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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230603
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230604
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230527T144013Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230527T144013Z
UID:10559-1685750400-1685836799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Charles Lwanga & Companions
DESCRIPTION:SAINTS CHANGE THE WORLD \nThe witness of St Charles Lwanga and Companions7 ◊◊◊ \nIn the latter part of the nineteenth century\, Catholic and Anglican missionaries began to evangelize Buganda\, part of modern Uganda in eastern Africa. Its king expelled the missionaries in 1882\, but in 1885 his son and successor Mwanga invited them back. They happily discovered that their original converts were living truly Christian lives and were reaching out to evangelize everyone around them. Christianity was thus spreading rapidly. This produced in Mwanga and his closest advisors a panic that his power\, which had been total\, might be undermined by a group that seemed not to fear him. \nMwanga’s first victims were an Anglican bishop and six other Anglican missionaries whom he murdered because they sought entry to his kingdom. Twenty- six-year-old Joseph Mkasa\, Mwanga’s majordomo and a Catholic\, sought unsuccessfully to prevent the murders\, at which point Mwanga concluded that Joseph himself was a threat\, especially since he was a leading catechist and had taken on the role of protecting the king’s pages who had become Christian\, hiding or sending away those whom the king wanted in order to use them sexually. Mwanga ordered Joseph to be burned alive\, but the assigned executioner instead beheaded him and then burned the body. Joseph’s last message to the king was one of both forgiveness and a call to repentance from his debauched way of life. \nCharles Lwanga succeeded to Joseph’s post and role as protector of the pages. A catechumen himself\, he also catechized the pages. He and other catechumens\, likely soon to face execution themselves\, were baptized by the White Fathers – and then freely went back to their positions at court. Some months after the execution of Joseph\, the king called for one of his pages and discovered that all of the Christian ones were missing. When he discovered that they had been receiving instruction in the faith from the page Denis Ssebuggwawo\, he sent for Denis and murdered him by a thrust of his spear. Nevertheless\, the Christian pages did not flee – they did not want to be seen as disloyal to their monarch. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe king having shut everyone in his compound\, Charles quickly baptized five of the pages he had been instructing\, including the youngest\, thirteen-year-old Kizito. All the pages were summoned and the Christians were ordered to identify themselves. Led by Charles\, fifteen boys and young men (some Catholic\, some Anglican) obeyed the order\, not quaking with fear but filled with joy. One of the king’s own bodyguards then made <himself> part of the group. When asked if they intended to adhere to their faith\, they all said they would\, until death. The king then sentenced them to die and sent them out\, together with other prisoners also scheduled for execution. A Catholic missionary priest who witnessed the group as it was led to the place of execution some miles away saw that they showed courage\, happiness\, and resignation to what they faced\, even the youngest of them. Along the way several members of the group were martyred\, including some who joined the original group as it was taken to the place of execution… As the martyrs died\, they called on Jesus’ name. With his last breath\, Charles evangelized an executioner who subsequently became a catechumen. \nAltogether\, twenty-two Catholic martyrs who died on May 26 and June 3\, 1886 and on January 27\, 1887\, became the protomartyrs of Uganda. The Ugandan martyrs showed exceptional fortitude and loyalty to their Christian beliefs. “God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control”. The heroic witness of these martyrs is one of the reasons why sub-Saharan Africa has nearly one hundred twenty million Catholics today. Saints change the world \n\n\n7 The Association for Catechumenal Ministry (ACM). https://kcgolddome.org/~kcgolddo/oldsite/uploads/1332611439.pdf. Accessed: 5.24.23. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-charles-lwanga-companions/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230604
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230605
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230603T161808Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230603T161808Z
UID:10564-1685836800-1685923199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n9th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (I)\nJune 4 – 10\, 2023\n\n\n\nSun\n4\nMon\n5\nTue\n6\nWed\n7\nThu\n8\nFri\n9\nSat\n10\n\n\nOffice\nMost Holy Trinity\nSt Boniface\nSt Norbert\nOffice for the Dead\nWeekday\nSt Ephrem\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nSir 36:1-22\nGen 5:1-32\nGen 6:1-22\nGen 7:1-24\nGen 8:1-22\nGen 9:1-29\nGen 11:1-9\, 27-32\n\n\nLauds\nSir 42:15-25\nProv 3:13-24\, 35\nProv 3:25-34\nProv 4:1-9\nProv 4:10-18\nProv 4:20-27\nProv 5:1-14\n\n\nMass\n164\n353\n354\n355\n356\n357\n358\n\n\n1st\nExod 34:4b-6\, 8-9\nTob 1:3; 2:1a-8\nTob 2:9-14\nTob 3:1-11a\, 16-17a\nTob 6:10-11; 7:1bcde\, 9-17; 8:4-9a\nTob 11:5-17\nTob 12:1\, 5-15\, 20\n\n\n2nd\n2 Cor 13:11-13\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 3:16-18\nMark 12:1-12\nMark 12:13-17\nMark 12:18-27\nMark 12:28-34\nMark 12:35-37\nMark 12:38-44\n\n\nVespers\n1 Cor 2:11-16\nGal 2:15-21\nGal 3:1-9\nGal 3:10-14\nGal 3:15-22\nGal 3:23-29\nHeb 9:18-22
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-32/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230604
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230605
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230603T161957Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230603T161957Z
UID:10566-1685836800-1685923199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Most Holy Trinity
DESCRIPTION:GOD SENT HIS SON \nFrom a commentary by St Gregory Nazianzen1 ◊◊◊ \nTo speak of the Godhead is\, I know\, like crossing the ocean on a raft\, or like flying to the stars with wings of narrow span. Even heavenly beings are unable to speak of God’s decrees or of his government of the world. But enlighten my mind and loosen my tongue\, Spirit of God\, and I will sound aloud the trumpet of truth\, so that all who are united to God may rejoice with their whole heart. \nThere is one eternal God\, uncaused and uncircumscribed by any being existing before him or yet to be. He is infinite\, and all time is in his hands. He is the mighty Father of one mighty and noble Son. In no way does the birth of this Son resemble human birth\, for God is spirit. The Word of God is another divine Person\, but not another Godhead. He is the living seal of the Father\, the only son of the only God. He is equal to the Father\, so that although the Father always remains wholly the Father\, the Son is the creator and ruler of the world and is the Father’s power and wisdom. \nLet us praise the Son first of all\, venerating the blood that expiated our sins. He lost nothing of his divinity when he saved me\, when like a good physician he stooped to my festering wounds. He was a mortal man\, but he was also God. He was of the race of David\, but Adam’s creator. He who has no body clothed himself with flesh. He had a mother\, but she was a virgin. He who is without bounds bound himself with the cords of our humanity. He was victim and high priest – yet he was God. He offered up his blood and cleansed the whole world. He was lifted up on the cross\, but it was sin that was nailed to it. He became as one among the dead\, but he rose from the dead\, raising to life also many who had died before him. On the one hand\, there was the poverty of his humanity; on the other\, the riches of his divinity. Do not let what is human in the Son permit you wrongfully to detract from what is divine. For the sake of the divine\, hold in the greatest honor the humanity which the immortal Son took upon himself for love of you. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nMy soul\, why do you hold back? Sing praise to the Holy Spirit as well\, lest your words tear asunder what is not separated by nature. Let us tremble before the great Spirit who also is God\, through whom we have come to know God\, who transforms us into God. He is the omnipotent bestower of diverse gifts and the giver of life both in heaven and on earth. He is the divine strength\, proceeding from the Father and subject to no power. He is not the Son\, for there is only one Son\, but he shares equally in the glory of the Godhead. \nIn the one God are three pulsations that move the world. Through them I became a new and different person when I came out of the font\, where my death was buried\, into the light – a man restored to life from the dead. If God cleansed me so completely\, then I must worship him with my whole being \n\n\n1 Journey with the Fathers: Commentaries on the Sunday Gospels – Year A. Ed. Edith Barnecut\, OSB. New York: New City Press\, 1992. 74-75. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-most-holy-trinity/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230605
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230606
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230603T162418Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230603T162418Z
UID:10568-1685923200-1686009599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Boniface
DESCRIPTION:  \nA MEDITATIVE READING OF THE ATHANASIAN CREED \nby St Athanasius of Alexandria2 ◊◊◊ \nWhosoever will be saved\, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith. Which faith unless every one do keep whole and undefiled\, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic faith is this: that we worship one God in Trinity\, and Trinity in Unity\, neither confounding the Persons\, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father\, another of the Son\, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father\, of the Son\, and of the Holy Ghost\, is all one\, the Glory equal\, the Majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is\, such is the Son\, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreated\, the Son uncreated\, and the Holy Ghost uncreated. The Father incomprehensible\, the Son incomprehensible\, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible. The Father eternal\, the Son eternal\, and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not three eternals\, but one eternal. As also there are not three uncreated\, nor three infinites\, but one uncreated\, and one infinite. So likewise the Father is Almighty\, the Son Almighty\, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties\, but one Almighty. \nSo the Father is God\, the Son is God\, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods\, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord\, the Son Lord\, and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords\, but one Lord. For\, like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord\, so are we forbidden by the Catholic religion\, to say\, There are three Gods\, or three Lords. The Father is made of none\, neither created\, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone\, not made\, nor created\, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son\, neither made\, nor created\, nor begotten\, but proceeding. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nSo there is one Father\, not three Fathers\, one Son\, not three Sons\, one Holy Ghost\, not three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is before\, or after another\, none is greater\, or less than another. But the whole three Persons are coeternal\, and coequal. So that in all things\, as aforesaid\, the Unity in Trinity\, and the Trinity in Unity\, is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved\, let him thus think of the Trinity. \nFurthermore\, it is necessary to everlasting Salvation\, that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right Faith is\, that we believe and confess\, that our Lord Jesus Christ\, the Son of God\, is God and Man. \nGod\, of the Substance of the Father\, begotten before the worlds\, and Man\, of the Substance of his Mother\, born in the world. Perfect God\, and perfect Man\, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father\, as touching his Godhead\, and inferior to the Father as touching his Manhood. Who although he is God and Man\, yet he is not two\, but one Christ. One\, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh\, but by assumption of the Manhood into God. One altogether\, not by confusion of Substance\, but by unity of Person. \nFor as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man\, so God and Man is one Christ\, Who suffered for our salvation\, descended into hell\, rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven\, he sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty\, from whence he will come to judge the living and the dead. At whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies\, And shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting\, and they that have done evil\, into everlasting fire. This is the Catholic faith\, which except a man believe truly and firmly\, he cannot be saved \n\n\n2 Athanasius of Alexandria. The Athanasian Creed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasian_Creed . Accessed on: May 31\, 2023. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-boniface/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230606
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230607
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230603T162620Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230603T162620Z
UID:10570-1686009600-1686095999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Norbert
DESCRIPTION:ANSWERING THE DEMAND OF GOD’S TRINITY AND UNITY \nFrom the writing of Hadewijh3 ◊◊◊ \nThe most sublime life and the most rapid growth lie in dying away and wasting away in the pain of Love… the great debt-payment of which is being demanded every hour-that Love demands of Love… By the demand of the Father’s omnipotence\, through the wisdom of the Son and the goodness of the Holy Spirit\, in the Trinity\, man was created. But because man did not answer the demand of the Unity\, he fell. By the demand of the Trinity God’s Son was born\, and to satisfy the debt to the Unity he died. By the demand of the Trinity he rose again among men; and to satisfy the debt to the Unity he ascended to his Father. \nSo it is also with us. When payment of the debt we owe is demanded of us by the Trinity\, grace is given us to live worthily according to the noble Trinity\, as is fitting. But if\, because our will is estranged\, we thwart this and fall back from this unity into our own self-complacency\, we no longer grow and no longer make progress in that perfection which was thus demanded of us from the beginning by the Unity and the Trinity. But if rational man’s noble reason would recognize its just debt and follow Love’s leading into her land—that is\, follow Love according to her due then he would be capable of attaining that great object and being enriched in God with divine riches… \nThere are three things through which one lives for Love\, here with the Trinity and\, in the beyond\, in the Unity. First\, here\, one desires Love under the guidance of reason\, and one desires to content her with all just works of perfection\, and to be perfect and worthy of all perfection. In this manner one lives the Son of God. Second\, at all hours one wills in this way the will of Love with new ardor\, and exercises all the virtues with overflowing desire\, and enlightens all creatures according to what they are and according to the due of the nobility he recognizes in them\, be it in nobility or in lowness; so shall we\, for the honor of love\, do the pure will of our God in our works and love. In this manner one lives the Holy Spirit. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nThird\, one is held by sweet constraint to be in perpetual exertion; and with never-conquered power to be a match for this Being; and strong and unconquered and joyful – by ardent striving to grow up as <the> loved one in the Beloved in every respect: to work with his hands; to walk with his feet; to hear with his ears where the voice of the Godhead never ceases to speak through the mouth of the Beloved\, in all truth of counsel\, of justice\, of sweet sweetness\, of consolation for everyone according to each person’s need\, and of caution against sin; to appear like the Beloved\, unadorned and without beauty live for no one else but for the Beloved in love alone\, live in him as the loved one in the Beloved\, with the same way of acting\, with one spirit\, and with one heart; and in one another to taste the unheard-of sweetness he merited by his sufferings. Oh yes! To feel heart in heart\, with one single heart and one single sweet love and continually have fruition of one full-grown love. And lastly\, that one must ever know certainly\, without any doubt\, that one is wholly in the Unity of Love. In this state one is the Father. \nThus one pays off here on earth the debt that the Trinity demands\, and that it has always demanded of the Unity from all eternity \n\n\n3 Hadewijch. The Complete Works. Trans. Mother Columba Hart\, O.S.B. New York: Paulist Press\, 1980. 116-118. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-norbert/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230607
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230608
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230603T162745Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230603T162745Z
UID:10572-1686096000-1686182399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
DESCRIPTION:A CONTEST OF LOVE \nFrom the writing of Servant of God Dolindo Ruotolo4 ◊◊◊ \nAccording to the revelation of Saints and we might even say according to logic\, Purgatory is divided into different areas\, depending on the degree of purification that the soul has to endure in proportion to the sin committed… \nSaint Francesca Romana saw Purgatory divided into three distinct parts: in the upper region are the souls who suffer only the pain of loss\, that is the lack of the vision of God or some small pain… which prepares them for the vision and enjoyment of God. In the middle region\, …suffer the souls who committed venial sins or those… who must atone for the punishment due to mortal sin already forgiven. At the bottom of the abyss\, close to Hell\, the Saint saw the third region\, which she calls the “lower Purgatory”\, filled with a clear and penetrating fire\, different from that of Hell\, where <it> is dark and gloomy. \nThis third region she saw divided <into> three further areas where the pain increases according to the responsibility of the soul and the degree of glory and happiness they are destined to reach. The first is for the laity; the second for the non-ordained Clergy; the third for the Priests and Bishops. It should be understood that this third area has an even lower level reserved for members of Religious Orders: men and women\, who had higher means of sanctification and light from God and now have to bear greater responsibility for their faults and\, therefore\, a greater need of expiation. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nBoth Priests and Religious\, called to the greatest sanctity\, are called to a very high state of glory… In consequence\, their pains are likewise stronger and lengthier… The intensity of the pain is in exact proportion to the sins committed and… is intensely dominated by the pain of loss\, which is the sense of abandonment by God and the desire to possess Him\, because of the intensity of love that the souls feel for Him and the even more intense love that God has for the souls. \nThat is why we call Purgatory “a contest of love”. The Lord is not very severe with souls. Instead\, He is very loving and He purifies them since He wants perfect happiness for them. The soul realizes this love of God and\, even more\, it soars toward Him: it yearns and groans for His love; it is aware of the dark fog that envelops it\, knowing that it is loved and the soul loves in return. It begs for help to come out of this state\, that it may be shortened. Yet <the soul> cannot shorten the time with its own merits\, being unable to acquire merits. All this anxiety it has is love. \nThe groaning of love the soul has for God and the attraction to the Divine Love\, feeling that God wants its happiness\, is the pain of loss and the contest of love… It seems like a paradox but… the contest of love itself makes the soul look at each purifying pain as a step that brings it closer to the Supreme Good and to its eternal happiness \n\n\n\n4 Ruotolo\, Dolindo. Who Dies Shall See: Purgatory and Heaven. Trans. Giovanna Invitti Ellis. Self- Published online by Giovanna Invitti Ellis: www.dolindo.org/english\, 2008. 29-30. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-the-dead-5/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230608
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230609
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230603T163004Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230603T163004Z
UID:10575-1686182400-1686268799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE ETERNAL PROMISE \nBy the 19th century Quaker Thomas R. Kelly5 ◊◊◊ \nThe old self\, the little self-how weak it is\, and how absurdly confident and how absurdly timid it has been! How jealously we guard its strange precious pride! Famished for superiority… its defeats must be offset by a dole of petty victories. In religious matters we still thought that we should struggle to present to God a suitable offering of service. We planned\, we prayed\, we suffered\, we carried the burden. The we\, the self\, how subtly it intrudes itself into religion! And then steals in\, so sweetly\, so all-replacing\, the sense of Presence\, the sense of Other\, and he plans\, and he bears the burdens\, and we are a new creature.\nPrayer becomes not hysterical cries to a distant God\, but gentle upliftings and faint whispers\, in which it is not easy to say who is speaking\, we\, or an Other through us. Perhaps we can only say: praying is taking place. Power flows through us\, from the Eternal into the rivulets of Time. Amazed\, yet not amazed\, we stride the stride of the tender giant who dwells within us\, and wonders are performed. Active as never before\, one lives in the passive voice\, alert to be used\, fearful of nothing\, patient to stand and wait. \nIt is an amazing discovery\, at first\, to find that a creative Power and Life is at work in the world. God is no longer the object of a belief; He is a Reality\, who has continued\, within us\, his real Presence in the world. God is aggressive. He is an intruder\, a lofty lowly conqueror on whom we had counted too little\, because we had counted on ourselves. Too long have we supposed that we must carry the banner of religion\, that it was our concern. But religion is not our concern; it is God’s concern. Our task is to call men to “be still\,” and… hearken to that of God within them\, to invite\, to unclasp the clenched fists of self-resolution\, to be pliant in his firm guidance\, sensitive to the inflections of the inner voice. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nFor there is a life beyond earnestness to be found. It is the life rooted and grounded in the Presence\, the Life which has been found by the Almighty. Seek it\, seek it. Yet it lies beyond seeking. It arises in being found. To have come only as far as religious determination is only to have stood in the vestibule. But our confidence in our shrewdness\, in our education\, in our talents\, in some aspect or other of our self-assured self\, is our own undoing. So earnestly busy with anxious\, fevered efforts for the kingdom of God have we been\, that we failed to hear the knock upon the door\, and to know that our chief task is to open that door and be entered by the Divine Life. \n…To become unselfed is to become truly integrated as a richer self. The little\, time-worn self about which we fretted – how narrow its boundaries\, how unstable its base\, how strained its structure. But the experience of discovering that life is rooted and grounded in the actual\, active\, loving Eternal One is also to experience our own personal life firm-textured and stable. \n…There is an introduction to suffering which comes with the birth pains of Love. And in such suffering one finds for the first time how deep and profound is the nature and meaning of life. And in such suffering one sees\, as if one’s eye were newly opened upon a blinding light\, the very Life of the Eternal God himself. And there too is suffering\, but there\, above all\, is peace and victory \n\n\n5 Kelly\, Thomas R. Quaker Spirituality: Selected Writings. New York: Paulist Press\, 1984. 307-309. \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-89/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230609
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230610
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230603T163502Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230603T163502Z
UID:10577-1686268800-1686355199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Ephrem
DESCRIPTION:THE DAYS ARE PASSING\,\nAND SOON YOU WILL ENCOUNTER THE END \nFrom the prayers of Ephraim the Syrian6 ◊◊◊ \nLet us awake from sleep and with sighs call out to the Lord. Day and night let us labor\, attending to our correction while our life still lasts\, until the time comes when there will be no more place for repentance. Let us stand vigilant at the Bridegroom’s door\, that we might enter with the Bridegroom into His bridal chamber and inherit eternal life. Come\, let us all sing praises to God at night and imitate the hosts of angels who ceaselessly praise Him. And our Savior\, when He arises and comes\, accompanied by the angels\, and sees our wakefulness and our vigilance\, will call us His good servants and will seat us at His banquet. \nWith the righteous\, who have pleased God day and night\, let us labor in good things\, beg our Lord for mercy; and\, singing with David\, let us say: at midnight I arose to give thanks unto Thee because of Thy righteous judgements. Spare me and have mercy on me and vouchsafe me the inheritance of Thy kingdom. I will not cease to praise Thee\, O our Lord. Ceaselessly will I sing of Thy glory\, that Thy truth might not condemn me. I know the extent of my guilt. I know that if Thou dost punish me according to my sins\, then my inheritance will be gehenna. Then all hope will be lost. My prayer will be silenced. Have mercy on me therefore\, and forgive me my debts… Extend to me Thy right hand and I will arise\, like the harlot in Simon’s house\, like the thief on the cross. Have mercy on me\, Thou Who art kindhearted to sinners… \n\n\n\n\n\n\nTo Thee\, O only good Lord Who bearest no grudges\, do I confess my sins. Even were I to keep silent\, Thou\, O Lord\, knowest all\, and nothing is hidden before Thine eyes. For Thou\, O Lord\, hast said by Thy Prophet: declare your sins beforehand and you will be justified. And so I will say: I have sinned\, O Lord\, and I am not worthy to look up and behold the heights of heaven because of the multitude of mine iniquities… What am I to do\, I who am the most miserable of all men? I shall weep over myself day and night\, while there is yet time to offer tears… Grant me tears of contrition\, O only good and merciful Lord\, that with them I might gain from Thee purification from the defilement of my heart… \nGod requires from us only our consummate determination; it is He Who gives us strength and grants us victory… He gave these lips of dust the capacity to magnify Him\, so that through them all creation might sing praise unto Him. \nCome\, ye who are endowed with speech\, let us sing praise unto Him until we repose in the sleep of death.. Let us rouse our bodies with psalms and spiritual hymns that we might join the wise virgins whom our Lord praised\, and in vigilance behold His glory in the night that will cause the world to tremble… The body that burdened itself with prayer shall soar through the air on the day of the resurrection; without shame shall it behold its Lord; with Him shall it enter into the habitation of light\, where it will be cherished by the angels and by those who here burdened themselves with vigilance and prayer. \nBlessed is He Who made us instruments of His glory and put exaltation in our unworthy lips! Praise be to His compassion\, for He has made those who were of dust concelebrants with the angels\, that every night and at all times they might sing His holy name \n\n\n6 Ephraim the Syrian. A Spiritual Psalter or Reflections on God. Excerpted by Bishop Theophan the Recluse. Trans. Antonina Janda. Liberty\, TN: The St. John of Kronstadt Press\, 1997. 150-155. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-ephrem/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230609T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230611T140000
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230101T003608Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230101T003623Z
UID:9866-1686297600-1686492000@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:LCG Retreat  June 9 - 11\, 2023
DESCRIPTION:Content is protected.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/lcg-retreat-june-9-11-2023/
CATEGORIES:LCG Retreat
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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230611
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230603T163637Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230603T163637Z
UID:10579-1686355200-1686441599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of B.V.M.
DESCRIPTION:THE LIFE OF CHRIST\, HIDDEN IN YOUR HEARTS \nFrom a sermon by Blessed Guerric of Igny7 \n◊◊◊ \nWhat can so stir up man to the love of God as the love which God first bestows on man\, a love for man so ardent that he wills to become man for the sake of man?… Or what exhibits more plainly the power and merit of faith as that the Virgin conceived God by faith\, by faith deserved to have all that God had promised her fulfilled? “Blessed\,” we read\, “is she who believed\, for what was told her by the Lord shall be brought to fulfillment.” \nNow that you may know more fully that the Virgin’s conception has not only a mystical but also a moral sense\, what is a mystery for your redemption is also an example for your imitation\, so that you clearly frustrate the grace of the mystery in you if you do not imitate the virtue of the example. For she who conceived God by faith promises you the same if you have faith; if you will faithfully receive the Word from the mouth of the heavenly messenger you too may conceive the God whom the whole world cannot contain\, conceive him however in your heart\, not in your body… \nPay careful attention then to your hearing as it is written\, for “faith comes from hearing\, while hearing comes through the word of God\,” which without any doubt the angel of God proclaims to you when a faithful preacher treats with you of the fear or the love of God… How blessed are they who can say: “For fear of you\, Lord\, we have conceived and given birth to the Spirit of Salvation\,” which indeed is no other than the Spirit of the Savior\, the Truth of Jesus Christ. Behold the unspeakable condescension of God and at the same time the power of the mystery which passes all understanding. He who created you is created in you\, and as if it were too little that you should possess the Father\, he wishes also that you should become a mother to himself. “Whoever\,” he says\, “does the will of my Father he is my brother and sister and mother.” O faithful soul\, open wide your bosom\, expand your affections\, admit no constraint in your heart\, conceive him whom creation cannot contain. Open to the Word of God an ear that will listen. This is the way to the womb of your heart for the Spirit who brings about conception; in such fashion are the bones of Christ\, that is the virtues\, built up in the pregnant womb. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nThanks be to you\, Spirit\, who breathe where you will. By your gift I see not one but countless faithful souls pregnant with that noble offspring. Preserve your works\, lest anyone should suffer miscarriage and expel\, shapeless and dead\, the progeny he has conceived of God. \nYou also\, blessed mothers of so glorious an issue\, attend to yourselves until Christ is formed in you. Be careful lest any violent blow coming from without should… extinguish the spirit you have conceived. Spare\, if not yourselves\, at least the Son of God in you; spare him not only from evil deeds and utterances but also from harmful thoughts and deadly pleasures which obviously stifle the seed of God. Guard your heart with all vigilance\, for from it life will come forth\, that is\, when the offspring is ready for birth and the life of Christ which is now hidden in your hearts will be made manifest in your mortal flesh. You have conceived the spirit of salvation\, but you are still in labor\, you have not yet given birth. If there is labor in giving birth\, great consolation comes from the hope of offspring… For he who is now conceived as God in our spirits\, conforming them to the Spirit of his charity\, will then be born as man in our bodies\, conforming them to his glorified body\, in which he lives in majesty\, God\, for ever and ever \n\n\n\n7 Bl. Guerric of Igny\, “The Second Sermon for the Annunciation”\, Liturgical Sermons\, (vol.2)\, Spencer\, MA: Cistercian Publications\, 1971\, pp. 44-46. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-b-v-m-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230610T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230610T160000
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230101T004213Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230214T195619Z
UID:9868-1686409200-1686412800@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:AC Dialogue with the Monks
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URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/ac-dialogue-with-the-monks/
CATEGORIES:Advisory Council
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230611
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230612
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230610T214905Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230610T214905Z
UID:10589-1686441600-1686527999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema: 10th Week in Ordinary Time
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n10th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (I)\nJune 11 – 17\, 2023\n\n\n\nSun\n11\nMon\n12\nTue\n13\nWed\n14\nThu\n15\nFri\n16\nSat\n17\n\n\nOffice\nCorpus Christi\nSt Alice\nSt Anthony of Padua\nBl Gerard\nWeekday\nSacred Heart of Jesus\nImmaculate Heart of Mary\n\n\nVigils\nExod 16:2-15\nGen 12:1-20\nGen 13:1-18\nGen 14:1-24\nGen 15:1-21\nJerm 30:18-31:5\, 18-20\nGen 16:1-16\n\n\nLauds\nWis 16:20-28\nProv 5:15-23\nProv 8:1-11\nProv 8:12-21\nProv 8:22-31\nJerm 32:36-42\nProv 8:32-36\n\n\nMass\n167\n359\n360\n361\n362\n170\n364\, 573\n\n\n1st\nDeut 8:2-3\, 14b-16a\n2 Cor 1:1-7\n2 Cor 1:18-22\n2 Cor 3:4-11\n2 Cor 3:15-4:1\, 3-6\nDeut 7:6-11\n2 Cor 4:7-15\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 10:16-17\n\n\n\n\n1 Jn 4:7-16\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 6:51-58\nMatt 5:1-12\nMatt 5:13-16\nMatt 5:17-19\nMatt 5:20-26\nMatt 11:25-30\nLuke 2:41-51\n\n\nVespers\nActs 2:42-47\nGal 4:1-11\nGal 4:12-20\nGal 4:21-31\n1 Jn 3:14-18\nEph 2:1-8\nGal 5:1-6
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-10th-week-in-ordinary-time/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230611
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230612
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230610T215522Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230610T215620Z
UID:10591-1686441600-1686527999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Corpus Christi Sunday: 10th Week in Ordinary Time
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 of\nChrist\, 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 it\,\nbecause it is quite possible for someone to think along these lines: We know from\nwhom our Lord Jesus Christ took his flesh – it was from the Virgin Mary. As a\nbaby\, he was suckled\, he was fed\, he developed\, he came to young man’s estate.\nHe was slain on the cross\, he was taken down from it\, he was buried\, he rose\nagain on the third day. On the day of his own choosing\, he ascended to heaven\,\ntaking his body with him; and it is from heaven that he will come to judge the\nliving and the dead. But now that he is there\, seated at the right hand of the\nFather\, how can bread be his body? And the cup\, or rather what is in the cup\,\nhow 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; our\nunderstanding\, its spiritual effect. If\, then\, you want to know what the body of\nChrist is\, you must listen to what the Apostle tells the faithful: Now you are the body\nof Christ\, and individually you are members of it. \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” to\nwhat 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 own\,\nbut listen to what the Apostle says over and over again when speaking of this\nsacrament: Because there is one loaf\, we\, though we are many\, form one body. Let\nyour mind assimilate that and be glad\, for there you will find unity\, truth\, piety\,\nand love. He says\, one loaf. And who is this one loaf? We\, though we are many\,\nform one body. Now bear in mind that bread is not made of a single grain\, but of\nmany. 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 we\nhave to believe is quite clear\, although the Apostle does not mention it expressly.\nJust as the unity of the faithful\, which holy Scripture describes in the words: They\nwere of one mind and heart in God\, should be like the kneading together of many\ngrains into one visible loaf\, so with the wine. Think how wine is made. Many\ngrapes hang in a cluster\, but their juice flows together into an indivisible liquid.\nIt was thus that Christ our Lord signified us\, and his will that we should belong to\nhim\, when he hallowed the sacrament of our peace and unity on his altar. Anyone\,\nhowever\, who receives this sacrament of unity and does not keep the bond of\npeace\, does not receive it to his profit\, but as a testimony against himself. \n1 Journey with the Fathers: Commentaries on the Sunday Gospels – Year A. Ed. Edith Barnecut\, OSB.\nNew York: New City Press\, 1992. 76-77.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/sunday-10th-week-in-ordinary-time/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230611T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230611T170000
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230101T004744Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230302T155338Z
UID:9870-1686492000-1686502800@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Advisory Council Meeting
DESCRIPTION:Content is protected.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/advisory-council-meeting/
CATEGORIES:Advisory Council
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230612
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230613
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230610T220102Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230610T220102Z
UID:10595-1686528000-1686614399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:St. Alice
DESCRIPTION:PURITY OF HEART\nFrom a sermon by Isaac of Stella2\n◊◊◊\n“HAPPY are the pure in heart\, they shall see God.” Once love is present there\ntoo is longing to see what is loved… Those alone who have purified their hearts shall\nsee him\, because it is solely by a pure heart that God can be seen. And I ask you\nfrankly\, brothers\, of what use are all our years of such effort if we have not made our\nhearts clean? Perhaps we have indeed purified our hearts for the sake of virtue?\nWell\, now they must be purified for the sake of truth. And if we have already\ncleansed them for loving\, now they must be made clean for seeing…\nWhen the Lord purifies the eye of a man’s mind\, enabling him to perceive\ntruth\, he is indeed giving a blind man his sight. It must be clearly understood\, then\,\nthat when we speak of purity of heart\, we do not mean simply that the heart is to be\npurified from vices\, call them disordered desire or perverted love\, but that it must\nbe purified from the phantasies that are absorbed by the corporeal senses and\nremain in the imagination\, for these become an obstruction that prevents our seeing\nthe sun’s clear light. They either cut us off from that solar body\, the very source of\nlight itself (they are so unlike it) or at least they reduce the sun’s brightness…\nDon’t let this discourage you! Once you have passed through all these clouds\nby vigilance of mind and purity of heart\, once your every thought is silent\, or\, rather\,\nleft far behind then\, at last\, brothers\, there will appear before you a shining cloud\, “a\ncloud filled with light”\, not stormy now nor dense\, a cloud of wisdom\, not of\nignorance. \nFor there is darkness in light\, darkness all the deeper in much light\, until\nfinally\, when the light reaches the threshold of its own incomprehensibility and\nenters that unapproachability in which dwells “ that peace which passes all\nunderstanding\,” it is taken from our eyes so that any further knowledge of the Light\nis obtained not through speculation but through revelation\, just as the apostles\ngazing heavenward\, learned from the men who stood beside them in white\ngarments…\nSo now you know from what things the heart must be purified and to what\nextent\, and for what purpose\, namely\, to be able to gaze upon the Being who is\nPerfection unlimited\, who is Beauty without quality\, Greatness without extension\,\nPresence uncircumscribed by place\, Existence beyond time. But without this\npurification it is impossible to see God and so he tells us: “Happy are the pure in\nheart\, they shall see God.” Here\, “a confused reflection; there\, as he is.”…\nTo speak plainly\, brothers\, no man can be fully and perfectly spiritual nor can\nhe be ready to go out with tranquil mind from his tent in the leisure of\ncontemplation\, unless he has first rid his home of vice\, that is\, of all perverted and\ndisordered love\, and has furnished and decorated it with good habits\, and left it\nfortified with a strong guard of virtues. Otherwise\, the adulterous unclean spirit… if\nhe find “the house swept clean and put in order\,” but empty of virtues\, may make his\nway in by force or favor and take possession\, protecting himself with a bodyguard of\nseven associates more evil than himself… Then indeed\, “the last state of this type of\nspiritual a man is worse than the first”. He who began in the Spirit is now ending\nwith the flesh\, or rather\, is ended by the flesh.\nIf a man desires to be truly spiritual\, let him first pay attention to his desires\nrather than to his ideas\, to his way of life rather than his form of meditation. For he\nmust first use his feet to walk before soaring into flight. And since he cannot always\nbe in flight\, let him go about sensibly on foot lest he suddenly crash down. \n2 Isaac of Stella. Sermons on the Christian Year: Volume One. CF 11. Trans. Hugh McCaffery.\nKalamazoo\, MI: Cistercian Publications\, 1979. 29-34.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/st-alice/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230610T220616Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230610T220616Z
UID:10597-1686614400-1686700799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:St. Anthony of Padua
DESCRIPTION:ST ANTHONY OF PADUA 3\n◊◊◊\nAnthony was born in the year 1195 at Lisbon\, Portugal\, where his father\nwas a captain in the royal army. Already at the age of fifteen years the youth had\nentered the Congregation of Canons Regular of St. Augustine… in the monastery\nat Coimbra\, when… the relics of St. Berard and companions\, the first martyrs of\nthe Franciscan Order\, were being brought from Africa to Coimbra. At the sight of\nthem\, Anthony was seized with an intense desire to suffer martyrdom as a\nFranciscan missionary in Africa. In response to his repeated and humble\npetitions\, the permission of his superiors to transfer to the Franciscan Order was\nreluctantly given. At his departure\, one of the canons said to him ironically: “Go\nthen\, perhaps you will become a saint in the new order.” Anthony replied:\n“Brother\, when you hear that I have become a saint\, you will surely praise God\nfor it.”\nIn the quiet little Franciscan convent at Coimbra he received a friendly\nreception\, and in the very same year his earnest wish to be sent to the missions\nin Africa was fulfilled… Anthony scarcely set foot on African soil when he was\nseized with a grievous illness. Even after recovering from it\, he was so weak that\,\nresigning himself to the will of God\, he boarded a boat back to Portugal…\nAnthony was sent to Forli with some other brethren\, to attend the\nceremony of ordination. At the convent there the superior wanted somebody to\ngive an address for the occasion. Everybody excused himself\, saying that he was\nnot prepared\, until Anthony was finally asked to give it. When he\, too\, excused\nhimself most humbly\, his superior ordered him by virtue of the vow of obedience\nto give the sermon. Anthony began to speak in a very reserved manner; but soon\nholy animation seized him\, and he spoke with such eloquence\, learning\, and\nunction that everybody was fairly amazed. When St. Francis was informed of the\nevent\, he gave Anthony the mission to preach all over Italy. At the request of the\nbrethren\, Anthony was later commissioned also to teach theology\, “but in such a\nmanner\,” St. Francis distinctly wrote\, “that the spirit of prayer be not\nextinguished either in yourself or in the other brethren.”\nSt. Anthony himself placed greater value on the salvation of souls than on\nlearning. For that reason he never ceased to exercise his office as preacher along\nwith the work of teaching. The concourse of hearers was sometimes so great\nthat no church was large enough to accommodate the audiences and he had to\npreach in the open air. He wrought veritable miracles of conversion. Deadly\nenemies were reconciled with each other. Thieves and usurers made restitution\nof their ill-gotten goods. Calumniators and detractors recanted and apologized.\nHe was so energetic in defending the truths of the Catholic Faith that many\nheretics re-entered the pale of the Church\, so that Pope Gregory IX called him\n“the ark of the covenant.”… In all his labors he never forgot the admonition of his\nspiritual Father\, that the spirit of prayer must not be extinguished. If he spent\nthe day in teaching\, and heard the confessions of sinners till late in the evening\,\nthen many hours of the night were spent in intimate union with God…\nDue to his taxing labors and his austere practice of penance\, he soon felt\nhis strength so spent that he prepared himself for death. After receiving the last\nsacraments he kept looking upward with a smile on his countenance. When he\nwas asked what he saw there\, he answered: “I see my Lord.”… He breathed forth\nhis soul on June 13\, 1231\, being only thirty-six years old. Pope Gregory IX\nenrolled him among the saints the very next year… In 1946 he was declared a\nDoctor of the Church. \n3 Habig\, Marion O.F.M. The Franciscan Book of Saints. Chicago\, IL: Franciscan Herald Press\, 1959. 415-418.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/st-anthony-of-padua/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230615
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230610T220923Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230610T220923Z
UID:10599-1686700800-1686787199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Bl. Gerard Matt
DESCRIPTION:LAMENT FOR THE DEATH OF GERARD\nBy St Bernard of Clairvaux4\n◊◊◊\nHow much better for me\, O Gerard\, if I had lost my life rather than your\ncompany\, since through your tireless inspiration\, your unfailing help and under\nyour provident scrutiny I persevered with my studies of things divine. Why\, I\nask\, have we loved\, why have we lost each other? O cruel circumstance! But pity\npertains to my lot only\, not to his.\nAnd the reason\, dear brother\, is that though you have lost your loved ones\,\nyou have found others more lovable still. As for me\, already so miserable\, what\nconsolation remains to me\, and you\, my only comfort\, gone? Our bodily\ncompanionship was equally enjoyable to both\, because our dispositions were so\nalike; but only I am wounded by the parting. All that was pleasant we rejoiced to\nshare; now sadness and mourning are mine alone: anger has swept over me\, rage\nis fastened on me. Both of us were so happy in each other’s company\, sharing the\nsame experiences\, talking together about them; now my share of these delights\nhas ceased and you have passed on\, you have traded them for an immense\nreward.\nWhat harvest of joys\, what a profusion of blessings is yours. In place of my\ninsignificant person you have the abiding presence of Christ\, and mingling with\nthe angelic choirs you feel our absence no loss. You have no cause to complain\nthat we have been cut off from you\, favored as you are by the constant presence\nof the Lord of Majesty and of his heavenly friends. But what do I have in your\nstead? How I long to know what you now think about me\, once so uniquely\nyours\, as I sink beneath the weight of cares and afflictions\, deprived of the\nsupport you lent to my feebleness! Perhaps you still give thought to our\nmiseries\, now that you have plunged into the abyss of light\, become engulfed in\nthat sea of endless happiness. It is possible that though you once knew us\naccording to the flesh\, you now no longer know us and because you have entered\ninto the power of the Lord you will be mindful of his righteousness alone\,\nforgetful of ours.\nFurthermore\, “he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him\,”\nhis whole being somehow changed into a movement of divine love. He no longer\nhas the power to experience or relish anything but God\, and what God himself\nexperiences and relishes\, because he is filled with God. But God is love\, and the\ndeeper one’s union with God\, the more full one is of love. And though God cannot\nendure pain\, he is not without compassion for those who do; it is his nature to\nshow mercy and pardon. Therefore you too must of necessity be merciful\,\nclasped as you are to him who is Mercy; and though you no longer feel the need\nof mercy\, though you no longer suffer\, you cans still be compassionate. Your love\nhas not diminished but only changed; when you were clothed with God you did\nnot divest yourself of concern for us\, for God is certainly concerned about us. All\nthat smacks of weakness you have cast away\, but not what pertains to love. And\nsince love never comes to an end\, you will not forget me for ever.\nIt seems to me that I can almost hear my brother saying: “Can a woman\nforget the son of her womb? And if she should forget\, yet I will not forget you.”\nThis is how it must be. \n4 On The Song Of Songs II Sermon 26.III. Trans. Kilian Walsh. Cistercian Publications 1976. 62-64.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/bl-gerard-matt/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230615
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230616
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230610T221242Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230610T221242Z
UID:10601-1686787200-1686873599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Weekday
DESCRIPTION:ON THE SIN OF ANGER\nA Sermon by Alphonsus Liguori 5\n◊◊◊\nANGER resembles fire; hence\, as fire is vehement in its action\, and\, by the\nsmoke which it produces\, obstructs the view\, so anger makes men rush into a\nthousand excesses\, and prevents them from seeing the sinfulness of their\nconduct; and thus exposes them to the danger of the judgment of eternal death.\n“Whosoever is angry with his brother\, shall be in danger of the judgment”. Anger\nis so pernicious to man\, that it even disfigures his countenance. No matter how\ncomely and gentle he may be\, he shall\, as often as he yields to the passion of\nanger\, appear to be a monster and a wild beast full of terror… But\, if anger\ndisfigures us before men\, how much more deformed will it render us in the eyes\nof God!…\nBut you will perhaps say: If I resent such an injury\, God will have pity on\nme\, because I have just grounds for resentment. Who\, I ask\, has told you\, that\nyou have just grounds for seeking revenge? It is you\, whose understanding is\nclouded by passions\, that say so. I have already said\, that anger obscures the\nmind\, and takes away our reason and understanding. As long as the passion of\nanger lasts\, you will consider your neighbour’s conduct very unjust and\nintolerable; but\, when your anger shall have passed away\, you shall see that his\nact was not so bad as it appeared to you. But\, though the injury be grievous\, or\neven more grievous\, God will not have compassion on you\, if you seek revenge.\nNo; he says: vengeance for sins belongs not to you\, but to me; and when the time\nshall come\, I will chastise them as they deserve… But let us pass to the things…\nwhich will assist you to overcome this vice… \nIn the first place\, it is necessary to know that it is not possible for human\nweakness\, in the midst of so many occasions\, to be altogether free from every\nmotion of anger… All our efforts must be directed to the moderation of the\nfeeling of anger which spring up in the soul. How are they to be moderated? By\nmeekness. This is called the virtue of the lamb–that is\, the beloved virtue of\nJesus Christ. Because\, like a lamb\, without anger or even complaint\, he bore the\nsorrows of his passion and crucifixion…\nA certain monk once passed through a corn field: the owner of the field ran\nout\, and spoke to him in very offensive and injurious language. The monk\nhumbly replied: Brother\, you are right; I have done wrong; pardon me. By this\nanswer the husbandman was so much appeased\, that he instantly became calm\,\nand even wished to follow the monk\, and to enter into religion. The proud make\nuse of the humiliations they receive to increase their pride; but the humble and\nthe meek turn the contempt and insults offered them into an occasion of\nadvancing in humility…\nThe meek are useful to others; because\, as… St. Chrysostom says\, there is\nnothing better calculated to draw others to God\, than to see a Christian meek and\ncheerful when he receives an injury or an insult… The reason is\, because virtue is\nknown by being tried; and\, as gold is tried by fire\, so the meekness of men is\nproved by humiliation…\nWhen we meet with crosses\, persecutions\, and injuries\, let us turn to God\,\nwho commands us to bear them with patience; and thus we shall always avoid\nanger. Remember the fear of God\, and be not angry with thy neighbour. Let us\ngive a look at the will of God\, which disposes things in this manner for our merit\,\nand anger\, shall cease. Let us give a look at Jesus crucified\, and we shall not have\ncourage to complain. \n5 St. Alphonsus Liguori. The Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori – For All the Sundays of the Year.\nRockford\, IL: Tan Books and Publishers\, INC\, 1982. 254-255\, 257-259.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/weekday-7/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230617
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230610T221605Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230610T221605Z
UID:10603-1686873600-1686959999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Sacred Heart of Jesus
DESCRIPTION:CAST YOURSELF INTO HIS HEART\nFrom the mystical dialogue between Jesus and Sister Josefa Menéndez6\n◊◊◊\nWith a gesture of indescribable love He drew her into His Heart: “Come\, and\ntake your rest here in My Heart.”…”Do not think that I love you more now that I\nconsole you\, than when I ask you to suffer.”… But the more feeble you are\, the more\ntenderly I love you.’\n“I entreated Him again to give me a love true and strong\,” she wrote…\, “for\nI believe that if I really loved Him in the right way I should be better able to\nconquer myself. This was during my prayer\, and Jesus came and said to me: ‘Yes\,\nJosefa\, let your food be love and humility. But do not forget that I want you to be\nalways abandoned and happy\, because My Heart cares for you tenderly.’ “Then I\nexplained how sad I feel that I cannot conquer myself nor correspond to so much\ngoodness.” “Never mind. Cast yourself into My Heart\, and follow the guidance that\nis given you. That will suffice.”… “I asked Him how we can console Him\, since we\nare so full of miseries and weakness. He answered me by pointing to His Heart: ‘I\nmake little account of all that\,’ He said\, ‘provided souls come to Me with confidence\nand love. I Myself make up for all their frailty.’\n“During the nine-o’clock Mass\,” she wrote…\, “Jesus came with a radiant\nHeart. It might have been the sun. “Behold the Heart that gives life to souls\,” He\nsaid. “The fire of this love is stronger than the indifference and ingratitude\nof men.” “Behold the Heart that bestows on the souls He has chosen a vehement\ndesire to consume themselves\, and if necessary\, die to prove Me their love.” “His\nwords were so forcible that they went through and through my soul. Then\,\nglancing at me\, He continued: ‘Sinners tear Me to pieces and fill My Heart with\nsorrow… Will not you\, My chosen little victim\, repair all this ingratitude?’\n“I asked Him what He would have me do\, for He knows my helplessness well.\n‘My will is that you should enter deeply into My Heart today; there you will find\nstrength to suffer. Do not reflect on your helplessness; My Heart is powerful\nenough to sustain you. It is yours; take from It all you need. Be consumed in It …\noffer this Heart and this Blood to the Eternal Father. Cease to live except a life of\nlove\, reparation\, and suffering.’”\nThat evening during Benediction Jesus again manifested Himself\, and from\nHis Heart there streamed light. “A little group of fervent souls can obtain mercy\nfor many sinners\,” He said\, “for My Heart cannot resist their prayers…”\n“After a few minutes of silence He continued: ‘Come near Me\, Josefa\, rest on\nMy Heart and share Its grief. So many fill It with sorrow\, but your love will comfort\nMe.’ “As He drew me nearer to His Heart\, mine was instantly drowned in\ninexpressible sorrow and bitterness. I knew that I could not assuage His grief\, for\nI am so powerless . . . so I offered Him His own pain\, to supply for the insufficiency\nof mine… For a long while I stayed in silence\, adoring\, humbling myself and asking\nforgiveness for souls; Jesus then said: ‘Repair\, Josefa\, for those who ought to but\ndo not make reparation.”…\n“Ask forgiveness for the sins of the world. O! how they sin… how many are\nlost… souls that once knew and loved Me… but now they prefer their own\nenjoyment and pleasure to My Heart… where shall I find relief for My distress?’ “I\nsaid to Him: ‘Why\, here Lord\, in this house\, in our souls… there are still many\neverywhere who love Thee.’ ‘Yes\, I know\, but those are the souls I seek; I love them\nwith a boundless love.’ \n6 Sister Josefa Menéndez. The Way of Divine Love – or The Message of the Sacred Heart to the\nWorld. Westminster\, Maryland: The Newman Press\, 1950. 150-151\, 154\, 156\, 159.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/sacred-heart-of-jesus/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230617
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230618
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230610T221906Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230610T221906Z
UID:10605-1686960000-1687046399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Immaculate Heart of Mary
DESCRIPTION:THE VIRGIN KEPT ALL THESE THINGS IN HER HEART\nBy St Elizabeth of the Trinity 7\n◊◊◊\n“Those whom God has foreknown He has also predestined to become\nconformed to the image of His divine Son\,” the One crucified by love…No one has\npenetrated the depths of the mystery of Christ except the Blessed Virgin.” John\nand Mary Magdalene penetrated deeply this mystery; St. Paul often speaks of\n“the understanding of it which was given to him”; and yet\, how all the saints\nremain in the shadows when we look at the Blessed Virgin’s light!\nThis is the unspeakable “secret” that she kept in mind and pondered in her\nheart” which no tongue can tell or pen describe! This Mother of grace will form\nmy soul so that her little child will be a living\, “striking” image of her first-born\,\nthe Son of the Eternal\, He who was the perfect praise of His Father’s glory…\nShe responded fully to the divine election of which the Apostle speaks; she\nwas always “pure\, immaculate\, and without reproach” in the eyes of the thriceholy God. Her soul is so simple. Its movements are so profound that they cannot\nbe detected. She seems to reproduce on earth the life which is that of the divine\nBeing\, the simple Being. And she is so transparent\, so luminous that one would\nmistake her for the light\, yet she is but the “mirror” of the Sun of Justice…\n“The Virgin kept all these things in her heart”: her whole history can be\nsummed up in these few words! It was within her heart that she lived\, and at\nsuch a depth that no human eye can follow her. When I read in the Gospel “that\nMary went in haste to the hill country of Judea” to perform her loving service for\nher cousin Elizabeth\, I imagine her passing by so beautiful\, so calm and so\nmajestic\, so absorbed in recollection of the Word of God within her. Like Him\,\nher prayer was always this: “Ecce\, here I am!”… “The servant of the Lord\,” the\nlowliest of His creatures: she\, His Mother! Her humility was so real for she was\nalways forgetful\, unaware\, freed from self. And she could sing: “The Almighty\nhas done great things for me\, henceforth all peoples will call me blessed.”\nThis Queen of virgins is also Queen of martyrs; but again it was in her heart\nthat the sword pierced\,” for with her everything took place within!… Oh! How\nbeautiful she is to contemplate during her long martyrdom\, so serene\, enveloped\nin a kind of majesty that radiates both strength and gentleness… She learned\nfrom the Word Himself how those must suffer whom the Father has chosen as\nvictims\, those whom He has decided to associate with Himself in the great work\nof redemption\, those whom He “has foreknown and predestined to be conformed\nto His Christ\,” crucified by love.\nShe is there at the foot of the Cross\, standing\, full of strength and courage\,\nand here My Master says to me: “Behold your mother”. He gives her to me for my\nMother… And now that He has returned to the Father and has substituted me for\nHimself on the Cross so that “I may suffer in my body what is lacking in His\npassion for the sake of His body\, which is the Church\,” the Blessed Virgin is again\nthere to teach me to suffer as He did\, to tell me\, to make me hear those last songs\nof His soul which no one else but she\, His Mother\, could overhear. \n7 St Elizabeth of the Trinity. I have Found God: Complete Works – Volume 1. Trans. Sister Aletheia\nKane\, O.C.D. Washington: ICS Publications\, 1984. 141\, 160-161.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/immaculate-heart-of-mary/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230618
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230619
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230617T134050Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230617T134050Z
UID:10633-1687046400-1687132799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n11th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (I)\nJune 18 – 24\, 2023\n\n\n\nSun\n18\nMon\n19\nTue\n20\nWed\n21\nThu\n22\nFri\n23\nSat\n24\n\n\nOffice\n11th Sunday\nWeekday\nOffice for Vocations\nSt Aloysius of Gonzaga\nSS John Fisher & Thomas More\nWeekday\nNativity of St John the Baptist\n\n\nVigils\nGen 17:1-27\nGen 18:1-15\nGen 18:16-33\nGen 19:1-14\nGen 19:15-38\nGen 20:1-18\nMalachi 3:1-7b\, 19-24\n\n\nLauds\nProv 10:1-6\nProv 10:7-12\nProv 10:13-17\nProv 10:18-21\nProv 10:22-25\nProv 10:27-32\nJerm 1:4-10\n\n\nMass\n91\n365\n366\n367\n368\n369\n587\n\n\n1st\nExod 19:2-6a\n2 Cor 6:1-10\n2 Cor 8:1-9\n2 Cor 9:6-11\n2 Cor 11:1-11\n2 Cor 11:18\, 21-30\nIsa 49:1-6\n\n\n2nd\nRom 5:6-11\n\n\n\n\n\nActs 13:22-26\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 9:36—10:8\nMatt 5:38-42\nMatt 5:43-48\nMatt 6:1-6\, 16-18\nMatt 6:7-15\nMatt 6:19-23\nLuke 1:57-66\, 80\n\n\nVespers\nGal 5:7-15\nGal 5:16-26\nGal 6:1-10\nGal 6:11-18\nCol 1:1-8\nActs 13:15-26\n1 Jn 4:1-6
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-33/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230619
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230617T134244Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230617T134244Z
UID:10635-1687046400-1687132799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 11th Sun ORD
DESCRIPTION:GATHER IN THE HARVEST \nFrom a commentary by St John Chrysostom1 ◊◊◊ \nAll farm work is undertaken with a view to the harvest that will come at the end. How then could Jesus apply the word “harvest” to work that was only beginning? Idolatry held sway all over the world. Everywhere there was fornication\, adultery\, licentiousness; everywhere greed\, robbery\, bloodshed. When the world was filled with so many evils\, when the good seed had not yet been sown\, when the land had not been cleared\, and there were briars\, thistles and weeds everywhere\, when no ploughing had been done\, no furrow cut\, how could Jesus speak of a harvest and say it was plentiful? Why did he speak thus of the gospel? \nWhy indeed\, if not that with things in such a state\, he was about to send out his apostles all over the world. Most likely they were bewildered and anxious; they probably asked themselves: How can we even open our mouths\, let alone stand up and preach in front of huge crowds of people? How can eleven of us put the whole world to rights? Can we speak to the wise when we are ignorant\, to soldiers when we are unarmed\, to rulers when we are subjects\, to people of many different languages\, people of foreign nations and alien speech\, when we have only one language? Who will tolerate us if no one can understand what we say? \nIt was to save them from the anxiety of such reasoning that the Lord called the gospel a harvest. It was almost as if he said: Everything is ready\, all is prepared. I am sending you to harvest the ripe grain. You will be able to sow and reap on the same day. You must be like the farmer who rejoices when he goes out to gather in his crops. He looks happy and is glad of heart. His hard work and many difficulties forgotten\, he hurries out eagerly to reap their reward\, hastening to collect his annual returns. Nothing stands in the way\, there is no obstacle anywhere\, nor any uncertainty regarding the future. There will be no heavy rain\, no hail or drought\, no devastating legions of locusts. And since the farmer at harvest time fears no such disasters\, the reapers set to work dancing and leaping for joy. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nYou must be like them when you go out into the world — indeed your joy must be very much greater. You also are to gather in a harvest — a harvest easily reaped\, a harvest already there waiting for you. You have only to speak\, not to labor. Lend me your tongue\, and you will see the ripe grain gathered into the royal granary. And with this he sent them out\, saying: Remember that I am with you always\, until the end of the world \n\n\n1 Journey with the Fathers: Commentaries on the Sunday Gospels – Year A. Ed. Edith Barnecut\, OSB. New York: New City Press\, 1992. 98-99. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-11th-sun-ord/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230618T192500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230618T200000
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230302T154105Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230302T154105Z
UID:10234-1687116300-1687118400@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Compline
DESCRIPTION:Sunday\, June 18th at 7:25 pm \nZoom link: \nhttps://us06web.zoom.us/j/3917499727 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/compline-7/
CATEGORIES:Compline
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230619
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230620
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230617T134432Z
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UID:10637-1687132800-1687219199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:LOVING YOUR ENEMIES \nA sermon by Reverend Martin Luther King\, Jr.2 ◊◊◊ \nI am certain that Jesus understood the difficulty inherent in the act of loving one’s enemy. He never joined the ranks of those who talk glibly about the easiness of the moral life. He realized that every genuine expression of love grows out of a consistent and total surrender to God. So when Jesus said “Love your enemy\,” he was not unmindful of its stringent qualities. Yet he meant every word of it. Our responsibility as Christians is to discover the meaning of this command and seek passionately to live it out in our daily lives. \nLet us be practical and ask the question\, how do we love our enemies? First\, we must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love… Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means\, rather\, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship. Forgiveness is a catalyst creating the atmosphere necessary for a fresh start and a new beginning. It is the lifting of a burden or the canceling of a debt. The words “I will forgive you\, but I’ll never forget what you’ve done” never explain the real nature of forgiveness. Certainly one can never forget\, if that means erasing it totally from his mind. But when we forgive\, we forget in the sense that the evil deed is no longer a mental block impeding a new relationship. Likewise\, we can never say\, “I will forgive you\, but I won’t have anything further to do with you.” Forgiveness means reconciliation\, a coming together again. Without this\, no man can love his enemies. The degree to which we are able to forgive determines the degree to which we are able to love our enemies. \nSecond\, we must recognize that the evil deed of the enemy- neighbor\, the thing that hurts\, never quite expresses all that he is. An element of goodness may be found even in our worst enemy. Each of us is something of a schizophrenic personality\, tragically divided against ourselves. A persistent civil war rages within all of our lives… to repeat with the Apostle Paul\, “The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not\, that I do.”… This simply means that there is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this\, we are less prone to hate our enemies… We recognize that his hate grows out of fear\, pride\, ignorance\, prejudice\, and misunderstanding\, but in spite of this\, we know God’s image is ineffably etched in his being. Then we love our enemies by realizing that they are not totally bad and that they are not beyond the reach of God’s redemptive love. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nThird\, we must not seek to defeat or humiliate the enemy but to win his friendship and understanding. At times we are able to humiliate our worst enemy. Inevitably\, his weak moments come and we are able to thrust in his side the spear of defeat. But this we must not do. Every word and deed must contribute to an understanding with the enemy and release those vast reservoirs of goodwill which have been blocked by impenetrable walls of hate… \nWe should be happy that he did not say\, “Like your enemies.” It is almost impossible to like some people. “Like” is a sentimental and affectionate word. How can we be affectionate toward a person whose avowed aim is to crush our very being and place innumerable stumbling blocks in our path? How can we like a person who is threatening our children and bombing our homes? This is impossible. But Jesus recognized that love is greater than like. When Jesus bids us to love our enemies\, he is speaking neither of eros nor philia; he is speaking of agape\, understanding and creative\, redemptive goodwill for all men. Only by following this way and responding with this type of love are we able to be children of our Father who is in heaven \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n2 Martin Luther King\, Jr. Strength to Love. New York: Pocket Book\, Inc.\, 1964. 41-44. \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-90/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230620
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230621
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230617T134635Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230617T134635Z
UID:10639-1687219200-1687305599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:WHEN PRAYER PROCEEDS FROM PURE GRIEF FOR SOMEONE \nFrom a reflection by St Silouan the Athonite3 ◊◊◊ \nThe Lord would save all men\, and in His goodness He summons all the world to salvation. The Lord does not take a man’s will away from him but by His grace urges him towards goodness and draws him to His love. And when the Lord would have mercy on a man\, He inspires others with the desire to pray for him\, and helps them in their prayer. Therefore we must know that when we feel a wish to pray for someone\, it means that the Lord Himself wants to shew mercy on that soul and will graciously hear our prayers… \nWhen prayer proceeds from pure grief for someone\, whether among the living or the dead\, it holds no element of morbid attachment in it. The soul in her prayer grieves for the man and prays fervently\, and this is a sign of God’s mercy… Therefore\, if it befalls you to sorrow over anyone\, you must pray for that person\, because the Lord for your sake would be gracious unto him… \nWhen a mother knows that her children are in distress\, she suffers grievously and may even fall mortally ill. And I have myself experienced something of the kind. A tree that was being felled and stripped of its branches started crashing down on the man below. I saw what was happening but my distress was so great that it prevented me from shouting to him to get out of the way. My heart felt sick and it wept\, and the tree stopped in its course. I did not know the man but had it been my own flesh and blood\, I think I should have died… \n\n\n\n\n\n\nAn old priest-monk who dwelt on the upper slopes of Mt. Athos used to see the prayers of the monks rising to heaven\, and this does not surprise me. The same staretz\, when he was a little boy and saw his father’s distress over a serious drought which threatened the whole harvest\, went to the kitchen-garden where hemp was growing\, and started praying: ‘O Lord\, Thou art merciful\, Thou didst create us\, Thou dost feed and clothe all men. Thou seest\, O Lord\, how my father mourns because there is no rain. Do Thou send rain upon the earth.’ And the clouds gathered\, and the rain fell and drenched the earth. \nAnd another old monk\, who lived by the sea\, near the harbour\, told me:\n‘It was a dark night. The harbour was full of fishing-vessels. A storm blew up and quickly gathered force. The boats began to bump one against the other. The fishermen tried to tie them up but it was impossible in the darkness and the storm. Confusion reigned. The fishermen began to shout for all they were worth\, and it was dreadful to hear the shouts of the terrified men. I grieved for the people and prayed with tears: “Lord\, hush the storm\, and still the waves. Have pity and save Thine afflicted people.” ‘And soon the storm ceased\, the sea grew calm\, and the people\, their fears lifted\, gave thanks to God.’… \nIn their inexperience many people declare that such-and- such a saint performed a miracle\, but I know that it is the Holy Spirit living in man Who performs the miracles. The Lord would have all men find salvation and dwell eternally with Him\, and so He gives ear to the sinner’s prayer\, either for the good of others or for the good of him who prays \n\n\n3 Archimandrite Sophrony. St Silouan the Athonite. Trans. Rosemary Edmonds. Crestwood\, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press\, 1999. 491 \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-5/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230621
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230622
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230617T134816Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230617T134816Z
UID:10641-1687305600-1687391999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Aloysius Gonzaga
DESCRIPTION:FROM A LETTER TO HIS MOTHER \nby St Aloysius Gonzaga4 ◊◊◊ \nYour letter found me lingering still in this region of the dead\, but now I must rouse myself to make my way to heaven at last and to praise God for ever in the land of the living; indeed I had hoped that before this time my journey there would have been over. If charity\, as St. Paul says\, means to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who are glad\, then\, dearest mother\, you shall rejoice exceedingly that God in His grace and His love for you is showing me the path to true happiness\, and assuring me that I shall never lose Him. \nThe divine goodness… is a fathomless and shoreless ocean\, and I confess that when I plunge my mind into thought of this it is carried away by the immensity and feels quite lost and bewildered there. In return for my short and feeble labors\, God is calling me to eternal rest; His voice from heaven invites me to the infinite bliss I have sought so languidly\, and promises me this reward for the tears I have so seldom shed. \nTake care above all things… not to insult God’s boundless loving kindness; you should certainly do this if you mourned as dead one living face to face with God\, one whose prayers can bring you in your troubles more powerful aid than they ever could on earth. And our parting will not be for long; we shall see each other again in heaven; we shall be united with our Savior; there we shall praise him with heart and soul\, sing his mercies forever\, and enjoy eternal happiness. When He takes away what He has once lent us\, His purpose is to store our treasure elsewhere more safely and bestow on us those very blessings that we ourselves would most choose to have. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nI write all this with the one desire that you and all <the> family may consider my departure a joy and favor and that you especially may speed with a mother’s blessing my passage across the waters till I reach the shore to which all blessings belong. I write the more willingly because I have no clearer way of expressing the love and respect I owe you as your son \n\n\n8 \n\n\n \n\n\n4 The Liturgy of the Hours – vol. III – Catholic Book Publishing Co – New York – 1975 – pg 1475. \n\n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-aloysius-gonzaga/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230623
DTSTAMP:20260403T170555
CREATED:20230617T135008Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230617T135008Z
UID:10643-1687392000-1687478399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - SS John Fisher & Thomas More
DESCRIPTION:FROM A LETTER WRITTEN IN PRISON TO HIS DAUGHTER\, MARGARET \nby St Thomas More5 ◊◊◊ \nAlthough I know well\, Margaret\, that because of my past wickedness I deserve to be abandoned by God\, I cannot but trust in his merciful goodness. His grace has strengthened me until now\, and made me content to lose goods\, land\, and life as well\, rather than to swear against my conscience. God’s grace has given the king a gracious frame of mind toward me\, so that as yet he has taken from me nothing but my liberty. In doing this His Majesty has done me such great good with respect to spiritual profit that I trust that among all the great benefits he has heaped so abundantly upon me I count my imprisonment the very greatest. I cannot\, therefore\, mistrust the grace of God. Either he will keep the king in that gracious frame of mind to continue to do me no harm\, or else\, if it be his pleasure that for my other sins I suffer in this case as I deserve\, then his grace shall give me the strength to bear it patiently\, and perhaps even gladly. \nBy the merits of his bitter passion joined to mine and far surpassing in merit for me all that I can suffer myself\, his bounteous goodness shall release me from the pains of purgatory and shall increase my reward in heaven besides. \nI shall not mistrust him… though I shall feel myself weakening and on the verge of being overcome with fear. I shall remember how St. Peter at a blast of wind began to sink because of his lack of faith\, and I shall do as he did: call upon Christ and pray to him for help. And then I trust he shall place his holy hand on me and in the stormy seas hold me up from drowning. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nAnd if he permits me to play Saint Peter further and to fall to the ground and to swear and foreswear\, may God our Lord in his tender mercy keep me from this\, and let me lose if it so happen\, and never win thereby! Still\, if this should happen\, afterward I trust that in his goodness he will look on me with pity as he did upon Saint Peter\, and make me stand up again and confess the truth of my conscience afresh and endure here the shame and harm of my own fault. \nAnd finally… I know this well: that without my fault he will not let me be lost. I shall\, therefore\, with good hope commit myself wholly to him. And if he permits me to perish for my faults\, then I shall serve as praise for his justice. But in good faith…I trust that his tender pity shall keep my soul safe and make me commend his mercy. \nAnd therefore\, my own good daughter\, do not let your mind be troubled over anything that shall happen to me in this world. Nothing can come but what God wills. And I am very sure that whatever that be\, however bad it may seem\, it shall be the best \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n5 The Liturgy of the Hours – vol. III – Catholic Book Publishing Co – New York – 1975 – pg 1479. \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-ss-john-fisher-thomas-more/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:10645-1687478400-1687564799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:HOW NOAH\, DANIEL\, AND JOB CROSSED THE SEA \nA Sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux6 ◊◊◊ \nThis great and wide sea\, and it is certain that nothing else is signified by it but this present bitter and stormy age gives passage for three types of people to cross to freedom… the first crossed on a ship\, the second by a bridge\, and the third by the shallows. Now these three men signify three orders in the church: Noah steered the ark so that it did not perish in the deluge\, and in that I see the type of the rulers of the church. Daniel\, a man of dreams\,’ dedicated to abstinence and chastity and occupied only with God\, represents the order of those who are penitent and chaste. Job in marriage ordered well the good things of this world\, and he is the figure of the faithful people who lawfully possess the things of the world… \nThe continent are those who go by a bridge\, which is an easier and shorter way\, and everyone knows it is safer… Your path is straight\, my brothers\, and safer than that of married people\, but it is not completely safe. For there is a threefold danger to be feared\, namely\, if anyone should want to compare himself to another\, to look back\, or to stand or even sit down in the middle of the bridge. For the narrowness of the bridge does not allow for any of these three things\, and narrow is the way that leads to life. \nLet us then all pray against this danger with the prophet; let not the foot of pride come against us\, for they who work iniquity have fallen. For the one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back will certainly fall straightway\, and the waters will cover his head. But the one who wishes to stand\, not leaving the Order but pretending to advance in it\, must needs fall\, driven forth and tripped up by those who follow. For narrow is the way\, and that is a hindrance to those who would advance and travel along it. Thus they assert themselves and are censorious and cannot bear the inactivity of tepidity but drive themselves on as though by some goad and push themselves\, so that they must necessarily do one of two things\, either make some progress or give up entirely. It is not right\, then\, to halt one’s steps; likewise\, it is not profitable to look back or to compare oneself with others. Instead\, let us run with all humility and make haste\, so that we may not be far from him who goes forth as a giant to run a race. And if we are wise\, we shall keep him before our eyes and\, attracted by his aroma\, we shall run more easily and quickly. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nBut the pathway over the bridge will not be found too narrow for those who wish to walk along it. For it is made of three kinds of wood\, so that the foot of those who wish to rely on it entirely shall not slip on the path. These three are punishment of the body\,” poverty of worldly goods\, and the humility of obedience… When these things have been duly linked\, see if you have not passed over three perils of this sea: the lust of the flesh\, the lust of the eyes\, and the pride of life. Duly linked\, I say\, so that you are sure that there is not a trace of impatience in the penance\, a speck of desire in the poverty\, a stain of self-will in the obedience. For those who murmured perished by serpents\,’ and those who want to be rich–not those who are\, but those who want to be rich–fall into the snare of the devil… \nBut because\, according to the saying of the Savior\, by the measure with which we measure out it shall be measured to us again\, it is good for people to give in abundance\, so that they may be of the number of those to whose breast others shall give good measure\, pressed down\, shaken together\, and running over \n\n\n\n6 St Bernard of Clairvaux. Sermons for the Autumn Season. Trans. Irene Edmonds\, OCSO. Collegeville\, Minnesota: Cistercian Publications\, 2016. 85-88. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-91/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:10647-1687564800-1687651199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Nativity of St John the Baptist
DESCRIPTION:MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD \nA homily by Johannes Tauler7 ◊◊◊ \nWhen the Baptist said: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness\, make straight the way of the Lord\,” he refers to the path of the virtues. This path is very straight. And again he says that he is to prepare the Lord’s paths. Footpaths reach the goal faster than public roads. The shortcut across the fields is indeed rougher and may lead one astray; and yet it is more direct than the open road. \nBeloved! Whoever would discover the paths leading to the ground\, he would take the shortest and most direct way\, keeping all his energies to himself so as to be very attentive. For these paths are rugged\, dark\, and alien to our nature\, and only those who are sufficiently skilled can take them. If they are aware of this\, they will not be put off by hurdles and hindrances or any other human anguish. Quite the opposite: Everything will point to the ground\, beckon\, and draw them there. \nIn the same manner we should straighten the paths within ourselves\, the paths which lead our spirit to God\, and God to us. These relations also require skill\, and their difficulties are of a hidden nature. At this point many give up and begin to run after exterior devotions and activities. They are like people starting for Rome and taking the road to Holland. The more they advance\, the farther they get away from their destination. And when they return\, they are old and spent and no longer up to the tempestuous work of love. \nBeloved\, when we find ourselves in the tempests of love\, we should not dwell on our sins and failings. Our only concern should be that love’s work be accomplished. We can be overcome by this tempest even when our hearts appear cold\, disinterested and hard. Now more than ever we must adhere to love\, clinging to it in perfect faith\, freed and stripped of everything that is not love. Constantly long for it\, put your whole trust in it\, cleave to it. and your experience will be as powerful and overwhelming as is possible in this life. If your faith in love is imperfect\, your desire will fade away. Love will be extinguished\, and nothing will come of it all. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis may seem very hard to you. The devil will allow you all the marks of a spiritual life\, but he will do everything in his power to deprive you of love’s true witness. He will leave you with all kinds of treacherous love which many will mistake for the real thing. If they looked deeply into their ground\, they would see whether their love was true or false. The one thing necessary is to give access to the ground in order to be able to enter its depth. There you would find that grace which would incessantly raise you up. But we often resist that voice until we make ourselves unworthy to ever receive it again. This is due to complacency. If only we would respond to the glance of grace\, it would lead us to find such union with God that we would experience in time the joy that will be ours in eternity\, as some have done before us. May God grant that we may all experience this.. \n\n\n7 The Classics of Western Spirituality. Johannes Tauler\, “Sermon 44 – Feast of John the Baptist”. Paulist Press\, 1985\, pp. 151-152. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-nativity-of-st-john-the-baptist/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:10654-1687651200-1687737599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n12th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (I)\nJune 25 – July 1\, 2023\n\n\n\nSun\n25\nMon\n26\nTue\n27\nWed\n28\nThu\n29\nFri\n30\nSat\n1\n\n\nOffice\n12th Sunday\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSt Ireneaus\nSS Peter & Paul\nWeekday\nMemorial of BVM\n\n\nVigils\nGen 21:1-19\nGen 21:20-34\nGen 22:1-24\nGen 23:1-20\nGal 1:11-2:10\nGen 24:1-27\nGen 24:28-49\n\n\nLauds\nProv 11:1-6\nProv 11:7-12\nProv 11:13-18\nProv 11:23-28\nIsa 49:1-6\nProv 12:5-9\nProv 12:13-19\n\n\nMass\n94\n371\n372\n373\n591\n375\n376\n\n\n1st\nJer 20:10-13\nGen 12:1-9\nGen 13:2\, 5-18\nGen 15:1-12\, 17-18\nActs 12:1-11\nGen 17:1\, 9-10\, 15-22\nGen 18:1-15\n\n\n2nd\nRom 5:12-15\n\n\n\n2 Tim 4:6-8\, 17-18\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 10:26-33\nMatt 7:1-5\nMatt 7:6\, 12-14\nMatt 7:15-20\nMatt 16:13-19\nMatt 8:1-4\nMatt 8:5-17\n\n\nVespers\nCol 1:9-14\nCol 1:15-23\nCol 1:24-29\nActs 3:1-10\n1 Peter 4:12-19\nCol 2:1-8\nCol 2:9-15
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-34/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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