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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240517
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240518
DTSTAMP:20260403T142512
CREATED:20240511T200301Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240511T200301Z
UID:11902-1715904000-1715990399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Easter Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE MYSTERIES OF GLORY\nBy Fr Jean Danielou 6\n◊◊◊\nThe Apostles’ Creed contains a noteworthy passage in which\,\ngrammatically speaking\, we move from the past to the future: “He ascended\ninto the heavens\, to be seated at the right hand of God. He will come again to\njudge the living and the dead.” Thus the mysteries of Christ are not completed\nwith the ascension. There is still another mystery to come\, that of the Parousia.\nBetween these two there is a mystery which is\, in the present\, that of the session\nat the right hand. So there is a mystery of Christ with which we are\ncontemporary that corresponds to that moment of sacred history\, which\nbelongs to us\, which constitutes the present activity of the Word.\nHere we find\, in the mysteries of glory\, the order which we ascertained in\nthe mysteries of darkness. Through the ascension the humanity of Christ was\nexalted above every creature and was introduced by the Word into the\ninaccessible sanctuary of the Trinity. But the humanity of Christ tends to attract\neverything else to it. “If only I am lifted up from the earth\, I will attract all\npeoples to myself.” Christ has only entered the heavenly sanctuary as a\nforerunner. The presence of his humanity in the sphere of the Trinity is the\nguarantee of the possibility that is henceforth ours to attain. The impassible gulf\nis henceforth overcome; the impossible has become possible. In a suitable\nimage\, the epistle to the Hebrews shows the humanity of Christ as cast like an\nanchor\, not into the depths of the sea\, but into the far places of heaven\, laying\nthe foundation of our hope that we shall in our turn attain to the anchorage\nbeyond the veil. \nThus there is\, henceforth\, in the heart of each person an ascensional\npower that lifts it up and draws it towards the Father\, that “gravity” of love of\nwhich Augustine spoke\, and which counteracts the “gravity” of the flesh. This\nis the meaning of the era of the Church\, in which Christ\, having entered into the\nglory of the Father\, seeks to lift up humanity as a whole. By this means the\nmovement is completed which began at the Incarnation\, when the Word of God\ncame to seek for mankind\, but in order to lead it back to the Father. This is why\nwe are told\, “he has mounted up on high; he has captured his spoil; he has\nbrought gifts. And he who so went down is no other than he who has gone up\,\nhigh above all the heavens to fill creation with his presence.” And truly this\nhumanity is a mighty weight to raise. Its gravity resists grace. That is the whole\ndrama of the present period in sacred history. But the power of the Word is\ngreater than our resistance. \n6\nJean Danielou\, Christ and Us\, New York: Sheed and Ward\, pp. 155-159.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/easter-weekday-10/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240518
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240519
DTSTAMP:20260403T142512
CREATED:20240511T200743Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240511T200743Z
UID:11904-1715990400-1716076799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Easter Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE ASCENSION AND CHRISTIAN PRAYER\nBy Thomas Merton 7\n◊◊◊\nAt the Ascension\, in the sight of the disciples\, “the nature of humankind\nsoared above the dignity of all the creatures of heaven” and “there was to be\nno limit to the advancement of Christ’s humanity until\, seated together with\nthe eternal Father\, it might share enthroned the glory of Him whose nature it\nshared in the son.” And of course\, the Fathers never ceased to remind their\nhearers that this same humanity of Christ which was enthroned with the Father\nin the divine glory\, was to return and judge the world. “He set a limit to His\nbodily presence\, and would remain at the right hand of the Father until He\nshould return in the same flesh in which He had ascended.” Monastic prayer is\neschatological and is centered on the expectation of the Parousia\, the advent of\nthe “immortal and invisible King of ages” who is both “God alone” and the\nChrist\, our Redeemer and Liberator… \nSt Leo says that with Christ’s ascension into heaven we have recovered\npossession of paradise\, and not only that\, “we have even penetrated\, in Christ\,\ninto the height of heaven\,” we have been enthroned with Him because we are\n“one Body” with Him. This is the reason why we should rejoice at His going to\nthe Father… He is not separated from us unless we choose to remain bound to\nthe earth by our passions. In contemplation we experience\, at least obscurely\,\nsomething of this mystery of our union with Him now in heaven. \nThis has important implications for the life of prayer. The life of the monk\,\nbeing that of a Christian\, is a way of living in heaven. While living bodily in exile\nand in his earthly pilgrimage\, the monk is already spiritually in paradise and in\nheaven where he has ascended with Christ. That is to say\, although he is not\nphysically present in heaven\, he is free to come and go there as he pleases\, in\nspirit\, in prayer\, in faith\, in thanksgiving\, praise and love\, because he already\n“is” there mystically in Christ. “Let us therefore\, exult with a worthy and\nspiritual joy\, happy before God in thanksgiving\, and let us lift up the free eyes\nof our heart to that height where Christ is.”… \nChrist has made us His friends by making known to us “the joys of interior\ncharity and the festival of the heavenly country which He daily makes present\nin our minds by the desire of love.” And St Gregory explains that this loving\nknowledge of heavenly things is very real indeed\, no mere fancy: “for when\,\nhearing of heavenly things\, we love them\, we already know the things we love\,\nfor our love itself is a way of knowing.” It is by the charity of Christ in our\nhearts that we “are in heaven” and know the things of heaven. \n7\n“The Humanity of Christ in Monastic Prayer”\, Monastic Studies 2\, 1964\, 11-13.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/easter-weekday-11/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240519
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240520
DTSTAMP:20260403T142512
CREATED:20240518T203435Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240518T203435Z
UID:11911-1716076800-1716163199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n7th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nMay 19 – 25\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n19\nMon\n20\nTue\n21\nWed\n22\nThu\n23\nFri\n24\nSat\n25\n\n\nOffice\nPentecost Sunday\nMary Mother of the Church\nEaster Weekday\nEaster Weekday\nOffice for Vocations\nEaster Weekday\nSt Bede the Venerable\n\n\nVigils\n* Special Vigil\nJosh 11:1-23\nJosh 22:1-20\nJosh 22:21-34\nJosh 23:1-16\nJosh 24:1-15\nJosh 24:16-33\n\n\nLauds\nJoel 3:1-5\nJoel 1:1-8\nJoel 1:9-12\nJoel 1:13-20\nJoel 2:1-6\nJoel 2:7-11\nJoel 2:12-17\n\n\nMass\n63\nBVM Lect pg 118-138\n342\n343\n344\n345\n346\n\n\n1st\nActs 2:1-11\nGen:3:9-15\, 20\nJas 4:1-10\nJas 4:13-17\nJas 5:1-6\nJas 5:9-12\nJas 5:13-20\n\n\n2nd\nGal 5:16-25\nPsalm 87[86]: 1-2\, 3+5\, 6-7\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 15:26-27; 16:12-15\nJohn 19:25-34\nMark 9:30-37\nMark 9:38-40\nMark 9:41-50\nMark 10:1-12\nMark 10:13-16\n\n\nVespers\nRom 8:22-27\nGal 3:23-29\nGal 4:1-11\nGal 4:12-20\nGal 4:21-31\nGal 5:1-6\nRom 11:33-36\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n*1) Gen 11:1-9 2) Exod 19:3-8a\, 16-20 3) Ezek 36:16-28 4) Acts 2:1-11 5) Rom 8:5-27
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-69/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240519T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240519T170000
DTSTAMP:20260403T142512
CREATED:20240518T203650Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240518T203650Z
UID:11913-1716105600-1716138000@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Pentecost Sunday
DESCRIPTION:THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD \nHAS FILLED THE WHOLE EARTH \nA commentary by St Aelred of Rievaulx1 \n◊◊◊ \nToday’s holy solemnity puts new heart into us. For not only do we revere \nits dignity\, we also experience it as delightful. On this feast it is Love that we \nspecially honor\, and among human beings there is no word pleasanter to the \near\, no thought more tenderly dwelt on\, than love. The Love we celebrate is \nnothing other than the goodness\, kindness and charity of God\, for God himself \nis goodness\, kindness and charity. His goodness is identical with his Spirit\, with \nGod himself. \nIn his work of disposing of all things the Spirit of the Lord has filled the \nwhole world from the beginning\, reaching from end to end of the earth in \nstrength and delicately disposing everything; but as sanctifier the Spirit of the \nLord has filled the whole world since Pentecost\, for on this day the gracious \nSpirit himself is sent by the Father and the Son on a new mission\, in a new \nmode\, by a new manifestation of his mighty power\, for the sanctification of \nevery creature. Before this day\, the Spirit had not been given\, for Jesus was not \nyet glorified\, but today he came forth from his heavenly throne to give himself \nin all his abundant riches to the human race\, so that the divine outpouring \nmight pervade the whole wide world and be manifested in a variety of spiritual \nendowments. \nIt is surely right that this overflowing delight should come down to us \nfrom heaven\, since it was heaven that a few days earlier received from our fertile \nearth a fruit of wonderful sweetness. When has our land ever yielded a fruit \nmore pleasant\, sweeter\, holier\, or more delectable? Indeed\, faithfulness has \nsprung from the earth. A few days ago we sent Christ on ahead to the heavenly \nkingdom\, so that in all fairness we might have in return whatever heaven held \nthat should be sweet to our desire. The full sweetness of earth is Christ’s \nhumanity. The full sweetness of heaven Christ’s Spirit. Thus a more profitable \nbargain was struck: Christ’s human nature ascended from us to heaven\, and on \nus today Christ’s Spirit has come down. \nNow indeed\, the Spirit of the Lord has filled the whole earth\, and all \ncreation recognizes his voice. Everywhere the Spirit is at work\, everywhere he \nspeaks. To be sure\, the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples before our Lord’s \nascension when he said\, Receive the Holy Spirit; if you forgive anyone’s sins\, \nthey are forgiven; if you declare them unforgiven\, unforgiven they remain; \nbut before the day of Pentecost the Spirit’s voice was still in a sense unheard. \nHis power had not yet leaped forth\, nor had the disciples truly come to know \nhim\, for they were not yet confirmed by his might; they were still in the grip of \nfear\, cowering behind closed doors. \nFrom this day onward\, however\, the voice of the Lord has resounded over \nthe waters; the God of majesty has thundered and the Lord makes his voice \necho over the flood. From now on the voice of the Lord speaks with strength\, \nthe voice of the Lord in majesty\, the voice of the Lord fells the cedars\, the voice \nof the Lord strikes the desert\, stirring the wilderness of Kadesh\, the voice of the \nLord strips the forest bare\, and all will cry out\, ‘Glory’! \n  \n1 Journey with the Father – Year B – New City Press – 1999 – pg 64.3 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-pentecost-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240520
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240521
DTSTAMP:20260403T142512
CREATED:20240518T203814Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240518T203814Z
UID:11915-1716163200-1716249599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Mary Mother of the Church
DESCRIPTION:MARY’S EDUCATION AS MOTHER OF THE CHURCH \nFrom the writing of Hans Urs von Balthasar2 \n◊◊◊ \nAt first it was the Mother who introduced the Son into the Old Covenant \nand thereby trained him for his messianic office. However\, it was not she but \nhis own knowledge of the Father’s mission in the Holy Spirit that showed him \nwho he was and what he had to do. The relationship is thus reversed: from now \non it is the Son who educates the Mother for the greatness of his task\, cultivating \nin her the maturity she needs to stand under the Cross and\, finally\, to receive\, \nat prayer within the Church\, the universal gift of the Holy Spirit. \nFrom the very outset\, this education reflects Simeon’s prophecy that a \nsword would pierce the Mother’s soul. It is a pitiless process. All the episodes \nhanded down for us are more or less brusque rejections. It is not as though \nJesus had been disobedient for thirty years; we have an explicit affirmation to \nthe contrary. However\, the merely physical relationship to which faith was so \nintimately tied in the Old Testament is sovereignly\, ruthlessly forced open. \nHenceforth faith in Jesus\, the incarnate Word of God\, is the only thing that \ncounts… \nThe scene in which Jesus\, teaching those gathered around him in a certain \nhouse\, refuses to receive the visit of his Mother\, who is standing outside\, seems \nalmost unbearable to us. “Here are my mother and my brethren! Whoever does \nthe will of God is my brother\, and sister\, and mother”. Jesus means her more \nthan anyone\, though he does not mention her by name. Yet who understands \nhis meaning? Did Mary herself understand it? We have to accompany Mary in \nspirit as she makes her way home and try to imagine her state of mind. The \n2 Hans Urs Von Balthasar and Pope Benedict XVI. Mary: The Church at the Source. Trans. Adrian \nWalker. San Francisco: Ignatius Press\, 2005. 107-110.5 \nsword gnaws at her soul; she feels as if bereft of her inmost self\, as if the point \nof her life has been drained away. Her faith\, which at the beginning received so \nmany sensible confirmations\, is plunged into a dark night. It is as if the Son\, \nwho sends her no news about what he is doing\, has run away from her\, yet she \ncannot simply let him go away: she has to accompany him\, full of dread\, in her \nnight of faith… \nThe purpose of this constant training in the naked faith Mary will need \nunder the Cross is often insufficiently understood; people are astonished and \nembarrassed by the way in which Jesus treats his Mother\, whom he addresses \nboth in Cana and at the Cross only as “woman”. He himself is the first one to \nwield the sword that must pierce her. But how else would she have become \nready to stand by the Cross\, where not only her Son’s earthly failure\, but also \nhis abandonment by the God who sends him is revealed. She must finally say \nYes to this\, too\, because she consented a priori to her child’s whole destiny. And \nas if to fill her bitter chalice to the brim\, the dying Son expressly abandons his \nMother\, withdrawing from her and foisting on her another son: “Woman\, \nbehold\, your son”. This gesture is usually understood primarily as evidencing \nJesus’ concern about where his Mother will live after he is gone… This must not\, \nhowever\, lead us to overlook a second motif: just as the Son is abandoned by \nthe Father\, so\, too\, he abandons his Mother\, so that the two of them may be \nunited in a common abandonment. Only thus does she become inwardly ready \nto take on ecclesial motherhood toward all of Jesus’ new brothers and sisters.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-mary-mother-of-the-church-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240521
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240522
DTSTAMP:20260403T142512
CREATED:20240518T203908Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240518T203908Z
UID:11917-1716249600-1716335999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:BEARING WITNESS TO THE TRUTH \nFrom the Document on Religious Freedom of the Second Vatican Council3 \n◊◊◊ \nWhen Christ completed on the cross the work of redemption whereby he \nachieved salvation and true freedom for all\, he brought his revelation to \ncompletion. For he bore witness to the truth\, but he refused to impose the truth \nby force on those who spoke against it. Not by force of blows does his rule assert \nits claims. It is established by witnessing to the truth and by hearing the truth\, \nand it extends its dominion by the love whereby Christ\, lifted up on the cross\, \ndraws everyone to himself. \nTaught by the word and example of Christ\, the apostles followed the same \nway. From the very origins of the church the disciples of Christ strove to convert \nothers to faith in Christ as Lord; not\, however\, by the use of coercion or of \ndevices unworthy of the gospel\, but by the power\, above all\, of the word of God. \nSteadfastly they proclaimed to all the plan of God our Savior\, “who wills that \nall should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” At the same time\, \nhowever\, they showed respect for those of weaker stuff\, even though they were \nin error\, and thus they made it plain that “each one of us is to render an account \nto God\,” and for that reason is bound to obey one’s conscience. \nLike Christ himself\, the apostles were unceasingly bent upon bearing \nwitness to the truth of God\, and they showed the fullest measure of boldness in \n“speaking the word with confidence” before the people and their rulers. With a \nfirm faith they held that the gospel is indeed the power of God unto salvation \nfor all who believe. Therefore they rejected all “carnal weapons”: they followed \nthe example of the gentleness and respectfulness of Christ and they preached \n3 see Christian Readings\, vol. IV\, p.227.7 \nthe word of God in the full confidence that there was resident in this world itself \na divine power able to destroy all the forces arrayed against God and bring all \npeople to faith in Christ and to his service. As the Master\, so too the apostles \nrecognized legitimate civil authority. “For there is no power except from God\,” \nthe Apostle teaches\, and thereafter commands: “Let everyone be subject to \nhigher authorities…He who resists authority resists God’s ordinance.” \nAt the same time\, however\, they did not hesitate to speak out against \ngoverning powers which set themselves in opposition to the holy will of God: “It \nis necessary to obey God rather than men.” This is the way along which the \nmartyrs and other faithful have walked through all ages and over all the earth.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-191/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240522
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240523
DTSTAMP:20260403T142512
CREATED:20240518T204006Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240518T204006Z
UID:11919-1716336000-1716422399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE AIM OF OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE \nA conversation between St Seraphim of Sarov and his spiritual son4 \n◊◊◊ \n“The Lord has revealed to me\,” began the great elder\, “that in your \nchildhood you longed to know the aim of our Christian life… But no one has \ngiven you a precise answer… Prayer\, fasting\, watching\, and all other Christian \nacts\, however good they may be\, do not alone constitute the aim of our Christian \nlife\, although they serve as the indispensable means of reaching this aim. The \ntrue aim of our Christian life\, is to acquire the Holy Spirit of God…” \n“How do you mean acquire?” I asked Father Seraphim… \n“To acquire is the same as to gain\,” he answered. “You understand what \nacquiring money means. Acquiring God’s Spirit\, it’s all the same… Acquire\, my \nson\, the grace of the Holy Spirit by all the other virtues in Christ; trade in those \nthat are most profitable to you… Thus\, if prayer and watching give you more of \nGod’s grace\, pray and watch; if fasting gives much of God’s Spirit\, fast; if \nalmsgiving gives more\, give alms. In such manner decide about every virtue in \nChrist… \nWhen our Lord Jesus Christ had accomplished the whole work of \nsalvation\, after His resurrection\, He breathed on the Apostles to restore the \nbreath of life which had been lost by Adam\, and gave them that same grace of \nthe Holy Spirit of God which had been Adam’s. On the day of Pentecost He \ntriumphantly sent down on them the Holy Spirit in the rushing of a mighty wind \nlike tongues of fire\, which sat upon each one of them and entered in and filled \nthem with the strength of Divine flame-like grace; whose breath is laden with \n4 The Spiritual Instructions of Saint Seraphim of Sarov. Ed. Franklin Jones. Los Angeles: The Dawn \nHorse Press\, 1973. 41-44\, 46-48\, 50.9 \ndew\, and it creates joy in the souls partaking of its power and influence. And\, \nwhen this same fire-inspired grace of the Holy Spirit is given to all the faithful \nin Christ in the sacrament of Holy Baptism\, they seal it in the chief places \nappointed by the Holy Church on our flesh\, as the eternal vessel of this grace… \nIf we were never to sin after our baptism\, we should remain forever holy\, \nspotless\, exempt from all foulness of flesh and spirit\, like the saints of God. But \nthe trouble is that\, though we increase in stature\, we do not increase in the grace \nand mind of God\, as our Lord Jesus Christ increased; but on the contrary\, \ngrowing dissipated bit by bit\, we are deprived of the grace of God’s Holy Spirit \nand become sinners of many degrees and many sins. \nBut\, when a man\, stirred by the Divine Wisdom which seeks our salvation\, \nis resolved for her sake to rise early before God and keep watch for the \nattainment of his eternal salvation\, then must he in obedience to her voice \nhasten to repent truly of all his sins and to perfect the virtues that are their \ncontrary\, and thus by virtuous acts done for Christ’s sake to acquire the Holy \nSpirit\, which works in us and sets up in us the kingdom of God. \nNotwithstanding man’s repeated falls\, notwithstanding the darkness around \nthe soul\, the grace of the Holy Spirit… shines still in the heart with the Divine \nimmemorial light of the precious merits of Christ. When the sinner turns to the \nway of repentance\, this Christ-Light smooths out all trace of past sin and clothes \nthe former sinner once more in a robe of incorruption woven from the grace of \nthe Holy Spirit…
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-192/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240523
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240524
DTSTAMP:20260403T142512
CREATED:20240518T204101Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240518T204101Z
UID:11921-1716422400-1716508799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT \nFrom a commentary by St Augustine5 \n◊◊◊ \nThe happy day has dawned for us on which Holy Church makes her first \nradiant appearance to the eyes of faith and sets the hearts of believers on fire. It \nis the day on which we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit by our Lord Jesus \nChrist\, after he had risen from the dead and ascended into glory. In the gospel it is \nwritten: If anyone is thirsty\, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me\, \nrivers of living water shall flow from his heart. The Evangelist explains these words \nby adding: Jesus said this about the Spirit which those who believed in him were to \nreceive. For the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified. \nNow the glorification of Jesus took place when he rose from the dead and ascended \ninto heaven\, but all was not yet accomplished. The Holy Spirit still had to be given; \nthe one who made the promise had to send him. This is precisely what occurred \nat Pentecost. \nAfter being in the company of his disciples for the forty days following his \nresurrection\, the Lord ascended into heaven\, and on the fiftieth day – the day we \nare now celebrating – he sent the Holy Spirit. The account is given in Scripture: \nSuddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind\, and there \nappeared to them tongues like fire which separated and came to rest on each one of \nthem. And they began to speak in other tongues\, as the Holy Spirit gave them power \nof utterance. That wind cleansed the disciples’ hearts\, blowing away fleshly \nthoughts like so much chaff. The fire burnt up their unregenerate desires as if they \nwere straw. The tongues in which they spoke as the Holy Spirit filled them were a \n5 Journey with the Fathers: Commentaries on the Sunday Gospels – Year A. Ed. Edith Barnecut\, OSB. \nNew York: New City Press\, 1992. 72-73.11 \nforeshadowing of the Church’s preaching of the Gospel in the tongues of all \nnations. \nAfter the flood\, in pride and defiance of the Lord\, an impious generation \nerected a high tower and so brought about the division of the human race into \nmany language groups\, each with its own peculiar speech which was unintelligible \nto the rest of the world. At Pentecost\, by contrast\, the humble piety of believers \nbrought all these diverse languages into the unity of the Church. What discord had \nscattered\, love was to gather together. Like the limbs of a single body\, the \nseparated members of the human race would be restored to unity by being joined \nto Christ\, their common head\, and welded into the oneness of a holy body by the \nfire of love. Anyone therefore who rejects the gift of peace and withdraws from \nthe fellowship of this unity cuts himself off from the gift of the Holy Spirit. \nSo then\, my fellow members of Christ’s body\, you are the fruits of unity and \nthe children of peace. Keep this day with joy\, celebrate it in freedom of spirit\, for \nin you is fulfilled what was foreshadowed in those days when the Holy Spirit came. \nAt that time whoever received the Holy Spirit spoke in many languages\, individual \nthough he was. Now in the same way unity itself speaks through all nations in \nevery tongue. If you yourselves are established in that unity you have the Holy \nSpirit among you\, and nothing can separate you from the Church of Christ which \nspeaks in the language of every nation of the world.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-12/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240524
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240525
DTSTAMP:20260403T142512
CREATED:20240518T204151Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240518T204151Z
UID:11923-1716508800-1716595199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:BUILT ON THE COMMON LIFE \nBy Baldwin of Ford6 \n◊◊◊ \nIt is by no slight or mean or ordinary authority that the institution of the \ncommon life is supported and sustained. The primitive Church was built on the \ncommon life\, and the infancy of the newborn Church began with the common \nlife. It is from the Apostles themselves that the common life has received its \nform and expression\, its title of honor\, the privilege of its high position\, the \ntestimony of its authority\, the protection which defends it\, and the foundation \nof its hope. \nIt was the Apostles who were established by God as princes over all the \nearth; princes of the people\, gathered together with the God of Abraham; strong \ngods of the earth who are exceedingly exalted; friends of God\, who are greatly \nhonored and whose principality is greatly strengthened; nobles of heaven\, \njudges of the earth\, to whom was made the promise that they should sit on \ntwelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel; members of the [celestial] \nsenate\, who receive swords in their hands to execute vengeance upon the \nnations and chastisements upon the people\, to bind their kings with fetters and \ntheir nobles with manacles of iron\, to execute upon them the prescribed \njudgement. \nSuch men as these\, so powerful and so noble\, were clothed in virtue from \nabove\, and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit they undertook to observe the \ncommon life. They confirmed it by their example\, sanctioned it by their conduct\, \nand handed it down to us so that we might also keep it. Thus\, through the \ncommon life\, we who are set upon the earth can begin to be fashioned in the \n6 From Tractate 15 on the Cenobitic or Common Life\, by Baldwin of Ford (CF 41:156-157).13 \nlikeness of the angels of God\, for in the eternal life to come\, we shall be united \nwith them as their like and their equal. The common life was instituted by \ncelestial models; it was brought down from heaven and adopted by us from the \nheavenly way of life of the holy angels. \nIf the fact that the common life came down from the angels of God to the \nApostles and from the Apostles to us is still not sufficient to recommend it to \nyou\, then there is a further factor which we can add\, something beyond all \npraise: the common life flowed out from the Fount of Life itself. I am speaking \nnow of that fount of which it is written\, With you is the fount of life\, and in your \nlight we shall see light. The common life\, then\, is a sort of radiance from the \neternal light\, a sort of emanation from the eternal life\, a sort of effluence from \nthe everlasting fountain\, from which flow living waters\, springing up into \neternal life.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-193/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11925-1716595200-1716681599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Bede the Venerable
DESCRIPTION:YOU TOO WILL BEAR WITNESS \nA homily from St Bede the Venerable7 \n◊◊◊ \nWe find from many places in the holy gospel that before the coming of the \nHoly Spirit\, the disciples were less capable of understanding the hidden \nmysteries of the divine sublimity and were less brave in tolerating the \nadversities brought on by human depravity. When the Spirit came upon them \nwith an increase of divine insight\, there was given them the constancy [needed] \nto overcome human persecution as well. Hence it is said to them now\, in the \nLord’s promise\, ‘When the Paraclete comes\, whom I shall send you from the \nFather\, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father\, he will bear witness \nabout me; and you too will bear witness’… \nThe Spirit\, upon his coming\, bore witness concerning the Lord. Breathing \ninto the hearts of the disciples\, he revealed to them by his bright light everything \nabout which mortals were to have knowledge concerning [the Lord]\, namely\, \nthat he was equal and of the same substance with the Father before the ages; \nthat he became of the same substance as we at the end of the ages; that he was \nborn of a virgin and lived in the world without sin; that he went forth from the \nworld when he wished and by the kind of death that he wished; that by rising \nfrom the dead he truly destroyed death and raised up the true flesh in which he \nhad suffered\, and at his ascension took it up into heaven\, and established it at \nthe right hand of his Father’s glory; that all the writings of the prophets bear \nwitness to him; that the confession of his name was to be extended even to the \nend of the earth\, and that the rest of the mysteries of his faith were unlocked for \nhis disciples by the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Nor was whatever they \n7 Bede the Venerable. Homilies on the Gospels: Book Two – Lent to the Dedication of \nthe Church. Trans. Lawrence T. Martin and David Hurst\, OSB. Kalamazoo\, MI: \nCistercian Publications\, 1991. 149-151.15 \ncorrectly discerned conceded to them alone by the gift of the Spirit\, but also to \nall who believe in the Lord through their word. \n‘He’\, Jesus says\, ‘will bear witness concerning me\, and you will bear \nwitness’. Once they had put aside their initial fear\, they ministered outwardly \nby telling others what they had received inwardly by the Spirit’s teaching. The \nSpirit himself both illumined their hearts by knowledge of the truth\, and by the \npreeminence of his power roused them to teach what they knew. Hence in \nIsaiah the Spirit is rightly called ‘of strength and knowledge’. He is indeed the \nSpirit of knowledge\, since it is by his help that we rightly acknowledge what we \nmust do and even think; he is also the Spirit of strength\, since it is by his help \nthat we receive [the strength] to carry out what we know well that we should do\, \nlest we be driven away by some adversity from the good deeds we have begun… \nHe who warned them ahead of time that the hour of persecution would \ncome is the one who\, a little later\, pledged his help to his faithful in the \npersecution\, saying\, ‘You will have distress in the world; but have confidence; \nI have overcome the world’. He elsewhere promised the crown of life to those \nwho are sincerely engaged in strife\, saying\, ‘Blessed are those who suffer \npersecution for the sake of justice\, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-bede-the-venerable-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11938-1716681600-1716767999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n8th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nMay 26 – June 1\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n26\nMon\n27\nTue\n28\nWed\n29\nThu\n30\nFri\n31\nSat\n1\n\n\nOffice\nMost Holy Trinity\nSt Augustine of Canterbury\nWeekday\nSt Paul VI\nOffice for the Dead\nVisitation of the BVM\nSt Justin Martyr\n\n\nVigils\n1 Cor 2:1-16\nJudg 1:1-21\nJudg 1:22-36\nJudg 2:1-23\nJudg 3:1-11\nSong 2:8-14; 8:6-7\nJudg 3:12-31\n\n\nLauds\nSir 42:15-25\nJoel 2:18-19\, 23-27\nJoel 3:1-5\nJoel 4:1-3\, 11-16\nJoel 4:17-21\nZech 2:10-17\nAmos 1:1-5\n\n\nMass\n165\n347\n348\n349\n350\n351\n352\n\n\n1st\nDeut 4:32-34\, 39-40\n1 Pet 1:3-9\n1 Pet 1:10-16\n1 Pet 1:18-25\n1 Pet 2:2-5\, 9-12\n1 Pet 4:7-13\nJude 17\, 20b-25\n\n\n2nd\nRom 8:14-17\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 28:16-20\nMark 10:17-27\nMark 10:28-31\nMark 10:32-45\nMark 10:46-52\nMark 11:11-26\nMark 11:27-33\n\n\nVespers\n1 Jn 5:1-8\nGal 5:7-15\nGal 5:16-26\nGal 6:1-10\nGal 6:11-18\nGal 4:1-7\nActs 2:42-47
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-70/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11943-1716681600-1716767999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Holy Trinity Sunday
DESCRIPTION:WE ACKNOWLEDGE THE TRINITY \nA commentary by St Athanasius1 \n◊◊◊ \nIt will not be out of place to consider the ancient tradition\, teaching and \nfaith of the Catholic Church\, which was revealed by the Lord\, proclaimed by the \napostles\, and guarded by the fathers. For upon this faith the Church is built\, and \nif anyone were to lapse from it\, that person would no longer be a Christian either \nin fact or in name. \nWe acknowledge the Trinity\, holy and perfect\, to consist of the Father\, the \nSon\, and the Holy Spirit. In this Trinity there is no intrusion of any alien \nelement or of anything from outside\, nor is the Trinity a blend of creative and \ncreated being. It is a wholly creative and energizing reality\, self-consistent and \nundivided in its active power\, for the father makes all things through the Word \nand in the Holy Spirit\, and in this way the unity of the Holy Trinity is preserved. \nAccordingly in the Church\, one God is preached\, one God who is above all \nthings and through all things and in all things. God is above all things as \nFather\, for he is the principle and source; he is through all things through the \nWord; and he is in all things in the Holy Spirit. \nWriting to the Corinthians about spiritual matters\, Paul traces all reality \nback to the one God\, the Father\, saying: Now there are varieties of gifts\, but the \nsame Spirit; and varieties of service\, but the same Lord; and there are \nvarieties of working\, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone. \nEven the gifts that the Spirit dispenses to individuals are given by the \nFather through the Word. For all that belongs to the Father belongs also to the \nSon\, and so the graces given by the Son in the Spirit are true gifts of the Father. \nSimilarly\, when the Spirit dwells in us\, the Word who bestows the Spirit is in us \ntoo\, and the Father is present in the Word. This is the meaning of the text: My \nFather and I will come to him and make our home with him. For where the \nlight is\, there also is the radiance; and where the radiance is\, there too are its \npower and resplendent grace. \nThis is also Paul’s teaching in his Second Letter to the Corinthians: The \ngrace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the \nHoly Spirit be with you all. For grace and the gift of the Trinity are given by the \nFather through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Just as grace is given from the Father \nthrough the Son\, so there could be no communication of the gift to us except in \nthe Holy Spirit. But when we share in the Spirit\, we possess the love of the \nFather\, the grace of the Son\, and the fellowship of the Spirit himself. \n  \n1 A Word in Season – vol. III – Exordium Books – 1983 – pg 224.3 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-holy-trinity-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11945-1716768000-1716854399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Augustine of Canterbury
DESCRIPTION:ST. AUGUSTINE\, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY \nFrom the writing of Alban Butler2 \n◊◊◊ \nWhen Pope St. Gregory the Great decided that the time had come for the \nevangelization of Anglo-Saxon England\, he chose as missionaries some thirty or more \nmonks from his monastery of St. Andrew… As their leader he gave them their own \nprior\, Augustine. The party set out from Rome in the year 596; but no sooner had \nthey arrived in Provence than they were assailed with warnings about the ferocity of \nthe Anglo-Saxons and the dangers of the Channel. Greatly discouraged\, they \npersuaded Augustine to return to Rome and obtain leave to abandon the enterprise. \nSt. Gregory\, however\, had received definite assurance that the English were well \ndisposed towards the Christian faith; he therefore sent Augustine back to his brethren \nwith words of encouragement which gave them heart to proceed on their way. \nThey landed in the Isle of Thanet in the territory of Ethelbert\, king of Kent\, who \nwas baptized at Pentecost 597. Almost immediately afterwards St. Augustine paid a \nvisit to France\, where he was consecrated bishop of the English by St. Virgilius\, \nmetropolitan of Arles. At Christmas of that same year\, many of Ethelbert’s subjects \nwere baptized… Augustine sent two of his monks\, Laurence and Peter\, to Rome to \ngive a full report of his mission\, to ask for more helpers and obtain advice on various \npoints. They came back bringing the pallium for Augustine and accompanied by a \nfresh band of missionaries\, amongst whom were St. Mellitus\, St. Justus and St. \nPaulinus. \nGregory outlined for Augustine the course he should take to develop a \nhierarchy for the whole country\, and both to him and to Mellitus gave very practical \ninstructions on other points. Pagan temples were not to be destroyed\, but were to be \npurified and consecrated for Christian worship. Local customs were as far as possible \nto be retained\, days of dedication and feasts of martyrs being substituted for heathen \nfestivals. \nIn Canterbury itself St. Augustine rebuilt an ancient church which\, with an old \nwooden house\, formed the nucleus for his metropolitan basilica and for the later \nmonastery of Christ Church. These buildings stood on the site of the present cathedral \nbegun by Lanfranc in 1070. Outside the walls of Canterbury he made a monastic \nfoundation\, which he dedicated in honour of St. Peter and St. Paul. After his death this \nabbey became known as St. Augustine’s\, and was the burial place of the early \narchbishops. \nCut off from much communication with the outside world\, the British church \nclung to certain usages at variance with those of the Roman tradition. St. Augustine \ninvited the leading ecclesiastics to meet him at some place just on the confines of \nWessex\, still known in Bede’s day as Augustine’s Oak. There he urged them to comply \nwith the practices of the rest of Western Christendom\, and more especially to co- \noperate with him in evangelizing the Anglo-Saxons. Fidelity to their local traditions\, \nhowever\, made them unwilling. A second conference proved a said failure. Because \nSt. Augustine failed to rise when they arrived\, the British bishops decided that he was \nlacking in humility and would neither listen to him nor acknowledge him as their \nmetropolitan. \nThe saint’s last years were spent in spreading and consolidating the faith \nthroughout Ethelbert’s realm\, and episcopal sees were established at London and \nRochester. About seven years after his arrival in England\, St. Augustine passed to his \nreward\, on May 26\, 605. \n2Butler’s Lives of Saints. Harper\, 1991\, pp. 158-159.5 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-augustine-of-canterbury-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11947-1716854400-1716940799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:TRINITARIAN FAITH \nFrom the Catechism of the Catholic Church3 \n◊◊◊ \nFrom the beginning\, the revealed truth of the Holy Trinity has been at the \nvery root of the Church’s living faith\, principally by means of Baptism. It finds its \nexpression in the rule of baptismal faith\, formulated in the preaching\, catechesis\, \nand prayer of the Church. Such formulations are already found in the apostolic \nwritings\, such as this salutation taken up in the Eucharistic liturgy: “The grace of \nthe Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be \nwith you all.” \nDuring the first centuries the Church sought to clarify its Trinitarian faith\, \nboth to deepen its own understanding of the faith and to defend it against errors \nthat were deforming it. This clarification was the work of the early councils\, aided \nby the theological work of the Church Fathers and sustained by the Christian \npeople’s sense of the faith. \nThe Church uses the term “substance” (rendered also at times by “essence” \nor “nature”) to designate the divine being in its unity\, the term “person” or \n“hypostasis” to designate the Father\, Son\, and Holy Spirit in the real distinction \namong them\, and the term “relation” to designate the fact that their distinction \nlies in the relationship of each to the others. \nWe do not confess three Gods\, but one God in three persons\, the \n“consubstantial Trinity“. The divine persons do not share the one divinity among \nthemselves but each of them is God whole and entire: “The Father is that which \nthe Son is\, the Son that which the Father is\, the Father and the Son that which \n3 Catechism of the Catholic Church\, 1994\, Liberia Editrice Vaticana\, USCC\, pgs. 66-67.7 \nthe Holy Spirit is… by nature one God“. In the words of the Fourth Lateran \nCouncil: “Each of the persons is that supreme reality ” \n… \n“Father“\,”Son“\,”Holy Spirit” are not simply names designating modalities \nof the divine being\, for they are really distinct from one another: “He is not the \nFather who is the Son\, nor is the Son he who is the Father\, nor is the Holy Spirit \nhe who is the Father or the Son.” They are distinct from one another in their \nrelations of origin: “It is the Father who generates\, the Son who is begotten\, and \nthe Holy Spirit who proceeds.” The divine Unity is Trinity. \nBecause it does not divide the divine unity\, the real distinction of the \npersons from one another resides solely in the relationships which relate them to \none another: “In the relational names of the persons the Father is related to the \nSon\, the Son to the Father\, and the Holy Spirit to both. While they are called three \npersons in view of their relations\, we believe in one nature or substance.” Indeed \n“everything (in them) is one where there is no opposition of relationship.” \n…Inseparable in what they are\, the divine persons are also inseparable in what \nthey do. But within the single divine operation each shows forth what is proper \nto him in the Trinity\, especially in the divine missions of the Son’s Incarnation \nand the gift of the Holy Spirit.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-194/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11949-1716940800-1717027199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Paul VI
DESCRIPTION:ONE MUST KNOW HUMANITY \nIN ORDER TO KNOW GOD \nFrom a homily by St Pope Paul VI4 \n◊◊◊ \nGod is! God truly exists. He lives\, a personal\, provident God\, possessed of \nan infinite goodness. And indeed\, he is good\, not only in himself\, but most \nespecially also toward us. He is our creator\, our truth\, our happiness. Therefore\, \nwhen one strives\, as a human being\, to fix one’s mind and heart on God with \nthe self-emptying that leads to contemplation\, one engages in an activity of the \nsoul that can be considered the noblest and most perfect of all; it is an activity\, \nwe would say\, that countless fields of human endeavor in our day could and \nshould pursue to the highest level… \nHuman beings continually lament their lot. In the past and even now they \njudge others inferior to themselves\, and therefore\, can be continuously \noverbearing and secretive\, greedy\, and aggressive. Unhappy with themselves\, \nthey either laugh or weep… They are a worthy object of religious reflection on \naccount of the innocence of their infancy\, the mystery of their need\, and the \ntender love that their sorrows incite; initially they think only of themselves\, and \nonly later care for society at large. They praise times past and at the same time \nlong for what is to come\, dreaming that it will be happier than what went before; \non the one hand they can be guilty of terrible crimes and on the other show signs \nof a holy life. And so it goes on… \n  \nThe religion that is the worship of God who desired to become man\, and \na religion which is the worship of ‘man’ who wishes to become like God\, are \ncontinually in conflict with each other… \nSince this is how things are\, it is true to say that the Catholic religion and \nhuman life are united in a friendly alliance\, and that each works together with \nthe other for the common human good. The Catholic religion is on the side of \nthe human race\, and it is\, in a certain way\, the life of the human race. Indeed\, it \nshould be called ‘the life’ because of the sublime doctrine\, perfect from every \npoint of view\, which it gives us about humanity; it hands on this doctrine \nreliably because it has its knowledge from God. For in order for us deeply to \nknow humanity\, true humanity\, integral humanity\, it is necessary that we first \nknow God himself… \nLet us remember that the face of Christ\, the Son of Man\, is to be seen in \nevery human face\, especially one marked with tears and sorrows; and when we \nrecognize the face of the heavenly Father in the face of Christ\,—as he says\, \n“Whoever sees me\, sees the Father\,”—then our way of appraising human \nconcerns is transformed into Christianity\, which is completely centered on God. \nTherefore\, we can only describe things in this way: namely\, that in order that \nGod be known it is necessary to know the human person. Let us then strive to \nattain a love for the human person\, not as a means to an end\, but rather as a \nprimary end point\, by way of which we come to our final end which transcends \nall human realities. \n4 From the Homilies of Saint Paul VI\, Pope (At the last public session of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council\, December 7\, \n1965: AAS 58 [1966]\, 53\, 55-56\, 58-59)9 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-paul-vi/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11951-1717027200-1717113599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
DESCRIPTION:THE POWER OF THE RISEN CHRIST \nFrom “The Mystery of Time” by Fr Jean Mouroux5 \n◊◊◊ \nChrist died to deliver us from the condemnation to eternal death and from \nthe fear which enslaves the sinner. He has conquered death\, the child of sin\, \nbecause he has conquered sin itself. He has undergone death to destroy it. He \nhas overcome this radical contradiction by elevating us to a participation in his \nrisen life\, in “life eternal.” Death has not yet been completely eradicated\, but it \nhas been completely transformed. Christ has delivered us all to the Cross \nbecause He\, the Head of mankind\, the Center of the redeemed universe\, the \nSavior\, “bore us all in Himself” during his sacrifice. Thus “if one died for all\, \nthen all were dead”\, and all are saved from the satanical power of death. It is \nlove\, not damnation\, which envelops us and restores us to God. It envelops us \nas individuals: “He loved me\, and delivered himself for me”; as members of the \nrace: he “loved us\, and has delivered himself for us”; and as members of the \nChurch: he “loved the Church\, and delivered himself up for it”. \nIt’s infinite blessing affects our personal life at baptism\, where with Christ \nwe “are dead to sin\, but alive to God”. The power of the Risen Christ dwells in \nus that “we may walk in the newness of life\,” that each day we may cast sin \nfarther away and crown our lives with the divine agape. The life of Christians in \ntime is a paradoxical one. They are dead to sin\, yet must die to it each day; they \nlive in God\, and must live for him each day; they are the battleground of an \neschatological struggle in which Christ the Conqueror faces the vanquished \ndevil\, that he may triumph once again in the freedom of a regenerated heart. By \nimmersing himself ever more deeply into baptism and Christ\, the Christian \ngrows with Christ and brings about his victory even in death. \nInsofar as he lives in Christ\, the Christian is totally enveloped by Christ \nboth before and after death. Before death\, Christ is the life-giving\, saving Lord. \nAfter death\, he calls\, judges\, purifies\, and transfigures the life he has given. Here \nbelow\, he communicates the seed of immortality\, especially in the Eucharist. \nUp above\, He will be the source of glory which will transform our soul and our \nbody. The Eternal One is present before and after death. So at our death Christ \nis present as the Savior who protects Christians from the last assault of the evil \none\, revives their flagging spirits\, and leads them from the time of testing to \ntheir eternal reward. \nChrist is the Mediator through whom and in whom every Christian \nexperiences death. Externally\, death still seems to be a terrible process of \nannihilation. But internally it is the mysterious maturation of the new creature \nin Jesus Christ. “This is the will of my Father who sent me: that every one who \nsees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life\, and I shall raise them on \nthe last day”…. \n  \n5 New York-Tournai-Paris-Rome\, 1964\, pp. 307-308.11 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-the-dead-11/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11953-1717113600-1717199999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Visitation of BVM
DESCRIPTION:THE FULLNESS OF GRACE \nFrom the encyclical Redemptoris Mater by St John Paul II6 \n◊◊◊ \nImmediately after the narration of the Annunciation\, the Evangelist Luke \nguides us in the footsteps of the Virgin of Nazareth towards “a city of Judah”. \nMary arrived there “in haste”\, to visit Elizabeth her kinswoman. The reason for \nher visit is also to be found in the fact that at the Annunciation Gabriel had made \nspecial mention of Elizabeth\, who in her old age had conceived a son by her \nhusband Zechariah\, through the power of God… The divine messenger had \nspoken of what had been accomplished in Elizabeth in order to answer Mary’s \nquestion: “How shall this be\, since I have no husband?”. It is to come to pass \nprecisely through the “Power of the Most High”\, just as it happened in the case \nof Elizabeth\, and even more so. \nMoved by charity\, therefore\, Mary goes to the house of her kinswoman. \nWhen Mary enters\, Elizabeth replies to her greeting and feels the child leap in \nher womb\, and being “filled with the Holy Spirit” she greets Mary with a loud \ncry: “Blessed are you among women\, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” \n…. \nWhile every word of Elizabeth’s greeting is filled with meaning\, her final words\, \nwould seem to have fundamental importance: “And blessed is she who believed \nthat there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” \n. \nThese words can be linked with the title “full of grace” of the angel’s greeting. \nBoth of these texts reveal an essential Mariological content\, namely the truth \nabout Mary who has become really present in the mystery of Christ precisely \nbecause she “had believed”. The fullness of grace announced by the angel \nmeans the gift of God himself. Mary’s faith\, proclaimed by Elizabeth at the \nVisitation\, indicates how the Virgin of Nazareth responded to this gift… \n  \nIndeed\, at the Annunciation Mary entrusted herself to God completely\, \nwith the “full submission of intellect and will”\, manifesting “the obedience of \nfaith” to him who spoke to her through his messenger. She responded\, \ntherefore\, with all her human and feminine “I”…. By accepting this \nannouncement\, Mary was to become the “Mother of the Lord\,” and the divine \nmystery of the Incarnation was to be accomplished in her… Mary uttered this \nfiat in faith. In faith she entrusted herself to God without reserve and devoted \nherself totally as the handmaid of the Lord to the person and work of her son. \nAnd this Son – as the Fathers of the Church teach – she conceived in her \nmind before she conceived him in her womb: precisely in faith! Rightly \ntherefore does Elizabeth praise Mary: “And blessed is she who believed that \nthere would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” These \nwords have already been fulfilled: Mary of Nazareth presents herself at the \nthreshold of Elizabeth and Zechariah’s house as the Mother of the Son of God. \nThis is Elizabeth’s joyful discovery: “The mother of my Lord comes to me”. \n  \n6 Published by the United States Catholic Conference\, Washington\, DC; ’12ff.13 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-visitation-of-bvm-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11955-1717200000-1717286399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Justin Martyr
DESCRIPTION:ST JUSTIN MARTYR \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints \n◊◊◊ \nJustin was a Greek from Samaria who became Christian about the year \n115. He is the first notable Christian philosopher. He was born at Nablus in \nSamaria. He was not a Jew\, either by birth or by religion. He was a Greek and \nwas given a classical Greek education. He studied rhetoric\, poetry and history\, \nand then turned to philosophy\, searching\, as he himself said\, for the “vision of \nGod”. He traveled widely\, joining philosophy schools in Ephesus and \nAlexandria\, and he was attracted to the schools of the Stoics\, the Peripatetic’s \nand the Pythagoreans. In Platonism\, he found some of the answers to the \nquestions he was asking\, and he was trained in dialectic. \nOne day while walking by the seashore\, probably at Ephesus\, he met a \nrespectable old man who told him about the Hebrew prophets and Christianity. \nJustin wrote: “My spirit was immediately set on fire\, and an affection for the \nprophets and for those who are friends of Christ took hold of me. I discovered \nthat his was the only sure and useful philosophy.” \nIn Christianity he found the answer to his search. He taught at Ephesus. \nHe debated publicly with the Jews and the Gnostics and with those who \nworshipped the Roman gods. In about the year 150 he went to Rome where he \ntaught the Christian apologetics\, founded a school of philosophy and wrote his \nmajor works. Justin wrote an intellectual defense of Christian beliefs against \noutside attacks. \nHe is said to have lived a very ascetic and austere life. His pleasure was in \npublic debates. Justin’s fearless defense of Christianity and his thorough \ndemolition of his opponents must have made him many enemies.15 \nHis martyrdom took place in the reign of Marcus Aurelius\, and an \nauthentic record of the proceedings survives. He stated his beliefs\, refused to \nsacrifice to the Roman gods\, and accepted suffering and death as the means to \nsalvation. He was beheaded with six other Christians about the year 165.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-justin-martyr-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11973-1717286400-1717372799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n9th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nJune 2 – 8\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n2\nMon\n3\nTue\n4\nWed\n5\nThu\n6\nFri\n7\nSat\n8\n\n\nOffice\nCorpus Christi\nSt Charles Lwanga & Companions\nWeekday\nSt Boniface\nSt Norbert\nSacred Heart of Jesus\nImmaculate Heart of Mary\n\n\nVigils\nNehemiah 9:9-21\nJudg 4:1-24\nJudg 5:1-31\nJudg 6:1-18\nJudg 6:19-40\nJerm 30:18-31:5\, 18-20\nJudg 7:1-22\n\n\nLauds\nWis 16:20-28\nAmos 1:6-10\nAmos 1:11-15\nAmos 2:1-5\nAmos 2:6-16\nEzek 36:22-28\nAmos 3:1-8\n\n\nMass\n168\n353\n354\n355\n356\n171\n358\, 573\n\n\n1st\nExod 24:3-8\n2 Pet 1:2-7\n2 Pet 3:12-15a\, 17-18\n2 Tim 1:1-3\, 6-12\n2 Tim 2:8-15\nHos 11:1\, 3-4\, 8c-9\n2 Tim 4:1-8\n\n\n2nd\nHeb 9:11-15\n\n\n\n\nEph 3:8-12\, 14-19\n\n\n\nGospel\nMark 14:12-16\, 22-26\nMark 12:1-12\nMark 12:13-17\nMark 12:18-27\nMark 12:28-34\nJohn 19:31-37\nLuke 2:41-51\n\n\nVespers\nHeb 9:18-22\nPhil 1:1-11\nPhil 1:12-18a\nPhil 1:18b-26\nRom 5:6-11\nRom 8:28-39\nPhil 1:27-30
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-71/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11975-1717286400-1717372799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Corpus Christi
DESCRIPTION:THE BODY OF CHRIST \nFrom a commentary by St Augustine1 \n◊◊◊ \nYou see on God’s altar bread and a cup. That is what the evidence of your \neyes tells you\, but your faith requires you to believe that the bread is the body \nof Christ\, the cup the blood of Christ. In these few words we can say perhaps all \nthat faith demands. \nFaith\, however\, seeks understanding; so you may now say to me: “You \nhave told us what we have to believe\, but explain it so that we can understand \nit\, because it is quite possible for someone to think along these lines: We know \nfrom whom our Lord Jesus Christ took his flesh – it was from the Virgin Mary. \nAs a baby\, he was suckled\, he was fed\, he developed\, he came to young man’s \nestate. He was slain on the cross\, he was taken down from it\, he was buried\, he \nrose again on the third day. On the day of his own choosing\, he ascended to \nheaven\, taking his body with him; and it is from heaven that he will come to \njudge the living and the dead. But now that he is there\, seated at the right hand \nof the Father\, how can bread be his body? And the cup\, or rather what is in the \ncup\, how can that be his blood?” \nThese things\, my friends\, are called sacraments\, because our eyes see in \nthem one thing\, our understanding another. Our eyes see the material form; \nour understanding\, its spiritual effect. If\, then\, you want to know what the body \nof Christ is\, you must listen to what the Apostle tells the faithful: Now you are \nthe body of Christ\, and individually you are members of it. \n  \nIf that is so\, it is the sacrament of yourselves that is placed on the Lord’s \naltar\, and it is the sacrament of yourselves that you receive. You reply “Amen” \nto what you are\, and thereby agree that such you are. You hear the words “The \nbody of Christ” and you reply “Amen.” Be\, then\, a member of Christ’s body\, so \nthat your “Amen” may accord with the truth. \nYes\, but why all this in bread? Here let us not advance any ideas of our \nown\, but listen to what the Apostle says over and over again when speaking of \nthis sacrament: Because there is one loaf\, we\, though we are many\, form one \nbody. Let your mind assimilate that and be glad\, for there you will find unity\, \ntruth\, piety\, and love. He says\, one loaf. And who is this one loaf? We\, though \nwe are many\, form one body. Now bear in mind that bread is not made of a \nsingle grain\, but of many. Be\, then\, what you see\, and receive what you are. \nSo much for what the Apostle says about the bread. As for the cup\, what \nwe have to believe is quite clear\, although the Apostle does not mention it \nexpressly. Just as the unity of the faithful\, which holy Scripture describes in the \nwords: They were of one mind and heart in God\, should be like the kneading \ntogether of many grains into one visible loaf\, so with the wine. Think how wine \nis made. Many grapes hang in a cluster\, but their juice flows together into an \nindivisible liquid. \nIt was thus that Christ our Lord signified us\, and his will that we should belong \nto him\, when he hallowed the sacrament of our peace and unity on his altar. \nAnyone\, however\, who receives this sacrament of unity and does not keep the \nbond of peace\, does not receive it to his profit\, but as a testimony against \nhimself. \n  \n1 Journey with the Fathers: Commentaries on the Sunday Gospels – Year A. Ed. Edith Barnecut\, OSB. \nNew York: New City Press\, 1992. 76-77.3 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/11975/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11979-1717372800-1717459199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Charles Lwanga & Companions
DESCRIPTION:THE MARTYRS OF UGANDA \nFrom a homily by St Pope Paul VI2 \n◊◊◊ \nThe African martyrs add another page to the martyrology – the Church’s \nroll of honor – an occasion both of mourning and of joy. This is a page worthy \nin every way of being added to the annals of that Africa of earlier times\, which \nwe\, living in this era and being people of little faith\, never expected to be \nrepeated. \nIn earlier times there occurred those famous deeds\, so moving to the \nspirit\, of the martyrs of Scilli\, of Carthage\, and of that “white robed army” of \nUtica commemorated by Saint Augustine and Prudentius; of the martyrs of \nEgypt so highly praised by Saint John Chrysostom\, and of the martyrs of the \nVandal persecution. Who would have thought that in our days we should have \nwitnessed events as heroic and glorious? \nWho would have predicted to the famous African confessors and martyrs \nsuch as Cyprian\, Felicity\, Perpetua and – the greatest of all – Augustine\, that \nwe would one day add names so dear to us as Charles Lwanga and Matthias \nMulumba Kalemba and their twenty companions? Nor must we forget those \nmembers of the Anglican Church who also died in the name of Christ. \nThese African martyrs herald the dawn of a new age. If only the human \nmind might be directed not toward persecutions and religious conflicts but \ntoward a rebirth of Christianity and civilization! Africa has been washed by the \nblood of these latest martyrs\, the first of this new age (and God willing\, let them \nbe the last\, although such a holocaust is precious indeed). Africa is reborn free \nand independent. \n  \n2 The Liturgy of the Hours – vol II – Catholic Book Publishing Co. – New York – 1976 – p 1860.5 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-charles-lwanga-companions-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11981-1717459200-1717545599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE GREATEST OF ALL HIS MIRACLES \nBy St Thomas Aquinas3 \n◊◊◊ \nSince it was the will of God’s only-begotten Son that we should share in \nhis divinity\, he assumed our nature in order that by becoming man he might \nmake us divine. Moreover\, when he took our flesh he dedicated the whole of its \nsubstance to our salvation. He offered his body to God the Father on the altar \nof the cross as a sacrifice for our reconciliation. He shed his blood for our \nransom and purification\, so that we might be redeemed from our wretched state \nof bondage and cleansed from all sin. But to ensure that the memory of so great \na gift would abide with us forever\, he left his body as food and his blood as drink \nfor the faithful to consume in the form of bread and wine. \nO precious and wonderful banquet that brings us salvation and contains \nall sweetness! Could anything be of more intrinsic value? Under the old law it \nwas the flesh of calves and goats that was offered\, but here Christ himself\, the \ntrue God\, is set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful than this? \nNo other sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away\, \nvirtues are increased\, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every \nspiritual gift. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead\, so that what \nwas instituted for the salvation of all may be of benefit to all. Yet in the end no \none can fully express the sweetness of this sacrament\, in which spiritual delight \nis tasted at its very source\, and in which we renew the memory of that \nsurpassing love for us which Christ revealed in his passion. \nIt was to impress the vastness of this love more firmly upon the hearts of \nthe faithful that our Lord instituted this sacrament at the Last Supper. As he \nwas on the point of leaving the world to go to the Father\, after celebrating the \nPassover with his disciples\, he left it as a perpetual memorial of his passion. It \nwas the fulfillment of ancient figures and the greatest of all his miracles\, while \nfor those who were to experience the sorrow of his departure\, it was destined to \nbe a unique and abiding consolation. \n  \n3 Opusculujm 57 – Feast of Corpus Christi. A Word in Season – vol. III – Exordium Books – \nRiverdale\, MD – pg 2287 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-195/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11983-1717545600-1717631999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Boniface
DESCRIPTION:ST BONIFACE \nThe Apostle of Germany4 \n◊◊◊ \nIn art and religion\, in scholarship and literature\, the Anglo-Saxons of the \neighth century were the leaders of their age. At the time when continental \ncivilization was at its lowest ebb\, the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons marked \nthe turn of the tide. The Saxon pilgrims flocked to Rome as the center of the \nChristian world and the Papacy found its most devoted allies and servants in \nthe Anglo-Saxon monks and missionaries. The foundations of the new age were \nlaid by the greatest of them all\, St Boniface of Crediton\, “the apostle of \nGermany”\, a man who had a deeper influence on the history of Europe than any \nEnglishman who has ever lived. \nUnlike his Celtic predecessors\, he was not an individual missionary\, but \na statesman and organizer\, who was\, above all\, servant of the Roman order. To \nhim is due the foundation of the medieval German Church and the final \nconversion of Hesse and Thuringia\, the heart of the German land. With the help \nof his Anglo-Saxon monks and nuns he destroyed the last strongholds of \nGermanic heathenism and planted abbeys and bishoprics on the site of the old \nFolkburgs and heathen sanctuaries\, such as Buraburg\, Amoneburg\, and Fulda. \nOn his return from Rome in 739 he used his authority as Papal Vicar in Germany \nto reorganize the Bavarian Church and to establish the new dioceses which had \nso great an importance in German history. \nFor Germany beyond the Rhine was still a land without cities\, and the \nfoundation of the new bishoprics meant the creation of new centers of cultural \nlife. It was through the work of St Boniface that Germany first became a living \nmember of the European society. But in addition to this\, Boniface was the \nreformer of the whole Frankish church. The decadent Merovingian dynasty \nhad already given up the substance of its power to the mayors of the palace\, but \nin spite of their military prowess\, which saved France from conquest by the \nArabs in 735\, they had done nothing for culture and had only furthered the \ndegradation of the Frankish Church. Charles Martel had used the abbeys and \nbishoprics to reward his lay partisans\, and had carried out a wholesale \nsecularization of Church property. As Boniface wrote to the Pope\, “Religion is \ntrodden under foot. Benefices are given to greedy laymen or unchaste and \npublican clerics. All their crimes do not prevent their attaining the priesthood; \nat last rising in rank as they increase in sin they become bishops\, and those of \nthem who can boast that they are not adulterers or fornicators\, are drunkards\, \ngiven up to the chase\, and soldiers who do not shrink from shedding Christian \nblood.” \nNevertheless\, the successors of Charles Martel\, Pepin and Carloman\, \nwere favorable to Boniface’s reforms. Armed with his special powers as Legate \nof the Holy See and personal representative of the Pope\, he undertook the \ndesecularization of the Frankish Church. \n  \n4 Dawson\, Christopher. “The Making of Europe”\, New York\, 1956\, pp 185-186.9 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-boniface-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11985-1717632000-1717718399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Norbert
DESCRIPTION:ST NORBERT \nThe Patron of Peace5 \n◊◊◊ \nNorbert is deservedly numbered by historians among those who made an \neffective contribution to the reform movement under Pope Gregory VII. He \nestablished a clergy dedicated to the ideals of the Gospel and the apostolic \nChurch. They were chaste and poor. They wore “the clothing and the symbols \nof the new man; that is to say\, they wore the religious habit and exhibited the \ndignity proper to the priesthood.” Norbert asked them to “live according to the \nnorms of the Scriptures with Christ as their model.” They were “to be clean in \nall matters pertaining to the altar and divine worship\, to correct their faults and \nfailings in their chapter meeting\, and to care for and give shelter to the poor.” \nThe priests lived in community\, where they continued the work of the \napostles. Inspired by the practice of the early Church\, Norbert exhorted the \nfaithful to join the monastic life in some capacity. So many men and women \nresponded to the invitation that many asserted that no man since the apostles \nthemselves had inspired so many to embrace the monastic life. \nWhen Norbert was appointed an archbishop\, he urged his brothers to \ncarry the faith to the lands of the Wends. In his own diocese he tried \nunsuccessfully to convince the clergy of the need for reform and was confronted \nwith noisy protests both in the street and in the church. \nOne of the principal goals of Norbert’s life was to foster harmony between \nthe Apostolic See and the German empire. At the same time he wanted to \nmaintain Rome’s freedom in the matter of ecclesiastical appointments. \n  \nApparently his efforts were so successful that Pope Innocent II thanked him \nprofusely in a letter in which he called him a “devoted son”\, and Lothair made \nhim chancellor of the realm. \nNorbert did all these things with a steadfast faith: “Faith was the \noutstanding virtue of Norbert’s life\, as charity had been the hallmark of Bernard \nof Clairvaux.” Affable and charming\, amiable to one and all\, “he was at ease in \nthe company of the humble and the great alike”. Finally\, he was a most eloquent \npreacher; after long meditation “he would preach the word of God\, and with his \nfiery eloquence purged vices\, refined virtues and filled souls of good will with \nthe warmth of wisdom”. He spent many hours in contemplation of the divine \nmysteries and fearlessly spread the spiritual insights which were the fruit of his \nmeditation. \n  \n5 Dawson\, Christopher. “The Making of Europe”\, New York\, 1956\, pp 185-186.11 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-norbert-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11987-1717718400-1717804799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Sacred Heart of Jesus
DESCRIPTION:A BAPTISM OF BLOOD AND WATER \nFrom a commentary by St Catherine of Siena6 \n◊◊◊ \n“Why\, gentle spotless lamb\, since you were dead when your side was \nopened\, did you want your heart to be pierced and parted?” He answered\, \n“there were plenty of reasons\, but I shall tell you one of the chief. My longing \nfor humanity was infinite\, but the actual deed of bearing pain and torment was \nfinite and could never show all the love I had. This is why I wanted you to see \nmy inmost heart\, so that you would see that I loved you more than finite \nsuffering could show.” \n“By shedding both blood and water I showed you the holy baptism of \nwater that you receive through the power of my blood. But I was also showing \nyou the baptism of blood\, and this in two ways. The first touches those who are \nbaptized in their own blood poured out for me. Though they could not have the \nother baptism\, their own blood has power because of mine. Others are baptized \nin fire when they lovingly desire baptism but cannot have it. Nor is there any \nbaptism of fire without blood\, for blood has been fused with the fire of divine \ncharity\, because it was shed for love. \n“There is a second way the soul receives this baptism of blood\, figuratively \nspeaking. This my divine charity provided because I know how people sin \nbecause of weakness. Not that weakness or anything else can force them to sin \nif they do not want to\, but being weak they do fall into deadly sin and lose the \ngrace they had drawn from the power of the blood in holy baptism. So my divine \ncharity had to leave them an ongoing baptism of blood accessible by heartfelt \ncontrition and a holy confession as soon as they can confess to my ministers \nwho hold the key to the blood. This blood the priest pours over the soul in \nabsolution. \nSo you see\, this baptism is ongoing\, and the soul ought to be baptized in \nit right up to the end\, in the way I have told you. In this baptism you experience \nthat though my act of suffering on the cross was finite\, the fruit of that suffering \nwhich you have received through me is infinite. This is because of the infinite \ndivine nature joined with finite human nature. It was this human nature in \nwhich I was clothed that suffered in me\, the Word. But because the two natures \nare fused with each other\, the eternal Divinity took to itself the suffering I bore \nwith such burning love. \nFor this reason what I did can be called infinite. Not that either the actual \nbodily suffering or the pain of my longing to accomplish your redemption was \ninfinite\, for all of that ended on the cross when my soul left my body. But the \nfruit was infinite that came from my suffering and from my desire for your \nsalvation\, and therefore you receive it without limit. Had it not been infinite\, \nthe whole of humankind\, past\, present and to come\, would not have been \nrestored. Nor could those who sin get up again if this baptism of blood (that is\, \nthe fruit of the blood) had not been given to you without limit. \nI showed you this in the opening up of my side. There you find my heart’s \nsecret and it shows you\, more than any finite suffering could\, how I love you.” \n  \n6 Journey with the Fathers: Commentaries on the Sunday Gospels – Year B. New \nYork: New City Press\, 1999. 70-71.13 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-sacred-heart-of-jesus/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11989-1717804800-1717891199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Immaculate Heart of Mary
DESCRIPTION:THE TEMPLE OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY \nBy St Elizabeth of the Trinity7 \n◊◊◊ \n“The Virgin kept all these things in her heart”: her whole history can be \nsummed up in these few words! It was within her heart that she lived\, and at \nsuch a depth that no human eye can follow her. When I read in the gospel “that \nMary went in haste to the hill country of Judea” to perform her loving service \nfor her cousin Elizabeth\, I imagine her passing by so beautiful\, so calm and so \nmajestic\, so absorbed in recollection of the Word of God within her. Like him \nher prayer was always this: “Ecce\, here I am!” Who? “The servant of the Lord\,” \nthe lowliest of his creatures: she\, his Mother! Her humility was so real for she \nwas always forgetful\, unaware\, freed from self. And she could sing: “The \nAlmighty has done great things for me\, henceforth all peoples will call me \nblessed.” \nThis Queen of virgins is also Queen of martyrs; but again it was in her \nheart that the sword pierced\, for with her everything took place within! Oh! How \nbeautiful she is to contemplate during her long martyrdom\, so serene\, \nenveloped in a kind of majesty that radiates both strength and gentleness. She \nlearned from the Word himself how those must suffer whom the Father has \nchosen as victims\, those whom he has decided to associate with himself in the \ngreat work of redemption\, those whom he “has foreknown and predestined to \nbe conformed to his Christ\,” crucified by love. \nShe is there at the foot of the Cross\, standing\, full of strength and courage\, and \nhere my Master says to me: [“Behold your Mother.”] He gives her to me for my \nMother. And now that he has returned to the Father and has substituted me for \nhimself on the Cross so that “I may suffer in my body what is lacking in his \npassion for the sake of his body\, which is the Church\,” the Blessed Virgin is \nagain there to teach me to suffer as he did\, to tell me\, to make me hear those \nlast songs of his soul which no one else but she\, his Mother\, could overhear. \n  \n7 Complete Works\, vol. 1\, translated by Sr. Aletheia Kane\, OCD\, Washington\, D.C.: ICS Publications\, 1984\, pp. 160-161.15 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-immaculate-heart-of-mary/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11993-1717891200-1717977599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n10th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nJune 9 – 15\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n9\nMon\n10\nTue\n11\nWed\n12\nThu\n13\nFri\n14\nSat\n15\n\n\nOffice\n10th Sunday\nWeekday\nSt Barnabas\nSt Alice\nSt Anthony of Padua\nBl Gerard\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nJudg 7:23-8:21\nJudg 8:22-35\n1 Cor 9:1-18\nJudg 9:1-21\nJudg 9:22-41\nJudg 9:42-57\nJudg 10:6-18\n\n\nLauds\nAmos 3:9-12\nAmos 3:13-15\nActs 4:32-37\nAmos 4:1-5\nAmos 4:6-10\nAmos 4:11-13\nAmos 5:1-6\, 8-9\n\n\nMass\n89\n359\n580\n361\n362\n363\n364\n\n\n1st\nGen 3:9-15\n1 Kgs 17:1-6\nActs 11:21b-26; 13:1-3\n1 Kgs 18:20-39\n1 Kgs 18:41-46\n1 Kgs 19:9a\, 11-16\n1 Kgs 19:19-21\n\n\n2nd\n2 Cor 4:13-5:1\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMark 3:20-35\nMatt 5:1-12\nMatt 10:7-13\nMatt 5:17-19\nMatt 5:20-26\nMatt 5:27-32\nMatt 5:33-37\n\n\nVespers\nPhil 2:1-11\nPhil 2:12-18\nActs 9:23-31\nPhil 3:2-11\nPhil 3:12-16\nPhil 3:17-21\nPhil 4:1-9
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-72/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11995-1717891200-1717977599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 10th Sunday
DESCRIPTION:THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE\nBy an unknown Greek author of the 5th century1 \nThe signs of the Lord’s resurrection are obvious: deception has ceased\, envy has been banished\, strife is despised. Peace is held in honor\, and war has been done away with. No longer do we bewail the Adam who was fashioned first; instead we glorify the second Adam. No longer do we reproach Eve for transgressing God’s command: instead we bless Mary for being the Mother of God. No longer do we avert our eyes from the wood of the tree: instead we carry the Lord’s cross. We no longer fear the serpent: instead we revere the Holy Spirit. We no longer descend into the earth: instead we reascend into heaven. We are no longer exiles from paradise: instead we live in Abraham’s bosom. We no longer hear\, “I have made your day like night”: instead\, inspired by the Holy Spirit\, we sing: This is the day which the Lord has made: let us keep it with gladness and rejoicing. \nWhy should we do so? Because the sun is no longer darkened: instead everything is bathed in light. Because the veil of the temple is no longer rent: instead the Church is recognized. Because we no longer hold palm branches: instead we carry the newly enlightened. \nThis is the day which the Lord has made: let us keep it with gladness and rejoicing. This is the day\, this and no other\, for there is only one queen\, and not a throng of princesses. This is the day in the truest sense: the day of triumph\, the day custom consecrates to the resurrection\, the day on which we adorn ourselves with grace\, the day on which we partake of the spiritual Lamb. This is the day on which milk is given to those born again\, and on which God’s plan for the poor is realized. Let us keep it with gladness and rejoicing\, not by running off to the taverns\, but by hastening to the martyrs’ shrines; not by esteeming drunkenness\, but by loving temperance; not by dancing in the marketplace\, but by singing psalms at home. This day is a day of resurrection\, not of revelry. No one can ascend to heaven dancing; no one in a state of drunkenness can attend upon a king. Let none of us\, therefore\, dishonor this day. \nThis is the day on which Adam was set free\, and Eve delivered from her affliction. It is the day on which cruel death shuddered\, the strength of hard stones was shattered and destroyed\, the bars of tombs were broken and set aside. It is the day on which the bodies of people long dead were restored to their former life\, and the laws of the underworld\, hitherto ever powerful and immutable\, were repealed. It is the day on which the heavens were opened at the rising of Christ the Lord\, and on which\, for the good of the human race\, the flourishing and fruitful tree of the resurrection set forth branches all over the world\, as if the world were a garden. It is the day on which the lilies of the newly enlightened sprang up\, the streams that sustained sinners ran dry\, the strength of the devil is drained away\, and demonic armies are scattered. \nThis\, then is the day which the Lord has made: let us keep it with gladness and rejoicing by the grace of Christ. By his resurrection he has illuminated the whole world\, which was in darkness and in the shadow of death. May glory and adoration be given to him together with the Father and the Holy Spirit for endless ages. \n1 Journey with the Father – Year B – New City Press – 1999 – pg 88-89.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-10th-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11998-1717977600-1718063999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:LET YOURSELF BECOME AN ALTAR STONE\nFrom a homily by Origen2 \nAll of us who believe in Christ Jesus are called ‘living stones’ in the words of scripture: ‘Like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house\, to be a holy priesthood\, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ’. \nYou know that in the case of earthly stones the builder takes care to lay first the strongest and most massive stones as the foundation\, so that the whole weight of the building can rest upon them. The next stones\, of not quite such good quality\, are laid upon the foundation stones; and so on according to the strength of the stone: the weakest are laid at the top\, near the roof. It must be understood that this applies equally to living stones\, some of which are foundations of our spiritual building. Who are these stones that are laid in the foundation? ‘The apostles and prophets’. This is Paul’s teaching: ‘Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets\, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone. \nTo prepare yourselves more zealously…to construct this building\, to be one of the stones near the foundation\, you must realize that Christ himself is the foundation of the building which we are describing. Paul the Apostle declares this to be so: ‘No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid\, which is Jesus Christ’. Happy are they who have built holy\, religious buildings on so noble a foundation. \nNow in this building which is the Church there must be an altar. Moreover I believe that there are among you those who as ‘living stones’ are able to become an altar–those of you who have resolved to dedicate yourselves to prayer\, to offer God supplications day and night\, and to immolate your sacrifices–and that\, it is with you that Jesus builds his altar. \nThink of the worth to be discerned in altar stones. ‘Joshua built an altar\, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses\, of unhewn stones\, upon which no one has lifted an iron tool’. What do you think these unhewn stones represent? It is for each one’s conscience to tell whether he or she is whole and perfect\, whether one has integrity\, whether one is without impurity or spot… To my mind\, those whole and spotless stones must be the holy apostles who together form but one stone because of their unity of heart and soul. Indeed it is said that they ‘all with one accord devoted themselves to prayer’\, and that they said: ‘Lord\, who knowest the hearts of all’. For those who can pray with one accord\, with one voice and one spirit\, are indeed worthy to have been built together into a single altar on which Jesus offers sacrifices to his father. But we for our part\, we too must ensure that we all agree and are united in the same mind and same judgment; that we ‘do nothing from selfishness or conceit’ but live ‘having the same love\, and of one mind’. So let us too try to become altar stones. \n2 Homilies IX\, 1-2: PG 12\, 871-872.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-196/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:12000-1718064000-1718150399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Barnabas
DESCRIPTION:ST BARNABAS\nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints3 \nAlthough St Barnabas was not one of the twelve chosen by our Lord\, yet he is styled an apostle by the early fathers and by St Luke himself on account of the special commission he received from the Holy Spirit and the great part he took in apostolic work. He was a Jew of the tribe of Levi\, but was born in Cyprus. His name was originally Joseph\, but the apostles changed it to Barnabas – which St Luke interprets as meaning “man of encouragement”. \nThe first mention we find of him in the Holy Scriptures is in the fourth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles\, where it is stated that the first converts at Jerusalem lived in common and that as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and laid the proceeds at the feet of the apostles for distribution. St. Barnabas’s sale of his estate is singled out for mention on this occasion. When Paul came to Jerusalem three years after his conversion the faithful were suspicious of the genuineness of this conversion\, and avoided him. It was Barnabas who then “took him by the hand “and vouched for him among the other apostles. \nSome time later\, certain disciples having preached the Gospel with success at Antioch\, it was thought desirable that someone be sent by the Church in Jerusalem to guide and confirm the neophytes. The man selected was Barnabas – “a good man\, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith”\, as we read in the Acts. Upon his arrival he rejoiced exceedingly at the progress the gospel had made and by his preaching added greatly to the number of converts. Finding himself in need of an able assistant he went to Tarsus to enlist the cooperation of St. Paul\, who accompanied him back and spent a whole year at Antioch. Their labors were crowned with success\, and it was in that city and at this period that the name “Christians” was first given to the followers of the Lord. \nThe Holy Spirit said to the apostles “Separate me Paul and Barnabas for the work for which I have taken them.” Accordingly\, after all had prayed and fasted\, Paul and Barnabas received their commission by the laying on of hands and set forth on their first missionary journey. A miraculous cure wrought by St Paul upon a cripple at Lystra led the pagan inhabitants to conclude that the gods were come among them. They hailed Paul as Hermes or Mercury because he was the chief speaker\, and Barnabas as Zeus or Jupiter. But with the proverbial fickleness of the mob\, they soon rushed to the other extreme and stoned Paul. \nAt the Council of Jerusalem Paul and Barnabas gave a full account of their labors among the Gentiles and received approbation of their mission. Later a contention arose between Paul and Barnabas over John Mark and they separated\, Paul proceeding on his projected tour with Silas\, while Barnabas sailed to Cyprus with John Mark. Here the Acts leave him without further mention. He is said to have been stoned to death at Salamis. \n3 Butler’s Lives of the Saints – revised edition – Harper – San Francisco – 1984 – pg 176.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-barnabas/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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