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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240602
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240603
DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240602T112819Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240602T112927Z
UID:11975-1717286400-1717372799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Corpus Christi
DESCRIPTION:THE BODY OF CHRIST \nFrom a commentary by St Augustine1 \n◊◊◊ \nYou see on God’s altar bread and a cup. That is what the evidence of your \neyes tells you\, but your faith requires you to believe that the bread is the body \nof Christ\, the cup the blood of Christ. In these few words we can say perhaps all \nthat faith demands. \nFaith\, however\, seeks understanding; so you may now say to me: “You \nhave told us what we have to believe\, but explain it so that we can understand \nit\, because it is quite possible for someone to think along these lines: We know \nfrom whom our Lord Jesus Christ took his flesh – it was from the Virgin Mary. \nAs a baby\, he was suckled\, he was fed\, he developed\, he came to young man’s \nestate. He was slain on the cross\, he was taken down from it\, he was buried\, he \nrose again on the third day. On the day of his own choosing\, he ascended to \nheaven\, taking his body with him; and it is from heaven that he will come to \njudge the living and the dead. But now that he is there\, seated at the right hand \nof the Father\, how can bread be his body? And the cup\, or rather what is in the \ncup\, how can that be his blood?” \nThese things\, my friends\, are called sacraments\, because our eyes see in \nthem one thing\, our understanding another. Our eyes see the material form; \nour understanding\, its spiritual effect. If\, then\, you want to know what the body \nof Christ is\, you must listen to what the Apostle tells the faithful: Now you are \nthe body of Christ\, and individually you are members of it. \n  \nIf that is so\, it is the sacrament of yourselves that is placed on the Lord’s \naltar\, and it is the sacrament of yourselves that you receive. You reply “Amen” \nto what you are\, and thereby agree that such you are. You hear the words “The \nbody of Christ” and you reply “Amen.” Be\, then\, a member of Christ’s body\, so \nthat your “Amen” may accord with the truth. \nYes\, but why all this in bread? Here let us not advance any ideas of our \nown\, but listen to what the Apostle says over and over again when speaking of \nthis sacrament: Because there is one loaf\, we\, though we are many\, form one \nbody. Let your mind assimilate that and be glad\, for there you will find unity\, \ntruth\, piety\, and love. He says\, one loaf. And who is this one loaf? We\, though \nwe are many\, form one body. Now bear in mind that bread is not made of a \nsingle grain\, but of many. Be\, then\, what you see\, and receive what you are. \nSo much for what the Apostle says about the bread. As for the cup\, what \nwe have to believe is quite clear\, although the Apostle does not mention it \nexpressly. Just as the unity of the faithful\, which holy Scripture describes in the \nwords: They were of one mind and heart in God\, should be like the kneading \ntogether of many grains into one visible loaf\, so with the wine. Think how wine \nis made. Many grapes hang in a cluster\, but their juice flows together into an \nindivisible liquid. \nIt was thus that Christ our Lord signified us\, and his will that we should belong \nto him\, when he hallowed the sacrament of our peace and unity on his altar. \nAnyone\, however\, who receives this sacrament of unity and does not keep the \nbond of peace\, does not receive it to his profit\, but as a testimony against \nhimself. \n  \n1 Journey with the Fathers: Commentaries on the Sunday Gospels – Year A. Ed. Edith Barnecut\, OSB. \nNew York: New City Press\, 1992. 76-77.3 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/11975/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240602
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240603
DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240602T112609Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240602T112609Z
UID:11973-1717286400-1717372799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n9th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nJune 2 – 8\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n2\nMon\n3\nTue\n4\nWed\n5\nThu\n6\nFri\n7\nSat\n8\n\n\nOffice\nCorpus Christi\nSt Charles Lwanga & Companions\nWeekday\nSt Boniface\nSt Norbert\nSacred Heart of Jesus\nImmaculate Heart of Mary\n\n\nVigils\nNehemiah 9:9-21\nJudg 4:1-24\nJudg 5:1-31\nJudg 6:1-18\nJudg 6:19-40\nJerm 30:18-31:5\, 18-20\nJudg 7:1-22\n\n\nLauds\nWis 16:20-28\nAmos 1:6-10\nAmos 1:11-15\nAmos 2:1-5\nAmos 2:6-16\nEzek 36:22-28\nAmos 3:1-8\n\n\nMass\n168\n353\n354\n355\n356\n171\n358\, 573\n\n\n1st\nExod 24:3-8\n2 Pet 1:2-7\n2 Pet 3:12-15a\, 17-18\n2 Tim 1:1-3\, 6-12\n2 Tim 2:8-15\nHos 11:1\, 3-4\, 8c-9\n2 Tim 4:1-8\n\n\n2nd\nHeb 9:11-15\n\n\n\n\nEph 3:8-12\, 14-19\n\n\n\nGospel\nMark 14:12-16\, 22-26\nMark 12:1-12\nMark 12:13-17\nMark 12:18-27\nMark 12:28-34\nJohn 19:31-37\nLuke 2:41-51\n\n\nVespers\nHeb 9:18-22\nPhil 1:1-11\nPhil 1:12-18a\nPhil 1:18b-26\nRom 5:6-11\nRom 8:28-39\nPhil 1:27-30
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-71/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240601
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240602
DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240526T010445Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240526T010445Z
UID:11955-1717200000-1717286399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Justin Martyr
DESCRIPTION:ST JUSTIN MARTYR \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints \n◊◊◊ \nJustin was a Greek from Samaria who became Christian about the year \n115. He is the first notable Christian philosopher. He was born at Nablus in \nSamaria. He was not a Jew\, either by birth or by religion. He was a Greek and \nwas given a classical Greek education. He studied rhetoric\, poetry and history\, \nand then turned to philosophy\, searching\, as he himself said\, for the “vision of \nGod”. He traveled widely\, joining philosophy schools in Ephesus and \nAlexandria\, and he was attracted to the schools of the Stoics\, the Peripatetic’s \nand the Pythagoreans. In Platonism\, he found some of the answers to the \nquestions he was asking\, and he was trained in dialectic. \nOne day while walking by the seashore\, probably at Ephesus\, he met a \nrespectable old man who told him about the Hebrew prophets and Christianity. \nJustin wrote: “My spirit was immediately set on fire\, and an affection for the \nprophets and for those who are friends of Christ took hold of me. I discovered \nthat his was the only sure and useful philosophy.” \nIn Christianity he found the answer to his search. He taught at Ephesus. \nHe debated publicly with the Jews and the Gnostics and with those who \nworshipped the Roman gods. In about the year 150 he went to Rome where he \ntaught the Christian apologetics\, founded a school of philosophy and wrote his \nmajor works. Justin wrote an intellectual defense of Christian beliefs against \noutside attacks. \nHe is said to have lived a very ascetic and austere life. His pleasure was in \npublic debates. Justin’s fearless defense of Christianity and his thorough \ndemolition of his opponents must have made him many enemies.15 \nHis martyrdom took place in the reign of Marcus Aurelius\, and an \nauthentic record of the proceedings survives. He stated his beliefs\, refused to \nsacrifice to the Roman gods\, and accepted suffering and death as the means to \nsalvation. He was beheaded with six other Christians about the year 165.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-justin-martyr-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240531
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240601
DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240526T010321Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240526T010321Z
UID:11953-1717113600-1717199999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Visitation of BVM
DESCRIPTION:THE FULLNESS OF GRACE \nFrom the encyclical Redemptoris Mater by St John Paul II6 \n◊◊◊ \nImmediately after the narration of the Annunciation\, the Evangelist Luke \nguides us in the footsteps of the Virgin of Nazareth towards “a city of Judah”. \nMary arrived there “in haste”\, to visit Elizabeth her kinswoman. The reason for \nher visit is also to be found in the fact that at the Annunciation Gabriel had made \nspecial mention of Elizabeth\, who in her old age had conceived a son by her \nhusband Zechariah\, through the power of God… The divine messenger had \nspoken of what had been accomplished in Elizabeth in order to answer Mary’s \nquestion: “How shall this be\, since I have no husband?”. It is to come to pass \nprecisely through the “Power of the Most High”\, just as it happened in the case \nof Elizabeth\, and even more so. \nMoved by charity\, therefore\, Mary goes to the house of her kinswoman. \nWhen Mary enters\, Elizabeth replies to her greeting and feels the child leap in \nher womb\, and being “filled with the Holy Spirit” she greets Mary with a loud \ncry: “Blessed are you among women\, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” \n…. \nWhile every word of Elizabeth’s greeting is filled with meaning\, her final words\, \nwould seem to have fundamental importance: “And blessed is she who believed \nthat there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” \n. \nThese words can be linked with the title “full of grace” of the angel’s greeting. \nBoth of these texts reveal an essential Mariological content\, namely the truth \nabout Mary who has become really present in the mystery of Christ precisely \nbecause she “had believed”. The fullness of grace announced by the angel \nmeans the gift of God himself. Mary’s faith\, proclaimed by Elizabeth at the \nVisitation\, indicates how the Virgin of Nazareth responded to this gift… \n  \nIndeed\, at the Annunciation Mary entrusted herself to God completely\, \nwith the “full submission of intellect and will”\, manifesting “the obedience of \nfaith” to him who spoke to her through his messenger. She responded\, \ntherefore\, with all her human and feminine “I”…. By accepting this \nannouncement\, Mary was to become the “Mother of the Lord\,” and the divine \nmystery of the Incarnation was to be accomplished in her… Mary uttered this \nfiat in faith. In faith she entrusted herself to God without reserve and devoted \nherself totally as the handmaid of the Lord to the person and work of her son. \nAnd this Son – as the Fathers of the Church teach – she conceived in her \nmind before she conceived him in her womb: precisely in faith! Rightly \ntherefore does Elizabeth praise Mary: “And blessed is she who believed that \nthere would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” These \nwords have already been fulfilled: Mary of Nazareth presents herself at the \nthreshold of Elizabeth and Zechariah’s house as the Mother of the Son of God. \nThis is Elizabeth’s joyful discovery: “The mother of my Lord comes to me”. \n  \n6 Published by the United States Catholic Conference\, Washington\, DC; ’12ff.13 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-visitation-of-bvm-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240530
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240531
DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240526T010137Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240526T010137Z
UID:11951-1717027200-1717113599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
DESCRIPTION:THE POWER OF THE RISEN CHRIST \nFrom “The Mystery of Time” by Fr Jean Mouroux5 \n◊◊◊ \nChrist died to deliver us from the condemnation to eternal death and from \nthe fear which enslaves the sinner. He has conquered death\, the child of sin\, \nbecause he has conquered sin itself. He has undergone death to destroy it. He \nhas overcome this radical contradiction by elevating us to a participation in his \nrisen life\, in “life eternal.” Death has not yet been completely eradicated\, but it \nhas been completely transformed. Christ has delivered us all to the Cross \nbecause He\, the Head of mankind\, the Center of the redeemed universe\, the \nSavior\, “bore us all in Himself” during his sacrifice. Thus “if one died for all\, \nthen all were dead”\, and all are saved from the satanical power of death. It is \nlove\, not damnation\, which envelops us and restores us to God. It envelops us \nas individuals: “He loved me\, and delivered himself for me”; as members of the \nrace: he “loved us\, and has delivered himself for us”; and as members of the \nChurch: he “loved the Church\, and delivered himself up for it”. \nIt’s infinite blessing affects our personal life at baptism\, where with Christ \nwe “are dead to sin\, but alive to God”. The power of the Risen Christ dwells in \nus that “we may walk in the newness of life\,” that each day we may cast sin \nfarther away and crown our lives with the divine agape. The life of Christians in \ntime is a paradoxical one. They are dead to sin\, yet must die to it each day; they \nlive in God\, and must live for him each day; they are the battleground of an \neschatological struggle in which Christ the Conqueror faces the vanquished \ndevil\, that he may triumph once again in the freedom of a regenerated heart. By \nimmersing himself ever more deeply into baptism and Christ\, the Christian \ngrows with Christ and brings about his victory even in death. \nInsofar as he lives in Christ\, the Christian is totally enveloped by Christ \nboth before and after death. Before death\, Christ is the life-giving\, saving Lord. \nAfter death\, he calls\, judges\, purifies\, and transfigures the life he has given. Here \nbelow\, he communicates the seed of immortality\, especially in the Eucharist. \nUp above\, He will be the source of glory which will transform our soul and our \nbody. The Eternal One is present before and after death. So at our death Christ \nis present as the Savior who protects Christians from the last assault of the evil \none\, revives their flagging spirits\, and leads them from the time of testing to \ntheir eternal reward. \nChrist is the Mediator through whom and in whom every Christian \nexperiences death. Externally\, death still seems to be a terrible process of \nannihilation. But internally it is the mysterious maturation of the new creature \nin Jesus Christ. “This is the will of my Father who sent me: that every one who \nsees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life\, and I shall raise them on \nthe last day”…. \n  \n5 New York-Tournai-Paris-Rome\, 1964\, pp. 307-308.11 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-the-dead-11/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240529
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240530
DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240526T010024Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240526T010024Z
UID:11949-1716940800-1717027199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Paul VI
DESCRIPTION:ONE MUST KNOW HUMANITY \nIN ORDER TO KNOW GOD \nFrom a homily by St Pope Paul VI4 \n◊◊◊ \nGod is! God truly exists. He lives\, a personal\, provident God\, possessed of \nan infinite goodness. And indeed\, he is good\, not only in himself\, but most \nespecially also toward us. He is our creator\, our truth\, our happiness. Therefore\, \nwhen one strives\, as a human being\, to fix one’s mind and heart on God with \nthe self-emptying that leads to contemplation\, one engages in an activity of the \nsoul that can be considered the noblest and most perfect of all; it is an activity\, \nwe would say\, that countless fields of human endeavor in our day could and \nshould pursue to the highest level… \nHuman beings continually lament their lot. In the past and even now they \njudge others inferior to themselves\, and therefore\, can be continuously \noverbearing and secretive\, greedy\, and aggressive. Unhappy with themselves\, \nthey either laugh or weep… They are a worthy object of religious reflection on \naccount of the innocence of their infancy\, the mystery of their need\, and the \ntender love that their sorrows incite; initially they think only of themselves\, and \nonly later care for society at large. They praise times past and at the same time \nlong for what is to come\, dreaming that it will be happier than what went before; \non the one hand they can be guilty of terrible crimes and on the other show signs \nof a holy life. And so it goes on… \n  \nThe religion that is the worship of God who desired to become man\, and \na religion which is the worship of ‘man’ who wishes to become like God\, are \ncontinually in conflict with each other… \nSince this is how things are\, it is true to say that the Catholic religion and \nhuman life are united in a friendly alliance\, and that each works together with \nthe other for the common human good. The Catholic religion is on the side of \nthe human race\, and it is\, in a certain way\, the life of the human race. Indeed\, it \nshould be called ‘the life’ because of the sublime doctrine\, perfect from every \npoint of view\, which it gives us about humanity; it hands on this doctrine \nreliably because it has its knowledge from God. For in order for us deeply to \nknow humanity\, true humanity\, integral humanity\, it is necessary that we first \nknow God himself… \nLet us remember that the face of Christ\, the Son of Man\, is to be seen in \nevery human face\, especially one marked with tears and sorrows; and when we \nrecognize the face of the heavenly Father in the face of Christ\,—as he says\, \n“Whoever sees me\, sees the Father\,”—then our way of appraising human \nconcerns is transformed into Christianity\, which is completely centered on God. \nTherefore\, we can only describe things in this way: namely\, that in order that \nGod be known it is necessary to know the human person. Let us then strive to \nattain a love for the human person\, not as a means to an end\, but rather as a \nprimary end point\, by way of which we come to our final end which transcends \nall human realities. \n4 From the Homilies of Saint Paul VI\, Pope (At the last public session of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council\, December 7\, \n1965: AAS 58 [1966]\, 53\, 55-56\, 58-59)9 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-paul-vi/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240528
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240529
DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240526T005903Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240526T005903Z
UID:11947-1716854400-1716940799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:TRINITARIAN FAITH \nFrom the Catechism of the Catholic Church3 \n◊◊◊ \nFrom the beginning\, the revealed truth of the Holy Trinity has been at the \nvery root of the Church’s living faith\, principally by means of Baptism. It finds its \nexpression in the rule of baptismal faith\, formulated in the preaching\, catechesis\, \nand prayer of the Church. Such formulations are already found in the apostolic \nwritings\, such as this salutation taken up in the Eucharistic liturgy: “The grace of \nthe Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be \nwith you all.” \nDuring the first centuries the Church sought to clarify its Trinitarian faith\, \nboth to deepen its own understanding of the faith and to defend it against errors \nthat were deforming it. This clarification was the work of the early councils\, aided \nby the theological work of the Church Fathers and sustained by the Christian \npeople’s sense of the faith. \nThe Church uses the term “substance” (rendered also at times by “essence” \nor “nature”) to designate the divine being in its unity\, the term “person” or \n“hypostasis” to designate the Father\, Son\, and Holy Spirit in the real distinction \namong them\, and the term “relation” to designate the fact that their distinction \nlies in the relationship of each to the others. \nWe do not confess three Gods\, but one God in three persons\, the \n“consubstantial Trinity“. The divine persons do not share the one divinity among \nthemselves but each of them is God whole and entire: “The Father is that which \nthe Son is\, the Son that which the Father is\, the Father and the Son that which \n3 Catechism of the Catholic Church\, 1994\, Liberia Editrice Vaticana\, USCC\, pgs. 66-67.7 \nthe Holy Spirit is… by nature one God“. In the words of the Fourth Lateran \nCouncil: “Each of the persons is that supreme reality ” \n… \n“Father“\,”Son“\,”Holy Spirit” are not simply names designating modalities \nof the divine being\, for they are really distinct from one another: “He is not the \nFather who is the Son\, nor is the Son he who is the Father\, nor is the Holy Spirit \nhe who is the Father or the Son.” They are distinct from one another in their \nrelations of origin: “It is the Father who generates\, the Son who is begotten\, and \nthe Holy Spirit who proceeds.” The divine Unity is Trinity. \nBecause it does not divide the divine unity\, the real distinction of the \npersons from one another resides solely in the relationships which relate them to \none another: “In the relational names of the persons the Father is related to the \nSon\, the Son to the Father\, and the Holy Spirit to both. While they are called three \npersons in view of their relations\, we believe in one nature or substance.” Indeed \n“everything (in them) is one where there is no opposition of relationship.” \n…Inseparable in what they are\, the divine persons are also inseparable in what \nthey do. But within the single divine operation each shows forth what is proper \nto him in the Trinity\, especially in the divine missions of the Son’s Incarnation \nand the gift of the Holy Spirit.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-194/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240527T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240527T203000
DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240505T134558Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240505T134558Z
UID:11883-1716834600-1716841800@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:LCG Caritas Meeting
DESCRIPTION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87376092232?pwd=UDVxTHNJMnZEM2JUS0sycEwvcE9HZz09
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/lcg-caritas-meeting/
CATEGORIES:LCG Local Community Meetings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240527
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240528
DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240526T005801Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240526T005801Z
UID:11945-1716768000-1716854399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Augustine of Canterbury
DESCRIPTION:ST. AUGUSTINE\, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY \nFrom the writing of Alban Butler2 \n◊◊◊ \nWhen Pope St. Gregory the Great decided that the time had come for the \nevangelization of Anglo-Saxon England\, he chose as missionaries some thirty or more \nmonks from his monastery of St. Andrew… As their leader he gave them their own \nprior\, Augustine. The party set out from Rome in the year 596; but no sooner had \nthey arrived in Provence than they were assailed with warnings about the ferocity of \nthe Anglo-Saxons and the dangers of the Channel. Greatly discouraged\, they \npersuaded Augustine to return to Rome and obtain leave to abandon the enterprise. \nSt. Gregory\, however\, had received definite assurance that the English were well \ndisposed towards the Christian faith; he therefore sent Augustine back to his brethren \nwith words of encouragement which gave them heart to proceed on their way. \nThey landed in the Isle of Thanet in the territory of Ethelbert\, king of Kent\, who \nwas baptized at Pentecost 597. Almost immediately afterwards St. Augustine paid a \nvisit to France\, where he was consecrated bishop of the English by St. Virgilius\, \nmetropolitan of Arles. At Christmas of that same year\, many of Ethelbert’s subjects \nwere baptized… Augustine sent two of his monks\, Laurence and Peter\, to Rome to \ngive a full report of his mission\, to ask for more helpers and obtain advice on various \npoints. They came back bringing the pallium for Augustine and accompanied by a \nfresh band of missionaries\, amongst whom were St. Mellitus\, St. Justus and St. \nPaulinus. \nGregory outlined for Augustine the course he should take to develop a \nhierarchy for the whole country\, and both to him and to Mellitus gave very practical \ninstructions on other points. Pagan temples were not to be destroyed\, but were to be \npurified and consecrated for Christian worship. Local customs were as far as possible \nto be retained\, days of dedication and feasts of martyrs being substituted for heathen \nfestivals. \nIn Canterbury itself St. Augustine rebuilt an ancient church which\, with an old \nwooden house\, formed the nucleus for his metropolitan basilica and for the later \nmonastery of Christ Church. These buildings stood on the site of the present cathedral \nbegun by Lanfranc in 1070. Outside the walls of Canterbury he made a monastic \nfoundation\, which he dedicated in honour of St. Peter and St. Paul. After his death this \nabbey became known as St. Augustine’s\, and was the burial place of the early \narchbishops. \nCut off from much communication with the outside world\, the British church \nclung to certain usages at variance with those of the Roman tradition. St. Augustine \ninvited the leading ecclesiastics to meet him at some place just on the confines of \nWessex\, still known in Bede’s day as Augustine’s Oak. There he urged them to comply \nwith the practices of the rest of Western Christendom\, and more especially to co- \noperate with him in evangelizing the Anglo-Saxons. Fidelity to their local traditions\, \nhowever\, made them unwilling. A second conference proved a said failure. Because \nSt. Augustine failed to rise when they arrived\, the British bishops decided that he was \nlacking in humility and would neither listen to him nor acknowledge him as their \nmetropolitan. \nThe saint’s last years were spent in spreading and consolidating the faith \nthroughout Ethelbert’s realm\, and episcopal sees were established at London and \nRochester. About seven years after his arrival in England\, St. Augustine passed to his \nreward\, on May 26\, 605. \n2Butler’s Lives of Saints. Harper\, 1991\, pp. 158-159.5 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-augustine-of-canterbury-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11943-1716681600-1716767999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Holy Trinity Sunday
DESCRIPTION:WE ACKNOWLEDGE THE TRINITY \nA commentary by St Athanasius1 \n◊◊◊ \nIt will not be out of place to consider the ancient tradition\, teaching and \nfaith of the Catholic Church\, which was revealed by the Lord\, proclaimed by the \napostles\, and guarded by the fathers. For upon this faith the Church is built\, and \nif anyone were to lapse from it\, that person would no longer be a Christian either \nin fact or in name. \nWe acknowledge the Trinity\, holy and perfect\, to consist of the Father\, the \nSon\, and the Holy Spirit. In this Trinity there is no intrusion of any alien \nelement or of anything from outside\, nor is the Trinity a blend of creative and \ncreated being. It is a wholly creative and energizing reality\, self-consistent and \nundivided in its active power\, for the father makes all things through the Word \nand in the Holy Spirit\, and in this way the unity of the Holy Trinity is preserved. \nAccordingly in the Church\, one God is preached\, one God who is above all \nthings and through all things and in all things. God is above all things as \nFather\, for he is the principle and source; he is through all things through the \nWord; and he is in all things in the Holy Spirit. \nWriting to the Corinthians about spiritual matters\, Paul traces all reality \nback to the one God\, the Father\, saying: Now there are varieties of gifts\, but the \nsame Spirit; and varieties of service\, but the same Lord; and there are \nvarieties of working\, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone. \nEven the gifts that the Spirit dispenses to individuals are given by the \nFather through the Word. For all that belongs to the Father belongs also to the \nSon\, and so the graces given by the Son in the Spirit are true gifts of the Father. \nSimilarly\, when the Spirit dwells in us\, the Word who bestows the Spirit is in us \ntoo\, and the Father is present in the Word. This is the meaning of the text: My \nFather and I will come to him and make our home with him. For where the \nlight is\, there also is the radiance; and where the radiance is\, there too are its \npower and resplendent grace. \nThis is also Paul’s teaching in his Second Letter to the Corinthians: The \ngrace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the \nHoly Spirit be with you all. For grace and the gift of the Trinity are given by the \nFather through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Just as grace is given from the Father \nthrough the Son\, so there could be no communication of the gift to us except in \nthe Holy Spirit. But when we share in the Spirit\, we possess the love of the \nFather\, the grace of the Son\, and the fellowship of the Spirit himself. \n  \n1 A Word in Season – vol. III – Exordium Books – 1983 – pg 224.3 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-holy-trinity-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11938-1716681600-1716767999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n8th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nMay 26 – June 1\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n26\nMon\n27\nTue\n28\nWed\n29\nThu\n30\nFri\n31\nSat\n1\n\n\nOffice\nMost Holy Trinity\nSt Augustine of Canterbury\nWeekday\nSt Paul VI\nOffice for the Dead\nVisitation of the BVM\nSt Justin Martyr\n\n\nVigils\n1 Cor 2:1-16\nJudg 1:1-21\nJudg 1:22-36\nJudg 2:1-23\nJudg 3:1-11\nSong 2:8-14; 8:6-7\nJudg 3:12-31\n\n\nLauds\nSir 42:15-25\nJoel 2:18-19\, 23-27\nJoel 3:1-5\nJoel 4:1-3\, 11-16\nJoel 4:17-21\nZech 2:10-17\nAmos 1:1-5\n\n\nMass\n165\n347\n348\n349\n350\n351\n352\n\n\n1st\nDeut 4:32-34\, 39-40\n1 Pet 1:3-9\n1 Pet 1:10-16\n1 Pet 1:18-25\n1 Pet 2:2-5\, 9-12\n1 Pet 4:7-13\nJude 17\, 20b-25\n\n\n2nd\nRom 8:14-17\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 28:16-20\nMark 10:17-27\nMark 10:28-31\nMark 10:32-45\nMark 10:46-52\nMark 11:11-26\nMark 11:27-33\n\n\nVespers\n1 Jn 5:1-8\nGal 5:7-15\nGal 5:16-26\nGal 6:1-10\nGal 6:11-18\nGal 4:1-7\nActs 2:42-47
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-70/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11925-1716595200-1716681599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Bede the Venerable
DESCRIPTION:YOU TOO WILL BEAR WITNESS \nA homily from St Bede the Venerable7 \n◊◊◊ \nWe find from many places in the holy gospel that before the coming of the \nHoly Spirit\, the disciples were less capable of understanding the hidden \nmysteries of the divine sublimity and were less brave in tolerating the \nadversities brought on by human depravity. When the Spirit came upon them \nwith an increase of divine insight\, there was given them the constancy [needed] \nto overcome human persecution as well. Hence it is said to them now\, in the \nLord’s promise\, ‘When the Paraclete comes\, whom I shall send you from the \nFather\, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father\, he will bear witness \nabout me; and you too will bear witness’… \nThe Spirit\, upon his coming\, bore witness concerning the Lord. Breathing \ninto the hearts of the disciples\, he revealed to them by his bright light everything \nabout which mortals were to have knowledge concerning [the Lord]\, namely\, \nthat he was equal and of the same substance with the Father before the ages; \nthat he became of the same substance as we at the end of the ages; that he was \nborn of a virgin and lived in the world without sin; that he went forth from the \nworld when he wished and by the kind of death that he wished; that by rising \nfrom the dead he truly destroyed death and raised up the true flesh in which he \nhad suffered\, and at his ascension took it up into heaven\, and established it at \nthe right hand of his Father’s glory; that all the writings of the prophets bear \nwitness to him; that the confession of his name was to be extended even to the \nend of the earth\, and that the rest of the mysteries of his faith were unlocked for \nhis disciples by the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Nor was whatever they \n7 Bede the Venerable. Homilies on the Gospels: Book Two – Lent to the Dedication of \nthe Church. Trans. Lawrence T. Martin and David Hurst\, OSB. Kalamazoo\, MI: \nCistercian Publications\, 1991. 149-151.15 \ncorrectly discerned conceded to them alone by the gift of the Spirit\, but also to \nall who believe in the Lord through their word. \n‘He’\, Jesus says\, ‘will bear witness concerning me\, and you will bear \nwitness’. Once they had put aside their initial fear\, they ministered outwardly \nby telling others what they had received inwardly by the Spirit’s teaching. The \nSpirit himself both illumined their hearts by knowledge of the truth\, and by the \npreeminence of his power roused them to teach what they knew. Hence in \nIsaiah the Spirit is rightly called ‘of strength and knowledge’. He is indeed the \nSpirit of knowledge\, since it is by his help that we rightly acknowledge what we \nmust do and even think; he is also the Spirit of strength\, since it is by his help \nthat we receive [the strength] to carry out what we know well that we should do\, \nlest we be driven away by some adversity from the good deeds we have begun… \nHe who warned them ahead of time that the hour of persecution would \ncome is the one who\, a little later\, pledged his help to his faithful in the \npersecution\, saying\, ‘You will have distress in the world; but have confidence; \nI have overcome the world’. He elsewhere promised the crown of life to those \nwho are sincerely engaged in strife\, saying\, ‘Blessed are those who suffer \npersecution for the sake of justice\, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-bede-the-venerable-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11923-1716508800-1716595199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:BUILT ON THE COMMON LIFE \nBy Baldwin of Ford6 \n◊◊◊ \nIt is by no slight or mean or ordinary authority that the institution of the \ncommon life is supported and sustained. The primitive Church was built on the \ncommon life\, and the infancy of the newborn Church began with the common \nlife. It is from the Apostles themselves that the common life has received its \nform and expression\, its title of honor\, the privilege of its high position\, the \ntestimony of its authority\, the protection which defends it\, and the foundation \nof its hope. \nIt was the Apostles who were established by God as princes over all the \nearth; princes of the people\, gathered together with the God of Abraham; strong \ngods of the earth who are exceedingly exalted; friends of God\, who are greatly \nhonored and whose principality is greatly strengthened; nobles of heaven\, \njudges of the earth\, to whom was made the promise that they should sit on \ntwelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel; members of the [celestial] \nsenate\, who receive swords in their hands to execute vengeance upon the \nnations and chastisements upon the people\, to bind their kings with fetters and \ntheir nobles with manacles of iron\, to execute upon them the prescribed \njudgement. \nSuch men as these\, so powerful and so noble\, were clothed in virtue from \nabove\, and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit they undertook to observe the \ncommon life. They confirmed it by their example\, sanctioned it by their conduct\, \nand handed it down to us so that we might also keep it. Thus\, through the \ncommon life\, we who are set upon the earth can begin to be fashioned in the \n6 From Tractate 15 on the Cenobitic or Common Life\, by Baldwin of Ford (CF 41:156-157).13 \nlikeness of the angels of God\, for in the eternal life to come\, we shall be united \nwith them as their like and their equal. The common life was instituted by \ncelestial models; it was brought down from heaven and adopted by us from the \nheavenly way of life of the holy angels. \nIf the fact that the common life came down from the angels of God to the \nApostles and from the Apostles to us is still not sufficient to recommend it to \nyou\, then there is a further factor which we can add\, something beyond all \npraise: the common life flowed out from the Fount of Life itself. I am speaking \nnow of that fount of which it is written\, With you is the fount of life\, and in your \nlight we shall see light. The common life\, then\, is a sort of radiance from the \neternal light\, a sort of emanation from the eternal life\, a sort of effluence from \nthe everlasting fountain\, from which flow living waters\, springing up into \neternal life.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-193/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11921-1716422400-1716508799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT \nFrom a commentary by St Augustine5 \n◊◊◊ \nThe happy day has dawned for us on which Holy Church makes her first \nradiant appearance to the eyes of faith and sets the hearts of believers on fire. It \nis the day on which we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit by our Lord Jesus \nChrist\, after he had risen from the dead and ascended into glory. In the gospel it is \nwritten: If anyone is thirsty\, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me\, \nrivers of living water shall flow from his heart. The Evangelist explains these words \nby adding: Jesus said this about the Spirit which those who believed in him were to \nreceive. For the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified. \nNow the glorification of Jesus took place when he rose from the dead and ascended \ninto heaven\, but all was not yet accomplished. The Holy Spirit still had to be given; \nthe one who made the promise had to send him. This is precisely what occurred \nat Pentecost. \nAfter being in the company of his disciples for the forty days following his \nresurrection\, the Lord ascended into heaven\, and on the fiftieth day – the day we \nare now celebrating – he sent the Holy Spirit. The account is given in Scripture: \nSuddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind\, and there \nappeared to them tongues like fire which separated and came to rest on each one of \nthem. And they began to speak in other tongues\, as the Holy Spirit gave them power \nof utterance. That wind cleansed the disciples’ hearts\, blowing away fleshly \nthoughts like so much chaff. The fire burnt up their unregenerate desires as if they \nwere straw. The tongues in which they spoke as the Holy Spirit filled them were a \n5 Journey with the Fathers: Commentaries on the Sunday Gospels – Year A. Ed. Edith Barnecut\, OSB. \nNew York: New City Press\, 1992. 72-73.11 \nforeshadowing of the Church’s preaching of the Gospel in the tongues of all \nnations. \nAfter the flood\, in pride and defiance of the Lord\, an impious generation \nerected a high tower and so brought about the division of the human race into \nmany language groups\, each with its own peculiar speech which was unintelligible \nto the rest of the world. At Pentecost\, by contrast\, the humble piety of believers \nbrought all these diverse languages into the unity of the Church. What discord had \nscattered\, love was to gather together. Like the limbs of a single body\, the \nseparated members of the human race would be restored to unity by being joined \nto Christ\, their common head\, and welded into the oneness of a holy body by the \nfire of love. Anyone therefore who rejects the gift of peace and withdraws from \nthe fellowship of this unity cuts himself off from the gift of the Holy Spirit. \nSo then\, my fellow members of Christ’s body\, you are the fruits of unity and \nthe children of peace. Keep this day with joy\, celebrate it in freedom of spirit\, for \nin you is fulfilled what was foreshadowed in those days when the Holy Spirit came. \nAt that time whoever received the Holy Spirit spoke in many languages\, individual \nthough he was. Now in the same way unity itself speaks through all nations in \nevery tongue. If you yourselves are established in that unity you have the Holy \nSpirit among you\, and nothing can separate you from the Church of Christ which \nspeaks in the language of every nation of the world.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-12/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11919-1716336000-1716422399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE AIM OF OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE \nA conversation between St Seraphim of Sarov and his spiritual son4 \n◊◊◊ \n“The Lord has revealed to me\,” began the great elder\, “that in your \nchildhood you longed to know the aim of our Christian life… But no one has \ngiven you a precise answer… Prayer\, fasting\, watching\, and all other Christian \nacts\, however good they may be\, do not alone constitute the aim of our Christian \nlife\, although they serve as the indispensable means of reaching this aim. The \ntrue aim of our Christian life\, is to acquire the Holy Spirit of God…” \n“How do you mean acquire?” I asked Father Seraphim… \n“To acquire is the same as to gain\,” he answered. “You understand what \nacquiring money means. Acquiring God’s Spirit\, it’s all the same… Acquire\, my \nson\, the grace of the Holy Spirit by all the other virtues in Christ; trade in those \nthat are most profitable to you… Thus\, if prayer and watching give you more of \nGod’s grace\, pray and watch; if fasting gives much of God’s Spirit\, fast; if \nalmsgiving gives more\, give alms. In such manner decide about every virtue in \nChrist… \nWhen our Lord Jesus Christ had accomplished the whole work of \nsalvation\, after His resurrection\, He breathed on the Apostles to restore the \nbreath of life which had been lost by Adam\, and gave them that same grace of \nthe Holy Spirit of God which had been Adam’s. On the day of Pentecost He \ntriumphantly sent down on them the Holy Spirit in the rushing of a mighty wind \nlike tongues of fire\, which sat upon each one of them and entered in and filled \nthem with the strength of Divine flame-like grace; whose breath is laden with \n4 The Spiritual Instructions of Saint Seraphim of Sarov. Ed. Franklin Jones. Los Angeles: The Dawn \nHorse Press\, 1973. 41-44\, 46-48\, 50.9 \ndew\, and it creates joy in the souls partaking of its power and influence. And\, \nwhen this same fire-inspired grace of the Holy Spirit is given to all the faithful \nin Christ in the sacrament of Holy Baptism\, they seal it in the chief places \nappointed by the Holy Church on our flesh\, as the eternal vessel of this grace… \nIf we were never to sin after our baptism\, we should remain forever holy\, \nspotless\, exempt from all foulness of flesh and spirit\, like the saints of God. But \nthe trouble is that\, though we increase in stature\, we do not increase in the grace \nand mind of God\, as our Lord Jesus Christ increased; but on the contrary\, \ngrowing dissipated bit by bit\, we are deprived of the grace of God’s Holy Spirit \nand become sinners of many degrees and many sins. \nBut\, when a man\, stirred by the Divine Wisdom which seeks our salvation\, \nis resolved for her sake to rise early before God and keep watch for the \nattainment of his eternal salvation\, then must he in obedience to her voice \nhasten to repent truly of all his sins and to perfect the virtues that are their \ncontrary\, and thus by virtuous acts done for Christ’s sake to acquire the Holy \nSpirit\, which works in us and sets up in us the kingdom of God. \nNotwithstanding man’s repeated falls\, notwithstanding the darkness around \nthe soul\, the grace of the Holy Spirit… shines still in the heart with the Divine \nimmemorial light of the precious merits of Christ. When the sinner turns to the \nway of repentance\, this Christ-Light smooths out all trace of past sin and clothes \nthe former sinner once more in a robe of incorruption woven from the grace of \nthe Holy Spirit…
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-192/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11917-1716249600-1716335999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:BEARING WITNESS TO THE TRUTH \nFrom the Document on Religious Freedom of the Second Vatican Council3 \n◊◊◊ \nWhen Christ completed on the cross the work of redemption whereby he \nachieved salvation and true freedom for all\, he brought his revelation to \ncompletion. For he bore witness to the truth\, but he refused to impose the truth \nby force on those who spoke against it. Not by force of blows does his rule assert \nits claims. It is established by witnessing to the truth and by hearing the truth\, \nand it extends its dominion by the love whereby Christ\, lifted up on the cross\, \ndraws everyone to himself. \nTaught by the word and example of Christ\, the apostles followed the same \nway. From the very origins of the church the disciples of Christ strove to convert \nothers to faith in Christ as Lord; not\, however\, by the use of coercion or of \ndevices unworthy of the gospel\, but by the power\, above all\, of the word of God. \nSteadfastly they proclaimed to all the plan of God our Savior\, “who wills that \nall should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” At the same time\, \nhowever\, they showed respect for those of weaker stuff\, even though they were \nin error\, and thus they made it plain that “each one of us is to render an account \nto God\,” and for that reason is bound to obey one’s conscience. \nLike Christ himself\, the apostles were unceasingly bent upon bearing \nwitness to the truth of God\, and they showed the fullest measure of boldness in \n“speaking the word with confidence” before the people and their rulers. With a \nfirm faith they held that the gospel is indeed the power of God unto salvation \nfor all who believe. Therefore they rejected all “carnal weapons”: they followed \nthe example of the gentleness and respectfulness of Christ and they preached \n3 see Christian Readings\, vol. IV\, p.227.7 \nthe word of God in the full confidence that there was resident in this world itself \na divine power able to destroy all the forces arrayed against God and bring all \npeople to faith in Christ and to his service. As the Master\, so too the apostles \nrecognized legitimate civil authority. “For there is no power except from God\,” \nthe Apostle teaches\, and thereafter commands: “Let everyone be subject to \nhigher authorities…He who resists authority resists God’s ordinance.” \nAt the same time\, however\, they did not hesitate to speak out against \ngoverning powers which set themselves in opposition to the holy will of God: “It \nis necessary to obey God rather than men.” This is the way along which the \nmartyrs and other faithful have walked through all ages and over all the earth.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-191/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11915-1716163200-1716249599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Mary Mother of the Church
DESCRIPTION:MARY’S EDUCATION AS MOTHER OF THE CHURCH \nFrom the writing of Hans Urs von Balthasar2 \n◊◊◊ \nAt first it was the Mother who introduced the Son into the Old Covenant \nand thereby trained him for his messianic office. However\, it was not she but \nhis own knowledge of the Father’s mission in the Holy Spirit that showed him \nwho he was and what he had to do. The relationship is thus reversed: from now \non it is the Son who educates the Mother for the greatness of his task\, cultivating \nin her the maturity she needs to stand under the Cross and\, finally\, to receive\, \nat prayer within the Church\, the universal gift of the Holy Spirit. \nFrom the very outset\, this education reflects Simeon’s prophecy that a \nsword would pierce the Mother’s soul. It is a pitiless process. All the episodes \nhanded down for us are more or less brusque rejections. It is not as though \nJesus had been disobedient for thirty years; we have an explicit affirmation to \nthe contrary. However\, the merely physical relationship to which faith was so \nintimately tied in the Old Testament is sovereignly\, ruthlessly forced open. \nHenceforth faith in Jesus\, the incarnate Word of God\, is the only thing that \ncounts… \nThe scene in which Jesus\, teaching those gathered around him in a certain \nhouse\, refuses to receive the visit of his Mother\, who is standing outside\, seems \nalmost unbearable to us. “Here are my mother and my brethren! Whoever does \nthe will of God is my brother\, and sister\, and mother”. Jesus means her more \nthan anyone\, though he does not mention her by name. Yet who understands \nhis meaning? Did Mary herself understand it? We have to accompany Mary in \nspirit as she makes her way home and try to imagine her state of mind. The \n2 Hans Urs Von Balthasar and Pope Benedict XVI. Mary: The Church at the Source. Trans. Adrian \nWalker. San Francisco: Ignatius Press\, 2005. 107-110.5 \nsword gnaws at her soul; she feels as if bereft of her inmost self\, as if the point \nof her life has been drained away. Her faith\, which at the beginning received so \nmany sensible confirmations\, is plunged into a dark night. It is as if the Son\, \nwho sends her no news about what he is doing\, has run away from her\, yet she \ncannot simply let him go away: she has to accompany him\, full of dread\, in her \nnight of faith… \nThe purpose of this constant training in the naked faith Mary will need \nunder the Cross is often insufficiently understood; people are astonished and \nembarrassed by the way in which Jesus treats his Mother\, whom he addresses \nboth in Cana and at the Cross only as “woman”. He himself is the first one to \nwield the sword that must pierce her. But how else would she have become \nready to stand by the Cross\, where not only her Son’s earthly failure\, but also \nhis abandonment by the God who sends him is revealed. She must finally say \nYes to this\, too\, because she consented a priori to her child’s whole destiny. And \nas if to fill her bitter chalice to the brim\, the dying Son expressly abandons his \nMother\, withdrawing from her and foisting on her another son: “Woman\, \nbehold\, your son”. This gesture is usually understood primarily as evidencing \nJesus’ concern about where his Mother will live after he is gone… This must not\, \nhowever\, lead us to overlook a second motif: just as the Son is abandoned by \nthe Father\, so\, too\, he abandons his Mother\, so that the two of them may be \nunited in a common abandonment. Only thus does she become inwardly ready \nto take on ecclesial motherhood toward all of Jesus’ new brothers and sisters.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-mary-mother-of-the-church-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240519T080000
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DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240518T203650Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240518T203650Z
UID:11913-1716105600-1716138000@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Pentecost Sunday
DESCRIPTION:THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD \nHAS FILLED THE WHOLE EARTH \nA commentary by St Aelred of Rievaulx1 \n◊◊◊ \nToday’s holy solemnity puts new heart into us. For not only do we revere \nits dignity\, we also experience it as delightful. On this feast it is Love that we \nspecially honor\, and among human beings there is no word pleasanter to the \near\, no thought more tenderly dwelt on\, than love. The Love we celebrate is \nnothing other than the goodness\, kindness and charity of God\, for God himself \nis goodness\, kindness and charity. His goodness is identical with his Spirit\, with \nGod himself. \nIn his work of disposing of all things the Spirit of the Lord has filled the \nwhole world from the beginning\, reaching from end to end of the earth in \nstrength and delicately disposing everything; but as sanctifier the Spirit of the \nLord has filled the whole world since Pentecost\, for on this day the gracious \nSpirit himself is sent by the Father and the Son on a new mission\, in a new \nmode\, by a new manifestation of his mighty power\, for the sanctification of \nevery creature. Before this day\, the Spirit had not been given\, for Jesus was not \nyet glorified\, but today he came forth from his heavenly throne to give himself \nin all his abundant riches to the human race\, so that the divine outpouring \nmight pervade the whole wide world and be manifested in a variety of spiritual \nendowments. \nIt is surely right that this overflowing delight should come down to us \nfrom heaven\, since it was heaven that a few days earlier received from our fertile \nearth a fruit of wonderful sweetness. When has our land ever yielded a fruit \nmore pleasant\, sweeter\, holier\, or more delectable? Indeed\, faithfulness has \nsprung from the earth. A few days ago we sent Christ on ahead to the heavenly \nkingdom\, so that in all fairness we might have in return whatever heaven held \nthat should be sweet to our desire. The full sweetness of earth is Christ’s \nhumanity. The full sweetness of heaven Christ’s Spirit. Thus a more profitable \nbargain was struck: Christ’s human nature ascended from us to heaven\, and on \nus today Christ’s Spirit has come down. \nNow indeed\, the Spirit of the Lord has filled the whole earth\, and all \ncreation recognizes his voice. Everywhere the Spirit is at work\, everywhere he \nspeaks. To be sure\, the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples before our Lord’s \nascension when he said\, Receive the Holy Spirit; if you forgive anyone’s sins\, \nthey are forgiven; if you declare them unforgiven\, unforgiven they remain; \nbut before the day of Pentecost the Spirit’s voice was still in a sense unheard. \nHis power had not yet leaped forth\, nor had the disciples truly come to know \nhim\, for they were not yet confirmed by his might; they were still in the grip of \nfear\, cowering behind closed doors. \nFrom this day onward\, however\, the voice of the Lord has resounded over \nthe waters; the God of majesty has thundered and the Lord makes his voice \necho over the flood. From now on the voice of the Lord speaks with strength\, \nthe voice of the Lord in majesty\, the voice of the Lord fells the cedars\, the voice \nof the Lord strikes the desert\, stirring the wilderness of Kadesh\, the voice of the \nLord strips the forest bare\, and all will cry out\, ‘Glory’! \n  \n1 Journey with the Father – Year B – New City Press – 1999 – pg 64.3 \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-pentecost-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20240518T203435Z
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UID:11911-1716076800-1716163199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n7th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nMay 19 – 25\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n19\nMon\n20\nTue\n21\nWed\n22\nThu\n23\nFri\n24\nSat\n25\n\n\nOffice\nPentecost Sunday\nMary Mother of the Church\nEaster Weekday\nEaster Weekday\nOffice for Vocations\nEaster Weekday\nSt Bede the Venerable\n\n\nVigils\n* Special Vigil\nJosh 11:1-23\nJosh 22:1-20\nJosh 22:21-34\nJosh 23:1-16\nJosh 24:1-15\nJosh 24:16-33\n\n\nLauds\nJoel 3:1-5\nJoel 1:1-8\nJoel 1:9-12\nJoel 1:13-20\nJoel 2:1-6\nJoel 2:7-11\nJoel 2:12-17\n\n\nMass\n63\nBVM Lect pg 118-138\n342\n343\n344\n345\n346\n\n\n1st\nActs 2:1-11\nGen:3:9-15\, 20\nJas 4:1-10\nJas 4:13-17\nJas 5:1-6\nJas 5:9-12\nJas 5:13-20\n\n\n2nd\nGal 5:16-25\nPsalm 87[86]: 1-2\, 3+5\, 6-7\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 15:26-27; 16:12-15\nJohn 19:25-34\nMark 9:30-37\nMark 9:38-40\nMark 9:41-50\nMark 10:1-12\nMark 10:13-16\n\n\nVespers\nRom 8:22-27\nGal 3:23-29\nGal 4:1-11\nGal 4:12-20\nGal 4:21-31\nGal 5:1-6\nRom 11:33-36\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n*1) Gen 11:1-9 2) Exod 19:3-8a\, 16-20 3) Ezek 36:16-28 4) Acts 2:1-11 5) Rom 8:5-27
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-69/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240518T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240518T160000
DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240319T152611Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240319T152611Z
UID:11716-1716040800-1716048000@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Cleveland LCG Meeting
DESCRIPTION:May 18\, 2024 at 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm \nSt. Martin of Tours in Valley City \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/cleveland-lcg-meeting-7/
CATEGORIES:LCG Local Community Meetings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240518
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240519
DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240511T200743Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240511T200743Z
UID:11904-1715990400-1716076799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Easter Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE ASCENSION AND CHRISTIAN PRAYER\nBy Thomas Merton 7\n◊◊◊\nAt the Ascension\, in the sight of the disciples\, “the nature of humankind\nsoared above the dignity of all the creatures of heaven” and “there was to be\nno limit to the advancement of Christ’s humanity until\, seated together with\nthe eternal Father\, it might share enthroned the glory of Him whose nature it\nshared in the son.” And of course\, the Fathers never ceased to remind their\nhearers that this same humanity of Christ which was enthroned with the Father\nin the divine glory\, was to return and judge the world. “He set a limit to His\nbodily presence\, and would remain at the right hand of the Father until He\nshould return in the same flesh in which He had ascended.” Monastic prayer is\neschatological and is centered on the expectation of the Parousia\, the advent of\nthe “immortal and invisible King of ages” who is both “God alone” and the\nChrist\, our Redeemer and Liberator… \nSt Leo says that with Christ’s ascension into heaven we have recovered\npossession of paradise\, and not only that\, “we have even penetrated\, in Christ\,\ninto the height of heaven\,” we have been enthroned with Him because we are\n“one Body” with Him. This is the reason why we should rejoice at His going to\nthe Father… He is not separated from us unless we choose to remain bound to\nthe earth by our passions. In contemplation we experience\, at least obscurely\,\nsomething of this mystery of our union with Him now in heaven. \nThis has important implications for the life of prayer. The life of the monk\,\nbeing that of a Christian\, is a way of living in heaven. While living bodily in exile\nand in his earthly pilgrimage\, the monk is already spiritually in paradise and in\nheaven where he has ascended with Christ. That is to say\, although he is not\nphysically present in heaven\, he is free to come and go there as he pleases\, in\nspirit\, in prayer\, in faith\, in thanksgiving\, praise and love\, because he already\n“is” there mystically in Christ. “Let us therefore\, exult with a worthy and\nspiritual joy\, happy before God in thanksgiving\, and let us lift up the free eyes\nof our heart to that height where Christ is.”… \nChrist has made us His friends by making known to us “the joys of interior\ncharity and the festival of the heavenly country which He daily makes present\nin our minds by the desire of love.” And St Gregory explains that this loving\nknowledge of heavenly things is very real indeed\, no mere fancy: “for when\,\nhearing of heavenly things\, we love them\, we already know the things we love\,\nfor our love itself is a way of knowing.” It is by the charity of Christ in our\nhearts that we “are in heaven” and know the things of heaven. \n7\n“The Humanity of Christ in Monastic Prayer”\, Monastic Studies 2\, 1964\, 11-13.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/easter-weekday-11/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20240511T200301Z
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UID:11902-1715904000-1715990399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Easter Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE MYSTERIES OF GLORY\nBy Fr Jean Danielou 6\n◊◊◊\nThe Apostles’ Creed contains a noteworthy passage in which\,\ngrammatically speaking\, we move from the past to the future: “He ascended\ninto the heavens\, to be seated at the right hand of God. He will come again to\njudge the living and the dead.” Thus the mysteries of Christ are not completed\nwith the ascension. There is still another mystery to come\, that of the Parousia.\nBetween these two there is a mystery which is\, in the present\, that of the session\nat the right hand. So there is a mystery of Christ with which we are\ncontemporary that corresponds to that moment of sacred history\, which\nbelongs to us\, which constitutes the present activity of the Word.\nHere we find\, in the mysteries of glory\, the order which we ascertained in\nthe mysteries of darkness. Through the ascension the humanity of Christ was\nexalted above every creature and was introduced by the Word into the\ninaccessible sanctuary of the Trinity. But the humanity of Christ tends to attract\neverything else to it. “If only I am lifted up from the earth\, I will attract all\npeoples to myself.” Christ has only entered the heavenly sanctuary as a\nforerunner. The presence of his humanity in the sphere of the Trinity is the\nguarantee of the possibility that is henceforth ours to attain. The impassible gulf\nis henceforth overcome; the impossible has become possible. In a suitable\nimage\, the epistle to the Hebrews shows the humanity of Christ as cast like an\nanchor\, not into the depths of the sea\, but into the far places of heaven\, laying\nthe foundation of our hope that we shall in our turn attain to the anchorage\nbeyond the veil. \nThus there is\, henceforth\, in the heart of each person an ascensional\npower that lifts it up and draws it towards the Father\, that “gravity” of love of\nwhich Augustine spoke\, and which counteracts the “gravity” of the flesh. This\nis the meaning of the era of the Church\, in which Christ\, having entered into the\nglory of the Father\, seeks to lift up humanity as a whole. By this means the\nmovement is completed which began at the Incarnation\, when the Word of God\ncame to seek for mankind\, but in order to lead it back to the Father. This is why\nwe are told\, “he has mounted up on high; he has captured his spoil; he has\nbrought gifts. And he who so went down is no other than he who has gone up\,\nhigh above all the heavens to fill creation with his presence.” And truly this\nhumanity is a mighty weight to raise. Its gravity resists grace. That is the whole\ndrama of the present period in sacred history. But the power of the Word is\ngreater than our resistance. \n6\nJean Danielou\, Christ and Us\, New York: Sheed and Ward\, pp. 155-159.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/easter-weekday-10/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240516
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240517
DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240511T195653Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240511T195653Z
UID:11900-1715817600-1715903999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Easter Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE LIGHT OF THE LORD’S MERCIES\nFrom a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux 5\n◊◊◊\nAll of you know what is good\, the way on which to proceed\, and how you\nought to proceed along it. But you do not have a single will. For in all the\nexercises of this way and this life\, some not only walk but also run\, or rather fly;\nso that to them their vigils seem brief\, their foods sweet\, their clothing soft\, and\ntheir labors not only bearable but even appealing. Others\, however\, are not like\nthis. Instead with withered hearts and rebellious dispositions\, scarcely are they\ndragged to these exercises\, scarcely are they compelled by fear of hell. Wretched\nand woebegone\, they share in our tribulation but not in our consolation. Is the\nhand of the Lord shortened so that he cannot give to everyone when he opens\nhis hand and fills every living creature with his blessing? What then is the\nreason? \nClearly it is this\, that they do not see Christ when he is taken up from\nthem; in other words\, they do not ponder how he left them orphans\, that they\nare pilgrims and strangers on earth\, that as long as they are still held in the\nfrightful prison of the body\, they cannot be with Christ. Further\, if people of this\ntype have remained under a burden for a long time\, they are overwhelmed and\nsink down\, or else they are in a sort of hell\, so that they never breathe fully in\nthe light of the Lord’s mercies and in the Spirit’s freedom which alone makes\nour yoke easy and our burden light. \nThe source of such a pernicious lukewarmness is that their inclination\,\nthat is\, their will\, has not yet been purified. Gravely diverted and allured by their\nown craving\, they do not choose the good as they know it. They are fond of little\nearthly consolations for their flesh\, whether in word\, or in sign\, or in deed\, or in\nanything else. If they sometimes take a break from these things\, they do not\nwholly break with them. Hence their inclinations are rarely directed toward\nGod\, and their compunction is not constant\, but intermittent. Now a soul\nsubject to these distractions cannot be satisfied with the Lord’s visitations. The\nmore it is emptied of the distractions\, the more fully will it be satisfied by the\nvisitations. If it is greatly emptied\, it will be greatly satisfied; if it is barely\nemptied\, it will be barely satisfied. Surely if you examine further\, one can never\nbe mixed with the other for all eternity. When the oil did not meet with an empty\nvessel\, it had to stop flowing. New wine is put only in new wineskins so that both\nmay be preserved. So too spirit and flesh\, fire and lukewarmness\, do not abide\nin the same domicile\, especially since lukewarmness is wont to provoke the Lord\nhimself to vomit. \n5 Sermons for the Summer Season – Bernard of Clairvaux – CF53 – Cistercian Publications – pg 39 – Kalamazoo\, MI –\n1991.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/easter-weekday-9/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240515
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240516
DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240511T195212Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240511T195212Z
UID:11898-1715731200-1715817599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:St. Pachomius
DESCRIPTION:OUR RIGHTEOUS FATHER PACHOMIUS\nFrom “The Life of Pachomius” 4\n◊◊◊\nTheodore began to tell the brothers of the life of our father Pachomius\nfrom his childhood on and of all the labors he underwent from the beginning\nwhen he established the holy Koinonia. He told them of the temptations of\ndemons and how he snatched away from them the souls which the Lord gave\nhim and of the revelations which the Lord disclosed to him. And he told them\neverything he had heard from that saint’s mouth as well as those things he had\nseen with his own eyes. \nHe spoke to them as follows:\n‘Listen to me\, my brothers\, and understand well the things I am telling\nyou. For the man whom we are exalting is truly the father of us all after God.\nGod established a covenant with him to save a great many souls by means of\nhim. And us also the Lord has saved through his holy prayers. For he — I am\nspeaking of our righteous father Pachomius–is also one of the holy people of\nGod and one who did his will always and everywhere. I am fearful that we may\nforget his labors and actually be unmindful of who it was who made this\nmultitude one spirit and one body. It was accomplished by means of him and\nof our other holy fathers who aided him in the establishment of this holy\ninstitution. We believe that the blessing of our father will remain with us and\nwith those who come after us before God forever. Now then\, let us not be\nnegligent and forget his laws and his commandments\, which he gave us while\nhe was still with us in the body.’ \n‘Pachomius pursued in its entirety the way of life of the prophets and the\nway of service in which\, according to the Gospel\, our Lord walked. He was\nwithout blame before all\, as you yourselves bear witness. You are also not\nunaware how he used to teach us frequently with tears\, as Paul said in the book\nof the Acts of those whom he was teaching. You know how he used to gather us\ntogether daily and speak to us about the holy commandments so that we might\nobserve each of the commandments in the holy Scriptures of Christ\, and how\nhe used first to put them into practice before giving them to us. It is through\nour contact with such a righteous man that we have learned the will of God even\nin such details as the manner of stretching our hands upward to the Lord and\nhow one should pray to God. It is he who taught it to us. Is it not right for us to\nbless him next after the Lord who created us? Indeed\, did God not say to\nAbraham\, who had done his will\, I will bless him who blesses you and I will\ncurse him who curses you? Now then\, my brothers\, let us all say\, “Blessed be\nGod and our righteous father Pachomius who through the labors of his\nprayers has become for us a guide to eternal life”‘. \n4 Pachomian Koinonia\, Vol One\, Trans.\, Armand Veilleux\, Kalamazoo\, 1980; pp 237-8.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/st-pachomius-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240511T194723Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240511T194723Z
UID:11896-1715644800-1715731199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:St. Matthias
DESCRIPTION:OUR VERY GLORY IS OUR WARNING\nBy St John Henry Newman on the feast of St Matthias 3\n◊◊◊\nThis is the only Saint’s day which is to be celebrated with mingled feelings\nof joy and pain. It records the fall as well as the election of an Apostle. St.\nMatthias was chosen in place of the traitor Judas. In the history of the latter we\nhave the warning recorded in very deed\, which our Lord in the text gives us in\nword\, “Hold that fast which thou hast\, that no man take thy crown.” And\ndoubtless many were the warnings such as this\, addressed by our Lord to the\nwretched man who in the end betrayed him. \nThe reflection which rises in the mind on a consideration of the election\nof St. Matthias\, is this: how easily God may affect His purposes without us\, and\nput others in our place\, if we are disobedient to Him. It often happens that those\nwho have long been in His favor grow secure and presuming. They think their\nsalvation certain\, and their service necessary to Him who has graciously\naccepted it. Now\, this feeling of self-importance is repressed all through the\nScriptures\, and especially by the events we commemorate today. \nWhat solemn overpowering thoughts must have crowded on St. Matthias\,\nwhen he received the greetings of the eleven Apostles\, and took his seat among\nthem as their brother! His very election was a witness against himself if he did\nnot fulfill it. And such surely will ours be in our degree. We take the place of\nothers who have gone before\, as Matthias did; we are “baptized for the dead\,”\nfilling up the ranks of soldiers\, some of whom\, indeed\, have fought a good fight\,\nbut many of whom in every age have made void their calling. Many are called\,\nfew are chosen. The monuments of sin and unbelief are set up around us. The\ncasting away of the Jews was the reconciling of the Gentiles. The fall of one\nnation is the conversion of another. The Church loses old branches and gains\nnew. God works according to His own inscrutable pleasure… \nThus the Christian of every age is but the successor of the lost and of the\ndead. How long we of this country shall be put in trust with Gospel\, we know\nnot; but while we have the privilege\, assuredly we do but stand in the place of\nChristians who have either utterly fallen away\, or are so corrupted as scarcely\nto let their light shine before others. We are at present witnesses of the Truth;\nand our very glory is our warning. By the superstitions\, the profanities\, the\nindifference\, the unbelief of the world called “Christian”\, we are called upon to\nbe lowly-minded while we preach aloud\, and to tremble while we rejoice. Let us\nthen\, as a Church and as individuals\, one and all\, look to Him who alone can\nkeep us from falling. Let us with single heart look up to Christ our Saviour\, and\nput ourselves into His hands\, from whom all our strength and wisdom is\nderived. \n3 Parochial and Plain Sermons\, San Francisco: Ignatius\, 1987\, pp. 300-301\, 304-305.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/st-matthias/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240511T194319Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240511T194319Z
UID:11894-1715558400-1715644799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Our Lady of Fatima
DESCRIPTION:OUR SWEET MOTHER\nBy St John Paul II on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima 2\n◊◊◊\nSince the time when Jesus\, dying on the cross\, said to John: “Behold your\nMother”\, since the time when “the disciple took her into his home”\, the mystery\nof Mary’s spiritual motherhood had its fulfillment in history with an amplitude\nwithout boundaries. Motherhood means concern for her son’s life. Now\, if Mary\nis the mother of all people\, her concern for human life is universal in scope…\nThe spiritual motherhood of Mary is therefore participation in the power of the\nHoly Spirit\, the One who “gives life.” It is with the humble service of the one\nwho says of herself: “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord”. In the light of the\nmystery of Mary’s spiritual motherhood\, let us understand the extraordinary\nmessage\, which began to resonate in the world by Fatima since May 13\, 1917\nand lasted for five months until October 13 of the same year. If the Church has\nembraced the message of Fatima it is mainly because it contains a truth and a\ncall\, which in their essential content is the truth and the call of the Gospel itself. \n“Repent and believe in the Gospel”\, these are the first words of the\nMessiah addressed to humanity. The message of Fatima is in its core a call to\nconversion and penance… The call to repentance is maternal and at the same\ntime\, strong and determined. The love that “rejoices in the truth”\, knows how\nto be outspoken and determined… Can the Mother\, who with all the power of\nher love\, which fosters in the Holy Spirit and desires the salvation of every\nperson\, keep quiet about what undermines the very foundations of this\nsalvation? No\, she cannot! \nThe Immaculate Heart of Mary\, opened by the word: “Woman\, behold\nyour son”\, meets spiritually with the Heart of the Son opened by the soldier’s\nlance. Mary’s Heart was opened by the same love for mortals and for the world\,\nwith which Christ has loved humanity and the world\, offering Himself on the\nCross for them. To consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of the Mother\nmeans returning beneath the Cross of her Son. More it means consecrating this\nworld to the pierced Heart of the Savior\, bringing the very source of his\nredemption. Redemption is always greater than the sin of man and the “sin of\nthe world.”… The Heart of the Mother is aware of this\, as no one else in the\nwhole universe\, visible and invisible… \nThe Mother of Christ calls us and invites us to join the Church of the living\nGod in the consecration of the world\, this reliance by which the world\,\nhumanity\, nations\, all people are offered to the Eternal Father with the power\nof Christ’s redemption. They are offered in the pierced Heart of the Redeemer\non the Cross… The appeal of the Lady of Fatima is so deeply rooted in the Gospel\nand in the whole of tradition that the Church feels committed by this message.\nYes\, we can truly say: “Blessed are you\, daughter\, in front of the Most High God\nabove all women on earth!”… Yes\, here and throughout the Church\, in the heart\nof every man and in the whole world you are blessed Mary\, our sweet Mother! \n2 A Discourse of Pope John Paul II at Fatima.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/our-lady-of-fatima/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11892-1715472000-1715558399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Resurrection of the Lord
DESCRIPTION:HIS ASCENSION INTO HEAVEN\nBy St Leo the Great 1\n◊◊◊\nThe sacred work of our salvation was of such great value in the sight of\nthe Creator of the universe that he counted it worth the shedding of his own\nblood. From the day of his birth until his passion and death this work was\ncarried out in conditions of self-abasement; and although he showed many\nsigns of his divinity even when he bore the form of a slave\, yet strictly speaking\,\nthe events of that time were concerned with proving the reality of the humanity\nhe had assumed. But he was innocent of any sin\, and so when death launched\nits attack upon him he burst its bonds and robbed it of its power. After his\npassion weakness was turned into strength\, mortality into eternal life\, and\ndisgrace into glory. Of all this Lord Jesus Christ gave ample proof in the sight of\nmany\, until at last he entered heaven in triumph. bearing with him the trophy\nof his victory over death. \nAnd so while at Easter it was the Lord’s resurrection which was the cause\nof our joy\, our present rejoicing is on account of his ascension into heaven. With\nall due solemnity we are commemorating that day on which our poor human\nnature was carried up in Christ above all the hosts of heaven\, above all the ranks\nof angels\, beyond the highest heavenly powers to the very throne of God the\nFather. It is upon this ordered structure of divine acts that we have been firmly\nestablished\, so that the grace of God may show itself still more marvelous when\,\nin spite of the withdrawal from our sight of everything that is rightly felt to\ncommand our reverence\, faith does not fail\, hope is not shaken\, charity does not\ngrow cold. \nFor such is the power of great minds\, such is the light of truly believing\nsouls\, that they put unhesitating faith in what is not seen with the bodily eye;\nthey fix their desires on what is beyond sight. Such fidelity could never be borne\nin our hearts\, nor could anyone be justified by faith if our salvation lay only in\nwhat is visible. That is why Christ said to the man who seemed doubtful about\nhis resurrection unless he could see and touch the marks of his passion in his\nvery flesh: you believe because you see me; blessed are those who have not seen\nand yet believe. \nIt was in order that we might be capable of such blessedness that on the\nfortieth day after his resurrection\, after he had made careful provision for\neverything concerning the preaching of the gospel and the mysteries of the new\ncovenant\, our Lord Jesus Christ was taken up to heaven before the eyes of his\ndisciples\, and so his bodily presence among them came to an end. From that\ntime onward he was to remain at the Father’s right hand until the completion\nof the period ordained by God for the Church’s children to increase and\nmultiply\, after which\, in the same body with which he ascended\, he will come\nagain to judge the living and the dead. \nAnd so our Redeemer’s visible presence has passed into the sacraments.\nOur faith is nobler and stronger because sight has been replaced by a doctrine\nwhose authority is accepted by believing hearts\, enlightened from on high. \n1\nJourney with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – 1999 = pg 60.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/resurrection-of-the-lord/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:11890-1715472000-1715558399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema: 7th Week of Easter
DESCRIPTION:  \n\n\n\nBiblical Readings for Office and Mass\n7th Week of Easter\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nMay 12 – 18\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n12\nMon\n13\nTue\n14\nWed\n15\nThu\n16\nFri\n17\nSat\n18\n\n\nOffice\nAscension of the Lord\nOur Lady of Fatima\nSt Matthias\nSt Pachomius\nEaster Weekday\nEaster Weekday\nEaster Weekday\n\n\nVigils\nEph 4:1-24\nActs 25:1-27\nPhil 3:13-4:1\nActs 27:1-20\nActs 27:21-44\nActs 28: 1-14\nActs 28:15-31\n\n\nLauds\nDan 7:9-14\n1 Jn 2:24-27\n1 Jn 2:18-25\n1 Jn 3:19-24\n1 Jn 4:7-12\n1 Jn 5:1-5\n1 Jn 5:13-21\n\n\nMass\n58\n297\n564\n299\n300\n301\n302\n\n\n1st\nActs 1:1-11\nActs 19:1-8\nActs 1:15-17\, 20-26\nActs 20:28-38\nActs 22:30; 23:6-11\nActs 25:13b-21\nActs 28:16-20\, 30-31\n\n\n2nd\nEph 4:1-13\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMark 16:15-20\nJohn 16:29-33\nJohn 15:9-17\nJohn 17:11b-19\nJohn 17:20-26\nJohn 21:15-19\nJohn 21:20-25\n\n\nVespers\nEph 1:15-23\n1 Jn 2:28-3:3\n1 Cor 4:1-7\n1 Jn 4:1-6\n1 Jn 4:13-21\n1 Jn 5:6-12\nRom 8:9:17\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-7th-week-of-easter/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20240511T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20240511T120000
DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240408T155139Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240408T155139Z
UID:11786-1715418000-1715428800@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:LCG Chicago Monthly Meeting Zoom 9:00 am CDT
DESCRIPTION:Join 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-zoom-900-am-cdt/
CATEGORIES:LCG Local Community Meetings,LCG open events
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240511
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20240512
DTSTAMP:20260404T121738
CREATED:20240504T190707Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240504T190707Z
UID:11881-1715385600-1715471999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Holy Abbots of Cluny
DESCRIPTION:FROM A LETTER OF \nST BERNARD TO POPE EUGENIUS\, \nOn behalf of Peter the Venerable\, Abbot of Cluny6 \n◊◊◊ \nIt would be silly for me to write you on behalf of the Lord Abbot of Cluny\, \nto act as if I wanted to befriend a man whom the entire world befriends. But \nalthough he does not need me to write on his behalf\, I am nevertheless doing so \nin order to satisfy my affection for him\, for this purpose alone and no other. \nAlthough I cannot accompany him in body I shall be with him in spirit on his \npilgrimage to Rome. Nothing can separate us\, not the height of the Alps\, nor the \ncold of the snows\, nor the long distance of the journey. And I am present to him \nnow\, stretching out my hand to him in this letter. He cannot go anywhere \nwithout me because I am so much in his debt for the favor of his friendship. But \nhis favor itself acquits me of the debt\, for what was a duty has become a \npleasure. \nHonor this man as an honorable member of Christ’s body. He is a vessel \nfit for all honorable employment\, a vessel full of grace and truth\, full of all \nmanner of good things. Send him back with joy to rejoice the hearts of many by \nhis return. Show him great favor\, so that when he returns we may all receive of \nhis fullness. He should\, of course\, find no difficulty in obtaining from you \nanything he asks for in the name of the Lord Jesus. For\, if you do not know it\, \nhe it is that holds out his hands to the poor of our Order; he it is that freely and \nfrequently\, as far as he may without offending his own people\, supports our \nbrethren from the possessions of his monastery. \nBut let me explain why I say “in the name of the Lord Jesus. \n” It is because \nI fear and suspect he may ask to be released from the rule of his monastery; and \nno one who knows him would consider this a petition made in the name of \nJesus. I am very much mistaken if he is not more self-effacing than usual\, if he \nhas not become more perfect since he last saw you\, although it is well known \nthat almost from the first instant of assuming office he reformed his Order in \nmany ways\, in the matter\, for instance\, of fasting\, silence\, and costly and curious \nclothing. \n  \n6 Letter 349\, The Letters of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux\, edited by Bruno Scott James\, Chicago: Henry Regnery Company\, 1953\, \npp. 427-428.15 \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-holy-abbots-of-cluny-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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