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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241215
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241216
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241215T123813Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241215T123813Z
UID:12920-1734220800-1734307199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 3rd Sunday of Advent
DESCRIPTION:YOU MUST BUILD UPON ROCK \nFrom a commentary by Origen of Alexandria \n◊◊◊ \nThe baptism that Jesus gives is a baptism in the Holy Spirit and in fire. \nBaptism is one and the same no matter who receives it\, but its effect depends on \nthe recipient’s disposition. He who is portrayed as baptizing in the Holy Spirit \nand in fire holds a winnowing fan in his hand\, which he will use to clear the \nthreshing floor. The wheat he will gather into his barn\, but the chaff he will \nburn with fire that can never be quenched. \nI should like to discover our Lord’s reason for holding a winnowing fan \nand to inquire into the nature of the wind that scatters the light chaff here and \nthere\, leaving the heavier grain lying in a heap – for you must have a wind if you \nwant to separate wheat and chaff. \nI suggest that the faithful are like a heap of unsifted grain\, and that the \nwind represents the temptations which assail them and show up the wheat and \nchaff among them. When your soul is overcome by some temptation\, it is not the \ntemptation that changes you into chaff. No\, you were chaff already\, that is to \nsay\, fickle and faithless; the temptation simply discloses the stuff you were \nmade of. On the other hand\, when you endure temptations bravely it is not the \ntemptation that made you faithful and patient; temptation merely brings to \nlight the hidden virtues of patience and fortitude that have been present in you \nall along. Do you think that I had any other purpose in speaking to you\, said the \nLord to Job\, than to reveal your virtue? In another text he declares: I humbled \nyou and made you feel the pangs of hunger in order to find out what was in \nyour heart. \nIn the same way\, a storm will not allow a house to stand firm if it is built \non sand. If you wish to build a house\, you must build it upon rock. Then any \nstorms that arise will not demolish your handiwork\, whereas the house built \nupon sand will totter\, proving thereby that it is not well founded. \nSo while all is yet quiet\, before the storm gathers\, before the squalls begin \nto bluster or the waves to swell\, let us concentrate all our efforts on the \nfoundations of our building and construct our house with the many strong\, \ninterlocking bricks of God’s commandments. Then when cruel persecutions is \nunleashed like some fearful tornado against Christians\, we shall be able to show \nthat our house is built upon Christ Jesus our rock. \nFar be it from us to deny Christ when the time comes. But if anyone \nshould do so\, let that person realize that it is not at the moment of his public \ndenial that apostasy took place. Its seeds and roots had been hidden within him \nfor a long time; persecution only brought into the open and made public what \nwas already there. Let us pray to the Lord then that we may be firm and solid \nbuildings that no storm can overthrow\, founded on the rock of our Lord Jesus \nChrist.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-3rd-sunday-of-advent/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241216
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241217
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241215T123923Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241215T123923Z
UID:12922-1734307200-1734393599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:O KING OF ALL NATIONS \nFrom a treatise by St Hilary of Poitiers \n◊◊◊ \n[A verse from the second Psalm says:] Ask of me\, and I will give you \nthe nations to be your inheritance and the ends of the earth to be \nyour possession. Christ has indeed received the nations as the inheritance he \nasked for. When was this? It was when he prayed: Father\, the hour has come. \nGive glory to your Son that he may give glory to you\, since you have given him \nauthority over the whole human race\, to give eternal life to all those you have \ngiven him. \nThis\, then\, is Christ’s inheritance: the whole human race\, to whom he \ndesires to give eternal life. All nations are to be baptized\, instructed\, and born \nagain to new life. No longer will they be subject to the government of angels \nreferred to in the inspired Song of Moses\, nor will they be divided up among the \nangels in proportion to their numbers; they will be received into the Lord’s \nfamily and reckoned as servants of God. From the dominion of unjust rulers \nthey will be taken into God’s eternal kingdom. In the past Israel alone was the \nLord’s portion and Jacob his allotted heritage; but now the whole company of \nnations has become a single people\, the people of the one and only God. All who \nare to rise from the dead form the everlasting inheritance of God’s eternal Son\, \nthe firstborn from the dead. \nYou will rule them with a rod of iron; you will shatter them \nlike the potter’s vessel. To many people these words seem to conflict with \nthe goodness of God. Are the nations which the Son of God asked for and \nreceived as his inheritance to be terrorized by an iron rule and smashed like \nvessels of clay? No good person\, they say\, gives or receives anything for the \npurpose of destroying it. Does not the Lord prefer the repentance of sinners to5 \ntheir death? How then will he be acting in accordance with the nature he claims \nto have if he shatters with an iron rod those whom he has asked for as his \ninheritance? \nThese people misunderstand the divine decrees or else fail to recognize \ntheir justice and propriety. You will rule them means that Christ will lead \nthem like a shepherd\, guiding them with a shepherd’s loving care\, for he is the \nGood Shepherd and we the sheep for whom he laid down his life.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-241/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241217
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241218
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241215T124029Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241215T124029Z
UID:12924-1734393600-1734479999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:O WISDOM \nA letter from an anonymous author to Diognetus \n◊◊◊ \nNo one has ever seen God or known him\, but God has revealed himself to \nus through faith\, by which alone it is possible to see him. God\, the Lord and \nmaker of all things\, who created the world and set it in order\, not only loved us \nbut was also patient with us. So he has always been\, and is\, and will be: kind\, \ngood\, free from anger\, truthful; indeed\, he and he alone is good. \nHe devised a plan\, a great and wonderful plan\, and shared it only with his \nSon. As long as he preserved his secrecy and kept his own wise counsel he \nseemed to be neglecting us\, to have no concern for us. But when – through his \nbeloved Son – he revealed and made public what he had prepared from the \nbeginning\, he gave us all at once gifts such as we could never have dreamt of\, \neven sight and knowledge of himself. \nAfter making all his plans in consultation with his Son\, God still allowed \nus for a time to go our own way\, to be swept along by unruly passion\, enslaved by \nsensuality. This does not mean that he took pleasure in our sins\, but only that he \ntolerated them. When we had shown ourselves to be unworthy of life\, his \ngoodness would make us worthy of it. When we had shown our inability to enter \nthe kingdom of God by our own power\, we would be enabled to do so by God’s \npower. \nHow immeasurable is God’s generosity and love! He did not show hatred \nfor us or reject us or take vengeance. He gave his own Son as the price of our \nredemption\, the holy One to redeem the wicked\, the sinless One to redeem \nsinners\, the just One to redeem the unjust\, the incorruptible One to redeem the \ncorruptible\, the immortal One to redeem mortals. For what else could have7 \ncovered our sins but his sinlessness? In whom could we have been sanctified but \nin the Son of God alone? \nHow wonderful a transformation\, how mysterious a design\, how \ninconceivable a blessing! The wickedness of the many is hidden in the One who \nis holy\, and the holiness of One sanctifies the many.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-242/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241218
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241219
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241215T124126Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241215T124126Z
UID:12926-1734480000-1734566399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:O ADONAI \nFrom a sermon by St Gregory of Nazianzus \n◊◊◊ \nThe very Son of God\, older than the ages\, the invisible\, the \nincomprehensible\, the incorporeal the beginning of beginning\, the light of light\, \nthe fountain of life and immortality\, the image of the archetype\, the immovable \nseat the perfect likeness\, the definition and word of the Father: he it is who \ncomes to his own image and takes our nature for the good of our nature\, and \nunites himself to an intelligent soul for the good of my soul to purify like by like. \nHe takes to himself all that is human except for sin. He was conceived by the \nVirgin Mary\, who had been first prepared in soul and body by the Spirit; his \ncoming to birth had to be treated with honor\, virginity had to receive new honor. \nHe comes forth as God\, in the human nature he has taken\, one being\, made of \ntwo contrary elements\, flesh and spirit. Spirit gave divinity\, flesh received it. \nHe who makes rich is made poor; he takes on the poverty of my flesh\, that \nI may gain the riches of his divinity. He who is full is made empty; he is emptied \nfor a brief space of his glory\, that I may share in his fullness. What is this wealth \nof goodness? What is this mystery that surrounds me? I received the likeness of \nGod\, but failed to keep it. He takes on my flesh\, to bring salvation to the likeness \nand immortality to the flesh. He enters a second union with us\, a union far more \nwonderful than the first. \nHoliness had to be brought to us by the humanity assumed by one who is \nGod\, so that God might overcome the tyrant and so deliver us and lead us back \nto himself through the mediation of his Son. The Son arranged this for the honor \nof the Father\, to whom the Son is clearly obedient in all things. The Good \nShepherd\, who lays down his life for the sheep\, came in search of the straying \nsheep to the mountains and hills on which we used to offer sacrifice.9 \nChrist\, the light of all lights\, follows John\, the lamp that goes before him. \nThe Word of God follows the voice in the wilderness; the bridegroom follows the \nbridegroom’s friend\, who prepares a worthy people for the Lord by cleansing \nthem by water in preparation for the Spirit. We need God to take our flesh and \ndie\, that we might live. We have died with him\, that we may be purified. We have \nrisen again with him\, because we have died with him. We have been glorified \nwith him\, because we have risen again with him.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-243/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241219
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241220
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241215T124221Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241215T124221Z
UID:12928-1734566400-1734652799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:O ROOT OF JESSE \nFrom a homily by Fr Geoffrey Preston \n◊◊◊ \nJesus does not come of a particularly good family. His family is in fact \nparticularly ungood for much of its past. In the Te Deum we sing to Christ “You \ndid not scorn the Virgin’s womb.” At first sight that seems rather strange \nlanguage to use about the Virgin when she is honored as Mary Immaculate. But \nsurely it is Mary’s ancestry which is in debate here. The hymn celebrates the \nextraordinary condescension of Jesus in being prepared to take not the flesh of \nAdam before the Fall but the flesh of all those generations stretching from Adam \nthrough Abraham and David down to Mary. \nSo we pray to him: “O Root of Jesse.” This means praying to him as Son \nof David\, as son of all those kings after David\, people like Solomon and Asa and \nManasseh and Jeconiah. If he was prepared to come to an Israel and a world \nthat had produced people like that\, then we can fairly expect that he will be \nprepared to come to our world and our hearts with all their accumulated weight \nof sin. We can be confident that he will come to us as we are\, coming through our \npast and making it his own. In this way he will reach us where we are and \ntransform our past so that when we tell the story of our lives we will be able to \ninclude all the mistakes we have made and all the blind alleys we have explored. \nNot that we cease to regret. Not that we excuse ourselves for our mistakes. \nNot that we become complacent about our evil deeds and thoughts and words. It \nis not as though what was once bad has now become good. But if and when the \nMessiah comes to us\, then we can sing the story of our lives as the story of the \npath which he took to come to us\, leaping upon the mountains and bounding \nover the hills as we hear in the Song of Songs. When he comes we can tell the11 \nstory of our past all over again\, as nations retell their history after a change in \ntheir fortunes. \nIt is a mistake to brood over our past. It is a misunderstanding of what \nMessiah means for us to worry about the past. That past is only the raw material \nof a story. What matters is how we tell the story using the raw materials. If the \nMessiah has come\, then the story can be solemnly and gladly sung\, to the \naccompaniment of all that makes for rejoicing.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-244/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241220
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241221
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241215T124345Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241215T124345Z
UID:12930-1734652800-1734739199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:O KEY OF DAVID \nFrom a sermon by St Odilo of Cluny \n◊◊◊ \nThe testimony of the ancient prophets to Christ’s eternal being and his \nboundless divine presence is indeed trustworthy and true\, and is confirmed by the \nresounding call of that inspired heavenly trumpet: Jesus Christ\, yesterday and today\, \nthe same for ever. Our Savior himself tells the Jews in the gospel: Before Abraham \never existed\, I am. With God the Father from all eternity\, before Abraham existed \n(more accurately\, before anything existed\,) he had his eternal being; and yet he chose \nto be born in time from the stock of Abraham — Abraham who was told by God the \nFather: In your posterity all the peoples of the earth will be blessed. \nThe blessed patriarch David was also granted the sublime privilege of a \nsimilar promise. Revealing to him the hidden secrets of his wisdom\, God the Father \ntold him: The fruits of your body I will set upon your throne. \nThese two received the promise of the Savior’s coming more plainly than any \nof our other forebears\, and so they deserved to be given the first and most important \nplace in the records of our Lord’s ancestry according to the evangelist\, Matthew\, the \nopening words of whose gospel are: The genealogy of Jesus Christ\, the son of \nDavid\, the son of Abraham. With these sacred words of the evangelist both the \nprophetic oracles and the apostolic preaching are in accord. It is evident that when \nthe prophet Isaiah said in the person of God the Father: And so\, Israel my servant\, \nJacob whom I have chosen\, the seed of Abraham my friend in whom I took \npossession of you\, his message was that the mediator between God and humankind \nwould be born according to the flesh from the stock of Abraham.13 \nThe man in the Gospel who was freed from the darkness of ignorance and \nenlightened by faith addressed God’s Son as Son of David. Not only did he receive \nspiritual insight\, but he also deserved to have his bodily sight restored. Christ the \nLord desires to be called by this name\, knowing that there is no other name by which \nthe world can be saved. And if we ourselves wish to be saved by him who is the one \nand only Savior\, each of us must also say to him: Lord\, son of David\, have mercy on \nme.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-245/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241221
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241222
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241215T124451Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241215T124451Z
UID:12932-1734739200-1734825599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:O RADIANT DAWN \nBy St Irenaeus \n◊◊◊ \nThere is one God who\, through the Word and Wisdom\, made everything \nand brought everything into harmony. It is he who is the Creator and who gave \nthis world over to the human race. Because of his greatness he is unknown to all \nthe beings whom he has made; for no one\, either in ancient times or today\, has \nlooked upon the great eminence in which he dwells. Yet because of his love he is \nknown at all times\, thanks to him through whom he created all things. He is \nnone other than the Word\, our Lord Jesus Christ\, who in these latter times \nbecame a human being among humans in order to join the end to the beginning \nagain\, humanity to God. That is why the prophets\, when they had received the \ngift of prophecy\, foretold in their preaching that he would come according to the \nflesh and that the uniting and communion of God and humanity would be \nrealized according to the Father’s good pleasure. \nFrom the very beginning the Word proclaimed that God would be seen by \nhumans\, that he would live and talk with them on earth and that he would take \npart in the work which he himself had planned. He proclaimed that he would do \nthis to save his work\, and proclaimed that he would let himself be seized by it\, \n“to save us from the hands of all who hate us”\, from all spirit of transgression. \nHe also proclaimed that he would act in such a way that “we shall serve him \nwithout fear in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life”\, so that\, \ncaught up by the Spirit of God\, humanity might attain to the glory of the \nFather… The prophets\, then\, foretold that God would be seen among \nhumankind\, according again to what the Lord said: “Blessed are the pure in \nheart\, for they shall see God”. \nIt is true that because of his greatness and inexpressible glory\, “no one \nshall see God and live”\, for the Father is unattainable. But because of his love \nand goodness towards humanity and of his power to do all things\, he goes so far \nas to grant to those who love him the privilege of seeing God — just as the \nprophets foretold — “for what is impossible with humans is possible with God”. \nBy their own power humans will never be able to see God; but God\, if he \nwills it\, will be seen by humans\, by those whom he intends to see him\, when – \nand how – he intends it. For God can do all things: seen of old through the \nintervention of the Spirit in the manner of the prophets; then seen again \nthrough the mediation of the Son in accordance with the adoption\, he will be \nseen again in the Kingdom in accordance with the Fatherhood\, the Holy \nSpirit preparing humanity in advance for the Son of God\, the Son leading \nthem to the Father\, and the Father bestowing on them that incorruptibility \nand eternal life which comes to everyone from the fact of their seeing God. \nJust as those who see the light are themselves in the light and share in its \nsplendor\, so those who see God are in God and share in his splendor.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-246/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241222
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241223
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241222T125921Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241222T125939Z
UID:12942-1734825600-1734911999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n4th Week of Advent\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nDecember 22 – 28\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n22\nMon\n23\nTue\n24\nWed\n25\nThu\n26\nFri\n27\nSat\n28\n\n\nOffice\n4th Sunday of Advent\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nNativity of the Lord\nSt Stephen\nSt John\nHoly Innocents\n\n\nVigils\nIsa 49:8-26\nIsa 51:1-11\nIsa 51:17-52:10\n*vigil and midnight mass\nActs 6:1-15\nWis 7:21-8:1\nExod 1:6-22\n\n\nLauds\nIsa 41:17-20\nIsa 43:9-13\nIsa 63:15-19\nBaruch 3:36-4:4\nWis 4:7-15\nProv 8:22-30\nJer 31:15-20\n\n\nMass\n12\n199\n200\n16\n696\n697\n698\n\n\n1st\nMic 5:1-4a\nMal 3:1-4\, 23-24\n2 Sam 7:1-5\, 8b-12\, 14a\, 16\nIsa 52:7-10\nActs 6:8-10; 7:54-59\n1 John 1:1-4\n1 John 1:5-2:2\n\n\n2nd\nHeb 10:5-10\n\n\nHeb 1:1-6\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 1:39-45\nLuke 1:57-66\nLuke 1:67-79\nJohn 1:1-18\nMatt 10:17-22\nJohn 20:1a\, 2-8\nMatt 2:13-18\n\n\nVespers\n1 Cor 4:1-5\nJas 5:7-11\n2 Pet 3:8-14\nActs 13:16-26\nGal 2:15-21\nActs 4:13-20\nPhil 2:1-11\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n* Mass during the Night:   1) Isa 9:1-6   2) Titus 2:11-14   Gospel) Luke 2:1-14
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-97/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241222
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241223
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241222T130045Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241222T130045Z
UID:12944-1734825600-1734911999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 4th Sunday of Advent
DESCRIPTION:WAIT PATIENTLY \nFOR THE LORD TO COME \nFrom a commentary by Blessed Guerric of Igny \n◊◊◊ \nOur King and Savior is coming; let us go to meet him! Good news from a \nfar country\, in the words of Solomon\, is like cold water to a thirsty soul; and to \nannounce the coming of our Savior and the reconciliation of the world\, together \nwith the good things of the life to come\, is to bring good news indeed. How \nbeautiful are the feet of those who bring good tidings and publish peace! Such \nmessengers truly bear a refreshing draught to the soul that thirsts for God; with \ntheir news of the Savior’s coming\, they joyfully draw and offer us water from the \nsprings of salvation. In the words and spirit of Elizabeth\, the soul responds to \nthe message\, whether it be of Isaiah or his fellow-prophets: Why is this granted \nto me\, that my Lord should come to me? For behold\, when the voice of your \ngreeting came to my ears\, my spirit leapt for joy within me in eager longing to \nrun ahead to meet my Lord and Savior. \nLet us too arise with joy and run in spirit to meet our Savior. Hailing him \nfrom afar\, let us worship him\, saying: Come\, Lord\, save me and I shall be saved! \nCome and show us your face\, and we shall all be saved. We have been waiting \nfor you; be our help in time of trouble. This is how the prophets and saints of old \nran to meet the Messiah\, filled with intense desire to see with their eyes\, if \npossible\, what they already saw in spirit… \nI believe that the many texts of scripture which urge us to go out to meet \nhim speak of Christ’s first coming as well as his second… Between these two \ncomings of his\, the Lord frequently visits us individually in accordance with our \nmerits and desires\, forming us to the likeness of his first coming in the flesh\, and \npreparing us for his return at the end of time. He comes to us now\, to make sure \nthat we do not lose the fruits of his first coming nor incur his wrath at his \nsecond. His purpose now is to convert our pride into the humility which he \nshowed when he first came\, so that he may refashion our lowly bodies into the \nlikeness of that glorious body which he will manifest when he comes again. \nGrace accompanied his first coming\, glory will surround his last; this \nintermediate coming is a combination of both\, enabling us to experience in the \nconsolations of his grace a sort of foretaste of his glory. Blessed are those whose \nburning love has gained for them such a privilege! \nAnd so\, my brothers\, though we have not yet experienced this wonderful \nconsolation\, we are encouraged by firm faith and a pure conscience to wait \npatiently for the Lord to come. In joy and confidence let us say with St. Paul: I \nknow the one in whom I have put my trust\, and I am confident of his power to \nguard what has been put into my charge until the day when our great God and \nSavior Jesus Christ comes in glory.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-4th-sunday-of-advent/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241223
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241224
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241222T130200Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241222T130200Z
UID:12946-1734912000-1734998399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:O EMMANUEL \nFrom a commentary by St Cyril of Alexandria \n◊◊◊ \nIsaiah speaks at some length of Cyrus\, king of the Medes and Persians. \nRaised up against the Chaldeans\, he was urged on by God himself\, who opened \ntheir bronze doors to him and shattered their iron bars. Having conquered the \nland of Babylonia and laid it waste\, Cyrus released enslaved Israel from captivity \nand caused the foundations of the temple in Jerusalem to be laid. \nBut this is only part of the story\, for after indicating that the rejoicing and \nthe release from captivity were for those of Israelite blood and them alone\, \nIsaiah goes on to apply these images to Emmanuel\, who was consecrated by God \nthe Father to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the \nblind; that is to say\, to deliver those inescapably bound by the chains of their \nown sins\, to declare them free from tyranny\, and so to prepare the inhabitants of \nthe earth to return to himself\, to be led by him to God the Father. \nHe has become the mediator between God and ourselves\, and through \nhim we have been reconciled in the one Spirit to the Father. He is our peace. \nHe himself has rebuilt his own holy temple\, which is the Church\, and has taken \nher to himself as a pure virgin\, having neither spot or wrinkle\, nor any such \nimperfection. Thus one can easily see in Cyrus and his deeds an image of the \ndivine blessings bestowed by God upon all the inhabitants of the earth. \nLet heaven rejoice\, and let the clouds rain down justice. Let \nearth open and bring forth both mercy and justice. Mercy is the love \nwhich is the fulfillment of the law\, for it goes hand in hand with the justice of the \ngospel that Christ himself teaches us and bestows on us. It could also be said \nthat mercy and justice coming forth and growing from the earth is our Lord5 \nJesus Christ himself. For if we think it strange that the earth is commanded to \nbring forth justice\, let us remember that Emmanuel himself wrought justice in \nthe midst of the earth. That is\, Christ did not bring his own body down to us \nfrom heaven\, but was born in the body of a woman who was one of the \ninhabitants of the earth.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-247/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241222T130300Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241222T130300Z
UID:12948-1734998400-1735084799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:HOLY NIGHT \nBy Karl Rahner \n◊◊◊ \nWhy do we call the feast we are keeping tonight a “sacred night”? Night \nbecause a beginning\, holy night because a blessed and unconquerable \nbeginning; of such a beginning we would have to say: holy night\, sacred night. \nAnd so the church sings “Silent night\, holy night.” Everywhere in the world \nthese words are sung for this feast… For this hour is the holy and sacred night. \nFaith tells the Christians: that was the beginning. There God himself \ncame gently forth from the terrifying radiance in which he dwells as God and \nLord\, and came to us; he quietly entered the poor dwelling of our earthly \nexistence and was found as a man; he began where we begin\, quite poor\, \nvulnerable\, quite childlike and gentle\, quite helpless. He who is infinite\, distant \nfuture which of ourselves we never reach because it seems to retreat farther and \nfarther away as we hurry towards it on the hard roads of life\, he himself has \napproached us\, arrived among us\, because otherwise we should never have \nfound our way to him. He has accompanied us on our way to him so that this \nmay find a blessed end\, because the very end itself has become our beginning. \nGod is near; his eternal word of mercy is where we are; it is a pilgrim on \nour paths\, experiences our joy and our distress\, lives our life and dies our death. \nHe has brought his eternal life quietly and gently into this world and its death. \nHe has redeemed us\, for he shared our lot. He made our beginning his own\, \nfollowed the path of our destiny and so opened it up into the infinite expanses of \nGod. And because he accepted us irrevocably\, because God’s Word will never \ncease to be human\, this beginning which is ours and his is a beginning of \nindestructible promises… \nThe eternal future has entered our time. Its radiance still dazzles us\, so \nthat we think it is night. But at all events it is a blessed night\, a night in which \nthere is already warmth and light\, which is beautiful\, welcoming and secure by \nreason of the eternal day which it bears hidden within it. It is a silent\, holy night \nfor us\, however\, only if we admit the holy silence of this night into our inner \nselves\, only if our heart too keeps watch in solitude. It can do so easily. For such \nsolitude and quiet is not hard. For of course we are solitary. There exists in our \nheart an interior land where we are alone\, to which no one finds his way but \nGod. This innermost\, unfrequented chamber of our heart is really there – the \nonly question is whether we ourselves avoid it foolishly out of guilty fear\, \nbecause no one and no familiar things of this earth can accompany us if we enter \nit. The silent and solitary soul sings here to the God of the heart its quietest and \nmost ardent song. And it can have confidence that he hears it. For this song no \nlonger has to seek a beloved God beyond the stars in that inaccessible light in \nwhich he dwells and which makes him invisible to all. \nBecause of Christmas\, because the Word was made flesh\, God is near and \nthe quietest word in the stillest room of the heart\, the word of love\, comes to his \near and his heart. And those who have entered into themselves even when it is \nnight\, hear in this nocturnal quiet in the depth of the heart God’s gentle word of \nlove… Let us enter quietly and shut the door behind us. Let us listen to the \nunutterable melody which sounds in the silence of that night. For the ultimate \nis only spoken in the silence of the night\, now that…through the gracious \ncoming of the Word\, there has come to be Christmas\, holy night\, silent night.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-248/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241222T130515Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241222T130515Z
UID:12950-1735084800-1735171199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Nativity of the Lord
DESCRIPTION:THE NATIVITY KERYGMA \nBy Thomas Merton3 \n◊◊◊ \nIn its prayers\, the Church plunges us into the Light of God shining in the \ndarkness of the world\, in order that we may be illuminated and transformed by \nthe presence of the newborn Savior\, and thus that he may be born and truly live \nin us by making all our thoughts and actions light in himself. What joy\, then\, \nthat he who dwells eternally in the inaccessible light and peace of the Father has \nleft the throne of his glory and descended to be one of us! Or rather\, without \nleaving the bosom of the Father\, veiling the too brilliant light of his glory in the \ncloud of human nature\, he who is enthroned above the cherubim takes up his \nabode among us in a poor manger. \nThis Child who the shepherds\, dazzled by the brilliance of the angelic \nhost\, can scarcely see in the darkness of the cave lit by Joseph’s lantern\, this \nChild is (by his divinity) the Ancient of Days\, the Creator and Judge of Heaven \nand earth\, of whom the prophet Daniel wrote: “I beheld till thrones were placed \nand the Ancient of Days sat\, his garment was as white as snow\, and the hair of \nhis head like clean wool; his throne like flames of fire: the wheels of it like a \nburning fire. A swift stream of fire issued forth before him: thousands of \nthousands ministered to him and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood \nbefore him.” \nThis\, is Daniel’s vision of the divinity of the Word Who\, in his human \nnature\, lies here helpless in the dark. But the Son of Man\, who is here born\, is \nhimself the Word\, consubstantial with the Father. To this only-begotten Son\, \nwho is equal to the Father in all things as God\, but less than the Father in so far \nas he is human\, all power is given by the Father. So\, Daniel says again: “I beheld \ntherefore in the vision of the night\, and lo one like the Son of Man came with the \nclouds of heaven\, and he came even to the Ancient of Days and they presented \nhim before him\, and he gave him power and glory and a kingdom\, and all \npeoples\, tribes and tongues shall serve him\, his power is an everlasting power \nthat shall not be taken away and his kingdom that shall not be destroyed.” This\, \nthen is the King promised from the beginning of the world and of whose \nKingdom there shall be no end. \nDo not be afraid of him. God has emptied himself and come to us as a \nchild\, in order that we who have not been saved by fear\, but only destroyed by it\, \nmay now take heart and be saved by confidence. In “Emptying himself” and \ntaking the form of a servant the Lord laid aside his majesty and his divine power\, \nin order to dwell among us in goodness and mercy. \n  \n3 SEASONS OF CELEBRATION by Thomas Merton (Farrar\, Straus & Giroux\, NY 1965) pp. 108-08.9
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-nativity-of-the-lord-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241227
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241222T130647Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241222T130647Z
UID:12952-1735171200-1735257599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Stephen
DESCRIPTION:THE GIFT OF LOVE \nFrom a sermon by St Fulgentius \n◊◊◊ \nYesterday we celebrated the birth in time of our eternal king; today we \ncelebrate the triumphant suffering of a soldier. For yesterday our king\, nobly \narrayed in flesh\, proceeding from the chaste womb of the Virgin Mary\, deigned \nto visit this world; today a soldier\, leaving the confines of the body\, made his \nway in triumph to heaven. \nOur king\, though he is the Most High\, for our sake came in humility; yet \nhe could not come empty-handed. It was indeed a generous gift that he brought \nfor us\, one by which he not only abundantly enriched us but gave us the strength \nto do battle and never be vanquished. What he brought was the gift of love\, \nwhich was to lead us to become sharers in the godhead. He brought it only to \nexpend it\, without in any way diminishing his own store; while turning the \npoverty of his followers into riches he remained himself\, as by a miracle\, fully \npossessed of his own inexhaustible treasury. \nLove then\, the same love that brought Christ down from heaven to earth\, \nraised Stephen from earth to heaven; the same love shown first in the king was \nreproduced in its splendor in the warrior. \nAnd so Stephen\, in order to earn his right to the crown his name signifies\, \narmed himself with love\, and by that same love won every battle. It was love of \nGod that made him yield not an inch\, love of his neighbor that led him to \nintercede for those who stoned him. It was through love that he was able to \nexpose those in error so that they might change their ways; through love that he \nprayed for those who stoned him so that they should not be punished. Trusting \nonly in love\, he overcame Saul’s cruel rage\, and the very man who had been his \npersecutor on earth he won as his companion in heaven. That same holy and \nuntiring love longed to win over by prayer those whom it could not convert by \npersuasion… \nLove is therefore the source and origin of every good\, an unrivaled \nprotection\, the road that leads to heaven. Those who walk in love can be neither \nlost nor afraid; love is the guide and protector\, and brings them to the end of \ntheir journey. For this reason\, beloved\, since Christ has set up a stairway of love \nby which every Christian can mount up to heaven\, keep a firm hold on love \nalone; love one another\, and by growing in love climb together up to heaven.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-stephen-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241227
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241228
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241222T130802Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241222T130802Z
UID:12954-1735257600-1735343999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St John
DESCRIPTION:THE ROOT OF CHARITY \nFrom a sermon by St John Henry Newman \n◊◊◊ \nThe love of God is not the same thing as the love of our parents\, though \nparallel to it; but the love of mankind in general should be in the main the same \nhabit as the love of our friends\, only exercised towards different objects… What \nis meant by loving all people is\, to feel well disposed to all\, to be ready to assist \nthem\, and to act towards those who come in our way\, as if we loved them. We \ncannot love those about whom we know nothing; except indeed we view them in \nChrist\, as the objects of his Atonement\, that is\, rather in faith than in love. And \nlove\, besides\, is a habit\, and cannot be attained without actual practice\, which \non so large a scale is impossible. \nWe see then how absurd it is when writers (as is the manner of some who \nslight the Gospel) talk magnificently about loving the whole human race with a \ncomprehensive affection\, of being the friends of all\, and the like. Such vaunting \nprofessions\, what do they come to? That such men or women have certain \nbenevolent feelings towards the world\, — feelings and nothing more – nothing \nmore than unstable feelings\, the mere offspring of an indulged imagination\, \nwhich exist only when their minds are wrought upon\, and are sure to fail them \nin the hour of need. This is not to love people; it is but to talk about love. The \nreal love of another must depend on practice\, and therefore\, must begin by \nexercising itself on our friends around us; otherwise it will have no existence. \nBy trying to love our relations and friends\, by submitting to their wishes\, \nthough contrary to our own\, by bearing with their infirmities\, by overcoming \ntheir occasional waywardness by kindness\, by dwelling on their excellences\, and \ntrying to copy them\, thus it is that we form in our hearts that root of charity\, \nwhich\, though small at first\, may\, like the mustard seed\, at last even overshadow \nthe earth. The vain talkers about philanthropy…usually show the emptiness of \ntheir profession\, by being morose and cruel in the private relations of life\, which \nthey seem to account as subjects beneath their notice. \nFar different indeed\, far different…with the great Apostle\, whose memory \nwe are today celebrating\, utterly the reverse of this fictitious benevolence was \nhis elevated and enlightened sympathy for all men. We know he is celebrated for \nhis declarations about Christian love. “Beloved\, let us love one another\, for love \nis of God. If we love one another\, God dwells in us\, and his love is perfected in \nus…” \nNow did he begin with some vast effort at loving on a large scale? Nay\, he \nhad the unspeakable privilege of being the friend of Christ. Thus he was taught \nto love others; first his affection was concentrated then it was expanded. Next he \nhad the solemn and comfortable charge of tending our Lord’s Mother\, the \nBlessed Virgin\, after his departure. Do we not here discern the secret sources of \nhis especial love of the brethren? Could he\, who first was favored with his \nSavior’s affection\, then trusted with a son’s office towards his Mother\, could he \nbe other than a memorial and pattern (as far as man or woman can be)\, of love\, \ndeep\, contemplative\, fervent\, unruffled\, unbounded?
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-john-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241228
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241229
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241222T130911Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241222T130911Z
UID:12956-1735344000-1735430399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Holy Innocents
DESCRIPTION:THE HOLY INNOCENTS \nFrom the letters of St Cyprian \n◊◊◊ \nThe martyrdom of children marked the very beginning of Christ’s life: for \nhis name’s sake\, all those of two years old and under were put to death. Too \nyoung to fight\, they were yet able to win a martyr’s crown\, and by their \ninnocence bear witness to the innocence of all who shed their blood for Christ. \nWhen even such as these make martyrs\, clearly no one is immune from the peril \nof persecution. \nWhat a shameful thing it would be for Christ’s servants to recoil from \nsuffering when their Master suffered first; for us to be unwilling to endure \nsomething for our sins\, when he\, though sinless\, endured so much for us! The \nSon of God suffered in order to make us children of God; will the children of this \nworld refuse to persevere in that sonship through suffering? If we have to bear \nwith the world’s hatred\, we must remember that Christ bore it before we did. \nWe may have to endure insults\, exile\, torture in this world\, but the Creator and \nLord of the world knew them first in harsher form\, and warned us of them\, \nsaying\, “If the world hates you\, remember that it hated me before you. If you \nbelonged to the world\, the world would love its own. But you are not of the \nworld; I chose you out of it\, and therefore it hates you. Remember the saying I \ngave you\, ‘The servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecute me\, they \nwill persecute you also.” Our Lord and God practiced all he taught\, so there can \nbe no excuse for a disciple who hears his teaching but does not act on it… \nLet these be the sentiments\, dearly beloved brethren\, that ever abide in \nyour hearts. And may we thus make ready our arms by fixing our thoughts\, day \nand night\, on this reflection\, by holding before our eyes and turning over \nconstantly in our minds and our hearts what tortures are inflicted upon the \nwicked\, what rewards are merited by the just\, what the Lord threatens by way of \npunishment to those who deny\, what\, by contrast\, He promises by way of glory \nto those who confess. If the day of persecution should come upon us whilst we \nmeditate upon and contemplate these thoughts\, then the soldier of Christ\, being \nthus instructed by His precepts and counsels\, shows no fear in the face of battle \nbut is now ready for his crown.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-holy-innocents-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241229
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241230
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241229T115255Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241229T115255Z
UID:12965-1735430400-1735516799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\nChristmas Season\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nDec. 29\, 2024 – Jan. 4\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n29\nMon\n30\nTue\n31\nWed\n1\nThu\n2\nFri\n3\nSat\n4\n\n\nOffice\nHoly Family\n6th Day in Octave\n7th Day in Octave\nMary\, Mother of God\nSS Basil & Gregory\nChristmas Weekday\nSt Elizabeth Ann Seton\n\n\nVigils\nEph 5:21-6:4\nCol 1:15-2:3\nCol 2:4-15\nSir 24:1-12\, 19-22\nCol 2:16-3:4\nCol 3:5-16\nCol 3:17-4:1\n\n\nLauds\nSir 26:1-4\, 13-16\nIsa 44:1-5\nIsa 44:6-8\, 21-23\n1 Sam 2:1-10\nIsa 54:1-5\nIsa 54:6-10\nIsa 55:1-5\n\n\nMass\n17\n203\n204\n18\n205\n206\n207\n\n\n1st\n1 Sam 1:20-22\, 24-28\n1 John 2:12-17\n1 John 2:18-21\nNum 6:22-27\n1 John 2:22-28\n1 John 2:29-3:6\n1 John 3:7-10\n\n\n2nd\n1 John 3:1-2\, 21-24\n\n\nGal 4:4-7\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 2:41-52\nLuke 2:36-40\nJohn 1:1-18\nLuke 2:16-21\nJohn 1:19-28\nJohn 1:29-34\nJohn 1:35-42\n\n\nVespers\n1 Cor 13:1-8a\nEph 1:11-14\nHeb 2:10-18\nJames 3:13-18\nEph 1:15-23\nEph 2:1-10\nRev 21:22-27
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-98/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241230
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241229T115658Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241229T115658Z
UID:12967-1735430400-1735516799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Holy Family Sunday
DESCRIPTION:THE FAMILY AT NAZARETH \nBy Fr Ambroise-Marie Carré \n◊◊◊ \nIn these days when the Church is experiencing a renewal of its youth\, how \nmany families would be enriched by contemplation of the extraordinary beauty \nto be seen in the unique love of the family at Nazareth! For centuries it has been \nby constantly returning to the marriage of Joseph and Mary\, to the home to \nwhich Jesus first brought his radically new message of salvation\, that \ntheologians have defined the principles of marriage for those baptized into the \nChristian faith. St Augustine never spoke of marriage without reference to the \nHoly Family. And there are wonderful pages in Bossuet devoted to the subject \nof that union\, which was\, he said\, “most true\,” because Mary and Joseph\, \ntrusting each other with their virginity\, “gave themselves to each other” in love. \nA sentence of St. Luke’s sheds light on this great mystery: Mary “kept all \nthese things in her heart”. The family at Nazareth lived in complete harmony\, \ncherishing “compassion\, kindness\, lowliness\, meekness\, and patience”. The \npresence of God incarnate\, and of his love\, transfigured all in joy and wonder. \nSuch things as Mary and Joseph were able to understand penetrated them to the \nvery depths of their being. And what they could not understand\, such as that \noccasion when their young son disappeared and was later found in the temple\, \nthey kept within them\, so that those gestures and words of his whose meaning \nthey could not grasp with their minds might act on their hearts\, and gradually \nopen them to the measure of the Father’s will. \nSurely this is\, very specially\, the right way to live for any who have taken \nvows in the name of the Lord. If you wish the ideal\, you must let Christ live \namong you and within you. Whatever you find in your lives that seems to you \nclear\, happy and fruitful\, you should learn how to appreciate it: there are so \nmany who do not! And as for your misunderstanding\, which are the cause of \nsuffering in so many homes…you should keep all these things in your heart\, not \nto swell into bitterness\, but so as to let suffering and the divine force of you \nsacramental vow transform that self-centered heart. Nor will the love which is \nblessed by God and which follows God’s command ever leave us: it can only be \ndismissed. But you have not dismissed love. So let God purify and renew your \nlove\, as he purifies and renews the faith of those who seek him. On the third day\, \nin the love of Jesus\, it will rise again.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-holy-family-sunday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241230
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241231
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241229T115815Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241229T115815Z
UID:12969-1735516800-1735603199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 6th Day in Octave
DESCRIPTION:THE ABSOLUTE GOODNESS \nOF GOD \nFrom a treatise by St John Eudes \n◊◊◊ \nOur loving Savior\, in various places in the Scriptures\, assures us that he is \never watchful over us\, that we are and always will be in his most compassionate \ncare. How he carries us in his heart… In one place [in Isaiah] he even repeats it \nfive times in succession: Hearken to me\, O house of Jacob\, all the remnant of \nthe house of Israel\, who have been borne by me from your birth\, carried from \nthe womb; even to your old age I am He\, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I \nhave made\, and I will bear; I will carry and will save. \nElsewhere [in Scripture] he tells us the same thing in many ways. \nAlthough\, he says\, it may sometimes happen that a mother can forget her child\, \nyet he will never forget us\, and he has engraved us on his hands to have us ever \nbefore him. Whoever touches one of us\, he says\, touches the apple of his eye. \nAgain\, we should not be anxious about how we are going to get enough to eat or \nwear\, because he well knows our needs and takes care of them. He has even \ncounted the very hairs of our heads\, and not one shall perish. He also tells us \nthat as he loves his Father so his Father loves us\, and that his own love for us is \nthe same as his Father’s love for him. He wishes us to be where he is — that is\, he \nwishes us to dwell with him in his Father’s heart… \nLet us beware of being dependent on the power or favor of our friends\, or \non our own possessions\, on our minds\, knowledge\, strength\, good desires and \nresolutions\, prayers\, or even on the faith we believe we have in God\, or on \nhuman means of any sort\, or on anything in creation\, but rely entirely on the \nmercy of God. We should indeed use all these things I have mentioned\, and \ncontribute in every way we can to the suppression of vice\, the practice of virtue\, \nthe carrying to completion of whatever God has entrusted to our care\, and the \nfulfillment of the duties which accompany our station in life. What we have to do \nis to give up all tendency to rely on our own means\, and put our trust in the \nabsolute goodness of our Lord. Therefore we must take as much care\, and work \nas hard\, as if we expected no help from God\, and at the same time regard this \nwork of ours as nothing\, and put all our hope in God’s mercy. \nThis is what the Holy Spirit exhorts us to do\, speaking through the mouth \nof the King and Prophet David: Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him\, and \nhe will act. And elsewhere: Cast your burden on the Lord\, and he will sustain \nyou. And in the words of Peter\, the leader of the Apostles\, the Spirit advises us to \ncast all our anxieties on God\, for he cares about us. Our Lord spoke the same \ncomfort to Saint Catherine of Siena: “My daughter\, forget yourself and think of \nme\, and I shall never cease to think of you.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-6th-day-in-octave/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241231
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250101
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241229T115937Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241229T115937Z
UID:12971-1735603200-1735689599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 7th Day in Octave
DESCRIPTION:GOD’S DESIGN FOR LOVE \nFrom the writing of Pope St Paul VI \n◊◊◊ \nAs holy scripture teaches us\, before it is a sacrament marriage is a great \nearthly reality: God created man in his own image; he created him in the image \nof God: he created them man and woman. We always have to go back to that \nfirst page of the Bible if we want to understand what a human couple\, a family\, \nreally is and what it ought to be. Psychological analyses\, psychoanalytical \nresearch\, sociological surveys\, and philosophical reflection may of course have a \ncontribution to make with the light they shed on human sexuality and love; but \nthey would blind us if they neglected this fundamental teaching which was given \nto us at the very beginning: the duality of the sexes was decreed by God\, so that \ntogether man and woman might be the image of God and\, like him\, the source of \nlife: Be fruitful and increase\, fill the earth and subdue it… \nThe Christian knows that human love is good by its very origin; and if\, like \neverything else in us\, it is wounded and deformed by sin\, it finds its salvation \nand redemption in Christ. Besides\, isn’t this the lesson that twenty centuries of \nChristian history have taught us? How many couples have found the way to \nholiness in their conjugal life\, in that community of life which is the only one to \nbe founded on a sacrament! \nLove one another\, as I have loved you. The ways in which they express \ntheir affection are\, for Christian husband and wife\, full of the love which they \ndraw from the heart of God. And if its human source threatens to dry up\, its \ndivine source is as inexhaustible as the unfathomable depths of God’s affection. \nThat shows us the intimacy\, strength\, and richness of the communion which \nconjugal love aims at. It is an inward and spiritual reality\, transforming the \ncommunity of life of husband and wife into what might be called…“the domestic \nChurch”… \nSuch is the mystery in which conjugal love takes root\, and which \nilluminates all its expressions. The rapture which moves husband and wife to \nunite is the carrier of life\, and enables God to give himself children. On \nbecoming parents\, the husband and wife discover with a sense of wonder\, at the \nbaptismal font\, that their child is from now on a child of God\, reborn from \nwater and the Spirit; and that the child is entrusted to them so that they may \nwatch over its physical and moral growth\, certainly\, but also the opening out \nand blossoming in him of the new nature. Such a child is no longer just what \nthey see\, but just as much what they believe\, “an infinity of mystery and love \nwhich would dazzle us if we say it face to face”… Therefore [the] upbringing [of \nchildren] becomes true service of Christ\, according to his own saying: whatever \nyou do for one of these little ones\, you do for me.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-7th-day-in-octave/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250101
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250102
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241229T120053Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241229T120053Z
UID:12973-1735689600-1735775999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Mary\, Mother of God
DESCRIPTION:LOOK TO MARY \nFrom the letters of Adam of Perseigne \n◊◊◊ \nYou\, Lady\, are my all. In your hands has been stored for me the fullness of \nall good. With you have been hidden the unfailing treasures of truth and grace\, \nof peace and pity\, of salvation and wisdom\, of glory and of honor. You are my \nanchor amid the billows\, port in shipwreck\, support in tribulation\, comfort in \ngrief. You are\, for those who are yours\, aid in oppression\, help in time of crisis\, \ntemperance in prosperity\, joy in time of waiting\, refreshment in toil… \nWhen you conceive the sun of righteousness\, you like the moon are \nillumined by the good office of the blazing sun… Therefore whatever beauty it \npossesses it has through the gift of its borrowed splendor. When you bring forth \nthe sun of righteousness\, you are compared to the sun because of the close \nlikeness. Just as the body of the sun is not injured or diminished when it puts \nforth its rays\, so the bringing forth of the holy birth does not violate the mother. \nAnd what\, you who are glorious as the sun\, what is your offspring but the eternal \nsplendor of a certain sun?… \nTherefore\, dear friend\, all our confidence lies in the childbearing of our \nVirgin and though I may be unworthy I shall not cease to dwell upon her praises. \nIf you stand in need of mercy\, it is found in full measure in the heart of the \nVirgin. If you reverence the truth\, give thanks to the Virgin\, since from the \nground of her virgin flesh the truth which you worship has arisen. No less give \nthanks to the Virgin if you follow after peace\, since from her is born for you the \npeace which passes all understanding. If you pursue justice\, see that you are not \nungrateful to the Virgin\, for at the opening of her womb justice looked forth \nfrom heaven. \nIf your faith is shaken by some assault from an enemy\, turn your eyes \nupon the Virgin and that in which was wavering will be firmly fixed. If the lust of \nthe flesh delights you\, turn your gaze upon the Virgin\, and the danger to your \nchastity is removed. If pride disturbs your spirit\, turn your gaze upon the \nVirgin\, and by the merit of her unsullied humility your swelling spirit will \nsubside. If you are set on fire by anger’s torches\, lift your eyes to the Virgin and \nyou will grow gentle through her calm. If ignorance or error have led you astray \nfrom the way of life\, look to Mary\, star of the sea\, and in her light you will be led \nback to the path of truth… In every peril the goodness of the Virgin comes to our \naid. Give thanks for her childbearing… For us the Virgin brought forth\, ours is \nthe birth\, for us the child was born and to us the son was given.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-mary-mother-of-god-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250102
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250103
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241229T120213Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241229T120213Z
UID:12975-1735776000-1735862399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - SS Basil & Gregory
DESCRIPTION:THE QUALITIES OF THE MONK \nFrom a discourse by St Basil the Great \n◊◊◊ \nFirst and foremost\, the monk should own nothing in this world\, but he \nshould have as his possessions solitude of the body\, modesty of bearing\, a \nmodulated tone of voice\, and a well-ordered manner of speech. He should be \nwithout anxiety as to his food and drink\, and should eat in silence. In the \npresence of his superiors\, he should hold his tongue; before those wiser than he\, \nhe should hearken to their words. He should have love for his equals\, give \ncharitable counsel to his inferiors\, and keep aloof from the wicked\, the carnal\, \nand the officious. He ought to think much but speak little\, be not forward in \nspeech nor given to useless discoursing\, not easily moved to laughter\, respectful \nin bearing\, keeping his eyes cast down and his spirit uplifted\, not answering \ncontradiction with contradiction\, docile. He should work with his hands\, be ever \nmindful of his last end\, joyful in hope\, patient in adversity\, unceasingly \nprayerful\, giving thanks in all things\, humble toward everyone\, hating pride\, \nsober and watchful to keep his heart from evil thoughts. \nHe ought to heap up treasures in heaven by observing the \ncommandments\, examining himself as to his daily thoughts and actions\, not \nentangling himself in the occupations and superfluities of the world. It ill befits \nhim to concern himself about those who lead careless lives; he should emulate \nthe life of the holy fathers\, rejoicing with those who are successful in the practice \nof virtue and not envying them. He must sympathize with the suffering and \nweep with them\, sorrowing deeply for these\, but not on any account should he \ncondemn them\, nor upbraid him who has renounced his sin\, nor ever justify \nhimself. He should\, above all\, confess before God and men that he is a sinner. It \nis his duty\, moreover\, to admonish the undisciplined\, encourage the faint- \nhearted\, minister to the sick\, wash the feet of the saints\, and be mindful of the \nduties of hospitality and fraternal charity. He must preserve peace with the \nmembers of the household of the faith\, shun the heretic\, read the canonical \nScriptures. He should spend his time in good words and deeds. He should \nconverse without deceit\, speak no word against anyone\, and neither gossip nor \ntake pleasure in listening to gossip. He should not be quick to trust evil report of \nanyone\, nor be mastered by ill temper nor overcome by despondency. He ought \nnot to become angry with his neighbor without cause\, nor nurse wrath against \nanyone\, nor return evil for evil. It behooves him to be reviled rather than to \nrevile\, to be struck rather than to strike\, to be wronged rather than to do wrong\, \nto be despoiled rather than to despoil. \nHe must not grow weary in observing the precepts of the Lord to the best \nof his ability\, but he should await reward and praise from Him\, continuing in his \ndesire for the enjoyment of everlasting life. Moreover he should love God as a \nson\, with his whole heart and strength and mind and with all the power that is in \nhim; but as a servant he should reverence\, fear\, and obey Him and work out his \nsalvation in fear and trembling\, fervent in spirit\, girt about with the full armor of \nthe Holy Spirit. \nBut\, over and above all this\, he must be mindful of the words of the \nApostle: “For the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with \nthe glory to come that will be revealed in us”.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-ss-basil-gregory-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250103
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250104
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241229T120316Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241229T120316Z
UID:12977-1735862400-1735948799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:CHRIST AMONG US \nFrom a homily by St Basil the Great \n◊◊◊ \nGod is on earth\, God is among us\, not now as lawgiver – there is no fire\, \ntrumpet blast\, smoke-wreathed mountain\, dense cloud\, or storm to terrify \nwhoever hears him but as one gently and kindly conversing in a human body \nwith his fellow men and women. God is in the flesh. Now he is not acting \nintermittently as he did through the prophets. He is bringing back to himself the \nwhole human race\, which he has taken possession of and united to himself. By \nhis birth he has made the human race his own kin. \nBut how can glory come to all through one man? How can the Godhead be \nin the flesh? In the same way as fire can be in iron: not by moving from place to \nplace but by the one imparting to the other its own properties. Fire does not \nspeed toward iron\, but without itself undergoing any change it causes the iron to \nshare in its own natural attributes. The fire is not diminished and yet it \ncompletely fills whatever shares in its nature. So is it also with God the Word. \nHe did not relinquish his own nature and yet he dwelt among us. He did not \nundergo any change and yet the Word became flesh. Earth received him from \nheaven\, yet heaven was not deserted by him who holds the universe in being. \nLet us strive to comprehend the mystery. The reason God is in the flesh is \nto kill the death that lurks there. As diseases are cured by medicines and \nassimilated by the body\, and as darkness in a house is dispelled by the coming of \nlight\, so death\, which held sway over human nature\, is done away with by the \ncoming of God. As ice formed on water covers its surface as long as night and \ndarkness last but melts under the warmth of the sun\, so death reigned until the \ncoming of Christ; but when the grace of God our Savior appeared and the Sun of13 \nJustice arose\, death was swallowed up in victory\, unable to bear the presence of \ntrue life. How great is God’s goodness\, how deep his love for us! \nLet us join the shepherds in giving glory to God\, let us dance with the \nangels and sing: Today a Savior has been born to us. He is Christ the Lord. The \nLord is God and he has appeared to us!
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-249/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250104
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250105
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20241229T120426Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241229T120426Z
UID:12979-1735948800-1736035199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Elizabeth Ann Seton
DESCRIPTION:O SOUL OF MY SOUL \nBy St Elizabeth Ann Seton \n◊◊◊ \nHow often have I felt my soul awakened by your Light and warmed by the \nfire of your Love – then I approach you – I find you – but Alas instantly after\, I \nlose you; often I think myself received – then fear I am rejected – and in this \ncontinual change of interior dispositions I walk in darkness and often go astray \n– I desire and know not how to desire\, I love\, and know not how to love\, nor how \nto find what I love. \nThus my soul loses itself without ceasing to hope in you – It knows by its \nown experience that it desires much\, and is unable to do anything – you see its \ntrouble O lord – and in that happy moment when fatigued with so many \nvicissitudes it falls at last into entire diffidence of itself then you open its eyes \nand it sees the true way to Peace and Life – it knows you were nearer than it \nimagined – you instruct it all at once without Voice or Words\, it thinks only of \nwhat possesses it\, abandoning all things else it then possesses you – It sees \nwithout knowing what it sees\, it hears\, and is ignorant of what it hears\, it knows \nonly Who he is to whom it is attentive\, it contents itself with loving HIM\, it loves \nHim continually more and more – Words cannot express\, nor the mind \ncomprehend what it receives from you O MY GOD even in this place of \nBanishment. \nHow happy is that moment O divine Jesus! How pure is that Light\, how \nineffable is that communion of your Blessings! You know O Lord how precious \nthat gift is\, and your Creature that receives it knows also – Ah! if it were faithful\, \nif it never departed from you – if it knew how to preserve the Grace it had \nreceived\, how happy would it be! And yet this is but a drop of that infinite Ocean \nof Blessings which you are one day to communicate to it. \nO Soul of my Soul – what is my Soul and What Good can it have without \npossessing you – Life of my Life! What is my Life when I live not in you – Is it \npossible that my Heart is capable of possessing you – of enjoying you all alone – \nof extending and dilating itself in you – can your creature thus be elevated above \nitself to repose in your Breast\, and after that depart from you? Bury itself in the \nEarth? Ah Lord I know not what I ought to say to You: but hear the voice of your \nlove and of my misery; live always in me\, and let me live perpetually in You and \nfor You as I live only by You. \nEnlighten me\, O Divine Light! Conduct me\, O supreme Truth! Raise me \nagain\, O uncreated Life! Separate me from every thing that displeases you. \nSuffer me to remain at your Feet!
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-elizabeth-ann-seton-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250105
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250106
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20250103T205922Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250103T205922Z
UID:12990-1736035200-1736121599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\nEpiphany Week\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nJanuary 5 – 11\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n5\nMon\n6\nTue\n7\nWed\n8\nThu\n9\nFri\n10\nSat\n11\n\n\nOffice\nEpiphany of the Lord\nWeekday after Epiphany\nWeekday after Epiphany\nWeekday after Epiphany\nWeekday after Epiphany\nSt Gregory of Nyssa\nWeekday after Epiphany\n\n\nVigils\nIsa 60:1-22\nIsa 61:1-11\nIsa 62:1-12\nIsa 63:7-19\nIsa 64:1-11\nIsa 65:13-25\nIsa 66:10-14\, 18-23\n\n\nLauds\nBaruch 4:36-5:9\nIsa 59:14-21\nIsa 60:1-7\nIsa 60:10-14\nIsa 60:15-22\nBaruch 4:30-37\nBaruch 5:1-9\n\n\nMass\n20\n212\n213\n214\n215\n216\n217\n\n\n1st\nIsa 60:1-6\n1 John 3:22-4:6\n1 John 4:7-10\n1 John 4:11-18\n1 John 4:19-5:4\n1 John 5:5-13\n1 John 5:14-21\n\n\n2nd\nEph 3:2-3a\, 5-6\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 2:1-12\nMatt 4:12-17\, 23-25\nMark 6:34-44\nMark 6:45-52\nLuke 4:14-22a\nLuke 5:12-16\nJohn 3:22-30\n\n\nVespers\n2 Tim 1:6-14\nEph 4:1-6\nEph 4:17-24\nEph 4:25-32\nEph 5:6-20\nEph 6:10-17\nCol 2:8-15
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-99/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250105
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250106
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20250103T210137Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250103T210137Z
UID:12992-1736035200-1736121599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Epiphany of the Lord
DESCRIPTION:THE GLORY OF CHRIST \nFrom a sermon by St John Henry Newman \n◊◊◊ \nThe Epiphany is a season especially set apart for adoring the glory of \nChrist. The word may be taken to mean the manifestation of His glory\, and leads \nus to the contemplation of Him as a King upon His throne in the midst of His \ncourt\, with His servants around Him\, and His guards in attendance. At \nChristmas we commemorate His grace; and in Lent His temptation; and on \nGood Friday His sufferings and death; and on Easter Day His victory; and on \nAscension Thursday His return to the Father; and in Advent we anticipate His \nsecond coming. And in all of these seasons He does something\, or suffers \nsomething: but in the Epiphany and the weeks after it\, we celebrate Him\, not as \non His field of battle\, or in His solitary retreat\, but as an august and glorious \nKing; we view Him as the Object of our worship. \nThen only\, during His whole earthly history\, did He fulfil the type of \nSolomon\, and held (as I may say) a court\, and received the homage of His \nsubjects; namely\, when He was an infant. His throne was His undefiled \nmother’s arms; His chamber of state was a cottage or a cave; the worshippers \nwere the wise men of the East\, and they brought Him presents\, gold\, \nfrankincense and myrrh. All around and about Him seemed of earth\, except to \nthe eye of faith; one note alone had He of divinity. As the great of this world are \noften plainly dressed\, and look like other people\, except for having some one \ncostly ornament on their breast or on their brow; so the Son of Mary in His lowly \ndwelling\, and in an infant’s form\, was declared to be the Son of God Most High\, \nthe Father of ages\, and the Prince of Peace\, by His star; a wonderful appearance \nwhich had guided the wise men all the way from the East\, even unto Bethlehem. \nThis being the character of this Sacred Season\, our services throughout it\, \nas far as they are proper to it\, are full of the image of a king in his royal court\, of a \nsovereign surrounded by subjects\, of a glorious prince upon a throne. There is \nno thought of war\, or of strife\, or of suffering\, or of triumph\, or of vengeance \nconnected with the Epiphany\, but of august majesty\, of power\, of prosperity\, of \nsplendor\, of serenity\, of benignity. Now\, if at any time\, it is fit to say\, “The Lord \nis in His holy temple\, let all the earth keep silence before Him.” “The Lord sits \nabove the waters\, and the Lord remains a king forever.” “The Lord of Hosts is \nwith us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” “O come\, let us worship\, and fall down\, \nand kneel before the Lord our Maker.” “O magnify the Lord our God\, and fall \ndown before His footstool\, for He is holy.” “O worship the Lord in the beauty of \nholiness; bring presents\, and come into His courts.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-epiphany-of-the-lord-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250106
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250107
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20250103T210305Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250103T210305Z
UID:12994-1736121600-1736207999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE SEASON OF MAJESTY \nThe continuation of a sermon by St John Henry Newman \n◊◊◊ \nYou will observe\, then\, that the only display of royal greatness\, the only \nseason of majesty\, homage and glory\, which our Lord had on earth\, was in His \ninfancy and youth. Gabriel’s message to Mary was in its style and manner such as \nbefitted an Angel speaking to Christ’s Mother. Elizabeth\, too\, saluted Mary\, and the \nfuture Baptist his hidden Lord\, in the same honorable way. Angels announced His \nbirth\, and the shepherds worshiped. A star appeared\, and the wise men rose from \nthe East and made Him offerings. He was brought to the temple\, and Simeon took \nHim in his arms\, and returned thanks for Him. He grew to twelve years old\, and \nagain He appeared in the temple\, and took His seat in the midst of the doctors. But \nhere His earthly majesty had its end\, or if seen afterwards\, it was but now and then\, \nby glimpses and by sudden gleams\, but with no sustained light and no diffused \nradiance. \nWe are told at the close of the last-mentioned narrative\, “And He went down \nwith His parents\, and came to Nazareth\, and was subject to them.” His subjection \nand servitude now began in fact. He had come in the form of a servant\, and now He \ntook on a servant’s office. How much is contained in the idea of His subjection! and \nit began\, and His time of glory ended\, when He was twelve years old. \nSolomon\, the great type of the Prince of Peace\, reigned for forty years\, and \nhis name and greatness was known far and wide through the East. Joseph\, the \nmuch-loved son of Jacob\, who in an earlier age of the Church\, was a type of Christ \nin His kingdom\, was in power and favor eighty years\, twice as long as Solomon. But \nChrist\, the true Revealer of secrets\, and the Dispenser of the Bread of life\, the true \nwisdom and majesty of the Father\, manifested His glory only in His early years\, \nand then the sun of Righteousness was clouded. For He was not to reign really\, till \nHe left the world. He has reigned ever since; nay\, reigned in the world\, though He is \nnot sensible presence in it – the invisible King of a visible kingdom – for He came \non earth only to show what His reign would be\, after He had left it\, and to submit to \nsuffering and dishonor\, that He might reign. Christ descends to the shadows of this \nworld\, with the transitory tokens on Him of that future glory into which He could \nnot enter till He had suffered. The star burned brightly over Him for a while\, \nthough it then faded away.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-250/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250107
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250108
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20250103T210418Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250103T210418Z
UID:12996-1736208000-1736294399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A HYMN ON THE MANIFESTATION \nOF CHRIST \nBy St Ephrem the Syrian \n◊◊◊ \nBlessed is the King Who has come and will come! \nThe Redeemer shone forth to the blind\, but they looked to others. \nThe Sun showed His rays\, but they were clothed in darkness. \nThe Resplendent One sent His light\, and it summoned the children of light \nto reveal to the children of darkness\, “Behold in your midst is the light\, \nbut over your eyes a veil.” To You be glory\, New Sun! \nThe prophets announced His birth but did not specify His time. \nHe sent the Magi\, and they came and declared His time. \nBut the Magi who made known the time did not specify where the Infant was. \nThe glorious star of light ran and showed were the Infant was… \nA pair of announcers expressed the properties of the Only-Begotten: \nthe star of light and John – one a shining forth\, the other a voice. \nFor the One Announced was also a Word and a Light. \nVoice and ray serve Him. The shining forth announced His light \nand the voice His wisdom. More blessed is the First-born than His announcers! \nJohn gazed at Him and cried\, “This is the Lamb of God!” \nThe Lamb grew fat and matured\, and He came to be an offering. \nJohn was not afraid to cry\, “Behold\, it is He!” – \neven if the slayers attack\, even if it was the time of sprinkling \nso that forgiveness would be by His blood\, Blessed is the Compensator of our \nsins. \nThe glorious star of light was not like John\, \nfor there was a place where it rose and made straight the way for the simple\, \nbut there was a place where it sank and made the path of the wolves go astray. \nIt kept the Lamb from the slaughter so that the day for the slaughter would \ncome\, that in Him the flock would be pardoned. Blessed is He in Whom \nHis possessions were redeemed!
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-251/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250108
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250109
DTSTAMP:20260403T160423
CREATED:20250103T210548Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250103T210548Z
UID:12998-1736294400-1736380799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:TAKING GOD ON HIS OWN TERMS \nBy Fr Edward Leen4 \n◊◊◊ \nEverybody knows that the call of the Magi typifies the vocation of the \nGentiles to the Church of God. But to penetrate more deeply into this mystery \nand to read therein an experience common to a multitude of souls demands a \ndeeper understanding of God’s way of manifesting himself to his creatures\, and \na keener discernment of his action in human souls. God is a hidden God\, and \nmust be so for us. He manifests himself obscurely. God does not hide himself \nfrom us purposely or to make approach to him more difficult. He desires \nrevelation of himself to us\, and approach to him on our part. God in his \napproach to us but tempters his brilliancy to accommodate it to our weak and \ndiseased spiritual vision. He\, as it were\, takes care not to hurt our soul’s sight. \nBut he aims at revelation through dimmed radiance. The incarnation\, which is \nthe utmost concealment of the Godhead that there is\, or that can be — except \nthat of the Eucharist alone — is the greatest revelation of God. \nThat we are dull of perception is certainly not due to the mode in which \nGod reveals himself\, but must be traceable to our fault. It is the poor quality of \nour faith that is responsible for this dullness. We do not take God on his own \nconditions. We are always given to imposing ours on him. We have a tendency \nto decide for ourselves what shall be the sensible exterior vesture of God’s \nmessage. We clothe that message with a garment woven of our own ideas and \nimaginings\, and we reject the material selected by God himself for his \nrevelation. \nNot so the wise men. They took God on his own terms. We choose a \ncertain mode for his manifestation\, and they acknowledged him as God in the \nlowliness of the guise in which he appeared. They looked on a babe and they said \nGod. Their faith was superb. That the three wise men were able to discern in the \nform of a helpless babe\, lying in an earthly Mother’s frail arms\, under a \nmiserable roof\, the king of kings\, the great redeemer of the human race that had \nbeen spoken of in prophecy for centuries before\, was a truly marvelous thing. It \nis a proof that they must have been men of very pure lives and to a large extent \nimmune from the corruption of the world in which they lived. Gifted with great \nscience\, as their name implies\, they must have had clear and docile and simple \nminds\, minds eager to acquire the truth and ready to submit to it\, no matter how \nmuch it might conflict with the traditions and prejudices of their race. \nThe wonderful faith of these men passes all belief. Their appearance in the \npages of Saint Matthew is like a sudden burst of glorious sunshine\, breaking in a \nflood of glory\, through a sky wrapped in a mantle of somber grey. And the star \nwent before them\, until it came and stood over where the child was; and seeing \nthe star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And entering into the house \nthey found the child with Mary his Mother. Their long quest had come to an \nend. As they saw the humble roof under which the child was\, and as they \nperceived the lowly simple conditions of his parents\, were they taken aback? \nHad they any misgivings? Were they harassed by any doubts? Were they \nexpected to discern in this humble babe an object of their kingly homage? It was \nthe supreme test to which they were put\, and their magnificent faith triumphed \nover all appearances. Their hearts responded loyally to the touch of grace\, for \nthey were unprejudiced and ready to concede to God whatever form he should \nchoose for his manifestation. \n  \n4 In the Likeness of Christ\, pp. 56-68; reprinted in Meditations on the Sunday Gospels: Year A; introduced and edited by John \nE. Rotelle\, Hyde Park\, NY: New City Press\, 1995\, pp. 32-33.9 \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-252/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13000-1736380800-1736467199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:GOD’S DISCRETION IN \nREVEALING HIMSELF \nBy Réné Voillaume \n◊◊◊ \nJesus appears in the world without giving any warning of his coming and \nwithout making known to any neighbor who he is. Had he come into the world \nin his house at Nazareth\, all his relatives would have made an event of his birth \nwith the neighbors and the other inhabitants of the town. He would have been \nheralded and celebrated. He would thus have allowed himself to behave well \nenough like a true little Nazarene\, but he would have been confiscated\, as it \nwere\, by his earthly family and his earthly country. Quite to the contrary\, he \nelects to be born away from home\, on a journey\, amid an anonymous crowd; in \nthis way\, he would really belong to everybody\, and could come quietly and \ndiscreetly\, with no tumult and excitement. \nGod\, if he had so wished\, could naturally have made all sorts of efforts to \nspread the news abroad. And if any proof were needed of this\, one could point to \nhis having mobilized the angels but contented himself with bringing a few poor \nshepherds to the manger. It is also clear from this that he could easily have \nbrought the whole of Jerusalem and all the just among the Israelites with pure \nand upright hearts\, worshipers of God and living in expectancy of the Messiah. \nAnd there were in fact many of them\, all true friends of his\, in the country of \nJudea and Galilee! \nBut it is obvious that God did not wish to impose his Son: people must \ncome to him by seeking and discovering him. Even the shepherds and the Wise \nMen\, though warned personally\, had to search for him with the help of a sign \nwhich\, rather than leading them easily and directly to the manger\, was little \nmore than a suggestion to send them on their way. The shepherds must have \ngone to many houses and stables before they found the right babe wrapped in \nswaddling clothes. \nAs for the Magi\, they had to show some initiative in order to discover\, by \nthe normal means at their disposal\, the birthplace of the young king of Israel. \nJesus was infinitely discreet; he simply waited\, and such a way of appearing \ncould have made us somewhat impatient\, had it not been proved for centuries \nback that people have found in this very discretion a true sign of God. That sign \nof weakness\, which draws people in spite of themselves\, makes them surrender \nand acknowledge themselves outdone\, without Jesus ever having forced himself \nupon them in any way other than a certain presence — a presence that waits\, and \ninvites\, and demonstrates God’s heaven in a humble manner which gives hope \nand humility\, peace and love — just how\, one does not really know! God is a \nmaster who knows how to go about speaking to us with the use of the things of \nthe earth — these various beings\, both animate and inanimate — and the events \nof human history.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-253/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13002-1736467200-1736553599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Gregory of Nyssa
DESCRIPTION:ON PURITY OF HEART \nFrom a commentary by St Gregory of Nyssa \n◊◊◊ \nNow the divine nature\, as it is in itself\, according to its essence\, \ntranscends every act of comprehensive knowledge\, and it cannot be approached \nor attained by our speculation. Mortals have never discovered a faculty to \ncomprehend the incomprehensible; nor have we ever been able to devise an \nintellectual technique for grasping the incomprehensible. For this reason the \ngreat Apostle calls God’s ways unsearchable\, teaching us that the way that leads \nto knowledge of the divine nature is inaccessible to our reason; and hence none \nof those who have lived before us has given us the slightest hint of \ncomprehension suggesting that we might know that which in itself is above all \nknowledge. \nYet the Lord does not deceive us when he promises that the pure of heart \nshall see God; nor does Paul deceive us when he teaches that no one has seen \nGod nor can see Him. The Lord does not say that it is blessed to know something \nabout God\, but rather to possess God in oneself: Blessed are the clean of heart\, \nfor they shall see God. And this teaches us that the one who purifies his heart of \nevery creature and of every passionate impulse will see the image of the divine \nnature in his own beauty. So too in this short sentence the Word\, I think\, is \ngiving us the following advise: All you mortals who have within yourselves a \ndesire to behold the supreme Good\, when you are told that the majesty of God is \nexalted above the heavens\, that the divine glory is inexpressible\, its beauty \nindescribable\, its nature inaccessible\, do not despair at never being able to \nbehold what you desire. For you do have within your grasp that degree of the \nknowledge of God which you can attain. For\, when God made you\, Hr at once \nendowed your nature with this perfection: upon the structure of your nature He \nimprinted an imitation of the perfections of His own nature\, just as one would \nimpress upon wax the outline of an emblem. But the wickedness that has been \npoured all over this divine engraving has made your perfection useless and \nhidden it with a vicious coating. You must then wash away\, by a life of virtue\, the \ndirt that has come to cling to your heart like plaster\, and then your divine beauty \nwill once again shine forth. \nIt is just like those who look at the sun in a mirror. Even though they \ncannot look up directly at the heavens\, they do see the sun in the mirror’s \nreflection just as much as those who look directly at the sun. So it is\, says our \nLord\, with you. Even though you are not strong enough to see the light itself\, yet \nyou will find within yourselves what you are seeking\, if you would but return to \nthe grace of that image which was established within you from the beginning. \nFor the Godhead is all purity\, freedom from passion\, the absence of all evil. And \nif you possess these qualities\, God will surely be within you. When your mind is \nuntainted by any evil\, free of passion\, purified of all stain\, then will you be \nblessed because your eye is clear. Then because you have been purified you will \nperceive things that are invisible to the unpurified. The dark cloud of matter will \nbe removed from the eye of your soul\, and then you will see clearly the blessed \nvision within the pure brilliance of your own heart. And what is this vision? It is \npurity\, holiness\, simplicity\, and other such brilliant reflections of the nature of \nGod; for it is in these that God is seen.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-gregory-of-nyssa/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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