Vigils Reading
2026-03-06
THE LUMINOUS DARKNESS
From “The Life of Moses” by St Gregory of Nyssa
◊◊◊
Moses entered into the darkness and there he saw God. What does this
signify? This present account seems in a way to contradict that of the first
theophany. Then God appeared in light, but now he appears in darkness. Yet we
must not imagine this to be at variance with our normal experience of spiritual
contemplation. By this statement the text teaches us that religious knowledge is
first experienced as light. All that is seen to be opposed to religion is darkness,
and darkness vanishes when we receive the light.
But the more the mind advances and by ever increasing and more perfect
application attains an intellectual comprehension of realities and approaches
contemplation, the more clearly it sees that the divine nature is invisible.
Having left behind all appearances, not only those perceived by the senses but
also those the intellect seems to see, it plunges ever deeper within itself, until by
spiritual effort it penetrates to the invisible and the unknowable, and there it
sees God.
This is the true knowledge of what is sought; this is the seeing that
consists in not seeing, because that which is sought transcends all knowledge,
being separated on all sides by incomprehensibility as by a kind of darkness.
This is why John the contemplative, who had penetrated this luminous
darkness, said that no one had ever seen God, declaring by this negation that the
divine essence is beyond the reach not only of men but of every rational nature
as well.
And so, when Moses had advanced in knowledge he declared that he saw
God in the darkness, or in other words that he recognized that the Divinity is
essentially that which transcends all knowledge and which no mind can
apprehend. The text says: Moses entered into the darkness where God was.
What God? He who has made the darkness his covering, as David declared,
who had himself been initiated into the divine mysteries in that same sanctuary.
When Moses arrived there, he was taught by word what he had formerly learned
from darkness, so that, I think, the doctrine on this matter may be made more
firm for us by the witness of the divine voice. The divine word at the beginning
forbade that the Divine be likened to any of the things known by men, since
every concept which comes from some comprehensible image constitutes an
idol of God and does not proclaim God.

Vigils Reading
2026-03-07
LOVE GOD AND NEIGHBOUR
From a sermon by St Augustine of Hippo
◊◊◊
Make it up with your adversary while he is with you on the road. This life
is called a road, along which everybody travels. And this adversary does not go
away. But who is this adversary? This adversary is not the devil, for Scripture
would never urge you to come to an agreement with the devil. So who is this
adversary? It is the word of God. Why is it your adversary? Because it
commands things against the grain which you do not do. It tells you: Your God
is one; worship one God.
What you want is to put away the one God who is like the lawful husband
of your soul and go fornicating, and what is much more serious, not openly
deserting and repudiating him as apostates do, but remaining in your husband’s
house and letting in adulterers. That is, as if you were a Christian you do not
leave the Church but you consult astrologers or sorcerers.
You are told, Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain and you
are told to observe the Sabbath in a spiritual way, in hope of the future rest
which the Lord has promised you. Whoever does whatever he can for the sake of
that future rest, even though what he is doing seems toilsome, nonetheless he
already has the Sabbath in hope, though he does not yet have it in fact. But as for
you, the reason you want to rest is in order to work, whereas you ought to be
working in order to rest.
You are told, Honour your father and your mother. You heap insults on
your parents, which you certainly do not want to endure from your children.
You are told, You shall not kill. But you want to kill your enemy; and the only
reason you do not do it is that you are afraid of the human judge. Do you not
realize that God is the witness of your thoughts? The man you want dead is alive,
but God holds you to be a murderer in your heart.
You were singing earlier on: O God, I will sing you a new song, on a harp
of ten strings I will play to you. Now I am strumming these ten strings. You see,
the decalogue of the Law has ten commandments. These ten commandments
are arranged in such a way that three refer to God and seven refer to men.
Commandments on three strings refer to God. But to the other commandment,
that is, the love of neighbour, seven strings refer to how people should live
together. This series of seven, like seven strings, begins with the honouring of
parents: Honour your father and your mother… Let us join these to those three
that refer to love of God, if we wish to sing the new song to the harp of the ten
strings.
The ten commandments are reducible to those two commandments, that
we should love God and our neighbour, and these two to the one we are looking
for: What you do not want done to you, do not do to another. There the ten are
contained, and there also are contained the two. Sing to the harp of ten strings,
sing a new song, and come to an agreement with the word of God, while it is with
you on the road.

Skema Third Week of Lent
2026-03-08
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
3rd Week of Lent

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (II)
March 8 – 14, 2026

Sun
8
Mon
9
Tue
10
Wed
11
Thu
12
Fri
13
Sat
14

Office
3rd Sunday of Lent
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday

Vigils
Exod 13:1-16
Exod 13:17-14:9
Exod 14:10-31
Exod 15:1-21
Exod 15:22-16:15
Exod 16:16-35
Exod 17:1-16

Lauds
Deut 8:1-6
Deut 8:7-14
Deut 9:1-6
Deut 9:7-13
Deut 9:15-21
Deut 9:22-29
Deut 10:12-22

Mass
28
237
238
239
240
241
242

1st
Exod 17:3-7
2 Kgs 5:1-15a
Dan 3:25, 34-43
Deut 4:1, 5-9
Jer 7:23-28
Hos 14:2-10
Hos 6:1-6

2nd
Rom 5:1-2, 5-8

Gospel
John 4:5-42
Luke 4:24-30
Matt 18:21-35
Matt 5:17-19
Luke 11:14-23
Mark 12:28b-34
Luke 18:9-14

Vespers
Heb 9:15-22
Heb 9:23-28
Heb 10:1-10
Heb 10:11-18
Heb 10:19-25
Heb 10:26-31
Heb 10:32-39

Third Sunday of Lent
2026-03-08
POWER TOGETHER
WITH WEAKNESS
From a commentary by St Augustine 1
◊◊◊
Wearied by his journey, Jesus sat down beside a well. It was about the sixth hour. Already divine mysteries begin. Not for nothing is Jesus wearied; nor for nothing does the Power of God suffer fatigue. Not for nothing does he who refreshes the weary endure weariness. Not for nothing is he wearied, whose absence makes us weary, whose presence gives us strength.
Jesus is tired, tired out by his journey. He sits down. On the edge of a well he seats himself. It is midday, and he sits there exhausted. All these details have meaning. They are meant to signify something. They capture our attention, persuading us to knock and investigate further. We have Christ’s own exhortation to do so, for he said: Knock, and it will be opened to you. May he, then, open up the meaning of this text to us as well as to you.
It was for your sake that Jesus was wearied by his journey. In Jesus we encounter divine power together with weakness. He is strong and weak at one and the same time: strong, because in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, present with God from the beginning. Would you know how strong the Word of God is? All things were made through him, and apart from him nothing came into being. The whole universe was made without effort. Could any greater power exist than the power of one who was able effortlessly to construct the entire universe?
And would you know him in his weakness? The Word was made flesh, and lived among us. The power of Christ created you; the weakness of Christ recreated you. Christ’s power caused what did not exist to come into being; Christ’s weakness saved existing things from destruction. In his might he fashioned us; in his weakness he came in search of us.
Jesus, then, is weak, tired out after his journey. Now that journey of his, undertaken for our sake, was his incarnation. How could he otherwise journey when he is present everywhere, and absent from nowhere? To what place or from what place could he travel? In only one way could he come to us, and that was by assuming our visible human flesh. Since then he condescended to come to us in that way, and to appear in the condition of a servant by taking to himself a human nature, that assumption of our nature was his journey.
The fatigue caused by his journey, therefore, was the weariness Jesus experienced in our human nature. In his human body he was weak, but you must not be weak. You must be strong in his weakness, for there is more power in divine weakness than in human strength.
1
Journey with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press – NY – 1992 – pg 40.

Weekday in Third Week in Lent
2026-03-09
THE BLOOD OF CHRIST
From “A Treatise Upon the Passion” by St Thomas More 2
◊◊◊
In the twenty-fourth chapter of Exodus it is related that Moses, in confirmation of the old Law, put half the blood of the sacrifice into a cup, and the other half he shed upon the altar. And, after the book of the Law had been read, he sprinkled the blood upon the people and said unto them: This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in all these words. And so was the Old Testament ratified and confirmed with blood.
And in like manner was the New Testament confirmed with blood, saving that, in order to declare the greater excellence of the New Testament brought by the Son of God, above the Old Testament brought by the prophet Moses, whereas the Old Testament was ratified with the blood of a brute beast, the New Testament was ratified with the blood of a rational man, and of that man who was also God, that is to say, with the blessed blood of our holy Saviour himself. And that self-same blood did our Lord here give unto his apostles in this blessed sacrament, as he plainly declared himself, saying: This is my blood of the New Testament, or: This is the chalice of the New Testament in my blood which shall be shed for you and for many for the remission of sins.
When our Lord said this, he declared therein the efficacy of the New Testament above the old, in that the old Law in the blood of beasts could only promise the remission of sin that was to come later. For as Saint Paul says: It was impossible that sin should be taken away by the blood of brute beasts.
But the new Law with the blood of Christ does perform the thing that the old Law promised, that is, the remission of sin And therefore our Saviour said: This is the chalice of the New Testament in my blood – that is, to be confirmed in my blood – which shall be shed for the remission of sins.
His words also declared the wonderful excellence of this new blessed sacrament above the sacrifice of the paschal lamb, in these words: For you and for many. For in these words our Saviour spoke, says Saint Chrysostom, as though he meant to say: The blood of the paschal Lamb was shed only for the first-born among the children of Israel, but this blood of mine shall be shed for the remission of the sin of all the whole world.
2
St Thomas More, A Treatise upon the Passion, 4.1; from Word in Season II, 1st ed.

Tuesday in Third Week in Lent
2026-03-10
GOD MADE VISIBLE
IN THE FLESH
By St John of Damascus 3
◊◊◊
God, the best physician of souls, prohibits from making images those who are still infants and ill with a diseased inclination to idolatry, those who are apt to venerate idols as gods. For it is impossible to make an image of God who is incorporeal, invisible, and with neither shape nor circumscription; how can what cannot be seen be depicted? That they did venerate idols as gods, listen to what Scripture says in Exodus, when Moses went up on to Mount Sinai and was there for some time, waiting to receive the Law from God, the senseless people rose up against the servant of God, Aaron, saying, Make us gods to go before us; as for this man, Moses, we do not know what has become of him.
I know what the One who cannot lie said: The Lord your God is one Lord, and you shall not make any carved likeness, of anything in heaven or on the earth, and all who venerate carved images shall be put to shame. I venerate one God, one divinity but also I worship a trinity of persons, God the Father and God the Son incarnate and God the Holy Spirit. I do not offer three venerations, but one, not to each of the persons separately, but I offer one veneration to the three persons together as one God. I do not venerate the creation instead of the creator, but I venerate the Creator, created for my sake, who came down to his creation that he might glorify my nature and bring about communion with the divine nature.
I venerate together with the King and God the purple robe of his body, not as a garment, nor as a fourth person (God forbid!), but as unchangeably equal to God and the source of anointing. For the nature of the flesh did not become divinity, but as the Word became flesh immutably, remaining what it was, so also the flesh became the Word without losing what it was… Therefore I am emboldened to depict the invisible God, not as invisible, but as he became visible for our sake, by participation in flesh and blood. I do not depict the invisible divinity, I depict God made visible in the flesh…
We, who, passing beyond childhood to reach maturity, are no longer under a custodian, have received the habit of discrimination from God and know what can be depicted and what cannot be delineated in an image. For it is now clear that you cannot depict the invisible God. When you see the bodiless become human for your sake, then you may accomplish the figure of a human form; then you may depict him on a board and set up to view the One who has accepted to be seen.
Depict his ineffable descent, his birth from the Virgin, his being baptized in the Jordan, his transfiguration on Tabor, what he endured to secure our freedom from passion, the miracles which are symbols of his divine nature and activity accomplished through the activity of the flesh, the saving tomb of the Saviour, the resurrection, the ascent into heaven. Depict all these in words and in colors, in books and on tablets.
3
St John of Damascus, On the Divine Images III. 4, 6, 8; (1996) tr. Andrew Louth.

Wednesday in Third Week in Lent
2026-03-11
THE LIGHT OF CHRIST
From a commentary by St Ambrose 4
◊◊◊
Let your face shine on your servant, and teach me your precepts. The Lord enlightens his saints and makes his light shine in the hearts of the just. This means that when you see wisdom in anyone you can be sure that the glory of God has come down and flooded that person’s mind with the light of understanding and knowledge of divine truth. With Moses, however, it was different: God’s glory affected his body also, causing his face to shine. Indeed, his countenance was so transfigured that the <children of Israel> were afraid to look at him, and he was obliged to cover his face with a veil so that <they> should not be alarmed at the sight of it.
Now the face of Moses represents the splendor of the Law; yet this splendor is not to be found in the written letter but in the Law’s spiritual interpretation. As long as Moses lived, he wore a veil over his face whenever he spoke… But after his death Jesus, or Joshua, the son of Nun, spoke to the elders and the people without a veil. When he did so no one was afraid, even though God had spoken to Joshua as well as to Moses, assuring him that he would be with him just as he had been with Moses and would make him resplendent also.
Joshua’s glory, however, would be seen in his deeds rather than in his face. By this the Holy Spirit signified that when Jesus, the true Joshua, came, he would lift the veil from the heart of anyone who turned to him in willingness to listen, and that person would then see his true Saviour with unveiled face.
So it was that, through the coming of his Son, God the almighty Father made his light shine into the hearts of the Gentiles, bringing them to see his glory in the face of Christ Jesus. This is clearly stated in the Apostle’s letter, where we find the following written: The God who commanded light to shine out of darkness has made his light shine in our hearts, to enlighten us with the knowledge of God’s glory shining in the face of Christ Jesus.
And so when David says to the Lord Jesus: Let your face shine upon your servant, he is expressing his longing to see the face of Christ, so that his mind may be capable of enlightenment. These words can be taken as referring to the incarnation, for as the Lord himself declared: Many prophets and righteous men have desired to have this vision. David was not asking for what had been denied to Moses, namely that he might see the face of the incorporeal God with his bodily eyes… There was nothing wrong, therefore, in David’s desire to see the face of the Virgin’s Son who was to come; he desired it in order that God’s light might shine in his heart, as it shone in the hearts of the disciples who said: Were not our hearts burning within us when he opened up the Scriptures to us?
4
St Ambrose, On Psalm 118 17:26-29 (CSEL 62:390-392); from Word in Season II, 1st ed.

Thursday in Third Week in Lent
2026-03-12
THE POWER OF
CHRISTIAN PRAYER
From the treatise “On Prayer” by Tertullian 5
◊◊◊
Prayer is the spiritual offering that has replaced the ancient sacrifices. What good do I receive from the multiplicity of your sacrifices?, asks God. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, and I do not want the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats. Who has asked for these from your hands? What God has asked for, we learn from the Gospel: The hour will come, it says, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. God is spirit, and so he looks for worshipers who are like himself.
We are the true worshipers and the true priests. Praying in spirit we offer prayer to God as a sacrifice. Prayer is an appropriate and an acceptable sacrifice to God. It is the offering he has asked for and the offering he expects. We must make this offering with our whole heart. We must fatten it on faith, prepare it by truth, keep it unblemished by innocence, spotless by chastity, and we must crown it with love. We must escort it to the altar of God in a procession of good works to the sound of psalms and hymns. Then it will gain for us all that we ask of God. What can God refuse to prayer offered in spirit and in truth, when he himself asks for such prayer? How many proofs of its efficacy we read about, hear of, and believe!
Of old prayer brought deliverance from fire and beasts and hunger even before it received its pattern from Christ. How much greater then is the power of Christian prayer! It does not bring an angel of comfort to the heart of a fiery furnace, or shut the mouths of lions, or transport to the hungry food from the fields. The grace it wins does not remove all sense of pain, but it does endow those who suffer with the capacity to endure and the faith to know what the Lord will give those who suffer for the name of God.
In the past prayer caused plagues, routed armies, withheld the blessing of rain. Now the prayer of good people turns aside the anger of God, keeps vigil for their enemies, pleads for their persecutors. If prayer once had the power to call down fire from heaven, is it any wonder that it can call down from heaven the waters of grace? Prayer is the one thing that can conquer God. But Christ has willed that it should work no evil: all the power he has given it is for good.
All the angels pray. Every creature prays. Cattle and wild beasts pray and bend the knee. As they come from their barns and caves they look up to heaven and call out, lifting up their spirit in their own fashion. The birds too rise and lift themselves up to heaven: they open out their wings, instead of hands, in the form of a cross, and give voice to what seems to be a prayer.
What more need be said about the duty of prayer? Even the Lord himself prayed. To him be honour and power for ever and ever. Amen.
5
Tertullian, De oratione 28-29 (CCL 1:273-274); from Word in Season II, 1st ed.

Friday in Third Week in Lent
2026-03-13
THE MYSTERY OF
THE TABERNACLE
From “The Life of Moses” by St Gregory of Nyssa 6
◊◊◊
What then is that tabernacle not made with hands which was shown to Moses on the mountain and to which he was commanded to look as to an archetype so that he might reproduce it in a handmade structure? God said, See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. Of what things not made with hands are these an imitation? And what benefit does the material imitation of those things Moses saw there convey to those who look at it?
Taking a hint from what has been said by Paul, who partially uncovered the mystery of these things, we say that Moses was earlier instructed by a type in the mystery of the tabernacle which encompasses the universe. This tabernacle would be Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God, who in his own nature was not made with hands, yet capable of being made when it became necessary for this tabernacle to be erected among us. Thus, the same tabernacle is in a way both unfashioned and fashioned, uncreated in pre-existence but created in having received this material composition. This one is the Only Begotten God, who encompasses everything in himself but who also pitched his own tabernacle among us.
Whenever the prophet looks to the tabernacle above, he sees the heavenly realities through these symbols. But if one should look at the tabernacle below, since in many places the Church also is called Christ by Paul, he would see the Church. In this tabernacle both the sacrifice of praise and the incense of prayer are seen offered continually at morning and evening. The great David allows us to perceive these things when he directs the incense of his prayer in an odor of sweetness to God, performing his sacrifice through the lifting up of his hands…
If the interior, which is called the Holy of Holies, is not accessible to the multitude, let us not think that this is at variance with the sequence of what has been perceived. For the truth of reality is truly a holy thing, a holy of holies, and is incomprehensible and inaccessible to the multitude. Since it is set in the secret and ineffable areas of the tabernacle of mystery, the apprehension of the realities above comprehension should not be meddled with; one should rather believe that they do exist and that they remain in the secret and ineffable areas of the Intelligence.
6 St Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses 170, 173-175, 184-188; CWS (1978) tr.Malherbe & F erguson.

Saturday in the Third Week in Lent
2026-03-14
HIDDEN BY HIS HOLY FLESH
From a commentary by St Cyril of Alexandria 7
◊◊◊
Emmanuel, God-with-us, is presented in figure and image when Scripture says: And you will place the ark of the testimony in the tabernacle and cover it with the veil. For in the preceding account the Word was described to us as in the whole tabernacle; for it was the house in which God dwelt, namely, the holy body of Christ. But despite that, the ark gives us the same meaning in detail. For it was made of acacia wood, for you to perceive his incorruptibility. It was entirely overlaid with pure gold, as it is written, both inside and outside. For everything in him, both divine and human, is precious and splendid; and in everything he is pre-eminent, as Paul says…
So the ark was made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold, and had the divine Law put into it as a symbol of the indwelling Word of God united to a holy body. For the Word of God was also the Law, even, if not in human form, as the Son is. But it is covered with the veil.
It was much the same with God the Word made man, the covering of his own body obscured to the many. He, too, was hidden by his holy flesh as by a veil. Some of the Jews, therefore, failing to recognize his divine majesty, sometimes tried to stone him to death, accusing him of claiming to be God, when he was a man. Others again did not hesitate to say: Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How, then, can he say: ‘I have come down from heaven.’
So the laying of a veil on the ark tells us symbolically that Jesus would not be recognized by the many. Then even the ark itself was a symbol of him. So it was even he who went before the Israelites in the desert, taking the place of God at that time; for it was he who led the people. The psalmist is also a witness to this, saying: When you went before your people, O God, when you crossed the desert, the earth shook and the heavens, too, poured down rain. For the ark being always in front clearly means that God leads the way.
For Christ is one, but is understood in many and various ways: he is the tabernacle, because of the veil of flesh; he is the ark, containing the divine Law, as he is the Word of God the Father; he is the table, as life and nourishment; the lampstand, as intellectual and spiritual light; he is the altar of sacrifice, as the fragrant odor in sanctity; and the altar of offerings, as an offering for the life of the world. Thus all things in life are sanctified, for Christ is entirely holy, in whatever way he is understood.
7 St Cyril of Alexandria, On John IV.4 (PG 73:620-621, 625); from Word in Season II, 2nd ed

LCG Chicago 9:00 am CDT
2026-03-14 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
All are welcome to visit with the Chicago lay Community at:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86028356465
Meeting ID: 860 2835 6465
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+13126266799,,86028356465# US (Chicago)
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Agenda:
9:00 Gather for Opening prayer.
We also pray for all our lay Cistercian sisters and brothers in the US and around the world. Specially we pray for our Gethsemani monks. Finally, we pray this month specially for:
Fr. Timothy Kelly
Br. Malachy Samanns
Fr. Michael Casagram

9:10 Lectio. Our lectio piece will be led by Mary Haley .
9:50 Reading. Our reading this month is The Cistercian Way by Andre Louf.
10:45 Housekeeping. Volunteer to lead lectio next month? Our next study book. Chicago Report on LCG Advisory Council activity.
11:00 Update. Share how the Holy Spirt has entered our lives as lay Cistercians since our last meeting.
11:45 Closing worship and prayer. We will pray the liturgical hour of None as with our Gethsemani monks (identical Psalms as done today at Gethsemani Abbey.)
Our next meeting: April11, 2026.

Skema
2026-03-15
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
4th Week of Lent

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (II)
March 15 – 21, 2026

Sun
15
Mon
16
Tue
17
Wed
18
Thu
19
Fri
20
Sat
21

Office
4th Sunday of Lent
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
St Joseph
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday

Vigils
Exod 18:1-27
Exod 19:1-15
Exod 19:16-25
Exod 20:1-21
Heb 11:1-16
Exod 24:1-18
Exod 25:1-22

Lauds
Deut 11:1-7
Deut 11:8-12
Deut 11:13-17
Deut 11:18-25
Gen 45:4-8
Deut 26:16-19
Deut 27:1-10

Mass
31
244
245
246
543
248
249

1st
1 Sam 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a
Isa 65:17-21
Ezek 47:1-9, 12
Isa 49:8-15
2 Sam 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16
Wis 2:1a, 12-22
Jer 11:18-20

2nd
Eph 5:8-14

Rom 4:13, 16-18, 22

Gospel
John 9:1-41
John 4:43-54
John 5:1-3a, 5-16
John 5:17-30
Matt 1:16, 18-21, 24a
John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30
John 7:40-53

Vespers
Heb 11:1-7
Heb 11:8-16
Heb 11:17-22
Eph 3:14-21
James 1:22-27
Heb 12:1-6
Heb 12:7-13

Vigils Reading - 4th Sunday of Lent
2026-03-15
COME TO CHRIST
From a commentary by St Ambrose
◊◊◊
You have heard that story in the gospel where we are told that the Lord
Jesus, as he was passing by, caught sight of a man who had been blind from
birth. Since the Lord did not overlook him, neither ought we to overlook the
story of a man whom the Lord considered worthy of his attention. In particular
we should notice the fact that he had been blind from birth. This is an important
point.
There is, indeed, a kind of blindness, usually brought on by serious illness,
which obscures one’s vision, but which can be cured, given time; and there is
another sort of blindness, caused by cataract, that can be remedied by a
surgeon; he can remove the cause and so the blindness is dispelled. Draw your
own conclusion: this man, who was actually born blind, was not cured by
surgical skill, but by the power of God.
When nature is defective the Creator, who is the author of nature, has the
power to restore it. That is why Jesus also said: As long as I am in the world, I
am the light of the world, meaning: all who are blind are able to see, so long as I
am the light they are looking for. Come, then, and receive the light, so that you
may be able to see.
What is he trying to tell us, he who brought human beings back to life,
who restored them to health by a word of command, who said to a corpse, Come
out! And Lazarus came out from the tomb; who said to a paralytic, Arise and
pick up your stretcher, and the sick man rose and picked up the very bed on
which he used to be carried as a helpless cripple? Again, I ask you, what is he
trying to convey to us by spitting on the ground, mixing his spittle with clay and
putting it on the eyes of a blind man, saying: Go and wash yourself in the pool of
Siloam (a name that means “sent”)? What is the meaning of the Lord’s action in
this? Surely one of great significance, since the person whom Jesus touches
receives more than just his sight.
In one instant we see both the power of his divinity and the strength of his
holiness. As the divine light, he touched this man and enlightened him; as a
priest, by an action symbolizing baptism he wrought in him his work of
redemption. The only reason for his mixing clay with the spittle and smearing it
on the eyes of the blind man was to remind you that he who restored the man to
health by anointing his eyes with clay is the very one who fashioned the first
man out of clay, and that this clay that is our flesh can receive the light of eternal
life through the sacrament of baptism.
You, too, should come to Siloam, that is, to him who was sent by the
Father (as he says in the gospel, My teaching is not my own, it comes from him
who sent me). Let Christ wash you and you will then see. Come and be baptized,
it is time; come quickly, and you too will be able to say, I was blind, and now I
can see, and as the blind man said when his eyes began to receive the light, The
night is almost over and the day is at hand.

Vigils Reading
2026-03-16
THE ACCURSED ONE
WEARS THE WREATH
From “The Letter of Barnabas”
◊◊◊
Bear in mind, O children of joy, that there is not a single thing which the
Lord in his goodness has not made clear to us beforehand, so that we may know
to whom all our thanks and praises are due. Though the Son of God was the
divine Lord, and the future Judge of living and dead alike, yet nevertheless he
suffered, in order that his affliction might win life for us.
Notice the directions he gave. Take a couple of goats, unblemished and
well-matched; bring them for an offering, and let the priest take one of them
for a burnt offering. And what are they to do with the other? The other, he
declares, is accursed. (Now see how plainly the type of Jesus appears.) Spit on
it, all of you; thrust your goads into it, wreathe its head with scarlet wool, and
so let it be driven out into the desert.
This is done, and the servant leads the animal into the desert, where he
takes off the wool and leaves it there… Now what does that signify? Notice that
the first goat is for the altar, and the other is accursed; and that it is the accursed
one that wears the wreath. That is because they shall see him on That Day clad to
the ankles in his red woollen robe, and will say, ‘Is not this he whom we once
crucified, and mocked and pierced and spat upon? Yes, this is the man who told
us that he was the son of God.’
But how will he resemble the goat? The point of there being two similar
goats, both of them fair and alike, is that when they see him coming on the Day,
they are going to be struck with terror at the manifest parallel between him and
the goat. In this ordinance, then, you are to see typified the future sufferings of
Jesus…
Men whose sins had come to a head were to bring a heifer for an offering,
and slay it and burn it. Then, after gathering up the ashes and putting them into
basins of water, young children were to tie scarlet wool on branches of wood
(here again, you see, we have the scarlet wool and the type of the Cross),
together with sprigs of hyssop; and with these the people were to be sprinkled,
man by man, by the youngsters, to cleanse them from their sins. See how clearly
he is speaking to you here! The calf is Jesus, and the sinners who offer it are
those who dragged him to the slaughter. Why was the wool put on living wood?
Because the royal realm of Jesus is founded on a Tree, and they who hope in him
shall have eternal life. To ourselves it is plain enough that these were the true
reasons for doing things in this way; but to them it was all dark, because their
ears were deaf to the voice of the Lord.

Vigils Reading
2026-03-17
GUARDING OUR CONSCIENCE
From the writing of St Dorotheus of Gaza
◊◊◊
When God created man, he implanted in us something of his own divinity,
in the way of a more ardent disposition, with a shining spark of reason to
illuminate our minds and teach us the difference between good and evil. This is
called conscience, which is the natural law. It was by submitting to this law, that
is, to the conscience, that the patriarchs and all the faithful in the days before the
written Law were well-pleasing to God. But since conscience was clogged and
trampled on by humanity in general through successive sins, we needed the
written Law, we needed the holy Prophets, and we needed the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ to uncover and awaken it, and to bring the buried spark back
to life through the observance of his holy commands.
So it is now up to us either to keep it buried, or to allow it to shine in us and
illuminate us if we obey it. For when our conscience tells us to do something and
we ignore it, and it speaks again and we still do nothing but trample on it, we
finally bury it, and it can no longer speak clearly to us because of the weight
pressing on it.
Let us take the greatest care, then, brothers, to guard our conscience as
long as we live in this world, and not allow it to convict us of any wrongdoing,
nor despise it even in the smallest matters for any reason at all. For, as you
know, from scorning such small and supposedly unimportant things we are led
to despise even great things. Both living a good life and living a life of sin grow
from small beginnings, to end in either great good or great evil.
Then we must guard our conscience in relation to God, in relation to our
neighbour and in relation to material things. In relation to God, so as not to
despise his commands, even if no one sees us or expects anything of us. We
guard our conscience for God in secret, for instance, when we do not neglect
prayers and, when our mind is inflamed with passion, we agree to calm down
and relax; and, when we see our neighbour talking or doing anything, we refrain
from suspecting and condemning him for appearing to be up to no good.
Guarding our conscience in relation to our neighbour means to do
nothing at all which we know will distress or frighten our neighbour, either by
deed, word, gesture or look. For, as I have often told you before, even a gesture
can upset a neighbour, and so can a look.
Guarding our conscience in relation to material things means not to
misuse anything, nor let anything be wasted or left lying about, but if we see
anything lying about not to ignore it, even if it is something quite unimportant,
but pick it up and return it to its right place; it also means not to neglect our
clothes. Equally with food: you can satisfy your needs with a small amount of
vegetables or lentils, or a few olives; but to refuse to do so, and to insist on
having either pleasanter or more expensive food – all such things are against
conscience.

Vigils Reading
2026-03-18
GROUNDED IN THE FAITH
From a homily by Origen
◊◊◊
The omnipotent God, who lays down for men the contest of observing his
Law in this world, lists what ought to be done and not done, announces suitably
at the end of the book of Leviticus where each individual observance is
established, what reward he who fulfills them bears and what punishment he
who does not observe them undergoes.
But if the Law…is not spiritual but carnal, there is no doubt that he grants
carnally observed blessings also to those who observe them carnally. But if, as it
seems to the Apostle Paul, the Law is spiritual then it must be observed
spiritually and there is a spiritual reward of the blessings for which they hope…
So that what we say may not be doubted, let us hear the voice of the Apostle Paul
himself writing about spiritual blessings to the Ephesians: Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who blessed us in Christ with every
spiritual blessing in heaven.
And you will eat your bread in abundance. I do not take that to be a
physical blessing, as if he who keeps the Law of God obtains this ordinary bread
in abundance. Why? Do not the impious and wicked eat bread not only in
abundance but even in delight? Therefore, if we turn our attention more to him
who said, I am the living bread which descended from heaven, and whoever
eats this bread will live forever, and if we consider that he who said this was
the Word by which souls are nourished, then we will understand about
which bread it was said, And you will eat your bread in abundance. In
Proverbs, Solomon also proclaims similar things about the just man when
he says, When the just man eats, he will fill his soul; but the souls of the
impious will be in extreme poverty.
If you take it according to the literal sense, it appears false. For the
souls of the impious take food with eagerness and strive after satiety; but
the just meanwhile are hungry. Paul was just and he said, Up to this hour
we are hungry, and thirsty, and naked, and we are beaten with fists. But
if you consider how the just man always and without interruption eats
from the living bread and fills his soul with the heavenly food which is the
Word of God and his Wisdom, you will find how the just man eats his
bread in abundance from the blessing of God.
And you will dwell secure upon your land. The unjust man is never
secure but is always moved and wavers and is carried about by every wind of
doctrine. But the just man who keeps the Law of God dwells secure upon his
land. For his understanding is made firm by saying to God, Confirm me, O
Lord, in your words. Therefore, he lives upon his land grounded in the faith
because his building is not placed upon sand, and his root is not ‘upon a rock’,
but indeed his house was founded upon the earth, but his plant took root in the
depth of the earth, that is, in the interior of his soul. Therefore, it is rightly said
to a soul of this kind in the blessings, You will dwell secure upon your land; and
I will give peace upon your land.

Vigils Reading - St Joseph
2026-03-19
EVERYTHING HE DID
WAS DONE FOR GOD
From a sermon by Jacques Benigne Bossuet
◊◊◊
Among all the various vocations, I have noticed in Scripture two which
seem complete opposites: the first is that of the apostles; the second that of St.
Joseph. Jesus was revealed both to the apostles and to St Joseph, but for very
different reasons. He was revealed to the apostles so that they could proclaim
him to the whole world. He was revealed to Joseph so that he could remain
silent and conceal him.
The apostles were lights to make Jesus Christ visible to the whole world.
Joseph was a veil to hide him, and under this veil of mystery were hidden for us
the virginity of Mary and the greatness of the Savior. So we read in Scripture
that when people wished to belittle him they would say: Is he not Joseph’s son?
For the apostles then, Jesus was a Word to be proclaimed. Preach the message
of this gospel. For Joseph, however, Jesus was an unspoken word which was not
to be revealed.
See what the result is. The holy apostles proclaimed the word so loudly
that their word was re-echoed in the heavens, and St Paul dared to say that the
heavenly powers learned the counsels of the divine Wisdom through the
Church. On the other hand, when Joseph heard the marvels of Jesus Christ
spoke of, he listened, wondered, and kept silence.
What is the meaning of this difference? Is God at odds with Himself in
such contrasting vocations? No, you must not think so. All this diversity is
meant to teach God’s children the important truth that the whole of Christian
perfection lies simply in submission. He who glorified the apostles by conferring
on them the honorable duty of preaching, glorified Saint Joseph also by giving
him the humble duty of keeping silent. We should learn from this that true
Christian glory lies not in employments that win public acclaim, but in doing
God’s will.
If everyone cannot have the honor of preaching Jesus Christ, everyone
can have the honor of obeying him, and that is the glory of Saint Joseph, the
trustworthy honor of Christians. So do not ask me what Saint Joseph did in his
hidden life. I cannot possibly tell you. I can only reply the words of the Psalmist:
But what has the just man done? Usually the lives of sinners attract more
attention than those of good people because it is excitement and passion which
make a stir in the world. The sinners have drawn the bow, says David, they
have let fly at the righteous, destroyed, overthrown – he speaks only of worldly
people – for they have destroyed what you have made. He goes on. But what
has the just man done? He means that he has done nothing. Indeed he has done
nothing for people to see, because everything he did was done for God.
That is the way Saint Joseph lived. He saw Jesus Christ and remained
silent; he had experience of him but spoke no word. He did not share his glory
with others, but was satisfied with God alone. He fulfilled his vocation because,
just as the apostles were the ministers appointed to make Jesus Christ known,
so Joseph was his minister and companion in his hidden life.

Vigils Reading
2026-03-20
WHEREVER CHRIST LEADS
By St Cyril of Alexandria
◊◊◊
The glory of Christ filled the true Tabernacle, which is the Church, from
the very moment it was set up on earth. This, surely, is what is signified by the
cloud that covered the first Tabernacle. Christ has filled the Church with his
glory, and now like a fire, he shines forth to give light to those who live in the
darkness of ignorance and error. He shades and protects those already
enlightened by the dawn of his day in their hearts. He refreshes them with the
heavenly dew of his consolations sent down from above through the Spirit. This
is what we should understand by the saying that by night he appeared in the
form of fire, and by day in the form of cloud.
Those who were as yet uninstructed in the teaching of Christ required
spiritual enlightenment to bring them to a knowledge of God; but the more
advanced, whose minds had been illumined by faith, were in need of protection
from the scorching heat of the day, and of courage to bear the burdens of this
present life. For all who desire to live a godly life in Christ will suffer
persecution.
Whenever the cloud moved forward, the Tabernacle went with it; when
the cloud settled, the Tabernacle came to rest with it and the Israelites broke
their journey. Now the meaning of this for us is that wherever Christ leads, the
Church, the holy multitude of believers, follows him. The faithful are never
separated from the Saviour who calls them to himself. We may not be able to
find any special meaning in the constant halts and new departures throughout
our spiritual journey under Christ’s guidance. It is the whole journey, following
the cloud whether it moves forward or settles, that symbolizes our desire to be
with God.
Nevertheless, if we would have a more subtle interpretation, we could
perhaps say that our first departure is from unbelief to faith, from ignorance to
knowledge, and from having no perception of the true God to clear recognition
of the Creator and Lord of the universe. The second stage, and an essential one,
is conversion from sin and licentiousness to a desire for amendment both in
thought and deed. But the best and most glorious is the third part of the journey,
because in it we leave behind what is deficient and move onward toward what is
perfect both in our actions and in our belief.
So, little by little, we advance toward the ideal we see in Christ, to become
the perfect man, sharing in the perfection of Christ himself. This surely is what
Saint Paul means by saying: Forgetting what lies behind me and straining
forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the goal, the heavenly reward to
which God calls me in Christ Jesus.

Vigils Reading
2026-03-21
MANY ARE CALLED,
BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN
From “The Conferences” of St John Cassian
◊◊◊
Now something must be said about the renunciations which the tradition
of the Fathers and the authority of Holy Scripture show to be three and which
each one of us ought to pursue with all our zeal. The first is that by which in
bodily fashion we despise all the wealth and resources of the world. The second
is that by which we reject the former behavior, vices, and affections of soul and
body. The third is that by which we call our mind away from everything that is
present and visible and contemplate only what is to come and desire those
things that are invisible.
We read that the Lord commanded Abraham to do these three things all at
once when he said to him, Leave your country and your kinsfolk and your
father’s house. First he spoke of your country – namely, of the resources of this
world and of earthly wealth; secondly, of your kinsfolk – namely, of the former
way of life and behavior and vices that have been related to us from our birth by
a connection as it were of a certain affinity or consanguinity; thirdly, of your
father’s house – namely, of every vestige of this world which the eyes gaze upon.
Therefore, if we desire to achieve true perfection we ought to strive so
that, just as with our body we have disdained parents, homeland, wealth, and
the pleasures of the world, we may also in our heart abandon all these things
and not turn back again in our desires to what we have left behind, like those
who were led out by Moses. Although, to be sure, they did not return in body,
nonetheless they are said to have turned back to Egypt in their heart, for they
abandoned the God who had led them out with such powerful signs and they
venerated the idols of Egypt that they had once disdained. Scripture recalls it
thus: In their hearts they turned back to Egypt, saying to Aaron: Make for us
gods who will go before us.
We would be censured along with those who dwelled in the desert and
who desired the disgusting food of vice and filthiness after having eaten the
heavenly manna, and we would seem to complain like them: It was well with us
in Egypt, when we sat over pots of flesh and ate onions and garlic and
cucumbers and melons. Although this manner of speaking first referred to that
people, nonetheless we see it now daily fulfilled in our life and profession. For
everyone who has first renounced this world and then returns to his former
pursuits and his erstwhile desires proclaims that in deed and in intention he is
the same as they were, and he says: ‘It was well with me in Egypt’.
I fear that there will be found as many such people as we read there were
multitudes of sinners in the time of Moses. For although six hundred and three
thousand armed men were said to have left Egypt, no more than two of these
entered the promised land. Hence we must strive to take our models of virtue
from the few and far between, since, according to that figure of speech in the
Gospel, many are said to be called but few are said to be chosen. Bodily
renunciation and removal from Egypt, as it were, will be of no value to us,
therefore, if we have been unable to obtain at the same time the renunciation
of heart which is more sublime and more beneficial.
