 1075 at Tournai and was educated in the \nhumanities\, dialectic and theology at the cathedral school. Guerric was first \nattracted to the eremitical life. He went to Clairvaux without any idea of staying \nthere. He only wanted to derive spiritual advantage from a meeting with the \nAbbot Bernard. Bernard saw the makings of a good monk in Guerric and urged \nhim to stay. \nLike so many of the Clairvaux community\, Guerric was considerably older \nthan his abbot. By human standards he was more mature and experienced. \nGuerric remained at Clairvaux for thirteen years. Igny was founded as the fourth \nfoundation of Clairvaux in 1127. \nIn 1138 the first abbot of Igny\, Humbert\, resigned and returned to \nClairvaux. Guerric was chosen as its second abbot. There is a passage in the Vita \nHugonis which suggests that Bernard influenced the choice considerably. “It \nwas Bernard who brought Guerric to the monastic life and Bernard favored \nhis election as abbot. He knew of no man living more holy than Guerric and so \ndeclared him the one candidate for the office.” But this does not indicate that \nGuerric was imposed on the community. The monks of twelve years standing \nwould have known him at Clairvaux. Guerric himself says that the community \nchose him: ‘I am no physician and\, in my house\, there is no bread’. That is what \nI said from the start: ‘Do not make me your leader.’ It is not right for one to \nrule who cannot be of service. And how can he be of service who is not a \nphysician and in whose house there is no bread? He has neither the art of \nhealing souls nor learning to feed them with? I told you this\, but you would5 \nnot listen. You made me your superior.” Guerric may indeed have been about \nsixty years old\, but then his long experience both before and after his entrance \ninto Clairvaux must have been thought a valuable asset. \nIgny flourished under Guerric. Vocations were plentiful and so were \nbenefactors. Much land and money was given to the monastery during his \ntenure. It was none of this that was to make the abbot’s name known to \nposterity\, but the spiritual teaching committed to writing in his sermons. He \nseems to have died on August 19\, 1157. More than six hundred years later his \nremains were taken into a new church. \nAlong with Bernard\, Aelred of Rievaulx and William of St Thierry\, Guerric \nhas been called the four evangelists of Citeaux.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-bl-guerric-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240820
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240821
DTSTAMP:20260403T143950
CREATED:20240818T001706Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240818T001706Z
UID:12405-1724112000-1724198399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Bernard
DESCRIPTION:THE MELLIFLOUS DOCTOR \nBy Pope Pius XII1 \n◊◊◊ \n“The last of the Fathers\, but certainly not unequal to the earlier ones“\, \nwas remarkable for such qualities of nature and mind\, which were enriched by \nGod with heavenly gifts\, that amid the varied and sometimes stormy events of \nhis age\, he seemed to dominate by his sanctity\, wisdom and most prudent \ncounsel. It is a source of gratification so to meditate on his merits and to set \nthem forth in writing that\, not only the members of his own Order\, but also all \nthose who find their delights principally in whatever is true\, beautiful or holy \nmay feel themselves spurred on to imitate the brilliant example of his virtues. \nHis doctrine was drawn almost exclusively from the pages of Sacred \nScripture and from the Holy Fathers\, which he had at hand day and night in his \nprofound meditations; and not from the subtle reasonings of dialecticians and \nphilosophers\, which on more than one occasion he appeared to hold in low \nesteem. But it should be remarked that he does not reject that human \nphilosophy which is genuine philosophy\, namely\, that which leads to God\, to \ncorrect living and to Christian wisdom. \nIt is clear that in his study and his contemplation under the influence of \nlove rather than the subtlety of human reasoning\, Bernard’s sole aim was to \ndirect toward the Supreme Truth all the rays of truth which he had assembled \nfrom many different sources; drawing from them light for the mind\, the fire of \ncharity for the soul\, and correct norms for the guidance of conduct. This is \nindeed true wisdom\, which transcends all things human\, and brings everything \nback to its source\, that is\, to God\, in order to convert all to Him. The Mellifluous \nDoctor makes his way with deliberate care through the uncertain and \nprecarious circuits of reasoning\, not trusting in the keenness of his own mind7 \nnor depending upon the labored and artful syllogisms which many of the \ndialecticians of his time frequently abused\, but\, like an eagle\, attempting to fix \nhis eyes on the sun\, he pushes on with swift flight to the summit of truth. \nThe charity which activated him makes light of obstacles and\, so to speak\, \ngives wings to the mind. For him\, learning is not the final goal\, but rather a path \nleading to God; it is not the cold object of empty speculation\, an intellectual \ndiversion\, fascinating the mind with its play of light and glory\, but it is moved\, \nimpelled and governed by love. Wherefore\, borne up by this wisdom and by \nmeans of meditation\, contemplation and love\, Bernard ascends the peak of the \nmystical life and is united with God Himself\, tasting at times almost infinite \nhappiness even in this mortal life.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-bernard-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240821
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240822
DTSTAMP:20260403T143950
CREATED:20240818T001802Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240818T001802Z
UID:12407-1724198400-1724284799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Pius X
DESCRIPTION:A READING ON ST PIUS X \nBy Leonard von Matt1 \n◊◊◊ \nPius X\, the canonized Pope\, holds a special place in the hearts of the \nfaithful. But this devotion of the faithful did not begin only at his canonization\, \nwhen the Church publicly proclaimed the holiness of his life: it began from the \nmoment when he ascended the papal throne. At once there grew up an \nunderstanding between the Shepherd and his flock. The first to understand him \nwere the simple\, humble people\, who recognized him for what he was. \nThe obvious quality which led to his canonization was his outstanding \nholiness. With Pius X\, sanctity seemed to be the most natural thing in the \nworld. It quietly enlivened all that he said or did. Yet it would seem that \nGiuseppe Sarto’s natural temperament inclined to a certain violence\, easily \ninflamed\, and no one will ever know how much struggle it cost him to achieve \nthat gentleness and unruffled goodness for which he was so renowned. We can \nfollow him on the narrow path which he set himself as church-student\, curate\, \nparish-priest\, bishop\, cardinal and Pope; but the moment of his vocation to the \npriesthood and the beginning of his heroic sanctity are secrets known to God \nalone. \nA certain holiness seems to have been his from the beginning: his striving \nafter a virtuous life seems never to have been interrupted\, his charity never \ndiminished. But it was when he began what he called the Ascent of Mount \nCalvary\, when he became Pope\, that his great sanctity became evident. It was \nhis conscientiousness that turned the enormous responsibility of the office into \na crucifixion: he gave himself unstintingly to the service of the Church\, and \nspent himself without reserve for the love of God and everyone. His sanctity lay \nin this total dedication: it was thus an inner and in a great measure a hidden9 \nsanctity: there were no spectacular penances\, no remarkable practices beyond \nthose of a normal\, good Christian. It might almost be said that Pius X became \na saint in spite of himself by sanctifying himself and his nature and by not \nresisting God’s grace that drew him on.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-pius-x-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240822
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240823
DTSTAMP:20260403T143950
CREATED:20240818T001903Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240818T001903Z
UID:12409-1724284800-1724371199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Queenship of Mary
DESCRIPTION:WHAT DO WE MEAN WHEN WE SPEAK \nOF THE QUEENSHIP OF MARY? \nFrom the writing of Thomas Merton1 \n◊◊◊ \nMary alone\, of all the saints\, is\, in everything\, incomparable. She has the \nsanctity of them all and yet resembles none of them. And still\, we can talk of \nbeing like her. This likeness to her is not only something to desire — it is one \nhuman quality most worthy of our desire: but the reason for that is that she\, of \nall creatures\, most perfectly recovered the likeness to God that God willed to \nfind\, in varying degrees\, in us all. \nIt is necessary\, no doubt\, to talk about her privileges as if they were \nsomething that could be made comprehensible in human language and could \nbe measured by some human standard. It is most fitting to talk about her as a \nQueen and to act as if you knew what it meant to say she has a throne above all \nthe angels. But this should not make anyone forget that her highest privilege is \nher poverty and her greatest glory is that she is most hidden\, and the source of \nall her power is that she is as nothing in the presence of Christ\, of God. \nThis is often forgotten by Catholics themselves\, and therefore it is not \nsurprising that those who are not Catholic often have a completely wrong \nconception of Catholic devotion to the Mother of God. They imagine\, and \nsometimes we can understand their reasons for doing so\, that Catholics treat \nthe Blessed Virgin as an almost divine being in her own right\, as if she had some \nglory\, some power\, some majesty of her own that placed her on a level with \nChrist himself. They regard the Assumption of Mary into heaven as a kind of \napotheosis and her Queenship as a strict divinization.11 \nHence her place in the Redemption would seem to be equal to that of her \nSon. But this is all completely contrary to the true mind of the Catholic Church. \nIt forgets that Mary’s chief glory is her nothingness\, in the fact of being the \n“Handmaid of the Lord\,” as one who in becoming the Mother of God acted \nsimply in loving submission to his command\, in the pure obedience of faith. She \nis blessed not because of some mythical pseudo-divine prerogative\, but in all \nher human and womanly limitations as one who has believed. It is the faith and \nthe fidelity of this humble handmaid\, “full of grace” that enables her to be the \nperfect instrument of God\, and nothing else but his instrument. The work that \nwas done in her was purely the work of God. “He that is mighty has done great \nthings in me.” The glory of Mary is purely and simply the glory of God in her\, \nand she\, like anyone else\, can say that she has nothing that she has not received \nfrom him through Christ. \nAs a matter of fact\, this is precisely her greatest glory: that having nothing \nof her own\, retaining nothing of a “self” that could glory in anything for her own \nsake\, she placed no obstacle to the mercy of God and in no way resisted his love \nand his will. Hence\, she received more from him than any other saint. He was \nable to accomplish his will perfectly in her\, and his liberty was in no way \nhindered or turned from its purpose by the presence of an egotistical self in \nMary. She was and is in the highest sense a person precisely because\, being \n“immaculate\,” she was free from every taint of selfishness that might obscure \nGod’s light in her being. She was then a freedom that obeyed him perfectly and\, \nin this obedience\, found the fulfillment of perfect love.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-queenship-of-mary/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240823
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240824
DTSTAMP:20260403T143950
CREATED:20240818T002000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240818T002000Z
UID:12411-1724371200-1724457599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Rose of Lima
DESCRIPTION:THE BEAUTY OF DIVINE GRACE \nFrom the writing of St Rose of Lima1 \n◊◊◊ \nOur Lord and Savior lifted up his voice and said with incomparable \nmajesty: Let all know that grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that \nwithout the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. Let \nthem know that the gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase. Let them \ntake care not to stray or be deceived. This is the only true stairway to paradise\, \nand without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven. \nWhen I heard these words\, a strong force came upon me and seemed to \nplace me in the middle of a street\, so that I might say in a loud voice to people \nof every age\, sex and status: Hear\, O people; hear\, O nations. I am warning you \nabout the commandment of Christ by using words that came from his own lips: \nWe cannot obtain grace unless we suffer afflictions. We must heap trouble upon \ntrouble to attain a deep participation in the divine nature\, the glory of the \nchildren of God and perfect happiness of soul. \nThat same force strongly urged me to proclaim the beauty of divine grace. \nIt pressed me so that my breath came slow and forced me to sweat and pant. I \nfelt as if my soul could no longer be kept in the prison of the body\, but that it \nhad burst its chains and was free and alone and was going very swiftly through \nthe whole world saying: If only mortals would learn how great it is to possess \ndivine grace\, how beautiful\, how noble\, how precious. How many riches it hides \nwithin itself\, how many joys and delights! Without doubt they would devote all \ntheir care and concern to winning for themselves pains and afflictions. All \npeople throughout the world would seek trouble\, infirmities and torments\, \ninstead of good fortune\, in order to attain the unfathomable treasure of grace. \nThis is the reward and the final gain of patience. No one would complain about13 \nhis cross or about troubles that may happen to him\, if he would come to know \nthe scales on which they are weighed when they are distributed to souls.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-rose-of-lima-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:12413-1724457600-1724543999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Bartholomew
DESCRIPTION:THE VIRTUE OF INNOCENCE \nFrom a sermon by St John Henry Newman1 \n◊◊◊ \nIt is not only among the poor and lowly that the blessed character \nof guilelessness is found to exist. Secular learning and dignity have \ndoubtless in their respective ways a powerful tendency to rob the heart of \nits brightness and purity; yet even in kings’ courts\, and the schools of \nphilosophy\, Bartholomew may be discovered. Nay\, like the Apostles\, they \nhave been subjected to the world’s buffets\, they have been thwarted in \ntheir day\, lived in anxiety\, and seemingly lost by their honesty\, yet without \nbeing foiled either of its present comfort or its ultimate fruit. \nI have in these remarks spoken of guileless persons as members of \nsociety\, because I wished to show that\, even in that respect in which they \nseem deficient\, they possess a hidden strength\, and unconscious wisdom\, \nwhich makes them live above the world\, and sooner or later triumph over \nit. The weapons of their warfare are not carnal; and they are fitted to be \nApostles\, though they seem to be ordinary people. Such is the blessedness \nof the innocent\, that is\, of those who have never given way to evil\, or \nformed themselves to habits of sin; who in consequence literally do not \nknow its power of its misery who have thoughts of truth and peace ever \nbefore them\, and are able to discern at once the right and wrong in \nconduct\, as by some delicate instrument which tells truly because it has \nnever been ill-treated. \nNay\, such may be the portion (through God’s mercy) even of those \nwho have at one time departed from Him\, and then repented; in \nproportion as they have learned to love God\, and have purified \nthemselves\, not only from sin\, but from the recollections of it.15 \nLastly\, more is requisite for the Christian\, even than guilelessness \nsuch as Bartholomew’s. When Christ sent forth him and his brethren into \nthe world\, He said\, “Behold\, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of \nwolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” \nInnocence must be joined to prudence\, discretion\, self-command\, gravity\, \npatience\, perseverance in well-doing\, as Bartholomew doubtless learned \nin due season under his Lord’s teaching; but innocence is the beginning. \nLet us then pray God to fulfill in us “all the good pleasure of His \ngoodness\, and the work of faith with power;” that if it should please Him \nsuddenly to bring us forward to great trials\, as He did His Apostles\, we \nmay not be taken by surprise\, but be found to have made a private or \ndomestic life a preparation for the achievements of Confessor and \nMartyrs.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-bartholomew-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T143950
CREATED:20240825T112649Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240825T112649Z
UID:12437-1724544000-1724630399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n21st Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nAugust 25 – 31\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n25\nMon\n26\nTue\n27\nWed\n28\nThu\n29\nFri\n30\nSat\n31\n\n\nOffice\n21st Sunday\nOffice for the Dead\nSt Monica\nSt Augustine\nMartyrdom of St John Baptist\nSS Warren & Amadeus\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nNeh 3:33-4:17\nNeh 5:1-19\nNeh 6:1-19\nNeh 8:1-4a; 5-6; 8-18\nJerm 37:12-38:6\nNeh 9:1-11\nNeh 9:12-20\n\n\nLauds\nHag 2:15-19\nHag 2:20-23\nZechariah 1:1-6\nZech 1:7-13\nWis 3:1-9\nZech 1:14-17\nZech 2:10-17\n\n\nMass\n122\n425\n426\n427\n634\n429\n430\n\n\n1st\nJosh 24:1-2a\, 15-17\, 18b\n2 Thess 1:1-5\, 11-12\n2 Thess 2:1-3a\, 14-17\n2 Thess 3:6-10\, 16-18\nJerm 1:17-19\n1 Cor 1:17-25\n1 Cor 1:26-31\n\n\n2nd\nEph 5:21-32\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 6:60-69\nMatt 23:13-22\nMatt 23:23-26\nMatt 23:27-32\nMark 6:17-29\nMatt 25:1-13\nMatt 25:14-30\n\n\nVespers\nJas 4:13-17\nJas 5:1-6\nJas 5:7-12\nJas 5:13-20\nActs 13:16-26\n1 Pet 1:1-7\n1 Pet 1:8-12
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-82/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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