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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250929
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250930
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20250928T115522Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250928T115522Z
UID:13981-1759104000-1759190399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Michael & All Angels
DESCRIPTION:THE MESSENGERS OF GOD \nFrom the writing of St Gregory the Great \n◊◊◊ \nYou should be aware that the word “angel” denotes a function rather than \na nature. Those holy spirits of heaven have indeed always been spirits. They can \nonly be called angels when they deliver some message. Moreover those who \ndeliver messages of lesser importance are called angels; and those who proclaim \nmessages of supreme importance are called archangels. \nAnd so it was that not merely an angel but the archangel Gabriel was sent \nto the Virgin Mary. It was only fitting that the highest angel should come to \nannounce the greatest of messages. \nSome angels are given proper names to denote the service they are \nempowered to perform. In that holy city where perfect knowledge flows from \nthe vision of Almighty God\, those who have no names may easily be known. But \npersonal names are assigned to some\, not because they would not be known \nwithout them\, but rather to denote their ministry when they come among us. \nThus Michael means “Who is like God?”; Gabriel is “The Strength of God”; and \nRaphael is “God’s Remedy”. \nWhenever some act of wondrous power must be performed\, Michael is \nsent\, so that his action and his name may make it clear that no one can do what \nGod does by his superior power. So also our ancient foe desired in his pride to be \nlike God\, saying: I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the \nstars of heaven; I will be like the Most High. He will be allowed to remain in \npower until the end of the world when he will be destroyed in the final \npunishment. Then he will fight with the archangel Michael\, as we are told by \nJohn: A battle was fought with Michael the archangel. \nSo too Gabriel\, who is called God’s strength\, was sent to Mary. He came to \nannounce the One who appeared as a humble man to quell the cosmic powers. \nThus God’s strength announced the coming of the Lord of the heavenly powers\, \nmighty in battle. \nRaphael means…God’s remedy\, for when he touched Tobit’s eyes in order \nto cure him\, he banished the darkness of his blindness. Thus since he is to heal\, \nhe is rightly called God’s remedy.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-michael-all-angels-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250930
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251001
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20250928T115630Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250928T115630Z
UID:13983-1759190400-1759276799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Jerome
DESCRIPTION:A LETTER FROM ST JEROME \nTO ST EUSTOCHIUM \n◊◊◊ \nWhen the inner man has begun to waver a little between vices and virtues\, \nsay: Why art thou sad\, O my soul? And why dost thou trouble me? Hope in \nGod\, for I will give praise to Him: the salvation of my countenance\, and my \nGod. I would not have you permit such a thought to arise. Let nothing that is of \nBabylon\, nothing of confusion\, grow up within you. While the enemy is small\, \ndestroy him. Let wickedness be nipped in the bud. \nHow often\, when I was established in the desert and in that vast solitude \nwhich is scorched by the sun’s heat and affords a savage habitation for monks\, \ndid I think myself amid the delights of Rome! I would sit alone because I was \nfilled with bitterness. My limbs were roughly clad in sackcloth – an unlovely \nsight. My neglected skin had taken on the appearance of an Ethiopian’s body. \nDaily I wept\, daily I groaned\, and whenever insistent slumber overcame \nmy resistance\, I bruised my awkward bones upon the bare earth. Of food and \ndrink I say nothing\, since even the sick drink only cold water\, and to get any \ncooked food is a luxury. There was I\, therefore\, who from fear of hell had \ncondemned myself to such a prison\, with only scorpions and wild beasts as \ncompanions. Yet I was often surrounded by dancing girls. My face was pale \nfrom fasting\, and my mind was hot with desire in a body cold as ice. Though my \nflesh\, before its tenant\, was already as good as dead\, the fires of passions kept \nboiling within me. \nAnd so\, destitute of all help\, I used to lie at Jesus’ feet. I bathed them with \nmy tears\, I wiped them with my hair. When my flesh rebelled\, I subdued it by \nweeks of fasting. I do not blush at my hapless state; nay rather\, I lament that I \nam not now what I was then. I remember that I often joined day to night with \nmy lamentation and did not cease beating my breast until peace of mind \nreturned with the Lord’s rebuke. I was afraid even of my little cell – as though it \nwere conscious of my thoughts. Angry at myself and tense\, I used to go out \nalone into the desert. Whenever I saw some deep valley\, some rugged \nmountain\, some precipitous crags\, it was this I made my place of prayer\, my \nplace of punishment for the wretched flesh. And – as my Lord Himself is \nwitness – after many tears\, after fixing my eyes on the heaven\, I sometimes \nseemed to myself to be surrounded by companies of angels and rejoiced\, singing \nhappily: We run after thee to the odor of thy ointments.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-jerome-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251001
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251002
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20250928T115752Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250928T115752Z
UID:13985-1759276800-1759363199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Theresa of the Child Jesus
DESCRIPTION:THE CHILD DESTINED \nTO BE A SAINT \nFrom “The Hidden Face: A Life of Thérèse of Lisieux” by Ida Goerres \n◊◊◊ \nTo what extent little Thérèse had\, in the depths of her self\, really \nrenounced her beloved sister…is revealed clearly enough by her own description \nof the agonies suffered in the visiting room at the Carmel… Thérèse resigned \nherself to her sister’s abandonment…but in the dark\, speechless abysses of the \nblood all the forces of nature rebelled\, immoderately and irreconcilably\, against \nthis deprivation… \nThe demonic influence…should be perceived in the uncanny struggle that \nmust have gone on in the unconscious depths of her soul… A crisis which \nproduces a state of confusion and agitation in body and soul\, which attacks \nsimultaneously a person’s alertness\, confidence\, presence of mind and powers \nof resistance\, can at the same time…also mean a grave temptation\, a diabolical \ninvitation to discouragement in the face of life. It can lead to stifling inhibitions\, \nto erroneous interpretations of the self\, to lifelong hypochondria about one’s \n“weak” sides — all attitudes which may later on hinder radical\, heroic \ncommitment… She was terrified by the incomprehensible forces that \noverwhelmed her. \nNevertheless\, we believe that a decision must have taken place deep \nwithin her when\, in the midst of her direst distress\, the saving grace of the vision \nof Mary shone upon her. We believe that at this point Thérèse was confronted \nwith a temptation\, for all that it was hidden in the unplumbed depths of her \nsoul. For here she was confronted with alternatives\, and the second of these was \nthe perilous one. She could accept the offered comfort\, the new support and \nprotection. That is\, she could abandon her wild despair over what she had lost\, \ncould really carry out the unendurable renunciation within the core of her ego\, \ncould release the hand of Pauline and reach across the irrevocable gulf for the \nhand of the Blessed Virgin. Or…she could cling to her despair\, could hold tight \nto her neurosis\, could maintain her protest… \nSuch decisions take place not by deliberate processes of thought\, but far \nbelow such strata of thoughts and words\, by a lightning-like opening or closing \nat the core of our being. \nPrecisely here we see the child destined to be a saint: not that the miracle \nhappened to her\, but that she obeyed it. She did ‘the right thing’…in simple \nobedience… She was beyond all human aid and almost insane with fear because \nher state of abandonment was so incomprehensible to her. And yet\, through all \nthis\, her submissive heart clung\, uncomprehendingly and tormentedly\, but \nprayerfully and trustfully\, to God. \nIn this case\, too\, she learned the lesson that was later to be enunciated \nagain and again in her spiritual message to the world: that grace can do \nanything\, that grace offered\, vouchsafed out of pure mercy\, not to be won by any \ndegree of struggle; that acceptance of and dependence upon this grace is man’s \ncrucial ‘act’ which will save him gloriously when all toil and effort\, all exercise of \nwill in renunciation\, cannot help him to overcome his innate nature. To be sure\, \nshe did not yet unconsciously know this\, would not know it for a long time to \ncome. But she had experienced it; this lesson had entered her very being and \ncould no longer be expunged.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-theresa-of-the-child-jesus/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251002
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251003
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20250928T115851Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250928T115851Z
UID:13987-1759363200-1759449599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:BEING PLACED INSIDE \nGOD’S GRANDEUR \nBy St Teresa of Avila \n◊◊◊ \nYou must have already heard about God’s marvels manifested in the way \nsilk originates. The silkworms come from seeds about the size of little grains of \npepper… When the warm weather comes and the leaves begin to appear on the \nmulberry tree\, the seeds start to live\, for they are dead until then. The worms \nnourish themselves on the mulberry leaves until\, having grown to full size\, they \nsettle on some twigs. There with their little mouths they themselves go about \nspinning the silk and making some very thick little cocoons in which they \nenclose themselves. The silkworm\, which is fat and ugly\, then dies\, and a little \nwhite butterfly\, which is very pretty\, comes forth from the cocoon. \nNow if this were not seen but recounted to us as having happened in other \ntimes\, who would believe it? Or what reasoning could make us conclude that a \nthing as nonrational as a worm or bee could be so diligent in working for our \nbenefit and with so much industriousness? And the poor little worm loses its life \nin the challenge. Well\, once this silkworm is grown\, it begins to spin the silk and \nbuild the house wherein it will die. I would like to point out here that this house \nis Christ. \nTherefore\, courage! Let’s be quick to do this work and weave this little \ncocoon by taking away our self-love and self-will\, our attachment to any earthly \nthing\, and by performing deeds of penance\, prayer\, mortification\, obedience\, \nand of all the other things you know. Would to heaven that we would do what we \nknow we must; and we are instructed about what we must do. Let it die; let this \nsilkworm die\, as it does in completing what it was created to do! And you will see \nhow we see God\, as well as ourselves placed inside God’s grandeur\, as is this \nlittle silkworm within its cocoon. \nOh\, now\, to see the restlessness of this little butterfly\, even though it has \nnever been quieter and calmer in its life\, is something to praise God for! And the \ndifficulty is that it doesn’t know where to alight and rest. Since it has \nexperienced such wonderful rest\, all that is sees on earth displaces it\, especially \nif God gives it this wine often. Almost each time it gains new treasures. It no \nlonger has any esteem for the works it did while a worm\, which was to weave the \ncocoon little by little; it now has wings. How can it be happy walking step by step \nwhen it can fly?
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-356/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251003
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251004
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20250928T120002Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250928T120002Z
UID:13989-1759449600-1759535999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Louisville Cathedral
DESCRIPTION:ON THE DEDICATION OF A CHURCH \nBy St Bernard of Clairvaux \n◊◊◊ \nToday we celebrate another glorious feast: it is the feast of the Lord’s \nhouse\, of God’s temple\, of the city of the eternal King\, of Christ’s bride. Let us \nask ourselves what this house of God\, this temple\, this city\, and this bride can \nbe. With awe and reverence I say: It is we ourselves. I say it is we ourselves\, but \nin the heart of God; it is we ourselves\, but by his grace and not by any merits of \nour own. We humans must beware of appropriating what belongs to God\, of \ntaking the glory to ourselves; otherwise\, if we exalt ourselves\, he will humble us \nand bring us down to our proper level. \nOn the other hand\, a humble acknowledgment of our maladies will arouse \nhis compassion. Indeed\, this is enough to make God feed us in our hunger like a \nwell-to-do father. So\, under his protection we shall have bread in abundance \nand thus become his house in which life-giving food is never lacking. \nBear in mind also that he describes his house as a house of prayer\, and \nthat holiness befits this house; then the purity of self-restraint will accompany \nthe tears of repentance\, and what is already God’s house will become his temple \nas well. Be holy\, says the Lord\, because I am holy. And the Apostle says: Do you \nnot realize that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and the Holy \nSpirit dwells in you? \nBut is even holiness enough? According to the Apostle\, peace too is \nnecessary\, for he says: Strive to be at peace with everyone\, and to achieve the \nholiness without which no one can see God. It is peace that makes brothers \ndwell together in unity and builds for our king\, the true king of peace\, a new city \nalso called Jerusalem\, which means “vision of peace.” \nBut how can so great a king become a bridegroom\, and a city a bride? This \nis possible to love alone\, which is as strong as death\, and can do anything. Can it \nnot easily lift her up\, when it has already brought him down? \nAnd so\, if the abundance of our food shows us to be the house of a great \nFather\, if holiness shows us to be God’s temple\, if the sharing of a common life \nshows us to be the city of the great king\, and if love shows us to be the bride of \nthe immortal bridegroom\, then we can surely say without hesitation that today’s \nfeast is our feast. Nor should you be surprised that such a feast is celebrated here \non earth; it is\, after all\, being celebrated in heaven too! For if as Truth says\, so it \nmust be true\, there is joy in heaven and even among God’s angels over a single \nsinner repenting\, then the joy there today must be many times greater at so \nmany sinners repenting. Let us then share the rejoicing of the angels\, let us \nshare the joy of God\, and let us keep today’s feast with thanksgiving\, for the fact \nthat it is our own should make us all the more willing to celebrate it.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-louisville-cathedral-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251004
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251005
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20250928T120111Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250928T120111Z
UID:13991-1759536000-1759622399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Francis
DESCRIPTION:ST FRANCIS AND THE PEASANT \nFrom “The Little Flowers of St Francis” \n◊◊◊ \nThe next morning\, as his companions knew that…St Francis was too weak \nto be able to continue the journey on foot\, they went up to a poor local peasant \nand asked him\, for the love of God to lend his donkey for their Father\, Brother \nFrancis\, who could not travel on foot. Hearing Brother Francis mentioned\, the \nman asked them: “Are you the friars of that Brother Francis of Assisi about \nwhom people say so much good?” \nThe friars answered\, “Yes\,” and that it was really for him that they were \nasking for the donkey. \nThen with great devotion and care this good man saddled the donkey and \nled it to St Francis\, and with great reverence helped him get into the saddle. \nThen they continued their journey\, the peasant walking with them behind \nhis donkey. And after they had gone awhile\, he said to St Francis: “tell me\, are \nyou Brother Francis of Assisi?” \nSt Francis answered that he was. \n“Well then\,” said the peasant\, “try to be as good as everyone thinks you \nare\, because many people have great faith in you\, so I urge you: never let there \nbe anything in you different from what they expect of you.” \nWhen St Francis heard these words\, he did not mind being admonished \nby a peasant\, and he did not say to himself\, as many proud fellows who wear the \ncowl nowadays would say\, “Who is this brute who admonishes me?” But he15 \nimmediately got off the donkey and threw himself on his knees before the \nfarmer and humbly kissed his feet\, thanking him for having deigned to \nadmonish him so charitably. \nThen his companions and the peasant very devoutly helped him to his feet \nand sat him on the donkey again. And they traveled on. \nAnd when they had climbed about halfway up the mountain\, because the \nsummer heat was very great and the path was long and steep\, the peasant began \nto suffer intensely from thirst\, and he called ahead to St Francis: “I am dying of \nthirst. If I don’t have something to drink\, I’ll suffocate in a minute!” \nSo St Francis immediately got off the donkey and began to pray. And he \nremained kneeling on the ground\, raising his hands toward heaven\, until he \nknew by revelation that God had granted his prayer. Then he said to the \npeasant\, “run quickly to that rock\, and their you’ll find running water which \nChrist in his mercy has just caused to flow from the rock.” \nThe man ran to the place which St Francis had shown him\, and found a \nvery fine spring that had been made to flow through the hard rock by the power \nof St Francis’ prayer. And he drank all he wanted and felt better.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-francis-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251005
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251006
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20251004T230558Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251004T230558Z
UID:13996-1759622400-1759708799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n27th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nOctober 5 – 11\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n5\nMon\n6\nTue\n7\nWed\n8\nThu\n9\nFri\n10\nSat\n11\n\n\nOffice\n27th Sunday\nSt Bruno\nOur Lady of the Rosary\nOffice for the Dead\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSt John XXIII\n\n\nVigils\nSir 35:15-26\nSir 36:1-22\nJudith 15:8-16:2\, 11-16\nSir 36:23-31\nSir 37:1-15\nSir 37:16-31\nSir 38:1-23\n\n\nLauds\nHag 2:10-14\nHag 2:15-19\nSir 39:12-22\nHag 2:20-23\nZechariah 1:1-6\nZech 1:7-13\nZech 1:14-17\n\n\nMass\n141\n461\n462\n463\n464\n465\n466\n\n\n1st\nHabb 1:2-3; 2:2-4\nJonah 1:1-2:2\, 11\nJonah 3:1-10\nJonah 4:1-11\nMal 3:13-20b\nJoel 1:13-15; 2:1-2\nJoel 4:12-21\n\n\n2nd\n2 Tim 1:6-8\, 13-14\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 17:5-10\nLuke 10:25-37\nLuke 10:38-42\nLuke 11:1-4\nLuke 11:5-13\nLuke 11:15-26\nLuke 11:27-28\n\n\nVespers\n2 Tim 2:1-7\n2 Tim 2:8-13\nActs 1:12-14\n2 Tim 2:14-19\n2 Tim 2:20-26\n2 Tim 3:1-9\n2 Tim 3:10-17
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-129/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251005
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251006
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20251004T230729Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251004T230729Z
UID:13998-1759622400-1759708799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 27th Sunday
DESCRIPTION:WATCH AND PRAY \nFrom a commentary by St Augustine \n◊◊◊ \nReading the holy gospel nourishes in us the habit of prayer\, builds up our \nfaith\, and disposes us to trust in the Lord rather than in ourselves. What more \npowerful motive to prayer could be proposed to us than the parable of the unjust \njudge? An unprincipled man\, without fear of God or regard for other people\, \nthat judge nevertheless ended by granting the widow’s petition. No kindly \nsentiment moved him to do so; he was rather worn down by her pestering. Now \nif a man can grant a request even when it is odious to him to be asked\, how can \nwe be refused by the one who urges us to ask? \nHaving persuaded us\, therefore\, by a comparison of opposites that we \nought always to pray and never lose heart\, the Lord goes on to put the \nquestion: Nevertheless\, when the Son of Man comes\, do you think he will find \nfaith on earth? Where there is no faith\, there is no prayer. Who would pray for \nsomething he did not believe in? So when the blessed apostle exhorts us to pray \nhe begins by declaring: Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; \nbut to show that faith is the source of prayer and the stream will not flow if its \nsprings are dried up\, he continues: But can people call upon him in whom they \ndo not believe? \nWe must believe\, then\, in order to pray; and we must ask God that the \nfaith enabling us to pray may not fail. Faith gives rise to prayer\, and this prayer \nobtains an increase of faith. Faith\, I say\, gives rise to prayer\, and is in turn \nstrengthened by prayer. It was to guard against their faith failing in times of \ntemptation that the Lord told his disciples: Watch and pray that you may not \nenter into temptation… \nWhat does it mean to enter into temptation? It means to turn one’s back \non faith. Temptation grows stronger in proportion as faith weakens\, and \nbecomes weaker in proportion as faith grows strong. To convince you\, beloved\, \nthat he was speaking of the weakening and loss of faith when he told his \ndisciples to watch and pray that they might not enter into temptation\, the Lord \nsaid in this same passage of the gospel: This night Satan has demanded to sift \nyou like wheat; but I have prayed for you\, Peter\, that your faith may not fail. \nIs the protector to pray\, while the person in danger has no need to do so? \nBut in asking whether the Son of Man would find faith on earth at his \ncoming\, the Lord was speaking of perfect faith. That kind of faith is indeed \nhardly to be found on earth. Look at God’s Church: it is full of people. Who \nwould come here if faith were non-existent? But who would not move \nmountains if that faith were present in full measure? Mark the apostles: they \nwould never have left everything they possessed and spurned worldly ambition \nto follow the Lord unless their faith had been great; and yet that faith of theirs \ncould not have been perfect\, otherwise they would not have asked the Lord to \nincrease it.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-27th-sunday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251006
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251007
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20251004T230830Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251004T230830Z
UID:14000-1759708800-1759795199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Bruno
DESCRIPTION:ST BRUNO \nFOUNDER OF THE CARTHUSIANS \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints \n◊◊◊ \nBruno came of a good family and was born at Cologne about the year \n1020. While still young he left home to finish his education at the cathedral \nschool of Rheims… In 1056 he was invited to return to his school as professor of \ngrammar and theology. He taught in the school of Rheims for eighteen years… \nHowever Bruno had decided to abandon the active…life precisely at a \ntime when the church of Rheims was ready to choose him as archbishop. \nHe…renounced whatever held him in the world\, and persuaded some of his \nfriends to accompany him into solitude. They first put themselves under the \ndirection of St Robert\, abbot of Molesmes (who afterwards founded Citeaux)\, \nand lived in a hermitage at Seche-Fontaine near by. In this solitude Bruno and \nhis companions deliberated what it was best for them to do. He decided to apply \nto St Hugh\, bishop of Grenoble… \nSt Bruno and his six companions arrived at Grenoble about midsummer \nin 1084\, and begged from St Hugh some place where they might serve God\, \nremote from worldly affairs… Hugh…assigned them to the desert of Chartreuse\, \npromising his utmost assistance to establish them there. Bruno and his \ncompanions immediately built an oratory there\, and small cells at a little \ndistance from the other\, like the ancient lauras of Palestine. Such was the origin \nof the order of the Carthusians\, which took its name from this desert of \nChartreuse… \nSt Hugh became so great an admirer of Bruno that he took him for his \nspiritual father and often went from Grenoble to the Chartreuse to enjoy his \nconversation and improve himself by his advice and example. But his fame went \nbeyond Grenoble and reached the ears of Eudes de Chatillon\, his former pupil \nand now Pope Urban II… The Pope sent him an order to come to Rome that he \nmight assist him by his counsels in the governance of the Church. Bruno could \nscarcely have met with a more severe trial of his obedience or made a greater \nsacrifice. Nevertheless he set out in 1090… \nBruno…had permission to occupy a hermitage among the ruins of the \nbaths of Diocletian\, where he would be close at hand when required by the pope. \nSoon Pope Urban pressed him to accept the archbishopric of Reggio in Calabria\, \nbut Bruno excused himself with great earnestness\, and redoubled his requests \nto live in solitude. Urban consented at length that he might retire to a wilderness \nin Calabria where he would be at hand… \nIn 1099 Landuin\, whom Bruno had appointed as Prior of the Chartreuse\, \nwent to Calabria to consult Bruno about the form of living which he had \ninstituted\, for the monks were desirous not to depart from the spirit and rule of \ntheir master. Bruno wrote them a letter full of tender charity and the spirit of \nGod. In it he instructed them in all practices of solitary life\, solved the \ndifficulties which they proposed to him\, comforted them in their troubles\, and \nencouraged them in perseverance. \nHis last sickness came upon him towards the end of September 1101… He \nresigned his soul to God on Sunday\, October 6\, 1101. St Bruno has never been \nformally canonized\, the Carthusians being averse to all occasions of publicity. \nBut in 1514 they obtained permission from Pope Leo X to keep his feast\, and in \n1674 Clement X extended it to the whole western Church.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-bruno-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20251004T230936Z
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UID:14002-1759795200-1759881599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Our Lady of the Rosary
DESCRIPTION:THE PRAYER OF MARY \nFrom the Apostolic Letter of Pope John Paul II on the rosary \n◊◊◊ \nThe Rosary of the Virgin Mary\, which gradually took form in the second \nmillenium under the guidance of the Spirit of God… still remains\, at the dawn of \nthis third millenium\, a prayer of great significance\, destined to bring forth a \nharvest of holiness. It…has lost none of the freshness of its beginnings and feels \ndrawn by the Spirit of God to set out into the deep…in order once more to \nproclaim\, and even to cry out\, before the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and \nSavior\, the way\, and the truth and the life\, the goal of human history and the \npoint on which the desires of history and civilization turn. \nThe Rosary\, though clearly Marian in character\, is at heart a \nChristocentric prayer. In the sobriety of its elements\, it has all the depth of the \nGospel message in its entirety\, of which it can be said to be a compendium. It is \nan echo of the prayer of Mary\, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the \nredemptive Incarnation that began in her virginal womb. With the Rosary\, the \nChristian people sit at the school of Mary and are led to contemplate the beauty \nof the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love. Through the Rosary \nthe faithful receive abundant grace\, as though from the very hands of the \nmother of the Redeemer… \nThe contemplation of Christ has an incomparable model in Mary. In a \nunique way\, the face of the Son belongs to Mary. It was in her womb that Christ \nwas formed\, receiving from her a human resemblance that points to an even \ngreater spiritual closeness. No one has ever devoted themselves to the \ncontemplation of the face of Christ as faithfully as Mary. The eyes of her heart \nalready turned to Him at the Annunciation\, when she conceived him by the \npower of the Holy Spirit. \nMary lived with her eyes fixed on Christ\, treasuring His every word: She \nkept all these things\, pondering them in her heart. The memories of Jesus…were \nalways with her\, leading her to reflect on the various moments of her life at her \nSon’s side. In a way those memories were to be the rosary that she recited \nuninterruptedly throughout her earthly life. \nEven now\, amid the joyful songs of the heavenly Jerusalem\, the reasons \nfor her thanksgiving and praise remain unchanged. They inspire her maternal \nconcern for the pilgrim Church\, in which she continues to relate her personal \naccount of the Gospel. Mary constantly sets before the faithful the mysteries of \nher Son\, with the desire that the contemplation of those mysteries will release \nall their saving power. In the recitation of the Rosary\, the Christian community \nenters into contact with the memories and the contemplative gaze of Mary.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-our-lady-of-the-rosary-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:14004-1759881600-1759967999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
DESCRIPTION:THE NEWNESS OF LIFE \nFrom “The Mystery of Time” by Fr Jean Mouroux \n◊◊◊ \nChrist died to deliver us from the condemnation to eternal death and from \nthe fear which enslaves the sinner. He has conquered death\, the child of sin\, \nbecause he has conquered sin itself. He has undergone death to destroy it. He \nhas overcome this radical contradiction by elevating us to a participation in his \nrisen life\, in “life eternal.” Death has not yet been completely eradicated\, but it \nhas been completely transformed. Christ has delivered us all to the Cross \nbecause He\, the Head of mankind\, the Center of the redeemed universe\, the \nSavior\, “bore us all in Himself” during his sacrifice. Thus “if one died for all\, then \nall were dead”\, and all are saved from the satanical power of death. It is love\, not \ndamnation\, which envelops us and restores us to God. It envelops us as \nindividuals; as members of the human race; and as members of the Church… \nIt’s infinite blessing affects our personal life at baptism\, where with Christ \nwe “are dead to sin\, but alive to God”. The power of the Risen Christ dwells in us \nthat “we may walk in the newness of life\,” that each day we may cast sin farther \naway and crown our lives with the divine agape. The life of Christians in time is \na paradoxical one. They are dead to sin\, yet must die to it each day; they live in \nGod\, and must live for him each day; they are the battleground of an \neschatological struggle in which Christ the Conqueror faces the vanquished \ndevil\, that he may triumph once again in the freedom of a regenerated heart. By \nimmersing himself ever more deeply into baptism and Christ\, the Christian \ngrows with Christ and brings about his victory even in death. \nInsofar as he lives in Christ\, the Christian is totally enveloped by Christ \nboth before and after death. Before death\, Christ is the life-giving\, saving Lord. \nAfter death\, he calls\, judges\, purifies\, and transfigures the life he has given. Here \nbelow\, he communicates the seed of immortality\, especially in the Eucharist. Up \nabove\, He will be the source of glory which will transform our soul and our body. \nThe Eternal One is present before and after death. So at our death Christ is \npresent as the Savior who protects Christians from the last assault of the evil \none\, revives their flagging spirits\, and leads them from the time of testing to \ntheir eternal reward. \nChrist is the Mediator through whom and in whom every Christian \nexperiences death. Externally\, death still seems to be a terrible process of \nannihilation. But internally it is the mysterious maturation of the new creature \nin Jesus Christ. “This is the will of my Father who sent me: that every one who \nsees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life\, and I shall raise them on \nthe last day”. “I am the bread of life. This is the bread that came down from \nheaven so that one may eat it and not die”.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-the-dead-23/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:14006-1759968000-1760054399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A COMMUNITY OF PARDON \nFrom “Seasons of Celebration” by Thomas Merton \n◊◊◊ \nLet us remember especially that the Church is a community of pardon. All \nwho have entered the common life of the body of Christ have done so by the way \nof pardon. And they remain in the Body of Christ only through pardon\, through \nthe mystery of Christ: not only of Christ\, as Head\, but also of Christ in His \nmembers. \nThe mercy and pardon of Christ must be continually at work in all the \nmembers and through all the members of the Mystical Body. This is what makes \nthe Church truly a Mother: she gives life by gentleness\, understanding\, love and \npardon. She forgives sins\, that is to say she heals separations. Sin is separation \nfrom God\, and from those who love God. Sin is a cutting off from life. It is a \nspiritual death and pardon is the restoration of life. \nThe Spirit by which the Church lives is the Spirit of love\, of unity. Unity \ncan be preserved or restored only by understanding\, acceptance and pardon. \nThe Church is a body of people who know they are forgiven and who forgive \nrepeatedly because they are themselves forgiven repeatedly. \nThe Church is then not so much a body of people who are pure and never \noffend\, but of those who\, in their weakness and frailty\, frequently err and \noffend\, but who have received from God the power to forgive one another in His \nname. They possess the Holy Spirit and they can give the Holy Spirit in some \nsense\, to one another. The Holy Spirit Himself moves them to do this\, and acts \nin them\, to save others. \nWe\, then\, who form one body in Christ\, share with one another the \nmessage of Christ’s divine truth\, we share His word\, we share His worship\, we \nshare His love\, we share His Spirit. \nIn building a community of pardon which is the temple of God\, we have to \nrecognize that no one of us is complete\, self-sufficient\, perfectly holy in himself. \nNo one can rest in one’s own virtues and interior life. We do not live for \nourselves alone. To live for oneself alone is to die. We grow and flourish in our \nown lives in so far as we live for others and through others. What we ourselves \nlack God has given them. They must complete us where we are deficient. \nOften the good that is given us by God is given us only to be shared with \nanother. If God sees that we will not pardon and will not be open\, that we will \nnot share\, then the good is not given us. But to the one in whom there is the \ngreatest readiness to share with all\, most is given. The greatest of gifts then is \nthis openness\, this love\, this readiness to accept and to pardon and to share with \nothers\, in the Spirit of Christ. If we are open we will not only offer pardon\, but \nwill not disdain to seek it and recognize our own desperate need of it.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-357/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:14008-1760054400-1760140799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:ONE IN CHRIST \nFrom a sermon by St Leo the Great \n◊◊◊ \nI rejoice\, dearly beloved\, in the pious affection of your devotion\, and I give \nthanks to God that I see in you the love of Christian unity. For your very \npresence here testifies that you understand that the annual return of this day is \na matter for common rejoicing; and that in celebrating the annual festival of the \nShepherd\, you are honouring the whole flock. \nFor though the universal Church is ordered in varying degrees\, so the \nwhole is made up from the diverse members of the sanctified Body\, we are all\, n \nevertheless\, as the Apostle says\, one in Christ; and no one is separated by office \nfrom another\, so that even the least among us is related to the head. \nTherefore\, Beloved\, in its unity of faith and baptism\, our society is \nundivided\, and its dignity is the dignity of all its members; according to the \nwords of the blessed Peter\, spoken by his own consecrated voice: Be you as \nliving stones built up\, a spiritual house\, a holy priesthood\, to offer up spiritual \nsacrifices\, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And a little later: You are a \nchosen generation\, a kingly priesthood\, a holy nation\, a purchased people. \nFor all who are born again in Christ\, the sign of the Cross makes kings\, \nand the anointing of the Holy Spirit consecrates priests; so that apart from the \nspecial service of our ministry\, let all spiritual and reasoning Christians know \nthat they are of royal birth\, and sharers of the priestly office. \nFor what is so kingly as the soul that is subject to God\, and the ruler of its \nown body? And what is so priestly as to dedicate to the Lord a pure conscience\, \nand to offer him on the altar of our hearts the unstained gift of our love? And \nsince by God’s grace this has been given to us all\, it is for you a devout and \npraiseworthy thing to rejoice on the day of our coronation as though the honour \nwere your own.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-358/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:14010-1760140800-1760227199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Pope John XXIII
DESCRIPTION:THE SPIRITUAL TESTAMENT \nAND LAST WISHES \nof St Pope John XXIII \n◊◊◊ \nOn the point of presenting myself before the One and Triune Lord who \ncreated me\, redeemed me\, chose me to be his priest and bishop\, and covered me \nwith unending graces\, I entrust my poor soul to His mercy; I humbly ask pardon \nfor my sins and deficiencies. I offer Him the little good\, although petty and \nimperfect\, that with His aid I have succeeded in doing\, for His glory\, for the \nservice of Holy Church\, for the edification of my brethren\, begging Him finally \nto receive me\, like a good and kind Father\, with His Saints into eternal \nhappiness. \nI profess once again with all my heart my entire Christian and Catholic \nfaith\, my adherence and subjection to the Holy Apostolic and Roman Church\, \nand my complete devotion and obedience to her August Head\, the Supreme \nPontiff\, whom it was my great honor to represent for long years in various \nregions of the East and West\, who at the end chose me to come to Venice as \nCardinal and Patriarch\, and whom I have always followed with sincere \naffection\, aside from and above any dignity conferred upon me. \nThe sense of my own littleness and nothingness has always been my good \ncompanion\, keeping me humble and calm\, and making me employ myself to the \nbest of my ability in a constant exercise of obedience and charity for souls and \nfor the interests of the Kingdom of Jesus\, my Lord and my all. To Him be all \nglory; for me and for my merit\, His mercy. \n7The Encyclicals and Other Messages of John XXIII – TPS Press – Washington DC – 1964 – pg 465.15 \nI ask pardon of those whom I have unwittingly offended\, of all to whom I \nhave not been a source of edification. I feel that I have nothing to forgive anyone\, \nfor all who have known and dealt with me – including those who have offended \nme\, scorned me\, held me in bad esteem (with good reason\, for that matter)\, or \nhave been a source of affliction for me – I regard solely as brothers and \nbenefactors\, to whom I am grateful and for whom I pray and always will pray. \nBorn poor\, but of honorable and humble people\, I am particularly happy \nto die poor\, having given away\, in accord with the various demands and \ncircumstances of my simple and modest life\, for the benefit of the poor and of \nHoly Church that had nurtured me\, all that came into my hands – which was \nlittle enough as a matter of fact – during the years of my priesthood and \nepiscopacy. Outward appearances of ease and comfort often veiled hidden \nthorns of distressing poverty and kept me from giving with all the largess I \nwould have liked. I thank God for this grace of poverty which I vowed in my \nyouth\, poverty of spirit as a priest of the Sacred Heart\, and real poverty… \nAs I face death\, I recall each and every one – those who preceded me in \ntaking the final step\, those who will survive me and who will follow me. May \nthey pray for me. I will repay them from Purgatory or from Paradise\, where I \nhope to be received. I repeat it once again\, not because of my merits\, but because \nof the mercy of the Lord. At the moment for saying farewell\, or better still\, \narrivederci\, I once more remind everyone of what counts most in life: blessed \nJesus Christ\, His Holy Church\, His Gospel; and in the Gospel\, above all\, the \nPater noster in the spirit and heart of Jesus and the Gospel\, the truth and \ngoodness\, the goodness meek and kind\, active and patient\, victorious and \nunbowed.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-pope-john-xxiii/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20251012T011336Z
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UID:14013-1760227200-1760313599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n28th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nOctober 12 – 18\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n12\nMon\n13\nTue\n14\nWed\n15\nThu\n16\nFri\n17\nSat\n18\n\n\nOffice\n28th Sunday\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSt Teresa of Avila\nSt Hedwig\nSt Ignatius of Antioch\nSt Luke\n\n\nVigils\nSir 38:24-34\nSir 39:1-16\nSir 39:17-35\nSir 40:1-17\nSir 40:18-30\nSir 41:1-13\nEzek 1:1-14\n\n\nLauds\nZech 2:1-9\nZech 2:10-17\nZech 3:1-7\nZech 3:8-4:5\nZech 4:6-10a\nZech 4:10b-5:4\nIsa 52:7-10\n\n\nMass\n144\n467\n468\n469\n470\n471\n661\n\n\n1st\n2 Kgs 5:14-17\nRom 1:1-7\nRom 1:16-25\nRom 2:1-11\nRom 3:21-30\nRom 4:1-8\n2 Tim 4:10-17b\n\n\n2nd\n2 Tim 2:8-13\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 17:11-19\nLuke 11:29-32\nLuke 11:37-41\nLuke 11:42-46\nLuke 11:47-54\nLuke 12:1-7\nLuke 10:1-9\n\n\nVespers\n2 Tim 4:1-8\n2 Tim 4:9-22\nTitus 1:1-9\nTitus 1:10-16\nTitus 2:11-15\nTitus 3:1-8a\nTitus 3:8b-15
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-130/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:14015-1760227200-1760313599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 28th Sunday
DESCRIPTION:THE CRY OF THE HEART \nFrom a commentary by Bruno of Segni \n◊◊◊ \nOn the way to Jerusalem Jesus passed through the border between \nSamaria and Galilee\, and when he entered one of the villages ten lepers came to \nmeet him. What do these ten lepers stand for if not the sum total of all sinners? \nWhen Christ the Lord came not all men and women were leprous in body\, but in \nsoul they were\, and to have a soul full of leprosy is much worse than to have a \nleprous body. \nBut let us see what happened next. Standing a long way off they called out \nto him: “Jesus\, Master. Take pity on us.” They stood a long way off because no \none in their condition dared come too close. We stand a long way off too while \nwe continue in sin. To be restored to health and cured of the leprosy of sin\, we \nalso must cry out: “Jesus\, Master\, take pity on us.” That cry\, however\, must \ncome not from our lips but from our heart\, for the cry of the heart is louder: it \npierces the heavens\, rising up to the very throne of God. \nWhen Jesus saw the lepers he told them to go and show themselves to the \npriests. God has only to look at people to be filled with compassion. He pitied \nthese lepers as soon as he saw them\, and sent them to the priests not to be \ncleansed by them\, but to be pronounced clean. \nAnd as soon as they went they were cleansed. Let all sinners listen to this \nand try to understand it. It is easy for the Lord to forgive sins. Sinners have often \nbeen forgiven before they come to a priest. In fact their repentance and healing \noccur simultaneously: at the very moment of their conversion they pass from \ndeath to life. Let them understand\, however\, what this conversion means\, let \nthem understand the Lord’s words: Return to me with all your heart\, with \nfasting\, weeping and mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments. \nTo be really converted one must be converted inwardly\, in one’s heart\, for a \nhumbled contrite heart God will not spurn. \nOne of them\, when he saw that he was cured\, went back again\, praising \nGod at the top of his voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. \nNow this man was a Samaritan. He stands for all those who\, after their \ncleansing by the waters of baptism or healing by the sacrament of penance\, \nrenounce the devil and take Christ as their model\, following him with praise\, \nadoration and thanksgiving\, and nevermore abandoning his service. \nAnd Jesus said to him: “Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved \nyou.” Great therefore is the power of faith. Without it\, as the Apostle says\, it is \nimpossible to please God. Abraham believed God and because of this God \nregarded him as righteous. Faith saves\, faith justifies\, faith heals both body and \nsoul.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-28th-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20251012T011744Z
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UID:14017-1760313600-1760399999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE ONE TRUE VISION \nOF CHRISTIAN FAITH \nFrom a sermon by St John Henry Newman \n◊◊◊ \nHowever much a duty it is to undergo excitements when they are sent \nupon us\, it is plainly unchristian\, a manifest foolishness and sin\, to seek out any \nsuch\, whether secular or religious. Hence gaming is so great an offense; as being \na presumptuous creation on our part of a serious\, if not an overpowering \ntemptation to fix the heart upon an object of this world. Hence\, the mischief of \nmany amusements\, of (what is called) the fashion of the day; which are devised \nfor the very purpose of taking up the thoughts\, and making time pass easy. \nQuite contrary is the Christian temper\, which is in its perfect and peculiar \nenjoyment when engaged in that ordinary\, unvaried course of duties which God \nassigns\, and which the world calls dull and tiresome. To get up day after day to \nthe same employments\, and to feel happy in them\, is the great lesson of the \nGospel; and\, when\, exemplified in those who are alive to the temptation of being \nbusy\, it implies a heart weaned from the love of this world. True\, illness of body\, \nas well as restlessness of mind\, may occasionally render such a life a burden. It \nis true also that indolence\, self-indulgence\, timidity and other similar bad \nhabits\, may adopt it by preference\, as a pretext for neglecting more active \nduties. \nMen and women of energetic minds and talents for action are called to a \nlife of trouble; they are the compensations and antagonists of the world’s evils. \nStill let them never forget their place – they are persons of war\, and we war that \nwe may obtain peace. They are but persons of war\, honored indeed by God’s \nchoice\, and\, in spite of all momentary excitements\, resting in the depth of their \nhearts upon the One true Vision of Christian faith…amid the unostentatious \nduties of ordinary life. \n“Martha\, Martha\, you are anxious and troubled about many things; but \none thing is needful\, and Mary has chosen that good part which shall not be \ntaken away from her.” Such is our Lord’s judgment\, showing that our true \nhappiness consists in being at leisure to serve God without excitements. For this \ngift we especially pray in one of our Collects: “Grant\, O Lord\, that the course of \nthis world may be so peaceably ordered by your governance\, that your Church \nmay joyfully serve you in all godly quietness.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-359/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20251012T011838Z
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UID:14019-1760400000-1760486399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE SAFEGUARD OF CHARITY \nFrom “The Mirror of Charity” by St Aelred of Rievaulx \n◊◊◊ \nI think it advisable for us who are called monks to take into account and \nexamine more closely the force of our rule… Does <St Benedict> not declare \nthat the reason for his institution is the preservation of charity and the \ncorrection of vices? \nWhy do you throw the Rule up to me\, <another fellow> says. Have charity \nand do what you want. Let us eat and drink\, then\, not because tomorrow we die\, \nbut because we are full of charity. \nOf charity\, I ask\, or vanity? \nWell\, you reply\, if someone has charity\, is he not fulfilling the Rule? \nHow many holy canons\, holy priests\, holy bishops\, and also holy couples \nsense that they possess charity\, but are very aware that they have not promised \nprofession and do not keep the rule for monks? If\, however\, we are speaking \nabout those who have made profession of the Rule itself\, what is being said is \ntrue—if\, that is\, he understands what he is talking about. \nWhy then\, you say\, do you obligate me by the authority of the Rule to \nthese harsh practices? \nIf you have charity it is not necessary for you to be forced to fulfill the \npromises which your lips have uttered. If you scorn fulfilling the things you \npromised by putting your signature to them and calling on God and his saints as \nyour witnesses\, you can be very sure you do not have charity. For do you love \nsomeone you mock? If anyone does other than he has promised\, he said\, let him \nknow that he will be condemned by the God whom he mocks. What then? Do we \ncondemn the dispensations granted in the Rule by our fathers\, or those granted \ntoday? On the contrary\, we allege that they can reasonably be granted because \nthey arise from the precepts of a man\, but not of God. But it is not within the \nprerogative of any man that he change or diminish any of the divine precepts. \nWe must carefully ward against letting a dispensation—a modification or \nvariation—become in any way destruction. Since the reason for the institution \nitself is the safeguard of charity and the correction of vices\, the dispensation will \nobviously be reasonable if it furthers this purpose. If\, on the other hand\, vices \nare fostered by the dispensation more than by the institution\, charity is violated. \nEven if it may do no harm in itself\, the dispensation is surely not without \ndanger.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-360/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251015
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251016
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20251012T140653Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251012T140653Z
UID:14021-1760486400-1760572799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Teresa of Avila
DESCRIPTION:ST TERESA’S CHILDHOOD \nFrom the autobiography of St Teresa of Avila \n◊◊◊ \nTo have had virtuous and God-fearing parents along with the graces the \nLord granted me should have been enough for me to have led a good life\, if I had \nnot been so wretched. My father was fond of reading good books\, and thus he \nalso had books in Spanish for his children to read. These good books together \nwith the care my mother took to have us pray and be devoted to our Lady and to \nsome of the saints began to awaken in me…to the practice of virtue. And they \nthemselves possessed many. \nWe were in all three sisters and nine brothers. All resembling their \nparents in being virtuous\, through the goodness of God\, with the exception of \nmyself – although I was the most loved of my father. And it seemed that he was \nright – before I began to offend God. For I am ashamed when I recall the good \ninclinations the Lord gave me and how poorly I knew how to profit by them. \nMy brothers and sisters did not in any hold me back from the service of \nGod. I had one brother about my age. We used to get together to read the lives \nof the saints… When I considered the martyrdoms the saints suffered for God\, it \nseemed to me that the price they paid for going to enjoy God was very cheap\, and \nI greatly desired to die in the same way. I did not want this on account of the \nlove I felt for God but to get to enjoy very quickly the wonderful things I read \nthere were in heaven. And my brother and I discussed together the means we \nshould take to achieve this. We agreed to go off to the land of the Moors and beg \nthem\, out of love for God\, to cut off our heads there. \nHaving parents seemed to us the greatest obstacle. We were terrified in \nwhat we read about the suffering and the glory that was to last forever. We spent \na lot of time talking about this and took delight in often repeating: forever and \never and ever. As I said this over and over\, the Lord was pleased to impress \nupon me in childhood the way of truth. \nWhen I saw it was impossible to go where I would be killed for God\, we \nmade plans to be hermits. And in the garden that we had in our house\, we tried \nas we could to make hermitages piling up little stones which afterwards would \nquickly fall down again. And so in nothing could we find a remedy for our \ndesire. It gives me devotion now to see how God gave me so early what I lost \nthrough my own fault. \nI gave what alms I could\, but that was little. I sought out solitude to pray \nmy devotions\, and they were many\, especially the rosary\, to which my mother \nwas very devoted; and she made us devoted to it too. When I played with other \ngirls I enjoyed it when we pretended we were nuns in a monastery\, and it \nseemed to me that I desired to be one\, although not as much as I desired the \nother things I mentioned.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-teresa-of-avila-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251016
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251017
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20251012T140755Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251012T140755Z
UID:14023-1760572800-1760659199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Hedwig
DESCRIPTION:ST HEDWIG OF SILESIA \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints \n◊◊◊ \nHedwig was born in Bavaria about the year 1174\, the daughter of \nBerthold\, count of Andechs. When she was only twelve she was married to \nHenry\, duke of Silesia. Together they founded a large number of religious \nhouses\, the best known of which was a convent for Cistercian nuns at Trebnitz\, \nnear Breslau in modern Poland\, the first convent for women in Silesia. These \nfoundations helped both to develop the religious life of the people and to spread \na common German culture throughout their lands. They also established \nhospitals and a house for lepers. \nTheir seventh and last child was born in 1209\, and Hedwig persuaded her \nhusband to take a mutual vow of chastity. They lived apart\, with Hedwig taking \nup residence close to the nunnery at Trebnitz\, and often sharing the austere life \nof the nuns. She recommended fasting to those who wanted to live holier lives\, \nsaying that it could “master concupiscence\, lift up the soul\, confirm it in the \npaths of virtue\, and prepare a fine reward for the Christian”. \nMuch of the rest of Hedwig’s life was spent in trying to keep peace \nbetween her warring sons Henry and Conrad and in attempts to make peace \nbetween her husband and his enemies. When Henry died in 1238\, she \ncomforted those who mourned him with the words\, “Would you oppose the will \nof God? Our lives are his; our will is whatever he is pleased to ordain\, whether \nour own death or that of our friends.” She took the habit at Trebnitz but did not \ntake any religious vows\, remaining free to administer her property for the good \nof the poor. We are told that she took great care to instruct the uneducated in \ntheir religion\, on one occasion having an old woman share a room with her so \nthat they could go through the Our Father together whenever there was a free \nmoment. After ten weeks of patient teaching\, the old woman could repeat and \nunderstand the prayer. \nWhen her son Henry II was killed in 1240 fighting the Tartar invaders\, \nHegwig knew of his death three days before a messenger arrived from the \nbattlefield. Other miracles were attributed to her; she cured a blind man\, for \nexample\, and had the gift of prophecy\, foretelling her own death in October \n1243. She was canonized in 1267\, and her feast was extended to the Western \nChurch in 1706.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-hedwig-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251017
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251018
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20251012T140905Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251012T140905Z
UID:14025-1760659200-1760745599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Ignatius of Antioch
DESCRIPTION:GOD’S WHEAT \nFrom the Letter of St Ignatius of Antioch to the Romans \n◊◊◊ \nI am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for \nGod if only you do not stand in my way. I plead with you: show me no untimely \nkindness. Let me be food for the wild beasts\, for they are my way to God. I am \nGod’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become God’s pure \nbread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a \nsacrificial victim for God. \nNo earthly pleasures\, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any \nway. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. \nHe who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our \nsakes is my one desire. The time for my birth is close at hand. Forgive me\, my \nbrothers. Do not stand in the way of my birth to real life; do not wish me \nstillborn. My desire is to belong to God. Do not\, then\, hand me back to the world. \nDo not try to tempt me with material things. Let me attain pure light. Only on \nmy arrival there can I be fully a human being. Give me the privilege of imitating \nthe passion of my God. If you have him in your heart\, you will understand what I \nwish. You will sympathize with me because you will know what urges me on. \nThe prince of this world is determined to lay hold of me and to undermine \nmy will which is intent on God. Let none of you here help him; instead show \nyourselves on my side\, which is also God’s side. Do not talk about Jesus Christ as \nlong as you love this world. Do not harbor envious thoughts. \nAnd supposing I should see you\, if then I beg you to intervene on my \nbehalf\, do not believe what I say. Believe instead what I am now writing to you. \nFor though I am alive as I write to you\, still my real desire is to die. My love for \nthis life has been crucified\, and there is no yearning in me for any earthly thing. \nRather within me is the living water which says deep inside me: “Come to the \nFather.” I no longer take pleasure in perishable food or in the delights of this \nworld. I want only God’s bread\, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ\, formed of the \nseed of David\, and for drink I crave his blood\, which is love that cannot perish. \nI am no longer willing to live a merely human life\, and you can bring about \nmy wish if you will. Please\, then\, do me this favor\, so that you in turn may meet \nwith equal kindness. Put briefly\, this is my request: believe what I am saying to \nyou. Jesus Christ himself will make it clear to you that I am saying the truth. \nOnly truth can come from that mouth by which the Father has truly spoken. \nPray for me that I may obtain my desire. I have not written to you as a mere man \nwould\, but as one who knows the mind of God. If I am condemned to suffer\, I \ntake it that you wish me well. If my case is postponed\, I can only think that you \nwish me harm.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-ignatius-of-antioch-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251018
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251019
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20251012T141000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251012T141000Z
UID:14027-1760745600-1760831999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Luke
DESCRIPTION:ST LUKE THE EVANGELIST \nBy Servant of God Marie-Joseph Lagrange \n◊◊◊ \nA custom had grown up among the Greeks of dedicating literary works to \nsome distinguished personage\, a custom followed by Jewish writers. Luke \naddresses his little book to Theophilus\, a certain Christian distinguished by the \ntitle of ‘Excellent\,” but otherwise unknown to us. A few years later Josephus\, as \na Jew writing on things Jewish for Roman readers\, thought it advisable to insist \nat some length on his impartiality. But Luke\, following the example of Polybius\, \nthought that his impartiality might be taken for granted\, and considered it \nenough to point out that his aim was to show for his noble friend’s benefit the \nsolid truth of what he had been taught. He thus confesses that his purpose is (to \nuse the current term) apologetic… \nNow only too often apologists have a bad name. They are accused of being \nlike certain lawyers\, not over-nice in their choice of an argument so long as it \ngets home: of being ready\, for instance\, to use even bad arguments on people of \nlittle discernment likely to be convinced by them. But Luke aspires to be an \nhistorian worthy of the name and to convince people who are well able to judge. \nAnd\, moreover\, the very nobility of the cause which it is a writer’s ambition to \nserve puts upon him the obligation of making use only of such facts as are \nbeyond dispute. This means that he must have recourse to none but \nunimpeachable witnesses. And this\, indeed\, is what Luke professes to do. \nEver since he was first associated with the preaching of the gospel\, he had \nmade it his business to get at the facts. This was all the more easy for him\, \ninasmuch as he was\, owing to his apostolic work\, in constant touch with the very \npeople who had been eyewitnesses from the beginning – with the Apostles\, that \nis\, and the first disciples. \nNow these Apostles and disciples preached first of all among the Jews \nwho had just condemned Jesus on false testimony; their own witness\, they \nclaimed\, was true. Could they\, then\, have put forward anything untrue without \nbeing at once contradicted by fiercely hostile opponents? People sitting round \nthe fireside at night are content to listen even to the most fanciful of stories if \nonly they are interesting… But the disciples of Jesus were hardy enough to carry \non a work which the leaders of the nation had condemned as subversive of the \nreligion of their fathers. There was one temptation to which the disciples might \nhave seemed in danger of succumbing\, from a desire to make their message \nmore acceptable: the temptation\, namely\, to modify certain features\, to portray \nJesus as submissive to the Law\, deferential to the rabbis\, respectful towards the \npriests. \nBut\, far from yielding to it\, they gave a faithful account of the very words \nand deeds for which He had been condemned\, and thereby showed themselves \nabsolutely trustworthy. It was precisely this fidelity to the facts which caused \ntheir testimony to be instantly punished with imprisonment. Luke had been \npresent more than once when this same testimony had been received with \nfurious outbursts of hatred\, though the facts no one had dared to deny. So he \nwas sure of the truth of the story he was about to tell once more. For he was not \nthe first to tell it: those facts\, which had proved for so many the source of a new \nlife\, had been related by many before him. He mentions no names\, however. \nTradition gives those of St Matthew and St Mark; scholars conjecture others.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-luke-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251019
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251020
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20251019T002834Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251019T002834Z
UID:14143-1760832000-1760918399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n29th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nOctober 19 – 25\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n19\nMon\n20\nTue\n21\nWed\n22\nThu\n23\nFri\n24\nSat\n25\n\n\nOffice\n29th Sunday\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSt John Paul II\nOffice for Vocations\nWeekday\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nSir 41:14-22\nSir 42:1-14\nSir 42:15-25\nSir 43:1-18\nSir 43:19-33\nSir 51:1-12\nSir 51:13-30\n\n\nLauds\nZech 5:5-11\nZech 6:1-8\nZech 6:9-15\nZech 7:1-7\nZech 7:8-14\nZech 8:1-6\nZech 8:7-11\n\n\nMass\n147\n473\n474\n475\n476\n477\n478\n\n\n1st\nExod 17:8-13\nRom 4:20-25\nRom 5:12\, 15b\, 17-19\, 20b-21\nRom 6:12-18\nRom 6:19-23\nRom 7:18-25a\nRom 8:1-11\n\n\n2nd\n2 Tim 3:14-4:2\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 18:1-8\nLuke 12:13-21\nLuke 12:35-38\nLuke 12:39-48\nLuke 12:49-53\nLuke 12:54-59\nLuke 13:1-9\n\n\nVespers\nJas 1:1-11\nJas 1:12-18\nJas 1:19-27\nJas 2:1-13\nJas 2:14-17\nJas 2:18-26\nJas 3:1-5a
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-131/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251019
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251020
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20251019T002955Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251019T002955Z
UID:14145-1760832000-1760918399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 29th Sunday
DESCRIPTION:THANKSGIVING AND PRAYER \nFrom a commentary by St Gregory of Nyssa \n◊◊◊ \nThe divine Word teaches us how to pray\, explaining to disciples worthy of \nhim\, and eagerly longing for knowledge of prayer\, what word to use to gain a \nhearing from God. \nThose who fail to unite themselves to God through prayer cut themselves \noff from God\, so the first thing we have to learn from the Word is that we need to \npray continually and not lose heart. Prayer brings us close to God\, and when we \nare close to God we are far from the Enemy. Prayer safeguards chastity\, controls \nanger\, and restrains arrogance. It is the seal of virginity\, the assurance of \nmarital fidelity\, the shield of travelers\, the protection of sleepers\, the \nencouragement of those who keep vigil\, the cause of the farmer’s good harvest \nand of the sailor’s safety. Therefore I think that even if we spent the whole of our \nlives in communion with God through thanksgiving and prayer\, we should still \nbe as far from adequately repaying our benefactor as we should have been had \nwe not even desired to repay him. \nTime has three divisions\, past\, present and future. In all three we \nexperience the Lord’s kindly dealings with us. If you consider the present\, you \nlive in him; if you consider the future\, your hope of obtaining what you look \nforward to is in him; if you consider the past\, you would not have existed had \nyou not been created by him. Your birth is his kindly gift to you\, and after birth \nhis kindness toward you continued\, since as the apostle says\, you live and move \nin him. On this same kindness depend all your hopes for the future. Only over \nthe present have you any control. Therefore\, even if you give thanks to God \nunceasingly throughout your life\, you will hardly meet the measure of your debt \nfor present blessings\, and as for those of the past and future\, you will never find \na way of repaying what you owe. \nAnd yet we\, who are so far from being capable of showing due gratitude\, \ndo not even give thanks to the best of our ability. We fail to set aside\, I do not say \nthe whole day\, but even the smallest portion of the day\, to be spent with God. \nWho restored to its original beauty that divine image in me that was \nblurred by sin? Who draws me back to the blessedness I knew before I was \ndriven out of paradise\, deprived of the tree of life\, and submerged in the abyss of \nworldliness? As scripture says\, There is no one who understands. If we realize \nthese things we would give thanks continually\, endlessly\, throughout the whole \nof our lives.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-29th-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251020
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251021
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20251019T003112Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251019T003112Z
UID:14147-1760918400-1761004799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE PRECEPTS OF THE RULE \nFrom “The Mirror of Charity” by St Aelred of Rievaulx \n◊◊◊ \nSpeaking about things having to do with charity\, humility\, patience\, and \nother virtues…what Christian is not obligated to these precepts? Does Benedict \nrecommend one kind of charity in his Rule and Augustine another in his? Does \nnot each recommend that charity which Christ recommends in the law and the \nGospel? \nWe can ask the same thing about the other virtues. Who in his right mind\, \nin exhorting others to virtue will say that these precepts are his and not rather \nthose of Christ? What difference will there be then among the precepts of the \ndifferent Rules? Surely\, how to eat\, dress\, work\, read\, keep vigil\, sing psalms\, \ncorrect and be corrected\, and other things like this\, because they are found to be \ndifferent in the different rules. Consequently\, things said to be especially \ncharacteristic of Basil or Augustine or Benedict are not imposed on all \nChristians by gospel authority\, but are simply proposed to them. To those who \nprofess these rules\, however\, they are no longer simply proposed\, but they are \nalso imposed on them. \nIf these are not the things\, what are? Obviously\, everything they put into \ntheir rules about charity\, humility\, and the other virtues\, they recommend not \nas their own precepts\, but as the Lord’s. They invite not only monks but all \nChristians to follow them\, not as being their own (for who would believe them?)\, \nbut as being Christ’s. If obedience according to the Rule of Saint Benedict means \nobeying the precepts of his Rule\, and if the precepts of his Rule consist of the \nthings we have enumerated\, how can anyone who does not keep them keep the \nessential character of the monastic profession\, since that obedience we profess \nis the essential character of monastic profession? \nHe will perhaps say what certainly ought to be said: that we also profess \nthe first two according to the Rule\, and he will affirm that it is not in stability of \nplace or obedience that diversity among the rules lies—since these same things \nare binding on monks\, clerics\, canons\, and bishops—but solely in conversion of \nlife. Is not one and the same obligation to stability incumbent upon all? Would \nanyone be so presumptuous as to transfer from one place to another without the \nconsent of his superior? \nFurthermore\, if we do profess conversion of life\, not according to the Rule \nbut simply in an indeterminate way\, those who are called penitents in the \nChurch do the same\, as do those who flee the shipwreck of fornication for the \nport of marriage. Who among them does not promise conversion of life? Hence \nfor some diversity to be found among the diverse types of conversion of life \nwhich are professed according to the diverse rules\, there is nothing to which we \nmay have recourse except those traits which constitute the diversity…
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-361/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251021
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251022
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20251019T003216Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251019T003216Z
UID:14149-1761004800-1761091199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:CHRISTIAN UNITY \nFrom the Encyclical “Ut Unum Sint” by Pope St John Paul II \n◊◊◊ \nThe Second Vatican Council exhorts “all Christ’s faithful to remember \nthat the more they strive to live according to the Gospel\, the more they are \nfostering and even practicing Christian unity. For they can achieve depth and \nease in strengthening mutual brotherhood to the degree that they enjoy \nprofound communion with the Father\, the Word and the Holy Spirit. “This \nchange of heart and holiness of life\, along with public and private prayer for the \nunity of Christians should be regarded as the soul of the whole ecumenical \nmovement\, and can rightly be called ‘spiritual ecumenism’.” \nWe proceed along the road leading to the conversion of hearts guided by \nlove which is directed to God and\, at the same time\, to all our brothers and \nsisters\, including those not in full communion with us. Love gives rise to the \ndesire for unity\, even in those who have never been aware of the need for it. Love \nbuilds communion between individuals and between Communities. If we love \none another\, we strive to deepen our communion and make it perfect. Love is \ngiven to God as the perfect source of communion – the unity of Father\, Son and \nHoly Spirit – that we may draw from that source the strength to build \ncommunion between individuals and Communities or to reestablish it between \nChristians still divided. Love is the great undercurrent which gives life and adds \nvigor to the movement toward unity. \nThis love finds its most complete expression in common prayer. When \nbrothers and sisters who are not in perfect communion with one another come \ntogether to pray\, the Second Vatican Council defines their prayer as the soul of \nthe whole ecumenical movement. This prayer is “a very effective means of \npetitioning for the grace of unity”\, “a genuine expression of ties which even now \nbind Catholics to their separated brethren. Even when prayer is not specifically \noffered for Christian unity\, but for other intentions such as peace\, it actually \nbecomes an expression and confirmation of unity. The common prayer of \nChristians is an invitation to Christ himself to visit the community of those who \ncall upon him: “Where two or three are gathered in my name\, there am I in the \nmidst of them.” \nAlong the ecumenical path to unity\, pride of place certainly belongs to \ncommon prayer; the prayerful union of those who gather together around Christ \nhimself. If Christians\, despite their divisions\, can grow ever more united in \ncommon prayer around Christ\, they will grow in the awareness of how little \ndivides them in comparison to what unites them. Fellowship in prayer leads \npeople to look at the Church and Christianity in a new way. It must not be \nforgotten in fact that the Lord prayed to the Father that his disciples might be \none\, so that their unity might bear witness to his mission and that the world \nwould believe that the Father had sent him. “Ecumenical prayer” is at the \nservice of the Christian mission and its credibility. It must be especially present \nin the life of the Church and in every activity aimed at fostering Christian unity.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-362/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251022
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251023
DTSTAMP:20260404T125112
CREATED:20251019T003325Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251019T003325Z
UID:14151-1761091200-1761177599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St John Paul II
DESCRIPTION:THE ONE SAVIOR OF ALL \nFrom the Encyclical “Redemptoris Missio” by Pope St John Paul II \n◊◊◊ \nThe redemption event brings salvation to all\, “for each one is included in \nthe mystery of the redemption and with each one Christ has united himself \nforever through this mystery.” It is only in faith that the Church’s mission can be \nunderstood and only in faith that it finds its basis. \nIf we go back to the beginnings of the Church\, we find a clear affirmation \nthat Christ is the one Savior of all\, the only one able to reveal God and lead to \nGod. In reply to the Jewish religious authorities who question the apostles \nabout the healing of the lame man\, Peter says: “There is no other name under \nheaven given men by which we must be saved”. This statement\, which was made \nto the Sanhedrin\, has a universal value\, since for all people – Jews and Gentiles \nalike – salvation can only come from Jesus Christ. \nThe universality of this salvation in Christ is asserted throughout the New \nTestament. St Paul acknowledges the risen Christ as the Lord. He writes: \n“Although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth – as indeed there \nare many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’ – yet for us there is only one God\, the Father\, \nfrom whom are all things and for whom we exist\, and one Lord\, Jesus Christ\, \nthrough whom are all things and through whom we exist”. One God and one \nLord are asserted by way of contrast to the multitude of “gods” and “lords” \ncommonly accepted. Paul reacts against the polytheism of the religious \nenvironment of his time and emphasizes what is characteristic of the Christian \nfaith: belief in one God and one Lord sent by God. \nIn the Gospel of St John\, this salvific universality of Christ embraces all \nthe aspects of his mission of grace\, truth and revelation: the Word is “the true \nlight that enlightens every person”. And again: “no one has ever seen God; the \nonly Son\, who is in the bosom of the Father\, he has made him known”. God’s \nrevelation becomes definitive and complete through his only-begotten Son: “In \nmany and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in \nthese last days he has spoken to us by a Son\, whom he appointed heir of all \nthings\, through whom he created the world”. \nIn this definitive Word of his revelation\, God has made himself known in \nthe fullest possible way. He revealed to mankind who he is. This definitive self- \nrevelation of God is the fundamental reason why the Church is missionary by \nher very nature. She cannot do otherwise than proclaim the Gospel\, that is\, the \nfullness of the truth which God has enabled us to know about himself… \nNo one\, therefore\, can enter into communion with God except through \nChrist\, by the working of the Holy Spirit. Christ’s one\, universal mediation\, far \nfrom being an obstacle on the journey toward God\, is the way established by \nGod himself… It is precisely this uniqueness of Christ which gives him an \nabsolute and universal significance\, whereby\, while belonging to history\, he \nremains history’s center and goal: “…the Alpha and the Omega\, the first and the \nlast\, the beginning and the end.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-john-paul-ii-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:14153-1761177600-1761263999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:THE CALL OF THE APOSTLES \nBy Fr Romano Guardini \n◊◊◊ \nWhat are “Apostles” really? Frankly; the impression we get from the New \nTestament hardly permits us to claim that these men were great or ingenious in \nthe worldly sense. It is difficult even to count them “great religious \npersonalities\,” if by this we mean bearers of inherent spiritual talents. John and \nPaul were probably exceptions\, but we only risk misunderstanding them both \nby overstating this. On the whole\, we do “Apostles” no service by considering \nthem great religious personalities. This attitude is usually the beginning of \nunbelief. Personal importance\, spiritual creativeness\, dynamic faith are not \ndecisive in their lives. What counts is that Jesus Christ has called them\, pressed \nhis seal upon them\, and sent them forth. \n“You have not chosen me\, but I have chosen you\, and have appointed you \nthat you should go and bear fruit”. Apostles then are those who are sent. It is \nnot they who speak\, but Christ in them. \nIn his first Corinthian [letter] Paul distinguishes nicely between the \ninstructions of “the Lord” and what he\, Paul\, has to say. The Lord’s words are \ncommands; his own\, suggestions. Each apostle is filled with Christ\, saturated \nwith thought of Christ; the Lord\, whom they represent\, is the substance of their \nlife. What they teach is not what they have learned from personal “experience” \nor “revelation\,” it is God’s word\, uttered upon God’s command: “Go\, therefore\, \nand make disciples of all nations teaching them to observe all that I have \ncommanded you”. To this end alone have the apostles been called\, and their \nvery limitations seem an added protection to the truth they bear. \nWhen Jesus says: “I praise you\, Father\, Lord of heaven and earth\, that \nyou have hidden these things from the wise and prudent\, and have revealed \nthem to little ones”\, it is an outburst of jubilation over the unutterable mystery \nof God’s love and creative glory. Spiritually\, the apostles are seldom more than \n“little ones;” [and it is] precisely this [that] guarantees the purity of their role as \nmessenger. \nTo be nothing in oneself\, everything in Christ; to be obliged to contain \nsuch tremendous contents in so small a vessel; to be a constant herald with no \nlife of one’s own; to forego once and forever the happy unity of blood and heart \nand spirit in all one does and is—something of the trials of such an existence \ndawns on us when we read the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians\, of that \nPaul who experienced so deeply the simultaneous greatness and \nquestionableness of apostledom: “For I think God has set forth us the apostles \nlast of all\, as men doomed to death\, seeing that we have been made a spectacle \nto the world\, and to angels\, and to men.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-24/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:14155-1761264000-1761350399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE TRUE NATURE \nOF THE CHURCH \nFrom “Life and Holiness” by Thomas Merton \n◊◊◊ \nWe must not regard the Church purely as an institution or an \norganization. She is certainly visible and clearly recognizable in her teachings\, \nher government\, and her worship. These are the external lineaments through \nwhich we may see the interior radiance of her soul. This soul is not merely \nhuman\, it is divine. It is the Holy Spirit itself. The Church\, like Christ\, lives and \nacts in a manner at once human and divine. Certainly there is imperfection in \nthe human members of Christ\, but their imperfection is inseparably united to \nhis perfection\, sustained by his power\, and purified by his holiness\, as long as \nthey remain in living union with him by faith and love. \nThrough these members of his the Almighty Redeemer infallibly \nsanctifies\, guides\, and instructs us\, and he uses us also to express his love for \nthem. Hence the true nature of the Church is that of a body in which all the \nmembers “bear one another’s burdens” and act as instruments of divine \nprovidence in regard to one another. Those are most sanctified who enter most \nfully into the life-giving Communion of Saints who dwell in Christ. Their joy is to \ntaste the pure streams of that river of life whose waters gladden the whole City of \nGod. \nOur perfection is therefore not just an individual affair\, it is also a \nquestion of growth in Christ\, deepening of our contact with him in and through \nthe Church… This means\, of course\, a closer union with our brethren in Christ\, a \ncloser and more fruitful integration with them in the living\, growing spiritual \norganism of the Mystical Body. \nThis does not mean that spiritual perfection is a matter of social \nconformism. The mere fact of becoming a well working cog in an efficient \nreligious machine will never make anyone into a saint if he does not seek God \ninteriorly in the sanctuary of his own soul. \nFor example\, the common life of religious\, regulated by traditional \nobservances and blessed by the authority of the Church\, is obviously a most \nprecious means of sanctification. It is\, for the religious\, one of the essentials of \nhis state. But it is still only a framework. As such\, it has its purpose. It must be \nused. But the scaffolding must not be mistaken for the actual building. The real \nbuilding of the Church is a union of hearts in love\, sacrifice\, and self- \ntranscendence. The strength of this building depends on the extent to which the \nHoly Spirit gains possession of each person’s heart\, not on the extent to which \nour exterior conduct is organized and disciplined by an expedient system. \nHuman social life inevitably requires a certain order\, and those who love \ntheir brother and sister in Christ will generously sacrifice themselves to \npreserve this order. But…the most important\, the most real\, and lasting work of \nthe Christian is accomplished in the depths of his own soul. It cannot be seen by \nanyone\, even by himself. It is…the interior\, anguished\, almost desperately \nsolitary act by which we affirm our total subjection to God…
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-363/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:14157-1761350400-1761436799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
DESCRIPTION:THE HUMILITY OF \nGOD’S HANDMAIDEN \nBy St Bernard of Clairvaux \n◊◊◊ \nYou can be saved without virginity; without humility you cannot be. \nHumility which deplores the loss of virginity can still find favor. Yet I dare say \nthat without humility not even Mary’s virginity would have been acceptable. \nThe Lord says\, “Upon whom shall my Spirit rest\, if not upon him that is humble \nand contrite in spirit?” On the humble\, he says\, not on the virgin. Had Mary not \nbeen humble\, then the Holy Spirit would not have rested upon her. Had he not \nrested upon her\, she would not have become pregnant. How indeed could she \nhave conceived by him without him? \nIt seems evident then that she conceived by the Holy Spirit because\, as she \nherself said\, God “regarded the humility of his handmaiden” rather than her \nvirginity. And even if it was because of her virginity that she found favor\, she \nconceived nevertheless on account of her humility. Thus there is no doubt that \nher virginity was found pleasing because her humility made it so. \nWhat have you to say to that\, haughty virgin? Mary\, making no account of \nher virginity\, was happy in her humility. Yet you\, heedless of humility\, preen \nyourself on your virginity? “God has regarded the humility of his handmaiden\,” \nshe says. Who is she? A holy virgin\, if ever there was one! A sober virgin\, a \ndevout virgin. Would you be more chaste than she? More devout? Do you fancy \nthat your modesty is so much more pleasing than Mary’s chastity that you on \nyour own can do without the humility she needed to find favor with God? If so\, \nto the extent that you are more worthy of respect because you have received a \nsingular gift of chastity\, you do yourself more harm\, because you tarnish its \nbeauty by the adulteration of pride. \nIt is better for you not to be a virgin than to be puffed up over your \nvirginity. Not everyone is a virgin\, but there are still fewer who join humility to \nvirginity. So if you can do no more than admire Mary’s virginity\, try to imitate \nher humility and for you this will be enough. But if you are both a virgin and \nhumble\, then whoever you are\, you are great.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-bvm-19/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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