Vigils Reading - All Souls
2023-11-02
ALL SOULS’ DAY
From a homily by Fr. Karl Rahner5
◊◊◊
All Souls’ Day is the day of everyone who has died and gone home into the eternal love of God. Today, then, we want to remember before God our dead, all those who once belonged to us and who have departed from us. In true love no one can replace the beloved, for true love loves the beloved in those depths where each is uniquely and irreplaceably oneself. That is why each one of those who has passed away has taken a part of our heart away: they may be said even to have taken the heart with them, if death has trodden through our lives from beginning to end.
If one has really loved, and continues to love, then even before one’s own death our life is changed into a life with the dead. Could the lover forget his dead? If one has really loved, then one’s forgetting and the fact that one has ceased weeping are not signs that nothing has really changed, that one is just the same as before. They are, rather, signs that a part of one’s own heart has really died with the loved ones, and is now living with the dead. That is why one can no longer mourn. We live, then, with the dead, with those who have gone before us into the dark night of death…
Today, when we stand by the graves, or when our heart must seek distant graves, where perhaps not even a cross stands over them any longer; when we pray, “Lord, grant them eternal rest, and may perpetual light shine upon them;” when we quietly look up towards the eternal homeland of all the saints and – from afar and yet so near – greet God’s light and God’s love, our eternal homeland; then all our memories and all our prayers are only the echo of the words of love that the holy living, in the silence of their eternity, softly and gently speak into our heart. Hidden in the peace of the eternal God, filled with God’s own bliss, redeemed for eternity, permeated with love for us that can never cease, then, on their feast, utter the prayer of their love for us: “Lord, grant eternal rest to them whom we love – as never before – in your love. Grant it to them who still walk the hard road of pilgrimage, which is nonetheless the road that leads to us and to your eternal light. We, although silent, are now closer to them than ever before, closer than when we were sojourning and struggling along with them on earth. Grant to them, too, Lord, eternal rest, and may your perpetual light shine on them as on us. May it shine upon them now as the light of faith, and then in eternity, as the light of blessed life.”… And there will be one, single, eternal feast of all the saints

5 The Eternal Year, Baltimore: Dublin 1964, 37ff.

Vigils Reading - St Martin de Porres
2023-11-03
MARTIN THE CHARITABLE
The life of St Martin de Porres (1579-1639)6
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POPE ST JOHN XXIII described St. Martin de Porres thus: “He forgave the bitterest injuries, convinced that he deserved much severer punishments on account of his own sins.” Martin could have easily grown up a social misfit, angry at society. Born in Lima, Peru, he was the illegitimate son of a noble knight from Spain, John de Porres, who eventually became governor of Panama, and Anna Velasquez, a freed mulatto from Panama. He was dark-skinned and greatly resembled his mother. His father left his mother when Martin was just a boy and his sister Joan just an infant. The result was a childhood of poverty, except for a brief period when the children lived with their father in Ecuador… Even in Martin’s youth, he had a deep devotion to the Passion ofour Lord, full of gratitude for his own redemption. He also sometimes would give his family’s meager food money to the poor, causing his mother to protest that she and Joan had not volunteered to starve along with him…
When he was fifteen, despite his father’s objections, Martin chose the lowliest possible station in the Dominican order, becoming a humble lay tertiary (servant). In addition to gardening, housekeeping, and barbering, he acted as wardrobe-keeper and infirmarian. Nine years later, at the command of his superior, he became a professed Dominican lay brother, although he believed he was unworthy.
Martin devoted himself completely to a life of charity. He nursed the sick, without regard to color, race, or status. He gave out food, clothing, blankets, and other necessities to those in need, becoming known as “Martin the Charitable.” He helped found an orphanage and a hospital for abandoned children. Sometime Martin’s charity was blessed by miraculous help from God. One of his tasks was to distribute

the daily bread and soup to the poor in the Dominican refectory. The meager supply of food was often miraculously multiplied. He was also known for miraculous cures and even raising the dead. He felt especially drawn to the suffering of enslaved Africans, and caring for them in illness was a significant part of his work…
Martin cared for all sorts of animals… On one occasion, his superior instructed him to poison the rodents infesting the Dominican house. Instead, he went out to the garden, called the rats and mice, explained the problem they caused and told them about the poison, and promised to feed them every day in the garden if they would leave the house. That ended the problem. He is among those rare saints who offer a glimpse of an Eden lost, of the original harmony between man and the rest of creation.
Martin’s humility was sometimes ridiculed by those who did not know him well. It prompted him to turn insults to jokes, and to return unkindness with special attention. He was deeply drawn and devoted to the Eucharist. He received Communion as often as he could and, as often as he contemplated Jesus’ Passion anddeath, tears would flow from his eyes. He prayed at length in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, and often spent entire nights in prayer. He received in abundance the gifts God bestows on those exemplars of contemplative prayer, the mystics…
Martin lived a life of great austerity, wearing a sackcloth habit and never sleeping on a mattress. His superiors permitted these only because they saw how close to the Lord he was. He lived entirely for others. Jesus teaches the astonishing paradox that “he who loses his life for my sake will find it.” Grasping loses it all; letting go gains everything. Martin knew how to let go, and became the glorious saint God intended him to be

6 Accessed Online: https://scsreading.org/scsparish/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/8-st.-martin-de- porres.pdf

Vigils Reading - St Charles Borromeo
2023-11-04
ST CHARLES BORROMEO
From the writing of Alban Butler7
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Charles was an aristocrat by birth, his father being Count Gilbert Borromeo, himself a man of talent and sanctity. His mother, Margaret, was a Medici, whose younger brother became Pope Pius IV. Charles, the second of two sons in a family of six, was born in the castle of Arona on Lake Maggiore on October 2, 1538. At the age of twelve he received the clerical tonsure, and his uncle, Julius Caesar Borromeo, resigned to him the rich Benedictine monastery of Saints Gratian and Felinus at Arona, which had been long enjoyed by members of his family in commendam…
It was not until after the death of both of his parents that he took his doctor’s degree, in his twenty-second year. He returned to Milan, where he soon received news that his uncle, Cardinal de Medici, was chosen pope in 1559, at the conclave held after the death of Paul IV.
Early in 1560 the new pope created his nephew cardinal-deacon and on February 8 nominated him administrator of the vacant see of Milan. Pius IV, however, detained him at Rome and entrusted him with many duties. In quick succession Charles was named legate of Bologna, Romagna and the March of Ancona, and protector of Portugal, the Low Countries, the Catholic cantons of Switzerland, and the orders of St. Francis, the Carmelites, the Knights of Malta, and others. At this time Charles was not yet twenty-three years old, and only in minor orders. He still found time to look after his family affairs, and took recreation in music and physical exercise. He was a patron of learning, and promoted it among the clergy. For this end he instituted in the Vatican a literary academy of clergy and laymen…

Pope Pius IV had announced soon after his election his intention of reassembling the Council of Trent, which had been suspended in 1551. Charles used all his influence and energy to bring this about, amid the most difficult and adverse ecclesiastical and political conditions. He was successful, and in January 1562 the council was reopened… Several times it nearly broke up with its work unfinished, but Charles’ never-failing attention and his support of the papal legates kept it together, and in nine sessions and numerous meetings for discussion many of the most important dogmatic and disciplinary decrees of the great reforming council were passed. Charles was the mastermind and ruling spirit of the third and last period of the Council of Trent.
During its assembly Count Frederick Borromeo died, and Charles found himself at the head of this noble family. Many took it for granted that he would leave the clerical state and marry. But Charles resigned his family position to his uncle Julius and received the priesthood in 1563. Two months later he was consecrated bishop…
He arrived there in April 1566 and went vigorously to work for the reformation of his diocese. In provincial councils, diocesan synods and by many pastoral instructions he made regulations for the reform of both clergy and laity which have been regarded ever since as a model. He was one of the foremost of the great pastoral theologians who arose in the Church to remedy the disorders engendered by the decay of medieval life. He directed that children in particular should be properly instructed in Christian doctrine…
In 1575 the plague broke out. Charles organized priests of his own clergy to attend the sick. He used his own wealth and that of the church to assist the great number of sick. During 1584 Charles own health deteriorated… On October 29 he started off for Milan, where he arrived on All Souls’ Day. He went straight to bed andasked for the last sacraments, and after receiving them died quietly during the night between November 3 and 4. He was only forty-six years old

7 Butler’s Lives of the Saints – Revised and Updated – edited by Michael Walsh – Harper – San Francisco – 1991 – pg 361f.

Skema
2023-11-05
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
31st Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
November 5 – 11, 2023

Sun
5
Mon
6
Tue
7
Wed
8
Thu
9
Fri
10
Sat
11

Office
31st Sunday
Weekday
Weekday
St Elizabeth of the Trinity
Lateran Basilica
St Leo the Great
St Martin of Tours

Vigils
Neh 10:1-2; 29-40
Jud 1:1-16
Jud 2:1-13
Jud 2:14-28
Exodus 40:1-34
Jud 3:1-10
Jud 4:1-15

Lauds
Hab 2:9-14
Hab 2:15-20
Hab 3:1-7
Hab 3:8-15
Jerm 7:1-7
Hab 3:16-19
Isa 58:6-12

Mass
151
485
486
487
671
489
490

1st
Mal 1:14b—2:2b, 8-10
Rom 11:29-36
Rom 12:5-16ab
Rom 13:8-10
Ezek 47:1-2, 8-9, 12
Rom 15:14-21
Rom 16:3-9, 16, 22-27

2nd
1 Thess 2:7b-9, 13

1 Cor 3:9c-11, 16-17

Gospel
Matt 23:1-12
Luke 14:12-14
Luke 14:15-24
Luke 14:25-33
John 2:13-22
Luke 16:1-8
Luke 16:9-15

Vespers
2 Cor 7:11-16
2 Cor 8:1-7
2 Cor 8:8-15
2 Cor 8:16-24
1 Pet 2:1-10
2 Cor 9:1-5
2 Cor 9:6-15

Vigils Reading - 31st Sun ORD
2023-11-05
THE DESIRE TO SERVE
From a commentary by Paschasius Radbertus1
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Christ is called master, or teacher, by right of nature rather than by courtesy, for all things subsist through him. Through his incarnation and life upon earth we are taught the way to eternal life. Our reconciliation with God is dependent on the fact of his being greater than we are. Yet, having told his disciples not to allow themselves to be called master, or to love seats of honor and things of that kind, he himself set an example and was a model of humility. It is as though he said: Even as I do not seek my own glory (though there is One who seeks it), so neither must you love to be honored above others, or to be called master. Look at me: The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life for many.
This was said not only for the instruction of his disciples, but also of those who are teachers in the Church. None of them must seek positions of honor; whoever wishes to be greater than the rest must first become the servant of all, as Christ himself did. If anyone wants a high office let him want the labor it entails, not the honor it will bring him. He should desire to serve and minister to everyone, and not expect everyone to serve and minister to him. For the desire to be served comes from the supercilious attitude of the Pharisees; the desire to serve from the teaching of Christ. Those who canvass for positions of honor are the ones who exalt themselves; and similarly it is those who of their own accord humble themselves who will be exalted by the Lord.
After specifically reserving the office of teaching to himself, Christ immediately went on to give as the rule of his teaching that whoever wants to be greatest should be the servant of all. And he gave the same rule in other words when he said: Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart. Anyone therefore who wants to be Christ’s disciple must hasten to learn the lesson he professes to teach, for a perfect disciple will be like his master. Otherwise, if he refuses to learn the master’s lesson, far from being a master himself, he will not even be a disciple

1 Journey with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press – NY -1999 – pg 138-139.

Vigils Reading
2023-11-06
EUCHARIST
From the writing of Blessed Madeleine Delbrêl2
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If we want to receive the grace of fraternal charity from the Eucharist, we must situate our soul close to what happens in heaven, we must surrender ourselves to Our Lord so that he makes us participate in his adoration, in his acts of grace, in his supplications, because fraternal charity is only one small consequence of what happens between Jesus and his Father in heaven…
When the priest distributes the Host at Mass, Jesus is there, completely for us, without choosing between us, without limitation, without making categories between people. As long as we make categories of people, we cannot say that we live a Eucharistic life. This Eucharistic idea of unity goes beyond the idea of fraternity.
If we reflect on the changes that it brings to the evangelical virtues, the idea of poverty, for example, which consists more in sharing than in not having, we would then have the certainty that everything we possess belongs to others. If we knew that the same vital impulse flows between everyone, we would have less difficulty in obeying. “Obedience ends where love begins.” Thus, we would do our will in doing that of others.
All this intensity of charity pushed to the edge is not yet the edge of Jesus’ charity in the Eucharist since he is a presence to the whole world. He is the true Worshipper, the satisfied Distributor, clothed with every grace, filled with all the gifts of the source of life. It is here that we can learn to live a life of intimacy with the whole world.

Each of us should be, following Jesus’ example, the sole worshipper for the whole world, because if our heart is surrendered to the Eucharist, it is present to all human hearts. We do not take far enough the notion of deep intimacy with the whole human family in a complete participation with all suffering or lifelessness in the world. Therefore, pity for others should awaken in us through the heart of Jesus. Thus, we become a benevolent and welcoming presence to them.
We do not have the right to make rankings of people. We do not have the right to take sides in certain social deficiencies. It is only through the heart of Jesus that we can understand equality, that we can pass through the suffering life of each person and learn to offer what is good in everyone just as it is in the Host, which does not refuse itself to anyone who desires it, that we can carry to everyone the strength of Christ, just as he, Jesus, does not refuse to enter the mouth of every human who desires him.
It is to the extent to which we will be faithful to the Eucharistic life in us that we will turn toward others to welcome them among us, and we will only attain this love for others by knowing the love with which we ourselves are loved. Then, we will become perfect imitators

2 Delbrêl, Madeleine. The Dazzling Light of God – A Madeleine Delbrêl Reader. Trans. Mary Dudro Gordon. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2023. 129-133.

Vigils Reading
2023-11-07
THE GREAT SUPPER
From a sermon by John Tauler3
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“A certain man made a great supper and invited many. And he sent his servant at the hour of supper to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for now all things were ready. And they began all at once to make excuse…”
St. Gregory says that we may understand this supper, to which we are all invited, as a most interior self-knowledge, a most clear knowledge of that inmost depth of our soul which is God’s kingdom. And also the very taste of how it is that God dwells and works there, experiencing the same knowledge and love. In another sense, this supper means the holy Sacrament. In yet another meaning it is eternal happiness, which is the true supper of our souls, and compared with which all banquets of soul or body which the whole world could set before us, would be no more than a single morsel of bread… The second supper is that of the holy Sacrament, bringing such grace and joy as no words can explain. And we should be all the more gratified for it because it is a holy feast that we can enjoy every day.
One might enquire how it happens to be necessary that we should daily renew in the Eucharist the commemoration of our Lord’s death, since on Good Friday our Lord was offered up once for all, and for all the world, and, if it were needed, for a thousand sinful worlds besides. The answer is that our Savior devised this blessed way of daily renewing His death, out of pity for our human weakness and our daily necessity. He would give us His adorable sacrifice of Calvary newly offered up every day for the sins and miseries of mankind. It is thus that St. Thomas teaches: “All the fruitfulness, all the benefit that God granted us the day He died, is found every day in every mass that is celebrated; and all this grace is received by every man each time he worthily receives the Lord’s body and blood.”

This holy Sacrament banishes sin. It puts sin to death, and causes a man to grow strong in a virtuous life, imparting new graces. It safeguards him from future dangers, and from the snares of the enemy, snares incessantly being laid for us. Without its strong help one may easily fall, either by inner or outer sinfulness. Besides this, the holy Sacrament is a great grace when offered for the souls in purgatory; many souls would suffer there till the last day were it not for holy mass… Each one should assist at mass with deep longings of spirit, uniting his fervent intention with every mass offered in the whole world, especially remembering those who are dear to him, whether living or dead. We thus feel ourselves present not only at the mass being celebrated before us, but at all the masses being said in the whole world…
Whosoever will experience these benefits, must journey out of the land of Egypt and out of the land of darkness, <before> he can eat the bread of heaven, whose sweetness is proportioned to our heart’s desires. The bread of heaven was not given to the chosen people, as long as the flour lasted that they had brought with them out of Egypt. But when that was gone, the manna came to them, full of every sweetness their hearts desired. So it happens to us…
All who would interiorly receive the fruits of Communion will not allow the world, creatures or their own weakness to cleave to their souls. They will not approach the Sacrament trusting to their own perfection, but rather to strengthen their weakness. They feel as weak as a man reduced so low by illness that his life is despaired of—who, if he were able, would purchase the medicine needed for his recovery with an immense amount of gold and jewels… The wise Christian does not receive Communion for the joy of it, but out of dire necessity, so that his very life may be preserved

3 Tauler, John. The Sermons and Conferences of John Tauler. Washington, D.C.: Apostolic Mission House, 1910. 397-400.

Vigils Reading - St Elizabeth of the Trinity
2023-11-08
WITH CHRIST I AM NAILED TO THE CROSS
From the writing of St Elizabeth of the Trinity4
◊◊◊
The soul that longs to serve God day and night in His temple, in the inner sanctuary of which St. Paul speaks when he says: “The temple of God is holy, which temple you are” such a soul must be resolved to take a real share in the Passion of its Master. It is a ransom which in its turn will ransom other souls. Therefore it will sing… “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!”… “With Christ I am nailed to the cross.” And again: “I . . . fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for His Body, which is the Church.”…
Such is the attitude of this soul; it walks on the road to Calvary at the right hand of the crucified, crushed, and humbled King, Who, strong, calm, and full of majesty, goes to His Passion, to show forth “the glory of His grace.”
He desires His bride to join in His work of redemption, and the way of sorrow which she treads seems to her the way of beatitude, not only because it leads there, but also because her holy Teacher makes her understand that she must pass beyond the bitterness of suffering, to find her rest in it, as He did.
Then she can “serve God day and night in His temple.” Neither interior nor exterior trials can make her leave the fortress in which He has enclosed her. She no longer thirsts nor hungers, for in spite of her overwhelming longings for heaven she is satisfied with the food that was her Master’s — the will of the Father. She no longer feels the “sun fall on her” that is, she does not suffer from suffering, and the “Lamb . . . can lead her to the fountains of the waters of life,” where He will, as He will, for she looks not at the path whereon she walks, but at the Shepherd Who guides her.

God, bending down towards this soul, His adopted daughter who so closely resembles His Son, “the first-born of every creature,” recognizes it as one whom He has…justified; and His Fatherly heart thrills at the thought of perfecting His work…by transferring it to His kingdom, there to sing through endless ages “the praise of His glory!”…
The soul that gazes upon its Master with the simple eye which makes the whole body full of light, is “kept from the iniquity” within it. The Lord makes it enter the “spacious place,” which is nothing else than Himself; there all is pure, all is holy.
O, blessed death in God! O, sweet and delightful loss of self within Him Whom we love!
Henceforth the creature can say: “With Christ I am nailed to the cross. And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me. And that I live now in the flesh: I live in the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and delivered Himself for me.

4 Elizabeth of the Trinity. The Praise of Glory. Trans. Benedictines of Stanbrook. London: R. & T. Washbourne, LTD., 1913. 236-239.

Vigils Reading - Lateran Basilica
2023-11-09
THE BASILICA OF ST JOHN LATERAN5 ◊◊◊

10

The largest and most famous of Rome’s great basilicas is St. Peter’s, which is constructed over the bones of the apostle to whom Jesus gave the Keys of the Kingdom. But St. Peter’s is not the oldest and is not the primary basilica in Rome; that honor is accorded to the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the pope’s own

church… Dating back to the fourth century, St. John Lateran carries the title of “ecumenical mother church,” the mother church of the whole inhabited world… to which all… Churches are united.
After the first centuries of persecution by state power, the Church gained the freedom to organize her life in the fourth century. From that time onward for a millennium, the Bishop of Rome had his residence at the “Lateran Palace” and his cathedral church was part of that complex. We know it as St. John Lateran, but it was originally dedicated in 324 and dedicated to Christ the Savior. Centuries later two additional patrons were added, St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist…
After the Avignon exile in the 14th century, when the pope returned to Rome he did not live at the Lateran, which had been damaged by two fires in the interim. He eventually settled at the Vatican, where the pope has lived ever since. However,

despite the grandeur of the new St. Peter’s, built in the 16th century, the pope never shifted his cathedral, which remains his cathedral church…

It’s rare that a liturgical feast turns our eyes to a building… But that’s missing the point: We are challenged to look within the four marbled walls to see what’s really important: the “chair of Peter.”
In Exodus 18:13, Moses sat upon his chair, and the Israelites understood that from that honored throne, he ruled in judgment of his people. In the Scriptures, the authority of the chair was passed on to Joshua. Jesus recognized the

authority of the chair, and so conferred upon Peter both his own authority, and the authority of Moses.
In St. John Lateran, the locus of the Catholic Faith, the Church proclaims itself to be truly one (that is, united in faith), holy, catholic… and apostolic (continuing unceasing from the time of the apostles)…
As we celebrate the…feast of the great basilica, we are reminded that like the great basilica, we are temples of God. We are holy, for we are made in the image and likeness of God. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul cautions “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.

5 Assemblage of two articles from The National Catholic Register by Kathy Schiffer and Father Raymond J. de Souza. Accessed Nov. 3, 2023. https://www.ncregister.com/blog/the-temple-of-god-which-you-are-is- holy — https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/st-john-lateran.

Vigils Reading - St Leo the Great
2023-11-10
LET US NOT BE WEARY IN DOING GOOD
From a sermon by St Leo the Great6
◊◊◊
Men’s liberality is not happy, nor their thriftiness to be commended, if their riches are of benefit to themselves alone; if no poor folks are helped by their goods, no sick persons nourished; if out of the abundance of their great possessions the captive gets not ransom, nor the stranger comfort, nor the exile relief. Rich men of this kind are needier than all the needy. For they lose those returns which they might have forever, and while they gloat over the brief and not always free enjoyment of what they possess, they are not fed upon the bread of justice nor the sweets of mercy: outwardly splendid, they have no light within: of things temporal they have abundance, but utter lack of things eternal: for they inflict starvation on their own souls, and bring them to shame and nakedness by spending upon heavenly treasures none of these things which they put into their earthly storehouses…
For although a man be full of faith, and chaste, and sober, and adorned with other still greater decorations, yet if he is not merciful, he cannot deserve mercy: for the Lord says, blessed are the merciful, for God shall have mercy upon them. And when the Son of Man comes in His Majesty and is seated on His glorious throne, and all nations being gathered together, division is made between the good and the bad, for what shall they be praised who stand upon the fight except for works of benevolence and deeds of love which Jesus Christ shall reckon as done to Himself? For He who has made man’s nature His own, has separated Himself in nothing from man’s humility. And what objection shall be made to those on the left except for their neglect of love, their inhuman harshness, their refusal of mercy to the poor? As if those on the right had no other virtues those on the left no other faults. But at the great and final day of judgment large-hearted liberality and ungodly meanness will be counted of such importance as to outweigh all other virtues and all other shortcomings, so that for the one men shall gain entrance into the Kingdom, for the other they shall be sent into eternal fire.

Let no one therefore… flatter himself on any merits of a good life, if works of charity be wanting in him, and let him not trust in the purity of his body, if he be not cleansed by the purification of almsgiving. For almsgiving wipes out sin, kills death, and extinguishes the punishment of perpetual fire. But he who has not been fruitful therein, shall have no indulgence from the great Recompenser, as Solomon says, He that closes his ears lest he should hear the weak, shall himself call upon the Lord, and there shall be none to hear him. And hence Tobias also, while instructing his son in the precepts of godliness, says, Give alms of your substance, and turn not your face from any poor man: so shall it come to pass that the face of God shall not be turned from you…
While we have time therefore, as the Apostle says, let us do that which isgoodtoallmen,andespeciallytothemthatareofthehouseholdoffaith. Butlet us not be weary in doing good; for in His own time we shall reap. And so the present life is the time for sowing, and the day of retribution is the time of harvest, when everyone shall reap the fruit of his seed according to the amount of his sowing. And no one shall be disappointed in the produce of that harvesting, because it is the heart’s intentions rather than the sums expended that will be reckoned up

6 St Leo the Great. Accessed online: Nov 3, 2023. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/360310.htm.

Vigils Reading - St Martin of Tours
2023-11-11
ON THE FEAST OF ST MARTIN
From a homily by St Aelred of Rievaulx7
◊◊◊
Today Christ mercifully raised up Martin to the joys of the kingdom of heaven… Martin, this poor and modest one, enters heaven a rich man. Happy and necessary, voluntary poverty, which scorns the world, flees vainglory, restrains luxury of the flesh, nourishes self-control, fosters sobriety, and inflames love of God in the human heart, happily attains eternal reward without hindrance. Blessed Martin loved this, preferred it to riches and status; on account of this he scorned thepalaces of kings, he discarded his soldier’s belt. But after corporeal military service, he transferred himself to the spiritual battle and, girded with the sword of God, vigorously fought the wars of his God, fighting against flesh and blood and the leaders of darkness.
So not long after his conversion, on a journey he came to meet a spiteful spirit who envied his sanctity and the glory of his merits, and as an adversary threatened the holy man wherever he went. But the Lord’s man Martin, fervent with charity and filled with faith, despised the horrible beast, taking refuge in God’s garrison and saying, “The Lord is my helper; I do not fear your threats.” Great was the fortitude of this athlete of the Lord, who while near to death looked at the devil, who was standing nearby, and did not fear. Recalling his past life, and discovering nothing in his conscience about which our adversary the devil should boast… he proclaimed, “What are you doing here, you bloodthirsty beast? Nothing in me… will you discover. May the bosom of Abraham receive me.”

This true Israelite, in whom there is no guile, ought to be honored. For if we diligently examine his life and behavior, he was fervent in charity, strong in faith, frequent in prayer, perfect in humility, eager in obedience, truthful in speech, efficacious in deed, powerful in the accomplishment of miracles… I do not find anyone after the apostles who could be compared to blessed Martin in virtues, in miracles, in signs and wonders.
So that we may glean a few things about many matters, fringes of his clothing and threads of that goat-hair garment liberated many <people> from various illnesses. Beautiful and pleasing to God was the praise of God in Martin’s mouth, who cleansed a leper by a kiss…at the gate of the city of Paris… Indeed, rightly enough through the touch of his mouth the leprosy was put to flight, because the law of his God was in his heart. His mouth contemplated wisdom, because there was“never anything on his mouth except peace, except Christ, except compassion.”
He gave light to the blind, restored hearing to the deaf, healed paralytics, raised the dead, commanded flames, trees, birds, and beasts. Martin the priest of God worked these and many other boundless signs and wonders while he still lived in the mortal flesh. Therefore, what great things do we believe that he can do now that he is joined to his Creator, from whom he received so that he was capable of these and similar things? Certainly, as I may truly confess, he is capable of all things in God the all-powerful, to whom now he eternally adheres, because he has served him faithfully, in person, regarding temporal matters…
Therefore protect us, chosen and beloved priest of God, Martin, so that with your merits lending support, may we deserve to attain to that blessed rest that today you have happily entered..

7 Aelred of Rievaulx. The Liturgical Sermons: The Reading-Cluny Collection, 2 of 2. CF 87. Trans. Daniel Griggs. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2022. 306-308.

LCG Chicago
2023-11-11 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
November 11, 2023
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9:00 Gather for Opening prayer and lighting of the candles illuminating the Theotokos icon of Blessed Mother Mary and the baby Jesus.

We 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 these Gethsemani monks:
Maximilian Pickerill
Abel Arbuckle
Joseph Bender
9:10 Lectio. Our lectio piece will be led by Robert Johnson.
9:50 Reading. Our reading this month is chapter 12 in The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr.
10:45 Housekeeping. Volunteer to lead lectio next month? Summary of the Fall 2023 LCG Retreat led by our Chicago community. What can we learn and what can be developed from the retreat? Election to replace Tom Kosnik as Council member. Chicago Report on LCG Advisory Council activity.
11:00 Update. Share how the Holy Spirt has entered our lives as lay Cistercians since our last meeting.

11:45 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.)

Skema
2023-11-12
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
32nd Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
November 12 – 18, 2023

Sun
12
Mon
13
Tue
14
Wed
15
Thu
16
Fri
17
Sat
18

Office
32nd Sunday
All Benedictine Saints
Weekday
Gethsemani Church
St Gertrude the Great
Weekday
Memorial of the BVM

Vigils
Jud 5:1-24
Dan 7:1-3, 9-22, 27
Jud 6:1-21
Rev 21:9-22:5
Jud 7:1-18
Jud 7:19-32
Jud 8:1-23

Lauds
Zeph 1:1-6
Wisdom 5:1-5, 14-16
Zeph 1:7-13
Ezek 37:21-28
Zeph 1:14-18
Zeph 2:1-7
Zeph 2:8-15

Mass
154
573, 677
492
701.2, 704.2, 706.4
494
495
496

1st
Wis 6:12-16
Isa 61:9-11
Wis 2:23-3:9
2 Chron 5:6-10, 13-6:2
Wis 7:22b-8:1
Wis 13:1-9
Wis 18:14-16; 19:6-9

2nd
1 Thess 4:13-18

Eph 2:19-22

Gospel
Matt 25:1-13
John 15:1-8
Luke 17:7-10
John 4:19-24
Luke 17:20-25
Luke 17:26-37
Luke 18:1-8

Vespers
2 Cor 10:1-11
Rev 7:9-17
2 Cor 6:14-7:1
Heb 3:1-6
2 Cor 10:12-18
2 Cor 11:1-6
2 Cor 11:7-15

Vigils Reading - 32nd Sunday ORD
2023-11-12
TO BE FREE AND FAITHFUL
From a commentary attributed to St Anthony the Great1
◊◊◊
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, since purity of heart leads to perfection. Two things are contained within the heart — goodness which is natural to it and evil which is unnatural. This latter gives rise to such passions of the soul as murmuring, envy, detraction, and all the rest. Goodness, on the other hand, promotes knowledge of God and rids the soul of all these passions. If people honestly try to root out vice and avoid evil, if they repent with tears and sighs, devoting themselves humbly to a life of prayer, fasting, and watching, the Lord in his goodness will come to their aid and free them from all sinful inclinations.
Many who have lived a celibate monastic life for a long time have failed to learn what purity of heart is, because instead of studying the teaching of the fathers, they have followed their own wayward desires. So evil spirits and rebel marauders of the air have prevailed against them, hurling invisible darts by day and night, and thus preventing them from finding rest anywhere. Moreover they fill their hearts with pride, vanity, jealousy, criticism, raging anger, strife, and any number of other passions.
Such people are to be reckoned with the five foolish virgins because they have spent their time foolishly. They have not controlled their tongues nor cleansed their eyes and bodies from concupiscence, neither have they purged their hearts of lust and other deplorable defilements. It was enough for them merely to wear a woolen garment signifying virginity. Consequently they lack the heavenly joy which would kindle their lamps, and the Bridegroom does not open the door to them but repeats what he said to the foolish virgins: Truly I say to you, I know you not.

My only reason for writing you this letter is my desire for your salvation. I want you to be free and faithful and pure brides of Christ, the Bridegroom of all holy souls; as Saint Paul says: I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste bride to Christ.
Let us awake, then, while we are still in this body, and grieve over ourselves, lamenting day and night from the bottom of our hearts, so that we may escape the bitter torment, the weeping, wailing, and remorse that will have no end. We must beware of entering through the wide gate and taking the easy road that leads to perdition, for many go that way. Instead we must enter by the narrow gate and take the path of sorrow and affliction that leads to life. Few people enter this gate, but those who do are real workers who will have the joy of receiving the reward of their labors and will inherit the kingdom.
If any are prepared to set out I do beg them not to delay and waste time, for they may be like the foolish virgins and find no one willing to sell them oil. These virgins burst into tears and cried out: Lord, open to us. But he answered: Truly I say to you, I know you not. And this happened to them simply because of their laziness.
I beg you by the grace of God to obey me as I also will obey you; and may we all obey the Lord who said by the tongue of the Prophet: Who longs for life and desires to see good days? Keep your tongue from evil talk and your lips from deceitful speech. Turn away from evil and do good; seek and strive after peace

1 Journey with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press – NY -1999 – pg 140-41.

Vigils Reading - Alternate
2023-11-12
ITS LAMPS ARE LAMPS OF FIRE
From a sermon by John of Ford[1]

◊◊◊

The simplicity of the just man is a lamp, as holy Job tells us; a sense of honor is a lamp, a very bright one; self respect is a lamp, a very lovely one; every appearance and encounter with him is a lamp. A most brilliant lamp are all the words of truth that come forth from the mouth of Wisdom and dispel the darkness of error. They refute the night of sin with the light of justice. There is a still darker night, the excuses wemake for our sins, and this too they drive with a serene brightness. In fact, all that a just man is shows itself outwardly like brightness, and like a lamp, he is all on fire to save us. When he is silent, his silence does us good, and away when he speaks, it is as if he speaks the words of God, a source of grace for those who hear him. And ‘when he renders service,’ as the apostle says, ‘it is as one who renders it by the strength which God supplies.’

Because the fire flaming in this lamp is so great, a holy light appears outwardly, dazzling our eyes. This is not the light of knowledge, which we can obtain from someone by begging for it, nor does it come from the witness of somebody else’s conscience, namely, of those who are accustomed to sell oil to the foolish virgins. ‘All the glory of the king’s daughter is from within.’ Outwardly she makes her lamp luminous, but the glory is reserved for within. Inwardly, the oil of gladness and a wealth of charity makes her burn to the glory of God, and outwardly she shines to give grace to men. As scripture puts it: ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven’.

[1] John of Ford. Sermons on the Final Verses of the Song of Songs – Vol. 7. Trans. Wendy Mary Beckett. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1984. Sermon 108.

Vigils Reading - All Benedictine Saints
2023-11-13
THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS
From the writing of Baldwin of Ford2
◊◊◊
I believe, O Lord, in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints. Here is my hope, here is my trust, here is my confidence, here is my security — however small it may be — which I have in the confession of my faith, in the generosity of the Holy Spirit, in the unity of the catholic Church, in the communion of the saints. If it be granted me from above to love you and to love my neighbour, then even though my own merits are poor and meager, I have a hope which is above and beyond all my merits: I am sure that through the communion of charity the merits of the saints will profit me and that the communion of the saints can make good my own imperfection and insufficiency. The prophet comforts me when he says, “I have seen an end of all perfection, but your commandment is exceeding broad.”
O charity, so broad and so extensive, how great is the house of God, how vast is the place of his possession! We need not be distressed in our heart; we need not be confined by the boundaries and limits of our insignificant righteousness. Charity extends our hope to the communion of the saints, and we can therefore share with them their merits and their rewards. But the sharing of their rewards is [reserved] for the time to come, for it is the sharing of the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Thus there are three sorts of sharing, [three forms of communion, three ways in which we have things in common]: the sharing of nature, which is associated with the sharing of sin and the sharing of wrath; then the sharing of grace; and thirdly, the sharing of glory. By the sharing of grace, the sharing of nature begins to be restored and the sharing of sin is removed, but by the sharing of glory, the sharing of nature will be fully and perfectly restored and the sharing of wrath wholly removed. It is then that God shall wipe away all the tears from the eyes of the saints. It is then that all the saints will be as one heart and one soul, and they will have all things in common when God will be all in all.

[Our hope is] that we, too, may come… to this communion and come together as one [and therefore we pray that] the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the charity of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit may be with us all always.

Vigils Reading
2023-11-14
I KNOW YOUR WORKS
From a sermon by Geoffrey of Auxerre[1]

◊◊◊

The Lord knows the works of each, he knows everything fully, not only superficially but in the depth and hidden intention of the heart. He knows what, why, and how they have performed their works, and he fully comprehends the works of them all.

Let us not reckon as works only what is done with the hands, but whatever is done by word, deed, or thought, whatever its merit may be. ‘We must all stand before the tribunal of Christ, for each to receive as he has done in the body’, says the Apostle. That is, he will receive according to what he merited while in the body. Now is the time of meriting, the time of sowing; the future life is the time of receiving and of reaping… Hence he had regard for Abel and his offerings by accepting them, while he had no regard for Cain and his offerings. To Cain he says, I know your works, that you have the name of being alive and you are dead…

Are we surprised that a dead person is said to be alive?… Thus do the demons fool unfortunate souls by making them appear to themselves and to others to be alive even though they are dead in sin… Some hearers may perhaps find it difficult to believe… but we know that the lives of the fathers contain something similar, and this is the tale.

The evil one envied a religious man who applied himself assiduously to hospitality along with his other pious works. Dreaming up a novel sort of malice, the evil one occupied the corpse of an unfortunate woman who had died without confession and viaticum. Dressed as a man, he entered the monk’s cell, and accepted for an annual wage the necessary service of receiving guests. For a while he showed himself diligent, quick, and ready, seeking an opportunity to upset him with the malign sting of carnal desires.

But divine loving-kindness was ahead of his cunning. A holy bishop endowed with a prophetic spirit arrived to visit his parishes. Observing the hired servant at work, he perceived the hidden intent of the evil spirit. In private he anxiously asked his host who he was and where he came from. When the monk responded openly and unsuspectingly, the priest began to ask whether he ever saw him enter the oratory or participate in the divine mysteries. He answered that, when he himself arose for vigils, the man remained asleep outside with the rest of the seculars, but beyond this he had noticed nothing. The bishop called the man, and commanded him by authority of the divine name and of his episcopal office to tell who he was, what he was called, and why he came. But, gnashing his teeth and melting away, he replied, ‘Truly, is what concerns you so well finished – or perhaps so neglected – that you have come to inquire about my affairs, which are none of your business? If you had delayed your prying visit a few days, I would have gotten what I came for’.

But, O great power of the divine name, and episcopal authority… At the bishop’s command this creation of diabolical fraud vanished, and the corpse fell into dust and dry bones. The power of malignant spirits to simulate this visible and bodily life is so great – yet only with God’s leave – that they craftily try many things, and sometimes they succeed in the measure that God’s just judgment permits. With every form of malice they try to bring it about that those reputed by themselves and others to be living in spirit and truth may be condemned as dead before God. May the merciful and gracious Lord protect us always from this, for he alone truly gives life who lives and reigns without end, true God over all and blessed forever.
[1] Geoffrey of Auxerre. Geoffrey of Auxerre: On the Apocalypse. Trans. Joseph Gibbons, CSSP. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2000. 162-165.

Vigils Reading - Gethsemani Church
2023-11-15
THE DEDICATION OF OUR CHURCH
From a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux4
◊◊◊
My brethren, we ought to observe today’s festivity all the more devoutly for the reason that it is so peculiarly our own. All the other sacred solemnities which we keep are common to us with the faithful in general. But this is so proper to ourselves that if we do not keep it, it will not be kept at all. It is our own feast, because it is the feast of the dedication of our own church. It is still more our own because it is the feast of our own selves. For what of sanctity can belong to these dead walls which cause them to be honored with a religious solemnity? They are undoubtedly holy, but it is because of your bodies. Will anyone question that your bodies are holy, since they are “the temples of the Holy Spirit”? Consequently your souls are sanctified because of the spirit of God “Who is in you”, your bodies are sanctified because of your souls, and this house is sanctified also because of your bodies. The Psalmist prayed “Preserve my soul for I am holy”. Truly “God is wonderful in His saints”, not alone in His saints in heaven, but also those on earth. For He has His saints in both places and shows Himself wonderful in them all, beatifying those above, consummating the sanctity of those below.
Accordingly it is your own festival, dearest brethren, your very own, that you are celebrating today. You have been dedicated to the Lord and the Lord has chosen and adopted you as His own peculiar people. Oh, how wisely you have acted, dearly beloved, in renouncing all that you might have possessed in this world, since by doing so you have deserved to become the peculiar people of the world’s Creator, and to have Him as your special possession, for He is undoubtedly “the portion and inheritance” of His own!

See, therefore, if it is not right to observe as a festival the day on which the Lord adopted us as His own and took formal possession of us through His ministers, thus accomplishing in fact what He had promised long ago, saying, “I in the midst of them shall be their God”, while we should be “the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand”. For when this house was consecrated to the Lord by the ministry of the Bishop, it was manifestly for our sakes it was done; not only for the sake of those who were actually present then, but also for the sake of all those who until the end of time shall serve God in this holy place. Therefore, dearest brethren, it is necessary that what has already been accomplished in the walls in a visible manner should be invisibly accomplished in ourselves

4 St. Bernard’s Sermons – vol. II – The Carroll Press – Westminster, MD – 1950 – p 385.

Vigils Reading - St Gertrud the Great
2023-11-16
MY HEART IS OPEN TO YOU
From the “Spiritual Exercises” of St Gertrud the Great5 ◊◊◊
O love, the fruition of you is that worthiest coupling of your Word and the soul which is brought about by perfect union with God. To use you is to become intertwined in God. To enjoy you is to be one with God. You are that peace which surpasses all understanding and you are the road by which one comes to the inner chamber.
Oh, if only it happened to me, too, miserable as I am, to repose for a moment under your dearest cloak of cherishing-love so that my heart might be emboldened by one consolatory utterance of your living Word, or that my soul might hear this good and pleasant word from your mouth: ‘I am your salvation; behold, now the bedchamber of my heart is open to you.’
Why, then, O love so unwavering, have you deeply loved someone so foul, so ugly, if not to make her beautiful in you? Your loving-kind charity attracts and allures me, O tender flower of the virgin Mary.
Let me not be confounded in my expectation but grant me to find rest for my soul in you. I have found nothing more desirable, I have judged nothing more lovable, I have wished for nothing more dear than to be held tight, O love, in your embraces, to rest under the wings of my Jesus, and to dwell in the tabernacle of divine charity.

O love, O radiant noonday, I would die a thousand times to be at rest in you. If only you would bend to me your face of such beautiful cherishing-love, O dearest one.
Oh, if I were granted to come exceedingly close to you so that I might now find myself not only next to you but within you. Then, through you, sun of justice, flowers of all the virtues might arise in me, who am dust and ashes. With you as a husband, my Lord, such fecundity might enter my soul that the renowned offspring of total perfection would be born in me. Then, having been snatched from the valley of this misery, I might be able to glory in you forever in the presence of your desirable face; for you, mirror without spot, have not scorned to be, in truth, coupled with a sinner like me

5 SPIRITUAL EXERCISES, by St Gertrude the Great, Trans. by G. J. Lewis & J. Lewis (Cistercian Publications Kalamazoo 1989) pp. 78-79.

Vigils Reading
2023-11-17
THE LOVE OF GOD AND AFFLICTION
From the writing of Simone Weil6
◊◊◊
The great enigma of human life is not suffering but affliction… Affliction makes God appear to be absent for a time, more absent than a dead man, more absent than light in the utter darkness of a cell. A kind of horror submerges the whole soul. During this absence there is nothing to love. What is terrible is that if, in this darkness where there is nothing to love, the soul ceases to love, God’s absence becomes final. The soul has to go on loving in the emptiness, or at least to go on wanting to love, though it may only be with an infinitesimal part of itself. Then, one day, God will come to show himself to this soul and to reveal the beauty of the world to it, as in the case of Job. But if the soul stops loving it falls, even in this life, into something almost equivalent to hell…
Because no other could do it, he himself went to the greatest possible distance, the… infinite distance between God and God, this supreme tearing apart, this agony beyond all others, this marvel of love, is the crucifixion. Nothing can be further from God than that which has been made accursed. This tearing apart, over which supreme love places the bond of supreme union, echoes perpetually across the universe in the midst of the silence, like two notes, separate yet melting into one, like pure and heart-rending harmony. This is the Word of God. The whole creation is nothing but its vibration…
Those who persevere in love hear this note from the very lowest depths into which affliction has thrust them. From that moment they can no longer have any doubt. Men struck down by affliction are at the foot of the Cross, almost at the

greatest possible distance from God. It must not be thought that sin is a greater distance. Sin is not a distance, it is a turning of our gaze in the wrong direction… From the beginning, we are told, humanity turned its gaze away from God and walked in the wrong direction for as far as it could go. That was because it could walk then. As for us, we are nailed down to the spot, only free to choose which way we look… It rests with them to keep or not to keep their eyes turned toward God through all the jolting…
When an apprentice gets hurt, or complains of being tired, the workmen and peasants have this fine expression: “It is the trade entering his body.” Each time that we have some pain to go through, we can say to ourselves quite truly that it is… the obedience of creation to God that are entering our body. After that how can we fail to bless with tenderest gratitude the Love that sends us this gift? Joy and suffering are two equally precious gifts both of which must be savored to the full, each one in its purity, without trying to mix them. Through joy, the beauty of the world penetrates our soul. Through suffering it penetrates our body…
The man to whom such a thing happens has no part in the operation. He struggles like a butterfly pinned alive into an album. But through all the horror he can continue to want to love. There is nothing impossible in that, no obstacle, one might almost say no difficulty. For the greatest suffering, so long as it does not cause the soul to faint, does not touch the acquiescent part of the soul, consenting to a right direction. It is only necessary to know that love is a direction and not a state of the soul. If one is unaware of this, one falls into despair at the first onslaught of affliction. He whose soul remains ever turned toward God though the nail pierces it finds himself nailed to the very center of the universe. It is the true center; it is not in the middle; it is beyond space and time; it is God

6 Weil, Simone. Waiting for God. Trans. Emma Craufurd. New York: Harper & Row, 1951. 119-125, 131-132.

Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
2023-11-18
ABOUNDING IN EVERY DELIGHT
From a homily by Amadeus of Lausanne7
◊◊◊
EAT, MY FRIENDS, drink and be inebriated, beloved. I invite you to the table of wisdom and to libations of wine which she [wisdom] has mixed for you in the bowl. I invite you to the banquet of the glorious lady, to the feast of the Mother of God. Happy he who, received at such a banquet, shall shine forth in the marriage garment amidst the guests. The bread of life will be set before him, strengthening, filling, satisfying him with its wondrous sweetness, and the wine of gladness, the wine coming forth from the fruit of the vine, truly the wine of the resurrection pressed from the tree of the Lord’s passion… hung upon the bar of wood… Abounding then in every delight he will invite others with him to the feast, saying, ‘Eat, my friends, drink and be inebriated, beloved.’
I, too, brothers, invite you to this feast… Eat the bread of life, drink the wine of gladness, be inebriated with the joy of the resurrection. This inebriation is the height of sobriety. It blots out remembrance of the world and always stamps upon the mind the thought of God’s presence. Everyone drunk with this forgets all things and remembers only the charity of God… Therefore, be you also drunken… Rejoice in her joy, you who have mourned with her grief…
For he has risen and he has raised up his mother’s soul. She lay as in a narrow tomb of grief while the Lord lay in the sepulchre. As he arose, her spirit lived again and, waking as if from deep slumber, she saw in the morning light the sun of justice and the rays of his rising… She feasted her eyes upon the glowing flesh of the risen Lord and in her heart perceived the glory of his godhead, so that within and

without, leaving and entering, she enjoyed the pasturage of true and everlasting felicity. Beside herself, therefore, forgetting self for joy, she clung with all her heart to the Father of spirits and bound fast to God she poured out upon him her whole self and was wholly flooded in the immensity of his love…
Therefore, O blessed lady, you have your joy, the object of your desire and the crown of your head have been granted you. He has brought to you the sovereignty of heaven through his glory, the kingdom of the world through his mercy, the subjugation of hell through his power. All things with their diverse feelings respond to your great and unspeakable glory: angels by honor, men by love, demons by terror. For you are venerated in heaven, loved in the world, feared in hell…
And you, glorious lady, saw your Son rising from hell. You saw with your blessed eyes your son’s glory. You saw and you fainted. Your flesh and your heart failed. You turned to water when you heard the voice of your beloved son speaking to you. His word became like a fire burning in your bones. Therefore inflamed by the divine words you became wholly like a fire and you offered yourself as a sweet sacrifice to God. O phoenix, sending forth perfume more pleasing than cinnamon and balsam, sweeter than nard delighting the king by its presence. O phoenix, gathering together all chosen beauties, surrounded by… fire, that you may fill the heaven of heavens and the angelic powers of heaven with a wondrous sweet incense… This incense… comes forth from the censer of Mary’s heart and sweetly surpasses every perfume

7 Amadeus of Lausanne. Eight Homilies on the Praise of Blessed Mary. CF 18B. Trans. Grace Perigo. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1979. 49-50, 55, 57-58.

Skema. 33rd Week in Ordinary Time
2023-11-19
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
33rd Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
November 19 – 25, 2023

Sun
19
Mon
20
Tue
21
Wed
22
Thu
23
Fri
24
Sat
25

Office
33rd Sunday
Weekday
Presentation of the BVM
St Cecilia
St Columban Thanksgiving
St Andrew & Companions
St Catherine of Alexandria

Vigils
Jud 8:24-36
Jud 9:1-14
Jud 10:1-10
Jud 10:11-23
Jud 11:1-23
Jud 12:1-20
Jud 13:1-11

Lauds
Zeph 3:1-7
Zeph 3:8-13
Zeph 3:14-20
Mal 1:1-5
Mal 1:6-10
Mal 1:11-14
Mal 2:1-9

Mass
157
497
Anointing
499
943.3, 944.3, 947.6
501
502

1st
Prov 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31
1 Macc 1:10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-63

2 Macc 7:1, 20-31
Isa 63:7-9
1 Macc 4:36-37, 52-59
1 Macc 6:1-13

2nd
1 Thess 5:1-6

Col 3:12-17

Gospel
Matt 25:14-30
Luke 18:35-43

Luke 19:11-28
Luke 17:11-19
Luke 19:45-48
Luke 20:27-40

Vespers
2 Cor 11:16-21a
2 Cor 11:21b-33

2 Cor 12:11-18
2 Cor 12:19-13:4
2 Cor 13:5-13
Eph 1:15-23

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
2023-11-19
SHARE YOUR MASTER’S JOY
From a commentary by St John Chrysostom 1
◊◊◊
In the parable of the talents the Master entrusted money to his servants and
then set out on a journey. This was to help us understand how patient he is, though
in my view this story also refers to the resurrection. Here it is a question not of a
vineyard and vine dressers, but of all workers. The Master is addressing everyone,
not only rulers, or the Jews.
Those bringing him their profit acknowledge frankly what is their own, and
what is their Master’s. One says: Sir, you gave me five talents; another says: You
gave me two, recognizing that they had received from him the means of making a
profit. They are extremely grateful, and attribute to him all their success.
What does the Master say then? Well done, good and faithful servant (for
goodness shows itself in concern for one’s neighbor). Because you have proved
trustworthy in managing a small amount, I will give you charge of a greater sum:
come and share your Master’s joy.
But one servant has a different answer. He says: I knew you were a hard man,
reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not winnowed; and
I was afraid, and hid your talent. Here it is – you have back what belongs to you.
What does the Master say to that? You wicked servant! You should have put
my money in the bank, that is, “You should have spoken out and given
encouragement and advice.” “But no one will pay attention.” “That is not my concern. You should have deposited the money” he says, “and left me to reclaim it,
which I would have done with interest,” meaning by interest the good works that
are seen to follow the hearing of the word. “The easier part is all you were expected
to do, leaving the harder part to me.” Because the servant failed to do this, the
Master said: Take the talent away from him, and give it to the servant who has ten
talents. For to everyone who has more will be given, and he will have enough and to
spare; but the one who has not will forfeit even the little he has.
What is the meaning of this? That whoever has received for the good of
others the ability to preach and teach, and does not use it, will lose that ability,
whereas the zealous servant will be given greater ability, even as the other forfeits
what he had.
1
Journey with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press – NY -1999 – pg 142-143.

Weekday
2023-11-20
SEE YOUR FAITH HAS SAVED YOU
From a homily by St Gregory the Great 2
◊◊◊
And it came to pass, as Jesus was approaching Jericho, that a blind man was
sitting by the roadside and begging… Jesus, stopping, asked him “What do you
want me to do for you?” He answered, “Lord, let me see!”…
But let us listen to what happened while the blind man shouted, “Those who
walked before reprimanded him to silence him.” What do those who precede the
arrival of Jesus represent, if not the crowd of carnal desires and the tempest of
vices, who, before the coming of Jesus in our heart, dispel our thoughts by their
assaults and hinder the calls of our prayer? Often, indeed, when we want to return
to the Lord after sinning, and strive to overcome…the vices of which we have been
guilty, the images of our past faults are pressed into our hearts; they blunt the tip
of our mind, disturb our soul and stifle the voice of our prayer. Yes, “those who
walked before reprimanded him to silence him,” since before the coming of Jesus
into our hearts, our past faults, whose memory strikes our thought, throw us into
trouble in the midst of our prayer.
Let’s hear what the blind man did then, before finding the light again… “He
cried out,” Son of David, have mercy on me!” See, he whom the crowd reprimands
in order to silence him cries again and again; it is thus that the more the storm of
carnal thoughts torments us, the more we must intensify our prayer… The crowd
wants to prevent us from shouting, since we often suffer even in prayer the
harassing memory of our sins. But it is necessary that the voice of our heart
persists with all the more force that the resistance which it meets is harder, in
order to control the storm of our guilty thoughts, and to touch, by the very excess
of its importunity, the merciful ears of the Lord… When we turn our minds from
this world to turn to God, and apply ourselves to prayer… we endure prayer as an
unwelcome and painful thing, the very thing we had done with delight…
But if we persevere insistently in our prayer, we stop in our soul Jesus who
passes… Indeed, as long as the crowds of images oppress us in prayer, we have the
impression that Jesus is passing; but when we persevere insistently in our prayer,
Jesus stops to give us light, since God is fixed in our heart, and the lost light is
restored to us…
Let us also notice what he says to the blind man who approaches: “What do
you want me to do for you?”… He wants us to ask for things, although in advance
he knows we will ask for them and he will give them to us. He exhorts us to pray
to the point of being unwelcome, who says, however, “Your heavenly Father knows
what you need before you ask him”… So the blind man immediately adds, “Lord,
let me see!” What the blind man asks of the Lord is not gold, but light. He does not
care to ask anything other than light, for even if it is possible for a blind man to
possess something, he cannot, without light, see what he has.
Let us imitate, dear brothers, this man… Let us not ask the Lord for deceitful
riches, earthly gifts, nor transient honors, but light; not the light circumscribed by
space, limited by time, interrupted by night… but let us ask for this light …which
does not begin with any beginning and is bounded by no end. But the way to reach
this light is faith. It is therefore with reason that the Lord responds immediately to
the blind man to whom he will give light: “See! Your faith saved you. “…
2 Accessed online: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/.

Presentation of the BVM
2023-11-21
THE VIRGIN AND THE TEMPLE
From the writing of Fr Yves Congar 3
◊◊◊
The only occasion on which the Gospels expressly mention the Virgin Mary
in connection with the Temple are in the account of her Purification and of the
Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the finding of the child Jesus in the Temple
after four days’ absence on his part and three anxious searching by his parents. To
these very brief indications, the piety of Christians very soon added the idea of the
presentation of Mary in the Temple at the age of three to be consecrated to the
service of God. We are dealing here with a symbolical representation of a
profound spiritual reality about which the tradition and the doctrine of the Church
provide us with valid information. Mary, predestined to be the Mother of Jesus,
true God and true man, and to be worthy of her vocation, was prepared by the gift
of exceptional graces and lived with unfailing fidelity a most pure life of inner
consecration to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As the type of all faithful
souls and of the Church herself, Mary expressed spiritually and supremely in her
life the “presentation” which, for each one of us, is to begin by the service of faith
and to be consummated in heaven.
It is obvious that the tradition and doctrine of the Church may, without
falling prey to the imaginary productions of the apocrypha, propound statements
concerning the status of the Mother of God in relation either to the Jewish
messianic temple going far beyond what we are explicitly told in the three short
passages from the Gospel which narrate the incidents mentioned above. If Mary
is the Mother of God, she has a special relation to the body of Christ which is the
true temple — to his physical body and doubtless also, in a certain sense, to his
body the Church. She is herself a temple of God in a quite specific and sublime
way, both because Christ was within her from the moment of his conception until
that of his birth, and because of the exceptional spiritual gifts she received in
preparation for her divine motherhood and as a reward for her free acceptance of
this vocation, not only after the Annunciation but during the whole of her life.
Hence the liturgy — the Oriental liturgy in particular — shows a profound
understanding of the mystery of Mary when it constantly uses the texts concerning
the Temple and the tabernacle in order to express it.
3 The Mystery of the Temple,Westminster(Maryland) 1962, p.254-255.

St. Cecilia
2023-11-22
THE GRACE OF BEING A MARTYR
From “Story of a Soul” by St Thérèse of Lisieux 4
◊◊◊
It was night when we arrived and as we were all asleep we were awakened
by the shouts of the porters crying: “Rome! Rome!” It was not a dream, I was in
Rome!… One of my sweetest memories was the one that filled me with delight
when I saw the Colosseum. I was finally gazing upon that arena where so many
martyrs had shed their blood for Jesus… One thought raced through my mind: get
down into the arena!… I cried to Céline: “Come quick! We can get through!” We
crossed the barrier where there was an opening, the fallen masonry hardly
reaching up to the barrier, and we were climbing down over the ruins that
rumbled under our feet… We…threw ourselves on our knees on this sacred soil,
and our souls were united in the same prayer. My heart was beating hard when
my lips touched the dust stained with the blood of the first Christians. I asked for
the grace of being a martyr for Jesus and felt that my prayer was answered!… Papa,
seeing us so happy, didn’t have the heart to scold us and I could easily see he was
proud of our courage…
The Catacombs, too, left a deep impression on me. They were exactly as I
had imagined them when reading the lives of the martyrs. After having spent part
of the afternoon in them, it seemed to me we were there for only a few moments,
so sacred did the atmosphere appear to me. We had to carry off some souvenir
from the Catacombs; having allowed the procession to pass on a little, Céline and
Thérèse slipped down together to the bottom of the ancient tomb of St. Cecilia and
took some earth which was sanctified by her presence.
Before my trip to Rome I didn’t have any special devotion to this saint, but
when I visited her house transformed into a church, the site of her martyrdom,
when learning that she was proclaimed patroness of music not because of her
beautiful voice or her talent for music, but in memory of the virginal song she sang
to her heavenly Spouse hidden in the depths of her heart, I felt more than devotion
for her; it was the real tenderness of a friend. She became my saint of predilection,
my intimate confidante. Everything in her thrilled me, especially her
abandonment, her limitless confidence that made her capable of virginizing souls
who had never desired any other joys but those of the present life. St. Cecilia is like
the bride in the Canticle; in her I see “a choir in an armed camp.” Her life was
nothing else but a melodious song in the midst of the greatest trials, and this does
not surprise me because “the Gospel rested on her heart,” and in her heart reposed
the Spouse of Virgins!…
Martyrdom was the dream of my youth and this dream has grown with me
within Carmel’s cloisters. But here again, I feel that my dream is a folly, for I cannot
confine myself to desiring one kind of martyrdom. To satisfy me I need all. Like
You, my Adorable Spouse, I would be scourged and crucified. I would die flayed
like St. Bartholomew. I would be plunged into boiling oil like St. John; I would
undergo all the tortures inflicted upon the martyrs. With St. Agnes and St. Cecilia,
I would present my neck to the sword, and like Joan of Arc, my dear sister, I would
whisper at the stake Your Name, O JESUS. When thinking of the torments which
will be the lot of Christians at the time of Anti-Christ, I feel my heart leap with joy
and I would that these torments be reserved for me. Jesus, Jesus, if I wanted to
write all my desires, I would have to borrow Your Book of Life, for in it are reported
all the actions of all the saints, and I would accomplish all of them for You.
4
Story of A Soul: The Autobiography of St Thérèse of Lisieux. Trans. John Clarke, O.C.D. Washington, DC: ICS Publications,
1996. 163-165, 222-223. PDF ONLINE VERSION.

St. Columban/Thanksgiving
2023-11-23
THE GIFT OF HIMSELF
From “The Reed of God” by Caryll Houselander 5
◊◊◊
On the night before He died Christ took bread into His hands, blessed and
broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying: “This is my Body.” The Blessed
Sacrament is Christ, the whole Christ. He was giving us Himself… Yet, in giving
Himself to the world, He deliberately chose to emphasize the body. Why? The
body is, for us, the means by which we can give ourselves wholly. We say: “God,
my thoughts are with you,” or “My soul goes with you.” And we know that, though
something of ourself is with the traveler, essentially we remain separate from
him… But when we give our body willingly to another as the means of deliberate
self-donation, then our union with the other is complete…
We surrender our intimacy, the secret of ourselves, with the giving of our
body; and we cannot give it without our will, our thoughts, our minds, and our
souls. Christ surrendered the secret of Himself to each one of us when He gave us
His Body. In Holy Communion this surrender of the secret of Himself goes on.
“With desire,” He said, “have I desired this hour.” The hour when He was to
consecrate bread, in order that not only to the whole race would He give His Spirit,
but to each individual, the gift of Himself. He had longed for it – that is what the
phrase means; longed for the moment when He would give us the Body that Mary
had given to Him in Communion. He waited thirty-three years in time for the Last
Supper; two thousand years for me…
He gave Himself through His body from the beginning to the end in tears, in
sweat, in weariness; with spoken words, with glances of love; walking the dusty
roads, visiting the homes of His friends and His enemies; in the gift of His blood.
The part that the pain and privation of His body played in our redemption we
know and meditate often: the poverty, the toil, the fasting, the crucifixion. We
think less often of the joy that should be ours through Christ’s body… No one ever
enjoyed life as he did. He gathered up the color, sound, touch, meaning of
everything about him and united it all to the exquisite sensitiveness, the most pure
capacity for delight.
Most people know the sheer wonder that goes with falling in love, how not
only does everything in heaven and earth become new, but the lover himself
becomes new. It is literally like the sap rising in the tree, putting forth new green
shoots of life. The capacity for joy is doubled, the awareness of beauty sharpened,
the power to do and enjoy creative work increased immeasurably. The heart is
enlarged, there is more sympathy, more warmth, in it than ever before. The lover’s
mind is vibrant with his new life, every sense quickened; and while his blood races,
an immense power of tenderness makes him so much the ruler and master of all
this passion of joy, that he is able to bestow it on another with such restraint, such
gentleness, that however frail she is, she can receive it…
Christ on earth was a human being in love. His love gave life to all loves. He
was love itself. He infused his life with all the grace of its outward and inward
joyfulness, with all its poetry and song, with all its gaiety and laughter and grace.
With His body He united Himself to the world… It is not in making our flesh
unfeeling that we hallow God’s name on earth but in offering it to God burning
with the flame of life. Everything can be put into the fire that Christ came to kindle;
and whether it be the bitter wood of sorrow or the substance of joy, it will burn
upwards with the same splendor of light.
5 The Reed of God, NY 1944, 84-87, 90.

St. Andrew & Companions
2023-11-24
THE MARTYRS’ SHARE IN CHRIST’S VICTORY
From a letter of St Paul Le-Bao-Tinh 6
◊◊◊
I, Paul, in chains for the name of Christ, wish to relate to you the trials
besetting me daily, in order that you may be inflamed with love for God and join
with me in his praises, “for his mercy is forever.” The prison here is a true image
of everlasting hell: to cruel tortures of every kind; shackles, iron chains, manacles;
are added hatred, vengeance, calumnies, obscene speech, quarrels, evil acts,
swearing, curses, as well as anguish and grief. But the God who once freed the
three children from the fiery furnace is with me always; he has delivered me from
these tribulations and made them sweet, “for his mercy is forever.”
In the midst of these torments, which usually terrify others, I am, by the
grace of God, full of joy and gladness, because I am not alone — Christ is with me.
Our Master bears the whole weight of the cross, leaving me only the tiniest, last
bit. He is not a mere onlooker in my struggle, but a contestant and the victor and
champion in the whole battle. Therefore upon his head is placed the crown of
victory, and his members also share in his glory.
How am I to bear with the spectacle, as each day I see emperors, mandarins,
and their retinue blaspheming your holy name, O Lord, “who are enthroned above
the Cherubim and Seraphim”? Behold, the pagans have trodden your cross
underfoot! Where is your glory? As I see all this, I would, in the ardent love I have
for you, prefer to be torn limb from limb and to die as a witness to your love. O
Lord, show your power, save me, sustain me, that in my infirmity your power may
be shown and may be glorified before the nations: grant that I may not grow weak
along the way, and so allow your enemies to hold their heads up in pride.
Beloved brothers, as you hear all these things may you give endless thanks
in joy to God, from whom every good proceeds; bless the Lord with me, “for his
mercy is forever.”… For “God chose what is weak in the world to confound the
strong, God chose what is low and despised” to confound the noble. Through my
mouth he has confused the philosophers who are disciples of the wise of this
world, “for his mercy is forever.”I write these things to you in order that your faith
and mine may be united. In the midst of this storm I cast my anchor toward the
throne of God, the anchor that is the lively hope in my heart.
Beloved brothers, for your part “so run that you may attain the crown,” put
on the “breastplate of faith” and take up “the weapons” of Christ “for the right hand
and for the left,” as my patron Saint Paul has taught us. “It is better for you to enter
life with one eye or crippled” than, with all your members intact, to be cast away.
Come to my aid with your prayers, that I may have the strength to fight according
to the law, and indeed “to fight the good fight” and to fight until the end and so
finish the race. We may not again see each other in this life, but we will have the
happiness of seeing each other again in the world to come, when, standing at the
throne of the spotless Lamb, we will together join in singing his praises and exult
for ever in the joy of our triumph.
6 Le Clerge Tonkinois et Ses Pretres Martyrs, A. Launay (Paris: Paris Foreign Mission Society, 1925), pp. 80-83.

St. Catherine of Alexandria
2023-11-25
ST CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA
From the writing of St Mechthild of Hackeborn7
◊◊◊
As the Soul wondered what praise she should offer God to honor his saints,
he told her, “Praise me because I am the crown of all saints.” She immediately
began to praise and bless the most blessed, ever-venerable Trinity as best she
could because he deigned to be the crown and marvelous dignity of the saints –
and by a singular privilege, he is the golden crown of all virgins. At once she saw
that the glorious Virgin and all the saints were wearing crowns of inconceivable
beauty. No words could express their glory… Now it is true that the beauty and
glory of all the saints is perfected by the blood of Christ, his innocence, and his
other virtues; and there is a tender intimacy and delight between the Lord and
every soul. Yet, by a special privilege, virgins enjoy God with a more delightful
intimacy, a greater pleasure, and a sweeter taste because he is their bridegroom…
On the Feast of the illustrious virgin Catherine, she appeared to the Soul in
a robe all patterned with golden wheels. At the top were two golden hands that
together held up the garment, symbolizing the blissful, undivided union of God
with her soul. Christ’s handmaid reverently greeted her with the antiphon
Hail, beautiful virgin. After this she asked, “Tell me, I pray, what is meant by that
verse we sing to you, whose face and beauty the Lord desired? What is that face of
yours that the Lord desired?”
“My face is the image of the venerable Trinity, which the Lord desired in me
because I had never corrupted it with serious sins. My beauty is that exceptional
beauty that Christ has given his faithful, inexpressibly beautifying them with the
color of his blood. And you should know that every time a person receives
communion, that beauty is renewed and increased. For example, someone who
receives communion even once doubles the beauty in her soul. But if a person
communicates a hundred or a thousand times, she increases the beauty in her soul
a hundred or a thousandfold.”
Then the virgin Mechthild prayed to St. Catherine for someone who was
devoted to her. She replied, “Tell her to recite for me the… antiphon ‘Come my
beloved, come and enter the chamber of your Bridegroom.’… Let her remind me of
the joy I had when Christ the King, my bridegroom, called me with those words.
For when that voice came to my ears, my heart was set ablaze with so much love
and I was dissolved in such unspeakable joy that all the horror of death was
reduced to nothing.”
7 Mechthild of Hackeborn. The Book of Special Grace. Trans. Barbara Newman. New York: Paulist Press, 2017. 111-113.

Skema
2023-11-26
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
34th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
November 26 – December 2, 2023

Sun
26
Mon
27
Tue
28
Wed
29
Thu
30
Fri
1
Sat
2

Office
Christ the King
Weekday
Weekday
Office for Vocations
St Andrew
Office for the Dead
Memorial of the BVM

Vigils
Isa 33:2-22
Jud 13:12-20
Jud 14:1-10
Jud 14:11-15:13
1 Cor 1:18-2:5
Jud 15:14-16:17
Jud 16:18-25

Lauds
Jerm 23:1-6
Mal 2:10-16
Mal 2:17-3:5
Mal 3:6-12
Deut 30:8-14
Mal 3:13-18
Mal 3:19-24

Mass
160
503
504
505
684
507
508

1st
Ezek 34:11-12, 15-17
Dan 1:1-6, 8-20
Dan 2:31-45
Dan 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28
Rom 10:9-18
Dan 7:2-14
Dan 7:15-27

2nd
1 Cor 15:20-26, 28

Gospel
Matt 25:31-46
Luke 21:1-4
Luke 21:5-11
Luke 21:12-19
Matt 4:18-22
Luke 21:29-33
Luke 21:34-36

Vespers
Rev 3:14-22
2 John 1-6
2 John 7-13
3 John 1-8
1 Thess 2:8-13
3 John 9-15
Rev 1:1-8
