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SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St John Vianney
DESCRIPTION:  \n  \nPrayer in the life of the Curé d’Ars: \na reading from an encyclical by ST. John XXIII. \n  \nTo the priests of this century\, apt to be sensitive to the effect of action and easily tempted by a dangerous activism\, how beneficial is that model of assiduous prayer in a life given up entirely to the care of souls\, which was the Curé d’Ars! O What prevents us priests from being saints\, he said. It is lack of reflection. We don’t search our hearts; we don’t know what we do. Reflection\, prayer\, union with God\, are the things we need. He himself remained\, according to contemporary evidence\, in a state of continual prayer from which he was not distracted by the wearisome burden of confessions nor by his other pastoral cares. He preserved a constant union with God in the midst of an exceedingly busy life. \n  \nLet us listen to him again: he is unfailing on the subject of the joy and blessing of prayer. Man is a beggar who needs to be asking everything from God. How many souls we can convert by our prayers! And he would repeat: prayer is all man’s happiness on earth. This happiness he long enjoyed himself with his eyes\, lit by faith\, contemplating the divine mysteries and\, in adoration of the Word incarnate\, his pure and simple soul lifted towards the Holy Trinity\, the supreme object of his love. And the pilgrims who thronged the Church of Ars realized that the humble priest was confiding to them something of the secret of his own inner life with the frequent exclamation dear to him: A Being loved by God\, united to God\, living in the presence of God: oh\, what happiness in life and in death! \n  \nWe could wish that all priests might be convinced\, by the witness of the holy Curé d’Ars\, of the need to be men of prayer and of the possibility of being so\, whatever the heavy and sometimes severe load of the labors of their ministry. But we need an intense faith\, such as moved Jean-Marie Vianney and made him able to work miracles.  What faith! exclaimed one of his colleagues. Enough to spread over a whole diocese! \n  \nWith St. Pius X\, let us consider it certain and well-founded that a priest\, in order to occupy his station properly and fulfill his duty\, must devote himself before all else to prayer. Above all he should obey Christ’s precept: We ought always to pray\, a precept earnestly recommended by St Paul: Continue steadfastly in prayer\, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. Pray constantly.      \nThe prayer of the Curé d’Ars\, who\, so to speak\, spent the last thirty years of his life in his church where he was kept by his numerous penitents\, was above all a prayer of thanksgiving. His devotion to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar was indeed wonderful. He is there\, he would say\, he who loves us so much; how could we not love him? And most certainly he loved him and felt irresistibly drawn towards the tabernacle: We do not need many words to pray well\,  he explained to his parishioners. We know that God is there\, in the holy tabernacle; we open our hearts to him; we rejoice in his holy presence. This is the best prayer of all. \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-john-vianney/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220804
DTSTAMP:20260403T225458
CREATED:20220730T125738Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220730T125738Z
UID:8876-1659484800-1659571199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:  \n  \nA Commentary on the Book of Genesis by St John Chrysostom  [1] \n  \nYou notice that when Joseph encountered troubles he had no sense of distress; instead the creative wisdom of God transformed all his distress. Virtue\, wherever you cast it\, reveals its characteristic power\, be it in servitude\, in prison\, in distress or in prosperity. So since\, even when cast into prison\, he won over the chief jailer and received from him control of everything there. \nJoseph rightly interpreted the dreams of the cupbearer of the king and the chief baker. He asked only that they remember him when they have been delivered from prison. “Remember me\, and have me taken out of this dungeon”. Hearing this let us learn\, when we fall foul\, not to be bent on railing against those who have offended us\, but simply to demonstrate our innocence meekly and mildly and to imitate this remarkable man in that\, though being in difficulties\, he did not bring himself to blame others. Far from hankering for the esteem of mortals\, he was content with favor from on high and wanted for an admirer of his conduct only that God on high. Hence\, as he kept silence and endeavored to conceal everything\, the loving Lord brought him to wonderful prominence. \nEven after this\, two years passed before the cupbearer recounted to the king what had happened in prison and the wonderful man who had rightly interpreted his dream. On hearing this\, the king sent for Joseph and released him from the dungeon. See how divine providence had arranged all things so that Pharaoh’s cupbearer and chief  baker should be imprisoned there at the same time and should come to know the man’s wisdom through his interpretation of dreams and should bring him forward now before the Pharaoh. Joseph replies to the king: “Don’t suspect that I utter anything of myself or interpret them by human wisdom. There is no way of coming to knowledge of them without revelation from on high. So be aware that without God\, it is not possible for me to give you a reply”. \nAt this stage Pharaoh was instrumental in the fulfillment of the dream Joseph had when living at his father’s house. Whereas he interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams Pharaoh unwittingly brought Joseph’s dream to pass. Pharaoh realized that these things became clear to him through a revelation from on high. He then says: “Since God has revealed all this to you\, there is no person more discerning than you. You shall therefore be in charge of my household and all the people shall obey your words.” See how all of a sudden the prisoner is made king of the whole of Egypt. Do you see how important it is to bear trials thankfully? Hence Paul also said: “Distress promotes endurance\, endurance promotes character\, character promotes hope and hope does not disappoint.” \nThe text tells us that Joseph was thirty years old at this time. Far from idly considering that there is merely reference here to his age\, let us learn that there is no excuse for anyone to neglect virtue nor any grounds for claiming the pretext of youth when virtue needs to be demonstrated. He had grace from on high to strengthen him. \nAfter hearing this\, let us never despair in the midst of distress nor become frustrated by following by following our own reasoning. Rather\, let us give evidence of sound endurance and be buoyed up by hope\, secure in the knowledge of our Lord’s resourcefulness and the fact that\, instead of ignoring us and abandoning us to the experience of troubles\, he wants to crown us with a resplendent garland for our struggles. It is for this that all holy people have been distinguished. Hence the apostle also said: “It is through great distress that we must enter the kingdom of God.” Christ himself said to the disciples\, “In the world you will have distress.” So let us not be upset at the thought of distress\, but rather listen to Paul’s statement that “those who wish to live religiously in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”  This\, on fact\, is what faith is\, when we do not rely on our bodily eyes alone but imagine with the eyes of the mind things that are not visible. \nLet us really give heed to this and nobly withstand the troubles that beset us\, giving thanks to the loving God for everything and waiting for his recompense from him. May it be the good fortune of all of us to attain this\, thanks to the grace and loving kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. \n[1] The Fathers of the Church – vol/ 87 – St John Chrysostom – Homilies on Genesis – vol. 3 – Catholic University Press – Washington DC – 1992 – pg 212 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-12/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20220802T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20220802T193000
DTSTAMP:20260403T225458
CREATED:20220802T191351Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220802T191351Z
UID:8910-1659466800-1659468600@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Rule of Benedict: Reflection. 7 pm CDT
DESCRIPTION:Join Zoom Meeting \nhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/88434101612?pwd=dHMyRkFBNW52eVJIaytWdng0VmZaZz09 \nMeeting ID: 884 3410 1612 \nPasscode: 807992 \nOne tap mobile \n+13126266799\,\,88434101612# US (Chicago) \n  \nChapter 51: On Brethren Who Go Not Very Far Away \nA Brother who is sent out on some business and is expected to return to the monastery that same day shall not presume to eat while he is out\, even if he is urgently requested to do so by any person whomsoever\, unless he has permission from his Abbot. And if he acts otherwise\, let him be excommunicated. \nEND OF READING
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/rule-of-benedict-reflection-7-pm-cdt/
CATEGORIES:LCG open events
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DTSTAMP:20260403T225458
CREATED:20220730T125621Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220730T125621Z
UID:8874-1659398400-1659484799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:  \n  \nCommentary on the Book of Genesis by St John Chrysostom [1] \n  \nWhat is read today is sufficient to teach us how great the harm of envy\, and how this ruinous passion of ill-will demonstrated its typical force even to the extent of affecting brotherhood. “At the age of seventeen Joseph was tending the sheep with his brothers.” Why does the author indicate to us his age? For you to learn that his youth constituted no obstacle to virtue and for you to have a complete awareness of the young man’s obedience to his father and his sympathy for his brothers despite their savagery\, and how despite his being so well disposed to them he was unable to win them over to concord with him on the grounds of his youth so as to be able to maintain the bond of love; instead they saw from the outset the youth’s inclination to virtue and the father’s favor from him and were prompted to envy of him. You see\, they brought false reports about Joseph to their father Israel. See the extraordinary degree of their wickedness: they endeavored to undermine their father’s love and devised false stories about their brother\, succeeding only in bringing to light their own envy. \nWhat is meant by “he loved Joseph more than all his other sons\, as he was a son of his old age”? You see\, somehow the children born to one in old age seem particularly dear\, and manage to attract their father’s favor in greater measure. However this was not the only factor in winning his father and causing him to prefer him to his brothers. For Scripture tells us that even after him another son was born. So what can it mean? That it was a kind of grace from on high that made the young man amiable and rendered him preferable to all the others on account of the virtue of his soul. \nEnvy is a terrible passion\, you see\, and when it affects the soul\, it does not leave it before bringing it to an extremely sorry state         \, damaging the soul that gives it birth and affecting the object of its envy in the opposite way to that intended\, rendering him more esteemed. Notice how this remarkable man is depicted as ignorant of what was going on and conversing cheerfully in great simplicity with them as his brothers\, whereas they for their part were in the grip of the passion of envy and were thus brought to hate him. \nNotice how it indicated as cause of their hatred this fact that had its roots in envy: “His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his other sons.” Their father’s affection gave rise to envy of him\, whereas the boy’s virtue won the father’s favor. So they should have imitated their brother and followed his lead so that they might have won their father; yet far from giving thought to this\, they displayed instead a common hatred for the one loved by their father. Whereas they\, for their part\, like men involved in a feud\, gave free rein to the evil lurking within them and had no kind word to say to him\, conducting themselves treacherously\, this remarkable man\, on the contrary\, maintained a brotherly regard for them\, suspecting nothing in his trust in them as brothers\, and attributed everything to himself. \nThis was the passion that even in the beginning led Cain to rush headlong into murdering his brother. Do you see his brother suspecting nothing\, but with full trust in his brother’s plans going out and falling victim  to that deadly blow. In the same fashion the remarkable Joseph dealt with them as brothers\, unaware of their wicked complicity\, he brought to their notice the revelation God had given him in a dream\, foretelling the prosperity that would come his way and the subjection of his brothers. \nThese men\, however\, as I said before\, neither had any respect for nature itself nor took account of the favor shown their brother from on high: from day to day they deepened their hatred\, the fire that burnt secretly within them\, without their father or the young man suspecting anything of the kind nor the fact that they were about to proceed to such awful folly. \nNow all this happened as a type of things to come. As Joseph went off to his brothers to visit them\, to those who had no respect for brotherhood nor for the reason of his coming\, and who first intended to do away with him and then sold him to foreigners\, so too our Lord in fidelity to his characteristic love came to visit the human race: taking flesh of the same source as ours and deigning to become our brother\, he thus arrived among us. In this case things were prefigured as in shadow. \n[1] The Fathers of the Church – vol 87 – St John Chrysostom on Genesis – vol. 3 – Catholic University of America Press – Washington DC – 1002 = pg 186
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-11/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220801
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220802
DTSTAMP:20260403T225458
CREATED:20220730T125506Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220730T125506Z
UID:8872-1659312000-1659398399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Alphonsus
DESCRIPTION:From a sermon by Saint Alphonsus Ligouri\, bishop [1] \n  \nAll holiness and perfection of soul lies in our love for Jesus Christ our God\, who is our Redeemer and our supreme good. It is part of the love of God to acquire and to nurture all the virtues that make one perfect. \nHas not God in fact won for himself a claim on all our love? From all eternity he has loved us. And it is in this vein that he speaks to us: “O consider carefully that I first loved you. You had not yet appeared in the light of day\, nor did the world yet exist\, but already I loved you. From all eternity I have loved you.” \nSince God knew that we are enticed by favors\, he wished to bind us to his love by means of his gifts: “I want to catch mortals with these snare\, these chains of love in which they allow themselves to be entrapped\, so that they will love me.” And all the gifts which he bestowed on us were given to this end. He gave us a soul\, made in his likeness\, and endowed with memory\, intellect and will; he gave us a body equipped with the senses; it was for us that he created heaven and earth and such an abundance of things. He made all things out of love for us\, so that all creation might serve us\, and we in turn might love God out of gratitude for so many gifts. \nBut God did not wish to give us only beautiful creatures; the truth is that to win for himself our love\, he went so far as to bestow upon us the fullness of himself. The eternal Father went so far as to give us his only Son. When he saw that we were all dead through sin and deprived of his grace\, what did he do? Compelled\, as the Apostle says\, by the superabundance of his love for us\, he sent his beloved Son to make reparation for us and to call us back to a sinless life. \nBy giving us his Son\, whom he did not spare precisely so that he might spare us\, he bestowed on us every good: grace\, love and heaven; for all these goods are certainly inferior to the Son: He who did not spare his own Son\, but handed him over for all of us; how could he fail to give us along with his Son all good things? \n[1] The Liturgy of the Hours – vol. III – pg 1568 – Catholic Book Publishing Co – New York – 1975 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-alphonsus/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20220730T130452Z
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UID:8884-1659225600-1659311999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:  \n  \nA Commentary on the Gospel of Luke by St Basil the Great [1] \n  \n“The land of a rich man produced abundant harvests\, and he thought to himself: What am I to do? I will pull down my barns\, and build larger ones.” \nNow why did that land bear so well\, when it belonged to a man who would make no good use of its fertility? It was to show more clearly the forbearance of God\, whose kindness extends even to such people as this. He sends rain on both the just and unjust\, and makes the sun rise on the wicked and the good alike.  \nBut what do we find in this man? A bitter disposition\, hatred of other people\, unwillingness to give. This is the return he made to his Benefactor. He forgot that we all share the same nature; he felt no obligation to distribute his surplus to the needy. His barns were full to the bursting point\, but still his miserly heart was not satisfied. Year by year he increased his wealth\, always adding new crops to the old. The result was a hopeless impasse: greed would not permit him to part with anything he possessed\, and yet because he had so much there was no place to store his latest harvest. And so he is incapable of making a decision and could not escape from his anxiety. What am I to do? \nWho would not pity a man so oppressed? His land yields him no profit but only sighs: it brings him no rich returns\, but only cares and distress and a terrible helplessness. He laments in the same way as the poor do. Is not his cry like that of one hard pressed by poverty? What am I to do? How can I find food and clothing? \nYou who have wealth\, recognize who has given you the gifts you have received. Consider yourself\, who you are\, what has been committed to your charge\, from whom have you received it\, why have you been preferred to most other people? You are the servant of the good God\, a steward on behalf of your fellow servants. Do not imagine that everything has been provided for your own stomach. Take decisions regarding your property as though it belonged to another. Possessions give you pleasure for a short time\, but then they will slip through your fingers and be gone\, and you will be required to give an exact account pf them. \nWhat am I to do? It would have been so easy to say: “I will feed the hungry\, I will open my barns and call in all the poor. I will imitate Joseph in proclaiming my good will toward everyone. I will offer the generous invitation: “Let anyone who lacks bread come to me. You shall share\, each according to need\, in the good things God has given me\, just as though you were drawing from a common well. \n[1] Journey with the Fathers – Year C – New City Press – 1994 – pg 104 \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-13/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220801
DTSTAMP:20260403T225458
CREATED:20220730T115320Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220730T115320Z
UID:8868-1659225600-1659311999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:  \n\n\n\nBiblical Readings for Office and Mass\n18th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (II)\nJuly 31 – August 6\, 2022\n\n\n \nSun\n31\nMon\n1\nTue\n2\nWed\n3\nThu\n4\nFri\n5\nSat\n6\n\n\nOffice\n18thSunday\nSt Alphonsus Ligouri\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSt John Vianney\nSt Mary Major\nTransfiguration of the Lord\n\n\nVigils\nGen 37:21-36\nGen 38:1-30\nGen 39:1-23\nGen 40:1-23\nGen 41:1-32\nGen 41:33-57\n2 Cor 3:7-4:6\n\n\nLauds\nHos 10:1-8\nHos 10:9-15\nHos 11:1-7\nHos 11:8-11\nHos 12:1-7\nHos 12:8-15\nSir 48:1-11\n\n\nMass\n114\n407\n408\n409\n410\n411\n614\n\n\n1st\nEccl 1:2; 2:21-23\nJer 28:1-17\nJer 30:1-2\, 12-15\, 18-22\nJer 31:1-7\nJer 31:31-34\nNah 2:1\, 3; 3:1-3\, 6-7\nDan 7:9-10\, 13-14\n\n\n2nd\nCol 3:1-5\, 9-11\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n\nGospel\nLuke 12:13-21\nMatt 14:13-21\nMatt 14:22-36\nMatt 15:21-28\nMatt 16:13-23\nMatt 16:24-28\nLuke 9:28b-36\n\n\nVespers\nEph 1:11-14\nEph 1:15-23\nEph 2:1-10\nEph 2:11-22\nEph 3:1-7\nEph 3:8-13\n1 Jn 5:9-12\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220730
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220731
DTSTAMP:20260403T225458
CREATED:20220722T134620Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220722T134620Z
UID:8864-1659139200-1659225599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial B.V.M.
DESCRIPTION:MY 52.DOC\n07.30.22 \nIn her hiddenness we find Mary’s greatness; from a book by Thomas Merton. \nIn all the great mystery of Mary\, then\, one thing remains most clear: that of herself she is nothing\, and that God has for our sakes delighted to manifest his glory and his love in her.\nIt is because she is\, of all the saints\, the most perfectly poor and the most perfectly hidden\, the one who has absolutely nothing whatever that she attempts to possess as her own\, that she can most fully communicate to the rest of us the grace of the infinitely selfless God. And we will most truly possess him when we have emptied ourselves and become poor and hidden as she is\, resembling him by resembling her.\nAnd all our sanctity depends on her maternal love. The ones she desires to share the joy of her own poverty and simplicity\, the ones whom she wills to be hidden as she is hidden\, are the ones who share her closeness to God.\nIt is a tremendous grace\, then\, and a great privilege when a person living in the world we have to live in\, suddenly loses his interest in the things that absorb that world and discovers in his own soul an appetite for poverty and solitude. And the most precious of all the gifts of nature or grace is the desire to be hidden and to vanish from human sight and be accounted as nothing by the world and to disappear from one’s own self-conscious consideration and vanish into nothingness in the immense poverty that is the adoration of God.\nThis absolute emptiness\, this poverty\, this obscurity holds within it the secret of all joy because it is full of God. To seek this emptiness is true devotion to the Mother of God. To find it is to find her. And to be hidden in its depths is to be full of God as she is full of him\, and to share her mission of bringing him to all peoples.\nYet all generations must call her blessed\, because they all receive through her obedience whatever supernatural life and joy is granted to them. And it is necessary that the world should acknowledge her and that the praise of God’s great work in her should be sung in poetry and that cathedrals should be built in her name. For unless Our Lady is recognized as the Mother of God and as the Queen of all the saints and angels and as the hope of the world\, faith in God will remain incomplete. How can we ask him for all the things he would have us hope for if we do not know\, by contemplating the sanctity of the Immaculate Virgin\, what great things he has power to accomplish in us.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-b-v-m-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTAMP:20260403T225458
CREATED:20220722T134513Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220722T134513Z
UID:8862-1659052800-1659139199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - SS Martha & Mary & Lazarus
DESCRIPTION:07SN2902.DOC \n                                                                                                                                              07.29.22   \n  \nHow action and contemplation complement one another in our Christian life; \n a reading from the book Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton. [1] \nIn the monastic life one could find\, according to Bernard\, three vocations: That of Lazarus the penitent\, that of Martha the active and devoted servant of the monastic household\, and that of Mary the con­templative. Mary had chosen (said St Bernard) the Abest part\,@ and there was no reason for her to envy Martha or leave her contemplation\, unasked\, to share in the labors of Martha. The portion of Mary is\, by nature\, preferable to the other two and superior to them. And one feels\, reading between the lines of St Bernard\, that this had to be said because it was not unknown for Mary to envy Martha. The portion of Mary was not in fact always desired by the majority.  \nSt Bernard himself solves the problem by saying that after all Martha and Mary are sisters and they should dwell together in the same household in peace. They supplement one another. But in actual fact\, true monastic perfection consists above all in the union of all three voca­tions: that of the penitent\, the active worker (in the care of souls above all) and the contemplative. But when Bernard speaks of the care of souls he refers to the duty of instructing and guiding other monks\, rather than apostolic work outside the cloister. Yet the need for preachers and apostolic workers was acute in the twelfth century.  \nFor St Bernard\, the contemplative life is that which is normal for the monk\, it is that which he should always desire\, always prefer\, but the active life necessarily has its claims also. Contemplation should always be desired and preferred. Activity should be accepted\, though never sought. In the end the perfection of the monastic life is found in the union of Martha\, Mary and Lazarus in one person-usually such a person will be an abbot\, like Bernard himself.  \nIt must not\, of course\, be imagined that either St Gregory or St Bernard is always concerned with contemplation from this problematical viewpoint. Because of the large amount of activity in their own lives they do\, indeed\, give ardent expression to their longing for the silence of contemplative prayer. Yet they always admit that contemplation is not unknown to them in their life of apostolic labor: indeed we sense that their contemplative experience is somehow deeper and richer precisely because of the mystical graces given to them to help them to preach to others. \n[1] New York: Image Books\, 1971\, pp. 54-55.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-ss-martha-mary-lazarus/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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