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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260812
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260813
DTSTAMP:20260809T104824Z
CREATED:20260809T104824Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260809T104824Z
UID:15352-1786492800-1786579199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nFR KARL RAHNER \n◊◊◊ \nThe real miracle of Christ’s death resides precisely in this: death\, which \ncan be experienced only as the advent of emptiness\, as the dead-end of sin\, as \nthe darkness of eternal night (especially since the supernatural order is the real \norder in which there should be no death)\, and which could be suffered\, even by \nChrist himself\, only as a state of being abandoned by God\, now\, through being \nembraced by the obedient “yes” of the Son\, while losing nothing of the horror of \ndivine abandonment native to death\, is transformed into something completely \ndifferent: into the advent of God in the midst of that empty loneliness\, into the \nmanifestation of a complete\, obedient surrender of the whole person to the Holy \nGod at the very moment when the person seems lost and far removed from God. \nThrough the fact of Christ’s death\, the justifying grace of God illustrates \nand confirms something which previously was not shown but was hidden from \nus\, namely\, that at the very moment in which sin reaches the fullest measure of \nits power\, the grace of God increases in its power to conquer sin. And through \nthe death of Christ\, when he surrendered himself to this innermost part of the \nworld (hell)\, this grace became ours. What he really accomplished in his death\, \nand what his death really is\, may be stated thus: his death\, as an act of grace\, \nhelped to offer to God the “flesh of sin” – which death really is – transforming it \ninto a flesh of grace; so that we now can\, through his grace\, belong to God and to \nChrist in death\, despite the fact that death\, in itself\, means remoteness from \nGod. \nThese considerations may make it possible to understand just what the \nChristian\, in death\, achieves through the grace of Christ (in the death which \ntranspires throughout one’s life); the person experiences life falling into the \nemptiness and powerlessness of death as remoteness from God\, as the \nbitterness of guilt (one’s own and that of the human race)\, while believing in the \nmercy of God\, hoping for life in God and yet loving this God so far removed from \none’s self. This Faith\, Hope and Charity are not\, however\, mere feelings \naccompanying the brutal reality of death\, lasting only until death really occurs\, \npersisting powerlessly beside the hard reality which is death. They are\, rather\, \nbecause transformed by grace\, the true reality which transforms death but \nwhich\, in order that faith should be preserved\, transforms it in such a way that \ndeath is still encountered as the wages of sin. \nThe trinity of Faith\, Hope and Charity makes death itself the highest act of \nbelieving\, hoping\, loving\, the very death which seems to be absolute darkness\, \ndespair\, coldness itself. These three fundamental powers of Christian existence \n(together with grace\, of which they are the personal realization)\, entering death\, \ntransform it into an act of resigning obedience: faith in darkness\, hope against \nhope\, love of God who appears only as Lord and as inexorable justice. In so far \nas these fundamental acts become constituents of death as a human act\, death \nitself is changed; the dreadful falling into the hands of the living God\, which \ndeath must appear as a manifestation of sin\, becomes in reality: “Into thy hands \nI commend my spirit.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-the-dead-28/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260813
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260814
DTSTAMP:20260809T104927Z
CREATED:20260809T104927Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260809T104927Z
UID:15354-1786579200-1786665599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nFR KARL RAHNER \n◊◊◊ \nWe are all the work that God the Father has begun in his grace through \nChrist Jesus in the Holy Ghost. He has begun the good work in us\, we have not. \nBut he has begun it through our freedom\, and it is always questionable\, as it \nwere – it is always the one great all-embracing question\, comprehending time \nand eternity – whether the work that has been begun will be brought to \ncompletion. And when the Apostle asks this question\, when he asks whether \nwhat he has begun with words and tears\, with penance\, anguish\, and all the \npower of his apostolic work and suffering\, will really be brought to completion \nor whether it will run down and atrophy – when he asks whether these people \nwho have now made a start will one day enter the glory of divine light as children \nof the light\, asks with fear and trembling because no one is certain of his \nsalvation – then he lifts up his eyes to God\, his heart is filled with confidence\, \nand he says: I am sure that God\, who has begun this work\, will bring it to \ncompletion. \nAnd we too may say this\, frail and helpless as we are\, we whose \nChristianity is always running down and atrophying\, we whom the stream of \ndaily life is always threatening to swallow up\, extinguishing whatever light and \npower\, life and glory\, has begun to emerge in our Christianity. Instead of \nstudying ourselves we ought to say: God who has begun this work – and it is not \nwe who have begun it\, not we in our weakness\, even in our freedom – God\, in the \nglorious power of grace\, will bring it to completion. And that is our bold \nassurance\, our splendid sovereign confidence. \nSt Paul says: It is right for me to feel thus about you all\, because\, he says – \nand here something entirely personal and genuinely human comes into the \npower and grandeur of God’s work – because I hold you in my heart\, for you are \nall partakers with me of grace\, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and \nconfirmation of the gospel.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-456/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260814
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260815
DTSTAMP:20260809T105039Z
CREATED:20260809T105039Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260809T105039Z
UID:15356-1786665600-1786751999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Maximilian Kolbe
DESCRIPTION:A reading from Pope St John Paul II on the martyrdom of \nST MAXIMILIAN KOLBE \n◊◊◊ \nThe figure of Maximilian [Kolbe] remains as a testimony of the age and \nbelongs to the “signs of the times.” This difficult and tragic epoch\, stigmatized \nby horrible debasement of human dignity\, has brought about at Oswiecim the \nbirth of its salvific sign. Love has shown itself more powerful than death\, more \npowerful than anti-human systems. Love for the person has achieved its victory \nthere where hatred and scorn for human beings seemed to triumph. In this \nvictory of love…the victory of Golgotha presented itself in a particular way. \nMany saw the death of their prison companion not as still another defeat for \nhuman beings\, but a saving sign – the sign of our time\, of our age. \nThe Church is rereading the meaning of such signs. It is in this that its \nlink with the history of humanity\, of peoples and of nations\, consists. Yesterday \nshe reread to the very end the meaning of the sign…that Maximilian Kolbe \nestablished by his martyr’s death. The Church has reread this sign with \nprofound veneration and emotion in proclaiming the holiness of the Martyr of \nOswiecim. The Saints are in history in order to establish permanent points of \nreference as a background for the future of humankind and the world. That \nwhich shows through in them is lasting and unfailing. It bears witness to \neternity. From this testimony we always draw a renewed awareness of our \nvocation and renewed assurance of all that awaits us. This is the direction in \nwhich the Saints guide the Church and humanity. \nAmong these spiritual guides we include today St Maximilian\, our fellow \ncountryman. In him the man of our times discovers a wonderful “synthesis” of \nthe sufferings and the hopes of our age. But in this synthesis there is also a \nprophetic warning. It is a cry addressed to all\, to society\, to humanity\, to the \nsystems responsible for our life and our societies. This modern-day Saint has \ncome forth from the very center of human beings humiliated by human beings\, \nof the humiliation of one’s dignity\, of cruelty and of slaughter. This Saint cries \nout therefore with all the synthesis of his martyrdom for a consistent respect for \nthe rights of all and also of nations since in fact he is the son of a nation whose \nrights have been terribly violated.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-maximilian-kolbe-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260815
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260816
DTSTAMP:20260809T105145Z
CREATED:20260809T105145Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260809T105145Z
UID:15358-1786752000-1786838399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Assumption of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST AELRED OF RIEVAULX \n◊◊◊ \nAmong all those who are Christ’s\, she who tastes his goodness more \nintimately and more delicately is of greater excellence\, more blessed\, and more \nattractive. She is to him not only a creature\, a handmaid\, a friend\, and a \ndaughter\, but also a mother. So\, then it is only right that we welcome her feast \nwith greater delight and gladness. But today even more we should rejoice with \nher because today her joy was completely fulfilled. Great was her joy when the \nangel greeted her. Great was her joy when she felt the coming of the Holy Spirit\, \nwhen that marvelous fusion of the Son of God with her flesh took place in her \nwomb\, so that he\, one and the same\, was the Son of God and her Son. Great was \nher joy when she held such a Son in her arms\, when she listened to his words\, \nwhen she saw his miracles. And because her sorrow was so great at the Passion\, \nshe took wondrous joy again in his resurrection and greater still at his \nascension. But all these joys were surpassed by the joy which she receives today. \nUp to this day…Mary\, the blessed Mother of God\, knew her dearest Son in \nthe flesh. Although she fastened all her desires and all her love there\, where he \nwas\, after her dearest Son and Lord ascended into heaven\, so long as she \nremained in this corruptible flesh\, what she had seen of him in the flesh could \nnot fade from her memory. For his deeds and words were always coming to her \nmind and above all there lingered in her heart the features of his exquisite face. \nToday\, however\, she passed from this world and went up to the heavenly \nkingdom. There she began to contemplate his brightness\, power\, and divinity\, \nand her joy and her longing were fulfilled. So with good reason could she say: “I \nhave found him whom my soul loves”. She holds him and she does not let him \ngo… Today she has found him whom her soul loves\, she has found him in spirit\, \nshe loves him in spirit\, she holds him in spirit and therefore she will never again \nlose him… \nToday the Blessed Virgin went up into heaven and went round the whole \nof that heavenly city in the full natural vigor of her mind. Today she entered that \nheavenly court. She saw the white robes of the virgins\, the ruddy crowns of the \nmartyrs\, the thrones of the apostles\, and in the midst of them she found her Son \nreigning. Ascending higher than the very highest of the saints\, she has arrived at \nsuch knowledge of the divinity that she then glories in having found him for the \nfirst time… She holds him in the embraces of an utterly perfect love and she can \nnever lose him because she can never love him any less. \nLet us lift up our hearts therefore…to Our Lady\, our Advocate. Let us \nreflect on how much hope we have in her. Just as she surpasses every creature in \nexcellence\, so also she is more merciful and kinder than any creature. Let us \nthen confidently entreat her who can by her excellence assist us and by her \nmercy chooses to do so\, that she may implore her Son for us so that as he \ndeigned to be born of her for us\, he may through her deign to have mercy on us.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-assumption-of-the-bvm-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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