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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250610
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250611
DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250608T014837Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250608T014837Z
UID:13494-1749513600-1749599999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE DAY THAT\nWILL NEVER END\nFrom a sermon by St Ephrem 3\n◊◊◊\nLord\, shed upon our darkened souls the brilliant light of your wisdom so that we may be enlightened and serve you with renewed purity. Sunrise marks the hour for men to begin their toil\, but in our souls\, Lord\, prepare a dwelling for the day that will never end. Grant that we may come to know the risen life and that nothing may distract us from the delights you offer. Through our unremitting zeal for you\, Lord\, set upon us the sign of your day that is not measured by the sun. \nIn your sacrament we daily embrace you and receive you into our bodies; make us worthy to experience the resurrection for which we hope. We have had your treasure hidden within us ever since we received baptismal grace; it grows ever richer at your sacramental table. Teach us to find our joy in your favor! Lord\, we have within us your memorial\, received at your spiritual table; let us possess it in its full reality when all things shall be made new. We glimpse the beauty that is laid up for you when we gaze upon the spiritual beauty your immortal will now creates within our mortal selves. \nSavior\, your crucifixion marked the end of your mortal life; teach us to crucify ourselves and make way for our life in the Spirit. May your resurrection\, Jesus\, bring true greatness to our spiritual self and may your sacraments be the mirror wherein we may know that self… Your divine plan for the world is a mirror for the spiritual world; teach us to walk in that world as spiritual persons. \nLord\, do not deprive our souls of the spiritual vision of you nor our bodies of your warmth and sweetness. The mortality lurking in our bodies spreads corruption through us; may the spiritual waters of your love cleanse the effects of mortality from our hearts. Grant\, Lord\, that we may hasten to our true city and\, like Moses on the mountain\, possess it now in vision. \n3\nThe Liturgy of the Hours – vol. II – Catholic Book Publishing Co – New York – 1976 – p 1869.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/weekday-21/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250611
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250612
DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250608T015434Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250608T015434Z
UID:13496-1749600000-1749686399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:St. Barnabas
DESCRIPTION:THE LESSON OF ST BARNABAS\nFrom a sermon by St John Henry Newman 4\n◊◊◊\nOn two occasions the conduct [of St Barnabas] is scarcely becoming an Apostle\, as instancing somewhat of that infirmity which uninspired persons of his peculiar character frequently exhibit. Both are cases of indulgence towards the faults of others\, yet in a different way; the one\, an over-easiness in a matter of doctrine\, the other\, in a matter of conduct. \nWith all his tenderness for the Gentiles\, yet on one occasion he could not resist indulging the prejudices of some Judaizing brethren\, who came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Peter first was carried away; before they came\, “he did eat with the Gentiles\, but when they came\, he withdrew\, and separated himself\, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch\, that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.” \nThe other instance was his indulgent treatment of Mark\, his sister’s son\, which occasioned the quarrel between him and St Paul. “Barnabas determined to take with them\,” on their Apostolic journey\, “John\, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them\, who departed from them from Pamphylia\, and went not with them to the work.” \nNow it is very plain what description of character\, and what kind of lesson\, is brought before us in the history of this Holy Apostle. Holy he was\, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith; still the characteristics and the infirmities of man remained in him\, and thus he is “unto us for an example\,” consistently with the reverence we feel towards him as one of the foundations of the Christian\nChurch. He is an example and warning to us\, not only as showing us what we ought to be\, but as evidencing how the highest gifts and graces are corrupted in our sinful nature\, if we are not diligent to walk step by step\, according to the light of God’s commandments. \nBe our mind as heavenly as it may be\, most loving\, most holy\, most zealous\, most energetic\, most peaceful\, yet if we look off from Him for a moment\, and look towards ourselves\, at once these excellent tempers fall into some extreme or mistake. Charity becomes over-easiness\, holiness is tainted with spiritual pride\, zeal degenerates into fierceness\, activity eats up the spirit of prayer\, hope is heightened into presumption. We cannot guide ourselves. God’s revealed word is our sovereign rule of conduct; and therefore\, among other reasons\, is faith so principal a grace\, for it is the directing power which receives the commands of Christ\, and applies them to the heart. \n4\nPAROCHIAL & PLAIN SERMONS\, John. H. Newman (Ignatius Press\, CA 1987) pp. 401-403.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/st-barnabas/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250612
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250613
DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250608T015854Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250608T015854Z
UID:13498-1749686400-1749772799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:St. Alice
DESCRIPTION:ALICE THE LEPER\nFrom “The Life of St Alice” by Arnold of Villiers 5\n◊◊◊\nAlice was a nun of La Cambre in Brussels. She left her home when she was seven years old. From the beginning she endeavored to embrace a genuine love for God\, such as would equip and train her to take a wise stand against any onslaught of the devil. Compared with this love\, every transitory thing cheapened for her. For the sake of this love she spurned all things visible\, except as required for bodily needs\, and she patiently endured any adversity. As Alice grew\, her virtues increased with her years and her skill in applying those virtues advanced even beyond her years. God in turn wanted her to become his vessel of election. He wished her to be thoroughly purged of all temporal din\, all defilement from this secular world. God longed that his Bride be free\, be at leisure for him alone. To this end He struck her a heavy blow\, struck her down with an incurable disease of leprosy. \nThe contagious nature of her disease demanded sequestration from the community. Due to this her heart was severely crushed and bruised. Yet she remembered God and was consoled. And the loving Lord gazed with eyes of mercy upon this handmaid’s humility and deigned to warm her heart with His Love\, to the extent that Alice preferred to linger in this situation of hers\, with God as her only visitor. She learned from many experiences that the surest thing for her to do in every trouble and anguish was to take refuge in God’s own haven. She ever applied this against all weariness and all emptiness. \nAlice lodged in one hut for the first four years\, but after that another hut was built in view of her unique infirmity. When this had been completed and she\nhad moved in\, the Lord appeared to her\, right inside and on the very first day. With open arms He embraced her\, saying: “Welcome\, dearest daughter! Long have I desired to welcome you into this tabernacle of my covenant. For your whole remaining sojourn in this body\, I will abide with you and be\, as it were\, your cellarer\, ministering to you in every need.” \nOnce on the feast of St Ursula and her companions\, at the time of Matins\, Alice stepped across the threshold of her hut to face towards the church and hearken awhile to the voices of the nuns praising God. she became disturbed in mind that she could not keep company with the others at the psalmody in choir. But she turned to the Lord\, saying\, “This I ask of you\, holy Father\, I cannot now join the others in praising these holy Virgins as I would like\, since the special gift you have given me does not allow me to be in community for now. But this at least I ask: after this life’s misery if over\, do not allow me to be separated from their companionship!” And the Lord answered her: “Sweetest daughter\, it shall not be merely as you desire; in my Kingdom I shall set you in a place loftier yet!” \nWholly deprived of the use of her body and of any of its members\, she was committed to her bed. She breathed her last breath on the 11th day of June\, at sunrise\, in the year of the Lord 1250. \n5\nAlice the Leper: Life of St Alice of Schaerbeck by Arnold II of Villers – Translated by Martinus Cawley\, ocso – Guadalupe Translations – 2000
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/st-alice-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250613
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250614
DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250608T020151Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250608T020151Z
UID:13500-1749772800-1749859199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:St. Anthony of Padua
DESCRIPTION:ST ANTHONY OF PADUA\nFrom the Little Flowers of St Francis of Assisi 6\n◊◊◊\nAt one time that wonderful vessel of the Holy Spirit\, St Anthony of Padua\, one of the chosen followers and companions of St Francis\, whom St Francis used to call his vicar\, was preaching before the Pope and Cardinals in a consistory where there were people from different countries–Greeks and Latins\, French and Germans\, Slavs and English–and others of many different languages and idioms. And being inflamed by the Holy Spirit and inspired with apostolic eloquence\, he preached and explained the word of God so effectively\, devoutly\, subtly\, clearly\, and understandably that all who were assembled at that consistory\, although they spoke different languages\, clearly and distinctly heard and understood every one of his words as if he had spoken in each of their languages. Therefore they were all astounded and filled with devotion\, for it seemed to them that the former miracle of the Apostles at the time of Pentecost had been renewed\, when by the power of the Holy Spirit they spoke in different languages. \nAnd in amazement they said to one another: “Is he not a Spaniard? How then are we all hearing him in the language of the country where we were born–we Greeks and Latins\, French and Germans\, Slavs and English\, Lombards and foreigners?” The Pope also was astonished at St Anthony’s profound knowledge of Holy Scripture and said: “He is truly the Ark of the Covenant and the Treasury of Holy Scripture!” \nSuch then are the soldiers whom our leader St Francis had – companions who could nourish with the marrow of the Holy Spirit and arm with heavenly weapons against the snares of the enemy not only the flock of Christ but also the Vicar of Christ with his venerable College of Cardinals. To the glory of Our Lord Jesus Christ\, who is blessed forever and ever. \n6\nTrans.\, Raphael Brown “Omnibus of Sources”\, Chicago\, 1973\, pp. 1390-91.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/st-anthony-of-padua-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250614
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250615
DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250608T020538Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250608T020538Z
UID:13502-1749859200-1749945599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Blessed Gerard
DESCRIPTION:LAMENT FOR THE DEATH OF GERARD\nBy St Bernard of Clairvaux 7\n◊◊◊\nHow much better for me\, O Gerard\, if I had lost my life rather than your company\, since through your tireless inspiration\, your unfailing help and under your provident scrutiny I persevered with my studies of things divine. Why\, I ask\, have we loved\, why have we lost each other? O cruel circumstance! But pity pertains to my lot only\, not to his. \nAnd the reason\, dear brother\, is that though you have lost your loved ones\, you have found others more lovable still. As for me\, already so miserable\, what consolation remains to me\, and you\, my only comfort\, gone? Our bodily companionship was equally enjoyable to both\, because our dispositions were so alike; but only I am wounded by the parting. All that was pleasant we rejoiced to share; now sadness and mourning are mine alone: anger has swept over me\, rage is fastened on me. Both of us were so happy in each other’s company\, sharing the same experiences\, talking together about them; now my share of these delights has ceased and you have passed on\, you have traded them for an immense reward. \nWhat harvest of joys\, what a profusion of blessings is yours. In place of my insignificant person you have the abiding presence of Christ\, and mingling with the angelic choirs you feel our absence no loss. You have no cause to complain that we have been cut off from you\, favored as you are by the constant presence of the Lord of Majesty and of his heavenly friends. But what do I have in your stead? How I long to know what you now think about me\, once so uniquely yours\, as I sink beneath the weight of cares and afflictions\, deprived of the support you lent to my feebleness! Perhaps you still give thought to our miseries\, now that you have plunged into the abyss of light\, become engulfed in that sea of endless happiness. It is possible that though you once knew us according to the flesh\, you now no longer know us and because you have entered into the power of the Lord you will be mindful of his righteousness alone\, forgetful of ours. \nFurthermore\, “he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him\,” his whole being somehow changed into a movement of divine love. He no longer has the power to experience or relish anything but God\, and what God himself experiences and relishes\, because he is filled with God. But God is love\, and the deeper one’s union with God\, the more full one is of love. And though God cannot endure pain\, he is not without compassion for those who do; it is his nature to show mercy and pardon. \nTherefore you too must of necessity be merciful\, clasped as you are to him who is Mercy; and though you no longer feel the need of mercy\, though you no longer suffer\, you cans still be compassionate. Your love has not diminished but only changed; when you were clothed with God you did not divest yourself of concern for us\, for God is certainly concerned about us. All that smacks of weakness you have cast away\, but not what pertains to love. And since love never comes to an end\, you will not forget me for ever. \nIt seems to me that I can almost hear my brother saying: “Can a woman forget the son of her womb? And if she should forget\, yet I will not forget you.” This is how it must be. \n7 On The Song Of Songs II Sermon 26.III. Trans. Kilian Walsh. Cistercian Publications 1976. 62-64.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/blessed-gerard/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20250614T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20250614T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250506T004744Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250506T004744Z
UID:13411-1749891600-1749902400@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:LCG Chicago June meeting 6/14/25 9:00 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 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/lcg-chicago-june-meeting-6-14-25-900-am-cdt/
CATEGORIES:LCG Local Community Meetings,LCG open events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20250614T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20250614T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250511T032924Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250610T014056Z
UID:13430-1749891600-1749902400@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:LCG Chicago Monthly Meeting 9:00am 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 \nAgenda \n9:00 Gather for Opening prayer. \n  \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. Carols Rodriguez \nFr. Elias Dietz \nBr. John Zuber \n  \n9:10 Lectio. Our lectio piece will be led by Anthony Nuccio. \n  \n9:50  Reading.  Our reading this month is to share The Spiritual Canticle by St. John of the Cross. \n  \n10:45 Housekeeping.   Volunteer to lead lectio next month?  Chicago Report on LCG Advisory Council activity.  Bon voyage for Tom Kosnik and Tina Parayre at the international lay Cistercian meeting in next week in Avila.  Our next book will be—bring your suggestions. \n11:00 Update.   Share how the Holy Spirt has entered our lives as lay Cistercians since our last meeting. \n  \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.) \n  \nOur next meeting: July 12\, 2025.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/lcg-chicago-monthly-meeting-900am-cdt/
CATEGORIES:LCG Local Community Meetings,LCG open events
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250615
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250616
DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250614T124413Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250614T124413Z
UID:13569-1749945600-1750031999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema - 11th Week ORD
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n11th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nJune 15 – 21\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n15\nMon\n16\nTue\n17\nWed\n18\nThu\n19\nFri\n20\nSat\n21\n\n\nOffice\nHoly Trinity\nOffice for the Dead\nBl M-Joseph Cassant\nWeekday\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSt Aloysius Gonzaga\n\n\nVigils\nSir 36:1-22\nGen 5:1-32\nGen 6:1-22\nGen 7:1-24\nGen 8:1-22\nGen 9:1-29\nGen 11:1-9\, 27-32\n\n\nLauds\nSir 42:15-25\nEccles 2:18-23\nEccles 2:24-3:8\nEccles 3:9-15\nEccles 3:16-22\nEccles 4:1-6\nEccles 4:7-12\n\n\nMass\n166\n365\n366\n367\n368\n369\n370\n\n\n1st\nProv 8:22-31\n2 Cor 6:1-10\n2 Cor 8:1-9\n2 Cor 9:6-11\n2 Cor 11:1-11\n2 Cor 11:18\, 21-30\n2 Cor 12:1-10\n\n\n2nd\nRom 5:1-5\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 16:12-15\nMatt 5:38-42\nMatt 5:43-48\nMatt 6:1-6\, 16-18\nMatt 6:7-15\nMatt 6:19-23\nMatt 6:24-34\n\n\nVespers\n1 Cor 2:11-16\nGal 2:15-21\nGal 3:1-9\nGal 3:10-14\nGal 3:15-22\nGal 3:23-29\nHeb 9:18-22
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-11th-week-ord/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250615
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250616
DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250614T124547Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250614T124619Z
UID:13571-1749945600-1750031999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Holy Trinity Sunday
DESCRIPTION:THE GIFT OF THE TRINITY \nFrom a commentary by St Athanasius \n◊◊◊ \nIt will not be out of place to consider the ancient tradition\, teaching and \nfaith of the Catholic Church\, which was revealed by the Lord\, proclaimed by the \napostles\, and guarded by the fathers. For upon this faith the Church is built\, and \nif anyone were to lapse from it\, that person would no longer be a Christian either \nin fact or in name. \nWe acknowledge the Trinity\, holy and perfect\, to consist of the Father\, the \nSon\, and the Holy Spirit. In this Trinity there is no intrusion of any alien \nelement or of anything from outside\, nor is the Trinity a blend of creative and \ncreated being. It is a wholly creative and energizing reality\, self-consistent and \nundivided in its active power\, for the father makes all things through the Word \nand in the Holy Spirit\, and in this way the unity of the Holy Trinity is preserved. \nAccordingly in the Church\, one God is preached\, one God who is above all \nthings and through all things and in all things. God is above all things as \nFather\, for he is the principle and source; he is through all things through the \nWord; and he is in all things in the Holy Spirit. \nWriting to the Corinthians about spiritual matters\, Paul traces all reality \nback to the one God\, the Father\, saying: Now there are varieties of gifts\, but the \nsame Spirit; and varieties of service\, but the same Lord; and there are \nvarieties of working\, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone. \nEven the gifts that the Spirit dispenses to individuals are given by the \nFather through the Word. For all that belongs to the Father belongs also to the \nSon\, and so the graces given by the Son in the Spirit are true gifts of the Father. \nSimilarly\, when the Spirit dwells in us\, the Word who bestows the Spirit is in us \ntoo\, and the Father is present in the Word. This is the meaning of the text: My \nFather and I will come to him and make our home with him. For where the light \nis\, there also is the radiance; and where the radiance is\, there too are its power \nand resplendent grace. \nThis is also Paul’s teaching in his Second Letter to the Corinthians: The \ngrace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the \nHoly Spirit be with you all. For grace and the gift of the Trinity are given by the \nFather through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Just as grace is given from the Father \nthrough the Son\, so there could be no communication of the gift to us except in \nthe Holy Spirit. But when we share in the Spirit\, we possess the love of the \nFather\, the grace of the Son\, and the fellowship of the Spirit himself.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-sunday-11th-week-ord/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250616
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250617
DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250614T124721Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250614T124721Z
UID:13574-1750032000-1750118399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
DESCRIPTION:THE DEGREES OF LOVE \nBy St John of the Cross \n◊◊◊ \nThe soul is right in daring to say: “may the vision of Your beauty be my \ndeath“\, since she knows that at the instant she sees this beauty she will be \ncarried away by it\, and absorbed in this very beauty\, and transformed in this \nsame beauty\, and made beautiful like this beauty itself\, and enriched and \nprovided for like this very beauty. \nDavid declares\, consequently\, that the death of the saints is precious in \nthe sight of the Lord. This would not be true if they did not participate in His \nvery grandeurs\, for in the sight of God nothing is precious but what God in \nHimself is. \nAccordingly\, the soul does not fear death when she loves\, rather she \ndesires it. Yet sinners are always fearful of death. They foresee that death will \ntake everything away and bring them all evils. As David says\, the death of \nsinners is very evil. And hence\, as the Wise Man says\, the remembrance of it is \nbitter. Since sinners love the life of this world intensely and have little love for \nthat of the other\, they have an immense fear of death. \nThe soul that loves God lives more in the next life than in this\, for the soul \nlives where it loves more than where it gives life\, and thus has but little esteem \nfor this temporal life. She says then\, “may the vision of Your beauty be my \ndeath. For the sickness of love is not cured except by your presence and image.” \nThe reason love sickness has no other remedy than the presence and the \nimage of the Beloved is that\, since this sickness differs from others\, its medicine \nalso differs. In other sicknesses\, following sound philosophy\, contraries are \ncured by contraries\, but love is incurable except by what is in accord with love. \nThe reason for this is that love of God is the soul’s health\, and the soul \ndoes not have full health until loves is complete. Sickness is nothing but a want \nof health\, and when the soul has not even a single degree of love\, she is dead. \nbut when she possesses some degrees of love of God\, no matter how few\, she is \nthen alive\, yet very weak and infirm because of her little love. In the measure \nthat love increases she will be healthier\, and when love is perfect she will have \nfull health. \nThe soul does well to call imperfect love “sickness.” for just as the sick is \ntoo weak for work\, so is the soul\, feeble in love\, too weak to practice heroic \nvirtue. It is also noteworthy that the soul who feels the sickness of love\, a lack of \nlove\, shows that she has some love\, because she is aware of what she lacks \nthrough what she has. The soul who does not feel this sickness shows that she \neither has no love or is perfect in love.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-the-dead-19/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250617
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250618
DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250614T124901Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250614T124901Z
UID:13576-1750118400-1750204799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Blessed Joseph Cassant
DESCRIPTION:BLESSED MARIE JOSEPH CASSANT \nFrom an article by Fr Bernardo Bonowitz3 \n◊◊◊ \nJoseph Cassant was born on March 6\, 1878 in the southern French town \nof Casseneuil\, the younger son of Pierre and Marie Cassant… Whereas Joseph’s \nelder brother\, Emile\, was clearly marked out to continue his father’s agricultural \nwork\, Joseph’s single ambition was to be a priest. \nJoseph’s devotion to the Eucharist drew the attention of the pastor\, who \ntook him in and began to direct his studies toward seminary. However it soon \nbecame apparent that Joseph’s talent did not lay in academic studies. The \npastor then directed his interests toward the Trappist life\, thinking that \nacademics would not be of such importance there. The pastor took Joseph into \nthe rectory and established a Trappist way of life there for the two of them. \nPriest and teenager arose every night at two a.m. They celebrated the whole \nTrappist horarium including the whole Divine Office\, manual labor\, a rigorous \nsilence and kept to a vegetarian diet. \nJoseph entered the Trappist Abbey of Sainte Marie du Desert\, near \nToulouse at the age of sixteen. The novice was captivated by the Novice Master\, \nFr. Andre Malet. He was well equipped to help the novice overcome his natural \ntendencies to scrupulosity and discouragement. Instead of putting the emphasis \non Trappist asceticism and penance… he led Joseph to an emphasis on love\, \nthus bringing him to a spirit of peace rather than turbulence. He fought to give \nhimself in complete confidence in Jesus\, rather than succumbing to paralyzing \nanxiety… With the help of his director\, Fr Andre\, he sought to live as much as \npossible within the Sacred Heart of Jesus\, seeking to make Christ’s inner \nattitudes his own. \nHis greatest challenge was the studies\, as his pastor had originally \nexpected. It was during his time of studies that Joseph first showed ill health. \nHe suffered from migraine headaches and other difficulties… As he prepared for \nthe priesthood\, he started to show the classic symptoms of tuberculosis. But his \nfirm conviction was that God’s will was that he not complain. He was ordained a \npriest on October 12\, 1902. By this time\, everyone was aware that Joseph’s \nordination was a participation in the death of Jesus… But suffering was an art \nthat Cassant knew well because of his love of Jesus… In the early morning of \nJune 17\, 1903\, as Fr. Andre was celebrating Mass for his friend’s intentions\, \nJoseph went to the Lord. \nWe might ask: what does Joseph Cassant have to offer us today? First of \nall\, he instructs us. A man of little intellectual capacity and a very ordinary \nexperience of prayer\, Cassant is nonetheless a theologian of the monastic life. \nHe saw\, and makes us see\, that the personal relation with Jesus is the heart of \nChristian monasticism. He understood that the central monastic practices – \nobedience\, silence and humility – are Christological realities\, expressions of \nChrist’s Sonship and means of our conformity to Christ… \nTrappist vocation is a lifelong process of healing. Joseph Cassant is a \nmonk who was healed\, and Fr Malet by betting on and developing the \nessentially healthy aspect of Joseph was the instrument of the cure. Finally\, \nCassant challenges us. The tools that he brought to the monastery were few but \nindispensable: a good and upright will\, with a consistent practice of fidelity and \ngenerosity\, an interior and exterior obedience to the formation offered by his \nsuperiors. He staked his spiritual destiny on the sanctifying power of the \nconversatio and was sanctified by it. \n3 Cist. Studies Quarterly = vol. 39.1 2004 – pg 67.7
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-blessed-joseph-cassant/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13578-1750204800-1750291199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS \nFrom a sermon by St John Henry Newman \n◊◊◊ \nWhen we commemorate the quickening or vivifying of the Church\, the \nbirth of the spiritual and new creature out of an old world “as good as dead\,” it \nwill be seasonable to consider the nature and attributes of this Church\, as \nmanifested in the elect\, as invisible\, one\, living and spiritual; or what is \notherwise called the Doctrine of the Communion of Saints with each other\, and \nin the Holy Trinity\, in whom their communion with each other consists. \nViewed so far as it merely consists of persons now living in this world\, it is \nof course a visible company; but in its nobler and truer character it is a body \ninvisible\, or nearly so\, as being made up\, not merely of the few who happen still \nto be on their trial\, but of the many who sleep in the Lord. At first\, indeed\, in the \nlifetime of the Apostles\, a great proportion of the whole body was in this world; \nthat is\, not taking into account those Saints\, who had lived in Jewish times\, and \nwho Christ\, on His departure\, made partakers of the privileges then purchased \nby His death for all believers. \nSt Stephen and St James the Greater were the first distinguished Saints of \nthe New Covenant\, who were gathered in to enrich the elder company of Moses\, \nElias\, and their brethren. But from that time they have flowed in space; and as \nyears passed away\, greater and greater has become the proportion which the \nassembly of spirits made perfect bears to that body militant which is its \ncomplement in God’s new creation. At present\, we who live are but one \ngeneration out of fifty\, which since its formation have been new born into it\, and \nendowed with spiritual life and the hope of glory. \nNow these thoughts are so very foreign from the world’s ordinary view of \nthings\, which walks by sight\, not by faith\, and never allows any thing to exist in \nwhat comes before it\, but what it can touch and handle\, that it is necessary to \ninsist and enlarge upon them. The world then makes itself the standard of \nperfection and the center of all good; and when the souls of Christians pass from \nit into the place of spirits\, it fancies that this is their loss\, not its own.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-323/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13580-1750291200-1750377599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE ANGEL \nAND THE MACHINE \nFrom an article by Thomas Merton5 \n◊◊◊ \nThe angels are our brothers and fellow servants in a world of freedom and \nof grace. Like us\, they are saved by Christ the Lord and King of Angels. With \nChrist their King and sent by his command\, they come to us as invisible \nmessengers of his divine will\, as mysterious protectors and friends in the \nspiritual order. Their presence around us—unimaginable\, tender\, solicitous and \nmighty\, terrible as it is gentle—is more and more forgotten while the personal \nhorizon of our spiritual vision shrinks and closes in upon ourselves. [The \nangels] are sent to inform us that we are rooted in the very light by whom they \nwere sent! Yet if they were not sent our eyes would never open\, our hearts would \nnever leap out of their own little constraint into the large freedom of a perfect \nand total response… \nWe meet the angels\, the messengers of divine help\, on the frontiers of our \nown freedom and our own capacity. They touch us when we reach our natural \nlimits…We do not usually meet them except when we ourselves are at the end of \nour strength\, or of our endurance\, or of our understanding\, or of our capacity to \nhope and to believe. The angel appears when we ourselves are reduced to the \ncenter of our deepest need. \nIf the angel comes as the comforter who says “fear not” and “Thy prayer \nis heard“\, that is precisely why man prefers more and more not to be reduced to \nthe extremity where he needs the angelic answer. Rather than fearing and then \nbeing told to fear no more\, he would prefer to avoid fear. Our weak faith would \nrather get along without such powerful help\, coming as it does from the invisible \nworld that is entirely beyond observation and control: in other words\, we would \nprefer to get along with fewer demands upon our faith. We would prefer not to \nbe reminded of our poverty… \nTechnological civilization is\, as we have it now\, a civilization without \nangels. It is a civilization in which we have chosen the machine instead of the \nangel: that is to say that we have placed the machine where the angel used to be: \nat the limit of our own strength\, at the frontier of our natural capacity… \nThe machine is fully visible… Yet the machines are “our” angels. We made \nthem\, not they themselves. They are\, we think\, entirely in our own power. They \nbecome\, then\, extensions of our own intelligence\, our own strength. We do not \nhave to walk to the edge of an infinite void in order to feel the brush of their \nunpredictable wings upon us in the starlight. They form part of our own \nenclosed and comfortable world\, they stand between us and nature… There still \nremain limits where we face the void from which no mechanical rescue is \nimaginable. At these frontiers\, as always\, the angels await us. \nIf technological society may seem to exclude the angels\, it is because it \nseeks to make us forget these other frontiers (especially death!): and this again \nis no fault of the innocent machine. It is our own choice… It is our anxiety to \nmake our machine world completely self-sufficient and autonomous that we \nrender it spiritually unlivable for ourselves. More than ever we need the angels\, \nnot to replace our machines but to teach us to live with them. For the angels \ncome to us to teach us how to rest\, to forget useless care\, to relax\, in silence\, to \n“let go\,” to abandon ourselves not to self-conscious fun but in self-forgetful \nfaith. \n5 The Angel and the Machine”\, first published in Season\, vol. 5\, Summer 1967\, reprinted in The Merton Seasonal\, vol. 22 \nno. 1\, Spring 1997\, pp. 3-6.11
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-324/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13582-1750377600-1750463999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE NECESSITY \nOF COMMUNITY \nFrom an address by St Oscar Romero6 \n◊◊◊ \nA Christian must be concerned to form community and see that the \ncommunity keeps growing in depth of faith and missionary extension. \nChristians must be dissatisfied as long as they see so many baptized persons \nwho have not perceived the richness of their baptism. What the apostles used to \ndo was to take that treasure and make it greater by forming communities and \ncommunity life. \nThis community sense is something we urgently need today… At times \nthere is confusion between the Christian community and the political group. \nSome are unable to tell the difference because the members of a community \ndon’t deepen their faith… \nI say that often our people\, especially the young people\, have reached \npolitical maturity earlier than Christian maturity\, and they see life more in \npolitical terms\, as though the political dimension of life were the only one\, and \nthey have no time left for what is Christian. But it should be the other way \naround: what is Christian comes first\, and it is thence that each one should \ndiscover his or her proper place in the country\, in whatever vocation God gives \none. \nIf God gives a political vocation\, one should live it\, but as a Christian. That \nway we’ll have the sort of people needed nowadays\, people who will become \nmature in a Christian community\, will mature in the gospel\, in their faith\, in \ntheir commitment to Christ\, in their following of the Lord\, who will not let them \nbetray him in the laws or customs of the land\, that is\, in political life. And they \nwill then become the leaders of the transformations that the nation needs today \nmore than ever\, Christians thoroughly committed to Christ\, in a community \nthat is God’s people and\, as the Bible says\, is like a light on a mountaintop. \nToday\, with so much confusion\, so many groups\, so many claims\, the \nChristian community should consider itself a bright light\, providing light and \norientation to everything that happens around us. \n  \n6 from The Violence of Love\, translated by James R. Brockman\, S.J.\, San Francisco: Harper & Row\, 1988\, p. 208.13 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-325/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13584-1750464000-1750550399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Aloysius Gonzaga
DESCRIPTION:A LETTER FROM \nST ALOYSIUS GONZAGA \nTO HIS MOTHER \n◊◊◊ \nYour letter found me lingering still in this region of the dead\, but now I \nmust rouse myself to make my way to heaven at last and to praise God for ever in \nthe land of the living; indeed I had hoped that before this time my journey there \nwould have been over. If charity\, as St Paul says\, means to weep with those who \nweep and rejoice with those who are glad\, then\, dearest mother\, you shall \nrejoice exceedingly that God in His grace and His love for you is showing me the \npath to true happiness\, and assuring me that I shall never lose Him. \nThe divine goodness…is a fathomless and shoreless ocean\, and I confess \nthat when I plunge my mind into thought of this it is carried away by the \nimmensity and feels quite lost and bewildered there. In return for my short and \nfeeble labors\, God is calling me to eternal rest; His voice from heaven invites me \nto the infinite bliss I have sought so languidly\, and promises me this reward for \nthe tears I have so seldom shed. \nTake care above all things…not to insult God’s boundless loving kindness; \nyou should certainly do this if you mourned as dead one living face to face with \nGod\, one whose prayers can bring you in your troubles more powerful aid than \nthey ever could on earth. \nAnd our parting will not be for long; we shall see each other again in \nheaven; we shall be united with our Savior; there we shall praise him with heart \nand soul\, sing his mercies forever\, and enjoy eternal happiness. \nWhen He takes away what He has once lent us\, His purpose is to store our \ntreasure elsewhere more safely and bestow on us those very blessings that we \nourselves would most choose to have. \nI write all this with the one desire that you and all <the> family may \nconsider my departure a joy and favor and that you especially may speed with a \nmother’s blessing my passage across the waters till I reach the shore to which all \nblessings belong. I write the more willingly because I have no clearer way of \nexpressing the love and respect I owe you as your son.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-aloysius/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13607-1750550400-1750636799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema - 12th week Ordinary time
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n12th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nJune 22 – 28\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n22\nMon\n23\nTue\n24\nWed\n25\nThu\n26\nFri\n27\nSat\n28\n\n\nOffice\nCorpus Christi\nOffice for Vocations\nNativity of St John the Baptist\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSacred Heart of Jesus\nImmaculate Heart of Mary\n\n\nVigils\nExod 16:2-15\nGen 12:1-20\nMalachi 3:1-7b\, 19-24\nGen 13:1-18\nGen 14:1-24\nJerm 30:18-31:5\, 18-20\nGen 15:1-21\n\n\nLauds\nWis 16:20-28\nEccles 4:13-17\nJerm 1:4-10\nEccles 5:1-6\nEccles 5:7-11\nIsa 57:14-19\nEccles 5:12-19\n\n\nMass\n169\n371\n587\n373\n374\n172\n376\, 573\n\n\n1st\nGen 14:18-20\nGen 12:1-9\nIsa 49:1-6\nGen 15:1-12\, 17-18\nGen 16:1-12\, 15-16\nEzek 34:11-16\nGen 18:1-15\n\n\n2nd\n1 Cor 11:23-26\n\nActs 13:22-26\n\n\nRom 5:5b-11\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 9:11b-17\nMatt 7:1-5\nLuke 1:57-66\, 80\nMatt 7:15-20\nMatt 7:21-29\nLuke 15:3-7\nLuke 2:41-51\n\n\nVespers\nActs 2:42-47\nActs 13:15-26\n1 Jn 4:1-6\nGal 4:1-11\n1 Jn 3:14-18\nEph 2:1-8\nActs 3:1-10
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-12th-week-ordinary-time/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13609-1750550400-1750636799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Corpus Christi
DESCRIPTION:THE BODY OF CHRIST \nFrom a commentary by St Augustine \n◊◊◊ \nYou see on God’s altar bread and a cup. That is what the evidence of your \neyes tells you\, but your faith requires you to believe that the bread is the body of \nChrist\, the cup the blood of Christ. In these few words we can say perhaps all \nthat faith demands. \nFaith\, however\, seeks understanding; so you may now say to me: “You \nhave told us what we have to believe\, but explain it so that we can understand \nit”… We know from whom our Lord Jesus Christ took his flesh – it was from the \nVirgin Mary. As a baby\, he was suckled\, he was fed\, he developed\, he came to \nyoung man’s estate. He was slain on the cross\, he was taken down from it\, he \nwas buried\, he rose again on the third day. On the day of his own choosing\, he \nascended to heaven\, taking his body with him; and it is from heaven that he will \ncome to judge the living and the dead. But now that he is there\, seated at the \nright hand of the Father\, how can bread be his body? And the cup\, or rather \nwhat is in the cup\, how can that be his blood? \nThese things\, my friends\, are called sacraments\, because our eyes see in \nthem one thing\, our understanding another. Our eyes see the material form; \nour understanding\, its spiritual effect. If\, then\, you want to know what the body \nof Christ is\, you must listen to what the Apostle tells the faithful: Now you are \nthe body of Christ\, and individually you are members of it. \nIf that is so\, it is the sacrament of yourselves that is placed on the Lord’s a \nltar\, and it is the sacrament of yourselves that you receive. You reply “Amen” to \nwhat you are\, and thereby agree that such you are. You hear the words “The \nbody of Christ” and you reply “Amen“. Be\, then\, a member of Christ’s body\, so \nthat your “Amen” may accord with the truth. \nYes\, but why all this in bread? Here let us not advance any ideas of our \nown\, but listen to what the Apostle says over and over again when speaking of \nthis sacrament: Because there is one loaf\, we\, though we are many\, form one \nbody. Let your mind assimilate that and be glad\, for there you will find unity\, \ntruth\, piety\, and love. He says\, one loaf. And who is this one loaf? We\, though \nwe are many\, form one body. Now bear in mind that bread is not made of a \nsingle grain\, but of many. Be\, then\, what you see\, and receive what you are… \nJust as the unity of the faithful\, which holy Scripture describes in the \nwords: They were of one mind and heart in God\, should be like the kneading \ntogether of many grains into one visible loaf\, so with the wine. Think how wine \nis made. Many grapes hang in a cluster\, but their juice flows together into an \nindivisible liquid. \nIt was thus that Christ our Lord signified us\, and his will that we should \nbelong to him\, when he hallowed the sacrament of our peace and unity on his \naltar.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-corpus-christi/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13611-1750636800-1750723199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:AN UNDIVIDED \nLOVE FOR CHRIST \nFrom the documents of the Second Vatican Council \n◊◊◊ \nFrom the beginning\, the tradition of the Church presents us with this \nprivileged witness of a constant seeking for God\, of an undivided love for Christ \nalone\, and of an absolute dedication to the growth of his kingdom. Without this \nconcrete sign there would be a danger that the charity which animates the entire \nChurch would grow cold\, that the salvific paradox of the Gospel would be \nblunted\, and that the “salt” of faith would lose its savor in a world undergoing \nsecularization. \nFrom the first centuries\, the Holy Spirit has stirred up\, side by side with \nthe heroic confession of the martyrs\, the wonderful strength of disciples and \nvirgins\, of hermits and anchorites. Religious life already existed in germ\, and \nprogressively it felt the growing need of developing and of taking on different \nforms of community or solitary life\, in order to respond to the pressing \ninvitation of Christ: “There is no one who has left house\, wife\, brothers\, \nparents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who will not be given \nrepayment many times over in this present time\, and in the world to come\, \neternal life.“ \nWho would venture to hold that such a calling today no longer has the \nsame value and vigor? That the Church could do without these exceptional \nwitnesses of the transcendence of the love of Christ? Or that the world without \ndamage to itself could allow these lights to go out? They are lights which \nannounce the kingdom of God with a liberty which knows no obstacles and is \ndaily lived by thousands of sons and daughters of the Church. \nCertainly many exterior elements\, recommended by founders of orders or \nreligious congregations\, are seen today to be outmoded. Various encumbrances \nor rigid forms accumulated over the centuries need to be curtailed. Adaptations \nmust be made. New forms can even be sought and instituted with the approval \nof the Church. For some years now the greater part of religious institutes have \nbeen generously dedicating themselves to the attainment of this goal\, \nexperimenting – sometimes too hardily – with new types of constitutions and \nrules. We know well and we are following with attention this effort at renewal \nwhich was desired by the Council. \nWe would like to encourage you to proceed with greater sureness and with \nmore joyful confidence along the way that you have chose. In the “pursuit of \nperfect charity” which guides your existence\, what attitude could you have \nother than a total surrender to the Holy Spirit who\, working in the Church\, calls \nyou to the freedom of the children of God.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-20/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13613-1750723200-1750809599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Nativity of St John the Baptist
DESCRIPTION:HE MUST INCREASE \nAND I MUST DECREASE \nBy Msgr. Ronald Knox3 \n◊◊◊ \nIn St John the Baptist you could almost say that the hatred of prominence \nwas born in him. Always we see St John is pointing\, always away from himself. \n“Behold the Lamb of God\, who takes away the sins of the world” – there\, don’t \nlook at me\, look at him; don’t ask who I am\, ask who he is. There comes one \nafter me\, who is greater than I\, the latches of whose shoe I am not worthy to \nloose. \nEveryone is crowded round St John\, everyone wanting to know who he is\, \nand he will let them see nothing but the finger that points to a greater than \nhimself\, let them hear nothing but the voice of the forerunner who preaches a \ngospel not his own. \nAnd gradually\, as our Lord more and more allowed this attention to be \ndirected towards himself\, he\, instead of his forerunner\, became the center of \ninterest. “The pupil is outstripping the master“\, people will have said; for I \nthink it’s fairly certain that our Lord\, at the opening of his ministry\, was \nregarded as the disciple of St John\, the man who had baptized him. And one by \none the little groups that listened to the Baptist on the rocky hills by Jordan \nmelted away\, and he knew that they had gone off to follow the new Teacher\, \nwho\, traveling from village to village\, was more easy of access. Perhaps they \neven thought that in so transferring their allegiance from the stern prophet of \nthe desert with his wild clothes and rough manner to the Friend of publicans \nand sinners\, they were taking an easier yoke upon themselves… \nThe followers of John became fewer\, the audiences of the Galilean \nProphet more numerous. And I want you to see that if St John had been a \nsmaller man\, if he had looked upon his winning popularity in the way in which \nyou and I would look upon such a thing if it were to happen to ourselves\, it \nwould have been impossible for him not to feel a pang of jealousy at having been \nobeyed so well\, at having been so successful in diverting attention from himself \nto his Master. “He might have left me just a little work to do\, just a few souls to \ndeal with; he might have given me some part to play in his mission“; it’s not \ndifficult to imagine St John feeling like that. \nBut that was not St John’s way. “He must increase\, and I must decrease“ \n\, so he assures the little band that still remain faithful to him\, as if it were the \nmost natural thing in the world. And again\, “The friend of the bridegroom\, who \nstands and hears him\, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice“. \nOur Lord has come to claim his affianced Bride\, the Church\, and St John is \ncontent with the humble\, the almost undignified role of what we call the “best \nman“. It is for him to sink his own claims\, his own personality\, and rejoice in the \ntriumph of the Lamb of God. No one has ever stood in the background more \nloyally. \n  \n3 University Sermons by Msgr. Ronald A. Knox\, Palm Publishers\, 1963\, pp. 346-347.7
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-nativity-of-st-john-the-baptist-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13615-1750809600-1750895999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE PILGRIM CHURCH \nFrom the documents of the Second Vatican Council \n◊◊◊ \nIn full consciousness of this communion of the whole Mystical Body of \nJesus Christ\, the Church in its pilgrim members\, from the very earliest days of \nthe Christian religion\, has honored with great respect the memory of the dead; \nand\, “because it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that \nthey may be loosed from their sins“\, she offers her suffrages for them. \nThe Church has always believed that the apostles and Christ’s martyrs\, \nwho gave the supreme witness of faith and charity by the shedding of their \nblood\, are closely united with us in Christ; she has always venerated them\, \ntogether with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the holy angels\, with a special love\, \nand has asked piously for the help of their intercession. Soon there were added \nto these others who had chosen to imitate more closely the virginity and poverty \nof Christ\, and still others whom the outstanding practice of the Christian virtues \nand the wonderful graces of God recommended to the pious devotion and \nimitation of the faithful. \nTo look on the life of those who have faithfully followed Christ is to be \ninspired with a new reason for seeking the city which is to come\, while at the \nsame time we are taught to know a most safe path by which\, despite the \nvicissitudes of the world\, and in keeping with the state of life and condition \nproper to each of us\, we will be able to arrive at perfect union with Christ\, that is\, \nholiness. God shows to us\, in a vivid way\, his presence and his face in the lives of \nthose companions of ours in the human condition who are more perfectly \ntransformed into the image of Christ. He speaks to us in them and offers us a \nsign of this kingdom\, to which we are powerfully attracted\, so great a cloud of \nwitnesses is there given and such a witness to the truth of the Gospel. \nIt is not merely by the title of example that we cherish the memory of \nthose in heaven; we seek\, rather\, that by this devotion to the exercise of fraternal \ncharity the union of the whole Church in the Spirit may be strengthened. \nExactly as Christian communion between peoples on their earthly pilgrimage \nbrings us closer to Christ\, so our community with the saints joins us to Christ\, \nfrom whom as from its fountain and head issues all grace and the life of the \nPeople of God itself. It is most fitting\, therefore\, that we love those friends and \nco-heirs of Jesus Christ who are also our brethren and outstanding benefactors\, \nand that we give due thanks to God for them\, humbly invoking them\, and having \nrecourse to their prayers\, their aid and help in obtaining from God through the \nSon\, Jesus Christ… the benefits we need.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-326/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20250621T213520Z
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UID:13617-1750896000-1750982399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THAT THEY MAY BE ONE \nFrom the encyclical “Ut Unum Sint” by St John Paul II \n◊◊◊ \nAt the Second Vatican Council\, the Catholic Church committed herself \nirrevocably to following the path of the ecumenical venture\, thus heeding the \nspirit of the Lord\, who teaches people to interpret carefully the “signs of the \ntimes”. The experiences of these years have made the Church even more \nprofoundly aware of her identity and mission in history. The Catholic Church \nacknowledges and confesses the weaknesses of her members\, conscious that \ntheir sins are so many betrayals of and obstacles to the accomplishment of the \nSavior’s plan. \nBecause she feels herself constantly called to be renewed in the spirit of \nthe Gospel\, she does not cease to do penance. At the same time\, she \nacknowledges and exalts still more the power of the Lord\, who fills her with the \ngift of holiness\, leads her forward\, and conforms her to his Passion and \nResurrection. \nTaught by the events of her history\, the Church is committed to freeing \nherself from every purely human support\, in order to live in depth the Gospel \nlaw of the Beatitudes. Conscious that the truth does not impose itself except “by \nvirtue of its own truth\, as it makes its entrance into the mind at once quietly \nand with power”\, she seeks nothing for herself but the freedom to proclaim the \nGospel. Indeed her authority is exercised in the service of truth and charity. \nTogether with all Christ’s disciples\, the Catholic Church bases upon God’s \nplan her ecumenical commitment to gather all Christians into unity. Indeed\, \n“the Church is not a reality closed in on herself. Rather\, she is permanently \nopen to missionary and ecumenical endeavor\, for she is sent to the world to \nannounce and witness\, to make present and spread the mystery of \ncommunion which is essential to her\, and to gather all people and all things \ninto Christ\, so as to be for all an “inseparable sacrament of unity”. \nThe unity of all divided humanity is the will of God. For this reason He \nsent His son\, so that by dying and rising for us he might bestow on us the Spirit \nof love. On the eve of his sacrifice on the Cross\, Jesus himself prayed to the \nFather for his disciples and for all those who believe in him\, that they might be \none\, a living communion. This is the basis not only of the duty\, but also of the \nresponsibility before God and his plan\, which falls to those who through \nBaptism become members of the Body of Christ\, a Body in which the fullness of \nreconciliation and communion must be made present. \nHow is it possible to remain divided\, if we have been “buried” through \nBaptism in the Lord’s death\, in the very act by which God\, through the death of \nHis Son\, has broken down the walls of division? Division openly contradicts the \nwill of Christ\, provides a stumbling block to the world\, and inflicts damage on \nthe most holy cause of proclaiming the Good News to every creatures.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-327/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250621T213650Z
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UID:13619-1750982400-1751068799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Sacred Heart of Jesus
DESCRIPTION:A BAPTISM OF BLOOD AND WATER \nFrom “The Dialogues” of St Catherine of Siena \n◊◊◊ \n“Why\, gentle spotless lamb\, since you were dead when your side was \nopened\, did you want your heart to be pierced and parted?” He answered\, \n“there were plenty of reasons\, but I shall tell you one of the chief. My longing for \nhumanity was infinite\, but the actual deed of bearing pain and torment was \nfinite and could never show all the love I had. This is why I wanted you to see my \ninmost heart\, so that you would see that I loved you more than finite suffering \ncould show.” \n“By shedding both blood and water I showed you the holy baptism of \nwater that you receive through the power of my blood. But I was also showing \nyou the baptism of blood\, and this in two ways. The first touches those who are \nbaptized in their own blood poured out for me. Though they could not have the \nother baptism\, their own blood has power because of mine. Others are baptized \nin fire when they lovingly desire baptism but cannot have it. Nor is there any \nbaptism of fire without blood\, for blood has been fused with the fire of divine \ncharity\, because it was shed for love. \nThere is a second way the soul receives this baptism of blood\, figuratively \nspeaking. This my divine charity provided because I know how people sin \nbecause of weakness. Not that weakness or anything else can force them to sin if \nthey do not want to\, but being weak they do fall into deadly sin and lose the \ngrace they had drawn from the power of the blood in holy baptism. So my divine \ncharity had to leave them an ongoing baptism of blood accessible by heartfelt \ncontrition and a holy confession as soon as they can confess to my ministers who \nhold the key to the blood. absolution. \nThis blood the priest pours over the soul in \nSo you see\, this baptism is ongoing\, and the soul ought to be baptized in it \nright up to the end\, in the way I have told you. In this baptism you experience \nthat though my act of suffering on the cross was finite\, the fruit of that suffering \nwhich you have received through me is infinite. This is because of the infinite \ndivine nature joined with finite human nature. It was this human nature in \nwhich I was clothed that suffered in me\, the Word. But because the two natures \nare fused with each other\, the eternal Divinity took to itself the suffering I bore \nwith such burning love. \nFor this reason what I did can be called infinite. Not that either the actual \nbodily suffering or the pain of my longing to accomplish your redemption was \ninfinite… But the fruit was infinite that came from my suffering and from my \ndesire for your salvation\, and therefore you receive it without limit. Had it not \nbeen infinite\, the whole of humankind\, past\, present and to come\, would not \nhave been restored. Nor could those who sin get up again if this baptism of \nblood…had not been given to you without limit. \nI showed you this in the opening up of my side. There you find my heart’s \nsecret and it shows you\, more than any finite suffering could\, how I love you.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-sacred-heart-of-jesus-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13621-1751068800-1751155199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Immaculate Heart of Mary
DESCRIPTION:MARY’S VIRTUES \nFrom a treatise by St Paschasius Radbertus \n◊◊◊ \nThe nature and the greatness of the blessed and glorious ever-virgin Mary \nis divinely declared by the Angel\, when he says\, “Hail\, full of grace\, the Lord is \nwith you. Blessed are you among women”. For surely it was fitting that the \nVirgin should be enriched by gifts so great as to make her full of grace\, who in \nher turn was to give such gifts! For Mary has given glory to heaven\, and to the \nearth she has given the Lord. She has poured out peace upon the world\, brought \nfaith to nations\, put an end to vice\, given law to life\, and discipline to conduct. \nTruly she is “full of grace”\, because grace comes to others by measure\, but \non Mary it poured itself out all at once in all its fullness. Truly\, “full of grace”\, for \neven though\, as we believe\, grace was in the holy patriarchs and prophets\, it was \nnot yet in its fullness. But\, in Mary? – hers was the whole fullness of that grace \nwhich is in Christ\, though in a different manner than it was in him. And this is \nwhy the angel says\, “Blessed are you among women”\, that is to say\, more \nblessed than all other women. Thus\, whatever curse had been incurred through \nEve was wholly taken away through the blessing given to Mary. \nIt was in praise of Mary\, as it were\, that Solomon says in the Song of \nSongs\, “Come\, my dove\, my immaculate one! For see\, the winter is past\, the \nrains are over and gone”. And then he says\, “Come from Lebanon\, come and be \ncrowned!”. Not without reason is Mary bidden to come from Lebanon\, for \n“Lebanon” means “shining whiteness”. Mary was dazzling white with her many \nvirtues and merits\, and\, by the gifts of the Holy Spirit\, she became whiter than \nsnow itself\, showing in all things the simplicity of the dove. For everything about \nMary is wholly the work of purity and simplicity\, wholly grace and truth\, wholly \nmercy and that justice which has looked down from heaven. She is\, then\, \nimmaculate\, because corruption has had no part in her. She has encompassed a \nman in her womb\, as the holy Jeremiah testifies\, and received him from no \nother person. “The Lord”\, he says\, “has made a new thing upon the earth\, and a \nwoman shall encompass a man” \n. \nTruly this was a new thing\, an act of power new in a surpassing degree\, \nwhen God\, whom the world cannot contain nor man see and live\, entered the \nguest chamber of Mary’s womb in such a way as not to know confinement within \nher body\, was so borne that the whole God was within her\, came forth in such a \nway that\, as Ezekiel prophesied\, the door remained closed. \nThis is why the same Song of Songs sings of her\, “An enclosed garden\, a \nfountain sealed\, your plants are a paradise”. Truly a garden of delights\, \nplanted with all kinds of flowers and filled with the perfumes of all virtues; so \nenclosed as to have known no violation\, no corruption by deceit or wile; a \nfountain sealed\, therefore\, with the seal of the whole Trinity.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-immaculate-heart-of-mary-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250629T114113Z
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UID:13645-1751155200-1751241599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema - 13th week ORD
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n13th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nJune 29 – July 5\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n29\nMon\n30\nTue\n1\nWed\n2\nThu\n3\nFri\n4\nSat\n5\n\n\nOffice\nSS Peter & Paul\nWeekday\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSt Thomas\nWeekday\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nGal 1:11-2:10\nGen 16:1-16\nGen 17:1-27\nGen 18:1-15\nActs 5:12-32\nGen 18:16-33\nGen 19:1-14\n\n\nLauds\nIsa 49:1-6\nEccles 6:1-6\nEccles 6:7-12\nEccles 7:1-9\nIsa 43:8-13\nEccles 7:10-14\nEccles 7:15-22\n\n\nMass\n591\n377\n378\n379\n593\n381\n382\n\n\n1st\nActs 12:1-11\nGen 18:16-33\nGen 19:15-29\nGen 21:5\, 8-20a\nEph 2:19-22\nGen 23:1-4\, 19; 24:1-8\, 62-67\nGen 27:1-5\, 15-29\n\n\n2nd\n2 Tim 4:6-8\, 17-18\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 16:13-19\nMatt 8:18-22\nMatt 8:23-27\nMatt 8:28-34\nJohn 20:24-29\nMatt 9:9-13\nMatt 9:14-17\n\n\nVespers\n1 Peter 4:12-19\nGal 4:12-20\nGal 4:21-31\nGal 5:1-6\n1 Pet 1:3-9\nGal 5:7-15\nGal 5:16-26
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-13th-week-ord/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:13647-1751155200-1751241599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - SS Peter & Paul
DESCRIPTION:THE FISHERMAN \nAND THE TENTMAKER \nFrom a treatise by St John Chrysostom \n◊◊◊ \nBefore the crucifixion\, <Peter>\, the prince of the apostles did not \nendure the threat of a doorkeeper. After such an initiation as he had \nreceived\, he said that he did not know the man. But after the crucifixion\, he \ntraveled all over the world; as a result of his travels and preaching\, countless \npeople died the death of martyrs because they chose to be slain rather than \nsay what the prince of the apostles said when he was frightened by the threat \nof one doorkeeper who was a mere maid-servant. \nThe result of his travels and preaching was that every land and city\, \nevery desert and area where men dwell has joined us in preaching Christ \ncrucified. Now we find on our side emperors and generals\, princes and \nconsuls\, free men and slaves\, private persons\, the wise\, the unlearned\, and \nthe barbarian; among every race of men and in every land over which the sun \npasses and shines\, we hear his name and find him worshiped. From this you \nmay understand what Isaiah meant when he said: “His resting place shall be \nglorious.” \nAlthough the place which received his slain body was very small and \nnarrow\, it is more venerable than royal palaces\, and the emperors themselves \nhold his tomb in higher honor. “His resting place shall be glorious.” And \nthis is true not only of his tomb but also of the tombs of his apostles. Those \nmen who were dragged from one court of justice to another\, who were bound \nin chains and treated with contempt\, those who endured ten thousand \ntorments in their lifetime\, now that they have died\, are held in higher honor \nthan the emperors themselves. \nAt Rome\, the most imperial of cities\, emperors\, consuls\, and generals \nput all else aside and hurried to the tombs of the fisherman and tentmaker. \nAnd in Constantinople\, those who were crowned with royal diadems did not \nwish their bodies buried close to the apostles but outside the church\, \nalongside the entrance. In this way\, emperors became door-keepers for the \nfishermen. Even in death\, both the emperors themselves and their children \nfeel no disgrace in this but even consider it an honor. \nAs Isaiah said: “His resting place shall be glorious.” You will see how \ngreat this glory is when you have considered the symbol of his death\, a death \nwhich was the most cursed and ignominious of all deaths. This kind of death \nwas the only one subject to a curse. Let me give you an example. In ancient \ntimes. Some malefactors were burned\, others were stoned to death\, and \nothers ended their lives by some other kind of punishment. But the man who \nwas nailed to a cross and was left hanging on its wood not only endured the \nharsh punishment to which he had been sentenced but he was also subject to \na curse. “Everyone who is hanged on a gibbet is accursed.” But that \naccursed\, abominable symbol of the worst of punishments has now become \nan object of man’s desire and love.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-ss-peter-paul-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250701
DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250629T114526Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250629T114526Z
UID:13650-1751241600-1751327999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE HOLY APOSTLES \nFrom a homily by Origen \n◊◊◊ \nAll of us who believe in Christ Jesus are called “living stones” in the words \nof Scripture: “You\, too\, are living stones\, built as an edifice of spirit\, into a holy \npriesthood\, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus \nChrist.“ \nYou know that in the case of earthly stones the builder takes care to lay \nfirst the strongest and most massive stones as the foundation\, so that the whole \nweight of the building can then rest upon them. The next stones\, of not quite \nsuch good quality\, are laid upon the foundation stones; and so on according to \nthe strength of the stones: the weakest are laid at the top\, near the roof. The \nsame is true of living stones\, some of which are the foundation of our spiritual \nbuilding. Who are these stones that are laid at the foundation? “The apostles \nand prophets.” This is Paul’s teaching: “You form a building which rises on the \nfoundations of the apostles and prophets\, with Christ Jesus himself as the \ncapstone.“ \nTo prepare yourself more zealously to construct this building\, to be one of \nthe stones near the foundation\, you must realize that Christ himself is the \nfoundation of the building which we are describing. Paul the apostle declares \nthis to be so: “No one can lay a foundation other than the one that has been \nlaid\, namely Jesus Christ.” Happy are they who have built holy\, religious \nbuildings\, on such a noble foundation!… \nMoreover\, I believe that there are among you those who as “living stones \n” are able to become an altar – those of you who have resolved to dedicate \nyourselves to prayer\, to offer God supplications day and night\, and to immolate \nyour sacrifices – and that it is with you that Jesus builds his altar. \nThink of the worth to be discerned in altar stones. “Joshua built an altar \nto the Lord\,” says Scripture\, “of unhewn stones on which no iron tool had been \nused\, in keeping with the command of Moses.” What do you think these \nunhewn (whole\, perfect) stones represent? It is for each one’s conscience to say \nwhether we have integrity\, whether we are without impurity or spot… \nTo my mind these whole\, spotless stones must be the holy apostles who \ntogether form but one stone because of their unity of heart and soul. Indeed\, it is \nsaid that “all with one accord devoted themselves to constant prayer\,” and that \nthey said: “O Lord\, you read the hearts of men.” For those who can pray with \none accord\, with one voice and one spirit\, are indeed worthy to have been built \ntogether into a single altar on which Jesus offers sacrifices to his Father. But we\, \nfor our part\, must strive to “agree” in what we say\, “united in spirit and ideals; \nnever acting out of rivalry or conceit\,” but “be united in mind and judgment\,“ \nso that we too may try to become altar stones.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-328/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250629T114719Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250629T114719Z
UID:13652-1751328000-1751414399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:OUR FIRST PARENTS \nFrom a sermon by Isaac of Stella \n◊◊◊ \nThe common wounds of Adam and his posterity\, are disorders that come \nto our nature from its origins\, born at our beginning and burgeoning as we grow. \nSuch is our condition thanks to “the Amorite that begot” us and “the Hittite that \nbore us” and forsook us. Truly we are “the seed of Canaan\, and not of Judah.” \nBorn of such stock there was “no water to wash us\, no salt to harden us\, none \nwould wrap us in swaddling-clothes\, our navel-string was left uncut.” \nNone showed us the pity such cases are in need of. No\, not even those \nFirst Parents of ours\, so truly “of the earth”\, “earthly” did they prove. Parents at \nonce of our nature and our guilt\, they gave us death at the very time that they \ngave us life. They sowed what was indeed theirs to bestow; they freely donated \nwhat they had themselves sadly discovered. They begot us into their own \nconfused condition\, children in every way like their fathers. Just as our First \nParents reaped variously from different sources\, so did they sow in different \nways\, implanting in us nature from God and guilt from the devil. No wonder our \norigins condition us so that we are children of God and children of the devil. We \nare good\, well-endowed creatures of God\, and also wickedly and woefully ruined \nby the devil. On the one hand\, we have a nature that makes us something; on the \nother\, we bear the guilt that brings us to nothing. \nThis last\, this nothingness of ours\, is all the devil’s doing and is precisely \nthat from which the Son of God at his coming\, would loose and free us\, and so \nrescue that something that we really are. He came to restore what is his in us to \ndestroy what another has done to us… He would separate the good from the evil \nin us\, the evil from the good\, the precious from the vile… \nWe have but to listen to Isaiah would we learn how resolutely and how \nready Christ came to the task of our redemption. “From the root of Jesse\,” he \nsays\, “a rod shall burgeon”—it could not do so from the branches— “and out of \nits root a flower shall spring.” This should kindle hope in me: flowers are sure \nharbingers of fruit. “On him the spirit of the Lord will rest.” No wonder the Fruit \nis so Good. Where else could Christ be conceived if not in Nazareth\, where born \nsave in Bethlehem? On him had rested “a spirit wise and discerning.” His soul \nwas indeed rich in virtue\, abounding in divine gifts; and not for nothing. Having \nto measure up to and vanquish seven forms of concupiscence\, the Gifts of the \nSpirit are seven; Adam’s cravings are countered by seven Gifts in Christ. Seven \nwounds call for seven medicines\, one against the other. Though nature in Adam \nis one thing and guilt is another\, yet both are in him together. \nWere a single fountain to supply\, even if by different pipes\, wine and \nwater together\, the result would mean drawing watered wine or wine-filled \nwater. This is our case\, “sons of Adam!” Our “wine has grown watery;” our \nnative guilt and our guilty nature\, both\, come [into existence] simultaneously. \nYour nature is no sooner a good gift of the Good God than it is guilt infected by \nthe Wicked One. Child begotten to man is by that very fact sinner begotten to \nsinner. Our nature\, for all its goodness\, is never without evil or guilt; this very \nevil guilt has no foothold except in a nature that is good.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-329/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250703
DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250629T114822Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250629T114822Z
UID:13654-1751414400-1751500799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE SALVATION \nOF THE WORLD \nFrom a sermon by the Venerable Bede \n◊◊◊ \nJesus said to the Apostles: “Thus it is written\, and thus it behooved Christ \nto suffer\, and to rise again from the dead\, the third day: and that penance and \nremission of sin should be preached in his name\, unto all nations.” \nSo it was necessary that Christ suffer\, and rise again; because it was \nimpossible for the world to be saved unless God came as one of us\, Who\, \nappearing in our own nature\, would teach us how to serve God\, and Who\, \nsubmitting to death in his humanity\, would triumph over it by divine power; \nand thus awaken in those who believed in Him a contempt for death\, and kindle \nin them a certain hope of resurrection and of life everlasting. \nFor in what way could we be more truly encouraged to believe in the glory \nto come\, and to strive for eternal life\, than by knowing that God Himself had \nbecome a Sharer of our humanity and our mortality? In what other way could \nwe be more efficaciously appealed to\, to suffer evils of every kind for the sake of \nsalvation\, than by learning that our own Creator had undergone at the hands of \nthe impious infamy of every kind; and\, even the sentence of death itself? \nFor what reason could we more fittingly accept the hope of resurrection\, \nthan through remembering that we have been cleansed and sanctified by His \nsacraments\, and made one in His Body Who\, tasting death on our behalf\, \nspeedily offered us an example of rising from the dead? \nIt was then necessary that Christ should suffer\, and rise again from the \ndead the third day\, and that\, as He says\, penance and the forgiveness of sin be \npreached in His Name to all nations. For this it was necessary that first the \nblood of Christ should be shed for the salvation of the world\, and that afterwards \nby His Resurrection and Ascension he should open to us the gates of heaven.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-330/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250703
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250704
DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250629T114933Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250629T114933Z
UID:13656-1751500800-1751587199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:WHY DID THOMAS DEMAND PROOF? \nFrom a commentary by St Peter Chrysologus \n◊◊◊ \nWhen Thomas heard from his fellow disciples that they had seen the \nLord\, he answered: Unless I see the wounds made by the nails and put my \nhand into his side\, I will not believe. Why did Thomas thus demand proof before \nbelieving? Why was he so devout toward the suffering Christ\, but so resistant to \nthe risen Christ? Why did a pious hand open again the wounds made by a \nwicked hand? Why did the hand of a follower strive to plunge anew into the side \nopened by the spear of a wicked soldier?… \nWhen the Lord died\, the devil’s power collapsed\, the prison of hell was \nthrown open\, the fetters of the dead were broken\, tombs were destroyed; when \nthe Lord rose again death’s nature was completely changed. The stone before \nthe Lord’s most holy sepulcher was rolled away\, and the linen cloths were \nloosened; at his rising in glory death took to flight and life returned; his body \narose never to die again. Why then\, Thomas\, were you the only one to make such \na shrewd inquiry\, demanding that the Lord’s wounds be shown as the only way \nto convince you? Suppose those wounds had vanished with all the other marks \nof suffering – what danger to your faith would not your curiosity have \nengendered? \nMy brothers and sisters\, piety made this search and devotion these \ndemands to ensure that impiety should not thereafter raise doubts about the \nLord’s resurrection. It was not only the doubts in his own heart that Thomas was \nhealing\, but everyone else’s as well; and as he was to proclaim these things to the \nnations\, this energetic advocate was diligently trying to discover how he could \nsupport the profession of so great a faith. Beyond question his spirit of prophecy \nwas greater than his doubt. For why should he have made such a request unless \nhe had learned from the Lord by prophetic inspiration that these wounds alone \nwere to be retained as proof of the resurrection? \nFurthermore\, the Lord of his own accord had shown the others what this \nman subsequently demanded. The text says: Jesus came and stood in their \nmidst and showed them his hands and his side. For he who had entered through \nclosed doors and was with good reason thought by the disciples to be a ghost \ncould not prove himself to their doubting minds except by the wounds that told \nof his passion. Then he came and said to Thomas: Put your finger here\, and see \nmy hands\, and put out your hand and put it into my side\, and be not faithless \nbut believing. Do this so that when you reopen these wounds which have \nalready poured forth water and blood to cleanse and ransom all humankind\, \nfaith may pour out over the whole world. Thomas answered: My Lord and my \nGod! \nSee how scripture shows not only a human body but also\, through the \nsuffering this body endured\, that Christ is\, as Thomas acclaims him\, God and \nLord. Truly he is God who lives again after being dead\, who rose after suffering a \nmortal wound; for although he endured so much suffering and received such \ngreat wounds\, he lives and reigns as God for countless ages.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-331/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250704
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250705
DTSTAMP:20260403T170836
CREATED:20250629T115053Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250629T115053Z
UID:13658-1751587200-1751673599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE LAW OF THE GOSPEL \nFrom “Faith and Theology” by Fr Marie-Dominique Chenu \n◊◊◊ \nFor Christians\, peace is a decisive sign of the kingdom of God; hence\, as \nstudents of the history of civilization\, they find war a religious enigma which no \ncasuistry can fit into a vision of the plan of salvation. Since the Gospel is the \nsubstantial datum of theology\, this sacred science knows war only by negation \n— just as it knows sin in terms of the negation of love. \nSome\, such as Joseph de Maistre\, have tried to integrate war positively \ninto theology by making it an expression of the divine will\, but this attempt is \ndoomed to failure. The so-called “holy wars” of the Church can only bring a \nblush of shame\, and no sociology of the kingdom of God can justify them. For \nthat matter there is an intrinsic paradox in suggesting a “theology of war”\, for \nhow can war be fitted into the word of God (theo-logos)\, into the Gospel law of \nlove? Is it ever possible that the disciple of Christ should believe it his duty to \nfight? For how could collective\, murderous violence\, stemming from hate and \navarice\, become a meritorious act of fraternal love? \nSince theology is a rational and sacred exposition of the word of God \naddressed to the world\, and incarnate in the world\, it is easy to see that the \nworld at war is an object of theological study only in the sense that the Christian \nconscience is faced with a conflict between the absolute law of the Gospel and \nthe harsh reality of human history. Unless it descend to pure casuistry\, theology \nwill find it more difficult there than anywhere else to invent “reasons” — reasons \nwhich could justify war within the law of the Gospel. \nWe must start with the Gospel\, and always insist on it\, for it is the one \nconstant of Christian life. Before all else\, before any doctrinal elaboration\, \ntheology is the word of God – the word of God in the sacred text\, the word of God \ntoday and always\, in the world of history and the world of nature; that is why the \nspontaneous reaction to the expression “theology of war” is one of rejection. \nFor war is the opposite of peace and in the language of the Gospel\, peace is the \nconsequence of love\, which in turn is the one and absolute evangelical rule of \nhuman conduct. \nLove is the primary and uncompromising message of the Gospel\, not just \nsomething that appeals to a subjective religious sentimentality\, but a stern \ndemand based on the very object of our faith. Here we are faced with the \nunequivocal alternative of yes or no: this is the very substance of the Gospel \nbecause it is the substance of the mystery of God communicated to us in Christ. \nHe who renounces peace renounces the kingdom of God.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-332/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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