BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey - ECPv6.17.1//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20250309T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20260308T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20261101T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20270314T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20271107T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/Chicago
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0600
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:CDT
DTSTART:20250309T080000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0600
TZNAME:CST
DTSTART:20251102T070000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0600
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:CDT
DTSTART:20260308T080000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0600
TZNAME:CST
DTSTART:20261101T070000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0600
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:CDT
DTSTART:20270314T080000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0600
TZNAME:CST
DTSTART:20271107T070000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260801
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260802
DTSTAMP:20260726T120218Z
CREATED:20260726T120218Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260726T120218Z
UID:15301-1785542400-1785628799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Alphonsus Ligouri
DESCRIPTION:A reading by Jean Delumeau on \nST ALPHONSUS LIGOURI \n◊◊◊ \nAlphonsus’ destiny was not an ordinary one. Born into the Neapolitan \nnobility [in 1696]\, the son of a military man\, a highly gifted student who was \ndrawn to music\, painting\, drawing\, and architecture\, he became a lawyer at \nsixteen. Naples admired this brilliant young man…who mingled with the finest \nintellects of the city. The Neapolitans were surprised when he became a priest \nagainst the will of his authoritarian father\, and utterly amazed when they \ndiscovered him in the poorest neighborhoods\, preaching to the illiterate in \nremarkable evening sermons. \nOne day\, to the surprise of nearly everyone\, he fled from Naples on a \ndonkey to consecrate his life to preaching missions in the most abandoned rural \nareas. But it was difficult to found a new religious congregation [since] there \nwere already too many secular and regular priests and too many convents in this \npoor and badly administered country. He had to return to Naples far more often \nthan he wanted to plead as a lawyer for the survival of his fragile institution\, [the \nRedemptorists]. Badly shaved or unshaven\, he argued endlessly\, in his patched \ncassock\, with government ministers who respected him and considered him a \nsaint but who did not always give in to him. \n[Once established in the rural areas\, he found] that country-people\, and \nparticularly those from the most backward regions\, were under-Christianized\, \n[and he] decided to devote [his] life to them and forbade [his] disciples to \npreach in the big cities. [He] did not neglect even the most modest hamlets and \neliminated all embellishments and complexities from [his] preaching. [He] \ninsisted more on catechism than on eloquence and aimed at simplicity with \nsimple people. This was the reason for [his] popularity. \nAlphonsus’ originality lay in the fact that he was a musician\, having \nfrequented as a boy the Oratorians in Naples who preserved and developed the \nmusical tradition started by Saint Philip Neri… \nTwo tragic paradoxes marked the last thirty-five years of his life. He had \nsworn to himself that he would not become a bishop\, but he had to accept the \nnomination on direct orders from Rome\, where echoes of his saintliness had \nspread. Having finally succeeded in resigning from the bishopric for health \nreasons\, he had hoped to end his days peacefully among his [religious] “sons”. \nBy the time of his death [in 1787\, at 91 years of age]\, he had been excluded\, \ntogether with his Neapolitan brothers\, from the Congregation he had founded. \nRome recognized only the Redemptorists of the Papal States and excluded from \nthe Congregation those who continued to live and work further south. \nIt was not easy to be a saint\, not easy to cut oneself off from a brilliant \nsocial milieu\, or to go against a father’s will\, or to argue inch-by-inch with \nChurch and State. Above all it was not easy to fight against oneself as Alphonsus \ndid\, for he was by nature quick-tempered and strong-willed. He was very hard \non himself\, but his spiritual message to others was one of trust\, hope and \nmoderation. He was tormented by scruples but he tried to preserve others from \nthem. He gained self-mastery through fasting\, mortification\, work\, and lack of \nsleep\, so that he was generally seen by others as having a “heavenly face…gentle\, \njoyful\, and kind.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-alphonsus-ligouri-5/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260731
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260801
DTSTAMP:20260726T115707Z
CREATED:20260726T115707Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260726T115707Z
UID:15296-1785456000-1785542399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Ignatius of Loyola
DESCRIPTION:A reading from the Papal Bull of Pope Paul III\, \nAPPROVING THE JESUIT ORDER \n◊◊◊ \nOf Late we have learned that our beloved sons Ignatius of Loyola\, Peter \nFaber\, James Laynez\, Francis Xavier\, Claude le Jay [and others]\, priests\, \nmasters of arts\, and graduates of the University of Paris\, and students of some \nyears’ standing in theology\, inspired\, as they piously believe\, by the Holy Spirit\, \nassembled together and forming an association\, forsook the allurements of the \nage to dedicate their lives to the perpetual service of our Lord Jesus Christ and \nof ourselves and our successors\, the Roman pontiffs. \nNow for many years they have labored nobly in the vineyard of the Lord\, \npublicly preaching the word of God under a tentative license\, privately \nexhorting the faithful to a good and blessed life and stimulating them to holy \nthoughts\, assisting in hospitals\, instructing the young and ignorant in the truths \nessential for the development of a Christian\, and performing all these offices of \ncharity and acts for the consolation of souls with great approbation in whatever \nlands they have visited. \nThen\, gathering in this beautiful city and remaining within its confines in \norder to complete and preserve the union of their society in Christ\, they have \ndrawn up a rule of life in accordance with the principles which they have learned \nby experience will promote their desired ends\, and in conformity with \nevangelical precepts and the canonical sanctions of the fathers. The tenor of the \naforesaid rule is as follows: \nHe who desires to fight for God under the banner of the cross in our society — \nwhich we wish to distinguish by the name of Jesus – and to serve God alone and \nthe Roman pontiff\, his vicar on earth\, after a solemn vow of perpetual chastity\, \nshall set this thought before his mind\, that he is a part of a society founded for \nthe special purpose of providing for the advancement of souls in Christian life \nand doctrine and for the propagation of the faith through public preaching and \nthe ministry of the word of God\, spiritual exercises and deeds of charity\, and in \nparticular through the training of the young and ignorant in Christianity and \nthrough the spiritual consolation of the faithful of Christ in hearing confessions; \nand he shall take care to keep first God and next the purpose of this organization \nalways before his eyes.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-ignatius-of-loyola-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260730
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260731
DTSTAMP:20260726T115515Z
CREATED:20260726T115515Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260726T115515Z
UID:15294-1785369600-1785455999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST JOHN HENRY NEWMAN \n◊◊◊ \nPersons are aware from the mere force of the doctrines of which the \ngospel consists\, that they ought to be variously affected\, and deeply and \nintensely too\, in consequence of them. The doctrines of original and actual sin\, \nof Christ’s divinity and atonement\, and of holy baptism\, are so vast\, that no one \ncan realize them without very complicated and profound feelings. Natural \nreason tells us this\, and that if we simply and genuinely believe the doctrines\, we \nmust have these feelings; and we profess to believe the doctrines absolutely\, and \ntherefore we profess the correspondent feelings. But in truth we perhaps do not \nreally believe them absolutely…and therefore our profession of feeling outruns \nthe real inward existence of feeling\, or we become unreal. Let us never lose sight \nof two truths\, – that we ought to have our hearts penetrated with the love of \nChrist and full of self-renunciation; but if they be not\, professing that they are \ndoes not make them so. \nAnother still more common form of the same fault\, yet without any \ndefinite pretense or effort\, is the mode in which people speak of the shortness \nand vanity of life\, the certainty of death\, and the joys of heaven. They have \ncommonplaces in their mouths\, which they bring forth upon occasions for the \ngood of others\, or to console them\, or as a proper and becoming mark of \nattention towards them. Thus they speak to clergymen in a professedly serious \nway\, making remarks true and sound\, and in themselves deep\, yet unmeaning \nin their mouths; or they give advice to children and young men; or perhaps in \nlow spirits or sickness they are led to speak in a religious strain as if it was \nspontaneous. \nOr when they fall into sin\, they speak of being frail\, of the deceitfulness of \nthe human heart\, of God’s mercy\, and so on: – all of these great words\, heaven\, \nhell\, judgment\, mercy\, repentance\, works\, the world that now is\, the world to \ncome\, being little more than “lifeless sounds\, whether of pipe or harp\,” in their \nmouths and ears\, as the “very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and \ncan play well on an instrument\,” – as the properties of conversation\, or the \ncivilities of good breeding. \nI am speaking of the conduct of the world at large\, called Christian; but \nwhat has been said applies\, and necessarily\, to the case of a number of well- \ndisposed or even religious men. I mean\, that before we come to know the \nrealities of human life\, it is not wonderful that our view of religion should be \nunreal. Young people who have never known sorrow or anxiety\, or the sacrifices \nwhich conscientiousness involves\, want commonly that depth and seriousness \nof character\, which sorrow only and anxiety and self-sacrifice can give. \nI do not notice this as a fault\, but as a plain fact\, which may often be seen\, \nand which it is well to bear in mind. This is the legitimate use of this world\, to \nmake us seek for another. It does its part when it repels us and disgusts us and \ndrives us elsewhere. Experience of it gives experience of that which is its \nantidote\, in the case of religious minds; and we become real in our view of what \nis spiritual by the contact of things temporal and earthly.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-453/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260729
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260730
DTSTAMP:20260726T115354Z
CREATED:20260726T115354Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260726T115354Z
UID:15292-1785283200-1785369599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - SS Martha\, Mary & Lazarus
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX \n◊◊◊ \nHe who is our life hastens to a tomb to lead out of the tomb someone four \ndays dead. He seeks Lazarus so he might be sought and found by him. In this is \ncharity\, not that we loved him\, but that he first loved us. Come then\, Lord\, seek \nhim whom you love\, that you may make him love and seek you. Ask where they \nhave laid him\, for he lies captive\, bound\, and burdened… \nBut what of this: Lord\, he now stinks\, for it is the fourth day? Maybe \nsomeone doesn’t immediately get the meaning of this stinking and of these four \ndays. I think the first day is the day of fear. By its brilliance in our hearts we die \nto sin and\, as it were\, are buried in our conscience. The second day\, if I am not \nmistaken\, is spent in strife. It is usually true that in the first stages of \nconversion\, temptation to bad habits rises up more fiercely\, and the fiery darts \nof the devil cannot easily be extinguished. The third seems to be one of grief\, \nwhen a person looks back upon his life in bitterness of soul and does not so \nmuch work for a change of direction in the future as bewail a lamentable past. \nAre you surprised that I call these days? But such as these are destined for \nthe grave\, days of mist and darkness\, days of grief and bitterness. There follows \na day of shame\, not unlike the other three\, when the pitiful soul is covered in \ndreadful confusion while it looks unceasingly at its sins\, considering their \nnature and magnitude\, and under the gaze of the heart it keeps mulling over the \ndisgraceful images of its sins. A soul of this kind doesn’t dissemble but judges; it \npiles up everything… \nTherefore\, Lazarus\, come forth. Deep calls to deep\, the deep of light and \npity\, the deep of misery and darkness. His goodness is greater than your \niniquity\, and where there is abundance of sin\, he gives abundance of grace. \nLazarus\, come forth\, he says. And if he were to speak more openly\, he would say \n“How long will the darkness of your conscience hold you back? How long will \nyou weep in your bed with a heavy heart? Come forth\, advance\, breathe freely of \nthe light of my pity…” \nThe prophet sings more plainly in the Psalms about this raising of \nLazarus\, you will not leave my soul in hell\, because…the consciousness of a \nguilty mind is an imprisoning hell. You will not leave your holy one – not a \nholiness that is his own\, obviously\, but yours\, the one you yourself make holy – \nto see corruption. Indeed the fourth day is near to corruption\, for he began to \nstink. \nHe was approaching complete decay and entering the abyss of evil where \nthe impious reviles. But when the powerful voice comes and he is brought back \nto life by it\, he gives thanks\, saying\, you have shown me the path of life\, you \nhave filled me with joy in your presence. You have called me to contemplate it; \nyou have led my soul out of the depths while my spirit within me was troubled \nby seeing the dreadful face of my conscience. He called with a loud voice\, says \nthe gospel\, Lazarus\, come forth: in a loud voice surely filled not so much with \nsound as with piety and great strength.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-ss-martha-mary-lazarus-5/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260728
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260729
DTSTAMP:20260726T115142Z
CREATED:20260726T115142Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260726T115142Z
UID:15290-1785196800-1785283199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “On Contemplating God” by \nWILLIAM OF ST THIERRY \n◊◊◊ \nMay all unrighteousness take its departure from my soul\, that I may love \nthe Lord my God with all my heart\, and with all my soul\, and with all my \nstrength! Let all jealousy depart from me\, lest I should love anything along with \nyou that I do not love for your sake\, true Lord and only Love! For when I love \nanything for your sake\, I love not it\, but you for whose sake I love that which I \nlove. For you truly only are the Lord. To be ruled by you is for us salvation. For \nus to serve you is nothing else but to be saved by you! \nNow how is it we are saved by you\, O Lord\, from whom salvation comes \nand whose blessing is upon your people\, if it is not in receiving from you the gift \nof loving you and being loved by you? That\, Lord\, is why you willed that the Son \nof your right hand\, the Man whom you made strong for your own self\, should be \ncalled Jesus\, that is to say\, Savior\, for he will save his people from their sins. \nThere is no other in whom is salvation except him who taught us to love himself \nwhen he first loved us\, even to death on the cross. By loving and holding us so \ndear he stirred us up to love himself\, who first had loved us to the end. This is the \nrighteousness of the sons of men: “Love me\, for I love you.” \nOne seldom meets a person who can say: “I love you\, in order that you \nmay love me!” But\, as the servant of your love proclaims and preaches\, you who \nfirst loved us did this\, precisely this. You first loved us so that we might love you. \nAnd that was not because you needed to be loved by us\, but because we could \nnot be what you created us to be\, except by loving you. \nHaving then in many ways and on various occasions spoken to the fathers \nby the prophets\, now in these last days you have spoken to us in the Son\, your \nWord\, by whom the heavens were established\, and all the power of them by the \nbreath of his mouth. For you to speak thus in your Son was an open declaration\, \na “setting in the sun” as it were\, of how much and in what sort of way you loved \nus\, in that you spared not your own Son\, but delivered him up for us all. Yes\, and \nhe himself loved us and gave himself for us. \nThis\, Lord\, is your word to us\, this is your all-powerful message: he who\, \nwhile all things kept silence (that is\, were in the depths of error)\, came from the \nroyal throne\, the stern opponent of error and the gentle apostle of love. And \neverything he did and everything he said on earth\, even the insults\, the spitting\, \nthe buffeting\, the cross and the grave\, all that was nothing but yourself speaking \nin the Son\, appealing to us by your love and stirring up our love for you… \nSitting upon your throne and judging righteous judgment\, you judge the \nrighteousness that you yourself have made. Thus will every mouth be shut\, and \nthe whole world be made subject to God\, when you have pity on him on whom \nyou will have pity\, and extend mercy to him to whom you will be merciful. We \ncould not with justice have been saved\, had we not loved you\, nor could we have \nloved you\, save by your gift. You willed\, therefore\, that we should love you. So\, \nLord\, as the Apostle of your love tells us\, and as we ourselves have said before\, \nyou “first loved us”; and you love all your lovers first.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-452/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260727
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260728
DTSTAMP:20260726T115020Z
CREATED:20260726T115020Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260726T115020Z
UID:15288-1785110400-1785196799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nFR KARL RAHNER \n◊◊◊ \nEvery earthly institution wants to make good; it measures its internal self- \njustification in terms of its palpable\, immediate chances of total victory. But to \nChristianity and the Church her Founder promised not only that she would \nendure until the end of time but\, just as clearly\, that his work would always be a \nsign of contradiction and persecution\, of dire and (in secular terms) desperate \ncombat; that love would grow cold; that he\, in his disciples\, would be persecuted \nin the name of God; that the struggle would narrow down to an ever more \ncritical point; that the victory of Christianity would not be the fruit of immanent \ndevelopment and widening and a steady\, progressive leavening of the world but \nwould come as the act of God coming in judgment to gather up world history \ninto its wholly unpredictable and unexpected end. \nThis permanent state of contradiction\, foretold to the Church and the \nChristian as a “must\,” is something that we must not water down. It does not \nsimply mean that each generation has to be Christianized afresh\, and that this \nalways comes hard to every member of the human race. It is not only a matter of \ncontradictions and friction in individual private existence\, in which everyone\, \nbeing a sinner\, is capable of resisting the message of the Gospel. Scripture sees \nthe contradiction as a fact of public life and universal history\, a matter of \npeoples and politics. Hence this contradiction is a “must” in the history of \nsalvation… \nThis is our starting-point: That the Church and Christianity will be to the \nend of time a stone of stumbling and a matter of contradiction; that this will not \nsimply happen to be so as a matter of fact\, but is a part of that mysterious “must” \n(appearing constantly in Scripture) in which human guilt\, which ought not to \nexist\, yet remains within God’s plan; that God does not will man’s guilt\, and yet \nthis guilt\, which is not willed\, is used even “in advance” as a means to the \nworking-out of the divine plan. \nFor a believer\, who judges things from God’s standpoint\, a “must” of this \nsort is not merely something with which the believer may reckon\, but something \nwhich the believer must reckon; something that we must calmly expect and at \nwhich we must not be surprised.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-451/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260726T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260726T170000
DTSTAMP:20260726T115932Z
CREATED:20260726T115932Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260726T115932Z
UID:15298-1785052800-1785085200@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Alphonsus Ligouri
DESCRIPTION:A reading by Jean Delumeau on \nST ALPHONSUS LIGOURI \n◊◊◊ \nAlphonsus’ destiny was not an ordinary one. Born into the Neapolitan \nnobility [in 1696]\, the son of a military man\, a highly gifted student who was \ndrawn to music\, painting\, drawing\, and architecture\, he became a lawyer at \nsixteen. Naples admired this brilliant young man…who mingled with the finest \nintellects of the city. The Neapolitans were surprised when he became a priest \nagainst the will of his authoritarian father\, and utterly amazed when they \ndiscovered him in the poorest neighborhoods\, preaching to the illiterate in \nremarkable evening sermons. \nOne day\, to the surprise of nearly everyone\, he fled from Naples on a \ndonkey to consecrate his life to preaching missions in the most abandoned rural \nareas. But it was difficult to found a new religious congregation [since] there \nwere already too many secular and regular priests and too many convents in this \npoor and badly administered country. He had to return to Naples far more often \nthan he wanted to plead as a lawyer for the survival of his fragile institution\, [the \nRedemptorists]. Badly shaved or unshaven\, he argued endlessly\, in his patched \ncassock\, with government ministers who respected him and considered him a \nsaint but who did not always give in to him. \n[Once established in the rural areas\, he found] that country-people\, and \nparticularly those from the most backward regions\, were under-Christianized\, \n[and he] decided to devote [his] life to them and forbade [his] disciples to \npreach in the big cities. [He] did not neglect even the most modest hamlets and \neliminated all embellishments and complexities from [his] preaching. [He] \ninsisted more on catechism than on eloquence and aimed at simplicity with \nsimple people. This was the reason for [his] popularity. \nAlphonsus’ originality lay in the fact that he was a musician\, having \nfrequented as a boy the Oratorians in Naples who preserved and developed the \nmusical tradition started by Saint Philip Neri… \nTwo tragic paradoxes marked the last thirty-five years of his life. He had \nsworn to himself that he would not become a bishop\, but he had to accept the \nnomination on direct orders from Rome\, where echoes of his saintliness had \nspread. Having finally succeeded in resigning from the bishopric for health \nreasons\, he had hoped to end his days peacefully among his [religious] “sons”. \nBy the time of his death [in 1787\, at 91 years of age]\, he had been excluded\, \ntogether with his Neapolitan brothers\, from the Congregation he had founded. \nRome recognized only the Redemptorists of the Papal States and excluded from \nthe Congregation those who continued to live and work further south. \nIt was not easy to be a saint\, not easy to cut oneself off from a brilliant \nsocial milieu\, or to go against a father’s will\, or to argue inch-by-inch with \nChurch and State. Above all it was not easy to fight against oneself as Alphonsus \ndid\, for he was by nature quick-tempered and strong-willed. He was very hard \non himself\, but his spiritual message to others was one of trust\, hope and \nmoderation. He was tormented by scruples but he tried to preserve others from \nthem. He gained self-mastery through fasting\, mortification\, work\, and lack of \nsleep\, so that he was generally seen by others as having a “heavenly face…gentle\, \njoyful\, and kind.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-alphonsus-ligouri-4/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260726
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260727
DTSTAMP:20260726T114908Z
CREATED:20260726T114908Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260726T114908Z
UID:15286-1785024000-1785110399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 17th Sunday
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nORIGEN \n◊◊◊ \nTo the seeker after the fine pearls may be applied the words: Seek and you \nshall find\, and Everyone who seeks will find. If you ask what is to be sought\, and \nwhat will be found by everyone who seeks for it\, I say with confidence: pearls – \nespecially that pearl which will be acquired for those who give their all\, who \nsacrifice everything for it\, the pearl Paul meant when he said: I have accepted \nthe loss of everything in order to gain Christ. Everything means beautiful \npearls; to gain Christ refers to the one pearl of great price. \nAdmittedly\, a lamp is precious to people in darkness\, and they need it \nuntil sunrise. Precious too was the radiance on the face of Moses – and I believe \non the faces of the other prophets also. It was a sight of beauty leading to the \npoint of being able to see the glory of Christ\, to whom the Father bore witness in \nthe words: This is my beloved Son\, in whom I am well pleased. But compared \nwith this surpassing glory\, what formerly was glory now seems to have no \nglory at all. We need at first a glory destined to be outshone by an all surpassing \nglory\, just as we need the partial knowledge which will be superseded when that \nwhich is perfect has come. \nThus everyone beginning to live a spiritual life and growing toward \nmaturity needs tutors\, guardians\, and trustees until the fullness of time arrives \nfor him\, so that after all this\, he who at first was no different from a slave \nalthough he owned the whole estate\, may on his emancipation receive his \npatrimony from his tutor\, guardians and trustees. \nThis patrimony is the pearl of great price\, and the coming of what is \nperfect to supersede what is imperfect when\, after acquiring the forms of \nknowledge\, if we may call them so\, which are inferior to knowledge of Christ\, \none becomes able to understand the supreme value of knowing Christ. The law \nand the prophets fully comprehended are the preparation for the full \ncomprehension of the gospel and the complete understanding of the acts and \nwords of Christ Jesus.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-17th-sunday-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260726
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260727
DTSTAMP:20260726T114744Z
CREATED:20260726T114744Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260726T114744Z
UID:15284-1785024000-1785110399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n17th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (II)\nJuly 26 – August 1\, 2026\n\n\n\nSun\n26\nMon\n27\nTue\n28\nWed\n29\nThu\n30\nFri\n31\nSat\n1\n\n\nOffice\n17th Sunday\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSS Martha\, Mary & Lazarus\nWeekday\nSt Ignatius of Loyola\nSt Alphonsus Ligouri\n\n\nVigils\n1 Mac 2:1-28\n1 Mac 2:29-48\n1 Mac 2:49-70\n1 Mac 3:1-26\n1 Mac 3:27-37\n1 Mac 3:38-60\n1 Mac 4:1-25\n\n\nLauds\nHos 11:1-7\nHos 11:8-11\nHos 12:1-7\nHos 12:8-15\nHos 13:1-8\nHos 13:9-14:1\nHos 14:2-10\n\n\nMass\n109\n401\n402\n403\, 607\n404\n405\n406\n\n\n1st\n1 Kgs 3:5\, 7-12\nJer 13:1-11\nJer 14:17-22\nJer 15:10\, 16-21\nJer 18:1-6\nJer 26:1-9\nJer 26:11-16\, 24\n\n\n2nd\nRom 8:28-30\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 13:44-52\nMatt 13:31-35\nMatt 13:36-43\nJohn 11:19-27\nMatt 13:47-53\nMatt 13:54-58\nMatt 14:1-12\n\n\nVespers\n1 Tim 4:6-10\n1 Tim 4:11-16\n1 Tim 5:1-8\n1 Tim 5:17-25\n1 Tim 6:3-10\n1 Tim 6:11-16\n1 Tim 6:17-21
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-161/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260725
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260726
DTSTAMP:20260719T112353Z
CREATED:20260719T112353Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260719T112353Z
UID:15211-1784937600-1785023999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St James
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM \n◊◊◊ \nThe sons of Zebedee press Christ: “Promise that one may sit at your right \nside and the other at your left”. What does he do? He wants to show them that it \nis not a spiritual gift for which they are asking\, and that if they knew what their \nrequest involved\, they would never dare make it. So he says: “You do not know \nwhat you are asking”\, that is\, what a great and splendid thing it is and how much \nbeyond the reach even of heavenly powers. Then he continues: “Can you drink \nthe cup which I must drink and be baptized with the baptism which I must \nundergo?” He is saying: “You talk of sharing honors and rewards with me\, but I \nmust talk of struggle and toil. Now is not the time for rewards or the time for my \nglory to be revealed. Earthly life is the time for bloodshed\, war and danger.” \nConsider how by his manner of questioning he exhorts and draws them. \nHe does not say: “Can you face being slaughtered? Can you shed your blood?” \nHow does he put his question? “Can you drink the cup?” Then he makes it \nattractive by adding: “which I must drink”\, so that the prospect of sharing it with \nhim may make them more eager. He also calls his suffering a baptism\, to show \nthat it will effect a great cleansing of the entire world. The disciples answer him: \n“We can!” Fervor makes them answer promptly\, though they do not know what \nthey are saying but still think they will receive what they ask for. \nHow does Christ reply? “You will indeed drink my cup and be baptized \nwith my baptism”. He is really prophesying a great blessing for them\, since he is \ntelling them: “You will be found worthy of martyrdom; you will suffer what I \nsuffer and end your life with a violent death\, thus sharing all with me. ‘But seats \nat my right and left side are not mine to give; they belong to those for whom the \nFather has prepared them.’” Thus after lifting their minds to higher goals and \npreparing them to meet and overcome all that will make them desolate\, he sets \nthem straight on their request. \n“Then the other ten became angry at the two brothers”. See how imperfect \nthey all are: the two who tried to get ahead of the other ten\, and the ten who were \njealous of the two! But\, as I said before\, show them to me at a later date in their \nlives\, and you will see that all these impulses and feelings have disappeared. Read \nhow John\, the very man who here asks for the first place\, will always yield to Peter \nwhen it comes to preaching and performing miracles in the Acts of the Apostles. \nJames\, for his part\, was not to live very much longer; for from the beginning he was \ninspired by great fervor and\, setting aside all purely human goals\, rose to such \nsplendid heights that he straightway suffered martyrdom.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-james-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260724
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260725
DTSTAMP:20260719T112124Z
CREATED:20260719T112124Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260719T112124Z
UID:15209-1784851200-1784937599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “New Seeds of Contemplation” by \nTHOMAS MERTON \n◊◊◊ \nEvery moment and every event of a person’s life on earth plants \nsomething in the soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds\, \nso each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest \nimperceptibly in the minds and wills of every individual. Most of these \nunnumbered seeds perish and are lost\, because people are not prepared to \nreceive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the \ngood soil of freedom\, spontaneity and love. \nThis is no new idea. Christ in the parable of the sower long ago told us that \n“The seed is the word of God.” We often think this applies only to the word of \nthe Gospel as formally preached in churches on Sundays. But every expression \nof the will of God is in some sense a “word” of God and therefore a “seed” of new \nlife. The ever-changing reality in the midst of which we live should awaken us to \nthe possibility of an uninterrupted dialogue with God. By this I do not mean \ncontinuous “talk\,” or a frivolously conversational form of affective prayer which \nis sometimes cultivated\, but a dialogue of love and of choice. A dialogue of deep \nwills. \nIn all the situations of life the “will of God” comes to us not merely as an \nexternal dictate of impersonal law but above all as an interior invitation of \npersonal love. Too often the conventional conception of “God’s will” as a \nsphinx-like and arbitrary force bearing down upon us with implacable hostility\, \nleads people to lose faith in a God they cannot find it possible to love. \nSuch a view of the divine will drives human weakness to despair and one \nwonders if it is not\, itself\, often an expression of a despair too intolerable to be \nadmitted to conscious consideration. These arbitrary “dictates” of a \ndomineering and insensible Father are more often seeds of hatred than of love. \nIf that is our concept of the will of God\, we cannot possibly seek the obscure and \nintimate mystery of the encounter that takes place in contemplation. We will \ndesire only to fly as far as possible from Him and hide from His Face forever. \nSo much depends on our idea of God! Yet no idea of Him\, however pure and \nperfect\, is adequate to express Him as He really is. Our idea of God tells us more \nabout ourselves than about Him. We must learn to realize that the love of God seeks \nus in every situation\, and seeks our good. His inscrutable love seeks our \nawakening.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-29/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260723
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260724
DTSTAMP:20260719T111736Z
CREATED:20260719T111736Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260719T111736Z
UID:15207-1784764800-1784851199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST JOHN HENRY NEWMAN \n◊◊◊ \nGreat is the difference between sincere and insincere Christians\, however \nlike their words may be to each other. All men and women\, even after the gift of \nGod’s grace\, sin: God’s true servants profess and sin\, – sin\, and are sorry; and \nhypocrites profess and sin\, – sin\, and are sorry. Thus the two parties look like each \nother. But the word of God discriminates one from the other by this test\, – that \nChrist dwells in the conscience of one not of the other; that the one opens his heart \nto God\, the other does not; the one views Almighty God only as an accidental guest\, \nthe other as Lord and owner of all that he is; the one admits Him as if for a night\, or \nsome stated season\, the other gives himself over to God\, and considers himself \nGod’s servant and instrument now and for ever. \nNot more different is the intimacy of friends from mere acquaintance; not \nmore different is it to know a person in society\, to be courteous and obliging to him\, \nto interchange civilities\, from opening one’s heart to another\, admitting him into it\, \nseeing into his\, loving him\, and living in him; – than the external worship of the \nhypocrite\, from the inward devotion of true faith; approaching God with the lips\, \nfrom believing on Him with the heart; so opening to the Spirit that He opens to us\, \nfrom so living to self as to exclude the light of heaven… \nDo you\, then habitually thus unlock your hearts and subject your thoughts to \nAlmighty God? Are you living in this conviction of His Presence\, and have you this \nspecial witness that that Presence is really set up within you unto your salvation\, \nthat is\, that you live in the sense of it? Do you believe\, and act on the belief\, that His \nlight penetrates and shines through your heart\, as the sun’s beams through a \nroom? You know how things look when the sun’s beams are on it\, – the very air then \nappear full of impurities\, which\, before it came out\, were not seen. So is it with our \nsouls. We are full of stains and corruptions\, we see them not\, they are like the air \nbefore the sun shines; but though we see them not\, God sees them: He pervades us \nas the sunbeam. \nOur souls\, in His view\, are full of things which offend\, things which must be \nrepented of\, forgiven\, and put away. He\, in the words of the Psalmist\, “has set our \nmisdeeds before Him\, our secret sins in the light of His countenance.” This is most \ntrue\, though it be not at all welcome doctrine to many. We cannot hide ourselves \nfrom Him; and our wisdom\, as our duty\, lies in embracing this truth\, acquiescing \nin it\, and acting upon it. Let us then beg Him to teach us the Mystery of His \nPresence in us\, that\, by acknowledging it\, we may thereby possess it fruitfully… \nLet us submit ourselves to His guidance and sovereign direction; let us come to \nHim that He may forgive us\, cleanse us\, change us\, guide us\, and save us.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-450/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260722
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260723
DTSTAMP:20260719T111513Z
CREATED:20260719T111513Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260719T111513Z
UID:15205-1784678400-1784764799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Mary Magdalene
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nBLESSED GUERRIC OF IGNY \n◊◊◊ \nBrethren\, this is the day which the Lord has made\, let us exult and rejoice \nin it. Let us exult in the hope it brings\, that we may see and rejoice in its light. \nAbraham exulted that he might see the day of Christ and by this token he saw \nand rejoiced. \nYou too\, if you keep watch daily at the doors of wisdom\, steadfast at its \nthreshold\, if you stay awake through the night with Magdalene at the entrance \nof his tomb\, if I am not mistaken you will experience with Mary how true are the \nwords we read of the Wisdom which is Christ: “She is easily seen by those who \nlove her and she is found by those who seek her. She anticipates those who \ndesire her and shows herself to them first. He who\, as soon as it is light\, keeps \nwatch for her will not have to toil\, for he will find her seated at his doors.” So \ndid Christ\, Wisdom himself\, promise in the words: “I love those who love me\, \nand they who from early morning keep watch for me will find me.” \nMary found Jesus in the flesh. For this she was keeping watch. Over his \ntomb she had come to mount guard while it was still dark. You\, who no longer \nought to know Jesus according to the flesh but according to the spirit\, will be \nable to find him spiritually if you seek him with a [similar] desire\, if he finds you \nlikewise vigilant in prayer. Say then to the Lord Jesus with the desire and the \naffection of Mary: “My soul has longed for you during the night\, my spirit too\, \ndeep within me; from early morning I will keep watch for you.” Say with the \nvoice and the mind of the Psalmist: “God\, my God\, for you as soon as it is light I \nkeep watch\, my soul is athirst for you”. And see if it is not your lot to sing with \nhim: “We have been filled early in the morning with your mercy\, we have \nexulted and been delighted.” \nKeep watch then\, brethren\, intent in prayer; keep watch and carefully \nguard your actions; especially since the morning of that day which has no sunset \nhas already shone upon us. For already eternal light has come back to us from \nthe nether regions\, more serene and more pleasing\, and the morning has given \nits welcome to the newly restored Sun. Indeed it is time now for us to arise from \nsleep; the night has passed away\, while the day has drawn near. \nKeep watch\, I say\, that the morning light may rise for you\, that is Christ\, \nwhose coming forth has been made ready like the dawn\, ready to renew often \nthe mystery of the morning of his resurrection in those who keep watch for him. \nThen you will sing with jubilant heart: “God the Lord has shone upon us. This is \nthe day which the Lord has made; let us exult and rejoice in it”. For then he will \ngive you a glimpse of the light which he has hidden in his hands\, telling his \nfriend that it is his possession and he can attain to it.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-mary-magdalene-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260721
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260722
DTSTAMP:20260719T111353Z
CREATED:20260719T111353Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260719T111353Z
UID:15203-1784592000-1784678399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “Ut Unum Sint” by \nPOPE ST JOHN PAUL II \n◊◊◊ \nThe Bishop of Rome is the Bishop of the Church which preserves the mark \nof the martyrdom of Peter and of Paul: “By a mysterious design of Providence it \nis at Rome that [Peter] concludes his journey in following Jesus\, and it is at \nRome that he gives his greatest proof of love and fidelity. Likewise\, Paul\, the \nApostle of the Gentiles\, gives his supreme witness at Rome. In this way\, the \nChurch of Rome became the Church of Peter and of Paul.” \nThe Gospel of Matthew gives a clear outline of the pastoral mission of \nPeter in the Church: “Blessed are you\, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood \nhas not revealed this to you\, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you\, \nyou are Peter\, and on this Rock I will build my Church and the powers of death \nshall not prevail against it…” It is just as though\, against the backdrop of \nPeter’s human weakness\, it were made fully evident that his particular ministry \nin the Church derives altogether from grace. \nIt is important to know how the weakness of Peter and of Paul clearly \nshows that the Church is founded upon the infinite power of grace. Peter\, \nimmediately after receiving his mission\, is rebuked with unusual severity by \nChrist\, who tells him\, “You are a hindrance to me.” How can we fail to see that \nthe mercy which Peter needs is related to the ministry of that mercy which he \nfirst must experience? And yet\, Peter will deny Jesus three times… Peter \nreceives the charge of shepherding the flock on the occasion of a threefold \nprofession of love\, which corresponds to his threefold denial. \nAs for Paul\, he is able to end the description of his ministry with the \namazing words which he had heard from the Lord himself: “My grace is \nsufficient for you\, for my power is made perfect in weakness”; consequently\, \nhe can exclaim: “When I am weak\, then I am strong.” This is a basic \ncharacteristic of the Christian experience. \nAs the heir to the mission of Peter in the Church\, which has been made \nfruitful by the blood of the Prince of the Apostles\, the Bishop of Rome exercises \na ministry originating in the manifold mercy of God. This mercy converts hearts \nand pours forth the power of grace where the disciple experiences the bitter \ntaste of his personal weakness and helplessness. The authority proper to this \nministry is completely at the service of God’s merciful plan and it must always \nbe seen in this perspective… \nAssociating himself with Peter’s threefold profession of love\, which \ncorresponds to the earlier threefold denial\, his Successor knows that he must be \na sign of mercy. His is a ministry of mercy\, born of an act of Christ’s own \nmercy… The Church of God is called by Christ to manifest to a world ensnared \nby its sins and evil designs that\, despite everything\, God in his mercy can \nconvert hearts to unity and enable them to enter into communion with him. \nAt the dawn of a new millennium\, how can we not implore from the Lord\, \nwith renewed enthusiasm and deeper awareness\, the grace to prepare ourselves\, \ntogether\, to offer this sacrifice of unity?
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-449/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260720
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260721
DTSTAMP:20260719T111237Z
CREATED:20260719T111237Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260719T111237Z
UID:15201-1784505600-1784591999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nWILLIAM OF ST THIERRY \n◊◊◊ \n[The Apostle Paul says that]\, if because of your food your brother is \ngrieved\, you no longer walk according to charity. Do not destroy with your \nfood him for whom Christ died. For a proper reason we should sometimes avoid \nwhat is licit\, but we are not commanded to do what is illicit for any reason. \n[He also says\,] Let our good not be spoken of as evil. What is this good of \nours? It is the good proper to Christ’s disciples\, of which he himself says\, ‘By this \nshall all men know that you are my disciples\, if you have love for one another’. \nJust as the disciples of Christ are distinguished by the sign of mutual charity\, so \nwhen charity is neglected the entire brilliance of the Christian religion seems to \nbe obscured. Then this wonderful teacher proclaims the mystery of the kingdom \nof heaven in order to restrain the faults of the present time by the authority of a \nfuture mystery\, and in order to establish the form of the Church. \n[He says]: For the kingdom of God is not food and drink. As if he said\, \n‘Why do we deal so much with food when we are hastening to the kingdom of \nheaven? For there\, just as they do not marry\, and are not given in marriage\, so \nthey neither eat nor drink\, but are like the angels of God.’ Thus\, with a most \nperfect and clear teaching the Apostle establishes that there is no need of food \nand drink in the kingdom of heaven\, but that there is justice and peace. And \nbecause fleshly joy usually accompanies food and drink\, he adds here joy\, but in \nthe Holy Spirit. \nThese things effect the kingdom of heaven in us here\, but in the future \nthey lead us where these same things are possessed more certainly and more \nfirmly. There is justice in work; peace is in the heart or conscience; joy is in the \nLord. Whoever has these things already has the kingdom of God within him. \nFor he who in this way serves Christ pleases God and is approved by \nmen. He who serves Christ in the Holy Spirit pleases God and is approved by \nmen in justice\, and he dwells harmoniously with himself in peace. \nLet us pursue the things of peace outside because of the disposition of \npeace that we enjoy within; and from a disposition for justice let us keep the \nthings that are edifying. What does justice demand more clearly than that we \nnot destroy on account of food the work of Christ’s redemption in our brothers? \nAll things are indeed clean\, but it is evil for a man to eat with offense\, because \nhe wounds the conscience of inner justice if the soul of his brother is endangered \nby that with which he refreshes himself.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-448/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260719
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260720
DTSTAMP:20260719T111127Z
CREATED:20260719T111127Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260719T111127Z
UID:15199-1784419200-1784505599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 16th Sunday
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST GREGORY PALAMAS \n◊◊◊ \nNow as the Lord himself explains\, the darnel is the offering of the evil one. \nThey bear his mark because they behave the way he does; they are seeds of his \nsowing\, and his children by adoption. Harvest time will be the end of the world\, \nfor although it began long since and continues now through death\, only then \nwill all things come to an end. \nThe reapers are the angels\, for they are\, and will be especially at that time\, \nthe servants of the King of heaven. As Scripture says: Just as the darnel is \ncollected and burnt in the fire\, so it will be at the end of the world. The Son of \nMan\, who is the son of the Father Most High\, will send his angels\, and they will \ngather out of his kingdom all evil doers and every cause of sin. \nAnd so the Lord’s servants\, the angels of God\, seeing the darnel in the \nfield\, that is\, the wicked and impious folk living among the good people\, and \nthat even within the Church\, said to the Lord: Do you wish us to go and gather \nit up? In other words: “Shall we kill them\, to remove them from the earth?” But \nthe Lord’s reply was: No\, for fear that in collecting the darnel you may also \nuproot the wheat. \nHow then would the wheat\, the good people\, be uprooted as well if the \nangels gathered up the darnel\, cutting off the wicked by death to separate them \nfrom the just? The fact is that many godless sinners who live among people who \nare upright and devout repent in time and are converted\, and learning new \nhabits of piety and virtue they cease to be darnel and become wheat. And so \nsome wheat would be uprooted in the gathering of the darnel if the angels \nsnatched the wicked away before they repented. \nMoreover\, many while living evil lives produce children of good \ndisposition\, or they may have other rightly disposed descendants. This is why he \nwho sees everything before it comes into being would not permit the darnel to \nbe uprooted until the appointed time. But he says: At harvest time I will say to \nthe reapers: “First collect the darnel and bind it into bundles to be burnt\, but \ngather the wheat into my barn.” \nThose therefore who wish to be saved from eternal punishment and to \ninherit the everlasting kingdom of God must be not darnel but wheat. They \nmust avoid saying or doing anything evil or useless\, and practice the opposite \nvirtues\, thus bringing forth the fruits of repentance. In this way they will \nbecome worthy of the heavenly granary; they will be called children of the \nFather Most High\, and as heirs will enter his kingdom rejoicing\, resplendent \nwith divine glory. To this may we all attain through the grace and loving \nkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. To whom with his eternal Father and the \nmost holy\, good and life-giving Spirit belongs glory now and always and for \nendless ages.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-16th-sunday-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260719
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260720
DTSTAMP:20260719T110722Z
CREATED:20260719T110722Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260719T110722Z
UID:15197-1784419200-1784505599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n16th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (II)\nJuly 19 – 25\, 2026\n\n\n\nSun\n19\nMon\n20\nTue\n21\nWed\n22\nThu\n23\nFri\n24\nSat\n25\n\n\nOffice\n16th Sunday\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSt Mary Magdalene\nWeekday\nOffice for Vocations\nSt James\n\n\nVigils\nJud 14:11-15:13\nJud 15:14-16:17\nJud 16:18-25\nExodus 15:1-21\n1 Maccabees 1:1-28\n1 Mac 1:29-64\nJerm 26:1-15\n\n\nLauds\nHos 8:8-14\nHos 9:1-9\nHos 9:10-17\nIsa 12:1-6\nHos 10:1-8\nHos 10:9-15\nWis 3:1-9\n\n\nMass\n106\n395\n396\n603\n398\n399\n605\n\n\n1st\nWis 12:13\, 16-19\nMic 6:1-4\, 6-8\nMic 7:14-15\, 18-20\nSong 3:1-4b\nJer 2:1-3\, 7-8\, 12-13\nJer 3:14-17\n2 Cor 4:7-15\n\n\n2nd\nRom 8:26-27\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 13:24-43\nMatt 12:38-42\nMatt 12:46-50\nJohn 20:1-2\, 11-18\nMatt 13:10-17\nMatt 13:18-23\nMatt 20:20-28\n\n\nVespers\n1 Timothy 1:1-11\n1 Tim 1:12-20\n1 Tim 2:1-8\nActs 13:26-31\n1 Tim 3:1-7\n1 Tim 3:8-13\n1 Tim 3:14-4:5
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-160/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260718
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260719
DTSTAMP:20260712T110822Z
CREATED:20260712T110822Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T110822Z
UID:15193-1784332800-1784419199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “Mary\, the Mother of the Lord” by \nFR KARL RAHNER \n◊◊◊ \nAll that the faith says about the realization of redemption\, about salvation \nand grace and the fullness of grace\, is realized in Mary. This human person \nwhom we call Mary is as it were the very point in the whole history of our \nredemption at which the saving grace of the living God descends from him into \nthis history\, and from which it is diffused over the whole of humankind. For her \nSon\, whom she accepted in the strength of her heart\, whom she conceived in \nfaith and love\, is the Redeemer of the world. \nAnd since\, as Scripture testifies\, the consent she gave in faith and \nobedience belongs not only to her private life-story\, but to the public history of \nredemption\, it must correspond\, in harmony of person and function\, to the \npurpose for which it was given; in short it must be perfect. \nIt follows too that Mary is one of us. We honor her\, praise her\, love and \nrevere her unique dignity. But if\, in view of the mystery of her son\, we ask\, where \ndoes Mary stand? We must reply\, she belongs entirely with us. She must receive \nGod’s mercy just as we must\, for she lives and typifies to perfection what we \nourselves are to be in Christ’s sight. We too are to become what she is. She comes \nbefore God with us – like us and as one of our company – in the innumerable \nhost of humanity. \nIn our midst\, within the history of humankind as a whole\, as a part of it\, \nshe accomplishes her own life-story\, which takes on a unique importance for \nour salvation\, and which\, once lived through with this significance\, endures \neternally in God’s sight. Precisely because Mary\, in this position as \nintermediary\, is entirely one of us\, and only occupies that position because she \nbelongs with us\, as a mere creature\, to the one human family\, is she so near and \ndear to us. That is why we love her. And have an almost too merely human trust \nin her. And feel her intercession\, protection and love to be so near and human\, \nalthough\, or rather because this dear and familiar humanity has been taken up\, \nunimpaired and transfigured\, into the eternal life of God himself.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-bvm-22/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260717
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260718
DTSTAMP:20260712T110705Z
CREATED:20260712T110705Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T110705Z
UID:15191-1784246400-1784332799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST LEO THE GREAT \n◊◊◊ \nI rejoice\, dearly beloved\, in the pious affection of your devotion\, and I give \nthanks to God that I see in you the love of Christian unity. For your very \npresence here testifies that you understand that the annual return of this day is \na matter for common rejoicing; and that in celebrating the annual festival of the \nShepherd\, you are honoring the whole flock. For though the universal Church is \nordered in varying degrees\, so the whole is made up from the diverse members \nof the sanctified Body\, we are all\, nevertheless\, as the Apostle says\, one in \nChrist; and no one is separated by office from another\, so that even the least \namong us is related to the head. \nTherefore\, Beloved\, in its unity of faith and baptism\, our society is \nundivided\, and its dignity is the dignity of all its members; according to the \nwords of the blessed Peter\, spoken by his own consecrated voice: Be you as \nliving stones built up\, a spiritual house\, a holy priesthood\, to offer up spiritual \nsacrifices\, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And a little later: You are a \nchosen generation\, a kingly priesthood\, a holy nation\, a purchased people. \nFor all who are born again in Christ\, the sign of the Cross makes kings\, \nand the anointing of the Holy Spirit consecrates priests; so that apart from the \nspecial service of our ministry\, let all spiritual and reasoning Christians know \nthat they are of royal birth\, and sharers of the priestly office. For what is so \nkingly as the soul that is subject to God\, and the ruler of its own body? \nAnd what is so priestly as to dedicate to the Lord a pure conscience\, and to \noffer him on the altar of our hearts the unstained gift of our love? And since by \nGod’s grace this has been given to us all\, it is for you a devout and praiseworthy \nthing to rejoice on the day of our coronation as though the honor were your own.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-447/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260716
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260717
DTSTAMP:20260712T110552Z
CREATED:20260712T110552Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T110552Z
UID:15189-1784160000-1784246399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Bl Virgin Martyrs of Orange
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “The Catholic Encyclopedia” on \nTHE MARTYRS OF ORANGE \n◊◊◊ \nThe Martyrs of Orange were a group of 32 beatified religious women \nmartyred at Orange\, France\, during the French Revolution between July 5 and \n26\, 1794. Two were Cistercian nuns from Avignon\, the others were from \nBollene\, near Avignon. The others were from Bollene\, near Avignon and \nincluded 16 Ursulines\, 13 Sacramentine nuns and one Benedictine nun. For \nrefusing to take the oath of Liberty of the new regime\, the nuns were expelled \nfrom their convents\, arrested and held in La Cure prison in Orange. These and \nother nuns formed a kind of religious community\, and spent hours in prayer \ndaily and religious exercises until condemned for fanaticism and superstition. \nBesides these\, many others were imprisoned and died under dire \ncircumstances at this same time. The martyrs of the prison ships or on islands \noff the shore of La Rochelle who died of starvation or illness off the shore of La \nRochelle included over 547. Yet for the cause of beatification\, only 64 among \nthese were retained as martyrs\, namely\, those who were explicitly mentioned in \nthe lists of the deported. \nOn October 1\, 1995\, Pope John Paul II beatified three other Cistercians at \nthe same time as 61 other priests and religious of various Congregations. The \nmartyrs of the prison ships of Rochefort died in 1794\, the same year as the nuns \nof Orange\, and were declared martyrs in 1925. They were not the only \nCistercians who died of starvation or illness in the slave ships or on the islands \noff the shore of La Rochelle. Our Menology mentions several others. Yet for the \ncause of beatification\, only 64 among the 547 who died\, were retained as \nmartyrs\, namely\, those who were explicitly mentioned in the list of the \ndeported.11 \nThe three Cistercians were: Bro\, Elias Desgardin\, a lay Brother from Sept \nFons. He cared for his sick companions. A martyr of charity\, he died of typhoid \nfever at the age of forty-four. He was buried on the island of Aix. Also Dom Paul \nCharles\, the Prior of Sept Fons. Detained on the ship Les Deux Associes\, he died \nat the age of fifty-one\, esteemed and loved by his companions in captivity\, he \nwas buried on the island called Madame. The third beatified martyr was Dom \nGervais Brunel\, Superior of La Trappe\, who died at the age fifty in a provisional \nhospital on the island Madame. Stricken with typhoid fever\, he arrived there on \nthe point of dying\, dying on the very day of the disembarkment. \nOne of them made a statement that can be applied to all these beatified \nreligious and to many others condemned to die on the prison ships: “If we are \nthe most unhappy of men\, we are also the happiest of Christians”.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-bl-virgin-martyrs-of-orange/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260715
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260716
DTSTAMP:20260712T110402Z
CREATED:20260712T110402Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T110402Z
UID:15187-1784073600-1784159999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Bonaventure
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “Butler’s Lives of the Saints” on \nST BONAVENTURE \n◊◊◊ \nThis greatest successor of St Francis of Assisi…was born at Bagnorea\, near \nViterbo\, in the year 1221… He was clothed in the order of Friars Minor and \nstudied at the University of Paris under Alexander of Hales… Bonaventure\, who \nwas to become known as the Seraphic Doctor\, taught theology and Holy \nScripture at the University from 1248 to 1257. \nHe was called by his priestly obligation to labor for the salvation of his \nneighbor\, and to this he devoted himself with enthusiasm. He preached to the \npeople with an energy which kindled a flame in the hearts of those that heard \nhim. While at the University of Paris he produced one of the best-known of his \nwritten works\, the Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard\, which \ncovers the whole field of scholastic theology. The years of his public lecturing at \nParis were greatly disturbed\, however\, by the attack made on the mendicant \nfriars by the other professors at the university. Jealousy of their pastoral and \nacademic success and the standing reproof to worldliness and ease of the friars’ \nlives were in part behind this attempt to get them excluded from the schools. \nThe leader of the secular party was William of Saint-Amour\, who made a \nbitter onslaught on the mendicants in a book called The Perils of the Last Times. \nBonaventure\, who had to suspend lecturing for a time\, replied in a treatise on \nevangelical poverty\, named Concerning the Poverty of Christ. Pope Alexander \nIV appointed a commission of cardinals to go into the matter at Anagni\, and on \ntheir findings ordered Saint-Amour’s book to be burnt\, vindicated and \nreinstated the friars\, and ordered the offenders to withdraw their attack. A year \nlater\, in 1257\, St Bonaventure and St Thomas Aquinas received the degree of \ndoctor of theology together. \nIn 1257 Bonaventure was chosen minister general of the Friars Minor. He \nwas not yet thirty-six years old\, and the order was torn by dissensions\, some of \nthe friars being for an inflexible severity\, others demanding certain mitigation \nof the rule; between the two extremes were a number of other interpretations. \nSome of the extreme rigorists\, called Spirituals\, had even fallen into error and \ndisobedience\, and thus given a handle to the friars’ opponents in the Paris \ndispute. Bonaventure wrote a letter to his provincials in which he made it clear \nthat he required a disciplined observance of the rule\, involving a reformation of \nthe relaxed\, but giving no countenance to the excesses of the Spirituals. \nAt Narbonne in 1260\, the first of the five general chapters which \nBonaventure held\, he produced a set of constitutions on the rule\, which were \nadopted and had a permanent effect on Franciscan life\, but they failed to pacify \nthe excessive rigorists. At the request of the friars assembled in this chapter\, he \nundertook to write the life of St Francis\, with a spirit which shows him to have \nbeen filled with the virtues of the founder whose life he wrote. St Bonaventure \ngoverned his order for seventeen years and has been justly called its second \nfounder.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-bonaventure-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260714
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260715
DTSTAMP:20260712T110250Z
CREATED:20260712T110250Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T110250Z
UID:15185-1783987200-1784073599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Kateri Tekaqwitha
DESCRIPTION:A reading by Daniel Sargent on \nST KATERI TEKAKWITHA \n◊◊◊ \nOn the fourteenth of October\, 1682\, a Frenchman living in Canada began \na letter to a Frenchman living in France. He had seen many wonders in Canada\, \nand was therefore eager to tell about them. \nHe was a missionary\, a priest\, a Jesuit\, a certain Father Chauchetière\, now \nonly thirty-seven years old\, and who had spent seven years already among the \nIndians of Canada whom he was trying to Christianize. The great astonishment \nof his life as a missionary had not been the size of the St Lawrence River\, but the \npiety which he had found among the Indians at his St Lawrence Mission. \nHe had expected to be horrified by the Indians even though he was willing \nto give his life for them. Instead he had been edified by them. But how was he \ngoing to convince the Jesuit Superior\, to whom he was writing his letter\, of this \nIndian holiness?… He dwelt on the inconvenience of this fervor: it led the \nIndians to adopt immoderate penances\, and forced him to step in and restrain \nthem. Only grudgingly did he add\, as the sole flash of his enthusiasm\, that “They \nwould be admired in France if what they do were known there.” \n[Then] he came to what was most incredible of all: “During the past two \nyears their fervor has greatly increased since God has removed from this world \none of these devout savage women who live like nuns\, and she died with the \nreputation of sanctity. Journeys are continually made to her tomb; and the \nsavages\, following her example\, have become better Christians than they were. \nWe daily see wonders worked through her intercession. Her name was [Kateri] \nTekakwitha.”… \nTekakwitha’s ancestors were an old people. Not merely that they had had \nas many ancestors as any other person alive\, but they remembered those \nancestors. They carried the past with them in their traditions\, from generation \nto generation… The ancestors of [Tekakwitha] had been suffering and longing \nfor ages… The gaining of salvation had been their age-long preoccupation… \nIf we look at the past of [Tekakwitha’s] ancestors\, as Fr. Chauchetière did \nnot and could not\, and if we look at the story of the French missionaries\, then \nthe spiritual blossoming of this [Kateri Tekakwitha] becomes a climax of a long \ndrama. Instead of exclaiming as Chauchetière did\, “How suddenly she has \ncome\,” our sigh is\, “How long\, how long\, the world has waited!”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-kateri-tekaqwitha/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260713
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260714
DTSTAMP:20260712T110110Z
CREATED:20260712T110110Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T110110Z
UID:15183-1783900800-1783987199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nJOHN TAULER \n◊◊◊ \nOur Lord said to his disciples: “You shall be witnesses unto me in \nJerusalem\, and in all Judea\, and Samaria\, and even to the uttermost part of the \nearth.” Jerusalem was a city of peace\, but also of tribulation\, for there it was that \nChrist underwent such infinite suffering and a bitter death. Children\, we are to \nbe his witnesses in this city\, not by mere words but in truth\, by our life and by \nfollowing him according to our strength. \nThere are plenty of persons who would gladly be Christ’s witnesses in \npeace\, when everything goes along just as they would wish. They would like to \nbe holy\, provided that their pious exercises and work never become irksome; \nthey would be glad enough to enjoy\, desire\, or know the things of God\, if there \nwere no bitterness\, labor\, or tedium involved. But once they are assailed by \nstrong temptations and spiritual darkness\, as soon as they no longer feel or \nenjoy the nearness of God\, and are left destitute inwardly and outwardly\, they \nfall away and are not true witnesses at all. \nPeace is what all are striving for; they seek after it in every direction\, in \nevery occupation\, and in all their ways of life. Oh\, if we could only shake \nourselves free from this tendency\, and learn to seek peace in tribulation. Only \nthere is true peace born\, peace which will last and really endure. To seek \nelsewhere is to go astray inevitably. You will always find that this is true. If only \nwe could seek joy in sadness\, peace in trouble\, simplicity in multiplicity\, comfort \nin bitterness! This is the way to become true witnesses to God. \nBefore his death our Lord always promised his disciples peace\, and also \nafter his resurrection he promised them all peace. Yet they never obtained peace \nexternally. Nonetheless\, they found peace in tribulation and love in suffering. In \ndeath they found life; to be cross-examined\, judged\, and condemned was for \nthem a joyous victory. These were true witnesses. \nThere are many who have been inundated with consolation in body and \nsoul. I have known some who were filled with such sweetness in every fiber of \ntheir being. And yet\, when suffering and darkness came upon them\, when they \nwere forsaken inwardly and outwardly\, they did not know which way to turn. \nThey stopped short\, and it all came to nothing. \nWhen terrible storms break upon us\, buffeting us with desolations and \ntemptations\, then it is\, if only we can break through and weather the storm\, that \nwe shall find essential peace\, a peace that no one can take from us.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-446/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260712
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260713
DTSTAMP:20260712T105958Z
CREATED:20260712T105958Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T105958Z
UID:15181-1783814400-1783900799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 15th Sunday
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST GREGORY THE GREAT \n◊◊◊ \nDearly beloved\, the reading from the holy gospel about the sower requires \nno explanation\, but only a word of warning. In fact the explanation has been \ngiven by Truth himself\, and it cannot be disputed by a frail human being. \nHowever\, there is one point in our Lord’s exposition which you ought to weigh \nwell. It is this. If I told you that the seed represented the word\, the field the \nworld\, the birds the demons\, and the thorns riches\, you would perhaps be in two \nminds as to whether to believe me. Therefore the Lord himself deigned to \nexplain what he had said\, so that you would know that a hidden meaning is to be \nsought also in those passages which he did not wish to interpret himself. \nWould anyone have believed me if I had said that thorns stood for riches? \nAfter all\, thorns are piercing and riches pleasurable. And yet riches are thorns \nbecause thoughts of them pierce the mind and torture it. When finally they lure \na person into sin\, it is as though they were drawing blood from the wound they \nhave inflicted… The only true riches are those that make us rich in virtue. \nTherefore\, if you want to be rich\, beloved\, love true riches. If you aspire to the \nheights of real honor\, strive to reach the kingdom of heaven. If you value rank \nand renown\, hasten to be enrolled in the heavenly court of the angels. \nStore up in your minds the Lord’s words which you receive through your \nears\, for the word of the Lord is the nourishment of the mind. When his word is \nheard but not stored away in the memory\, it is like food which has been eaten \nand then rejected by an upset stomach. A person’s life is despaired of if he \ncannot retain his food; so if you receive the food of holy exhortations\, but fail to \nstore in your memory those words of life which nurture righteousness\, you have \ngood reason to fear the danger of everlasting death. \nBe careful\, then\, that the word you have received through your ears \nremains in your heart. Be careful that the seed does not fall along the path\, for \nfear that the evil spirit may come and take it from your memory. Be careful that \nthe seed is not received in stony ground\, so that it produces a harvest of good \nworks without the roots of perseverance. Many people are pleased with what \nthey hear and resolve to undertake some good work\, but as soon as difficulties \nbegin to arise and hinder them they leave the work unfinished. The stony \nground lacked the necessary moisture for the sprouting seed to yield the fruit of \nperseverance. \nGood earth\, on the other hand\, brings forth fruit by patience. The reason \nfor this is that nothing we do is good unless we also bear with equanimity the \ninjuries done us by our neighbors. In fact\, the more we progress\, the more \nhardships we shall have to endure in this world; for when our love for this \npresent world dies\, its sufferings increase. This is why we see many people \ndoing good works and at the same time struggling under a heavy burden of \nafflictions. They now shun earthly desires\, and yet they are tormented by \ngreater sufferings. But\, as the Lord said\, they bring forth fruit by patience\, \nbecause\, since they humbly endure misfortunes\, they are welcomed when these \nare over into a place of rest in heaven.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-15th-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260712
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260713
DTSTAMP:20260712T105842Z
CREATED:20260712T105842Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260712T105842Z
UID:15179-1783814400-1783900799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n15th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (II)\nJuly 12 – 18\, 2026\n\n\n\nSun\n12\nMon\n13\nTue\n14\nWed\n15\nThu\n16\nFri\n17\nSat\n18\n\n\nOffice\n15th Sunday\nWeekday\nSt Kateri Tekaqwitha\nSt Bonaventure\nBl Virgin Martyrs of Orange\nWeekday\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nJud 10:1-10\nJud 10:11-23\nJud 11:1-23\nJud 12:1-20\nJud 13:1-11\nJud 13:12-20\nJud 14:1-10\n\n\nLauds\nHos 5:1-7\nHos 5:8-15\nHos 6:1-6\nHos 6:7-7:2\nHos 7:3-10\nHos 7:11-16\nHos 8:1-7\n\n\nMass\n103\n389\n390\n391\n392\n393\n394\n\n\n1st\nIsa 55:10-11\nIsa 1:10-17\nIsa 7:1-9\nIsa 10:5-7\, 13b-16\nIsa 26:7-9\, 12\, 16-19\nIsa 38:1-6\, 21-22\, 7-8\nMic 2:1-5\n\n\n2nd\nRom 8:18-23\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 13:1-23\nMatt 10:34-11:1\nMatt 11:20-24\nMatt 11:25-27\nMatt 11:28-30\nMatt 12:1-8\nMatt 12:14-21\n\n\nVespers\nEph 6:18-24\n2 Thess 1:1-10\n2 Thess 1:11-12\n2 Thess 2:1-10\n2 Thess 2:11-17\n2 Thess 3:1-10\n2 Thess 3:11-18
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-159/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260711T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260711T120000
DTSTAMP:20260707T145535Z
CREATED:20260707T145535Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260707T145535Z
UID:15157-1783760400-1783771200@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Chicago LCG 9 am CDT
DESCRIPTION:Please join our Chicago LCG community at our Zoom meeting at 9:00 am CDT.  All LCG folk are welcome. \nJoin Zoom Meeting \nhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/86028356465 \nMeeting ID: 860 2835 6465 \nOne tap mobile \n+13126266799\,\,86028356465# US (Chicago) \n+13092053325\,\,86028356465# USC \nOur Agenda: \n9:00 Gather for Opening prayer. \nWe also pray for all our lay Cistercian sisters and brothers in the US and around the world.  Specially we pray for our Gethsemani monks.  Finally\, we pray this month specially for: \nFr. Anton Rusnak \nBr. Aaron Schulte \nBr. Gaetan Blanchette \n                                                                                                                                                                    \n9:10 Lectio. Our lectio piece will be led by Tom Kosnik . \n 9:50  Reading.  Our reading this month will be the first half of Anthony De Mello’s Awareness. Life. \n10:45 Housekeeping.   Volunteer to lead lectio next month?  Chicago Report on LCG Advisory Council activity. Chicago LCG at Gethsemani Fall Retreat? What’s happening with the International Lay Cistercians?  Tina With Pope Leo XIV at La Sagrada Familia. \n11:00 Update.   Share how the Holy Spirt has entered our lives as lay Cistercians since our last meeting. \n11:45 Closing worship and prayer.  We will pray the liturgical hour of None as with our Gethsemani monks (identical Psalms as done today at Gethsemani Abbey.) \nOur next meeting: August 8\, 2026. \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/chicago-lcg-9-am-cdt/
CATEGORIES:LCG Local Community Meetings,LCG open events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260711
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260712
DTSTAMP:20260705T125503Z
CREATED:20260705T125503Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260705T125503Z
UID:15154-1783728000-1783814399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Benedict
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “Butler’s Lives of the Saints” on \nST BENEDICT \n◊◊◊ \nBenedict was of good birth\, and was born and brought up at the ancient \nSabine town of Nursia. He was sent to Rome for his ‘liberal education’\, being \naccompanied by a ‘nurse’\, probably to act as housekeeper. He was then in his \nearly teens\, or perhaps a little older. But Benedict\, revolted by the licentiousness \nof his companions in the city\, made up his mind to leave Rome. He made his \nescape without telling anyone of his plans excepting his nurse\, who \naccompanied him. They made their way to the village of Enfide in the \nmountains thirty miles from Rome. What was the length of his stay we do not \nknow\, but it was sufficient to enable him to determine his next step. Absence \nfrom the temptations of Rome\, he soon realized\, was not enough; God was \ncalling him to be a solitary and to abandon the world. \nIn search of complete solitude Benedict started forth once more\, alone\, \nand climbed further among the hills until he reached a place now known as \nSubiaco. In this wild and rocky country he came upon a monk called Romanus\, \nto whom he opened his heart\, explaining his intention of leading the life of a \nhermit. Romanus assisted the young man\, clothing him with a sheepskin habit \nand leading him to a cave in the mountain. In this desolate cavern Benedict \nspent the next three years of his life… \nDisciples began to gather about him\, attracted by his sanctity and by his \nmiraculous powers… We do not know how long the saint remained at Subiaco\, \nbut he stayed long enough to establish his monasteries on a firm and permanent \nbasis. His departure was sudden. \nHaving set all things in order\, he withdrew from Subiaco to the territory of \nMonte Cassino… Upon the site of a big temple he built two chapels and round \nabout these sanctuaries there rose little by little a great building which was \ndestined to become the most famous abbey the world has ever known\, the \nfoundation of which is likely to have been laid by St Benedict in the year 530… \nIt is probably that Benedict\, who was now in middle age\, again spent some \ntime as a hermit; but disciples soon flocked to Monte Cassino too… \nThe holy abbot\, far from confining his ministrations to those who would \nfollow his rule\, extended his solicitude to the population of the surrounding \ncountry: he cured their sick\, relieved the distressed\, distributed alms and food \nto the poor\, and is said to have raised the dead on more than one occasion. The \ngreat saint who had foretold so many other things was also forewarned of his \nown approaching death. He notified it to his disciples… He was stricken with \nfever\, and on the last day he received the Body and Blood of the Lord. Then\, \nwhile the loving hands of the brethren were supporting his weak limbs\, he \nuttered a few final words of prayer and died – standing on his feet in the chapel\, \nwith his hands uplifted towards heaven.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-benedict-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260710
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260711
DTSTAMP:20260705T125357Z
CREATED:20260705T125357Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260705T125357Z
UID:15152-1783641600-1783727999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST AELRED OF RIEVAULX \n◊◊◊ \nFor when in bitterness of soul \nI view my former life\, \nit scares and frightens me that I should be called shepherd\, \nfor I am surely crazy if I do not know myself \nunworthy of the name. \nYour holy mercy is upon me\, \nto snatch my wretched soul out of hell. \nYou show mercy as you will; \nyour pity succors him whom you are pleased to pity; \nand such is your forgiveness of my sin\, \nthat you do not avenge yourself by damning me\, \nnor do you even overwhelm me with reproaches; \nand\, even when you do accuse\, you love me no less. \nNevertheless\, I am disturbed and troubled\, \nfor I am mindful of your goodness\, yes— \nbut I am not unmindful of my own ingratitude. \nSee\, then\, \nbefore you is my heart’s confession of the countless sins\, \nfrom which your mercy has been pleased to free my \nhapless soul. \nMy whole heart renders thanks and praise to you \nwith all its might for all these benefits. \n6 (CF 2 : 106-107).12 \nBut I am no less in your debt \nfor all the evil things I have not done. \nFor\, most assuredly\, whatever evil thing \nI have not done\, it was your guiding hand \nthat made me abstain from doing it; \nsince either you took away the means to do it\, \nor else you corrected my inclination\, \nor gave me the power to resist. \nBut what am I to do\, O Lord my God\, \nabout the ills whereby\, in your just judgment\, \nyou suffer your servant\, the son of your handmaiden\, \nstill to be wearied and be overcome? \nThe things concerning which my sinful soul \nis troubled in your sight\, O Lord\, cannot be counted; \nyet\, for all that\, \nneither my sorrow for them nor my care \nto shun their repetition is as great \nas they demand\, and as my will desires.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-445/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260709T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260709T170000
DTSTAMP:20260705T125256Z
CREATED:20260705T125256Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260705T125256Z
UID:15150-1783584000-1783616400@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nFR LOUIS BOUYER \n◊◊◊ \nIt is not purely and simply by dying that we shall live\, but by dying such a \ndeath that it kills death itself – and it is only the death of Christ that can do that. \nFor it is not the life of the mortal body which has injured the life of the soul. It is\, \non the contrary\, the death of the soul which has injured the body and made it \nmortal. Life will be won back by the resurrection\, not of the soul alone\, but of the \nhuman being in its unity\, inseparably body and soul. And if the passage through \ndeath can lead to the resurrection\, it is only in as much as the soul\, which has \nbecome alive again in Christ\, has been made capable of burning away the death \nof the body as with a red-hot iron and of causing it to evaporate in its own flame. \nThe monk goes forward to meet death because he believes that this \nmiracle\, the greatest of all\, has been accomplished in the death of Christ: \nbecause he believes that Christ was Life\, the very Life of God\, and that in making \nphysical death his own\, he has robbed the evil one of all his power and all his \nempire which are annihilated by this very act. Again he goes forward to meet \ndeath because he believes that Christ now and for the future lives in him: and \nfinally because he believes that what has taken place in Christ will be \nreproduced in himself\, in the same manner. \nThe death of the monk\, so desired and sought after day after day\, is then \nonly the supreme evidence of his faith\, his faith in Christ vanquishing death in \nhimself\, his faith in Christ present in his followers to vanquish it in them. The \nmonk’s mortification is ultimately nothing more than his witness given to \nChrist\, the witness of his faith\, which makes it clear that it is not only an \nintellectual thing but an engagement of the whole being.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-the-dead-27/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260708T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260708T170000
DTSTAMP:20260705T125201Z
CREATED:20260705T125201Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260705T125201Z
UID:15148-1783497600-1783530000@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Bl Eugene III
DESCRIPTION:A reading from St Bernard of Clairvaux for \nPOPE BLESSED EUGENE III \n◊◊◊ \nIt has occurred to me to write something which might edify\, delight or \nconsole you\, Blessed Father Eugene. But I do not know the rules for writing a \nformal yet intimate treatise. Two opposites\, your majesty and my love\, vie to \ndictate my style. Love draws me on; majesty holds me back. But you graciously \nintervene and request rather than command this treatise\, although it would be \nmore fitting for you to command it. Since your majesty so admirably \ncondescends\, why does my hesitancy persist? What if you have ascended the \nthrone? Even if you were to walk on the wings of the wind\, you would not escape \nmy affection. Love knows no master. It recognizes a son even though he wear \nthe tiara. It is the nature of a lover to be suitably humble\, willingly submissive\, \nfreely compliant\, respectful without duress. \nThis is not the way with others however; they are driven either by fear or \nby greed. Such men bless openly\, but harbor evil in their hearts. They flatter you \nwhen you are present\, yet fail you in time of need. But charity never fails. It is \ntrue that I have been freed of maternal obligation toward you\, but I am not \nstripped of affection for you. You were once in my womb; you will not be drawn \nfrom my heart so easily. Ascend to the heavens\, descend to the depths\, you will \nnot escape me. I will follow you wherever you go. I loved you when you were \npoor in spirit; I shall love you still as father of the poor and the rich. \nIf I know you\, you did not cease being poor in spirit when you became the \nfather of the poor. I am confident that this change has been thrust on you and \nwas not of your doing\, that this promotion has not replaced your former state\, \nbut rather has enhanced it. Therefore I will instruct you not as a teacher\, but as a \nmother\, indeed as a lover. I may seem more the fool\, but only to one who does \nnot love\, to one who does not feel the force of love.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-bl-eugene-iii-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR