Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey

Wednesday in Third Week in Lent
2026-03-11
THE LIGHT OF CHRIST
From a commentary by St Ambrose 4
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Let your face shine on your servant, and teach me your precepts. The Lord enlightens his saints and makes his light shine in the hearts of the just. This means that when you see wisdom in anyone you can be sure that the glory of God has come down and flooded that person’s mind with the light of understanding and knowledge of divine truth. With Moses, however, it was different: God’s glory affected his body also, causing his face to shine. Indeed, his countenance was so transfigured that the <children of Israel> were afraid to look at him, and he was obliged to cover his face with a veil so that <they> should not be alarmed at the sight of it.
Now the face of Moses represents the splendor of the Law; yet this splendor is not to be found in the written letter but in the Law’s spiritual interpretation. As long as Moses lived, he wore a veil over his face whenever he spoke… But after his death Jesus, or Joshua, the son of Nun, spoke to the elders and the people without a veil. When he did so no one was afraid, even though God had spoken to Joshua as well as to Moses, assuring him that he would be with him just as he had been with Moses and would make him resplendent also.
Joshua’s glory, however, would be seen in his deeds rather than in his face. By this the Holy Spirit signified that when Jesus, the true Joshua, came, he would lift the veil from the heart of anyone who turned to him in willingness to listen, and that person would then see his true Saviour with unveiled face.
So it was that, through the coming of his Son, God the almighty Father made his light shine into the hearts of the Gentiles, bringing them to see his glory in the face of Christ Jesus. This is clearly stated in the Apostle’s letter, where we find the following written: The God who commanded light to shine out of darkness has made his light shine in our hearts, to enlighten us with the knowledge of God’s glory shining in the face of Christ Jesus.
And so when David says to the Lord Jesus: Let your face shine upon your servant, he is expressing his longing to see the face of Christ, so that his mind may be capable of enlightenment. These words can be taken as referring to the incarnation, for as the Lord himself declared: Many prophets and righteous men have desired to have this vision. David was not asking for what had been denied to Moses, namely that he might see the face of the incorporeal God with his bodily eyes… There was nothing wrong, therefore, in David’s desire to see the face of the Virgin’s Son who was to come; he desired it in order that God’s light might shine in his heart, as it shone in the hearts of the disciples who said: Were not our hearts burning within us when he opened up the Scriptures to us?
4
St Ambrose, On Psalm 118 17:26-29 (CSEL 62:390-392); from Word in Season II, 1st ed.

Thursday in Third Week in Lent
2026-03-12
THE POWER OF
CHRISTIAN PRAYER
From the treatise “On Prayer” by Tertullian 5
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Prayer is the spiritual offering that has replaced the ancient sacrifices. What good do I receive from the multiplicity of your sacrifices?, asks God. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, and I do not want the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats. Who has asked for these from your hands? What God has asked for, we learn from the Gospel: The hour will come, it says, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. God is spirit, and so he looks for worshipers who are like himself.
We are the true worshipers and the true priests. Praying in spirit we offer prayer to God as a sacrifice. Prayer is an appropriate and an acceptable sacrifice to God. It is the offering he has asked for and the offering he expects. We must make this offering with our whole heart. We must fatten it on faith, prepare it by truth, keep it unblemished by innocence, spotless by chastity, and we must crown it with love. We must escort it to the altar of God in a procession of good works to the sound of psalms and hymns. Then it will gain for us all that we ask of God. What can God refuse to prayer offered in spirit and in truth, when he himself asks for such prayer? How many proofs of its efficacy we read about, hear of, and believe!
Of old prayer brought deliverance from fire and beasts and hunger even before it received its pattern from Christ. How much greater then is the power of Christian prayer! It does not bring an angel of comfort to the heart of a fiery furnace, or shut the mouths of lions, or transport to the hungry food from the fields. The grace it wins does not remove all sense of pain, but it does endow those who suffer with the capacity to endure and the faith to know what the Lord will give those who suffer for the name of God.
In the past prayer caused plagues, routed armies, withheld the blessing of rain. Now the prayer of good people turns aside the anger of God, keeps vigil for their enemies, pleads for their persecutors. If prayer once had the power to call down fire from heaven, is it any wonder that it can call down from heaven the waters of grace? Prayer is the one thing that can conquer God. But Christ has willed that it should work no evil: all the power he has given it is for good.
All the angels pray. Every creature prays. Cattle and wild beasts pray and bend the knee. As they come from their barns and caves they look up to heaven and call out, lifting up their spirit in their own fashion. The birds too rise and lift themselves up to heaven: they open out their wings, instead of hands, in the form of a cross, and give voice to what seems to be a prayer.
What more need be said about the duty of prayer? Even the Lord himself prayed. To him be honour and power for ever and ever. Amen.
5
Tertullian, De oratione 28-29 (CCL 1:273-274); from Word in Season II, 1st ed.

Friday in Third Week in Lent
2026-03-13
THE MYSTERY OF
THE TABERNACLE
From “The Life of Moses” by St Gregory of Nyssa 6
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What then is that tabernacle not made with hands which was shown to Moses on the mountain and to which he was commanded to look as to an archetype so that he might reproduce it in a handmade structure? God said, See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. Of what things not made with hands are these an imitation? And what benefit does the material imitation of those things Moses saw there convey to those who look at it?
Taking a hint from what has been said by Paul, who partially uncovered the mystery of these things, we say that Moses was earlier instructed by a type in the mystery of the tabernacle which encompasses the universe. This tabernacle would be Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God, who in his own nature was not made with hands, yet capable of being made when it became necessary for this tabernacle to be erected among us. Thus, the same tabernacle is in a way both unfashioned and fashioned, uncreated in pre-existence but created in having received this material composition. This one is the Only Begotten God, who encompasses everything in himself but who also pitched his own tabernacle among us.
Whenever the prophet looks to the tabernacle above, he sees the heavenly realities through these symbols. But if one should look at the tabernacle below, since in many places the Church also is called Christ by Paul, he would see the Church. In this tabernacle both the sacrifice of praise and the incense of prayer are seen offered continually at morning and evening. The great David allows us to perceive these things when he directs the incense of his prayer in an odor of sweetness to God, performing his sacrifice through the lifting up of his hands…
If the interior, which is called the Holy of Holies, is not accessible to the multitude, let us not think that this is at variance with the sequence of what has been perceived. For the truth of reality is truly a holy thing, a holy of holies, and is incomprehensible and inaccessible to the multitude. Since it is set in the secret and ineffable areas of the tabernacle of mystery, the apprehension of the realities above comprehension should not be meddled with; one should rather believe that they do exist and that they remain in the secret and ineffable areas of the Intelligence.
6 St Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses 170, 173-175, 184-188; CWS (1978) tr.Malherbe & F erguson.

Saturday in the Third Week in Lent
2026-03-14
HIDDEN BY HIS HOLY FLESH
From a commentary by St Cyril of Alexandria 7
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Emmanuel, God-with-us, is presented in figure and image when Scripture says: And you will place the ark of the testimony in the tabernacle and cover it with the veil. For in the preceding account the Word was described to us as in the whole tabernacle; for it was the house in which God dwelt, namely, the holy body of Christ. But despite that, the ark gives us the same meaning in detail. For it was made of acacia wood, for you to perceive his incorruptibility. It was entirely overlaid with pure gold, as it is written, both inside and outside. For everything in him, both divine and human, is precious and splendid; and in everything he is pre-eminent, as Paul says…
So the ark was made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold, and had the divine Law put into it as a symbol of the indwelling Word of God united to a holy body. For the Word of God was also the Law, even, if not in human form, as the Son is. But it is covered with the veil.
It was much the same with God the Word made man, the covering of his own body obscured to the many. He, too, was hidden by his holy flesh as by a veil. Some of the Jews, therefore, failing to recognize his divine majesty, sometimes tried to stone him to death, accusing him of claiming to be God, when he was a man. Others again did not hesitate to say: Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How, then, can he say: ‘I have come down from heaven.’
So the laying of a veil on the ark tells us symbolically that Jesus would not be recognized by the many. Then even the ark itself was a symbol of him. So it was even he who went before the Israelites in the desert, taking the place of God at that time; for it was he who led the people. The psalmist is also a witness to this, saying: When you went before your people, O God, when you crossed the desert, the earth shook and the heavens, too, poured down rain. For the ark being always in front clearly means that God leads the way.
For Christ is one, but is understood in many and various ways: he is the tabernacle, because of the veil of flesh; he is the ark, containing the divine Law, as he is the Word of God the Father; he is the table, as life and nourishment; the lampstand, as intellectual and spiritual light; he is the altar of sacrifice, as the fragrant odor in sanctity; and the altar of offerings, as an offering for the life of the world. Thus all things in life are sanctified, for Christ is entirely holy, in whatever way he is understood.
7 St Cyril of Alexandria, On John IV.4 (PG 73:620-621, 625); from Word in Season II, 2nd ed

Skema
2026-03-15
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
4th Week of Lent

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (II)
March 15 – 21, 2026

Sun
15
Mon
16
Tue
17
Wed
18
Thu
19
Fri
20
Sat
21

Office
4th Sunday of Lent
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
St Joseph
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday

Vigils
Exod 18:1-27
Exod 19:1-15
Exod 19:16-25
Exod 20:1-21
Heb 11:1-16
Exod 24:1-18
Exod 25:1-22

Lauds
Deut 11:1-7
Deut 11:8-12
Deut 11:13-17
Deut 11:18-25
Gen 45:4-8
Deut 26:16-19
Deut 27:1-10

Mass
31
244
245
246
543
248
249

1st
1 Sam 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a
Isa 65:17-21
Ezek 47:1-9, 12
Isa 49:8-15
2 Sam 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16
Wis 2:1a, 12-22
Jer 11:18-20

2nd
Eph 5:8-14

Rom 4:13, 16-18, 22

Gospel
John 9:1-41
John 4:43-54
John 5:1-3a, 5-16
John 5:17-30
Matt 1:16, 18-21, 24a
John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30
John 7:40-53

Vespers
Heb 11:1-7
Heb 11:8-16
Heb 11:17-22
Eph 3:14-21
James 1:22-27
Heb 12:1-6
Heb 12:7-13

Vigils Reading - 4th Sunday of Lent
2026-03-15
COME TO CHRIST
From a commentary by St Ambrose
◊◊◊
You have heard that story in the gospel where we are told that the Lord
Jesus, as he was passing by, caught sight of a man who had been blind from
birth. Since the Lord did not overlook him, neither ought we to overlook the
story of a man whom the Lord considered worthy of his attention. In particular
we should notice the fact that he had been blind from birth. This is an important
point.
There is, indeed, a kind of blindness, usually brought on by serious illness,
which obscures one’s vision, but which can be cured, given time; and there is
another sort of blindness, caused by cataract, that can be remedied by a
surgeon; he can remove the cause and so the blindness is dispelled. Draw your
own conclusion: this man, who was actually born blind, was not cured by
surgical skill, but by the power of God.
When nature is defective the Creator, who is the author of nature, has the
power to restore it. That is why Jesus also said: As long as I am in the world, I
am the light of the world, meaning: all who are blind are able to see, so long as I
am the light they are looking for. Come, then, and receive the light, so that you
may be able to see.
What is he trying to tell us, he who brought human beings back to life,
who restored them to health by a word of command, who said to a corpse, Come
out! And Lazarus came out from the tomb; who said to a paralytic, Arise and
pick up your stretcher, and the sick man rose and picked up the very bed on
which he used to be carried as a helpless cripple? Again, I ask you, what is he
trying to convey to us by spitting on the ground, mixing his spittle with clay and
putting it on the eyes of a blind man, saying: Go and wash yourself in the pool of
Siloam (a name that means “sent”)? What is the meaning of the Lord’s action in
this? Surely one of great significance, since the person whom Jesus touches
receives more than just his sight.
In one instant we see both the power of his divinity and the strength of his
holiness. As the divine light, he touched this man and enlightened him; as a
priest, by an action symbolizing baptism he wrought in him his work of
redemption. The only reason for his mixing clay with the spittle and smearing it
on the eyes of the blind man was to remind you that he who restored the man to
health by anointing his eyes with clay is the very one who fashioned the first
man out of clay, and that this clay that is our flesh can receive the light of eternal
life through the sacrament of baptism.
You, too, should come to Siloam, that is, to him who was sent by the
Father (as he says in the gospel, My teaching is not my own, it comes from him
who sent me). Let Christ wash you and you will then see. Come and be baptized,
it is time; come quickly, and you too will be able to say, I was blind, and now I
can see, and as the blind man said when his eyes began to receive the light, The
night is almost over and the day is at hand.

Vigils Reading
2026-03-16
THE ACCURSED ONE
WEARS THE WREATH
From “The Letter of Barnabas”
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Bear in mind, O children of joy, that there is not a single thing which the
Lord in his goodness has not made clear to us beforehand, so that we may know
to whom all our thanks and praises are due. Though the Son of God was the
divine Lord, and the future Judge of living and dead alike, yet nevertheless he
suffered, in order that his affliction might win life for us.
Notice the directions he gave. Take a couple of goats, unblemished and
well-matched; bring them for an offering, and let the priest take one of them
for a burnt offering. And what are they to do with the other? The other, he
declares, is accursed. (Now see how plainly the type of Jesus appears.) Spit on
it, all of you; thrust your goads into it, wreathe its head with scarlet wool, and
so let it be driven out into the desert.
This is done, and the servant leads the animal into the desert, where he
takes off the wool and leaves it there… Now what does that signify? Notice that
the first goat is for the altar, and the other is accursed; and that it is the accursed
one that wears the wreath. That is because they shall see him on That Day clad to
the ankles in his red woollen robe, and will say, ‘Is not this he whom we once
crucified, and mocked and pierced and spat upon? Yes, this is the man who told
us that he was the son of God.’
But how will he resemble the goat? The point of there being two similar
goats, both of them fair and alike, is that when they see him coming on the Day,
they are going to be struck with terror at the manifest parallel between him and
the goat. In this ordinance, then, you are to see typified the future sufferings of
Jesus…
Men whose sins had come to a head were to bring a heifer for an offering,
and slay it and burn it. Then, after gathering up the ashes and putting them into
basins of water, young children were to tie scarlet wool on branches of wood
(here again, you see, we have the scarlet wool and the type of the Cross),
together with sprigs of hyssop; and with these the people were to be sprinkled,
man by man, by the youngsters, to cleanse them from their sins. See how clearly
he is speaking to you here! The calf is Jesus, and the sinners who offer it are
those who dragged him to the slaughter. Why was the wool put on living wood?
Because the royal realm of Jesus is founded on a Tree, and they who hope in him
shall have eternal life. To ourselves it is plain enough that these were the true
reasons for doing things in this way; but to them it was all dark, because their
ears were deaf to the voice of the Lord.

Vigils Reading
2026-03-17
GUARDING OUR CONSCIENCE
From the writing of St Dorotheus of Gaza
◊◊◊
When God created man, he implanted in us something of his own divinity,
in the way of a more ardent disposition, with a shining spark of reason to
illuminate our minds and teach us the difference between good and evil. This is
called conscience, which is the natural law. It was by submitting to this law, that
is, to the conscience, that the patriarchs and all the faithful in the days before the
written Law were well-pleasing to God. But since conscience was clogged and
trampled on by humanity in general through successive sins, we needed the
written Law, we needed the holy Prophets, and we needed the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ to uncover and awaken it, and to bring the buried spark back
to life through the observance of his holy commands.
So it is now up to us either to keep it buried, or to allow it to shine in us and
illuminate us if we obey it. For when our conscience tells us to do something and
we ignore it, and it speaks again and we still do nothing but trample on it, we
finally bury it, and it can no longer speak clearly to us because of the weight
pressing on it.
Let us take the greatest care, then, brothers, to guard our conscience as
long as we live in this world, and not allow it to convict us of any wrongdoing,
nor despise it even in the smallest matters for any reason at all. For, as you
know, from scorning such small and supposedly unimportant things we are led
to despise even great things. Both living a good life and living a life of sin grow
from small beginnings, to end in either great good or great evil.
Then we must guard our conscience in relation to God, in relation to our
neighbour and in relation to material things. In relation to God, so as not to
despise his commands, even if no one sees us or expects anything of us. We
guard our conscience for God in secret, for instance, when we do not neglect
prayers and, when our mind is inflamed with passion, we agree to calm down
and relax; and, when we see our neighbour talking or doing anything, we refrain
from suspecting and condemning him for appearing to be up to no good.
Guarding our conscience in relation to our neighbour means to do
nothing at all which we know will distress or frighten our neighbour, either by
deed, word, gesture or look. For, as I have often told you before, even a gesture
can upset a neighbour, and so can a look.
Guarding our conscience in relation to material things means not to
misuse anything, nor let anything be wasted or left lying about, but if we see
anything lying about not to ignore it, even if it is something quite unimportant,
but pick it up and return it to its right place; it also means not to neglect our
clothes. Equally with food: you can satisfy your needs with a small amount of
vegetables or lentils, or a few olives; but to refuse to do so, and to insist on
having either pleasanter or more expensive food – all such things are against
conscience.

Vigils Reading
2026-03-18
GROUNDED IN THE FAITH
From a homily by Origen
◊◊◊
The omnipotent God, who lays down for men the contest of observing his
Law in this world, lists what ought to be done and not done, announces suitably
at the end of the book of Leviticus where each individual observance is
established, what reward he who fulfills them bears and what punishment he
who does not observe them undergoes.
But if the Law…is not spiritual but carnal, there is no doubt that he grants
carnally observed blessings also to those who observe them carnally. But if, as it
seems to the Apostle Paul, the Law is spiritual then it must be observed
spiritually and there is a spiritual reward of the blessings for which they hope…
So that what we say may not be doubted, let us hear the voice of the Apostle Paul
himself writing about spiritual blessings to the Ephesians: Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who blessed us in Christ with every
spiritual blessing in heaven.
And you will eat your bread in abundance. I do not take that to be a
physical blessing, as if he who keeps the Law of God obtains this ordinary bread
in abundance. Why? Do not the impious and wicked eat bread not only in
abundance but even in delight? Therefore, if we turn our attention more to him
who said, I am the living bread which descended from heaven, and whoever
eats this bread will live forever, and if we consider that he who said this was
the Word by which souls are nourished, then we will understand about
which bread it was said, And you will eat your bread in abundance. In
Proverbs, Solomon also proclaims similar things about the just man when
he says, When the just man eats, he will fill his soul; but the souls of the
impious will be in extreme poverty.
If you take it according to the literal sense, it appears false. For the
souls of the impious take food with eagerness and strive after satiety; but
the just meanwhile are hungry. Paul was just and he said, Up to this hour
we are hungry, and thirsty, and naked, and we are beaten with fists. But
if you consider how the just man always and without interruption eats
from the living bread and fills his soul with the heavenly food which is the
Word of God and his Wisdom, you will find how the just man eats his
bread in abundance from the blessing of God.
And you will dwell secure upon your land. The unjust man is never
secure but is always moved and wavers and is carried about by every wind of
doctrine. But the just man who keeps the Law of God dwells secure upon his
land. For his understanding is made firm by saying to God, Confirm me, O
Lord, in your words. Therefore, he lives upon his land grounded in the faith
because his building is not placed upon sand, and his root is not ‘upon a rock’,
but indeed his house was founded upon the earth, but his plant took root in the
depth of the earth, that is, in the interior of his soul. Therefore, it is rightly said
to a soul of this kind in the blessings, You will dwell secure upon your land; and
I will give peace upon your land.

Vigils Reading - St Joseph
2026-03-19
EVERYTHING HE DID
WAS DONE FOR GOD
From a sermon by Jacques Benigne Bossuet
◊◊◊
Among all the various vocations, I have noticed in Scripture two which
seem complete opposites: the first is that of the apostles; the second that of St.
Joseph. Jesus was revealed both to the apostles and to St Joseph, but for very
different reasons. He was revealed to the apostles so that they could proclaim
him to the whole world. He was revealed to Joseph so that he could remain
silent and conceal him.
The apostles were lights to make Jesus Christ visible to the whole world.
Joseph was a veil to hide him, and under this veil of mystery were hidden for us
the virginity of Mary and the greatness of the Savior. So we read in Scripture
that when people wished to belittle him they would say: Is he not Joseph’s son?
For the apostles then, Jesus was a Word to be proclaimed. Preach the message
of this gospel. For Joseph, however, Jesus was an unspoken word which was not
to be revealed.
See what the result is. The holy apostles proclaimed the word so loudly
that their word was re-echoed in the heavens, and St Paul dared to say that the
heavenly powers learned the counsels of the divine Wisdom through the
Church. On the other hand, when Joseph heard the marvels of Jesus Christ
spoke of, he listened, wondered, and kept silence.
What is the meaning of this difference? Is God at odds with Himself in
such contrasting vocations? No, you must not think so. All this diversity is
meant to teach God’s children the important truth that the whole of Christian
perfection lies simply in submission. He who glorified the apostles by conferring
on them the honorable duty of preaching, glorified Saint Joseph also by giving
him the humble duty of keeping silent. We should learn from this that true
Christian glory lies not in employments that win public acclaim, but in doing
God’s will.
If everyone cannot have the honor of preaching Jesus Christ, everyone
can have the honor of obeying him, and that is the glory of Saint Joseph, the
trustworthy honor of Christians. So do not ask me what Saint Joseph did in his
hidden life. I cannot possibly tell you. I can only reply the words of the Psalmist:
But what has the just man done? Usually the lives of sinners attract more
attention than those of good people because it is excitement and passion which
make a stir in the world. The sinners have drawn the bow, says David, they
have let fly at the righteous, destroyed, overthrown – he speaks only of worldly
people – for they have destroyed what you have made. He goes on. But what
has the just man done? He means that he has done nothing. Indeed he has done
nothing for people to see, because everything he did was done for God.
That is the way Saint Joseph lived. He saw Jesus Christ and remained
silent; he had experience of him but spoke no word. He did not share his glory
with others, but was satisfied with God alone. He fulfilled his vocation because,
just as the apostles were the ministers appointed to make Jesus Christ known,
so Joseph was his minister and companion in his hidden life.

Vigils Reading
2026-03-20
WHEREVER CHRIST LEADS
By St Cyril of Alexandria
◊◊◊
The glory of Christ filled the true Tabernacle, which is the Church, from
the very moment it was set up on earth. This, surely, is what is signified by the
cloud that covered the first Tabernacle. Christ has filled the Church with his
glory, and now like a fire, he shines forth to give light to those who live in the
darkness of ignorance and error. He shades and protects those already
enlightened by the dawn of his day in their hearts. He refreshes them with the
heavenly dew of his consolations sent down from above through the Spirit. This
is what we should understand by the saying that by night he appeared in the
form of fire, and by day in the form of cloud.
Those who were as yet uninstructed in the teaching of Christ required
spiritual enlightenment to bring them to a knowledge of God; but the more
advanced, whose minds had been illumined by faith, were in need of protection
from the scorching heat of the day, and of courage to bear the burdens of this
present life. For all who desire to live a godly life in Christ will suffer
persecution.
Whenever the cloud moved forward, the Tabernacle went with it; when
the cloud settled, the Tabernacle came to rest with it and the Israelites broke
their journey. Now the meaning of this for us is that wherever Christ leads, the
Church, the holy multitude of believers, follows him. The faithful are never
separated from the Saviour who calls them to himself. We may not be able to
find any special meaning in the constant halts and new departures throughout
our spiritual journey under Christ’s guidance. It is the whole journey, following
the cloud whether it moves forward or settles, that symbolizes our desire to be
with God.
Nevertheless, if we would have a more subtle interpretation, we could
perhaps say that our first departure is from unbelief to faith, from ignorance to
knowledge, and from having no perception of the true God to clear recognition
of the Creator and Lord of the universe. The second stage, and an essential one,
is conversion from sin and licentiousness to a desire for amendment both in
thought and deed. But the best and most glorious is the third part of the journey,
because in it we leave behind what is deficient and move onward toward what is
perfect both in our actions and in our belief.
So, little by little, we advance toward the ideal we see in Christ, to become
the perfect man, sharing in the perfection of Christ himself. This surely is what
Saint Paul means by saying: Forgetting what lies behind me and straining
forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the goal, the heavenly reward to
which God calls me in Christ Jesus.

Vigils Reading
2026-03-21
MANY ARE CALLED,
BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN
From “The Conferences” of St John Cassian
◊◊◊
Now something must be said about the renunciations which the tradition
of the Fathers and the authority of Holy Scripture show to be three and which
each one of us ought to pursue with all our zeal. The first is that by which in
bodily fashion we despise all the wealth and resources of the world. The second
is that by which we reject the former behavior, vices, and affections of soul and
body. The third is that by which we call our mind away from everything that is
present and visible and contemplate only what is to come and desire those
things that are invisible.
We read that the Lord commanded Abraham to do these three things all at
once when he said to him, Leave your country and your kinsfolk and your
father’s house. First he spoke of your country – namely, of the resources of this
world and of earthly wealth; secondly, of your kinsfolk – namely, of the former
way of life and behavior and vices that have been related to us from our birth by
a connection as it were of a certain affinity or consanguinity; thirdly, of your
father’s house – namely, of every vestige of this world which the eyes gaze upon.
Therefore, if we desire to achieve true perfection we ought to strive so
that, just as with our body we have disdained parents, homeland, wealth, and
the pleasures of the world, we may also in our heart abandon all these things
and not turn back again in our desires to what we have left behind, like those
who were led out by Moses. Although, to be sure, they did not return in body,
nonetheless they are said to have turned back to Egypt in their heart, for they
abandoned the God who had led them out with such powerful signs and they
venerated the idols of Egypt that they had once disdained. Scripture recalls it
thus: In their hearts they turned back to Egypt, saying to Aaron: Make for us
gods who will go before us.
We would be censured along with those who dwelled in the desert and
who desired the disgusting food of vice and filthiness after having eaten the
heavenly manna, and we would seem to complain like them: It was well with us
in Egypt, when we sat over pots of flesh and ate onions and garlic and
cucumbers and melons. Although this manner of speaking first referred to that
people, nonetheless we see it now daily fulfilled in our life and profession. For
everyone who has first renounced this world and then returns to his former
pursuits and his erstwhile desires proclaims that in deed and in intention he is
the same as they were, and he says: ‘It was well with me in Egypt’.
I fear that there will be found as many such people as we read there were
multitudes of sinners in the time of Moses. For although six hundred and three
thousand armed men were said to have left Egypt, no more than two of these
entered the promised land. Hence we must strive to take our models of virtue
from the few and far between, since, according to that figure of speech in the
Gospel, many are said to be called but few are said to be chosen. Bodily
renunciation and removal from Egypt, as it were, will be of no value to us,
therefore, if we have been unable to obtain at the same time the renunciation
of heart which is more sublime and more beneficial.

Skema--Fifth Week in Lent
2026-03-22
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
5th Week of Lent

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (II)
March 22 – 28, 2026

Sun
22
Mon
23
Tue
24
Wed
25
Thu
26
Fri
27
Sat
28

Office
5th Sunday of Lent
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
Annunciation of the Lord
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday

Vigils
Exod 29:1-21
Exod 31:1-18
Exod 32:1-20
1 Chron 17:1-15
Exod 33:7-23
Exod 34:1-16, 27-35
Exod 40:1-38

Lauds
Deut 29:1-8
Deut 30:1-6
Deut 30:9-14
Isa 52:7-12
Deut 31:1-6
Deut 31:9-13
Deut 32:45-47

Mass
34
251
252
545
254
255
256

1st
Ezek 37:12-14
Dan 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62
Num 21:4-9
Isa 7:10-14; 8:10
Gen 17:3-9
Jer 20:10-13
Ezek 37:21-28

2nd
Rom 8:8-11

Heb 10:4-10

Gospel
John 11:1-45
John 8:1-11
John 8:21-30
Luke 1:26-38
John 8:51-59
John 10:31-42
John 11:45-56

Vespers
Heb 12:14-17
Heb 12:18-24
Heb 2:5-10
Heb 2:11-18
Heb 13:9-16
Heb 13:17-25
Gal 3:7-14

5th Sunday in Lent
2026-03-22
From a commentary by 1
ST PETER CHRYSOLOGUS
◊◊◊
On his return from the underworld, Lazarus comes forth from the tomb like death confronting its conqueror, an image of the resurrection to come. Before we can fathom the depths of meaning behind this miracle, we must consider the way in which our Lord raised Lazarus to life. This action appears to us as the greatest of all his signs; we see in it the supreme example of divine power, the most marvelous of all his wonderful works.
Our Lord had raised up the daughter of Jairus…but although he restored life to the dead girl, he left the law of death still in force. He also raised the widow’s only son. He halted the bier, forestalled the young man’s burial, arrested the onslaught of physical decay; but the life he restored had not completely fallen into the power of death. The case of Lazarus was unique. His death and resurrection to life had nothing in common with the other two. Death had already exerted its full power over him, so that in him the sign of the resurrection shone out in all its fullness. I think it is possible to say that if Lazarus had remained only three days in the tomb it would have deprived our Lord’s resurrection of its full significance, since Christ proved himself Lord by returning to life after three days, whereas Lazarus, as his servant, had to lie in the grave for four days before he was recalled. However let us see if we can verify this suggestion by reading the text further.
His sisters sent a message to Jesus saying, Lord, the friend whom you love is sick. By these words they appeal to his affection, they lay claim to his friendship, they call on his love, urging their familiar relationship with him to persuade him to relieve their distress. But for Christ it was more important to conquer death than to cure disease. He showed his love for his friend not by healing him but by calling him back from the grave. Instead of a remedy for his illness, he offered him the glory of rising from the dead.
We are next told that when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he remained where he was for two days. You see how he gives full scope to death. He grants free reign to the grave; he allows corruption to set in. He prohibits neither putrefaction nor stench from taking their normal course; he allows the realm of darkness to seize his friend, drag him down to the underworld, and take possession of him. He acts like this so that human hope may perish entirely and human despair reach its lowest depths. The deed he is about to accomplish may then clearly be seen to be the work of God, not of man.
He waited for Lazarus to die, staying in the same place until he could tell his disciples that he was dead; then he announced his intention of going to him. Lazarus is dead, he said, and I am glad… Why…? Because the death and resurrection of Lazarus was a perfect prefiguration of the death and resurrection of the Lord himself. What the Lord was soon to achieve in himself had already been achieved in his servant… It was necessary that Lazarus should die, so that the faith of the disciples might also rise with him from the dead.
1
Journey with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press – NY – 1992 – p 44.

Lenten Weekday
2026-03-23
From a letter by 2
ST AUGUSTINE
◊◊◊
When the time came for the grace of the New Testament to be revealed through the man Christ Jesus, there was no question of his attracting us to himself with the promise of earthly happiness. This explains our Lord’s willingness to undergo suffering, to be scourged, spat upon, mocked, nailed to the Cross, and to accept death itself like one conquered and humiliated. All this he endured so that those who believed in him might learn what recompense for their dutiful service they could ask for and expect from God who had made them his children. They had to learn to serve him without any eye to earthly prosperity, for to value their faith at so low a price would be tantamount to rejecting it and trampling it underfoot.
By his great human compassion and by appearing among us in the form of a servant, Christ, who is both God and man, meant to teach us what we should spurn in this life and what we should hope for in the next. It was accordingly at the very height of his Passion, when his enemies thought they had won such a mighty victory, that he gave voice to our human weakness which was being crucified together with our former selves to set our sinful bodies free; and his cry was My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
In taking up this expression of our frailty our Head is praying the psalm: My God, my God, look upon me: why have you forsaken me? Here the suppliant feels abandoned; his prayer seems to be of no avail. Jesus made these words his own; they are the words of his Body, that is, of the Church which must endure the travail of conversion from unregenerate human nature into the new
creation. His is the voice of our human weakness, which has to be weaned from the good things of the Old Testament and taught to long after and hope for those of the New.
2
St Augustine, Letter 140.13-15 (PL 33:543-544); Word in Season II, 1st ed.

Lenten Weekday
2026-03-24
From a homily by 3
ST AUGUSTINE
◊◊◊
The Lord marked out for us the fullness of love we ought to have for each other when he told us: There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Taking into account his previous words, namely: This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you, the conclusion we must draw is the same as that of the evangelist John who recorded these statements. In his first letter John tells us that we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren in the same way as Christ laid down his life for us, loving one another after the example of Christ who loved us and made the supreme sacrifice for us.
Surely this is what we read in the Proverbs of Solomon: When you sit down to eat at the table of a ruler, consider carefully what is set before you, then stretch out your hand and take your portion knowing that you in your turn will have to provide the same kind of meal. What is this ruler’s table, if not the altar at which we receive the body and blood of him who laid down his life for us?
And what does it mean to sit at this table, if not to approach it with humility? What does it mean to stretch out your hand and take your portion knowing that you will have to provide the same kind of meal yourself, if not what I have already told you, namely that just as Christ laid down his life for us so we too ought to lay down our lives for our brethren? This is what the apostle Peter said: Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we might follow in his footsteps.
This is what it means to provide the same kind of meal, and what their burning love enabled the blessed martyrs to do. If we are to give true meaning to our celebration of their memorials, approaching the Lord’s table at the very feast at which they were fed, we must, like them, provide the same kind of meal. At this table we do not commemorate the martyrs in the same way as we commemorate others who now rest in peace, so as to include them in our prayers, but rather in order that they should pray for us and help us to follow in their footsteps. They practiced that perfect love which Christ said could not be surpassed, offering their brethren the same kind of meal as they themselves had received from the table of the Lord.
This must not be understood as implying that we can be the Lord’s equals by bearing witness to him to the extent of shedding our blood. Christ had the power to lay down his life and to take it up again; but we cannot choose how long we shall live, and death comes to us even against our will. Finally, even if martyrs die for their brethren, none of them by shedding his blood brings forgiveness for the sins of his brothers, as Christ brought forgiveness to us. In this he gave us not so much an example to imitate as a reason for rejoicing. Insofar, then, as they shed their blood for their brethren, the martyrs provided the same kind of meal as they themselves had received from the table of the Lord. Let us therefore love one another as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.
3
St Augustine, In John. 84.1-2 (CCL 36:536-538); Word in Season II, 1st ed.

Annunciation of the Lord
2026-03-25
From a sermon by 4
BLESSED GUERRIC OF IGNY
◊◊◊
It is indeed a kind word, a reliable word in which you can believe, this gospel of our salvation which the angel, sent by God, announced to Mary on this day. It is a joyful word which day utters unto day, the angel to the virgin, concerning the incarnation of the Word. It promises a son to the Virgin, and at the same time pardon to sinners, redemption to captives, release to the imprisoned, life to those in the grave. In foretelling the Son’s kingdom and announcing the glory of the righteous, it makes hell fearful and gives joy to heaven. By the revelation of these mysteries and by the new joys it brings them, it seems to have increased the perfection of the angels.
Is there an afflicted person who would not be cheered by this kind word, or anyone whose lowliness it would not console? Remember your word to your servant by which you gave me hope, sang David. It was this which consoled me when I was brought low. He received only a promise, a word which did not show any sign of coming true. The delay in the fulfillment of his desire distressed him, but he took comfort by hoping firmly in the good faith of the one who had made the promise. If David could sustain his spirit with just the hope of the salvation which was being kept for us, with what joy and delight ought we not to greet its realization?
Blessed are the mourners because they will be comforted, blessed those whose hearts are afflicted by a holy grief because they shall be gladdened by a kind word. Clearly the kind word which consoles is your all-powerful Word, O Lord, which came today from the heavenly throne into the womb of a virgin. There, too, he made a royal throne, and from there he consoles those who
mourn on earth even while he sits as king surrounded by the hosts of angels in heaven.
4
A Word in Season – vol/ IV – Augustinian Press p 1991 – pg 52.

Lenten Weekday
2026-03-26
From a commentary by 5
ST AUGUSTINE
◊◊◊
If our natural, sinful life had not been symbolically hanging on the Cross when the Lord died, the unregenerate instincts that were once ours would not have been crucified with him. But the apostle Paul assures us that our former selves were put to death with Christ on the Cross. The Lord died to free our bodies from the tyranny of sin. He intended us to be slaves of sin no longer.
Christ’s death and our sin were foreshadowed long ago in the desert, when Moses fastened a serpent to a wooden stake and held it on high. We must remember that it was through heeding the voice of a serpent that the human race had incurred the penalty of death, and so it was appropriate that a serpent, fastened to a wooden standard and raised aloft, should prefigure the death of Christ. In that symbol we have an image of the Lord’s death by hanging.
Now if Scripture were to say: Cursed be all that hang from a tree, we should scarcely feel disturbed. Yet that serpent hanging from a tree represents our Lord’s physical death. He himself confirmed this interpretation by saying: Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up above the earth. No one therefore will be likely to accuse Moses of intending to insult the Lord by this action, when he understands the power the Cross contains for the healing of the human race. Only because the serpent was a symbol of our Lord’s Cross did Moses command it to be erected, so that the people who were dying from snakebite might find instant cure through fixing their gaze upon it.
The serpent was fashioned from bronze as a symbol of faith in the enduring effects of the Lord’s Passion… The fact is that if people were to forget that Christ died for them and every record of the time of his Passion were to be destroyed, the human race would indeed be in the grip of death. But faith in Christ’s Cross abides for ever; it is as enduring as bronze. Despite the constant cycle of birth and death the Cross continues to be held high above the earth for the healing of all who gaze upon it.
There need be no surprise, then, at the way in which Christ dealt with the curse on the human race. He overcame that curse by taking it upon his own person. He vanquished death by undergoing death himself, sin by identifying himself with sin, and the ancient serpent by means of another serpent. Death, sin and the serpent were all included in God’s curse, but the Cross has triumphed over each of them.
And so there is profound truth in that word of Scripture: Cursed be all that hang on a tree. Christ grants justification to those who believe in him, simply because they have faith and not because they observe the Law. This means that any fear of falling under the curse attached to the Cross has been taken away, while love endures. The blessing granted to Abraham for his exemplary faith is extended to the Gentiles, so that we may receive the promised Spirit through faith. In other words, the promised gift to believers is not a spirit of outward observance based on fear, but one of inward devotion inspired by love.
5
St Augustine, In Gal. 22 (PL 35:2120-2121); Word in Season II, 1st ed.

Lenten Weekday
2026-03-27
From a commentary by 6
ORIGEN
◊◊◊
While we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. Few people would die for a righteous man, though perhaps for a good man one might have the courage to die.
Saint Paul has just told us that the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Now in his desire to demonstrate the power of that love more fully, he gives us the convincing proof that it was not for good men but for sinners that Christ died. It is indeed true that we were sinners before we turned to God, and that our Lord Jesus Christ laid down his life for us before we believed in him. This he surely could not have done without an immense love for us, either the love he himself showed by dying for sinners, or the love God the Father showed by giving his only Son for our redemption.
Few people would give their lives even for a righteous man, and all of us face death with reluctance, even in a just cause. How great a Saviour we have then, and how deeply we ought to ponder his love for us! It is a clear proof of his divine goodness that when the appointed time came, he did not hesitate to suffer and die for the ungodly and the unjust. In the Gospel it is said that no one is good but God the Father; and so unless our Saviour had been his Son, sharing in the Father’s very substance, he could not have shown such great goodness toward us. By this proof, therefore, we can recognize in him that good man for whom someone might have the courage to die.
Once people have understood the extent of Christ’s goodness toward them and his love has been poured into their hearts, they will long not only to die for this good man Christ, but to die voluntarily. In fact we often see this happen, when Christians whose hearts are overflowing with the love of Christ present themselves before their persecutors of their own free will and with the utmost courage, confessing the name of Christ in the presence of angels and men for the whole world to hear. Not only do they have the courage to suffer injustice for the name of this good man, but for his sake they are even ready to give their lives. Few would do this even for a righteous man, since our love of this mortal life is so great that even in a just cause hardly anyone can bear to die. Only for God’s sake will people have the courage to submit to death of their own free will. For any other reason they can scarcely endure it, even in the cause of justice and in obedience to the laws of nature.
6
Origen, In Rom. 4.10-11 (PG 14:997-999); Word in Season II, 1st ed.

Lenten Weekday
2026-03-28
From the writing of 7
DOM COLUMBA MARMION
◊◊◊
When we thus submit ourselves entirely to Christ Jesus, when we abandon ourselves to Him, when our soul only responds, like His own, with a perpetual Amen to all that He asks of us in the name of His Father…then Christ Jesus establishes His peace in us: His peace, not that which the world promises, but the true peace which can only come from Himself…
Doubtless, here below, peace is not always sensible; upon earth we are in a condition of trial and, most often, peace is won by conflict… We may be slighted, opposed, persecuted, be unjustly treated, our intentions and deeds may be misunderstood; temptation may shake us, suffering may come suddenly upon us; but there is an inner sanctuary which none can reach; here is the sojourn of our peace, because in this innermost secret of the soul dwell adoration, submission and abandonment to God. “I love my God,” said St Augustine, “no one takes Him from me: no one takes from me what I ought to give Him, for that is enclosed within my heart…”
Death cannot trouble the soul that has sought only God. Has it not confided itself to the One Who says: “He that believes in Me, although he be dead, shall live”…
In one of her “Exercises,” St Gertrude allows her assurance, which the infinite merits of Jesus give her, to overflow. “Woe, woe unto me, if, when I come before You, I had no advocate to plead my cause!… Come with me to judgment… there let us stand together. Judge me, for the right is Yours; but remember You are also my Advocate. In order that I be fully acquitted, You have but to recount what You did become for love of me, the price wherewith You have purchased me…”
For souls moved by such sentiments, death is but a transition; Christ comes Himself to open to them the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem… There will be no more darkness, trouble, tears, or sighs; but peace, infinite and perfect peace. “Peace first becomes ours with the longing and seeking for the Creator; it is in the full vision and eternal possession of Him that peace is made perfect.”

7
Marmion, Dom Columba, O.S.B. Suffering with Christ: An anthology of the Writings of Dom Columba Cmarmion, O.S.B. Compiled by Dom Raymund Thibaut, O.S.B. Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Press, 1954. 220-221, 232-233.

Skema Holy Week
2026-03-29
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
Holy Week

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (II)
March 29 – April 4, 2026

Sun
29
Mon
30
Tue
31
Wed
1
Thu
2
Fri
3
Sat
4

Office
Palm Sunday
Monday of Holy Week
Tuesday of Holy Week
Wednesday of Holy Week
Holy Thursday
Good Friday
Holy Saturday

Vigils
Zech 9:9-17
Lam 1:1-16
Lam 2:1-10
Lam 2:18-22
Lam 3:19-54
Lam 4:1-6
Lam 5:1-22

Lauds
Zeph 3:14-20
Lam 1:17-22
Lam 2:11-17
Lam 3:1-18
Lam 3:55-66
Wis 2:10-22
Isa 63:1-6

Mass
38
257
258
259
39
40

1st
Isa 50:4-7
Isa 42:1-7
Isa 49:1-6
Isa 50:4-9a
Exod 12:1-8, 11-14
Isa 52:13-53:12

2nd
Phil 2:6-11

1 Cor 11:23-26
Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9

Gospel
Matt 26:14-27:66
John 12:1-11
John 13:21-33, 36-38
Matt 26:14-25
John 13:1-15
John 18:1-19:42

Vespers
1 Tim 6:11-16
Rom 5:6-11
1 Cor 1:18-25
1 Pet 2:20-25
—-
—-
1 Pet 4:1-8

Palm Sunday
2026-03-29
From the writing of 1
HENRI DANIEL-ROPS
◊◊◊
Jesus stopped at a village called, Bethphage, which means “the house of figs”, and it was market day. “Go into the village,” said Jesus, “and untie a donkey and a colt that you will find there, and bring them to me. If anyone raises an objection, say that the Lord has need of them, and you will be allowed to take the animals”. The command seems rather strange to a modern reader, but it would have seemed much less so to the Jews round Jesus. Even if the mode of borrowing the donkey is unusual, one could sense that it had a prophetic significance. After all, Zacharias had said” “See where thy king comes to greet thee, a trusty deliverer; see how lowly he rides, mounted on a donkey, the foal of a donkey”. A messianic entry was being arranged.
Such was certainly the scene that actually took place. “The moment”, says Romano Guardini, “belongs to the power of the Spirit.” Jesus arrived, in the sunshine of the Palestinian spring, in sight of the city. His friends and followers acclaimed him, and there was soon a whole crowd surging round him…
“Who is it?” asked those loitering by the roadside. “Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee”, was the answer, and Hosannas rang out, people cut branches off the palm trees and waved them enthusiastically above their heads, and cloaks were strewn on the ground to make a ceremonial carpet for the Messiah’s mount. A curious triumph, which was to remain limited and modest, but a significant one; now that the hour of decision was at hand, Jesus no longer needed to keep his messianic character half-concealed; indeed, it was important that it should be recognized.
However, amid this manifestation of joy, Jesus had a deep feeling of anxiety and anguish. When he arrived on the crest of the mount of Olives, he stopped; the city lay before him behind huge walls bristling with towers, looking invincible and eternal. But the power of the Holy Spirit gave Christ a quite different picture, that of a Jerusalem besieged, crushed and destroyed. Why? Because it had been blind to the light…
When he arrived at the Temple, the goal of his entry as a pilgrim, Jesus caused a spectacular scene. Noticing in the colonnades the traders who were changing money or selling counters entitling their holders to the ritual lamb or doves for sacrifice, he rushed to their tables and overturned them. “Was the house of prayer to become a den of thieves?” He was really blazing with the zeal of God. It was an astonishing mysterious day. It looks as if Jesus wanted to confront all humans with the truth, with their responsibilities, once and for all.
When the day was over, and the western sky was red behind the three Herodian towers which crowned the wall on that side of the city, he had this further lesson for the little band of faithful followers who had stayed round him and was probably gazing at the setting sun: “I have come into this world as a light, so that all those who believe in me may continue no longer in darkness.” As they returned with him to Bethany, to spend the night there, the disciples must have had much to think about.

Monday of Holy Week
2026-03-30
From a sermon by 2
ST AELRED OF RIEVAULX
◊◊◊
Our Lord Jesus Christ worked our salvation not in one way only, but undoubtedly in many ways. Since it was in mercy that he had planned our redemption, he wrought this redemption in such a way that he might serve as an example for us… In this season you are recalling this redemption of ours. Be careful, then, to reflect not only on the fact of this redemption but also on two other points: the manner in which this redemption was wrought, and the place in which it was wrought. The manner of redemption is the suffering of the Cross; the place, outside the city.
Let us then learn from the Cross of Jesus our proper way of living. Should I say ‘living’ or, instead, ‘dying’? Rather, both living and dying. Dying to the world, living for God. Dying to vices and living by the virtues. Dying to the flesh, but living in the spirit. Thus in the Cross of Christ there is death and in the Cross of Christ there is life. The death of death is there, and the life of life. The death of sins is there and the life of the virtues. The death of the flesh is there, and the life of the spirit. But why did God choose this manner of death? He chose it as both a mystery and an example. In addition, he chose it because our sickness was such as to make such a remedy appropriate.
It was fitting that we who had fallen because of a tree might rise up because of a tree. Fitting that the one who had conquered by means of a tree might also be conquered by means of a tree… And because we had fallen from the security of that most blessed place on earth into this great, expansive sea, it was fitting that wood should be made ready to carry us across it. For no one crosses the sea except on wood, or this world except on the Cross…
Death on a Cross is endured not on the earth but above the earth; and the victim’s limbs are not cut off but stretched. They are stretched horizontally and perpendicularly, so that the crucified man is stretched out in the four directions and seems to embrace the four quarters of the world, taking possession of both heaven and earth. For when a Cross is set upright, the head is directed to heaven and the feet to earth, and the outstretched arms to what is located between heaven and earth. Moreover, if you lay a crucified man on the ground, one part of him will occupy the east, another the west, another the south, and another the north.
Do you see, now, the mystery in the kind of death Christ chose? The Apostle sets forth this point with clarity, when he says: He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to death on the Cross. And, revealing the mystery, he says: Therefore God exalted him and gave him the name that is above all names, so that at the name of Jesus every knee might bend of those who are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. Since, then, he was to take possession of heaven and earth through the Cross, on the Cross he embraced heaven and earth.
2
St Aelred, In Hebd. Sancta, sermon 36.1-2.4 (CCM 2A:294-295); Word in Season II, 2nd ed.

Tuesday of Holy Week
2026-03-31
From “On the Virtue of Patience” by 3
ST CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE
◊◊◊
Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, said that he had come down to earth to do his Father’s will. Among the virtues that revealed his divine majesty was the endurance that mirrored his Father’s patience. Every act of his, from the moment of his first appearing, bore the stamp of the patience with which it was carried out. He was no sinner, but the Son of God; yet when he descended to earth from the heights of heaven, he did not disdain to assume human nature and bear the sins of men.
Laying aside his immortality for a while, he suffered himself to be made mortal, in order that the innocent could die to save the guilty. He, the Lord, was baptized by a servant, and though he had come to grant forgiveness of sins he did not think it beneath him to wash in the life-giving waters. He fasted for forty days, yet it is through him that others are filled with good things. If he hungered and thirsted, it was to enable those who were faint for want of the word and grace of God to be filled with bread from heaven. He engaged in combat with the devil who tempted him, but was content to defeat his enemy by words alone.
He did not govern his disciples as a master rules his slaves. He was kind and gentle, loving them as brothers, even washing the feet of the apostles, showing by his example how a servant should bear himself toward his equals when his master dealt in such a way with his servants. No wonder he could show such goodness to the disciples who obeyed him, if he was able to bear so long and so patiently with Judas, eating and drinking with his enemy, recognizing the foe in his own household yet neither exposing him publicly nor refusing his treacherous kiss.
At the time of his Passion and Cross, even before it had gone as far as the inhuman crucifixion and the shedding of his blood, how patiently he bore reviling and reproach, insult and mockery! A little while before, he had cured the eyes of a blind man with his spittle, yet now he allowed his tormentors to spit in his face. His servants today scourge the devil and his angels in the name of Christ, but at the time of his Passion Christ himself submitted to being scourged. He crowns the martyrs with never-fading flowers, though he himself was crowned with thorns. Others he clothes in the garment of immortality, yet he himself was stripped of his earthly garments. He had fed them with bread from heaven, yet he himself was fed with gall; and he who had poured out the saving cup was offered vinegar to drink.
He the innocent, he the just, he rather who is the embodiment of innocence and justice, is counted among evil-doers. Truth is confuted by false evidence. The future judge is subjected to judgment; the Word of God is led to the Cross in silence. At the Lord’s crucifixion the stars are thrown into confusion, the elements are disturbed, earth trembles, and night swallows up day. But he himself is silent, unmoved, hiding every sign of his godhead throughout the whole duration of his Passion. Enduring all things, he perseveres to the end, so that in him patience may be brought to its full measure of perfection.
3 St Cyprian, On the Virtue of Patience 6-7 (CSEL 3:401-402); Word in Season II, 1st ed.

Wednesday of Holy Week
2026-04-01
From a sermon by 4
ST LEO THE GREAT
◊◊◊
When God, whose absolute being is immune from suffering, assumed our fragile humanity in Christ, he strengthened it beyond measure. Henceforth it was no longer to remain under death’s dominion; through a nature immortal in itself, mortal man would be raised to life.
We must strive, dearly beloved, with great effort of soul and body to join ourselves inseparably to this mystery. While failure to observe the Paschal Solemnity would be a very grave offense, it would be still more dangerous to be united with congregations at Church but have no sharing in our Lord’s Passion. The apostle’s saying is true: If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him.No one can truly worship the suffering, dead and risen Christ unless he himself suffers, dies, and rises again with him.
For all the Church’s children this sharing in Christ’s death and resurrection begins at the mystery of regeneration, when sin is destroyed and we are born to new life. There the Lord’s three-day sojourn in the grave is represented by a three-fold immersion. The stone is, as it were, rolled away from the tomb, and those who enter the font in their old, sin-stained condition are brought forth new by the baptismal waters. What has been effected in mystery, however, must still be carried out in their daily lives. As long as they are in this mortal body, those who are born of the Spirit must take up their cross.
Christ has lifted us up with himself on the Cross: there let the Christian take his stand. He knows it is the place where his human nature was redeemed, and all his steps should be directed toward it – for the Lord’s Passion is prolonged until the end of the world. Just as it is he whom we honour and love in the saints, he whom we feed and clothe in the poor, so too it is he who suffers in all who endure adversity for the sake of what is right, unless, indeed, we are to imagine that, with the spread of the faith, all persecution has come to an end together with every conflict which ever raged against the blessed martyrs – as if the bearing of the Cross were reserved only for those who have to suffer atrocious torments for the love of Christ.
Wise souls who have learned to fear and love the one and only Lord and to hope in him alone, mortify their passions and crucify their bodily senses. They prefer the will of God to their own lives, and insofar as they renounce love of self for love of God, they love themselves all the more truly. In such members of Christ’s body, beloved brethren, the Holy Passover is celebrated properly and they shall lack none of those victories which our Saviour’s Passion has won.
4
St Leo the Great, Sermon 70.3-5 – Good Friday 443 (PL 54,:382-384); Word in Season II, 2nd ed.

Thursday of Holy Week
2026-04-02
From the writing of 5
ST EPHREM OF SYRIA
◊◊◊
The evening before our Lord gave himself up to death he shared his own body with his Apostles and offered them his blood, with the command that they were to do what he had done in order to keep the memory of his Passion alive. Then a strange thing happened. Earlier Jesus had charged his disciples not to fear death. Do not be afraid of those who have power to kill your body, he had said. But now he himself showed fear, and begged to be spared the cup of suffering. Father, he prayed if it be possible, let this cup pass me by. How are we to explain this?
The answer is that our Lord’s petition was wrung from the human weakness he had made his own. There was no pretense about his incarnation; it was absolutely real. And since the donning of our poor humanity had made him puny and defenseless, it was only natural that he should experience fear and alarm. Eating to alleviate hunger, showing weariness after exertion, and revealing human weakness by the need for sleep were all the effects of his taking our flesh and clothing himself with our infirmity. Consequently when the moment of death drew near, he necessarily experienced the ultimate frailty of our human condition; he was gripped by a dreadful horror of dying.
It was then that Jesus said to his disciples: Stay awake and pray that you may be spared the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And in answer to our question he might well say: ‘When you are afraid, it is not your spirit that trembles but your human weakness. Remember then that I myself tasted the fear of death in my desire to convince you that I truly shared your flesh and blood.’
A further answer to our question is that Jesus wished to teach his disciples how to commit themselves to God both in life and in death. His own divine knowledge made him supremely wise, yet he prayed for what his Father judged to be expedient. How much more ought we ignorant men to surrender our wills to God’s omniscience!
We may also tell ourselves that we too were in our Lord’s mind as he prayed. In time of temptation our minds become confused and our imagination runs riot. By persevering in prayer Jesus was showing us how much we ourselves need to pray if we are to escape the wiles and snares of the devil. It is only by constant prayer that we gain control of our distracted thoughts.
Finally, there is our Lord’s desire to strengthen all who are afraid of death. By letting them see that he himself had experienced fear he would show them that fear does not necessarily lead to sin, provided one continues to resist it. This is the force of our Lord’s concluding prayer: Not my will, Father, but yours be done. He is saying: ‘Yes, Father, I am ready to die in order to bring life to many.’
5. St Ephrem of Syria, Diatessaron 20.3-4, 6-7 (CSCO 145:201-204); Word in Season II, 2nd ed.

Good Friday
2026-04-03
From a sermon by 6
ST LEO THE GREAT
◊◊◊
When our Lord was handed over to the will of his cruel foes, they ordered him, in mockery of his royal dignity, to carry the instrument of his own torture. This was done to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah: A child is born for us, a son is given to us; sovereignty is laid upon his shoulders. To the wicked, the sight of the Lord carrying his own Cross was indeed an object of derision; but to the faithful a great mystery was revealed, for the Cross was destined to become the scepter of his power. Here was the majestic spectacle of a glorious conqueror mightily overthrowing the hostile forces of the devil and nobly bearing the trophy of his victory.
As the crowd accompanied Jesus to the place of execution, the soldiers found a man called Simon of Cyrene, onto whose shoulders they transferred the weight of the Lord’s Cross. This action prefigured the faith of the Gentiles, to whom the Cross of Christ would mean glory rather than shame. By this substitution the atonement of the unblemished lamb and the fulfillment of all the rites of the old Law passed from the people of the circumcision to the Gentiles, from the children born of the flesh to those born of the spirit.
In the words of the Apostle: Christ our Passover is sacrificed. As the new and authentic sacrifice of reconciliation, it was not in the Temple, whose cult was now at an end, that he offered himself to the Father; nor was it within the walls of the city doomed to destruction for its crimes. It was beyond the city gates, outside the camp, that he was crucified, in order that when the ancient sacrificial dispensation came to an end a new victim might be laid on a new altar, and the Cross of Christ become the altar not of the Temple, but of the world.
You drew all things to yourself, Lord, when all the elements combined to pronounce judgment in execration of that crime. Figures gave way to reality, prophecy to manifestation, Law to Gospel. You drew all things to yourself in order that the worship of the whole human race could be celebrated everywhere in a sacramental form which would openly fulfill what had been enacted by means of veiled symbols in that single Jewish Temple.
6
St Leo the Great, Sermon 59.4-6 – Weds in HWK 444 (PL 54:339-341); Word in Season II, 1st ed.

Holy Saturday
2026-04-04
From a homily by 7
ST AUGUSTINE
◊◊◊
Today, my dearest friends, there is every reason for heaven to rejoice and earth to be glad. It is a day on which more light shines forth from the tomb than rays from the sun. When our Lord and Savior was born as one of us he brought light into the world; so also today, being dead in the body, he has illumined the underworld with the powerful presence of his divinity as well as of his human soul. Today at the Lord’s visitation there is leaping and dancing in the nether regions over the fulfillment of the prophecy: The people that sat in darkness(that is to say the whole human race enveloped in the gloom of Sheol) has seen a great light. He who created Adam has this day sought him out in the underworld, and by his own power has set him free.
Wonderful beyond words is the loving kindness of our God! Death had indeed invaded Paradise, but life has now conquered the abyss, and by assuming our mortality the Son of God has trodden underfoot the law that all must die. Thus he has made good the prophet’s assertion: O death, I will be your death! Those whom you have caused to die through sin I will gather up from that place of eternal ruin, and by dying myself I will deliver them from everlasting death.
Look now at the author of our undoing! With what snares he is entangled and fettered! As he deceived us, so he is himself deceived; in the very act of killing he is destroyed.
When the Lord’s body was laid in the tomb, he himself descended into the lowest and most hidden abode of the infernal regions. There, where he was presumed to be held captive, he bound death fast, and so broke the chains of all who had died. And from that place whence none had ever returned before, not even alone, he carried off an immense plunder with which he penetrated the heavens.
See what tremendous things God’s surpassing love has accomplished for our healing and restoration! For our sake he was led like a sheep to the slaughter, having taken upon himself the evils of this present life in order to bestow upon us the good things of eternity.
7
Sermo Mai 146: PLS 2, 1242-1243(CL I p 168-169).

Skema
2026-04-05
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
Easter Octave

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (II)
April 5 – 11, 2026

Sun
5
Mon
6
Tue
7
Wed
8
Thu
9
Fri
10
Sat
11

Office
Easter Sunday
Easter Monday
Easter Tuesday
Easter Wednesday
Easter Thursday
Easter Friday
Easter Saturday

Vigils
* Easter Vigil
Acts 1:1-26
Acts 2:1-21
Acts 2:22-41
Acts 2:42-3:11
Acts 3:12-26;4:1-4
Acts 4:5-31

Lauds
Acts 13:28-33
1 Cor 15:1-11
1 Cor 15:12-19
1 Cor 15:20-28
1 Cor 15:35-41
1 Cor 15:42-49
1 Cor 15:50-58

Mass
42
261
262
263
264
265
266

1st
Acts 10:34a, 37-43
Acts 2:14, 22-33
Acts 2:36-41
Acts 3:1-10
Acts 3:11-26
Acts 4:1-12
Acts 4:13-21

2nd
Col 3:1-4

Gospel
John 20:1-9
Matt 28:8-15
John 20:11-18
Luke 24:13-35
Luke 24:35-48
John 21:1-14
Mark 16:9-15

Vespers
Rev 1:12-18
Rev 1:1-8
Rev 1:9-11
Rev 2:1-7
Rev 2:8-11
Rev 2:12-17
Rev 2:18-29

Easter Vigil Readings* 1st) Gen 1:1-2:2 2nd) Gen 22:1-18 3rd) Exod 14:15-15:1 4th) Isa 54:5-14 5th) Isa 55:1-11 6th) Bar 3:9-15,32-4:4 7th) Ezek 36:16-17a,18-28 Epistle) Rom 6:3-11 Gospel) Matt 28:1-10

Vigils Reading - Easter Sunday
2026-04-05
From a commentary by
RUFINUS OF AQUILEIA
◊◊◊
“On the third day He rose again from the dead.” The glory of His
resurrection brought out in Christ the splendor of everything that previously
seemed feeble and weak. If a few moments ago you thought it impossible for
One who was immortal to reach death, you can now perceive the impossibility of
His being mortal who is declared to have vanquished death and to have risen
again.
In this you should discern the Creator’s goodness, in His readiness to
follow you down to the depths to which your sins have plunged you. You should
not, either, suggest that anything is impossible for God, the Creator of all things,
imagining that His work could have been brought to an end by falling into an
abyss to which He could not penetrate in order to accomplish salvation…
So He returned victoriously from the dead, bringing with Him spoils from
hell. For He conducted forth those whom death held prisoners, as He Himself
had prophesied in the words: “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw
all things to myself.” The Gospel bears witness to this when it states: “The
graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints that slept arose, and they
appeared to many, and entered into the holy city.” By this is meant…the city
intended by the Apostle when he wrote: “But that Jerusalem, which is above is
free: which is mother of us all.”
He made the same point again to the Hebrews: “For it became Him for
whom are all things, and by whom are all things, who had brought many
children to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation by His passion.” By
His passion, therefore, He made perfect that human flesh which had been
brought down to death by the first man’s sin, and restored it by the power of His
resurrection: sitting on God’s right hand, He placed it in the highest heavens. In
view of this the Apostle says: “Who has raised us up together, and has made us
sit together in the heavenly places.”
It was He, you see, who was the potter mentioned by the prophet
Jeremias: “The vessel which had fallen from His hand and was broken, He
again raised up with His hands and formed anew, as it seemed good in His
eyes.” So it seemed good to Him to raise the mortal and corruptible body He had
assumed from the rocky tomb, and rendering it immortal and incorruptible to
place it, no longer in an earthly environment, but in heaven at His Father’s right
hand…
