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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260407
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260408
DTSTAMP:20260405T155324
CREATED:20260405T005500Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005500Z
UID:14783-1775520000-1775606399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Tuesday
DESCRIPTION:From a prayer by \nWILLIAM OF ST THIERRY \n◊◊◊ \nO Truth supreme\, you are the heaven of heavens\, you who are what you \nare\, who have your being from yourself\, who belong to yourself and are \nsufficient to yourself. You lack nothing\, yet you have no excess; you have within \nyourself supremest concord\, utmost clarity\, most perfect fullness and \ncompletest life. \nO Lord\, the height\, the depth\, the wisdom and the might – are these the \nheaven of which you are the door? It is so\, truly; that is why the ark of the \ncovenant was seen in heaven when the door was opened… You are yourself that \nark. In you from all eternity was hidden\, and in you in these latter days has been \nfulfilled\, all that from the beginning of the world has been revealed to all the \nsaints and prophets by the Law and by the prophecies\, by wonders and by \nsigns… \nThese blessings\, that were hidden in your secret heaven through the ages\, \nyou at the ages’ end unveiled to the world’s longing eyes\, when you opened in \nheaven the door that is yourself. You opened that door when your grace \nappeared to all [people]\, teaching us… The heavens being thus opened\, all the \ngood and glory and delight of heaven poured itself out on earth. And then\, O \nGod\, who spared not your own Son\, but delivered him up for us all\, the \ngreatness of your kindness…to us was published openly to all. You made known \nyour salvation to the world\, and in the sight of all the nations you revealed your \nrighteousness… \nThose unsearchable riches of your glory\, Lord\, were hidden in your secret \nplace in heaven until the soldier’s spear opened the side of your Son our Lord \nand Savior on the cross\, and from it flowed the mysteries of our redemption. \nNow we may not only thrust our finger or our hand into his side\, like Thomas\, \nbut through that open door may enter whole\, O Jesus\, even into your heart\, the \nsure seat of your mercy\, even into your holy soul that is filled with the fullness of \nGod\, full of grace and truth\, full of our salvation and our consolation… \nOpen\, O Lord\, the ark-door of your side\, that all your own who shall be \nsaved may enter in\, before this flood that overwhelms the earth. Open to us your \nbody’s side\, that those who long to see the secrets of your Son may enter in\, and \nmay receive the sacraments that flow [from there]\, even the price of their \nredemption. Open the door of your heaven\, that your redeemed may see the \ngood things of God in the land of the living\, though they still labor in the land of \nthe dying… \nOpen to me\, O Lord\, so that\, although I am a stranger unworthy of \nenrollment as a citizen\, yet nonetheless\, I may by your gift be suffered on \noccasion for a little while to journey there\, that I may truly see your glory\, and \nnot come out again unless I am thrown out!.. O\, if only I may see\, if only I may \npersevere\, if only I may hear some day: “Enter into the joy of your Lord\,” and \nmay thus enter in\, never to come out again!
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-tuesday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260408
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260409
DTSTAMP:20260405T155324
CREATED:20260405T005602Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005602Z
UID:14785-1775606400-1775692799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Wednesday
DESCRIPTION:From the Catechesis of \nST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM \n◊◊◊ \nIf we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood\, we should go back to \nthe ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt. “Sacrifice a Lamb without \nblemish\, commanded Moses\, and sprinkle its blood on your doors.” If we were \nto ask him what he meant\, and how the blood of an irrational beast could \npossibly save men endowed with reason\, his answer would be that the saving \npower lies not in the blood itself\, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s \nblood. In those days\, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors he \ndid not dare to enter\, so how much less will the devil approach now when he \nsees\, not that figurative blood on the doors\, but the true blood on the lips of \nbelievers\, the doors of the temple of Christ. \nIf you desire further proof of the power of this blood\, remember where it \ncame from\, how it ran down from the cross\, flowing from the Master’s side. The \ngospel records that when Christ was dead\, but still hung on the cross\, a soldier \ncame and pierced his side with a lance and immediately there poured out water \nand blood. Now the water was a symbol of Baptism and the blood\, of the holy \nEucharist. The soldier pierced the Lord’s side\, he breached the wall of the sacred \ntemple\, and I have found the treasure and made it my own. So also with the \nlamb: the Jews sacrificed the victim and I have been saved by it. \n“There flowed from his side water and blood.” Beloved\, do not pass over \nthis mystery without thought\, it has yet another hidden meaning\, which I will \nexplain to you. I said that water and blood symbolized Baptism and the holy \nEucharist. From these two sacraments the Church is born: from Baptism\, “the \ncleansing water that gives rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit\,” and \nfrom the holy Eucharist. Since the symbols of Baptism and the Eucharist flowed9 \nfrom his side\, it was from his side that Christ fashioned the Church\, as he had \nfashioned Eve from the side of Adam. Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the \nstory of the first man and makes him exclaim: “Bone from my bones and flesh \nfrom my flesh!” As God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman\, so \nChrist has given us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God \ntook the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep\, and in the same way Christ gave us \nthe blood and the water after his own death. \nDo you understand\, then\, how Christ has united his bride to himself and \nwhat food he gives us all to eat? By one and the same food we are both brought \ninto being and nourished. As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood \nand milk\, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own blood those to whom \nhe himself has given life.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-wednesday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260409
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260410
DTSTAMP:20260405T155324
CREATED:20260405T005703Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005703Z
UID:14787-1775692800-1775779199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Thursday
DESCRIPTION:From a sermon by \nST JOHN HENRY NEWMAN \n◊◊◊ \nOur Lord expressly promises all Christians a certain gracious \nmanifestation of himself\, which it is natural\, at first sight\, to suppose a sensible \none: and many persons understand it to be such\, as if it were not more blessed to \nbelieve than to see. Our Lord says; “He that has my commandments and keeps \nthem\, he it is that loves me; and he that loves me\, shall be loved of my Father\, \nand I will love him and will manifest myself to him.” When Jude asked him\, \n“Lord\, how is it that you will manifest yourself unto us\, and not unto the \nworld?” Our Lord answered\, “If one loves me\, he will keep my words; and my \nFather will love him\, and we will come unto him\, and make our abode with \nhim.” In accordance with this promise\, St Paul says\, “The Spirit itself bears \nwitness with our spirit\, that we are the children of God”; and St John\, “He that \nbelieves in the Son of God has the witness in himself.” \nNow\, that this great gift\, whatever it be\, is of a nature to impart \nillumination\, sanctity\, and peace\, to the soul to which it comes\, far from \ndisputing\, I would earnestly maintain. And\, in this indirect way\, doubtless\, it is \nin a certain sense apprehended and perceived; perceived in its effects\, with a \nconsciousness that those effects cannot come of themselves\, but imply a gift \nfrom which they come\, and a presence of which they are\, as it were\, the shadow\, \na voice of which they are the echo. \nBut there are persons who desire the inward manifestation of Christ to be \nmuch more sensible than this. They will not be contented without some sensible \nsign and direct evidence that God loves them; some assurance\, in which faith \nhas no part\, that God has chosen them; and which may answer to their \nanticipations of what Scripture calls “the secret of the Lord\,” and “the hidden \nmanna” which Christ invites us to partake. Some\, for instance\, hold that their \nconscience would have no peace\, unless they recollected the time when they \nwere converted from darkness to light\, from a state of wrath to the kingdom of \nGod. \nOthers consider that\, in order to possess the seal of election\, they must be \nable to discern in themselves certain feelings or frames of mind\, a renunciation \nof their own merit\, and an apprehension of gospel salvation; as if it were not \nenough to renounce ourselves and follow Christ\, without the lively \nconsciousness that we are doing so; and that in this lies “the secret of the Lord.” \nOthers go further; and think that without a distinct inward assurance of his \nsalvation\, one is not in a saving state. \nThis is what men and women often conceive; not considering that \nwhatever be the manifestation promised to Christians by our Lord\, it is not \nlikely to be more sensible and more intelligible than the great sign of his own \nResurrection. Yet even that\, like the miracle wrought upon Jonah\, was in secret\, \nand they who believed without seeing it were more blessed than those who saw.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-thursday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260410
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260411
DTSTAMP:20260405T155324
CREATED:20260405T005807Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005807Z
UID:14789-1775779200-1775865599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Friday
DESCRIPTION:From a sermon by \nST JOHN HENRY NEWMAN \n◊◊◊ \nNow let us contemplate the means which God’s Divine Wisdom actually \nadopted with a view to making Christ’s resurrection subservient to the \npropagation of His Gospel. He showed Himself openly\, not to all the people\, but \nto witnesses chosen before of God. It is\, indeed\, a general characteristic of the \ncourse of God’s providence to make the few the channels of His blessings to the \nmany; but in the instance we are considering\, a few were selected because only a \nfew could be made instruments… \nTo be witnesses of His resurrection it was necessary to have known our \nLord intimately before His death. This was the case with the Apostles; but it was \nnot enough. It was necessary that they should be certain it was He himself\, the \nvery same whom they had known before. You recollect how He urged them to \nhandle Him\, and be sure that they could testify to His rising again… But people \nare not easily prevailed upon to be faithful advocates of any cause. Not only is \nthe multitude fickle; but the best\, unless urged\, tutored\, disciplined to their \nwork\, give way; untrained nature has no principles. \nIt would seem\, then\, that our Lord gave His attention to a few because\, if \nthe few are gained\, the many will follow. To these few He showed Himself again \nand again. These He restored\, comforted\, warned\, inspired. He formed them to \nHimself\, that they might show forth His praise. That period of preparatory \nprayer\, meditation and instruction which the Apostles passed through under \nour Lord’s visible presence for forty days\, was to them something that could not \nhave been had they been following Him from place to place in public and mixing \nin the busy crowds of the world. \nSo much then in answer to the question: Why did Christ not show Himself \nto the whole Jewish people after His resurrection? – I ask in reply: what would \nhave been the purpose of it? – a mere passing triumph over sinners whose \njudgment is reserved for the next world. On the other hand\, such a procedure \nwould have interfered with\, even defeated\, the real object of His rising again\, \nnamely\, the propagation of His Gospel through the world by means of His own \nintimate friends and followers. \nWe\, too\, though we are not witnesses of Christ’s actual resurrection\, are so \nspiritually. By a heart awake from the dead\, and by affections set on heaven\, we \ncan as truly and without figure witness that Christ lives\, as they did. Whoever \nbelieves in the Son of God has the witness in themselves. Truth bears witness by \nitself to its Divine Author. Whoever obeys God conscientiously\, and lives holily\, \nforces all about them to believe and tremble before the unseen power of Christ. \nTo the world at large the believer does not witness; for few can see them \nnear enough to be moved by their manner of living. But to one’s neighbors one \nmanifests the Truth in proportion to their knowledge of the person; and some of \nthem\, through God’s blessing\, catch the holy flame\, cherish it\, and in their turn \ntransmit it. And thus in a dark world Truth still makes way in spite of the \ndarkness\, passing from hand to hand.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-friday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260411
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260412
DTSTAMP:20260405T155324
CREATED:20260405T005908Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005908Z
UID:14791-1775865600-1775951999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Saturday
DESCRIPTION:From the writing of \nFR BRUCE VAWTER \n◊◊◊ \nIn biblical faith the resurrection is something; something did occur to \naccount for the appearances of Jesus after his death. It is not to retreat into \nobscurity or equivocation to confess that we have no better way of defining that \nsomething than to call it resurrection. We cannot define what is indefinable in \nterms of human experience; we can only describe it in some fashion by the use of \nthe pictures we call analogies. The picture we use following the New Testament \nprecedent to describe both what God effected in Christ and\, with it as the \nproleptic example\, what its faith promises to all who share in God’s kingdom\, is \nmythical to the extent that\, taken in all literalness\, it might equally well serve to \ndescribe the resuscitation of a corpse\, which the New Testament does not intend \nto do… \nPaul…for all his insistence on the resurrection as a reality\, did not think of \nit as a resurrection of dead flesh: “Perhaps someone will say\, ‘How are the dead \nto be raised up? What kind of body will they have?’ A nonsensical question! \nThe seed you sow does not germinate unless it dies. When you sow\, you do not \nsow the full-blown plant but a kernel of wheat or some other grain. God gives \nbody to it as he pleases – to each seed its own fruition… So is it with the \nresurrection of the dead.” \nPaul admittedly tells us more about what\, in his view\, the resurrection is \nnot than what it is\, but at the same time he tells us enough to dissuade us from \ndismissing lightly the testimony of his senses\, which he joined to the witness of \nhis tradition. Here was a man quite conscious of the validity of what are \nsometimes thought to be modern and scientific objections to the idea of \nresurrection; a man convinced that something had occurred that he could only \ncall resurrection while regretting the inadequacy of the concept. Paul was as \nprepared as anyone today for demythologizing\, but he was not prepared to \ndisallow any fact out of his inability to explain it. Rather than deny the fact\, he \npreferred to retain the myth with all its attendant ambiguities.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-saturday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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