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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230211T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230211T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20230114T203958Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230205T222620Z
UID:9984-1676106000-1676116800@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Chicago Monthly Meeting 9 am CST
DESCRIPTION:Join Zoom Meeting \nhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/85220595622?pwd=enM3MGpFNkZKU2daMjRITmo0N0JUUT09 \nMeeting ID: 852 2059 5622 \nPasscode: 961490 \nwelcome: \n9:00 Gather for Opening prayer and lighting of the candles illuminating the Theotokos icon of Blessed Mother Mary and the baby Jesus. \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 these Gethsemani monks: \nFr. Michael Casagram \nBr. Giuseppe Nazionale \nBr. William Leone \n 9:10 Lectio. Our lectio piece will be led by . \n9:50 Reading.  Our reading this month continues Story of a Soul by Therese of Lisieux (Books 2 & 3). \n10:45 Housekeeping.   Volunteer to lead lectio next month?  Report on LCG Advisory Council activity; report of 1/28/23 IALCC Anglophone Zoom meeting; host October LCG retreat. Select reading for March. \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.) \nWe look forward to our continuing LCG Chicago journey at our next meeting: March 11\, 2023.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/chicago-monthly-meeting-9-am-cst/
CATEGORIES:LCG Local Community Meetings,LCG open events
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230211
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230212
DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20230204T134238Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230204T134238Z
UID:10059-1676073600-1676159999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Our Lady of Lourdes
DESCRIPTION:Of the Uncured\, None Despair\nA Reading on the Pilgrimage Experience at Lourdes \nOf the…sick and afflicted who make the pilgrimage to Lourdes every year\, only a small per cent are favored by a cure. The others leave the shrine in the same physical condition in which they arrived. Many of these unfortunate people have traveled great distances\, and their trips have caused them immense discomfort and\, in some cases\, intense physical pain. Frequently\, they have made a considerable financial sacrifice in order to visit the shrine. \n…Do they feel that the trip has been made in vain? Are they bitter and disillusioned? Do they feel that the Blessed Virgin has neglected them? These questions occurred to J.B. McAllister\, an American writer…as he saw the rows and rows of sick people in front of the grotto…At the desk of the Hospitalité\, he found a man who spoke English. To this man he put the questions that had been troubling him… “True\,” said the man\, “only a few are cured\, but many are helped. Of the uncured\, none despair…They go away filled with hope. They do not say ‘adieu’ but ‘au revoir.’” \n…Such a thing seemed incredible. The man repeated the words. “None despair!…A lady had come to Lourdes several summers without being cured. Last summer during Benediction\, the lady beside her was cured. That evening\, a friend complained that she should have been the favored one since she came oftener. ‘No\,’ she said\, ‘the lady beside me was worse than I. It was quite natural that she should be cured and not I!’ The words you usually hear are ‘God’s will be done.’” \nAs they were talking\, McAllister noticed that the man was wearing armpads and that two crutches leaned against the wall behind him…He ventured to ask the man’s story… M.H. Lemarchand\, for this was the man’s name… had been crippled from birth. He longed to go to Lourdes where he hoped he might be cured\, but he and his sister were orphans and could not afford to make the trip. The years flew by. World War I came along\, and the pilgrimage was out of the question. Finally in 1920\, he and his sister were able to go to Lourdes. The longing of a lifetime was fulfilled. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n“The first thing we did on arriving…was to go to the grotto. My first impression was very deep and made up of hope and sadness. Sadness at the sight of the sufferers we passed; sadness at having kept away so long. Of hope for my cure. During twenty-four years\, I had thought of Lourdes and of going there – and I was here… \n“I still prayed for my cure. But on the second day at Lourdes\, while I was sitting among the sick during Benediction\, I began to be ashamed of myself. On my right\, a blind woman sat rigid in her chair; on my left lay a consumptive. I looked around at all those sufferers\, and then up to the green mountains and higher to the sky. I could see and I could move about\, having the free use of my ears and tongue and arms. I had not known sickness or disease – and I was praying for my cure! I started praying for the blind woman and the consumptive. Since that moment\, I have felt that I ought to think of others and not myself.” \n…“Perhaps it sounds foolish\,” he said\, “to speak of the happiness I have found at Lourdes\, I who went to Lourdes to be cured and am still a cripple. But I have found contentment\, and my soul has been cured. And for more persons than anyone knows\, Lourdes has done the same thing.”…At Lourdes they gain a new peace. They become resigned to their afflictions and see them as crosses which God has asked them to bear. \n“Of the uncured\, none despair.” All go away filled with hope\, with a new feeling of strength. The trip to Lourdes is never made in vain \n\n\n7 Sharkey\, Don. After Bernadette: The Story of Modern Lourdes. Milwaukee\, The Bruce Publishing Company\, 1945. 150-155. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-our-lady-of-lourdes/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230210
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230211
DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20230204T134053Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230204T134053Z
UID:10057-1675987200-1676073599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Scholastica
DESCRIPTION:Scholastica’s Miracle\nfrom Saint Gregory the Great’s Dialogues \n…Will there ever be a holier man in this world than St. Paul? Yet he prayed three times to the Lord about the sting in his flesh and could not obtain his wish. In this connection I must tell you how the saintly Benedict once had a wish he was unable to fulfill. His sister Scholastica\, who had been consecrated to God in early childhood\, used to visit with him once a year. On these occasions he would go down to meet her in a house belonging to the monastery\, a short distance from the entrance. \nFor this particular visit he joined her there with a few of his disciples and they spent the whole day singing God’s praises and conversing about the spiritual life. When darkness was setting in\, they took their meal together and continued their conversation at table until it was quite late. Then the holy nun said to him\, ‘Please do not leave me tonight\, brother. Let us keep on talking about the joys of heaven till morning.’ ‘What are you saying\, sister?’ he replied. ‘You know I cannot stay away from the monastery.’ \nThe sky was so clear at the time that there was not a cloud in sight. At her brother’s refusal Scholastica folded her hands on the table and rested her head upon them in earnest prayer. When she looked up again\, there was a sudden burst of lightning and thunder\, accompanied by such a downpour that Benedict and his companions were unable to set a foot outside the door. By shedding a flood of tears while she prayed\, this holy nun had darkened the cloudless sky with a heavy rain. The storm began as soon as her prayer was over. In fact\, the two coincided so closely that the thunder was already resounding as she raised her head from the table. The very instant she ended her prayer the rain poured down. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nRealizing that he could not return to the monastery in this terrible storm\, Benedict complained bitterly. ‘God forgive you\, sister!’ he said. ‘What have you done?’ Scholastica simply answered\, ‘When I appealed to you\, you would not listen to me. So I turned to my God and He heard my prayer. Leave now if you can. Leave me here and go back to your monastery.’ This\, of course\, he could not do. He had no choice now but to stay\, in spite of his unwillingness. They spent the entire night together and both of them derived great profit from the holy thoughts they exchanged about the interior life. \nHere you have my reason for saying that this holy man was once unable to obtain what he desired. If we consider his point of view\, we can readily see that he wanted the sky to remain as clear as it was when he came down from the monastery. But this wish of his was thwarted by a miracle almighty God performed in answer to a woman’s prayer. We need not be surprised that in this instance she proved mightier than her brother; she had been looking forward so long to this visit. Do we not read in St. John that God is love? Surely it is no more than right that her influence was greater than his\, since hers was the greater love… \nThe next morning Scholastica returned to her convent and Benedict to his monastery. Three days later as he stood in his room looking up toward the sky\, he beheld his sister’s soul leaving her body and entering the court of heaven in the form of a dove. Overjoyed at her eternal glory\, he gave thanks to God in hymns of praise. Then\, after informing his brethren of her death\, he sent some of them to bring her body to the monastery and bury it in the tomb he had prepared for himself. The bodies of these two were now to share a common resting place\, just as in life their souls had always been one in God \n\n\n6 Saint Gregory the Great. Dialogues. Trans. Odo John Zimmerman\, O.S.B. New York: Fathers of the Church\, Inc.\, 1959. 102-104. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-scholastica/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230209
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230210
DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20230204T133758Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230204T133758Z
UID:10055-1675900800-1675987199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:Here and Now5\nFrom the Selected Writings of Servant of God Dorothy Day \nSometimes the only thing that keeps a woman going is the necessity of taking care of her young. She cannot sink into lethargy and despair because the young ones are dragging at her skirts\, clamoring for something – food\, clothing\, shelter\, occupation. She is carried outside herself. She is saved by childbearing\, as it says in the Old Testament; she has a rule of life which involves others and she will be saved in spite of herself…The desire to nourish\, to bring forth\, is strong in…women. \n…We want to be happy\, we want others to be happy\, we want to see some of this joy of life which children have\, we want to see people intoxicated with God\, or just filled with the good steady joy of knowing that Christ is King and that God loves us as a father loves his children\, as a bridegroom loves his bride\, and that eye has not seen nor ear heard what God hath prepared for us!… \nWe are called to be saints… and we might as well get over our bourgeois fear of the name. We might also get used to recognizing the fact that there is some of the saint in all of us. Inasmuch as we are growing\, putting off the old man and putting on Christ\, there is some of the saint\, the holy\, the divine right there. \n…we believe that spiritual action is the hardest of all – to praise and worship God\, to thank Him\, to petition Him for our brothers\, to repent our sins and those of others. This is action\, just as the taking of cities is action\, as revolution is action\, as the Corporal Works of Mercy are action. And just to lie in the sun and let God work on you is to be sitting in the light of the Sun of Justice\, and the growth will be there\, and joy will grow and spread to others. That is why I like to use so often that saying of St. Catherine of Siena: “All the Way to heaven is Heaven\, because He said I am the Way \n\n\n5 Dorothy Day. By Little and By Little: The Selected Writings of Dorothy Day. Ed. Robert Ellsberg. New York: Alfred A Knopf\, 1983. 100-104. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-48/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230208
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230209
DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20230204T133620Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230204T133620Z
UID:10053-1675814400-1675900799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office of the Dead
DESCRIPTION:Trampling Down Death by Death4 A reflection by Alexander Schmemann \nTo be Christian\, to believe in Christ\, means and has always meant this: to know in a transrational and yet absolutely certain way called faith\, that Christ is the Life of all life\, that he is Life itself and\, therefore\, my life. “In him was life; and the life was the light of men”. All Christian doctrines – those of the incarnation\, redemption\, atonement – are explanations\, consequences\, but not the “cause” of that faith. Only when we believe in Christ do all these affirmations become “valid” and “consistent”. But faith itself is the acceptance not of this or that “proposition” about Christ\, but of Christ himself as the Life and the light of life. For “the life was made manifest\, and we saw it\, and testify to it\, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us”. In this sense Christian faith is radically different from “religious belief.” Its starting point is not “belief” but love. In itself and by itself all belief is partial\, fragmentary\, fragile. “For our knowledge is imperfect\, and our prophecy is imperfect… as for prophecies\, they will pass away; as for tongues\, they will cease; as for knowledge\, it will pass away.” Only “love never ends”. And if to love someone means that I have my life in him\, or rather that he has become the “content” of my life\, to love Christ is to know and to possess him as the Life of my life. \nOnly this possession of Christ as Life\, the “joy and peace” of communion with him\, the certitude of his presence\, makes meaningful the proclamation of Christ’s death and the confession of his resurrection. In this world Christ’s resurrection can never be made an “objective fact.” The risen Lord appeared to Mary and “she saw him standing and knew not it was Jesus.” He stood on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias “but the disciples knew not it was Jesus.” And on the way to Emmaus the eyes of the disciples “were kept from recognizing him.” The preaching of the resurrection remains foolishness to this world\, and no wonder even Christians themselves somehow “explain it away” by virtually reducing it to the old pre- Christian doctrines of immortality and survival… \n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhether it is the immortality of the soul or the resurrection of the body – I know nothing of them and all discussion here is mere “speculation.” Death remains the same mysterious passage into a mysterious future. The great joy that the disciples felt when they saw the risen Lord\, that “burning of heart” that they experienced on the way to Emmaus were not because the mysteries of an “other world” were revealed to them\, but because they saw the Lord. And he sent them to preach and to proclaim not the resurrection of the dead – not a doctrine of death – but repentance and remission of sins\, the new life\, the kingdom. They announced what they knew\, that in Christ the new life has already begun\, that he is Life Eternal\, the Fulfillment\, the Resurrection and the Joy of the world. \nThe Church is the entrance into the risen life of Christ; it is communion in life eternal\, “joy and peace in the Holy Spirit.” And it is the expectation of the “day without evening” of the kingdom; not of any “other world\,” but of the fulfillment of all things and all life in Christ. In him death itself has become an act of life\, for he has filled it with himself\, with his love and light. In him “all things are yours; whether…the world or life or death or the present or the future\, all are yours; and you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s. And if I make this new life mine\, mine this hunger and thirst for the kingdom\, mine this expectation of Christ\, mine the certitude that Christ is Life\, then my very death will be an act of communion with Life \n\n\n\n4 Schmemann\, Alexander. O Death\, Where is thy Sting?. Trans. Alexis Vinogradov. Crestwood\, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press\, 2003. 110-114. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-of-the-dead/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230207
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230208
DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20230204T133428Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230204T133428Z
UID:10051-1675728000-1675814399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:On the Love of God3 From a sermon by Alan of Lille \n…John says: ‘God is love\, and he who dwells in love lives in God\, and God in him’. Peter\, as well: ‘Above all\, have mutual love for one another\, for love outweighs a multitude of sins’. And Paul: ‘Love is patient and kind’. Augustine\, too: ‘Everything we do without love benefits us nothing\, and in vain do we dissipate our energy if we do not have love\, that is\, God’. Gregory says: ‘The more the heart of the sinner is consumed with the fire of love\, the more it is purged of the rust of sins’. From these texts\, we must continue thus: Who\, even armed with the eloquence of Cicero and filled with all wisdom\, can adequately sing the praise of love and expound its virtues? It is love which teaches us to flee enticements\, to tread pleasures under foot\, to subdue the lusts of the flesh\, to despise marks of deference\, to crush illicit desires and\, finally\, to renounce all the blandishments of this life. \nOn this subject\, the Bridegroom declares in the Song of Songs: ‘Set me as a seal upon your heart; set me as a seal upon your arm\, for love is as strong as death\, and jealousy as cruel as hell’. For death snuffs out the living\, and hell does not spare the dead. Love\, then\, is like death\, for just as the one subdues the senses of the flesh\, so the other subdues the movements of carnal desire. Envy is cruel as hell\, for it obliges those whom a longing for eternity draws inward not only to spit out smooth things\, but also to put up with harsh and bitter things in attaining what they love. Love braces the other virtues with the fortifications of its perfection. \nWhoever roots himself in love will fail neither to flourish nor to bear fruit\, for hi lives so as to be productive. On this matter Isidore says: ‘No reward is of value without the love of charity\, and no matter how strongly one believes aright\, he cannot come to blessedness without charity’. For such is the power of love that even prophecy and martyrdom are of no avail without it. Of all the virtues\, love holds first place. For this reason\, the Apostle calls it the chain of perfection\, for all the virtues are linked together by the chain of love. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nLove God\, then\, that you may be loved by him\, and conduct your life so that you may the more swiftly come to him\, for through love you will grasp\, possess\, and enjoy him. This is the most excellent way\, the highway\, which straightens winding ways\, and clearly indicates the direct ways. This is love which so moved God that it led him from the seat of highest majesty to the lowliness of our mortal nature. It wounded him who could not suffer\, it moved him who could not be changed\, it bound him who could not be conquered\, it made mortal him who is eternal. \nIf love was able to do so much in God\, how much\, O man\, should it be able to do in you? If God bore so much for man\, what shall man refuse to bear for God?\nLet it shame a man not to be subject to love\, which subjected the Creator of the world to itself. Love does not envy\, it does no wrong\, but it tears out the root of vice from him in whom it dwells. Love is the source of all virtue; it illuminates the mind\, purifies the conscience\, rejoices the soul\, shows forth God. Pride does not puff up the soul in which love dwells\, nor does envy rack it; anger does not destroy it; evil and sadness do not trouble it; lust does not pollute it; gluttony does not inflame it. \nLove is always chaste\, always pure\, always quiet\, always kind; strong in adversity\, steady in times of prosperity. This is the spiritual cross\, and anyone who lays hand on it to take it up and carry it\, follows in the footsteps of Christ \n\n\n\n3 Alan of Lille. The Art of Preaching. CF 23. Trans. Gillian R. Evans. Kalamazoo\, MI: Cistercian Publications\, Inc.\, 1981. 86-89. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-47/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230206T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230206T130000
DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20230101T005750Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230101T005750Z
UID:9874-1675684800-1675688400@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Jim Finley
DESCRIPTION:Content is protected.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/jim-finley-7/
CATEGORIES:LCG open events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230206
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230207
DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20230204T133214Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230204T133214Z
UID:10049-1675641600-1675727999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Paul Miki and Companions
DESCRIPTION:St. Paul Miki and the Martyrs of Japan2 \nChristianity spread like wildfire in sixteenth-century Japan. By the 1580s\, less than forty years after Francis Xavier introduced the faith\, the church counted two hundred thousand converts. The growth had proceeded despite the opposition of Buddhist priests and many petty rulers. However\, in 1587\, Emperor Hideyoshi ordered the banishment of all Catholics\, forcing the Jesuit missionaries to operate from hiding. But outright persecution did not break out until late 1596\, when Hideyoshi rounded up twenty-six Jesuits\, Franciscans\, and laypeople and prepared to martyr them. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \nAmong the victims was St. Paul Miki\, a Jesuit novice who had just completed eleven years of training. Paul’s noble family was converted when he was a child and at age five he was baptized. Educated by Jesuits\, the gifted youth joined their novitiate at age twenty-two. He had studied intensively the teachings of the Buddhists so as to be able to debate their priests. He welcomed his chance at martyrdom\, but may have wished just a little that it would be delayed long enough for him to be ordained a priest. \nHideyoshi had the left ears of the twenty-six martyrs severed as a sign of disrespect and paraded them through Kyoto. Dressed in his simple black cassock\, Paul stood out among them. Most onlookers realized that this noble young man could have worn the samurai’s costume with two swords on his belt. The whole display had the unexpected effect of evoking compassion from the crowd\, some of whom later became converts. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe martyrs were then taken to Nagasaki. They were tied to crosses with their necks held in place by iron rings. Beside each was an executioner with his spear ready to strike. An eyewitness gave this account: \n“When the crosses were set up it was a wonderful thing to see the constancy of all of them. Our brother Paul Miki\, seeing himself raised to the most honorable position that he had ever occupied\, openly proclaimed that he was a Japanese and a member of the Society of Jesus. And that he was being put to death for having \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\npreached the gospel. He gave thanks to God for such a precious favor. \nHe then added these words: “Having arrived at this moment of my existence\, I believe that no one of you thinks I want to hide the truth. That is why I declare to you that there is no other way of salvation than the one followed by Christians. Since this way teaches me to forgive my enemies and all who have offended me\, I willingly forgive the king and all those who have desired my death. And I pray that they will obtain the desire of Christian baptism.” \nAt this point\, he turned his eyes toward his companions and began to encourage them in their final struggle. The faces of them all shone with great gladness. Another Christian shouted to him that he would soon be in paradise. “Like my Master\,” murmured Paul\, “I shall die upon the cross. Like him\, a lance will pierce my heart so that my blood and my love can flow out upon the land and sanctify it to his name.” \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAs they awaited death the entire group sang the canticle of Zachary. The executioners stood by respectfully until they had intoned the last verse. Then at a given signal they thrust their spears into the victims’ sides. On that day\, February 5\, 1597\, the church of Japan welcomed its first martyrs \n\n\n\n2 Bert Ghezzi. Excerpt taken from “Voices of the Saints”. ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-voices/16th-and- 17th-century-ignatian-voices/st-paul-miki-sj/. Accessed Jan. 31\, 2023. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-paul-miki-and-companions/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230205
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230206
DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20230204T132150Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230204T132150Z
UID:10044-1675555200-1675641599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 5th Sun ORD
DESCRIPTION:Let Your Light Shine Before All1 A commentary by St John Chrysostom \nWe who have once for all clothed ourselves in Christ\, and been made worthy to have him dwelling within us\, may show everyone\, if we choose\, simply by the strict discipline of our life and without saying a word\, the power of him who dwells in us. Therefore Christ said: Let your light so shine before all\, that people may see your good works and praise your Father in heaven. This is a light that reaches not only the bodily senses\, but illuminates also the beholder’s mind and soul. It disperses the darkness of evil\, and invites those who encounter it to let their own light shine forth\, and to follow the example of virtue. \nLet your light shine before all\, Christ said; and he used the words before all advisedly. He meant\, “Let your light be so bright that it illuminates not only yourself\, but shines also before those needing its help.” As the light our senses perceive puts darkness to flight\, and enables those traveling along a road perceptible to the senses to follow a straight course\, so also the spiritual light which shines from blameless conduct illuminates those who cannot see clearly how to live a virtuous life\, because their spiritual eyesight has been blurred by the darkness of error. It purifies their inward vision\, leads them to live upright lives\, and makes them walk henceforth in the path of virtue. \nThat people may see your good works and praise your Father in heaven. \nChrist means: Let your virtue\, the perfection of your life\, and the performance of good works inspire those who see you to praise the common Master of us all. And so I beg each of you to strive to live so perfectly that the Lord may be praised by all who see you. By the perfection of your lives attract to yourselves the grace of the Spirit\, so that the Lord of all creation may be glorified\, and so that we may all be found worthy of the kingdom of heaven by the grace\, mercy\, and goodness of God’s only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ\, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory\, might\, and honor now and for ever and for endless ages. Amen \n1Journey with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press – N.Y. – 1999 – pg 86 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-5th-sun-ord/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20230204T132003Z
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UID:10042-1675555200-1675641599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n5th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (I)\nFebruary 5 – 11\, 2023\n\n\n\nSun\n5\nMon\n6\nTue\n7\nWed\n8\nThu\n9\nFri\n10\nSat\n11\n\n\nOffice\n5th Sunday\nSt Paul Miki & Companions\nWeekday\nOffice for the Dead\nWeekday\nSt Scholastica\nOur Lady of Lourdes\n\n\nVigils\nJudg 16:23-31\nJudg 17:1-13\nJudg 18:1-11\nJudg 18:13-31\nJudg 19:1-21\nJudg 19:20-30\nJudg 20:1-19\n\n\nLauds\nZech 11:1-6\nZech 11:7-14\nZech 11:15-17\nZech 12:1-6\nZech 12:7-14\nZech 13:1-6\nZech 13:7-9\n\n\nMass\n73\n329\n330\n331\n332\n333\n334\n\n\n1st\nIsa 58:7-10\nGen 1:1-19\nGen 1:20-2:4a\nGen 2:4b-9\, 15-17\nGen 2:18-25\nGen 3:1-8\nGen 3:9-24\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 2:1-5\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 5:13-16\nMark 6:53-56\nMark 7:1-13\nMark 7:14-23\nMark 7:24-30\nMark 7:31-37\nMark 8:1-10\n\n\nVespers\nPhil 2:12-18\nPhil 3:2-11\nPhil 3:12-16\nPhil 3:17-21\nPhil 4:1-9\nPhil 4:10-14\nPhil 4:15-23
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-18/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20230128T215939Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230128T215939Z
UID:10039-1675468800-1675555199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Reading: Memorial of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI 7\nto the monks of Heiligenkreuz Abbey \nIn the life of monks…prayer takes on a particular importance: it is the heart of\ntheir calling. Their vocation is to be men of prayer. In the patristic period the\nmonastic life was likened to the life of the angels. It was considered the essential\nmark of the angels that they are worshippers. Their very life is worship. This\nshould hold true also for monks. Monks pray first and foremost not for any specific\nintention\, but simply because God is worthy of being praised…Such prayer for its\nown sake\, intended as pure divine service\, is rightly called officium. It is “service”\npar excellence\, the “sacred service” of monks. It is offered to the triune God who\,\nabove all else\, is worthy “to receive glory\, honour and power”\, because he\nwondrously created the world and even more wondrously renewed it. \nAt the same time\, the officium of consecrated persons is also a sacred service\nto men and women\, a testimony offered to them. All people have deep within their\nhearts\, whether they know it or not\, a yearning for definitive fulfillment\, for\nsupreme happiness\, and thus\, ultimately\, for God. A monastery\, in which the\ncommunity gathers several times a day for the praise of God\, testifies to the fact that\nthis primordial human longing does not go unfulfilled: God the Creator has not\nplaced us in a fearful darkness where\, groping our way in despair\, we seek some\nultimate meaning; God has not abandoned us in a desert void\, bereft of meaning\,\nwhere in the end only death awaits us. No! God has shone forth in our darkness\nwith his light\, with his Son Jesus Christ. In him\, God has entered our world in all\nhis “fullness”; in him all truth\, the truth for which we yearn\, has its source and\nsummit. \nOur light\, our truth\, our goal\, our fulfilment\, our life – all this is not a\nreligious doctrine but a person: Jesus Christ. Over and above any ability of our own\nto seek and to desire God\, we ourselves were already sought and desired\, and\nindeed\, found and redeemed by him! The gaze of people of every time and nation\,\nof all the philosophies\, religions and cultures\, ultimately encounters the wide open\neyes of the crucified and risen Son of God; his open heart is the fullness of love. The\neyes of Christ are the eyes of a loving God. \nYour primary service to this world must therefore be your prayer and the\ncelebration of the divine office. The interior disposition…of each consecrated\nperson\, must be that of “putting nothing before the divine Office”. The beauty of\nthis inner attitude will find expression in the beauty of the liturgy\, so that wherever\nwe join singing\, praising\, exalting and worshipping God\, a little bit of heaven will\nbecome present on earth…In all our effort on behalf of the liturgy\, the determining\nfactor must always be our looking to God. We stand before God – he speaks to us\nand we speak to him… \n…among you there burns the Marian flame of a Saint Bernard of\nClairvaux…Perhaps it was because of his particular devotion to Our Lady that he\nexercised such a compelling and infectious influence on his many young\ncontemporaries called by God. Where Mary is\, there is the pentecostal breath of the\nHoly Spirit; there is new beginning and authentic renewal…Saint Bernard says\, and\nwe say with him: “Look to the star of the sea\, call upon Mary…in danger\, in distress\,\nin doubt\, think of Mary\, call upon Mary. May her name never be far from your lips\,\nor far from your heart…If you follow her\, you will not stray; if you pray to her\, you\nwill not despair; if you turn your thoughts to her\, you will not err. If she holds you\,\nyou will not fall; if she protects you\, you need not fear; if she is your guide\, you will\nnot tire; if she is gracious to you\, you will surely reach your destination”. \n7 Pope Benedict XVI. Visit to Heiligenkreuz Abbey: Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI. Sunday\, 8\nSeptember 2007.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/reading-memorial-of-the-bvm/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230203
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20230128T215303Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230128T215303Z
UID:10037-1675382400-1675468799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Reading: Weekday
DESCRIPTION:Ultimate Truth and Sweetness is to be Found in Reading and\nUnderstanding Holy Scripture 6\nby Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain \nA source of spiritual delight is the word of God contained in Holy Scripture\nbecause there is to be found ultimate truth that enlightens the mind\, which\, being\nmind\, has truth as its object. Moreover\, there is ultimate sweetness and grace in the\nwords of Scripture\, which draw like a great magnet the hearts of the readers to agree\nwith them and to be convinced. This is only natural. After all\, the words of\nScripture are the words of God and of the Holy Spirit. This is to say that they are\nthe words of truth itself and grace itself… \nSt John Chrysostom said\, “The reading of Holy Scripture is the opening of\nheaven…” In Holy Scripture we see humble words\, simple words\, but within they\npossess such great depths of the knowledge of God that the passing wisdom of this\nworld cannot even stand beside it. St. Paul wrote about this wisdom of God:\n“Among the mature we do impart wisdom\, although it is not a wisdom of this age or\nof the rulers of this age\, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and\nhidden wisdom of God”… \nIf you love to enjoy true and complete delight from the Scriptures\, seek to\nread them not merely with simple understanding\, but with deeds and practical\nrealities. Moreover\, seek to read them not merely for the mere love of learning but\nalso for the sake of ascetic endeavors and discipline\, as St. Mark wrote: “Read the\nwords of Holy Scripture with an eye to practical applications and not merely to be\npuffed up by any fine thought that you may receive from it.” Another Father said:\n“This is why the lover of knowledge must also be a lover of discipline and practical\napplication. For knowledge alone does not give light to the lamp.” You will receive\nthis light if you contemplate on the content of Scripture and realize that it was\nwritten to correct you and not the others\, as again St. Mark said: “The humble\nperson who has a spiritual life reads the Holy Scripture and understands everything\nto refer to him and not to others.” For this is true wisdom\, fear of God\, and\navoidance of evil: “Behold\, the fear of the Lord\, that is wisdom; and to depart from\nevil is understanding”… “The first wisdom is a praiseworthy life purified by God.” \n6 Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain. A Handbook of Spiritual Counsel. The Classics of Western Spirituality. Trans. Peter\nA. Chamberas. New York: Paulist Press\, 1989. 186-190.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/reading-weekday-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:10035-1675296000-1675382399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Reading: Presentation of the Lord
DESCRIPTION:How the Coming and Returning of the Word\nWorks for the Soul’s Salvation 5\nA Reading by St Bernard of Clairvaux \nI admit that the Word has also come to me…But although he has come to me\,\nI have never been conscious of the moment of his coming. I perceived his presence\,\nI remembered afterwards that he had been with me; sometimes I had a\npresentiment that he would come\, but I was never conscious of his coming or his\ngoing…How then did he enter? Perhaps he did not enter because he does not come\nfrom outside? He is not one of the things which exist outside us. Yet he does not\ncome from within me…I have ascended to the highest in me\, and look! The word is\ntowering above that. In my curiosity I have descended to explore my lowest depths\,\nyet I found him even deeper. If I looked outside myself\, I saw him stretching\nbeyond the furthest I could see; & I looked within\, he was yet further within. Then I\nknew the truth of what I had read\, ‘In him we live & move & have our being’. And\nblessed is the man in whom he has his being\, who lives for him\, and is moved by\nhim. \nYou ask then how I knew he was present\, when his ways can in no way be\ntraced? He is life and power\, and as soon as he enters in\, he awakens my\nslumbering soul; he stirs and soothes and pierces my heart\, for before it was hard as\nstone\, and diseased. So he has begun to pluck out and destroy\, to build up and to\nplant\, to water dry places and illuminate dark ones; to open what was closed and to\nwarm what was cold; to make the crooked straight and the rough places smooth\, so\nthat my soul may bless the Lord\, and all that is within me may praise his holy name.\nSo when the Bridegroom\, the Word\, came to me\, he never made known his coming\nby any signs\, not by sight\, nor by sound\, not by touch. It was not by any movement\nof his that I recognized his coming; it was not by any of my senses that I perceived\nhe had penetrated to the depths of my being. Only by the movement of my\nheart…did I perceive his presence; and I knew the power of his might because my\nfaults were put to flight and my human yearnings brought into subjection. I have\nmarvelled at the depth of his wisdom when my secret faults have been revealed and\nmade visible; at the very slightest amendment of my way of life I have experienced\nhis goodness and mercy; in the renewal and remaking of the spirit of my mind\, that\nis of my inmost being\, I have perceived the excellence of his glorious beauty\, and\nwhen I contemplate all these things I am filled with awe and wonder at his manifold\ngreatness. \nBut when the Word has left me\, all these spiritual powers become weak and\nfaint and begin to grow cold\, as though you had removed the fire from under a\nboiling pot\, and this is the sign of his going. Then my soul must needs be sorrowful\nuntil he returns\, and my heart again kindles within me – the sign of his returning.\nWhen I have had such experience of the Word\, is it any wonder that I take to myself\nthe words of the Bride\, calling him back when he has withdrawn?… \nAs often as he slips away from me\, so often shall I call him back. From the\nburning desire of my heart I will not cease to call him\, begging him to return\, as if\nafter someone who is departing\, and I will implore him to give back to me the joy of\nhis salvation\, and restore himself to me. \n5 St Bernard of Clairvaux. On the Song of Songs IV. CF 40. Trans. Irene Edmonds. Kalamazoo\, MI:\nCistercian Publications\, 1980. 89-92.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/reading-presentation-of-the-lord/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20230128T214107Z
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UID:10033-1675209600-1675295999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Reading: Weekday
DESCRIPTION:Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI 4\nat Collège des Bernardins\, Paris – in 2008 \nFrom the perspective of monasticism’s historical influence\, we could say\nthat…the monasteries were the places where the treasures of ancient culture\nsurvived\, and where at the same time a new culture slowly took shape out of the old. \n…Amid the confusion of the times\, in which nothing seemed permanent\, they\nwanted to do the essential – to make an effort to find what was perennially valid\nand lasting\, life itself. They were searching for God. They wanted to go from the\ninessential to the essential\, to the only truly important and reliable thing there is. It\nis sometimes said that they were “eschatologically” oriented. But this is not to be\nunderstood in a temporal sense\, as if they were looking ahead to the end of the\nworld or to their own death\, but in an existential sense: they were seeking the\ndefinitive behind the provisional… \nBecause they were Christians\, this was not an expedition into a trackless\nwilderness\, a search leading them into total darkness. God himself had provided\nsignposts\, indeed he had marked out a path which was theirs to find and to follow.\nThis path was his word\, which had been disclosed to men in the books of the sacred\nScripture… \nBecause the search for God required the culture of the word\, it was\nappropriate…to have a school\, in which these pathways could be opened up…the\nmonastery…[a school of the Lord’s service]…whose ultimate aim is that man should\nlearn how to serve God. But it also includes the formation of reason – education –\nthrough which man learns to perceive\, in the midst of words\, the Word itself… \nThe Word which opens the path of that search\, and is to be identified with\nthis path\, is a shared word. True\, it pierces every individual to the heart. Gregory\nthe Great describes this a sharp stabbing pain\, which tears open our sleeping soul\nand awakens us\, making us attentive to the essential reality\, to God. But in the\nprocess\, it also makes us attentive to one another. The word does not lead to a\npurely individual path of mystical immersion\, but to the pilgrim fellowship of faith… \nThe God who speaks in the Bible teaches us how to speak with him ourselves.\nParticularly in the book of Psalms\, he gives us the words with which we can address\nhim\, with which we can bring our life\, with all its highpoints and lowpoints\, into\nconversation with him\, so that life itself thereby becomes a movement towards\nhim… \nThis particular structure of the Bible issues a constantly new challenge to\nevery generation. It excludes by its nature everything that today is known as\nfundamentalism. In effect\, the word of God can never simply be equated with the\nletter of the text. To attain to it involves a transcending and a process of\nunderstanding\, led by the inner movement of the whole and hence it also has to\nbecome a process of living. Only within the dynamic unity of the whole are the\nmany books one book. The Word of God and his action in the world are revealed\nonly in the word and history of human beings… \nTo seek God and to let oneself be found by him\, that is today no less necessary\nthan in former times. A purely positivistic culture which tried to drive the question\nconcerning God into the subjective realm\, as being unscientific\, would be the\ncapitulation of reason\, the renunciation of its highest possibilities\, and hence a\ndisaster for humanity\, with very grave consequences. What gave Europe’s culture\nits foundation – the search for God and the readiness to listen to him – remains\ntoday the basis of any genuine culture. \n4 Pope Benedict XVI. Address at the Collège des Bernardins\, Paris\, Friday\, 12 September 2008.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/reading-weekday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20230128T213341Z
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UID:10031-1675123200-1675209599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Reading: St. John Bosco
DESCRIPTION:The Man and the Saint  3\nA Reading on St John Bosco \nPeople often said of Don Bosco: “Really\, he is quite an ordinary person.”\nThere was nothing about him that revealed his mission\, his profound spirituality or\nhis sanctity…Only his expression showed the fire that burnt in his heart. His clear\neyes looked right through you\, and their brightness was disturbing. \nHis confidence in God was extreme. He had the faith that moves mountains.\nHe never doubted as to the outcome of any undertaking. If he were only sure of his\nusefulness\, he was certain of its success. Obstacles might arise; he laughed at them\,\nwhile fighting against them or getting round them. Financial or other means might\nbe lacking; if they did not come in today\, he expected them tomorrow. “The main\nthing\,” he said\, relying upon a long experience\, “is to take the burden on one’s\nshoulders. As you go forward\, the load finds its balance and shakes down.” The\nhardest humiliations\, the bitterest disillusions\, the strongest opposition all left him\nsmiling. Whence came his serenity?… He abandoned himself in the arms of God\nwith the uttermost love. \nTo him\, the love of God was one with the love of souls. The second\ncommandment was like the first and greatest. Not only did this love of souls make\nhim relish all the miseries of the way\, but it also inspired him to pray with an almost\nwild boldness. At the beginning of his work he asked his heavenly Benefactress for\na thousand places in Paradise\, and he tells us he was given them. Later on\,\nconfronted with the unexpected growth of his enterprise\, he went further and asked\nfor ten thousand places. At last\, seeing his Houses all over the world\, he was still\nmore pressing\, and asked for a hundred thousand reserved seats for his Sons. And\nthis time\, too\, he was certain of having been granted them…His simple and calm\naudacity in expressing the deepest of his desires\, the salvation of souls\, enables us to\nsurmise the degree of intimacy he had reached in prayer. In truth\, such prayer was\nthe very life of his soul. One of those who knew him best said: “He seemed to live in\na state of permanent contemplation. He worked\, indeed\, upon the earth\, but his\nspirit was up yonder\, in heaven.” \n…Many\, we know\, have thought that prayer held but a small place in his\ntimetable. They are mistaken…Don Bosco was incessantly in union with Christ and\nHis Mother. There was no ecstasy\, no irradiation of countenance\, no uplifting from\nthe ground; but more certainly\, he used all forms of prayer\, vocal or mental\, and\nespecially\, that which suddenly elevates the soul till it confronts some divine truth\,\nembracing it in a single view and possessing it with rejoicing. \nThis humble and diffident priest never made any claim to be the founder of a\nmystical school; but had he started any system of asceticism\, he would probably\nhave based it on the old saying\, in its fullest and truest sense: “To work is to pray.”\nHis own work never was apart from God. It was done under God’s eyes and for Him\nonly. And the manifold occupations of his hustled days\, far from destroying his\nserenity\, only bound his heart more closely to its source of light and strength and\nlove – Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary\, and their servant never ceased feeling\nthem at his side. \n…By the contrast between his humble appearance and the splendour of his\nsoul\, we are driven to acknowledge that this man makes a great figure in the train of\nsanctity. There are some Saints more impressive\, greater wonder-workers\, more\nworldwide in their sphere of influence\, to be found throughout the twenty centuries\nof Christianity; but there are few more striking and more taking personalities to be\nmet with in the history of the Church. \n3 A. Auffray\, S.D.B. Saint John Bosco. North Arcot – South India: Salesian House\, Tirupattur\, 1959. 370-371\, 380-382\, 388.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/reading-st-john-bosco/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20221123T002010Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221123T002010Z
UID:9661-1675080000-1675083600@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Jim Finley
DESCRIPTION:Content is protected.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/jim-finley-5/
CATEGORIES:LCG open events
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230130T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230130T170000
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CREATED:20230128T212634Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230128T212634Z
UID:10029-1675065600-1675098000@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:A Reading on St Bernard and His Entrance to Monastic Life 2\nFrom the Vita Prima by William of Saint-Thierry \nWhen the time came for Bernard to fulfill his vow and achieve his plans\, with\nhis brothers and spiritual children he took leave of his father’s dwelling…At that\ntime Citeaux was still a novelty and just a little flock living under venerable Stephen\,\ntheir abbot. They were beginning to grow dejected because of the lack of vocations\,\nand their hopes for future numbers were fading…But now\, all of a sudden\, God\nvisited them and made them joyful again. It was so unexpected\, so sudden. It was\nas if their house had received this reply from the Holy Spirit: Shout for joy\, you\nbarren woman who bore no children! Break into cries of joy and gladness\, you\nwho were never in labor! For the sons of the forsaken one are more in number\nthan the sons of the wedded one\, and afterward you will see your children’s\nchildren unto many generations. \nIn the year 1113 from the Lord’s Incarnation\, and thirteen years from the\nfounding of Citeaux\, Bernard\, the servant of God\, who was about twenty-two years\nold\, entered Citeaux with more than thirty companions and submitted himself to\nthe sweet yoke of Christ under Abbot Stephen…He had the intention of dying from\nthe hearts and memory of mankind\, with the hope of disappearing like a lost vase. \nBut God had other ideas and was making him ready as a chosen vessel\, not\nonly to strengthen and expand the monastic order but to carry his name before\nkings and Gentiles to the ends of the earth. Of course he did not apply this teaching\nto himself or even think about it; rather he had in his heart the need to be constant\nin following his vocation\, so that he constantly said in his heart and even often on\nhis lips\, “Bernard\, Bernard\, what have you come for?”… \nFrom the first day of his conversion right up to the present time\, he was\nknown to have only one thing in his thoughts\, namely\, to have a mother’s love for\nevery soul. Indeed\, there was a sort of conflict in his heart between his holy desires\nand his holy humility. At one moment he confesses that he is dejected that his\nefforts cannot show any results\, but afterward his burning ardor makes him forget\nhimself\, and he admits that he finds no other consolation than the salvation of\nmany souls. In the end\, charity gives birth to confidence\, yet humility keeps it in\nplace.\nAnd so it happened that on one occasion he rose early for Vigils. Then after\nVigils there was a long interval before Lauds in the morning\, and he went outside.\nHe walked around close by and was praying to God that his prayers and those of his\nbrothers might be acceptable\, for he was\, as I have said\, filled with the desire for\nspiritual fruitfulness. All of a sudden\, while he was standing there\, he closed his\neyes in prayer and saw on all sides a great multitude of men in diverse clothing and\ndifferent walks of life coming down from the hills close by into the valley below; so\nmany were they that the valley could not contain them. What this meant is clear to\neveryone. The man of God was so encouraged by this wonderful vision that he\nexhorted his brothers never to despair of God’s mercy. \n2 William of Saint-Thierry. The First Life of Bernard of Clairvaux. CF 76. Trans. Hilary Costello\, OCSO.\nCollegeville\, MN: Cistercian Publications\, 2015. 20-22\, 29-30.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/office-for-vocations/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20230128T212036Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230128T212036Z
UID:10027-1674950400-1675036799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:4th Sunday in Ordinary Time
DESCRIPTION:Blessed are the Poor in Spirit 1\nA commentary by Symeon the New Theologian \nWhen holy Scripture is being read we should look at ourselves as though in a\nmirror and consider our state of soul. Let me explain what I mean. We hear the\nLord saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit\, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.\nThis must make us always examine and test ourselves whenever we suffer\nhumiliation\, whenever we are insulted\, dishonored\, and treated with contempt\, to\nsee whether or not we possess the virtue of humility. A person who has it bears\neverything without feeling hurt or taking offense. His heart is not wounded by\nanything that happens to him. If he is slightly wounded he is not completely upset;\non the contrary\, because of that heart wound\, simply for having been slightly pained\ninstead of accepting what happened with joy\, he is distressed and thinks himself\ndespicable\, he grieves and weeps. Withdrawing into the inner chamber of his soul\nor his cell\, he falls down before God and confesses to him as though he had\ncompletely forfeited eternal life. \nThen again we hear: Blessed are those who mourn. Notice that the Lord does\nnot say those who have mourned\, but those who continually mourn. Concerning\nthis too\, then\, we must examine ourselves to see whether we mourn every day\, for if\nwe have been made humble by repentance\, obviously we shall not pass a single day\nor night without tears\, without mourning\, and without compunction. \nAnd again: Blessed are the gentle. Can anyone who mourns every day\ncontinue to live in a state of anger and not become gentle? Just as water\nextinguishes a blazing fire\, so mourning and tears extinguish anger in the soul so\ncompletely that a person who had long been given over to it sees his irascible\ndisposition transformed into perfect serenity. \nAgain we hear: Blessed are the merciful. Who\, then\, are the merciful? Those\nwho give away their possessions or who feed the poor? No. Then who are they?\nThose who have become poor for the sake of him who became poor for our sake\,\nthose who have nothing to give\, but who in a spiritual way are always mindful of the\npoor\, the widows\, the orphans\, and the sick. Seeing them frequently\, they have\ncompassion on them and shed burning tears over them. Such was Job\, who said: I\nwept over every infirmity. When they have anything they cheerfully give alms to\nthem\, as well as ungrudgingly reminding all of how they can save their souls\, thus\nobeying the one who said: What I learned with pure intention I pass on without\ngrudging. These are the ones the Lord calls blessed\, the ones who are truly\nmerciful\, for such mercy is like a step by which they ascend to attain perfect purity\nof heart. \nIn virtue of this God then proclaims the pure of heart blessed\, saying: Blessed\nare the pure of heart\, for they shall see God. The purified soul sees God in\neverything and is reconciled to him. Peace is established between God our creator\nand the soul\, his erstwhile enemy\, and it is then called blessed by God for being a\npeacemaker: Blessed are the peacemakers\, he says\, for they shall be called children\nof God. \n1 Journey with the Fathers: Commentaries on the Sunday Gospels Year A. Ed. Edith Barnecut\, O.S.B. New\nYork: New City Press\, 1992. 84-85.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/4th-sunday-in-ordinary-time/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:10025-1674950400-1675036799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema: 4th Week in Ordinary Time
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n4th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (I)\nJanuary 29 – February 4\, 2023\n\n\n\nSun\n29\nMon\n30\nTue\n31\nWed\n1\nThu\n2\nFri\n3\nSat\n4\n\n\nOffice\n4th Sunday\nOffice for Vocations\nSt John Bosco\nWeekday\nPresentation of the Lord\nWeekday\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nJudg 11:12-28\nJudg 11:29-40\nJudg 13:1-25\nJudg 14:1-20\nExod 13:1-16\nJudg 15:1-20\nJudg 16:1-22\n\n\nLauds\nZech 8:18-23\nZech 9: 1-7\nZech 9:8-10\nZech 9:11-17\nIsa 42:1-7\nZech 10:1-5\nZech 10:6-12\n\n\nMass\n70\n323\n324\n325\n524\n327\n328\n\n\n1st\nZeph 2:3; 3:12-13\nHeb 11:32-40\nHeb 12:1-4\nHeb 12:4-7\, 11-15\nHeb 2:14-18\nHeb 13:1-8\nHeb 13:15-17\, 20-21\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 1:26-31\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 5:1-12a\nMark 5:1-20\nMark 5:21-43\nMark 6:1-6\nLuke 2:22-40\nMark 6:14-29\nMark 6:30-34\n\n\nVespers\nEph 6:18-24\nPhil 1:1-11\nPhil 1:12-18a\nPhil 1:18b-26\n1 Jn 3:1-8\nPhil 1:27-30\nPhil 2:1-11
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-4th-week-in-ordinary-time/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230128T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230128T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20221122T235244Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221122T235244Z
UID:9635-1674903600-1674907200@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:LCG Mentoring Meeting
DESCRIPTION:Content is protected.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/lcg-mentoring-meeting/
CATEGORIES:LCG open events
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230128
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
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UID:10019-1674864000-1674950399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Thomas Aquinas
DESCRIPTION:A Reading on the Passion of Christ7\nfrom St Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica \nThe plan of God for man’s redemption is most wondrous in every respect. Yet God could have willed to redeem mankind in some other way than by the Passion of Christ. Still\, there was surely no way more suitable for man’s redeeming than the way of Incarnation and Passion. For here man sees how much God loves him; man has perfect and most noble example of all the virtues; man has grace made available through Christ’s merits; man beholds the evil conqueror of his race subdued and vanquished by One who is truly man. \nFor many nobly symbolic reasons it was suitable that our Lord\, dying for us by his own will\, should have chosen the death of the cross. This mode of death was the most feared\, and was considered the most degrading. To show that the upright man need fear no mode of death; to indicate that no mode of death can sully the innocent; to give full and final evidence of his love for mankind and his hatred for sin\, our Lord chose the death of the cross. And since he died for all\, he chose to die in the open\, on an eminence\, with arms outstretched to all mankind. \nChrist did not endure all forms of human suffering. He was not\, as we have seen\, subject to internal ailments\, to sickness or disease. His bodily suffering was externally caused. And by dying on the cross\, he excluded other modes of fatal suffering\, such as burning or drowning. Yet\, in one sense\, our Lord did endure all human suffering: all types of human beings had part in afflicting him… \nChrist’s suffering was the greatest of all suffering\, the keenest pain. The prophet Jeremias foretold this fact in the cry: “O all ye that pass by the way\, attend and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.” The external pains of the scourging\, the crowning with thorns\, and the crucifixion\, were manifestly extreme. \nAnd the sadness of his perfect soul over the sins of men was the greatest distress ever humanly experienced. Our Lord’s body was most perfect\, and therefore most acutely sensitive to pain. And he did not permit study or consideration on the part of reason to allay the bodily pangs in any manner. For our Lord suffered voluntarily to win for man the greatest benefits; he measured his sufferings to accord with their fruits. Thus our Lord’s pain in his Passion was the very greatest\, the most intense\, of pains. Yet\, despite the fact that our Lord truly suffered in his whole soul\, that soul had\, throughout the Passion\, the uninterrupted enjoyment of the beatific vision. There is no conflict here… \nOur Lord who willed to be “reputed with the wicked” was crucified between two thieves. It belonged to the perfection of his suffering\, which was the greatest\, that he should bear the insult…of being publicly executed with an ordinary group of criminals as though he were one of them. The cross of Christ\, with an unrepentant sinner on one side\, and a converted sinner on the other\, shows the divinely innocent judge of mankind on the judgment seat between “those on the right\, and those on the left\,” the saved and the rejectors of salvation\, as the case will be on the last day. \nThe Passion of Christ was the suffering and death of our Lord as man. We cannot say that the Godhead suffered and died. It is perfectly true that he who died is God. But he is also man\, in the unity of the divine Person of the Son. \n7 Ed. Paul J. Glenn. A Tour of the Summa. St. Louis\, MO: B. Herder Book Co.\, 1960. 351-353.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-thomas-aquinas/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:10017-1674777600-1674863999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - SS Timothy & Titus
DESCRIPTION:The Virtue of St Timothy as a Pattern for Christians6\nfrom a sermon by St John Henry Newman \n“Drink no longer water\, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and for your other infirmities”. This is a remarkable verse\, because it accidentally tells us so much. It is addressed to Timothy\, St Paul’s companion\, the first Bishop of Ephesus. Of Timothy we know very little\, except that he did minister to St Paul\, and hence we might have inferred that he was a man of very saintly character; but we know little or nothing of him\, except that he had been from a child a careful reader of Scripture. This indeed\, by itself\, in that Apostolic age\, would have led us to infer that he had risen to some great height in spiritual excellence; though it must be confessed that instances are frequent at this day\, of persons knowing the Bible well\, and yet being little stricter than others in their lives\, for all their knowledge. \nTimothy\, however\, had so read the Old Testament\, and had so heard from St Paul the New\, that he was a true follower of the Apostle\, as the Apostle was of Christ. St Paul accordingly calls him “my own son”\, or “my true son in the faith”. And elsewhere he says to the Philippians that he has “no man like-minded to Timothy\, who would naturally” or truly “care for their state”. But still\, after all\, this is but a general account of him\, and we seem to desire something more definite in the way of description\, beyond merely knowing that he was a great saint\, which conveys no clear impression to the mind. Now\, in the text we have accidentally a glimpse given us of his mode of life. St Paul does not expressly tell us that he was a man of mortified habits; but he reveals the fact indirectly by cautioning him against an excess of mortification. “Drink no longer water\,” he says\, “but use a little wine.” It should be observed that wine\, in the southern countries\, is the ordinary beverage; it is nothing strong or costly. Yet even from such as this\, Timothy was in the habit of abstaining\, and restricting himself to water; and\, as the Apostle thought\, imprudently\, to the increase of his “frequent infirmities.” \nThere is something very striking in this accidental mention of the private ways of this Apostolic Bishop. We know indeed from history the doctrine and the life of the great saints\, who lived some time after the Apostles’ age; but we are naturally anxious to know something more of the Apostles themselves and their associates. We say\, “Oh that we could speak to St Paul – that we could see him in his daily walk\, and hear his oral and familiar teaching! – that we could ask him what he meant by this expression in his Epistles\, or what he thought of this or the other doctrine.” This is not given to us. God might give us greater light than He does; but it is His gracious will to give us the less. Yet perhaps much more has been given us in Scripture\, as it has come to us\, than we think\, if our eyes were enlightened to discern it there. Such\, for instance\, is this text; it is a sudden revelation\, a glimpse of the personal character of Apostolic Christians; it is a hint which we may follow out. For no one will deny that a very great deal of doctrine\, and a very great deal of precept\, goes with such a fact as this: namely\, that this holy man\, without impiously disparaging God’s creation\, and thanklessly rejecting God’s gifts\, yet\, on the whole\, lived a life of abstinence. \nI cannot understand why such a life is not excellent in a Christian now\, if it was the characteristic of Apostles and friends of Apostles then. I really do not see why the trials and persecutions\, which surrounded them from Jews and Gentiles\, their forlorn despised state\, and their necessary discomforts\, should not even have exempted them from voluntary sufferings in addition\, unless such self-imposed hardships were pleasing to Christ. Such were the holy men of old. How far are we below them! Alas for our easy sensual life\, our cowardice\, our sloth! is this the way by which the kingdom of God is won? \n6 Parochial and Plain Sermons\, San Francisco: Ignatius Press\, 1987\, p. 1193.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-ss-timothy-titus/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20230121T174922Z
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UID:10015-1674691200-1674777599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - SS Robert\, Alberic\, & Stephen
DESCRIPTION:A Reading on the Holy Founders Journey to the Wilderness of Citeaux5\nfrom the Exordium Magnum of Conrad of Eberbach \nIn the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 1098\, Dom Robert\, the abbot of the Abbey of Molesme…and with him went those brothers whose hearts God had touched\, set out from Molesme\, making the same choice as their father Saint Benedict\, to tire themselves out in working for God rather than settling down in a comfortable way of life. They hurried eagerly to that place which by the grace of God had been offered them beforehand as suitable to their endeavor\, that is\, to the wilderness called Citeaux. Situated in the diocese of Chalon\, it was at that time a place but seldom approached by human beings because of the woods and dense briars and inhabited only by wild beasts. \nThe men of God arrived at this place of horror and vast solitude; and thought it quite suitable for the sort of religious observance which they had long had in mind and for which they had come\, all the more so when they realized that the density of woods and briars would make the monastery remote and cut off\, quite forgotten by and inaccessible to the world. So by the will of the bishop of Chalon and the consent of the person to whom the place belonged\, they began to build there… on 21 March\, that is\, on the solemnity of the birth [to eternal life] of Saint Benedict\, which was also Palm Sunday and therefore celebrated with double joy\, to the rejoicing of angels and the casting down of demons…By a happy omen\, those who had decided to arrange the ordering of their life and the guidelines for divine services according to the form prescribed in the Rule began this undertaking on the birthday of the very person who had\, through the life-giving Spirit\, given the saving law to many. \n…Just as at the beginning of grace\, when Christ our Lord and Savior was born\, the world\, while it knew him not\, received a pledge of new redemption\, of ancient reconciliation\, of eternal happiness\, so too in these last days\, when charity is cold and iniquity everywhere abounds\, the almighty and merciful Lord planted the seed of that same grace in the wilderness of Citeaux. Watered by the rain of the Holy Spirit\, it gathered an incredibly plentiful harvest of spiritual riches\, growing and developing into a great tree so surpassingly beautiful and fruitful that people of various nations\, tribes\, and tongues delighted to rest in its shade and satisfy themselves with its fruits. Yet although this fruit makes bitter the stomach of carnal desire by the work of repentance\, it is as sweet as honey in the mouth of the developing conscience. \nMoreover\, the lord archbishop\, legate of the apostolic see\, acknowledged this solid foundation by his blessing\, advice\, and authority. Taking note of the poverty of the servants of God\, moreover\, and the fact that in the barren place they were living in they were able neither to subsist nor to construct a building unless they had the support of some powerful person\, he wrote to the illustrious prince Odo\, then Duke of Burgundy\, asking and urging him to support the poor men of Christ who were so zealous for the Rule and monastic way of life\, and to grant them his protection and come to their help with what they needed\, as becomes the generosity of a prince. To this request and advice Lord Odo…agreed\, and he was delighted by the fervor and devotion of the brothers; at his own cost he completely finished the wooden monastery they had begun in their poverty\, procured for them everything they needed\, and supported them abundantly with lands and livestock. \n5 Conrad of Eberbach. The Great Beginnning of Citeaux: A Narrative of the Beginning of the Cistercian Order: The Exordium Magnum of Conrad of Eberbach. CF 72. Trans. Benedicta Ward\, SLG\, and Paul Savage. Collegeville\, MN: Cistercian Publications\, 2012. 75-78.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-ss-robert-alberic-stephen/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
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UID:10013-1674604800-1674691199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Conversion of St Paul
DESCRIPTION:From a Homily on the Praise of St Paul4\nby St John Chrysostom \nPaul\, more than anyone else\, has shown us what humankind really is\, and in what our nobility consists\, and of what virtue this particular animal is capable. Each day he aimed ever higher; each day he rose up with greater ardor and faced with new eagerness the dangers that threatened him. He summed up his attitude in the words: I forget what is behind me and push on to what lies ahead. When he saw death imminent\, he bade others share his joy: Rejoice and be glad with me! And when danger\, injustice and abuse threatened\, he said: I am content with weakness\, mistreatment and persecution. These he called the weapons of righteousness\, thus telling us that he derived immense profit from them. \nThus\, amid the traps set for him by his enemies\, with exultant heart he turned their every attack into a victory for himself; constantly beaten\, abused and cursed\, he boasted of it as though he were celebrating a triumphal procession and taking trophies home\, and offered thanks to God for it all: Thanks be to God who is always victorious in us! \nThe most important thing of all to him\, however\, was that he knew himself to be loved by Christ. Enjoying this love\, he considered himself happier than anyone else; were he without it\, it would be no satisfaction to be the friend of principalities and powers. He preferred to be thus loved and be the least of all\, or even to be among the damned\, than to be without that love and be among the great and honored. \nTo be separated from that love was\, in his eyes\, the greatest and most extraordinary of torments; the pain of that loss would alone have been hell\, and endless\, unbearable torture. \nSo too\, in being loved by Christ he thought of himself as possessing life\, the world\, the angels\, present and future\, the kingdom\, the promise and countless blessings. Apart from that love nothing saddened or delighted him; for nothing earthly did he regard as bitter or sweet. \nDeath itself and pain and whatever torments might come were but child’s play to him\, provided that thereby he might bear some burden for the sake of Christ. \n4Hom. 2 de laudibus sancti Pauli: PG 50\, 477-480.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-conversion-of-st-paul/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
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UID:10011-1674518400-1674604799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Francis de Sales
DESCRIPTION:On Receiving Holy Communion3\nby St Francis de Sales \nPrepare yourself for holy communion the evening before…retiring earlier\, that you may rise sooner in the morning. Should you awake in the night\, raise your heart to God immediately\, and make some ardent aspirations\, in order to prepare your soul for the reception of her Spouse\, who\, being awake whilst you were asleep\, prepares a thousand graces and favors for you\, if\, on your part\, you are disposed to receive them. In the morning\, rise up with alacrity to enjoy the happiness you hope for; and having confessed\, go with a great\, but humble confidence\, to receive this heavenly food\, which nourishes your soul to immortality… Represent to yourself\, that as the bee\, after gathering from the flowers the dew of heaven\, and the choicest juice of the earth\, reducing them into honey\, carries it into her hive\, so the priest\, having taken from the altar the Savior of the world… puts Him as delicious food into your mouth and body. \nHaving received Him in your breast\, excite your heart to do homage to the author of your salvation: treat with Him concerning your internal affairs; consider that He has taken up His abode within you for your happiness; make Him then as welcome as you possibly can\, and conduct yourself in such a manner as to make it appear by all your actions\, that God is with you. \nBut when you cannot enjoy the benefit of really communicating at the holy Mass\, communicate at least spiritually\, uniting yourself by an ardent desire to this life-giving flesh of our Savior. \nYour principal intention in communicating should be to advance in virtue\, to strengthen yourself in the love of God\, and to receive comfort from this love; for you must receive through love\, that which love alone caused to be given to you. You cannot consider our Savior in an action\, either more full of love\, or more tender than this\, in which He annihilates Himself\, or as we may more properly say\, changes Himself into food\, that so He may penetrate our souls\, and unite Himself most intimately to the heart\, and to the body of His faithful. \nIf worldlings ask you why you communicate so often\, tell them it is to learn to love God\, to purify yourself from your imperfections\, to be delivered from your miseries\, to be comforted in your afflictions\, and supported in your weaknesses. Tell them that two sorts of persons ought to communicate frequently; the perfect\, because being well disposed\, they would be greatly to blame not to approach to the source and fountain of perfection; and the imperfect\, to the end that they may be able to aspire to perfection; the strong\, lest they should become weak; and the weak\, that they may become strong; the sick\, that they may be restored to health; and the healthy\, lest they should fall into sickness: that for your part\, being imperfect\, weak\, and sick\, you have need to communicate frequently with Him who is your perfection\, your strength\, and your physician. Tell them\, that those who have not many worldly affairs to look after\, ought to communicate often\, because they have leisure; that those who have much business on hand\, should also communicate often; for he who labors much and is loaded with pains\, ought to eat solid food\, and that frequently. Tell them that you receive the holy sacrament\, to learn to receive it well; because one hardly performs an action well\, which he does not often practice. \nCommunicate frequently\, then… so\, by approaching to\, and eating beauty\, purity\, and goodness itself\, in this divine sacrament you will become altogether fair\, pure and virtuous. \n3 St Francis de Sales. Introduction to a Devout Life. New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co.\, 1946\, 143-146.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-francis-de-sales/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20221123T001543Z
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UID:9655-1674477000-1674478800@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Jim Finley - Zoom
DESCRIPTION:Content is protected.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/jim-finley-zoom/
CATEGORIES:LCG open events
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
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UID:10009-1674432000-1674518399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Weekday
DESCRIPTION:Simplicity and Openness2\nfrom the Collected Works of Saint Rafael Arnaiz \nOne must walk so many tortured paths to arrive at simplicity. Complication is such an uncomfortable thing…and we human beings like to complicate everything for ourselves. Often\, if we fail to practice virtue\, it’s because our complicated nature rejects what is simple. Often\, we fail to appreciate the magnificence hidden within an act of simplicity\, because we look for greatness in complicated things; we judge the magnificence of things based on their difficulty…I clearly see that what seemed dark and complicated to me before is actually rather simple and straightforward. \nVirtue…God…the interior life\, how difficult I thought it was to live that! It’s not that I’m virtuous now\, or that I have a completely clear knowledge of God and spiritual life\, but I’ve realized that you get there without complications or complexities\, without clever philosophy\, without technical challenges. I’ve come to see that you reach God in precisely the opposite manner. You come to know Him through simplicity of heart and being uncomplicated. There’s nothing difficult about acts of love…What’s truly difficult is wanting to know God by searching out His mysteries. The former leads us to God\, and the latter does not… \nSo\, then\, why do we lack virtue at times? Because we aren’t simple; because we complicate our desires; because everything we want is made difficult by our weak will\, which gets carried away by whatever is pleasing\, comfortable\, and unnecessary\, and often by its passions. We lack virtue not because it is difficult\, but because we don’t want it. We lack patience…because we don’t want it. We lack temperance…because we don’t want it. We lack chastity…for the same reason. We would be saints if we wanted to be…it’s much harder to become an engineer than it is to become a saint. If only we had faith! \nThe interior life…the spiritual life\, a life of prayer. “My God! That must be difficult!” But it’s not at all. Get rid of everything in your heart that’s in the way\, and you’ll find God there. That’s it. Often we look for things that aren’t there\, and on the other hand we’ll walk right by a treasure without seeing it…We look for Him in a whole tangled mess of things\, and to us\, the more complicated they are\, the better. And all the while\, we are carrying God around inside of us\, yet we don’t look for Him there. Collect yourself within…gaze upon your nothingness\, gaze upon the nothingness of the world\, place yourself at the foot of the cross\, and if you are simple\, you will see God. \nBehold\, the life of prayer. We don’t need to add something that’s already there. Rather\, we need to get rid of what is in the way. I say “something that’s already there” because I assume the soul to be in a state of God’s grace\, but if God is not present there at times\, it’s because we don’t want that. We have such a great big heap of interests\, distractions\, affinities\, vain desires\, pretensions…we have so much of the world inside of us that God is driven away…But all we have to do is want Him\, and God will fill the soul again in such a way that you’d have to be blind not to see it. \nIf a soul wants to live according to God’s ways…it must be rid of everything that is not Him…and that is it. It’s quite easy. If we wanted to\, and if we asked God with simplicity\, we would make great progress in the spiritual life. If we wanted to be saints\, we would be…But we’re such fools that we don’t want to…We prefer to waste time on stupid vanities. We’ll regret that someday. \nBut I am very happy\, because I have come to see that everything is simple and straightforward…and this is within my reach. May the Most Blessed Virgin Mary come to my aid. Amen. \n2Saint Rafael Arnaiz. The Collected Works. Ed. Sr. Maria Gonzalo-Garcia\, OCSO. Trans. Catherine Addington. Collegeville\, MN: Cistercian Publications\, 2022. 542-544.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-weekday-5/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230122
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20230121T174138Z
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UID:10007-1674345600-1674431999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
DESCRIPTION:He Went to Capernaum\, that the Prophecy of Isaiah Might be Fulfilled1\nA Commentary by John Justus Landsberg \nThe people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Everyone knows that we were all born in darkness\, and once lived in darkness. But now that the Sun of Righteousness has risen for us\, let us see that we no longer remain in darkness. \nChrist came to enlighten those who lived in darkness\, overshadowed by death\, and to guide their feet into the way of peace. Do you ask what darkness? Whatever is present in our intellect\, in our will\, or in our memory that is not God\, or which has not its source in God; that is to say\, whatever in us is not for God’s sake\, is a barrier between God and the soul – it is darkness.\nIn himself Christ brought us light which would enable us to see our sins\, and hate our darkness. His freely chosen poverty\, when there was no place for him in the inn\, is for us a light by which we can now learn that the poor in spirit\, to whom the kingdom of heaven belongs\, are blessed. \nThe love with which Christ offered himself to instruct us\, and to endure for us injuries\, ostracism\, persecution\, lashes\, and death upon a cross; the love finally which made him pray for those who crucified him – that love is for us a light by which we may learn to love our enemies. \nThe humility with which he emptied himself\, taking the nature of a slave\, and with which he scorned the glory of the world\, and willed to be born\, not in a palace but in a stable\, and to die ignominiously on a gibbet – that humility is for us a light showing us what a detestable crime it is for clay\, that is to say\, for poor weak creatures\, to be proud\, to exalt themselves\, or to refuse submission\, when the infinite God was humbled\, despised\, and subject to human beings. \nThe meekness with which Christ endured hunger\, thirst\, cold\, harsh words\, lashes\, and wounds\, when he was led like a sheep to the slaughter\, and like a lamb before his shearer opened not his mouth – that meekness is for us a light. By it we see how useless it is to be angry\, how useless to threaten. By it we accept our own suffering\, and do not serve Christ merely from routine. By it we learn how much is required of us\, and that when suffering comes our way we should bewail our sins in silent submission\, since he endured affliction with such patience and long-suffering\, not for his own sins\, but for ours. \nReflect then\, beloved\, on all the virtues which Christ taught us by his example\, which he recommends by his counsel\, and which he enables us to imitate by the assistance of his grace. \n1 Journey with the Fathers: Commentaries on the Sunday Gospels Year A. Ed. Edith Barnecut\, O.S.B. New York: New City Press\, 1992. 82-83.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-3rd-sunday-in-ordinary-time/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20230121T173918Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230121T173918Z
UID:10005-1674345600-1674431999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:SKEMA
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n3rd Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (I)\nJanuary 22 – 28\, 2023\n\n\n\nSun\n22\nMon\n23\nTue\n24\nWed\n25\nThu\n26\nFri\n27\nSat\n28\n\n\nOffice\n3rd Sunday\nWeekday\nSt Francis de Sales\nConversion of St Paul\nSS Robert\, Alberic\, & Stephen\nSS Timothy & Titus\nSt Thomas Aquinas\n\n\nVigils\nJudg 9:1-21\nJudg 9:22-41\nJudg 9:42-57\nActs 26:1-23\nLev 26:3-13\nJudg 10:6-18\nJudg 11:1-11\n\n\nLauds\nZech 7:1-7\nZech 7:8-14\nZech 8:1-6\nSir 39:1-10\nSir 2:1-11\nZech 8:7-11\nZech 8:12-17\n\n\nMass\n67\n317\n318\n519\n606\, 322\, 815.8\n520\, 321\n322\n\n\n1st\nIsa 8:23b-9:3\nHeb 9:15\, 24-28\nHeb 10:1-10\nActs 22:3-16\nSir 44:1\,10-15\n2 Tim 1:1-8\nHeb 11:1-2\, 8-19\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 1:10-13\, 17\n\n\n\nHeb 11:1-2\, 8-16\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 4:12-23\nMark 3:22-30\nMark 3:31-35\nMark 16:15-18\nMark 10:24b-30\nMark 4:26-34\nMark 4:35-41\n\n\nVespers\nEph 5:1-5\nEph 5:6-14\nEph 5:15-20\nEph 4:1-6\n1 Jn 4:13-21\nEph 6:1-9\nEph 6:10-17
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-17/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230121T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230121T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T163048
CREATED:20221123T001737Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221123T001737Z
UID:9658-1674313200-1674318600@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Cleveland LCG Monthly Meeting
DESCRIPTION:Content is protected.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/cleveland-lcg-monthly-meeting/
CATEGORIES:LCG Local Community Meetings
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR