BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey - ECPv6.15.18//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20230312T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20231105T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20240310T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20241103T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20250309T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240112
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240113
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240107T013907Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240107T013907Z
UID:11465-1705017600-1705103999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Aelred
DESCRIPTION:AELRED’S LAST DAYS \nFrom “The Life of Aelred of Rievaulx” by Walter Daniel6 \n◊◊◊ \nAs he lay in bed he talked constantly in gasps\, and day by day his body got \nfeebler\, until at last on 3 January he ordered all the monks to be summoned to \nhim\, and made them this allocution: \n‘Often I have begged your permission when I had to cross the sea\, or it \nwas my duty to hasten to some distant region\, or I had occasion to seek the \nking’s court; and now by your leave and with the help of your prayers I go hence\, \nfrom exile to the fatherland\, from darkness to light\, from this evil world to God; \nfor the time has come when he\, who redeemed me of himself without me\, and \ndeigned by his grace to bind me more closely to himself in the bonds of a better \nlife among you\, will take me to himself… We have a good Lord and now it \npleases my soul to see his face… \n’ \nThe most pious father added: ‘I have lived with a good conscience among \nyou\, for as I lie here\, as you see\, at the point of death\, my soul calls God to \nwitness that\, since I received this habit of religion\, the malice\, detraction or \nquarrel of no man has ever kindled any feeling in me against him which has \nbeen strong enough to last the day in the domicile of my heart… By the grace of \nChrist I have commanded my spirit that no disturbance to the patience of my \nmind should survive the setting of the sun.’ At these words we all wept… and \nmost of all when he\, weeping\, said to us\, ‘God who knows all things knows that \nI love you all as myself\, and\, as earnestly as a mother after her sons… \nTo wait by his bedside during those days was\, I confess\, an awe-inspiring \nexperience… He would say… \n‘Hasten for the love of Christ\, hasten.’ When I said \nto him ‘What\, lord?’ he stretched out his hands\, as to heaven\, and fixing his eyes \nlike lamps of fire upon the cross which was held there before his face\, said\, \n‘Release me\, let me go free to him\, whom I see before me\, the King of Glory. \nWhy do you linger?… Hasten\, for the love of Christ\, hasten’ \n… In all my life I \nhave never been so stricken to the heart as I was by those words\, so often \nrepeated\, so awfully uttered\, by such a man at such an hour\, by a good man at \nthe point of death. And these words kept proceeding from his mouth through \nthree whole days… \nI sat with him on that <last> day and…said to him in a low voice\, so that \nnobody would notice us\, ‘Lord\, gaze on the cross; let your eye be where your \nheart is.’ And immediately raising his eyelids and turning his pupils to the \nfigure of truth depicted on the wood\, he said to him who suffered death for us \nupon the tree\, ‘You are my God and my Lord\, You are my refuge and my Saviour. \nYou are my glory and my hope for evermore. Into your hands I commend my \nspirit.’ He uttered these words clearly as they are written\, although for two days \nhe had not spoken so many words\, nor afterwards did he speak three words \ntogether… He died about the fourth watch of the night before the Ides of \nJanuary\, in the year of the Incarnation one thousand and sixty-six… the fifty- \nseventh year of his life… \nWhenever I think of him then\, I am still overcome by joy and wonder at \nthe gracious recollection… My God! He did not die ‘in darkness\, as those that \nhave been long dead\,’ not so\, Lord\, but in your light\, for in his light we see your \nlight. \n  \n6 Daniel\, Walter. The Life of Aelred of Rievaulx. CF 57. Trans. F.M. Powicke. Kalamazoo\, MI: Cistercian Publications\, \n1994. 133-135\, 138-139.13 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-aelred/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240113
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240114
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240107T014243Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240107T014243Z
UID:11467-1705104000-1705190399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:OF MARY’S CHARITY TOWARDS HER NEIGHBOUR \nBy St Alphonsus de Liguori7 \n◊◊◊ \nLove towards God and love towards our neighbour are commanded by the \nsame precept: “And this commandment we have from God\, that he who loveth \nGod love also his brother.” Saint Thomas says that the reason for this is\, that he \nwho loves God loves all that God loves. Saint Catherine of Genoa one day said\, \n‘Lord\, Thou willest that I should love my neighbour\, and I can love none but \nThee.’ God answered her in these words: All who love Me love what I love.” But \nas there never was\, and never will be\, any one who loved God as much as Mary \nloved Him\, so there never was\, and never will be\, any one who loved her \nneighbour as much as she did… \nFor Christ\, who is love itself\, inspired the Blessed Virgin with charity in \nits highest degree\, that she might succour all who had recourse to her. So great \nwas Mary’s charity when on earth… as was the case at the marriage-feast of \nCana\, when she told her Son that family’s distress: “They have no wine\,” and \nasked Him to work a miracle. O\, with what speed did she fly when there was \nquestion of relieving her neighbour! When she went to the house of Elizabeth \nto fulfil an office of charity\, “she went into the hill-country with haste.” She \ncould not\, however\, more fully display the greatness of her charity than she did \nin the offering which she made of her Son to death for our salvation. On this \nsubject Saint Bonaventure says\, \n‘Mary so loved the world as to give her only- \nbegotten Son.’ Hence Saint Anselm exclaims\, ‘O blessed amongst women\, thy \npurity surpasses that of the angels\, and thy compassion that of the Saints!’ \nGreat was the mercy of Mary towards the wretched when she was still in \nexile on earth; but far greater is it now that she reigns in heaven. Saint Agnes \nassured Saint Bridget that there was no one who prayed without receiving \ngraces through the charity of the Blessed Virgin. Unfortunate\, indeed\, should \nwe be\, did not Mary intercede for us! Jesus Himself\, addressing the same Saint\, \nsaid\, \n‘Were it not for the prayers of My Mother\, there would be no hope of \nmercy.’ Blessed is he\, says the Divine Mother\, who listens to my instructions\, \npays attention to my charity\, and\, in imitation of me\, exercises it himself \ntowards others: “Blessed is the man that heareth me\, and that watcheth daily at \nmy gates\, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. \n” \nSaint Gregory Nazianzen assures us that ‘there is nothing by which we can \nwith greater certainty gain the affection of Mary than by charity towards our \nneighbour. Therefore\, as God exhorts us\, saying\, “Be ye merciful\, as your Father \nalso is merciful\,” so also does Mary seem to say to all her children\, ‘Be ye \nmerciful\, as your Mother also is merciful.’ It is certain that our charity towards \nour neighbour will be the measure of that which God and Mary will show us: \n“Give\, and it shall be given to you. For with the same measure that you shall \nmete withal\, it shall be measured to you again. \n” Saint Methodius used to \nsay\, \n‘Give to the poor\, and receive paradise.’ For the apostle writes\, that \ncharity… \n“is profitable to all things\, having promise of the life that now is\, and \nof that which is to come. \n” \nO Mother of Mercy\, thou art full of charity for all; forget not my miseries; \nthou seest them full well. Recommend me to God\, who denies thee nothing. \nObtain me the grace to imitate thee in holy charity\, as well towards God as \ntowards my neighbour. \n  \n7 St Alphonsus de Liguori. The Glories of Mary. Rockford\, IL: TAN Books\, 1982. 477-480.15 \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-the-bvm-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240114
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240115
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240113T202545Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240113T202545Z
UID:11477-1705190400-1705276799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n2nd Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nJanuary 14 – 20\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n14\nMon\n15\nTue\n16\nWed\n17\nThu\n18\nFri\n19\nSat\n20\n\n\nOffice\n2nd Sunday\nSS Maur & Placid\nWeekday\nSt Anthony\nWeekday\nWeekday\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nNum 12:1-15\nNum 13:1-3\, 17-33\nNum 14:1-25\nNum 16:1-24\nNum 16:25-35\nNum 17:1-15\nNum 17:16-28\n\n\nLauds\nEccles 2:18-23\nEccles 2:24-3:8\nEccles 3:9-15\nEccles 3:16-22\nEccles 4:1-6\nEccles 4:7-12\nEccles 4:13-17\n\n\nMass\n65\n311\n312\n313\n314\n315\n316\n\n\n1st\n1 Sam 3:3b-10\, 19\n1 Sam 15:16-23\n1 Sam 16:1-13\n1 Sam 17:32-33\, 37\, 40-51\n1 Sam 18:6-9; 19:1-7\n1 Sam 24:3-21\n2 Sam 1:1-4\, 11-12\, 19\, 23-27\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 6:13c-15a\, 17-20\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 1:35-42\nMark 2:18-22\nMark 2:23-28\nMark 3:1-6\nMark 3:7-12\nMark 3:13-19\nMark 3:20-21\n\n\nVespers\n2 Cor 4:1-6\n2 Cor 4:7-18\n2 Cor 5:1-10\n2 Cor 5:11-15\n2 Cor 5:16-21\n2 Cor 6:1-13\n2 Cor 6:14-7:1
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-59/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240114
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240115
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240113T202752Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240113T203828Z
UID:11479-1705190400-1705276799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 2nd Sunday Ordinary
DESCRIPTION:BEHOLD\, THE LAMB OF GOD \nFrom a commentary by St Basil of Seleucia1 \n◊◊◊ \nSpurred on by the testimony of John the Baptist\, the glorious apostle \nAndrew left his teacher and ran to the one pointed out by him. John’s words \nwere his signal\, and\, moving more swiftly than John could speak\, he \napproached the master with obvious longing\, his companion\, John the \nEvangelist\, running beside him. Both had left the lamp to come to the sun. \nAndrew was the first to become an apostle. It was he who opened the gates \nof Christ’s teaching. He was the first to gather the fruits cultivated by the \nprophets\, and he surpassed the hopes of all by being the first to embrace the \none awaited by all. He was the first to show that the precepts of the law were in \nforce only for a limited time. He was the first to restrain the tongue of Moses\, \nfor he would not allow it to speak after Christ had come. Yet he was not rebuked \nfor this\, because he did not dishonor the teacher of the Jews\, but honored more \nthe sender than the one sent. In fact Andrew was seen to be the first to honor \nMoses\, because he was the first to recognize the one he foretold when he said: \nThe Lord God will raise up for you from among your kindred a prophet like \nmyself. Listen to him. Andrew set the law aside in obedience to the law. He \nlistened to Moses who said: Listen to him. He listened to John who cried out: \nBehold the Lamb of God\, and of his own accord went to the one pointed out to \nhim. \nHaving recognized the prophet foretold by the prophets\, Andrew led his \nbrother to the one he had found. To Peter\, who was still in ignorance\, he \nrevealed the treasure: We have found the Messiah for whom we were longing. \nHow many sleepless nights we spent beside the waters of the Jordan\, and now \nwe have found the one for whom we longed! Nor was Peter slow when he heard \nthese words\, for he was Andrew’s brother. He listened attentively\, then \nhastened with great eagerness. \nTaking Peter with him\, Andrew brought his brother to the Lord\, thus \nmaking him his fellow-disciple. This was Andrew’s first achievement: he \nincreased the number of the apostles by bringing Peter to Christ\, so that Christ \nmight find in him the disciples’ leader. When later on Peter won approval\, it was \nthanks to the seed sown by Andrew. But the commendation given to the one \nredounded to the other\, for the virtues of each belonged to both\, and each was \nproud of the other’s merits. Indeed\, when Peter promptly answered the master’s \nquestion\, how much joy he gave to all the disciples by breaking their \nembarrassed silence! Peter alone acted as the mouthpiece of those to whom the \nquestion was addressed. As though all spoke through him\, he replied clearly on \ntheir behalf: You are the Christ\, the Son of the living God. In one sentence he \nacknowledged both the Savior and his saving plan. \nNotice how these words echo Andrew’s. By prompting Peter the Father \nendorsed from above the words Andrew used when he led Peter to Christ. \nAndrew had said: We have found the Messiah. The Father said\, prompting \nPeter: You are the Christ\, the Son of the living God\, almost forcing these words \non Peter. “Peter\,” he said\, “when you are questioned\, use Andrew’s words in \nreply. Show yourself very prompt in answering your master. Andrew did not lie \nto you when he said: We have found the Messiah. Turn the Hebrew words into \nGreek and cry out: You are the Christ\, the Son of the living God!” \n  \n1 Journey with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – NY -1993 – pg 72-73.3 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/2nd-sunday-ordinary/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240115
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240116
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240113T202940Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240113T202940Z
UID:11481-1705276800-1705363199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - SS Maur & Placid
DESCRIPTION:SAINTS MAUR AND PLACID \nFrom the Dialogues of St Gregory the Great2 \n◊◊◊ \nThe holy man\, St Benedict\, having returned to Subiaco\, long continued to \nshine by his virtue and miracles\, and assembled a great number of solitaries \nwho consecrated themselves to the service of God\, so that\, with the aid of our \nLord Jesus Christ\, he built twelve monasteries\, placing in each twelve Religious \nwith an Abbot to govern them. He retained with himself only a few of his \ndisciples who\, he thought\, still needed his presence to be better formed to \nperfection. It was at this time that many persons in Rome\, conspicuous for their \nnobility and virtue\, began to visit him and offer their children that he might \nmold them to piety\, and teach them to live for God alone. Aequitas and \nTertullus\, who had the honor of being Roman Patricians\, came to see the saint \nand confided to his care their two children; the former was distinguished for \nspotless innocence of life\, and merited\, though young\, to be chosen by his \nmaster to assist him in his functions. As to Placid\, being only a boy\, he was \nsubject to the weaknesses inseparable from tender age… \nThe venerable Benedict being one day in his cell\, the boy Placid…went out \nto fetch water from the lake\, but\, when dipping his pitcher into the water\, not \ntaking sufficient heed\, his body followed the vessel and he fell into the lake. The \nwaves immediately bore him out from the land as far as the usual flight of an \narrow. The saint\, who was in his cell\, knew of the sad accident at that very \ninstant\, and at once calling Maurus\, his disciple\, said to him: “Brother Maurus\, \nrun with all speed; the boy who went to fetch water fell into the lake and has \nbeen already carried off a long distance.” \nThe thing wonderful and unheard of since that instance of the Apostle \nPeter! Maurus having asked and received the blessing\, ran to the lake to execute \nthe order of his Abbot. Thinking he was treading upon dry land\, he advanced to \nthe very place whither the waves had carried off the child\, and laying hold of \nhim by the hair\, brought him back with great haste to the shore. Having reached \nthe land\, he began to reflect on what he did\, and casting a look behind\, saw that \nhe had been running over the waves. He was astonished thereat and very much \nafraid\, seeing that he had performed what he would not have dared to undertake \nif he had been aware of what he was doing. Having returned to the monastery\, \nhe narrated the whole occurrence to the Abbot. The venerable Benedict did not \nattribute this miracle to his own merit\, but to the obedience of the disciple. \nMaurus\, on the other hand\, said he was only fulfilling a command\, and could \nhave no share in a miracle which he unconsciously performed. \nDuring this pious dispute arising from the humility of the holy Abbot and \nhis disciple\, the boy rescued from peril presented himself as arbitrator\, and put \nan end to the contest thus: “When I was being drawn out of the waves\, I saw the \nAbbot’s robe above my head\, and it seemed to me that it was he who delivered \nme from the water.” \n… \nAn ancient tradition says that the monk Maurus was sent into Gaul by the \nsame holy Father. There\, according to the same tradition\, he founded a \nmonastery at Glannofol; after having governed it for a long time\, he died in the \nLord in a good old age\, renowned for his sanctity and miracles… while Placid \ndied a martyr’s death in Sicily in 541\, a few years before the death of St Benedict \nhimself. \n  \n2 from the LITURGICAL READINGS compiled and adapted at St Meinrad’s Abbey (St Meinrad \, IN\, 1941) pp. 311-313.5 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-ss-maur-placid/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240116
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240117
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240113T203111Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240113T203111Z
UID:11483-1705363200-1705449599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:DIVINE LOVE \nFrom “The Four Hundred Chapters of Love” by Maximus the Confessor3 \n◊◊◊ \nWhen through love the mind is ravished by divine knowledge…then\, \naccording to the divine Isaiah\, it comes in consternation to a realization of its \nown lowliness and says with conviction the words of the prophet: Woe is me for \nI am stricken at heart; because being a man having unclean lips\, I dwell in the \nmidst of a people with unclean lips and I have seen with my eyes the King\, the \nLord of hosts. The one who loves God cannot help but love also every man as \nhimself even though he is displeased by the passions of those who are not yet \npurified. Thus when he sees their conversion and amendment\, he rejoices with \nan unbounded and unspeakable joy. \nThe passionate soul is impure\, filled with thoughts of lust and hatred. The \none who sees a trace of hatred in his own heart through any fault at all toward \nany man whoever he may be makes himself completely foreign to the love for \nGod\, because love for God in no way admits of hatred for man. \n“The one who \nloves me\,” says the Lord\, \n“will keep my commandments” and “this is my \ncommandment\, that you love one another.” Therefore the one who does not love \nhis neighbor is not keeping the commandment\, and the one who does not keep \nthe commandment is not able to love the Lord… \nThe one who has acquired divine love in himself does not grow weary of \nclosely following after the Lord his God\, as the divine Jeremiah says; rather he \nendures nobly every reproachful hardship and outrage without thinking any evil \nof anyone. When you are insulted by someone or offended in any matter\, then \nbeware of angry thoughts\, lest by distress they sever you from charity and place \nyou in the region of hatred. Whenever you are suffering intensely from insult or \ndisgrace\, realize that this can be of great benefit to you\, for disgrace is God’s way \nof driving vainglory out of you. \nAs the memory of fire does not warm the body\, so faith without love does \nnot bring about the illumination of knowledge in the soul. As the light of the sun \nattracts the healthy eye\, so does the knowledge of God draw the pure mind to \nitself naturally through love… The soul is pure when it has been freed from the \npassions and rejoices unceasingly in divine love… For he recalls his former \nworldly life and different transgressions and the temptations bedeviling him \nfrom his youth\, and how the Lord delivered him from all these things and made \nhim pass from this life of passion to a divine life. And so with fear he receives \nlove as well\, ever thankful with deep humility to the benefactor and pilot of our \nlife. \n  \nMaximus the Confessor. Selected Writings. Trans. George C. Berthold. New York: Paulist Press\, 1985. 36-40.7 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-150/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240117
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240118
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240113T203303Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240113T203303Z
UID:11485-1705449600-1705535999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Anthony
DESCRIPTION:HE KEPT HIS HEART WATCHFUL \nFrom the writing of Nikiphorus the monk4 \n◊◊◊ \nOnce two brothers were on their way to visit St Antony\, but on the journey \ntheir water gave out and one of them died and the other was near to dying. \nUnable to go any further\, he too lay down on the ground and awaited death. But \nAntony\, seated on the mountain\, called two monks who happened to be with \nhim and said to them urgently\, ‘Take a jar of water and go as fast as you can \nalong the road leading to Egypt: two men were on their way here\, but one has \njust died and the other will also die if you don’t hurry. This was revealed to me \nas I was praying.’ \nThe monks set off; and finding the one man dead they buried him\, while \nthey revived the other with water and brought him to the elder. It was about a \nday’s journey off. Should you ask why Antony did not speak before the first man \ndied\, I would say that the question is inapt: the decision about death rested not \nwith Antony but with God\, and He allowed the first man to die and sent a \nrevelation to St Antony about the second. The miracle happened to St Antony\, \nand to him alone\, because while seated on the mountain he kept \nhis heart watchful\, and so the Lord showed him what was happening a long way \noff. \nDo you see how through watchfulness of heart St Antony was able to \nperceive God…? For it is in the heart that God manifests Himself to \nthe intellect…as fire that purifies the lover and then as light that illumines \nthe intellect and renders it godlike. \nWe cannot be reconciled with God and assimilated to Him unless we \nfirst…enter into ourselves\, in so far as this lies within our power. For the miracle \nconsists in tearing ourselves away from the distraction and vain concerns of the \nworld and in this way relentlessly seizing hold of the kingdom of heaven within \nus \n4 https://orthodoxchurchfathers.com/fathers/philokalia/nikiphoros-the-monk-from-the-life-of-our-holy-father- \nantony.html. Accessed: Jan. 11\, 2024.9 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-anthony-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240118
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240119
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240113T203437Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240113T203437Z
UID:11487-1705536000-1705622399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:UNCEASING PRAYER AND SELF-KNOWLEDGE \nBy Elder Paisios of Mount Athos5 \n◊◊◊ \nIn regards to unceasing prayer\, if you want\, use a simple method if you \nare a simple person… Unfortunately\, some people don’t have as their aim the \nputting off of their old man\, repentance\, humility and the placing of asceticism \nas a supporting means for the sanctification of their soul in order to sense deeply \ntheir sinfulness and feel profoundly the need for God’s mercy\, and say with \nsweet pain\, “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me”. Instead\, they begin with arid \nascesis and pursue divine pleasures and divine lights… When they believe that \nthey have become holy\, immediately the enemy approaches… \nTherefore\, my brother\, ask for repentance in your prayer and nothing \nelse\, neither for divine lights\, nor miracles\, nor prophecies\, nor spiritual gifts – \n– nothing but repentance. Repentance will bring you humility\, humility will \nbring the Grace of God\, and God will have in His Grace everything you need for \nyour salvation\, or anything you might need to help another soul. \nThings are very simple and there is no reason why we should complicate \nthem. If we regard matters in this way\, we will feel…prayer as a necessity and \nwill not grow weary. We will…feel a sweet pain and then Christ Himself will \nshed His sweet consolation inside our heart. \nThus prayer does not tire but invigorates. It is tiresome only when we do \nnot enter into its meaning and do not understand the sense given it by our Holy \nFathers. Once we comprehend the need of God’s mercy\, the desire of this \nhunger will compel us\, without pressuring ourselves in prayer\, to open our \nmouth like a nursing infant\, and we will feel\, simultaneously\, all the security \nand joy of a baby in its mother’s embrace… \nWe should be in frequent contact with God and\, if possible\, in “constant \nvigilance” for more safety in order to continuously have an abundance of divine \nstrength. Of course\, the enemy does not rest and is constantly attacking us in a \nvariety of ways. However\, we can turn it to our advantage\, and render him into \nan unpaid worker\, who assists us in our unceasing prayer. For example\, when \nhe brings us evil or blasphemous thoughts\, we should start the Jesus Prayer and \nsay to the devil: “It’s good that you pricked at me\, for I had forgotten my Christ”. \nWhen we do this\, even if we were to keep the devil near\, he won’t remain\, since \nhe is not so dumb as to work for free and to bring benefit to our soul. \nIf we want to engage in fine and painstaking work\, let us take\, in order\, \nthe most difficult passions we have\, and whatever fault we detect during the \nday\, and humbly ask for God’s mercy so that we can be redeemed… In this way\, \nthe passions are uprooted… \nWhen someone first gets to know himself and becomes conscious of his \ngreat sinfulness and the great benevolence of God\, his heart breaks even if it is \nas hard as granite. Then\, real tears flow naturally and man does not pressure \nhimself neither in prayer nor in order to shed tears. Humility and <gratitude> \ncontinually work to “drill” on his heart\, and the wellsprings increase\, and God’s \nhand constantly caresses His hardworking grateful child. \n  \n5 Elder Paisios of Mount Athos. Epistles. Souroti\, Thessaloniki\, Greece: Holy Monastery “Evangelist John the \nTheologian\, 2002. 71-73.11 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-151/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240119
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240120
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240113T203600Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240113T203600Z
UID:11489-1705622400-1705708799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE WAY OF REPENTANCE \nFrom the writing of Jacob Boehme6 \n◊◊◊ \nWhen…a man finds within himself a hunger\, so that he would eagerly repent\, \nbut finds in himself no proper sorrow for his past sins\, and yet a hunger for sorrow \n(as the poor\, captured soul ever groans\, fears itself and acknowledges itself as guilty \nof sins before God’s judgement)\, he can do no better than to gather sense\, mind \nand all reason together into one and…when he feels a desire to repent he is to make \na powerful resolution\, that in this hour\, in this minute\, he will enter into \nrepentance\, and leave his godless way\, give no attention to any worldly power and \nhonour and\, if it must be\, leave all for true repentance and esteem nothing. \nAnd [he] is to make such a firm and stern resolution for himself that he will \nnever again leave [repentance]\, even if the whole world considers him a fool; and \nthat he will wish to lead his mind obediently away from the beauties and pleasures \nof this world into the sufferings and death of Christ\, under His cross\, and order his \nwhole hope to the coming life and enter into Christ’s vineyard\, in righteousness \nand truth to do God’s will\, and begin and complete all his work in this world in \nChrist’s spirit and will. For the sake of Christ’s word and promise by which He \npromised us heavenly reward\, he should eagerly suffer and bear all misfortune and \nsuffering\, so that he may be counted among the community of Christ’s children…by \nthe blood of Jesus Christ. \nHe is strongly to consider\, and completely wrap his soul [in the idea] that he \nhas made the resolution to gain the love of God in Christ Jesus\, and that according \nto His true promise God will give him the noble pledge of the Holy Spirit as a \nbeginning so that in himself he might be reborn in Christ’s humanity\, according to \nthe heavenly divine being\, and that the spirit of Christ might renew his mind…and \nstrengthen his weak faith so that in his soul’s desire… he might receive…from the \nsweet fountain\, Jesus Christ\, the water of eternal life… \nHe is to consider fully the great love of God\, that God does not wish the death \nof the sinner\, but that he be converted and live. And he is also to [consider] how \nChrist\, in a friendly manner\, calls poor sinners to Himself\, since He desires to \nrevive them; and that God sent His son into the world to seek and to make holy \nthat which was lost\, the poor\, repentant\, converted sinner; and how\, for the sake \nof the poor sinner\, He gave His life unto death\, and for him died in our humanity\, \ntaken on [for us]. \nHe is to consider strongly also that God in Christ Jesus will more readily hear \n[him] and receive him into grace than he himself wants to come to Him; and that \nin the love of Christ\, in the very precious Name JESUS\, God can desire no evil\, that \nthere is no glimpse of wrath in this Name\, but that He is the highest and deepest \nlove and faithfulness… so that He would pour His sweet love into us so that the \nFather’s wrath\, which was enflamed in us\, might be put out and changed into love. \nAll of this occurred for the sake of the poor sinner so that he might again gain the \nopen gate of grace. \nIn such a consideration he should firmly imagine that at this hour and \nmoment he stands in the presence of the Holy Trinity\, and that God is truly present \nin him and outside of him… Thus\, he is to know and believe for certain that he \nstands\, with his soul\, before the face of Jesus Christ\, before the holy Godhead\, and \nthat his soul has turned from God’s face; and that he now\, this hour\, wishes to turn \nhis soul’s eyes and desire to God\, and\, with the poor\, prodigal and returning son \n[desires to] come to the Father. \n  \n6 Jacob Boehme. The Way to Christ. Trans. Peter Erb. New York: Paulist Press\, 1978. 31-34.13 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-152/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240120
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240121
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240113T203746Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240113T203746Z
UID:11491-1705708800-1705795199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
DESCRIPTION:ALL WHO HUNGER AND THIRST \nFrom a homily by Ogier of Locedio7 \n◊◊◊ \nHow sweet and delightful it is\, ever to call to mind our heavenly mother\, \nthat fragrant spikenard\, about whom roses waft the scent of Paradise!… For \nthus sang Mary\, Queen of the world and Mother of Humility: He cast down the \nmighty from their thrones and raised up the lowly… Therefore be meek of \nheart\, you who wear the habit of humility: let what your habit professes \noutwardly preserve you inwardly in virtue… Thus you will be pleasing to God\, \nwho emptied himself and\, accepting the form of a servant\, gave himself up to \nsuffer\, dying on the rood\, lest humankind die and for ever live in the abyss of \nsavage cruelty… \nWhatever your past\, take no pleasure in what is displeasing to your \nCreator\, but in him alone\, whom you have vowed yourself to please in all your \nactions. If you have lived chastely\, if you have not strafed the citadel of humility \nwith bolts of pride\, then you will be comely and beautiful in the sight of the Most \nHigh. He himself — who filled the hungry with good things and sent away the \nwealthy empty-handed –– will find it good to be your spouse. \nHow blessed the hungry whom the Lord fills with his lasting goodness… \nAll who hunger and thirst for justice will be fed by the Bread of Angels that came \ndown from heaven to give life to the world. These hungry ones Jesus does not \nturn away empty-handed; he satisfies their desires with his goodness\, by \nenriching them with the good of everlasting life. They are indeed rich when they \nshare in the wealth of joy in the glory of heaven. There true wealth lies\, where \nno one is wretched or poor; for there dwell glory and life\, utter joy\, and total \nbliss. With such good things the author of goodness will fill those who in this \nlife have rid themselves of sin\, who suffer torment in order to possess Him\, and \nwho find no pleasure except in the true joy of God\, and the supreme bliss of \nChrist. \nHe enriches holy paupers with his ineffable goodness\, but he \nimpoverishes the wicked wealthy\, and sends them away empty. Death separates \nthe rich from their passing wealth\, but when the poor of Christ pass on\, they \ngain eternity… The true pauper has nothing of mortal sin. Even if he has earthly \nriches\, he reckons them as worthless\, because he does not yet possess the true \nwealth of the Lord Jesus. To see him\, to hold him: this is the desire towards \nwhich he labors with all his heart. \nThe rich…are those whose lives are doubly mortal: they covet passing \ngains\, and neglect to live for God. O what an evil wealth is the enormity of sin \nand vice\, which plunders the soul of divine riches! The greater the accumulation \nof such wealth\, the more its possessors will be cast down and despised by Christ\, \nwho will dismiss them empty-handed\, saying: Depart from me\, workers of \niniquity; in truth I tell you\, I do not know you!… Let us rid ourselves of worldly \nwealth and sin. Let the rich whose true wealth is Christ bestow their goods on \nthe poor and needy\, so that they—and we—may join the company of the angels \nin the Kingdom of his Father\, and he says those wondrous words of welcome: \nCome\, blessed of my Father\, receive the kingdom prepared for you before the \nbeginning of the world… This promise of eternal inheritance knows no end\, for \nbelievers will want for nothing at the end of time\, but will enjoy beatific glory \nfor ever and beyond. May the Mother of glory deign through her merits to bring \nus to that bliss. \n  \n7 Ogier of Locedio. In Praise of God’s Holy Mother. CF 70. Trans. D. Martin Jenni. Kalamazoo\, MI: Cistercian \nPublications\, 2006. 111\, 120-122\, 128.15 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-bvm-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240121
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240122
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240120T145515Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240120T145515Z
UID:11501-1705795200-1705881599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema: Week 3 of Ordinary Time
DESCRIPTION:  \n\n\n\nBiblical Readings for Office and Mass\n3rd Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nJanuary 21 – 27\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n21\nMon\n22\nTue\n23\nWed\n24\nThu\n25\nFri\n26\nSat\n27\n\n\nOffice\n3rd Sunday\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSt Francis de Sales\nConversion of St Paul\nSS Robert\, Alberic & Stephen\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nNum 20:1-13; 21:4-9\nNum 21:21-35\nNum 22:2-21\nNum 22:22-40\nActs 26:1-23\nLev 26:3-13\nNum 22:41-23:12\n\n\nLauds\nEccles 5:1-6\nEccles 5:7-11\nEccles 5:12-19\nEccles 6:1-6\nSir 39:1-10\nEzek 34:23-31\nEccles 6:7-12\n\n\nMass\n68\n317\n318\n319\n519\n606\, 322\, 815.8\n322\n\n\n1st\nJon 3:1-5\, 10\n2 Sam 5:1-7\, 10\n2 Sam 6:12b-15\, 17-19\n2 Sam 7:4-17\nActs 22:3-16\nSir 44:1\,10-15\n2 Sam 12:1-7a\, 10-17\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 7:29-31\n\n\n\n\nHeb 11:1-2\, 8-16\n\n\n\nGospel\nMark 1:14-20\nMark 3:22-30\nMark 3:31-35\nMark 4:1-20\nMark 16:15-18\nMark 10:24b-30\nMark 4:35-41\n\n\nVespers\n2 Cor 7:5-10\n2 Cor 7:11-16\n2 Cor 8:1-7\n2 Cor 8:8-15\n1 Jn 4:13-21\n2 Cor 4:7-18\n2 Cor 9:6-15
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-week-3-of-ordinary-time/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240121
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240122
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240120T150402Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240120T150402Z
UID:11503-1705795200-1705881599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
DESCRIPTION:THE GREATNESS OF GOD’S LOVE\nFrom a commentary by St Caesarius of Arles1\n◊◊◊\nIn today’s gospel\, beloved\, we heard the exhortation to repent\, for the\nkingdom of heaven is at hand. Now the kingdom of heaven is Christ\, who\, as we\nknow\, is the judge of good and evil and scrutinizes the motives for all our\nactions. We should therefore do well to forestall God’s judgment by freely\nacknowledging our sins and correcting our wrongheaded attitudes; for by\nfailing to seek out the needful remedies and apply them\, we place ourselves in\ndanger. And our knowledge that we have to account for the motives behind our\nshortcomings makes the need for such a change of heart even greater. \nWe must recognize the greatness of God’s love for us; so generous is it\nthat he is willing to be appeased by the amends we make for our evil deeds\,\nprovided only that we freely admit them before he has himself condemned\nthem. And though his judgments are always just\, he gives us a warning before\nhe passes them\, so as not to be compelled to apply the full rigor of his justice. It\nis not for nothing that our God draws floods of tears from us; he does so to incite\nus to recover by penance and a change of heart what we had previously let slip\nthrough carelessness. God is well aware that human judgment is often at fault\,\nthat we are prone to fleshly sins and deceitful speech. He therefore shows us the\nway of repentance\, by which we can compensate for damage done and atone for\nour faults. And so to be sure of obtaining forgiveness\, we ought to be always\nbewailing our guilt. Yet no matter how many wounds our human nature has\nsustained\, we are never justified in giving ourselves over to despair\, for our Lord\nis magnanimous enough to pour out his compassion abundantly on all who\nneed it. \nBut perhaps one of you will say: “What have I to fear? I have never done\nanything wrong.” On this point hear what the apostle John says: If we claim to\nbe sinless\, we deceive ourselves and are blind to the truth. So let no one lead\nyou astray; the most pernicious kind of sin is the failure to recognize one’s own\nsinfulness. Once let wrongdoers admit their guilt and repent of it\, and this\nchange of heart will bring about their reconciliation with the Lord; but no sinner\nis more in need of the tears of others than the one who thinks he has nothing to\nweep for. So I implore you\, beloved\, to follow the advice given you by the holy\nScripture and humble yourselves beneath the all-powerful hand of God. \nAs none of us can be wholly free from sin\, so let none of us fail to make\namends; here too we do ourselves great harm if we presume our own innocence.\nIt may be that some are less guilty than others\, but no one is entirely free from\nfault; there may be degrees of guilt\, but no one can escape it altogether. Let\nthose then whose offenses are more grievous be more earnest in seeking\npardon; and let those who have so far escaped contamination by the more\nheinous crimes pray that they may never be defiled by them…. \n1\nJourney with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – 1999 – pg 74-75.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/third-sunday-in-ordinary-time/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240122
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240123
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240120T150801Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240120T151012Z
UID:11505-1705881600-1705967999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Blessed Madeleine Delbrel
DESCRIPTION:WHEREVER LOVE IS PRESENT\nFrom the writing of Blessed Madeleine Delbrêl 2\n◊◊◊\nAnywhere we are\, God is there\, too. The space where we join him is the\nplace of our love\, a love that does not want to be separated from God\, that wants\nto encounter God. Whoever has not tried to know who Jesus is – truly\, fully\,\npresently – will not desire him. He will desire him less than a child desires an\norange from the grocery store. \nBut those who have struggled to climb toward the mystery of God\, who\nthought him possible\, who believed him possible\, who\, in the end\, believed him\nto be true\, who found the joy of joys in this truth; those who had to make room\nin themselves for still more joy in knowing that this mystery was made\nperceptible to the eyes of men in a man who was both man and God; those who\nknow that this man will remain with them until the end of time\, with his body\,\nwith his blood\, with his glory\, those who believed and who still believe in all\nthis\, we who believe it – will we lack the desire to find him wherever he says he\ncan be found? To knock down or pierce through all the obstacles that would\nkeep us from being with him forever\, ever more deeply? It is this desire that\nmakes prayer and that makes it anywhere. Wherever love is present\, it carries\nwithin itself this desire. To love God enough to want to be with him\, to carry\nwithin ourselves the desire of this love\, gives us strength enough to cut through\neven the hardest\, most hectic of lives\, so that in prayer we can reach the One we\nlove. \nA few minutes of such prayer will give us to God and give us God more\nthan hours of powerful meditation if they are not preceded by a free and living\ndesire. The retreat to the desert can be…at the end of the day\, after we have\nspent all day “digging” a well toward these few brief moments; in contrast\, this\nsame desert could be without retreat if we put off our desire to meet the Lord.\nOur comings and goings – and not only the big ones\, but also those we make\nfrom one room to the next – the moments when we are required to wait…are\nmoments of prayer prepared for us\, as long as we are prepared for them. To\nwaste them through lack of preparation can rightly be called a small fault. But\nif one day we find that\, with the Lord\, it is not a question of sin but one of love\,\nperhaps we will realize that we have been strange lovers. \n2 Delbrêl\, Madeleine. The Dazzling Light of God. Trans. Mary Dudro Gordon. San Francisco: Ignatius Press\,\n2023. 119-120.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/st-caesarius-of-arles/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240123
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240124
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240120T151917Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240120T154417Z
UID:11509-1705968000-1706054399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Weekday
DESCRIPTION:OUR NEIGHBOUR IS THE IMAGE OF GOD \nFrom the writing of Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov 3 \n◊◊◊ \nHoly monks constantly remembered Christ’s words: Truly I tell you\, when you did it to one of the least of these My brethren\, you did it to Me. They did not stop to consider whether their neighbour deserved their respect or not; they paid no attention to his numerous and obvious defects. Their attention was taken up with seeing that they did not somehow fail to realize that our neighbour is the image of God\, and that Christ accepts what we do to our neighbour as if it were done to Him… \nIt requires considerable spiritual effort and it requires the co-operation of divine grace for the heart damaged by sin to grasp this notion so as to have it constantly in mind\,” in our relations with our brethren. But when by the mercy of God we grasp this notion\, it becomes a source of the purest love for our neighbour\, a love for all equally. Such love has a single cause — the Christ Who is honoured and loved in every neighbour. \nThe realization of this truth becomes a source of the sweetest compunction\, of the most fervent\, undistracted\, most concentrated prayer. Holy Abba Dorotheus used to say to his disciple\, St. Dositheus\, whenever he was overcome by anger: ‘Dositheus! You get angry\, and are you not ashamed that you get angry and offend your brother? Do you not realize that he is Christ and that you offend Christ?’ \nThe great Saint Apollos often used to tell his disciples regarding the reception of who came to him that they must be given honour with a prostration to the earth. In bowing to them we bow not to them but to God… And that we must welcome and show hospitality to the brethren we have learnt from Lot who urged the Angels to spend the night at his house. \nThis way of thought and behaviour was adopted by all the monks of Egypt… St. Cassian the Roman… of the fourth century\, relates the following: “When we…wishing to learn the rules of the elders\, arrived from the region of Syria in the province of Egypt\, we were astonished to find that they received us there with extraordinary kindness. Moreover they never observed the rule for the use of food\, for which a fixed hour is appointed\, contrary to what we had learnt in the Palestinian monasteries. Wherever we went the regular fast for that day was relaxed\, with the exception of the canonical fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. We asked one of the elders: “Why do you all without distinction disregard the daily fasting?” He replied: “Fasting is always with me\, but you I must send away eventually and I cannot always have you with me. Although fasting is beneficial and constantly necessary\, yet it is a gift and a voluntary sacrifice\, whereas the observance of love…is an invariable duty required by the commandment. I receive Christ in your person\, and I must show Him wholehearted hospitality… Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? But when the bridegroom is taken away from them\, then they will fast lawfully”… \nThrough humility in your dealings with your neighbour\, and through love for your neighbour\, hardness and callousness is expelled from the heart. It is rolled away like a heavy rock from the entrance to a tomb\, and the heart revives for spiritual relations with God. \n3 Brianchaninov\, Ignatius. The Arena: An Offering to Contemporary Monasticism. Trans. from the Russian. Madras\, 1970. 62-65.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/ignatius-brianchaninov/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240124
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240125
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240120T152950Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240120T152950Z
UID:11511-1706054400-1706140799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:St. Francis de Sales
DESCRIPTION:HOW CHARITY PRODUCES LOVE OF NEIGHBOR\nBy St Francis de Sales 4\n◊◊◊ \nJust as God has created “us in his image and likeness\,” so also has he\nordained for us a love in the image and likeness of the love due to his divinity.\nHe says: “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart\, and with your\nwhole soul\, and with your whole mind.” This the greatest and the first\ncommandment. and the second is like it\, “You shall love your neighbor as\nyourself.”… Why do we love God? “The reason for which we love God is God\nhimself.” says St. Bernard\, as if to say that we love God because he is the most\nsupreme and most infinite goodness. Why do we love ourselves in charity?\nSurely\, it is because we re God’s image and likeness. \nSince all persons have this same dignity\, we also love them as ourselves\,\nthat is\, in their character is most holy and living images of the divinity. It is in\nthis character…that we are related to God by such close alliance and such loving\ndependence that nothing prevents him from saying that he is our Father and\nfrom calling us his children. It is in this character that we are capable of being\nunited to his divine essence by enjoyment of his supreme goodness and bliss. It\nis in this character that we receive his grace and our spirits are associated with\nhis most holy Spirit\, and as it were “are made partakers of his divine nature\,” as\nSt. Leo says. \nHence\, the same charity that produces acts of love of God produces at the\nsame time those of love of neighbor. Just as Jacob saw that one and the same\nladder touched heaven and earth and equally served the angels both to descend\nand to ascend\, so also we know that one and the same dilection reaches out to\ncherish both God and neighbor. Thus it raises us up to unite our spirit with God\nand it brings us back again to loving association with our neighbors. However\,\nthis is always on condition that we love our neighbors in as much as they are\nGod’s image and likeness\, created to communicate with the divine goodness\, to\nparticipate in his grace\, and to enjoy his glory… \nTo love our neighbor in charity is to love God in the human being or the\nhuman being in God. It is to cherish God alone for love of himself and creatures\nfor love of him. When we see our neighbor created in the likeness and image\nof God\, should we not say to one another\, “Stop\, do you see this created being\,\ndo you see how it resembles the Creator?” Should we not cast ourselves upon\nhim\, caress him\, and weep over him with love? Should we not give him a\nthousand\, thousand blessings? Why so?… It is for love of God who made us in\nhis own image and likeness and therefore capable of sharing in his goodness in\ngrace and glory. \n4 On the Love of God\, Tan Books & Pub. Inc.\, 1975\, pp. 170-171.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/st-francis-de-sales/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240125
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240126
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240120T153418Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240120T153418Z
UID:11513-1706140800-1706227199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Conversion of St. Paul
DESCRIPTION:FROM A HOMILY ON THE PRAISE OF ST PAUL\nBy St John Chrysostom 5\n◊◊◊ \nPaul\, more than anyone else\, has shown us what humankind really is\, and\nin what our nobility consists\, and of what virtue this particular animal is\ncapable. Each day he aimed ever higher; each day he rose up with greater ardor\nand faced with new eagerness the dangers that threatened him. He summed up\nhis attitude in the words: I forget what is behind me and push on to what lies\nahead. When he saw death imminent\, he bade others share his joy: Rejoice and\nbe glad with me! And when danger\, injustice and abuse threatened\, he said: I\nam content with weakness\, mistreatment and persecution. These he called the\nweapons of righteousness\, thus telling us that he derived immense profit from\nthem. \nThus\, amid the traps set for him by his enemies\, with exultant heart he\nturned their every attack into a victory for himself; constantly beaten\, abused\nand cursed\, he boasted of it as though he were celebrating a triumphal\nprocession and taking trophies home\, and offered thanks to God for it all:\nThanks be to God who is always victorious in us! \nThe most important thing of all to him\, however\, was that he knew\nhimself to be loved by Christ. Enjoying this love\, he considered himself happier\nthan anyone else; were he without it\, it would be no satisfaction to be the friend\nof principalities and powers. He preferred to be thus loved and be the least of\nall\, or even to be among the damned\, than to be without that love and be among\nthe great and honored. \nTo be separated from that love was\, in his eyes\, the greatest and most\nextraordinary of torments; the pain of that loss would alone have been hell\, and\nendless\, unbearable torture. \nSo too\, in being loved by Christ he thought of himself as possessing life\,\nthe world\, the angels\, present and future\, the kingdom\, the promise and\ncountless blessings. Apart from that love nothing saddened or delighted him;\nfor nothing earthly did he regard as bitter or sweet. \nDeath itself and pain and whatever torments might come were but child’s\nplay to him\, provided that thereby he might bear some burden for the sake of\nChrist. \n5 Hom. 2 de laudibus sancti Pauli: PG 50\, 477-480.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/conversion-of-st-paul/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240126
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240127
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240120T153849Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240120T154501Z
UID:11515-1706227200-1706313599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:SS Robert\, Alberic\, and Stephen
DESCRIPTION:THE JOURNEY TO THE WILDERNESS OF CITEAUX\nFrom the “Exordium Magnum” of Conrad of Eberbach 6\n◊◊◊ \nIn the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 1098\, Dom Robert\, the abbot of\nthe Abbey of Molesme…and with him went those brothers whose hearts God had\ntouched\, set out from Molesme\, making the same choice as their father Saint\nBenedict\, to tire themselves out in working for God rather than settling down in a\ncomfortable way of life. They hurried eagerly to that place which by the grace of\nGod had been offered them beforehand as suitable to their endeavor\, that is\, to the\nwilderness called Citeaux. Situated in the diocese of Chalon\, it was at that time a\nplace but seldom approached by human beings because of the woods and dense\nbriars and inhabited only by wild beasts. \nThe men of God arrived at this place of horror and vast solitude; and thought\nit quite suitable for the sort of religious observance which they had long had in\nmind and for which they had come\, all the more so when they realized that the\ndensity of woods and briars would make the monastery remote and cut off\, quite\nforgotten by and inaccessible to the world. So by the will of the bishop of Chalon\nand the consent of the person to whom the place belonged\, they began to build\nthere… on 21 March\, that is\, on the solemnity of the birth [to eternal life] of Saint\nBenedict\, which was also Palm Sunday and therefore celebrated with double joy\,\nto the rejoicing of angels and the casting down of demons…By a happy omen\, those\nwho had decided to arrange the ordering of their life and the guidelines for divine\nservices according to the form prescribed in the Rule began this undertaking on\nthe birthday of the very person who had\, through the life-giving Spirit\, given the\nsaving law to many. \n…Just as at the beginning of grace\, when Christ our Lord and Savior was\nborn\, the world\, while it knew him not\, received a pledge of new redemption\, of\nancient reconciliation\, of eternal happiness\, so too in these last days\, when charity\nis cold and iniquity everywhere abounds\, the almighty and merciful Lord planted\nthe seed of that same grace in the wilderness of Citeaux. Watered by the rain of\nthe Holy Spirit\, it gathered an incredibly plentiful harvest of spiritual riches\,\ngrowing and developing into a great tree so surpassingly beautiful and fruitful that\npeople of various nations\, tribes\, and tongues delighted to rest in its shade and\nsatisfy themselves with its fruits. Yet although this fruit makes bitter the stomach\nof carnal desire by the work of repentance\, it is as sweet as honey in the mouth of\nthe developing conscience. \n6 Conrad of Eberbach. The Great Beginnning of Citeaux: A Narrative of the Beginning\nof the Cistercian Order: The Exordium Magnum of Conrad of Eberbach. CF 72. Trans.\nBenedicta Ward\, SLG\, and Paul Savage. Collegeville\, MN: Cistercian Publications\, 2012.\n75-78.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/ss-ropbert-alberic-and-stephen/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240127
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240128
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240120T154339Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240120T154339Z
UID:11517-1706313600-1706399999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Memorial of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD\nFrom the writing of St Bernard of Clairvaux 7\n◊◊◊ \n‘And the Lord will give to him the throne of his father David’. Those are\nthe very words spoken by the angel to the Virgin about the Son who had been\npromised to her\, and by them he promised also that He should possess the\nkingship of David… \nAt first\, as long as she was doubtful\, she prudently kept silence…\npreferring\, of course\, humbly to give no reply rather than to speak hastily about\nmatters of which she knew nothing. But once she was reassured… for the Lord\nwas with her as the angel had said… once she was strengthened by the faith\nwhich casts out fear\, and by the joy which casts out confusion\, she said to the\nangel\, ‘How can this be\, since I know no man?’ She does not doubt the event\,\nbut wonders how it shall occur… \nHe said then\, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you\, and the power of the\nMost High will overshadow you.’… It is as if the angel replied to the Virgin\, ‘Why\nask me about something which you are going soon to experience in yourself?\nYou will find out…how happily you will find out\, and your teacher will be none\nother than he who works this [within you]\, I have been sent only to announce\nthis virginal conception\, not to bring it about. This is something which can only\nbe taught by the giver\, and learnt only by the receiver. “Therefore the Holy to be\nborn of you will be called the Son of God.”… \nWhat then? Are you the one who was promised\, or must we look for\nanother? No\, it is you and no one else… So\, answer the angel quickly or rather\,\nthrough the angel\, answer God. Only say the word and receive the Word: give\nyours and conceive God’s. Breathe one fleeting word and embrace the\neverlasting Word. Why do you delay? Why be afraid? Believe\, give praise and\nreceive. Let humility take courage and shyness confidence… Blessed Virgin\,\nopen your heart to faith\, your lips to consent and your womb to your Creator.\nBehold\, the long-desired of all nations is standing at the door and knocking. Oh\,\nwhat if he should pass by because of your delay and\, sorrowing\, you should\nagain have to seek him whom your soul loves? Get up\, run\, open! Get up by\nfaith\, run by prayer\, open by consent! \n‘Behold\,’ she says\, ‘I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be to me\naccording to your word’… May the Word who in the beginning was with God\,\nbecome flesh of my flesh\, according to your word… I do not want it to be a word\nproclaimed to me in discourse\, symbolized in figures\, or dreamed in the\nimagination\, but one silently inspired\, personally incarnate\, corporally\ninviscerate. May the Word which could not…be made in himself\, deign to be in\nme\, deign to be to me according to your word. Let it be for the whole world\, but\nlet it be to me uniquely ‘according to your word’. \n7 Bernard of Clairvaux. Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary. CF 18A. Trans. Marie-Bernard Saïd. Kalamazoo\, MI:\nCistercian Publications\, 1993. 45\, 48-50\, 54-55.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/memorial-of-the-bvm/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240128
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240129
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240127T121253Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240127T121253Z
UID:11522-1706400000-1706486399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n4th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nJanuary 28 – February 3\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n28\nMon\n29\nTue\n30\nWed\n31\nThu\n1\nFri\n2\nSat\n3\n\n\nOffice\n4th Sunday\nOffice for the Dead\nWeekday\nSt John Bosco\nWeekday\nPresentation of the Lord\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nNum 23:13-26\nNum 23:27-24:13\nNum 25:1-17\nJosh 1:1-18\nJosh 2:1-24\nExod 13:1-16\nJosh 3:1-17\n\n\nLauds\nEccles 7:1-9\nEccles 7:10-14\nEccles 7:15-22\nEccles 7:23-29\nEccles 8:1-9\n1 Sam 1:20-28\nEccles 8:10-13\n\n\nMass\n71\n323\n324\n325\n326\n524\n328\n\n\n1st\nDeut 18:15-20\n2 Sam 15:13-14\, 30; 16:5-13\n2 Sam 18:9-10\, 14b\, 24-25a\, 30-19:3\n2 Sam 24:2\, 9-17\n1 Kgs 2:1-4\, 10-12\nHeb 2:14-18\n1 Kgs 3:4-13\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 7:32-35\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMark 1:21-28\nMark 5:1-20\nMark 5:21-43\nMark 6:1-6\nMark 6:7-13\nLuke 2:22-40\nMark 6:30-34\n\n\nVespers\n2 Cor 10:1-11\n2 Cor 11:1-6\n2 Cor 11:7-15\n2 Cor 11:21b-30\n2 Cor 12:1-10\nRom 12:1-5\n2 Cor 12:11-18
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-60/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240128
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240129
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240127T121443Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240127T121443Z
UID:11524-1706400000-1706486399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 4th Sunday ORD
DESCRIPTION:A MOST SURPRISINGLY MIRACLE OF MERCY \nFrom a commentary by St John Henry Newman1 \n◊◊◊ \nAt the time appointed Christ came forth from the Father and showed \nhimself in this external world\, first as its Creator\, then as its teacher\, the \nrevealer of secrets\, the mediator\, the effluence of God’s glory\, and the express \nimage of his person. Neither cloud nor image\, emblem nor words\, are \ninterposed between the Son and his eternal Father. No language is needed \nbetween the Father and him\, who is the very Word of the Father; no knowledge \nis imparted to him\, who by his very nature and from eternity knows the Father \nand all that the Father knows. Such are his own words\, No one knows the Son \nbut the Father\, neither does anyone know the Father except the Son\, and \nanyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Again he says\, Whoever has \nseen me has seen the Father; and he accounts for this when he tells us that he \nand the Father are one\, and that he is in the bosom of the Father and so can \ndisclose him to humankind\, as he was still in heaven\, even while he was on \nearth. \nAccordingly the blessed apostle draws a contrast between Moses and \nChrist to our comfort. The Law\, he says\, was given by Moses\, but grace and truth \ncame by Jesus Christ. In him God is fully and truly seen\, so that he is absolutely \nthe way\, and the truth\, and the life. All our duties are summed up for us in the \nmessage he brings us. Those who look towards him for teaching\, who worship \nand obey him\, will by degrees see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God \nin his face\, and will be changed into the same image from glory to glory\, And \nthus it happens that people of the lowest class and the humblest education may \nknow fully the ways and works of God; fully\, that is\, as human beings can know \nthem; far better and more truly than the most sagacious of this world from \nwhom the gospel is hidden. \nReligion has a store of wonderful secrets which no one can communicate \nto another\, and which are most pleasant and delightful to know. Call on me\, \nsays God by the prophet\, and I will answer you\, and show you great and mighty \nthings of which you have no knowledge. This is no great mere idle boast\, but a \nfact which all who seek God will find to be true\, though they cannot perhaps \nclearly express their meaning. Strange truths about ourselves\, about God\, about \nour duty\, about the world\, about heaven and hell\, new modes of viewing things\, \ndiscoveries which cannot be put into words\, marvelous prospects and thoughts \nhalf understood\, deep convictions inspiring joy and peace\, these are a part of \nthe revelation which Christ\, the Son of God\, brings to those who obey him. \nMoses had much toil to gain from the great God\, some scattered rays of the \ntruth\, and that for his personal comfort\, not for all Israel; but Christ has brought \nfrom his Father for all of us the full and perfect way of life. Thus he brings grace \nas well as truth\, a most surprising miracle of mercy. \n  \n1 Journey with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – 1999 – pg 76-77.3 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-4th-sunday-ord/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240129
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240130
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240127T121725Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240127T121725Z
UID:11526-1706486400-1706572799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office of the Dead
DESCRIPTION:FEAR AND HOPE \nFrom the writing of Michael Schmaus2 \n◊◊◊ \nTo understand God’s call as one of love does not do away with the \nawesomeness of death; even the faithful anticipate it with fear. Indeed\, the \nelement of fear in the believer is liable to be stronger than in the atheist or \nnihilist\, who has resolved to his own satisfaction the problem of what comes \nafter death and is chiefly disturbed by the knowledge the one must abandon a \nwork which one has begun\, leaving something unfinished. The believer\, \nhowever\, sees in death the moment of encounter with God\, that moment \ntowards which the person has been journeying\, in an anticipation never free of \ntension\, during one’s whole lifetime. As the person awaits the judgment God \nwill pronounce\, anxiety can be overcome only in a loving confidence. The \ndeath of the faithful Christian is a death in the Lord. It is a death which will not \nbring condemnation\, since no one who lives and has faith in Christ will ever \ndie. \nAlthough God is an impenetrable mystery\, the person of faith perceives \nthe meaning of the divine summons in a way that prevents one from falling \ninto despair. When the time had come for him to take leave of his disciples\, \nChrist said: “Trust in God always; trust also in me.” In that hour Christ gave \nhis own assurance that they would have life\, and have it abundantly. He never \npromised them an untroubled existence within time\, but only a life of joy in \nGod. Thus anxiety is changed into tremulous expectation: the Lord comes. In \nthe First Letter of John\, Jesus’ exhortation to his disciples to have confidence \nin the Father and in himself is made explicit when he says: “There is no room \nfor fear in love; perfect love banishes fear. For fear brings with it the pains of \njudgment\, and anyone who is afraid has not attained to love in its perfection.” \nSo\, in the face of death\, there remains to everyone only trust and hope with \nwhich to meet the unavoidable fear of death. \n  \n2 Dogma 6\, Justification & the Last Things. Michael Schmaus\, Sheed & Ward\, 1977\, pp.220-221.5 \n  \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-of-the-dead-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240130
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240131
DTSTAMP:20260403T180532
CREATED:20240127T121908Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240127T121908Z
UID:11528-1706572800-1706659199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE DIVINE POWER OF THE MESSAGE \nBy St Pope Paul VI3 \n◊◊◊ \nFor the Church\, evangelizing means bringing the Good News into all the \nstrata of humanity\, and through its influence transforming humanity from within \nand making it new… But there is no new humanity if there are not first of all new \npersons renewed by Baptism and by lives lived according to the Gospel. The \npurpose of evangelization is therefore precisely this interior change\, and if it had \nto be expressed in one sentence the best way of stating it would be to say that the \nChurch evangelizes when she seeks to convert\, solely through the divine power \nof the Message she proclaims\, both the personal and collective consciences of \npeople\, the activities in which they engage\, and the lives and concrete milieux \nwhich are theirs. \nWith regard to the strata of humanity which are to be transformed: for the \nChurch it is a question not only of preaching the Gospel in ever wider geographic \nareas or to ever greater numbers of people\, but also of affecting and as it were \nupsetting\, through the power of the Gospel\, the popular criteria of judgment\, \ndetermining values\, points of interest\, lines of thought\, sources of inspiration and \nmodels of life\, which are in contrast with the Word of God and the plan of \nsalvation. \nAll this could be expressed in the following words: what matters is to \nevangelize human culture and cultures (not in a purely decorative way as it were \nby applying a thin veneer\, but in a vital way\, in depth and right to their very \nroots… taking the person as one’s starting-point and always coming back to the \nrelationships of people among themselves and with God. \nThe Gospel\, and therefore evangelization\, are certainly not identical with \nculture\, and they are independent in regard to all cultures. Nevertheless\, the \nKingdom which the Gospel proclaims is lived by people who are profoundly \nlinked to a culture\, and the building up of the Kingdom cannot avoid borrowing \nthe elements of human culture or cultures. Though independent of cultures\, the \nGospel and evangelization are not necessarily incompatible with them; rather \nthey are capable of permeating them all without becoming subject to any one of \nthem. \n  \n3 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi\, nn 18-20.7 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-153/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240131
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240201
DTSTAMP:20260403T180533
CREATED:20240127T122238Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240127T122238Z
UID:11530-1706659200-1706745599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St John Bosco
DESCRIPTION:GIVE ME SOULS\, AND TAKE ALL THE REST AWAY \nA reading on St Don Bosco4 \n◊◊◊ \nDon Bosco has struck the imagination of all who have known him and his \nwork. There is no doubt that he was one of the most wonderful of men\, and even \nin that galaxy of great names which is the catalogue of Saints\, he occupies a \nplace apart. \n[Paul Claudel said that “In the Church there are some who made a \nprofession of sanctity…; who\, from the very first\, had the Calendar of Saints as \na goal. Don Bosco had no time for this\, and we can readily believe that if he \nbecame a saint it was not his fault.”] \nGenius as well as Saint\, it is often difficult to see where the one ends and \nthe other begins. Simple as a child and mostly to be found in the dust and clamor \nof a playground crowded with children\, he plays also with miracles and \nprophecies\, which he seems to make for fun. His speech is simple: so simple \nthat children listen fascinated to his new kind of eloquence — an eloquence very \ndifferent from that of the pulpit orators of the time. And his mind is so wise\, \nthat ministers\, kings and popes listen to his advice. \nA poor man\, of poor parents\, more millions passed through his hands \nthan through those of many a banker. He spent them with the prodigality of an \nAmerican playboy\, when it was a question of the salvation of souls; but he was \nas tight with each cent as the peasants he came from\, when it was a question of \nhis person\, or his comfort. He had the shrewdness of a captain of industry and \na trust in God that made him undertake even the impossible when he saw it was \nfor God’s glory. \nAbove all\, he was the most lovable of men. To know him was to love him\, \nand often to be so fascinated as to be physically unable to leave him. \nHis chosen\, or better\, his God-given mission was education\, and he is the \neducator of modern times. A man who could do with children what no man has \never done; he could attach to himself the little ruffians that roam the streets and \nmake of them lovable\, ideal young men. \nIndeed\, Don Bosco as a man\, as a Saint\, as an Educator occupies a place \napart. [He had a tremendous love for God and for souls\, and not much for \nanything else.] His motto was “Give me souls\, and take all the rest \naway.”  \n  \n 4 From the Preface to Saint John Bosco\, by A. Auffray; Salesian House: Tirpattur\, India\, 1959.9 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-john-bosco/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240201
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240202
DTSTAMP:20260403T180533
CREATED:20240127T122418Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240127T122418Z
UID:11532-1706745600-1706831999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE GREAT DISCOVERY \nBy Fr Louis Bouyer5 \n◊◊◊ \nThe discovery of grace\, the discovery of love which loves us without \nlooking for any return\, which loves us although we are sinners\, which loves us \nin our sin\, but which alone will lead us\, by obscure ways known to God alone\, \nfrom sin to sanctity\, that is\, in the last analysis\, the great discovery. Then it is \nthat God reveals Himself to us as One who speaks to us\, as One whose Word for \nthe second time draws us out of nothingness to being\, as One whom we have \nnot so much to seek as to discover seeking us. It is He\, the Shepherd who left \nthe ninety-nine sheep in safety to seek and save that which was lost. It is He\, the \nFather of the prodigal who goes along the road to welcome his son when he has \nscarcely started out to meet his father\, and takes him in his arms. \n“To seek God”\, to seek Him as a person\, as the Person par excellence\, and \nnot only as the “Thou” to whom all our love should be addressed\, but as the “I” \nwho has first approached us\, whose word of love\, addressed to the primeval \nchaos\, drew us forth from it in the first place\, and\, spoken to us in our sin\, draws \nus forth from it again: to be a monk is nothing else than this. To be a monk\, \nthen\, is simply to be an integral Christian. And regarded in this light\, the \nChristian is simply the person restored by the Word of the Gospel to the \nvocation which the creative Word destined for each: to respond to the Word of \nAgape by the word of faith\, in order eventually to meet God face to face. \nCommenting on Canticle of Canticles\, Origen tells us that the Church\, \nunder the old dispensation\, only heard the Bridegroom’s voice\, whereas in the \nnew\, she is offered the sight of his countenance. And he adds that the \ndevelopment of the Christian life is made up solely of this transition. The monk \nis the one who does not limit him or herself to accepting it in some measure \npassively\, by yielding to grace slothfully and reluctantly. The monk is one who \nresponds with the whole heart to the call which comes from the very heart of \nGod. Monks are of the number of the violent who will not allow the divine \nKingdom to fall upon them as it were unawares\, but who take it by storm in \nadvance. For that the monks have staked their all\, they have burned their boats. \nTo the one who believes that life consists in what is possessed\, the monk \nseems to be consenting to\, even to be deliberately seeking\, a fatal renunciation. \nTo the one who knows that being is of greater value than having\, and that being \nwhich is of value is not that which passes but that which endures\, the monk will \nseem to be the only true humanist. For the human person is born only as subject \nto the divine Word and will only be fully that person the day when\, freed from \nthe nothingness which holds one prisoner\, fully surrendered to the Word which \ncalls\, the person will at last come to discover the Face which promised us being \nin promising us His own image. \n  \n5 The Meaning of the Monastic Life\, Louis Bouyer\, New York\, 1955\, p.19 & 22.11
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-154/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240202
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240203
DTSTAMP:20260403T180533
CREATED:20240127T122621Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240127T122621Z
UID:11534-1706832000-1706918399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Presentation of the Lord
DESCRIPTION:THE PASCHAL SIGNIFICANCE \nOF JESUS’ PRESENTATION \nFrom “Sign of Contradiction” by St John Paul II6 \n◊◊◊ \nForty days after the nativity the Church celebrates an event full of \nspiritual significance. On that day the Son of God\, as a tiny child of poor parents\, \nborn in a rough stable in Bethlehem\, was carried to the temple in Jerusalem. \nThis was his own temple\, the temple of the living God\, but he came to it not as \nthe Lord but as one under the law. For the poor the law prescribed that forty \ndays after the birth of the firstborn two turtle-doves or two young pigeons must \nbe offered in sacrifice\, as a sign that the child was consecrated to the Lord. \nThe message which the Spirit of God allowed the old man Simeon to sense \nand express so wonderfully was implicitly in the event itself\, in this first \nencounter between the Messiah and his temple. On seeing the child\, Simeon \nbegins to utter words that are not of human provenance. He prophesies\, \nprompted by the Holy Spirit; he speaks with the voice of God\, the God for whom \nthe temple was built and who is its rightful master. \nSimeon’s words begin\, in what the liturgy calls the Song\, by bearing \nwitness to the light… They end…by bearing witness to the cross\, in which \ncontradiction of Jesus\, the Christ\, is to find tangible expression. The cost of the \ncross was shared by the mother\, whose soul — according to Simeon’s words — \nwas to be pierced by a sword\, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be laid \nbare. \nChronologically the presentation of Jesus in the temple is linked with the \nnativity\, but in its significance it belongs with the mystery of the pasch. It is the \nfirst of the events which clearly reveal the messianic status of the newborn child. \nWith him are linked the fall and the rising of many in the old Israel and also the \nnew. On him the future of humankind depends. It is he who is the true Lord of \nthe ages to come. His reign begins when the temple sacrifice is offered in \naccordance with the law\, and it attains full realization through the sacrifice on \nthe cross\, offered in accordance with an eternal plan of love. \n  \n6 pp. 40-41; reprinted in Meditations on the Sunday Gospels: Year A; introduced and edited by John E. Rotelle\, Hyde Park\, \nNY: New City Press\, 1995\, pp. 144-145.13
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-presentation-of-the-lord/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240203
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240204
DTSTAMP:20260403T180533
CREATED:20240127T122815Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240127T122815Z
UID:11536-1706918400-1707004799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:THE NATURE OF MARY’S MATERNITY \nFrom “The Divine Motherhood” by Anscar Vonier7 \n◊◊◊ \nLet us always bear in mind the great truth that the Blessed Virgin’s \nmaternity was a most natural maternity in the sense that she fully responded to \nit\, was not overwhelmed by it\, that there was no separation between her and her \noffspring; Christ came from her as her own dear child\, the fruit of her own \nblessed womb. I am right\, therefore\, in asserting that Mary’s maternal function \nin the conception of Christ was raised to an incredibly high plane of vitality so \nas to make her maternity not only an instrumental\, but a natural maternity. If \nMary’s mission had been merely to minister the human element to the Word \nwhen he became flesh\, her maternity would have been just instrumental; it \nwould have existed only to serve a higher purpose. But Mary’s role is more than \nthat; she is permanently the Mother of God; her maternity is not a transient \nministration\, but an abiding dignity that makes her share with God the Father\, \nin literal truth\, the parenthood of Jesus Christ. \nA threefold hypothesis may make this point clearer still. We can think of \na woman being made a mother by the direct productive act of God; in that case \nthe offspring of that mother would not be divine\, but human. Then there can be \nthe conception in a woman’s womb of a divine person\, as happened in the \nincarnation\, but the woman being merely instrumental to the production of the \nbody; in such a case it would be divine maternity in the most restricted \nphysiological sense. Thirdly\, there is the glorious possibility of perfect divine \nmaternity with all the graces and privileges\, with all the rights and splendors\, of \none who shares to the full\, with God the Father\, the parenthood of the God \nIncarnate. Such is Mary’s maternity; such is the meaning of Elizabeth’s \nsalutation\, or rather the salutation of the Holy Spirit through the mouth of \nElizabeth\, when full of the divine Spirit she cried with a loud voice: Blessed are \nyou among women\, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And whence is this \nto me\, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? \nElizabeth was the first creature to call Mary “the Mother of God”; she gave \nus the grandest title of our Lady: “Mother of God.” The archangel\, indeed\, had \nsaid as much\, but only by implication; Elizabeth\, the happiest of human \nmothers\, has the privilege of having spoken for the first time the words “Mother \nof God.” When\, moreover\, in the same breath she calls blessed the Mother and \nthe fruit of her womb\, bestowing the same encomium on the two lives which \nwere not yet disjoined\, she gives us an additional reason for saying that Mary’s \nmaternity had been raised to the divine plane of dignity and perfection\, where \none and the same blessedness holds mother and offspring wrapped in a \nmatchless sanctity. \n  \n7 pp. 345-346; reprinted in Meditations on the Sunday Gospels: Year A; introduced and edited by John E. Rotelle\, Hyde \nPark\, NY: New City Press\, 1995\, pp. 28-29.15 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-the-bvm-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240204
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240205
DTSTAMP:20260403T180533
CREATED:20240203T123016Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240203T123016Z
UID:11548-1707004800-1707091199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n5th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nFebruary 4 – 10\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n4\nMon\n5\nTue\n6\nWed\n7\nThu\n8\nFri\n9\nSat\n10\n\n\nOffice\n5th Sunday\nSt Agatha\nSt Paul Miki & Comp.\nWeekday\nOffice for Vocations\nWeekday\nSt Scholastica\n\n\nVigils\nJosh 4:1-24\nJosh 5:1-15\nJosh 6:1-27\nJosh 7:1-26\nJosh 8:1-29\nJosh 8:30-9:2\nJosh 9:3-27\n\n\nLauds\nEccles 8:14-17\nEccles 11:3-10\nEccles 12:1-8\nEccles 12:9-14\nWis 1:1-8\nWis 1:9-15\nWis 4:7-19\n\n\nMass\n74\n329\n330\n331\n332\n333\n334\n\n\n1st\nJob 7:1-4\, 6-7\n1 Kgs 8:1-7\, 9-13\n1 Kgs 8:22-23\, 27-30\n1 Kgs 10:1-10\n1 Kgs 11:4-13\n1 Kgs 11:29-32; 12:19\n1 Kgs 12:26-32; 13:33-34\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 9:16-19\, 22-23\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMark 1:29-39\nMark 6:53-56\nMark 7:1-13\nMark 7:14-23\nMark 7:24-30\nMark 7:31-37\nMark 8:1-10\n\n\nVespers\n2 Cor 12:19-13:4\n2 Cor 13:5-13\nGal 1:1-10\nGal 1:11-24\nGal 2:1-10\nGal 2:11-14\nGal 2:15-21
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-61/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240204
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240205
DTSTAMP:20260403T180533
CREATED:20240203T123300Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240203T123300Z
UID:11550-1707004800-1707091199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 5th Sunday ORD
DESCRIPTION:MERCY AND HELP TO ALL \nFrom a commentary by St Peter Chrysologus1 \n◊◊◊ \nThose who have listened attentively to today’s gospel will have learnt why \nthe Lord of heaven\, by whom all creation was renewed\, entered the houses of \nhis servants on earth. Nor should it surprise us that he so courteously adapted \nhimself to every situation\, since his motive in coming among us was to bring \nmercy and help to all. \nYou can easily see what drew Christ to Peter’s house on this particular \noccasion; it was not to sit down and rest himself\, but compassion for a woman \nstricken down by sickness. He was prompted not by the need to eat but by the \nopportunity to heal\, his immediate preoccupation being the performance of a \nwork which only his divine power could carry out\, rather than the enjoyment of \nhuman company at table. In Peter’s house that day it was not wine that flowed\, \nbut tears. Consequently Christ did not enter to obtain sustenance for himself\, \nbut to restore vitality to another. God wants human beings\, not human goods. \nHe desires to bestow what is heavenly\, not to acquire anything earthly. Christ \ncame to seek not our possessions but us. \nAs soon as Jesus crossed the threshold he saw Peter’s mother in-law lying \nin bed with a fever. On entering the house he immediately saw what he had come \nfor. He was not interested in the comfort the house itself could offer\, nor the \ncrowds awaiting his arrival\, nor the formal welcome prepared for him\, nor the \nassembled household. Still less did he look for any outward signs of preparation \nof his reception. All he had eyes for was the spectacle of a sick woman\, lying \nthere consumed with a raging fever. At a glance he saw her desperate plight\, and \nat one stretched out his hands to perform their divine work of healing; nor would \nhe sit down to satisfy his human needs before he had made it possible for the \nstricken woman to rise up and serve her God. So he took her by the hand\, and \nthe fever left her. Here you see how fever loosens its grip on a person whose \nhand is held by Christ’s; no sickness can stand its ground in the face of the very \nsource of health. Where the Lord of life has entered\, there is no room for death. \n  \n1 Journey with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – 1999 – pg 78-79.3 \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-5th-sunday-ord/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240205
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240206
DTSTAMP:20260403T180533
CREATED:20240203T123445Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240203T123445Z
UID:11552-1707091200-1707177599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading -St Agatha
DESCRIPTION:ST AGATHA \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints2 \n◊◊◊ \nSt Agatha has retained her place in the Universal Calendar following the \nreforms of 1969\, even though nothing that can be called historical fact is known \nof her life. There is\, however\, good evidence of an early cult\, with many versions \nof her legend recorded in both Greek and Latin\, the Greek being the earlier\, with \nthe Latin dating from the sixth century. This means that however fictitious the \ndetails of her Acts\, she cannot be dismissed as a mere fiction altogether. Her \nActs\, though\, are more of an indication of the type of woman held up for \nveneration as a saint in the early centuries than anything else. \nShe is described as a wealthy woman who had dedicated her virginity to \nChrist. This\, then\, rather than her life\, is the most precious thing she has to \noffer. Her birthplace is assigned to either Palermo or Catania in Sicily\, and she \nis said to have died at Catania\, which has the stronger historical claim to be her \nbirthplace. Among those who try to take the precious gift she has vowed to \nChrist from her is a consul named Quintianus. He used the imperial edict \nagainst Christians to have her brought before him\, then placed in a brothel run \nby a woman with the appropriate name of “Aphrodisia” and her assistants\, \nreferred to as her daughters. All tricks\, assaults and threats to make her yield \nher virginity fail\, and so she stands as an example of “virginity as a sacred power\, \na concrete realization within this world of the divine spirit”. \nQuintianus then handed her over to be tortured\, and her Acts dwell on \nthe tortures inflicted on her\, culminating in the cutting off of her breasts\, which \nwere placed on a platter. Perhaps because further details of her tortures involve \nher being rolled over live coals\, she is invoked against fire in general. This may\, \nthough\, be an extension of her protection against eruptions from Mount Etna\, \nbecause she is associated with Sicily\, and her legend states that after her death \na flow of lava from Mount Etna was miraculously diverted by her silken veil held \nup on a staff. This is last recorded as happening in the 1840s\, and her veil is still \ncarried in solemn procession on her feast day in Catania. By extension she \nprotects against earthquakes everywhere. She is also patron saint of bell- \nfounders. The association is ancient and certain\, but the reason has not been \ndetermined. It may be that it derives from her protection against volcanic \neruptions and fire\, as bells were rung to warn of both. Another explanation \ngiven is that the molten metal involved in casting bells suggests the flow of \nmolten lava. Her breasts also brought a more appropriate patronage\, as she is \ninvoked against diseases of the breast. Her breasts on a dish were often \nmistaken for loaves in the Middle ages\, from which arose the custom of blessing \nbread on a dish at her altar on her feast day. \nPope Damasus I composed a hymn in her honor. Two churches were \ndedicated to her in the sixth century. Pope St Gregory the Great had rich shrines \nmade for some of her relics in Rome\, then moved them to the monastery of San \nStefano on the island of Capri. Other relics remained in Catania until 1840\, \nwhen they were moved to Constantinople. \nWhatever the facts behind her legend\, Agatha remains one of the best- \nloved and most invoked saints in the Christian devotional life. \n  \n2 Butlers Lives of the Saints.5 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-agatha/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240206
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240207
DTSTAMP:20260403T180533
CREATED:20240203T123746Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240203T123746Z
UID:11554-1707177600-1707263999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Paul Miki & Companions
DESCRIPTION:THE MARTYRDOM OF ST PAUL MIKI \nAND HIS COMPANIONS \nBy a contemporary writer3 \n◊◊◊ \nThe crosses were set in place. Fr Pasio and Fr Rodriguez took turns \nencouraging the victims. Their steadfast behavior was wonderful to see. The \nFather Bursar stood motionless\, his eyes turned heavenward. Brother Martin \ngave thanks to God’s goodness by singing psalms. Again and again he repeated: \n“Into your hands\, Lord\, I entrust my life.” Brother Francis Branco also thanked \nGod in a loud voice. Brother Gonsalvo in a very loud voice kept saying the Our \nFather and Hail Mary. \nOur brother\, Paul Miki\, saw himself now standing in the noblest pulpit he \nhad ever filled. To his “congregation” he began by proclaiming himself a \nJapanese and a Jesuit. He was dying for the Gospel he preached. He gave thanks \nto God for this wonderful blessing and he ended his “sermon” with these words: \n“As I come to this supreme moment of my life\, I am sure none of you would \nsuppose I want to deceive you. And so I tell you plainly: there is no way to be \nsaved except the Christian way. My religion teaches me to pardon my enemies \nand all who have offended me. I do gladly pardon the Emperor and all who have \nsought my death. I beg them to seek baptism and be Christians themselves.” \nThen he looked at his comrades and began to encourage them in their \nfinal struggle. Joy glowed in all their faces\, and in Louis’ most of all. When a \nChristian in the crowd cried out to him that he would soon be in heaven\, his \nhands\, his whole body strained upward with such joy that every eye was fixed \non him. \nAnthony\, hanging at Louis’ side\, looked toward heaven and called upon \nthe holy names – “Jesus\, Mary!” He began to sing a psalm: “praise the Lord\, you \nchildren!”… Others kept repeating “Jesus\, Mary!” Their faces were serene. Some \nof them even took to urging the people standing by to live worthy Christian lives. \nIn these and other ways they showed their readiness to die. \nThen\, according to Japanese custom\, the four executioners began to \nunsheathe their spears. At this dreadful sight\, all the Christians cried out\, \n“Jesus\, Mary!” And the storm of anguished weeping then rose to batter the very \nskies. The executioners killed them one by one. One thrust of the spear\, then a \nsecond blow. It was over in a very short time.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-paul-miki-companions/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR