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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260709T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260709T170000
DTSTAMP:20260705T125256Z
CREATED:20260705T125256Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260705T125256Z
UID:15150-1783584000-1783616400@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nFR LOUIS BOUYER \n◊◊◊ \nIt is not purely and simply by dying that we shall live\, but by dying such a \ndeath that it kills death itself – and it is only the death of Christ that can do that. \nFor it is not the life of the mortal body which has injured the life of the soul. It is\, \non the contrary\, the death of the soul which has injured the body and made it \nmortal. Life will be won back by the resurrection\, not of the soul alone\, but of the \nhuman being in its unity\, inseparably body and soul. And if the passage through \ndeath can lead to the resurrection\, it is only in as much as the soul\, which has \nbecome alive again in Christ\, has been made capable of burning away the death \nof the body as with a red-hot iron and of causing it to evaporate in its own flame. \nThe monk goes forward to meet death because he believes that this \nmiracle\, the greatest of all\, has been accomplished in the death of Christ: \nbecause he believes that Christ was Life\, the very Life of God\, and that in making \nphysical death his own\, he has robbed the evil one of all his power and all his \nempire which are annihilated by this very act. Again he goes forward to meet \ndeath because he believes that Christ now and for the future lives in him: and \nfinally because he believes that what has taken place in Christ will be \nreproduced in himself\, in the same manner. \nThe death of the monk\, so desired and sought after day after day\, is then \nonly the supreme evidence of his faith\, his faith in Christ vanquishing death in \nhimself\, his faith in Christ present in his followers to vanquish it in them. The \nmonk’s mortification is ultimately nothing more than his witness given to \nChrist\, the witness of his faith\, which makes it clear that it is not only an \nintellectual thing but an engagement of the whole being.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-the-dead-27/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260710
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260711
DTSTAMP:20260705T125357Z
CREATED:20260705T125357Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260705T125357Z
UID:15152-1783641600-1783727999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST AELRED OF RIEVAULX \n◊◊◊ \nFor when in bitterness of soul \nI view my former life\, \nit scares and frightens me that I should be called shepherd\, \nfor I am surely crazy if I do not know myself \nunworthy of the name. \nYour holy mercy is upon me\, \nto snatch my wretched soul out of hell. \nYou show mercy as you will; \nyour pity succors him whom you are pleased to pity; \nand such is your forgiveness of my sin\, \nthat you do not avenge yourself by damning me\, \nnor do you even overwhelm me with reproaches; \nand\, even when you do accuse\, you love me no less. \nNevertheless\, I am disturbed and troubled\, \nfor I am mindful of your goodness\, yes— \nbut I am not unmindful of my own ingratitude. \nSee\, then\, \nbefore you is my heart’s confession of the countless sins\, \nfrom which your mercy has been pleased to free my \nhapless soul. \nMy whole heart renders thanks and praise to you \nwith all its might for all these benefits. \n6 (CF 2 : 106-107).12 \nBut I am no less in your debt \nfor all the evil things I have not done. \nFor\, most assuredly\, whatever evil thing \nI have not done\, it was your guiding hand \nthat made me abstain from doing it; \nsince either you took away the means to do it\, \nor else you corrected my inclination\, \nor gave me the power to resist. \nBut what am I to do\, O Lord my God\, \nabout the ills whereby\, in your just judgment\, \nyou suffer your servant\, the son of your handmaiden\, \nstill to be wearied and be overcome? \nThe things concerning which my sinful soul \nis troubled in your sight\, O Lord\, cannot be counted; \nyet\, for all that\, \nneither my sorrow for them nor my care \nto shun their repetition is as great \nas they demand\, and as my will desires.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-445/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260711
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260712
DTSTAMP:20260705T125503Z
CREATED:20260705T125503Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260705T125503Z
UID:15154-1783728000-1783814399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Benedict
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “Butler’s Lives of the Saints” on \nST BENEDICT \n◊◊◊ \nBenedict was of good birth\, and was born and brought up at the ancient \nSabine town of Nursia. He was sent to Rome for his ‘liberal education’\, being \naccompanied by a ‘nurse’\, probably to act as housekeeper. He was then in his \nearly teens\, or perhaps a little older. But Benedict\, revolted by the licentiousness \nof his companions in the city\, made up his mind to leave Rome. He made his \nescape without telling anyone of his plans excepting his nurse\, who \naccompanied him. They made their way to the village of Enfide in the \nmountains thirty miles from Rome. What was the length of his stay we do not \nknow\, but it was sufficient to enable him to determine his next step. Absence \nfrom the temptations of Rome\, he soon realized\, was not enough; God was \ncalling him to be a solitary and to abandon the world. \nIn search of complete solitude Benedict started forth once more\, alone\, \nand climbed further among the hills until he reached a place now known as \nSubiaco. In this wild and rocky country he came upon a monk called Romanus\, \nto whom he opened his heart\, explaining his intention of leading the life of a \nhermit. Romanus assisted the young man\, clothing him with a sheepskin habit \nand leading him to a cave in the mountain. In this desolate cavern Benedict \nspent the next three years of his life… \nDisciples began to gather about him\, attracted by his sanctity and by his \nmiraculous powers… We do not know how long the saint remained at Subiaco\, \nbut he stayed long enough to establish his monasteries on a firm and permanent \nbasis. His departure was sudden. \nHaving set all things in order\, he withdrew from Subiaco to the territory of \nMonte Cassino… Upon the site of a big temple he built two chapels and round \nabout these sanctuaries there rose little by little a great building which was \ndestined to become the most famous abbey the world has ever known\, the \nfoundation of which is likely to have been laid by St Benedict in the year 530… \nIt is probably that Benedict\, who was now in middle age\, again spent some \ntime as a hermit; but disciples soon flocked to Monte Cassino too… \nThe holy abbot\, far from confining his ministrations to those who would \nfollow his rule\, extended his solicitude to the population of the surrounding \ncountry: he cured their sick\, relieved the distressed\, distributed alms and food \nto the poor\, and is said to have raised the dead on more than one occasion. The \ngreat saint who had foretold so many other things was also forewarned of his \nown approaching death. He notified it to his disciples… He was stricken with \nfever\, and on the last day he received the Body and Blood of the Lord. Then\, \nwhile the loving hands of the brethren were supporting his weak limbs\, he \nuttered a few final words of prayer and died – standing on his feet in the chapel\, \nwith his hands uplifted towards heaven.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-benedict-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260712
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260713
DTSTAMP:20260712T105842Z
CREATED:20260712T105842Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T105842Z
UID:15179-1783814400-1783900799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n15th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (II)\nJuly 12 – 18\, 2026\n\n\n\nSun\n12\nMon\n13\nTue\n14\nWed\n15\nThu\n16\nFri\n17\nSat\n18\n\n\nOffice\n15th Sunday\nWeekday\nSt Kateri Tekaqwitha\nSt Bonaventure\nBl Virgin Martyrs of Orange\nWeekday\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nJud 10:1-10\nJud 10:11-23\nJud 11:1-23\nJud 12:1-20\nJud 13:1-11\nJud 13:12-20\nJud 14:1-10\n\n\nLauds\nHos 5:1-7\nHos 5:8-15\nHos 6:1-6\nHos 6:7-7:2\nHos 7:3-10\nHos 7:11-16\nHos 8:1-7\n\n\nMass\n103\n389\n390\n391\n392\n393\n394\n\n\n1st\nIsa 55:10-11\nIsa 1:10-17\nIsa 7:1-9\nIsa 10:5-7\, 13b-16\nIsa 26:7-9\, 12\, 16-19\nIsa 38:1-6\, 21-22\, 7-8\nMic 2:1-5\n\n\n2nd\nRom 8:18-23\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 13:1-23\nMatt 10:34-11:1\nMatt 11:20-24\nMatt 11:25-27\nMatt 11:28-30\nMatt 12:1-8\nMatt 12:14-21\n\n\nVespers\nEph 6:18-24\n2 Thess 1:1-10\n2 Thess 1:11-12\n2 Thess 2:1-10\n2 Thess 2:11-17\n2 Thess 3:1-10\n2 Thess 3:11-18
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-159/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260712
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260713
DTSTAMP:20260712T105958Z
CREATED:20260712T105958Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T105958Z
UID:15181-1783814400-1783900799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 15th Sunday
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST GREGORY THE GREAT \n◊◊◊ \nDearly beloved\, the reading from the holy gospel about the sower requires \nno explanation\, but only a word of warning. In fact the explanation has been \ngiven by Truth himself\, and it cannot be disputed by a frail human being. \nHowever\, there is one point in our Lord’s exposition which you ought to weigh \nwell. It is this. If I told you that the seed represented the word\, the field the \nworld\, the birds the demons\, and the thorns riches\, you would perhaps be in two \nminds as to whether to believe me. Therefore the Lord himself deigned to \nexplain what he had said\, so that you would know that a hidden meaning is to be \nsought also in those passages which he did not wish to interpret himself. \nWould anyone have believed me if I had said that thorns stood for riches? \nAfter all\, thorns are piercing and riches pleasurable. And yet riches are thorns \nbecause thoughts of them pierce the mind and torture it. When finally they lure \na person into sin\, it is as though they were drawing blood from the wound they \nhave inflicted… The only true riches are those that make us rich in virtue. \nTherefore\, if you want to be rich\, beloved\, love true riches. If you aspire to the \nheights of real honor\, strive to reach the kingdom of heaven. If you value rank \nand renown\, hasten to be enrolled in the heavenly court of the angels. \nStore up in your minds the Lord’s words which you receive through your \nears\, for the word of the Lord is the nourishment of the mind. When his word is \nheard but not stored away in the memory\, it is like food which has been eaten \nand then rejected by an upset stomach. A person’s life is despaired of if he \ncannot retain his food; so if you receive the food of holy exhortations\, but fail to \nstore in your memory those words of life which nurture righteousness\, you have \ngood reason to fear the danger of everlasting death. \nBe careful\, then\, that the word you have received through your ears \nremains in your heart. Be careful that the seed does not fall along the path\, for \nfear that the evil spirit may come and take it from your memory. Be careful that \nthe seed is not received in stony ground\, so that it produces a harvest of good \nworks without the roots of perseverance. Many people are pleased with what \nthey hear and resolve to undertake some good work\, but as soon as difficulties \nbegin to arise and hinder them they leave the work unfinished. The stony \nground lacked the necessary moisture for the sprouting seed to yield the fruit of \nperseverance. \nGood earth\, on the other hand\, brings forth fruit by patience. The reason \nfor this is that nothing we do is good unless we also bear with equanimity the \ninjuries done us by our neighbors. In fact\, the more we progress\, the more \nhardships we shall have to endure in this world; for when our love for this \npresent world dies\, its sufferings increase. This is why we see many people \ndoing good works and at the same time struggling under a heavy burden of \nafflictions. They now shun earthly desires\, and yet they are tormented by \ngreater sufferings. But\, as the Lord said\, they bring forth fruit by patience\, \nbecause\, since they humbly endure misfortunes\, they are welcomed when these \nare over into a place of rest in heaven.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-15th-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260713
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260714
DTSTAMP:20260712T110110Z
CREATED:20260712T110110Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T110110Z
UID:15183-1783900800-1783987199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nJOHN TAULER \n◊◊◊ \nOur Lord said to his disciples: “You shall be witnesses unto me in \nJerusalem\, and in all Judea\, and Samaria\, and even to the uttermost part of the \nearth.” Jerusalem was a city of peace\, but also of tribulation\, for there it was that \nChrist underwent such infinite suffering and a bitter death. Children\, we are to \nbe his witnesses in this city\, not by mere words but in truth\, by our life and by \nfollowing him according to our strength. \nThere are plenty of persons who would gladly be Christ’s witnesses in \npeace\, when everything goes along just as they would wish. They would like to \nbe holy\, provided that their pious exercises and work never become irksome; \nthey would be glad enough to enjoy\, desire\, or know the things of God\, if there \nwere no bitterness\, labor\, or tedium involved. But once they are assailed by \nstrong temptations and spiritual darkness\, as soon as they no longer feel or \nenjoy the nearness of God\, and are left destitute inwardly and outwardly\, they \nfall away and are not true witnesses at all. \nPeace is what all are striving for; they seek after it in every direction\, in \nevery occupation\, and in all their ways of life. Oh\, if we could only shake \nourselves free from this tendency\, and learn to seek peace in tribulation. Only \nthere is true peace born\, peace which will last and really endure. To seek \nelsewhere is to go astray inevitably. You will always find that this is true. If only \nwe could seek joy in sadness\, peace in trouble\, simplicity in multiplicity\, comfort \nin bitterness! This is the way to become true witnesses to God. \nBefore his death our Lord always promised his disciples peace\, and also \nafter his resurrection he promised them all peace. Yet they never obtained peace \nexternally. Nonetheless\, they found peace in tribulation and love in suffering. In \ndeath they found life; to be cross-examined\, judged\, and condemned was for \nthem a joyous victory. These were true witnesses. \nThere are many who have been inundated with consolation in body and \nsoul. I have known some who were filled with such sweetness in every fiber of \ntheir being. And yet\, when suffering and darkness came upon them\, when they \nwere forsaken inwardly and outwardly\, they did not know which way to turn. \nThey stopped short\, and it all came to nothing. \nWhen terrible storms break upon us\, buffeting us with desolations and \ntemptations\, then it is\, if only we can break through and weather the storm\, that \nwe shall find essential peace\, a peace that no one can take from us.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-446/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260714
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260715
DTSTAMP:20260712T110250Z
CREATED:20260712T110250Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T110250Z
UID:15185-1783987200-1784073599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Kateri Tekaqwitha
DESCRIPTION:A reading by Daniel Sargent on \nST KATERI TEKAKWITHA \n◊◊◊ \nOn the fourteenth of October\, 1682\, a Frenchman living in Canada began \na letter to a Frenchman living in France. He had seen many wonders in Canada\, \nand was therefore eager to tell about them. \nHe was a missionary\, a priest\, a Jesuit\, a certain Father Chauchetière\, now \nonly thirty-seven years old\, and who had spent seven years already among the \nIndians of Canada whom he was trying to Christianize. The great astonishment \nof his life as a missionary had not been the size of the St Lawrence River\, but the \npiety which he had found among the Indians at his St Lawrence Mission. \nHe had expected to be horrified by the Indians even though he was willing \nto give his life for them. Instead he had been edified by them. But how was he \ngoing to convince the Jesuit Superior\, to whom he was writing his letter\, of this \nIndian holiness?… He dwelt on the inconvenience of this fervor: it led the \nIndians to adopt immoderate penances\, and forced him to step in and restrain \nthem. Only grudgingly did he add\, as the sole flash of his enthusiasm\, that “They \nwould be admired in France if what they do were known there.” \n[Then] he came to what was most incredible of all: “During the past two \nyears their fervor has greatly increased since God has removed from this world \none of these devout savage women who live like nuns\, and she died with the \nreputation of sanctity. Journeys are continually made to her tomb; and the \nsavages\, following her example\, have become better Christians than they were. \nWe daily see wonders worked through her intercession. Her name was [Kateri] \nTekakwitha.”… \nTekakwitha’s ancestors were an old people. Not merely that they had had \nas many ancestors as any other person alive\, but they remembered those \nancestors. They carried the past with them in their traditions\, from generation \nto generation… The ancestors of [Tekakwitha] had been suffering and longing \nfor ages… The gaining of salvation had been their age-long preoccupation… \nIf we look at the past of [Tekakwitha’s] ancestors\, as Fr. Chauchetière did \nnot and could not\, and if we look at the story of the French missionaries\, then \nthe spiritual blossoming of this [Kateri Tekakwitha] becomes a climax of a long \ndrama. Instead of exclaiming as Chauchetière did\, “How suddenly she has \ncome\,” our sigh is\, “How long\, how long\, the world has waited!”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-kateri-tekaqwitha/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260715
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260716
DTSTAMP:20260712T110402Z
CREATED:20260712T110402Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T110402Z
UID:15187-1784073600-1784159999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Bonaventure
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “Butler’s Lives of the Saints” on \nST BONAVENTURE \n◊◊◊ \nThis greatest successor of St Francis of Assisi…was born at Bagnorea\, near \nViterbo\, in the year 1221… He was clothed in the order of Friars Minor and \nstudied at the University of Paris under Alexander of Hales… Bonaventure\, who \nwas to become known as the Seraphic Doctor\, taught theology and Holy \nScripture at the University from 1248 to 1257. \nHe was called by his priestly obligation to labor for the salvation of his \nneighbor\, and to this he devoted himself with enthusiasm. He preached to the \npeople with an energy which kindled a flame in the hearts of those that heard \nhim. While at the University of Paris he produced one of the best-known of his \nwritten works\, the Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard\, which \ncovers the whole field of scholastic theology. The years of his public lecturing at \nParis were greatly disturbed\, however\, by the attack made on the mendicant \nfriars by the other professors at the university. Jealousy of their pastoral and \nacademic success and the standing reproof to worldliness and ease of the friars’ \nlives were in part behind this attempt to get them excluded from the schools. \nThe leader of the secular party was William of Saint-Amour\, who made a \nbitter onslaught on the mendicants in a book called The Perils of the Last Times. \nBonaventure\, who had to suspend lecturing for a time\, replied in a treatise on \nevangelical poverty\, named Concerning the Poverty of Christ. Pope Alexander \nIV appointed a commission of cardinals to go into the matter at Anagni\, and on \ntheir findings ordered Saint-Amour’s book to be burnt\, vindicated and \nreinstated the friars\, and ordered the offenders to withdraw their attack. A year \nlater\, in 1257\, St Bonaventure and St Thomas Aquinas received the degree of \ndoctor of theology together. \nIn 1257 Bonaventure was chosen minister general of the Friars Minor. He \nwas not yet thirty-six years old\, and the order was torn by dissensions\, some of \nthe friars being for an inflexible severity\, others demanding certain mitigation \nof the rule; between the two extremes were a number of other interpretations. \nSome of the extreme rigorists\, called Spirituals\, had even fallen into error and \ndisobedience\, and thus given a handle to the friars’ opponents in the Paris \ndispute. Bonaventure wrote a letter to his provincials in which he made it clear \nthat he required a disciplined observance of the rule\, involving a reformation of \nthe relaxed\, but giving no countenance to the excesses of the Spirituals. \nAt Narbonne in 1260\, the first of the five general chapters which \nBonaventure held\, he produced a set of constitutions on the rule\, which were \nadopted and had a permanent effect on Franciscan life\, but they failed to pacify \nthe excessive rigorists. At the request of the friars assembled in this chapter\, he \nundertook to write the life of St Francis\, with a spirit which shows him to have \nbeen filled with the virtues of the founder whose life he wrote. St Bonaventure \ngoverned his order for seventeen years and has been justly called its second \nfounder.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-bonaventure-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260716
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260717
DTSTAMP:20260712T110552Z
CREATED:20260712T110552Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T110552Z
UID:15189-1784160000-1784246399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Bl Virgin Martyrs of Orange
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “The Catholic Encyclopedia” on \nTHE MARTYRS OF ORANGE \n◊◊◊ \nThe Martyrs of Orange were a group of 32 beatified religious women \nmartyred at Orange\, France\, during the French Revolution between July 5 and \n26\, 1794. Two were Cistercian nuns from Avignon\, the others were from \nBollene\, near Avignon. The others were from Bollene\, near Avignon and \nincluded 16 Ursulines\, 13 Sacramentine nuns and one Benedictine nun. For \nrefusing to take the oath of Liberty of the new regime\, the nuns were expelled \nfrom their convents\, arrested and held in La Cure prison in Orange. These and \nother nuns formed a kind of religious community\, and spent hours in prayer \ndaily and religious exercises until condemned for fanaticism and superstition. \nBesides these\, many others were imprisoned and died under dire \ncircumstances at this same time. The martyrs of the prison ships or on islands \noff the shore of La Rochelle who died of starvation or illness off the shore of La \nRochelle included over 547. Yet for the cause of beatification\, only 64 among \nthese were retained as martyrs\, namely\, those who were explicitly mentioned in \nthe lists of the deported. \nOn October 1\, 1995\, Pope John Paul II beatified three other Cistercians at \nthe same time as 61 other priests and religious of various Congregations. The \nmartyrs of the prison ships of Rochefort died in 1794\, the same year as the nuns \nof Orange\, and were declared martyrs in 1925. They were not the only \nCistercians who died of starvation or illness in the slave ships or on the islands \noff the shore of La Rochelle. Our Menology mentions several others. Yet for the \ncause of beatification\, only 64 among the 547 who died\, were retained as \nmartyrs\, namely\, those who were explicitly mentioned in the list of the \ndeported.11 \nThe three Cistercians were: Bro\, Elias Desgardin\, a lay Brother from Sept \nFons. He cared for his sick companions. A martyr of charity\, he died of typhoid \nfever at the age of forty-four. He was buried on the island of Aix. Also Dom Paul \nCharles\, the Prior of Sept Fons. Detained on the ship Les Deux Associes\, he died \nat the age of fifty-one\, esteemed and loved by his companions in captivity\, he \nwas buried on the island called Madame. The third beatified martyr was Dom \nGervais Brunel\, Superior of La Trappe\, who died at the age fifty in a provisional \nhospital on the island Madame. Stricken with typhoid fever\, he arrived there on \nthe point of dying\, dying on the very day of the disembarkment. \nOne of them made a statement that can be applied to all these beatified \nreligious and to many others condemned to die on the prison ships: “If we are \nthe most unhappy of men\, we are also the happiest of Christians”.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-bl-virgin-martyrs-of-orange/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260717
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260718
DTSTAMP:20260712T110705Z
CREATED:20260712T110705Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T110705Z
UID:15191-1784246400-1784332799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST LEO THE GREAT \n◊◊◊ \nI rejoice\, dearly beloved\, in the pious affection of your devotion\, and I give \nthanks to God that I see in you the love of Christian unity. For your very \npresence here testifies that you understand that the annual return of this day is \na matter for common rejoicing; and that in celebrating the annual festival of the \nShepherd\, you are honoring the whole flock. For though the universal Church is \nordered in varying degrees\, so the whole is made up from the diverse members \nof the sanctified Body\, we are all\, nevertheless\, as the Apostle says\, one in \nChrist; and no one is separated by office from another\, so that even the least \namong us is related to the head. \nTherefore\, Beloved\, in its unity of faith and baptism\, our society is \nundivided\, and its dignity is the dignity of all its members; according to the \nwords of the blessed Peter\, spoken by his own consecrated voice: Be you as \nliving stones built up\, a spiritual house\, a holy priesthood\, to offer up spiritual \nsacrifices\, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And a little later: You are a \nchosen generation\, a kingly priesthood\, a holy nation\, a purchased people. \nFor all who are born again in Christ\, the sign of the Cross makes kings\, \nand the anointing of the Holy Spirit consecrates priests; so that apart from the \nspecial service of our ministry\, let all spiritual and reasoning Christians know \nthat they are of royal birth\, and sharers of the priestly office. For what is so \nkingly as the soul that is subject to God\, and the ruler of its own body? \nAnd what is so priestly as to dedicate to the Lord a pure conscience\, and to \noffer him on the altar of our hearts the unstained gift of our love? And since by \nGod’s grace this has been given to us all\, it is for you a devout and praiseworthy \nthing to rejoice on the day of our coronation as though the honor were your own.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-447/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260718
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260719
DTSTAMP:20260712T110822Z
CREATED:20260712T110822Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T110822Z
UID:15193-1784332800-1784419199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “Mary\, the Mother of the Lord” by \nFR KARL RAHNER \n◊◊◊ \nAll that the faith says about the realization of redemption\, about salvation \nand grace and the fullness of grace\, is realized in Mary. This human person \nwhom we call Mary is as it were the very point in the whole history of our \nredemption at which the saving grace of the living God descends from him into \nthis history\, and from which it is diffused over the whole of humankind. For her \nSon\, whom she accepted in the strength of her heart\, whom she conceived in \nfaith and love\, is the Redeemer of the world. \nAnd since\, as Scripture testifies\, the consent she gave in faith and \nobedience belongs not only to her private life-story\, but to the public history of \nredemption\, it must correspond\, in harmony of person and function\, to the \npurpose for which it was given; in short it must be perfect. \nIt follows too that Mary is one of us. We honor her\, praise her\, love and \nrevere her unique dignity. But if\, in view of the mystery of her son\, we ask\, where \ndoes Mary stand? We must reply\, she belongs entirely with us. She must receive \nGod’s mercy just as we must\, for she lives and typifies to perfection what we \nourselves are to be in Christ’s sight. We too are to become what she is. She comes \nbefore God with us – like us and as one of our company – in the innumerable \nhost of humanity. \nIn our midst\, within the history of humankind as a whole\, as a part of it\, \nshe accomplishes her own life-story\, which takes on a unique importance for \nour salvation\, and which\, once lived through with this significance\, endures \neternally in God’s sight. Precisely because Mary\, in this position as \nintermediary\, is entirely one of us\, and only occupies that position because she \nbelongs with us\, as a mere creature\, to the one human family\, is she so near and \ndear to us. That is why we love her. And have an almost too merely human trust \nin her. And feel her intercession\, protection and love to be so near and human\, \nalthough\, or rather because this dear and familiar humanity has been taken up\, \nunimpaired and transfigured\, into the eternal life of God himself.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-bvm-22/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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