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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250907
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250908
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250907T123013Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250907T123013Z
UID:13894-1757203200-1757289599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n23rd Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nSeptember 7 – 13\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n7\nMon\n8\nTue\n9\nWed\n10\nThu\n11\nFri\n12\nSat\n13\n\n\nOffice\n23rd Sunday\nNativity of the BVM\nSt Peter Claver\nBl Ogler\nOffice for the Dead\nWeekday\nSt John Chrysostom\n\n\nVigils\nEst 8:3-12\nGen 3:8-20\nEst E:1-16\nEst E:17-(8:17)\nEst 9:1-17\nEst 9:18-32\nEst 10:1-F:10\n\n\nLauds\nMic 6:9-16\nZech 8:1-8\nMic 7:1-6\nMic 7:7-13\nMic 7:14-20\nNahum 1:1-8\nNahum 1:9-2:1\n\n\nMass\n129\n636\n438\n439\n440\n441\n442\n\n\n1st\nWis 9:13-18b\nMicah 5:1-4a\nCol 2:6-15\nCol 3:1-11\nCol 3:12-17\n1 Tim 1:1-2\, 12-14\n1 Tim 1:15-17\n\n\n2nd\nPhlm 9-10\, 12-17\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 14:25-33\nMatt 1:18-23\nLuke 6:12-19\nLuke 6:20-26\nLuke 6:27-38\nLuke 6:39-42\nLuke 6:43-49\n\n\nVespers\n1 Thess 5:1-11\nRom 8:28-39\n1 Thess 5:12-28\n2 Thess 1:1-7\, 11-12\n2 Thess 2:1-10\n2 Thess 2:11-17\n1 Cor 1:18-25
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-125/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250907
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250908
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250907T123208Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250907T123208Z
UID:13896-1757203200-1757289599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 23rd Sunday
DESCRIPTION:THE THREE RENUNCIATIONS \nBy John Cassian \n◊◊◊ \nThe tradition of the Fathers and the authority of holy scriptures both \naffirm that there are three renunciations which every one of us must strive to \npractice. To these let us turn our attention. \nFirst\, on the material level\, we have to despise all worldly wealth and \npossessions; secondly\, we must reject our former way of life with its vices and \nattachments\, both physical and spiritual; and thirdly\, we should withdraw our \nmind from all that is transitory and visible to contemplate solely what lies in the \nfuture and to desire what is unseen. \nWe read that the Lord commended Abraham to make all three \nrenunciations at once when he said to him: Leave your country and your \nkindred and your father’s house. First he said your country\, meaning worldly \nwealth and possessions; secondly your kindred\, that is our former way of living\, \nwith its habits and vices which have grown up with us and are as familiar to us as \nkith and kin; thirdly your father’s house\, in other words every secular memory \naroused by what you see. \nThis forgetfulness will be achieved when\, dead with Christ to the \nelemental spirits of this world\, we contemplate as the apostle says not the things \nthat are seen\, for what is seen is temporal but what is unseen is eternal. It will \nbe achieved when in our hearts we leave this temporal and visible house and \nturn the eyes of our mind toward that in which we shall live for ever; when\, \nthough living in the world\, we cease to follow the spirit of the world in order to \nfight for the Lord\, proclaiming by our holy way of life that\, as the apostle says\, \nour homeland is in heaven. \nIt avails little to undertake the first of these renunciations\, even with \nwholehearted devotion inspired by faith\, unless we carry out the second with the \nsame zeal and fervor. Then having accomplished this as well we shall be able to \ngo on to the third\, whereby we leave the house of our former father\, of him who \nfathered us as members of a fallen race\, children of wrath like everyone else\, \nand turn our inward gaze solely toward heavenly things. \nWe shall attain to the perfection of this third renunciation when our \nmind\, no longer dulled by contact with a pampered body\, has been cleansed by \nthe most searching refinement from every worldly sentiment and attitude\, and \nraised by constant meditation on divine things and spiritual contemplation to \nthe realm of the invisible. It will then lose all awareness of the frail body \nenclosing it or the place it occupies\, so absorbed will it be by things divine and \nspiritual.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-23rd-sunday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250908
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250909
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250907T123317Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250907T123317Z
UID:13898-1757289600-1757375999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Nativity of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:THE NEW MOTHER \nFrom a sermon by Blessed Guerric of Igny \n◊◊◊ \nAs the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odor. Today we celebrate the \nbirthday of the blessed Virgin Mother from whom the Life of all things took his \nbirth. Today is the birthday of that Virgin from whom the Savior of all men \nwilled to be born in order that he might give to all who were born to death the \npower to be reborn to life. Today is the birthday of that new Mother who has \ndestroyed the curse brought by the first mother\, so that all those who through \nthe fault of the first had been born under the yoke of eternal condemnation \nmight instead\, through her\, inherit a blessing. \nShe is indeed the new Mother\, for she has brought new life to her children \nalready hardening with age and has healed the defect of both inborn and \nacquired senility… She is the new Mother\, who by an unheard of miracle has \ngiven birth in such a way that\, becoming a mother\, she has not ceased to be a \nVirgin. And she has given birth to the Child who created all things\, even the \nMother herself. \nIt is indeed a wonderful new thing\, this fruitful virginity\, but far more \nwonderful is the novelty of the Child born of it. No one who admits that the \nChild was God\, finds any difficulty in believing his Mother remained a Virgin. \nHis birth in no way could injure the physical integrity of his Mother\, this Child \nwho went about making even the diseased whole. Nor could the reality of the \nbody he assumed be thought to limit the power of the Creator as if he could not \nretain for himself what he gives to many of his creatures. For you find not a few \ncreatures that are born without any harm to the integrity of the parents. In their \nown way all these bear witness to their Creator’s own immaculate birth. \nBut the Mother herself\, who was quite aware of the mystery surrounding \nher\, has spoken and taught us how and what she brought forth. She speaks \nhowever not in contemporary or recent arguments but in the ancient oracles of \nprophecy\, because\, as the Apostle Peter tells us\, the word of prophecy is a \nstronger witness than miracles. Indeed what is less open to deceit or suspect of \nfalsity than the testimony from heaven about one not yet born? \nLong before her birth therefore the Spirit\, who would later make his \nabode in her\, borrowed Mary’s voice to defend both the divinity of the Child and \nthe integrity of the Mother – all his own handiwork – against the blasphemies of \nunbelievers. In her person…he uttered the words: As the vine\, I have brought \nforth a pleasant odor.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-nativity-of-the-bvm-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250909
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250910
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250907T123428Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250907T123428Z
UID:13900-1757376000-1757462399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Peter Claver
DESCRIPTION:ST PETER CLAVER \nTHE SLAVE OF THE NEGROES \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints \n◊◊◊ \nHe was born in Catalonia\, about 1581… He graduated with distinction \n[and entered] the Society of Jesus. He left Spain forever in April 1610\, and was \nordained priest at Cartagena\, in what is now the republic of Colombia. By the \ntime of his ordination the slave trade had been established in the Americas for \nnearly a hundred years\, and the port of Cartagena was one of its principal \ncenters… \nAt this time the leader of the work among the Negroes was Father Alfonso \nde Sandoval\, a great Jesuit missionary who spent forty years in the service of the \nslaves\, and after working under him Peter Claver declared himself “the slave of \nthe Negroes forever”. Although by nature shy and without self-confidence he \nthrew himself into the work with method and organization. He enlisted bands \nof assistants\, and as soon as a slave-ship entered the port… St. Peter Claver \nplunged\, with medicines and food\, bread\, brandy\, lemons\, tobacco to distribute \namong the Negroes\, some of whom were too frightened\, others too ill\, to accept \nthem. “We must speak to them with our hands\, before we try to speak to them \nwith our lips”\, Claver would say. \nWhen he came upon any who were dying\, he baptized them\, and then \nsought out all babies born on the voyage that he might baptize them. He had a \nband of seven interpreters\, one of whom spoke four Negro dialects\, and with \ntheir help he taught the slaves and prepared them for baptism\, not only in \ngroups but individually. He made use of pictures\, showing our Lord suffering \non the cross; above all he tried to instill in them… some idea that as redeemed \nhuman beings they had dignity and worth\, even if as slaves… \nIt is estimated that in forty years St Peter Claver instructed and baptized \nover 300\,000 slaves… He took the same trouble to teach them how properly to \nuse the sacrament of penance\, and in one year is said to have heard the \nconfessions of more than five thousand. Many of the stories both of the heroism \nand of the miraculous powers of St Peter Claver concern his nursing of sick and \ndiseased Negroes\, in circumstances often that no one else\, black or white\, could \nface. \nIn 1650… sickness attacked his emaciated and weakened body\, and he \nwas recalled to the Jesuit residence at Cartagena. But here a virulent epidemic \nhad begun to show itself\, and one of the first to be attacked among the Jesuits \nwas the debilitated missionary… After receiving the last sacraments\, he \nrecovered\, but he was a broken man… \nOn September 6\, 1654 he was taken very ill and became comatose. The rumor of \nhis approaching end spread round the city\, everyone suddenly remembered the \nsaint again\, and numbers came to kiss his hands before it was too late. His cell \nwas stripped of everything that could be carried off as a relic. St Peter Claver \nnever fully recovered consciousness\, and died two days later on the birthday of \nour Lady. The civil authorities who had looked askance at his solicitude for mere \nNegro slaves\, and the clergy\, who had called his zeal indiscreet and his energy \nwasted\, now vied with one another to honor his memory… He was canonized in \n1888 and was declared by Pope Leo XIII patron of all missionary enterprises \namong Negroes.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-peter-claver-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250910
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250911
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250907T123542Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250907T123542Z
UID:13902-1757462400-1757548799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Bl Ogier of Locedio
DESCRIPTION:THE CONTAINER \nOF ALL VIRTUES \nFrom a sermon by Blessed Ogier of Locedio \n◊◊◊ \nFor a long time I have been impelled by a work of love: it was the desire to \ncreate a work on the Word of God. I realize that I am thoroughly unworthy of \nthis\, and yet I find that I am filled with the sweetness of the heavenly honey \nwhich the heavens dropped down from the face of God on Sinai. And behold in \norder to be able to fulfill my desires\, I am presented with this exquisite vase\, this \ncontainer of all virtues\, this vessel of election\, wherein the fullness of the \ndivinity came to dwell. Yes\, this is the golden vessel\, the solid vessel\, adorned \nwith all precious jewels\, charged with life\, with eternal blessedness\, filled with \nmyrrh\, aloes and balm and every possible scent; a vessel adorned with ivory and \ngems of sapphire\, containing Him Who is both the Alpha and the Omega\, the \nBeginning and the End. \nI wish to speak of that beautiful Virgin who gave to the world its Creator. \nShe is worthy of being praised by every mouth even though they are not worthy \nto praise her. But I must acknowledge to all who may take up my writings that I \nam not worthy to praise her\, and even unworthy to pronounce her name. \nNevertheless even this realization does not stop me\, for the ardor of heart \nsprings forth to compensate and it neither can nor should restrain from praising \nher whom the angels and archangels and all the heavenly choirs praise as being \nthe one who gave to the world its Creator\, the author of all things\, by becoming \nHis mother. \nFor charity draws me to this\, love finds satiety\, and the benefit which will \ncome to myself impels me. Let my tongue cleave to my pallet if I do not \nremember her; if I do not place her immediately after her Son as the source of \nmy joy; in order that she may be mindful of me on the day of Jerusalem\, that she \nmay become my repose in the time of tribulation\, and that I may be borne to the \npeople in those arms which held her own Son. For this reason with praise I am \ngoing to praise her all the days of my life; I am going to sing her praises as long \nas I live. May my words be pleasing to her and in her I will take my delight. \nMay He enable me to accomplish this which He has inspired in me\, Jesus \nChrist her Son\, our Lord\, Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy \nSpirit through all ages.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-bl-ogier-of-locedio/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250911
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250912
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250907T123644Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250907T123644Z
UID:13904-1757548800-1757635199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
DESCRIPTION:IN THE SLEEP \nOF FINAL REST \nBy St Ephrem the Syrian \n◊◊◊ \nIn that night when all sound\, all human activity shall be silent\, when the \nvoices of all peoples and nations are still\, may my soul through its good works \nshine out in You\, O Jesus\, Light of the Just. In that hour when darkness like a \ncloak shall be spread over all things may your grace\, O Lord\, shine on us in place \nof the earthy sun. In that night which brings to an end the course of this world \nand all its activities\, may our souls behold your wonders in that quiet which is \nmore than silence. In that hour\, refreshing the weary through the sleep that lies \nover all\, may our minds be inebriated with your delights\, O Delight of all the \nSaints! In that time of dark night\, may a New Sun arise for us. Then let us take \nwing in that hope which was laid up for us in your Resurrection. \nGrant us O Lord\, to imitate the watchfulness of those who waited for your \nResurrection\, so that day and night O Lord\, we may be turned towards you. In \nthat hour when we shall be separated from others and from the business of the \nworld\, be to us O Lord\, a Giver of good things\, bringing joy to our sadness. When \nconfiding in your grace we have gone forth from this world\, so that we are alone\, \nmay we behold O Lord\, clearly and in deed the power of your help. Pour your \npeace into our hearts\, and give your rest to all our striving that the darkness of \nthat night may be to us as the day. \nIn that hour when we shall have been deprived of life\, and night has \nhidden us in its darkness and we have been separated from others\, may our \nconsolation in you O Lord\, increase. In that place that is empty of all things\, \nwhere the voice of comfort is no more heard\, awaken in our souls O Lord\, a \nwatchfulness free of all distraction. In that time when we lie in the sleep of final \nrest\, may our minds not be sunk in the sleep of evil desires. \nGrant us by your graces O Lord\, that like the wise virgins who were ready \nby their good works\, our way of life shall also be watchful\, that we shall not sit in \ndarkness with darkened souls\, in darkness of mind\, but that through prayer we \nmay look for ever on the shining splendor of your grace. Expel\, O Lord\, by the \ndaily light of your knowledge the nocturnal darkness of our mind\, that being \nenlightened it may serve you in the purity of its regeneration. \nGrant us with the just to watch by night in prayer\, that in your revelations \nour lamps may burn brightly before your sun. In that time of night give \nconsolation to our need\, for the gloom of the night darkens us; through you may \nwe be comforted in our sadness. Grant that our minds may labor in the \nremembrance of your revelations\, while our souls burn in the fire of your love. \nIn that hour when the Saints were wont to give themselves to prayer; grant us\, O \nLord\, to share in their watchfulness.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-the-dead-22/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250912
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250913
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250907T123754Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250907T123754Z
UID:13906-1757635200-1757721599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:PERFECTION IN WEAKNESS \nBy Fr Hugh Rahner \n◊◊◊ \nThe Catholic Church is a house full of glory extending far and wide into \nevery land of this our terrestrial world. We sing her praises because we love her. \nFor she is the hidden queen of human history.… \nAll this would be\, however\, only “boasting according to the flesh” and not \n“glory in the cross of Christ” – all would be counterfeit\, falsified\, and therefore \nfilled with that furtive disappointment that we so often experience after \necclesiastical ceremonies\, if we did not also speak of the incomprehensible \nmystery of Christian existence which Paul describes with the words: “If I must \nboast\, I will boast of the things that concern my weakness.” The Apostle is \nspeaking here of his own wretchedness. \nHowever\, one of the principle truths of the revelation of the New \nTestament\, as sketched by Paul\, is that the strength of God reveals itself in \nhuman weakness. The salvific work of the Father\, which was contained in love \nbefore the very foundation of the universe\, reveals itself to us in the Word which \nbecame flesh\, and will be completed through the instrument of the Church in \nthe power of grace victorious up to its blessed conclusion in weakness. For as \nScripture tells us: “The power of God reaches its perfection in weakness”. Let us \nleave these words as they stand. Indeed let us keep the expression in the \nshocking bluntness of the Greek words: “The dynamis of God reaches perfec- \ntion in asthenia.” \nThe force of these words can be vaguely perceived from what technology \nhas to say today about dynamics\, and from what medicine has to say about \nasthenia. So\, let us read: the power of God reaches its goal in asthenia\, in \nstunted asthenic growth\, in frailty\, therefore in all that is in contrast to what is \nbig\, strong\, healthy\, well formed\, humane\, rational. So\, and only so\, does the \nexplosive power of the Father’s salvific love reveal itself\, passionately driving \nonward to victory in the mystical Christ. “For the foolishness of God is wiser \nthan men\, and the weakness of God is stronger than men…and the base things \nof the world and the despised has God chosen…lest any flesh should pride itself \nbefore him. So that\, just as it is written: ‘Let him who takes pride\, take pride in \nthe Lord’”.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-350/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250913
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250914
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250907T123911Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250907T123911Z
UID:13908-1757721600-1757807999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St John Chrysostom
DESCRIPTION:ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM \nFrom “The Fathers of the Church” by Pope Benedict XVI \n◊◊◊ \nSt John Chrysostom was born in Antioch\, Syria\, in 344. His father died \nwhen he was an infant and his mother raised him. He studied with the most \nfamous rhetorician of the day\, Libanus. Baptized as a young adult in 368\, John \nundertook an ascetic life for four years\, living alone on the neighboring Mount \nSilpius. He extended his stay for a further two years\, living alone in a cave under \nthe guidance of an old hermit. \nHaving fallen ill\, he found it impossible to care for himself and returned to \nthe city and was ordained a deacon and then a priest. From 386 to 397 he \npreached in the cathedral at Antioch\, perhaps the most satisfying and happiest \nyears of his life. There he delivered courses of sermons on books of the Bible. \nJohn was nicknamed “Chrysostom”\, that is\, “golden mouthed”\, because of his \neloquence. \nIn 397 he was taken\, almost by force\, to Constantinople\, ordained bishop\, \nand made patriarch of the capitol city. He lived ascetically and showed deep \nconcern for the poor and the sick. But his style of life offended some powerful \npeople\, including the Empress Eudoxia. Theophilus\, the patriarch of \nAlexandria\, was also among his enemies\, and in 403 Theophilus presided at a \nsynod near Constantinople that deposed John. \nJohn was banished twice\, the first time for only a short while. But during \nthe second exile he died on September 14\, 407 while being forced to travel in \nharsh weather. \nJohn is known for a large corpus of homilies\, most of them on Scripture. \nAmong his best known and most read books are the six books On the \nPriesthood.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-john-chrysostom-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250913T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250913T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250804T151707Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250909T153241Z
UID:13779-1757754000-1757764800@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:LCG Chicago Monthly Meeting 9:00 am CDT
DESCRIPTION:All are welcome on Zoom: \nJoin Zoom Meeting \nhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/86028356465 \nMeeting ID: 860 2835 6465 \nOne tap mobile \n+13126266799\,\,86028356465# US (Chicago) \n+13092053325\,\,86028356465# US \n  \n9:00 Gather for Opening prayer. \n  \nWe also pray for all our lay Cistercian sisters and brothers in the US and around the world.  Specially we pray for our Gethsemani monks.  Finally\, we pray this month specially for: \nBr. Thomas Richards \nBr. Gregory Escardo \nBr. Maximilian Pickerill \n 9:10 Lectio. Our lectio piece will be led by Robert Johnson. \n 9:50  Reading.  Our reading this month is Contemplation by Nemeck and Coombs. \n10:45 Housekeeping.   Volunteer to lead lectio next month?  Selection our next reading . Chicago Report on LCG Advisory Council activity. Planning transport for LCG Fall Retreat (10/12/25). Follow-up on events at the international lay Cistercian meeting. \n11:00 Update.   Share how the Holy Spirt has entered our lives as lay Cistercians since our last meeting. \n11:45 Closing worship and prayer.  We will pray the liturgical hour of None as with our Gethsemani monks (identical Psalms as done today at Gethsemani Abbey.) \nOur next meeting: October 11\, 2025???
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/lcg-chicago-monthly-meeting-900-am-cdt-3/
CATEGORIES:LCG Local Community Meetings,LCG open events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250914
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250915
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250914T102623Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250914T102623Z
UID:13936-1757808000-1757894399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n24th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nSeptember 14 – 20\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n14\nMon\n15\nTue\n16\nWed\n17\nThu\n18\nFri\n19\nSat\n20\n\n\nOffice\nExaltation of the Holy Cross\nOur Lady of Sorrows\nSS Cornelius & Cyprian\nSt Martin of Finojosa\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSt Andrew Kim & Companions\n\n\nVigils\nIsa 52:13-53:12\n2 Macc 7:20-41\nSong 1:1-17\nSong 2:1-17\nSong 3:1-11\nSong 4:1-5:1\nSong 5:2-6:3\n\n\nLauds\nIsa 45:21-25\nBaruch 4:9b-20\nNahum 2:2-8\nNahum 2:9-14\nNahum 3:1-7\nNahum 3:8-13\nNahum 3:14-19\n\n\nMass\n638\n639\n444\n445\n446\n447\n448\n\n\n1st\nNum 21:4b-9\nHeb 5:7-9\n1 Tim 3:1-13\n1 Tim 3:14-16\n1 Tim 4:12-16\n1 Tim 6:2c-12\n1 Tim 6:13-16\n\n\n2nd\nPhil 2:6-11\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 3:13-17\nJohn 19:25-27\nLuke 7:11-17\nLuke 7:31-35\nLuke 7:36-50\nLuke 8:1-3\nLuke 8:4-15\n\n\nVespers\nGal 6:14-18\n1 Pet 4:12-16\n2 Thess 3:1-10\n2 Thess 3:11-18\n1 Tim 1:1-11\n1 Tim 1:12-20\n1 Tim 2:1-8
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-126/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250914
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250915
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250914T102813Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250914T102813Z
UID:13938-1757808000-1757894399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Exaltation of the Holy Cross
DESCRIPTION:THE VICTORY \nOF THE CROSS \nBy St Chromatius of Aquileia \n◊◊◊ \nThe Cross of Christ is our victory\, because it has obtained victory for us. \nWho among us are so fortunate as to deserve to bear in themselves the cross of \nChrist? They bear the cross of Christ in themselves who die to the world and are \nnailed with Christ to the Cross. Listen to what the Apostle says: “With Christ I \nam crucified; I live\, yet it is no longer I who live\, but Christ who lives in me.” \nThose therefore who are free from the vices of the flesh and worldly desires are\, \nas the Apostle says\, crucified with Christ. Those on the other hand who are given \nover to vices of the flesh and worldly desires cannot say: “I am crucified with \nChrist”\, for they do not live the way that Christ did\, but according to the fashion \nof the world and the will of the devil. \nThe cross of Christ is the salvation of the world and the triumphal sign of \nheaven’s victory. In times past\, when great kings had won a brilliant victory over \nvanquished nations\, they used to set up a trophy of their victory in the form of a \ncross and hang spoils taken from the enemy upon it as a permanent reminder. \nThe victory won by Christ’s cross is far different. The victory of those kings \nmeant the extermination of peoples\, the destruction of cities\, the sacking of \nprovinces. The victory of the cross means nations ransomed\, cities saved\, \nprovinces liberated\, the entire world made safe. Nothing is destroyed but the \npower of the devil\, no one taken captive but the demons\, for the cross of Christ \nredeemed the world and took the demons prisoner. It is spoils taken from the \ndemons that are hung on the triumphal cross of Christ. Today the demons hang \non the cross of Christ which has become their torment and torture; they are held \ncaptive by faith in the cross\, by the sign of the passion. \nChrist suffered evil and repaid it with good; he suffered death and gave \nlife. Not without reason was he crucified on the spot where Adam’s body is said \nto have been buried; Christ was crucified where Adam was buried in order that \nlife might thus rise out of death. Death came through Adam\, life through Christ\, \nwho deigned to be crucified and to die precisely in order to destroy through the \ntree of the cross the sin that had been caused by a tree\, and by the mystery of his \ndeath to put an end to the punishment of death.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-exaltation-of-the-holy-cross-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250915
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250916
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250914T102922Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250914T102922Z
UID:13940-1757894400-1757980799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Our Lady of Sorrows
DESCRIPTION:TEARS OF LOVE \nFrom the Sequence “Stabat Mater” attributed to Jacopo da Todi \n◊◊◊ \nThe sorrowful mother was standing in tears beside the cross on which her \nSon was hanging. Her soul was full of grief and anguish and sorrow\, for the \nsword of prophecy pierced it. \nHow sad now and how unhappy at the fate of her only Son was that \nmother\, once called blessed; how the faithful mother grieved and lamented as \nshe saw her glorious Son so shamefully treated. \nWho is there who would not weep\, were he to see Christ’s mother in such \ngreat suffering? Or who could help feeling sympathy with the mother\, were he to \nthink of her sorrowing with her Son? \nYet she actually saw Jesus in agony and broken by the scourging – and \nthis because of the sins of her own people. She saw her dear Son all the time he \nwas dying and abandoned until he yielded up his soul. \nCome then\, mother\, from whom all love springs\, make me understand the \nmeaning of your sorrow that I may mourn with you. Make my heart burn with \nlove of Christ\, my God\, that he may look on me with favor. \nHoly mother\, do this for me. Pierce my heart once and forever with the \nwounds of your crucified Son. Let me share with you the pain of your Son’s \nwounds\, for he thought it right to bear such sufferings for me. \nGrant that my tears of love may mingle with yours and that\, as long as I \nlive\, I may feel the pains of my crucified Lord. To stand with you beside the cross \nand be your companion in grief is my own wish. \nVirgin without equal among virgins\, do not now turn down my request; \ngrant that I may mourn with you. Grant that I carry about the dying state of \nChrist; grant that I be a sharer of his passion; grant that I relive his wounds. \nGrant that I be wounded with his wounds; grant that I drink to my soul’s content \nof the chalice of his cross and blood. Be a defense to me\, virgin Mary\, on the \njudgment day\, and I will not burn and be consumed in the fires of hell. \nWhen it is time\, Lord Christ\, for me to leave this world\, give me through \nyour mother’s prayers the palm of victory. When my body is dead\, grant that my \nsoul be given the glory of paradise.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-our-lady-of-sorrows-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250916
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250917
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250914T103047Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250914T103047Z
UID:13942-1757980800-1758067199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - SS Cornelius & Cyprian
DESCRIPTION:A LETTER FROM ST CYPRIAN \nTO ST CORNELIUS \n◊◊◊ \nMy very dear brother\, we have heard of the glorious witness given by your \ncourageous faith. On learning of the honor you had won by your witness\, we \nwere filled with such joy that we felt ourselves sharers and companions in your \npraiseworthy achievements. After all\, we have the same Church\, the same mind. \nThe same unbroken harmony. Why then should a priest not take pride in the \npraise given to a fellow priest as though it were given to him? What brotherhood \nfails to rejoice in the happiness of its brothers wherever they are? \nWords cannot express how great was the exaltation and delight here when \nwe heard of your good fortune and brave deeds: how you stood out as a leader of \nyour brothers in their declaration of faith\, while the leader’s confession was \nenhanced as they declared their faith. You led the way to glory\, but you gained \nmany companions in that glory; being foremost in your readiness to bear \nwitness on behalf of all\, you prevailed on your people to become a single \nwitness. We cannot decide which we ought to praise\, your own ready and \nunshaken faith or the love of your brothers who would not leave you. While the \ncourage of the bishop who thus led the way has been demonstrated\, at the same \ntime the unity of the brotherhood who followed has been manifested. Since you \nhave one heart and one voice\, it is the Roman Church as a whole that has thus \nborne witness. \nDearest brother\, bright and shining is the faith which the blessed Apostle \npraised in your community. He foresaw in the spirit the praise your courage \ndeserves and the strength that could not be broke; he was heralding the future \nwhen he testified to your achievements; his praise of the fathers was a challenge7 \nto the sons. Your unity\, your strength have become shining examples of these \nvirtues to the rest of the brethren. \nDivine providence has now prepared us. God’s merciful design has \nwarned us that the day of our own struggle\, our own contest\, is at hand. By that \nshared love which binds us closely together\, we are doing all we can to exhort \nour congregation\, to give ourselves unceasingly to fastings\, vigils and prayers in \ncommon. These are the heavenly weapons which give us strength to stand firm \nand endure; they are the spiritual defenses\, the God-given armaments that \nprotect us. \nLet us then remember one another\, united in mind and heart. Let us pray \nwithout ceasing\, you for us\, we for you; by the love we share we shall thus relieve \nthe strain of these great trials.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-ss-cornelius-cyprian-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250917
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250918
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250914T103445Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250914T103445Z
UID:13944-1758067200-1758153599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Martin of Finojosa
DESCRIPTION:SAINT MARTIN OF FINOJOSA \nBy Thomas Merton \n◊◊◊ \nSaint Martin Sacerdos of Finojosa\, Abbot of Huerta\, Bishop of Siguenza\, \nSpain\, was born in the year 1139 and grew up under the care of a most loving and \npious Christian mother with his brother\, a courtier and knight\, and his two \nsisters Theresa and Eve. Instead of following the usual aspirations to \nknighthood\, Martin was fonder of books and meditation and solitude\, and this \nbent of his was definitely turned into a vocation to the cloister when his father \ndied. The shock of this loss fixed his mind on eternity\, and despising all that the \nworld had to offer\, he made known his intentions to his mother and brother. He \nwas then twenty years old. \nAt first he met with nothing but opposition. However\, when they saw that \nhe was firm in his purpose\, his family did not have the impiety to resist him \nfurther\, and his mother made a most generous and willing sacrifice of him\, \ntaking him to the Abbey of Cantavos and there leaving him with all the \nceremonies prescribed by Saint Benedict for presenting the children of the rich \nto the monastery. Martin\, meanwhile\, took the Mother of God in exchange for \nhis earthly mother and adopted as his motto for the novitiate: “What you begin\, \nbegin perfectly”… \nAlthough he was only twenty-six\, Sacerdos was elected by the monks to \nsucceed the abbot… <His history as abbot> comes to us through official \ndocuments which tell us less of his virtues than of the fame of them and the \neffects of that fame. We read everywhere of the veneration in which he was held \nby the royalty and nobility of all Spain… \nIt was with the greatest distaste that Saint Sacerdos learned\, in 1186\, that \nhe had been elected bishop of Siguenza. He only accepted this position under \norders from Rome… In 1194\, however\, Saint Sacerdos persuaded the Pope to \naccept his resignation and was able to return to the peace and tranquility of \nHuerta\, where he could fill his soul with the infinite sweetness of the presence of \nGod and hide himself in the secret of His face\, of whom the psalmist said: “Thou \ndost protect them in Thy tabernacle against the contradiction of tongues.” \nAnd that Face\, of which we read in the same Psalm…is nothing else but \nthe divine Essence\, in which we lose ourselves in the luminous darkness of faith\, \nwhich covers us and makes us invisible to our enemies – and sometimes to \nourselves. And so\, in these years\, Saint Sacerdos was often rapt out of himself in \nthe ecstasy of divine contemplation. \nDeath finally overtook him in 1210 when he was on a visitation of his \nmonastery of Óvila. He felt the end approaching and set out for Huerta but did \nnot complete his journey\, for he died on the way. His venerated body was \nreceived with great circumstance by his grieving children and buried in the great \nchurch of the abbey. \nIn 1558 his body was found completely uncorrupted\, along with the \nclothing and crozier with which he had been buried. He was formally beatified \nwith the title of saint and inscribed in the Roman Martyrology in 1584.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-martin-of-finojosa/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250918
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250919
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250914T103605Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250914T103605Z
UID:13946-1758153600-1758239999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTER \nOF MONASTIC PROFESSION \nFrom “Mirror of Charity” by St Aelred of Rievaulx \n◊◊◊ \nAlthough it may not seem completely pertinent to our subject\, I think it \nadvisable for us who are called monks to take into account and examine more \nclosely the force of our rule. Since many things are said there about things \nspiritual and physical\, let us investigate by careful questioning which of these \nthe force of the rule and the norm of our profession consist of most particularly. \nI read a letter on this subject by a certain person who replied as follows to \nsomeone who had questioned him on this: \n“I do not hesitate to say that the rule of the monastic state\, yes the virtue of \nthe monastic order\, indeed\, the essential character of monastic profession itself\, \nconsists in those practices which make the monk when all others cease to exist\, \nand without which the others\, I will not say do not make a monk\, but do not even \ngive an idea of what a monk is. \n“But what are these? The things we have solemnly promised and whose \nstability and observance we have sworn to God and his saints [to keep]. And \nwhat are they? \n“Stability in the monastery”…”conversion of our life\, and obedience \naccording to the Rule of Saint Benedict.” And further on\, [he adds]: “I want to go \nback to Saint Benedict’s book for monks and I will point out in it how the things \nwhich we have already stated constitute the essential character of our rule and\, \neven more\, of our monastic profession\, so my mind may comprehend them as \nnecessary; I will strive with complete devotion to fulfill my promises and those \nthings which I have vowed—to the extent that the Lord will grant this to me. But \nas for the other things\, I will try to accomplish them\, not as part of the body of \nour rule\, but as practices which support and sustain it.” \nWe would perhaps be in doubt as to what those other things are\, had he \nnot himself introduced them afterwards: not to go out of the cloister\, to practice \nmanual work\, the quantity of food and drink\, the number of dishes and their \nvariety\, the bedding\, the use of trousers only by those sent on a journey. \n“What then”\, he says? “If these are of the essential character of monastic \nprofession\, dispensing someone from them or changing any of them on \noccasion would not be allowed\, would it? Otherwise\, no essential character \nexists\, and I am discovered not to be a monk once I have destroyed in myself \nwhat is essential to being a monk.” \nAt the end of his tractate\, he says: “So then\, beloved brother…since it is \npermitted to give dispensation in these matters\, just as blessed Benedict himself \nalso dispensed monks of delicate health to eat meat\, and those sent on a \njourney\, at least\, to wear trousers\, so also\, I say\, that because these matters \nadmit of dispensation and change\, they are not part of the essential character of \nprofession.”… \nWhat he has called the body of the Rule and the essential character of \nmonastic profession is clear: stability\, conversion of life\, and obedience \naccording to the Rule of Saint Benedict.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-351/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250919
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250920
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250914T103717Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250914T103717Z
UID:13948-1758240000-1758326399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE SEEDS OF GODLINESS \nFrom a treatise by St John Chrysostom \n◊◊◊ \n[Christ’s] predictions were of two kinds. Some are to be fulfilled in the \npresent life; others will come true after the consummation of the world. But the \nfirst kind confirmed the second and gave abundant proof that the prophecies \nabout the world to come are also true. Let me give you an example and\, by that \nexample\, I shall try to clear up any obscurity in what I mean. When only twelve \ndisciples followed him\, neither the reality nor even the name of a Church \noccurred to anyone. The synagogue was still flourishing. Why\, then\, did he \nspeak of the Church and predict it at a time when practically the whole world \nwas in the grip of godlessness? “Upon this rock I shall build my Church\, and \nthe gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. \nPut this prediction of Christ to whatever test you wish and you will see \nthat its truth shines brightly forth. For it is a marvel not only that he built the \nChurch throughout the world but that he kept it unconquered even though it \nwas harassed by so many assaults. The words: “The gates of hell shall not \nprevail against it\,” mean the dangers which beget death\, the dangers which lead \nus down to hell. \nDo you not see that this prediction came true? Do you not see the strength \nof its fulfillment? Do you not see the words shining forth as proved in the light \nof the facts? Do you not see his invincible power which does all things with \nease? Because the words are few — “I will build my Church” — do not simply \npass over them. Ponder them in your mind. Think how great a thing it is to fill \nevery land under the sun with so many Churches in so short a time. Think what \nit means to have converted so many nations\, to have won over so many peoples\, \nto have destroyed ancestral customs\, to have torn out deep-rooted habits\, to \nhave driven out\, like dust before the wind\, the tyrannous rule of pleasure and \nthe power and strength of evil. People have destroyed their old altars\, temples\, \nidols\, and rites. They have destroyed their accursed festivals and made the \nunclean savor of victims disappear like smoke. \nThat word which Christ spoke in his own day has been planted in the souls \nof all men and is found on the lips of all. It is just as if land that was filled with \nthorns has been cleansed and become a cleared field. And this field has received \nthe seeds of godliness.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-352/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250920
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250921
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250914T103839Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250914T103839Z
UID:13950-1758326400-1758412799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Andrew Kim & Companions
DESCRIPTION:THE KOREAN MARTYRS \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints \n◊◊◊ \nChristianity came late to Korea\, for it was the policy of that country’s \nrulers to keep it isolated from foreign influence. Not until the late eighteenth \ncentury\, more than two hundred years after Francis Xavier had reached Japan\, \ndid the Church begin very slowly to take root. The earliest missionaries were lay \npeople who had been converted outside their country. Pietro Yi was baptized at \nPechino in 1784: he was the first Korean to be received into the church\, but he \nwas also the first to apostatize\, when persecution broke out in 1791. \nThrough the last years of the eighteenth century persecution was sporadic \nand localized\, but in 1801 it was extended to the whole of the country. One \nChinese priest\, who had succeeded in entering Korea\, offered himself for \nmartyrdom in the hope that his death would bring the sufferings of his fellow \nChristians to an end. He was beheaded on May 31st 1801\, and the persecution \nwent on. \nYet these early martyrs were not among those canonized by Pope John \nPaul II in the cathedral of Seoul\, where the relics of so many of them lie\, on May \n6th 1984. Of the many thousand – perhaps more than 8\,000 not counting those \nwho died of cold or starvation as they fled the tortures of the persecutors – 103 \nwere chosen by name as representatives of the rest. They were selected from \nthose who died in the persecutions which began in 1839 lasted until 1846\, and \nthose which lasted from 1861 to the beginning of 1866. \nBy the time of the renewed persecution – brought about both in 1839 and \n1861 by the return to power of the conservative faction of the Korean ruling class \n– there was a small number of missionaries in the country\, two French priests \nand a bishop\, all three died by beheading on September 21st 1839. On September \n16th 1846 there died Andrew Kim\, the first and at that time only\, Korean-born- \npriest. Two more bishops\, and a number of other French missionaries died in \nthe later persecution. \nThese were the clergy\, but by far the greatest number of those named as \nsaints by the pope near the spot where so many of them had died by beheading \nor strangulation\, were ordinary lay people. Some of them were of high rank\, but \nmost were ordinary men and women\, often linked by family ties as well as by the \nbonds of faith\, mothers and their children\, wives and their husbands. For \nseveral their crime was that they had worked as catechist in spreading the faith \nwhich\, until 1881\, was referred to in official documents as “the perverse \ndoctrine”. \nThe persecution\, which lasted until 1866\, was the last: religious liberty \nwas conceded in 1886\, and today the Church flourishes. Though the 103 whose \nsanctity was formally recognized were canonized together\, they had been \nbeatified in two groups: those of the earlier persecution by Pius XI in July 1925\, \nthose of the later one by Paul VI in October 1968
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-andrew-kim-companions-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250921
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250922
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250920T233203Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250920T233203Z
UID:13953-1758412800-1758499199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n25th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nSeptember 21 – 27\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n21\nMon\n22\nTue\n23\nWed\n24\nThu\n25\nFri\n26\nSat\n27\n\n\nOffice\n25th Sunday\nWeekday\nSt Pius of Peitrelcina\nOffice for Vocations\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSt Vincent de Paul\n\n\nVigils\nSong 6:4-7:6\nSong 7:7-8:4\nSong 8:5-14\nSir 31:1-17\nSir 31:18-31\nSir 32:1-13\nSir 32:14-24\n\n\nLauds\nZephaniah 1:1-6\nZeph 1:7-13\nZeph 1:14-18\nZeph 2:1-7\nZeph 2:8-15\nZeph 3:1-7\nZeph 3:8-13\n\n\nMass\n135\n449\n450\n451\n452\n453\n454\n\n\n1st\nAmos 8:4-7\nEzra 1:1-6\nEzra 6:7-8\, 12b\, 14-20\nEzra 9:5-9\nHag 1:1-8\nHag 2:1-9\nZech 2:5-9\, 14-15a\n\n\n2nd\n1 Tim 2:1-8\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 16:1-13\nLuke 8:16-18\nLuke 8:19-21\nLuke 9:1-6\nLuke 9:7-9\nLuke 9:18-22\nLuke 9:43b-45\n\n\nVespers\n1 Tim 3:1-7\n1 Tim 3:8-13\n1 Tim 3:14-4:5\n1 Tim 4:6-10\n1 Tim 4:11-16\n1 Tim 5:1-8\n1 Tim 5:17-25
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-127/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250921
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250922
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250920T233333Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250920T233333Z
UID:13955-1758412800-1758499199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 25th Sunday
DESCRIPTION:OUR HOMELAND IN HEAVEN \nFrom a commentary by Gaudentius of Brescia \n◊◊◊ \nThe Lord Jesus\, true teacher of the precepts that lead to salvation\, wished \nto urge the apostles in his own time and all believers today the Christian duty of \nalmsgiving. He therefore related the parable of the steward to make us realize \nthat nothing in this world really belongs to us. We have been entrusted with the \nadministration of our Lord’s property to use what we need with thanksgiving\, \nand to distribute the rest among our fellow servants according to the need of \neach one. We must not squander the wealth entrusted to us\, nor use it on \nsuperfluities\, for when the Lord comes we shall be required to account for our \nexpenditure. \nFinally\, at the end of the parable\, the Lord adds: Use worldly wealth to \nmake friends with the poor\, so that when it fails you\, when you have spent all \nyou possess on the needs of the poor and have nothing left\, they may welcome \nyou into eternal dwellings. \nIn other words\, these same poor people will befriend you by assuring your \nsalvation\, for Christ\, the giver of eternal rewards\, will declare that he himself \nreceived the acts of kindness done to them. Not in their own name\, then\, will \nthese poor folk welcome us\, but in the name of him who is refreshed in their \npersons by the fruit of our faith and obedience. Those who exercised this \nministry of love will be received into the eternal dwellings of the kingdom of \nheaven\, for the King will say: Come\, blessed of my Father\, take possession of the \nkingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world; for I was hungry \nand you fed me\, thirsty and you gave me a drink. \nBut if you have been untrustworthy in the administration of worldly \nwealth\, who is going to trust you with true riches? For if someone cannot be \nrelied on to administer worldly possessions that provide the means for all sorts \nof wrong doing\, would anyone dream of trusting that person with the true \nheavenly riches rightly and deservedly enjoyed by those who have been faithful \nin giving to the poor? \nThe Lord’s query above is immediately followed by another: If you cannot \nbe trusted with another’s property\, who will give you your own? Nothing in \nthis world really belongs to us. We who hope for a future reward are told to live \nin this world as strangers and pilgrims\, so as to be able to say to the Lord without \nfear of contradiction: I am a stranger and a pilgrim like all my ancestors. \nWhat believers can regard as their own is that eternal and heavenly \npossession where our heart is and our treasure\, and where intense longing \nmakes us dwell already through faith\, for as Saint Paul teaches\, Our homeland \nis in heaven.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-25th-sunday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250922
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250923
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250920T233443Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250920T233443Z
UID:13957-1758499200-1758585599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE THANKS THAT SPRINGS \nFROM A PURE HEART \nFrom a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux \n◊◊◊ \n“In all things give thanks to God.” If you can credit yourself with wisdom \nor with virtue\, realize that the credit is due rather to Christ\, who is the Power \nand the Wisdom of God. \n“Who is so mad\,” you say\, “as to presume otherwise?” Actually nobody. \nEven the Pharisee gives thanks\, although his justice merits no praise from God. \nAnd if\, as the Gospel points out\, his act of thanksgiving does not increase his \ngrace\, why is this so? Because the pieties that our mouths proclaim will not \njustify the pride of our heart in the sight of him who is repelled by the arrogant. \n“God is not mocked\, O Pharisee. What do you have that was not given to you?” \n“Nothing\,” he says\, “and therefore I offer thanks to the giver.” But if there is \nreally nothing\, then you had no antecedent merit to warrant your reception of \nthe things of which you boast. And if you admit this\, then in the first place it is \nfutile to give yourself airs at the expense of the publican who does not possess as \nmuch as you because he has not received as much. \nSecondly\, make sure you realize that God’s gifts are entirely his own; if \nyou attribute to yourself some of the glory and honor that are his\, you may \ndeservedly be convicted of fraud\, of attempting to defraud God. If you brazenly \nboast of gifts as though they were your own\, I should prefer to believe you are \ndeceived\, not that you wish to defraud. It is an error I should hope to correct. \nBut when you make thanksgiving\, you manifest that you regard nothing as your \nown\, you wisely acknowledge that your merits are really God’s gifts. \nWhen you despise others\, however\, you betray the inner reality of your \ncondition\, you are speaking from a double heart\, with one lending your tongue \nto a lie\, with the other usurping the honor due to truth. Never would you judge \nthe publican more despicable than yourself if you did not consider that you are \nmore honorable than he. But how will you reply to the principle laid down by the \nApostle: ‘Honor and glory to the only God?’… \nDo you not perceive that the Pharisee\, in offering thanks\, honors God with \nhis lips but in his heart pays tribute to himself? And so\, through force of habit \nmore than by intention or inclination\, you will hear people of all sorts \npronouncing words of thanks\, for even the wickedest persons will offer a \nperfunctory thanks to God…for any kind of crime\, because things fell out well \nand prosperous\, at least according to their estimation\, when their perverse will \nwas fulfilled. For instance\, when the thief has bagged the loot for which he has \nplanned\, he celebrates in the privacy of his hide-out and says: “Thank God!”… \nIt is clear then that God will listen only to the thanks that spring from a \npure and genuine simplicity of heart. I say “pure heart\,” because when those \nwho boast of their evil conduct presume to thank God for it\, they bring him \ndown to the level of their own profligacy and make him share in their wicked \npleasures. God says to people of this kind: “Do you really think I am like you?”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-353/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250923
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250924
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250920T233736Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250920T233736Z
UID:13959-1758585600-1758671999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Pius of Peitrelcina
DESCRIPTION:A LETTER FROM PADRE PIO \nTO HIS SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR \n◊◊◊ \nI reply to your last letter after a slight delay\, not because I felt less need to \nspeak to my father\, but solely on account of the exceptional state of my health… \nYour own letter…brought some slight relief to my poor soul\, sufficient to make it \npossible to bear – I do not say lightheartedly\, but at least steadfastly – the cross \nto which the Lord in his mercy has been pleased to subject me. For this may the \ngoodness of the heavenly Father ever be blessed… \nI told you…that your letter\, thank heaven\, brought me a little relief. But I \nsubmit to you also the very great terror I experienced when I learned that you \nsuspect those threats which I mentioned in my last. As you know\, Father\, I \nwould not wish to be a victim of the devil in anything whatsoever and although I \nam more certain of the reality of those locutions than I am of my own existence\, \nI am still struggling against myself and protest that I want to believe nothing of \nall this\, for the sole reason that you\, my director\, have cast a doubt upon it. Am I \nright or wrong in this? \nYou must know…that Jesus has not shown offense by any means at my \nfailure to attach importance to what he said and to give my accidental assent to \nit. I say accidental to distinguish it from that deep and substantial conviction \nwhich still endures after all the efforts of my soul not to believe it. I am not free \nto divest myself of this conviction. What am I to do\, Father? Am I unwittingly a \nvictim of the enemy? Enlighten me\, for pity’s sake\, on this point\, which I too \nwould prefer to remain obscure. \nHow difficult…is the way of Christian perfection for a soul as ill-disposed \nas mine! My wickedness makes me fearful at every step I take: may the good \nGod sustain me and prevent me from betraying him! I attach no importance at \nall to this extraordinary state of mine. For this reason I never stop asking Jesus \nto lead me by the ordinary path followed by everyone else\, for I am well aware \nthat the way by which divine mercy is leading me is not suitable for my soul\, \naccustomed as it is to very material food. What I say to the Lord is that I am \nseeking the amendment of my life\, my spiritual resurrection\, true and \nsubstantial love\, the sincere conversion of my whole self to him. \nSpeak to me at length\, my dear Father\, about all this and if you find me at \nfault\, do not keep silent. Raise your voice\, punish me again: I want to love Jesus \nas I should. I desire this love; I know I love him\, but – dear God! – how inferior \nmy love is to my desire to love! Ought it not be the opposite\, that my love should \nsurpass the desire for it? Speak to me about this\, knowing as you do that it is one \nof the many thorns which contribute to my spiritual martyrdom… I kiss your \nhand and ask you not to refuse me your fatherly blessing.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-pius-of-peitrelcina/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250924
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250925
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250920T234011Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250920T234011Z
UID:13961-1758672000-1758758399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:LEADING HIS SHEEP TO PASTURE \nFrom a homily by St Augustine \n◊◊◊ \nConcern with my charge as a bishop has unceasingly preoccupied me \nsince I have had placed upon my shoulders this burden of which I have \nrigorously to give account. But what is there to fear in this gift of being a bishop? \nIt is that I may be carried away by the perilous honor that it comprises for us\, \nrather than by the fruitful salvation which it brings to you. Come to my aid\, then\, \nwith your prayers\, so that he who did not disdain to confer my burden upon me \nmay deign to bear it with me. \nNow\, when you offer this prayer\, it is for yourselves that you are praying. \nFor\, this burden of mine of which I speak\, what else is it\, if it is not you? Pray \nthat I may be strong\, as I\, for my part\, pray that you may not be heavy. Our Lord \nJesus Christ would never\, indeed\, have called his burden light if he were not \ncarrying it with the bearer. And you\, also must uphold me\, so that\, in accordance \nwith the command of the Apostle\, we may bear one another’s burdens\, and so \nfulfill the law of Christ. If he does not bear it with us\, we succumb; if he does not \nbear us\, we fall. \nIf what I am on your behalf terrifies me\, what I am with you reassures me. \nFor you\, indeed\, I am the bishop; with you I am a Christian. Bishop\, that is the \ntitle of a charge which one assumes; Christian\, that is the name of the grace \nwhich one receives. A perilous title; a saving name. \nIn any event\, we are tossed about in the whirlwind of this activity as \nthough in an immense sea. But\, remembering with what blood we have been \nredeemed\, and rendered tranquil by this thought\, we come as though into a sure \nhaven; toiling at a charge which is personal to us\, we find rest in the blessedness \nthat is common to all. If it is more pleasing to me to be redeemed with you than \nto be your head\, I shall be more fully your servant\, as the Lord ordains. And so\, \nmay I never be in debt for the price\, thanks to which I have succeeded in \nbecoming your fellow-servant. \nI must indeed love my Redeemer\, and I know what he says to Peter: \n“Peter\, do you love me? Feed my sheep.” He says it once\, twice\, three times. He \nquestions Peter on love\, he prescribes the work to be done\, for the greater the \nlove\, the less the toil. “What shall I render the Lord for all his bounty to me?” \nShould I dare to say that I will repay him by leading his sheep to pasture? I do so\, \nto be sure\, but not I; it is the “grace of God towards me.” Where\, then shall I find \nwhat is my due\, if from every direction he forestalls me? One could in fact ask \nno payment of one whom one loves freely\, if the payment were not the very \nperson whom one loves.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-23/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250925
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250926
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250920T234213Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250920T234527Z
UID:13963-1758758400-1758844799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:CHRIST RECONCILED \nJEW AND GENTILE \nFrom the Second Vatican Council’s declaration “Nostra Aetate” \n◊◊◊ \nFor the Church of Christ acknowledges that\, according to the mystery of \nGod’s saving design\, the beginnings of her faith and her election are already \nfound among the patriarchs\, Moses\, and the prophets. She professes that all \nwho believe in Christ\, Abraham’s sons according to faith are included in the \nsame patriarch’s call\, and likewise that the salvation of the Church was \nmystically foreshadowed by the chosen people’s exodus from the land of \nbondage. \nThe Church\, therefore\, cannot forget that she received the revelation of \nthe Old Testament through the people with whom in God’s inexpressible mercy \ndeigned to establish the Ancient Covenant. Nor can she forget that she draws \nsustenance from the root of that good olive tree onto which have been grafted \nthe wild olive branches of the Gentiles. Indeed\, the Church believes that by His \ncross Christ\, our Peace\, reconciled Jew and Gentile\, making them both one in \nHimself. \nAlso\, the Church ever keeps in mind the words of the Apostle about his \nkinsmen\, “who have the adoption as sons\, and the glory and the covenant and \nthe legislation and the worship and the promises; who have the fathers\, and \nfrom whom is Christ according to the flesh”\, the son of the Virgin Mary. The \nChurch recalls too that from the Jewish people sprang the apostles\, her \nfoundation stones and pillars\, as well as most of the early disciples who \nproclaimed Christ to the world. \nAs holy Scripture testifies\, Jerusalem did not recognize the time of her \nvisitation\, nor did the Jews in large number accept the gospel; indeed\, not a few \nopposed the spreading of it. Nevertheless\, according to the Apostle\, the Jews \nstill remain most dear to God because of their fathers\, for He does not repent of \nthe gifts He makes nor of the calls He issues. In company with the prophets and \nthe same Apostle\, the Church awaits that day\, known to God alone\, on which all \npeoples will address the Lord in a single voice and “serve him with one accord”. \nSince the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so \ngreat\, this sacred Synod wishes to foster and recommend that mutual \nunderstanding and respect which is the fruit above all of biblical and theological \nstudies\, and of brotherly dialogues. \nTrue\, authorities of the Jews and those who followed their lead pressed \nfor the death of Christ; still\, what happened in His passion cannot be blamed \nupon all the Jews then living\, without distinction\, nor upon the Jews of today. \nAlthough the Church is the new people of God\, the Jews should not be presented \nas repudiated or cursed by God\, as if such views followed from the Holy \nScriptures. All should take pains\, then\, lest in catechetical instruction and in the \npreaching of God’s Word they teach anything out of harmony with the truth of \nthe gospel and the spirit of Christ.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-354/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250926
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250927
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250920T234316Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250920T234316Z
UID:13965-1758844800-1758931199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE FRAGRANCE OF \nGOD’S HEALING PRESENCE \nFrom a meditation by William of Saint-Thierry \n◊◊◊ \nLord\, you are pitying and merciful\, patient and kind beyond all measure. \nYou are gracious to all\, and your compassions rest on all your works. You \nyourself exhort us\, Lord\, to pray and to watch in prayer; so does your Holy \nSpirit. You exhort us and teach us to do so\, out of your tenderness and pity and \nyour will to show us mercy. And you make out our case beforehand for us\, \nestablishing for us judgment and justice\, so that\, if we pray as we should\, you \nmay have just cause for showing mercy. And you have fixed for us even our form \nof prayer\, so that you\, who are for us both judge and advocate\, may in no respect \nfail us in our cause. And you have told us to ask boldly in your name\, and to \nbelieve that we shall receive whatever we have asked\, and that those things for \nwhich we pray will come to pass. \nIt is your goodness\, Lord\, that leads you to do this; we\, on the other hand\, \nare bound by grim necessity. And yet\, in spite of all your exhortation\, we are \nslow to pray; in spite of your bidding we neglect to do it\, and we do not believe \nyour promises. Nevertheless\, you in your mercy and your great compassion \nrouse the slothful and the negligent; your patience overlooks our lack of trust. \nAnd further\, since we neither know how to pray aright\, nor have the power to do \nso\, you send your Holy Spirit\, that he may help our weakness and intercede for \nus with groanings that cannot be uttered. \nWe pray\, therefore\, because you tell us to do so; we ask with confidence\, \nbecause we have your promise; and forthwith you run to meet us and answer \nour prayer\, finding in us a ground for your forgiveness\, because you have \nyourself made us forgivable. \nLoving as you are\, O Lord\, now you multiply your loving-kindness on us \nall\, and we begin to see your mercies that are over all your works. For when\, O \nGod\, instead of fleeing from us\, you begin to draw near and to rejoice our spirits \nwith your consolation\, the soul’s dead senses catch the fragrance of your healing \npresence and perceive its touch\, and forthwith come to life; faith leaps up and \nconfidence is cheered; the heart is kindled\, and tears run down to fan the new-lit \nfire\, not to quench it. \nWhen your Spirit helps our weakness thus\, your sweetness moves us to \nweep copious floods of sweet and fruitful tears; and when your loving-comfort \nwipes the tears away\, they flow the more profusely and become our meat by day \nand night\, a strong and pleasant food. For it is a happy thing for us who are your \npeople and the sheep of your pasture\, O Lord our God\, to weep before you who \nare our Creator.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-355/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250927
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250928
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250920T234421Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250920T234421Z
UID:13967-1758931200-1759017599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Vincent de Paul
DESCRIPTION:ST VINCENT DE PAUL \nFrom the writing of John P McGowan \n◊◊◊ \nSt Vincent de Paul has been proclaimed the “Universal Patron of Charity.” \nIf the changes which he effected in the domain of charity were so radical as to \nmerit him this title\, then we are forced to conclude that the ideas that moved \nhim were equally as radical. [In this\,] he has contributed much to what has been \ncalled the devotional revolution of the Counter-Reformation—the renewed \nveneration for the Incarnate Word… \nWhen the Saint arrived in Paris in 1608\, after his varied and adventurous \ncareer\, he was twenty-eight. Almost immediately\, he placed himself under the \ndirection of Father\, later Cardinal\, de Bérulle\, an eminent ecclesiastic to whom \nall the priests of Paris who aspired to a higher degree of perfection instinctively \nturned for guidance… De Bérulle maintained that God is the center about which \nall religious life should turn. \nSpiritual thought had for too long a time preferred to adopt the… \n“reformation of self”— the planting of virtues and the uprooting of vices —as the \nend of perfection. This made for preoccupation with self and led to an \nexaggerated individualism. De Bérulle restored the virtue of religion to its pre- \neminent place by laying down as the cornerstone of his doctrine the principle \nthat the greatness and majesty of God must be recognized before everything \nelse\, even one’s salvation… \nThe second principle of this doctrine is that God can only be fittingly \nworshiped in the Incarnate Word. The center and bond of all is Christ\, God like \nthe Father\, and Man like ourselves\, Who united heaven and earth in Himself\, \nand Who is Himself our Religion. Christ is the great Adorer\, the great Sacrificer\, \nthe great High Priest. [What St Vincent did for this doctrine] was reaffirm the \nsocial implications of perfection by insisting that God must be loved in Christ \nand that Christ must be loved in all people\, and all people [must be loved] in \nHim… \nTo “put on the Spirit of Christ” is in the eyes of St Vincent the primary\, \nsovereign and all-embracing means of realizing this end. It serves as a guiding \nprinciple by which one can acquire the “Mind of Christ.” St Vincent sees the one \nwho has put on the “Spirit of Christ” as a christ who will do the work of Christ… \nHe never tires of teaching that Christ is the Master Whose lessons must be \nlearned by all who would follow Him… \n[St Vincent himself says:] “Our vocation is…to go\, not into one parish\, or \ninto one province only\, but through the entire earth. For what purpose? To \ninfluence the hearts of all\, to do what the Son of God has done; He\, Who came to \ncast fire on this earth and to overspread it with the flame of His love; what have \nwe to desire unless His love should burn and consume all?… It is not enough \nthat I love God\, if my neighbor does not also love Him… I ought to love my \nneighbor [in order to] cause them to love their most lovable Creator\, that by a \nreturn of love they may be inflamed with love of God\, who has so loved them as \nto deliver His own Son to death for their salvation. This is my obligation.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-vincent-de-paul-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250928
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250929
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250928T115227Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250928T115227Z
UID:13977-1759017600-1759103999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n26th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nSept. 28 – Oct. 4\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n28\nMon\n29\nTue\n30\nWed\n1\nThu\n2\nFri\n3\nSat\n4\n\n\nOffice\n26th Sunday\nSt Michael & All Angels\nSt Jerome\nSt Theresa of the Child Jesus\nWeekday\nLouisville Cathedral\nSt Francis\n\n\nVigils\nSir 33:1-18\nDan 10:4-11:1\nSir 33:19-33\nSir 34:1-20\nSir 34:21-31\n2 Chron 7:1-16\nSir 35:1-14\n\n\nLauds\nZeph 3:14-20\nGen 28:10-17\nHaggai 1:1-8\nHag 1:9-11\nHag 1:12-15\nEzek 43:1-7a\nHag 2:1-9\n\n\nMass\n138\n647\n456\n457\n458\n701.1\, 706.2\n460\n\n\n1st\nAmos 6:1a\, 4-7\nRev 12:7-12a\nZech 8:20-23\nNeh 2:1-8\nNeh 8:1-4a\, 5-6\, 7b-12\n1 Kings 8:22-23\, 27-30\nBar 4:5-12\, 27-29\n\n\n2nd\n1 Tim 6:11-16\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 16:19-31\nJohn 1:47-51\nLuke 9:51-56\nLuke 9:57-62\nLuke 10:1-12\nLuke 19:1-10\nLuke 10:17-24\n\n\nVespers\n1 Tim 6:3-10\nHeb 1:5-14\n1 Tim 6:11-16\n1 Tim 6:17-21\n2 Tim 1:1-8\nRev 21:1-5\n2 Tim 1:9-14
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-128/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250928
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250929
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250928T115355Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250928T115355Z
UID:13979-1759017600-1759103999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 26th Sunday
DESCRIPTION:THE HOSPITALITY OF ABRAHAM \nFrom a commentary by St John Chrysostom \n◊◊◊ \nIt is worthwhile inquiring why the rich man saw Lazarus in Abraham’s \narms\, and not in the company of some other righteous person. The reason is \nthat Abraham was hospitable\, and so the sight of Lazarus with Abraham was \nmeant to reproach the rich man for his own in hospitality. Abraham used to \npursue even passers-by and drag them into his home\, whereas the rich man \ndisregarded someone lying in his own doorway. Although he had within his \ngrasp so great a treasure\, such an opportunity to win salvation\, he ignored the \npoor man day after day. He could have helped him but he failed to do so. \nThe patriarch was not like that but just the opposite. He would sit in his \ndoorway and catch all who passed by. And just as a fisherman casting a net into \nthe sea hauls up fish\, yes\, but also quite often gold and pearls\, so Abraham while \ncatching people in his net finished by catching angels\, though strangely enough \nwithout knowing it. \nEven Paul marvels at this and gives the advice: Remember to welcome \nstrangers into your homes\, for some by doing so have entertained angels \nwithout knowing it. And he did well to say without knowing it\, for if Abraham \nhad welcomed his guests with such kindness because he knew who they were he \nwould have done nothing remarkable. He is praiseworthy only because\, without \nknowing who the passers-by were and taking them to be simply human \nwayfarers\, he yet invited them in with such good will. \nAnd this is true of you also. If you show much eagerness in welcoming \nsome famous and distinguished person you do nothing remarkable; often the \nhigh rank of a guest compels even a reluctant host to show every sign of \ncourtesy. But we do something truly great and admirable when we give a most \ncourteous welcome to all\, even the outcasts of society or people of humble \ncondition. Hence Christ himself praised those who so acted\, declaring: \nWhatever you did for one of these very poor people you did to me. He also said: \nIt is not your Father’s will that one of these little ones should perish. Indeed \nthroughout the gospel Christ speaks a great deal about the little people and \nthose of the humblest condition. \nAnd so Abraham also\, knowing this\, did not ask who travelers were or \nwhere they come from\, as we do today\, but simply welcomed them all. Anyone \nwishing to show kindness should not inquire into other people’s lives\, but has \nonly to alleviate their poverty and supply their needs\, as Christ commanded \nwhen he said: Imitate your Father in heaven\, who makes his sun to rise on good \nand bad alike\, and sends rain on the just and unjust.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-26th-sunday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250929
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250930
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250928T115522Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250928T115522Z
UID:13981-1759104000-1759190399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Michael & All Angels
DESCRIPTION:THE MESSENGERS OF GOD \nFrom the writing of St Gregory the Great \n◊◊◊ \nYou should be aware that the word “angel” denotes a function rather than \na nature. Those holy spirits of heaven have indeed always been spirits. They can \nonly be called angels when they deliver some message. Moreover those who \ndeliver messages of lesser importance are called angels; and those who proclaim \nmessages of supreme importance are called archangels. \nAnd so it was that not merely an angel but the archangel Gabriel was sent \nto the Virgin Mary. It was only fitting that the highest angel should come to \nannounce the greatest of messages. \nSome angels are given proper names to denote the service they are \nempowered to perform. In that holy city where perfect knowledge flows from \nthe vision of Almighty God\, those who have no names may easily be known. But \npersonal names are assigned to some\, not because they would not be known \nwithout them\, but rather to denote their ministry when they come among us. \nThus Michael means “Who is like God?”; Gabriel is “The Strength of God”; and \nRaphael is “God’s Remedy”. \nWhenever some act of wondrous power must be performed\, Michael is \nsent\, so that his action and his name may make it clear that no one can do what \nGod does by his superior power. So also our ancient foe desired in his pride to be \nlike God\, saying: I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the \nstars of heaven; I will be like the Most High. He will be allowed to remain in \npower until the end of the world when he will be destroyed in the final \npunishment. Then he will fight with the archangel Michael\, as we are told by \nJohn: A battle was fought with Michael the archangel. \nSo too Gabriel\, who is called God’s strength\, was sent to Mary. He came to \nannounce the One who appeared as a humble man to quell the cosmic powers. \nThus God’s strength announced the coming of the Lord of the heavenly powers\, \nmighty in battle. \nRaphael means…God’s remedy\, for when he touched Tobit’s eyes in order \nto cure him\, he banished the darkness of his blindness. Thus since he is to heal\, \nhe is rightly called God’s remedy.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-michael-all-angels-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250930
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251001
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250928T115630Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250928T115630Z
UID:13983-1759190400-1759276799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Jerome
DESCRIPTION:A LETTER FROM ST JEROME \nTO ST EUSTOCHIUM \n◊◊◊ \nWhen the inner man has begun to waver a little between vices and virtues\, \nsay: Why art thou sad\, O my soul? And why dost thou trouble me? Hope in \nGod\, for I will give praise to Him: the salvation of my countenance\, and my \nGod. I would not have you permit such a thought to arise. Let nothing that is of \nBabylon\, nothing of confusion\, grow up within you. While the enemy is small\, \ndestroy him. Let wickedness be nipped in the bud. \nHow often\, when I was established in the desert and in that vast solitude \nwhich is scorched by the sun’s heat and affords a savage habitation for monks\, \ndid I think myself amid the delights of Rome! I would sit alone because I was \nfilled with bitterness. My limbs were roughly clad in sackcloth – an unlovely \nsight. My neglected skin had taken on the appearance of an Ethiopian’s body. \nDaily I wept\, daily I groaned\, and whenever insistent slumber overcame \nmy resistance\, I bruised my awkward bones upon the bare earth. Of food and \ndrink I say nothing\, since even the sick drink only cold water\, and to get any \ncooked food is a luxury. There was I\, therefore\, who from fear of hell had \ncondemned myself to such a prison\, with only scorpions and wild beasts as \ncompanions. Yet I was often surrounded by dancing girls. My face was pale \nfrom fasting\, and my mind was hot with desire in a body cold as ice. Though my \nflesh\, before its tenant\, was already as good as dead\, the fires of passions kept \nboiling within me. \nAnd so\, destitute of all help\, I used to lie at Jesus’ feet. I bathed them with \nmy tears\, I wiped them with my hair. When my flesh rebelled\, I subdued it by \nweeks of fasting. I do not blush at my hapless state; nay rather\, I lament that I \nam not now what I was then. I remember that I often joined day to night with \nmy lamentation and did not cease beating my breast until peace of mind \nreturned with the Lord’s rebuke. I was afraid even of my little cell – as though it \nwere conscious of my thoughts. Angry at myself and tense\, I used to go out \nalone into the desert. Whenever I saw some deep valley\, some rugged \nmountain\, some precipitous crags\, it was this I made my place of prayer\, my \nplace of punishment for the wretched flesh. And – as my Lord Himself is \nwitness – after many tears\, after fixing my eyes on the heaven\, I sometimes \nseemed to myself to be surrounded by companies of angels and rejoiced\, singing \nhappily: We run after thee to the odor of thy ointments.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-jerome-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251001
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251002
DTSTAMP:20260403T150232
CREATED:20250928T115752Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250928T115752Z
UID:13985-1759276800-1759363199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Theresa of the Child Jesus
DESCRIPTION:THE CHILD DESTINED \nTO BE A SAINT \nFrom “The Hidden Face: A Life of Thérèse of Lisieux” by Ida Goerres \n◊◊◊ \nTo what extent little Thérèse had\, in the depths of her self\, really \nrenounced her beloved sister…is revealed clearly enough by her own description \nof the agonies suffered in the visiting room at the Carmel… Thérèse resigned \nherself to her sister’s abandonment…but in the dark\, speechless abysses of the \nblood all the forces of nature rebelled\, immoderately and irreconcilably\, against \nthis deprivation… \nThe demonic influence…should be perceived in the uncanny struggle that \nmust have gone on in the unconscious depths of her soul… A crisis which \nproduces a state of confusion and agitation in body and soul\, which attacks \nsimultaneously a person’s alertness\, confidence\, presence of mind and powers \nof resistance\, can at the same time…also mean a grave temptation\, a diabolical \ninvitation to discouragement in the face of life. It can lead to stifling inhibitions\, \nto erroneous interpretations of the self\, to lifelong hypochondria about one’s \n“weak” sides — all attitudes which may later on hinder radical\, heroic \ncommitment… She was terrified by the incomprehensible forces that \noverwhelmed her. \nNevertheless\, we believe that a decision must have taken place deep \nwithin her when\, in the midst of her direst distress\, the saving grace of the vision \nof Mary shone upon her. We believe that at this point Thérèse was confronted \nwith a temptation\, for all that it was hidden in the unplumbed depths of her \nsoul. For here she was confronted with alternatives\, and the second of these was \nthe perilous one. She could accept the offered comfort\, the new support and \nprotection. That is\, she could abandon her wild despair over what she had lost\, \ncould really carry out the unendurable renunciation within the core of her ego\, \ncould release the hand of Pauline and reach across the irrevocable gulf for the \nhand of the Blessed Virgin. Or…she could cling to her despair\, could hold tight \nto her neurosis\, could maintain her protest… \nSuch decisions take place not by deliberate processes of thought\, but far \nbelow such strata of thoughts and words\, by a lightning-like opening or closing \nat the core of our being. \nPrecisely here we see the child destined to be a saint: not that the miracle \nhappened to her\, but that she obeyed it. She did ‘the right thing’…in simple \nobedience… She was beyond all human aid and almost insane with fear because \nher state of abandonment was so incomprehensible to her. And yet\, through all \nthis\, her submissive heart clung\, uncomprehendingly and tormentedly\, but \nprayerfully and trustfully\, to God. \nIn this case\, too\, she learned the lesson that was later to be enunciated \nagain and again in her spiritual message to the world: that grace can do \nanything\, that grace offered\, vouchsafed out of pure mercy\, not to be won by any \ndegree of struggle; that acceptance of and dependence upon this grace is man’s \ncrucial ‘act’ which will save him gloriously when all toil and effort\, all exercise of \nwill in renunciation\, cannot help him to overcome his innate nature. To be sure\, \nshe did not yet unconsciously know this\, would not know it for a long time to \ncome. But she had experienced it; this lesson had entered her very being and \ncould no longer be expunged.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-theresa-of-the-child-jesus/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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