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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20231128
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20231129
DTSTAMP:20260403T163334
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SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:TO A PRIEST ABOUT THE WORLD CRISIS \nFrom the “Missionary Letters” of Saint Nikolai Velimirovich3 ◊◊◊ \nYou ask me\, O man of God\, where did today’s crisis come from and what does it mean? Who am I to be asked about such a great thing? “You should only speak when what you have to say is better than silence\,” says St. Gregory the Theologian. And even though I believe that silence would be better right now\, I will give you my opinion on it for the sake of my love for you. \nCrisis is a Greek word\, and it means judgment. In the Holy Scripture this word is used many times. The Psalmist says\, “therefore\, the godless will not stand up in judgment”. In another place\, it says\, “I sing of mercy and judgment”. Wise Solomon writes\, “the judgment of all comes from the Lord”. The Savior Himself said that “the Father has given all judgment to the Son\,” and later “now is the judgment of the world come”. Apostle Peter writes\, “for it is time that the judgment of God’s house begin”. Replace the word judgment with crisis and read\, “therefore\, the godless will not stand up in crisis — I sing of mercy and crisis — the crisis of all comes from the Lord — the Father has given all crisis to the Son — now is the crisis of the world come — for it is time that the crisis of God’s house begin… \nNow\, the old word is replaced with the new – the understandable with the incomprehensible. When there was a drought\, people would say\, “God’s judgment!” When there was a flood\, “God’s judgment!” When there was a war or a plague\, “God’s judgment!” When there was hail\, earthquakes\, pests\, mice and other troubles\, again and every time – God’s judgment! And that means – crisis through droughts\, crisis through floods\, through wars\, plagues… Today’s… economic trouble is also \n\n\n\n\n\n\nconsidered by the people to be God’s judgment\, but they don’t say judgment\, but crisis. So that the trials are multiplied through confusion! For when we used an understandable word\, judgment\, we also understood the cause of the trouble; we knew the Judge who allowed the trials; and the goal of the trial was also known. However\, as soon as we used the word crisis\, a word incomprehensible to all and every one\, nobody knows how to explain anything — why\, where from\, to what end? That is the only difference between today’s crisis and those crises of drought\, flood\, war\, plague\, insects or other pestilences. \nDo you ask me about the cause of today’s crisis or today’s judgment of God? The cause is the same forever and ever. The cause of droughts\, floods\, plagues\, and other whips of mankind is also the cause of today’s crisis. Apostasy of the people. The people have caused this crisis by the sin of apostasy\, and God has allowed it in order to awaken the people\, that they might come to their senses\, become more spiritual and return to Him. \nThrough modern sins comes modern crisis. God really did use modern means to put some sense into modern people — He struck the banks\, the stock markets\, finances and currencies. He has overturned the tables of the exchangers around the world\, just as He did a long time ago in the Temple in Jerusalem. He has created an unprecedented panic among the merchants and money exchangers. He lifts\, casts down\, stirs\, confuses\, frightens. All to make… men wake up\, come to their senses and become more spiritual. So that being anchored in the harbors of material security\, they might remember their souls; confess their transgressions and bow down to the Almighty God — the Living God. How long will the crisis last? As long as the people’s spirit remains unchanged. Until those haughty people who caused this crisis capitulate before the Almighty. Until the peoples and nations remember to translate the incomprehensible word crisis into their own languages so that they may say “God’s judgment!” You also\, honorable father\, ought to say “God’s judgment” instead of crisis and everything will be clear \n\n\n3 Saint Nikolai Velimirovich. Missionary Letters of Saint Nikolai Velimirovich. Trans. Hierdeacon Serafim. Grayslake\, IL: New Gracania Monastery\, 2008. 16-18. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-134/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20231129
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20231130
DTSTAMP:20260403T163334
CREATED:20231125T223638Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231125T223638Z
UID:11338-1701216000-1701302399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:BEGINNINGS \nFrom the writing of Servant of God Dorothy Day4 \n◊◊◊ \nIt was in Chicago\, where… in a glimpse of supernatural beauty… Mrs. Barrett\, mother of Kathryn and six other little Barretts\, who lived upstairs… gave me my first impulse toward Catholicism. It was around ten o’clock in the morning that I went up to Kathryn’s to call for her to come out and play… In the front bedroom Mrs. Barrett was on her knees\, saying her prayers. She turned to tell me that Kathryn and the children had all gone to the store and went on with her praying. And I felt a warm burst of love toward Mrs. Barrett that I have never forgotten\, a feeling of gratitude and happiness that still warms my heart when I remember her. She had God\, and there was beauty and joy in her life. \nAll through my life\, what she was doing remained with me. And though I became oppressed with the problem of poverty and injustice\, though I groaned at the hideous sordidness of man’s lot\, though there were years when I clung to the philosophy of economic determinism as an explanation of man’s fate\, still there were moments when\, in the midst of misery and class strife\, life was shot through with glory. Mrs. Barrett in her sordid little tenement flat finished her breakfast dishes at ten o’clock in the morning and got down on her knees and prayed to God. \nThe Harrington family also lived in that block of tenements\, and there were nine children\, the eldest a little girl of twelve…Mary Harrington… One occasion… she told me of the life of some saint… I can only remember the feeling of lofty enthusiasm I had\, how my heart seemed almost bursting with desire to take part in such high endeavor. One verse of the Psalms often comes to my mind: “Enlarge \n\n\n\n\n\n\nThou my heart\, O Lord\, that Thou mayest enter in.” This was one of those occasions when my small heart was enlarged. I could feel it swelling with love and gratitude to such a good God for such a friendship as Mary’s\, for conversation such as hers\, and I was filled with lofty ambitions to be a saint\, a natural striving\, a thrilling recognition of the possibilities of spiritual adventure. \nI\, too\, wanted to do penance for my own sins and for the sins of the whole world\, for I had a keen sense of sin\, of natural imperfection and earthliness. I often felt clearly that I was being deliberately evil in my attitudes\, just as I clearly recognized truth when I came across it. And the thrill of joy that stirred my heart when I came across spiritual truth and beauty never abated\, never left me as I grew older. \nThe sad thing is that one comes across it so seldom. Natural goodness\, natural beauty\, brings joy and a lifting of the spirit\, but it is not enough\, it is not the same. The special emotions I am speaking of came only at hearing the word of God. It was as though each time I heard our Lord spoken of\, a warm feeling of joy filled me. It was hearing of someone you love and who loves you \n\n\n4 Day\, Dorothy. Selected Writings: By Little and By Little. Ed. Robert Ellsberg. Maryknoll\, New York: Orbis Books\, 2005. 9-12. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-9/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20231130
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20231201
DTSTAMP:20260403T163334
CREATED:20231125T223801Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231125T223801Z
UID:11340-1701302400-1701388799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Andrew
DESCRIPTION:O CROSS\, SO LONG DESIRED \nFrom a sermon by St Bernard5 \n◊◊◊ \nToday we celebrate the festival of St Andrew\, and if we ponder it lovingly we shall find much for the building up of our souls… \nYou will surely have noticed how St Andrew\, when he reached the place where the cross was prepared\, was strengthened in the Lord\, and began to utter those burning words\, through the Spirit whom he had received in tongues of fire\, along with the other apostles… His mouth spoke from the abundance of his heart\, and that love which burned in his heart flashed forth as bright flame in his voice. And what did blessed Andrew say\, when as I said\, he saw in the distance the cross which had been prepared for him? ‘O cross\,’ he said\, ‘so long desired and now made ready for my eager spirit! With joy and confidence I come to you\, therefore do you too receive me gladly\, as the disciple of him who hanged on you; for I have always been your lover and have longed to embrace you’… \nFrom where come such hitherto unknown joy and exultation? Whence such constancy in fragility? Whence\, in a mere human\, such spiritual ardor\, such burning love\, such vigor of soul? Far be it from us to imagine that it comes from his own strength. It is a perfect gift coming down from the Father of lights\, for he alone does great wonders. It was indeed the Spirit\, beloved brethren\, who came to the aid of his weakness\, through whom that love strong as death was poured into our hearts\, indeed it is stronger than death. May God give us a share in it!… If we grow weary and sleep at vigils\, it is only because of our feeble spirit. If the Holy Spirit is present\, doubtless he helps our infirmity; what he did for St Andrew on \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nthe cross and in his death\, he will also do for us in our toil and penance: not only will he make these seem no longer burdensome\, he will even make them a desire and a delight. ‘My Spirit’\, says the Lord\, ‘is sweeter than honey’\, so that the bitterness of death\, no matter how bitter\, would not be able to lessen its sweetness… \nLet us seek this Spirit\, my brethren\, let us do our utmost to gain him\, or to possess him more fully if he is not already in us. Because ‘anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him’. ‘We have not received the spirit of the world\, but the Spirit which is from God\, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God’. \nWe must take up our cross with St Andrew\, or rather\, with him whom St Andrew followed\, the Lord our Savior. The cause of his joy and exultation was that he was dying not only for his Lord but also with him\, in like manner\, that suffering with him he might reign with him. And we too\, if we are to be crucified with him\, let us listen with the ears of our heart to his voice saying: ‘If anyone would come after me\, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me’… For in the cross is our salvation\, provided we cleave to it firmly… To us who are being saved it is the power of God’. May he make us worthy too\, victoriously to carry to the end whatever cross of repentance we have taken up in his name\, he who is God above all\, blessed through the ages \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n5 Deuxieme sermon pour la fete de St Andre\, 1\, 3-5\, 7: PL 183\, 509-512. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-andrew-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20231201
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20231202
DTSTAMP:20260403T163334
CREATED:20231125T223927Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231125T223927Z
UID:11342-1701388800-1701475199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
DESCRIPTION:WAIL\, FOR THE DAY OF THE LORD IS NEAR \nFrom “Homilies on the Prophetic Burdens of Isaiah” by St Aelred of Rievaulx6 ◊◊◊ \nThe prophecy calls the Day of Judgment the day of the Lord. On that day\, the Lord appearing in power and majesty will render to each according to their works. That day\, of course\, begins for each of us when we leave the body. We will then receive either the firstfruits of beatitude in rest\, or the beginning of damnation in the soul\, which we will later also receive in the body. \nThis day will certainly come as desolation from the Lord… For what will that day not lay waste? Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb…and naked I will return there. Where\, then\, is the wealth\, where are the pleasures\, where are the heaps of gold or silver\, where are the crammed storehouses\, flowing from here to there? Where are the fruitful sheep and the fattened cattle\, where the silk garments and the warhorses? All things are brought to nothing for the dying person. For when people die\, they do not lay claim to anything\, nor does their glory go down with them. That day overtakes and devours whatever strength was in their body\, whatever enjoyment in their flesh\, whatever pleasure in their senses\, and whatever pleasing in their habits. \nHappy is the mind from which the memory of this day does not fade. Solomon bears witness to how useful it is to meditate on death when he says\, Child\, always remember your last moments and you will never sin. For who would take pleasure in sinning if that hour were always before their eyes? Therefore\, wail in repentance\, O sinner\, so that you are not compelled to wail in punishment. May the Lord’s Day in your memory make you bitter against the world’s pleasures so that it does not make \n\n\n\n\n\n\nyou bitter in experience… because…all hands will grow slack\, and every human heart will waste away and crumble. \nThose who work well send their good works before them to God. After they die\, they may rest and boast in their works with slack hands. Likewise\, those who work badly send their evil works before them to hell\, where they will be forever punished. For torments will powerfully afflict those who are powerful in evil here\, the cruel will be cruelly tormented\, the stench of sulfur will plague those stinking of lust\, the Tartar- ean flames will burn those whom avarice kindles\, and never-dying worms will feed on those whom gluttony and drunkenness defile. Pay attention to yourself\, O human! For as often as you sin\, you send before you to hell the material for punishment with which you could be tormented. You yourself light the fire that will torment you\, you provoke the stench that will torture you\, you bring to life the worms that will consume you\, you prepare the darkness that will blind you. Then your hands will grow slack\, so that they are neither fit to work nor strong enough to resist\, but can only passively suffer… \nTherefore\, everyone must wail. The wicked must wail to avoid the damnation that comes from continuing in their wickedness. The lazy and lukewarm must wail so that God does not spit them out of his mouth because they are neither hot nor cold. So too those who do good badly\, so that they do not enter the land by two roads. But those who do good well should also wail\, so that the hidden Judgment of God does not condemn them. Thus\, the prophet says\, Wail\, for the day of the Lord is near; as a desolation it will come from the Lord\, so that the good may fear and the wicked may mourn upon glimpsing death nearby. May those who do not wish to wail in punishment thus learn to wail in repentance… Therefore\, dear brothers\, do not let this hour fade from your memory. If it has been a cause of fear\, may it later become a gate of salvation\, through Jesus Christ our Lord \n\n\n\n6 St Aelred of Rievaulx. Homilies on the Prophetic Burdens of Isaiah. CF 83. Trans. Lewis White. Collegville\, MN: Liturgical Press\, 2018. 78-83. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-the-dead-10/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231202T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231202T170000
DTSTAMP:20260403T163334
CREATED:20231125T224050Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231125T224050Z
UID:11344-1701504000-1701536400@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of B.V.M.
DESCRIPTION:COME MY SPOUSE\, THOU SHALL BE CROWNED \nFrom “The Glories of Mary” by St Alphonsus de Liguori7 ◊◊◊ \nAfter Jesus Christ our Saviour had completed\, by His death\, the work of redemption\, the angels ardently desired to possess Him in their heavenly country; hence they were continually supplicating Him in the words… “Arise\, O Lord\, into Thy resting-place\, Thou and the ark which Thou hast sanctified. Come\, O Lord\, come quickly\, now that Thou hast redeemed men; come to Thy kingdom and dwell with us\, and bring with Thee the living ark of Thy sanctification\, Thy Mother\, who was the ark which Thou didst sanctify by dwelling in her womb…” \nSaint Anselm also says\, ‘that it was precisely for this purpose that the Redeemer was pleased to ascend to heaven before His Mother that is\, He did so not only to prepare a throne for her in that kingdom\, but also that He might Himself accompany her with all the blessed spirits\, and thus render her entry into heaven more glorious and such as became one who was His Mother.’… For this reason the Abbot Guarric supposes the Divine Word thus speaking: ‘To honour the Father\, I descended from heaven; to honour My Mother\, I reascended there that thus I might be enabled to go forth to meet her\, and myself accompany her to Paradise…’ \nOn first meeting her\, and to console her\, He said: “Arise\, make haste\, My love\, My dove\, My beautiful one\, and come; for winter is now past and gone.” Come\, My own dear Mother\, My pure and beautiful dove; leave that valley of tears\, in which\, for My love\, thou hast suffered so much. “Come… My Spouse… thou shalt be crowned. Come in soul and body\, to enjoy the recompense of thy holy life. If thy sufferings have been great on earth\, far greater is the glory which I have prepared \n\n\n\n\n\n\nfor thee in heaven. Enter\, then\, that kingdom\, and take thy seat near Me; come to receive that crown which I will bestow upon thee as Queen of the universe…” \nThen all the blessed spirits begin to bless and praise her; singing with far more reason than the Hebrews did to Judith: “Thou art the glory of Jerusalem; thou art the joy of Israel; thou art the honour of our people.” Ah\, our Lady and our Queen\, thou… art the glory of Paradise\, the joy of our country\, thou art the honour of us all… \nAll the angels then came to salute her; and she\, the great Queen\, thanked all for the assistance they’ had given her on earth\, and more especially she thanked the archangel Gabriel\, who was the happy ambassador\, the bearer of all her glories\, when he came to announce to her that she was the chosen Mother of God. The humble and holy Virgin\, then kneeling\, adored the Divine Majesty\, and\, all absorbed in the consciousness of her own nothingness\, thanked Him for all the graces bestowed upon her by His pure goodness\, and especially for having made her the Mother of the Eternal Word. \nAnd then\, let him who can\, comprehend with what love the Most Holy Trinity blessed her. Let him comprehend the welcome given to His Daughter by the Eternal Father\, to His Mother by the Son\, to His Spouse by the Holy Ghost. The Father crowned her by imparting His power to her; the Son\, His wisdom; the Holy Ghost\, His love. And the three Divine Persons\, placing her throne at the right of that of Jesus\, declared her Sovereign of heaven and earth; and commanded the angels and all creatures to acknowledge her as their Queen\, and as such to serve and obey her \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n7 St Alphonsus de Liguori. The Glories of Mary. Rockford\, IL: TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS\, INC.\, 1977. 389-394. \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-b-v-m-5/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20231203
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20231204
DTSTAMP:20260403T163334
CREATED:20231203T105818Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231203T105818Z
UID:11351-1701561600-1701647999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n1st Week of Advent\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nDecember 3 – 9\, 2023\n\n\n\nSun\n3\nMon\n4\nTue\n5\nWed\n6\nThu\n7\nFri\n8\nSat\n9\n\n\nOffice\n1st Sunday of Advent\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nSt Ambrose\nImmaculate Conception\nAdvent Weekday\n\n\nVigils\nIsa 6:1-13\nIsa 7:1-17\nIsa 8:1-18\nIsa 9:7-20\nIsa 10:5-21\nRom 5:12-21\nIsa 13:1-22\n\n\nLauds\nMicah 7:14-20\nIsa 1:10-18\nIsa 1:21-27\nIsa 2:6-11\nIsa 2:12-21\nJudges 6:34-40\nIsa 5:1-7\n\n\nMass\n2\n175\n176\n177\n178\n689\n180\n\n\n1st\nIsa 63:16b-17\, 19b; 64:2-7\nIsa 2:1-5\nIsa 11:1-10\nIsa 25:6-10a\nIsa 26:1-6\nGen 3:9-15\, 20\nIsa 30:19-21\, 23-26\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 1:3-9\n\n\n\n\nEph 1:3-6\, 11-12\n\n\n\nGospel\nMark 13:33-37\nMatt 8:5-11\nLuke 10:21-24\nMatt 15:29-37\nMatt 7:21\, 24-27\nLuke 1:26-38\nMatt 9:35-10:1\, 5a\, 6-8\n\n\nVespers\nRev 22:12-21\nRom 1:1-12\nRom 1:13-17\nRom 2:1-11\nRom 8:28-39\n1 Jn 3:4-9\nRom 3:21-26
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-53/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20231203
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20231204
DTSTAMP:20260403T163334
CREATED:20231203T105954Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231203T105954Z
UID:11353-1701561600-1701647999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 1st Sun Advent
DESCRIPTION:PRAYING FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST \nFrom a sermon by St John Henry Newman1 \n◊◊◊ \nBefore Christ came\, the faithful remnant of Israel were consoled with the promise that “their eyes should see” him\, who was to be their “salvation.” “Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.” Yet it is observable that the prophecy\, though cheering and encouraging\, had with it something of an awful character too. \nThis reflection leads us to a parallel thought concerning the state and prospects of all Christians in every age. We who are looking out for Christ’s coming\, we are bid to look out\, we are bid to pray for it; and yet it is to be a time of judgment. It is to be the deliverance of all saints from sin and sorrow for ever; yet they\, every one of them\, must undergo an awful trial. How then can any look forward to it with joy\, not knowing (for no one knows) the certainty of his own salvation? \nAnd the difficulty is increased when we come to pray for it\, to pray for its coming soon: how can we pray that Christ would come\, that the day of judgment would hasten\, that his kingdom would come\, that his kingdom may be at once\, may come on us this day or tomorrow\, when by so coming he would be shortening the time of our present life\, and cut off those precious years given us for conversion\, amendment\, repentance\, and sanctification? Is there not an inconsistency in professing to wish our judge already come\, when we do not feel ourselves ready for him? In what sense can we really and heartily pray that he would cut short the time\, when our conscience tells us that\, even were our life longest\, we should have much to do in a few years? \n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhen we pray for the coming of Christ\, we do but pray in the Church’s words\, that he would “accomplish the number of his elect and would hasten his kingdom.” That is\, we do not pray that he would simply cut short the world\, but\, so to express myself\, that he would make time go quicker\, and the wheels of his chariot speed on. Before he comes\, a certain space must be gone over; all the saints must be gathered in\, and each saint must be matured. Not a grain must fall to the ground; not an ear of corn must lose its due rain and sunshine. All we pray is that he should please to crowd all this into a short space of time; that he would “finish the work and cut it short in righteousness\,” and “make a short work upon the earth”; that he would accomplish – not curtail\, but fulfill – the circle of his saints\, and hasten the age to come without disordering this. Indeed it cannot be otherwise. \nAll God’s works are in place and season; they are all complete. As in nature\, the structure of its minutest portions is wrought out to perfection\, and an insect is as wonderful as Leviathan; so\, when in his providence he seems to hurry\, he still keeps time\, and moves upon the deep harmonies of truth and love. When then we pray that he would come\, we pray also that we may be ready; that all things may converge and meet in him; that he may draw us while he draws near us\, and makes us the holier the closer he comes. We pray that we may not fear that which at present we justly fear; that when he shall appear\, we may have confidence\, and not be ashamed before him at his coming \n\n\n1Parochial and Plain Sermons V\, pp. 46-51; reprinted in Meditations on the Sunday Gospels: Year B; introduced and edited by John E. Rotelle\, Hyde Park\, NY: New City Press\, 1995\, pp. 14-15. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-1st-sun-advent-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20231204
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20231205
DTSTAMP:20260403T163334
CREATED:20231203T110139Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231203T110139Z
UID:11355-1701648000-1701734399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE COMING OF THE LORD \nFrom a sermon by Blessed Guerric of Igny2 ◊◊◊ \nCome…Lord\, save me and I shall be saved. Come and smile upon us and we shall find deliverance. We have waited for you\, be our stronghold\, our deliverer in time of trouble… Abraham\, our father\, was full of joy to see the day of Christ. He saw it – but in the lower regions – and rejoiced. In that day the coldness and hardness of our hearts will be greatly punished… if we do not look forward with joy of spirit to the anniversary of Christ’s birth… In fact Holy Scripture seems to insist we have such joy so that our spirit\, lifted out of itself\, may run to meet the arrival of Christ in transports of joy\, and\, straining forward impatient of delay\, may strive to pierce the future even now… \nI believe that when we are admonished in many places in Scripture to meet the coming of Christ it is not only the second coming that is referred to but the first also… Because just as in the second coming we shall go to meet him\, our bodies rising up in exultation\, so we must greet his first coming with hearts straining with desire and leaping with joy. For you know that in the resurrection\, when we have put on new bodies\, as the Apostle says\, we shall be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air\, and so we shall ever be with the Lord… \nIn this fashion it may happen that before his actual coming the Lord may come to us\, and before he arrives for the world in general he may pay us a friendly visit. “I will not leave you orphans\,” he says\, “I will come to you.” And indeed\, be it for a person’s merit or ardent striving\, that coming of the Lord to the individual is frequent in this middle time between his first coming and his final coming\, conforming us to the first\, preparing us for the last. He comes to us now of course so that his first coming will not have been in vain nor his last in anger against us. In this coming he is intent to reform our spirit of pride\, making it conform to his humility which he manifested in his first coming\, so that he might also refashion our lowly body\, making it like to his glorious body which he will manifest when he comes again the second time… For “God loves mercy and truth; the Lord will give grace and glory\,” granting grace through his mercy\, conferring glory through his truth… \n\n\n\n\n\n\nInto what a sweet and happy state of absorbed admiration of himself does he plunge and keep the soul contemplating him; all the inward man exclaims: “Lord who is like you?”… \nSince then the first coming brought grace and the last will bring glory\, this one indeed partakes both of grace and of glory; for in it\, through the consolation of grace\, we are given a foretaste of future glory… Utterly wonderful and lovable it is when God\, the Love of the lover\, is grasped even in the senses\, when the Bridegroom embraces the Bride and they become one in the Spirit\, as she is transformed into the same image in which as in a mirror she sees the glory of the Lord. How blessed are they who because of their burning love have already merited to receive this privilege. Blessed too are they whose holy simplicity leads them to hope for it… We who have not had experience of such a wonderful consolation are in the meantime encouraged by firm faith and a pure conscience to wait patiently for the coming of the Lord… that is\, of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ\, to whom be glory for ever and ever \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n2 Liturgical Sermons – Guerric of Igny – Cistercian Fathers – vol.8 – pg. 10-13. Cistercian Publications. \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-135/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11357-1701734400-1701820799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE WOLF SHALL DWELL WITH THE LAMB \nFrom a sermon by St Aelred of Rievaulx3 ◊◊◊ \nThe prophet Isaiah said: “You came down and the mountains dissolved before your face.” Oh dearest brothers\, if only we\, now that we see this fulfilled\, could feel as much joy as he felt when he saw that it was yet to be fulfilled. We see it now. We can turn to the Lord and say with great joy: “Lord\, you have come down and the mountains dissolved before your face”. This has now been fulfilled. And look how the proud of this earth were dissolved\, that is how they were humbled. They began to weep for their sins. Do you not see this every day\, brothers? Do you not see the proud of this world turning to the Lord in great confusion\, with great fear humbling themselves and weeping for their sins? Even if it does not happen before our eyes every day\, it is happening every day in the holy Church. \nAccordingly… we see what holy Isaiah says… is to happen at the Lord’s coming\, he says: The wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the goat; the calf and the lion shall graze together and a little child will herd them. \nReflect how God has gathered you here – from what diverse parts of the country\, from what diverse backgrounds. One of you\, when he was in the world – what was he but a lion in his wealth and pride\, despising others and vaunting himself as superior to them? Another of you – was he not like a wolf\, living by plunder\, trying to grab the property of others? The leopard is an animal characterized by changeableness; so were some of you in your slyness\, your trickery\, your deceit. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nAgain there are many in this community who reeked of wantonness. Those… were like goats\, for the goat is an evil-smelling animal. There were some\, too\, who when they were in the world lived innocently; they can well be compared to lambs. There were yet others who in the simple lives they led were like sheep. Now look\, brothers\, in what harmony and peace God has gathered all of them together in one fellowship… Why has all this come about\, except because our Lord came down and the mountains dissolved before his face… \nAnd a little child shall herd them. Who is this little child if not he of whom Isaiah says: For us a child is born and a little one is given to us? It was he\, surely\, who herded Paul and made him go to Ananias. It was also he who herded the wolves and the lions who have come into this fellowship from the world and he still herds them along in front of himself towards all the things we do. He has to herd us ahead of himself\, brothers\, until we are in the condition of being able to follow him… Yet someone who has already often tasted how sweet our Lord is\, who has begun to love him… that person is now following Christ. His shepherd has no need to herd him but has only to go before him and show him the way by which he wants him to follow. This person can say: I have run the way of your commandments now that you have enlarged my heart… Surely\, brothers\, we should not only follow\, but run\, after him \n\n\n3 Aelred of Rievaulx – The Liturgical Sermons – Cistercian Fathers Series #58 – Cistercian Publications – Kalamazoo – 2001 pg 66. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-136/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11359-1701820800-1701907199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:CHRIST SHOULD BE RECEIVED WITH GREAT REVERENCE \nFrom “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas à Kempis4 ◊◊◊ \nYou command me to come to you with confidence if I want to be one with you\, to receive the foodof immortality if I wish to obtain eternal life and happiness. “Come\,” you say to me\, “all who labor and are burdened\, and I will give you rest”. What a sweet and loving word for a sinner to hear\, when you\, Lord my God\, invite the poor and needy to Communion\, your most sacred Body!… What does this loving condescension and friendly invitation mean?… How can I invite you into my house after having so often offended you? The angels and archangels stand before you in reverential awe\, while the saints and the just tremble. And you say\, “Come all of you to me”. If this was not said by you\, Lord\, who could believe it is true? And unless you had commanded it\, who would dare approach?… \nSolomon\, the wisest of the kings of Israel\, devoted seven years to building a magnificent temple to praise your name. And for eight days he celebrated the feast of its dedication\, offering a thousand victims as peace offerings. Then with great solemnity\, he brought the Ark of the Covenant with the sound of trumpets and great rejoicing into the place prepared for it. And I\, the most unhappy and least among men\, how can I admit you into my house\, I\, who hardly know how to spend one half-hour in devout prayer?… \nThe devout King David danced with all his might before the Ark of God\, as he remembered all the benefits given in times past to his fathers. He made musical instruments of various kinds\, composed psalms and ordered that they be sung with happiness\, and he himself\, inspired by the grace of the Holy Spirit\, often sang them upon his harp… But here\, in the sacrament of the altar\, you are entirely present\, my God…Christ Jesus. Here we receive the fruit of salvation abundantly each time that we reverently and worthily receive you. We are not drawn to this sacrament lightly\, out of curiosity\, or a desire to gratify our senses\, but by a constant faith\, a devout hope\, and a pure charity. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nO invisible God\, Creator of the universe\, how wonderfully you deal with us! You act so sweetly and so kindly toward us\, your chosen\, offering yourself to be received in this sacrament! This defies all human understanding and attracts to itself especially the hearts of the devout\, and inflames their affection. Those truly faithful to you\, who spend their entire lives trying to better themselves\, often receive from this holy sacrament the great benefit of fervor and love of virtue… In this sacrament\, spiritual grace is received\, lost virtue is restored in the soul\, and beauty marred by sin comes back again. Sometimes the grace received from the fullness of devotion is so great that not only the mind\, but also the fragile body experiences an increase of strength. \nDespite this\, we must feel sorry about\, and greatly lament\, our lukewarmness and negligence because we do not go with greater fervor to receive Jesus Christ\, in whom rests all the hope and merit of those who wish to be saved… For if this most holy sacrament were celebrated only in one place in the whole world and consecrated by only one priest\, with how great a desire\, do you think\, would people wish to go to that place and to that priest of God\, in order to see the divine mysteries celebrated? Now\, instead\, there are many priests and Christ is offered up in many places\, so that God’s grace and love for us may appear so much the greater because this Holy Communion is so widely distributed throughout the world. I thank you\, good Jesus\, eternal Shepherd\, because you have willed to feed us poor exiles with your precious Body and Blood\, and that you invite us to partake of these mysteries by words you yourself said\, “Come to me\, all who are weary and bear heavy burdens\, and I will give you rest” \n\n\n4 Thomas à Kempis. The Imitation of Christ – Revised Translation. Boston: Pauline Books & Media\, 2015. 326-332. \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-137/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11361-1701907200-1701993599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Ambrose
DESCRIPTION:THE BODY IS CHRIST’S \nFrom the writing of St Ambrose5 \n◊◊◊ \nIt is a marvelous thing that God rained manna on the fathers\, and they were fed by daily nourishment from heaven. Therefore\, it is said: ‘Man has eaten the bread of angels.” But yet all those who ate that bread died in the desert\, but this food which you receive\, this ‘living bread\, which came down from heaven\,’ furnishes the substance of eternal life\, and whoever eats this bread ‘will not die forever’; for it is the body of Christ… \nPerhaps you may say… how do you tell me that I receive the Body of Christ?’… The people of the fathers were thirsty; Moses touched the rock; and water flowed forth from the rock. Did not grace work contrary to nature for the rock to throw forth water which its nature did not have… But if the benediction of man had such power as to change nature\, what do we say of divine consecration itself\, in which the very words of our Lord and Saviour function? For that sacrament\, which you receive\, is effected by the words of Christ. But if the words of Elias had such power as to call down fire from heaven\, will not the words of Christ have power enough to change the nature of the elements? You have read about the works of the world: ‘that He spoke and they were done; He commanded and they were created.” So\, cannot the words of Christ\, which were able to make what was not out of nothing\, change those things that are into the things that were not? For it is not of less importance to give things new natures than to change nature. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nBut why do we use arguments? Let us use His own examples\, and by the mysteries of the Incarnation let us establish the truth of the mysteries… It is clear that the Virgin conceived contrary to the course of nature. And this body which we make is from the Virgin. Why do you seek here the course of nature in the body of Christ\, when the Lord Jesus himself was born of the Virgin contrary to nature? Surely it is the true flesh of Christ\, which was crucified\, which was buried; therefore it is truly the sacrament of that flesh. \nThe Lord Jesus himself declares: “This is my body.” Before the benediction of the heavenly words another species is mentioned; after the consecration the body is signified. He Himself speaks of His blood. Before the consecration it is mentioned as something else; after the consecration it is called blood. And you say ‘Amen\,’ that is\, ‘It is true.’ What the mouth speaks\, let the mind within confess; what words utter\, let the heart feel. \nChrist then feeds His Church on these sacraments\, by which the substance of the soul is made strong… Therefore\, the Church also\, seeing so much grace\, urges her sons\, urges her neighbors to come together to the sacraments\, saying: ‘Eat\, my neighbors\, and drink and be inebriated\, my brethren.’ What we eat\, what we drink\, the Holy Spirit expresses to you elsewhere\, saying: “Taste and see that the Lord is sweet: Blessed is the man who trusts in Him.’ Christ is in that sacrament\, because the body is Christ’s.. \n\n\n\n5 St Ambrose. Theological and Dogmatic Works. Trans. Roy J. Deferrari\, PH.D. Washington\, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press\, 1963\, 21-27. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-ambrose-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163334
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UID:11363-1701993600-1702079999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Immaculate Conception
DESCRIPTION:MARY REVEALS HER NAME \nFrom the final writing of St Maximilian Kolbe6 \n◊◊◊ \nIMMACULATE CONCEPTION. These words fell from the lips of the Immaculata herself. Hence\, they must tell us in the most precise and essential manner who she really is. Who then are you\, O Immaculate Conception? Not God\, of course\, because he has no beginning. Not an angel\, created directly out of nothing. Not Adam\, formed out of the dust of the earth. Not Eve\, molded fromAdam’s rib. Not the Incarnate Word\, who exists before all ages… You\, O Mary\, are different from all other children of Eve. They are conceptions stained by original sin; whereas you are the unique\, Immaculate Conception. \nIf the fruit of created love is a created conception\, then the fruit of divine Love\, that prototype of all created love\, is necessarily a divine “conception.” The Holy Spirit is\, therefore\, the “uncreated\, eternal conception\,” the prototype of all the conceptions that multiply life throughout the whole universe. The Father begets; the Son is begotten; the Spirit is the “conception” that springs from their love; there we have the intimate life of the three Persons by which they can be distinguished one from another. But they are united in the oneness of their Nature\, of their divine existence. The Spirit is\, then\, this thrice holy “conception\,” this infinitely holy\, Immaculate Conception. \nIn what does this life of the Spirit in Mary consist? He himself is uncreated Love in her; the Love of the Father and of the Son\, the Love by which God loves himself\, the very love of the Most Holy Trinity. He is a fruitful Love\, a “Conception.” Among creatures made in God’s image the union brought about by married love is the most intimate of all. In a much more precise\, more interior\, more essential manner\, the Holy Spirit lives in the soul of the Immaculata\, in the depths of her very being. He makes her fruitful\, from the very first instant of her existence\, all during her life\, and for all eternity. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis eternal “Immaculate Conception” (which is the Holy Spirit) produces in an immaculate manner divine life itself in the depths of Mary’s soul\, making her the Immaculate Conception\, the human Immaculate Conception. And the virginal womb of Mary’s body is kept sacred for him; there he conceives in time…the human life of the Man-God. And so the return to God (which is love)…by the Spirit the Son becomes incarnate in the womb of the Immaculata; and through this Son love returns to the Father. In the Holy Spirit’s union with Mary we observe more than the love of two beings; in one there is all the love of the Blessed Trinity; in the other\, all of creation’s love. So it is that in this union heaven and earth are joined; all of heaven with all the earth\, the totality of eternal love with the totality of created love. It is truly the summit of love… \nIf among human beings the wife takes the name of her husband because she belongs to him\, is one with him\, becomes equal to him and is\, with him\, the source of new life\, with how much greater reason should the name of the Holy Spirit\, who is the divine Immaculate Conception\, be used as the name of her in whom he lives as uncreated Love\, the principle of life in the whole supernatural order of grace \n\n\n6 H.M. Manteau-Bonamy\, OP. Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit. Trans. Richard Arnandez\, FSC. Libertyville\, IL: Franciscan\, Marytown Press\, 1977. 2-5. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-immaculate-conception-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163334
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UID:11365-1702080000-1702166399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:CHRISTIAN UNITY \nFrom the writing of Matthew the Poor7 \n◊◊◊ \nIt is because the Christian seeks God that he seeks unity; he feels it present in his soul\, according to the measure in which he feels the presence of God. Christian unity is\, therefore\, a supreme demand of faith; we seek it because it is entreating us from the bottom of our hearts. Yet\, since all do not have the same awareness of God\, unity is not approached from the same angle; it expands or contracts within men in proportion to their hearts’ relationship with God. Some do not feel it at all; others even deny it. It is a test of faith… \nThe unity of men is an ideal that surpasses human strength if it is sought at a divine level. It flows\, as a necessity\, as an inevitable and direct consequence\, from the union of man with God… The first commandment says\, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart\, and with all your soul\, and with all your mind\,” and the second: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. Scripture affirms here that the second commandment springs from the first… The second without the first would have no value; it would indeed be near to sin… \nIf there were indeed a spiritual renaissance\, a deep fervor for the faith\, unity would have taken the form of a collective and individual return to God\, a sweeping movement for conversion\, repentance\, and begging God for forgiveness — as has always happened to God’s people after a period of half-heartedness or aberration… \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn order for us to secure for the weak and persecuted Churches the true meaning of “Christian unity” in their journey through history and in their encounters with temporal situations\, and in order for the divine consciousness to rise in them\, the first necessity is that they should understand that Christian unity is a state of divine weakness over against the world — like that of their Master\, who surrendered His infinite power to be crucified by anyone who wished and in whatever way they wished. \nChrist\, desiring to reveal to us “the strength of His weakness”… drew His disciples’ attention to it at the very moment of His testing\, although He was being subjected to the most appalling trials that a defenseless man could endure… The Church that has temporal power cannot taste a crucifixion that is forced upon it\, for one cannot be crucified except through weakness\, like the Master of all\, who “was crucified in weakness”… The cross in our life is a foundation; the cross is “the power of God for salvation. . .” and His “power is made perfect in weakness”. With our free will we pray for weakness\, and we bear it without fear if it comes to us\, for with weakness there is always grace… We wish and we pray that the Churches may have a unity\, divine both in appearance and in essence\, a unity above the realm of time \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n7 Matthew the Poor. The Communion of Love. Crestwood\, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press\, 1984. 224-225\, 231-234. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-138/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20231211
DTSTAMP:20260403T163334
CREATED:20231210T112940Z
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UID:11373-1702166400-1702252799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n2nd Week of Advent\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nDecember 10 – 16\, 2023\n\n\n\nSun\n10\nMon\n11\nTue\n12\nWed\n13\nThu\n14\nFri\n15\nSat\n16\n\n\nOffice\n2nd Sunday of Advent\nAdvent Weekday\nOur Lady of Guadalupe\nSt Lucy\nSt John of the Cross\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\n\n\nVigils\nIsa 14:1-21\nIsa 27:1-13\nProv 8:32-9:11\nIsa 30:15-26\nIsa 32:1-20\nIsa 34:1-17\nIsa 35:1-10\n\n\nLauds\nIsa 4:2-6\nIsa 10:20-27a\nSir 4:11-18\nIsa 12:1-6\nIsa 55:6-12\nZeph 3:14-20\nIsa 11:10-16\n\n\nMass\n5\n181\n690A\n183\n184\n185\n186\n\n\n1st\nIsa 40:1-5\, 9-11\nIsa 35:1-10\nRev 11:19a; 12:1-6a\, 10ab\nIsa 40:25-31\nIsa 41:13-20\nIsa 48:17-19\nSir 48:1-4\, 9-11\n\n\n2nd\n2 Pet 3:8-14\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMark 1:1-8\nLuke 5:17-26\nLuke 1:39-47\nMatt 11:28-30\nMatt 11:11-15\nMatt 11:16-19\nMatt 17:9a\, 10-13\n\n\nVespers\nRom 5:1-11\nRom 6:1-11\nGal 3:23-29\nRom 6:16-23\nRom 7:14-25\nRom 8:1-6\nRom 8:9-17
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-54/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163334
CREATED:20231210T113140Z
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UID:11375-1702166400-1702252799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 2nd Sun of Advent
DESCRIPTION:PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD \nFrom a sermon by St Francis de Sales1 \n◊◊◊ \nNOW\, since our divine Savior is near\, what must we do to prepare for his \ncoming? St. John tells us this when he says in his preaching\, that we must do \npenance. All must do this without exception\, for as we are all sinners\, we all have \nneed of penance. \nBut that is too general: let us hint at certain particular features. St. John has \npointed out some in the Gospel. “Prepare the way of the Lord\, straighten out his \npaths\,” he says\, “every valley is to be bridged\, and the rough paths made into \nsmooth roads.” \n“Do penance\,” \n… that is to say\, humble these mountains of pride\, fill these \nlukewarm and faint-hearted valleys because salvation is at hand. Now these \nvalleys that this glorious saint wishes us to fill are simply fear\, which\, when it is \ntoo great\, leads us into discouragement. The sight of great faults committed brings \nwith it a certain dread\, an astonishment and a fear which depresses the heart. \nThese are the valleys which must be filled with confidence and hope for the coming \nof our Lord. \n“Humble the mountains and hills\,” says the glorious St. John. What are these \nmountains but presumption\, pride and that self-esteem which is a great hindrance \nto the coming of our Lord\, who is accustomed to humiliate and reduce the proud; \nfor he penetrates the depth of the heart in order to discover the pride which is \nhidden therein. \nLevel the roads\, straighten those which are crooked so as to make them \neven\, which is as if he said: Correct so many dodging and crooked intentions\, so as \nto have only that of pleasing God in doing penance\, which should be the end \ntowards which we ought to aim. As the sailor\, when he guides his ship\, always has \nhis eye on the compass to see if he is going straight to his goal\, so we ought always \nto have our eyes open to see what acts of penance we can undertake\, so that we \nmay come to that heaven to which we aspire. \nTo smoot the paths is to calm moods by the mortification of the passions\, \ninclinations and aversions. How desirable it is\, this equality of spirit and mood\, \nand how we ought to work faithfully to acquire it! For we are more variable and \ninconstant than words can tell. We find people who are now in a good humor\, \ntalking pleasantly and joyfully: but in a twinkling\, you find them vexed and \nunquiet. You will find others to whom it is necessary to speak now in this manner\, \nnow in another; such men are at present mild-hearted\, who a moment after\, for \nlittle reason\, will be impatient. In short\, what does one see among men except \ncontinual oddities and inequalities of spirit which are the tortuous\, rugged ways \nwhich we must make straight before the coming of our Lord. \nBut in order to do it well\, we must go to the school of the glorious St. John \nthe Baptist and beg him to receive us as his disciples\, and if he does so he will put \nus into the hands of our divine Savior\, who in turn will put us into those of the \nEternal Father who will give us his grace in this world and his glory in the next\, \nwhere we shall praise him eternally. \n  \nSermon for the 4th Sunday of Advent\, Trans.\, Lectionary and Martyrology\, ed. Encalcat Abbey\, Dourgne-Tarn 1956\, 27-28.3 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/2nd-sun-advent/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163334
CREATED:20231210T113607Z
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UID:11377-1702252800-1702339199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH \nFrom a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux2 \n◊◊◊ \nAt the first coming John the Baptist cries out like a herald— or rather\, as his \nherald— Behold the Lamb of God\, behold him who takes away the sins of the world! He \ndoes not say ‘diseases of the body ’ or ‘vexations of the flesh’\, but ‘sin’\, which is a \ndisease of the soul and a corruption of the mind. Behold him who takes away the sins \nof the world. [Take away] from where? From the hand\, from the eye\, from the \nneck…from the very flesh on which it has been so deeply impressed. He takes sin \naway from the hands when he wipes out the sins they have committed. He takes it \naway from the eye when he purifies the purpose of the heart. He takes it from the neck \nwhen he sets aside abusive domination\, as is written: You have vanquished the rod of \ntheir oppressor as on the day of Midian… \nYou grasp why Christ came and what a Christian’s purpose should be. For this \nreason\, O body\, do not anticipate the time! You can hinder the soul’s salvation\, you \ncannot bring about your own… Let the soul work now for itself—or rather\, you work \nwith it— because if you suffer with it you will also reign with it. To the degree you \nhinder its restoration\, you hinder your own\, because you cannot be restored at all \nuntil God sees his image re-formed in your soul. You have a noble guest\, O flesh\, noble \nindeed\, and your welfare depends entirely on its welfare. Honor so great a guest! You \nare dwelling in your own land\, but the soul is a pilgrim\, an exile\, lodging with you. \nI ask you\, if someone noble and powerful should want to lodge with them\, \nwould any peasant not willingly sleep in some corner of the house— or under the \nstairs or even in the ashes— giving up the best place to the guest\, as is appropriate? \nAnd you\, therefore\, do likewise. Take no notice of your own slights or inconvenience \nso long as your guest can stay with you with honor. The honor is yours if for his sake \nyou meanwhile present yourself as being without honor. \nAnd in case you look down on or undervalue your guest because it seems to \nyou to be a pilgrim and a stranger\, think carefully about what you gain from the \npresence of this guest. This is who grants sight to the eyes and hearing to the ears; \nwho supplies sound to the tongue\, taste to the palate\, movement to all your limbs… \nIndeed… just as soon as the soul departs the tongue will fall silent\, the eyes will see \nnothing\, the ears will go deaf\, the whole body will stiffen\, and the face will lose its \ncolor. In a short time the whole corpse will decay and become putrid; all its \nattractiveness will turn to corruption. \nWhy then do you distress and wound this guest for the sake of some transient \npleasure which you could not even experience except through it? Besides\, if it confers \nso much on you when it is an exile\, estranged from its master’s face because of \nhostilities\, what all will it give you when it has been reconciled? Do not\, O body\, do \nnot impede this reconciliation; abundant glory is prepared for you from it. Patiently— \nor rather\, gladly— surrender yourself to everything. Omit nothing that seems capable \nof furthering this reconciliation. Say to your guest: Your Lord will remember you and \nrestore you to your former position. Just remember me!… Then all our longings are \ngoing to be fulfilled and the whole earth shall be filled with the majesty of the Lord. \nTo this glory\, to this happiness\, to this peace which surpasses all understanding may \nhe in his mercy lead us. May he not disappoint us in our expectation\, he who is the \nSaviour we expect Jesus Christ our Lord\, who is over all\, God blessed forever \n2 Bernard of Clairvaux. Sermons for Advent and the Christmas Season. CF 51. Kalamazoo\, MI: Cistercian Publications\, \n2007. 36-40.5 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-139/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11379-1702339200-1702425599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Our Lady of Guadalupe
DESCRIPTION:THE APPEARANCE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY \nAT GUADALUPE \nFrom the first written Aztec account of the apparition3 \n◊◊◊ \nUpon his reaching the top of the hillock\, Juan Diego catches sight of a \nwoman\, one who has been taking her stand there. She beckons him to come on\, \ncloser up to herself. Upon reaching her presence\, he greatly marvels at her \nextreme\, her surpassing\, her perfect wonderfulness. \nHer garments are as the sun\, gleaming\, glittering. Even the boulder\, the crag\, \non which she takes her stand sparkles in resplendence\, like fine emerald jade or a \nbangle when it shines\, like the swarming glow of a rainbow in the gloom. Even the \nsoil\, the brambles and prickles and the rest of the varied weeds that struggle to \nsurvive there are shining like emerald\, like divine turquoise\, to the tip of every \nleaf; are glittering like the golden scourings of the gods up every stalk and twig and \nthorn. \nIn her presence he prostrates; he listens to her utterance\, her declaration. \nThese are as of one who sets others at ease\, one whose manner is to attract\, one \nwhose attitude is to esteem. She addresses him: “Do listen to me\, my littlest one\, \nJuanito!… \n“Do know this\, do be assured of it in your heart\, my littlest one\, that I \nmyself\, I am the entirely and ever Virgin Saint Mary\, Mother of the True Divinity\, \nGod Himself: Because of Him\, life goes on\, Creation goes on; His are all things afar\, \nHis are all things near at hand\, things above in the heavens\, things here below on \nthe earth. How truly I wish it\, how greatly I desire it\, that here they should erect \nme my temple! Here would I show forth\, here would I lift up to view\, here would I \nmake a gift of all my fondness for my dear ones\, all my regard for my needy ones\, \nmy willingness to aid them\, my readiness to protect them. For truly I myself\, I am \nyour compassionate mother\, yours\, for you yourself\, for everybody here in the \nland\, for each and all together\, for all others too\, for all folk of every kind\, who do \nbut cherish me\, who do but raise their voices to me\, who do but seek me\, who do \nbut raise their trust to me. \nFor here I shall listen to their groanings\, to their saddenings; here shall I \nmake well and heal up their each and every kind of disappointment\, of exhausting \npangs\, of bitter aching pain… Therefore\, to realize all that my clemency claims\, go \nto the palace of the Bishop of Mexico\, and say that I sent you to make manifest to him \nmy great desire; namely\, that here in the valley a temple should be built to me. Tell \nhim word for word all that you have seen and heard and admired. Be assured that I \nshall be grateful and that I will reward you\, for I will make your life happy and cause \nyou to become worthy of the labor you have taken and the trouble you perform to \ndo what I enjoin you. Now you have heard all my bidding\, least of my sons. Go and \ndo your utmost.’ \n“At this point he bowed before her and said\, ‘Lady\, I go to do your bidding. As \nyour humble servant\, I take my leave of you.’ Then he went on to accomplish her \nwill\, taking the causeway that leads directly to Mexico City. \n3 GUADALUPE\, a translation of the NICAN MOPOHUA by Fr Martinus Cawley\, OCSO; CARA Studies on \nPopular Devotion\, vol.II; Guadalupan Studies Monograph No. 6.7 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-our-lady-of-guadalupe-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11381-1702454400-1702486800@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Lucy
DESCRIPTION:THE HISTORICAL MEETING POINT OF MARTYRDOM \nAND MONASTICISM \nFrom the writing of St Christian de Chergé4 \n◊◊◊ \nFrom the beginnings of Christian monasticism\, there has been both \ncontinuity and discontinuity between the monastic choice and martyrdom. As we \nknow\, there is continuity in time: during the first centuries of persecutions there \nwere certainly vocations to the solitary life\, dedicated to prayer and intercession \nfor all. It is easy to imagine John the Evangelist withdrawing into solitude and \ninspiring followers. But the threat was there for them and for everyone\, and there \nwas need to sustain believers’ courage and faith in that direct form of sequela \nChristi—the offering of martyrdom—to which they left themselves exposed by the \nvery fact of being Christian. And there is discontinuity\, because Constantine’s \n“peace of the Church” was needed in order for monasticism to find its specific \nplace\, when laxity and ease were quickly undermining the vitality of gospel \nwitness. \nIt was indeed the gospel that incited Anthony to “lose his life” in a way \ndifferent from the shedding of blood through “pagan” hatred. Paganism was not \ndead; it transplanted itself in the Church\, where “secularization” made rapid \nheadway. Anthony\, therefore\, would be “pursued” by the Word. He heard it and \nembodied it by following it literally and on the spot. It happened as quickly as the \nfall of the ax on the neck of Cecilia or Lucy. But for Anthony it was only the first \nstep of the Pasch\, the passing over. It then took dozens of years for the letter to be \ntruly rewritten in terms of the spirit\, in order to find\, following Jesus’ example\, \nCahier de Tibhirine 1\, Abbaye Notre-Dame d’Aiguebelle\, p. 449. Trans. Fr. Elias Dietz\, OCSO.9 \nways of combining time and eternity\, the earth and the things above. Anthony and \nmany others instinctively returned to the place of the first Passover\, the desert\, for \nthis unique kind of martyrdom. \nEarlier persecutions had singled out towns—and even big cities—to offer \nthe spectacle of faith to the crowds in the arenas as if it were a game. The \npersecutions faded away\, but the Adversary remained and continued to have his \nfun. He\, then\, was the one to take on directly. Anthony’s combat was not against \npeople\, pagans or not\, but against the traditional Enemy of humankind\, whom he \nconfronted as a solitary\, confident that he could contribute to conquering him \nwhere he is most rampant. \nThis flight from the spirit of the world and this fierce but humble solitude \nwill become\, strangely enough\, “the seeds of Christianity\,” to use the phrase \nTertullian applied to the early martyrs. It is to this drop by drop spending of flesh \nand blood in the desert that we must constantly return\, in order to sustain the \nspecific fruitfulness of our lives here and now \n4 Christian de Chergé\, Dieu pour tout jour. Chapitres de Père Christian de Chergé à la communauté de Tibhirine [1986–1996]\, Les \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-lucy-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11383-1702512000-1702598399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St John of the Cross
DESCRIPTION:LOVE OF THE CROSS \nFrom an essay by St Edith Stein \n◊◊◊ \nWe hear repeatedly that St. John of the Cross desired nothing for himself but \nto suffer and be despised. We want to know the reason for this love of suffering. Is \nit merely the loving remembrance of the path of suffering of our Lord on earth\, a \ntender impulse to be humanly close to him by a life resembling his? This does not \nseem to correspond to the lofty and strict spirituality of the mystical teacher. And \nin relation to the Man of Sorrows\, it would almost seem that the victoriously \nenthroned king\, the divine conqueror of sin\, death and hell is forgotten. Did not \nChrist lead captivity captive? Has he not transported us into a kingdom of light and \ncalled us to be happy children of our heavenly Father? \nThe sight of the world in which we live\, the need and misery\, and the abyss \nof human malice\, again and again dampens jubilation over the victory of light. The \nworld is still deluged by mire\, and still only a small flock has escaped from it to the \nhighest mountain peaks. The battle between Christ and the Antichrist is not yet \nover. The followers of Christ have their place in this battle\, and their chief weapon \nis the cross… \nThe entire sum of human failures from the first Fall up to the Day of \nJudgment must be blotted out by a corresponding measure of expiation. The way \nof the cross is this expiation. The triple collapse under the burden of the cross \ncorresponds to the triple fall of humanity: the first sin\, the rejection of the Savior \nby his chosen people\, the falling away of those who bear the name of Christian… \nThe Savior is not alone on the way of the cross… The archetype of followers \nof the cross for all time is the Mother of God. …Everyone who\, in the course of time\, \nhas borne an onerous destiny in remembrance of the suffering Savior or who has \nfreely taken up works of expiation has by doing so canceled some of the mighty \nload of human sin and has helped the Lord carry his burden.… The disciples\, both \nmen and women\, who surrounded [the Savior] during his earthly life\, assist him \non the second stretch. The lovers of the cross whom he has awakened and will \nalways continue to awaken anew in the changeable history of the struggling \nchurch\, these are his allies at the end of time. We\, too\, are called for that purpose… \nBut because being one with Christ is our sanctity\, and progressively \nbecoming one with him our happiness on earth\, the love of the cross in no way \ncontradicts being a joyful child of God. Helping Christ carry his cross fills one with \na strong and pure joy\, and those who may and can do so\, the builders of God’s \nkingdom\, are the most authentic children of God. And so those who have a \npredilection for the way of the cross by no means deny that Good Friday is past \nand that the work of salvation has been accomplished. Only those who are saved\, \nonly children of grace\, can in fact be bearers of Christ’s cross. Only in union with \nthe divine Head does human suffering take on expiatory power. To suffer and to \nbe happy although suffering\, to have one’s feet on the earth\, to walk on the dirty \nand rough paths of this earth and yet to be enthroned with Christ at the Father’s \nright hand\, to laugh and cry with the children of this world and ceaselessly sing \nthe praises of God with the choirs of angels — this is the life of the Christian until \nthe morning of eternity breaks forth \n  \n5 from The Hidden Life\, volume 4 of The Collected Works of Edith Stein\, edited by L. Gelber and Michael Linnsen; ICS Publications\, 1992\, pp. 91-93.11 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-john-of-the-cross/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11385-1702598400-1702684799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:CHRIST IS WITH US \nFrom “Love Letters from Cell 92” \n– The correspondence between \nDietrich Bonhoeffer and his fiancé Maria von Wedemeyer6 \n◊◊◊ \n[Tegel] 13 December\, 1943 \nWithout abandoning all hope that things may yet take a turn for the better \njust in time\, I must now write you a Christmas letter. Be brave for my sake\, dearest \nMaria\, even if this letter is your only token of my love this Christmas-tide. We shall \nboth experience a few dark hours – why should we disguise that from each other? \nWe shall ponder the incomprehensibility of our lot and be assailed by the question \nof why\, over and above the darkness already enshrouding humanity\, we should be \nsubjected to the bitter anguish of a separation whose purpose we fail to \nunderstand. How hard it is\, inwardly to accept what defies our understanding; \nhow great is the temptation to feel ourselves at the mercy of blind chance; how \nsinister the way in which mistrust and resentment steal into our hearts at such \ntimes; and how readily we fall prey to the childish notion that the course of our \nlives reposes in human hands! \nAnd then\, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that \nwe can scarcely withstand it\, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our \nideas are wrong\, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light \nbecause it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault\, that is all. God is in the manger\, \nwealth in poverty\, light in darkness\, succor in abandonment. No evil can befall us; \nwhatever men may do to us\, they cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed \nas love and rules the world and our lives. We must learn to say: “I know how to be \nabased and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the \nsecret of facing plenty and hunger\, abundance and want. I can do all things in him \nwho strengthens me” \n– and this Christmas\, in particular\, can help us to do so. What \nis meant here is not stoical resistance to all extraneous occurrences\, but true \nendurance and true rejoicing in the knowledge that Christ is with us. \nDearest Maria\, let us celebrate Christmas in that way. Be as happy with the \nothers as a person can only be at Christmas-time. Don’t entertain any awful \nimaginings of me in my cell\, but remember that Christ\, too\, frequents prisons\, and \nthat he will not pass me by. Besides\, I hope to find myself a good book for \nChristmas and read it in peace. May you do likewise. A little oblivion is \npermissible in view of everything else. First one has and finally one is entitled to \nforget it; but the reverse order would be mistaken and unproductive. Dearest \nMaria\, let’s not talk of what we both feel; we know it\, and every word merely makes \nthe heart heavier. Above all\, let us be careful not to feel sorry for ourselves; to do \nso would truly be a blasphemy on God\, who means us well. For all our difficulties\, \nlet us say\, with Isaiah: “Do not destroy it\, for there is a blessing in it” \n– even in this Christmas \n  \n6 Love Letters From Cell 92 – The Correspondence between Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Maria von Wedemeyer. Ed. Ruth-Alice von \nBismarck and Ulrich Kabitz. Trans. John Brownjohn. Nashville: Abingdon Press\, 1995. 133-135.13 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-140/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11387-1702684800-1702771199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:ON REPENTANCE \nFrom the writing of St Silouan the Athonite \n◊◊◊ \nGlory be to the Lord that He gave us repentance. Through repentance we \nshall all\, every one of us\, be saved. Only those who refuse to repent will not find \nsalvation\, and therein I see their despair\, and shed abundant tears of pity for them. \nThey have not known through the Holy Spirit how great is God’s mercy. But if \nevery soul knew the Lord\, knew how deeply He loves us\, no one would ever \ndespair\, or murmur against his lot. Every soul that has lost peace should repent \nand the Lord will forgive her her sins\, and there will be joy and peace in the soul… \nHere is a token of forgiveness: if you detest sin\, it means the Lord has forgiven you \nyour sins… \nThe truly repentant man readily bears every affliction – hunger and \nnakedness\, cold and heat\, sickness and poverty\, humiliation and exile\, injustice \nand slander; for his soul is turned with longing towards God\, and he has no care \nfor earthly things but prays to God with a pure mind. But the man who is attached \nto worldly goods and riches can never have a mind pure in God\, since in the depths \nof his soul he is constantly preoccupied with his possessions; and if he does not \nrepent whole-heartedly\, and mourn at having grieved God\, he will die bearing the \nburden of his passions\, without having come to know the Lord… \nLet us not be distressed over the loss of worldly goods: such losses are a \nsmall matter. My own father taught me this early in life. When some misfortune \nhappened at home\, he would remain serene. When our house caught fire and the \nneighbours said\, ‘Ivan Petrovich\, your house is burnt down!’ he replied\, ‘With \nGod’s help I’ll build it up again.’ Once we were walking along the side of our field\, \nand I said\, ‘Look\, they’re stealing our sheaves!’ ‘Aye\, son\,’ he answered me\, ‘the \nLord has given us corn and to spare\, so if anyone steals it\, it means he’s in want.’ \n… \nThe Lord is quick to forgive the sins of the merciful. The merciful man bears \nno ill-will. He will suffer injury or the loss of his goods with unconcern\, for he \nknows the mercy of God\, and no one can take the Lord’s mercy from us: it comes \nfrom on high; it is of God… But we here below are swept about like dust before the \nwind\, while our minds cling to the things of this world… A little wind can blow it \nout like a candle; but the spirit of the saints glowed with fire like the burning bush\, \nfearless of the wind… The love of God is a consuming fire. For the love of God the \nsaints bore every affliction… \nAll my desire is to learn humility and the love of Christ\, that I may offend no \nman but pray for all as I pray for myself… This is the law we have: if you forgive \nothers\, it is a sign that the Lord has forgiven you; but if you refuse to forgive\, then \nyour own sin remains with you. The Lord wants us to love our fellow-man; and if \nyou reflect that the Lord loves him\, you have a sign of the Lord’s love for you… If \nyou do not feel pity for the sinner destined to suffer the pains of hellfire\, it means \nthat the grace of the Holy Spirit is not in you\, but an evil spirit. While you are still \nalive\, therefore\, strive by repentance to free yourself from this spirit. \n  \n7 Saint Silouan the Athonite. Trans. Rosemary Edmonds. Crestwood\, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press\, 1999. 345- \n352.15 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-141/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11394-1702771200-1702857599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n3rd Week of Advent\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nDecember 17 – 23\, 2023\n\n\n\nSun\n17\nMon\n18\nTue\n19\nWed\n10\nThu\n21\nFri\n22\nSat\n23\n\n\nOffice\n3rd Sunday of Advent\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday \n175 Years\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\n\n\nVigils\nMicah 4:1-14\nIsa 40:12-31\nIsa 41:8-20\nIsa 41:21-29\nIsa 42:10-25\nIsa 43:1-15\nIsa 43:16-28\n\n\nLauds\nZech 2:10-17\nIsa 45:1-8\nIsa 45:18-25\nIsa 46:5-13\nIsa 49:8-13\nIsa 49:14-21\nIsa 49:22-26\n\n\nMass\n8\n194\n195\n196\n701.1\, 704.4\, 706.4\n198\n199\n\n\n1st\nIsa 61:1-2a\, 10-11\nJer 23:5-8\nJudg 13:2-7\, 24-25a\nIsa 7:10-14\n1 Kgs 8:22-23\, 27-30\n1 Sam 1:24-28\nMal 3:1-4\, 23-24\n\n\n2nd\n1 Thess 5:16-24\n\n\n\n1 Pet 2:4-9\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 1:6-8\, 19-28\nMatt 1:18-24\nLuke 1:5-25\nLuke 1:26-38\nJn 4:19-24\nLuke 1:46-56\nLuke 1:57-66\n\n\nVespers\nRom 9:1-8\nPhil 1:3-11\nPhil 3:17-21\nPhil 4:4-9\n\n1 Cor 4:1-5\nJas 5:7-11
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-55/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11396-1702771200-1702857599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 3rd Sunday Advent
DESCRIPTION:THE AUTHENTIC WITNESS \nFrom the writings of Fr Jean Danielou \n◊◊◊ \nAs John the Baptist was the Lord’s precursor even before his birth\, so \nalso he was the forerunner of Christ’s public life. After the desert period came \nthe crowning moment of a life spent preparing the way for Christ. There was a \nman named John sent by God\, who came as a witness to testify to the light\, \nso that through him all might believe. \nThis text shows that the essential mission of John the Baptist was to bear \nwitness to the light\, to point to Jesus. His was a pre-eminent role in the \npreparation for the coming of Christ and of Christ’s own work. John it was who \npaved the way for our Lord’s public life and teaching by predisposing the souls \nof his hearers to receive it. One might say he was an educator of souls; his task \nwas…to do the preliminary chiseling that would make them more receptive to \nChrist’s message. Our Lord’s teaching would have been too strong for souls not \npreviously prepared for it. They needed some schooling in advance. Their \ninterests had to be re-directed; it was necessary to wean them from worldly \nhabits and to arouse a spiritual dissatisfaction in their hearts. \nThat was John the Baptist’s assignment. Sent to people utterly heedless \nof the things of God\, it was his task to awaken in them sufficient concern to \ndisturb their subtle ways and to stir up their initial goodwill\, so that they might \nbe capable of understanding Christ. \nJohn the Baptist thus joins the long succession of those who have taken \npart in the work of preparing for the Lord’s coming\, those who\, like John\, were \nwithdrawn by God from the things of this world and mysteriously admitted to \nthe divine plans\, in order that they might blaze the way for God among the \npeople. John in his turn will move among his contemporaries to mark out the \nLord’s way\, smoothing paths and leveling hills. But for such a mission he must \nfrom the outset be possessed by the Lord in the depths of his being\, since it is \na hard furrow he will have to plow. The people of the Baptist’s generation were \nabsorbed in the same pursuits as the people of our own day. St. Luke describes \nthem in a memorable passage: the soldiers engaged in violence and false \ncharges\, and the tax collectors in demanding more than their due. \nSuch is human nature. It was so in the time of John\, and it is the same \ntoday. Preoccupied with worldly affairs\, people are completely heedless of \nGod. As one goes here and there in the world it is very painful to experience \nthe utter indifference of the rank and file. To shake the world out of this [kind \nof] vision\, who can rouse the masses from their inertia? They have to be \nauthentic witnesses. A witness is someone who has first been granted an inner \nvision; God has introduced him to the divine viewpoint so that he can pass on \nwhat he has seen to others. \nSo it was with John the Baptist. God first admitted him to his own \ncouncil\, revealing to him the mystery of the divine plan\, drawing him into the \ndesert to share with him his own joy. Then came the essential part of his \nvocation: he was a witness to Christ; that is to say\, he was the one who pointed \nout Christ to the people \n1 Le mystère de l’Avent\, Paris 1948\, pp. 82-84; reprinted in Meditations on the Sunday Gospels: Year A; introduced \nand edited by John E. Rotelle\, Hyde Park\, NY: New City Press\, 1995\, pp. 18-19.3 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-3rd-sunday-advent/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11398-1702857600-1702943999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:“O ADONAI” \nTHE LORD WHO LOVED US FIRST \nFrom the writings of William of St Thierry \n◊◊◊ \nYou alone are the Lord. By ruling us you save us and we are saved by \nserving you. Lord\, you save your people and bless them\, but what does it mean \nto be saved by you if not to receive the grace of loving you and of being loved \nby you? And so\, Lord\, you willed the Son at your right hand\, the man you made \nstrong for your service\, to be called Jesus\, which means Savior\, for he will save \nhis people from their sins\, and indeed salvation is to be found in him alone. \nHe taught us to love him by first loving us\, even to the extent of dying on the \ncross. By loving us and holding us so dear he aroused our love for him who first \nloved us to the very end… \nOne seldom meets a person who can say: “I love you\, in order that you \nmay love me!” This is what really happened. You loved us first to make us love \nyou\, not because you needed our love\, but because we could not be what you \ncreated us to be\, except by loving you. \nIn many ways and on various occasions you spoke to our ancestors \nthrough the prophets. Now in these last days you have spoken to us through \nthe Son\, your Word\, by whom the heavens were made\, by whose breath the \nwhole heavenly host came to be. \nBy speaking through your Son you made the extent of your love for us as \nplain as day. You did not spare your own Son but gave him up for all of us. And \nhe himself loved us and gave himself up for us. This Lord is your Word to us\, \nyour omnipotent Word. While all things were in profound silence (that is\, in \nthe depths of error) he came from his royal throne\, the stern conqueror of error \nand gentle apostle of love. You wanted us to love you because otherwise our \nsalvation would not have been just\, and we could not do so unless you made it \npossible. Therefore\, Lord\, you loved us first. For our part\, we love you with the \nlove you yourself have given us. Your love is your goodness. It is the Holy Spirit. \nBy his inspiration\, by keeping us from harm and by providing for our needs\, he \nunites God to us and us to God \n  \nWilliam of St Thierry. On the Contemplation of God. CF 3. Trans. Unknown (Different from CF 3). 51-53.5 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-142/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20231217T112137Z
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UID:11400-1702944000-1703030399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:WHEN PRAYER IS SILENCED \nFrom a commentary by Servant of God Dolindo Ruotolo \n◊◊◊ \nZechariah was Priest of the eighth class… Elizabeth\, his wife was also of priestly \nbirth. They lived in a holy manner\, and they did not have children\, because Elizabeth was \nsterile. In those times to be sterile was the greatest disgrace\, because every woman hoped \nto be the mother of the awaited Messiah. Being both old\, notwithstanding all the prayers \nto God to conceive a son\, now they had lost all hope… But what prayer is useless before \nGod? Even when it seems not granted\, even when it seems now absurd to even think that \nit can be granted\, is instead granted in a way far above any expectations\, and blooms like \na blooming tree in spring… \nIt was the hour of the Vespers\, and Zechariah entered the Sanctuary to offer \nincense. The multitude of the people fervently prayed\, asking to be freed\, since they were \noppressed by foreign domination… Zechariah\, on hearing the lamentations of his people\, \nlifted with more eagerness his heart to the Lord\, and considering his own affliction\, deeply \nhumiliated himself… He put the incense on the flame\, and in the solemnity of the \nmoment… his prayer\, like the spiral of the perfumed smoke of the incense\, rose highly… \nWhen all of a sudden… a mysterious fright took hold of him: on the right side of the \nAltar…a human figure had appeared\, most beautiful\, majestic… The Angel spoke to him; \nhis words peaceful and penetrating… <Zechariah’s> prayer was granted and Elizabeth \nwould have a son… \nInstead of exulting and thanking God\, <Zechariah> said with great distrust and \nunbelief: “How shall I know this?” \n… It was the manifestation of the “I”\, the “I” that \npretends to raise himself to be the judge in the plans of God; the “I” that chokes the most \ndelicate germs of grace\, assuming to want to evaluate everything with his own idea; it was \nthe word of his own mind in opposition to the word of God; thus\, and rightly so\, Zechariah \nwas deprived of his word and became mute. The Angel became stern\, his majesty flashed \nlike a thunderbolt. Zechariah had not considered in answering him that he was speaking \nwith a superior being… Now the Angel called him up to reality\, telling him: “I am Gabriel \n(which means the strong one of God)\, and I stand before God.” \nIn pronouncing those words… a ray of divine majesty enveloped him. He was the \nstrong one\, the expression of the true strength\, something immense\, deep… towering… It \nwas a celestial word\, that made its meaning known and by saying it\, it made it alive. These \nwords hit Zechariah like a thunderbolt of extraordinary power; they…made him dumb… \nand his dumbness became a sign of truth: he showed with a visible punishment that what \nhe heard\, was not a deception. \nWhat a lesson for us\, who are used to oppose with great ease the plan of God with \nour own plans… Here our program comes before the grace that can touch and transport \nus… thus our spirit faints and our prayer remains mute… We believe that it is our \ngraciousness to comply… instead it is all a gift of God. When we are not worthy of the \nLord because of our pride\, we cannot believe and speak to God… Our words of faith and \nthe voice of our prayers are the measure of our soul; as soon as our soul is misled\, by the \nproud misery of our “I” or by the degradation of our senses\, we lose our word\, the interior \nword that makes us to say “I believe” and the exterior words that can speak to God… When \na faithful person does not know how to speak to God\, he needs to purify or renew himself\, \nbecause his spiritual muteness is a sign of an interior paralysis… This should be the path \nfollowed by a hardened soul: to pray\, to attempt to do some work of sacred zeal… \nPessimism is always deadly for the life of the spirit. Yet\, hope and abandonment to the \nDivine Mercy is the secret of a great life. \n  \nRuotolo\, Dolindo. The Sacred Scripture – The Gospel According to Luke. Trans. Giovanna I. Ellis. Accessed online\, 2014.7 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-143/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163334
CREATED:20231217T112329Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231217T112329Z
UID:11402-1703030400-1703116799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:“O KEY OF DAVID” \nFrom a treatise by St John Chrysostom \n◊◊◊ \nChrist had the power to set the human race free from all evils\, not only \nthe Romans\, but the Persians\, and simply every race of barbarians. And he \nsucceeded in doing this with no force of arms\, nor expenditure of money\, nor \nby starting wars of conquest\, nor by inflaming men to battle. He had only \neleven men to start with\, men who were undistinguished\, without learning\, ill- \ninformed\, destitute\, poorly clad\, without weapons or sandals\, men who had but \na single tunic to wear. …He was able to persuade so many nations of men to \npursue the true doctrine\, not only in what concerns the present life but also the \nlife hereafter. He succeeded in winning over these men to drag down their \nancestral laws\, to tear out their ancient customs\, long and deeply rooted as they \nwere\, and to plant in their place other ways\, which led them from the easy- \ngoing life to his own program of austerity. And he succeeded in doing this when \nthe whole world was waging war against him\, when they jeered at him\, and \nforced him to endure the most shameful death of the cross. \nThese successes are not confined to the cities. They have spread to the \ndesert\, the villages\, the fields\, the islands\, the ship basins\, and harbors. Not \nonly simple citizens and petty rulers but even those who wear the imperial \ncrown have shown great faith and served as subjects to him who was crucified… \nI do not wish you to suspect that what I say had not been foretold. \nTherefore\, I must bring forward as evidence the books of the Jews\, the \nScriptures\, over which the Jews have kept such careful guard\, and set before the \neyes of those who are still unbelieving the predictions and testimonies about \n<how> Christ would become man and still stay God. “This is our God; no other \nwill be compared to him. He has discovered the whole way of understanding\, \nand has given it to Jacob\, his servant\, and to Israel\, his well-beloved. Since \nthen he has appeared on earth and moved among men.” \nDo you see how\, in a few words\, the prophet made it altogether clear that \nChrist\, still remaining God\, became man\, that he moved among men\, and that \nhe is\, himself\, the Lawgiver of the Old Testament? For the prophet said: “He \nhas discovered the whole way of understanding and has given it to Jacob\, his \nservant\, and to Israel\, his well-beloved.” For here the prophet shows that\, \nbefore his coming in the flesh\, he arranged and disposed all things\, that he did \nall things by giving the Law\, by exercising his providence\, and by granting to \nmen the blessings of his care. \n  \nDemonstration Against the Pagans That Christ is God. Trans. Paul W. Harkins\, Fathers of the Church Series\, vol. 73. \nWashington\, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press\, 1985. pp. 191ff. \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-144/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20231221
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163334
CREATED:20231217T112551Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231217T112551Z
UID:11404-1703116800-1703203199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 175 year Anniversary
DESCRIPTION:GETHSEMANI ABBEY: \nITS FOUNDATION \nFrom the account of Dom Eutropius Proust \n◊◊◊ \nWe arrived at Gethsemani on the twenty-first of December\, at two P.M. \n… The cold was excessive\, and all we could do the first days was to gather \nfirewood in the forest with which to warm ourselves. We also collected or \nshucked a field of corn that had remained. In the mornings and evenings we \nshelled the corn in the workshop\, while one of the brothers\, in a loud voice\, read \na spiritual book. Such were our occupations during these first days. \nWe improvised a dormitory\, refectory\, chapter-room… choosing for this \npurpose the most suitable places. The old cabins were torn down to make room \nfor a kitchen\, adjoining the refectory. But the kitchen was so exposed to the \nweather that\, when it rained\, all our dishes were not sufficient to collect the \nwater… The little chapel used by the Sisters of Loretto served us for a church\, \nbut\, as a great number of people flocked to our offices\, attracted by the novelty \nof the religious ceremonies\, which\, notwithstanding our poverty\, we conducted \nwith great solemnity\, our chapel was much too small. We were obliged to \nenlarge it one-half\, which we did\, with the debris of the old cabins… \nIt is impossible to describe the impression produced on these sylvan \ninhabitants on seeing our religious ceremonies and hearing for the first time the \nsolemn and majestic chant of La Trappe. At the approach of grand feasts\, the \nrumor spread far that on that day the Trappists of Gethsemani would have \nbeautiful ceremonies\, a thing which generally brought vast assemblies… The \npeople came from Bardstown and neighboring villages to see us and satisfy \nthemselves of that which had been said in the journals concerning those \nextraordinary solitaries of Gethsemani… \nOne of the salutary effects that our presence created was the elevation of \nthe negro-slave in his own estimation… These unfortunate slaves were \nastonished to see priests in the morning at the altar\, and sometimes later at the \nplough…devoted to all kinds of agricultural work. In thus seeing men who were \nvenerated in their country\, work like themselves\, they are honored before their \nown eyes\, and the humble occupation of labor is elevated. They realized at last \nthat manual labor does not degrade\, nor work enslave the tiller of the soil. \nThus\, from the commencement\, we gained the good will of all our \nneighbors… There was not\, even amongst the Protestant ministers themselves\, \na single one who did not show us some marks of good will… “These are the good \ncitizens\, ” they would say\, “who have just come from Europe. They are French\, \nwho bring us excellent methods of farming. They are going to effect much good \nin our country. It is not necessary to disturb them; but on the contrary to hold \nthem in high esteem.”… So you see that in a short time Gethsemani put on a \nnew aspect \n  \nDom Eutropius Proust. Gethsemani Abbey: Its Foundation. Messenger Magazine\, 1898. (Complete manuscript \navailable in CSQ 2021).11 \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-175-year-anniversary/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163334
CREATED:20231217T112715Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231217T112715Z
UID:11406-1703203200-1703289599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:RAISE YOUR HEADS\, \nBECAUSE YOUR REDEMPTION IS DRAWING NEAR \nFrom the writings of St Rafael Arnaiz6 \n◊◊◊ \nThere are many ways to wait for the God who is to be born among human beings. \nThere are many ways that the world celebrates the event of God’s coming… \nChristmastime in La Trapa… Joy in the liturgy\, hope in the songs we sing in church\, \nhymns that speak of love and gentleness of heart. Thinking\, in the silence of the temple\, \nabout Mary’s humility\, Joseph’s chastity… God’s love. The harmonious blend of angels’ \nmelodies and shepherds’ ballads… Christmas in La Trapa… Frankincense and myrrh \noffered up by souls who quietly live their lives in the divine service… the gold of \nsacrifices. No loud cheers or external expressions or music or drums…The parties\, the \njoy\, the music\, the drumbeat… he carries all that in his heart\, which loves Jesus so \nmuch\, in a joyful silence… an inner song… a quiet\, silent love. \nDuring this time\, he meditates upon the great mysteries of his faith… and \nvery\, very deep within his soul\, he delights in the consolations that the Child \nJesus offers him through sacred Scripture… In peace and quiet\, he meditates \nupon the psalms\, the hymns\, and the whole liturgical arsenal that the church \nprovides for this season. He contemplates with amazement how the young \nwoman is with child and shall bear a son\, and shall name him Emmanuel\, and \nhow the uneven ground shall become level and the rough places a plain. \nYou don’t need to make noise to love God. You won’t mind solitude\, \nsilence\, austerity\, penance\, or any amount of suffering if you know that the \nwilderness and the dry land shall be glad\, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; \nlike the crocus it shall blossom abundantly\, and rejoice with joy and singing… \nEverything balances out in this world… In the perfect harmony of creation\, \nevery person and thing follows the path that God has laid out before them. \nWhat a joy it is to know we are rooted in His will… Wherever we might go\, \nwherever we are\, so long as we don’t separate our heart from Jesus’ heart\, what \ndo we have to fear?… The world is very small\, and God is so great that it cannot \ncontain Him… But no matter\, God has made Himself small in order to save \nhumanity… To God\, the whole world is a vast temple… and the Son has come \ndown into it\, and it is in this world that He does the will of His Father… \nNow that Christmas is approaching\, and perhaps my struggles on this \nfront are harder\, God is calling me to account. Without letting anyone else \noverhear\, He is saying to me very softly\, “What does it matter?” \n… And then I \ncome to see the poverty of this world\, the brevity of this life… we must make \ngood use of it… We must not waste time…thinking about our past joys that will \nnever come back again. And then the soul comes to understand and \ncontemplate the only truth… and that is Christ. Christ\, who transforms the \nworld into a great big stable! Christ\, with Joseph and Mary… Christ\, made \nhuman for love of humanity… Christ\, born among the animals and hay\, with no \nshelter or clothing\, in great solitude… And faced with the thought of an \nincarnate God\, faced with the grandeur of His boundlessness\, the soul \nstretches…and the voice of Christ sweetly draws me in\, speaks to me of love\, and \nmakes me forget all my cares. \nToday\, at prayer\, a little monk was thinking about this. Looking around \nhim\, he could not help but close his eyes as he realized that nothing in this world \nwill remain… Leaving behind his feelings and sorrows\, he lifted his eyes to \nheaven and heard his soul cry out clearly… “Brother!…Brother!…Love \nChrist…As for everything else…what does it matter?” \n… “The Lord is now near; \ncome\, let us adore him. \n  \nSaint Rafael Arnaiz. The Collected Words. MW 61. Trans. Catherine Addington. Collegeville\, MN: Cistercian \nPublications\, 2022. 502-506.13 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-145/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163334
CREATED:20231217T112857Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231217T112857Z
UID:11408-1703289600-1703375999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:IF YOU KNEW THE GIFT OF GOD \nFrom the writing of St Elizabeth of the Trinity \n◊◊◊ \nWhat is the gift of God if not Himself?… The beloved disciple tells us: “He \ncame to His own and His own did not accept Him.” St. John the Baptist could \nstill say to many souls these words of reproach: “There is one in the midst of \nyou\, ‘in you\,’ whom you do not know… If you knew the gift of God…” \nThere is one who knew this gift of God\, one who did not lose one particle \nof it\, one who was so pure\, so luminous that she seemed to be Light itself. One \nwhose life was so simple\, so lost in God that there is hardly anything we can say \nabout it. \nFaithful Virgin\, “who kept all these things in her heart.” She remained so \nlittle\, so recollected in God’s presence\, in the seclusion of the temple\, that she \ndrew down upon herself the delight of the Holy Trinity: “Because He has looked \nupon the lowliness of His servant\, henceforth all generations shall call me \nblessed!” The Father bending down to this beautiful creature\, who was so \nunaware of her own beauty\, willed that she be the Mother in time of Him whose \nFather He is in eternity. Then the Spirit of love who presides over all of God’s \nworks came upon her; the Virgin said her fiat: “Behold the servant of the Lord\, \nbe it done to me according to Your word\,” and the greatest of mysteries was \naccomplished. By the descent of the Word in her\, Mary became forever God’s \nprey. \nIt seems to me that the attitude of the Virgin during the months that \nelapsed between the Annunciation and the Nativity is the model for interior \nsouls\, those whom God has chosen to live within\, in the depths of the bottomless \nabyss. In what peace\, in what recollection Mary lent herself to everything she \ndid! How even the most trivial things were divinized by her! For through it all \nthe Virgin remained the adorer of the gift of God! This did not prevent her from \nspending herself outwardly when it was a matter of charity; the Gospel tells us \nthat Mary went in haste to the mountains of Judea to visit her cousin Elizabeth. \nNever did the ineffable vision that she contemplated within herself in any way \ndiminish her outward charity. For… if contemplation “continues toward praise \nand towards the eternity of its Lord\, it possesses unity and will not lose it. \nIf an order from Heaven arrives\, contemplation turns towards men\, \nsympathizes with their needs\, is inclined towards all their miseries; it must cry \nand be fruitful. It illuminates like fire\, and like it\, it burns\, absorbs and devours\, \nlifting up to Heaven what it has devoured. And when it has finished its work \nhere below\, it rises\, burning with its fire\, and takes up again the road on high. \n  \nElizabeth of the Trinity. I Have Found God\, The Complete Works: Volume One. Trans. Sister Aletheia Kane\, O.C.D. ICS \nPublications\, 1984. 110-111.15 \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-146/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20231223T121730Z
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UID:11410-1703376000-1703462399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n4th Sunday/Christmas Octave\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nDecember 24 – 30\, 2023\n\n\n\nSun\n24\nMon\n25\nTue\n26\nWed\n27\nThu\n28\nFri\n29\nSat\n30\n\n\nOffice\n4th Sunday of Advent\nNativity of the Lord\nSt Stephen\nSt John\nHoly Innocents\n5th Day in Christmas Octave\n6th Day in Christmas Octave\n\n\nVigils\nIsa 44:1-8\, 21-23\n*vigil and midnight Mass\nActs 6:1-15\nWis 7:21-8:1\nExod 1:6-22\nSong 1:1-11\nSong 1:12-2:7\n\n\nLauds\nIsa 63:15-19\nBaruch 3:36-4:4\n2 Chron 24:17-22\nProv 8:22-30\nBaruch 4:21-29\nIsa 51:1-8\nIsa 52:8-12\n\n\nMass\n11\n16\n696\n697\n698\n202\n203\n\n\n1st\n2 Sam 7:1-5\, 8b-12\, 14a\, 16\nIsa 52:7-10\nActs 6:8-10; 7:54-59\n1 John 1:1-4\n1 John 1:5-2:2\n1 John 2:3-11\n1 John 2:12-17\n\n\n2nd\nRom 16:25-27\nHeb 1:1-6\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 1:26-38\nJohn 1:1-18\nMatt 10:17-22\nJohn 20:1a\, 2-8\nMatt 2:13-18\nLuke 2:22-35\nLuke 2:36-40\n\n\nVespers\n2 Pet 3:8-14\n1 John 4:7-16\nActs 7:51-8:2\nActs 4:13-20\n1 Pet 4:12-19\nCol 1:1-8\nPhil 2:1-11\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n*Midnight Mass: 1) Isa 9:1-6 2) Titus 2:11-14 Gospel) Luke 2:1-14
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-56/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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