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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260923
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260924
DTSTAMP:20260920T110402Z
CREATED:20260920T110402Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260920T110402Z
UID:15493-1790121600-1790207999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Pius Pietrelcina
DESCRIPTION:A reading from Butler’s Lives of the Saints on \nST PADRE PIO \n◊◊◊ \nThe most famous stigmatist since St Francis of Assisi was born into a \nfamily of agricultural laborers in Pietrelcina\, northeast of Naples\, on May 25\, \n1887. In 1903 he received the Capuchin habit\, taking the name of Fra Pio. Seven \nyears later he was ordained to the priesthood. Not long after this he began to \nexperience pains in his hands and feet\, and on September 11\, 1911 he confessed \nto his spiritual director that he had had invisible stigmata for over a year. He \nalso suffered the pains of Christ’s crown of thorns and scourging. \nOn august 5\, 1918 he underwent the further mystical experience of \n“transverberation” (piercing with the lance)\, which left him with a wound in his \nside that bled continually. A month later the stigmata in his hands and feet \nbecame visible and remained so until the final day of his life. The Capuchins \nmade no attempt to conceal Padre Pio’s condition\, which soon became known \nall over Italy and was the main cause of both his celebrity and the controversy \nthat surrounded him. \nAs people started flocking to his convent in their thousands\, the Vatican\, \ncautious as ever when faced with “private” favors and revelations\, had him \nexamined by a succession of doctors. The physical manifestations were \nundeniable. But were they from God\, the psychosomatic effect of a disturbed \npersonality\, or even a fraudulent attempt on his part of that of the convent to \nachieve notoriety? \nHuge crowds attended his Masses\, during which he went into ecstatic \nstates that could last for two hours or more. In July 1923 he received an order to \nsay Mass in private\, but so real was the threat of a violent popular reaction that \nit was rescinded the following day. Padre Pio himself made no comment on his \ncondition other than that he was “a mystery to himself” but his gifts should \nproduce benefits for others. \nHis community was able to ensure that they were so used when money \nofferings started coming in from his penitents and admirers. In January 1925\, \nhe opened a twenty-bed hospital that was named after St Francis and remained \nin operation for thirteen years… \nIn 1940\, with the particular support of Maria Pyle\, a wealthy American \nwoman to whose mother he had ministered as she was dying in 1929\, Padre Pio \nwas in a position to undertake a more ambitious hospital project. Medical and \nadministrative committees were set up\, but the Second World War delayed \nfurther implementation of the project until 1946\, when a limited company was \nformed to carry the work forward… \nIn 1959 Padre Pio’s own health deteriorated. Then in August he \nrecovered\, apparently miraculously\, when a statue of Our Lady of Fatima was \nbrought into the hospital for two days. He died on September 23\, 1968\, and \ndoctors who examined his body found his hands and feet unmarked and “fresh \nas those of a child”. He was beatified and later canonized by Pope John Paul II. \nIn his address the Pope spoke not so much of Padre Pio’s extraordinary \nexperiences but of the long hours the friar would spend in the confessional and \nof his extraordinary charity\, which\, he said\, “was poured like balm on the \nsufferings of his brothers and sisters.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-pius-pietrelcina/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260924
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260925
DTSTAMP:20260920T110525Z
CREATED:20260920T110525Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260920T110525Z
UID:15495-1790208000-1790294399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nHENRI LE SAUX \n◊◊◊ \nVocations are as diverse as temperaments are diverse. More simply\, we \ncould say that certain temperaments are more predisposed to the solitary life \nand others to life in the world. Among the great vocations there are the Sages \nand there are the Prophets. There are those whom the Holy Spirit compels to \nwithdraw within themselves and to meditate night and day on the Law of the \nLord\, like the inspired scribes of Israel and those first hermits of Mount Carmel. \nAnd there are those who are called to proclaim the Word of God to others. \nIn the world we must have people who testify that God is beyond all \nsymbol\, people who witness to the absolute. We must have people who\, in the \nname of the world\, place the world at the center and who live in this center \nwhere God dwells. We needed some of them even in the Church to ward off \npragmatism which constantly threatens it\, even under the finest outward \nappearances of pastoral and missionary zeal. We need people who take literally \nthe call of Christ to poverty\, to freedom from concern about the morrow\, to \nindifference to all but the one essential thing. We are so made that it is only in \nfellowship\, in collaboration and in one person complementing the qualities of \nanother\, that we are completely capable of putting the Gospel into effect. \nIndeed\, alongside the people who witness to the immutability of God\, \nthere must be people who witness to his activity. Alongside the people who \nwitness to his transcendence\, there must be those who witness to his \nimmanence. \nThere must be people who enter with all their abilities into the Divine plan \nfor the development of the universe and for the growth of the mystical body of \nthe Lord. God did not intend everything in universe to be made all at once. He \nchose to have his creation – and above all\, humanity – working with him. It is \nthrough secondary causes that God leads the world to find its consummation. \nAt the human level\, this collaboration becomes freedom. At the same time it \nbecomes understanding. \nThis means that we are called to use our intelligence to discover how best \nto improve the conditions of human life. We are responsible and intelligent \ncollaborators in the work of creating and of ruling the world. We cannot refuse \nto take part in it without refusing God himself. That is inscribed in our human \nbirth and in the condition of communion (or koinonia)\, which is the condition \nof our existence\, human as well as Christian. \nHowever\, not everyone is called to collaborate in the same way. There are \nkings and there are farmers; there are doctors and there are merchants. The \nimportant point is that each one\, wherever God has placed them\, should always \nwork for the good of all. Selfishness is not only the act of someone who may \nwithdraw to the desert out of laziness or cowardice. It is no less present in the \none who has chosen to live in the world\, but who uses the world for their own \nexclusive gain. Every vocation is a service\, both in the church and in the world. \nEach of us is at the service of each other.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-31/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260925
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260926
DTSTAMP:20260920T110644Z
CREATED:20260920T110644Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260920T110644Z
UID:15497-1790294400-1790380799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST AMBROSE \n◊◊◊ \nWhat is regeneration? You can read in the Acts of the Apostles a verse \nwhich is cited from the second psalm: “You are my son\, I have begotten you \ntoday”. The words seem to refer to the resurrection. Indeed\, the holy apostle \nPeter interprets them in this way in the Acts of the Apostles: when the Son rose \nfrom the dead the Father’s voice was heard proclaiming: “You are my son\, I have \nbegotten you today.” That is why he is also called “the first-born from the dead. \nFor what is resurrection except that we rise from death to life? So it is in \nbaptism\, which is an image of death: when you are immersed and rise up again\, \nthere\, certainly\, is an image of the resurrection. And as Christ’s resurrection\, \naccording to the right interpretation of the apostle Peter\, is a regeneration\, so \nalso this resurrection here is a regeneration. \nBut what conclusions do you draw from the fact that it is in water that you \nare immersed. Are you a little lost here? Does some doubt creep in? We read: \n“Let the earth produce for herself fruits which germinate.” You have read the \nsame about the waters: “Let the waters produce living things; and living things \nwere born”. These were born in the beginning\, at the creation; but this gift was \nkept for you: that the waters should regenerate you in grace\, even as those other \nwaters generated into life. \nImitate the fish; it received a lesser grace than you\, but you should still \nconsider it a marvel… It is in the sea and swims on the waves. On the sea the \ntempest rages\, violent winds blow; but the fish swims on. It does not drown \nbecause it is used to swimming. In the same way this world is the sea for you. It \nhas various currents\, huge waves\, fierce storms. You too\, must be a fish\, so that \nthe waves of this world do not drown you. Those are lovely words of the Father: \n“I have begotten you today.” It means “when you have redeemed the world\, \nwhen you have summoned hearts to the kingdom of heaven\, when you have \nfulfilled my will\, you have proved that you are my son.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-470/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260926
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260927
DTSTAMP:20260920T110802Z
CREATED:20260920T110802Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260920T110802Z
UID:15499-1790380800-1790467199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nFR ROMANO GUARDINI \n◊◊◊ \nElizabeth calls the Virgin Blessed because she had faith – for everything \nwould happen as the Lord had told her; through the power of the Holy Spirit she \nwould become the Mother of the Redeemer\, and in this find the fulfillment of her \nlife and salvation. To be assured of this was not always easy. When the Gospel \nspeaks of Mary and her son\, one perceives a great love\, but also a remoteness. \nThe answer of the twelve-year-old boy in the temple; the answer Jesus gave \nat the wedding feast of Cana; his words to the bystanders\, when Mary\, at the door\, \nasks for him; what he said to the woman who exalted his Mother; and his last \ntestament in which he committed her to the care of the disciple – in each of these\, \nsomething is revealed that removes him from her\, and we always sense the \npossibility that she might have become perplexed about God’s guidance. But each \ntime her confidence increased and she placed all into his hands. Mary lived \ncompletely through her confidence in God’s power\, a power that is capable of \nconsummating all\, even in darkness and opposition. \nHope is confidence in God’s power to accomplish all things. He has promised \nthat we shall become new persons\, and that his creation shall be a “new heaven and \na new earth”. This is gainsaid by the impression made on us by worldly things; by \nthe course our life is taking; by the opinions of people around us; by our own daily \ninsufficiency and sin – by everything. Hope is the “nevertheless” of faith. In spite of \nall contradiction\, the new life is within us\, and God will complete it if we trust in \nhim despite all opposition. But that is difficult\, sometimes impossible. So we must \nask again that the Lord “may strengthen our hope.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-the-bvm-13/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260927
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260928
DTSTAMP:20260927T114142Z
CREATED:20260927T114142Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260927T114142Z
UID:15501-1790467200-1790553599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n26th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (II)\nSeptember 27 – October 3\, 2026\n\n\n\nSun\n27\nMon\n28\nTue\n29\nWed\n30\nThu\n1\nFri\n2\nSat\n3\n\n\nOffice\n26th Sunday\nWeekday\nSt Michael & All Angels\nSt Jerome\nSt Therese of the Child Jesus\nWeekday\nLouisville Cathedral\n\n\nVigils\nSir 3:17-31\nSir 4:1-19\nDan 10:4-11:1\nSir 4:20-5:8\nSir 5:9-6:17\nSir 6:18-37\n2 Chron 7:1-16\n\n\nLauds\nZeph 3:8-13\nZeph 3:14-20\nTobit 12:6-15\nHaggai 1:1-8\nHag 1:9-15\nHag 2:1-9\nEzek 43:1-7a\n\n\nMass\n136\n455\n647\n457\n458\n459\n701.1\, 704.3\, 706.2\n\n\n1st\nEzek 18:25-28\nJob 1:6-22\nRev 12:7-12a\nJob 9:1-12\, 14-16\nJob 19:21-27\nJob 38:1\, 12-21; 40:3-5\n1 Kings 8:22-23\, 27-30\n\n\n2nd\nPhil 2:1-11\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 21:28-32\nLuke 9:46-50\nJohn 1:47-51\nLuke 9:57-62\nLuke 10:1-12\nLuke 10:13-16\nLuke 19:1-10\n\n\nVespers\n1 Pet 3:18-22\n1 Pet 4:1-6\nHeb 1:5-14\n1 Pet 4:7-11\n1 Pet 4:12-19\n1 Pet 5:1-7\n1 Pet 5:8-14
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-170/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260927
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260928
DTSTAMP:20260927T114259Z
CREATED:20260927T114259Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260927T114259Z
UID:15503-1790467200-1790553599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 26th Sunday
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA \n◊◊◊ \nThe doors are open for all who sincerely and wholeheartedly return to \nGod; indeed the Father is most willing to welcome back a truly repentant son or \ndaughter. The result of true repentance\, however\, is that you do not fall into the \nsame faults again\, but utterly uproot from your souls the sins for which you \nconsider yourself worthy of death. When these have been destroyed God will \nagain dwell within you\, since Scripture says that for the Father and his angels in \nheaven the festal joy and gladness at the return of one repentant sinner is great \nbeyond compare. That is why the Lord cried out: What I want is mercy\, not \nsacrifice. I desire not the death of the sinner but his conversion… \nAlthough only God has power to forgive sin and to cancel transgressions\, \nthe Lord commands us also to forgive our repentant brothers and sisters every \nday. So if we who are evil know how to give good gifts\, how much more generous \nmust be the Father of mercies\, the good Father of all consolation\, who is full of \ncompassion and mercy\, and whose nature it is to be patient and await our \nconversion! Genuine conversion\, however\, means ceasing to sin without any \nbackward glance. \nGod pardons what is past\, then\, but for the future we are each responsible \nfor ourselves. By repenting we condemn our past misdeeds and beg forgiveness \nof the Father\, the only one who can in his mercy undo what has been done\, and \nwipe away our past sins with the dew of the Spirit. \nAnd so\, if you are a thief and desire to be forgiven\, steal no more. If you are \na robber\, return your gains with interest. If you have been a false witness\, \npractice speaking the truth. If you are a perjurer\, stop taking oaths. You must \nalso curb all the other evil passions: anger\, lust\, grief\, and fear. No doubt you \nwill be unable all at once to root out passions habitually given way to\, but this \ncan be achieved by God’s power\, human prayers\, the help of your brothers and \nsisters\, sincere repentance\, and constant practice.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-26th-sunday-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260928
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260929
DTSTAMP:20260927T114403Z
CREATED:20260927T114403Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260927T114403Z
UID:15505-1790553600-1790639999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “The Spiritual Exercises” of \nST GERTRUDE THE GREAT \n◊◊◊ \nPray to the Lord\, the King of kings himself\, that he may accept you in the \nmilitia of love and teach you to take upon yourself the pleasant yoke and light \nburden so that you may follow your Lord with your cross\, clinging to your God \nwith undivided love; and say this with prayer and verse: \nYou\, Lord\, are my hope\, my keeper\, and my refuge: you are with me in \nevery tribulation. O God\, cherishing love\, anyone who is found to be strong and \nquick in the work of your love – that one truly will stand in the presence of your \nroyal face at all times… O queen of queens\, charity\, make me\, for the sake of your \nglory\, bound to you by oath in the new militia of cherishing you. Teach me to set \nmy hand to strong things and\, in you and through you\, quickly and unweariedly \nto go about and fulfill most faithfully the business of your cherishing-love. Gird \nmy thigh with the sword of your Spirit\, most mighty one and make me put on \nvirility in my mind so that in all virtue I may act viriliously and energetically; \nand\, inseparably with you\, I may persevere\, well strengthened in you\, with an \nunconquerable mind. \nMay all my vigor become so appropriated to your charity and my senses so \nfounded and firm in you that\, while of the fragile sex\, I may\, by virtue of a \nrational soul and virile mind\, attain to that kind of love which leads to the \nbridal-couch of the interior bed-chamber of perfect union with you. Now\, O \nlove\, hold and possess me as your own\, for already I no longer have – if not in \nyou – either spirit or soul.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-471/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260929
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260930
DTSTAMP:20260927T114534Z
CREATED:20260927T114534Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260927T114534Z
UID:15507-1790640000-1790726399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Michael & All Angels
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nTHE CATECHISM OF \nTHE CATHOLIC CHURCH \n◊◊◊ \nSt Augustine says: “Angel’ is the name of their office\, not of their nature. \nIf you seek the name of their nature\, it is ‘spirit’; if you seek the name of their \noffice\, it is ‘angel’: From what they are\, ‘spirit’\, from what they do\, ‘angel’.“ \nWith their whole beings the angels are servants and messengers of God. \nBecause they always behold the face of the Father who is in heaven they are the \n“mighty ones who do his word\, harkening to the voice of his word.“ \nAs purely spiritual creatures angels have intelligence and will: they are \npersonal and immortal creatures\, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures\, \nas the splendor of their glory bears witness. Christ is the center of the angelic \nworld. They are his angels: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory\, and all \nthe angels with him…” They belong to him because they were created through \nand for him: “for in him all things were created in heaven and on earth\, visible \nand invisible\, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities.“ \nThey belong to him still more because he has made them messengers of his \nsaving plan: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve\, for the \nsake of those who are to obtain salvation?“ \nAngels have been present since creation throughout the history of \nsalvation\, announcing this salvation from afar or near and serving the \naccomplishment of the divine plan: they closed the earthly paradise; protected \nLot; saved Hagar and her child; stayed Abraham’s hand; communicated the law \nby their ministry; led the People of God; announced births and callings; and \nassisted the prophets\, just to cite a few examples. Finally\, the angel Gabriel \nannounced the birth and the Precursor and that of Jesus himself. \nFrom the Incarnation to the Ascension\, the life of the Word incarnate is \nsurrounded by the adoration and service of angels. When God “brings the \nfirstborn into the world\, he says: “Let all God’s angels worship him“. Their song \nof praise at the birth of Christ has not ceased resounding in the Church’s praise: \n“Glory to God in the highest!” They protect Jesus in his infancy\, serve him in \nthe desert\, strengthen him in his agony in the garden\, when he could have been \nsaved by them from the hands of his enemies as Israel had been. Again\, it is the \nangels who “evangelize” by proclaiming the Good News of Christ’s Incarnation \nand Resurrection. They will be present at Christ’s return\, which they will \nannounce\, to serve at his judgment. \nIn the meantime\, the whole life of the Church benefits from the \nmysterious and powerful help of angels. In her liturgy\, the Church joins with \nthe angels to adore the thrice-holy God. She invokes their assistance…in the \nfuneral liturgy’s “May the angels lead you into Paradise“. \nMoreover\, in the “Cherubic Hymn” of the Byzantine Liturgy\, she \ncelebrates the memory of certain angels more particularly St Michael\, St \nGabriel\, St Raphael\, and the guardian angels. From infancy to death human life \nis surrounded by their watchful care and intercession…
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-michael-all-angels-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260930
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261001
DTSTAMP:20260927T114659Z
CREATED:20260927T114659Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260927T114659Z
UID:15509-1790726400-1790812799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Jerome
DESCRIPTION:A letter from St Jerome to \nPAULINUS \n◊◊◊ \nYou see how\, carried away by my love of the scriptures\, I have exceeded \nthe limits of a letter yet have not fully accomplished my object. We have heard \nonly what it is that we ought to know and to desire\, so that we too may be able to \nsay with the psalmist: “My soul breaks out with the fervent desire it always has \nhad for your judgments”. But the saying of Socrates about himself — “I only \nknow this: that I know nothing”—is fulfilled in our case also. \nThe New Testament I will briefly deal with. Matthew\, Mark\, Luke and \nJohn are the Lord’s team of four\, the true cherubim or store of knowledge. [Like \nthe description in the prophet Ezekiel\,] with them the whole body is full of eyes\, \nthey glitter as sparks\, they run and return like lightning\, their feet are straight \nfeet\, and lifted up\, their backs also are winged\, ready to fly in all directions. \nThey hold together each by each and are interwoven one with another: \nlike wheels within wheels\, they roll along and go wherever the breath of the Holy \nSpirit wafts them. The apostle Paul writes to seven churches… He instructs \nTimothy and Titus; he interceded with Philemon for his runaway slave. Of him I \nthink it better to say nothing than to write inadequately. \nThe Acts of the Apostles seem to relate a mere unvarnished narrative\, \ndescriptive of the infancy of the newly born church; but when once we realize \nthat their author is Luke the physician whose praise is in the gospel\, we shall see \nthat all his works are medicine for the sick soul. \nThe apostles James\, Peter\, John and Jude have published seven epistles \nat once spiritual and to the point\, short and long\, short that is in words but \nlengthy in substance so that there are few indeed who do not find themselves in \nthe dark when they read them. The apocalypse of John has as many mysteries as \nwords. In saying this I have said less than the book deserves. All praise of it is \ninadequate; manifold meanings lie hid in its every word. \nI beg of you\, my dear brother\, to live among these books\, to meditate upon \nthem\, to know nothing else\, to seek nothing else. Does not such a life seem to \nyou a foretaste of heaven here on earth? Let not the simplicity of the scripture or \nthe poorness of its vocabulary offend you: for these are due either to the faults of \ntranslators or else to deliberate purpose: for in this way it is better fitted for the \ninstruction of an unlettered congregation as the educated person can take one \nmeaning and the uneducated another from one and the same sentence. \nI am not so dull or so forward as to profess that I myself know it\, or that I \ncan pluck upon the earth the fruit which has its root in heaven\, but I confess that \nI should like to do so. I put myself before the man who sits idle and\, while I lay \nno claim to be a master\, I readily pledge myself to be a fellow-student… Let us \nlearn upon earth that knowledge which will continue with us in heaven.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-jerome-5/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261001
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261002
DTSTAMP:20260927T114837Z
CREATED:20260927T114837Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260927T114837Z
UID:15511-1790812800-1790899199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Therese of the Child Jesus
DESCRIPTION:A letter from the “Illustrimissimi” of \nPOPE JOHN PAUL THE FIRST \n◊◊◊ \nI was seventeen years old when I read your autobiography. \nFor me it was like a bolt from the blue. “Story of a little flower” you had \ncalled it. To me it seemed the story of a “steel bar” because of the willpower\, the \ncourage\, and the decision that shone from it. Once you had chosen the path of \ncomplete devotion to God\, nothing then could stand in your way: no illness\, no \nexternal contradictions\, no inner shadows or uncertainty. \nRereading you\, I am impressed now by the way in which you loved God \nand your neighbor. Saint Augustine had written: “We go to God\, not with \nwalking but with loving.” You also call your path the “way of love.” Christ had \nsaid: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” \nPerfectly in line with these words\, you felt yourself like “a little bird without \nstrength and without wings“; in God\, on the contrary\, you saw the eagle\, who \ncame down to carry you to the heights on His won wings. You called divine \ngrace the “elevator\,” which raised you to God quickly and without toil\, since you \nwere “too small to climb the harsh stairway of perfection.“ \nI wrote above “without toil.” Let there be no misunderstanding: that is \ntrue in one aspect\, but in another…Let me remember your last months; your \nsoul advances in a kind of dark tunnel\, it sees nothing of what it formerly saw \nclearly. “Faith\,” you write\, “is no longer a veil\, but a wall.” The physical \nsufferings are so great that they make you say: “If I had not had faith\, I would \nhave given myself death.“ \nNevertheless\, you continue saying\, with the will of the Lord whom you \nlove: “I sing the happiness of Paradise\, but without feeling joy; I sing simply \nthat I want to believe.” Your last words were: “My God\, I love you!“ \nTo God’s compassionate love you had offered yourself as victim. All this \ndid not prevent you from enjoying beautiful and good things: before your final \nillness\, you painted joyously\, wrote poems and little sacred plays\, interpreting \nroles in some of them with the taste of a sensitive actress. \nIn your last illness\, during a moment of remission\, you asked for some \nchocolate pastries. You were not afraid of your own imperfections\, nor even of \nhaving sometimes dozed off in weariness during meditation. (“Mothers love \ntheir children also when they are asleep!“) \nLoving your neighbor\, you drove yourself to render little services\, useful \nbut unobserved\, and to prefer\, when possible\, the people who irked you and had \nleast in common with you. Behind their not very likable faces\, you sought the \nlovable face of Christ. And this effort\, this seeking\, was not noticed. “Mystical \nas she is in chapel and at work\,” the mother superior wrote of you\, “she is \nequally comical and full of fun during recreation\, when she makes us split our \nsides laughing.“ \nThese few lines I have written are very far from containing your complete \nmessage to Christians. They suffice\, all the same\, to indicate some lines for us to \nfollow. \n  \n5 Illustrissimi\, Letters from Pope John Paul I. Albino Luciani/ Little\, Brown and Co.1978. p.147-8.10
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-therese-of-the-child-jesus-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261002
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261003
DTSTAMP:20260927T114944Z
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LAST-MODIFIED:20260927T114944Z
UID:15513-1790899200-1790985599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from the Spiritual Conferences of \nJOHN TAULER \n◊◊◊ \n“You shall be witnesses unto me in all Judea.” Judea means “to confess \nGod” or “to praise God.” We are to be God’s witnesses by confessing God in all \nour actions\, behavior\, and intentions. And this not merely when all goes well \nwith us\, when we are full of joy and delight and natural enthusiasm. People find \nit easy enough at such times to think that they are confessing God very well. \nThey seem to know and love God well enough as long as things go according to \ntheir own will; but as soon as they meet with terrible assaults\, they begin to \nwonder what they have been about. \nThey have completely lost their bearings now that suffering has come \nupon them. Now we can see clearly what has been at the root and foundation of \ntheir confession: not God\, but their feelings. This is an unstable foundation built \non shifting sands. God’s true witnesses\, on the other hand\, stand firm\, rooted in \nGod and in God’s will\, in love and in suffering\, no matter what God gives or what \nGod takes away. Nor do they set great store by practices of their own. \nIt often happens that when people have successfully undertaken some \npious practices\, they give much thought to the business of planning them and \ncarrying them out; and so they place great reliance on them and exercise their \nown activity to the utmost. But God\, in an inalienable love\, often breaks down \nwhatever rests on such a foundation as this by frequently arranging things \nwhich run contrary to our desires. \nIf we want to keep vigil\, we are obliged to sleep\, against our will; if we like \nto fast\, we are made to eat; if we would like to be quiet and at rest\, we have to do \nquite otherwise. In this way everything that we cling to crumbles at our touch\, so \nthat we may be brought face to face with our own bare and naked nothingness. \nThus we should learn to place all our reliance upon God\, confessing God \nalone in a simple and uncompromising faith\, and resting upon nothing else at \nall. For just as worldly and sinful persons are seduced by sensual pleasures\, so \nthese people are held back by a complacency in what they do or what they feel\, \nand are thus hindered from an absolute and simple surrender to God and from \nthe true poverty of spirit which God wants of them.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-472/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261003
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261004
DTSTAMP:20260927T115111Z
CREATED:20260927T115111Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260927T115111Z
UID:15515-1790985600-1791071999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Louisville Cathedral
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST OSCAR ROMERO \n◊◊◊ \nA Christian must be concerned to form community and see that the \ncommunity keeps growing in depth of faith and missionary extension. \nChristians must be dissatisfied as long as they see so many baptized persons \nwho have not perceived the richness of their baptism. What the apostles used to \ndo was to take that treasure and make it greater by forming communities and \ncommunity life. \nThis community sense is something we urgently need today in our \ncountry. At times there is confusion between the Christian community and the \npolitical group. Some are unable to tell the difference because the members of a \ncommunity don’t deepen their faith and they get mixed up. \nIn my pastoral letter\, I say that often our people\, especially the young \npeople\, have reached political maturity earlier than Christian maturity\, and they \nsee life more in political terms\, as though the political dimension of life were the \nonly one\, and they have no time left for what is Christian. But it should be the \nother way around: what is Christian comes first\, and it is thence that each one \nshould discover his or her proper place in the country\, in whatever vocation God \ngives one. \nIf God gives a political vocation. one should live it\, but as a Christian. That \nway we’ll have the sort of people needed nowadays\, people who will become \nmature in a Christian community\, will mature in the gospel\, in their faith\, in \ntheir commitment to Christ\, in their following of the Lord\, who will not let them \nbetray him in the laws or customs of the land\, that is\, in political life. And they \nwill then become the leaders of the transformations that the nation needs today \nmore than ever\, Christians thoroughly committed to Christ\, in a community \nthat is God’s people and\, as the Bible says\, is like a light on a mountaintop. \nToday\, with so much confusion\, so many groups\, so many claims\, the \nChristian community should consider itself a bright light\, providing light and \norientation to everything that happens around us.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-louisville-cathedral-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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