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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250623
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250624
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250621T213147Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250621T213147Z
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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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250624
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250625
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250621T213317Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250621T213317Z
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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250625
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250626
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250621T213420Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250621T213420Z
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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250626
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250627
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250621T213520Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250621T213520Z
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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250627
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250628
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250621T213650Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250621T213650Z
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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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250628
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250629
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250621T213755Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250621T213755Z
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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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250629
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250630
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250629T114113Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250629T114113Z
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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250629
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250630
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250629T114421Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250629T114421Z
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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250630
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250701
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
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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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250701
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250702
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
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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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250702
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250703
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
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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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250703
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250704
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250704
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250705
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
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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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250705
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250706
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250629T115320Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250629T115320Z
UID:13660-1751673600-1751759999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
DESCRIPTION:MARY’S VIRGINITY \nFrom the writing of Lucien Legrand \n◊◊◊ \nThe significance of Mary’s virginity is entirely different from both cultic \nvirginity and philosophical continence. Mary knows that her virginity has no \nvalue of its own and no power but that of the Spirit. She does not speak of the \ngreatness of her virginity. For her\, it is not virginity that makes her great: it is \nthe Lord. As far as she is concerned\, she is nothing and her virginity seals her \nnothingness. Because she is a virgin\, she is ‘poor’\, a contemptible thing\, \nconsidered worthless by the world. \nOf course\, in the case of Mary as in that of the ‘Poor of Yahweh’ in the Old \nTestament\, poverty should be taken in the biblical sense. It is not merely \nnegative. It does not mean only destitution. As we find it in the life of the great \nbiblical figures such as Jeremiah\, Job the anawim in the Psalms and the \nSuffering Servant in Isaiah\, poverty is a religious attitude which underlies the \nspiritual development of the Old Testament and prepares the way for the \nabasement of the cross\, the imprint of which it bears by anticipation. \nBiblical poverty does indeed mean life deprived of any human hope but \nalso and mostly at its deepest\, radical detachment\, total humility and \nconsequently utter confidence in God. Mary’s virginity belongs to this type of \npoverty. It is a form of that religious attitude made up of faith and abandon\, joy \nand confidence; it is akin to humility and can be summarized as an attitude of \nreligious expectation. It is silence\, readiness\, emptiness. And her greatness \ncomes from the faith and confidence in god which spring in the heart on that \nemptiness\, and from the answer God gave to that faith and confidence. \nVirginity of this kind differs entirely from its pagan counterparts. It does \nnot represent an attempt to substitute our influence for God’s power: on the \ncontrary\, Mary has no other ambition than to be the handmaid of the Lord. \nNeither does Mary’s virginity correspond to a merely human longing for purity \nand moral greatness. Her virginity does not belong so much to the moral as to \nthe theological virtues. It manifests an attitude before god rather than an effort \nof moral perfection and of self-achievement. Luke’s Gospel of the Infancy does \nnot describe in Mary a heroic form of the virtue of chastity. What it sees in her is \nsheer faith and hope which has no reliance in creatures but is entirely turned \ntoward God.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-bvm-14/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250706
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250707
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250706T144054Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250706T144054Z
UID:13669-1751760000-1751846399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n14th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nJuly 6 – 12\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n6\nMon\n7\nTue\n8\nWed\n9\nThu\n10\nFri\n11\nSat\n12\n\n\nOffice\n14th Sunday\nWeekday\nBl Eugene III\nWeekday\nOffice for the Dead\nSt Benedict\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nGen 19:15-38\nGen 20:1-18\nGen 21:1-21\nGen 21:22-34\nGen 22:1-24\nExod 34:27-35; 35:20-29\nGen 23:1-20\n\n\nLauds\nEccles 7:23-29\nEccles 8:1-9\nEccles 8:10-13\nEccles 8:14-17\nEccles 9:1-10\nSir 2:1-9\nEccles 9:11-18\n\n\nMass\n102\n383\n384\n385\n386\n597\, 477\, 810\n388\n\n\n1st\nIsa 66:10-14c\nGen 28:10-22a\nGen 32:23-33\nGen 41:55-57; 42:5-7a\, 17-24a\nGen 44:18-21\, 23b-29; 45:1-5\nProv 2:1-9\nGen 49:29-32; 50:15-26a\n\n\n2nd\nGal 6:14-18\n\n\n\n\nEph 4:1-6\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 10:1-12\, 17-20\nMatt 9:18-26\nMatt 9:32-38\nMatt 10:1-7\nMatt 10:7-15\nLuke 22:24-27\nMatt 10:24-33\n\n\nVespers\nGal 6:1-10\nGal 6:11-18\nEph 1:1-10\nEph 1:11-14\n1 Cor 3:5-17\nGal 5:22-6:2\nEph 1:15-23
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-118/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250706
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250707
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250706T144153Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250706T144153Z
UID:13671-1751760000-1751846399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 14th Sunday ORD
DESCRIPTION:THE LORD OF THE HARVEST \nFrom a commentary by St Augustine \n◊◊◊ \nThe gospel for today raises a question. When the Lord told his disciples \nthat the harvest was indeed abundant but laborers were scarce and urged them \nto ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers out to harvest his crop\, which \ncrop did he have in mind? That was the point at which he increased the group of \ntwelve disciples whom he had named his apostles by the addition of another \nseventy-two\, and his words make it clear that he sent all these out to gather in \nthe ripe grain. \nBut which crop did he mean? Evidently not a crop of Gentiles\, from whom \nthere was nothing to be reaped because there had as yet been no sowing among \nthem. The conclusion must be that the crop in question consisted of Jews. The \nJewish people were the harvest to which the Lord of the harvest came\, and to \nwhich he dispatched his reapers. To the Gentiles he could send no reapers at \nthat time\, only sowers. We may understand\, then\, that harvest time among the \nJews coincided with sowing time among the Gentiles\, for out of the Jewish crop\, \nsown by the prophets and now ripe for harvesting\, the apostles were chosen… \nFor the seed to sprout it was sufficient for the prophets to sow\, but the ripe grain \nhad to wait for the apostles’ sickle… \nThen the reapers were sent out\, wielding the gospel as their sickle. They \nwere to greet no one on the road\, which meant they were to have no aim or \nactivity apart from proclaiming the Good News in a spirit of brotherly love. \nWhen they arrived at a house they were to say: Peace be to this house. This \ngreeting was no mere formula; being filled with peace themselves\, the apostles \nspread it abroad\, proclaiming peace and at the same time possessing it. \nConsequently when one of them\, fully at peace with himself\, pronounced the \nblessing: Peace be to this house\, then if a lover of peace were in that house\, the \napostle’s peace would rest upon him.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-14th-sunday-ord/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250707
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250708
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250706T144300Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250706T144300Z
UID:13673-1751846400-1751932799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A THRONE \nFOR THE MOST HIGH \nFrom a sermon by Blessed Guerric of Igny \n◊◊◊ \n[Christ the Lord] is to be not merely invited but drawn into the guest \nchamber of our heart by the violence of our prayers and the vehemence of our \nfervor. [But] sometimes he makes as though he would go farther on; he does so \nfor no other reason than that he may prove the zeal of your love. \nBut what does it mean\, you say\, that Jesus makes as though he would go \nfurther? What else than what Ecclesiastes tells us of himself: “I have said\, I will \nbe wise\, and [wisdom] departed farther from me.” The Spouse speaks more \nexplicitly when\, giving voice to our daily complaint\, she says: “I rose up to open \nto my beloved\, but he had turned aside and was gone. I sought him\, and found \nhim not\, I called\, and he did not answer me\,” just as he did not answer the \nCanaanite woman either. You too are wont to call on the Spirit of wisdom\, you \nare accustomed to seek the Spirit of grace in prayer. If it seems that he draws \nfarther away from you\, do not despair but be more importunate in your pleading \nuntil you hear him answer you: “Great is your faith\, be it done to you as you \nwill.” \nBut when you invite Jesus take care that you do not invite the God of \nmajesty into an unclean and unworthy dwelling where a wrangling [spouse] or \nclouds of smoke or a dripping roof would not allow even yourself to dwell in \npeace. For his place is in peace and nowhere else. Right and justice are the \npillars of his throne. \n“Now they seek me\,” he says\, “from day to day\, and desire to know my \nways as a nation that has done justice and has not forsaken the will of their \nGod.” “Right\,” he says\, “and justice are the pillars of his throne.” Do not plead \nthat it is a lavish dwelling you have to prepare for so great and so powerful a \nguest and that it is beyond the limits of your poverty. You have the means at \nhand. I speak in human terms because of the infirmity of your flesh\, or rather \nbecause of the narrowness of your mind. Make a perfect confession of your past \nlife\, have a good will in respect to all else (for there is peace to men of good will)\, \nand in this way you will have prepared with right and justice a throne for the \nMost High.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-333/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250708
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250709
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250706T144415Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250706T144415Z
UID:13675-1751932800-1752019199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Bl Eugene III
DESCRIPTION:FROM THE TREATISE “ON \nCONSIDERATION” \nBy St Bernard of Clairvaux for Pope Eugenius III \n◊◊◊ \nIt has occurred to me to write something which might edify\, delight or \nconsole you\, Blessed Father Eugene. But I do not know the rules for writing a \nformal yet intimate treatise. Two opposites\, your majesty and my love\, vie to \ndictate my style. Love draws me on; majesty holds me back. But you graciously \nintervene and request rather than command this treatise\, although it would be \nmore fitting for you to command it. Since your majesty so admirably \ncondescends\, why does my hesitancy persist? What if you have ascended the \nthrone? Even if you were to walk on the wings of the wind\, you would not escape \nmy affection. Love knows no master. It recognizes a son even though he wear \nthe tiara. It is the nature of a lover to be suitably humble\, willingly submissive\, \nfreely compliant\, respectful without duress. \nThis is not the way with others however; they are driven either by fear or \nby greed. Such men bless openly\, but harbor evil in their hearts. They flatter you \nwhen you are present\, yet fail you in time of need. But charity never fails. It is \ntrue that I have been freed of maternal obligation toward you\, but I am not \nstripped of affection for you. You were once in my womb; you will not be drawn \nfrom my heart so easily. Ascend to the heavens\, descend to the depths\, you will \nnot escape me. I will follow you wherever you go. \nI loved you when you were poor in spirit; I shall love you still as \nfather of the poor and the rich. If I know you\, you did not cease being poor in \nspirit when you became the father of the poor. I am confident that this change \nhas been thrust on you and was not of your doing\, that this promotion has not \nreplaced your former state\, but rather has enhanced it. Therefore I will instruct \nyou not as a teacher\, but as a mother\, indeed as a lover. I may seem more the \nfool\, but only to one who does not love\, to one who does not feel the force of love.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-bl-eugene-iii-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250709
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250710
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250706T144507Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250706T144507Z
UID:13677-1752019200-1752105599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:BE PERFECT\, \nAS YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER \nFrom a treatise by St Cyprian \n◊◊◊ \nDearly Beloved in the Lord\, let us try to understand more fully that \npatience is an attribute of God and that whoever is gentle\, patient\, and meek is \nan imitator of God the Father. The Lord Jesus said as much in his Gospel \nteaching. For when he was giving out precepts unto salvation\, and he was \ninstructing his disciples unto perfection with holy advice\, he said thus: You \nhave heard that it was said: \n‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you\, Love \nyour enemies and pray for those who persecute you\, so that you may be sons of \nyour Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the \ngood\, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who \nlove you\, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? \nAnd if you salute only your brethren\, what more are you doing than others? \nDo not even the Gentiles do the same? You\, therefore\, must be perfect\, as your \nheavenly Father is perfect.’ \nHe said that it is in this way that the children of God are made perfect; He \nshowed that it is in this way that we reach our consummation\, and he taught \nthat we are restored by a heavenly birth\, if the patience of God the Father abide \nin us\, and if the divine likeness which our first parents lost by sin be manifested \nand shine in our actions. What glory it is to become like God! What wonderful \nand what great happiness it is to possess in virtues what can be put on the same \nlevel with the divine praises. \nJesus Christ\, Our Lord and God\, did not teach this by words only\, but He \nalso fulfilled it by His deeds. For He said that He came down for this purpose\, \nnamely\, to do the will of His Father. By other miracles of virtue\, He gave proof \nof his divine majesty. But he also preserved and exemplified His Father’s \npatience by His own habitual forbearance.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-334/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250710
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250711
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250706T144611Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250706T144611Z
UID:13679-1752105600-1752191999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
DESCRIPTION:LIVING FOR GOD ALONE \nFrom “The Spiritual Exercises” of St Gertrud the Great \n◊◊◊ \nEarnestly wish with the cherished one to become inebriated with the wine \nof love and in union with God to become unconscious to the world; in the \nembrace of the cherished one to expire from yourself into God; and already \nalmost totally stripped of your humanness\, to go pleasantly to sleep on the \nbreast of Jesus. Thus\, dying daily to yourself in love and living for God alone\, \nyou may\, at the hour of death\, trustfully run up to death\, looking on it as the end \nof your exile\, the door of the kingdom\, and the gate of heaven. And say this with \nprayer and verse: \nHide me\, most loving Jesus\, in the hiding-place of your face from all \nthose plotting crafty devices against me\, and let my soul not be confounded \nwhen it speaks with its enemies at the gate; but fill it full of gladness with your \nmellifluous face. \nO God\, love\, you are the consummation and the end of all good: to the \nvery end\, you cherish what you choose; whatever comes into your hand\, you do \nnot toss out but preserve most diligently for yourself. Ah! By right of possession \nmake all my being and my consummation’s end your own forever. Spare me \nnow no longer\, but wound my heart to the spirit’s very marrow until you leave \nno spark of life within me. Rather\, take away with you my entire life\, reserving \nfor yourself my soul in you. \nWho will grant me to be consummated in you\, O charity\, and to be \ndelivered by your death from the prison of this body and to be freed from this \nsojourn? How good\, O love\, to see you\, have you\, and possess you for eternity. \nOn the day I depart this life\, may you yourself be present\, regardful of \ngreat consolation\, and may you bless me then in the beautiful dawn of the \nmanifest contemplation of you. Now\, O love\, I here leave you behind and \ncommend to you my life and\, at the same time\, my soul: allow me\, allow me now \nto rest and fall asleep in you in peace.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-the-dead-20/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250711
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250712
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250706T144718Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250706T144718Z
UID:13681-1752192000-1752278399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Benedict
DESCRIPTION:THE TABERNACLE OF GOD \nFrom a sermon by St Aelred of Rievaulx \n◊◊◊ \nBenedict was filled not only with the spirit of Moses\, he was also \nsomehow\, as someone has said\, filled with the spirit of all the just. He built a \nspiritual tabernacle from the offerings of the children of Israel. In his Rule \nsparkles the god of blessed Augustine\, the silver of Jerome\, the double-dyed \npurple of Gregory\, not to mention the jewel-like sayings of the holy fathers; with \nall these this heavenly edifice is embellished. You\, my brothers\, are the \ntabernacle of God; you are the temple of God. As the apostle says: Holy is the \ntemple of God\, which you are. A temple\, because the Lord will reign forever in \nyou. Yet still a tabernacle\, because he is on pilgrimage in you\, he hungers in you\, \nhe thirsts in you… \nThis\, my brothers\, is what a tabernacle puts up with as long as it is being \ncarried through the desert of this world\, until it is taken into the Land of \nPromise and becomes a temple instead of a tabernacle. Then a twofold stole will \nbe given to each – immortality for the body\, blessedness for the soul. Yet even \nnow\, brothers\, let each of us make our own offering for the construction of this \ntabernacle. \nFor each one of us has his unique gift from God\, one this but another that. \nOne person can make an offering of more work; another\, more vigils; another\, \nmore fasting; another\, more prayer; and another more lectio or meditation. \nFrom all these offerings let one tabernacle be made\, so that\, as our legislator \ncommands: No one may presume that anything is his own but al things are \ncommon to all. This is to be understood\, brothers\, not only of cowls or robes but \nfar more of our strengths and spiritual gifts. \nNo one therefore should boast on his own about any grace given by God as \nif it were exclusively his own. No one should envy his brother because of some \ngrace\, as if it were exclusively his. Whatever he has\, he should consider the \nproperty of all his brothers\, and whatever his brother has\, he should never \ndoubt is also his. For in his caring way…he causes each person to need the other \nand to have in this other what one does not possess in oneself. Thus humility is \npreserved\, charity increased and unity recognized. Therefore each belongs to all \nand all belong to each. \nIf\, then\, we are buried with Jesus\, like him in his death\, we shall be his \ncompanions also in the resurrection\, walking in newness of life. When Christ \nour life appears\, we\, too\, shall appear with him in glory. Through the merits and \nprayers of our blessed Father Benedict may this be granted to us by our Lord \nJesus Christ Himself who with the Father and Holy Spirit\, lives and reigns God \nthrough all the ages of ages.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-benedict-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250712
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250713
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250706T144828Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250706T144828Z
UID:13683-1752278400-1752364799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
DESCRIPTION:CRUCIFIED BY LOVE \nBy St Elizabeth of the Trinity \n◊◊◊ \nNo one has penetrated the depths of the mystery of Christ except the \nBlessed Virgin. John and Mary Magdalene penetrated deeply this mystery; St P \naul often speaks of “the understanding of it which was given to him“; and yet\, \nhow all the saints remain in the shadows when we look at the Blessed Virgin’s \nlight! \nThis is the unspeakable “secret” that she kept in mind and pondered in \nher heart” which no tongue can tell or pen describe!… “The Virgin kept all these \nthings in her heart“: her whole history can be summed up in these few words! It \nwas within her heart that she lived\, and at such a depth that no human eye can \nfollow her. When I read in the Gospel “that Mary went in haste to the hill \ncountry of Judea” to perform her loving service for her cousin Elizabeth\, I \nimagine her passing by so beautiful\, so calm and so majestic\, so absorbed in \nrecollection of the Word of God within her. Like Him\, her prayer was always \nthis: “Ecce\, here I am!”… “The servant of the Lord\,” the lowliest of His creatures \n: she\, His Mother! Her humility was so real for she was always forgetful\, \nunaware\, freed from self. And she could sing: “The Almighty has done great \nthings for me\, henceforth all peoples will call me blessed.“ \nThis Queen of virgins is also Queen of martyrs; but again it was in her \nheart that the sword pierced\, for with her everything took place within!… Oh! \nHow beautiful she is to contemplate during her long martyrdom\, so serene\, \nenveloped in a kind of majesty that radiates both strength and gentleness… She \nlearned from the Word Himself how those must suffer whom the Father has \nchosen as victims\, those whom He has decided to associate with Himself in the \ngreat work of redemption\, those whom He “has foreknown and predestined to \nbe conformed to His Christ\,” crucified by love. \nShe is there at the foot of the Cross\, standing\, full of strength and courage \n\, and here My Master says to me: “Behold your mother”. He gives her to me for \nmy Mother… And now that He has returned to the Father and has substituted \nme for Himself on the Cross so that “I may suffer in my body what is lacking in \nHis passion for the sake of His body\, which is the Church\,” the Blessed Virgin i \ns again there to teach me to suffer as He did\, to tell me\, to make me hear those \nlast songs of His soul which no one else but she\, His Mother\, could overhear.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-bvm-15/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20250712T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20250712T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250610T014225Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250610T014225Z
UID:13506-1752310800-1752321600@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Chicago Monthly Meeting 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/chicago-monthly-meeting-900-am-cdt/
CATEGORIES:LCG Local Community Meetings,LCG open events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250713
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250714
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250713T114951Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250713T120327Z
UID:13686-1752364800-1752451199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema - 15th Week Ord
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n15th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nJuly 13 – 19\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n13\nMon\n14\nTue\n15\nWed\n16\nThu\n17\nFri\n18\nSat\n19\n\n\nOffice\n15th Sunday\nSt Kateri Tekakwitha\nSt Bonaventure\nOur Lady of Mt Carmel\nWeekday\nWeekday\nWeekday\n\n\nVigils\nGen 24:1-27\nGen 24:28-49\nGen 24:50-67\nGen 25:1-18\nGen 25:19-34\nGen 26:1-22\nGen 26:23-35\n\n\nLauds\nEccles 10:1-10\nEccles 10:11-20\nEccles 11:1-10\nEccles 12:1-8\nEccles 12:9-14\nHosea 1:1-9\nHos 2:1-6\n\n\nMass\n105\n389\n390\n391\n392\n393\n394\n\n\n1st\nDeut 30:10-14\nExod 1:8-14\, 22\nExod 2:1-15a\nExod 3:1-6\, 9-12\nExod 3:13-20\nExod 11:10-12:14\nExod 12:37-42\n\n\n2nd\nCol 1:15-20\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 10:25-37\nMatt 10:34-11:1\nMatt 11:20-24\nMatt 11:25-27\nMatt 11:28-30\nMatt 12:1-8\nMatt 12:14-21\n\n\nVespers\nEph 2:1-10\nEph 2:11-22\nEph 3:1-7\nEph 3:8-13\nEph 3:14-21\nEph 4:1-6\nEph 4:7-16
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-15th-week-old/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250713
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250714
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250713T115322Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250713T120306Z
UID:13688-1752364800-1752451199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 15th Sunday Ord
DESCRIPTION:THE PARABLE OF \nTHE GOOD SAMARITAN \nFrom a commentary by Origen of Alexandria \n◊◊◊ \nTo interpret the parable of the Good Samaritan\, one of the elders used to \nsay that the man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho was Adam. He said \nJerusalem was paradise\, Jericho was the world\, and the brigands were enemy \npowers. The priest was the law\, the Levite the prophets\, and the Samaritan \nChrist. Adam’s wounds were his disobedience\, the animal that carried him was \nthe body of the Lord\, and the “inn”\, open to all who wished to enter\, was the \nChurch. The two denarii represented the Father and the Son\, and the innkeeper \nwas the head of the Church\, who was entrusted with its administration. The \npromised return of the Samaritan was a figure of the second coming of the \nSavior. \nThe Samaritan was carrying oil – oil to make his face shine as Scripture \nsays\, referring surely to the face of the man he cared for. He cleansed the man’s \nwounds with oil to soothe the inflammation and with wine that made them \nsmart\, and then placed him on his own mount\, that is\, on his own body\, since he \nhad condescended to assume our humanity. This Samaritan bore our sins and \nsuffered on our behalf; he carried the half dead man to the inn which takes in \neveryone\, denying no one its help; in other words\, to the Church. To this inn \nJesus invites all when he says: Come to me\, all who labor and are \noverburdened\, and I will give you new strength. \nAfter bringing in the man half dead the Samaritan did not immediately \ndepart\, but remained and dressed his wounds by night as well as by day\, \nshowing his concern and doing everything he could for him. In the morning \nwhen he wished to set out again he took from his own purse silver coins\, from \nhis own sterling money\, two denarii to pay the innkeeper – clearly the angel of \nthe Church – and ordered him to nurse with all diligence and restore to health \nthe man whom for a short time he himself had personally tended. \nI think the two denarii stand for knowledge of the Father and the Son in \nthe Father. This was given to the angel as a recompense\, so that he would care \nmore diligently for the man entrusted to him. He was also promised that \nwhatever he spent of his own in healing him would be repaid. \nThis guardian of souls who showed mercy to the man who fell into the \nhands of robbers was a better neighbor to him than were either the law or the \nprophets\, and he proved this more by deeds than by words. Now the saying: Be \nimitators of me as I am of Christ makes it clear that we can imitate Christ by \nshowing mercy to those who have fallen into the hands of brigands. We can go to \nthem\, bandage their wounds after pouring in oil and wine\, place them on our \nown mount\, and bear their burdens. And so the Son of God exhorts us to do \nthese things\, in words addressed not only to the teacher of the law but to all of \nus: Go and do likewise. If we do\, we shall gain eternal life in Christ Jesus\, to \nwhom belongs glory and power for ever and ever.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-15th-sunday-old/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250714
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250715
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250713T115431Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250713T115431Z
UID:13690-1752451200-1752537599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Kateri Tekakwitha
DESCRIPTION:THE VIRGINITY OF \nKATERI TEKAKWITHA \nFrom the writings of Fr Francis Xavier Weiser \n◊◊◊ \nTekakwitha was seventeen and still without a boyfriend to whom\, like the \nother Indian girls\, she might have given her love and affection. In her \nsurroundings this was unusual\, for the Indian girls started quite early “playing \nthe field.” Most of them married at the age of eighteen or nineteen. \nDespite the urgings of her aunts she refused to meet the young men of the \nvillage or dance with them. Was it natural shyness\, due to her weak sight and \nher pockmarked face? In any case\, she had no inclination to fall in love. \nSomething deep down in her soul seemed to hold her back with unexplainable\, \nquiet force. She was a normal happy girl and knew how natural it was for a \nyoung Indian maiden to find\, as soon as possible\, a good hunter or warrior who \nwould take her as co-worker and companion in the heavy toil that marriage \nimposed on husband and wife. The family\, the village\, the whole tribe took it for \ngranted that girls should enter an early marriage and assume the many duties of \ntheir calling. \nShe had not the slightest idea of celibate life among women\, nor had she \never seen or heard anything concerning the voluntary state of virginity such as \nthe Catholic nuns observed it. The Mohawks knew\, of course\, that the black- \nrobes lived without marriage and woman’s love for the sake of their priestly \nvocation; this was for them a source of constant marvel and admiration. They \ndid not know\, however\, that such an ideal was also practiced by women. Even \nthe Christian Indians had no inkling of it\, for the Jesuits never mentioned this \nfact; it was a hard enough task for them to raise their spiritual children to the \nlevel of a sound\, morally good married life according to the demands of the \nsacrament of matrimony. \nThus\, Tekakwitha\, who had no instruction at all in Christianity\, followed \nthe path of a splendid Christian ideal without being aware of it. All she knew \nwas that an inner force\, a strange spirit in the depth of her heart drove her with \nconstant\, quiet urgings to keep herself free from the bonds of human love that \nled to marriage. Gladly and willingly she obeyed her parents in everything; but \non this point she remained adamant and rather followed the guidance of that \nmysterious voice in her soul. Had she only known that it was the grace of…the \ntrue God\, directing her on this path\, how happy would she have been!
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-kateri-tekakwitha-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250715
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250716
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250713T115559Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250713T115559Z
UID:13692-1752537600-1752623999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Bonaventure
DESCRIPTION:THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE \nFrom “The Tree of Life” by St Bonaventure \n◊◊◊ \nYou\, soul devoted to God\, whoever you are\, run with living desire to this \nFountain of life and light and with the innermost power of your heart cry out to \nhim: “O inaccessible beauty of the most high God and the pure brightness of \nthe eternal light\, life vivifying all life\, light illumining every light\, and keeping \nin perpetual splendour a thousand times a thousand lights brilliantly shining \nbefore the throne of your Divinity since the primeval dawn! O eternal and \ninaccessible\, clear and sweet stream from the fountain hidden from the eyes of \nall mortals\, whose depth is without bottom\, whose height is without limit\, \nwhose breadth cannot be bounded\, whose purity cannot be disturbed.“ \nFrom this Fountain flows the stream of the oil of gladness\, which \ngladdens the city of God\, and the powerful fiery torrent\, the torrent\, I say\, of the \npleasure of God\, from which the guests at the heavenly banquet drink to joyful \ninebriation and sing without ceasing hymns of jubilation. \nAnoint us with this sacred oil and refresh with the longed-for waters of \nthis torrent the thirsting throat of our parched hearts so that amid shouts of joy \nand thanksgiving we may sing to you a canticle of praise\, proving by experience \nthat with you is the fountain of life\, and in your light we will see light… \nBelieving\, hoping and loving with my whole heart\, with my whole mind \nand with my whole strength\, may I be carried to you\, beloved Jesus\, as to the \ngoal of all things\, because you alone are sufficient\, you alone are good and \npleasing to those who seek you and love your name. “For you\, my good Jesus\, \nare the redeemer of the lost\, the Saviour of the redeemed\, the hope of exiles\, the \nstrength of laborers\, the sweet solace of anguished spirits\, the crown and \nimperial dignity of the triumphant\, the unique reward and joy of all the \ncitizens of heaven\, the renowned offspring of the supreme God and the sublime \nfruit of the virginal womb\, the abundant fountain of all graces\, of whose \nfullness we have all received.“
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-bonaventure-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250716
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250717
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250713T115906Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250713T115906Z
UID:13694-1752624000-1752710399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Our Lady of Mt Carmel
DESCRIPTION:THE SCAPULAR OF \nTHE VIRGIN OF CARMEL \nFrom the writings of Fr Lawrence Lovasik \n◊◊◊ \nThe feast of the scapular is that of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The \nScapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the best known\, most celebrated\, and \nmost widespread of the small scapulars.… \n[The word scapular is derived from the Latin\, and means the shoulder \nblade\, or … the shoulders. As a garment\, it is a broad piece of cloth\, with an \nopening in it for the head\, and which hangs down in front and in back almost to \nthe ground\, as may be seen in the habits of the Carmelites\, the Benedictines\, and \nsome other religious Orders. The scapular worn by the faithful is but a symbol of \nthat worn by the religious of the Order of Mount Carmel.] \nAccording to tradition\, a number of men who embraced the Christian \nfaith on Pentecost Day [as recounted in the book of Acts] erected a church to the \nBlessed Virgin on Mount Carmel. They were called Brethren of Blessed Mary of \nMount Carmel. These religious came to Europe in the thirteenth century\, when \nMary appeared to their General\, Simon Stock\, at Cambridge\, England\, on \nSunday\, July 16\, 1251. In answer to his appeal for help for his oppressed order\, \nshe appeared to him with a scapular in her hand and said\, “Take\, beloved son\, \nthis scapular of thy order as a badge of my confraternity; and for thee and all \nCarmelites a special sign of grace; whoever dies in this garment\, will not \nsuffer everlasting fire. It is the sign of salvation\, a safeguard in dangers\, a \npledge of peace and of the covenant.” Indirectly\, the promise is extended to all \nwho from devotion to the Mother of God wear her habit until death and are \nthus…affiliated with the Carmelite Order… \nThe Scapular Devotion is one of the oldest devotions to Our Lady. It has \nbeen widespread in the Church for nearly seven centuries… [Pope] Leo XIII \nwrote: “Its nobility of origin\, its venerable antiquity\, its extraordinary spread \nin the Church\, the spiritualizing effects produced by it and the outstanding \nmiracles worked in virtue of it\, render the Scapular of Carmel commendable \nto a wondrous degree.” And [Pope] Benedict XV wrote: “Let all of you have a \ncommon language and a common armor; the language\, the sayings of the \nGospel; the common armor\, the Scapular of the Virgin of Carmel\, which you \nall ought to wear and which enjoys the singular privilege of protection even \nafter death.” \nThe scapular is the sign of being devoted to the Blessed Virgin\, just as the \ncarrying of your mother’s picture would be a sign of your being devoted to her. \nDo you wear a scapular…? It should remind you that you belong entirely to her \nand that through her you can best give yourself to God.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-our-lady-of-mt-carmel/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250717
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250718
DTSTAMP:20260403T173304
CREATED:20250713T120008Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250713T120008Z
UID:13696-1752710400-1752796799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE PROOF OF \nCHRIST’S DIVINE POWER \nFrom a treatise by St John Chrysostom \n◊◊◊ \n[The success of the Church in to have converted so many nations\, to have \nwon over so many peoples\,] is a great thing\, truly a great thing. Rather\, it \nsurpasses greatness and provides a proof of [Christ’s] divine power. Let us \nsuppose that many men were disposed to work together\, and no one was \ninclined to oppose them. Even under such ideal circumstances\, it would have \nbeen a great thing that a world as large as this could suddenly be set free from \nthe wicked ways which had preoccupied it for so long a time; it would have been \nmiraculous that it could change over to another and far more difficult way of life. \nFor two tyrannical factors opposed this change: habit and pleasure. For \nmany years their fathers\, grandfathers\, great grandfathers\, their ancestors\, \ntheir philosophers\, and public speakers had given them a certain way of life. Yet \npeople were persuaded to reject this\, even though it was a difficult thing to do. \nThey were also persuaded to accept a strange and very hard way of life which \nwas introduced to replace their old ways. And this was a still more difficult \nthing to do. \nThe new way drove them from luxurious living and led them to fasting; it \ndrove them from the love of money and led them to poverty; it drove them from \nwanton ways and led them to temperance; it drove them away from anger and \nled them to mildness; it drove them away from envy and led them to kindliness; \nit drove them from the broad way and the wide street and led them onto a way \nwhich was narrow\, strait\, and steep\, despite the fact that they were used to the \nwide road. \nFor the Church did not take a different kind of human being who lived \noutside this world and its ways. It took those very men who had grown rotten \nhere and who had become softer than mud; it told them to travel on the strait \nand narrow\, the rough road of austerity. And it won them over to this way of life. \nHow many did the Church win over? Not two\, or ten\, or twenty\, or a \nhundred\, but almost every man living under the sun. With whose help did it win \nthem over? With the help of eleven men. And these men are unlettered\, \nignorant\, ineloquent\, undistinguished\, and poor. They could not rely on the \nfame of their homelands\, on any abundance of wealth\, or strength of body\, or \nglorious reputation\, or illustrious ancestry. They were neither forceful nor \nclever in speech; they could make no parade of knowledge. They were \nfishermen and tentmakers\, men of a foreign tongue. They did not speak the \nsame language as those whom they won over to the faith. Their speech – I mean \nHebrew – was strange and different from all others. But it was with the help of \nthese men that Christ founded this Church which reaches from one end of the \nworld to the other.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-335/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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LAST-MODIFIED:20250713T120116Z
UID:13698-1752796800-1752883199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:WHEN ALL WILL BE ONE \nFrom the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration “Nostra Aetate” \n◊◊◊ \nThe Church of Christ acknowledges that\, according to the mystery of \nGod’s saving design\, the beginnings of her faith and her election are already \nfound among the patriarchs\, Moses\, and the prophets. She professes that all \nwho believe in Christ\, Abraham’s sons according to faith are included in the \nsame patriarch’s call\, and likewise that the salvation of the Church was \nmystically foreshadowed by the chosen people’s exodus from the land of \nbondage. \nThe Church\, therefore\, cannot forget that she received the revelation of \nthe Old Testament through the people with whom in God’s inexpressible mercy \ndeigned to establish the Ancient Covenant. Nor can she forget that she draws \nsustenance from the root of that good olive tree onto which have been grafted \nthe wild olive branches of the Gentiles. Indeed\, the Church believes that by His \ncross Christ\, our Peace\, reconciled Jew and Gentile\, making them both one in \nHimself. \nAlso\, the Church ever keeps in mind the words of the Apostle about his \nkinsmen\, “who have the adoption as sons\, and the glory and the covenant and \nthe legislation and the worship and the promises; who have the fathers\, and \nfrom whom is Christ according to the flesh“\, the son of the Virgin Mary. The \nChurch recalls too that from the Jewish people sprang the apostles\, her \nfoundation stones and pillars\, as well as most of the early disciples who \nproclaimed Christ to the world. \nAs holy Scripture testifies\, Jerusalem did not recognize the time of her \nvisitation\, nor did the Jews in large number accept the gospel; indeed\, not a few \nopposed the spreading of it. Nevertheless\, according to the Apostle\, the Jews \nstill remain most dear to God because of their fathers\, for He does not repent of \nthe gifts He makes nor of the calls He issues. In company with the prophets and \nthe same Apostle\, the Church awaits that day\, known to God alone\, on which all \npeoples will address the Lord in a single voice and “serve him with one accord“.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-336/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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