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DTSTART:20251102T070000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250421
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250422
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250420T013648Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250420T013648Z
UID:13343-1745193600-1745279999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Monday
DESCRIPTION:THE RESURRECTION \nAND THE LIFE \nFrom a sermon by Blessed Guerric of Igny \n◊◊◊ \nLet us go to see Jesus journeying to the mountain of the heavenly Galilee\, \nwhere he awaits us. On the way our love will increase\, and on our arrival at least\, \nit will be perfected. On the way\, the road\, at first hard and difficult\, will grow \neasier and the strength of the weak will increase. The flesh of Christ is our food \nfor the journey\, his Spirit our means of conveyance. He Himself is the food; he \nhimself is the chariot and charioteer of Israel. When you arrive\, all the goods\, \nnot of Egypt but of heaven\, will be yours. There\, in the best place in the \nkingdom\, at the bidding of your Joseph you will take your rest. He who first sent \nangels\, women and apostles as witnesses and messengers of his resurrection\, \nnow cries from heaven: “Behold\, I whom you have mourned as dead these three \ndays did indeed die for you\, but see\, I live. And all power in heaven and earth is \ngiven unto me.”… \n“I am the resurrection and the life”\, Jesus said. He indeed is the first \nresurrection; he is also the second resurrection. For rising from the dead as the \nfirst fruits of those who sleep Christ both brings about for us the first \nresurrection by the mystery of his own resurrection and by the example of that \nsame resurrection will bring about for us the second. The first is that of souls\, \nwhen he raises them together with himself to newness of life; the second will be \nthat of bodies\, when he forms this humbled body of ours anew\, molding it into \nthe image of his glorified body. Christ does well then to proclaim himself the \nresurrection and the life since it is through him and into him that we rise in \norder to live according to him and with him; now according to him in holiness \nand justice\, afterwards with him in happiness and glory. \nNow the first resurrection of our Head\, the Lord Jesus Christ\, is the cause \nand the proof of the second resurrection which will be that of his whole body. So \nalso for each of us the first resurrection of the soul\, by which it comes to life \nagain from the death of sin\, is the proof and the cause of its second resurrection\, \nby which the body will be freed not only from the corruption of death but also \nfrom every tendency to corruption and death. That the one is proof of the other \nSt Paul shows clearly in the words: “If the Spirit of Christ who raised Jesus from \nthe dead dwells in you\, he will also give life to your perishable bodies on \naccount of his Spirit who dwells in you”.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-monday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250422
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250423
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250420T013800Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250420T013800Z
UID:13345-1745280000-1745366399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Tuesday
DESCRIPTION:THE REALITY OF \nTHE RESURRECTION \nBy Bruce Vawter \n◊◊◊ \nIn biblical faith the resurrection is something; something did occur to \naccount for the appearances of Jesus after his death. It is not to retreat into \nobscurity or equivocation to confess that we have no better way of defining that \nsomething than to call it resurrection. We cannot define what is indefinable in \nterms of human experience; we can only describe it in some fashion by the use of \nthe pictures we call analogies. The picture we use following the New Testament \nprecedent to describe both what God effected in Christ and\, with it as the \nproleptic example\, what its faith promises to all who share in God’s kingdom\, is \nmythical to the extent that\, taken in all literalness\, it might equally well serve to \ndescribe the resuscitation of a corpse\, which the New Testament does not intend \nto do… \nPaul…for all his insistence on the resurrection as a reality\, did not think of \nit as a resurrection of dead flesh: “Perhaps someone will say\, ‘How are the dead \nto be raised up? What kind of body will they have?’ A nonsensical question! \nThe seed you sow does not germinate unless it dies. When you sow\, you do not \nsow the full-blown plant but a kernel of wheat or some other grain. God gives \nbody to it as he pleases – to each seed its own fruition… So is it with the \nresurrection of the dead.” \nPaul admittedly tells us more about what\, in his view\, the resurrection is \nnot than what it is\, but at the same time he tells us enough to dissuade us from \ndismissing lightly the testimony of his senses\, which he joined to the witness of \nhis tradition. Here was a man quite conscious of the validity of what are \nsometimes thought to be modern and scientific objections to the idea of \nresurrection; a man convinced that something had occurred that he could only \ncall resurrection while regretting the inadequacy of the concept. Paul was as \nprepared as anyone today for demythologizing\, but he was not prepared to \ndisallow any fact out of his inability to explain it. Rather than deny the fact\, he \npreferred to retain the myth with all its attendant ambiguities.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-tuesday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250423
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250424
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250420T013916Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250420T013916Z
UID:13347-1745366400-1745452799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Wednesday
DESCRIPTION:THE TREMENDOUS DESTINY \nOF LOVE \nBy Caryl Houselander \n◊◊◊ \nQuite different from His appearance to Magdalene or the apostles is \nChrist’s approach to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. These are scholars\, \nthey must come to the point of communion with him through the travail of the \nmind. Step by step he takes them back through the scriptures\, leading them to \nknow him by thinking their own thoughts\, by linking up the academic \nknowledge they have acquired in the past with the events of the day\, and \nthrashing out the problem that is so baffling to intellectuals in all ages\, the \nproblem of suffering. \nThrough a totally different approach to the same problem he convinces \nThomas…the poor man who has no philosophy to be armor against the wounds \nof the world\, no thoughts to help him through the loneliness of his own \nanguish… It was when Thomas actually put his own hands into these wounds \nand felt\, as it were\, his own sins and sorrows redeemed in the glorious Body of \nChrist\, that the cry came out of his heart: “You are my Lord and my God!”. \nLast there is Peter. Who but Christ would have known that the one thing \nthat could lift up that broken heart was not a formal act of contrition\, but a \nspontaneous\, almost an exasperated cry of love? —Who but he would have \nthought of provoking the same impulsive temperament\, which had made a \ncoward of Peter with such cruel results\, to give it the courage to break out into \nthose acts of love? And\, as it was with the others\, Peter is given something to do \nfor Christ\, something that is exactly suited to his inmost need\, as it has been in \nthe case of each of the others. He is to become the shepherd. Christ shows him \nthat he knows what the sorrow for his sin has done to him\, how it has taken away \nhis cowardice\, so that he can give him even this charge\, the charge of the \nshepherd who is to protect the frailest of his flock\, his lambs…to feed them\, and \nif need be to give his life for them. Could he give greater proof of his trust in the \nreality of Peter’s love\, in the truth of Peter’s word: “Lord\, you know all things; \nyou can tell that I love You”. \nWhy we\, who are members of Christ’s body on earth\, his Church\, are so\, is \na great mystery. But the fact remains that God has chosen us for the tremendous \ndestiny of love\, and if the wonder and the joy of it is ours\, so too is the \nresponsibility of it. That responsibility is to prove to those who are still unaware \nof it that Christ has risen from the dead and that he is in the world now. We \ncannot do this without a very close imitation of Christ’s way with other people. \nChrist “knew what was in them”: that is the secret of his method; he knew and \nloved every one\, objectively and individually\, as a separate person\, a unique \nperson; he respected their otherness\, their independence\, even their slowness\, \ntheir limitations\, which were all part of the experience which was to bring them \nto the realization of his love. Christ wishes to approach people through us today \nin just the same way\, through just the same means\, as he did in his Risen Life.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-wednesday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250424
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250425
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250420T014034Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250420T014034Z
UID:13349-1745452800-1745539199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Thursday
DESCRIPTION:THE SECRET \nOF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE \nBy Fr Barnabas Ahern \n◊◊◊ \nSo often when St. Paul writes of the death of Christ\, two expressions keep \nrecurring: “He loved me\,” and “He gave Himself for me.” He loved me\, and \ntherefore He went down to death in order that love\, because it was love\, could \nbecome dynamically active when He would rise from the dead as the glorious \nmessianic Son of God. In this He has proven His love for us\, because when as \nyet we were sinners and unworthy of His love\, He laid down His life for us. He \ndied so that He could become the risen Savior and pour out upon the Church the \nfullness of the Spirit. It is the light of this mystery of our Lord’s death and \nresurrection\, of His suffering and of His life\, of the love which led Him to die and \nto suffer\, and the love which leads Him to give everything to us today as the risen \nSavior; it is in this that we ourselves begin to understand the mystery of our own \nChristian life. \nOur baptism incorporates us into Christ in such a way that we become \n“other Christs.” The Spirit who guided our Lord\, the Spirit who illumined Him\, \nthe Spirit who charged His soul with love\, is the same Spirit who reproduces \nthat same love in our own life through the mystery of our Christian \nincorporation. This is why for Paul the whole meaning of the Christian life is \nlove. For Paul… all law has been abrogated—not merely the ceremonial\, ritual \nlaw of Judaism\, but all law. Now the Christian knows only one principle of \naction\, and that principle of action is totally from within—the love\, the agape\, \nwhich the Spirit is infusing… \n“If we live by the spirit\, then we must walk by the spirit”… The liturgy \nspeaks of the weight of our poor humanness that is always twisting us\, as it were\, \nto selfishness and away from God. Now\, our Lord knew the same weight\, that \nsame pull of humanness. He was “tempted” to give people what they wanted\, to \nmeet their need for excitement and pleasure. This easy way of meeting needs \nwas opposed by the hard way which the Father required. And Jesus kept \nclinging to the Father\, which meant a constant cross in His life: the vertical pull \nto the will of the Father\, the horizontal pull to the desires of His people. \nWe are in a similar situation. We know the will of God\, the vertical pull in \nlife\, and at the same time we feel the horizontal pull of our mortality\, our “flesh\,” \nthe needs of our human nature. The agape is always trying to lift us up in \nfidelity\, but it is always being dragged down by the pull of our poor humanness. \nIn such lives the Cross is inevitable. The agape is not only responsible for \nintroducing the Cross\, it also gives it meaning \nThis is the secret of our Lord’s life\, as Paul saw it; and it is the secret of the \nChristian life as we must live it. Mortification and self-denial\, all those negative \nfactors of life are without meaning if they are not prompted by agape. Our Lord \ncould become all things to all men\, He could forget Himself completely because \nthere was this driving urge to love. And those who have followed Him have been \ngiven this same spirit.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-thursday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250425
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250426
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250420T014200Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250420T014200Z
UID:13351-1745539200-1745625599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Friday
DESCRIPTION:WITNESSES OF \nTHE RESURRECTION \nFrom a sermon by St John Henry Newman \n◊◊◊ \nIt might have been expected that\, on our Savior’s rising again from the \ndead\, He would have shown Himself to very great numbers of people\, and \nespecially to those who crucified Him; whereas we know from history that\, far \nfrom this being the case\, He showed Himself only to chosen witnesses\, chiefly \nHis immediate followers… This seems at first sight strange. We are apt to fancy \nthe resurrection of Christ as some striking visible display of His glory\, such as \nGod showed from time to time to the Israelites in Moses’ day; and considering it \nin the light of a public triumph\, we are led to imagine the confusion and terror \nwhich would have overwhelmed His murderers had He presented Himself alive \nbefore them. Now\, to reason in this way is to conceive Christ’s kingdom of this \nworld\, which it is not; and to suppose that then Christ came to judge the world\, \nwhereas that judgment will not be till the last day\, when in very deed those \nwicked men shall “look on Him whom they have pierced“. \nAfter His resurrection\, Jesus said to His disciples\, “Go\, convert all \nnations“. This was His special charge. If\, then\, there are grounds for thinking \nthat\, by showing Himself to a few rather than to many\, He was more surely \nadvancing this great object\, the propagation of the Gospel\, this is sufficient \nreason for our Lord’s having so ordained. Now consider what would have been \nthe probable effect of a public exhibition of His resurrection. Let us suppose that \nour Savior had shown Himself as openly as before He suffered: preaching in the \nTemple and in the streets of the city; traversing the land with His Apostles\, and \nwith multitudes following to see the miracles which He did. What would have \nbeen the effect of this? Of course\, what it had already been. His former miracles \nhad not effectively moved the body of the people; and\, doubtless\, this miracle \ntoo would have left them as it found them\, or worse than before. They might \nhave been more startled at the time; but why should this amazement last? \nWhen the man taken with a palsy was suddenly restored at His word\, the \nmultitude were all amazed and glorified God\, and were filled with fear saying\, “ \nWe have seen strange things this day.” What could they have said and felt more \nthan this\, when “one rose from the dead“? In truth\, this is the way of most \npeople in all ages\, to be influenced by sudden fears\, sudden contrition\, sudden \nearnestness\, sudden resolves\, which disappear just as suddenly. Nothing is \naccomplished effectively through untrained human nature; and such is always \nthe condition of the multitude. Unstable as water\, it cannot excel. One day it \ncried Hosanna; the next\, Crucify Him. \nAnd\, had our Lord appeared to them after they had crucified Him\, of \ncourse they would have shouted Hosanna once more; yet when He had \nascended out of sight\, then again they would have persecuted His followers… \nSurely so it would have been; the chief priests would not have been moved at all; \nand the populace\, even though they had been moved at the time\, would not have \nbeen moved in a lasting way\, nor in a practical way\, so as to proclaim to the \nworld what they had heard and seen\, as to preach the gospel. The very reason \nwhy Christ showed Himself at all was in order to raise up witnesses to His \nresurrection\, ministers of His word\, founders of His Church; and how in the \nnature of things could a populace ever become such?
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-friday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250426
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250427
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250420T014307Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250420T014307Z
UID:13353-1745625600-1745711999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Saturday
DESCRIPTION:THE LEAVENING OF \nMORTALITY AND INIQUITY \nFrom a sermon by St Aelred of Rievaulx \n◊◊◊ \nHe who is the creator\, made himself a creature. He who was Lord\, made \nhimself a servant. He who was rich\, made himself poor. He who was great\, made \nhimself little. And the Word was made flesh. He was bread and he fed the \nangels. But he did not feed us. We were\, however\, so weak that in no way could \nwe taste that bread in all its purity. We had within us a corrosive leaven that \nrobbed us of our pristine strength. We had become so unlike that pure and \nuntainted bread that we could not taste it at all. This leavening which we had \nwithin us was twofold. We had within us the leavening of mortality and we had \nwithin us the leavening of iniquity… \nWe are mortals and sinners; he is immortal and just. How were we to \ncome together? He saw this\, he who is caring and merciful. Because we could \nnot ascend to him\, he came down to us. He took upon himself one part of our \nleavening and so adapted himself to our weakness. He did not take to himself \nthe whole leaven that was in us\, but a certain part of it. If he had taken on the \nwhole of it he would be as we are and he would not be able to help us. If he had \ntaken none of it he would be so distant from us that we would not be able in any \nway to approach him. And so we would remain forever in our wretchedness… \nThe leavening of our mortality therefore he accepted\, and abode in the purity of \nhis justice\, so that he would be the sort of being who could come down to us and \nyet remain the sort of being to whom we ought to ascend… \nTo this leavening of mortality belongs hunger\, thirst\, sorrow\, misery. All \nof this our Lord took on himself. He chose to take on this leavening\, but he was \nnot obliged to remain in ferment. First he showed this leavening in himself \nthrough a wondrous compassion and then he purged himself of this leaven \nthrough a wondrous charity… \nWe ought to know that our iniquity is the cause of our mortality. And \ntherefore when we are fully purged of iniquity we will doubtless also be purged \nof mortality… Our iniquity is twofold. It comes from the nature in which we \nwere born and from the evil which we later brought to it. From both of these the \nLord purges us. He offered for us a sacrifice – his own blood – and through this \nsacrifice we are purged. And therefore what we suffer now from the corruption \nof our nature is no longer iniquity but infirmity. \nFrom the corruption of our nature come the impulses of concupiscence \nwhich we suffer unwillingly. From this come the impulses of lust\, anger\, pride\, \nambition. But if we do not consent to them\, God does not impute them to us\, \nbecause the pure sacrifice was offered to offset the corruption of our nature… By \nthe workings of his compassion in us in baptism we are purged of all sins\, both \nthose which came from nature and those which we added voluntarily.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-saturday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250427
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250428
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250427T123314Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250427T123314Z
UID:13361-1745712000-1745798399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n2nd Week of Easter\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nApril 27 – May 3\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n27\nMon\n28\nTue\n29\nWed\n30\nThu\n1\nFri\n2\nSat\n3\n\n\nOffice\n2nd Sunday of Easter\nEaster Weekday\nSt Catherine of Siena\nEaster Weekday\nSt Joseph the Worker\nSt Athanasius\nSS Philip & James\n\n\nVigils\nCol 3:1-17\nRev 1:1-20\nRev 2:1-11\nRev 2:12-29\nRev 3:1-22\nRev 4:1-11\n1 Cor 12:1-13\n\n\nLauds\nEph 1:1-10\nEph 1:11-14\nEph 1:15-23\nEph 2:1-10\nEph 2:11-18\nEph 2:19-22\n2 Thess 2:13-3:5\n\n\nMass\n45\n267\n268\n269\n270\, 559\n271\n561\n\n\n1st\nActs 5:12-16\nActs 4:23-31\nActs 4:32-37\nActs 5:17-26\nActs 5:27-33\nActs 5:34-42\n1 Cor 15:1-8\n\n\n2nd\nRev 1:9-11a\, 12-13\, 17-19\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 20:19-31\nJohn 3:1-8\nJohn 3:7b-15\nJohn 3:16-21\nMatt 13:54-58\nJohn 6:1-15\nJohn 14:6-14\n\n\nVespers\nActs 5:12-16\nActs 5:27-32\nActs 6:8-15\nActs 7:51-60\nActs 8:1b-8\nActs 8:9-13\nActs 8:14-25
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-113/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250427
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250428
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250427T123438Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250427T123438Z
UID:13363-1745712000-1745798399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 2nd Sunday of Easter
DESCRIPTION:BLESSED ARE THOSE \nWHO HAVE NOT SEEN \nFrom a commentary by St Augustine \n◊◊◊ \nMy dear people\, you\, like myself\, are well aware that our Lord and Savior \nJesus Christ is the one physician capable of bringing us eternal healing and \nsalvation. We know\, too\, that it was in order to accomplish this that he took \nupon himself the weakness of our human nature\, otherwise that weakness \nwould have remained with us forever. He equipped himself with a human body \nliable to death\, so that in and through that body he might conquer death itself. \nAnd though\, as the apostle tells us\, it was his human weakness that made it \npossible for him to be crucified\, it was his divine power that enabled him to \nreturn to life. \nThat same apostle says: He will never die again\, neither will death have \nany further hold upon him. All this you already know and believe\, and also the \nconsequences flowing from it; we can be sure that the miracles he wrought while \nhe lived among us were meant to encourage us to accept the gifts from him that \nshould never pass away nor have an end. Thus he gave back sight to blind eyes \nthat would shortly be closed again in death; he raised Lazarus from the dead \nonly for him to die again. His bodily cures\, indeed\, were never meant to last for \never\, even though at the end of time he is to give the body itself life everlasting. \nBut because “seeing is believing\,” he used these visible wonders to build up \npeople’s faith in even greater marvels that could not be seen. \nLet no one then be found to say that since Christ Jesus our Lord no longer \nworks such miracles among us\, the Church was better off in its early days. On \nthe contrary\, in one recorded testament\, the same Lord set those who have \nnever seen and yet believe before those who believe only because they see. \nIndeed\, so great was the disciples’ weakness at that time\, that when they saw the \nLord they found it necessary to touch him before they could believe he had really \nrisen from the dead. They were unable to believe the testimony of their own \neyes\, until they had handled his body and explored his recent wounds with their \nfingers. Only after this was done could that most hesitant of all his disciples \nexclaim: My Lord and my God! Thus it was by his wounds that Christ\, who had \nso often healed the manifold wounds of others\, came to be recognized himself. \nNow we may ask: could not the Lord have risen with a body from which all \nthe marks of wounds had been erased? No doubt he could have; but he knew his \ndisciples bore within their hearts a wound so deep that the only way to cure it \nwas to retain the scars of his own wounds in his body. And when that confession: \nMy Lord and my God! Was uttered\, what was his answer to it? You believe\, he \nsaid\, because you have seen me; blessed are those who have not seen and yet \nbelieve. \nAnd who\, my brothers and sisters\, are those if not ourselves and those \nwho are to follow after us? When\, later on\, the Lord had departed from human \nsight and faith had time to strike roots into people’s hearts\, those who believed \nin him made their act of faith without seeing him in whom they made it. The \nfaith of such believers is highly meritorious\, for it springs from a devoted heart \nrather than an exploring hand.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-2nd-sunday-of-easter-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250428
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250429
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250427T123550Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250427T123550Z
UID:13365-1745798400-1745884799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE FIRST AND THE SECOND \nRESURRECTION \nBy Blessed Guerric of Igny \n◊◊◊ \n“Blessed and holy is he who has a share in the first resurrection”. “I am the \nresurrection and the life”\, Jesus said. He indeed is the first resurrection; he is \nalso the second resurrection. For rising from the dead as the first fruits of those \nwho sleep\, Christ both brings about for us the first resurrection by the mystery \nof his own resurrection and by the example of that same resurrection will bring \nabout for us the second. The first is that of souls\, when he raises them together \nwith himself to newness of life; the second will be that of bodies\, when he forms \nthis humbled body of ours anew\, molding it into the image of his glorified body. \nChrist does well then to proclaim himself the resurrection and the life \nsince it is through him and into him that we rise in order to live according to him \nand with him; now according to him in holiness and justice\, afterwards with him \nin happiness and glory. Now the first resurrection of our Head\, the Lord Jesus \nChrist\, is the cause and the proof of the second resurrection\, which will be that \nof his whole body. So also for each of us the first resurrection of the soul\, by \nwhich it comes to life again from the death of sin\, is the proof and the cause of its \nsecond resurrection\, by which the body will be freed not only from corruption of \ndeath but also from every tendency to corruption and death. That the one is the \nproof and cause of the other St Paul shows clearly in the words: “If the Spirit of \nChrist who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you\, he will give life also to your \nperishable bodies on account of his Spirit who dwells in you”. \nIt is well said then: “Blessed and holy is he who has a share in the first \nresurrection”. Holy\, that is\, on account of the first\, which he has already \nobtained through the renewal of his soul; blessed on account of the second\, \nwhich he happily awaits when his body is restored. The reason for his \nblessedness is indicated by the same passage of Scripture\, which goes on: “Over \nthese (who have a share\, that is\, in the first resurrection)\, the second death has \nno power\, even if the first death has seemed to exercise its dominion over them \nfor a passing hour. For death has reigned from Adam to Moses\, even over those \nwho did not sin according to the likeness of Adam’s transgression. But as with \nChrist so with the Christian; rising from the dead\, he dies no more; death has no \nmore dominion over him. \nSo over those blessed neither has the second death any power nor will the \nfirst keep the power\, which it had for a time. For the one death of Christ \ntriumphed over both of ours\, setting free from the one those who were already \nits captives\, from the other\, those who would be its captives. It prevented us \nfrom falling into the one\, from remaining in the other. How true\, how devout \nand at the same time how magnificent is that threat he uttered as he died: “I will \nbe your death\, O death”. How fittingly and wonderfully he triumphed who \ntasted death on behalf of all and so swallowed up his own death and all the dying \nof all humanity. Free from fear he may mock at it\, whomever that blessed man is \nwho has a share in the first resurrection: “Where is your victory\, death? Where \nis your sting\, death?”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-302/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20250427T123704Z
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UID:13367-1745884800-1745971199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Catherine of Siena
DESCRIPTION:THE WAY OF \nPRAYER TO GOD \nFrom “The Dialogues” by St Catherine of Siena \n◊◊◊ \nA soul rises up\, restless with tremendous desire for God’s honor and the \nsalvation of souls. she has for some time exercised herself in virtue and has \nbecome accustomed to dwelling in the cell of self-knowledge in order to know \nbetter God’s goodness toward her\, since upon knowledge follows love. And \nloving\, she seeks to pursue truth and clothe herself in it. \nBut there is no way she can so savor and be enlightened by this truth as in \ncontinual humble prayer\, grounded in the knowledge of herself and of God. For \nby such prayer the soul is united with God\, following in the footsteps of Christ \ncrucified\, and through desire and affection and the union of love he makes of her \nanother himself. So Christ seems to have meant when he said\, “If you will love \nme and keep my word\, I will show myself to you\, and you will be one thing \nwith me and I with you.”. And we find similar words in other places from which \nwe can see it is the truth that by love’s affection the soul becomes another \nhimself. \nTo make this clearer still\, I remember having heard from a certain servant \nof God that\, when she was at prayer\, lifted high in spirit\, God would not hide \nfrom her mind’s eye his love for his servants. No\, he would reveal it\, saying \namong other things\, “Open your mind’s eye and look within me\, and you will see \nthe dignity and beauty of my reasoning creature. But beyond the beauty I have \ngiven the soul by creating her in my image and likeness\, look at those who are \nclothed in the wedding garment of charity\, adorned with many true virtues: they \nare united with me through love. So I say\, if you should ask me who they are\, I \nwould answer\,” said the gentle loving Word\, “that they are another me\, for they \nhave lost and drowned their own will and have clothed themselves and united \nthemselves and conformed themselves with mine.” It is true\, then\, that the soul \nis united to God through love’s affection.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-catherine-of-siena-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13369-1745971200-1746057599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:MAKE NO PROVISION \nFOR THE FLESH \nFrom a sermon by Pope St Leo the Great \n◊◊◊ \nThough we once knew Christ according to the flesh\, we now do so no \nlonger. The resurrection of the Lord did not mean the end of his flesh\, but its \ntransformation\, and his bodily substance was not consumed by its increase in \npower. The quality changed\, but the nature did not pass away. What could die \nbecame immortal\, what could be harmed became incorruptible. And so he says \ncorrectly that he no longer knows the body of Christ in its former state\, because \nthere remains nothing in it subject to suffering or to weakness. It remains \nessentially human\, but surpasses itself through the glory of the resurrection. \nIt is not surprising that Paul says this of the body of Christ\, when he says \nabout Christians who live according to the Spirit\, From now on\, we know no \none according to the flesh. From now on\, he says\, resurrection in Christ has \nbegun in us; from Christ who died for all comes the shape of all our hope. We do \nnot hold back through diffidence\, nor are we held in suspense through \nuncertainty: we have received the beginnings of what we are promised\, and see \nalready with the eyes of faith the things that will be ours. Rejoicing in the lifting \nup of our nature\, we possess already all that we believe. \nTherefore\, let us not be taken up by the appearances of things that pass\, \nnor let things which are merely of this earth turn our thoughts from the things of \nheaven. Let us take as passing those things which have even now scarcely any \nreality; and with our minds intent on those that endure\, let us fix our desire \nthere\, where what is offered is eternal. For though we are saved only in hope\, \nand carry with us still our corruptible and mortal body\, yet we rightly claim to be \nno longer in the flesh if carnal passions do not rule us: rightly do we disclaim \nallegiance to something which no longer holds us in its power. And so when the \nApostle says: “Make no provision for the flesh\, to follow its desires\, we \nunderstand that he has not forbidden those things consistent with our bodily \nhealth\, or those demanded by human weakness. But in that we are not to cater \nto all our desires\, or fulfill all that the flesh covets\, we recognize that he has \nwarned us to observe a certain measure of temperance\, that the flesh\, which is \ncreated subject to the soul\, is not given too much\, nor is denied what is \nnecessary.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-303/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250427T124007Z
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UID:13371-1746057600-1746143999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Joseph the Worker
DESCRIPTION:ST JOSEPH \nTHE WORKER \nA reflection by Pope Francis \n◊◊◊ \nSt Joseph concretely expressed his fatherhood by making an offering of \nhimself in love\, placed at the service of the Messiah who was growing to \nmaturity in his home. And because of his role at the crossroads between the Old \nand New Testament\, St Joseph has always been venerated as a father of the \nChristian people. In him\, Jesus saw the tender love of God\, the one that helps us \naccept our weakness\, because it is through and despite our fears\, our frailties\, \nand our weakness that most divine designs are realized. Only tender love will \nsave us from the snares of the accuser\, and it is by encountering God’s mercy in \nthe Sacrament of Reconciliation that we experience His truth and tenderness\, \nbecause we know that God’s truth does not condemn us\, but instead welcomes\, \nembraces\, sustains and forgives us. \nJoseph is also a father in obedience to God with his “fiat”. He protects \nMary and Jesus and teaches his son to do the Will of the Father… At the same \ntime\, Joseph is an accepting father because he accepted Mary unconditionally – \nan important gesture even today in our world where psychological\, verbal and \nphysical violence towards women is so evident. But the Bridegroom of Mary is \nalso the one who\, trusting in the Lord\, accepts in his life even the events that he \ndoes not understand\, setting aside his own ideas and reconciling himself with \nhis own history. \nJoseph’s spiritual path is not one that explains but accepts – which does \nnot mean that he is “resigned”. Instead he is courageously and firmly proactive. \nBecause with the Holy Spirit’s Gift of fortitude\, and full of hope\, he is able to \naccept life as it is\, with all its contradictions\, frustrations and disappointments. \nIn practice\, through St Joseph\, it is as if God were to repeat to us: “Do not be \nafraid” because faith gives meaning to every event\, however happy or sad\, and \nmakes us aware that God can make flowers spring up from stony ground. \nJoseph did not look for shortcuts but confronted reality with open eyes and \naccepted personal responsibility for it. For this reason\, he encourages us to \naccept and welcome others as they are\, without exception and to show special \nconcern for the weak… Consequently every poor\, needy\, suffering or dying \nperson\, every stranger\, every prisoner\, every infirm person is “the child” whom \nJoseph continues to protect. From St Joseph\, we must learn to love the Church \nand the poor. \nAs a carpenter who earned an honest living to provide for his family\, St \nJoseph also teaches us the value\, the dignity and the joy of what it means to eat \nbread that is the fruit of one’s own labor. This aspect of Joseph’s character \nprovides the opportunity to appeal in favor of work… There is a renewed need to \nappreciate the importance of dignified work\, of which St Joseph is an exemplary \npatron. Work is a means of participating in the work of salvation\, an \nopportunity to hasten the coming of the Kingdom\, to develop our talents and \nabilities\, and to put them at the service of society and fraternal communion. \nThose who work are cooperating with God Himself\, and in some way become \ncreators of the world around us.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-joseph-the-worker-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20250427T124118Z
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UID:13373-1746144000-1746230399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Athanasius
DESCRIPTION:HE HIGHLY \nEXALTED HIM \nBy St Athanasius \n◊◊◊ \nSince…the Word\, being the Image of the Father and immortal\, took the \nform of a servant\, and as man underwent for us death in His flesh\, that thereby \nHe might offer Himself for us through death to the Father; therefore also\, as \nman\, He is said because of us and for us to be highly exalted\, that as by His death \nwe all died in Christ\, so again in the Christ Himself we might be highly exalted\, \nbeing raised from the dead\, and ascending into heaven\, “where the forerunner \nis for us entered\, not into the figures of the true\, but into heaven itself\, now to \nappear in the presence of God for us.” \nBut if now for us the Christ is entered into heaven itself\, though He was \neven before and always Lord of the heavens\, for us therefore is that present \nexaltation also written. And as He Himself\, who sanctifies all\, says also that He \nsanctifies Himself to the Father for our sakes\, not that the Word may become \nholy\, but that He Himself may in Himself sanctify all of us\, in like manner we \nmust take the present phrase\, “He highly exalted Him“\, not that He Himself \nshould be exalted\, for He is the highest\, but that He may become righteousness \nfor us; and we may be exalted in Him\, and that we may enter the gates of heaven\, \nwhich He has also opened for us\, the forerunners saying\, “Lift up your heads\, O \ngates\, and be lift up everlasting doors\, and the King of Glory shall come in.“ \nFor here also not on Him were shut the gates\, who is Lord and Maker of all\, but \nbecause of us is this too written\, to whom the door of paradise was shut. And \ntherefore in a human relation\, because of the flesh which He bore\, it is said of \nHim\, “Lift up\, O gates” “and the King of Glory shall come in”\, as if humanity \nwere entering; but in a divine relation on the other hand it is said of Him\, since \nthe “Word was God“\, that He is the “Lord” and the “King of Glory”. For as \nChrist died and was exalted as man\, so\, as man\, is He said to take what\, as God \nHe ever had\, that even this so high a grant of grace might reach to us.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-athanasius-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
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UID:13375-1746230400-1746316799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - SS Philip & James
DESCRIPTION:THE APOSTOLIC WITNESS \nBy Jean Frisque \n◊◊◊ \nThey were still talking about all this when he himself stood among them \nand said to them\, “Peace be with you!” \nThe preeminent witnesses to the resurrection of Christ were the apostles. \nFrom the time of Jesus’ baptism to his death\, they accompanied him in his \npublic ministry. His death on the cross at the first threw them into a panic\, but \nsoon afterwards it clarified everything for them\, once it had been placed in its \nScriptural context\, through the aid of the resurrected Christ himself. \nBut was the testimony of the apostles limited to this single well-founded \nassertion: He whom you crucified has risen from the dead through the power of \nGod? In reality\, there was much more: the apostles did not only offer an \neyewitness account of an event but the testimony of their faith. Only their faith \nenabled them to discover why the death on the cross was the key-event of \nsalvation-history and in what way it led to the life of the resurrection. And theirs \nwas not simply any faith\, but faith in the paschal experience itself\, the faith \nwhich had perceived that in Jesus Christ all people were called to share in the \ndivine filiation and to contribute on their own behalf to the construction of the \nKingdom. \nNor was this all. The witness which the apostles rendered to the \nresurrection of Christ was above all an authorized witness. The apostles had \nreceived from the resurrected Christ himself their power to testify validly to \nhim. They had received the Holy Spirit\, the Spirit of the resurrected Christ. Thus \nthe very life of the resurrected Christ was given to the apostolic group\, and the \nChurch which they would construct in his name would be animated by this same \nlife. The Church was to be the temple of the Holy Spirit\, and the life which \ncirculated in her would testify until the end of time to the resurrection of her \nHead! \nThus we can see why the apostolic witness rendered to the resurrected \nChrist was inseparable from the life which animated the first Christian \ncommunity. This witness was necessarily communal. The preaching in which \nthis witness took shape was absolutely inseparable from the grace of \ncommunion given to the primitive community and its efforts to be entirely \nfaithful to the law of universal charity. \nToday’s Christians are not wrong\, therefore\, when they insist upon the \nimportance of the testimony of their life. But the life to which they must witness \nin order to testify to the resurrected Christ is the life of Christ himself. This life is \ndisplayed here on earth by the way of total obedience unto death for the love of \nall people\, for such an obedience leads us constantly from death to life. Such a \nsign can only be displayed by the Church herself.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-ss-philip-james-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250504
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DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250503T232237Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250503T232237Z
UID:13383-1746316800-1746403199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n3rd Week of Easter\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nMay 4 – 10\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n4\nMon\n5\nTue\n6\nWed\n7\nThu\n8\nFri\n9\nSat\n10\n\n\nOffice\n3rd Sunday of Easter\nEaster Weekday\nEaster Weekday\nEaster Weekday\nBl Christian de Cherge\nEaster Weekday\nEaster Weekday\n\n\nVigils\nRev 6:1-17\nRev 7:1-17\nRev 8:1-13\nRev 9:1-12\nRev 9:13-21\nRev 10:1-11\nRev 11:1-19\n\n\nLauds\nEph 3:7-13\nEph 3:14-21\nEph 4:1-6\nEph 4:17-24\nEph 4:25-32\nEph 5:1-5\nEph 5:6-14\n\n\nMass\n48\n273\n274\n275\n276\n277\n278\n\n\n1st\nActs 5:27-32\, 40b-41\nActs 6:8-15\nActs 7:51-8:1a\nActs 8:1b-8\nActs 8:26-40\nActs 9:1-20\nActs 9:31-42\n\n\n2nd\nRev 5:11-14\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 21:1-19\nJohn 6:22-29\nJohn 6:30-35\nJohn 6:35-40\nJohn 6:44-51\nJohn 6:52-59\nJohn 6:60-69\n\n\nVespers\nActs 9:1-9\nActs 9:10-19a\nActs 9:19b-22\nActs 9:23-31\nActs 10:1-8\nActs 10:9-16\nActs 10:17-28
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-114/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250503T232424Z
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UID:13385-1746316800-1746403199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 3rd Sunday of Easter
DESCRIPTION:LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER \nFrom a commentary by St Augustine \n◊◊◊ \nThe Lord appeared once again to his disciples after his resurrection\, and \nquestioning Peter\, who from fear had thrice denied him\, extracted from him a \nthreefold declaration of love. Christ had been raised to life in the flesh\, and Peter \nto life in the spirit\, for when Christ died as a result of the torments he endured\, \nPeter was also dead as a result of denying his master. Christ the Lord was raised \nfrom the dead; Christ the Lord raised up Peter through Peter’s love for him. And \nhaving obtained from him the assurance of that love\, he entrusted his sheep to \nPeter’s care. \nWe may wonder what advantage there could be for Christ in Peter’s love \nfor him. If Christ loves you\, you profit\, not Christ; and if you love him\, again the \nadvantage is yours\, not his. But wishing to show us how we should demonstrate \nour love for him\, Christ the Lord made it plain that it is by our concern for his \nsheep. Do you love me?\, he asked. I do love you. Then feed my sheep. Once\, \ntwice\, and a third time the same dialogue was repeated. To the Lord’s one and \nonly question\, Peter had no other answer than I do love you. And each time the \nLord gave Peter the same command: Feed my sheep. Let us love one another \nthen\, and by doing so we shall be loving Christ. \nChrist\, the eternal God\, was born in time as man. A true member of the \nhuman race\, he appeared as one of us; but as God in human form he performed \nmany wonderful signs. As a human being\, he suffered much from other human \nbeings; but as God in human form he rose from the dead. For forty days he lived \non earth as one of us; then\, before the eyes of his disciples\, he ascended to \nheaven\, where\, as God in human form\, he is now seated at the right hand of the \nFather. We believe all these things\, though we have never seen them; we are \ncommanded to love Christ the Lord\, whom we have never seen. And we all cry \nout and say that we love Christ. \nBut listen to John’s words: If you do not love the brother or sister that \nyou can see\, how can you love the God you cannot see? It is by loving the sheep \nthat you show your love for the shepherd\, for the sheep are the members of the \nshepherd. Indeed\, it was to make the sheep members of his own body that the \nLord became one of them himself\, that he allowed himself to be led like a lamb \nto the slaughter\, and that he allowed the baptist to point him out and say: \nBehold the Lamb of God\, who takes away the sins of the world. Surely a \ncrushing burden for a lamb! But that lamb possessed tremendous strength. Do \nyou wish to know how much strength was in this lamb? Because the lamb was \ncrucified\, the lion was overcome. If he could vanquish the devil by his own \ndeath\, think with what power he is able to rule the world! May nothing\, then\, \never be dearer to us than Christ the Lord; let us love him with all our hearts.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-3rd-sunday-of-easter/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250503T232527Z
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UID:13387-1746403200-1746489599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE LIFE THAT CONQUERS \nFrom “The Eternal Year” by Fr Karl Rahner \n◊◊◊ \nBecause [Jesus] did not begin to heal\, to save\, and to transfigure the world \nby transfiguring the symptoms on the surface\, but began rather at the \ninnermost root\, we suppose that nothing has happened to the essence beneath \nthis superficial area. Because the waters of grief and guilt still flow on the \nsurface where we stand\, we fancy that their source in the depths is not yet dried \nup. Because evil still carves new marks in the face of the earth\, we conclude that \nin the deepest heart of reality love is dead. But these are only appearances\, \nwhich we take for the reality of life. \nChrist is risen because in death he conquered\, and redeemed forever\, the \ninnermost center of all earthly existence. And\, having risen\, he has kept this \ninnermost center in his control\, and he continues to preserve it. If we \nacknowledge that he has gone away to God’s heaven\, this is only another way of \nsaying that he withdraws from us for a while the tangibility of his transfigured \nhumanity. But this is only another way of saying that there is no longer any \nabyss between God and the world. \nChrist is already in the midst of the poor things of this earth… He is in the \nineffable yearning of all creatures who\, without knowing it\, yearn for a share in \nthe transfiguration of his body. He is in the history of the earth\, whose blind \ncourse\, with all its victories and all its crashing defeats\, steers with uncanny \nprecision towards the day when his splendor\, transforming everything\, will \nerupt out of the earth’s own depths. He is in all the tears as hidden joy\, and in \nevery death as the life that conquers by seeming to die. He is the heart of this \nearthly world and the mysterious seal of its eternal validity.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-304/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250503T232715Z
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UID:13389-1746489600-1746575999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE REDEMPTION \nOF OUR BODIES \nFrom a sermon by Fr Ronald Knox \n◊◊◊ \nI am content to think of my present body as merely the inadequate symbol \nof that body which will be mine in eternity. A symbol\, yes; but we must remind \nourselves again\, it isn’t merely a kind of book token\, entitling me to the \npossession of a body in eternity; it is rather a kind of cloak-room ticket\, entitling \nme to the possession of my body in eternity. Our Lord’s Resurrection meant an \nempty tomb; our Lord’s Ascension meant\, presumably\, the disappearance from \nearth of a certain quantum of matter which had previously been part of earth. If \nit is going to be possible to establish identity between that body of yours which \nwill lie in the cemetery\, and that body of yours which will\, we hope\, attain the \nenjoyment of heaven\, aren’t we going to land ourselves in rather difficult \nphysical speculations to account for it? \nWhat is certain is that the thing\, whatever it is\, which expresses itself here \nand now in terms of a mass of matter about six feet high\, will persist\, although it \nmay be expressed in quite different terms\, in that order of creation\, whatever it \nbe\, which will succeed when the material creation itself has passed away. \nThe practical importance of that truth for us is\, I take it\, that as Christians \nwe are bound to think of our bodies as part of ourselves\, as included not only in \nthe scheme of our creation but in the scheme of our redemption\, as having…a \nsupernatural importance\, and as demanding reverence in our treatment of \nthem. We look forward\, as St Paul says\, to the redemption of our bodies; they \nare not encumbrances which we drag about with us\, they are first-fruits of \neternity\, entrusted to our keeping… \nIf you lean towards Eastern spiritualism\, you will find yourself talking\, \nlike the man in that poem of Lyall’s\, about your body as if it were something that \ndidn’t matter; it “is a garment no more fitting\, is a tent that I am quitting\, is a \nsnare\, from which at last\, like a hawk\, my soul hath passed“. If you lean \ntowards Western materialism\, you will find yourself talking about your body as \nif it were the only thing that mattered\, like that poem of Housman’s\, “The \nImmortal Part“\, which ends up: “And leave with endless night alone the \nsteadfast and enduring bone“. If you avoid both those excesses\, you will find \nyourself talking like Thomas a’ Kempis: \nAh\, frail body\, earth forsaking\, \nIn what glory wilt thou rise\, \nPassing fair in thy remaking\, \nStrong and whole and swift and wise\, \nFree\, and joy in freedom taking\, \nFramed for life that never dies! \nUp\, and stir thee\, onward spur thee; \nWhat\, though toil be hard to bear\, \nIf God’s grace shall count thee worthy \nThose unguessed rewards to share? \nBrief the pains that shall prefer thee \nTo eternal glory there.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-305/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20250503T232821Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250503T232821Z
UID:13391-1746576000-1746662399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:CHRIST IS THE DOOR \nFrom “Symbols of Christ” by Dom Damasus Winzen \n◊◊◊ \nTo pass through a door is an initiation and a consecration\, because it \nmeans to leave behind the past and to enter a new life. To the Romans of old\, the \nvictorious army\, by marching through the arch of triumph\, was cleansed of past \noffenses and consecrated to a new era of peace. For the people of the Old \nTestament\, the temple gate of Jerusalem took the place of the arch of triumph. \nNo armies marched through it\, but the festive throngs of the pilgrims \napproached it in solemn procession on the Feast of the Tabernacles. Their \nsummons rang out to the warders: “This is the gate of the Lord. The righteous \nshall enter into it!” \nThe real door to the Messianic era\, however\, is not made of stone. It is the \nliving heart of the Saviour. The very shape of the door indicates salvation \nthrough Christ\, because its two side-posts\, holding up the lintel\, form a gallows- \nshaped cross. Every wall effects a separation between those within\, whom it \nprotects\, and those without\, whom it excludes. Walls\, therefore\, are needed \nonly in a world where enmity exists between those who share in the blessedness \nof a common life and those who are strangers and exiles. The door\, however\, \npierces the wall\, and unites the two groups – in the power of the cross. \nAfter the earth had been cursed\, and enmity placed between the serpent \nand the woman\, Paradise was walled off from the rest of the world. But the gate \nremained\, guarded by the cherub with the flaming sword – waiting for the time \nof man’s re-entrance. God also hid his Holy Presence behind the walls of the \ntemple\, but a door remained\, through which\, once a year\, the high priest was \nallowed to enter the Holy of Holies. \nWhen Christ extended his hands on the Cross he became the Door \nthrough which the wall of separation between God and ourselves was opened. \nThe cherub at the gate of Paradise put away his sword when God’s Eternal Love\, \nhanging on the Cross\, said to the good thief: “This day you shall be with me in \nParadise!” When Christ gave up the spirit\, the curtain of the Holy of Holies was \nrent\, to indicate that we can “enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus.” \nChrist is the Door through which we have access to the Father\, because he is the \nsacrificial victim which reconciles us in one body to God\, so that we are citizens \nwith the saints and members of God’s household. \nThis Door was foreshadowed in the door of Noah’s ark\, which\, \nsignificantly enough\, “was set in the side thereof”; the Door was opened when \nthe lance of the soldier pierced the side of Jesus. We enter through this Door by \nbeing baptized into the Death and Resurrection of Christ\, through which we are \ncleansed from past offenses and consecrated as children of the Heavenly Father.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-306/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250508
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250509
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250503T233026Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250503T233026Z
UID:13393-1746662400-1746748799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Br Christian de Cherge
DESCRIPTION:CHRISTIAN DE CHERGÉ \nMARTYR\, MONK\, AND MYSTIC \nBy Dom Bernardo Olivera \n◊◊◊ \nIn its early stages\, monastic life was interpreted in various ways. Not a few \nunderstood monasticism as an authentic martyrdom. The martyr\, the monk and \nthe mystic are people who have oriented their lives toward mystery and entered \ndeeply therein. They long for one thing only: to enter into communion with their \nLord in death in order to be joined with him in the Resurrection. \nChristian de Chergé was born on January 18\, 1937 at Colmar into a \ndistinguished family of eight children. His father was a military man\, as would \nbe his older brother later on. During his childhood he spent three years in \nAlgeria during the Second World War. From the time of his childhood he always \nremained impressed by the Muslim’s way of approaching God. \nOn October 6\, 1956\, at the age of nineteen he entered the seminary of the \nCarmelites in Paris. His studies were interrupted in 1959 when he had to report \nfor military service. Set on becoming an officer\, he took the required courses \nand in July of the following year he was made second lieutenant. That same \nmonth\, at the time of the war of independence\, he arrived in Algeria at the age of \ntwenty-three. \nAn event occurred during this time that left its mark on him for the rest of \nhis life. He had made friends with an Algerian who worked as a warden under \nthe French authorities\, a position that made him susceptible to the violence of \nthe National Liberation Army. Mohamed tried to be faithful at one and the same \ntime to his Christian friend\, to his Islamic faith\, and to his own people. It so \nhappened one day that they were involved in a scuffle in the street. Mohamed10 \nprotected his friend and tried to pacify his aggressors. The following day\, he was \nfound dead. This painful episode was never to be forgotten. Christian came back \nto it in later years\, writing: “I know at least one beloved brother\, a convinced \nMuslim\, who gave his life for love of another\, in a concrete way\, by spilling his \nown blood. Indeed\, since then\, in my hope for communion of all the elect in \nChrist\, I can fix my eyes on this friend who lived\, even in his death\, the one \ncommandment.” \nFor Christian de Chergé all of this was a foundational experience and the \nseed of a vocation. In the blood of his friend\, assassinated for not having wanted \nto bargain with hatred\, Christian said in 1982: “I knew my calling to follow \nChrist would end up living itself out sooner or later in the same country where \nI had been given the pledge of the greater love\, ‘shed for you and for many’”. \nOn March 21\, 1964\, he was ordained a priest and shortly thereafter was sent to \nAlgeria and to the monastic life. On September 14\, 1976\, he made his perpetual \nvows. In it he expressed his desire to “live in Prayer in the service of the Church \nof Algeria\, listening to the Muslim soul\, God willing\, until the final gift of my \ndeath.” \nChristian was elected Titular Prior of Atlas monastery in 1984. He was \nalready deeply involved in the interreligious dialogue. On May 21\, 1996\, united \nwith his six brothers of the community\, he sealed with his blood the witness of \nhis life.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-br-christian-de-cherge/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250508
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250509
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250503T233212Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250503T233212Z
UID:13395-1746662400-1746748799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:CHRISTIAN DE CHERGÉ \nMARTYR\, MONK\, AND MYSTIC \nBy Dom Bernardo Olivera \n◊◊◊ \nIn its early stages\, monastic life was interpreted in various ways. Not a few \nunderstood monasticism as an authentic martyrdom. The martyr\, the monk and \nthe mystic are people who have oriented their lives toward mystery and entered \ndeeply therein. They long for one thing only: to enter into communion with their \nLord in death in order to be joined with him in the Resurrection. \nChristian de Chergé was born on January 18\, 1937 at Colmar into a \ndistinguished family of eight children. His father was a military man\, as would \nbe his older brother later on. During his childhood he spent three years in \nAlgeria during the Second World War. From the time of his childhood he always \nremained impressed by the Muslim’s way of approaching God. \nOn October 6\, 1956\, at the age of nineteen he entered the seminary of the \nCarmelites in Paris. His studies were interrupted in 1959 when he had to report \nfor military service. Set on becoming an officer\, he took the required courses \nand in July of the following year he was made second lieutenant. That same \nmonth\, at the time of the war of independence\, he arrived in Algeria at the age of \ntwenty-three. \nAn event occurred during this time that left its mark on him for the rest of \nhis life. He had made friends with an Algerian who worked as a warden under \nthe French authorities\, a position that made him susceptible to the violence of \nthe National Liberation Army. Mohamed tried to be faithful at one and the same \ntime to his Christian friend\, to his Islamic faith\, and to his own people. It so \nhappened one day that they were involved in a scuffle in the street. Mohamed10 \nprotected his friend and tried to pacify his aggressors. The following day\, he was \nfound dead. This painful episode was never to be forgotten. Christian came back \nto it in later years\, writing: “I know at least one beloved brother\, a convinced \nMuslim\, who gave his life for love of another\, in a concrete way\, by spilling his \nown blood. Indeed\, since then\, in my hope for communion of all the elect in \nChrist\, I can fix my eyes on this friend who lived\, even in his death\, the one \ncommandment.” \nFor Christian de Chergé all of this was a foundational experience and the \nseed of a vocation. In the blood of his friend\, assassinated for not having wanted \nto bargain with hatred\, Christian said in 1982: “I knew my calling to follow \nChrist would end up living itself out sooner or later in the same country where \nI had been given the pledge of the greater love\, ‘shed for you and for many’”. \nOn March 21\, 1964\, he was ordained a priest and shortly thereafter was sent to \nAlgeria and to the monastic life. On September 14\, 1976\, he made his perpetual \nvows. In it he expressed his desire to “live in Prayer in the service of the Church \nof Algeria\, listening to the Muslim soul\, God willing\, until the final gift of my \ndeath.” \nChristian was elected Titular Prior of Atlas monastery in 1984. He was \nalready deeply involved in the interreligious dialogue. On May 21\, 1996\, united \nwith his six brothers of the community\, he sealed with his blood the witness of \nhis life.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-307/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250509
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250510
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250503T233325Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250503T233325Z
UID:13397-1746748800-1746835199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE SECRET OF THE LORD \nFrom a sermon by St John Henry Newman \n◊◊◊ \nOur Lord expressly promises all Christians a certain gracious \nmanifestation of himself\, which it is natural\, at first sight\, to suppose a sensible \none: and many persons understand it to be such\, as if it were not more blessed to \nbelieve than to see. Our Lord says; “He that has my commandments and keeps \nthem\, he it is that loves me; and he that loves me\, shall be loved of my Father\, \nand I will love him and will manifest myself to him.” When Jude asked him\, \n“Lord\, how is it that you will manifest yourself unto us\, and not unto the \nworld?” Our Lord answered\, “If one loves me\, he will keep my words; and my \nFather will love him\, and we will come unto him\, and make our abode with \nhim.” In accordance with this promise\, St Paul says\, “The Spirit itself bears \nwitness with our spirit\, that we are the children of God”; and St John\, “He that \nbelieves in the Son of God has the witness in himself.” \nNow\, that this great gift\, whatever it be\, is of a nature to impart \nillumination\, sanctity\, and peace\, to the soul to which it comes\, far from \ndisputing\, I would earnestly maintain. And\, in this indirect way\, doubtless\, it is \nin a certain sense apprehended and perceived; perceived in its effects\, with a \nconsciousness that those effects cannot come of themselves\, but imply a gift \nfrom which they come\, and a presence of which they are\, as it were\, the shadow\, \na voice of which they are the echo. \nBut there are persons who desire the inward manifestation of Christ to be \nmuch more sensible than this. They will not be contented without some sensible \nsign and direct evidence that God loves them; some assurance\, in which faith \nhas no part\, that God has chosen them; and which may answer to their \nanticipations of what Scripture calls “the secret of the Lord\,” and “the hidden \nmanna” which Christ invites us to partake. Some\, for instance\, hold that their \nconscience would have no peace\, unless they recollected the time when they \nwere converted from darkness to light\, from a state of wrath to the kingdom of \nGod. \nOthers consider that\, in order to possess the seal of election\, they must be \nable to discern in themselves certain feelings or frames of mind\, a renunciation \nof their own merit\, and an apprehension of gospel salvation; as if it were not \nenough to renounce ourselves and follow Christ\, without the lively \nconsciousness that we are doing so; and that in this lies “the secret of the Lord.” \nOthers go further; and think that without a distinct inward assurance of his \nsalvation\, one is not in a saving state. \nThis is what men and women often conceive; not considering that \nwhatever be the manifestation promised to Christians by our Lord\, it is not \nlikely to be more sensible and more intelligible than the great sign of his own \nResurrection. Yet even that\, like the miracle wrought upon Jonah\, was in secret\, \nand they who believed without seeing it were more blessed than those who saw.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-308/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250510
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250511
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250503T233452Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250503T233452Z
UID:13399-1746835200-1746921599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:NOT AS THE WORLD GIVES PEACE \nFrom a homily by St Oscar Romero \n◊◊◊ \nJustice is not enough; love also is necessary… We have said that the power \nof the Christian is love\, and we repeat it: the power of the church is love. \nLove enables us to feel that we are sisters and brothers to one and all… As \nlong as we do not reach that strength of love\, we cannot be true peacemakers. \nThose whose hearts are filled with resentment\, violence\, and hatred cannot be \nforgers of peace. We have to know how to love like Jesus\, who loved even those \nwho crucified him: “Father\, forgive them\, they know not what they do… If they \nknew you\, they would love you… Give them love also\, Lord.” How much good \nthe powerful would do if they truly loved and were not selfish and envious! How \nbeautiful the world would be… if we all were to expand this power of love! \nHere the Second Vatican Council was careful to define two kinds of peace\, \nand we should pay close attention to this. One kind of peace is that which Christ \nreserved for his closest friends\, those who understood the redemption and the \nneed to root out sin from themselves. As long as there is sin in the heart\, there \ncan be no truly divine peace\, such as the peace Christ achieved when he \nreconciled us with the Father by dying on the cross and bearing the sins of all of \nus in his body. For us Christians and Catholics\, this is the culmination of peace: \npeace in the grace of God\, the peace of those who have left sin and controlled \ntheir passions\, the peace of holy souls. This is the peace that Christ spoke of: “I \nleave you peace; my peace I give to you\, not as the world gives peace.” \nRomero Vol. 1 (of 6). Trans. Joseph Owens\, SJ. Miami: Convivium Press\, 2015. 181-184.14 \nHere we distinguish another kind of peace\, the peace that the church \nshares with the world\, the peace that non-Christians can also possess\, the peace \nof people of good will that we sing about in the Gloria of the Mass… Here is \nmeant this other peace\, the peace that proceeds from natural love. It is the \npeace of those who\, even though they do not know God\, are able to discover the \nintense power of being in solidarity with those who suffer. It is the peace that \nenables people to bring a little comfort to the grief-stricken and to denounce \ninjustices… This is the peace that all people can possess… \nThe problem of peace is immense\, and it needs many peacemakers: \npriests\, men and women religious\, laity… the call goes out to all… Let each one \nof us\, according to our means\, nurture this vocation to become instruments of \npeace… Those whose hearts feel the need for God\, those who find the joy of life \nin the cross and sacrifice\, those who have learned the true secret of peace in the \ncrucified One. This secret consists of loving God to the extreme of letting \noneself be killed for him and of loving one’s neighbors to the point of being \ncrucified for them. This is the love of the modern redeemers\, the love of Christ\, \nthis love that endures forever. Let us promise this to the Lord while we proceed \nto proclaim our faith in him.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-309/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20250510T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20250510T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250506T004617Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250506T004617Z
UID:13409-1746867600-1746878400@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:LCG Chicago May Meeting Zoom 5/10/25 9 am CDT
DESCRIPTION:All are invited: \nJoin Zoom Meeting \nhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/86028356465 \nMeeting ID: 860 2835 6465 \nOne tap mobile \n+13126266799\,\,86028356465# US (Chicago) \n+13092053325\,\,86028356465# US \n  \n9:00 Gather for Opening prayer. \nWe also pray for all our lay Cistercian sisters and brothers in the US and around the world.  Specially we pray for our Gethsemani monks.  Finally\, we pray this month specially for: \nFr. Joachim Johnson \nBr. Christopher Lucas \nBr. Roger Kaler \n 9:10 Lectio. Our lectio piece will be led by Tom Kosnik. \n 9:50 Reading.  Our reading this month is completion (from page 50 to end) of The Impact of God by Fr. Iain Matthew. Does the author help/sense the concept of “night” by St. John of the Cross? \n10:45 Housekeeping.   Volunteer to lead lectio next month?  Selection of our next book.  Chicago Report on LCG Advisory Council activity.  Plans for 2025 international meeting in Avila. \n11:00 Update.   Share how the Holy Spirt has entered our lives as lay Cistercians since our last meeting. \n11:45 Closing worship and prayer.  We will pray the liturgical hour of None as with our Gethsemani monks (identical Psalms as done today at Gethsemani Abbey.) \nOur next meeting: June 14\, 2025.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/lcg-chicago-may-meeting-zoom-5-10-25-9-am-cdt/
CATEGORIES:LCG Local Community Meetings,LCG open events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250511
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250512
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250511T024153Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250511T024153Z
UID:13413-1746921600-1747007999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema\, 4th Easter
DESCRIPTION:  \n\n\n\nBiblical Readings for Office and Mass\n4th Week of Easter\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nMay 11 – 17\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n11\nMon\n12\nTue\n13\nWed\n14\nThu\n15\nFri\n16\nSat\n17\n\n\nOffice\n4th Sunday of Easter\nEaster Weekday\nEaster Weekday\nSt Mathias\nSt Pachomius\nEaster Weekday\nEaster Weekday\n\n\nVigils\nRev 12:1-18\nRev 13:1-18\nRev 14:1-13\nPhil 3:13-4:1\nRev 15:5-16:21\nRev 17:1-18\nRev 18:1-20\n\n\nLauds\nEph 5:15-20\nEph 6:10-17\nCol 1:1-8\n1 Jn 2:18-25\nCol 1:15-23\nCol 1:24-29\nCol 2:1-8\n\n\nMass\n51\n279\n280\n564\n282\n283\n284\n\n\n1st\nActs 13:14\, 43-52\nActs 11:1-18\nActs 11:19-26\nActs 1:15-17\, 20-26\nActs 13:13-25\nActs 13:26-33\nActs 13:44-52\n\n\n2nd\nRev 7:9\, 14b-17\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 10:27-30\nJn 10:1-10\nJohn 10:22-30\nJohn 15:9-17\nJohn 13:16-20\nJohn 14:1-6\nJohn 14:7-14\n\n\nVespers\nActs 10:34-43\nActs 10:44-49\nActs 12:1-5\n1 Cor 4:1-7\nActs 13:6-12\nActs 14:1-7\nActs 16:16-24\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-4th-easter/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250511
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250512
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250511T024921Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250511T024921Z
UID:13416-1746921600-1747007999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:4th Sunday of Easter
DESCRIPTION:PERMANENT MYSTICAL KINSHIP\nFrom a commentary by St Cyril of Alexandria 1\n◊◊◊\nThe mark of Christ’s sheep is their willingness to hear and obey\, just as the sign of those who are not his is their disobedience. We take the word “hear” to imply obedience to what has been said. People who hear God are known by him. No one is entirely unknown by God\, but to be known in this way is to become his kin. Thus\, when Christ says\, “I know mine. I will receive them\, and give them permanent mystical kinship with myself.” \nIt might be said that inasmuch as he has become man\, he has made all human beings his kin\, since all are members of the same race; we are all united to Christ in a mystical relationship because of his incarnation. Yet those who do not preserve the likeness of his holiness are alienated from him. “My sheep follow me”\, says Christ. By a certain God given grace\, believers follow in the footsteps of Christ. No longer subject to the shadows of the law\, they obey the commands of Christ\, and guided by his words rise through grace to their own dignity\, for they are called children of God. When Christ ascends into heaven\, they also follow him. \nChrist promises his followers as a recompense and reward eternal life\, exemption from death and corruption\, and from the torments the judge inflicts upon transgressors. By giving life Christ shows that by nature he is life. He does not receive it from another\, but supplies it from his own resources. And by eternal life we understand not only length of days which all\, both good and bad\, shall possess after the resurrection\, but also the passing of those days in peace and joy. \nWe may also see in the word “life” a reference to the Eucharist. By means of which Christ implants in believers his own life through their sharing in his flesh\, according to the text: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life”. \n1\nJourney with the Fathers = Year C – New City Press – 1984 – pg 54.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/4th-sunday-of-easter/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250512
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250513
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250511T025501Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250511T025501Z
UID:13418-1747008000-1747094399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils: Easter Weekday
DESCRIPTION:GOD HAS CONQUERED DEATH\nFrom “The Eternal Year” by Fr Karl Rahner 2\n◊◊◊\nTo do justice to the mystery of Easter joy with the stale words of human speech is rather difficult. This is so not only because every mystery of the Gospel penetrates only with difficulty into the narrow confines of human life – thereby making it even harder for our words to grasp and contain and express these mysteries – but because the Easter message is the most human tidings of Christianity. That is why we find it the most difficult message to understand. For what is most true\, most obvious\, and most easy\, is the most difficult to be\, to do\, and to believe. That is to say\, we modern people base our life on the unexpressed\, and therefore all the more self-evident\, prejudice that anything “religious” is merely an affair of the most interior heart and of the loftiest spirit – something that we must bring about by ourselves\, something\, therefore\, that involves the difficulties and unreality of the heart’s thoughts and moods. \nBut Easter tells us that God has done something. God himself. And his action has not merely gently touched the heart of one here and there\, so that they tremble slightly from an ineffable and nameless someone. God has raised his Son from the dead. God has quickened the flesh. God has conquered death. He has done this – he has conquered – not merely in the realm of inwardness\, in the realm of thought\, but in the realm where we\, the glory of the human mind notwithstanding\, are most really ourselves: in the actuality of this world\, far from all “mere” thoughts and “mere” sentiments. He has conquered in the realm where we experience practically what we are in essence: children of the earth\, who die. \n2\nThe Eternal Year\, Karl Rahner\, Baltimore: Helicon Press 1964. pp.87f
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-easter-weekday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250513
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250514
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250511T030008Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250511T030008Z
UID:13420-1747094400-1747180799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils: Easter Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE CRUCIAL CHALLENGE\nOF OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH\nBy Thomas Merton 3\n◊◊◊\nThe season of Lent summoned us to change our hearts\, to effect in ourselves the Christian metanoia…awakening in us perhaps some sense of that existential “dread” of the creature whose freedom suspends him over an abyss which may be an infinite meaninglessness\, and unbounded despair… \nBut now the power of Easter has burst upon us with the resurrection of Christ. Now we find in ourselves a strength which is not our own\, and which is freely given to us whenever we need it\, raising us above the Law\, giving us a new law which is hidden in Christ: the law of his merciful love for us. Now we no longer strive to be good because we have to\, because it is a duty\, but because our joy is to please him who has given all his love to us! Now our life is full of meaning. \nEaster is the hour of our own deliverance – from what? Precisely from Lent and from its hard Law which accuses and judges our infirmity. We are no longer under the Law. We are delivered from the harsh judgment! Here is all the greatness and all the unimaginable splendor of the Easter mystery. Here is the “grace” of Easter which we fail to lay hands on because we are afraid to understand its full meaning. To understand Easter and live it\, we must renounce our dread of newness and of freedom! \nDeath exercises a twofold power in our lives: it holds us by sin\, and it holds us by the Law. To die to death and live a new life in Christ we must die not only to sin but also to the Law.\nEvery Christian knows that he must die to sin. But the great truth that St Paul exhausted himself to preach in season and out is a truth that we Christians have barely grasped\, a truth that has got away from us\, that constantly eludes us and has continued to do so for twenty centuries. We cannot get it into our heads what it means to be no longer slaves of the Law. And the reason is that we do not have the courage to face this truth which contains in itself the crucial challenge of our Christian faith\, the great reality that makes Christianity different from every other religion. \n3\nNew York: Farrar\, Straus & Giroux\, 1965\, pp. 145-146.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-easter-weekday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250514
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250515
DTSTAMP:20260403T135023
CREATED:20250511T030552Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250511T030552Z
UID:13422-1747180800-1747267199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils: St. Matthias
DESCRIPTION:OUR VERY GLORY\nIS OUR WARNING \nBy St John Henry Newman 4\n◊◊◊\n<The feast of St Matthias> is the only day which is to be celebrated with mingled feelings of joy and pain. It records the fall as well as the election of an Apostle. St Matthias was chosen in place of the traitor Judas. In the history of the latter we have the warning recorded in very deed\, which our Lord in the text gives us in word\, “Hold that fast which thou hast\, that no man take thy crown.” And doubtless many were the warnings such as this\, addressed by our Lord to the wretched man who in the end betrayed him. \nThe reflection which rises in the mind on a consideration of the election of St Matthias\, is this: how easily God may affect His purposes without us\, and put others in our place\, if we are disobedient to Him. It often happens that those who have long been in His favor grow secure and presuming. They think their salvation certain\, and their service necessary to Him who has graciously accepted it. Now\, this feeling of self-importance is repressed all through the Scriptures\, and especially by the events we commemorate today. \nWhat solemn overpowering thoughts must have crowded on St Matthias\, when he received the greetings of the eleven Apostles\, and took his seat among them as their brother! His very election was a witness against himself if he did not fulfill it. And such surely will ours be in our degree. We take the place of others who have gone before\, as Matthias did; we are “baptized for the dead\,” filling up the ranks of soldiers\, some of whom\, indeed\, have fought a good fight\, but many of whom in every age have made void their calling. Many are called\, few are chosen. The monuments of sin and unbelief are set up around us. The casting away of the Jews was the reconciling of the Gentiles. The fall of one nation is the conversion of another. The Church loses old branches and gains new. God works according to His own inscrutable pleasure… \nThus the Christian of every age is but the successor of the lost and of the dead. How long we of this country shall be put in trust with Gospel\, we know not; but while we have the privilege\, assuredly we do but stand in the place of Christians who have either utterly fallen away\, or are so corrupted as scarcely to let their light shine before others. We are at present witnesses of the Truth; and our very glory is our warning. By the superstitions\, the profanities\, the indifference\, the unbelief of the world called “Christian”\, we are called upon to be lowly-minded while we preach aloud\, and to tremble while we rejoice. Let us then\, as a Church and as individuals\, one and all\, look to Him who alone can keep us from falling. Let us with single heart look up to Christ our Saviour\, and put ourselves into His hands\, from whom all our strength and wisdom is derived. \n4\nParochial and Plain Sermons\, San Francisco: Ignatius\, 1987\, pp. 300-301\, 304-305.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-st-matthias/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20250511T031534Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250511T031534Z
UID:13424-1747267200-1747353599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils: St. Pachomius
DESCRIPTION:OUR RIGHTEOUS\nFATHER PACHOMIUS\nFrom “The Life of Pachomius” 5\n◊◊◊\nTheodore began to tell the brothers of the life of our father Pachomius from his childhood on and of all the labors he underwent from the beginning when he established the holy Koinonia. He told them of the temptations of demons and how he snatched away from them the souls which the Lord gave him and of the revelations which the Lord disclosed to him. And he told them everything he had heard from that saint’s mouth as well as those things he had seen with his own eyes. \nHe spoke to them as follows:\n‘Listen to me\, my brothers\, and understand well the things I am telling you. For the man whom we are exalting is truly the father of us all after God. God established a covenant with him to save a great many souls by means of him. And us also the Lord has saved through his holy prayers… Our righteous father Pachomius – is also one of the holy people of God and one who did his will always and everywhere. I am fearful that we may forget his labors and actually be unmindful of who it was who made this multitude one spirit and one body. It was accomplished by means of him and of our other holy fathers who aided him in the establishment of this holy institution. We believe that the blessing of our father will remain with us and with those who come after us before God forever. Now then\, let us not be negligent and forget his laws and his commandments\, which he gave us while he was still with us in the body.’ \n‘Pachomius pursued in its entirety the way of life of the prophets and the way of service in which\, according to the Gospel\, our Lord walked. He was without blame before all\, as you yourselves bear witness. You are also not unaware how he used to teach us frequently with tears\, as Paul said in the book of the Acts of those whom he was teaching. You know how he used to gather us together daily and speak to us about the holy commandments so that we might observe each of the commandments in the holy Scriptures of Christ\, and how he used first to put them into practice before giving them to us. \nIt is through our contact with such a righteous man that we have learned the will of God even in such details as the manner of stretching our hands upward to the Lord and how one should pray to God. It is he who taught it to us. Is it not right for us to bless him next after the Lord who created us? Indeed\, did God not say to Abraham\, who had done his will\, I will bless him who blesses you and I will curse him who curses you? Now then\, my brothers\, let us all say\, “Blessed be God and our righteous father Pachomius who through the labors of his prayers has become for us a guide to eternal life”‘. \n5\nPachomian Koinonia\, Vol One\, Trans.\, Armand Veilleux\, Kalamazoo\, 1980; pp 237-8.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-st-pachomius/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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