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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251027
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251028
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SUMMARY:Weekday Vigils
DESCRIPTION:THE ENJOYMENT OF GOD \nFrom “The Golden Epistle” by William of St Thierry 2\n◊◊◊\nTo “seek the face of God” is to seek knowledge of him face to face\, as Jacob saw him. It is of this knowledge the Apostle says: “Then I shall know as I am known; now we see in a confused reflection in a mirror\, but then we shall see face to face\, we shall see him as he is.” Always to seek God in this life by keeping the hands unstained and the heart clean is that piety which\, as Job says\, “is the worship of God.” The man who lacks it “has received his soul in vain\,” that is to say\, lives to no purpose or does not live at all\, since he does not live the life to live which he received his soul. \nThis piety is the continual remembrance of God\, an unceasing effort of the mind to know him\, an unwearied concern of the affections to love him\, so that\, I will not say every day\, but every hour finds the servant of God occupied in the labor of ascesis and the effort to make progress\, or in the sweetness of experience and the joy of fruition. This is the piety concerning which the Apostle exhorts his beloved disciple in the words: “Train yourself to grow up in piety; for training the body avails but little\, while piety is all-availing\, since it promises well both for this life and for the next. \nThe habit you wear promises not only the outward form of piety but its substance\, in all things and before all things\, and that is what your vocation demands. For\, as the apostle says again\, there are some who exhibit the outward form of religion although they are strangers to its meaning. \nIf anyone among you does not possess this in his heart\, display it in his life\, practice it in his cell\, he is to be called not a solitary but a man who is alone\, and his cell is not a cell for him but a prison in which he is walled. For truly to be alone is not to have God with one. Truly to be walled in is not to be at liberty in God. Solitude and being walled in are words that denote wretchedness\, whereas the cell should never involve being walled in by necessity but rather be the dwelling-place of peace\, an inner chamber with closed door\, a place not of concealment but of retreat. \nThe man who has God with him is never less alone than when he is alone. It is then he has undisturbed fruition of his joy. It is then he is his own master and is free to enjoy God in himself and himself in God. It is then that in the light of truth and the serenity of a clean heart a pure soul stands revealed to itself without effort\, and the memory enlivened by God freely pours itself out in itself. Then either the mind is enlightened and the will enjoys its good or human frailty freely weeps over its shortcomings. \nAccordingly as your vocation demands\, dwelling in heaven rather than in cells\, you have shut out the world\, whole and entire\, from yourselves and shut up yourselves\, whole and entire\, with God. For the cell (cella) and heaven (coelum) are akin to one another: the resemblance between the words is borne out by the devotion they both involve. For both appear to be derived from celare\, to hide\, and the same thing is hidden in cells as in heaven\, the same occupation characterizes both the one and the other. What is this? Leisure devoted to God\, the enjoyment of God. \n2\nThe Golden Epistle – William of St Thierry – Cistercian Fathers Series #12 – Cistercian Publications – Kalamazoo\, MI – 1971 – pg.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/weekday-vigils/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251028
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251029
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251026T155810Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251026T155810Z
UID:14186-1761609600-1761695999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:SS. Simon & Jude
DESCRIPTION:THE ZEAL OF THE APOSTLES \nFrom a sermon by St John Henry Newman 3\n◊◊◊\nThe Apostles commemorated on this Festival <of St Simon and St Jude> direct our attention to the subject of Zeal. St Simon is called…the Zealous; a title given him (as is supposed) from his belonging before his conversion to the Jewish sect of Zealots\, which professed extraordinary Zeal for the Law… The <designation> marks him as distinguished for this particular Christian grace. St Jude’s Epistle\, which forms part of the service of the day\, is almost wholly upon the duty of manifesting Zeal for Gospel Truth\, and opens with a direct exhortation to “contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the Saints.” \nIt will be a more simple account of Zeal\, to call it the earnest desire for God’s honor\, leading to strenuous and bold deeds in His behalf; and that in spite of all obstacles. Now Zeal is one of the elementary religious qualifications; that is\, one of those which are essential in the very notion of a religious man. A man cannot be said to be in earnest in religion\, till he magnifies his God and Savior; till he so far consecrates and exalts the thought of Him in his heart\, as an object of praise\, and adoration\, and rejoicing\, as to be pained and grieved at dishonor shown to Him\, and eager to avenge Him. In a word\, a religious temper is one of loyalty towards God; and we all know what is meant by being loyal from the experience of civil matters. \nTo be loyal is not merely to obey; but to obey with promptitude\, energetic dutifulness\, disinterested devotion\, disregard of consequences. And such is Zeal\, except that it is ever attended with that reverential feeling which is due from a creature and a sinner towards his Maker\, and towards Him alone. It is the main principle in all religious service to love God above all things; now\, Zeal is to love Him above all other people\, above our dearest and most intimate friends. This was the special praise of the Levites\, which gained for them the reward of the Priesthood\, that is\, their executing judgment on the people in the sin of the golden calf. Zeal is the very consecration of God’s Ministers to their office. \nAccordingly our Blessed Savior\, the One Great High Priest… of all Priests who went before Him and the Lord and Strength of all who come after\, began His manifestation of Himself by two acts of Zeal. When twelve years old he deigned to put before us in representation the sacredness of this duty\, when He remained in the Temple “while His father and mother sought Him sorrowing\,” and on their finding Him\, returned answer\, “Do you not know that I must be about My Father’s business? \nAnd again\, at the opening of His public Ministry\, He went into the Temple\, and “made a scourge of small cords\, and drove out the sheep and oxen\, and overthrew the changers’ tables” that profaned it: thus fulfilling the prophecy contained in the text\, “Zeal for your house has eaten me up.” Being thus consumed by Zeal Himself\, no wonder He should choose His followers from among the Zealous. \n3\n“Christian Zeal\,” in Parochial and Plain Sermons\, San Francisco: Ignatius Press\, 1987\, pp. 464 ff.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/ss-simon-jude/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251029
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251030
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251026T160225Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251026T160225Z
UID:14190-1761696000-1761782399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE SPIRIT OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH\nBy Dom Damasus Winzen 4\n◊◊◊\nThe fact that the Church is rather a gift of the Spirit than the fruit of human endeavor…makes the Acts of the Apostles of vital importance to the Christians of all ages. We people of the “century of progress” do not look into the past to find there the pattern for the future. Accustomed as we are to think in terms of progress\, any beginnings bear to us the mark of imperfection. The life of the Church\, however\, is not ruled by the laws of human progress. Not being built up from the ground\, but descending from above\, the growth of the Church is like that of a seed\, the gradual unfolding of a fundamental structure which is wholly present already in the initial stage. \nThe risen Christ is the “seed” out of which the Church grows as an overflow of his abundance. From Christ the Church receives the divine life in the vessel of the sacraments\, to be administered\, not to be produced. From Christ she receives the full light of revelation as an unalterable deposit\, to be handed down\, not to be invented. The risen Christ sends to his Church the fullness of the Holy Spirit so that St Peter can truly state\, on the very day when the Church is born\, that this outpouring of the Spirit is the fulfillment of an event which\, as Joel had announced\, would come about “in the last days”. \nThe apostolic Church is the Church of “the first love”. The apostles who govern her are endowed with a fullness of grace never to be given to any of their successors. The Church is built\, once and forever\, upon “the foundation of the apostles”. For this reason the history of the Church is to a large extent the history of “reformations”. Again and again the Church has returned to the apostolic pattern. \nTo restore the spirit of the apostolic Church in its original purity and zeal was the avowed purpose of all the great saints and reformers. The Rule of St Benedict is nothing but an attempt to reestablish the ideal apostolic Church within the confines of a monastery. St Francis\, St Dominic\, St Ignatius and the great number of their followers received the inspiration for their Orders from the Acts of the Apostles. The apostolic Church remains a model for our times too; not that we want to turn back the wheel of history and copy the external forms of a past age\, which is impossible\, but because we realize that the waters of the Holy Spirit are nowhere as pure as at their source. \n4\nDamasus Winzen\, Pathways in Scripture\, Ann Arbor\, MI: Word of Life\, 1976\, pp. 280-81. \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/weekday-22/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251030
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251031
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251026T160656Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251026T160656Z
UID:14194-1761782400-1761868799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Weekday
DESCRIPTION:A JOYFUL AND GENUINE\nHUMILITY\nFrom a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux  5\n◊◊◊\nDo you see that humility makes us righteous? I say humility and not humiliation. How many are humiliated who are not humble! There are some who meet humiliation with rancor\, some with patience\, some again with cheerfulness. The first kind are culpable\, the second are innocent\, the last just. Innocence is indeed a part of justice\, but only the humble possess it perfectly. He who can say: “It was good for me that you humiliated me\,” is truly humble. \nThe person who endures it unwillingly cannot say this; still less the one who murmurs. To neither of these do I promise grace on the grounds of being humiliated\, although the two are vastly different from each other\, since the one possesses his own soul in his patience\, while the other perishes in his murmuring. For even if only one of them does merit anger\, neither of them merits grace\, because it is not to the humiliated but to the humble that God gives grace. But he is humble who turns humiliation into humility\, and he is the one who says to God: “It was good for me that you humiliated me.” \nWhat is merely endured with patience is good for nobody\, it is an obvious embarrassment. On the other hand we know that “God loves a cheerful giver.” Hence even when we fast we are told to anoint our head with oil and wash our face\, that our good work might be seasoned with spiritual joy and our holocaust made fat. For it is the possession of a joyful and genuine humility that alone enables us to receive grace. But the humility that is due to necessity or constraint\, that we find in the patient person who keeps his self-possession\, cannot win God’s favor because of the accompanying sadness\, although it will preserve his life because of patience. Since he does not accept humiliation spontaneously or willingly\, one cannot apply to such a person the scriptural commendation that the humble man may glory in his exaltation. \nIf you wish for an example of a humble person glorying with all due propriety\, and truly worthy of glory\, take Paul when he says that gladly will he glory in his weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell within him. He does not say that he will bear his weaknesses patiently\, but he will even glory in them\, and that willingly\, thus proving that to him it is good that he is humiliated\, and that it is not sufficient that one keep his self-possession by patience when he is humbled; to receive grace one must embrace humiliation willingly. \nYou may take as a general rule that everyone who humbles himself will be exalted. It is significant that not every kind of humility is to be exalted\, but that which the will embraces; it must be free of compulsion or sadness. Nor on the contrary must everyone who is exalted be humiliated\, but only he who exalts himself\, who pursues a course of vain display. Therefore it is not the one who is humiliated who will be exalted\, but he who voluntarily humiliates himself; it is merited by this attitude of will. Even suppose that the occasion of humiliation is supplied by another\, by means of insults\, damages or sufferings\, the victim who determines to accept all these for God’s sake with a quiet\, joyful conscience\, cannot properly be said to be humiliated by anyone but himself. \n5\n(CF 7:162-163).
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/weekday-23/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251031
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251101
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251026T161042Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251026T161042Z
UID:14196-1761868800-1761955199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE PATIENCE OF GOD\nFrom a treatise by St Cyprian 6\n◊◊◊\nDearly Beloved in the Lord\, when we speak of patience and when we preach on its benefits and advantages\, what better way to begin than to point out the fact that now\, just for you to listen to me\, patience is necessary. For you could not hear and learn without patience. Only then is the word of God and the way of salvation effectively learned\, if one listens with patience to what is being said. For nothing is more to be preferred to it in all the ways of heavenly discipline\, when it comes to seeking the God-given rewards of our hope and faith. Patience is the virtue we should maintain in a special way and with extreme care\, whether we find it beneficial to our life or to the attainment of glory. Either way\, it befits us who strive to follow the Lord’s precepts with fear and devotion. \nHow wonderful and how great is the patience of God! He endures most patiently the profane temples\, the earthly images and idolatrous rites that our ancestors set up in insult to His majesty and honor. He makes the day to rise and the sun to shine equally over the good and the evil. When He waters the earth with showers no one is excluded from His benefits\, but He bestows His rains without distinction on the just and the unjust alike. His Patience has an unbroken equality toward the guilty and the innocent\, the religious and the impious\, the grateful and the ungrateful. On one and all alike\, the seasons obey and the elements serve\, the winds blow\, fountains flow\, harvests increase in abundance\, the fruits of the vines ripen\, trees are heavy with fruit\, the groves become green\, and the meadows burst into flower. \nAnd although God is provoked by frequent\, yes even continual\, offenses\, He tempers His anger and patiently waits for the day of retribution which He once foreordained. And although vengeance is in His power\, He prefers to be longsuffering in His patience\, that is\, waiting steadfastly and delaying in His mercy so that\, if it is at all possible\, the long career of malice at some time may change\, and we\, however deeply we are infected with the contagion of error and crime\, may be converted to God even at a late hour\, as He Himself warns and says: I have no pleasure in the death of anyone. And again: Return to the Lord\, your God\, for he is gracious and merciful\, patient\, and abounding in steadfast love\, and repents of evil. \n6\nDe Bono Patientiae\, CCL IIIa\, cc 1\,4; pp. 118-119.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/weekday-24/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251101
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251102
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251026T161928Z
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UID:14198-1761955200-1762041599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:All Saints
DESCRIPTION:UNDER GOD’S\nMIGHTY HAND \nFrom a sermon by St Aelred of Rievaulx 7\n◊◊◊\nMy brothers\, if we are not qualified to speak of one of God’s saints and proclaim her glory\, how qualified are we to give a sermon of all of the saints? It is all the more necessary that we bear ourselves in a way enabling us to come to share their glory. What then must we do? How can we attain these heights? Accordingly…let us listen to some wholesome advice. For whom should we be more ready to believe than someone who has already attained that glory? He certainly knows the way by which he went up. Let us listen then to one of the great friends of Jesus telling us: Humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand that he may raise you up. \nYou know how today throughout the entire world everyone is praising God’s saints – the angels and archangels\, the apostles\, the martyrs\, confessors\, virgins… Ponder\, if you can\, how exalted in heaven are those who can be exalted and honored in this way on earth. Surely…if we could behold all the glory of the world and all the praise of the world and all the joy of the world at the same time\, in comparison with their joy it is nothing but absolute misery… \nAs for us…who do not see these things\, let us ponder and delight in the true loveliness in which the saints live free of corruption; in those spiritual ornaments that the saints possess in righteousness and holiness: in the hymns and praises with which they praise God without weariness; and in that light which they see in the face of God. And let us keep our feasts in such a way that our mind is not turned back to those earthly and perishable delights but rather is roused to those that are spiritual and eternal. And so let us reflect on their glory and exaltation. \nTo enable us to reach this exaltation\, let us listen to the advice of the Apostle: Humble yourselves beneath the mighty hand of God. The Apostle was very aware of the reason why we are cast down\, why we have lost that exaltation in which we were created\, why we were driven out into this unhappiness. What is this reason…if not pride? Therefore\, to counteract this pride he taught humility. Humble yourselves\, he says. But because he knew that not all those who humble themselves humble themselves wisely\, he therefore added: under the mighty hand of God... \nTherefore…let us humble ourselves beneath God’s mighty hand that he may lift us up at the time of his visitation. May he lift us up through good deeds and through holy desires\, so that when he comes at that great visitation when he will demand from everyone an account of what they have done in this life\, he may lift us up totally and we may hear that endearing voice saying: Come\, you blessed of my Father. Receive the kingdom that has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world. \n7\nAelred of Rievaulx – The Liturgical Sermons – Cistercian Fathers Series – #58 – Cistercian Publications – Kalamazoo – 2001 – pg 346.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/all-saints/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251102
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251103
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251101T205153Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251101T205153Z
UID:14203-1762041600-1762127999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema: 31st Week in Ordinary Time
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n31st Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nNovember 2 – 8\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n2\nMon\n3\nTue\n4\nWed\n5\nThu\n6\nFri\n7\nSat\n8\n\n\nOffice\nAll Souls\nWeekday\nSt Charles Borromeo\nWeekday\nWeekday\nWeekday\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nEzek 37:1-14\nDaniel 3:46-70\nDaniel 3:71-90\nDaniel 3:91-100\nDaniel 4:1-15\nDaniel 4:16-34\nDaniel 5:1-12\n\n\nLauds\nJob 14:1-12\nZech 10:1-5\nZech 10:6-12\nZech 11:1-6\nZech 11:7-14\nZech 11:15-17\nZech 12:1-6\n\n\nMass\n668\n485\n486\n487\n488\n489\n490\n\n\n1st\nWis 3:1-9\nRom 11:29-36\nRom 12:5-16ab\nRom 13:8-10\nRom 14:7-12\nRom 15:14-21\nRom 16:3-9\, 16\, 22-27\n\n\n2nd\n2 Cor 5:1\, 6-10\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 11:17-27\nLuke 14:12-14\nLuke 14:15-24\nLuke 14:25-33\nLuke 15:1-10\nLuke 16:1-8\nLuke 16:9-15\n\n\nVespers\n1 Thess 4:13-18\nJas 4:13-17\nJas 5:1-6\nJas 5:7-12\nJas 5:13-20\n2 Pet 1:1-9\n1 Pet 2:1-10
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-31st-week-in-ordinary-time/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251102
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251103
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251101T210119Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251101T210119Z
UID:14206-1762041600-1762127999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:31st Sunday
DESCRIPTION:THE LOVE BETWEEN\nGOD AND THE SOUL\nFrom “Purgation and Purgatory” by St Catherine of Genoa 1\n◊◊◊\nThe souls in purgatory cannot think\, “I am here\, and justly so because of my sins\,” or “I wish I had never committed such sins for now I would be in paradise\,” or “That person there is leaving before me\,” or “I will leave before that one.” They cannot remember the good or evil in their past nor that of others. \nSuch is their joy in God’s will\, in his pleasure\, that they have no concern for themselves but dwell only in their joy in God’s ordinance. They see only the goodness of God\, his mercy toward all. Should they be aware of other good or evil\, theirs would not be perfect charity. Only once do they understand the reason for their purgatory: the moment in which they leave this life. After this moment\, that knowledge disappears. Immersed in charity\, incapable of deviating from it\, they can only will or desire pure love. There is no joy save that in paradise to be compared with the joy of the souls in purgatory. \nAs the rust of sin is consumed the soul is more and more open to God’s love. Just as a covered object left out in the sun cannot be penetrated by the sun’s rays\, in the same way\, once the covering of the soul is removed\, the soul opens itself fully to the rays of the sun. Having become one with God’s will\, these souls\, to the extent that he grants it to them\, see into God… \nAll that I have said is nothing compared to what I feel within\, the witnessed correspondence of love between God and the soul; for when God sees the soul pure as it was in its origins\, he tugs at it with a glance\, draws it and binds it to himself with a fiery love. God so transforms the soul into himself that it knows nothing other than God. He will not cease until he has brought the soul to its perfection. \nThat is why the soul seeks to cast off any and all impediments\, so that it can be lifted up to God; and such impediments are the cause of the suffering of the souls in purgatory. Not that the souls dwell on their suffering; they dwell rather on the resistance they feel within themselves against the will of God\, against his intense and pure love bent on nothing but drawing them up to him. And I see rays of lightning darting from that divine love to the creature\, so intense and fiery… The soul becomes like gold that becomes purer as it is fired\, all dross being cast out… \nThese flaws are burned away in the last stage of love. God shows the soul its weakness\, so that the soul may see the workings of God. If we are to become perfect\, the change must be brought about in us and without us; that is\, the change is to be the work not of human beings but of God… The overwhelming love of God gives the soul a joy beyond words. In purgatory great joy and great suffering do not exclude one another. \n1\nA Word in Season – vol. IV – Sanctoral – Augustinian Press – 1991 – pg 215.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/31st-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251103
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251104
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251101T210625Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251101T210625Z
UID:14210-1762128000-1762214399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE SPOUSE OF THE VIRGIN \nBy St Ambrose 2\n◊◊◊\nWhat is virginal chastity but purity free from stain? And whom can we judge to be its author but the immaculate Son of God\, whose flesh saw no corruption\, whose Godhead experienced no infection? Consider\, then\, how great are the merits of virginity. Christ was before the Virgin\, Christ was of the Virgin. Begotten indeed of the Father before the ages\, but born of the Virgin for the ages. The former was of His nature\, the latter is for our benefit. The former always was\, the latter He willed. \nConsider\, too\, another merit of virginity. Christ is the spouse of the Virgin\, and if one may so say “spouse” of virginal chastity\, for virginity is of Christ\, not Christ of virginity. He is\, then\, the Virgin who was espoused\, the Virgin who bore us\, who fed us with her milk\, of whom we read: “What great things has the virgin of Jerusalem done! The breasts shall not fail from the rock\, nor snow from Lebanon\, nor the water which is borne by the strong wind.” \nWho is this virgin that is watered with the streams of the Trinity\, from whose rock waters flow\, whose breasts fail not\, and whose honey is poured forth? Now\, according to the Apostle\, the rock is Christ. Therefore\, from Christ the breasts fail not\, nor brightness from God\, nor the river from the Spirit. This is the Trinity which waters their Church\, the Father\, Christ\, and the Spirit. \nBut let us now come down from the mother to the daughters. “Concerning virgins\,” says the Apostle\, “I have no commandment of the Lord.” If the teacher of the Gentiles had none\, who could have one? And in truth he had no commandment\, but he had an example. For virginity cannot be commanded\, but must be wished for\, for things which are above us are matters for prayer rather than under mastery. “But I would have you\,” he says\, “be without care. For he who is without a wife is careful for the things which are the Lord’s\, how he may please God… And the virgin takes thought for the things of the Lord\, that she may be holy in body and in spirit. For she that is married takes thought for the things of the world\, how she may please her husband.” \nI am not indeed discouraging marriage\, but am enlarging upon the benefits of virginity. \n2\nThe Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Vol.X\, Cp.V\, p.366-7.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-weekday-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251104
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251105
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251101T211248Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251101T211248Z
UID:14213-1762214400-1762300799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils: St. Charles Borromeo
DESCRIPTION:THE LEGACY OF\nST CHARLES BORROMEO\nFrom a homily by Fr Ronald Knox 3\n◊◊◊\nWhen our Lord’s apostles came to look back upon that terrible night in the Lake of Galilee\, when they strained every nerve against the tempest while their Master lay sleeping in the boat\, they found in it an allegory of their own situation\, as they launched out the frail bark of his Church upon waves so troubled\, with prospects so uncertain. \nAnd in every age the Church has looked back to that picture and taken comfort from it in times of adversity. [With great confidence]\, the Church of God\, which is Peter’s boat\, has breasted the waves all through her troubled history. It is not upon the captain’s judgment or the pilot’s experience\, not human wisdom or human prudence\, that she depends for her safe voyage: she rests secure in the presence of her inviolable passenger. \nYet we should do ill if we grudged recognition and gratitude to those servants of his who at various times have steered our course for us through difficult waters\, and especially to the saints of the Counter-Reformation — that remarkable group of saints whom God raised up at the time of Europe’s apostasy\, by whose influence\, humanly speaking\, the faith survived that terrible ordeal. And not the least\, nor the least prominent\, of these is [St Charles Borromeo]\, who ruled the Church of Milan in the latter part of the sixteenth century… \nWhatever be the rights and wrongs of all the controversies we hear about the medieval Church\, this at least is clear\, that in the days of the Council of Trent its organization needed reform. And reform needs more than mere legislation to decree it; it needs administration to execute it. That is St Charles’s characteristic legacy to the Church: it was the influence of his example\, in great measure\, that molded her organization on the new model which Trent had decreed. The bishop has got to be the center of everything in his diocese\, and the clergy of the diocese are to be his clergy — a family of which he is to be the father\, a guild of which he is to be the master. \nSee how fond St Charles was of synods: the whole of his comparatively short episcopate is a long record of the synods he gathered amongst his clergy. See how enthusiastic he is for the seminary idea; the bishop\, henceforth\, is not merely to ordain people\, he is to know whom he is ordaining. And above all what was characteristic of St Charles was the institute which he left behind him — a body of secular priests\, putting themselves at the disposal of the bishop as absolutely as the religious puts himself at the disposal of his superior. \nYes\, there is much about St Charles’s life which is more exciting\, and much which is more attractive\, than all this; his boundless generosity to the poor\, the relentless mortification that regulated his busy\, competent life. But what makes him stand out among the saints more than either is his intense devotion even to the most uninspiring details of diocesan routine. \n3\nfrom Occasional Sermons of Ronald Knox\, ed. by Philip Caraman\, S.J.\, New York: Sheed and Ward\, 1960\, pp. 79-82.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-st-charles-borromeo/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251101T211615Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251101T211615Z
UID:14215-1762300800-1762387199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils: Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE SAINT AND THE CHRISTIAN\nFrom “The Faith and Modern Man” by Fr Romano Guardini 4\n◊◊◊\nWe associate the word saints with the idea of exceptional persons. In the New Testament\, however\, it signifies Christians generally. Being a Christian at all was extraordinary. For the Christians stood out sharply from the environment; either one lived in the Old Testament world\, or in the Hellenistic-pagan world\, and by both they were regarded as something strange if not hostile. The experience of conversion lifted them out of the environment. A sense of the reality of God not learned from natural religious experience or from the teaching of the Old Testament had shaken and\, at the same time\, blessed them. \nIn the existence of Christ\, God’s countenance had been unveiled. The life of Christ had made them aware of how God is minded toward us. These experiences had changed their whole lives. They had acquired new ideas of God\, new standards of judging the world. The “renewal of mind” of which the Gospel speaks and which they had begun to fulfill\, now consisted not only in a conversion to a good and pious life\, but in a change of direction in their whole way of thinking. Thus for them\, actually\, “all things had become new” – and with all these “new things” they found themselves still in an old world\, a world which regarded them with distrust and hostility. All this is\, in itself\, extraordinary – indeed the very essence of the extraordinary\, and the “saint” was one who led this existence. \nBut the spread of Christianity and its increase in members tended to obscure its unique nature. Time went on\, the Gospel grew familiar\, and the sense of newness wore off. Christianity became the state religion and\, as such\, the official order of society. Thus the fact that being a Christian at all was in itself extraordinary faded out of people’s consciousness\, and Christianity grew to be regarded as normal and usual. \n4\nThe Faith and Modern Man\, New York 1952\, 128-133.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-weekday-5/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251106
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251107
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251101T212127Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251101T212127Z
UID:14217-1762387200-1762473599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils: Weekday
DESCRIPTION:CHRIST THE CORNERSTONE\nBy Dom Damasus Winzen 5\n◊◊◊\nStone is firm and lasting. Builders test their stones\, selecting the most solid for foundations on which to rear the whole building\, for cornerstones to hold the wall together\, or for headstones which will lock into a single mass the entire structure. Stone likewise offers firm resistance to the thrust of an enemy; it will crush him upon whom it falls; it will bruise those who fall against it.\nGod is the “Stone of Israel”\, because he is a God of truth and his mercies endure forever. His faithfulness towards his people is the firm and precious cornerstone which is laid in Zion. In Christ Jesus\, God’s loyalty becomes manifest. He is the stone that the leaders of Israel rejected when they crucified him… He became the cornerstone when he rose from the dead. When we try to penetrate into the meaning of the symbolism of the cornerstone\, we discover that various ideas are fused in this picture. The idea of the foundation stone is clearly expressed in Isaiah: Thus says the Lord God: behold I laid in Zion for a foundation a stone\, a tried stone\, a precious cornerstone\, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste. \nChrist is the foundation stone\, for another foundation no one can lay but that which is laid\, which is Christ Jesus. He alone has wrought our redemption by dying for us and rising for us. We depend entirely on his work and on his strength. The Hebrew word used in Psalm 117\, rosch pinnah — still surviving in our word “pinnacle” — has been translated in various ways as “head of the corner\,” “cornerstone\,” or “head stone.” The idea of the cornerstone implies that Christ is a part of the foundation\, but its most important\, visible part\, the part which binds the walls. This is true of Christ\, because in him the two walls of God and mankind\, of the Jews and the Gentiles\, and the Old and the New Testament meet… \nIn recent years\, more and more scholars agree that rosch pinnah is rather the head stone\, or capstone\, which holds a vault or arch together. The Risen Savior is indeed the headstone of the spiritual Temple in which the whole building culminates\, which holds it together and defines its design. This three-fold meaning of Christ as the cornerstone is well expressed by Cynewulf in his poem “Christ.”… \nThou art the wall stone\nthat the workers once threw out from the work\,\nwell it becomes thee that thou be head\nof a mighty hall and weld together\nits wide walls in fast union\,\nFlint unbreakable\, that throughout earth’s dwelling\nall that have eyes may wonder ever more\,\nO Lord of glory. \n5\nSymbols of Christ\, New York\, 1955\, pp. 56-58.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-weekday-6/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251108
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251101T212538Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251101T212538Z
UID:14219-1762473600-1762559999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils: Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH\nFrom “The Spirit of Catholicism” by Fr Karl Adam 6\n◊◊◊\nWherever we encounter the God of revelation\, we do not find a characterless God of some feeble pastoral play\, but a God of holiness and justice\, a God who requires vigorous action and moral decision\, the athlete’s struggle for the crown and perseverance in the race until the prize be won. The new order of grace does not displace the old order of moral responsibility before God. And that is true not only of the members of the Church\, but also of the Church as such. \nThe Church too is subject to the great law that the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence. It is true that as the supra-personal unity of redeemed mankind\, a unity based upon the God-man\, the Church has her own essential nature\, her own law and her own life. And the Holy Spirit will abide always with her\, so that she may remain true to her God-given nature. But on the other hand it is equally true that the nature of the Church must be expressed through the faithful\, and not without them. The Body of Christ must maintain and perfect itself in its members and through them. Therefore the Church is not only a gift to the faithful\, but also a task for them. They have to prepare and foster that good earthly kingdom in which the seed of the Kingdom of Heaven may take root and flourish. \nIn other words\, the life of the Church\, the development of her faith and her love\, the progress of doctrine\, morals\, worship and law\, stand in an immediate relation to the faithful and loving personal life of the members of the Body of Christ. God rewards the merit or punishes the demerit of the faithful by the rise and fall of the earthly Church. We may truly say\, therefore\, with St Paul that the Church founded by Christ is at the same time co-built by the faithful. St Augustine says profoundly: “The temple of God is still being built” and “The house (the Church) is now being constructed.” \nGod willed a Church which in her ripening and perfecting should be the fruit of the true grace-inspired life of the faithful\, of their prayer and love\, of their fidelity\, penitence and devotion\, and therefore God did not found her from the beginning as a thing complete and perfect\, but as an incomplete thing\, which leaves room for and calls for a continual activity of construction\, and in whose inward history God’s Holiness and Justice continually triumph. \n6\nThe Spirit of Catholicism\, New York 1948\, 261-262.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-weekday-7/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251108
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251109
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251101T213139Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251101T213139Z
UID:14221-1762560000-1762646399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils: Memorial of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:LET US PRAISE MARY\nFrom a sermon by St Aelred of Rievaulx 7\n◊◊◊\nLet us…behold [Mary]; let us behold her excellence\, her humility\, her charity\, and her purity; let us behold her and praise her not only in voice\, but by our imitation of her. For if we truly wish to praise her\, let us as much as we can imitate her most holy way of life and—what is of greatest use to us—her humility… If our soul still experiences some servitude to sin and suffers some contrariness from its servant\, that is\, from the flesh\, and if we dare not praise\, then let us not be slow to pray and implore her help… \nWe can be sure that as she is more excellent and blessed than any creature\, so she is more favorable and merciful than every creature. Therefore let us confidently beseech her and place our trust in her. For we have many examples of her love. We know that many have been snatched away from the snares of the devil through her love; many\, who were often in despair were reconciled through her favor; many who were in great torments after death were snatched from these very punishments\, because they loved her and zealously commended themselves to her in their lifetime. \nTherefore let her be our common joy\, our common glory\, our common hope\, our common consolation\, our common reconciliation\, and our common refuge. If we are sad\, let us fly to her so that she may gladden us. If we are disheartened\, let us fly to her so that she may make us cheerful. If we are in despair\, let us fly to her so that she may raise us up. If we are troubled\, let us fly to her so that she may console us. If we are suffering persecutions\, let us fly to her so that she may protect us. If we are at odds with her son\, let us fly to her so that she may reconcile us. Let her be our guardian in this life and our protection at death. May she protect us from sin even now\, and later may she present us to her beloved son… \nLet us lift our hearts and the eyes of our heart to her\, our Lady\, our advocate\, our helper. Think of how much confidence we can have in her who\, having been wonderfully illuminated by the sun of justice\, dispels by her own brilliant light the darkness that the first woman\, Eve\, brought into this world. Therefore let us confidently pray to her who is able to help us through her excellence and wishes to do so through her mercy. Let us pray that she may intercede for us as much as she can to her son\, so that just as he deigned to be born from her for us\, through her he may deign to have mercy [on us]. \nTherefore let us honor her as much as we can…and let us love her as much as we can\, calling upon her most tender mercy\, so that she may deign to pray for us to her most sweet son\, that what we are unable to do by our own merits we may obtain by her patronage and the efficacy of the same Jesus Christ\, our Lord\, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. \n7\n(CSQ 32:124-125).
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-memorial-of-the-bvm-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251213T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251213T090000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20250909T153537Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251129T234449Z
UID:13921-1765616400-1765616400@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:LCG Chicago Monthly Meeting 9:00 am CDT
DESCRIPTION:All LCG folk are welcome: \n  \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
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/lcg-chicago-monthly-meeting-900-am-cdt-4/
CATEGORIES:LCG Local Community Meetings,LCG open events
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251109
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251110
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251108T235900Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251108T235900Z
UID:14235-1762646400-1762732799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n32nd Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nNovember 9 – 15\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n9\nMon\n10\nTue\n11\nWed\n12\nThu\n13\nFri\n14\nSat\n15\n\n\nOffice\nLateran Basilica\nSt Leo the Great\nSt Martin of Tours\nWeekday\nAll Benedictine Saints\nWeekday\nGethsemani Church\n\n\nVigils\nExodus 40:1-34\nDaniel 5:13-6:1\nDaniel 6:2-29\nDaniel 7:1-15\nDan 7:1-3\, 9-22\, 27\nDaniel 7:16-28\nRev 21:9-22:5\n\n\nLauds\nJerm 7:1-7\nZech 12:7-14\nIsa 58:6-12\nZech 13:1-6\nWisdom 5:1-5\, 14-16\nZech 13:7-9\nEzek 37:21-28\n\n\nMass\n671\n491\n492\n493\n573\, 677\n495\n701.2\, 704.2\, 706.4\n\n\n1st\nEzek 47:1-2\, 8-9\, 12\nWis 1:1-7\nWis 2:23-3:9\nWis 6:1-11\nIsa 61:9-11\nWis 13:1-9\n2 Chron 5:6-10\, 13-6:2\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 3:9c-11\, 16-17\n\n\n\n\n\nEph 2:19-22\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 2:13-22\nLuke 17:1-6\nLuke 17:7-10\nLuke 17:11-19\nJohn 15:1-8\nLuke 17:26-37\nJohn 4:19-24\n\n\nVespers\nHeb 10:19-25\n2 Pet 1:10-15\nGal 6:1-5\n2 Pet 1:16-19\nRev 7:9-17\n2 Cor 6:14-7:1\nHeb 3:1-6
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-132/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251109
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DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251109T000037Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251109T000037Z
UID:14237-1762646400-1762732799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 32nd Sunday
DESCRIPTION:DEDICATION OF \nTHE LATERAN BASILICA \n◊◊◊ \nThe blessed Pope Sylvester I instituted the rites which the Roman Church \nobserves in consecrating churches and altars. For although from the ages of the \napostles places had been dedicated to God where assemblies were held every \nSabbath\, yet those places had not been consecrated by a solemn rite before this. \nUp to the time of Sylvester an altar was not erected under title\, which\, anointed \nwith chrism\, symbolizes our Lord Jesus Christ\, who is our Altar\, our Victim\, our \nPriest. \nBut when the Emperor Constantine obtained health and salvation \nthrough the sacrament of Baptism\, then for the first time\, by an edict published \nby him\, the Christians throughout the world were permitted to build churches; \nhe himself encouraged this holy building by his own example\, as well as by this \nedict. For in his own Lateran palace he dedicated a church to the Savior and \nfounded adjacent to it a Basilica\, under the title of St John the Baptist\, on the \nvery spot where he had been baptized by St Sylvester and cleansed from the \nleprosy of unbelief. This basilica the same Pope consecrated on November 9\, \nand the memory of this consecration is celebrated today\, when\, for the first \ntime\, a church was publicly consecrated at Rome\, and there appeared to the \nRoman people an image of the Savior depicted on the wall. \nAlthough later on St Sylvester decreed that from that time forward all \naltars should be built of stone\, yet the altar of the Lateran Basilica was built of \nwood. This is not surprising. For since\, from St Peter down to Sylvester\, because \nof persecutions\, the Pontiffs could not dwell in any fixed abode\, they offered the \nHoly Sacrifice [of the Mass] wherever necessity compelled them\, whether in \ncrypts or in cemeteries\, or in the homes of the faithful\, upon a wooden altar \nwhich was hollow like a chest. \nWhen this altar had been placed in the first church\, the Lateran\, St \nSylvester decreed that from that time on\, no one except the Roman Pontiff \nshould celebrate Mass upon it\, in honor of the Prince of the Apostles and of the \nrest of the Popes who had been accustomed to use it. This same church\, having \nbeen destroyed by fires\, pillaging\, and earthquakes\, and repaired by the \nlaborious effort of the Supreme Pontiffs\, was afterwards rebuilt anew. Pope \nBenedict XIII\, a Dominican\, consecrated it on April 28\, 1726\, by a solemn rite.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-32nd-sunday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251110
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251111
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251109T000202Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251109T000202Z
UID:14239-1762732800-1762819199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Leo the Great
DESCRIPTION:THE WORKS OF \nGOD’S SERVANTS \nBy St Leo the Great \n◊◊◊ \nIt is a great and very precious thing\, beloved\, in the Lord’s sight\, when \nChrist’s whole people engage together in the same duties\, and all ranks and \ndegrees of either sex co-operate with the same intent: when one purpose \nanimates all alike of declining from evil and doing good; when God is glorified in \nthe works of God’s servants\, and the Author of all godliness is blessed in \nunstinted giving of thanks. \nThe hungry are nourished\, the naked are clothed\, the sick are visited\, and \npeople seek not their own but “that which is another’s”\, so long as in relieving \nthe misery of others each one makes the most of one’s own means; and it is easy \nto find “a cheerful giver\,” where one’s performances are only limited by the \nextent of one’s power. \nBy this grace of God\, “which works all in all\,” the benefits and the deserts \nof the faithful are both enjoyed in common. For they\, whose income is not like\, \ncan yet think alike\, and when one rejoices over another’s bounty\, his feelings put \nhim on the same level with him whose powers of spending are on a different \nlevel. \nIn such a community there is no disorder nor diversity\, for all the \nmembers of the whole body agree in one strong purpose of godliness\, and one \nwho glories in the wealth of others is not put to shame by personal poverty. For \nthe excellence of each portion is the glory of the whole body\, and when we are all \nled by God’s Spirit\, not only are the things we do ourselves our own but those of \nothers also over the doing of which we rejoice… \nBut because we possess this greatness of heart\, and yet it is truly a pious \nthing for each one not to forsake the care of one’s own\, we\, without prejudice to \nthe more perfect sort\, lay down for you this general rule and exhort you to \nperform God’s bidding according to the measure of your ability. \nFor cheerfulness becomes one who is benevolent\, who should so manage \nliberality that while the poor rejoice over the help supplied\, home needs may not \nsuffer. “And he who ministers seed to the sower shall provide bread to be eaten \nand multiply your seed and increase the fruits of your righteousness.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-leo-the-great-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251109T000317Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251109T000317Z
UID:14241-1762819200-1762905599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Martin of Tours
DESCRIPTION:ST MARTIN AND THE PAUPER \nBy St Sulpicius Severus \n◊◊◊ \nOne day\, at the gate of the city of Amiens\, Martin met a poor man who was \nnaked. Martin’s clothing was reduced to his armor and his simple military \ncloak. It was the middle of a winter which had been more severe than usual\, \nand\, indeed\, many had perished from the extreme cold. Those who had passed \nthat way had been begged by the pitiable pauper to have compassion on him\, \nbut all had gone by. Martin\, however\, filled with God’s grace\, saw that it was for \nhim\, when others had denied their mercy\, that the suppliant was being reserved. \nYet\, what should he do? \nHe had nothing except the cloak he was wearing; he had already devoted \nthe rest of his clothing to similar purposes. Then\, drawing the sword which he \nwas wearing\, he cut the cloak in two; one part he gave to the pauper; in the other \nhe again dressed himself. Meanwhile\, some of the bystanders began to laugh\, \nfor it was an inelegant figure Martin cut\, dressed in half a garment. Yet\, many\, \nof saner mind\, sighed deeply. When they\, who had more to give\, might have \nclothed the pauper with out making themselves naked\, they had done nothing of \nthe sort. \nWhen night had come and he was deep in sleep\, Martin beheld Christ\, \nclothed in that part of his own cloak with which he had covered the pauper. He \nwas bidden to look attentively upon the Lord and to recognize the garment he \nhad given. And soon\, to the throng of angels standing about\, he heard Jesus \nsaying in a clear voice: Martin\, still a catechumen\, has covered me with this \ncloak. \nThe Lord\, in declaring that it was He who had been clothed in the person \nof the pauper\, was truly mindful of His own words uttered long ago: As long as \nyou did it to one of these my least\, you did it to me. Further\, to strengthen the \nevidence of such a good deed\, he deigned to show Himself in the very garment \nthe pauper had received. \nThe blessed man was not puffed up with human pride because of this \nvision. Rather\, recognizing God’s goodness in his own act\, he was baptized \nwithout delay. He was then eighteen.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-martin-of-tours-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251112
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251113
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251109T000421Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251109T000421Z
UID:14244-1762905600-1762991999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:GLORIFY THE LORD \nFrom the Catechetical Lectures of St Cyril of Jerusalem \n◊◊◊ \n“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”; for in the \nthought of God\, let the thought of Father be included\, so that the glory we \nascribe to the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit may be perfectly free from \ndifference. For the Father has one glory and the Son another\, but their glory is \none and the same; since the Son is the Father’s sole-begotten\, and when the \nFather is glorified the Son shares in enjoyment of His glory… And whenever the \nSon is glorified the Father of so excellent a Son is greatly honored. \nNow the mind thinks with great rapidity\, but the tongue needs \nexpressions and a long outpouring of words before it reaches a conclusion. For \nin one instant\, the eye takes in a vast multitude of stars\, but if anyone should \nwant to discourse on any particular stars…he will need to say a good deal. Again \nin like manner the mind comprehends earth and sea and all the bounds of the \nworld in a flash\, but it takes many words to express what it understands in an \ninstant… \nWhat we say about God is not what should be said (for that is known only \nto Him) but only what human nature takes in\, and only what our infirmity can \nbear. For what we expound is not what God is… We have no sure knowledge \nabout Him… Our chief theological knowledge is confessing that we have none. \nTherefore\, “magnify the Lord with me\, and let us exalt His Name together”… \nNow if the heavens and all they contain cannot worthily sing the praises of \nGod\, how possibly can earth and ashes\, the least and slightest of existing things\, \nraise a worthy hymn to God\, “who holds in His hand the circle of the earth\, and \nconsiders the inhabitants of it as grasshoppers.” If anyone would attempt to \ndiscourse on God\, let them first expound what are the bounds of the earth. The \nearth is your dwelling\, and yet you do not know the extent of your dwellingplace\, \nearth! How then can you have any adequate thoughts of its Creator? \nBut someone will ask: If the divine Being is incomprehensible\, what is the \ngood of the things you have been saying? Come now\, am I not to take a \nreasonable drink because I cannot drink the river dry? Or supposing I were to go \ninto a huge garden where I could not possibly eat all the fruit on the trees\, would \nyou have me leave it still hungry? I praise and glorify our Maker\, seeing that “Let \neverything that breathes praise the Lord” is a divine command. I am now trying \nto glorify the Master\, not to expound His Nature\, for I know quite well that I \nshall fall far short even of glorifying Him as He deserves. Nevertheless I hold it \nto be a religious duty at least to make the attempt. For the Lord Jesus comforts \nme for my insufficiency by saying “No one has seen God at any time.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-364/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251113
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251114
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251109T000529Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251109T000529Z
UID:14246-1762992000-1763078399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - All Benedictine Saints
DESCRIPTION:THE COMMUNION OF THE SAINTS \nBy Baldwin of Ford \n◊◊◊ \nI believe\, O Lord\, in the Holy Spirit\, the holy catholic Church\, the \ncommunion of saints. Here is my hope\, here is my trust\, here is my confidence\, \nhere is my security -however small it may be- which I have in the confession of \nmy faith\, in the generosity of the Holy Spirit\, in the unity of the catholic Church\, \nin the communion of the saints. If it be granted me from above to love you and to \nlove my neighbour\, then even though my own merits are poor and meager\, I \nhave a hope which is above and beyond all my merits: I am sure that through the \ncommunion of charity the merits of the saints will profit me and that the \ncommunion of the saints can make good my own imperfection and \ninsufficiency. The prophet comforts me when he says\, “I have seen an end of all \nperfection\, but your commandment is exceeding broad.” \nO charity\, so broad and so extensive\, how great is the house of God\, how \nvast is the place of his possession! We need not be distressed in our heart; we \nneed not be confined by the boundaries and limits of our insignificant \nrighteousness. Charity extends our hope to the communion of the saints\, and we \ncan therefore share with them their merits and their rewards. But the sharing of \ntheir rewards is [reserved] for the time to come\, for it is the sharing of the glory \nwhich shall be revealed in us. \nThus there are three sorts of sharing\, [three forms of communion\, three \nways in which we have things in common]: the sharing of nature\, which is \nassociated with the sharing of sin and the sharing of wrath; then the sharing of \ngrace; and thirdly\, the sharing of glory. By the sharing of grace\, the sharing of \nnature begins to be restored and the sharing of sin is removed\, but by the \nsharing of glory\, the sharing of nature will be fully and perfectly restored and the \nsharing of wrath wholly removed. It is then that God shall wipe away all the \ntears from the eyes of the saints. It is then that all the saints will be as one heart \nand one soul\, and they will have all things in common when God will be all in all. \n[Our hope is] that we\, too\, may come in common to this communion and \ncome together as one [and therefore we pray that] the grace of our Lord Jesus \nChrist and the charity of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit may be with \nus all always.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-all-benedictine-saints-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251114
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251115
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251109T000635Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251109T000635Z
UID:14248-1763078400-1763164799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE TRUE CHRISTIAN \nFrom a treatise by St Augustine \n◊◊◊ \nLet us not flatter ourselves in the mere fact that we are called Christians; \nrather\, let us believe that we deserve to be judged if we assume a name to which \nwe have no claim. Or\, if there are any who are so unbelieving\, so unfaithful\, so \npersistent\, so obstinate\, so bold\, that they do not fear the imminent anger and \nindignation of God the judge\, let them at least feel abashed before human \njudgments. Let them realize how dull\, how foolish\, and how senseless they are \nconsidered even by other people\, since their vanity and madness are so great \nthat they take upon themselves a name to which they are not entitled. For\, who \nis so conceited and so pitiable that he would dare to establish himself as a lawyer \nif he is uneducated? Who is so mad and bereft of reason that he would proclaim \nhimself a soldier if he does not know how to use arms? One does not choose \nsuch a name without reason. \nTo be called a cobbler\, one must repair shoes; to be looked upon as an \nartisan or workman\, one must produce proof of one’s art; to be recognized as a \ntrader\, one exhibits costly objects originally purchased at a smaller price. From \nexamples of this sort we realize that there is no name without the corresponding \nact and\, furthermore\, that every name is derived from the antecedent act. Now\, \nthen\, are you called a Christian when you perform no distinctively Christian \nacts? \nThe name Christian connotes justice\, goodness\, integrity\, patience\, \nchastity\, prudence\, humility\, kindliness\, innocence and piety; how do you \ndefend your assumption of that name when your conduct manifests so few out \nof so many virtues? One is truly a Christian who is one not in name only but also \nin deed; who imitates and follows Christ in all respects; who is holy\, innocent\, \nundefiled\, chaste; in whose heart evil finds no room\, since this heart is \ndominated by piety and by a goodness which\, knowing only how to bring help to \nall\, knows not how to harm or injure anybody. \nWe are Christians when\, according to the example of Christ\, we are \naccustomed to do good to those who oppose us and to pray for our persecutors \nand our enemies rather than to hate them. Whoever is quick to hurt or harm \nanother person lies when he calls himself a Christian; we are truly Christians \nwhen we can say in all honesty: “I have harmed nobody; I have lived in justice \nwith all.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-365/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251115
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251116
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251109T000754Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251109T000754Z
UID:14250-1763164800-1763251199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Gethsemani Church
DESCRIPTION:THE DEDICATION OF OUR CHURCH \nFrom a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux \n◊◊◊ \nMy brethren\, we ought to observe today’s festivity all the more devoutly \nfor the reason that it is so peculiarly our own. All the other sacred solemnities \nwhich we keep are common to us with the faithful in general. But this is so \nproper to ourselves that if we do not keep it\, it will not be kept at all. It is our own \nfeast\, because it is the feast of the dedication of our own church. It is still more \nour own because it is the feast of our own selves. For what of sanctity can belong \nto these dead walls which cause them to be honored with a religious solemnity? \nThey are undoubtedly holy\, but it is because of your bodies. Will anyone \nquestion that your bodies are holy\, since they are “the temples of the Holy \nSpirit”? \nConsequently your souls are sanctified because of the spirit of God “Who \nis in you”\, your bodies are sanctified because of your souls\, and this house is \nsanctified also because of your bodies. The Psalmist prayed “Preserve my soul \nfor I am holy”. Truly “God is wonderful in His saints”\, not alone in His saints in \nheaven\, but also those on earth. For He has His saints in both places and shows \nHimself wonderful in them all\, beatifying those above\, consummating the \nsanctity of those below. \nAccordingly it is your own festival\, dearest brethren\, your very own\, that \nyou are celebrating today. You have been dedicated to the Lord and the Lord has \nchosen and adopted you as His own peculiar people. Oh\, how wisely you have \nacted…in renouncing all that you might have possessed in this world\, since by \ndoing so you have deserved to become the peculiar people of the world’s \nCreator\, and to have Him as your special possession\, for He is undoubtedly “the \nportion and inheritance” of His own! \nSee\, therefore\, if it is not right to observe as a festival the day on which the \nLord adopted us as His own and took formal possession of us through His \nministers\, thus accomplishing in fact what He had promised long ago\, saying\, “I \nin the midst of them shall be their God”\, while we should be “the people of His \npasture and the sheep of His hand”. For when this house was consecrated to the \nLord by the ministry of the Bishop\, it was manifestly for our sake it was done; \nnot only for the sake of those who were actually present then\, but also for the \nsake of all those who until the end of time shall serve God in this holy place. \nTherefore\, dearest brethren\, it is necessary that what has already been \naccomplished in the walls in a visible manner should be invisibly accomplished \nin ourselves.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-gethsemani-church-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251116
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251117
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251116T120922Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T120922Z
UID:14262-1763251200-1763337599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n33rd Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nNovember 16 – 22\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n16\nMon\n17\nTue\n18\nWed\n19\nThu\n20\nFri\n21\nSat\n22\n\n\nOffice\n33rd Sunday\nWeekday\nOffice for Vocations\nSt Mechtild\nWeekday\nPresentation of the BVM\nSt Cecilia\n\n\nVigils\nDaniel 8:1-14\nDaniel 8:15-27\nDaniel 9:1-19\nDaniel 9:20-27\nDaniel 10:1-11:1\nDaniel 11:2-20\nDaniel 11:21-45\n\n\nLauds\nZech 14:1-5\nZech 14:6-11\nZech 14:12-15\nZech 14:16-21\nMalachi 1:1-5\nMal 1:6-10\nMal 1:11-14\n\n\nMass\n159\n497\n498\n499\n500\n501\n502\n\n\n1st\nMal 3:19-20a\n1 Macc 1:10-15\, 41-43\, 54-57\, 62-63\n2 Macc 6:18-31\n2 Macc 7:1\, 20-31\n1 Macc 2:15-29\n1 Macc 4:36-37\, 52-59\n1 Macc 6:1-13\n\n\n2nd\n2 Thess 3:7-12\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 21:5-19\nLuke 18:35-43\nLuke 19:1-10\nLuke 19:11-28\nLuke 19:41-44\nLuke 19:45-48\nLuke 20:27-40\n\n\nVespers\n2 Pet 1:20-2:3\n2 Pet 2:4-10a\n2 Pet 2:10b-16\n2 Pet 2:17-22\n2 Pet 3:1-7\n2 Pet 3:8-13\n1 Cor 15:20-28
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-133/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251116
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251117
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251116T121232Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121232Z
UID:14264-1763251200-1763337599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 33rd Sunday
DESCRIPTION:BY PATIENT ENDURANCE \nFrom a commentary by Nilus of Ancyra \n◊◊◊ \nIn time of trial it is of great profit to us patiently to endure for God’s sake\, \nfor the Lord says: By patient endurance you will win life for yourselves. He did \nnot say by your fasting\, or your solitude or silence\, or your singing of psalms\, \nalthough all these are helpful in saving your soul. But he said: By patient \nendurance in every trial that overtakes you\, and in every affliction\, whether this \nbe insolent and contemptuous treatment\, or any kind of disgrace\, either small \nor great; whether it be bodily weakness\, or the belligerent attacks of Satan\, or \nany trial whatsoever caused either by other people or by evil spirits. \nBy patient endurance you will win life for yourselves\, although to this \nmust be added wholehearted thanksgiving and prayer\, and humility. For you \nmust be ready to bless and praise your benefactor\, God the Savior of the world\, \nwho disposes all things\, good or otherwise\, for your benefit. \nThe apostle writes: With patient endurance we run the race of faith set \nbefore us. For what has more power than virtue? What more firmness or \nstrength than patient endurance? Endurance\, that is\, for God’s sake. This is the \nqueen of virtues\, the foundation of virtue\, a haven of tranquility. It is peace in \ntime of war\, calm in rough waters\, safety amidst treachery and danger. It makes \nthose who practice it stronger than steel. No weapons or brandished bows\, no \nturbulent troops or advancing seige engines\, no flying spears or arrows can \nshake it. Not even the host of evil spirits\, nor the dark array of hostile powers\, \nnor the devil himself standing by with all his armies and devices will have power \nto injure the man or woman who has acquired this virtue through Christ.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-33rd-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251117
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251118
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251116T121421Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121421Z
UID:14266-1763337600-1763423999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE INNER SELF \nFrom the writing of Thomas Merton \n◊◊◊ \nThe inner self is not a part of our being\, like a motor in a car. It is our \nentire substantial reality itself\, on its highest and most personal and most \nexistential level. It is like life\, and it is life: it is our spiritual life when it is most \nalive. It is the life by which everything else in us lives and moves.. If it is \nawakened\, it communicates a new life to the intelligence in which it lives\, so that \nit becomes a living awareness of itself: and this awareness is not so much \nsomething that we ourselves have as something that we are… \nThe inner self is as secret as God\, and like Him\, it evades every concept \nthat tries to seize hold of it with full possession. It is a life that cannot be held \nand studied as an object\, because it is not a “thing.” It is not reached and coaxed \nforth from hiding by any process under the sun\, including meditation. All we \ncan do with any spiritual discipline is produce within ourselves something of the \nsilence\, the humility\, the detachment\, the purity of heart\, and the indifference \nwhich are required if the inner self is to make some shy\, unpredictable \nmanifestation of his presence. \nAt the same time\, however\, every deeply spiritual experience\, whether \nreligious or moral\, or even artistic\, tends to have in it something of the presence \nof the interior self. Only from the inner self does any spiritual experience gain \ndepth\, reality\, and a certain in communicability. But the depth of ordinary \nexperience only gives us a derivative sense of the inner self. It reminds us of the \nforgotten levels of interiority in our spiritual nature\, and of our helplessness to \nexplore them. \nFrom THE INNER EXPERIENCE quoted by William Shannon in his book: Thomas Merton’s Dark Path\, Farrar- \nStraus-Giroux N.Y.\, 1987\, pp. 116-117. \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-366/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251118
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251119
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251116T121529Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121529Z
UID:14268-1763424000-1763510399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:FOR THE GOOD OF ALL \nBy Henri Le Saux \n◊◊◊ \nVocations are as diverse as temperaments are diverse. More simply\, we \ncould say that certain temperaments are more predisposed to the solitary life \nand others to life in the world. Among the great vocations there are the Sages \nand there are the Prophets. There are those whom the Holy Spirit compels them \nto withdraw within themselves and to meditate night and day on the Law of the \nLord\, like the inspired scribes of Israel and those first hermits of Mount Carmel. \nAnd there are those who are called to proclaim the Word of God to others. \nIn the world we must have people who testify that God is beyond all \nsymbol\, people who witness to the absolute. We must have people who\, in the \nname of the world\, place the world at the center and who live in this center \nwhere God dwells. We needed some of them even in the Church to ward off \npragmatism which constantly threatens it\, even under the finest outward \nappearances of pastoral and missionary zeal. We need people who take literally \nthe call of Christ to poverty\, to freedom from concern about the morrow\, to \nindifference to all but the one essential thing. We are so made that it is only in \nfellowship\, in collaboration and in one person complementing the qualities of \nanother\, that we are completely capable of putting the Gospel into effect. \nIndeed\, alongside the people who witness to the immutability of God\, \nthere must be people who witness to his activity. Alongside the people who \nwitness to his transcendence\, there must be those who witness to his \nimmanence. There must be people who enter with all their abilities into the \nDivine plan for the development of the universe and for the growth of the \nmystical body of the Lord. God did not intend everything in universe to be made \nall at once. He chose to have his creation – and above all\, humanity – working \nwith him. It is through secondary causes that God leads the world to find its \nconsummation. \nAt the human level\, this collaboration becomes freedom. At the same \ntime it becomes understanding. This means that we are called to use our \nintelligence to discover how best to improve the conditions of human life. We \nare responsible and intelligent collaborators in the work of creating and of \nruling the world. We cannot refuse to take part in it without refusing God \nhimself. That is inscribed in our human birth and in the condition of \ncommunion (or koinonia)\, which is the condition of our existence\, human as \nwell as Christian. \nHowever\, not everyone is called to collaborate in the same way. There are \nkings and there are farmers; there are doctors and there are merchants. The \nimportant point is that each one\, wherever God has placed them\, should always \nwork for the good of all. Selfishness is not only the act of someone who may \nwithdraw to the desert out of laziness or cowardice. It is no less present in the \none who has chosen to live in the world\, but who uses the world for their own \nexclusive gain. Every vocation is a service\, both in the church and in the world. \nEach of us is at the service of each other.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-25/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251119
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251120
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251116T121648Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121648Z
UID:14270-1763510400-1763596799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Mechtild
DESCRIPTION:OUR SERVICE OF GOD \nAn excerpt from “The Book of Special Grace” by St Mechthild of Hackeborn \n◊◊◊ \nIf any obstacle arises in our service of God\, whether from the attitude of \nothers\, from external circumstances\, from our own desires\, memories\, or from \nany other cause – whatever the impediment\, we should take it as a messenger \nfrom God\, sending it back to Him\, so to speak\, with praise and thanksgiving. \nThree things very pleasing to God are: first\, never to abandon one’s \nneighbors in their needs\, and to excuse their shortcomings and sins as much as \npossible; second\, in tribulation to seek refuge only in God\, abandoning to Him \nalone all that disquiets the heart; third\, to walk with Him in truth. \nWhen it is time to eat or to sleep\, say in your heart: “Lord\, in union with \nthe love with which you created this useful thing for me\, and yourself made us of \nit when you were on earth\, I take it for your eternal praise and for my bodily \nneed.” The Blessed Virgin tells us: “if you wish to be truly holy\, stay close to my \nSon; he is holiness itself\, making all things holy.” \nWe should be lovingly grateful not only for the spiritual blessings God \ngives us\, but for all bodily necessities\, such as food and clothing\, receiving them \nwith a sincerely thankful heart and considering ourselves unworthy of them. \nWe should also thank God for everything that he has given to his Mother and to \nthe angels. \nWorks which give no human satisfaction may nevertheless be very \npleasing to God. What best pleases God in members of religious orders is purity \nof heart\, holy desires\, gentle kindness in conversation\, and works of charity. \nWhen you are alone\, raise your heart constantly to God\, speak with him and \ndirect all your desire to him with great intensity. You can never be in so large a \ncrowd that you are not alone with him. \nWhen those who receive from the Lord the gift of a fine orchard\, they \ncannot taste the fruit until it is ripe. Likewise\, when one receives a special grace\, \nany interior joy is not experienced until by the practice of mortification one has \nbroken the hard rind of earthly pleasure.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-mechtild/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251120
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251121
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251116T121758Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121758Z
UID:14272-1763596800-1763683199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE ONE BODY OF CHRIST \nFrom a commentary by Origen \n◊◊◊ \nThe temple and the body of Jesus\, seem to me…to be a type of the church \nsignifying that it is built of living stones\, a spiritual house for a holy priesthood… \nThe temple will be rebuilt and the body will rise again on the third day\, after the \nday of evil which threatens it and the day of consummation which comes after. \nFor the third day will rise on the new heaven and the new earth when these \nbones – the whole house of Israel – will rise again on the great day of the Lord\, \nvictorious over death. \nThus it is that the already completed resurrection of Christ\, including his \nsufferings on the cross\, contains the mystery of the resurrection of the whole \nbody of Christ. But as that physical body of Jesus was crucified and buried and \nthen raised up\, so the whole body of Christ’s saints is crucified with Christ and \nnow lives no longer…For Scripture says: All my bones are scattered. \nBut when the actual resurrection of the true and more perfect body of \nChrist takes place\, then those who are now the members of Christ\, (for they will \nthen be dry bones) will be brought together\, bone to bone\, and fitting to fitting\, \nto the measure of the stature of the fullness of the body of Christ. Then the many \nmembers will be the one body\, all the members of the body\, though they are \nmany\, becoming one body. But the distinction between foot and hand and eye \nand ear and nose\, which in one sense fills out the head and in another sense \nrepresents the feet and the rest of the members\, the weaker and the humbler\, \nthe less honorable and the more honorable – this distinction is for God alone to \nmake who will put together the body and\, more than he does now\, will give the \ngreater honor to the inferior part\, that there may be no discord in the body\, \nbut that the members may have the same care for one another\, and if one \nmember suffers\, all suffer together; if one member is honored\, all rejoice \ntogether.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-367/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251121
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251122
DTSTAMP:20260403T193720
CREATED:20251116T121940Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121940Z
UID:14274-1763683200-1763769599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Presentation of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:THE VIRGIN AND THE TEMPLE \nFrom the writing of Fr Yves Congar6 \n◊◊◊ \nThe only occasion on which the Gospels expressly mention the Virgin \nMary in connection with the Temple are in the account of her Purification and of \nthe Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the finding of the child Jesus in the \nTemple after four days’ absence on his part and three anxious searching by his \nparents. To these very brief indications\, the piety of Christians very soon added \nthe idea of the presentation of Mary in the Temple at the age of three to be \nconsecrated to the service of God. We are dealing here with a symbolical \nrepresentation of a profound spiritual reality about which the tradition and the \ndoctrine of the Church provide us with valid information. \nMary\, predestined to be the Mother of Jesus\, true God and true man\, and \nto be worthy of her vocation\, was prepared by the gift of exceptional graces and \nlived with unfailing fidelity a most pure life of inner consecration to the God of \nAbraham\, Isaac and Jacob. As the type of all faithful souls and of the Church \nherself\, Mary expressed spiritually and supremely in her life the “presentation” \nwhich\, for each one of us\, is to begin by the service of faith and to be \nconsummated in heaven. \nIt is obvious that the tradition and doctrine of the Church may\, without \nfalling prey to the imaginary productions of the apocrypha\, propound \nstatements concerning the status of the Mother of God in relation either to the \nJewish messianic temple going far beyond what we are explicitly told in the \nthree short passages from the Gospel which narrate the incidents mentioned \nabove. \nIf Mary is the Mother of God\, she has a special relation to the body of \nChrist which is the true temple – to his physical body and doubtless also\, in a \ncertain sense\, to his body the Church. She is herself a temple of God in a quite \nspecific and sublime way\, both because Christ was within her from the moment \nof his conception until that of his birth\, and because of the exceptional spiritual \ngifts she received in preparation for her divine motherhood and as a reward for \nher free acceptance of this vocation\, not only after the Annunciation but during \nthe whole of her life. Hence the liturgy – the Oriental liturgy in particular – \nshows a profound understanding of the mystery of Mary when it constantly uses \nthe texts concerning the Temple and the tabernacle in order to express it. \n6 The Mystery of the Temple\, Westminster(Maryland) 1962\, p.254-255.11
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-presentation-of-the-bvm-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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