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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250830
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250831
DTSTAMP:20260403T175925
CREATED:20250824T121510Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250824T121510Z
UID:13853-1756512000-1756598399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
DESCRIPTION:THE MOTHER \nOF THE REDEEMER \nFrom a homily by Amadeus of Lausanne \n◊◊◊ \nEscorted amid such praises\, she herself could not refrain from praising\, \nfor she saw the Son of God\, born of her\, sitting on the right hand of his Father’s \nmajesty\, receiving her with glory. ‘You have held she says\, ‘my right hand\, and \,̓ \nhave led me according to your will and received me with glory’. And again: ‘He is \nat my right hand lest I be moved. Therefore my heart has rejoiced and my \ntongue has exulted. Still more my flesh shall rest in hope. Since you did not \nabandon me in the world nor did you give your Mother’s body to see corruption. \nBut why do I linger over these things? To sum up much in a few words: \nthere was with the most glorious lady a word simple yet complex\, a word \nunderstandable\, containing all the words of praise with which she herself \nhonored the Lord and Son with praise unutterable. \nExalted therefore with cries of exultation and praise\, she is placed in her \nseat of glory first after God\, above all the company of heaven. There\, having \ntaken again the substance of her flesh (for it is not lawful to believe that her body \nsaw corruption) and clothed with a double robe\, she looks upon God and man in \nhis two natures with a gaze clearer than all others\, inasmuch as it is more \nburning than all\, with the eyes of her soul and body. \nThen coming down to the human race in ineffable charity and turning \nupon us those eyes of pity with which heaven is brightened\, she lifts her prayer \nalike for clergy\, for all men and women\, for the living and for the departed. Here \nfrom heaven is the glorious Virgin most powerful in prayer\, driving away every \nhurtful thing and bestowing what is good\, and she grants to all who pray to her \nfrom the heart her protection for this present life and for that to come. \nFor remembering for what purpose she was made the Mother of the \nRedeemer\, most willingly she gathers up the sinner’s prayers and pleads with \nher Son for all the guilt of those who are penitent. Surely she will gain what she \nwishes\, the dear Mother through whose chaste womb the Word of God came to \nus\, the sin offering of the world\, to wash away with his own blood the bond of \noriginal sin\, Jesus Christ Our Lord\, who lives and reigns with God the Father in \nthe unity of the Holy Spirit\, God for ever and ever.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-bvm-17/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250831
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250901
DTSTAMP:20260403T175925
CREATED:20250831T120230Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250831T120230Z
UID:13858-1756598400-1756684799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n22nd Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nAug. 31 – Sept. 6\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n31\nMon\n1\nTue\n2\nWed\n3\nThu\n4\nFri\n5\nSat\n6\n\n\nOffice\n22nd Sunday\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSt Gregory the Great\nWeekday\nSt Teresa of Calcutta\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nEst 4:1-17\nEst C:1-11\nEst C:12-30\nEst D:1-16\, 5:3-5a\nEst 5:5b-14\nEst 6:1-14\nEst 7:1-8:2\n\n\nLauds\nMic 4:1-5\nMic 4:6-8\nMic 4:9-14\nMic 5:1-5\nMic 5:6-8\nMic 5:9-14\nMic 6:1-8\n\n\nMass\n126\n431\, 559\n432\n433\n434\n435\n436\n\n\n1st\nSir 3:17-18\, 20\, 28-29\n1 Thess 4:13-18\n1 Thess 5:1-6\, 9-11\nCol 1:1-8\nCol 1:9-14\nCol 1:15-20\nCol 1:21-23\n\n\n2nd\nHeb 12:18-19\, 22-24a\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 14:1\, 7-14\nMatt 13:54-58\nLuke 4:31-37\nLuke 4:38-44\nLuke 5:1-11\nLuke 5:33-39\nLuke 6:1-5\n\n\nVespers\n1 Thess 2:9-12\n\n1 Thess 2:13-16\n1 Thess 2:17-3:5\n1 Thess 3:6-13\n1 Thess 4:1-12\n1 Thess 4:13-18
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-124/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250831
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250901
DTSTAMP:20260403T175925
CREATED:20250831T120406Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250831T204234Z
UID:13860-1756598400-1756684799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 22nd Sunday Ordinary time
DESCRIPTION:HUMILITY AND HOLINESS \nFrom a commentary by St Bruno of Segni \n◊◊◊ \nInvited to a wedding feast\, the Lord looked around and noticed how all \nwere choosing the first and most honorable places\, each person wanting to take \nprecedence over the others and to be raised above them. He told them this \nparable\, which even taken literally is most useful and appropriate for all who \nlike to be honored\, and fear being put to shame. To those of lower station it \naccords courtesy\, and to those of higher condition respect. However\, since it is \ncalled a parable\, it must have some other interpretation besides the literal one. \nLet us see then what this wedding feast is\, and who are the people invited to it. \nThis wedding feast takes place in the Church every day. Every day the \nLord makes a wedding feast\, for every day he unites faithful souls to himself\, \nsome coming to be baptized\, others leaving this world for the kingdom of \nheaven. We are all invited to this wedding feast – all of us who have received \nfaith in Christ and the seal of baptism. This table set before us is that of which it \nis said: You have prepared a table before me in the sight of those who trouble \nme. Here is the showbread\, here the fatted calf\, here the lamb who takes away \nthe sins of the world. Here is the living bread come down from heaven\, here \nplaced before us is the chalice of the New Covenant\, here are the gospels and the \nletters of the apostles\, here the books of Moses and the prophets. It is as though \na dish containing every delight was brought and set before us. What more can \nwe desire? What reason is there for choosing the first seats? There is plenty for \nall no matter where we sit. There is nothing we shall lack. \nBut whoever you may be who still desire the first place here – go and sit in \nthe last place. Do not be lifted up by pride\, inflated by knowledge\, elated by \nnobility\, but the greater you are the more you must humble yourself in every \nway\, and you will find grace with God. In his own time he will say to you: Friend\, \ngo up higher\, and then you will be honored by all who sit at table with you. \nMoses sat in the last place whenever he had the choice. When the Lord wishing \nto send him to the Israelites\, invited him to take a higher place\, his answer was: \nI beg you\, Lord\, send someone else. I am not a good speaker. It was the same as \nsaying: “I am not worthy of so great an office.” Saul\, too\, was of small account in \nhis own eyes when the Lord made him king. And Jeremiah\, similarly\, was afraid \nof rising to the first place: Ah\, Lord\, God\, he said\, look\, I cannot speak – I am \nonly a child. \nIn the church\, then\, the first seat\, or the highest place\, is to be sought not \nby ambition but by humility; not by money but by holiness.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-22nd-sunday-ordinary-time/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250901
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250902
DTSTAMP:20260403T175925
CREATED:20250831T120727Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250831T204413Z
UID:13862-1756684800-1756771199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THROUGH GOD’S EYES \nBy Hans Urs von Balthasar \n◊◊◊ \nChristians live with their involvement in the involvement of God for the \nfreedom of the world. They know that each one has been chosen by God and \ncalled by name to assist in his work of liberation. In this work…Christians must\, \nfirst of all\, learn to see fellow human beings and all created things through the \neyes of God. This does not mean that the human being seen in this light\, ceases \nto be a profound mystery. Just the opposite. If it is true that God has made the \nhuman being in his own image and likeness\, then this ought rather to mean that \nsomething of the uniqueness and unfathomableness of God shines in the \nhuman person\, so much more clearly to the beholder when God\, in choosing \nhim and acting in and for him\, sheds upon him God’s own mysterious light. \nTo look through God’s eyes at the human world means enduring both the \nopenness and contradictions of humans..\, bringing everything under the unity \nof God’s plan. Whoever can see more truth than someone else when they look\, is \nin the right. This means first that the human being exists centrally as a person: a \nperson intended by God\, loved by God\, and for whom God dies in order to \nrescue and draw him to God. Hence all that has the status of a thing\, all that is \nnot personal in this world\, has value only in so far as it serves the purposes of the \nperson\, and is harmful when it betrays the person into the hands of the \nimpersonal\, reducing him to slavery and to the status of a thing. This \ndetermines the Christian’s attitude towards technology. Our battle with the \nuniverse will always remain something of a struggle and perhaps even a violent \nwar\, but such a war will be just and permissible only so long as its normative aim \nremains the humanization of the human being. \nAs a fellow human being\, the Christian is of course committed to taking \npart in the total effort of humanity towards the humanizing of the world\, the \nperduring problematic and indeed tragic nature of which we have already \nindicated. The Christian\, however\, has no clear-cut recipes or solutions to offer \nto this problem\, and like others must wrestle with the deciphering of the riddles \nof nature and of history. In this pursuit Christians are at one with their fellows. \nBut from their knowledge of God’s involvement for the world\, they have a wider \nhorizon which embraces the problematic and tragic\, without eliminating it\, and \nfrom which there falls on the world the only light that is truly illuminating and \nhelpful. They must bear witness to this light not just abstractly – by professions \nof faith – but concretely in their professional and human involvement.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-labor-day/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250902
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250903
DTSTAMP:20260403T175925
CREATED:20250831T204531Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250831T204531Z
UID:13870-1756771200-1756857599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:ON WORK AND PRAYER \nFrom “The Divine Milieu” by Fr Teilhard de Chardin \n◊◊◊ \nOur work appears to us\, in the main\, as a way of earning our daily bread. \nBut its essential virtue is of a higher order: through it we complete in ourselves \nthe subject of the divine union; and through it again we augment in some sense\, \nin relation to ourselves\, the divine end of that union\, Our Lord Jesus Christ. \nHence whatever our human function may be…we can\, if we are Christians\, \nspeed towards the object of our work as though towards an outlet open on the \nsupreme fulfillment of our beings. \nWe ought to accustom ourselves to this basic truth till we are steeped in it\, \nuntil it becomes as familiar to us as the perception of relief or the reading of \nwords. God…is waiting for us at every moment in our action\, in our work of the \nmoment… \nI do not think I am exaggerating when I say that nine out of ten practicing \nChristians feel that work is always at the level of a ‘spiritual encumbrance.’ In \nspite of the practice of right intentions\, and the day offered every morning to \nGod\, the general run of the faithful dimly feel that time spent at the office or the \nstudio\, in the fields or in the factory\, is time diverted from prayer and adoration. \nOn the contrary\, try\, with God’s help\, to perceive the connection even \nphysical and natural which binds your labor with the building of the Kingdom of \nHeaven; try to realize that heaven itself smiles upon you and\, through your \nworks\, draws you to itself; then…you will remain with only one feeling\, that of \ncontinuing to immerse yourself in God. If your work is dull or exhausting\, take \nrefuge in the inexhaustible and becalming interest of progressing in the divine \nlife. If your work enthralls you\, then allow the spiritual impulse which matter \ncommunicates to you to enter into your taste for God whom you know better \nand desire more under the veil of His works. Never\, at any time\, “whether eating \nor drinking\,” consent to do anything without first of all realizing its significance \nand constructive value in Christ Jesus\, and pursuing it with all your might… For \nwhat is sanctity in a creature if not to cleave to God with the maximum of his \nstrength?… \nMay the time come when men\, having been awakened to a sense of the \nclose bond linking all the movements of this world in the unique work of the \nIncarnation\, shall be unable to give themselves to a single one of their tasks \nwithout illuminating it with the clear vision that their work – however \nelementary it may be – is received and made use of by a Center of the universe.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-348/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250903
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250904
DTSTAMP:20260403T175925
CREATED:20250831T204916Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250831T204916Z
UID:13872-1756857600-1756943999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Gregory the Great
DESCRIPTION:TELL THE BRETHREN \nFrom the treatise “Pastoral Care” by St Gregory the Great \n◊◊◊ \nThere are those who are gifted with virtues in a high degree and who are \nexalted by great endowments for the training of others; men who are unspotted \nin their zeal for chastity\, strong in the vigor of their abstinence\, replete with \nfeasts of knowledge\, humble in their long-suffering patience\, erect in the \nfortitude of authority\, gentle in the grace of loving-kindness\, strict and \nunbending in justice. Such\, indeed in declining to undertake supreme rule when \ninvited to do so\, deprive themselves\, for the most part\, of the gifts which they \nhave received not for their own sakes only\, but for the sake of others also. \nWhen these regard their own personal advantage\, not that of others\, they \nlose such advantages in wishing to retain them for themselves\, Hence it was that \nthe Truth said to the disciples: “A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid\, \nneither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel\, but upon a candlestick\, \nthat it may shine to all that are in the house”. \n[For this reason] He said to Peter\, “Simon\, son of John\, do you love me?” \nAnd when Simon replied at once that he loved Him\, he was told: “If you love \nme\, feed my sheep”. If\, then\, the care of feeding is a testimony of love\, he who\, \nabounding in virtues\, refuses to feed the flock of God\, is convicted of having no \nlove for the Supreme Shepherd. [It is because of this that] Paul says: “If Christ \ndied for all\, then all were dead. And if He died for all\, it remains that they also \nwho live\, may not now live only for themselves\, but for Him who died for them \nand rose again”. Thus\, Moses says that the surviving brother must take the wife \nof his brother who died without children\, and raise up children for his brother’s \nname; and should he refuse to take her\, she shall spit in his face…9 \nNow\, the deceased brother is [the Lord] who\, appearing after the glory of \nthe Resurrection\, said: “Go\, tell my brethren;” for He died\, as it were\, without \nsons\, because He had not yet filled up the number of the elect. The surviving \nbrother is ordered to take the wife\, because it is fitting that the care of Holy \n[Mother] Church should be assigned to him who is best fitted to rule it well. If he \nproves unwilling\, the woman spits in his face\, because\, whosoever does not care \nto assist others by the favors which he has received\, is reprobated by Holy \nChurch also for the good he has\, and as it were\, she casts spittle in his face…. \nSo\, there are those who\, endowed\, as we have said\, with great gifts\, in \ntheir eagerness for the pursuit of contemplation only\, decline to be of service to \nthe neighbor by preaching; they love to withdraw in quietude and desire to be \nalone for meditation. Now\, if they are judged strictly on their conduct\, they are \ncertainly guilty in proportion to the public service which they were able to \nafford. Indeed\, what disposition of mind is revealed in him\, who could perform \nconspicuous public benefit on coming to his task\, but prefers his own privacy to \nthe benefit of others\, seeing that the Only-Begotten of the Supreme Father came \nforth from the bosom of His Father into our midst\, that He might benefit many?
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-gregory-the-great-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250904
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250905
DTSTAMP:20260403T175925
CREATED:20250831T205017Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250831T205017Z
UID:13874-1756944000-1757030399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE BODY OF CHRIST \nFrom the writing of St John Henry Newman \n◊◊◊ \nThat all Christians are\, in some sense or other\, one\, in our Lord’s eyes is \nplain\, from various parts of the New Testament. In his mediatorial prayer for \nthem to the Almighty Father\, before His Passion\, He expressed His purpose that \nthey should be one. St Paul\, in like manner\, writing to the Corinthians\, says\, “As \nthe body is one\, and has many members\, and all the members of that one body\, \nbeing many\, are one body\, so also is Christ… Now you are the Body of Christ\, \nand members in particular.” To the Ephesians\, he says\, “There is one Body\, and \none Spirit\, even as you are called in one hope of your calling: one Lord\, one faith\, \none baptism\, one God and Father of all.” \nAnd\, further\, it is to this one Body\, regarded as one\, that the special \nprivileges of the Gospel are given. It is not that this person receives the blessing\, \nand that one\, but one and all\, the whole body\, as one being\, one new spiritual \nreality\, with one accord\, seeks and gains it. The Holy Church throughout the \nworld\, “the Bride\, the Lamb’s wife\,” is one\, not many\, and the elect souls are all \nelected in her\, not in isolation. For instance: “He is our peace who has made \nboth (Jews and Gentiles) one\,… to make in himself one new humanity.” In the \nsame epistle\, it is said\, that all nations are “fellow-heirs\, and of the same body \nand fellow-partakers of His promise in Christ;” and that we must “one and all \ncome\,” or converge\, “in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of \nGod\, unto a perfect creation\, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of \nChrist;” that as “the husband is the head of the wife\,” so “Christ is the Head of \nthe Church\,” having “loved her and given Himself for her\, that He might \nsanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word.” \nThese are a few out of many passages which connect Gospel privileges \nwith the circumstance or condition of unity in those who receive them; the \nimage of Christ and token of their acceptance being stamped upon them then\, at \nthat moment\, when they are considered as one; so that henceforth the whole \nmultitude\, no longer viewed as mere individuals\, become portions or members \nof the indivisible Body of Christ Mystical\, so knit together in Him by Divine \nGrace\, that all have what He has\, and each has what all have. \nThe same great truth is taught us in such texts as speak of all Christians \nforming one spiritual building\, of which the Jewish Temple was the type. They \nare temples one by one\, simply as being portions of that one Temple which is the \nChurch. “You are built up\,” says St Peter\, “a spiritual house\, a holy priesthood\, \nto offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” Hence the word \n“edification”\, which properly means this building up of all Christians in one\, has \ncome to stand for individual improvement; for it is by being incorporated into \nthe one Body\, that we have the promise of life; by becoming members of Christ\, \nwe have the gift of His Spirit.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-349/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250905
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250906
DTSTAMP:20260403T175925
CREATED:20250831T120958Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250831T120958Z
UID:13864-1757030400-1757116799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Theresa of Calcutta
DESCRIPTION:GENEROSITY \nFrom the book “In My Own Words” by St Mother Teresa \n◊◊◊ \nWithout a spirit of sacrifice\, without a life of prayer\, without an intimate \nattitude of penance\, we would not be capable of carrying our work. We feed \nourselves\, not to please our senses\, but to show our Lord that we want to work for \nhim and with him\, to live a life of sacrifice and reparation… \nOne night\, a man came to our house to tell me that a Hindu family\, a family \nof eight children\, had not eaten anything for days. They had nothing to eat. I took \nenough rice for a meal and went to their house. I could see the hungry faces\, the \nchildren with their bulging eyes. The sight could not have been more dramatic! \nThe mother took the rice from my hands\, divided it in half and went out. When \nshe came back a little later\, I asked her: “Where did you go? What did you do?” \nShe answered\, “They also are hungry.” “They” were the people next door\, a Muslim \nfamily with the same number of children to feed and who did not have any food \neither. That mother was aware of the situation. She had the courage and the love \nto share her meager portion of rice with others. In spite of her circumstances\, I \nthink she felt very happy to share with her neighbors the little I had taken her. In \norder not to take away her happiness\, I did not take her anymore rice that night. I \ntook her some more the following day. \n“What is a Christian?” someone asked a Hindu man. He responded\, “The \nChristian is someone who gives.” I ask you one thing: do not tire of giving\, but do \nnot give your leftovers. Give until it hurts\, until you feel the pain. Open your hearts \nto the love God instills in them. God loves you tenderly. What he gives you is not \nto be kept under lock and key\, but to be shared. The more you save\, the less you \nwill be able to give. The less you have\, the more you will know how to share. Let \nus ask God\, when it comes time to ask him for something\, to help us to be generous. \nIt was late in the day (around ten at night) when the doorbell rang. I opened \nthe door and found a man shivering from the cold. “Mother Teresa\, I heard that \nyou just received an important prize. When I heard this I decided to offer you \nsomething too. Here you have it: this is what I collected today.” It was little\, but \nin his case it was everything. I was moved more than by the Nobel prize. \nOne day a young couple came to our house and asked for me. They gave me \na large amount of money. I asked them\, “Where did you get so much money?” \nThey answered\, “We got married two days ago. Before we got married we had \ndecided not to celebrate the wedding\, not to buy wedding clothes\, not to have a \nreception or a honeymoon. We wanted to give you the money I saved.” I know \nwhat such a decision meant\, especially for a Hindu family. That is why I asked \nthem\, “But how did you think of such a thing?” “We love each other so much\,” they \nanswered\, “that we wanted to share the joy of our love with those you serve.” \nTo share: what a beautiful thing! We should learn how to give. If we worry \ntoo much about ourselves\, we won’t have time for others.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-theresa-of-calcutta/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250906
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250907
DTSTAMP:20260403T175925
CREATED:20250831T205347Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250831T205347Z
UID:13878-1757116800-1757203199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
DESCRIPTION:A COMMUNITY IN \nNATURE AND IN GRACE \nBy Fr Karl Rahner \n◊◊◊ \nMariology is not merely a piece of the private life-story of Jesus of \nNazareth\, of no real ultimate significance for our salvation\, but an affirmation of \nfaith itself concerning a reality of the faith\, without which there is no salvation. \nWe human beings are important for one another. We mean something to \none another\, not only in the everyday things of life\, not only because (since we \nexist) we have parents\, not only because\, in the biological sphere\, in the external \nlife of the civil community\, of art and learning\, we are always dependent on a \ngreat human community. That is not the only reason for our importance for one \nanother. Even in our salvation we are also similarly dependent on other human \nbeings. That goes without saying\, as a matter of course\, yet it is difficult to \ngrasp. One might think we were only important to one another for this life\, for \nexternal things\, or at most in the domain of the spirit here on earth. \nOr one might think that when it is a question of how God stands to me and \nI to God\, of the ultimate decision about my eternity\, of how I shall fare one day\, \nwhen through the inexorable loneliness of my death\, I stand utterly alone before \nthe face of God\, that then\, in all that\, I am absolutely alone and isolated. Then\, \nsurely\, there is only the one God\, and myself\, his love and mercy\, and my \nirreplaceable freedom in guilt and grace. Yet it is not so\, for all that. All that has \nbeen said is true\, but it is not the whole truth. For we still belong to one another\, \neven then. \n6 The Practice of Faith\, Cp.32\, Devotion to Mary. Crossroads 1983. p.161-215 \nEach has their own\, inalienable\, unique freedom\, from which they cannot \nescape\, which they cannot shuffle off on to someone else. But for all that\, it is \nnot a lonely isolated freedom\, not even when it is deciding the eternal destiny of \na human being\, or making the fundamental choice of a human life. For the \neternal Son\, the eternal Word of the Father\, was made flesh\, born of the Virgin \nMary. In our family\, out of our race that stretches from the first human being\, \nAdam\, to the last\, the Word of the Father was made flesh. \nThere is\, therefore\, a community in nature and in grace which takes effect \nin a community of sin and guilt\, of the mercy of God and his grace\, a community \nof origin and goal. But guilt and grace\, origin and end\, are God’s concerns. \nConsequently the community of humanity extends into the domain of our \neternal salvation with God. It is a community in eternal welfare or loss\, a vast \ncommunity which acts out as a whole\, and not only in individual human beings\, \nthe great drama of history before the eyes of God\, and which brings to light what \nGod’s thought about humanity was.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-bvm-18/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250907
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250908
DTSTAMP:20260403T175925
CREATED:20250907T123013Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250907T123013Z
UID:13894-1757203200-1757289599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n23rd Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nSeptember 7 – 13\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n7\nMon\n8\nTue\n9\nWed\n10\nThu\n11\nFri\n12\nSat\n13\n\n\nOffice\n23rd Sunday\nNativity of the BVM\nSt Peter Claver\nBl Ogler\nOffice for the Dead\nWeekday\nSt John Chrysostom\n\n\nVigils\nEst 8:3-12\nGen 3:8-20\nEst E:1-16\nEst E:17-(8:17)\nEst 9:1-17\nEst 9:18-32\nEst 10:1-F:10\n\n\nLauds\nMic 6:9-16\nZech 8:1-8\nMic 7:1-6\nMic 7:7-13\nMic 7:14-20\nNahum 1:1-8\nNahum 1:9-2:1\n\n\nMass\n129\n636\n438\n439\n440\n441\n442\n\n\n1st\nWis 9:13-18b\nMicah 5:1-4a\nCol 2:6-15\nCol 3:1-11\nCol 3:12-17\n1 Tim 1:1-2\, 12-14\n1 Tim 1:15-17\n\n\n2nd\nPhlm 9-10\, 12-17\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 14:25-33\nMatt 1:18-23\nLuke 6:12-19\nLuke 6:20-26\nLuke 6:27-38\nLuke 6:39-42\nLuke 6:43-49\n\n\nVespers\n1 Thess 5:1-11\nRom 8:28-39\n1 Thess 5:12-28\n2 Thess 1:1-7\, 11-12\n2 Thess 2:1-10\n2 Thess 2:11-17\n1 Cor 1:18-25
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-125/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250907
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250908
DTSTAMP:20260403T175925
CREATED:20250907T123208Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250907T123208Z
UID:13896-1757203200-1757289599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 23rd Sunday
DESCRIPTION:THE THREE RENUNCIATIONS \nBy John Cassian \n◊◊◊ \nThe tradition of the Fathers and the authority of holy scriptures both \naffirm that there are three renunciations which every one of us must strive to \npractice. To these let us turn our attention. \nFirst\, on the material level\, we have to despise all worldly wealth and \npossessions; secondly\, we must reject our former way of life with its vices and \nattachments\, both physical and spiritual; and thirdly\, we should withdraw our \nmind from all that is transitory and visible to contemplate solely what lies in the \nfuture and to desire what is unseen. \nWe read that the Lord commended Abraham to make all three \nrenunciations at once when he said to him: Leave your country and your \nkindred and your father’s house. First he said your country\, meaning worldly \nwealth and possessions; secondly your kindred\, that is our former way of living\, \nwith its habits and vices which have grown up with us and are as familiar to us as \nkith and kin; thirdly your father’s house\, in other words every secular memory \naroused by what you see. \nThis forgetfulness will be achieved when\, dead with Christ to the \nelemental spirits of this world\, we contemplate as the apostle says not the things \nthat are seen\, for what is seen is temporal but what is unseen is eternal. It will \nbe achieved when in our hearts we leave this temporal and visible house and \nturn the eyes of our mind toward that in which we shall live for ever; when\, \nthough living in the world\, we cease to follow the spirit of the world in order to \nfight for the Lord\, proclaiming by our holy way of life that\, as the apostle says\, \nour homeland is in heaven. \nIt avails little to undertake the first of these renunciations\, even with \nwholehearted devotion inspired by faith\, unless we carry out the second with the \nsame zeal and fervor. Then having accomplished this as well we shall be able to \ngo on to the third\, whereby we leave the house of our former father\, of him who \nfathered us as members of a fallen race\, children of wrath like everyone else\, \nand turn our inward gaze solely toward heavenly things. \nWe shall attain to the perfection of this third renunciation when our \nmind\, no longer dulled by contact with a pampered body\, has been cleansed by \nthe most searching refinement from every worldly sentiment and attitude\, and \nraised by constant meditation on divine things and spiritual contemplation to \nthe realm of the invisible. It will then lose all awareness of the frail body \nenclosing it or the place it occupies\, so absorbed will it be by things divine and \nspiritual.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-23rd-sunday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250908
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250909
DTSTAMP:20260403T175925
CREATED:20250907T123317Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250907T123317Z
UID:13898-1757289600-1757375999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Nativity of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:THE NEW MOTHER \nFrom a sermon by Blessed Guerric of Igny \n◊◊◊ \nAs the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odor. Today we celebrate the \nbirthday of the blessed Virgin Mother from whom the Life of all things took his \nbirth. Today is the birthday of that Virgin from whom the Savior of all men \nwilled to be born in order that he might give to all who were born to death the \npower to be reborn to life. Today is the birthday of that new Mother who has \ndestroyed the curse brought by the first mother\, so that all those who through \nthe fault of the first had been born under the yoke of eternal condemnation \nmight instead\, through her\, inherit a blessing. \nShe is indeed the new Mother\, for she has brought new life to her children \nalready hardening with age and has healed the defect of both inborn and \nacquired senility… She is the new Mother\, who by an unheard of miracle has \ngiven birth in such a way that\, becoming a mother\, she has not ceased to be a \nVirgin. And she has given birth to the Child who created all things\, even the \nMother herself. \nIt is indeed a wonderful new thing\, this fruitful virginity\, but far more \nwonderful is the novelty of the Child born of it. No one who admits that the \nChild was God\, finds any difficulty in believing his Mother remained a Virgin. \nHis birth in no way could injure the physical integrity of his Mother\, this Child \nwho went about making even the diseased whole. Nor could the reality of the \nbody he assumed be thought to limit the power of the Creator as if he could not \nretain for himself what he gives to many of his creatures. For you find not a few \ncreatures that are born without any harm to the integrity of the parents. In their \nown way all these bear witness to their Creator’s own immaculate birth. \nBut the Mother herself\, who was quite aware of the mystery surrounding \nher\, has spoken and taught us how and what she brought forth. She speaks \nhowever not in contemporary or recent arguments but in the ancient oracles of \nprophecy\, because\, as the Apostle Peter tells us\, the word of prophecy is a \nstronger witness than miracles. Indeed what is less open to deceit or suspect of \nfalsity than the testimony from heaven about one not yet born? \nLong before her birth therefore the Spirit\, who would later make his \nabode in her\, borrowed Mary’s voice to defend both the divinity of the Child and \nthe integrity of the Mother – all his own handiwork – against the blasphemies of \nunbelievers. In her person…he uttered the words: As the vine\, I have brought \nforth a pleasant odor.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-nativity-of-the-bvm-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250909
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250910
DTSTAMP:20260403T175925
CREATED:20250907T123428Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250907T123428Z
UID:13900-1757376000-1757462399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Peter Claver
DESCRIPTION:ST PETER CLAVER \nTHE SLAVE OF THE NEGROES \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints \n◊◊◊ \nHe was born in Catalonia\, about 1581… He graduated with distinction \n[and entered] the Society of Jesus. He left Spain forever in April 1610\, and was \nordained priest at Cartagena\, in what is now the republic of Colombia. By the \ntime of his ordination the slave trade had been established in the Americas for \nnearly a hundred years\, and the port of Cartagena was one of its principal \ncenters… \nAt this time the leader of the work among the Negroes was Father Alfonso \nde Sandoval\, a great Jesuit missionary who spent forty years in the service of the \nslaves\, and after working under him Peter Claver declared himself “the slave of \nthe Negroes forever”. Although by nature shy and without self-confidence he \nthrew himself into the work with method and organization. He enlisted bands \nof assistants\, and as soon as a slave-ship entered the port… St. Peter Claver \nplunged\, with medicines and food\, bread\, brandy\, lemons\, tobacco to distribute \namong the Negroes\, some of whom were too frightened\, others too ill\, to accept \nthem. “We must speak to them with our hands\, before we try to speak to them \nwith our lips”\, Claver would say. \nWhen he came upon any who were dying\, he baptized them\, and then \nsought out all babies born on the voyage that he might baptize them. He had a \nband of seven interpreters\, one of whom spoke four Negro dialects\, and with \ntheir help he taught the slaves and prepared them for baptism\, not only in \ngroups but individually. He made use of pictures\, showing our Lord suffering \non the cross; above all he tried to instill in them… some idea that as redeemed \nhuman beings they had dignity and worth\, even if as slaves… \nIt is estimated that in forty years St Peter Claver instructed and baptized \nover 300\,000 slaves… He took the same trouble to teach them how properly to \nuse the sacrament of penance\, and in one year is said to have heard the \nconfessions of more than five thousand. Many of the stories both of the heroism \nand of the miraculous powers of St Peter Claver concern his nursing of sick and \ndiseased Negroes\, in circumstances often that no one else\, black or white\, could \nface. \nIn 1650… sickness attacked his emaciated and weakened body\, and he \nwas recalled to the Jesuit residence at Cartagena. But here a virulent epidemic \nhad begun to show itself\, and one of the first to be attacked among the Jesuits \nwas the debilitated missionary… After receiving the last sacraments\, he \nrecovered\, but he was a broken man… \nOn September 6\, 1654 he was taken very ill and became comatose. The rumor of \nhis approaching end spread round the city\, everyone suddenly remembered the \nsaint again\, and numbers came to kiss his hands before it was too late. His cell \nwas stripped of everything that could be carried off as a relic. St Peter Claver \nnever fully recovered consciousness\, and died two days later on the birthday of \nour Lady. The civil authorities who had looked askance at his solicitude for mere \nNegro slaves\, and the clergy\, who had called his zeal indiscreet and his energy \nwasted\, now vied with one another to honor his memory… He was canonized in \n1888 and was declared by Pope Leo XIII patron of all missionary enterprises \namong Negroes.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-peter-claver-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250910
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250911
DTSTAMP:20260403T175925
CREATED:20250907T123542Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250907T123542Z
UID:13902-1757462400-1757548799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Bl Ogier of Locedio
DESCRIPTION:THE CONTAINER \nOF ALL VIRTUES \nFrom a sermon by Blessed Ogier of Locedio \n◊◊◊ \nFor a long time I have been impelled by a work of love: it was the desire to \ncreate a work on the Word of God. I realize that I am thoroughly unworthy of \nthis\, and yet I find that I am filled with the sweetness of the heavenly honey \nwhich the heavens dropped down from the face of God on Sinai. And behold in \norder to be able to fulfill my desires\, I am presented with this exquisite vase\, this \ncontainer of all virtues\, this vessel of election\, wherein the fullness of the \ndivinity came to dwell. Yes\, this is the golden vessel\, the solid vessel\, adorned \nwith all precious jewels\, charged with life\, with eternal blessedness\, filled with \nmyrrh\, aloes and balm and every possible scent; a vessel adorned with ivory and \ngems of sapphire\, containing Him Who is both the Alpha and the Omega\, the \nBeginning and the End. \nI wish to speak of that beautiful Virgin who gave to the world its Creator. \nShe is worthy of being praised by every mouth even though they are not worthy \nto praise her. But I must acknowledge to all who may take up my writings that I \nam not worthy to praise her\, and even unworthy to pronounce her name. \nNevertheless even this realization does not stop me\, for the ardor of heart \nsprings forth to compensate and it neither can nor should restrain from praising \nher whom the angels and archangels and all the heavenly choirs praise as being \nthe one who gave to the world its Creator\, the author of all things\, by becoming \nHis mother. \nFor charity draws me to this\, love finds satiety\, and the benefit which will \ncome to myself impels me. Let my tongue cleave to my pallet if I do not \nremember her; if I do not place her immediately after her Son as the source of \nmy joy; in order that she may be mindful of me on the day of Jerusalem\, that she \nmay become my repose in the time of tribulation\, and that I may be borne to the \npeople in those arms which held her own Son. For this reason with praise I am \ngoing to praise her all the days of my life; I am going to sing her praises as long \nas I live. May my words be pleasing to her and in her I will take my delight. \nMay He enable me to accomplish this which He has inspired in me\, Jesus \nChrist her Son\, our Lord\, Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy \nSpirit through all ages.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-bl-ogier-of-locedio/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250911
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250912
DTSTAMP:20260403T175925
CREATED:20250907T123644Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250907T123644Z
UID:13904-1757548800-1757635199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
DESCRIPTION:IN THE SLEEP \nOF FINAL REST \nBy St Ephrem the Syrian \n◊◊◊ \nIn that night when all sound\, all human activity shall be silent\, when the \nvoices of all peoples and nations are still\, may my soul through its good works \nshine out in You\, O Jesus\, Light of the Just. In that hour when darkness like a \ncloak shall be spread over all things may your grace\, O Lord\, shine on us in place \nof the earthy sun. In that night which brings to an end the course of this world \nand all its activities\, may our souls behold your wonders in that quiet which is \nmore than silence. In that hour\, refreshing the weary through the sleep that lies \nover all\, may our minds be inebriated with your delights\, O Delight of all the \nSaints! In that time of dark night\, may a New Sun arise for us. Then let us take \nwing in that hope which was laid up for us in your Resurrection. \nGrant us O Lord\, to imitate the watchfulness of those who waited for your \nResurrection\, so that day and night O Lord\, we may be turned towards you. In \nthat hour when we shall be separated from others and from the business of the \nworld\, be to us O Lord\, a Giver of good things\, bringing joy to our sadness. When \nconfiding in your grace we have gone forth from this world\, so that we are alone\, \nmay we behold O Lord\, clearly and in deed the power of your help. Pour your \npeace into our hearts\, and give your rest to all our striving that the darkness of \nthat night may be to us as the day. \nIn that hour when we shall have been deprived of life\, and night has \nhidden us in its darkness and we have been separated from others\, may our \nconsolation in you O Lord\, increase. In that place that is empty of all things\, \nwhere the voice of comfort is no more heard\, awaken in our souls O Lord\, a \nwatchfulness free of all distraction. In that time when we lie in the sleep of final \nrest\, may our minds not be sunk in the sleep of evil desires. \nGrant us by your graces O Lord\, that like the wise virgins who were ready \nby their good works\, our way of life shall also be watchful\, that we shall not sit in \ndarkness with darkened souls\, in darkness of mind\, but that through prayer we \nmay look for ever on the shining splendor of your grace. Expel\, O Lord\, by the \ndaily light of your knowledge the nocturnal darkness of our mind\, that being \nenlightened it may serve you in the purity of its regeneration. \nGrant us with the just to watch by night in prayer\, that in your revelations \nour lamps may burn brightly before your sun. In that time of night give \nconsolation to our need\, for the gloom of the night darkens us; through you may \nwe be comforted in our sadness. Grant that our minds may labor in the \nremembrance of your revelations\, while our souls burn in the fire of your love. \nIn that hour when the Saints were wont to give themselves to prayer; grant us\, O \nLord\, to share in their watchfulness.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-the-dead-22/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250912
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250913
DTSTAMP:20260403T175926
CREATED:20250907T123754Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250907T123754Z
UID:13906-1757635200-1757721599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:PERFECTION IN WEAKNESS \nBy Fr Hugh Rahner \n◊◊◊ \nThe Catholic Church is a house full of glory extending far and wide into \nevery land of this our terrestrial world. We sing her praises because we love her. \nFor she is the hidden queen of human history.… \nAll this would be\, however\, only “boasting according to the flesh” and not \n“glory in the cross of Christ” – all would be counterfeit\, falsified\, and therefore \nfilled with that furtive disappointment that we so often experience after \necclesiastical ceremonies\, if we did not also speak of the incomprehensible \nmystery of Christian existence which Paul describes with the words: “If I must \nboast\, I will boast of the things that concern my weakness.” The Apostle is \nspeaking here of his own wretchedness. \nHowever\, one of the principle truths of the revelation of the New \nTestament\, as sketched by Paul\, is that the strength of God reveals itself in \nhuman weakness. The salvific work of the Father\, which was contained in love \nbefore the very foundation of the universe\, reveals itself to us in the Word which \nbecame flesh\, and will be completed through the instrument of the Church in \nthe power of grace victorious up to its blessed conclusion in weakness. For as \nScripture tells us: “The power of God reaches its perfection in weakness”. Let us \nleave these words as they stand. Indeed let us keep the expression in the \nshocking bluntness of the Greek words: “The dynamis of God reaches perfec- \ntion in asthenia.” \nThe force of these words can be vaguely perceived from what technology \nhas to say today about dynamics\, and from what medicine has to say about \nasthenia. So\, let us read: the power of God reaches its goal in asthenia\, in \nstunted asthenic growth\, in frailty\, therefore in all that is in contrast to what is \nbig\, strong\, healthy\, well formed\, humane\, rational. So\, and only so\, does the \nexplosive power of the Father’s salvific love reveal itself\, passionately driving \nonward to victory in the mystical Christ. “For the foolishness of God is wiser \nthan men\, and the weakness of God is stronger than men…and the base things \nof the world and the despised has God chosen…lest any flesh should pride itself \nbefore him. So that\, just as it is written: ‘Let him who takes pride\, take pride in \nthe Lord’”.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-350/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250913
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250914
DTSTAMP:20260403T175926
CREATED:20250907T123911Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250907T123911Z
UID:13908-1757721600-1757807999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St John Chrysostom
DESCRIPTION:ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM \nFrom “The Fathers of the Church” by Pope Benedict XVI \n◊◊◊ \nSt John Chrysostom was born in Antioch\, Syria\, in 344. His father died \nwhen he was an infant and his mother raised him. He studied with the most \nfamous rhetorician of the day\, Libanus. Baptized as a young adult in 368\, John \nundertook an ascetic life for four years\, living alone on the neighboring Mount \nSilpius. He extended his stay for a further two years\, living alone in a cave under \nthe guidance of an old hermit. \nHaving fallen ill\, he found it impossible to care for himself and returned to \nthe city and was ordained a deacon and then a priest. From 386 to 397 he \npreached in the cathedral at Antioch\, perhaps the most satisfying and happiest \nyears of his life. There he delivered courses of sermons on books of the Bible. \nJohn was nicknamed “Chrysostom”\, that is\, “golden mouthed”\, because of his \neloquence. \nIn 397 he was taken\, almost by force\, to Constantinople\, ordained bishop\, \nand made patriarch of the capitol city. He lived ascetically and showed deep \nconcern for the poor and the sick. But his style of life offended some powerful \npeople\, including the Empress Eudoxia. Theophilus\, the patriarch of \nAlexandria\, was also among his enemies\, and in 403 Theophilus presided at a \nsynod near Constantinople that deposed John. \nJohn was banished twice\, the first time for only a short while. But during \nthe second exile he died on September 14\, 407 while being forced to travel in \nharsh weather. \nJohn is known for a large corpus of homilies\, most of them on Scripture. \nAmong his best known and most read books are the six books On the \nPriesthood.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-john-chrysostom-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250914
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250915
DTSTAMP:20260403T175926
CREATED:20250914T102623Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250914T102623Z
UID:13936-1757808000-1757894399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n24th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nSeptember 14 – 20\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n14\nMon\n15\nTue\n16\nWed\n17\nThu\n18\nFri\n19\nSat\n20\n\n\nOffice\nExaltation of the Holy Cross\nOur Lady of Sorrows\nSS Cornelius & Cyprian\nSt Martin of Finojosa\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSt Andrew Kim & Companions\n\n\nVigils\nIsa 52:13-53:12\n2 Macc 7:20-41\nSong 1:1-17\nSong 2:1-17\nSong 3:1-11\nSong 4:1-5:1\nSong 5:2-6:3\n\n\nLauds\nIsa 45:21-25\nBaruch 4:9b-20\nNahum 2:2-8\nNahum 2:9-14\nNahum 3:1-7\nNahum 3:8-13\nNahum 3:14-19\n\n\nMass\n638\n639\n444\n445\n446\n447\n448\n\n\n1st\nNum 21:4b-9\nHeb 5:7-9\n1 Tim 3:1-13\n1 Tim 3:14-16\n1 Tim 4:12-16\n1 Tim 6:2c-12\n1 Tim 6:13-16\n\n\n2nd\nPhil 2:6-11\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 3:13-17\nJohn 19:25-27\nLuke 7:11-17\nLuke 7:31-35\nLuke 7:36-50\nLuke 8:1-3\nLuke 8:4-15\n\n\nVespers\nGal 6:14-18\n1 Pet 4:12-16\n2 Thess 3:1-10\n2 Thess 3:11-18\n1 Tim 1:1-11\n1 Tim 1:12-20\n1 Tim 2:1-8
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-126/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250914
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250915
DTSTAMP:20260403T175926
CREATED:20250914T102813Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250914T102813Z
UID:13938-1757808000-1757894399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Exaltation of the Holy Cross
DESCRIPTION:THE VICTORY \nOF THE CROSS \nBy St Chromatius of Aquileia \n◊◊◊ \nThe Cross of Christ is our victory\, because it has obtained victory for us. \nWho among us are so fortunate as to deserve to bear in themselves the cross of \nChrist? They bear the cross of Christ in themselves who die to the world and are \nnailed with Christ to the Cross. Listen to what the Apostle says: “With Christ I \nam crucified; I live\, yet it is no longer I who live\, but Christ who lives in me.” \nThose therefore who are free from the vices of the flesh and worldly desires are\, \nas the Apostle says\, crucified with Christ. Those on the other hand who are given \nover to vices of the flesh and worldly desires cannot say: “I am crucified with \nChrist”\, for they do not live the way that Christ did\, but according to the fashion \nof the world and the will of the devil. \nThe cross of Christ is the salvation of the world and the triumphal sign of \nheaven’s victory. In times past\, when great kings had won a brilliant victory over \nvanquished nations\, they used to set up a trophy of their victory in the form of a \ncross and hang spoils taken from the enemy upon it as a permanent reminder. \nThe victory won by Christ’s cross is far different. The victory of those kings \nmeant the extermination of peoples\, the destruction of cities\, the sacking of \nprovinces. The victory of the cross means nations ransomed\, cities saved\, \nprovinces liberated\, the entire world made safe. Nothing is destroyed but the \npower of the devil\, no one taken captive but the demons\, for the cross of Christ \nredeemed the world and took the demons prisoner. It is spoils taken from the \ndemons that are hung on the triumphal cross of Christ. Today the demons hang \non the cross of Christ which has become their torment and torture; they are held \ncaptive by faith in the cross\, by the sign of the passion. \nChrist suffered evil and repaid it with good; he suffered death and gave \nlife. Not without reason was he crucified on the spot where Adam’s body is said \nto have been buried; Christ was crucified where Adam was buried in order that \nlife might thus rise out of death. Death came through Adam\, life through Christ\, \nwho deigned to be crucified and to die precisely in order to destroy through the \ntree of the cross the sin that had been caused by a tree\, and by the mystery of his \ndeath to put an end to the punishment of death.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-exaltation-of-the-holy-cross-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250915
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250916
DTSTAMP:20260403T175926
CREATED:20250914T102922Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250914T102922Z
UID:13940-1757894400-1757980799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Our Lady of Sorrows
DESCRIPTION:TEARS OF LOVE \nFrom the Sequence “Stabat Mater” attributed to Jacopo da Todi \n◊◊◊ \nThe sorrowful mother was standing in tears beside the cross on which her \nSon was hanging. Her soul was full of grief and anguish and sorrow\, for the \nsword of prophecy pierced it. \nHow sad now and how unhappy at the fate of her only Son was that \nmother\, once called blessed; how the faithful mother grieved and lamented as \nshe saw her glorious Son so shamefully treated. \nWho is there who would not weep\, were he to see Christ’s mother in such \ngreat suffering? Or who could help feeling sympathy with the mother\, were he to \nthink of her sorrowing with her Son? \nYet she actually saw Jesus in agony and broken by the scourging – and \nthis because of the sins of her own people. She saw her dear Son all the time he \nwas dying and abandoned until he yielded up his soul. \nCome then\, mother\, from whom all love springs\, make me understand the \nmeaning of your sorrow that I may mourn with you. Make my heart burn with \nlove of Christ\, my God\, that he may look on me with favor. \nHoly mother\, do this for me. Pierce my heart once and forever with the \nwounds of your crucified Son. Let me share with you the pain of your Son’s \nwounds\, for he thought it right to bear such sufferings for me. \nGrant that my tears of love may mingle with yours and that\, as long as I \nlive\, I may feel the pains of my crucified Lord. To stand with you beside the cross \nand be your companion in grief is my own wish. \nVirgin without equal among virgins\, do not now turn down my request; \ngrant that I may mourn with you. Grant that I carry about the dying state of \nChrist; grant that I be a sharer of his passion; grant that I relive his wounds. \nGrant that I be wounded with his wounds; grant that I drink to my soul’s content \nof the chalice of his cross and blood. Be a defense to me\, virgin Mary\, on the \njudgment day\, and I will not burn and be consumed in the fires of hell. \nWhen it is time\, Lord Christ\, for me to leave this world\, give me through \nyour mother’s prayers the palm of victory. When my body is dead\, grant that my \nsoul be given the glory of paradise.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-our-lady-of-sorrows-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250916
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250917
DTSTAMP:20260403T175926
CREATED:20250914T103047Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250914T103047Z
UID:13942-1757980800-1758067199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - SS Cornelius & Cyprian
DESCRIPTION:A LETTER FROM ST CYPRIAN \nTO ST CORNELIUS \n◊◊◊ \nMy very dear brother\, we have heard of the glorious witness given by your \ncourageous faith. On learning of the honor you had won by your witness\, we \nwere filled with such joy that we felt ourselves sharers and companions in your \npraiseworthy achievements. After all\, we have the same Church\, the same mind. \nThe same unbroken harmony. Why then should a priest not take pride in the \npraise given to a fellow priest as though it were given to him? What brotherhood \nfails to rejoice in the happiness of its brothers wherever they are? \nWords cannot express how great was the exaltation and delight here when \nwe heard of your good fortune and brave deeds: how you stood out as a leader of \nyour brothers in their declaration of faith\, while the leader’s confession was \nenhanced as they declared their faith. You led the way to glory\, but you gained \nmany companions in that glory; being foremost in your readiness to bear \nwitness on behalf of all\, you prevailed on your people to become a single \nwitness. We cannot decide which we ought to praise\, your own ready and \nunshaken faith or the love of your brothers who would not leave you. While the \ncourage of the bishop who thus led the way has been demonstrated\, at the same \ntime the unity of the brotherhood who followed has been manifested. Since you \nhave one heart and one voice\, it is the Roman Church as a whole that has thus \nborne witness. \nDearest brother\, bright and shining is the faith which the blessed Apostle \npraised in your community. He foresaw in the spirit the praise your courage \ndeserves and the strength that could not be broke; he was heralding the future \nwhen he testified to your achievements; his praise of the fathers was a challenge7 \nto the sons. Your unity\, your strength have become shining examples of these \nvirtues to the rest of the brethren. \nDivine providence has now prepared us. God’s merciful design has \nwarned us that the day of our own struggle\, our own contest\, is at hand. By that \nshared love which binds us closely together\, we are doing all we can to exhort \nour congregation\, to give ourselves unceasingly to fastings\, vigils and prayers in \ncommon. These are the heavenly weapons which give us strength to stand firm \nand endure; they are the spiritual defenses\, the God-given armaments that \nprotect us. \nLet us then remember one another\, united in mind and heart. Let us pray \nwithout ceasing\, you for us\, we for you; by the love we share we shall thus relieve \nthe strain of these great trials.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-ss-cornelius-cyprian-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250917
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250918
DTSTAMP:20260403T175926
CREATED:20250914T103445Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250914T103445Z
UID:13944-1758067200-1758153599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Martin of Finojosa
DESCRIPTION:SAINT MARTIN OF FINOJOSA \nBy Thomas Merton \n◊◊◊ \nSaint Martin Sacerdos of Finojosa\, Abbot of Huerta\, Bishop of Siguenza\, \nSpain\, was born in the year 1139 and grew up under the care of a most loving and \npious Christian mother with his brother\, a courtier and knight\, and his two \nsisters Theresa and Eve. Instead of following the usual aspirations to \nknighthood\, Martin was fonder of books and meditation and solitude\, and this \nbent of his was definitely turned into a vocation to the cloister when his father \ndied. The shock of this loss fixed his mind on eternity\, and despising all that the \nworld had to offer\, he made known his intentions to his mother and brother. He \nwas then twenty years old. \nAt first he met with nothing but opposition. However\, when they saw that \nhe was firm in his purpose\, his family did not have the impiety to resist him \nfurther\, and his mother made a most generous and willing sacrifice of him\, \ntaking him to the Abbey of Cantavos and there leaving him with all the \nceremonies prescribed by Saint Benedict for presenting the children of the rich \nto the monastery. Martin\, meanwhile\, took the Mother of God in exchange for \nhis earthly mother and adopted as his motto for the novitiate: “What you begin\, \nbegin perfectly”… \nAlthough he was only twenty-six\, Sacerdos was elected by the monks to \nsucceed the abbot… <His history as abbot> comes to us through official \ndocuments which tell us less of his virtues than of the fame of them and the \neffects of that fame. We read everywhere of the veneration in which he was held \nby the royalty and nobility of all Spain… \nIt was with the greatest distaste that Saint Sacerdos learned\, in 1186\, that \nhe had been elected bishop of Siguenza. He only accepted this position under \norders from Rome… In 1194\, however\, Saint Sacerdos persuaded the Pope to \naccept his resignation and was able to return to the peace and tranquility of \nHuerta\, where he could fill his soul with the infinite sweetness of the presence of \nGod and hide himself in the secret of His face\, of whom the psalmist said: “Thou \ndost protect them in Thy tabernacle against the contradiction of tongues.” \nAnd that Face\, of which we read in the same Psalm…is nothing else but \nthe divine Essence\, in which we lose ourselves in the luminous darkness of faith\, \nwhich covers us and makes us invisible to our enemies – and sometimes to \nourselves. And so\, in these years\, Saint Sacerdos was often rapt out of himself in \nthe ecstasy of divine contemplation. \nDeath finally overtook him in 1210 when he was on a visitation of his \nmonastery of Óvila. He felt the end approaching and set out for Huerta but did \nnot complete his journey\, for he died on the way. His venerated body was \nreceived with great circumstance by his grieving children and buried in the great \nchurch of the abbey. \nIn 1558 his body was found completely uncorrupted\, along with the \nclothing and crozier with which he had been buried. He was formally beatified \nwith the title of saint and inscribed in the Roman Martyrology in 1584.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-martin-of-finojosa/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250918
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250919
DTSTAMP:20260403T175926
CREATED:20250914T103605Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250914T103605Z
UID:13946-1758153600-1758239999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTER \nOF MONASTIC PROFESSION \nFrom “Mirror of Charity” by St Aelred of Rievaulx \n◊◊◊ \nAlthough it may not seem completely pertinent to our subject\, I think it \nadvisable for us who are called monks to take into account and examine more \nclosely the force of our rule. Since many things are said there about things \nspiritual and physical\, let us investigate by careful questioning which of these \nthe force of the rule and the norm of our profession consist of most particularly. \nI read a letter on this subject by a certain person who replied as follows to \nsomeone who had questioned him on this: \n“I do not hesitate to say that the rule of the monastic state\, yes the virtue of \nthe monastic order\, indeed\, the essential character of monastic profession itself\, \nconsists in those practices which make the monk when all others cease to exist\, \nand without which the others\, I will not say do not make a monk\, but do not even \ngive an idea of what a monk is. \n“But what are these? The things we have solemnly promised and whose \nstability and observance we have sworn to God and his saints [to keep]. And \nwhat are they? \n“Stability in the monastery”…”conversion of our life\, and obedience \naccording to the Rule of Saint Benedict.” And further on\, [he adds]: “I want to go \nback to Saint Benedict’s book for monks and I will point out in it how the things \nwhich we have already stated constitute the essential character of our rule and\, \neven more\, of our monastic profession\, so my mind may comprehend them as \nnecessary; I will strive with complete devotion to fulfill my promises and those \nthings which I have vowed—to the extent that the Lord will grant this to me. But \nas for the other things\, I will try to accomplish them\, not as part of the body of \nour rule\, but as practices which support and sustain it.” \nWe would perhaps be in doubt as to what those other things are\, had he \nnot himself introduced them afterwards: not to go out of the cloister\, to practice \nmanual work\, the quantity of food and drink\, the number of dishes and their \nvariety\, the bedding\, the use of trousers only by those sent on a journey. \n“What then”\, he says? “If these are of the essential character of monastic \nprofession\, dispensing someone from them or changing any of them on \noccasion would not be allowed\, would it? Otherwise\, no essential character \nexists\, and I am discovered not to be a monk once I have destroyed in myself \nwhat is essential to being a monk.” \nAt the end of his tractate\, he says: “So then\, beloved brother…since it is \npermitted to give dispensation in these matters\, just as blessed Benedict himself \nalso dispensed monks of delicate health to eat meat\, and those sent on a \njourney\, at least\, to wear trousers\, so also\, I say\, that because these matters \nadmit of dispensation and change\, they are not part of the essential character of \nprofession.”… \nWhat he has called the body of the Rule and the essential character of \nmonastic profession is clear: stability\, conversion of life\, and obedience \naccording to the Rule of Saint Benedict.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-351/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250919
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250920
DTSTAMP:20260403T175926
CREATED:20250914T103717Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250914T103717Z
UID:13948-1758240000-1758326399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE SEEDS OF GODLINESS \nFrom a treatise by St John Chrysostom \n◊◊◊ \n[Christ’s] predictions were of two kinds. Some are to be fulfilled in the \npresent life; others will come true after the consummation of the world. But the \nfirst kind confirmed the second and gave abundant proof that the prophecies \nabout the world to come are also true. Let me give you an example and\, by that \nexample\, I shall try to clear up any obscurity in what I mean. When only twelve \ndisciples followed him\, neither the reality nor even the name of a Church \noccurred to anyone. The synagogue was still flourishing. Why\, then\, did he \nspeak of the Church and predict it at a time when practically the whole world \nwas in the grip of godlessness? “Upon this rock I shall build my Church\, and \nthe gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. \nPut this prediction of Christ to whatever test you wish and you will see \nthat its truth shines brightly forth. For it is a marvel not only that he built the \nChurch throughout the world but that he kept it unconquered even though it \nwas harassed by so many assaults. The words: “The gates of hell shall not \nprevail against it\,” mean the dangers which beget death\, the dangers which lead \nus down to hell. \nDo you not see that this prediction came true? Do you not see the strength \nof its fulfillment? Do you not see the words shining forth as proved in the light \nof the facts? Do you not see his invincible power which does all things with \nease? Because the words are few — “I will build my Church” — do not simply \npass over them. Ponder them in your mind. Think how great a thing it is to fill \nevery land under the sun with so many Churches in so short a time. Think what \nit means to have converted so many nations\, to have won over so many peoples\, \nto have destroyed ancestral customs\, to have torn out deep-rooted habits\, to \nhave driven out\, like dust before the wind\, the tyrannous rule of pleasure and \nthe power and strength of evil. People have destroyed their old altars\, temples\, \nidols\, and rites. They have destroyed their accursed festivals and made the \nunclean savor of victims disappear like smoke. \nThat word which Christ spoke in his own day has been planted in the souls \nof all men and is found on the lips of all. It is just as if land that was filled with \nthorns has been cleansed and become a cleared field. And this field has received \nthe seeds of godliness.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-352/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250920
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250921
DTSTAMP:20260403T175926
CREATED:20250914T103839Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250914T103839Z
UID:13950-1758326400-1758412799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Andrew Kim & Companions
DESCRIPTION:THE KOREAN MARTYRS \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints \n◊◊◊ \nChristianity came late to Korea\, for it was the policy of that country’s \nrulers to keep it isolated from foreign influence. Not until the late eighteenth \ncentury\, more than two hundred years after Francis Xavier had reached Japan\, \ndid the Church begin very slowly to take root. The earliest missionaries were lay \npeople who had been converted outside their country. Pietro Yi was baptized at \nPechino in 1784: he was the first Korean to be received into the church\, but he \nwas also the first to apostatize\, when persecution broke out in 1791. \nThrough the last years of the eighteenth century persecution was sporadic \nand localized\, but in 1801 it was extended to the whole of the country. One \nChinese priest\, who had succeeded in entering Korea\, offered himself for \nmartyrdom in the hope that his death would bring the sufferings of his fellow \nChristians to an end. He was beheaded on May 31st 1801\, and the persecution \nwent on. \nYet these early martyrs were not among those canonized by Pope John \nPaul II in the cathedral of Seoul\, where the relics of so many of them lie\, on May \n6th 1984. Of the many thousand – perhaps more than 8\,000 not counting those \nwho died of cold or starvation as they fled the tortures of the persecutors – 103 \nwere chosen by name as representatives of the rest. They were selected from \nthose who died in the persecutions which began in 1839 lasted until 1846\, and \nthose which lasted from 1861 to the beginning of 1866. \nBy the time of the renewed persecution – brought about both in 1839 and \n1861 by the return to power of the conservative faction of the Korean ruling class \n– there was a small number of missionaries in the country\, two French priests \nand a bishop\, all three died by beheading on September 21st 1839. On September \n16th 1846 there died Andrew Kim\, the first and at that time only\, Korean-born- \npriest. Two more bishops\, and a number of other French missionaries died in \nthe later persecution. \nThese were the clergy\, but by far the greatest number of those named as \nsaints by the pope near the spot where so many of them had died by beheading \nor strangulation\, were ordinary lay people. Some of them were of high rank\, but \nmost were ordinary men and women\, often linked by family ties as well as by the \nbonds of faith\, mothers and their children\, wives and their husbands. For \nseveral their crime was that they had worked as catechist in spreading the faith \nwhich\, until 1881\, was referred to in official documents as “the perverse \ndoctrine”. \nThe persecution\, which lasted until 1866\, was the last: religious liberty \nwas conceded in 1886\, and today the Church flourishes. Though the 103 whose \nsanctity was formally recognized were canonized together\, they had been \nbeatified in two groups: those of the earlier persecution by Pius XI in July 1925\, \nthose of the later one by Paul VI in October 1968
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-andrew-kim-companions-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250921
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250922
DTSTAMP:20260403T175926
CREATED:20250920T233203Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250920T233203Z
UID:13953-1758412800-1758499199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n25th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nSeptember 21 – 27\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n21\nMon\n22\nTue\n23\nWed\n24\nThu\n25\nFri\n26\nSat\n27\n\n\nOffice\n25th Sunday\nWeekday\nSt Pius of Peitrelcina\nOffice for Vocations\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSt Vincent de Paul\n\n\nVigils\nSong 6:4-7:6\nSong 7:7-8:4\nSong 8:5-14\nSir 31:1-17\nSir 31:18-31\nSir 32:1-13\nSir 32:14-24\n\n\nLauds\nZephaniah 1:1-6\nZeph 1:7-13\nZeph 1:14-18\nZeph 2:1-7\nZeph 2:8-15\nZeph 3:1-7\nZeph 3:8-13\n\n\nMass\n135\n449\n450\n451\n452\n453\n454\n\n\n1st\nAmos 8:4-7\nEzra 1:1-6\nEzra 6:7-8\, 12b\, 14-20\nEzra 9:5-9\nHag 1:1-8\nHag 2:1-9\nZech 2:5-9\, 14-15a\n\n\n2nd\n1 Tim 2:1-8\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 16:1-13\nLuke 8:16-18\nLuke 8:19-21\nLuke 9:1-6\nLuke 9:7-9\nLuke 9:18-22\nLuke 9:43b-45\n\n\nVespers\n1 Tim 3:1-7\n1 Tim 3:8-13\n1 Tim 3:14-4:5\n1 Tim 4:6-10\n1 Tim 4:11-16\n1 Tim 5:1-8\n1 Tim 5:17-25
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-127/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250921
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250922
DTSTAMP:20260403T175926
CREATED:20250920T233333Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250920T233333Z
UID:13955-1758412800-1758499199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 25th Sunday
DESCRIPTION:OUR HOMELAND IN HEAVEN \nFrom a commentary by Gaudentius of Brescia \n◊◊◊ \nThe Lord Jesus\, true teacher of the precepts that lead to salvation\, wished \nto urge the apostles in his own time and all believers today the Christian duty of \nalmsgiving. He therefore related the parable of the steward to make us realize \nthat nothing in this world really belongs to us. We have been entrusted with the \nadministration of our Lord’s property to use what we need with thanksgiving\, \nand to distribute the rest among our fellow servants according to the need of \neach one. We must not squander the wealth entrusted to us\, nor use it on \nsuperfluities\, for when the Lord comes we shall be required to account for our \nexpenditure. \nFinally\, at the end of the parable\, the Lord adds: Use worldly wealth to \nmake friends with the poor\, so that when it fails you\, when you have spent all \nyou possess on the needs of the poor and have nothing left\, they may welcome \nyou into eternal dwellings. \nIn other words\, these same poor people will befriend you by assuring your \nsalvation\, for Christ\, the giver of eternal rewards\, will declare that he himself \nreceived the acts of kindness done to them. Not in their own name\, then\, will \nthese poor folk welcome us\, but in the name of him who is refreshed in their \npersons by the fruit of our faith and obedience. Those who exercised this \nministry of love will be received into the eternal dwellings of the kingdom of \nheaven\, for the King will say: Come\, blessed of my Father\, take possession of the \nkingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world; for I was hungry \nand you fed me\, thirsty and you gave me a drink. \nBut if you have been untrustworthy in the administration of worldly \nwealth\, who is going to trust you with true riches? For if someone cannot be \nrelied on to administer worldly possessions that provide the means for all sorts \nof wrong doing\, would anyone dream of trusting that person with the true \nheavenly riches rightly and deservedly enjoyed by those who have been faithful \nin giving to the poor? \nThe Lord’s query above is immediately followed by another: If you cannot \nbe trusted with another’s property\, who will give you your own? Nothing in \nthis world really belongs to us. We who hope for a future reward are told to live \nin this world as strangers and pilgrims\, so as to be able to say to the Lord without \nfear of contradiction: I am a stranger and a pilgrim like all my ancestors. \nWhat believers can regard as their own is that eternal and heavenly \npossession where our heart is and our treasure\, and where intense longing \nmakes us dwell already through faith\, for as Saint Paul teaches\, Our homeland \nis in heaven.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-25th-sunday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250922
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250923
DTSTAMP:20260403T175926
CREATED:20250920T233443Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250920T233443Z
UID:13957-1758499200-1758585599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE THANKS THAT SPRINGS \nFROM A PURE HEART \nFrom a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux \n◊◊◊ \n“In all things give thanks to God.” If you can credit yourself with wisdom \nor with virtue\, realize that the credit is due rather to Christ\, who is the Power \nand the Wisdom of God. \n“Who is so mad\,” you say\, “as to presume otherwise?” Actually nobody. \nEven the Pharisee gives thanks\, although his justice merits no praise from God. \nAnd if\, as the Gospel points out\, his act of thanksgiving does not increase his \ngrace\, why is this so? Because the pieties that our mouths proclaim will not \njustify the pride of our heart in the sight of him who is repelled by the arrogant. \n“God is not mocked\, O Pharisee. What do you have that was not given to you?” \n“Nothing\,” he says\, “and therefore I offer thanks to the giver.” But if there is \nreally nothing\, then you had no antecedent merit to warrant your reception of \nthe things of which you boast. And if you admit this\, then in the first place it is \nfutile to give yourself airs at the expense of the publican who does not possess as \nmuch as you because he has not received as much. \nSecondly\, make sure you realize that God’s gifts are entirely his own; if \nyou attribute to yourself some of the glory and honor that are his\, you may \ndeservedly be convicted of fraud\, of attempting to defraud God. If you brazenly \nboast of gifts as though they were your own\, I should prefer to believe you are \ndeceived\, not that you wish to defraud. It is an error I should hope to correct. \nBut when you make thanksgiving\, you manifest that you regard nothing as your \nown\, you wisely acknowledge that your merits are really God’s gifts. \nWhen you despise others\, however\, you betray the inner reality of your \ncondition\, you are speaking from a double heart\, with one lending your tongue \nto a lie\, with the other usurping the honor due to truth. Never would you judge \nthe publican more despicable than yourself if you did not consider that you are \nmore honorable than he. But how will you reply to the principle laid down by the \nApostle: ‘Honor and glory to the only God?’… \nDo you not perceive that the Pharisee\, in offering thanks\, honors God with \nhis lips but in his heart pays tribute to himself? And so\, through force of habit \nmore than by intention or inclination\, you will hear people of all sorts \npronouncing words of thanks\, for even the wickedest persons will offer a \nperfunctory thanks to God…for any kind of crime\, because things fell out well \nand prosperous\, at least according to their estimation\, when their perverse will \nwas fulfilled. For instance\, when the thief has bagged the loot for which he has \nplanned\, he celebrates in the privacy of his hide-out and says: “Thank God!”… \nIt is clear then that God will listen only to the thanks that spring from a \npure and genuine simplicity of heart. I say “pure heart\,” because when those \nwho boast of their evil conduct presume to thank God for it\, they bring him \ndown to the level of their own profligacy and make him share in their wicked \npleasures. God says to people of this kind: “Do you really think I am like you?”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-353/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13959-1758585600-1758671999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Pius of Peitrelcina
DESCRIPTION:A LETTER FROM PADRE PIO \nTO HIS SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR \n◊◊◊ \nI reply to your last letter after a slight delay\, not because I felt less need to \nspeak to my father\, but solely on account of the exceptional state of my health… \nYour own letter…brought some slight relief to my poor soul\, sufficient to make it \npossible to bear – I do not say lightheartedly\, but at least steadfastly – the cross \nto which the Lord in his mercy has been pleased to subject me. For this may the \ngoodness of the heavenly Father ever be blessed… \nI told you…that your letter\, thank heaven\, brought me a little relief. But I \nsubmit to you also the very great terror I experienced when I learned that you \nsuspect those threats which I mentioned in my last. As you know\, Father\, I \nwould not wish to be a victim of the devil in anything whatsoever and although I \nam more certain of the reality of those locutions than I am of my own existence\, \nI am still struggling against myself and protest that I want to believe nothing of \nall this\, for the sole reason that you\, my director\, have cast a doubt upon it. Am I \nright or wrong in this? \nYou must know…that Jesus has not shown offense by any means at my \nfailure to attach importance to what he said and to give my accidental assent to \nit. I say accidental to distinguish it from that deep and substantial conviction \nwhich still endures after all the efforts of my soul not to believe it. I am not free \nto divest myself of this conviction. What am I to do\, Father? Am I unwittingly a \nvictim of the enemy? Enlighten me\, for pity’s sake\, on this point\, which I too \nwould prefer to remain obscure. \nHow difficult…is the way of Christian perfection for a soul as ill-disposed \nas mine! My wickedness makes me fearful at every step I take: may the good \nGod sustain me and prevent me from betraying him! I attach no importance at \nall to this extraordinary state of mine. For this reason I never stop asking Jesus \nto lead me by the ordinary path followed by everyone else\, for I am well aware \nthat the way by which divine mercy is leading me is not suitable for my soul\, \naccustomed as it is to very material food. What I say to the Lord is that I am \nseeking the amendment of my life\, my spiritual resurrection\, true and \nsubstantial love\, the sincere conversion of my whole self to him. \nSpeak to me at length\, my dear Father\, about all this and if you find me at \nfault\, do not keep silent. Raise your voice\, punish me again: I want to love Jesus \nas I should. I desire this love; I know I love him\, but – dear God! – how inferior \nmy love is to my desire to love! Ought it not be the opposite\, that my love should \nsurpass the desire for it? Speak to me about this\, knowing as you do that it is one \nof the many thorns which contribute to my spiritual martyrdom… I kiss your \nhand and ask you not to refuse me your fatherly blessing.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-pius-of-peitrelcina/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T175926
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UID:13961-1758672000-1758758399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:LEADING HIS SHEEP TO PASTURE \nFrom a homily by St Augustine \n◊◊◊ \nConcern with my charge as a bishop has unceasingly preoccupied me \nsince I have had placed upon my shoulders this burden of which I have \nrigorously to give account. But what is there to fear in this gift of being a bishop? \nIt is that I may be carried away by the perilous honor that it comprises for us\, \nrather than by the fruitful salvation which it brings to you. Come to my aid\, then\, \nwith your prayers\, so that he who did not disdain to confer my burden upon me \nmay deign to bear it with me. \nNow\, when you offer this prayer\, it is for yourselves that you are praying. \nFor\, this burden of mine of which I speak\, what else is it\, if it is not you? Pray \nthat I may be strong\, as I\, for my part\, pray that you may not be heavy. Our Lord \nJesus Christ would never\, indeed\, have called his burden light if he were not \ncarrying it with the bearer. And you\, also must uphold me\, so that\, in accordance \nwith the command of the Apostle\, we may bear one another’s burdens\, and so \nfulfill the law of Christ. If he does not bear it with us\, we succumb; if he does not \nbear us\, we fall. \nIf what I am on your behalf terrifies me\, what I am with you reassures me. \nFor you\, indeed\, I am the bishop; with you I am a Christian. Bishop\, that is the \ntitle of a charge which one assumes; Christian\, that is the name of the grace \nwhich one receives. A perilous title; a saving name. \nIn any event\, we are tossed about in the whirlwind of this activity as \nthough in an immense sea. But\, remembering with what blood we have been \nredeemed\, and rendered tranquil by this thought\, we come as though into a sure \nhaven; toiling at a charge which is personal to us\, we find rest in the blessedness \nthat is common to all. If it is more pleasing to me to be redeemed with you than \nto be your head\, I shall be more fully your servant\, as the Lord ordains. And so\, \nmay I never be in debt for the price\, thanks to which I have succeeded in \nbecoming your fellow-servant. \nI must indeed love my Redeemer\, and I know what he says to Peter: \n“Peter\, do you love me? Feed my sheep.” He says it once\, twice\, three times. He \nquestions Peter on love\, he prescribes the work to be done\, for the greater the \nlove\, the less the toil. “What shall I render the Lord for all his bounty to me?” \nShould I dare to say that I will repay him by leading his sheep to pasture? I do so\, \nto be sure\, but not I; it is the “grace of God towards me.” Where\, then shall I find \nwhat is my due\, if from every direction he forestalls me? One could in fact ask \nno payment of one whom one loves freely\, if the payment were not the very \nperson whom one loves.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-23/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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