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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260622
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260623
DTSTAMP:20260620T213423Z
CREATED:20260620T213423Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260620T213423Z
UID:15095-1782086400-1782172799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nFR KARL RAHNER \n◊◊◊ \nThe doctrine of the Church of sinners is found explicitly or implicitly in \nother documents of the Second Vatican Council. In the Decree on Ecumenism it \nis admitted that for the separated brethren and for the world the face of the \nChurch is “less” resplendent because of the lack of Christian zeal and so the \ngrowth of God’s kingdom is retarded. The Church must everyday be ‘purified \nand renewed’ until she can present herself to Christ as the end ‘glorious and \nwithout spot or wrinkle’. \nTherefore there is no hesitation in addressing the church herself as the \nsubject of purification and renewal\, even if that from which she must be purified \nis indicated in somewhat too careful and mild a way (as a want of that ‘fervor’ \nwhich gives rise to the duty of striving after ‘perfectio christiana‘). But…an \nindication is also given that the want of ‘zeal’ and the necessity to strive after \n‘perfection’ have as their reason the sin within the Church. This becomes all the \nclearer when it is emphasized in this decree that this reformation must begin \nwith the ‘inner conversion’ to a ‘new mentality’. \nIt is true that a certain timidity becomes evident when the decree \nexplicitly speaks of the sins against unity and of the prayers for forgiveness\, \nwhere the subject of the sin and of the prayer for forgiveness is ‘we’ (no longer \nthe Church!). Similarly… the decree only speaks of the fact that the separations \nfrom the Catholic Church took place ‘not without the fault of men on either side’. \nHence there is fault also on the Catholic side\, but it is expressly laid at the door \nonly of her ‘men’\, which does not of course exclude a fault on the part of the \nChurch herself\, particularly since the persons immediately concerned in this \nfault are the officials of the Church who act juridically in the name of the \nChurch\, so that their fault affects the Church as such in a very palpable way. \nThe Church is indefectibly holy and therefore is repeatedly called with the \nCreed simply ‘Holy Church’. It is stated that the Church on earth has a true \nholiness though imperfect. One could be led from this into thinking simply that \nthe same is true of her holiness as is true of the holiness of the justified \nindividual: he is truly holy through the grace of justification but his holiness is \nstill in danger and has still to find its fulfillment and perfection. This holiness \nmust still be “actualized”. One could add that the decree furthermore explicitly \npresupposes that there are in the Church as a matter of fact such justified \npersons\, even persons in a state of great perfection.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-437/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260623
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260624
DTSTAMP:20260620T213540Z
CREATED:20260620T213540Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260620T213540Z
UID:15097-1782172800-1782259199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “The Mirror of Charity” by \nST AELRED OF RIEVAULX \n◊◊◊ \nNow let us examine quite carefully the measure to be observed in natural \nattachments. Just as it is clearly impossible not to allow this attachment\, so not \nto follow it is the summit of virtue. No one has ever hated himself\, and yet\, \n“anyone who comes to me”\, said the Savior\, “and does not hate his own life \ncannot be my disciple”. Likewise\, “anyone who comes to me and does not hate \nhis father and mother cannot be my disciple”. \nThe apostle\, on the other hand\, says: anyone who does not provide for his \nrelatives\, especially if they live with him\, has disowned the faith and is worse \nthan an unbeliever. What then? Should master and disciple\, servant and Lord\, \nvery Truth and Truth’s friend\, be thought to have had contrary points of view? \nFar from it! \nBetween these two loves about which we have spoken above\, a distinction \nmust be made: the one is according to attachment; the other according to \nreason. It is natural for a person to have an attachment for himself and his own \nrelatives\, but one ought not form his love according to attachment. It ought \nrather to be according to reason. This attachment was meant when the apostle \nsaid\, “no one has ever hated his own flesh”. Yet love according to attachment is \nforbidden on the authority of the Savior himself\, who said\, “anyone who comes \nto me and does not hate his father and mother\, yes\, and even his own life\, cannot \nhe my disciple”. Love according to reason was indicated when the apostle said\, \n“anyone who does not provide for his relatives\, especially if they live with him\, \nhas disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever”. \nLove according to attachment was denounced when Paul\, foretelling ills \nto come\, said among other things: There will be persons who will love \nthemselves. The following words teach us that here he understood this as love \naccording to attachment: For there will be persons who love themselves\, who \nwill be avaricious\, proud\, who will love pleasure rather than God. Attachment \nalways suggests things that are pleasant and soft. It willingly embraces what is \ndelightful and tender\, what is pleasurable and delicate. But anything arduous \nand harsh\, anything that goes against self-will\, it flees in utter dread and avoids. \nHence\, following this attachment through is perverse love; it strips a \nperson of his humanness and vests him in animal form\, destroying in a way and \nhiding every trace of reason\, of integrity\, and ultimately\, of usefulness. This love \nis characteristic of beasts\, and excusable in children\, because reason has not \nbeen bestowed on the former and is dormant in the latter.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-438/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260624
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260625
DTSTAMP:20260620T213846Z
CREATED:20260620T213809Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260620T213846Z
UID:15099-1782259200-1782345599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Nativity of St John the Baptist
DESCRIPTION:A reading by Johannes Tauler on \nTHE NATIVITY OF \nJOHN THE BAPTIST \n◊◊◊ \nWhen the Baptist said: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness\, make \nstraight the way of the Lord\,” he refers to the path of the virtues. This path is very \nstraight. And again he says that he is to prepare the Lord’s paths. Footpaths reach \nthe goal faster than public roads. The shortcut across the fields is indeed rougher \nand may lead one astray; and yet it is more direct than the open road. \nBeloved! Whoever would discover the paths leading to the ground\, he \nwould take the shortest and most direct way\, keeping all his energies to himself so \nas to be very attentive. For these paths are rugged\, dark\, and alien to our nature\, \nand only those who are sufficiently skilled can take them. If they are aware of this\, \nthey will not be put off by hurdles and hindrances or any other human anguish. \nQuite the opposite: Everything will point to the ground\, beckon\, and draw them \nthere. \nIn the same manner we should straighten the paths within ourselves\, the \npaths which lead our spirit to God\, and God to us. These relations also require \nskill\, and their difficulties are of a hidden nature. At this point many give up and \nbegin to run after exterior devotions and activities. They are like people starting \nfor Rome and taking the road to Holland. The more they advance\, the farther they \nget away from their destination. And when they return\, they are old and spent and \nno longer up to the tempestuous work of love. \nBeloved\, when we find ourselves in the tempests of love\, we should not \ndwell on our sins and failings. Our only concern should be that love’s work be \naccomplished. We can be overcome by this tempest even when our hearts appear \ncold\, disinterested and hard. Now more than ever we must adhere to love\, \nclinging to it in perfect faith\, freed and stripped of everything that is not love. \nConstantly long for it\, put your whole trust in it\, cleave to it\, and your experience \nwill be as powerful and overwhelming as is possible in this life. If your faith in love \nis imperfect\, your desire will fade away. Love will be extinguished\, and nothing \nwill come of it all. \nThis may seem very hard to you. The devil will allow you all the marks of a \nspiritual life\, but he will do everything in his power to deprive you of love’s true \nwitness. He will leave you with all kinds of treacherous love which many will \nmistake for the real thing. If they looked deeply into their ground\, they would see \nwhether their love was true or false. The one thing necessary is to give access to \nthe ground in order to be able to enter its depth. There you would find that grace \nwhich would incessantly raise you up. \nBut we often resist that voice until we make ourselves unworthy to ever \nreceive it again. This is due to complacency. If only we would respond to the \nglance of grace\, it would lead us to find such union with God that we would \nexperience in time the joy that will be ours in eternity\, as some have done before \nus. May God grant that we may all experience this…
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-nativity-of-st-john-the-baptist-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260625
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260626
DTSTAMP:20260620T214020Z
CREATED:20260620T214020Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260620T214020Z
UID:15101-1782345600-1782431999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nFRANCOIS MAURIAC \n◊◊◊ \nIt sometimes happens that I feel all the nearer to a believer\, to someone \ndevout\, the further away the person is from my own Church. This is a paradox \nonly in appearance. Faced with a Muslim or a Jew\, if they are devout\, I know in \nadvance\, even before they have spoken a word\, what it is that separates me from \nthem. The abyss that lies between us is\, in a way\, familiar to me. It could \ncontain nothing to surprise me. But what is unfamiliar to me\, and what I love to \ndiscover\, is this word of adoration which I suddenly recognize\, this prayer which \ncould have sprung from my own heart\, this love of the Father who is in heaven\, \nand sometimes\, even among certain Jews\, this attraction to Christ. \nI remember\, one day\, finding myself at table beside a young Jewish \nwoman\, and we spoke of these problems; she told me that she could not believe \nin the divinity of Christ; and suddenly her voice changed and she said in a \nmoving tone\, ‘But I love him’. \nOn the all too rare occasions when I am privileged to meet a true Israelite \nor a Muslim who is a mystic\, I think of all the many rooms that are in the \nFather’s House. And what I feel as regards a son of Israel\, or a son of the \nProphet\, I feel still more\, needless to say\, with Christians who belong to \ndifferent confessions but who live in Christ\, with those of my separated brethren \nwho have a living faith. \nI feel it again\, with certain souls who belong to no definite confession and \nwho live\, as Simone Weil lived\, on the borders of the Church; and the light \nwhich comes across to them and which those souls refract\, perhaps because it \ndoes not find expression in traditional forms\, is all the more enlightening to me. \nGrace here appears in its natural state\, outside all the means which are its usual \nchannel to us. It is rather like discovering that strangers know and love a secret \nplace in the forest which was the objective of our solitary walks. We wonder how \nthey came there by paths unknown to us.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-28/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260626
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260627
DTSTAMP:20260620T214145Z
CREATED:20260620T214145Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260620T214145Z
UID:15103-1782432000-1782518399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nBALDWIN OF FORD \n◊◊◊ \nA person who is tempted by the flesh\, and who yields to this temptation\, \nhowever\, is someone who feels his passions and gives them his full consent. The \nmore carnal he is\, the more provision he makes for the flesh in gratifying its \ndesires. He does not give his consent to the spirit against the flesh but allies \nhimself with the flesh\, whose desires are opposed to the spirit. \nSuch a person loves wine and good things\, ease and security and plenty. \n[He loves] to be clothed in purple and fine linen and to feast sumptuously every \nday. Nor does he refuse his eyes whatever they desire. He allays all his desires \nimpulsively and willingly\, and whatever does not serve the delights of flesh he \nregards as vain. He reckons that the best thing for him is to enjoy good things in \nhis lifetime\, and he gains nothing more than this by all the toil at which he toils \nunder the sun. The end that carnal man will come to is shown in the gospel \nparable of the rich man and the poor man\, where it says\, “The rich man died and \nwas buried in hell.” And of Babylon it is written\, “As she exalted herself and lived \nin her delights\, so give her a like measure of torment and sorrow!” \nIt is better for us\, then\, to deliver such a man to death for the destruction \nof the flesh than to be drawn with him into the pit of destruction. Our flesh\, \ntherefore\, should be mortified and crucified\, so that the body of sin may be \ndestroyed. Such is in accord with the voice of the prophet speaking to the Lord: \n‘Pierce my flesh with your fear’. \nBecause it is said to carnal man\, ‘You have hated discipline\, If we can find \nno better cross on which to crucify carnal man than the austerity of regular \ndiscipline\, for the discipline which he hates is a torment to him. Regular \ndiscipline is a cross\, and the two pieces of wood from which it is built symbolize \nthe laws of abstinence and continence. Abstinence tempers gluttony\, and the \nlaw of continence restrains excess in all the senses of mind and body: and it is \nprecisely these things which are characteristic of the carnal man.’
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-439/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260627
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260628
DTSTAMP:20260620T214322Z
CREATED:20260620T214322Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260620T214322Z
UID:15105-1782518400-1782604799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “The Divine Motherhood” by \nANSCAR VONIER \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 as \nto make her maternity not only an instrumental\, but a natural maternity. \nIf Mary’s mission had been merely to minister the human element to the \nWord when he became flesh\, her maternity would have been just instrumental; \nit would have existed only to serve a higher purpose. But Mary’s role is more \nthan that; she is permanently the Mother of God; her maternity is not a \ntransient ministration\, but an abiding dignity that makes her share with God the \nFather\, in literal truth\, the parenthood of Jesus Christ. \nA threefold hypothesis may make this point clearer still. We can think of a \nwoman being made a mother by the direct productive act of God; in that case the \noffspring of that mother would not be divine\, but human. Then there can be the \nconception 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 to \nme\, 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.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-the-bvm-11/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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