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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240129
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240130
DTSTAMP:20260403T194013
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
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240130
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240131
DTSTAMP:20260403T194013
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
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240131
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240201
DTSTAMP:20260403T194013
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
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240201
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240202
DTSTAMP:20260403T194013
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
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240202
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240203
DTSTAMP:20260403T194013
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
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240203
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240204
DTSTAMP:20260403T194013
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
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240204
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240205
DTSTAMP:20260403T194013
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
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240204
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240205
DTSTAMP:20260403T194013
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:20260403T194013
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
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240206
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240207
DTSTAMP:20260403T194013
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
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UID:11556-1707264000-1707350399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE HOLY SPIRIT BESTOWS \nTHE UNDERSTANDING OF FAITH \nFrom a treatise by William of St Thierry4 \n◊◊◊ \nIf your whole being hesitates before the all too profound mysteries \nof faith\, say without fear\, not in disagreement but out of a desire to obey\, \n“How can this be?” Let your question be a prayer\, let it be love\, devotion\, \nhumble desire. Do not let it look haughtily at the divine majesty\, but seek \nfor salvation in the means of salvation which the God of our deliverance \nprovides. Then the Angel of great Counsel will answer you: “When the \nCounsellor comes whom I shall send to you from the Father\, …he will \nbear witness to me and will teach you all things: all truth will come to you \nfrom the Spirit of truth.” “Who\, for example\, knows one’s own innermost \nself but one’s own spirit within him? Similarly\, no one knows what lies at \nthe depths of God but the Spirit of God.” \nHasten\, then\, to come into communion with the Holy Spirit: and he \nis invoked only when he is present. When called upon\, he comes; he \narrives in the abundance of divine blessings. It is he who is the swift- \nflowing river which makes glad the city of God. At his coming\, if he finds \nyou humble and free from anxiety\, reflecting on the word of God\, he will \nrest upon you and reveal to you what God hides from the wise and prudent \nof this world. You will then be enlightened by all the things which \nWisdom\, when on earth\, could have said to the disciples\, but which they \ncould not bear before the coming of the Spirit of truth who would lead \nthem into all truth. \nTo receive and learn this truth\, it is useless to expect from the mouth \nof another human person what one was not able to receive or learn from \nthe lips of the Truth himself. For as this Truth declared\, “God is Spirit”; \nand just as those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth\, \nso those who desire to know him must seek only in the Holy Spirit to \nunderstand faith and the meaning of this pure and unalloyed truth. \nIn the darkness and ignorance of this life the Holy Spirit is himself\, \nfor the poor in spirit\, the light which lightens\, the love which attracts\, the \ngentleness which charms\, the love of one who loves\, the piety of one who \ngives himself without reserve. It is he who from one conviction to another\, \nreveals the justice of God to those who believe; he gives grace for grace \nand enlightenment for the faith which “comes from hearing. \n  \n4 THE MIRROR OF FAITH; PL 180\, 384-D.9 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-155/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11558-1707350400-1707436799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:THE DIVINE CALL \nFrom a book by Hans Urs von Balthasar5 \n◊◊◊ \nChristian revelation is primarily a revelation of hearing\, not of seeing. \nAlthough the image of seeing is not excluded – for “we see now through a mirror \nin an obscure manner”; wisdom\, when it appears\, is the “mirror … and image” \nof the divine goodness; and Christ is “the image of the invisible God” so that\, in \nseeing him\, we also see the Father – nevertheless the comparison with hearing \nis the dominant one in revelation: the Second Person is heard primarily as \n“Word” – and faith in him comes by hearing. \nThe hearing of the Word is by no means a temporary substitute for the \nseeing that is wanting to us here below. On the contrary\, it is the lasting proof \nthat God never is and never will be a mere “object” of knowledge to us\, but is \nrather the infinitely sovereign majesty of a Trinity of Persons that makes itself \nknown in whatever way and to whomever it wills. That God speaks to us in his \npersonal word is a greater grace than that we are allowed to see him: That we \nare deemed worthy of his word is the grace of graces that makes us partners in \na divine\, even Trinitarian\, conversation. That the word of God is spoken to us is \nthe highest revelation and honor the personal God can bestow upon us\, for it \npresumes that God considers us capable of understanding his word through the \ngift of his grace and of possessing the Spirit who “searches all things\, even the \ndeep things of God\, that we may know all things that have been given us by \nGod”. \nSo tremendous is this grace that the creature thus addressed by God must \nforget its own wishes and desires\, even its longing for “eternal happiness” and \nfor the “vision of God” so that\, trembling in the depths of its being\, it may fall to \nthe ground and hear his voice only to ask: “What shall I do\, Lord?” \nBut one who has been thrown to the ground by the impact of this \ncompelling voice is also “set upon his feet” by it. When God speaks\, He wants a \npartner. He wants one who is erect\, who\, hearing his voice\, is yet able to stand \nupon his feet and answer: “…I fell upon my face\, and I heard the voice of the one \nthat spoke. And he said to me: Son of man\, stand upon your feet\, and I will speak \nto you. And the Spirit entered into me after he spoke to me\, and he set me upon \nmy feet; and I heard him speaking to me…”. When God speaks personally\, he \nwants to be understood personally; when he utters his personal word into the \nworld\, he wants that word to be returned to him\, not as a dead echo\, but as a \npersonal response from his creature in an exchange that is genuinely a dialogue \neven though it can be conducted only in the unity of the divine Word that \nmediates between the Father and us. But just as that divine Word proceeds from \nthe Father\, yet is not the Father\, but only declares the Father\, so the creature \ncan give back to the Father this word it has received by uttering itself in it – or \nbetter\, by letting itself be uttered by it. \n  \n5 The Christian State of Life – Hans Urs von Balthasar – Ignatius Press – San Francisco – 1983 – \npg 393.11 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-11/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11560-1707436800-1707523199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THANKFULNESS IN OUR EVERYDAY LIVES \nFrom a sermon by St John Henry Newman6 \n◊◊◊ \nIt would be well if we were in the habit of looking at all we have as God’s \ngift\, undeservedly given\, and day by day continued to us solely by his mercy. He \ngave; He may take away. He gave us all we have\, life\, health\, strength\, reason\, \nenjoyment\, the light of conscience; whatever we have good and holy within us; \nwhatever faith we have; whatever of a renewed will; whatever love towards him; \nwhatever power over ourselves; whatever prospect of heaven. He gave us \nrelatives\, friends\, education\, training\, knowledge\, the Bible\, the Church. All \ncomes from him. He gave; he may take away. Did he take away\, we should be \ncalled on to follow Job’s pattern\, and be resigned: “The Lord gave\, and the Lord \nhas taken away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.” While he continues his \nblessings\, we should follow David and Jacob\, by living in constant praise and \nthanksgiving\, and in offering up to him of his own. \nWe are not our own\, any more than what we possess is our own. We did \nnot make ourselves; we cannot be supreme over ourselves. We cannot be our \nown masters. We are God’s property by creation\, by redemption\, by \nregeneration. He has a triple claim upon us. Is it not our happiness thus to view \nthe matter? Is it any happiness\, or any comfort\, to consider that we are our \nown? It may be thought so by the young and prosperous. These may think it a \ngreat thing to have everything\, as they suppose\, their own way\, — to depend on \nno one\, — to have to think of nothing out of sight\, — to be without the \nirksomeness of continual acknowledgment\, continual prayer\, continual \nreference of what they do to the will of another. But as time goes on\, they\, as all \nothers\, will find that independence was not made for man — that it is an \nunnatural state — may do for a while\, but will not carry us on safely to the end. \nNo\, we are creatures; and\, as being such\, we have two duties\, to be resigned and \nto be thankful. \nLet us then view God’s providences towards us more religiously than we \nhave hitherto done. Let us try to gain a truer view of what we are\, and where we \nare\, in his kingdom. Let us humbly and reverently attempt to trace his guiding \nhand in the years which we have hitherto lived. Let us thankfully commemorate \nthe many mercies he has vouchsafed to us in time past\, the many sins he has \nnot remembered\, the many dangers he has averted\, the many prayers he has \nanswered\, the many mistakes he has corrected\, the many warnings\, the many \nlessons\, the much light\, the abounding comfort which he has from time to time \ngiven. Let us dwell upon times and seasons\, times of trouble\, times of joy\, times \nof trial\, times of refreshment. \nHow did he cherish us as children? How did he guide us in that dangerous \ntime when the mind began to think for itself\, and the heart to open to the world! \nHow did he with his sweet discipline restrain our passions\, mortify our hopes\, \ncalm our fears\, enliven our heaviness\, sweeten our desolateness\, and strengthen \nour infirmities! How did he gently guide us towards the strait gate! How did he \nallure us along his everlasting way\, in spite of its strictness\, in spite of its \nloneliness\, in spite of the dim twilight in which it lay! He has been all things to \nus. He has been\, as he was to Abraham\, Isaac\, and Jacob\, our God\, our shield\, \nand great reward\, promising and performing\, day by day. \n  \n6 Parochial and Plain Sermons\, San Francisco: Ignatius Press\, 1987\, pp. 1003-1005.13 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-156/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11562-1707523200-1707609599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Scholastica
DESCRIPTION:THE LIFE OF ST SCHOLASTICA \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints7 \n◊◊◊ \nSt Scholastica\, who was St Benedict’s sister\, traditionally his twin\, \nconsecrated herself to God from her earliest years\, as we learn from St Gregory. \nIt is not known where she lived\, whether at home or in a community\, but after \nher brother had moved to Monte Cassino\, she settled at Plombariola in that \nsame neighborhood\, probably founding and ruling a nunnery about five miles \nto the south of St Benedict’s monastery. St. Gregory tells us that St. Benedict \ngoverned the nuns as well as the monks\, and it seems clear that St Scholastica \nmust have been their Abbess\, under his direction. She used to visit her brother \nonce a year and\, since she was not allowed to enter his monastery\, he used to go \nwith some monks to meet her at a house a little way off. They spent these visits \nin praising God and in conferring together on spiritual matters. \nSt. Gregory gives a remarkable description of the last of these visits. After \nthey had passed the day as usual they sat down in the evening to have supper. \nWhen it was finished\, Scholastica\, possibly foreseeing that it would be their last \nvisit in this world\, begged her brother to delay his return till the next day that \nthey might spend the time discoursing of the joys of Heaven. Benedict\, who was \nunwilling to transgress his rule\, told her that he could not pass a night away \nfrom the monastery. When Scholastica found that she could not move him\, she \nlaid her head upon her hands which were clasped together on the table and \nbesought God to interpose on her behalf. Her prayer was scarcely ended when \nthere arose such a violent storm of rain that St. Benedict and his companions \nwere unable to set foot outside the door. He exclaimed\, “God forgive you sister; \nwhat have you done?” Whereupon she answered\, “I asked a favor of you and \nyou refused it. I asked it of God\, and He has granted it.” Benedict was therefore \nforced to comply with her request\, and they spent the night talking about holy \nthings. The next morning they parted\, and three days later St. Benedict saw the \nsoul of his sister rising to heaven like a dove. \n  \n7 Butler’s Lives of the Saints \, pg 42\, edited by Michael Walsh – revised version \, Harper Collins\, San Francisco\, \n1991.15 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-scholastica-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11569-1707609600-1707695999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema: 6th Week in Ordinary Time
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n6th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nFebruary 11 – 17\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n11\nMon\n12\nTue\n13\nWed\n14\nThu\n15\nFri\n16\nSat\n17\n\n\nOffice\n6th Sunday\nBl Humbeline\nOffice for the Dead\nAsh Wednesday\nThursday after Ash Wednesday\nFriday after Ash Wednesday\nSaturday after Ash Wednesday\n\n\nVigils\nJosh 10:1-15\nJosh 10:16-27\nJosh 10:28-43\nIsa 58:1-14\nDeut 1:1-25\nDeut 1:26-46\nDeut 2:24-3:7\n\n\nLauds\nWis 4:20-5:5\nWis 5:6-13\nWis 5:15-23\nSir 17:22-32\nExod 1:6-14\nExod 1:15-22\nExod 2:1-10\n\n\nMass\n77\n335\n336\n219\n220\n221\n222\n\n\n1st\nLev 13:1-2\, 44-46\nJas 1:1-11\nJas 1:12-18\nJoel 2:12-18\nDeut 30:15-20\nIsa 58:1-9a\nIsa 58:9b-14\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 10:31-11:1\n\n\n2 Cor 5:20-6:2\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMark 1:40-45\nMark 8:11-13\nMark 8:14-21\nMatt 6:1-6\, 16-18\nLuke 9:22-25\nMatt 9:14-15\nLuke 5:27-32\n\n\nVespers\nGal 3:1-9\nGal 3:10-14\nGal 3:15-22\nRom 5:1-11\nHeb 1:1-9\nHeb 1:13-2:4\nHeb 2:5-9
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-6th-week-in-ordinary-time/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11571-1707609600-1707695999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
DESCRIPTION:PURIFIED BY FAITH\nFrom a commentary by Paschasius Radbertus 1\n◊◊◊\nHowever great our sinfulness\, each one of us can be healed by God\nevery day. We have only to worship him with humility and love\, and wherever\nwe are\, to say with faith: Lord\, if you want to you can make me clean. It is by\nbelieving from the heart that we are justified\, so we must make our petitions\nwith utmost confidence\, and without the slightest doubt of God’s power. If\nwe pray with a faith springing from love\, God’s will need be in no doubt. He\nwill be ready and able to save us by an all-powerful command. He\nimmediately answered the leper’s request\, saying: I do want to. Indeed\, no\nsooner had the leper begun to pray with faith than the Savior’s hand began\nto cure him of his leprosy. \nThis leper is an excellent teacher of the right way to make petitions. He\ndid not doubt the Lord’s willingness through disbelief in his compassion\, but\nneither did he take it for granted\, for he knew the depths of his own\nsinfulness. Yet because he acknowledged that the Lord was able to cleanse\nhim if he wished\, we praise this declaration of firm faith just as we praise the\nLord’s mighty power. For obtaining a favor from God rightly depends as\nmuch on having a real living faith as on the exercise of the Creator’s power\nand mercy. If faith is weak\, it must be strengthened\, for only then will it\nsucceed in obtaining health of body or soul. The Apostle’s words\, purifying\ntheir hearts by faith referred\, surely\, to strong faith like this. And so if the\nhearts of believers are purified by faith\, we must give thought to this virtue\nof faith\, for\, as the Apostle says\, Anyone who doubts is like a wave in the sea. \nA faith shown to be living by its love\, steadfast by its perseverance\,\npatient by its endurance of delay\, humble by confession. Strong by its\nconfidence\, reverent by its way of presenting petitions\, and discerning with\nregard to their content – such a faith may be certain that in every place it will\nhear the Lord sating: I do want to. \nPondering this wonderful reply put the words together in their proper\nsequence. The leper began: Lord\, if you want to\, and the Savior said: I do\nwant to. The leper continued: You can make me clean\, and the Lord spoke\nhis powerful word of command: Be clean. All that the sinner’s true confession\nmaintained with faith\, love and power immediately conferred. And in case\nthe gravity of his sins should make anyone despair\, another Evangelist says\nthis man who was cured had been completely covered with leprosy. For all\nhave sinned and forfeited the glory of God. Since\, as we rightly believe\, God’s\npower is operative everywhere\, we ought to believe the same of his will\, for\nhis will is that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. \n1 \nJourney with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – 1999 – pg 80-81.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/6th-sunday-in-ordinary-time/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11573-1707696000-1707782399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Blessed Humbeline
DESCRIPTION:BLESSED HUMBELINE\nFrom the Life of St Bernard 2\n◊◊◊\nFrom earliest childhood Humbeline and Bernard had been drawn together\nby a special bond of affection and sympathy\, due to identity of interests and tastes.\nAfter her marriage\, forgetful of her mother’s example and exhortations\, she began\nto follow the fashions of the world. In 1117 she came to Clairvaux surrounded with\nall the splendor of dress and attendants that unlimited wealth could bestow\,\nthinking\, so it seems\, that she was doing her brother honor. Her brother Andrew\,\nthe porter\, in announcing her arrival\, did not omit to describe to his Abbot the\npomp and ceremony that attended her. It grieved Bernard to hear that his beloved\nsister had become a worshipper at the shrine of vanity. He refused to see her\nhimself\, nor would he allow any of his brothers to see her\, but told Andrew to tell\nher from him that with these worldly ornaments she was making herself the devil’s\ninstrument for the ruin of immortal souls. Andrew delivered the message\, adding\non his own: “Why so much solicitude to embellish a body destined for worms and\nrottenness\, while the soul that now animates it is burning in everlasting flames?” \nHumbeline burst into tears\, crying out: “I deserve it all because I am a\nsinner. Yet it is for such as I that Christ suffered on the Cross. Indeed it is because\nof my sinfulness that I seek counsel and encouragement from the saints. If my\nbrother Bernard\, who is the servant of God\, despises my body\, let him at least have\npity on my soul. Let him come; let him command; and whatever he thinks proper\nto enjoin I am prepared to carry out.” \nThere was no resisting such an appeal. Bernard and his brothers hastened\nto meet her and to confirm her in these good dispositions. It was the holy Abbot’s\ndesire that she should enter religion; but as this was unlawful without her\nhusband’s consent\, he recommended her to live as much as possible like a recluse\nin the world\, shunning ostentation and all kinds of vanity\, and devoting herself\,\nafter her mother’s example\, to the service of God and the poor. She promised to do\nso. \nFive years later\, in 1122\, having obtained after much resistance her\nhusband’s consent\, she left the world altogether and entered the convent of Jully\nwhere Elizabeth\, her sister-in-law was superioress. When the latter went forth\nabout 1130 to found a new convent in the neighborhood of Dijon\, Humbeline was\nappointed to succeed her. Under her direction the house flourished greatly; the\nnoblest ladies of the land sought admission in such numbers that she was forced\nto make about a dozen new foundations. She rivaled Bernard himself in her love of\nthe Cross. Of food and sleep she allowed herself much less than the minimum\nwhich nature demands; her clothes were the meanest she could find\, and it was her\nhappiness to be employed in the humblest occupations. When her nuns begged her\nto be more careful of her health\, which seemed in danger of breaking down under\nsuch austere practices\, she replied: “For you\, my dear sisters\, whose lives have been\nconsecrated to the service of God\, this is an excellent counsel. But for me\, who have\nlived so long amidst worldly vanities\, no kind of penance can be excessive.”…\nHer last hours were consoled by the presence of three of her brothers\,\nBernard\, Andrew and Nivard… When about to breathe her last she looked with a\nradiant smile at Bernard and said: “Oh\, how happy I am to have followed your\ncounsel and consecrated myself to God! And what a beautiful reward I expect to\nreceive for the love I have entertained for you in this life! It is to that love that I\nowe the joy and glory awaiting me in the homeland.” Then turning to the others\nshe cried out: “I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the\nhouse of the Lord.” With these words\, she gave up her spirit. \n2 Life and Teaching of St Bernard by Ailbe J. Luddy\, O. Cist.\, pg. 68-69\, M.H. Gill & Son\, Dublin\, 1937.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/blessed-humbeline/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20240210T230106Z
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UID:11575-1707782400-1707868799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Office For the Dead
DESCRIPTION:CHRIST WILL DRAW ALL PEOPLE TO HIMSELF\nFrom a sermon by St Athanasius of Antioch 3\n◊◊◊\n“To this end Christ died and rose to life that he might be Lord both of the\ndead and of the living. But God is not God of the dead\, but of the living.” \nThat is why the dead\, now under the dominion of one who has risen to\nlife\, are no longer dead but alive. Therefore life has dominion over them and\,\njust as Christ having been raised from the dead\, will never die again\, so too they\nwill live and never fear death again. When they have been thus raised from the\ndead and freed from decay\, they shall never again see death\, for they will share\nin Christ’s resurrection just as he himself shared in their death. \nThat is why Christ descended into the underworld\, with its imperishable\nprison-bars: to shatter the doors of bronze and break the bars of iron and\, from\ndecay\, to raise our life to himself by giving us freedom in place of servitude. \nBut if this plan does not yet appear to be perfectly realized – for people\nstill die and bodies still decay in death – this should not occasion any loss of\nfaith. For\, in receiving the first-fruits\, we have already received the pledge of all\nthe blessings we have mentioned; with them we have reached the heights of\nheaven\, and we have taken our place beside him who has raised us up with\nhimself\, as Paul says: In Christ God has raised us up with him\, and has made us\nsit with him in the heavenly places. \nAnd the fulfillment will be ours on the day predestined by the Father\,\nwhen we shall put off our childish ways and come to perfect manhood. For this\nis the decree of the Father of the ages: the gift\, once given\, is to be secure and\nno more to be rejected by a return to childish attitudes. \nThere is no need to recall that the Lord rose from the dead with a spiritual\nbody\, since Paul in speaking of our bodies bears witness that they are sown as\nanimal bodies and raised as spiritual bodies: that is\, they are transformed in\naccordance with the glorious transfiguration of Christ who goes before us as our\nleader. \nThe Apostle\, affirming something he clearly knew\, also said that this\nwould happen to all peoples through Christ\, who will change our lowly body to\nmake it like his glorious body. \nIf this transformation is a change into a spiritual body and one\,\nfurthermore\, like the glorious body of Christ\, then Christ rose with a spiritual\nbody\, a body that was sown in dishonor\, but the very body that was transformed\nin glory. \nHaving brought this body to the Father as the first-fruits of our nature\, he\nwill also bring the whole body to fulfillment. For he promised this when he said:\nI\, when I am lifted up\, will draw all people to myself. \n3 Oratio 5\, de Resurrectione Christi\, 6-7\,9: PG 89\,1358-1359. 1361-1362. From the Liturgy of the Hours vol. III\, p. 1886.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/office-for-the-dead/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11577-1707868800-1707955199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Ash Wednesday
DESCRIPTION:RETURN WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART\nFrom a homily by St Faustus of Riez 4\n◊◊◊\nOur Lord and Savior exhorts us through the prophet and advises us how\nwe ought to come to Him after many negligences\, saying: “Come let us bow\ndown in worship\, let us kneel before the Lord who made us”; and again: “Return\nto me with your whole heart\, with fasting\, with weeping and mourning”. If we\nnotice carefully\, dearest brethren\, the holy days of Lent signify the life of the\npresent world\, just as Easter prefigures eternal bliss. Now just as we have a kind\nof sadness in Lent in order that we may rightly rejoice at Easter\, so as long as\nwe live in this world we ought to do penance in order that we may be able to\nreceive pardon for our sins in the future and arrive at eternal joy. Each one\nought to sigh over his own sins\, shed tears and give alms in such a way that with\nGod’s help he may always try to avoid the same faults as long as he lives. Just as\nthere never has been\, is not now\, and never will be a soul without slight sins\, so\nwith the help and assistance of God we ought to be altogether without serious\nsins. \nNow in order that we may obtain this\, if burdens of the world keep us\noccupied at other times\, at least during the holy days of Lent let us reflect on the\nlaw of the Lord\, as it is written\, by day and by night. Let us so fill our hearts with\nthe sweetness of the divine law that we leave no place within us devoid of virtues\nso that vices could occupy it. Just as at the time of the harvest or\nvintage…enough is gathered so that the body may be fed\, so during the days of\nLent as at a time of spiritual harvest or vintage we ought to gather the means\nwhereby our soul may live forever. Whenever a careless person fails to gather\nanything at the time of harvest or vintage\, he will be distressed by hunger\nthroughout the entire space of the year. In the same way if anyone at this season\nneglects to provide and gather spiritual wheat and heavenly wine in the\nstorehouse of his soul by fasting\, reading and prayer\, he will suffer forever the\nmost severe thirst and cruel want. Know for sure\, dearest brethren\, that the soul\nwhich is not fed continuously by the word of God is like a body which receives\nfood only after many days. Just as the body becomes thin and dehydrated\,\nalmost like a shadow\, through hunger and want\, so the soul which is not fed on\nGod’s word is found to be parched and useless\, fit for no good work. Consider\,\nbrethren\, if every year we fill the barn and wine cellar and storehouse in order\nthat our body may have food for one year\, how much do you think we ought to\nstore up so that our soul may be nourished forever? \n4 St Caesarius of Arles\, Sermons\, vo. 3\, The Fathers of the Church\, vol. 66\, Catholic University of America Press\,\nWashington DC\, 1973\, pg. 48.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/ash-wednesday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20240210T230827Z
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UID:11579-1707955200-1708041599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Thursday After Ash Wednesday
DESCRIPTION:NOW IS THE TIME\nFrom a sermon by St Leo the Great 5\n◊◊◊\n“Behold\, now is the acceptable time; behold now is the day of salvation”.\nFor though there is no season that is not filled with the divine gifts\, and though\nat each moment we have\, through His grace\, access to the Divine Mercy\, yet\nnow is the time in which the souls of all mortals should be stirred with greater\nfervor towards spiritual perfection\, and inspired with greater confidence; now\nwhen the return of that day when we were redeemed invites us once more to the\nfulfillment of all our sacred duties\, so that purified in body and soul we may\ncelebrate the supreme Mystery of the Passion of Our Lord. Indeed such\nunending reverence and unceasing devotion is due to these sacred mysteries\,\nthat we should ever be in the Presence of God as we now are obliged to be for\nthe worthy celebration of the Paschal Feast. \nBut since there are few that have this strength of soul\, and since because\nof the weakness of our flesh\, the more severe observance is relaxed\, and since\nthe manifold duties of the present life take up so much of our care\, it will happen\nthat even the most devout of heart are stained with the dust of earth.\nAccordingly\, with great solicitude has this divine means been given us\, so that\nthese forty days of reflection may assist us to restore the purity of our souls\, and\nso that during them we may by good works make satisfaction for our past sins\,\nand by devout mortification purge ourselves of them. \nAs we are therefore beginning this sacred season\, dedicated to the\npurification of the soul\, let us be careful to fulfill the Apostolic command that\n“we cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and of the spirit”\, so that\nrestraining the conflict that exists between the one and the other substance\, the\nsoul\, which in the Providence of God is meant to be the ruler of the body\, may\nregain the dignity of its rightful authority\, so that\, giving offence to no one\, we\nmay not incur the punishment of evildoers. For the sum total of our fasting does\nnot consist in merely abstaining from food. In vain do we deny our body food if\nwe do not withhold our heart from iniquity\, and restrain our lips that they speak\nno evil. \nWe must then so moderate our rightful use of food that our other desires\nmay be subject to the same rule. For this is also a time for gentleness and\npatience\, a time of peace and serenity\, in which having put away all stains of evil\ndoing we strive after steadfastness in what is good. Now is the time when\ngenerous Christian souls forgive offences\, pay no heed to insults\, and wipe out\nthe memory of past injuries. Now let the Christian soul exercise itself in the\narmor of justice\, on the right hand and on the left\, so that amid honor and\ndishonor\, evil report and good\, the praise of men will not make proud the virtue\nthat is well rooted\, the conscience that has peace\, nor dishonor cast it down.\nThe moderation of those who worship God is blameless. \n5 The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers\, vol. 2\, Henry Regnery Co\, Chicago\, 1958\, pg. 29.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/thursday-after-ash-wednesday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11581-1708041600-1708127999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Friday After Ash Wednesday
DESCRIPTION:THIS FAST OF FORTY DAYS\nFrom a sermon by St Maximus the Confessor 6\n◊◊◊\nWe must accept with all reverence…the sacred days of Lent\, and not recoil\nbecause of the length of the season; for the longer the days of our fasting\, the\ngreater the grounds of our forgiveness; the longer the time of our self-denial\,\nthe greater the price paid for our soul’s salvation; the severer the treatment of\nour wounds\, the more sure the healing of our offences. For God who is the\nPhysician of our souls has instituted an appropriate time; sufficient for the just\nto make reparation and for sinners to ask for mercy; the one praying for peace\,\nthe other imploring pardon.\nFor the days of Lent are suited to our purposes; not short\, so that we may\nplead in prayer; not long\, for our need to gain merit. For in this fast of forty days\nany offence may be wiped out\, and the severity of any judge softened. The time\nmay be long and tedious for the one neither pleads for his sins\, nor hopes for\nforgiveness. For he who despairs will neither confess his sins\, nor hope in the\nmercy of the Judge. \nHoly and salutary therefore is the time of Lent\, in which the Judge is\nmoved to mercy\, the sinner to repentance\, and the just to peace. For in these\ndays the Divinity is inclined to be more merciful\, the sinner to repent\, and grace\nto be obtained. All things are now prepared: the heavens to pardon\, the sinner\nto confess\, the tongue to plead. \nMystical and salutary is this number forty. For when in the beginning the\niniquity of mortals covered the earth\, God\, dissolving the clouds of heaven for \nthe space of this number of days\, covered the whole earth with a flood. You see\nthen already that in this time the Mystery is put before us in Figure. For as it\nthen rained for forty days\, to cleanse the world\, so now it also happens. Yet the\ndeluge of those days must be called a mercy; in that through it iniquity was\ncrushed\, and justice upheld. For it took place out of mercy\, to deliver the just\,\nand that the wicked might no longer sin. We see clearly it was through mercy it\ncame\, as a sort of baptism\, in which the face of the earth was renewed; that is\,\nso that mortals who wallowed in the dreadful sin of those abandoned might\ncome to grace in the dwelling of Noah\, and so that he who was then an abode of\niniquity\, might become a dwelling of holiness. \nHoly and dedicated is this time of forty days\, which immediately from the\nbeginning began to divide the just from the unjust; and by a kind of judgment\nseparate the good from the bad. And this takes place even in our time of forty\ndays. For in these forty days the good are divided from the bad\, that is\, the\nchaste from the unchaste\, the temperate from the intemperate\, the Christian\nfrom the heathen. The wicked\, as I say\, are separated from the good\, that is\, the\nsinner from the just\, the devil from the saint\, the heretic from the faithful. For\nthose others are lost\, as in the Flood\, in the disaster of this world\, while the\nChurch alone\, with all its virtues\, is like the Ark sustained above the deep. \n6 The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers\, vol. 2\, Henry Regnery Co. Chicago\, 1958\, pg 92.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/friday-after-ash-wednesday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11583-1708128000-1708214399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Saturday After Ash Wednesday
DESCRIPTION:LIFE RISES THROUGH DEATH\nFrom “The Eternal Year” by Fr Karl Rahner 7\n◊◊◊\nThere is a distance of God that permeates the pious and the impious\, that\nperplexes the mind and unspeakably terrifies the heart. The pious do not like to\nadmit it\, because they suppose that such a thing should not happen to them\n(although the Lord himself cried out\, “My God\, my God\, why have you forsaken\nme?”); and the others\, the impious\, draw false consequences from the admitted\nfacts. \nIf this God-distance of choked-up hearts is the ultimate bitterness of the\nfasting season of our life\, then it is fitting to ask how we are to deal with it\,\nand…how we can today celebrate the fasting season of the Church. For when\nthe bitter God-distance becomes a divine service\, the fasting season of the world\nchanges into the fasting season of the Church. \nThe first thing we have to do is this: stand up and face this God-distance\nof a choked-up heart. We have to resist the desire to run away from it either in\npious or in worldly business. We have to endure it without the narcotic of the\nworld\, without the narcotic of sin or of obstinate despair. What God is really far\naway from you in this emptiness of heart? Not the true and living God; for he is\nprecisely the intangible God\, the nameless God; and that is why he can really be\nthe God of your measureless heart. Distant from you is only a God who does not\nexist: a tangible God\, a God of our small thoughts and our cheap\, timid feelings\,\na God of earthly security\, a God whose concern is that the children don’t cry and\nthat philanthropy doesn’t fall into disillusion\, a very venerable – idol! That is\nwhat has become distant… \nDo not be frightened over the loneliness and abandonment of your\ninterior dungeon\, which seems to be so dead – like a grave. For if you stand firm\n– this is already a wonder of grace – then you will suddenly perceive that your\ngrave-dungeon only blocks the futile finiteness; you will become aware that\nyour deadly void is only the breadth of God’s intimacy\, that the silence is filled\nup by a word without words\, by the one who is above all name and is all in all.\nThat silence is God’s silence. It tells you that God is there. \nThat is the second thing you should do in your despair: notice that God is\nthere. Know with faith that he is with you. Perceive that for a long time now he\nhas been waiting for you in the deepest dungeon of your blocked-up heart\, and\nthat for a long time he has been quietly listening to you\, even though you\, after\nall the busy noise that we call our life\, do not even let him get a word in edgewise\,\nand his words to the person-you-were-until-now seem only deadly silence. You\nshall see that you by no means make a mistake if you give up your anxiety over\nyourself and your life\, that you by no means make a mistake if you relax your\nhold on self\, that you are by no means crushed with despair if once and for all\nyou despair of yourself\, of your wisdom and strength\, and of the false image of\nGod that is snatched away from you… \nIf we do this\, then peace comes all by itself. Peace is the most genuine\nactivity: the silence that is filled with God’s word\, the trust that is no longer\nafraid\, the sureness that no longer needs to be assured\, and the strength that is\npowerful in weakness – it is\, then\, the life that rises through death… \n7 The Eternal Year\, K. Rahner\, Helicon: Baltimore MD 1964. pp 68ff.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/saturday-after-ash-wednesday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T194013
CREATED:20240217T143418Z
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UID:11590-1708214400-1708300799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema\, 1st Week of Lent
DESCRIPTION:  \n\n\n\nBiblical Readings for Office and Mass\n1st Week of Lent\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nFebruary 18 – 24\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n18\nMon\n19\nTue\n20\nWed\n21\nThu\n22\nFri\n23\nSat\n24\n\n\nOffice\n1st Sunday of Lent\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\nChair of St Peter\nLenten Weekday\nLenten Weekday\n\n\nVigils\nDeut 3:18-4:8\nDeut 4:9-24\nDeut 4:25-40\nDeut 4:44-5:21\nActs 11:1-18\nDeut 6:4-25\nDeut 7:1-11\n\n\nLauds\nExod 2:23-3:6\nExod 3:7-10\nExod 3:11-15\nExod 3:16-22\nNum 27:15-23\nExod 5:1-5\nExod 6:2-9\n\n\nMass\n23\n224\n225\n226\n535\n228\n229\n\n\n1st\nGen 9:8-15\nLev 19:1-2\, 11-18\nIsa 55:10-11\nJonah 3:1-10\n1 Pet 5:1-4\nEzek 18:21-28\nDeut 26:16-19\n\n\n2nd\n1 Pet 3:18-22\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMark 1:12-15\nMatt 25:31-46\nMatt 6:7-15\nLuke 11:29-32\nMatt 16:13-19\nMatt 5:20-26\nMatt 5:43-48\n\n\nVespers\nHeb 2:10-18\nHeb 3:1-6\nHeb 3:7-13\nHeb 3:14-19\nActs 4:8-13\nHeb 4:12-16\nHeb 5:1-10\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-1st-week-of-lent/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11592-1708214400-1708300799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:1 st Sunday of Lent
DESCRIPTION:PREPARE YOUR SOUL FOR AN ORDEAL \nFrom a commentary by John Justus Landsberg 1\n◊◊◊\nEverything the Lord Jesus decided to do\, everything he chose to endure\,\nwas ordained by him for our instruction\, our correction\, and our advantage\, and\nsince he knew that the teaching and consolation we should derive from it all was\nfar from negligible\, he was loath to let slip any opportunity that might profit us.\nAnd so when he was led out into the wilderness there is no doubt that his guide\nwas the Holy Spirit whose intention was to take him to a place where he would\nbe exposed to temptation\, a place where the devil would have the audacity to\naccost him and put him to the test. The circumstances were so greatly in the\ndevil’s favor that he was prompted to capitalize on them; here was Jesus alone\nat prayer\, physically worn out by fasting and abstinence. A chance indeed to\nfind out whether this man really was the Christ\, whether or not he was the Son\nof God. \nFrom this episode therefore our first lesson is that human life on earth\nis a life of warfare\, and the first thing Christians must expect is to be tempted\nby the devil. As Scripture tells us\, we have to be prepared for temptation\, for it\nis written: When you enter God’s service\, prepare your soul for an ordeal. For\nthis reason\, the Lord desires that newly baptized and recent converts too find\ncomfort in his own example. Reading in the gospel that Christ too was tempted\nby the devil immediately after he was baptized\, they will not grow fainthearted\nand fearful if they experience keener temptations from the devil after their\nconversion or baptism than before – even if persecution should be their lot. \nThe second lesson Christ desires to impress upon us by his own example\nis that we should not lightly expose ourselves to temptation\, for we read that it\nwas the Holy Spirit who led Jesus into the wilderness. Mindful of our frailty\nrather\, we must be on the watch\, praying not to be put to the test\, and keeping\nourselves clear of every occasion of temptation. \n1\nJourney with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – 1999 – pg 82-83.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/1-st-sunday-of-lent/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T194013
CREATED:20240217T144318Z
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UID:11594-1708300800-1708387199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Lenten Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE LIGHT OF LENT \nBy Thomas Merton 2\n◊◊◊\nThere is confidence everywhere in Lent\, yet that does not mean unmixed\nand untroubled security. The confidence of the Christian is always a confidence\nin spite of darkness and risk\, in the presence of peril\, with every evidence of\npossible disaster. “Let us amend for the better in those things in which we have\nsinned through ignorance: lest suddenly overtaken by the day of death we seek\nspace for repentance and are not able to find it.” The last words are sobering\nindeed. And note\, it is the sins we have not been fully aware of that we must\namend. Once again\, Lent is not just a time for squaring conscious accounts: but\nfor realizing what we had perhaps not seen before. The light of Lent is given us\nto help us with this realization… \nNevertheless the liturgy of Lent is not focused on the sinfulness of the\npenitent but on the mercy of God. The question of sinfulness is raised precisely\nbecause this is a time of mercy\, and the just do not need a Savior. Nowhere will\nwe find more tender expressions of the divine mercy than at this season. His\nmercy is kind… How good are these words of Wisdom in a time when on all\nsides the Lord is thought by mortals to be a God who hates. Those who deny\nHim say they do so because evil in the world could be the work only of a God\nthat hated the world. \nBut even those who profess to love Him regard Him too often as a furious\nFather\, who seeks only to punish and revenge Himself for the evil that is done\n“against Him” – One who cannot abide the slightest contradiction but will\nimmediately mark it down for retribution\, and will not let a farthing of the debt\ngo unpaid. \nThis is not the God\, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ\, who Himself\n“hides” our sins and gets them out of sight\, like a mother making quick and\nefficient repairs on the soiled face of a child just before entering a house where\nhe ought to appear clean. The words of the Lenten liturgies know Him only as\nthe “God who desires not the death of the sinner”\, “who is moved by\nhumiliation and appeased by satisfaction”. He is everywhere shown to us as\n“plenteous in mercy”. \nAnd from the infinite treasure of His mercies He draws forth the gift of\ncompunction. This is a sorrow without servile fear\, which is all the more deep\nand tender as it receives pardon from the tranquil\, calm love of the merciful\nLord… The God of Lent is like a calm sea of mercy. In Him there is no anger.\nThis “hiding” of God’s severity is not a subterfuge. It is a revelation of His true\nnature. He is not severe\, and it is not theologically accurate to say that He\nbecomes angry\, that He is moved to hurt and to punish. \nHe is love. Love becomes severe only to those who make Him severe for\nthemselves. Love is hard only to those who refuse Him. It is not\, and cannot be\nLove’s will to be refused. Therefore it is not and cannot be Love’s will to be\nsevere and punish. But it is the very nature of Love that His absence is sorrow\nand death and punishment. His severity flows not from His own nature but\nfrom the fact of our refusal. Those who refuse Him are severe to themselves\,\nand immolate themselves to the blood-thirsty god of their own self-love. It is\nfrom this idol that Love would deliver us. To such bitter servitude\, Love would\nnever condemn us. \n2 Seasons of Celebration – Farrar\, Straus & Giroux – NY – 1965 – pg. 118.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/lenten-weekday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20240217T144805Z
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UID:11596-1708387200-1708473599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Lenten Weekday
DESCRIPTION:REND YOUR HEARTS\, \nBUT KEEP YOUR GARMENTS WHOLE \nFrom a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux \n3\n◊◊◊\nIf you grieve for your sin or your neighbor’s\, you do well\, and this sadness\nleads to salvation. If you rejoice at the gifts of grace\, this is a holy joy and a true\njoy in the Holy spirit. You must rejoice in the love of Christ with your brothers\,\nin their successes and grieve with them in adversity\, as it is written: Rejoice with\nthose who rejoice\, weep with those who weep. \nThis does not mean that we should value lightly the physical turning. As\nwe know\, it is no small support for the spiritual. That is why when the Lord had\nsaid “with all your heart” here\, he immediately added “with fasting”\, for that is\nof the body. Yet I would have you warned\, my brothers\, that that means not only\nabstaining from food\, but from all fleshly lusts and all bodily pleasures; indeed\nyou must fast from vices far more than from food. But there is a bread from\nwhich I do not wish you to fast lest you faint on the way; if you do not know\nwhat it is\, I am speaking of the bread of tears. The text goes on\, with fasting\,\nwith weeping\, and with mourning. It demands mourning of us by way of\nrepentance for our former way of life; it demands weeping with desire for future\nbeatitude. You do not have sufficient cravings for the joys to come if you do not\nbeg for them every day with tears; if your soul does not refuse comfort until they\ncome\, then you know too little of them. \nLet the Spirit rend your heart with his sword\, which is the Word of God;\nlet him rend it and speedily shatter it into many fragments. There is no way to\nturn to the Lord with all your heart except your heart be rent. Listen to one\nwhom God found to be after his own heart. My heart is ready\, O God\, my heart\nis ready\, he says – ready for both adversity and prosperity\, ready for what is\nlow and what is lofty; ready for whatever you command. Who is faithful as David\nin his going out and coming in? He used to say of sinners\, Their heart is curdled\nlike milk\, but I have meditated on your law. This is the reason for hardness of\nheart and obstinacy of mind\, that someone does not meditate on the law of the\nLord but on his own will. \nLet us rend our hearts\, dearly beloved\, but keep our garments whole. Our\ngarments are our virtues; love is a good garment\, obedience is a good garment.\nHappy is the one who cares for these garments that he may not walk naked.\nHappy are those whose sins are covered; love covers a multitude of sins. Let\nus rend our hearts\, as was said before\, that we may keep our garments whole\,\nas was our Savior’s tunic. The rending of the heart not only keeps the garment\nwhole\, but also makes it long and of many colors\, like the coat the holy patriarch\nJoseph gave the son whom he loved more than the others. From this comes\nperseverance in virtue\, from this the many-colored unity of a beautiful way of\nlife. \nWe may also take this rending of the heart in another way; if the heart is\nwicked it may be rent by confession; if hard\, by compassion. Is not an ulcer rent\nso that the diseased matter may flow out? Is not the heart rent to overflow in\ncompassion? Both rendings are expedient\, that the poison of sin may not be\nhidden in the heart\, and we may not shut off our compassion from our\nneighbor’s need\, that we may receive mercy from Our Lord Jesus Christ\, who is\nover all\, blessed forever. \n3 Bernard of Clairvaux – Sermons for Lent – Cistercian Fathers Series – #52 – Collegeville\, MN –\npg. 34.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/lenten-weekday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20240217T145232Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240217T145232Z
UID:11598-1708473600-1708559999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Lenten Weekday
DESCRIPTION:CAST YOUR CARE UPON THE LORD\nFrom a sermon by St Leo the Great 4\n◊◊◊\nApostolic teaching\, Beloved\, exhorts us that we put off the old man with\nhis deeds\, and renew ourselves from day to day by a holy manner of life. For if\nwe are the temple of God\, and if the Holy Spirit is a Dweller in our souls\, as the\nApostle says: You are the temple of the living God; we must strive with all our\nvigilance that the dwelling of our heart be not unworthy of so great a Guest. And\njust as in houses made with hands\, we see to it with praiseworthy diligence that\nwhatever may be damaged\, either through the rain coming in\, or by the wind in\nstorms\, or by age itself\, is promptly and carefully repaired\, so must we with\nunceasing concern take care that nothing disordered be found in our souls\, that\nnothing unclean be found there. For though this dwelling of ours does not\nendure without the support of its Maker\, nor would the structure be safe\nwithout the watchful care of the Builder\, nevertheless\, since we are rational\nstones\, and living material\, the Hand of our Maker has so fashioned us\, that\neven he who is being repaired may cooperate with his Maker. \nLet human obedience then not withdraw itself from the grace of God\, nor\nturn away from that Good without which it cannot be good. And should it find\nin the fulfillment of His commands something that is difficult to accomplish or\nbeyond its powers\, let it not remain apart\, but rather turn to Him who\ncommands us\, and Who has laid on us this precept that He may both help us\nand awaken in us the desire of Him\, as the Prophet tells us: Cast your care upon\nthe Lord\, and He will sustain you. Or perhaps there is someone who prides\nhimself beyond due measure\, and who imagines himself to be so untouched\, so\nunblemished\, that he has now no need to renew himself such a belief is wholly\ndeceiving\, and he will grow old in folly. All things are filled with dangers\, filled\nwith snares. Desires inflame us\, allurements lie in wait for us\, the love of gain\nbeguiles us\, losses frighten us. \nBut in holding fast to virtue\, so faltering is our control\, so uncertain our\ndiscernment\, that though a person may observe with the utmost fidelity the\nlines between what is good and what is bad\, it is difficult for the person of\nupright conscience to escape the wounding tongue of the slanderer\, or for one\nwho loves justice to avoid the reproaches of the wicked. \nWhen\, dearly beloved\, should we more fittingly have recourse to the\ndivine remedies than when\, by the very law of time\, we are once again reminded\nof the mysteries of our redemption? And that we may the more worthily\ncommemorate them\, let us earnestly prepare ourselves by these days of Lent.\nFor as the apostle says: Whoever thinks that he stands\, let him take heed lest\nhe fall\, no one is sustained by such strength of mind that he can be certain of\nhis own constancy in virtue. \n4 The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers – vol. 2 – Henry Regnery Co – Chicago – 1958 – pg 125.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/lenten-weekday-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11600-1708560000-1708646399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Chair of St. Peter
DESCRIPTION:THE CHAIR OF ST PETER \nBy St John Henry Newman 5\n◊◊◊\nThe very first act of the Apostles after Christ was gone out of their sight\, was the\nordination of Matthias in the place of the traitor Judas. That ordination is related very\nminutely. Every particular of it is full of instruction; but at present I wish to draw attention\nto one circumstance more especially: namely\, the time when it occurred. It was contrived\n(if one may say so) exactly to fall within the very short interval which elapsed between the\ndeparture of our Lord\, and the arrival of the Comforter in His place: on that ‘little while\,’\nduring which the Church was comparatively left alone in the world. Then it was that St\nPeter rose and declared with authority\, that the time was come for supplying the vacancy\nwhich Judas had made. ‘One\,’ said he\, ‘must be ordained;’ and without delay they proceeded\nto the ordination. Of course\, St Peter must have had from our Lord express authority for\nthis step. Otherwise it would seem most natural to defer a transaction so important until the\nunerring Guide\, the Holy Spirit\, should have come among them\, as they knew he would in\na few days. \nOn the other hand\, since the Apostles were eminently Apostles of our Incarnate\nLord\, since their very being\, as Apostles\, depended entirely on their personal mission from\nhim…one should naturally have expected that he himself before his departure would have\nsupplied the vacancy by personal designation. But we see it was not his pleasure to do so.\nAs the Apostles afterwards brought on the ordination sooner\, so he had deferred it longer\nthan might have been expected. Both ways it should seem as if there were a purpose of\nbringing the event within those ten days\, during which\, as I said\, the church was left to\nherself; left to exercise her faith and hope\, much as Christians are left now\, without any\nmiraculous aid or extraordinary illumination from above. Then\, at that moment of the New\nTestament history in which the circumstances of believers corresponded most nearly to\nwhat they have been since miracles and inspiration ceased\, — just at that time it pleased our\nLord that afresh Apostle should be consecrated\, with authority and commission as ample\nas the former enjoyed. In a word\, it was his will that the eleven Disciples alone\, not himself\npersonally\, should name the successor of Judas; and that they chose the right person\, he\ngave testimony very soon after\, by sending his Holy Spirit on St Matthias\, as richly as on\nSt John\, St James\, or St Peter. \n5 Tracts For the Times\, Vol.ii No.52.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/chair-of-st-peter/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11602-1708646400-1708732799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Lenten Weekday
DESCRIPTION:BEHOLD\, NOW IS THE ACCEPTABLE TIME \nFrom a sermon of St Aelred of Rievaulx 6 \n◊◊◊ \nThese forty days are called an acceptable time and named a day of salvation\, because during these days the Lord cleanses and sanctifies his church through fasting. That is why the Lenten fast was established by the holy fathers\, so that whatever is lacking in us during the year may be purified and made clean for the remaining times\, generally by fasting in this holy observance… \nMoses fasted for forty days and nights so that he would merit to receive the law. And through fasting he merited to have an audience before God and to see God face to face. So let anyone who desires to approach the Lord love fasting… Although we do not presume to investigate secret and profound mysteries of divinity\, let us nonetheless gain acquaintance with God as much as we can. To do so we must still prepare and train ourselves; that way we might contemplate God here as through a mirror and obscurely\, and in the future we might see him face to face… \nThat forgiveness of sins is given generously through fasting\, we see manifestly among the Ninevite penitents who took refuge in repentance and reconciled themselves to God through fasting… when the Lord had threatened them\, through the prophet\, with death and overthrow of the city. In fact\, the wise king also learned to avoid the danger; having laid aside royal finery and sitting in ashes\, he exhausted his flesh with fasting\, ordering not only human beings but even beasts to fast and to cry out to God through fasting with courage. Thus they evaded the overturn of the Ninevite city and peril of death… \nEven Christ\, King and Lord of prophets\, who founded and sanctified fasting\, before he was tempted by the devil fasted forty days and nights\, to teach that the adversary is to be overcome through fasting. The Lord let an example for us\, so if we want a full victory over the devil\, the world and the flesh\, then let us take refuge in the weapons of fasting\, by which the devil is slaughtered\, the world is conquered\, and every attachment of the flesh is expelled… \nFinally we must offer to God repentance in all of our sacrifices\, always repenting that we either overlooked the good or continued in evil… Because therefore the measure of repentance must be weighted according to the measure of sin\, it is necessary to produce fruit repentance. If your suffering in correction is less than was your enjoyment in the fault\, then the fruit of your repentance is not worthy… \nStill\, so that a sinning conscience might be consoled\, the method and measure of exterior repentance have been set; as the conscience is satisfied and perfected you begin to have confidence\, and with a certain holy anticipation in the hope of divine mercy\, you have confidence pardon and forgiveness of sins\, so the more truly then — the more sincerely you fulfill the imposed repentance… To the extent that we attain full and perfect pardon we may also merit eternal glory. \n6 Aelred of Rievaulx. The Liturgical Sermons: The Reading-Cluny Collection\, 1 of 2 – Sermons 85-133. Trans. Daniel Griggs. Collegeville\, MN: Cistercian Publications\, 2021. 108-115.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/lenten-weekday-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11604-1708732800-1708819199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Lenten Weekday
DESCRIPTION:GOD’S LOVE POURED OUT\nFrom a commentary by Origen 7\n◊◊◊\nSt. Paul has told us that the love of God has been poured into our hearts\nby the Holy Spirit. Now in his desire to demonstrate the power of that love more\nfully\, he gives us the convincing proof that it was not for good people but for\nsinners that Christ died. It is indeed true that we were sinners before we turned\nto God and that our Lord Jesus Christ laid down his life for us before we believed\nin him. This he surely could not have done without an immense love for us\,\neither the love that he himself showed by dying for sinners or the love God the\nFather showed by giving his only Son for our redemption. \nFew people would give their lives even for a just person\, and all of us face\ndeath with reluctance\, even in a just cause. How great a Savior we have\, then\,\nand how deeply we ought to ponder his love for us! It is a clear proof of his\ndivine goodness that when the time appointed came\, he did not hesitate to\nsuffer and die for the wicked and unjust. In the gospel it is said that no one is\ngood but God the Father; and so unless our Savior had been his Son\, sharing in\nthe Father’s very substance\, he could not have shown such great goodness\ntoward us. By this proof\, therefore\, we can recognize in him that good man for\nwhom someone might have the courage to die. \nOnce people have understood the extent of Christ’s goodness toward\nthem and his love has been poured into their hearts\, they will long not only to\ndie for this good man Christ\, but to die voluntarily. In fact we often see this\nhappen\, when Christians whose hearts are overflowing with love for Christ\npresent themselves before their persecutors of their own free will and with the\nutmost courage\, confessing the name of Christ in the presence of angels and\nmen for the whole world to hear. Not only do they have the courage to suffer\ninjustice for the name of this good man\, but for his sake they are even ready to\ngive their lives. Few would do this even for a just person\, since our love of this\nmortal life is so great that even in a just cause hardly anyone can bear to die.\nOnly for God’s sake will people have the courage to submit to death of their own\nfree will. For any other reason they can scarcely endure it\, even in the cause of\njustice and in obedience to the law of nature. \nGod has proven his love for us; it was while we were still sinners that\nChrist died for us. Since we are justified by the shedding of his blood\, how can\nwe doubt that he will save us from the wrath to come? \nThe Apostle has told us that at the appointed time Christ died for the\nwicked. Now he is showing us how this reveals God’s immeasurable love for the\nhuman race. If the love of God for ungodly sinners was so great that he could\ngive his only Son for their salvation\, he says\, how much more abundantly will\nhis love be poured out upon those who have turned to him in repentance and\nwhom he has redeemed by his Son’s own blood. \n7 Origen\, Lib.4\,10-11; PG 14\, 997-999.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/lenten-weekday-5/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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