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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261017
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261018
DTSTAMP:20261011T141820Z
CREATED:20261011T141820Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261011T141820Z
UID:15566-1792195200-1792281599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Ignatius of Antioch
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH \n◊◊◊ \nThe last epoch has arrived! Therefore let us exercise restraint and fear lest \nGod’s long-suffering should turn to our condemnation. Obviously\, we must \neither fear the gathering storm of anger\, or else cherish the present time of grace \n– one of the two; only let us be found in union with Christ Jesus so as to possess \nthe true life. Apart from him\, let nothing fascinate you. In union with him I carry \nabout these chains of mine – spiritual pearls they are! May I be privileged \nthrough your prayer – in which I wish I may ever have a share – to wear them \nwhen I rise from the dead! Thus I shall be found in the ranks of the Christians of \nEphesus\, who have ever been of one mind with the Apostles through the power \nof Jesus Christ… \nMake an effort then\, to meet more frequently to celebrate God’s Eucharist \nand to offer praise. For\, when you meet frequently in the same place\, the forces \nof Satan are overthrown\, and his baneful influence is neutralized by the \nunanimity of your faith. Peace is a precious thing: it puts an end to every war \nwaged by heavenly or earthly enemies. \nNothing of this escapes you; only persevere to the end in your faith in\, and \nyour love for\, Jesus Christ. Here is the beginning and the end of life: faith is the \nbeginning\,”the end is love”; and when the two blend perfectly with each other\, \nthey are God. Everything else that makes for right living is consequent upon \nthese. No one who professes faith sins; no one who possesses love hates. “The \ntree is known by its fruit.” \nIn like manner\, those who profess to belong to Christ will be known as \nsuch by their conduct. Certainly\, what matters now is not mere profession of \nfaith\, but whether one is found to be actuated by it to the end. \nIt is better to keep silence and be something than to talk and be nothing. \nTeaching is an excellent thing\, provided the speaker practices what he teaches. \nNow\, there is one Teacher who “spoke and it was done.” But even what he did \nsilently is worthy of the Father. He who has made the words of Jesus really his \nown is able also to hear His silence. Thus he will be perfect: he will act through \nHis speech and be understood through His silence. \nNothing is hidden from the Lord; no\, even our secrets reach him. Let us\, \nthen\, do all things in the conviction that he dwells in us. Thus we shall be his \ntemples and he will be our God within us. And this is the truth\, and it will be \nmade manifest before our eyes. Let us then\, love him as he deserves.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-ignatius-of-antioch-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261018
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261019
DTSTAMP:20261018T121847Z
CREATED:20261018T121847Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261018T121847Z
UID:15608-1792281600-1792367999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n29th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (II)\nOctober 18 – 24\, 2026\n\n\n \nSun\n18\nMon\n19\nTue\n20\nWed\n21\nThu\n22\nFri\n23\nSat\n24\n\n\nOffice\n29th Sunday\nSS John\, Isaac & Companions\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSt John Paul II\nWeekday\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nSir 15:7-20\nSir 16:1-14\nSir 16:17-30\nDaniel 1:1-21\nDaniel 2:1-25\nDaniel 2:26-49\nDaniel 3:1-23\n\n\nLauds\nZech 6:1-8\nZech 6:9-15\nZech 7:1-7\nZech 7:8-14\nZech 8:1-6\nZech 8:7-11\nZech 8:12-17\n\n\nMass\n145\n473\n474\n475\n476\n477\n478\n\n\n1st\nIsa 45:1\, 4-6\nEph 2:1-10\nEph 2:12-22\nEph 3:2-12\nEph 3:14-21\nEph 4:1-6\nEph 4:7-16\n\n\n2nd\n1 Thess 1:1-5b\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n\nGospel\nMatt 22:15-21\nLuke 12:13-21\nLuke 12:35-38\nLuke 12:39-48\nLuke 12:49-53\nLuke 12:54-59\nLuke 13:1-9\n\n\nVespers\n1 John 2:7-11\n1 John 2:12-17\n1 John 2:18-23\n1 John 2:24-27\n1 John 2:28-3:3\n1 John 3:4-10\n1 John 3:11-18
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-173/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261018
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261019
DTSTAMP:20261018T122025Z
CREATED:20261018T122025Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261018T122025Z
UID:15610-1792281600-1792367999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 29th Sunday
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nLAWRENCE OF BRINDISI \n◊◊◊ \nIn today’s gospel we find two questions: one put to Christ by the \nPharisees\, and the other put by him to them. The Pharisees’ question concerns \nthis world alone\, while Christ’s has an entirely heavenly and other-worldly \nsense. Their question derived from profound ignorance and perversity; his \nstemmed from perfect wisdom and goodness. \nWhose likeness and inscription is this? Caesar’s\, they reply. Then give to \nCaesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. To \neach\, he says\, must be given what belongs to him. This\, surely\, is a judgment full \nof heavenly wisdom and instruction. For it teaches that authority is twofold\, \nhaving an earthly and human aspect\, and a heavenly and divine aspect. It \nteaches that we owe a twofold duty of obedience: to the human laws and to the \nlaw of God. The coin bearing Caesar’s likeness and inscription must be given to \nCaesar\, and the one stamped with the divine image and likeness must be given \nto God. We bear the imprint of your glorious face\, O Lord. \nWe are made in the image and likeness of God. So you\, O Christian\, \nbecause you are a human being\, are God’s tribute money – a little coin bearing \nthe image and likeness of the divine emperor. Therefore with Christ I ask: \nWhose likeness and inscription is this? Your answer is\, God’s. To which I reply\, \nThen why not give God what belongs to him? \nIf we really want to be God’s image\, we must be like Christ\, for his is the \nimage of God’s goodness and the perfect copy of his nature\, and God \nforeordained that those he has chosen should take on a likeness to his Son. \nChrist undoubtedly gave Caesar what was Caesar’s and God what was God’s. He \nfulfilled to perfection the precepts of both tablets of the law\, becoming obedient \nunto death\, even death on a cross\, and he was most highly endowed\, both \ninwardly and outwardly\, with every virtue. \nIn today’s gospel the reply\, most wise and discreet\, by which Christ \nsidestepped his enemies’ trap shows his great prudence. His teaching that each \nmust be given what belongs to him\, and also the example he gave by being \nwilling to pay the temple tax and giving a shekel for himself and Peter\, shows his \njustice. His declaring it to be a duty to pay taxes to Caesar\, openly teaching the \ntruth without fear of the Jews who would be offended\, shows his fortitude. For \nthis is God’s way\, of which Christ is the authentic teacher. \nThose therefore who resemble Christ in their lives\, [in their] conduct and \npractice of virtues\, they are the ones who manifest the divine image; for the way \nto recover this image is by being absolutely just. Give to Caesar the things that \nare Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s; that is\, give to each what \nbelongs to him.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-29th-sunday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261019
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261020
DTSTAMP:20261018T122252Z
CREATED:20261018T122252Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261018T122252Z
UID:15612-1792368000-1792454399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - SS John\, Isaac & Companions
DESCRIPTION:A letter from St Isaac Jogues to \nHIS PROVINCIAL \n◊◊◊ \nDuring my captivity\, I would recall my past life\, so blameworthy because \nof my numerous sins and my infidelity to God. I groaned at being stopped in the \nmiddle of my course\, having no good works to send before me\, rejected by my \nGod\, and without the sacraments. Truly\, in this situation where I wanted to live \nand dreaded to die\, I would moan with distress\, and say to my God: “When shall \nthere be an end to my miseries and griefs? When will you ‘bring calm after the \nstorm and fill us with joy and exultation after our tears’? ‘If those days had not \nbeen shortened\, my flesh would have perished'”. \nI had recourse to the support of Holy Scripture\, my usual refuge\, certain \npassages of which I kept in my memory. It was these that taught me to “think of \nthe Lord in goodness”\, even if I felt no sensible devotion\, and to recall that “the \nholy one shall live by faith”. I would explore these passages; I would probe the \nsmallest streams in my efforts to quench my constant thirst. I would “ponder \nhis law by day and night”. “Were not your law my great delight\, I should by now \nhave perished in my grief”. \nHaving thus spent two months in that retreat where I had become\, like St \nBernard\, the disciple of the beech trees\, I thought of nothing but God. Because \nall the natives hated me and could stand me no longer\, they sent me back to the \nvillage before the usual time. During the trip\, which took eight days\, loaded \nunder the enormous weight of food that I was carrying\, I had become as it were a \nbeast of burden before God; still I tried to remain always with him\, not knowing \nwhat awaited me in the village. \n2 An Autobiography of Martyrdom\, St Louis 1964\, pp 227-229.5 \nA few of those who had preceded us into the village had spread all sorts of \nrumors about me. On the road\, since I was almost naked and spent the largest \npart of the night outdoors\, I suffered very much from the cold\, because the \nwounds of my fingers\, which had only closed up toward the middle of January\, \nwere still not completely healed. In the village they gave me a thin skin to use in \naddition to the old coat I was wearing. In this clothing\, still rather insufficient\, I \nwent through the streets begging our Lord to let me join his saints\, those souls \nwho had served him “dressed in sheepskins and goatskins\, destitute\, distressed\, \nmistreated. The world was not worthy of them. And every day I saw the savages \nwell covered with the woolens and the vestments that had been in great supply \nin our baggage\, while day and night I was stiff with cold… What bothered me \nmost was to see those men use for secular purposes the vestments that had been \ndestined for use at the altar… \nThroughout this whole period\, which lasted until about the middle of \nJanuary\, I could say before God: “To this very hour we are victims of hunger and \nthirst; we are poorly clad and knocked around; we are vagabonds and wear \nourselves out with manual labor. When they call us ugly names\, we speak well \nof them. When they persecute us\, we bear it patiently. When they insult us\, we \nspeak gently…
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-ss-john-isaac-companions/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261020
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261021
DTSTAMP:20261018T122400Z
CREATED:20261018T122400Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261018T122400Z
UID:15614-1792454400-1792540799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST JOHN HENRY NEWMAN \n◊◊◊ \nThe real difference between the true and the [merely] professing \nChristian seems to be given us in the text [from Scripture]\, – \n“If there be a willing \nmind\, it is accepted.” St Paul is speaking of almsgiving; but what he says seems \nto apply generally. He is laying out a principle\, which applies of course in many \ndistinct cases\, though he uses it with reference to one in particular. An honest\, \nunaffected desire of doing right is the test of God’s true servants. \nOn the other hand\, a double mind\, a pursuing other ends besides the \ntruth\, and in consequence an inconsistency in conduct\, and a half- \nconsciousness…of inconsistency\, and a feeling of the necessity of defending \noneself to oneself\, and to God\, and to the world; in a word\, hypocrisy; these are \nthe signs of the merely professed Christian. \nFor instance: the two great Christian graces are faith and love. Now\, how \nare these characterized in Scripture? By their being honest or single-minded. \nThus St Paul\, in one place\, speaks of “the end of the commandment being love;” \nwhat love? – \n“love out of a pure heart\,” he proceeds\, “and of a good conscience; \n” and still further\, “and of faith unfeigned;” or\, as it may be more literally \ntranslated\, “unhypocritical faith\,” for so the word means in Greek. \nIn like manner\, St Peter speaks of Christians “having purified their souls \nin obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unhypocritical love of the \nbrethren.” And in like manner\, St James speaks of “the wisdom that is from \nabove\, being first pure – without partiality\, and without hypocrisy.” \nSurely it is very remarkable that three Apostles\, writing on different \nsubjects and occasions\, should each of them thus speak about faith or love as \nwithout hypocrisy. A true Christian\, then\, may almost be defined as one who \nhas a ruling sense of God’s presence within him. As none but justified persons \nhave that privilege\, so none but the justified have that practical perception of it. \nA true Christian\, or one who is in a state of acceptance with God\, is he \nwho\, in such a sense\, has faith in Him\, as to live in the thought that He is present \nwith him\, present not externally\, not in nature merely\, or in providence\, but in \nhis innermost heart\, or in his conscience. A man is justified whose conscience is \nilluminated by God\, so that he habitually realizes that all his thoughts\, all the \nfirst springs of his moral life\, all his motives and his wishes\, are open to \nAlmighty God. \nNot as if he was not aware that there is very much in him impure and \ncorrupt\, but he wishes that all that is in him should be bare to God. He believes \nthat it is so\, and he even joys to think that it is so\, in spite of his fear and shame \nat its being so. He alone admits Christ into the shrine of his heart; whereas \nothers wish in some way or other\, to be by themselves\, to have a home\, a \nchamber\, a self where God is not. [The true Christian] enthrones the Son of God \nin his conscience\, refers to Him as a sovereign authority\, and uses no reasoning \nwith Him. He does not reason\, but he says\, “You\, God\, see me.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-479/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261021
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261022
DTSTAMP:20261018T122633Z
CREATED:20261018T122633Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261018T122633Z
UID:15616-1792540800-1792627199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from The Second Vatican Council document \n“PERFECTAE CARITATIS” \n◊◊◊ \nFrom the beginning of the Church there have been men and women who \nhave sought to follow Christ with greater freedom\, and to imitate him with \ncloser fidelity through the practice of the evangelical counsels. They have led \nlives dedicated to God\, each in his or her own way. Many of them\, under the \ninspiration of the Holy Spirit\, have lived in solitude or have founded religious \ncommunities\, which the Church willingly recognized and approved. \nAs a result\, in accordance with God’s plan\, there has grown up a \nwonderful variety of religious families. These have been of great service to the \nChurch in equipping it “for every good work” and preparing it “for the work of \nthe ministry for the building up of the Body of Christ”\, and also in adorning it \nwith the different gifts of its children\, so that the Church may appear in beauty \n“as a bride adorned for her husband\, and show forth the many-faceted wisdom \nof God.” \nSurrounded be this rich profusion of gifts\, all who are called by God to the \npractice of the evangelical counsels and profess them with fidelity\, dedicate \nthemselves to the Lord in a special way. They follow Christ\, who in virginity and \npoverty redeemed and sanctified humankind through obedience\, “even to death \nupon a cross.” Driven thus by the love that the Holy Spirit pours into their \nhearts\, they live more and more for Christ and for “his Body which is the \nChurch.” The more fervent their union with Christ through this gift of self \nthroughout their lives\, the richer is the life of the Church\, and the more vigorous \nand fruitful its apostolate. \nThe members of each institute should remember above all that in \nprofessing the evangelical counsels they have given their response to the call of \nGod in such a way that they are to live for God alone\, not only by dying to sin but \nalso by renouncing the world. They have surrendered to his service the whole of \ntheir lives: this constitutes a special consecration\, deeply rooted in the \nconsecration of baptism\, to which it gives fuller expression. \nThose who profess the evangelical counsels should seek and love above all \nthings the God who has first loved us. In every circumstance of life they should \nstrive to foster a life hidden with Christ in God; such a life is a source of\, and \nstimulus to\, the love of one’s neighbor for the salvation of the world and the \nbuilding up of the Church. This love is the animating and guiding principle for \nthe practice of the evangelical counsels.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-480/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261022
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261023
DTSTAMP:20261018T122810Z
CREATED:20261018T122810Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261018T122810Z
UID:15618-1792627200-1792713599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Pope St John Paul II
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “Redemptoris Missio” by \nPOPE ST JOHN PAUL II \n◊◊◊ \nThe Church’s universal mission is born of faith in Jesus Christ\, as stated \nin our Trinitarian profession of faith: “I believe in one Lord\, Jesus Christ\, the \nonly begotten Son of God\, eternally begotten of the Father… For us and for our \nsalvation he came down from heaven…” The redemption event brings salvation \nto all. “For each one is included in the mystery of the redemption and with each \none Christ has united himself forever through this mystery.” It is only in faith \nthat the Church’s mission can be understood and only in faith that it finds its \nbasis. \nIf we go back to the beginnings of the Church\, we find a clear affirmation \nthat Christ is the one Savior of all\, the only one able to reveal God and lead to \nGod. In reply to the Jewish religious authorities who question the apostles \nabout the healing of the lame man\, Peter says: “By the name of Jesus Christ of \nNazareth\, whom you crucified\, whom God raised from the dead\, by him this \nman is standing before you well… And there is salvation in no one else\, for there \nis no other name under heaven given by which we must be saved”. This \nstatement\, which was made to the Sanhedrin\, has a universal value\, since for all \npeople – Jews and Gentiles alike – salvation can only come from Jesus Christ. \nThe universality of this salvation in Christ is asserted throughout the New \nTestament. St Paul acknowledges the risen Christ as the Lord. He writes: \n“Although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth – as indeed there \nare many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’ – yet for us there is only one God\, the Father\, \nfrom whom are all things and for whom we exist\, and one Lord\, Jesus Christ\, \nthrough whom are all things and through whom we exist”. One God and one \nLord are asserted by way of contrast to the multitude of “gods” and “lords” \ncommonly accepted. Paul reacts against the polytheism of the religious \nenvironment of his time and emphasizes what is characteristic of the Christian \nfaith: belief in one God and one Lord sent by God. \nIn the Gospel of St John\, this salvific universality of Christ embraces all \nthe aspects of his mission of grace\, truth and revelation: the Word is “the true \nlight that enlightens every person”. And again: “no one has ever seen God; the \nonly Son\, who is in the bosom of the Father\, he has made him known”. God’s \nrevelation becomes definitive and complete through his only-begotten Son… In \nthis definitive Word of his revelation\, God has made himself known in the fullest \npossible way. He revealed to mankind who he is. This definitive self-revelation \nof God is the fundamental reason why the Church is missionary by her very \nnature. She cannot do otherwise than proclaim the Gospel\, that is\, the fullness \nof the truth which God has enabled us to know about himself.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-pope-st-john-paul-ii/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261023
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261024
DTSTAMP:20261018T122951Z
CREATED:20261018T122951Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261018T122951Z
UID:15620-1792713600-1792799999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nSERVANT OF GOD \nDOROTHY DAY \n◊◊◊ \nWhen the apostles wanted to call down fire from heaven on the \ninhospitable Samaritans\, the “enemies” of the Jews\, Jesus said to them\, “You \nknow not of what Spirit you are.” When Peter told Our Lord not to accept the \nway of the Cross and His own death\, He said\,”Get behind me\, Satan. For you are \nnot on the side of God but of men.” But He also had said\,”You are Peter and \nupon this rock I will build my church.” Peter denied Jesus three times at that \ntime in history\, but after the death on the Cross\, and the Resurrection and the \nDescent of the Holy Spirit\, Peter faced up to Church and State alike and said\, \n“We must obey God rather than humans.” Deliver us\, O Lord\, from the fear of \nour enemies\, which makes cowards of us all. \nThere is plenty to do\, each one of us\, working on our own hearts\, changing \nour own attitudes\, in our own neighborhoods. If the just person falls seven \ntimes daily\, we each one of us fall more than that in thought\, word\, and deed. \nPrayer and fasting\, taking up our own cross daily and following Him\, doing \npenance\, these are the hard words of the Gospel. \nAs to the Church\, where else shall we go\, except to the Bride of Christ\, one \nflesh with Christ? Though she is a harlot at times\, she is our Mother. We should \nread the Book of Hosea\, which is a picture of God’s steadfast love not only for the \nJews\, His chosen people\, but for His Church\, of which we are every one \nmembers\, or potential members. Since there is no time with God\, we are all one\, \nall one body\, Chinese\, Russian\, Vietnamese\, and He has commanded us to love \none another. \n“A new commandment I give\, that you love others as I have loved you\,” \nnot to the defending of your life\, but to the laying down of your life. \nA hard saying. Love is indeed a “harsh and dreadful thing” to ask of us\, of \neach one of us\, but it is the only answer. \n6 By Little and By Little. Dorothy Day Alfred A. Knopf\, 83\,pp.337-9.13
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-481/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261024
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261025
DTSTAMP:20261018T123117Z
CREATED:20261018T123117Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261018T123117Z
UID:15622-1792800000-1792886399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nFR RENE LAURENTIN \n◊◊◊ \nIt is of the essence of the Christian message that we shall turn our gaze to \nthe future\, to the completion and consummation of all things which the Lord’s \nreturn will bring about. \nAt that time (already present in the eternity of God)\, the frontiers between \nthe earthly and the heavenly are abolished. The corporal world is transfigured\, \nGod is all in all. Time\, too\, is abolished for the Church. This fragmentary \nduration of time\, linked up with humanity’s advance along the road to their \nsalvation\, gives place to the infinitely simple rhythm of eternity: the rhythm of \nGod which gathers together every duration of time and heaps up every hope. \nHere the task of Mary\, as mother\, comes to and end\, but her love remains. For \nher\, at the heart of things\, nothing changes. It is the Church which changes\, and \nonly for the reason that its situation is modified. \nFrom the outset Mary had preceded the Church at every stage of its life\, \nand here we see the Church joining her once more. Between them there is no \nlonger any difference in the realm of place and time. The tension of nature over \nagainst heaven\, of time over against eternity\, has been abolished. At the end of \nthe journey\, there they are\, perfectly reunited in the place and at the time of \nwhich God is the measure… Mary was the first personal realization of what \nawaits the redeemed. She is that still\, but the distances have been done away \nwith. \n7 Court traité sur la Vierge Marie\, Lethielleux\, Paris\, 1967\, pp. 156-157; reprinted in ALectures chrétiennes pour notre \ntemps@ (M 82): 8 1971\, Abbaye d’Orval\, Belgium.15 \nThe Church continues to look at Mary in Christ\, but in a different way: no \nlonger as its future and as a token of its hope\, but only as the summit of its \ncommunion in Christ. The Church used to look at Mary [in the same way] as a \nfleet in the storm looks at the first ship which has crossed the bar and reached \nport. Now\, the Church has re-joined her at the end of the voyage. There is no \nlonger either separation or distance\, but common joy in reunion in Christ\, and \nthis dialogue between them is nothing but the overflowing abundance of their \nthanksgiving. \nIn this communion\, of which Christ is the beginning and the completion\, \nwe see again the situation of Pentecost: Mary in the Church\, but beyond this \nworld… The hierarchy\, which was the visible summit of the Church here below\, \nno longer has any purpose. The world of the signs and means of grace which it \nadministered in this lower world has passed away\, and only the realities \nremain… In the crowd of the redeemed\, ranged henceforth according to their \nunion with Christ and no longer according to their function\, the Mother of \nChrist occupies the first place\, without common measure with the others. She is \nseen in the pure truth of the situation in which God has placed her\, at a higher \nlevel of grace and glory than that of the others: between the Redeemer who \nreigns over her from the infinitude of his Godhead and the remainder of the \nredeemed whom she enfolds in her maternal love\, she exults in the joy of \nreunion. Here her Magnificat achieves completion.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-bvm-24/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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