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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260206
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260207
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260201T213115Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260201T213115Z
UID:14574-1770336000-1770422399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Paul Miki & Companions
DESCRIPTION:THE MARTYRDOM OF ST PAUL MIKI \nAND HIS COMPANIONS \nBy a contemporary writer \n◊◊◊ \nThe crosses were set in place. Fr Pasio and Fr Rodriguez took turns \nencouraging the victims. Their steadfast behavior was wonderful to see. The \nFather Bursar stood motionless\, his eyes turned heavenward. Brother Martin \ngave thanks to God’s goodness by singing psalms. Again and again he repeated: \n“Into your hands\, Lord\, I entrust my life.” Brother Francis Branco also thanked \nGod in a loud voice. Brother Gonsalvo in a very loud voice kept saying the Our \nFather and Hail Mary. \nOur brother\, Paul Miki\, saw himself now standing in the noblest pulpit he \nhad ever filled. To his “congregation” he began by proclaiming himself a \nJapanese and a Jesuit. He was dying for the Gospel he preached. He gave thanks \nto God for this wonderful blessing and he ended his “sermon” with these words: \n“As I come to this supreme moment of my life\, I am sure none of you would \nsuppose I want to deceive you. And so I tell you plainly: there is no way to be \nsaved except the Christian way. My religion teaches me to pardon my enemies \nand all who have offended me. I do gladly pardon the Emperor and all who \nhave sought my death. I beg them to seek baptism and be Christians \nthemselves.” \nThen he looked at his comrades and began to encourage them in their \nfinal struggle. Joy glowed in all their faces\, and in Louis’ most of all. When a \nChristian in the crowd cried out to him that he would soon be in heaven\, his \nhands\, his whole body strained upward with such joy that every eye was fixed on \nhim. \nAnthony\, hanging at Louis’ side\, looked toward heaven and called upon \nthe holy names – “Jesus\, Mary!” He began to sing a psalm: “praise the Lord\, you \nchildren!”… Others kept repeating “Jesus\, Mary!” Their faces were serene. Some \nof them even took to urging the people standing by to live worthy Christian lives. \nIn these and other ways they showed their readiness to die. \nThen\, according to Japanese custom\, the four executioners began to \nunsheathe their spears. At this dreadful sight\, all the Christians cried out\, \n“Jesus\, Mary!” And the storm of anguished weeping then rose to batter the very \nskies. The executioners killed them one by one. One thrust of the spear\, then a \nsecond blow. It was over in a very short time.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-paul-miki-companions-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260207
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260208
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260201T213232Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260201T213232Z
UID:14576-1770422400-1770508799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:THE PRAISES OF \nTHE BLESSED VIRGIN \nFrom a sermon by Amadeus of Lausanne \n◊◊◊ \nSince we have\, at the bidding of God\, embarked upon the praises of the \nBlessed Virgin\, it remains for us to complete her praise from the bottom of our \nheart and with dutiful voice. Let us gaze upon her glory and\, entering the depth \nof so great a light\, let us with swelling heart and unspeakable joy hasten through \nthe vivid brightness of the paths\, saying with Solomon\, ‘Her paths are lovely and \nall her ways are peaceful’. What if\, as the same prophet says\, ‘the path of the just\, \nas a shining light\, goes forth and grows into the perfect day’? Who will be able to \nexpress the light and brightness of her paths? Yet we shall try to explain in part \nthe progress and additions of her paths so that she may be perceived as glorious \nin her steps and be proclaimed in each of them. \nFor she possessed progress clearly marked and distinct growth\, so that \nshe advanced according to the fairest order of Charity and\, going forward from \nvirtue to virtue\, she saw the God of gods in Sion\, being changed from glory to \nglory as by the Spirit of the Lord. \nFirstly\, therefore\, she was deemed worthy to be adorned with the beauty \nof all the virtues. Secondly she was united to the Holy Spirit in a bond of \nwedlock. Thirdly\, she was found the Mother of the Savior. Fourthly\, a sword \npierced her soul and by the flesh taken of her flesh the ruin of the lost world is \nrestored. Fifthly\, she rejoices in her Son arising and ascending above the heaven \nof heavens to the right hand of the Father. Sixthly\, she is caught up from this \nworld and as the Lord hastens to meet her she is places above the denizens of \nheaven. Seventh\, she will be completed when the fullness of the Gentiles shall \nhave entered and all Israel shall be saved. For beyond what it is right to be said \nor believed\, she rejoices in the general salvation of the elect\, knowing that it was \nfor them that the Son of God took flesh from her. Therefore she will then be \nfulfilled\, God providing a better thing\, lest without us she should not be made \nperfect.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-the-bvm-9/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260208
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260209
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260208T000942Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260208T001237Z
UID:14582-1770508800-1770595199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 5th Sunday ORD
DESCRIPTION:LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE \nBEFORE ALL \nFrom a commentary by St John Chrysostom \n◊◊◊ \nWe who have once for all clothed ourselves in Christ\, and been made worthy \nto have him dwelling within us\, may show everyone\, if we choose\, simply by the \nstrict discipline of our life and without saying a word\, the power of him who dwells \nin us. Therefore Christ said: Let your light so shine before all\, that people may see \nyour good works and praise your Father in heaven. This is a light that reaches not \nonly the bodily senses\, but illuminates also the beholder’s mind and soul. It \ndisperses the darkness of evil\, and invites those who encounter it to let their own \nlight shine forth\, and to follow the example of virtue. \nLet your light shine before all\, Christ said; and he used the words before all \nadvisedly. He meant\, “Let your light be so bright that it illuminates not only \nyourself\, but shines also before those needing its help.” As the light our senses \nperceive puts darkness to flight\, and enables those traveling along a road \nperceptible to the senses to follow a straight course\, so also the spiritual light which \nshines from blameless conduct illuminates those who cannot see clearly how to live \na virtuous life\, because their spiritual eyesight has been blurred by the darkness of \nerror. It purifies their inward vision\, leads them to live upright lives\, and makes \nthem walk henceforth in the path of virtue. \nThat people may see your good works and praise your Father in heaven. \nChrist means: Let your virtue\, the perfection of your life\, and the performance of \ngood works inspire those who see you to praise the common Master of us all. \nAnd so I beg each of you to strive to live so perfectly that the Lord may be \npraised by all who see you. By the perfection of your lives attract to yourselves the \ngrace of the Spirit\, so that the Lord of all creation may be glorified\, and so that we \nmay all be found worthy of the kingdom of heaven by the grace\, mercy\, and \ngoodness of God’s only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ\, to whom with the \nFather and the Holy Spirit be glory\, might\, and honor now and for ever and for \nendless ages. Amen.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-5th-sunday-ord-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260208
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260209
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260208T000748Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260208T000748Z
UID:14580-1770508800-1770595199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n5th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (II)\nFebruary 8 -14\, 2026\n\n\n\nSun\n8\nMon\n9\nTue\n10\nWed\n11\nThu\n12\nFri\n13\nSat\n14\n\n\nOffice\n5th Sunday\nWeekday\nSt Scholastica\nSt Benedict of Aniane\nBl Humbleline\nWeekday\nSS Cyril & Methodius\n\n\nVigils\nJudg 18:13-31\nJudg 19:1-21\nJudg 19:20-30\nJudg 20:1-19\nJudg 20:20-48\nJudg 21:1-25\nRuth 1:1-22\n\n\nLauds\nHabakkuk 1:1-4\nHab 1:5-11\nHab 1:12-17\nHab 2:1-4\nHab 2:5-8\nHab 2:9-14\nHab 2:15-20\n\n\nMass\n73\n329\n330\n331\n332\n333\n334\n\n\n1st\nIsa 58:7-10\n1 Kgs 8:1-7\, 9-13\n1 Kgs 8:22-23\, 27-30\n1 Kgs 10:1-10\n1 Kgs 11:4-13\n1 Kgs 11:29-32; 12:19\n1 Kgs 12:26-32; 13:33-34\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 2:1-5\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 5:13-16\nMark 6:53-56\nMark 7:1-13\nMark 7:14-23\nMark 7:24-30\nMark 7:31-37\nMark 8:1-10\n\n\nVespers\n1 Thess 1:1-10\n1 Thess 2:1-8\n1 Thess 2:9-12\n1 Thess 2:13-16\n1 Thess 2:17-3:5\n1 Thess 3:6-13\n1 Thess 4:1-12
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-144/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260209
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260210
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260208T001137Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260208T001137Z
UID:14584-1770595200-1770681599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:EVERYTHING WILL BEGIN AGAIN \nBy Marie Noël \n◊◊◊ \nThe way of all humanity traces a circle…. \nThe path that we took when we came naked into the world and which we \nclimbed from year to year until we came to the middle of our life — on that same \npath we will go down again to return\, naked\, to the place of departure. \nLittle by little we grew\, and raised our stature above the earth; little by \nlittle we will shrink and become bent down towards the earth. \nLittle by little we opened our senses\, hearing\, sight and all the others\, like \nwindows in the morning; little by little\, one after the other\, we will close them \nagain like windows in the evening. \nLittle by little\, every day\, we stored up all kinds of knowledge in our \nmemory; they will daily escape from our memory a little later on. \nA little later\, day by day\, our arms became strong\, our hands skilled\, our \ntongues able\, and rich in words; our arms will become weak\, our hands clumsy\, \nour tongues poor and stammering\, day by day\, a little later on. \nOne day\, we learned to speak; one day\, we will not be able to speak. One \nday we came down from our mother’s arms and walked by ourself; one day we \nwill stop walking by ourself and will lean on [another’s] arm. \nOne day we had not yet left our cradle and a woman took us up from time \nto time to nurse us and change our clothes; one day we will not leave our bed \nagain and a [another] will come from time to time to wash us and give us drinks. \nOne day\, for the first time\, we opened our eyes and saw; one day\, for the \nlast time\, we will shut our eyes and see no more. \nOne day\, for the first time\, we inhaled the air of this world and were born; \none day\, for the last time\, we will exhale the air of this world and die. \nOne day\, before all these days\, we spent long months in the darkness of \nour mother to form our bones and flesh and compose our bodies; one day\, after \nall these days\, we will spend long months in the darkness of the earth to \ndecompose our bodies and unmake our flesh and bones. \nOne day\, before all these days\, we came out of our father as a little seed of \nlife; one day\, after all these days\, we will re-enter the Father of fathers to be \nbegotten anew in eternal life. \nAnd everything\, in a new Being\, will begin again.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-395/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260210
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260211
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260208T001354Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260208T001354Z
UID:14586-1770681600-1770767999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Scholastica
DESCRIPTION:THE LIFE OF \nST SCHOLASTICA \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints \n◊◊◊ \nSt Scholastica\, who was St Benedict’s sister\, traditionally his twin\, \nconsecrated herself to God from her earliest years\, as we learn from St Gregory. \nIt is not known where she lived\, whether at home or in a community\, but after \nher brother had moved to Monte Cassino\, she settled at Plombariola in that \nsame neighborhood\, probably founding and ruling a nunnery about five miles to \nthe south of St Benedict’s monastery. St Gregory tells us that St Benedict \ngoverned the nuns as well as the monks\, and it seems clear that St Scholastica \nmust have been their Abbess\, under his direction. She used to visit her brother \nonce a year and\, since she was not allowed to enter his monastery\, he used to go \nwith some monks to meet her at a house a little way off. They spent these visits \nin praising God and in conferring together on spiritual matters. \nSt Gregory gives a remarkable description of the last of these visits. After \nthey had passed the day as usual they sat down in the evening to have supper. \nWhen it was finished\, Scholastica\, possibly foreseeing that it would be their last \nvisit in this world\, begged her brother to delay his return till the next day that \nthey might spend the time discoursing of the joys of Heaven. Benedict\, who was \nunwilling to transgress his rule\, told her that he could not pass a night away \nfrom the monastery. \nWhen Scholastica found that she could not move him\, she laid her head \nupon her hands which were clasped together on the table and besought God to \ninterpose on her behalf. Her prayer was scarcely ended when there arose such a \nviolent storm of rain that St Benedict and his companions were unable to set \nfoot outside the door. He exclaimed\, “God forgive you sister; what have you \ndone?” Whereupon she answered\, “I asked a favor of you and you refused it. I \nasked it of God\, and He has granted it.” Benedict was therefore forced to comply \nwith her request\, and they spent the night talking about holy things. The next \nmorning they parted\, and three days later St Benedict saw the soul of his sister \nrising to heaven like a dove.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-scholastica-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260211
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260212
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260208T001640Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260208T001640Z
UID:14588-1770768000-1770854399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Benedict of Aniane
DESCRIPTION:ST BENEDICT OF ANIANE \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints \n◊◊◊ \nBenedict was the son of Aigulf of Maguelone and served King Pepin and \nhis son\, Charlemagne\, as cupbearer. At the age of twenty he made a resolution \nto seek the kingdom of God with his whole heart. He took part in the campaign \nin Lombardy\, but\, after having been nearly drowned in the river Tesino\, near \nPavia\, in endeavoring to save his brother\, he made a vow to quit the world \nentirely. \nUpon his return to Languedoc he was confirmed in this determination by \nthe advice of a hermit called Widmar\, and he went to the abbey of Saint-Seine\, \nfifteen miles from Dijon\, where he was admitted as a monk. He spent two and a \nhalf years here learning the monastic life and bringing himself under control by \nsevere austerities. Not satisfied with observing the rule of St Benedict\, he \npracticed those other points of perfection which he found prescribed in the \nRules of St Pachomius and St Basil. When the abbot died\, the brethren were \ndisposed to elect him to fill the post\, but he was unwilling to accept the charge \nbecause he knew that the monks were opposed to anything in the shape of \nsystematic reform. \nBenedict accordingly quitted Saint-Seine and\, returning to Languedoc\, \nbuilt a small hermitage beside the brook Aniane upon his own estate. Here he \nlived for some years in self-imposed destitution\, praying continually that God \nwould teach him to do His will. Some solitaries\, of whom the holy man Widmar \nwas one\, placed themselves under his direction\, and they earned their livelihood \nby manual labour\, living on bread and water except on Sundays and great \nfestivals when they added a little wine or milk if it was given them in alms. The \nsuperior worked with them in the fields and sometimes spent his time in \ncopying books. When the number of his disciples increased\, Benedict left to \nbuild a monastery in a more spacious place. \nIn a short time he had many religious under his direction\, and at the same \ntime exercised a general inspection over all the monasteries of Provence\, \nLanguedoc and Gascony\, becoming eventually the director and overseer of all \nthe monasteries in the empire; he reformed many with little or no opposition. \nIn order to have him close at hand\, the Emperor Louis the Pious obliged \nBenedict to dwell first at the abbey of Maurmünster in Alsace and then\, as he \nwanted him yet nearer\, he built a monastery upon the Inde\, later known as \nCornelimünster\, near Aachen\, the residence of the emperor and court. Benedict \nlived in the monastery yet continued to help in the restoration of monastic \nobservance throughout France and Germany. He was the chief instrument in \ndrawing up the canons for the reformation of monks at the council of Aachen in \n817\, and presided in the same year over the assembly of abbots to enforce the \nrestoration of discipline… \nThis great restorer of monasticism in the West\, worn out by \nmortifications and fatigues\, suffered much from continual sickness in the latter \npart of his days. He died at Inde with great tranquility in 821\, being then \nseventy one years of age.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-benedict-of-aniane/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260212
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260213
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260208T001859Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260208T001859Z
UID:14590-1770854400-1770940799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Blessed Humbleline
DESCRIPTION:BLESSED HUMBELINE \nFrom the Life of St Bernard \n◊◊◊ \nFrom earliest childhood Humbeline and Bernard had been drawn together \nby a special bond of affection and sympathy… After her marriage\, forgetful of her \nmother’s example and exhortations\, she began to follow the fashions of the world. \nIn 1117 she came to Clairvaux surrounded with all the splendor of dress and \nattendants that unlimited wealth could bestow\, thinking\, so it seems\, that she was \ndoing her brother honor. Her brother Andrew\, the porter\, in announcing her \narrival\, did not omit to describe to his Abbot the pomp and ceremony that attended \nher. \nIt grieved Bernard to hear that his beloved sister had become a worshiper at \nthe shrine of vanity. He refused to see her himself\, nor would he allow any of his \nbrothers to see her\, but told Andrew to tell her…that with these worldly ornaments \nshe was making herself the devil’s instrument for the ruin of immortal souls. \nAndrew delivered the message\, adding on his own: “Why so much solicitude to \nembellish a body destined for worms and rottenness\, while the soul that now \nanimates it is burning in everlasting flames?” \nHumbeline burst into tears\, crying out: “I deserve it all because I am a \nsinner. Yet it is for such as I that Christ suffered on the Cross. Indeed it is because of \nmy sinfulness that I seek counsel and encouragement from the saints. If my brother \nBernard\, who is the servant of God\, despises my body\, let him at least have pity on \nmy soul. Let him come; let him command; and whatever he thinks proper to enjoin \nI am prepared to carry out.” There was no resisting such an appeal. Bernard and \nhis brothers hastened to meet her and to confirm her in these good dispositions. \nIt was the holy Abbot’s desire that she should enter religion; but as this was \nunlawful without her husband’s consent\, he recommended her to live as much as \npossible like a recluse in the world\, shunning ostentation and all kinds of vanity\, \nand devoting herself\, after her mother’s example\, to the service of God and the \npoor. She promised to do so. \nFive years later\, in 1122\, having obtained after much resistance her \nhusband’s consent\, she left the world altogether and entered the convent of Jully \nwhere Elizabeth\, her sister-in-law\, was superioress. When the latter went forth \nabout 1130 to found a new convent in the neighborhood of Dijon\, Humbeline was \nappointed to succeed her. Under her direction the house flourished greatly; the \nnoblest ladies of the land sought admission in such numbers that she was forced to \nmake about a dozen new foundations. She rivaled Bernard himself in her love of \nthe Cross. Of food and sleep she allowed herself much less than the minimum \nwhich nature demands; her clothes were the meanest she could find\, and it was her \nhappiness to be employed in the humblest occupations. When her nuns begged her \nto be more careful of her health\, which seemed in danger of breaking down under \nsuch austere practices\, she replied: “For you\, my dear sisters\, whose lives have been \nconsecrated to the service of God\, this is an excellent counsel. But for me\, who have \nlived so long amidst worldly vanities\, no kind of penance can be excessive.”… \nHer last hours were consoled by the presence of three of her brothers\, \nBernard\, Andrew and Nivard… When about to breathe her last she looked with a \nradiant smile at Bernard and said: “Oh\, how happy I am to have followed your \ncounsel and consecrated myself to God! And what a beautiful reward I expect to \nreceive for the love I have entertained for you in this life!”… With these words\, she \ngave up her spirit.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-blessed-humbleline/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260213
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260214
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260208T002100Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260208T002100Z
UID:14592-1770940800-1771027199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:CONCERNING FOUR WAYS \nOF LOVE \nBy St Bernard of Clairvaux \n◊◊◊ \nThere are two loves\, carnal and spiritual\, from which four ways of loving \nare derived: to love the flesh carnally\, love the spirit carnally\, love the flesh \nspiritually\, and love the spirit spiritually. A certain progress and ascent from \nthe lower to the higher occurs in these. For God was made flesh in order for \nhuman beings to make progress\, so that humans (who had only known how to \nlove the flesh carnally) could also love God spiritually. By speaking and keeping \ncompany with human beings\, God made himself first loved carnally by them. \nMoreover\, when he was willing to lay down his life for his friends\, they \nwere already loving the spirit\, but still in a carnal way. So even Peter responded \nthus to Christ when he spoke about his passion: Far be it from you! Look out \nfor yourself! But when they recognized that through the same passion the \nmystery of redemption takes place\, then in that passion they were already loving \nthe flesh spiritually. When\, however\, he rises again and ascends\, they love the \nspirit spiritually\, and joyfully they sing: And if we have known Christ \naccording to the flesh\, now we know him so no longer. \nWe also love our flesh carnally when we carry out its desires; the spirit \ncarnally with weeping\, sighing and grieving in prayer; the flesh with good deeds\, \nwe watch over it with discretion. [We love] the spirit spiritually when out of \ncharity we postpone even our spiritual pursuits for fraternal benefit.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-396/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260214
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260215
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260208T002234Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260208T002234Z
UID:14594-1771027200-1771113599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - SS Cyril & Methodius
DESCRIPTION:SAINTS CYRIL AND METHODIUS \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints \n◊◊◊ \nIn 862 there arrived in Constantinople an ambassador charged by \nRostislav\, prince of Moravia\, to ask if the emperor would send him missionaries \ncapable of teaching his people in their own language. Photius\, now patriarch of \nConstantinople\, decided that Cyril and Methodius were most suitable for the \nwork; they were learned men\, who knew Slavonic. \nIn 863 the two brothers set out with a number of assistants and came to \nthe court of Rostislav. The new missionaries made free use of the vernacular in \ntheir preaching and ministrations\, and this made immediate appeal to the local \npeople. To the German clergy this was objectionable\, and their opposition was \nstrengthened when the Emperor Louis forced Rostislav to take an oath of fealty \nto him. The Byzantine missionaries\, armed with their pericopes from the \nScriptures and liturgical hymns in Slavonic\, pursued their way with much \nsuccess\, but were soon handicapped by their lack of a bishop to ordain more \npriests. The German prelate\, the bishop of Passau\, would not do it\, and Cyril \ntherefore determined to seek help elsewhere\, presumably from Constantinople \nwhence he came. \nOn their way the brothers arrived in Venice. It was at a bad moment. \nPhotius at Constantinople had incurred excommunication; the proteges of the \nEastern emperor and their liturgical use of a new tongue were vehemently \ncriticized. They came to Rome bringing with them alleged relics of Pope St \nClement\, which St Cyril had recovered when in the Crimea on his way back from \nthe Khazars. Adrian II warmly welcomed the bearers of so great a gift. He \nexamined their cause\, and he gave judgment: Cyril and Methodius were to \nreceived episcopal consecration\, their neophytes were to be ordained\, and the \nuse of the liturgy in Slavonic was approved. \nWhile still in Rome Cyril died\, on February 14\, 869. He was buried with \ngreat pomp in the church of San Clemente on the Coelian\, where the relics of St \nClement had been enshrined. St Methodius now took up his brother’s \nleadership. Having been consecrated bishop he returned\, bearing a letter from \nthe Holy See recommending him as a man of “exact understanding and \northodoxy”. Kosel\, prince of Pannonia\, asked that the ancient archdiocese of \nSirmium (now Mitrovitsa) be revived. Methodius was made metropolitan and \nthe boundaries of his charge extended to the borders of Bulgaria.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-ss-cyril-methodius/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260215
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260216
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260215T130312Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260215T130312Z
UID:14604-1771113600-1771199999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n6th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (II)\nFebruary 15 – 21\, 2026\n\n\n\nSun\n15\nMon\n16\nTue\n17\nWed\n18\nThu\n19\nFri\n20\nSat\n21\n\n\nOffice\n6th Sunday\nOffice for Vocations\nWeekday\nAsh Wednesday\nThursday after Ash Wednesday\nFriday after Ash Wednesday\nSaturday after Ash Wednesday\n\n\nVigils\nRuth 2:1-23\nRuth 3:1-18\nRuth 4:1-22\nIsa 58:1-14\nExod 1:1-22\nExod 2:1-22\nExod 2:23-3:22\n\n\nLauds\nHab 3:1-7\nHab 3:8-15\nHab 3:16-19\nSir 17:20-32\nDeut 1:3-8\nDeut 4:1-8\nDeut 4:9-14\n\n\nMass\n76\n335\n336\n219\n220\n221\n222\n\n\n1st\nSir 15:16-21\nJas 1:1-11\nJas 1:12-18\nJoel 2:12-18\nDeut 30:15-20\nIsa 58:1-9a\nIsa 58:9b-14\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 2:6-10\n\n\n2 Cor 5:20-6:2\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 5:17-37\nMark 8:11-13\nMark 8:14-21\nMatt 6:1-6\, 16-18\nLuke 9:22-25\nMatt 9:14-15\nLuke 5:27-32\n\n\nVespers\n1 Thess 4:13-18\n1 Thess 5:1-11\n1 Thess 5:12-28\n2 Cor 5:14-21\nHeb 1:1-9\nHeb 1:13-2:4\nHeb 2:5-9
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-145/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260215
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260216
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260215T130754Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260215T130754Z
UID:14606-1771113600-1771199999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 6th Sunday ORD
DESCRIPTION:BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS \nFrom a commentary by St John Chrysostom \n◊◊◊ \nChrist gave his life for you\, and do you hold a grudge against your fellow \nservant? How then can you approach the table of peace? Your master did not \nrefuse to undergo every kind of suffering for you\, and will you not even forgo \nyour anger? Why is this\, when love is the root\, the wellspring and the mother of \nevery blessing? \nHe has offered me an outrageous insult\, you say. He has wronged me \ntimes without number\, he has endangered my life. Well\, what is that? He has \nnot yet crucified you as the Jewish elders crucified the Lord. If you refuse to \nforgive your neighbor’s offense your heavenly Father will not forgive your sins \neither. \nWhat does your conscience say when you repeat the words: Our Father \nwho art in heaven\, hallowed be thy name\, and the rest? Christ went so far as to \noffer his blood for the salvation of those who shed it. What could you do that \nwould equal that? If you refuse to forgive your enemy you harm not him but \nyourself. You have indeed harmed him frequently in this present life\, but you \nhave earned for yourself eternal punishment on the day of judgment. There is no \none God detests and repudiates more than the person who bears a grudge\, \nwhose heart is filled with anger\, whose soul is seething with rage. \nListen to the Lord’s words: If you are bringing your gift to the altar\, and \nthere remember that your brother or sister has something against you\, leave \nyour gift there before the altar and first go and be reconciled. Then come and \noffer your gift. \nWhat do you mean? Am I really to leave my gift\, my offering there? Yes\, he \nsays\, because this sacrifice is offered in order that you may live in peace with \nyour neighbor. If then the attainment of peace is the object of the sacrifice and \nyou fail to make peace\, even if you share in the sacrifice your lack of peace will \nmake this sharing fruitless. Before all else\, therefore make peace\, for the sake of \nwhich the sacrifice is offered. Then you will really benefit from it. \nThe reason the Son of God came into the world was to reconcile the \nhuman race with the Father. As Paul says: Now he has reconciled all things to \nhimself\, destroying enmity in himself by the cross. Consequently\, as well as \ncoming himself to make peace he also calls us blessed if we do the same\, and \nshares his title with us. Blessed are the peacemakers\, he says\, for they shall be \ncalled the children of God. \nSo as far as a human being can\, you must do what Christ the Son of God \ndid\, and become a promoter of peace both for yourself and for your neighbor. \nChrist calls the peacemakers a child of God. The only good deed he mentions as \nessential at the time of sacrifice is reconciliation with one’s brother or sister. \nThis shows that of all the virtues the most important is love.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-6th-sunday-ord/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260216
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260217
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260215T130915Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260215T130915Z
UID:14608-1771200000-1771286399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:TO LIVE FOR GOD ALONE \nFrom the Second Vatican Council decree “Perfectae Caritatis” \n◊◊◊ \nFrom the beginning of the Church there have been men and women who \nhave sought to follow Christ with greater freedom\, and to imitate him with \ncloser fidelity through the practice of the evangelical counsels. They have led \nlives dedicated to God\, each in his or her own way. Many of them\, under the \ninspiration of the Holy Spirit\, have lived in solitude or have founded religious \ncommunities\, which the Church willingly recognized and approved. \nAs a result\, in accordance with God’s plan\, there has grown up a \nwonderful variety of religious families. These have been of great service to the \nChurch in equipping it “for every good work” and preparing it “for the work of \nthe ministry for the building up of the Body of Christ”\, and also in adorning it \nwith the different gifts of its children\, so that the Church may appear in beauty \n“as a bride adorned for her husband\, and show forth the many-faceted wisdom \nof God.” \nSurrounded by this rich profusion of gifts\, all who are called by God to the \npractice of the evangelical counsels and profess them with fidelity\, dedicate \nthemselves to the Lord in a special way. They follow Christ\, who in virginity and \npoverty redeemed and sanctified humankind through obedience\, “even to death \nupon a cross.” \nDriven thus by the love that the Holy Spirit pours into their hearts\, they \nlive more and more for Christ and for “his Body which is the Church.” The more \nfervent their union with Christ through this gift of self throughout their lives\, \nthe richer is the life of the Church\, and the more vigorous and fruitful its \napostolate. \nThe members of each institute should remember above all that in \nprofessing the evangelical counsels they have given their response to the call of \nGod in such a way that they are to live for God alone\, not only by dying to sin but \nalso by renouncing the world. They have surrendered to his service the whole of \ntheir lives: this constitutes a special consecration\, deeply rooted in the \nconsecration of baptism\, to which it gives fuller expression. \nThose who profess the evangelical counsels should seek and love above all \nthings the God who has first loved us. In every circumstance of life they should \nstrive to foster a life hidden with Christ in God; such a life is a source of\, and \nstimulus to\, the love of one’s neighbor for the salvation of the world and the \nbuilding up of the Church. This love is the animating and guiding principle for \nthe practice of the evangelical counsels.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-27/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260217
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260218
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260215T131028Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260215T131028Z
UID:14610-1771286400-1771372799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:BEHOLD\, \nNOW IS THE ACCEPTABLE TIME \nFrom a sermon by St Aelred of Rievaulx \n◊◊◊ \nThese forty days are called an acceptable time and named a day of \nsalvation\, because during these days the Lord cleanses and sanctifies his church \nthrough fasting. That is why the Lenten fast was established by the holy fathers\, \nso that whatever is lacking in us during the year may be purified and made clean \nfor the remaining times\, generally by fasting in this holy observance… \nMoses fasted for forty days and nights so that he would merit to receive \nthe law. And through fasting he merited to have an audience before God and to \nsee God face to face. So let anyone who desires to approach the Lord love \nfasting… Although we do not presume to investigate secret and profound \nmysteries of divinity\, let us nonetheless gain acquaintance with God as much as \nwe can. To do so we must still prepare and train ourselves; that way we might \ncontemplate God here as through a mirror and obscurely\, and in the future we \nmight see him face to face… \nThat forgiveness of sins is given generously through fasting\, we see \nmanifestly among the Ninevite penitents who took refuge in repentance and \nreconciled themselves to God through fasting…when the Lord had threatened \nthem\, through the prophet\, with death and overthrow of the city. In fact\, the \nwise king also learned to avoid the danger; having laid aside royal finery and \nsitting in ashes\, he exhausted his flesh with fasting\, ordering not only human \nbeings but even beasts to fast and to cry out to God through fasting with \ncourage. Thus they evaded the overturn of the Ninevite city and peril of death… \nEven Christ\, King and Lord of prophets\, who founded and sanctified \nfasting\, before he was tempted by the devil fasted forty days and nights\, to \nteach that the adversary is to be overcome through fasting. The Lord set an \nexample for us\, so if we want a full victory over the devil\, the world and the flesh\, \nthen let us take refuge in the weapons of fasting\, by which the devil is \nslaughtered\, the world is conquered\, and every attachment of the flesh is \nexpelled… \nFinally we must offer to God repentance in all of our sacrifices\, always \nrepenting that we either overlooked the good or continued in evil… Because \ntherefore the measure of repentance must be weighted according to the \nmeasure of sin\, it is necessary to produce fruit <worthy of> repentance. If your \nsuffering in correction is less than was your enjoyment in the fault\, then the fruit \nof your repentance is not worthy… \nStill\, so that a sinning conscience might be consoled\, the method and \nmeasure of exterior repentance have been set; as the conscience is satisfied and \nperfected you begin to have confidence\, and with a certain holy anticipation in \nthe hope of divine mercy\, you have confidence <regarding> pardon and \nforgiveness of sins\, so the more truly then the more sincerely you fulfill the \nimposed repentance… To the extent that we attain full and perfect pardon we \nmay also merit eternal glory.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-397/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260218
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260219
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260215T131315Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260215T131315Z
UID:14612-1771372800-1771459199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Ash Wednesday
DESCRIPTION:WHY WE FAST \nFrom a sermon by St John Chrysostom \n◊◊◊ \nWhy do we fast for forty days? Formerly many believers approached the \nsacraments without any particular preparation\, especially at the time when \nChrist first gave them to us. But when the fathers realized the harm that could \nresult from such neglect\, they took counsel together and decreed that a period of \nforty days of fasting be set aside\, during which the people would meet to pray \nand listen to the word of God. During this Lenten season each of the faithful \nwould undergo a thorough purification by means of prayer\, almsgiving\, fasting\, \nwatching\, repentant tears\, confession\, and every other remedial measure. Then \nwhen they had done all in their power to cleanse their consciences\, they could \napproach the sacraments. \nIt is certain that the fathers did well to use such lenience in their desire to \nestablish us in the habit of fasting. As we know\, we could proclaim a fast \nthroughout the whole year\, and no one would pay any attention. But now\, with a \nset time for fasting of only forty days\, even the most sluggish need no \nexhortation to rouse themselves to undergo it; they accept it as a regular \nobservance and recurring encouragement. \nSo\, when someone asks you why you fast\, you should not answer: because \nof the Passover\, or because of the Cross. Neither of these is the reason for our \nfasting. We fast because of our sins\, since we are preparing to approach the \nsacred mysteries. Moreover\, the Christian Passover is a time for neither fasting \nnor mourning\, but for great joy\, since the Cross destroyed sin and made \nexpiation for the whole world. It reconciled ancient enmities and opened the \ngates of heaven. It made friends of those who had been filled with hatred\, \nrestoring them to the citizenship of heaven. Through the Cross our human \nnature has been set at the right hand of the throne of God\, and we have been \ngranted countless good things besides. Therefore we must not give way to \nmourning or sadness; we must rejoice greatly instead over all these blessings. \nListen to the exultant words of Saint Paul: God forbid that I should boast \nof anything but the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And elsewhere he writes: \nGod shows his own love for us because when we were still sinners Christ died for \nour sake. \nSaint John’s message is the same. God loved the world so much\, he \ndeclares\, and then\, passing over every other manifestation of God’s love\, he \ncomes at once to the crucifixion. God loved the world so much that he gave his \nonly Son\, that is\, he gave him up to be crucified\, so that those who believed in \nhim might not perish but might have eternal life. If\, then\, the Cross has its \nfoundation in love and is our glory\, we must not say we mourn because of the \nCross. Far from it. What we have to mourn over is our own sinfulness\, and that \nis why we fast.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-ash-wednesday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260219
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260220
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260215T131439Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260215T131439Z
UID:14614-1771459200-1771545599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Thursday after Ash Wednesday
DESCRIPTION:WE ADORE YOUR CROSS \nBy Aemiliana Löhr \n◊◊◊ \n[Today] the veil is taken off the cross and tearful thanksgiving fills the \nChurch’s voice as she offers the cross to the people and calls out\, “Look upon the \nwood of the cross.” \nThe cross is set up now\, no longer on Mount Calvary in front of the gates \nof that Jerusalem\, but on the altar of the New Jerusalem. No longer is there a \ncrush about it of blaspheming soldiers and Pharisees\, but a reverent assembly of \nGod’s people which still\, in this moment of greatest sadness\, receives a delicate \nanticipation of the joy of resurrection to come\, a sort of consolation from the \ncross. “We adore your cross\, O Lord\, and we praise and glorify your holy \nresurrection; for behold\, through the cross joy came into the whole world.” \nThis is a characteristic of the Church’s deepest attitude\, not only in the \nliturgy\, but in her whole life as well. She goes with the incarnate Lord through \ntime\, carrying the cross with him. Again and again she sees his blood poured out \nby godless people\, and the precious life of God’s anointed done to death; for in \nher members the Lord himself dies. Good Friday goes on for her throughout the \nworld’s age\, and thickest darkness is still before her. But she does not complain \nor flinch; like Jesus\, she makes no complaint. When death comes she dies with a \ncry to God\, certain of the witness she is giving and the life she is to receive. \n[The Church’s] life is a life of carrying the cross\, a continual dying. But her \nvoice is a joyful voice; her liturgy celebrates life. In reality she suffers death but \nlives already in the resurrection. Her food is the food of immortality: the body of \nthe risen Christ. She cannot founder. Rather\, …she stands alone in the decline of \nthis world\, daily subject to death and [yet] daily awakened to life. She prays with \nupraised hands for her murderers\, and in the sign of the cross she calls for joy on \nbehalf of a tortured world. Indeed\, in the posture of her prayer and the complete \noneness she has now with the Lord\, she herself becomes the cross\, and of her\, it \nwill be said till the end of time and eternity\, “Through the cross joy came into the \nwhole world.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-thursday-after-ash-wednesday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260220
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260221
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260215T131656Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260215T131656Z
UID:14617-1771545600-1771631999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Friday after Ash Wednesday
DESCRIPTION:THE UNBOUNDED LOVE \nOF GOD \nFrom “Seasons of Celebration” by Thomas Merton \n◊◊◊ \nIf we look carefully at the famous contrast made by St Paul between the \n“law of God in his mind” and “the law of sin in his body” we will see a little more \nin it than just these two. It is true\, St Paul says he is “delighted with God’s law \naccording to the inner man\,” with his “mind he serves the law of God but with \nhis lower nature the law which allures him to sin”. Ordinarily this text is not \ninterpreted fully. Very often for instance\, we take it to mean that there is nothing \nelse for us but to accept this inevitable conflict\, to try to keep the law of God in \nspite of the bias of concupiscence that draws us toward sin. To accept the \nconflict in a spirit of Christian resignation is all that is required of us as \nChristians. \nDo we not see that this leaves us purely and simply captives of the Law? If \nthis is all there is to it\, then Christ’s victory is not complete in our lives. There is \na third possibility\, and this is the right one. It is the grace of God in Christ our \nLord or\, to be more succinct\, it is Christ himself in us. It is our new life in Christ. \nBy our life of love and hope in Christ we rise above the dilemma and thus resolve \nit. The Christian solution is not merely to continue struggling against \ntemptation in order to live according to the Law. This is nothing new. It is \nexactly what had to be done before the coming of Christ. The Christian is no \nlonger bound by the law of the flesh\, and he is no longer obliged in a spirit of fear \nto keep the Law of God considered as a formal code imposed on him from \nwithout. \nHe may still be tempted by the flesh. He resists temptation and is saved \nnot by various practices and stratagems but by the spiritual force of love itself\, \nand of the new life that is in him. He lives by the “Spirit of him who raised Christ \nJesus from the dead\,” and by that Spirit he “puts to death the deeds prompted \nby the animal instincts\, and so lives. In other words\, it is not dutiful observance \nthat keeps us from sin\, but something far greater: it is love. And this love is not \nsomething which we develop by our own powers alone. It is a sublime gift of the \ndivine mercy\, and the fact that we live in realization of this mercy and this gift is \nthe greatest source of growth for our love and for our holiness. \nThis gift\, this mercy\, this unbounded love of God for us has been lavished \nupon us as a result of Christ’s victory. To taste this love is to share in his victory. \nTo realize our freedom\, to exult in our liberation from death\, from sin and from \nthe Law\, is to sing the Alleluia which truly glorifies God in this world and in the \nworld to come.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-friday-after-ash-wednesday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260221
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260222
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260215T131953Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260215T131953Z
UID:14619-1771632000-1771718399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Saturday after Ash Wednesday
DESCRIPTION:THE MANNER OF KEEPING \nTHE LENTEN OBSERVANCE \nFrom a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux \n◊◊◊ \nI beseech you\, most dearly beloved\, to enter with all possible fervor upon \nthis Lenten time\, which is commended to us not only by the law of abstinence\, \nbut also and much more by the mystery it contains. Oh\, with what devotion \nshould we observe what has been transmitted to us as an inheritance from the \nrighteous Moses who\, by a special privilege granted to no other prophet\, spoke \nto the Lord face to face. With what eagerness should we embrace a practice \ncommended to us by the example of Elias\, who was taken up to heaven in a fiery \nchariot. \nWe are encouraged to undertake this fast by the example of Moses and \nElias\, who\, illustrious though they may be\, are still our fellow-servants. But \nmuch greater encouragement should be given in the example of our Lord Jesus \nChrist Who also fasted for forty days. What kind of monk\, or even what kind of \nChristian\, would one be who would submit only with reluctance to an \nobservance given to us by Christ?… We ought to imitate His example with all the \nmore fervor knowing that He fasted not for His own sake but for ours… \nThey are clearly in error who suppose that these few days are sufficient for \nthe practice of penance\, since it is obvious that the whole period of our earthly \nlife is ordered for no other purpose. “Seek the Lord\,” says the prophet\, and not \nonly during forty days\, but “while He may be found”. “Call upon Him while He is \nnear”… Therefore since the Lord is near during all this time of mercy\, “seek \nHim\,” most dearly beloved\, “seek Him while He may be found; call upon Him \nwhile He is near.” \nNevertheless we ought to seek Him with greater ardor during these forty \ndays of Lent\, which is not only a part\, but the most sacred part of the whole \nseason of mercy. If\, then\, at other times we have allowed our zeal to grow slack\, \nit is fitting that our hearts should now be warmed with a renewal of spiritual \nfervor. If the stomach alone has sinned\, let the stomach alone fast\, and that \nsuffices. \nBut if the other members have sinned also\, why should they not be made \nto fast as well as the stomach? Therefore let the “eye which has wasted the soul” \nbe made to fast. Let the ear\, too\, be made to fast\, and the tongue\, and the hand\, \nand even the soul herself. Let the eye fast from curious looks\, so that\, \nwholesomely humbled\, it may now be kept in penitential restraint. Let the ear \nfast from news and idle tales and from all that is vain and worthless with regard \nto salvation. Let the tongue fast from detraction and murmuring\, from \nunprofitable\, vain and frivolous words\, and – because of the great importance of \nsilence – sometimes even from words that seem necessary. Let the hand fast \nfrom every work not sanctioned by obedience. \nBut above all\, let the soul fast from vice and the following of her own will. \nFor without this kind of fasting\, all the rest will have no value in the eyes of God. \nFor we read in the prophet Isaiah that when the people said to the Lord: “Why \nhave we fasted and you have not regarded?”\, they received this answer: “Behold \nin the day of your fast your own will is found.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-saturday-after-ash-wednesday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260222
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260223
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260222T102609Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260222T102609Z
UID:14631-1771718400-1771804799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n1st Week of Lent\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (II)\nFebruary 22 – 28\, 2026\n\n\n\nSun\n22\nMon\n23\nTue\n24\nWed\n25\nThu\n26\nFri\n27\nSat\n28\n\n\nOffice\n1st Sunday of Lent\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\n\n\nVigils\nExod 4:1-17\nExod 4:18-31\nExod 5:1-6:1\nExod 6:2-13\, 28-7:7\nExod 7:8-24\nExod 7:25-8:15\nExod 8:16-28\n\n\nLauds\nDeut 4:25-31\nDeut 4:32-40\nDeut 5:1-10\nDeut 5:11-15\nDeut 5:16-22\nDeut 5:32-6:3\nDeut 6:4-9\n\n\nMass\n22\n224\n225\n226\n227\n228\n229\n\n\n1st\nGen 2:7-9; 3:1-7\nLev 19:1-2\, 11-18\nIsa 55:10-11\nJonah 3:1-10\nEsth C:12\, 14-16\, 23-25\nEzek 18:21-28\nDeut 26:16-19\n\n\n2nd\nRom 5:12-19\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 4:1-11\nMatt 25:31-46\nMatt 6:7-15\nLuke 11:29-32\nMatt 7:7-12\nMatt 5:20-26\nMatt 5:43-48\n\n\nVespers\nHeb 2:10-18\nHeb 3:1-6\nHeb 3:7-13\nHeb 3:14-19\nHeb 4:1-11\nHeb 4:12-16\nHeb 5:1-10
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-146/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260222
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260223
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260222T102802Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260222T102802Z
UID:14633-1771718400-1771804799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 1st Sunday of Lent
DESCRIPTION:THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT \nFrom a commentary by St Gregory Nazianzen \n◊◊◊ \nWe must not expect baptism to free us from the temptations of our \npersecutor. The body that concealed him made even the Word of God a target \nfor the enemy; his assumption of a visible form made even the invisible light an \nobject of attack. Nevertheless\, since we have at hand the means of overcoming \nour enemy\, we must have no fear of the struggle. Flaunt in his face the water and \nthe Spirit. In them will be extinguished all the flaming darts of the evil one. \nSuppose the tempter makes us feel the pinch of poverty\, as he did even to \nChrist\, and taking advantage of our hunger\, talks of turning stones into bread: \nwe must not be taken in by him\, but let him learn what he has still not grasped. \nRefute him with the word of life\, with the word which is the bread sent down \nfrom heaven and that gives life to the world. \nHe may try to ensnare us through our vanity\, as he tried to ensnare Christ \nwhen he set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said: “Prove your divinity: \nthrow yourself down.” Let us beware of succumbing to pride\, for the tempter \nwill by no means stop at one success. He is never satisfied and is always \npursuing us. Often he beguiles us with something good and useful\, but its end is \nalways evil. That is simply his method of waging war. \nWe also know how well-versed the devil is in Scripture. When Christ \nanswered the temptation to turn stones into bread with a rebuke from Scripture \nbeginning: It is written\, the devil countered with the same words\, tempting \nChrist to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. For it is written \nhe quoted\, he will give his angels charge of you\, and on their hands they will \nbear you up. O past master of all evil\, why suppress the verse that follows? You \ndid not finish the quotation\, but I know full well what it means: that we shall \ntread on you as on an adder or a cobra; protected by the Trinity\, we shall trample \non you as on serpents or scorpions. \nIf the tempter tried to overthrow us through our greed\, showing us at one \nglance all the kingdoms of the world – as if they belonged to him – and \ndemanding that we fall down and worship him\, we should despise him\, for we \nknow him to be a penniless impostor. Strong in our baptism\, each of us can say: \n“I too am made in the image of God\, but unlike you\, I have not yet become an \noutcast from heaven through my pride. I have put on Christ; by my baptism I \nhave become one with him. It is you that should fall down before me.” At these \nwords he can only surrender and retire in shame; as he retreated before Christ\, \nthe light of the world\, so he will depart from those illumined by that light. Such \nare the gifts conferred by baptism on those who understand its power; such the \nrich banquet it lays before those who hunger for the things of the Spirit.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-1st-sunday-of-lent/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260223
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260224
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260222T103220Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260222T103220Z
UID:14635-1771804800-1771891199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A COMMON SHARING OF \nCHRIST’S CROSS \nFrom a sermon by St Leo the Great \n◊◊◊ \nAmong all the Christian solemnities the Paschal Mystery holds chief \nplace\, dearly beloved; for this the practices of the whole preceding year prepare \nus to worthily and rightly celebrate it. But earnest devotion is required of us \nespecially in these days which are close to this most sublime mystery of the \ndivine mercy. So it was right that the holy Apostles\, inspired by the Holy Spirit\, \nshould ordain that during these days we are to observe severer fasts\, so that we \nalso\, by a common sharing of Christ’s Cross\, might suffer a little of what He \nendured for us\, as the Apostle says: “If we suffer with him\, we shall also be \nglorified with him”. For where there is a sharing of the passion of the Lord\, \nthere is a sure and certain expectation of our promised happiness. \nThere is no one\, dearly beloved\, to whom\, because of the state of times\, \nthis fellowship of glory is denied\, as though the tranquility of peace gave us no \nopportunity for the practice of heroic virtue! For the Apostle foretold that “all \nwho live godly lives in Christ Jesus\, shall suffer persecutions”. So where people \nlive in Christ there shall be no lack of trials or persecutions. The Lord Himself \nsays to us: “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me\, is not worthy of \nme”. Nor should we doubt that these words were directed not only to the \ndisciples of Christ\, but also to all the faithful who are all taught unto salvation. \nAnd as at all times we must live worthily\, so at all times we must bear the \nCross\, which for each one is rightly called his or her own\, for it is borne by each \none in his own way and measure. Iniquity does not dwell in peace with virtue; \ndrunkenness hates sobriety; falsehood has nothing in common with \ntruthfulness. And this division awakens such enduring conflicts that though it \nmay outwardly seem to subside\, yet never does it cease from disturbing the \ninmost soul of the just of heart\, so that it is indeed true that “all who will live \ngodly in Christ Jesus\, shall suffer persecutions”; and true as well that all this life \nis a warfare. Let each faithful soul\, learning from his own experiences\, arm \nhimself with the Cross of Christ\, that he may be found worthy of Christ. \nSo now I wish to awaken your devotion in regard to what this holy season \nrequires of us: that you beautify your holy and salutary fasting with works of \npiety. And since we are especially to labor for the pardon of our sins\, you can be \nassured of the unfailing divine mercy if you likewise in your dealings with others \nchange every offense into pardon… \nFor no matter how great the offenses between one person and another… \nwe share a common nature; so that with what mercy we judge another\, we shall \nobtain mercy from God. For “blessed are the merciful\, for they shall obtain \nmercy” from God.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-398/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260224
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260225
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260222T103340Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260222T103340Z
UID:14637-1771891200-1771977599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE RAYS SHINING \nFROM THE THORNS \nFrom a commentary by St Gregory of Nyssa \n◊◊◊ \nLet us\, like Moses\, live a solitary life\, no longer entangled with adversaries \nor mediating between them. Let us live among those of like mind who are fed by \nus\, while all the movements of our soul are led by reason like sheep by their \nshepherd. Then\, as we are living at peace\, the truth will shine upon us and its \nradiance will illuminate the eyes of our soul. \nNow this truth is God. Once in an ineffable and mysterious vision it \nmanifested itself to Moses\, and it is not without significance for us that the \nflame from which the soul of the Prophet was illuminated was kindled from a \nthorn-bush. \nIf truth is God and if it is also light – two of the sublime and sacred \nepithets by which the Gospel describes the God who manifested himself to us in \nthe flesh – it follows that a virtuous life will lead us to a knowledge of that light \nwhich descended to the level of our human nature. It is not from some luminary \nset among the stars that it sheds its radiance\, which might then be thought to \nhave a material origin\, but from a bush on the earth\, although it outshines the \nstars of heaven. \nThis also symbolizes the mystery of the Virgin\, from whom came the \ndivine light that shone upon the world without damaging the bush from which it \nemanated or allowing the virgin shoot to wither. This light teaches us what we \nmust do to stand in the rays of the true light\, and that it is impossible with our \nfeet in shackles to run toward the mountain where the light of truth appears. We \nhave first to free the feet of our soul from the covering of dead skins in which our \nnature was clad in the beginning when it disobeyed God’s will and was left \nnaked. \nTo know that which is\, we must purify our minds of assumptions \nregarding things which are not. In my opinion the definition of truth is an \nunerring comprehension of that which is. He who is immutable\, who does not \nincrease or diminish\, who is subject to no change for better or worse\, but is \nperfectly self-sufficient; he who alone is desirable\, in whom all else participates \nwithout causing in him any diminution\, he indeed is that which truly is\, and to \ncomprehend him is to know the truth. \nIt is he whom Moses approached and whom today all approach who like \nMoses free themselves from their earthly coverings and look toward the light \ncoming from the bramble bush\, at the ray shining on us from the thorns\, which \nstand for the flesh\, for as the Gospel says\, that ray is the real light and the truth. \nThen such people will also be able to help others find salvation. They will be \ncapable of destroying the forces of evil and of restoring those enslaved by them \nto liberty.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-399/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260225
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260226
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260222T103501Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260222T103501Z
UID:14639-1771977600-1772063999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A PHYSICIAN OF SOULS \nFrom the Philokalia of Origen \n◊◊◊ \nNearly all readers of the Book of Exodus\, both believers and unbelievers\, \nare disturbed at the frequently occurring words\, The Lord hardened the heart \nof Pharaoh\, and\, I will harden the heart of Pharaoh. For among many other \ncauses of men’s disbelief we must include this: that things unworthy of God are \nspoken about God; and it is unworthy of God to bring about the hardening of \nany man’s heart so that he may disobey the will of him who hardens. \nFor readers who are convinced that there is no other God but the \nCreator think that God arbitrarily has mercy on whom he will have mercy\, \nand hardens whom he will\, when there is no reason why this should be so. \nOthers\, better advised than these\, say they look upon Scripture as \ncontaining many secrets\, and do not on that account turn aside from the \nsound faith. One of the secrets they hold to be the true account of this \nportion of Scripture. Others\, alleging that there is a God other than the \nCreator\, will have him to be just but not good\, very foolishly and impiously \ngoing the length of severing righteousness from goodness. \nFor ourselves\, we are convinced\, as we study the sacred Scriptures and \ncontemplate creation with its evidence of orderly design\, that things visible and \ninvisible\, things temporal and things eternal\, come from God the Creator\, who \nis the same with the Father of our Lord and Saviour\, the good and just and wise \nGod. In handling the Scriptures we strive to keep that steadily in view\, begging \nGod our Saviour to show us all things pertaining to a good and just and wise \nGod\, for we suppose that the things we speak of cannot be regarded\, at least \nby intelligent beings\, as the result of chance\, but that we must ask ourselves \nwhether they are consistent with his goodness and justice and wisdom… \nThe Word of God is a physician of souls and uses the most diverse \nmethods of healing the sick. Some of these methods of healing give pain and \ntorment to those who are under treatment\, some act speedily and some slowly. \nThe whole of inspired Scripture abounds in proofs of each of these statements. \nThe God who designed souls knows all their different constitutions\, and\, \nbecause he is an expert in the art of healing\, it is for him alone to say what is \nbest to be done for each\, and when.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-400/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260226
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260227
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260222T103628Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260222T103628Z
UID:14641-1772064000-1772150399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE BOND OF LOVE \nFrom a sermon by St Leo the Great \n◊◊◊ \nAmong all the days which Christian devotion holds honorable in many \nways\, there is none more excellent than the Paschal Feast\, through which the \ndignity of all the solemnities in the Church of God is consecrated. Even the very \nbirth of our Lord from a human mother is credited to this mystery\, for there was \nno other reason for the Son of God to be born than that he could be fixed to a \ncross. Our mortal flesh was taken up in the womb of a Virgin\, and in this mortal \nflesh the unfolding of his Passion was accomplished. Thus the mercy of God \nfulfilled a plan too deep for words: Christ’s humanity became for us a sacrifice of \nredemption\, the destruction of sin\, and the firstfruits of resurrection to eternal \nlife. \nWhen we consider what the entire world owes to our Lord’s Cross\, we \nrealize our need to prepare for the celebration of Easter by a fast of forty days if \nwe are to take part worthily in these sacred mysteries. It is not only the highest \nbishops or the priests of the second order\, nor the ministers who administer the \nsacraments alone\, but the whole body of the Church and the entire company of \nthe faithful who must be purified\, so that in the Temple of God\, whose \nfoundation is its Founder himself\, every stone may be beautiful and all parts \nradiant. \nIf it is reasonable to embellish a king’s palace or governor’s residence with \nevery ornamental art\, so that the greater a person’s importance the more \nsplendid his dwelling\, what zeal ought to be expended in building the House of \nGod himself\, and how distinguished should be its furnishing! No doubt such a \ntask can be neither undertaken nor completed without the architect; \nnevertheless the builder of the house has given it the power to grow in stature \nthrough its own efforts. In the building of this Temple living and intelligent \nmaterials are being used\, which of their own free will assemble themselves into \na single structure at the prompting of the Spirit of grace. There was a time when \nthey neither loved God nor sought him; but he loved and sought them so that \nthey might begin to love and seek him in return. This is what the blessed apostle \nJohn speaks of when he says: Let us love God\, for he first loved us. \nSince therefore the entire company of the faithful and each believer in \nparticular form one and the same Temple of God\, there must be the same \nperfection in each individual as there is in the whole; for even if all are not \nalike in beauty nor is there equal merit in such a diversity of membership\, yet \nthe bond of love ensures communion of beauty among them all. While those \nwho are united in holy love may not all have received the same gifts of grace\, \nthey rejoice nonetheless in their mutual blessings. Nothing that they love can \nbe wanting to them\, for they become rich in their own increase when they \nrejoice in another’s progress.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-401/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260227
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260228
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260222T103732Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260222T103732Z
UID:14643-1772150400-1772236799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A FORESHADOW OF \nTHE GRACE TO COME \nFrom the treatise on the Holy Spirit by St Basil the Great \n◊◊◊ \nThe type manifests things to come by imitating them\, foreshadowing \nfuture events in order to make them understood. For example\, Adam was a \ntype of the One who was to come\, the rock was a type of Christ\, and the water \nthat flowed from the rock was a type of the life-giving power of the Word\, for the \nLord said: If anyone is thirsty\, let him come to me and drink. The manna \ntypified the living bread that came down from heaven and the serpent fixed to \nthe pole typified the saving Passion consummated upon the Cross\, which is why \nall who looked at it were saved. \nSimilarly\, the reason the story is told of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt \nis that they prefigure those who are saved by baptism. The firstborn of the \nIsraelites were saved in the same way as are the bodies of the baptized\, since \ngrace was given to those marked by the blood. For the blood of the lamb was a \nsymbol of the first man who was created and who of necessity still exists in us\, \ntransmitted through succeeding generations until the end of the world. \nThe sea and the cloud had the immediate effect of producing faith because \nof the amazement they aroused\, but in relation to the future they were types \nforeshadowing the grace to come. Who is wise enough to understand these \nthings\, to understand how the sea is a type of baptism because it separated the \nIsraelites from Pharaoh just as baptism separates us from the tyranny of the \ndevil? \nIn its waters the sea destroyed the enemy and in baptism is slain our \nenmity with God. From those waters the people emerged unharmed\, and we \nemerge from the waters of baptism as though we had died and come to life \nagain\, saved by the grace of him who called us. As for the cloud\, that \nforeshadowed the gift of the Spirit\, who cools the heat of the passions by the \nmortification of our body.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-402/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260228
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260301
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260222T103839Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260222T103839Z
UID:14645-1772236800-1772323199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:OUR PART IN THE PASSOVER \nFrom a homily by St Gregory Nazianzen \n◊◊◊ \nWe are soon going to share in the Passover\, and although we still do so \nonly in a symbolic way\, the symbolism already has more clarity than it \npossessed in former times\, because under the law\, the Passover was\, if I may \ndare to say so\, only a symbol of a symbol. Before long\, however\, when the Word \ndrinks the new wine with us in the kingdom of his Father\, we shall be keeping \nthe Passover in a yet more perfect way and with deeper understanding. He will \nthen reveal to us and make clear what he has so far only partially disclosed. For \nthis wine\, so familiar to us now\, is eternally new. It is for us to learn what this \ndrinking is\, and for him to teach us. He has to communicate this knowledge to \nhis disciples\, because teaching is food\, even for the teacher. \nSo let us take our part in the Passover prescribed by the law\, not in a literal \nway\, but according to the teaching of the Gospel; not in an imperfect way\, but \nperfectly; not only for a time\, but eternally. Let us regard as our home the \nheavenly Jerusalem\, not the earthly one\, the city glorified by angels\, not the one \nlaid waste by armies. We are not required to sacrifice young bulls or rams\, \nbeasts with horns and hoofs that are more dead than alive and devoid of feeling; \nbut instead let us join the choirs of angels in offering God upon his heavenly \naltar a sacrifice of praise. \nWe must now pass through the first veil and approach the second\, turning \nour eyes toward the Holy of Holies. I will say more: we must sacrifice ourselves \nto God each day and in everything we do\, accepting all that happens to us for the \nsake of the Word\, imitating his passion by our sufferings\, and honoring his \nblood by shedding our own. We must be ready to be crucified. \nIf you are a Simon of Cyrene\, take up your cross and follow Christ. If you \nare crucified beside him like one of the thieves\, now\, like the good thief\, \nacknowledge your God. For your sake\, and because of your sin\, Christ himself \nwas regarded as a sinner; for his sake\, therefore\, you must cease to sin. Worship \nhim who hung on the cross because of you\, even if you are hanging there \nyourself. Derive some benefit from the very shame; purchase salvation with \nyour death. Enter paradise with Jesus\, and discover how far you have fallen. \nContemplate the glories there\, and leave the other scoffing thief to die outside in \nhis blasphemy. \nIf you are a Joseph of Arimathea\, go to the one who ordered his \ncrucifixion\, and ask for Christ’s body. Make your own the expiation for the \nsins of the whole world. If you are a Nicodemus\, like the man who worshiped \nGod by night\, bring spices and prepare Christ’s body for burial. If you are one \nof the Mary’s or Salome or Joanna\, weep in the early morning. Be the first to \nsee the stone rolled back\, and even the angels perhaps\, and Jesus himself.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-403/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260301
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260302
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260301T122159Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260301T122159Z
UID:14656-1772323200-1772409599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n2nd Week of Lent\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (II)\nMarch 1 – 7\, 2026\n\n\n\nSun\n1\nMon\n2\nTue\n3\nWed\n4\nThu\n5\nFri\n6\nSat\n7\n\n\nOffice\n2nd Sunday of Lent\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\n\n\nVigils\nExod 9:1-12\nExod 9:13-35\nExod 10:1-20\nExod 10:21-11:10\nExod 12:1-20\nExod 12:21-36\nExod 12:37-51\n\n\nLauds\nDeut 6:10-15\nDeut 6:16-19\nDeut 6:20-25\nDeut 7:1-6\nDeut 7:7-11\nDeut 7:12-15\nDeut 7:16-21\n\n\nMass\n25\n230\n231\n232\n233\n234\n235\n\n\n1st\nGen 12:1-4a\nDan 9:4b-10\nIsa 1:10\, 16-20\nJer 18:18-20\nJer 17:5-10\nGen 37:3-4\, 12-13a\, 17b-28a\nMic 7:14-15\, 18-20\n\n\n2nd\n2 Tim 1:8b-10\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 17:1-9\nLuke 6:36-38\nMatt 23:1-12\nMatt 20:17-28\nLuke 16:19-31\nMatt 21:33-43\, 45-46\nLuke 15:1-3\, 11-32\n\n\nVespers\nHeb 6:1-8\nHeb 6:13-20\nHeb 7:17-28\nHeb 8:1-6\nHeb 8:7-13\nHeb 9:1-10\nHeb 9:11-14
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-147/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260301
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260302
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260301T122531Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260301T122531Z
UID:14658-1772323200-1772409599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 2nd Sunday of Lent
DESCRIPTION:THE JUST SHALL SHINE \nLIKE THE SUN \nFrom a commentary by St Leo the Great \n◊◊◊ \nIn the presence of chosen witnesses\, the Lord unveils his glory\, investing \nwith such splendor that bodily appearance which he shares with the rest of the \nhuman race that his face shines like the sun and his clothes become white as \nsnow. \nThe primary purpose of this transfiguration was to remove the scandal of \nthe cross from the hearts of Christ’s disciples; the greatness of his hidden glory \nwas revealed to them to prevent their faith being shaken by the self-abasement \nof the suffering he was voluntarily to undergo. In his foresight\, however\, he was \nalso laying the foundations of the Church’s hope\, teaching the whole body of \nChrist the nature of the change it is to receive\, and schooling his members to \nlook forward to a share of the glory which had already shone forth in their head. \nThe Lord had told them of this when he spoke of his coming in majesty: \nThen shall the just shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The blessed \napostle Paul bears witness to the same thing: I consider that the sufferings of \nthis present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed \nin us. And again: You have died\, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. \nWhen Christ who is your life appears\, then you will appear with him in glory. \nStill further instruction was to come from the transfiguration to fortify the \napostles and perfect their understanding. Moses and Elijah\, representing the \nlaw and the prophets. appeared in conversation with the Lord. Thus through the \npresence of these five men the saying was fulfilled: On the evidence of two or \nthree witnesses every word shall stand. What could be more firmly established \nthan that the Word in whose proclamation the trumpets of Old and New \nTestaments sound in unison\, and the writings of ancient witnesses are in perfect \naccord with the teaching of the gospel? The pages of both covenants agree with \none another. He who had been promised beforehand by mysteriously veiled \nsigns was now revealed clearly and distinctly in the radiance of his glory\, as St \nJohn says: The Law was given by Moses\, but grace and truth have come \nthrough Jesus Christ. In Christ what was promised by prophetic figures and \nwhat was signified by legal precepts are alike fulfilled\, for by his presence he \nteaches the truth of the prophecies\, and by grace he makes it possible for us to \nobey the commandments. \nMay we all therefore be confirmed in our faith through the preaching of \nthe holy Gospel\, and let no one be ashamed of the cross by which Christ has \nredeemed the world. None of us must be afraid to suffer for the sake of justice or \ndoubt the fulfillment of the prophecies\, for it is through toil that we come to rest \nand through death that we pass to life. If we continue in the acknowledgment \nand love of Christ who took upon himself all the weakness of our lowly nature\, \nwhat he conquered we too shall conquer\, and the promise he gave us we shall \nreceive. So then\, whether it is to encourage us to obey his commands or to \nendure hardships\, let the Father’s voice always be ringing in our ears and telling \nus: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; Listen to him.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-2nd-sunday-of-lent-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260302
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260303
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260301T122643Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260301T122643Z
UID:14660-1772409600-1772495999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:FROM THE WEST TO THE EAST \nFrom the catechesis of St Cyril of Jerusalem \n◊◊◊ \nI long ago desired\, true born and dearly beloved children of the Church\, to \nspeak to you concerning these spiritual and heavenly mysteries in which you \ncame to participate. Knowing well that seeing is far more persuasive than \nhearing\, I waited until now with the hope of finding you more open to the \ninfluence of my words from the actions you experience. Thus I might take and \nlead you to the brighter and more fragrant meadow of this present paradise\, \nespecially as you have been made fit to receive the more sacred mysteries and \nhave been counted worthy of divine and life-giving baptism. \nOn that evening of your baptism you entered into the outer hall of the \nBaptistry\, and there facing toward the west you heard the command to stretch \nforth your hand\, and as in the presence of Satan\, you renounced him. This figure \nis found in ancient history. For when Pharaoh\, that most cruel and ruthless \ntyrant\, oppressed the free and royal people of the Hebrews\, God sent Moses to \nbring them out of the evil grip of the Egyptians. Then the doorposts were \nanointed with the blood of the lamb that the destroyer might flee from the \nhouses which had the sign of the blood. And the Hebrew people were \nmarvelously delivered. The enemy\, however\, after their rescue\, pursued them\, \nand saw the sea wondrously parted for them. Nevertheless he went on\, \nfollowing in their footsteps and was all at once overwhelmed and engulfed in the \nRed Sea. \nNow turn from the ancient to the recent\, from the figure to the reality. \nThere\, we have Moses sent from God to Egypt; here\, Christ sent by his Father \ninto the world. There\, that Moses might lead forth an oppressed people out of \nEgypt; here\, that Christ might rescue mankind who is overwhelmed with sins. \nThere\, the blood of a lamb was the spell against the destroyer; here\, the blood of \nthe unblemished Lamb Jesus Christ is made the charm to scare evil spirits. \nThere\, the tyrant pursued even to the sea that ancient people; and in like \nmanner this daring and shameless spirit\, the author of evil\, followed you\, even \nto the very streams of salvation. The tyrant of old was drowned in the sea; and \nthis present one disappears in the saving water. \nWhat then did each of you standing up say? ‘I renounce Satan’\, meaning ‘I \nfear your power no longer\, for Christ has overthrown it\, having partaken with \nme of flesh and blood\, that through these he might by death destroy death that I \nmight not for ever be subject to bondage. I renounce you\, you crafty and most \nsubtle serpent. I renounce you\, plotter as you are\, who under the guise of \nfriendship brought about disobedience and the apostasy of our first parents. I \nrenounce you\, Satan\, the source of all wickedness.’ \nWhen you renounced Satan\, utterly breaking all covenants with him\, that \nancient connection with hell\, there is opened to you the paradise of God\, which \nhe planted toward the east\, where for his transgression our first father was \nexiled. Symbolic of this was your turning from the west to the east\, the place of \nlight. Then you were told to say: I believe in the Father\, and in the Son\, and in \nthe Holy Spirit\, and in one baptism of repentance.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-404/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260303
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260304
DTSTAMP:20260403T160711
CREATED:20260301T122745Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260301T122745Z
UID:14662-1772496000-1772582399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE FOOD OF THE SPIRIT \nFrom a commentary by St Cyril of Alexandria \n◊◊◊ \nWe shall think of the manna as a figure foreshadowing the teaching and \nthe spiritual gifts of Christ. These also are from heaven\, and have nothing \nearthly about them. They produce no physical nausea\, and are real food not only \nof men but of angels as well. \nIn his own person the Son has revealed the Father to us\, and through the \nSon we have come to believe the teaching about the holy and consubstantial \nTrinity\, and have been well and truly guided into all the paths of virtue. The \northodox and unadulterated knowledge of these things is the food of the spirit. \nTo the people of old the manna was given at dawn\, as the light began to \nshine\, because the wealth of Christ’s teaching would be distributed so to speak \nby daylight The day has dawned upon us who believe\, as Scripture says; the \nmorning star has risen in all our hearts\, and the Sun of Righteousness\, Christ\, \nthe giver of spiritual manna\, has appeared. \nFrom his own words to the Jews we can be certain that Christ himself is \nthe true manna\, and the material manna was but an image: Your ancestors ate \nmanna in the desert and they died. This is the bread that comes down from \nheaven so that anyone who eats it may never die. I am the living bread come \ndown from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. The bread I shall \ngive is my flesh which I shall give for the life of the world. \nOur Lord Jesus Christ nourishes us for eternal life both by his commands\, \nwhich teach us how to live holy lives\, and by the Eucharist. In himself\, therefore\, \nhe is truly the divine\, life-giving manna. Anyone who eats it will be exempt from \ncorruption and will escape death\, unlike those who ate the material manna. The \ntype had no power to save\, but was merely an imitation of the reality. \nGod sent down manna like rain from above\, and ordered everyone to \ngather as much as necessary\, those who shared a tent gathering together if they \nwished. Gather it\, each of you\, he said\, with those who share your tent. Let \nnone of it be left over till the morning. That is to say\, we must fill ourselves \nwith the divine teaching of the Gospel.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-405/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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