Skema
2026-02-08
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
5th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (II)
February 8 -14, 2026

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

Office
5th Sunday
Weekday
St Scholastica
St Benedict of Aniane
Bl Humbleline
Weekday
SS Cyril & Methodius

Vigils
Judg 18:13-31
Judg 19:1-21
Judg 19:20-30
Judg 20:1-19
Judg 20:20-48
Judg 21:1-25
Ruth 1:1-22

Lauds
Habakkuk 1:1-4
Hab 1:5-11
Hab 1:12-17
Hab 2:1-4
Hab 2:5-8
Hab 2:9-14
Hab 2:15-20

Mass
73
329
330
331
332
333
334

1st
Isa 58:7-10
1 Kgs 8:1-7, 9-13
1 Kgs 8:22-23, 27-30
1 Kgs 10:1-10
1 Kgs 11:4-13
1 Kgs 11:29-32; 12:19
1 Kgs 12:26-32; 13:33-34

2nd
1 Cor 2:1-5

Gospel
Matt 5:13-16
Mark 6:53-56
Mark 7:1-13
Mark 7:14-23
Mark 7:24-30
Mark 7:31-37
Mark 8:1-10

Vespers
1 Thess 1:1-10
1 Thess 2:1-8
1 Thess 2:9-12
1 Thess 2:13-16
1 Thess 2:17-3:5
1 Thess 3:6-13
1 Thess 4:1-12

Vigils Reading
2026-02-09
EVERYTHING WILL BEGIN AGAIN
By Marie Noël
◊◊◊
The way of all humanity traces a circle….
The path that we took when we came naked into the world and which we
climbed from year to year until we came to the middle of our life — on that same
path we will go down again to return, naked, to the place of departure.
Little by little we grew, and raised our stature above the earth; little by
little we will shrink and become bent down towards the earth.
Little by little we opened our senses, hearing, sight and all the others, like
windows in the morning; little by little, one after the other, we will close them
again like windows in the evening.
Little by little, every day, we stored up all kinds of knowledge in our
memory; they will daily escape from our memory a little later on.
A little later, day by day, our arms became strong, our hands skilled, our
tongues able, and rich in words; our arms will become weak, our hands clumsy,
our tongues poor and stammering, day by day, a little later on.
One day, we learned to speak; one day, we will not be able to speak. One
day we came down from our mother’s arms and walked by ourself; one day we
will stop walking by ourself and will lean on [another’s] arm.
One day we had not yet left our cradle and a woman took us up from time
to time to nurse us and change our clothes; one day we will not leave our bed
again and a [another] will come from time to time to wash us and give us drinks.
One day, for the first time, we opened our eyes and saw; one day, for the
last time, we will shut our eyes and see no more.
One day, for the first time, we inhaled the air of this world and were born;
one day, for the last time, we will exhale the air of this world and die.
One day, before all these days, we spent long months in the darkness of
our mother to form our bones and flesh and compose our bodies; one day, after
all these days, we will spend long months in the darkness of the earth to
decompose our bodies and unmake our flesh and bones.
One day, before all these days, we came out of our father as a little seed of
life; one day, after all these days, we will re-enter the Father of fathers to be
begotten anew in eternal life.
And everything, in a new Being, will begin again.

Vigils Reading - St Scholastica
2026-02-10
THE LIFE OF
ST SCHOLASTICA
From Butler’s Lives of the Saints
◊◊◊
St Scholastica, who was St Benedict’s sister, traditionally his twin,
consecrated herself to God from her earliest years, as we learn from St Gregory.
It is not known where she lived, whether at home or in a community, but after
her brother had moved to Monte Cassino, she settled at Plombariola in that
same neighborhood, probably founding and ruling a nunnery about five miles to
the south of St Benedict’s monastery. St Gregory tells us that St Benedict
governed the nuns as well as the monks, and it seems clear that St Scholastica
must have been their Abbess, under his direction. She used to visit her brother
once a year and, since she was not allowed to enter his monastery, he used to go
with some monks to meet her at a house a little way off. They spent these visits
in praising God and in conferring together on spiritual matters.
St Gregory gives a remarkable description of the last of these visits. After
they had passed the day as usual they sat down in the evening to have supper.
When it was finished, Scholastica, possibly foreseeing that it would be their last
visit in this world, begged her brother to delay his return till the next day that
they might spend the time discoursing of the joys of Heaven. Benedict, who was
unwilling to transgress his rule, told her that he could not pass a night away
from the monastery.
When Scholastica found that she could not move him, she laid her head
upon her hands which were clasped together on the table and besought God to
interpose on her behalf. Her prayer was scarcely ended when there arose such a
violent storm of rain that St Benedict and his companions were unable to set
foot outside the door. He exclaimed, “God forgive you sister; what have you
done?” Whereupon she answered, “I asked a favor of you and you refused it. I
asked it of God, and He has granted it.” Benedict was therefore forced to comply
with her request, and they spent the night talking about holy things. The next
morning they parted, and three days later St Benedict saw the soul of his sister
rising to heaven like a dove.

Vigils Reading - St Benedict of Aniane
2026-02-11
ST BENEDICT OF ANIANE
From Butler’s Lives of the Saints
◊◊◊
Benedict was the son of Aigulf of Maguelone and served King Pepin and
his son, Charlemagne, as cupbearer. At the age of twenty he made a resolution
to seek the kingdom of God with his whole heart. He took part in the campaign
in Lombardy, but, after having been nearly drowned in the river Tesino, near
Pavia, in endeavoring to save his brother, he made a vow to quit the world
entirely.
Upon his return to Languedoc he was confirmed in this determination by
the advice of a hermit called Widmar, and he went to the abbey of Saint-Seine,
fifteen miles from Dijon, where he was admitted as a monk. He spent two and a
half years here learning the monastic life and bringing himself under control by
severe austerities. Not satisfied with observing the rule of St Benedict, he
practiced those other points of perfection which he found prescribed in the
Rules of St Pachomius and St Basil. When the abbot died, the brethren were
disposed to elect him to fill the post, but he was unwilling to accept the charge
because he knew that the monks were opposed to anything in the shape of
systematic reform.
Benedict accordingly quitted Saint-Seine and, returning to Languedoc,
built a small hermitage beside the brook Aniane upon his own estate. Here he
lived for some years in self-imposed destitution, praying continually that God
would teach him to do His will. Some solitaries, of whom the holy man Widmar
was one, placed themselves under his direction, and they earned their livelihood
by manual labour, living on bread and water except on Sundays and great
festivals when they added a little wine or milk if it was given them in alms. The
superior worked with them in the fields and sometimes spent his time in
copying books. When the number of his disciples increased, Benedict left to
build a monastery in a more spacious place.
In a short time he had many religious under his direction, and at the same
time exercised a general inspection over all the monasteries of Provence,
Languedoc and Gascony, becoming eventually the director and overseer of all
the monasteries in the empire; he reformed many with little or no opposition.
In order to have him close at hand, the Emperor Louis the Pious obliged
Benedict to dwell first at the abbey of Maurmünster in Alsace and then, as he
wanted him yet nearer, he built a monastery upon the Inde, later known as
Cornelimünster, near Aachen, the residence of the emperor and court. Benedict
lived in the monastery yet continued to help in the restoration of monastic
observance throughout France and Germany. He was the chief instrument in
drawing up the canons for the reformation of monks at the council of Aachen in
817, and presided in the same year over the assembly of abbots to enforce the
restoration of discipline…
This great restorer of monasticism in the West, worn out by
mortifications and fatigues, suffered much from continual sickness in the latter
part of his days. He died at Inde with great tranquility in 821, being then
seventy one years of age.

Vigils Reading - Blessed Humbleline
2026-02-12
BLESSED HUMBELINE
From the Life of St Bernard
◊◊◊
From earliest childhood Humbeline and Bernard had been drawn together
by a special bond of affection and sympathy… After her marriage, forgetful of her
mother’s example and exhortations, she began to follow the fashions of the world.
In 1117 she came to Clairvaux surrounded with all the splendor of dress and
attendants that unlimited wealth could bestow, thinking, so it seems, that she was
doing her brother honor. Her brother Andrew, the porter, in announcing her
arrival, did not omit to describe to his Abbot the pomp and ceremony that attended
her.
It grieved Bernard to hear that his beloved sister had become a worshiper at
the shrine of vanity. He refused to see her himself, nor would he allow any of his
brothers to see her, but told Andrew to tell her…that with these worldly ornaments
she was making herself the devil’s instrument for the ruin of immortal souls.
Andrew delivered the message, adding on his own: “Why so much solicitude to
embellish a body destined for worms and rottenness, while the soul that now
animates it is burning in everlasting flames?”
Humbeline burst into tears, crying out: “I deserve it all because I am a
sinner. Yet it is for such as I that Christ suffered on the Cross. Indeed it is because of
my sinfulness that I seek counsel and encouragement from the saints. If my brother
Bernard, who is the servant of God, despises my body, let him at least have pity on
my soul. Let him come; let him command; and whatever he thinks proper to enjoin
I am prepared to carry out.” There was no resisting such an appeal. Bernard and
his brothers hastened to meet her and to confirm her in these good dispositions.
It was the holy Abbot’s desire that she should enter religion; but as this was
unlawful without her husband’s consent, he recommended her to live as much as
possible like a recluse in the world, shunning ostentation and all kinds of vanity,
and devoting herself, after her mother’s example, to the service of God and the
poor. She promised to do so.
Five years later, in 1122, having obtained after much resistance her
husband’s consent, she left the world altogether and entered the convent of Jully
where Elizabeth, her sister-in-law, was superioress. When the latter went forth
about 1130 to found a new convent in the neighborhood of Dijon, Humbeline was
appointed to succeed her. Under her direction the house flourished greatly; the
noblest ladies of the land sought admission in such numbers that she was forced to
make about a dozen new foundations. She rivaled Bernard himself in her love of
the Cross. Of food and sleep she allowed herself much less than the minimum
which nature demands; her clothes were the meanest she could find, and it was her
happiness to be employed in the humblest occupations. When her nuns begged her
to be more careful of her health, which seemed in danger of breaking down under
such austere practices, she replied: “For you, my dear sisters, whose lives have been
consecrated to the service of God, this is an excellent counsel. But for me, who have
lived so long amidst worldly vanities, no kind of penance can be excessive.”…
Her last hours were consoled by the presence of three of her brothers,
Bernard, Andrew and Nivard… When about to breathe her last she looked with a
radiant smile at Bernard and said: “Oh, how happy I am to have followed your
counsel and consecrated myself to God! And what a beautiful reward I expect to
receive for the love I have entertained for you in this life!”… With these words, she
gave up her spirit.

Vigils Reading
2026-02-13
CONCERNING FOUR WAYS
OF LOVE
By St Bernard of Clairvaux
◊◊◊
There are two loves, carnal and spiritual, from which four ways of loving
are derived: to love the flesh carnally, love the spirit carnally, love the flesh
spiritually, and love the spirit spiritually. A certain progress and ascent from
the lower to the higher occurs in these. For God was made flesh in order for
human beings to make progress, so that humans (who had only known how to
love the flesh carnally) could also love God spiritually. By speaking and keeping
company with human beings, God made himself first loved carnally by them.
Moreover, when he was willing to lay down his life for his friends, they
were already loving the spirit, but still in a carnal way. So even Peter responded
thus to Christ when he spoke about his passion: Far be it from you! Look out
for yourself! But when they recognized that through the same passion the
mystery of redemption takes place, then in that passion they were already loving
the flesh spiritually. When, however, he rises again and ascends, they love the
spirit spiritually, and joyfully they sing: And if we have known Christ
according to the flesh, now we know him so no longer.
We also love our flesh carnally when we carry out its desires; the spirit
carnally with weeping, sighing and grieving in prayer; the flesh with good deeds,
we watch over it with discretion. [We love] the spirit spiritually when out of
charity we postpone even our spiritual pursuits for fraternal benefit.

Vigils Reading - SS Cyril & Methodius
2026-02-14
SAINTS CYRIL AND METHODIUS
From Butler’s Lives of the Saints
◊◊◊
In 862 there arrived in Constantinople an ambassador charged by
Rostislav, prince of Moravia, to ask if the emperor would send him missionaries
capable of teaching his people in their own language. Photius, now patriarch of
Constantinople, decided that Cyril and Methodius were most suitable for the
work; they were learned men, who knew Slavonic.
In 863 the two brothers set out with a number of assistants and came to
the court of Rostislav. The new missionaries made free use of the vernacular in
their preaching and ministrations, and this made immediate appeal to the local
people. To the German clergy this was objectionable, and their opposition was
strengthened when the Emperor Louis forced Rostislav to take an oath of fealty
to him. The Byzantine missionaries, armed with their pericopes from the
Scriptures and liturgical hymns in Slavonic, pursued their way with much
success, but were soon handicapped by their lack of a bishop to ordain more
priests. The German prelate, the bishop of Passau, would not do it, and Cyril
therefore determined to seek help elsewhere, presumably from Constantinople
whence he came.
On their way the brothers arrived in Venice. It was at a bad moment.
Photius at Constantinople had incurred excommunication; the proteges of the
Eastern emperor and their liturgical use of a new tongue were vehemently
criticized. They came to Rome bringing with them alleged relics of Pope St
Clement, which St Cyril had recovered when in the Crimea on his way back from
the Khazars. Adrian II warmly welcomed the bearers of so great a gift. He
examined their cause, and he gave judgment: Cyril and Methodius were to
received episcopal consecration, their neophytes were to be ordained, and the
use of the liturgy in Slavonic was approved.
While still in Rome Cyril died, on February 14, 869. He was buried with
great pomp in the church of San Clemente on the Coelian, where the relics of St
Clement had been enshrined. St Methodius now took up his brother’s
leadership. Having been consecrated bishop he returned, bearing a letter from
the Holy See recommending him as a man of “exact understanding and
orthodoxy”. Kosel, prince of Pannonia, asked that the ancient archdiocese of
Sirmium (now Mitrovitsa) be revived. Methodius was made metropolitan and
the boundaries of his charge extended to the borders of Bulgaria.

Chicago LCG 2/14/26 at 9:00 am CST
2026-02-14 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
You are welcome to join us.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86028356465
Meeting ID: 860 2835 6465
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Skema
2026-02-15
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
6th Week in Ordinary Time

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

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

Office
6th Sunday
Office for Vocations
Weekday
Ash Wednesday
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Friday after Ash Wednesday
Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Vigils
Ruth 2:1-23
Ruth 3:1-18
Ruth 4:1-22
Isa 58:1-14
Exod 1:1-22
Exod 2:1-22
Exod 2:23-3:22

Lauds
Hab 3:1-7
Hab 3:8-15
Hab 3:16-19
Sir 17:20-32
Deut 1:3-8
Deut 4:1-8
Deut 4:9-14

Mass
76
335
336
219
220
221
222

1st
Sir 15:16-21
Jas 1:1-11
Jas 1:12-18
Joel 2:12-18
Deut 30:15-20
Isa 58:1-9a
Isa 58:9b-14

2nd
1 Cor 2:6-10

2 Cor 5:20-6:2

Gospel
Matt 5:17-37
Mark 8:11-13
Mark 8:14-21
Matt 6:1-6, 16-18
Luke 9:22-25
Matt 9:14-15
Luke 5:27-32

Vespers
1 Thess 4:13-18
1 Thess 5:1-11
1 Thess 5:12-28
2 Cor 5:14-21
Heb 1:1-9
Heb 1:13-2:4
Heb 2:5-9

Vigils Reading - 6th Sunday ORD
2026-02-15
BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS
From a commentary by St John Chrysostom
◊◊◊
Christ gave his life for you, and do you hold a grudge against your fellow
servant? How then can you approach the table of peace? Your master did not
refuse to undergo every kind of suffering for you, and will you not even forgo
your anger? Why is this, when love is the root, the wellspring and the mother of
every blessing?
He has offered me an outrageous insult, you say. He has wronged me
times without number, he has endangered my life. Well, what is that? He has
not yet crucified you as the Jewish elders crucified the Lord. If you refuse to
forgive your neighbor’s offense your heavenly Father will not forgive your sins
either.
What does your conscience say when you repeat the words: Our Father
who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, and the rest? Christ went so far as to
offer his blood for the salvation of those who shed it. What could you do that
would equal that? If you refuse to forgive your enemy you harm not him but
yourself. You have indeed harmed him frequently in this present life, but you
have earned for yourself eternal punishment on the day of judgment. There is no
one God detests and repudiates more than the person who bears a grudge,
whose heart is filled with anger, whose soul is seething with rage.
Listen to the Lord’s words: If you are bringing your gift to the altar, and
there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave
your gift there before the altar and first go and be reconciled. Then come and
offer your gift.
What do you mean? Am I really to leave my gift, my offering there? Yes, he
says, because this sacrifice is offered in order that you may live in peace with
your neighbor. If then the attainment of peace is the object of the sacrifice and
you fail to make peace, even if you share in the sacrifice your lack of peace will
make this sharing fruitless. Before all else, therefore make peace, for the sake of
which the sacrifice is offered. Then you will really benefit from it.
The reason the Son of God came into the world was to reconcile the
human race with the Father. As Paul says: Now he has reconciled all things to
himself, destroying enmity in himself by the cross. Consequently, as well as
coming himself to make peace he also calls us blessed if we do the same, and
shares his title with us. Blessed are the peacemakers, he says, for they shall be
called the children of God.
So as far as a human being can, you must do what Christ the Son of God
did, and become a promoter of peace both for yourself and for your neighbor.
Christ calls the peacemakers a child of God. The only good deed he mentions as
essential at the time of sacrifice is reconciliation with one’s brother or sister.
This shows that of all the virtues the most important is love.

Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
2026-02-16
TO LIVE FOR GOD ALONE
From the Second Vatican Council decree “Perfectae Caritatis”
◊◊◊
From the beginning of the Church there have been men and women who
have sought to follow Christ with greater freedom, and to imitate him with
closer fidelity through the practice of the evangelical counsels. They have led
lives dedicated to God, each in his or her own way. Many of them, under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, have lived in solitude or have founded religious
communities, which the Church willingly recognized and approved.
As a result, in accordance with God’s plan, there has grown up a
wonderful variety of religious families. These have been of great service to the
Church in equipping it “for every good work” and preparing it “for the work of
the ministry for the building up of the Body of Christ”, and also in adorning it
with the different gifts of its children, so that the Church may appear in beauty
“as a bride adorned for her husband, and show forth the many-faceted wisdom
of God.”
Surrounded by this rich profusion of gifts, all who are called by God to the
practice of the evangelical counsels and profess them with fidelity, dedicate
themselves to the Lord in a special way. They follow Christ, who in virginity and
poverty redeemed and sanctified humankind through obedience, “even to death
upon a cross.”
Driven thus by the love that the Holy Spirit pours into their hearts, they
live more and more for Christ and for “his Body which is the Church.” The more
fervent their union with Christ through this gift of self throughout their lives,
the richer is the life of the Church, and the more vigorous and fruitful its
apostolate.
The members of each institute should remember above all that in
professing the evangelical counsels they have given their response to the call of
God in such a way that they are to live for God alone, not only by dying to sin but
also by renouncing the world. They have surrendered to his service the whole of
their lives: this constitutes a special consecration, deeply rooted in the
consecration of baptism, to which it gives fuller expression.
Those who profess the evangelical counsels should seek and love above all
things the God who has first loved us. In every circumstance of life they should
strive to foster a life hidden with Christ in God; such a life is a source of, and
stimulus to, the love of one’s neighbor for the salvation of the world and the
building up of the Church. This love is the animating and guiding principle for
the practice of the evangelical counsels.

Vigils Reading
2026-02-17
BEHOLD,
NOW IS THE ACCEPTABLE TIME
From a sermon by St Aelred of Rievaulx
◊◊◊
These forty days are called an acceptable time and named a day of
salvation, because during these days the Lord cleanses and sanctifies his church
through fasting. That is why the Lenten fast was established by the holy fathers,
so that whatever is lacking in us during the year may be purified and made clean
for the remaining times, generally by fasting in this holy observance…
Moses fasted for forty days and nights so that he would merit to receive
the law. And through fasting he merited to have an audience before God and to
see God face to face. So let anyone who desires to approach the Lord love
fasting… Although we do not presume to investigate secret and profound
mysteries of divinity, let us nonetheless gain acquaintance with God as much as
we can. To do so we must still prepare and train ourselves; that way we might
contemplate God here as through a mirror and obscurely, and in the future we
might see him face to face…
That forgiveness of sins is given generously through fasting, we see
manifestly among the Ninevite penitents who took refuge in repentance and
reconciled themselves to God through fasting…when the Lord had threatened
them, through the prophet, with death and overthrow of the city. In fact, the
wise king also learned to avoid the danger; having laid aside royal finery and
sitting in ashes, he exhausted his flesh with fasting, ordering not only human
beings but even beasts to fast and to cry out to God through fasting with
courage. Thus they evaded the overturn of the Ninevite city and peril of death…
Even Christ, King and Lord of prophets, who founded and sanctified
fasting, before he was tempted by the devil fasted forty days and nights, to
teach that the adversary is to be overcome through fasting. The Lord set an
example for us, so if we want a full victory over the devil, the world and the flesh,
then let us take refuge in the weapons of fasting, by which the devil is
slaughtered, the world is conquered, and every attachment of the flesh is
expelled…
Finally we must offer to God repentance in all of our sacrifices, always
repenting that we either overlooked the good or continued in evil… Because
therefore the measure of repentance must be weighted according to the
measure of sin, it is necessary to produce fruit <worthy of> repentance. If your
suffering in correction is less than was your enjoyment in the fault, then the fruit
of your repentance is not worthy…
Still, so that a sinning conscience might be consoled, the method and
measure of exterior repentance have been set; as the conscience is satisfied and
perfected you begin to have confidence, and with a certain holy anticipation in
the hope of divine mercy, you have confidence <regarding> pardon and
forgiveness of sins, so the more truly then the more sincerely you fulfill the
imposed repentance… To the extent that we attain full and perfect pardon we
may also merit eternal glory.

Vigils Reading - Ash Wednesday
2026-02-18
WHY WE FAST
From a sermon by St John Chrysostom
◊◊◊
Why do we fast for forty days? Formerly many believers approached the
sacraments without any particular preparation, especially at the time when
Christ first gave them to us. But when the fathers realized the harm that could
result from such neglect, they took counsel together and decreed that a period of
forty days of fasting be set aside, during which the people would meet to pray
and listen to the word of God. During this Lenten season each of the faithful
would undergo a thorough purification by means of prayer, almsgiving, fasting,
watching, repentant tears, confession, and every other remedial measure. Then
when they had done all in their power to cleanse their consciences, they could
approach the sacraments.
It is certain that the fathers did well to use such lenience in their desire to
establish us in the habit of fasting. As we know, we could proclaim a fast
throughout the whole year, and no one would pay any attention. But now, with a
set time for fasting of only forty days, even the most sluggish need no
exhortation to rouse themselves to undergo it; they accept it as a regular
observance and recurring encouragement.
So, when someone asks you why you fast, you should not answer: because
of the Passover, or because of the Cross. Neither of these is the reason for our
fasting. We fast because of our sins, since we are preparing to approach the
sacred mysteries. Moreover, the Christian Passover is a time for neither fasting
nor mourning, but for great joy, since the Cross destroyed sin and made
expiation for the whole world. It reconciled ancient enmities and opened the
gates of heaven. It made friends of those who had been filled with hatred,
restoring them to the citizenship of heaven. Through the Cross our human
nature has been set at the right hand of the throne of God, and we have been
granted countless good things besides. Therefore we must not give way to
mourning or sadness; we must rejoice greatly instead over all these blessings.
Listen to the exultant words of Saint Paul: God forbid that I should boast
of anything but the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And elsewhere he writes:
God shows his own love for us because when we were still sinners Christ died for
our sake.
Saint John’s message is the same. God loved the world so much, he
declares, and then, passing over every other manifestation of God’s love, he
comes at once to the crucifixion. God loved the world so much that he gave his
only Son, that is, he gave him up to be crucified, so that those who believed in
him might not perish but might have eternal life. If, then, the Cross has its
foundation in love and is our glory, we must not say we mourn because of the
Cross. Far from it. What we have to mourn over is our own sinfulness, and that
is why we fast.

Vigils Reading - Thursday after Ash Wednesday
2026-02-19
WE ADORE YOUR CROSS
By Aemiliana Löhr
◊◊◊
[Today] the veil is taken off the cross and tearful thanksgiving fills the
Church’s voice as she offers the cross to the people and calls out, “Look upon the
wood of the cross.”
The cross is set up now, no longer on Mount Calvary in front of the gates
of that Jerusalem, but on the altar of the New Jerusalem. No longer is there a
crush about it of blaspheming soldiers and Pharisees, but a reverent assembly of
God’s people which still, in this moment of greatest sadness, receives a delicate
anticipation of the joy of resurrection to come, a sort of consolation from the
cross. “We adore your cross, O Lord, and we praise and glorify your holy
resurrection; for behold, through the cross joy came into the whole world.”
This is a characteristic of the Church’s deepest attitude, not only in the
liturgy, but in her whole life as well. She goes with the incarnate Lord through
time, carrying the cross with him. Again and again she sees his blood poured out
by godless people, and the precious life of God’s anointed done to death; for in
her members the Lord himself dies. Good Friday goes on for her throughout the
world’s age, and thickest darkness is still before her. But she does not complain
or flinch; like Jesus, she makes no complaint. When death comes she dies with a
cry to God, certain of the witness she is giving and the life she is to receive.
[The Church’s] life is a life of carrying the cross, a continual dying. But her
voice is a joyful voice; her liturgy celebrates life. In reality she suffers death but
lives already in the resurrection. Her food is the food of immortality: the body of
the risen Christ. She cannot founder. Rather, …she stands alone in the decline of
this world, daily subject to death and [yet] daily awakened to life. She prays with
upraised hands for her murderers, and in the sign of the cross she calls for joy on
behalf of a tortured world. Indeed, in the posture of her prayer and the complete
oneness she has now with the Lord, she herself becomes the cross, and of her, it
will be said till the end of time and eternity, “Through the cross joy came into the
whole world.”

Vigils Reading - Friday after Ash Wednesday
2026-02-20
THE UNBOUNDED LOVE
OF GOD
From “Seasons of Celebration” by Thomas Merton
◊◊◊
If we look carefully at the famous contrast made by St Paul between the
“law of God in his mind” and “the law of sin in his body” we will see a little more
in it than just these two. It is true, St Paul says he is “delighted with God’s law
according to the inner man,” with his “mind he serves the law of God but with
his lower nature the law which allures him to sin”. Ordinarily this text is not
interpreted fully. Very often for instance, we take it to mean that there is nothing
else for us but to accept this inevitable conflict, to try to keep the law of God in
spite of the bias of concupiscence that draws us toward sin. To accept the
conflict in a spirit of Christian resignation is all that is required of us as
Christians.
Do we not see that this leaves us purely and simply captives of the Law? If
this is all there is to it, then Christ’s victory is not complete in our lives. There is
a third possibility, and this is the right one. It is the grace of God in Christ our
Lord or, to be more succinct, it is Christ himself in us. It is our new life in Christ.
By our life of love and hope in Christ we rise above the dilemma and thus resolve
it. The Christian solution is not merely to continue struggling against
temptation in order to live according to the Law. This is nothing new. It is
exactly what had to be done before the coming of Christ. The Christian is no
longer bound by the law of the flesh, and he is no longer obliged in a spirit of fear
to keep the Law of God considered as a formal code imposed on him from
without.
He may still be tempted by the flesh. He resists temptation and is saved
not by various practices and stratagems but by the spiritual force of love itself,
and of the new life that is in him. He lives by the “Spirit of him who raised Christ
Jesus from the dead,” and by that Spirit he “puts to death the deeds prompted
by the animal instincts, and so lives. In other words, it is not dutiful observance
that keeps us from sin, but something far greater: it is love. And this love is not
something which we develop by our own powers alone. It is a sublime gift of the
divine mercy, and the fact that we live in realization of this mercy and this gift is
the greatest source of growth for our love and for our holiness.
This gift, this mercy, this unbounded love of God for us has been lavished
upon us as a result of Christ’s victory. To taste this love is to share in his victory.
To realize our freedom, to exult in our liberation from death, from sin and from
the Law, is to sing the Alleluia which truly glorifies God in this world and in the
world to come.

Vigils Reading - Saturday after Ash Wednesday
2026-02-21
THE MANNER OF KEEPING
THE LENTEN OBSERVANCE
From a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux
◊◊◊
I beseech you, most dearly beloved, to enter with all possible fervor upon
this Lenten time, which is commended to us not only by the law of abstinence,
but also and much more by the mystery it contains. Oh, with what devotion
should we observe what has been transmitted to us as an inheritance from the
righteous Moses who, by a special privilege granted to no other prophet, spoke
to the Lord face to face. With what eagerness should we embrace a practice
commended to us by the example of Elias, who was taken up to heaven in a fiery
chariot.
We are encouraged to undertake this fast by the example of Moses and
Elias, who, illustrious though they may be, are still our fellow-servants. But
much greater encouragement should be given in the example of our Lord Jesus
Christ Who also fasted for forty days. What kind of monk, or even what kind of
Christian, would one be who would submit only with reluctance to an
observance given to us by Christ?… We ought to imitate His example with all the
more fervor knowing that He fasted not for His own sake but for ours…
They are clearly in error who suppose that these few days are sufficient for
the practice of penance, since it is obvious that the whole period of our earthly
life is ordered for no other purpose. “Seek the Lord,” says the prophet, and not
only during forty days, but “while He may be found”. “Call upon Him while He is
near”… Therefore since the Lord is near during all this time of mercy, “seek
Him,” most dearly beloved, “seek Him while He may be found; call upon Him
while He is near.”
Nevertheless we ought to seek Him with greater ardor during these forty
days of Lent, which is not only a part, but the most sacred part of the whole
season of mercy. If, then, at other times we have allowed our zeal to grow slack,
it is fitting that our hearts should now be warmed with a renewal of spiritual
fervor. If the stomach alone has sinned, let the stomach alone fast, and that
suffices.
But if the other members have sinned also, why should they not be made
to fast as well as the stomach? Therefore let the “eye which has wasted the soul”
be made to fast. Let the ear, too, be made to fast, and the tongue, and the hand,
and even the soul herself. Let the eye fast from curious looks, so that,
wholesomely humbled, it may now be kept in penitential restraint. Let the ear
fast from news and idle tales and from all that is vain and worthless with regard
to salvation. Let the tongue fast from detraction and murmuring, from
unprofitable, vain and frivolous words, and – because of the great importance of
silence – sometimes even from words that seem necessary. Let the hand fast
from every work not sanctioned by obedience.
But above all, let the soul fast from vice and the following of her own will.
For without this kind of fasting, all the rest will have no value in the eyes of God.
For we read in the prophet Isaiah that when the people said to the Lord: “Why
have we fasted and you have not regarded?”, they received this answer: “Behold
in the day of your fast your own will is found.”

Skema
2026-02-22
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
1st Week of Lent

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (II)
February 22 – 28, 2026

Sun
22
Mon
23
Tue
24
Wed
25
Thu
26
Fri
27
Sat
28

Office
1st Sunday of Lent
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday

Vigils
Exod 4:1-17
Exod 4:18-31
Exod 5:1-6:1
Exod 6:2-13, 28-7:7
Exod 7:8-24
Exod 7:25-8:15
Exod 8:16-28

Lauds
Deut 4:25-31
Deut 4:32-40
Deut 5:1-10
Deut 5:11-15
Deut 5:16-22
Deut 5:32-6:3
Deut 6:4-9

Mass
22
224
225
226
227
228
229

1st
Gen 2:7-9; 3:1-7
Lev 19:1-2, 11-18
Isa 55:10-11
Jonah 3:1-10
Esth C:12, 14-16, 23-25
Ezek 18:21-28
Deut 26:16-19

2nd
Rom 5:12-19

Gospel
Matt 4:1-11
Matt 25:31-46
Matt 6:7-15
Luke 11:29-32
Matt 7:7-12
Matt 5:20-26
Matt 5:43-48

Vespers
Heb 2:10-18
Heb 3:1-6
Heb 3:7-13
Heb 3:14-19
Heb 4:1-11
Heb 4:12-16
Heb 5:1-10

Vigils Reading - 1st Sunday of Lent
2026-02-22
THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT
From a commentary by St Gregory Nazianzen
◊◊◊
We must not expect baptism to free us from the temptations of our
persecutor. The body that concealed him made even the Word of God a target
for the enemy; his assumption of a visible form made even the invisible light an
object of attack. Nevertheless, since we have at hand the means of overcoming
our enemy, we must have no fear of the struggle. Flaunt in his face the water and
the Spirit. In them will be extinguished all the flaming darts of the evil one.
Suppose the tempter makes us feel the pinch of poverty, as he did even to
Christ, and taking advantage of our hunger, talks of turning stones into bread:
we must not be taken in by him, but let him learn what he has still not grasped.
Refute him with the word of life, with the word which is the bread sent down
from heaven and that gives life to the world.
He may try to ensnare us through our vanity, as he tried to ensnare Christ
when he set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said: “Prove your divinity:
throw yourself down.” Let us beware of succumbing to pride, for the tempter
will by no means stop at one success. He is never satisfied and is always
pursuing us. Often he beguiles us with something good and useful, but its end is
always evil. That is simply his method of waging war.
We also know how well-versed the devil is in Scripture. When Christ
answered the temptation to turn stones into bread with a rebuke from Scripture
beginning: It is written, the devil countered with the same words, tempting
Christ to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. For it is written
he quoted, he will give his angels charge of you, and on their hands they will
bear you up. O past master of all evil, why suppress the verse that follows? You
did not finish the quotation, but I know full well what it means: that we shall
tread on you as on an adder or a cobra; protected by the Trinity, we shall trample
on you as on serpents or scorpions.
If the tempter tried to overthrow us through our greed, showing us at one
glance all the kingdoms of the world – as if they belonged to him – and
demanding that we fall down and worship him, we should despise him, for we
know him to be a penniless impostor. Strong in our baptism, each of us can say:
“I too am made in the image of God, but unlike you, I have not yet become an
outcast from heaven through my pride. I have put on Christ; by my baptism I
have become one with him. It is you that should fall down before me.” At these
words he can only surrender and retire in shame; as he retreated before Christ,
the light of the world, so he will depart from those illumined by that light. Such
are the gifts conferred by baptism on those who understand its power; such the
rich banquet it lays before those who hunger for the things of the Spirit.

Vigils Reading
2026-02-23
A COMMON SHARING OF
CHRIST’S CROSS
From a sermon by St Leo the Great
◊◊◊
Among all the Christian solemnities the Paschal Mystery holds chief
place, dearly beloved; for this the practices of the whole preceding year prepare
us to worthily and rightly celebrate it. But earnest devotion is required of us
especially in these days which are close to this most sublime mystery of the
divine mercy. So it was right that the holy Apostles, inspired by the Holy Spirit,
should ordain that during these days we are to observe severer fasts, so that we
also, by a common sharing of Christ’s Cross, might suffer a little of what He
endured for us, as the Apostle says: “If we suffer with him, we shall also be
glorified with him”. For where there is a sharing of the passion of the Lord,
there is a sure and certain expectation of our promised happiness.
There is no one, dearly beloved, to whom, because of the state of times,
this fellowship of glory is denied, as though the tranquility of peace gave us no
opportunity for the practice of heroic virtue! For the Apostle foretold that “all
who live godly lives in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecutions”. So where people
live in Christ there shall be no lack of trials or persecutions. The Lord Himself
says to us: “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me, is not worthy of
me”. Nor should we doubt that these words were directed not only to the
disciples of Christ, but also to all the faithful who are all taught unto salvation.
And as at all times we must live worthily, so at all times we must bear the
Cross, which for each one is rightly called his or her own, for it is borne by each
one in his own way and measure. Iniquity does not dwell in peace with virtue;
drunkenness hates sobriety; falsehood has nothing in common with
truthfulness. And this division awakens such enduring conflicts that though it
may outwardly seem to subside, yet never does it cease from disturbing the
inmost soul of the just of heart, so that it is indeed true that “all who will live
godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecutions”; and true as well that all this life
is a warfare. Let each faithful soul, learning from his own experiences, arm
himself with the Cross of Christ, that he may be found worthy of Christ.
So now I wish to awaken your devotion in regard to what this holy season
requires of us: that you beautify your holy and salutary fasting with works of
piety. And since we are especially to labor for the pardon of our sins, you can be
assured of the unfailing divine mercy if you likewise in your dealings with others
change every offense into pardon…
For no matter how great the offenses between one person and another…
we share a common nature; so that with what mercy we judge another, we shall
obtain mercy from God. For “blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain
mercy” from God.

Caritas Meeting 6:30 eastern
2026-02-23 18:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York)

Vigils Reading
2026-02-24
THE RAYS SHINING
FROM THE THORNS
From a commentary by St Gregory of Nyssa
◊◊◊
Let us, like Moses, live a solitary life, no longer entangled with adversaries
or mediating between them. Let us live among those of like mind who are fed by
us, while all the movements of our soul are led by reason like sheep by their
shepherd. Then, as we are living at peace, the truth will shine upon us and its
radiance will illuminate the eyes of our soul.
Now this truth is God. Once in an ineffable and mysterious vision it
manifested itself to Moses, and it is not without significance for us that the
flame from which the soul of the Prophet was illuminated was kindled from a
thorn-bush.
If truth is God and if it is also light – two of the sublime and sacred
epithets by which the Gospel describes the God who manifested himself to us in
the flesh – it follows that a virtuous life will lead us to a knowledge of that light
which descended to the level of our human nature. It is not from some luminary
set among the stars that it sheds its radiance, which might then be thought to
have a material origin, but from a bush on the earth, although it outshines the
stars of heaven.
This also symbolizes the mystery of the Virgin, from whom came the
divine light that shone upon the world without damaging the bush from which it
emanated or allowing the virgin shoot to wither. This light teaches us what we
must do to stand in the rays of the true light, and that it is impossible with our
feet in shackles to run toward the mountain where the light of truth appears. We
have first to free the feet of our soul from the covering of dead skins in which our
nature was clad in the beginning when it disobeyed God’s will and was left
naked.
To know that which is, we must purify our minds of assumptions
regarding things which are not. In my opinion the definition of truth is an
unerring comprehension of that which is. He who is immutable, who does not
increase or diminish, who is subject to no change for better or worse, but is
perfectly self-sufficient; he who alone is desirable, in whom all else participates
without causing in him any diminution, he indeed is that which truly is, and to
comprehend him is to know the truth.
It is he whom Moses approached and whom today all approach who like
Moses free themselves from their earthly coverings and look toward the light
coming from the bramble bush, at the ray shining on us from the thorns, which
stand for the flesh, for as the Gospel says, that ray is the real light and the truth.
Then such people will also be able to help others find salvation. They will be
capable of destroying the forces of evil and of restoring those enslaved by them
to liberty.

Vigils Reading
2026-02-25
A PHYSICIAN OF SOULS
From the Philokalia of Origen
◊◊◊
Nearly all readers of the Book of Exodus, both believers and unbelievers,
are disturbed at the frequently occurring words, The Lord hardened the heart
of Pharaoh, and, I will harden the heart of Pharaoh. For among many other
causes of men’s disbelief we must include this: that things unworthy of God are
spoken about God; and it is unworthy of God to bring about the hardening of
any man’s heart so that he may disobey the will of him who hardens.
For readers who are convinced that there is no other God but the
Creator think that God arbitrarily has mercy on whom he will have mercy,
and hardens whom he will, when there is no reason why this should be so.
Others, better advised than these, say they look upon Scripture as
containing many secrets, and do not on that account turn aside from the
sound faith. One of the secrets they hold to be the true account of this
portion of Scripture. Others, alleging that there is a God other than the
Creator, will have him to be just but not good, very foolishly and impiously
going the length of severing righteousness from goodness.
For ourselves, we are convinced, as we study the sacred Scriptures and
contemplate creation with its evidence of orderly design, that things visible and
invisible, things temporal and things eternal, come from God the Creator, who
is the same with the Father of our Lord and Saviour, the good and just and wise
God. In handling the Scriptures we strive to keep that steadily in view, begging
God our Saviour to show us all things pertaining to a good and just and wise
God, for we suppose that the things we speak of cannot be regarded, at least
by intelligent beings, as the result of chance, but that we must ask ourselves
whether they are consistent with his goodness and justice and wisdom…
The Word of God is a physician of souls and uses the most diverse
methods of healing the sick. Some of these methods of healing give pain and
torment to those who are under treatment, some act speedily and some slowly.
The whole of inspired Scripture abounds in proofs of each of these statements.
The God who designed souls knows all their different constitutions, and,
because he is an expert in the art of healing, it is for him alone to say what is
best to be done for each, and when.

Vigils Reading
2026-02-26
THE BOND OF LOVE
From a sermon by St Leo the Great
◊◊◊
Among all the days which Christian devotion holds honorable in many
ways, there is none more excellent than the Paschal Feast, through which the
dignity of all the solemnities in the Church of God is consecrated. Even the very
birth of our Lord from a human mother is credited to this mystery, for there was
no other reason for the Son of God to be born than that he could be fixed to a
cross. Our mortal flesh was taken up in the womb of a Virgin, and in this mortal
flesh the unfolding of his Passion was accomplished. Thus the mercy of God
fulfilled a plan too deep for words: Christ’s humanity became for us a sacrifice of
redemption, the destruction of sin, and the firstfruits of resurrection to eternal
life.
When we consider what the entire world owes to our Lord’s Cross, we
realize our need to prepare for the celebration of Easter by a fast of forty days if
we are to take part worthily in these sacred mysteries. It is not only the highest
bishops or the priests of the second order, nor the ministers who administer the
sacraments alone, but the whole body of the Church and the entire company of
the faithful who must be purified, so that in the Temple of God, whose
foundation is its Founder himself, every stone may be beautiful and all parts
radiant.
If it is reasonable to embellish a king’s palace or governor’s residence with
every ornamental art, so that the greater a person’s importance the more
splendid his dwelling, what zeal ought to be expended in building the House of
God himself, and how distinguished should be its furnishing! No doubt such a
task can be neither undertaken nor completed without the architect;
nevertheless the builder of the house has given it the power to grow in stature
through its own efforts. In the building of this Temple living and intelligent
materials are being used, which of their own free will assemble themselves into
a single structure at the prompting of the Spirit of grace. There was a time when
they neither loved God nor sought him; but he loved and sought them so that
they might begin to love and seek him in return. This is what the blessed apostle
John speaks of when he says: Let us love God, for he first loved us.
Since therefore the entire company of the faithful and each believer in
particular form one and the same Temple of God, there must be the same
perfection in each individual as there is in the whole; for even if all are not
alike in beauty nor is there equal merit in such a diversity of membership, yet
the bond of love ensures communion of beauty among them all. While those
who are united in holy love may not all have received the same gifts of grace,
they rejoice nonetheless in their mutual blessings. Nothing that they love can
be wanting to them, for they become rich in their own increase when they
rejoice in another’s progress.

Vigils Reading
2026-02-27
A FORESHADOW OF
THE GRACE TO COME
From the treatise on the Holy Spirit by St Basil the Great
◊◊◊
The type manifests things to come by imitating them, foreshadowing
future events in order to make them understood. For example, Adam was a
type of the One who was to come, the rock was a type of Christ, and the water
that flowed from the rock was a type of the life-giving power of the Word, for the
Lord said: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. The manna
typified the living bread that came down from heaven and the serpent fixed to
the pole typified the saving Passion consummated upon the Cross, which is why
all who looked at it were saved.
Similarly, the reason the story is told of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt
is that they prefigure those who are saved by baptism. The firstborn of the
Israelites were saved in the same way as are the bodies of the baptized, since
grace was given to those marked by the blood. For the blood of the lamb was a
symbol of the first man who was created and who of necessity still exists in us,
transmitted through succeeding generations until the end of the world.
The sea and the cloud had the immediate effect of producing faith because
of the amazement they aroused, but in relation to the future they were types
foreshadowing the grace to come. Who is wise enough to understand these
things, to understand how the sea is a type of baptism because it separated the
Israelites from Pharaoh just as baptism separates us from the tyranny of the
devil?
In its waters the sea destroyed the enemy and in baptism is slain our
enmity with God. From those waters the people emerged unharmed, and we
emerge from the waters of baptism as though we had died and come to life
again, saved by the grace of him who called us. As for the cloud, that
foreshadowed the gift of the Spirit, who cools the heat of the passions by the
mortification of our body.

Vigils Reading
2026-02-28
OUR PART IN THE PASSOVER
From a homily by St Gregory Nazianzen
◊◊◊
We are soon going to share in the Passover, and although we still do so
only in a symbolic way, the symbolism already has more clarity than it
possessed in former times, because under the law, the Passover was, if I may
dare to say so, only a symbol of a symbol. Before long, however, when the Word
drinks the new wine with us in the kingdom of his Father, we shall be keeping
the Passover in a yet more perfect way and with deeper understanding. He will
then reveal to us and make clear what he has so far only partially disclosed. For
this wine, so familiar to us now, is eternally new. It is for us to learn what this
drinking is, and for him to teach us. He has to communicate this knowledge to
his disciples, because teaching is food, even for the teacher.
So let us take our part in the Passover prescribed by the law, not in a literal
way, but according to the teaching of the Gospel; not in an imperfect way, but
perfectly; not only for a time, but eternally. Let us regard as our home the
heavenly Jerusalem, not the earthly one, the city glorified by angels, not the one
laid waste by armies. We are not required to sacrifice young bulls or rams,
beasts with horns and hoofs that are more dead than alive and devoid of feeling;
but instead let us join the choirs of angels in offering God upon his heavenly
altar a sacrifice of praise.
We must now pass through the first veil and approach the second, turning
our eyes toward the Holy of Holies. I will say more: we must sacrifice ourselves
to God each day and in everything we do, accepting all that happens to us for the
sake of the Word, imitating his passion by our sufferings, and honoring his
blood by shedding our own. We must be ready to be crucified.
If you are a Simon of Cyrene, take up your cross and follow Christ. If you
are crucified beside him like one of the thieves, now, like the good thief,
acknowledge your God. For your sake, and because of your sin, Christ himself
was regarded as a sinner; for his sake, therefore, you must cease to sin. Worship
him who hung on the cross because of you, even if you are hanging there
yourself. Derive some benefit from the very shame; purchase salvation with
your death. Enter paradise with Jesus, and discover how far you have fallen.
Contemplate the glories there, and leave the other scoffing thief to die outside in
his blasphemy.
If you are a Joseph of Arimathea, go to the one who ordered his
crucifixion, and ask for Christ’s body. Make your own the expiation for the
sins of the whole world. If you are a Nicodemus, like the man who worshiped
God by night, bring spices and prepare Christ’s body for burial. If you are one
of the Mary’s or Salome or Joanna, weep in the early morning. Be the first to
see the stone rolled back, and even the angels perhaps, and Jesus himself.

Skema
2026-03-01
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
2nd Week of Lent

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (II)
March 1 – 7, 2026

Sun
1
Mon
2
Tue
3
Wed
4
Thu
5
Fri
6
Sat
7

Office
2nd Sunday of Lent
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday
Lenten Weekday

Vigils
Exod 9:1-12
Exod 9:13-35
Exod 10:1-20
Exod 10:21-11:10
Exod 12:1-20
Exod 12:21-36
Exod 12:37-51

Lauds
Deut 6:10-15
Deut 6:16-19
Deut 6:20-25
Deut 7:1-6
Deut 7:7-11
Deut 7:12-15
Deut 7:16-21

Mass
25
230
231
232
233
234
235

1st
Gen 12:1-4a
Dan 9:4b-10
Isa 1:10, 16-20
Jer 18:18-20
Jer 17:5-10
Gen 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a
Mic 7:14-15, 18-20

2nd
2 Tim 1:8b-10

Gospel
Matt 17:1-9
Luke 6:36-38
Matt 23:1-12
Matt 20:17-28
Luke 16:19-31
Matt 21:33-43, 45-46
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Vespers
Heb 6:1-8
Heb 6:13-20
Heb 7:17-28
Heb 8:1-6
Heb 8:7-13
Heb 9:1-10
Heb 9:11-14

Vigils Reading - 2nd Sunday of Lent
2026-03-01
THE JUST SHALL SHINE
LIKE THE SUN
From a commentary by St Leo the Great
◊◊◊
In the presence of chosen witnesses, the Lord unveils his glory, investing
with such splendor that bodily appearance which he shares with the rest of the
human race that his face shines like the sun and his clothes become white as
snow.
The primary purpose of this transfiguration was to remove the scandal of
the cross from the hearts of Christ’s disciples; the greatness of his hidden glory
was revealed to them to prevent their faith being shaken by the self-abasement
of the suffering he was voluntarily to undergo. In his foresight, however, he was
also laying the foundations of the Church’s hope, teaching the whole body of
Christ the nature of the change it is to receive, and schooling his members to
look forward to a share of the glory which had already shone forth in their head.
The Lord had told them of this when he spoke of his coming in majesty:
Then shall the just shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The blessed
apostle Paul bears witness to the same thing: I consider that the sufferings of
this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed
in us. And again: You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ who is your life appears, then you will appear with him in glory.
Still further instruction was to come from the transfiguration to fortify the
apostles and perfect their understanding. Moses and Elijah, representing the
law and the prophets. appeared in conversation with the Lord. Thus through the
presence of these five men the saying was fulfilled: On the evidence of two or
three witnesses every word shall stand. What could be more firmly established
than that the Word in whose proclamation the trumpets of Old and New
Testaments sound in unison, and the writings of ancient witnesses are in perfect
accord with the teaching of the gospel? The pages of both covenants agree with
one another. He who had been promised beforehand by mysteriously veiled
signs was now revealed clearly and distinctly in the radiance of his glory, as St
John says: The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth have come
through Jesus Christ. In Christ what was promised by prophetic figures and
what was signified by legal precepts are alike fulfilled, for by his presence he
teaches the truth of the prophecies, and by grace he makes it possible for us to
obey the commandments.
May we all therefore be confirmed in our faith through the preaching of
the holy Gospel, and let no one be ashamed of the cross by which Christ has
redeemed the world. None of us must be afraid to suffer for the sake of justice or
doubt the fulfillment of the prophecies, for it is through toil that we come to rest
and through death that we pass to life. If we continue in the acknowledgment
and love of Christ who took upon himself all the weakness of our lowly nature,
what he conquered we too shall conquer, and the promise he gave us we shall
receive. So then, whether it is to encourage us to obey his commands or to
endure hardships, let the Father’s voice always be ringing in our ears and telling
us: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; Listen to him.

Vigils Reading
2026-03-02
FROM THE WEST TO THE EAST
From the catechesis of St Cyril of Jerusalem
◊◊◊
I long ago desired, true born and dearly beloved children of the Church, to
speak to you concerning these spiritual and heavenly mysteries in which you
came to participate. Knowing well that seeing is far more persuasive than
hearing, I waited until now with the hope of finding you more open to the
influence of my words from the actions you experience. Thus I might take and
lead you to the brighter and more fragrant meadow of this present paradise,
especially as you have been made fit to receive the more sacred mysteries and
have been counted worthy of divine and life-giving baptism.
On that evening of your baptism you entered into the outer hall of the
Baptistry, and there facing toward the west you heard the command to stretch
forth your hand, and as in the presence of Satan, you renounced him. This figure
is found in ancient history. For when Pharaoh, that most cruel and ruthless
tyrant, oppressed the free and royal people of the Hebrews, God sent Moses to
bring them out of the evil grip of the Egyptians. Then the doorposts were
anointed with the blood of the lamb that the destroyer might flee from the
houses which had the sign of the blood. And the Hebrew people were
marvelously delivered. The enemy, however, after their rescue, pursued them,
and saw the sea wondrously parted for them. Nevertheless he went on,
following in their footsteps and was all at once overwhelmed and engulfed in the
Red Sea.
Now turn from the ancient to the recent, from the figure to the reality.
There, we have Moses sent from God to Egypt; here, Christ sent by his Father
into the world. There, that Moses might lead forth an oppressed people out of
Egypt; here, that Christ might rescue mankind who is overwhelmed with sins.
There, the blood of a lamb was the spell against the destroyer; here, the blood of
the unblemished Lamb Jesus Christ is made the charm to scare evil spirits.
There, the tyrant pursued even to the sea that ancient people; and in like
manner this daring and shameless spirit, the author of evil, followed you, even
to the very streams of salvation. The tyrant of old was drowned in the sea; and
this present one disappears in the saving water.
What then did each of you standing up say? ‘I renounce Satan’, meaning ‘I
fear your power no longer, for Christ has overthrown it, having partaken with
me of flesh and blood, that through these he might by death destroy death that I
might not for ever be subject to bondage. I renounce you, you crafty and most
subtle serpent. I renounce you, plotter as you are, who under the guise of
friendship brought about disobedience and the apostasy of our first parents. I
renounce you, Satan, the source of all wickedness.’
When you renounced Satan, utterly breaking all covenants with him, that
ancient connection with hell, there is opened to you the paradise of God, which
he planted toward the east, where for his transgression our first father was
exiled. Symbolic of this was your turning from the west to the east, the place of
light. Then you were told to say: I believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in
the Holy Spirit, and in one baptism of repentance.

Vigils Reading
2026-03-03
THE FOOD OF THE SPIRIT
From a commentary by St Cyril of Alexandria
◊◊◊
We shall think of the manna as a figure foreshadowing the teaching and
the spiritual gifts of Christ. These also are from heaven, and have nothing
earthly about them. They produce no physical nausea, and are real food not only
of men but of angels as well.
In his own person the Son has revealed the Father to us, and through the
Son we have come to believe the teaching about the holy and consubstantial
Trinity, and have been well and truly guided into all the paths of virtue. The
orthodox and unadulterated knowledge of these things is the food of the spirit.
To the people of old the manna was given at dawn, as the light began to
shine, because the wealth of Christ’s teaching would be distributed so to speak
by daylight The day has dawned upon us who believe, as Scripture says; the
morning star has risen in all our hearts, and the Sun of Righteousness, Christ,
the giver of spiritual manna, has appeared.
From his own words to the Jews we can be certain that Christ himself is
the true manna, and the material manna was but an image: Your ancestors ate
manna in the desert and they died. This is the bread that comes down from
heaven so that anyone who eats it may never die. I am the living bread come
down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. The bread I shall
give is my flesh which I shall give for the life of the world.
Our Lord Jesus Christ nourishes us for eternal life both by his commands,
which teach us how to live holy lives, and by the Eucharist. In himself, therefore,
he is truly the divine, life-giving manna. Anyone who eats it will be exempt from
corruption and will escape death, unlike those who ate the material manna. The
type had no power to save, but was merely an imitation of the reality.
God sent down manna like rain from above, and ordered everyone to
gather as much as necessary, those who shared a tent gathering together if they
wished. Gather it, each of you, he said, with those who share your tent. Let
none of it be left over till the morning. That is to say, we must fill ourselves
with the divine teaching of the Gospel.

Vigils Reading
2026-03-04
THE LIFTING UP
OF HIS HANDS
From a sermon by St Aelred of Rievaulx
◊◊◊
We read in the Old Testament that, after the people of Israel left Egypt
with Moses at their head, the Amalekites, a savage race, came and did battle
against them. Moses sent an army against them, while he himself went up on to
a mountain to pray for them and raised his hands to the Lord. And it came to
pass that while he kept his hands raised, the people of Israel were triumphant
but whenever he lowered his hands Amalek started to win. Why was it, do you
think, that the raising of his hands possessed such grace? Without doubt God
usually takes more account of the attachments of the mind than of the postures
of the body.
Why was it then? Did his prayer have no effect before God unless he raised
his hands? That lifting up of his hands had such an effect that their enemies
could not withstand the Israelites. The reason why this lifting up of hands had
such force was that it signified the raising of the hands of him who said in the
psalm, The lifting up of my hands is like an evening sacrifice. For, when evening
had already come upon the world, his sweetest hands were stretched out on the
Cross and there was offered up that evening sacrifice that took away the sins of
the whole world.
So that raising of Moses’ hands signified the Passion of our Lord Jesus
Christ who went up on to a mountain to pray because he ascended into heaven
to plead our cause with the Father. There he lifts up his hands so that Amalek –
that is, the devil – will not be able to vanquish us. For there he appears in God’s
sight on our behalf and represents to him the Passion that he underwent for us.
As for us, brothers, as long as we are in this wretched life which is a trial
upon earth, as long as our fight is against the principalities and powers,
against the rulers of the dark things of the world, against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavens, we need to have our Lord lifting up his hands
within us – that is to say, the remembrance of his Passion should be continually
present in our minds. We can be quite sure, my brothers, that as long as the
memory of his Passion is in our heart, as long as our hope is directed to where C
hrist is pleading our cause at the right hand of the Father, the spiritual
Amalek – that is, the devil – will not be able to vanquish us.
And therefore, my brothers, let us see that this attachment, this
remembrance, does not through some negligence on our part grow lukewarm in
us. For then we shall immediately grow faint and our enemy will gain the upper
hand and cause us distress.
