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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261109
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261110
DTSTAMP:20261108T000820Z
CREATED:20261108T000820Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261108T000820Z
UID:15882-1794182400-1794268799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Lateran Basilica
DESCRIPTION:A reading on \nTHE DEDICATION OF \nTHE LATERAN BASILICA \n◊◊◊ \nThe blessed Pope Sylvester I instituted the rites which the Roman Church \nobserves in consecrating churches and altars. For although from the ages of the \napostles places had been dedicated to God where assemblies were held every \nSabbath\, yet those places had not been consecrated by a solemn rite before this. \nUp to the time of Sylvester an altar was not erected under title\, which\, anointed \nwith chrism\, symbolizes our Lord Jesus Christ\, who is our Altar\, our Victim\, our \nPriest. \nBut when the Emperor Constantine obtained health and salvation \nthrough the sacrament of Baptism\, then for the first time\, by an edict published \nby him\, the Christians throughout the world were permitted to build churches; \nhe himself encouraged this holy building by his own example\, as well as by this \nedict. For in his own Lateran palace he dedicated a church to the Savior and \nfounded adjacent to it a Basilica\, under the title of St John the Baptist\, on the \nvery spot where he had been baptized by St Sylvester and cleansed from the \nleprosy of unbelief. This basilica the same Pope consecrated on November 9\, \nand the memory of this consecration is celebrated today\, when\, for the first \ntime\, a church was publicly consecrated at Rome\, and there appeared to the \nRoman people an image of the Savior depicted on the wall. \nAlthough later on St Sylvester decreed that from that time forward all \naltars should be built of stone\, yet the altar of the Lateran Basilica was built of \nwood. This is not surprising. For since\, from St Peter down to Sylvester\, because \nof persecutions\, the Pontiffs could not dwell in any fixed abode\, they offered the \nHoly Sacrifice [of the Mass] wherever necessity compelled them\, whether in \ncrypts or in cemeteries\, or in the homes of the faithful\, upon a wooden altar \nwhich was hollow like a chest \nWhen this altar had been placed in the first church\, the Lateran\, St \nSylvester decreed that from that time on\, no one except the Roman Pontiff \nshould celebrate Mass upon it\, in honor of the Prince of the Apostles and of the \nrest of the Popes who had been accustomed to use it. This same church\, having \nbeen destroyed by fires\, pillaging\, and earthquakes\, and repaired by the \nlaborious effort of the Supreme Pontiffs\, was afterwards rebuilt anew. Pope \nBenedict XIII\, a Dominican\, consecrated it on April 28\, 1726\, by a solemn rite.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-lateran-basilica-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261110
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261111
DTSTAMP:20261108T000934Z
CREATED:20261108T000934Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261108T000934Z
UID:15884-1794268800-1794355199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Leo the Great
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST LEO THE GREAT \n◊◊◊ \nAlthough the Lord Jesus Christ is one and there is really one and the same \nperson in Him\, composed of true divinity and true humanity\, the exaltation with \nwhich God exalted Him (as the Teacher of the Gentiles says) and gave to Him a \nname superior to every other name – this exaltation\, as we know\, took place in \nthat same nature which needed enrichment by the increase of so great a \nglorification. Indeed\, in His nature as God the Son was equal to the Father; and \nthere was no distinction of essence between the Father and the Only-begotten\, \nno difference in majesty; and through the mystery of the Incarnation the Word \ndid not lose anything which the Father might restore to Him as a gift. \nBut the servile form through which the non-sentient God fulfilled the \nmystery of great and fatherly concern\, is human lowliness\, which was carried up \nto the glory of divine power. The divinity and humanity were bound together in \nso great a unity from the very time of conception by the Virgin that divine acts \nwere not done without the man and human acts were not done without God. \nFor that reason\, just as the lord of Majesty is said to have been crucified\, so He \nwho from all eternity is equal to the Father is said to have been exalted. For\, \nsince the unity of person remains inseparable\, He is one and the same – wholly \nthe Son of Man because of the flesh\, and wholly the Son of God because of the \ndivinity He has in common with the Father. Hence\, whatever Christ received in \ntime He received in his humanity\, on which are bestowed the things it did not \nhave. \nAs regards the power of the Godhead\, all that the Father has belongs also to the Son \nwithout distinction. According to His divine nature\, as the Father has life in himself\, even \nso he has given to the Son also to have life in himself. But in His servile state\, His soul is \nsad even unto death. As the Apostle teaches\, he is at once both poor and rich: rich \nbecause\, as the Evangelist says: In the beginning was the Word\, and the Word was with \nGod: and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made \nthrough him\, and without him was made nothing. But he was poor because on our \naccount the Word was made flesh\, and dwelt among us.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-leo-the-great-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261111
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261112
DTSTAMP:20261108T001047Z
CREATED:20261108T001047Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261108T001047Z
UID:15886-1794355200-1794441599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Martin of Tours
DESCRIPTION:A reading from a letter by \nPOPE ST JOHN XXIII \n◊◊◊ \nIf St Martin was a bishop and a zealous pastor who can well be imitated in \nthe practice of charity\, he was also and first of all a monk. You might even say \nthat the only reason he was such a marvelous man of action was that he was first \nof all a man of prayer. And from this point of view too\, he has a great lesson to \ngive to the Christians of today. \nEager for solitude and union with God\, this giant of the apostolate lived in \nconstant prayer: “he never turned his mind away from prayer\,” according to the \nexpression\, later picked up by the liturgy\, of his contemporary and first \nbiographer Sulpicius Severus\, who adds that once he was elevated to the \nepiscopacy\, the servant of God “remained what he had been before and bore the \ndignity of bishop without abandoning the design of life and the virtue of a \nmonk.” Was not his principal means of evangelization to found churches and \nmonasteries everywhere?… And thus it was that\, thanks to him\, monasticism \nwas introduced into France. \nThrowing light on this side of the activity of the great convert-maker is a \nway of reminding us of the immense benefits that the monks brought to their \ncountry; it is a way of drawing their attention\, which is so easily distracted at the \npresent time by the agitated pace of modern life\, back to the lasting greatness \nand beauties of monastic life; it is a way of inviting them to hold this form of life\, \nand\, in general\, the grace of a religious vocation\, high in their esteem… \nThe example of St Martin\, which has been confirmed by the experience of \ncenturies\, shows what invaluable instruments for spiritual elevation cloisters \nare in Christian society and what an effective contribution they make to the \napostolate of the Church… \nMay the great Bishop\, model of the monk and the pastor\, succeed in \nstirring up a new spirit of fervor for the service of God.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-martin-of-tours-5/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261112
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261113
DTSTAMP:20261108T001155Z
CREATED:20261108T001155Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261108T001155Z
UID:15888-1794441600-1794527999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “Seasons of Celebration” by \nTHOMAS MERTON \n◊◊◊ \nLet us remember especially that the Church is a community of pardon. All \nwho have entered the common life of the body of Christ have done so by the way \nof pardon. And they remain in the Body of Christ only through pardon\, through \nthe mystery of Christ: not only of Christ\, as Head\, but also of Christ in His \nmembers. \nThe mercy and pardon of Christ must be continually at work in all the \nmembers and through all the members of the Mystical Body. This is what makes \nthe Church truly a Mother: she gives life by gentleness\, understanding\, love and \npardon. She forgives sins\, that is to say she heals separations. Sin is separation \nfrom God\, and from those who love God. Sin is a cutting off from life. It is a \nspiritual death and pardon is the restoration of life. \nThe Spirit by which the Church lives is the Spirit of love\, of unity. Unity \ncan be preserved or restored only by understanding\, acceptance and pardon. \nThe Church is a body of people who know they are forgiven and who forgive \nrepeatedly because they are themselves forgiven repeatedly. \nThe Church is then not so much a body of people who are pure and never \noffend\, but of those who\, in their weakness and frailty\, frequently err and \noffend\, but who have received from God the power to forgive one another in His \nname. \nThey possess the Holy Spirit and they can give the Holy Spirit in some \nsense\, to one another. The Holy Spirit Himself moves them to do this\, and acts \nin them\, to save others. \nWe\, then\, who form one body in Christ\, share with one another the \nmessage of Christ’s divine truth\, we share His word\, we share His worship\, we \nshare His love\, we share His Spirit. \nIn building a community of pardon which is the temple of God\, we have to \nrecognize that no one of us is complete\, self-sufficient\, perfectly holy in himself. \nNo one can rest in one’s own virtues and interior life. We do not live for \nourselves alone. To live for oneself alone is to die. We grow and flourish in our \nown lives in so far as we live for others and through others. What we ourselves \nlack God has given them. They must complete us where we are deficient. \nOften the good that is given us by God is given us only to be shared with \nanother. If God sees that we will not pardon and will not be open\, that we will \nnot share\, then the good is not given us. But to the one in whom there is the \ngreatest readiness to share with all\, most is given. The greatest of gifts then is \nthis openness\, this love\, this readiness to accept and to pardon and to share with \nothers\, in the Spirit of Christ. If we are open we will not only offer pardon\, but \nwill not disdain to seek it and recognize our own desperate need of it.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-485/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261113
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261114
DTSTAMP:20261108T001310Z
CREATED:20261108T001310Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261108T001310Z
UID:15890-1794528000-1794614399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - All Benedictine Saints
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nBALDWIN OF FORD \n◊◊◊ \nI believe\, O Lord\, in the Holy Spirit\, the holy catholic Church\, the \ncommunion of saints. Here is my hope\, here is my trust\, here is my confidence\, \nhere is my security – however small it may be – which I have in the confession of \nmy faith\, in the generosity of the Holy Spirit\, in the unity of the catholic Church\, \nin the communion of the saints. If it be granted me from above to love you and to \nlove my neighbour\, then even though my own merits are poor and meager\, I \nhave a hope which is above and beyond all my merits: I am sure that through the \ncommunion of charity the merits of the saints will profit me and that the \ncommunion of the saints can make good my own imperfection and \ninsufficiency. The prophet comforts me when he says\, “I have seen an end of all \nperfection\, but your commandment is exceeding broad.” \nO charity\, so broad and so extensive\, how great is the house of God\, how \nvast is the place of his possession! We need not be distressed in our heart; we \nneed not be confined by the boundaries and limits of our insignificant \nrighteousness. Charity extends our hope to the communion of the saints\, and we \ncan therefore share with them their merits and their rewards. But the sharing of \ntheir rewards is [reserved] for the time to come\, for it is the sharing of the glory \nwhich shall be revealed in us. \nThus there are three sorts of sharing\, [three forms of communion\, three \nways in which we have things in common]: the sharing of nature\, which is \nassociated with the sharing of sin and the sharing of wrath; then the sharing of \ngrace; and thirdly\, the sharing of glory. \nBy the sharing of grace\, the sharing of nature begins to be restored and the \nsharing of sin is removed\, but by the sharing of glory\, the sharing of nature will \nbe fully and perfectly restored and the sharing of wrath wholly removed. It is \nthen that God shall wipe away all the tears from the eyes of the saints. It is then \nthat all the saints will be as one heart and one soul\, and they will have all things \nin common when God will be all in all. \n[Our hope is] that we\, too\, may come in common to this communion and \ncome together as one [and therefore we pray that] the grace of our Lord Jesus \nChrist and the charity of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit may be with us \nall always.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-all-benedictine-saints-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261114
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261115
DTSTAMP:20261108T001431Z
CREATED:20261108T001431Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261108T001431Z
UID:15892-1794614400-1794700799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “The Seat of Wisdom” by \nFR LOUIS BOUYER \n◊◊◊ \nVirginity consecrated to God in Christ has its justification in that it is a \nmeans for engendering offspring without number; and therein lies the real \nnature of its sacrifice. This is the supreme truth revealed to us by Mary’s virginal \nmotherhood\, and\, at the same time\, its supreme justification. By her \nrenunciation in a spirit of perfect faith\, of the very possibility of generation on \nthe earthly plane\, that of the first creation\, she lent herself to be used to generate \nthe human body of the Son of God. \nAnd\, since he is\, in himself\, not only the origin but the whole of the new \ncreation\, she also brought this to birth in bearing him. The sacrifice inherent in \nher chosen virginity was fulfilled in that the “Holy One” born of her was the Son \nof God\, since this made him\, the fruit of her own life\, the absolute Stranger to \nher. though belonging wholly to her as to no one else\, Christ could not but be the \none who was apart form her from the very moment of his birth\, more so than \nany other child from its parents. At the same time\, her virginity was justified in \nthat it made a birth of the kind possible. And all the hopes of renewal that this \nbirth held out to mankind\, in the state it then was in\, justified the seeming \nrefusal of human love by the one most worthy of loving and being loved that had \nbeen seen on earth since Eve. \nThe counterpart of this is that it is by their participation in Mary’s destiny \nthat\, henceforth\, those vowed to virginity will see and fulfill the purpose of their \nown sacrifice. They renounce all possibility of prolonging and continuing the \npresent order of creation in order to dedicate themselves wholly to engendering \nthe new order which is to redeem the old. Such entire devotion to bringing about \nthe new birth of a humanity regenerated in Christ makes of their virginity\, not a \nnegation of love\, but an act of love of the most exalted kind.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-the-bvm-14/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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