BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey - ECPv6.15.18//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20210314T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20211107T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20220313T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20221106T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20230312T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20231105T060000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Chicago BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20210314T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20211107T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20220313T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20221106T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20230312T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20231105T070000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220821 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220822 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220820T185257Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220820T185257Z UID:8975-1661040000-1661126399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Skema DESCRIPTION:Mass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (II)\nAugust 21 – 27\, 2022\n\n\n \nSun\n21\nMon\n22\nTue\n23\nWed\n24\nThu\n25\nFri\n26\nSat\n27\n\n\nOffice\n21st Sunday\nQueenship of Mary\nSt Rose of Lima\nSt Bartholomew\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSt Monica\n\n\nVigils\n2 Macc 1:1-17\n2 Macc 1:18-36\n2 Macc 2:1-18\nGen 28:10-22\n2 Macc 2:19-32\n2 Macc 3:1-23\n2 Macc 3:24-40\n\n\nLauds\nJoel 4:1-3\, 11-16\nJoel 4:17-21\nAmos 1:1-5\nDeut 18:15-19\nAmos 1:6-10\nAmos 1:11-15\nAmos 2:1-5\n\n\nMass\n123\n425\, 627\n426\n629\n428\n429\n430\n\n\n1st\nIsa 66:18-21\n2 Thess 1:1-5\, 11-12\n2 Thess 2:1-3a\, 14-17\nRev 21:9b-14\n1 Cor 1:1-9\n1 Cor 1:17-25\n1 Cor 1:26-31\n\n\n2nd\nHeb 12:5-7\, 11-13\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n\nGospel\nLuke 13:22-30\nLuke 1:26-38\nMatt 23:23-26\nJn 1:45-51\nMatt 24:42-51\nMatt 25:1-13\nMatt 25:14-30\n\n\nVespers\nEph 6:10-17\nEph 6:18-24\n1 Thess 1:1-10\n1 Peter 5:1-11\n1 Thess 2:1-8\n1 Thess 2:9-12\n1 Thess 2:13-16\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-3/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220820 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220821 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220812T171521Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220812T171521Z UID:8964-1660953600-1661039999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Bernard DESCRIPTION:08.SN2008                                                                                          08.20.22 \n  \nSt. Bernard as master of mystical and spousal love in Christ: a reading from a letter of Pope St. John Paul II to the Cistercian Abbots General. \n…The age in which St Bernard lived saw the beginnings of a new stage of intellectual life in Europe. In fact\, while the study of man himself increased\, there began an intellectual movement which later on was called humanism and which even in our own times continues with vigor. The Doctor of Clairvaux who knew the aspirations and anxieties of his age\, understood thoroughly this new passion for man and did not simply reject it nor condemn it. \nOn the contrary\, he affirmed that man\, created according to the image and likeness of God\, is an “exalted creature\,” and because of this—a capacity to share in the very divine grandeur itself. But at the same time\, this capacity also shows him to be miserable\, poor\, weak and insignificant. Christ saved the whole person in order to bring into eternal life not only his soul but also his body. \nThus\, affirming openly the dignity of the human condition\, St Bernard exclaimed: “How admirable is the goodness of God seeking man! How great\, also\, the dignity of man thus found!” And thus\, from the consideration of man’s dignity which is revealed by creation and redemption\, he showed that there arose\, as from a double spring\, a true Christian humanism. In fact\, in affirming that the image of God remains in us even after sin\, and that God became man in order to save man\,; St Bernard in theological doctrine contemplates at the same time the dignity and misery of man and in this way he avoids the danger of false “anthropocentrism.”            The Christology of St Bernard offers an adequate foundation to the Christian humanism when he teaches with a certain forcefulness that the whole person was taken up in Christ. Actually\, while we are living on this earth\, in our human condition\, we have access to God only through the law of the Incarnation. This “excellent doctor\,” when he affirms that he does not yet see Christ in a form equal to the Father because he does not contemplate “God with God\,” nevertheless added: “at least as a man\, I present Him as man to men.” These words contain an understanding of the true sense of the word “humanism”: the recognition of the limitations as well as the exalted capacity and dignity of man who was created in Paradise\, united in friendship with God and was called through the goodness of God to a much more intimate union which surpasses all human concepts and all expectations. \nIn the spiritual school of St Bernard\, the earthly life of Jesus is never found separated from the Eternal Word Incarnate; it is both present with the Father in glory and present among us by grace as the Spouse of the Church and of the soul. [It is he] who calls and leads his bride to the most intimate union with him in the Father. It is with reason then that the Abbot of Clairvaux was called Master of mystical and spousal love in Christ. URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-bernard/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220819 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220820 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220812T171411Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220812T171411Z UID:8962-1660867200-1660953599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Bl Guerric DESCRIPTION:08SN1903 \n08.19.22 \nThe Life of Bl Guerric of Igny – from the Introduction to his Sermons \nBy Fr Hilary Costello\, OCSO  [1] \nGuerric of Igny was born around 1075 at Tournai and was educated in the humanities\, dialectic and theology at the cathedral school. Guerric was first attracted to the eremitical life. He went to Clairvaux without any idea of staying there. He only wanted to derive spiritual advantage from a meeting with the Abbot Bernard. Bernard saw the makings of a good monk in Guerric and urged him to stay. \nLike so many of the Clairvaux community\, Guerric was considerably older than his abbot. By human standards he was more mature and experienced. Guerric remained at Clairvaux for thirteen years. Igny was founded as the fourth foundation of Clairvaux  in 1127. In 1138 the first abbot of Igny\, Humbert\, resigned and returned to Clairvaux. Guerric was chosen as its second abbot. There is a passage in the Vita Hugonis which suggests that Bernard influenced the choice considerably. “It was Bernard who brought Guerric to the monastic life and Bernard favored his election as abbot. He knew of no man living more holy than Guerric and so declared him the one candidate for the office. But this does not indicate that Guerric was imposed on the community. The monks of twelve years standing would have known him at Clairvaux. Guerric himself says that the community chose him: “’I am no physician and in my house there is no bread’. That is what I said from the start: ‘Do not make me your leader.’ It is not right for one to rule who cannot be of service. And how can he be of service who is not a physician and in whose house there is no bread? He has neither the art of healing souls nor learning to feed them with? I told you this\, but you would not listen. You made me your superior.” Guerric may indeed have been about sixty years old\, but then his long experience both before and after his entrance into Clairvaux must have been thought a valuable asset. \nIgny flourished under Guerric. Vocations were plentiful and so were benefactors.  Much land and money was given to the monastery during his tenure. It was none of this that was to make the abbot’s name known to posterity\, but the spiritual teaching committed to writing in his sermons. He seems to have died on August 19\, 1157. More than six hundred years later his remains were taken into a new church. \nAlong with Bernard\, Aelred of Rievaulx and William of St Thierry\, Guerric has been called the four evangelists of Citeaux. \n[1]  Guerric of Igny – Liturgical Sermons – vol. 1 – Cistercain Fathers Series #8 – Cistercian Publications – Spencer\, MA – 1970 – pg xi ff URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-bl-guerric/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220818 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220819 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220812T171255Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220920T154841Z UID:8960-1660780800-1660867199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Weekday DESCRIPTION:OT-GEN96 \n08.18.22 \n  \nJacob Blesses the sons of Joseph – by St John CHrysostom [1] \nJoseph realized that his father was ailing\, that the hour of his demise was at hand. He took his two sons and went to Jacob. Jacob was anxious to bless these two sons of Joseph. But instead of blessing the elder son first\, Jacob changed his hands to give precedence to the younger\, putting Ephraim ahead of Manasses. Do you see Jacob’s insight and\, at the same time\, his humility?  His insight unforeseeing with the eyes of faith and so giving precedence to Ephraim ahead of Manasses\, and on the other hand his humility in making no mention of his own virtue but instead invoking a blessing on the basis of the satisfaction given by his forbearers and the kindnesses done to him. Don’t think he is  saying that it is just by chance or through ignorance that I have done this. I am aware of what I have done\, and because I foresee later developments I blessed him as I did. You see. If Manasses had pride of place from nature\, still the younger son will be greater.” This is what prophecy is like\, after all. Just as the eyes of the body can form an image of nothing beyond visible things\, so the eyes of faith do not see visible things but form an image of things that are due to happen generations later. \nWe recommend to you\, dearly beloved\, to imitate this good man by bequeathing to your children such legacies as can never sustain damage from anyone. Such a treasure is incorruptible. It is not prey to  human conspiracy nor can it be diminished by  any other thing. Instead it lasts forever; after all\, it is spiritual and not subject to human conspiracies. On the contrary\, it will prepare them for everlasting dwellings. \nLet us therefore not be anxious t0 amass money and bequeath it to your children.  Rather\, let us teach them virtue and call down blessings from God on them. Let us therefore teach our children to prefer virtue to everything else and give no importance to material wealth. \n[1] The Fathers of the Church – St John Chrysostom – Homilies on Genesis – vol. 3 – Catholic University Press – Washington DC = 1992 = pg 257 URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-weekday-7/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220817 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220818 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220812T171134Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220812T171134Z UID:8958-1660694400-1660780799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead DESCRIPTION:DEAD-43 \n08.17.2022 \nFear and Hope from a book by Michael Schmaus1 \nTo Understand God’s call as one of love does not do away with the awesomeness of death; even the faithful anticipate it with fear. Indeed\, the element of fear in the believer is liable to be stronger than in the atheist or nihilist\, who has resolved to his own satisfaction the problem of what comes after death and is chiefly disturbed by the knowledge that one must abandon a work which one has begun\, leaving something unfinished. The believer\, however\, sees in death the moment of encounter with God\, that moment towards which the person has been journeying\, in an anticipation never free of tension\, during one’s whole lifetime. As the person awaits the judgment God will pronounce\, anxiety can be overcome only in a loving confidence. The death of the faithful Christian is a death in the Lord. It is a death which will not bring condemnation\, since no one who lives and has faith in Christ will ever die. \nAlthough God is an impenetrable mystery\, the person of faith perceives the meaning of the divine summons in a way that prevents one from falling into despair. When the time had come for him to take leave of his disciples\, Christ said: “Trust in God always; trust also in me.” In that hour Christ gave his own assurance that they would have life\, and have it abundantly. He never promised them an untroubled existence within time\, but only a life of joy in God. Thus anxiety is changed into tremulous expectation: the Lord comes. In the First Letter of John\, Jesus’ exhortation to his disciples to have confidence in the Father and in himself is made explicit when he says: “There is no room for fear in love; perfect love banishes fear. For fear brings with it the pains of judgment\, and anyone who is afraid has not attained to love in its perfection.” So\, in the face of death\, there remains to everyone only trust and hope with which to meet the unavoidable fear of death. \n1 Dogma 6\, Justification & the Last Things. Michael Schmaus\, Sheed & Ward\, 1977\, pp.220-221 \n  URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-the-dead-2/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20220816T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20220816T193000 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220802T191515Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220816T021454Z UID:8912-1660676400-1660678200@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Rule of Benedict: Reflection. 7 pm CDT DESCRIPTION:Join Zoom Meeting \nhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/88434101612?pwd=dHMyRkFBNW52eVJIaytWdng0VmZaZz09 \nMeeting ID: 884 3410 1612 \nPasscode: 807992 \nOne tap mobile \n+13126266799\,\,88434101612# US (Chicago) \nApr. 16-Aug. 16-Dec. 16-Chapter 61: How Pilgrim Monks Are To Be Received. \nBut if as a guest he was found exacting or prone to vice\, not only should he be denied membership in the community\, but he should even be politely requested to leave\, lest others be corrupted by his evil life. If\, however\, he has not proved to be the kind who deserves to be put out\, he should not only on his own application be received as a member of the community\, but he should even be persuaded to stay\, that the others may be instructed by his example\, and because in every place it is the same Lord who is served\, the same King for whom the battle is fought. \nMoreover\, if the Abbot perceives that he is worthy\, he may put him in a somewhat higher rank. And not only with regard to a monk but also with regard to those in priestly or clerical orders previously mentioned\, the Abbot may establish them in a higher rank than would be theirs by date of entrance if he perceives that their life is deserving. Let the Abbot take care\, however\, never to receive a monk from another known monastery as a member of his community without the consent of his Abbot or a letter of recommendation; for it is written\, “Do not to another what you would not want done to yourself” (Tob.4:16). \nEND OF READING URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/rule-of-benedict-reflection-7-pm-cdt-2/ CATEGORIES:LCG open events END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220816 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220817 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220812T171015Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220920T154901Z UID:8956-1660608000-1660694399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Weekday DESCRIPTION:                                                                                                            OT-GEN95 \n                                                                                                            08.18.22 \n  \nA Commentary on the Book of Genesis by St John Chrysostom [1] \n  \n            Joseph’s father believed  what the brothers told him – that Joseph was alive and was ruler in Egypt. He said: “It is wonderful news for me that my son Joseph is alive. I will go and se him before I die. So let us hasten now so that I may savor something of our meeting before I die. Once I have the good fortune to meet him and have the consummation of joy\, I shall then bring my life to a close.” Without delay the good man took to the road\, showing all haste and anxiety to see the object of his desire and gaze upon him \, dead for many years\, as he thought\, and now made king of Egypt. “ \n            Arriving at the Oath Well\, By way of offering prayers of thanksgiving\, he offered a sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac. On hearing this\, let us learn in whatever we do\, whether embarking on some project or beginning a journey\, first of all  to offer a sacrifice to the Lord in prayer and\, by calling on his help to address the matter at hand\, thus also imitate those good people’s godliness. Because he took the initiative in showing his own right attitude in thanksgiving\, at once he felt the influence of grace from on high. I mean\, because he had in view the length of the journey and kept in mind his advanced age\, he was afraid that death might come upon him before the meeting and rob him of the sight of his son\, so he offered prayers to God to grant him life enough to enable him to enjoy the final satisfaction. \n            Observe\, however\, how the good God reassures the good man. The text goes on\, remember: “God spoke to Israel in a vision by night\, “Jacob\, Jacob\, I am the God of your fathers. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt. I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down with you\, and I will bring you back again. Joseph’s hands will close your eyes in death.”  So quite happy and free from all concern\, he took to the road. \nConsider at this point\, I ask you\, with what cheerfulness the old man takes the journey\, being reassured by God’s promise. Jacob’s company traveling to Egypt numbered sixty-six persons. Joseph and his sons born to him numbered nine; so the total including Joseph numbered seventy=five. Why did Sacred Scripture indicate the number to us precisely? So that we might be in a position to know how God’s prediction took effect that said: “I will make you into a great nation there.” You see\, from these seventy-five persons\, the people of Israel grew into six hundred thousand. You notice how it was not idly or to no purpose that it taught us the number of those that went down to Egypt but for us to know from how few that great number came and not to lose confidence in God’s promise and the fact that his wishes can never fail\, no matter how many people try their utmost. \n“On learning of his father’s arrival in Egypt\, Joseph harnessed his chariot and went out to meet his father; catching sight of him\, he fell on his neck and wept a flood of tears.” You see\, immediately there came to his mind what he himself has suffered\, what his father had endured on his account. And he thought of the great length of time that had elapsed. and the fact that\, contrary to all expectation\, he saw his father and his father set eyes on his son. I have attained the object of my desire\, he is saying: I am ready for death. \n            \n[1] The Fathers of the Church – St John Chrysostom – Homilies on Genesis – vol. 3 – Catholic University Press – Washington DC – 1992 – pg 245 URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-weekday-6/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220815 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220816 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220812T170845Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220812T170845Z UID:8954-1660521600-1660607999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Assumption B.V.M. DESCRIPTION:                                                                                                                        08SN1501 \n                                                                                                                        08/15/21 \nSermon of St Aelred of Rievaulx on the Assumption [1] \n            Among all those who are Christ’s\, she who tastes his goodness more intimately and more delicately is of greater excellence\, more blessed\, and more attractive. She is to him not only a creature\, a handmaid\, a friend\, and a daughter\, but also a mother. So then it is only right that we welcome her feast with greater delight and gladness. But today even more we should rejoice with her because today her joy was completely fulfilled. Great was her joy when the angel greeted her. Great was her joy when she felt the coming of the Holy Spirit\, when that marvelous fusion of the Son of God with her flesh took place in her womb\, so that he\, one and the same\, was the Son of God and her Son. Great was her joy when she held such a Son in her arms\, when she listened to his words\, when she saw his miracles. And because her sorrow was so great at the Passion\, she took wondrous joy again in his resurrection and greater still at his ascension. But all these joys were surpassed by the joy which she receives today. \n            Up to this day\, brothers\, Mary\, the blessed Mother of God\, knew her dearest Son in the flesh. Although she fastened all her desires and all her love there\, where he was\, after her dearest Son and Lord ascended into heaven\, so long as she remained in this corruptible flesh\, what she had seen of him in the flesh could not fade from her memory. For his deeds and words were always coming to her mind and above all there lingered in her heart the features of his exquisite face. Today\, however\, she passed from this world and went up to the heavenly kingdom. There she began to contemplate his brightness\, power\, and divinity\, and her joy and her longing were fulfilled. So with good reason could she say: “I have found him whom my soul loves”. She holds him and she does not let him go. \n            Previously she had found him whom her flesh loved\, since the flesh still appreciated flesh\, a human being another human nature. She held him but she let him go. She held him – but in the flesh – and therefore through death she lost him to some extent – but in the flesh. Today she found him whom her soul loves because\, although she was taken up into heaven with her body\, that body had\, however\, been made spiritual\, so that all the love with which she loves her Lord\, her Son\, is not according to the flesh but according to the spirit. Today she has found him whom her soul loves\, she has found him in spirit\, she loves him in spirit\, she holds him in spirit and therefore she will never again lose him. Today she has found him because today the shadow of night has retreated and the Light of light has risen on her.   \nFirst\, before the coming of the Lord\, she sought him and longed for him. She sought\, that he might come to earth as he had promised\, that he might redeem the world\, that he might set her\, together with others\, free from their miserable captivity. This is Our Lady\, Saint Mary\, in whose most sacred breast the flame of love had not died down. She loved him more than anyone else did\, so she yearned for him more than anyone else did\, and therefore sought him more persistently. But him whom until now her flesh loved\, now her soul loves. And now she says: “I will rise and go the rounds of the city”. Today the Blessed Virgin went up into heaven and went round the whole of that heavenly city in the full natural vigor of her mind. Today she entered that heavenly court. She saw the white robes of the virgins\, the ruddy crowns of the martyrs\, the thrones of the apostles\, and in the midst of them she found her Son reigning. Ascending higher that the very highest of the saints\, she has arrived at such knowledge of the divinity that she then glories in having found him for the first time. \n            O blessed soul\, who left behind not only the patriarchs and prophets\, the apostles\, martyrs\, confessors\, and virgins\, but also the angels\, thrones and dominations\, the cherubim and seraphim and all heaven’s array\, and so reached her dearest Son. Then she utterly found him whom now her soul loves utterly. She found him and she held him. She holds him in the embraces of an utterly perfect love and she can never lose him because she can never love him any less. \n            Let us lift up our hearts therefore\, brothers\, to Our Lady\, our Advocate. Let us reflect on how much hope we have in her. Just as she surpasses every creature in excellence\, so also she is more merciful and kinder than any creature. Let us then confidently entreat her who can by her excellence assist us and by her mercy chooses to do so\, that she may implore her Son for us so that as he deigned to be born of her for us\, he may through her deign to have mercy on us. \n            \n[1] Aelred of Rievaulx – The Liturgical Sermons – Cistercian Fathers Series #58 – Cistercian Publications – Kalamazoo – 2001 URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-assumption-b-v-m/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220814 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220815 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220812T170741Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220812T170741Z UID:8952-1660435200-1660521599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 20TH Sunday Ordinary Time DESCRIPTION:  \nNT-LK20 \n08.14.22 \nA Commentary on the Gospel of Luke by Denis the Carthusian 1 \nI have come to cast fire on the earth. In other words\, I have come down from the highest heaven and appeared to men and women through the mystery of the incarnation in order to light the fire of divine love in human hearts. And how I wish it were already ablaze! How I wish it were already kindled\, fanned into flame by the Holy Spirit\, and leaping forth in good works. \nChrist foretells that he will suffer death on a cross before the human race is inflamed by the fire of this love; for it was by his most holy passion that he won so great a gift for humankind\, and it is chiefly the recollection of his passion that kindles the flame of love in Christian hearts. \nThere is a baptism which I must undergo. By divine decree there remains for me the duty of receiving a baptism of blood\, that is\, of being bathed\, soaked upon the cross not in water but in my own blood poured out to redeem the whole world. And what constraint I am under until that has been achieved – until my passion is love and I say: It is accomplished. For Christ was impelled incessantly by the love within him. \nThe way to attain the perfection of divine love is then stated. Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? In other words: Do not imagine that I have come to offer people a sensual\, worldly\, and unruly peace that will enable them to be united in their vices and achieve earthly prosperity. No\, I tell you\, I have not come to offer that kind of peace\, but rather division – a good\, healthy kind of division\, physical as well as spiritual. Love for God and desire for inner peace will set those who believe in me at odds with wicked people and make them part company with those who would turn them from their course of spiritual progress and from the purity of divine love\, or who attempt to hinder them. \nGood\, interior\, spiritual peace consists in the repose of the mind in God\, and in a right ordered harmony. To bestow this peace was the chief reason for Christ’s coming. This inner peace flows from love. It is an unassailable joy of the mind in God\, and it is called peace of heart. It is the beginning and a kind of foretaste of the peace of the saints in heaven – the peace of eternity. \n1Journey with the Fathers – Year C – New City Press – New York – 2000 – pg 108 URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-20th-sunday-ordinary-time/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220814 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220815 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220812T170616Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220812T170616Z UID:8950-1660435200-1660521599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:SKEMA - Week 20 Ordinary Time DESCRIPTION:  \n  \n\n\n\nBiblical Readings for Office and Mass\n20th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (II)\nAugust 14 – 20\, 2022\n\n\n \nSun\n14\nMon\n15\nTue\n16\nWed\n17\nThu\n18\nFri\n19\nSat\n20\n\n\nOffice\n20th Sunday\nAssumption of the BVM\nWeekday\nOffice for the Dead\nWeekday\nBl Guerric\nSt Bernard\n\n\nVigils\nGen 47:1-26\nSir 24:1-16\nGen 47:27-48:22\nGen 49:1-27\nGen 49:28-50:14\nGen 50:15-26\nSir 50:5-20\n\n\nLauds\nJoel 2:1-6\nJosh 4:4-10\nJoel 2:7-11\nJoel 2:12-17\nJoel 2:18-19\, 23-27\nJoel 3:1-5\nWis 8:2-13\n\n\nMass\n120\n622\n420\n421\n422\n423\n641\, 660\, 574\n\n\n1st\nJer 38:4-6\, 8-10\nRev 11:19a; 12:1-6a; 10ab\nEzek 28:1-10\nEzek 34:1-11\nEzek 36:23-28\nEzek 37:1-14\nWis 7:7-10\, 15-16\n\n\n2nd\nHeb 12:1-4\n1 Cor 15:20-27\n \n \n \n \nPhil 3:17-4:1\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 12:49-53\nLuke 1:39-56\nMatt 19:23-30\nMatt 20:1-16\nMatt 22:1-14\nMatt 22:34-40\nMatt 5:13-19\n\n\nVespers\nRom 8:28-39\n1 Cor 15:50-58\nEph 5:6-14\nEph 5:15-20\nEph 6:1-9\n1 Jn 3:19-24\n1 Jn 4:7-16\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n  URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-week-20-ordinary-time/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20220813T090000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20220813T120000 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220802T192329Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220802T192655Z UID:8922-1660381200-1660392000@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Chicago LCG. August Meeting 9 am CDT DESCRIPTION:Join Zoom Meeting \nhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/89754756540?pwd=MHplaXdnc0RmbU5Jd0l6WmkxdVQydz09 \nMeeting ID: 897 5475 6540 \nPasscode: 884388 \nAGENDA \n9:00 Gather for Opening prayer and lighting of the candles illuminating the Theotokos icon of Blessed Mother Mary and the baby Jesus. \nWe also pray for all our lay Cistercian sisters and brothers in the US and around the world.  Specially we pray for our Gethsemani monks.  Finally\, we pray this month specially for these Gethsemani monks: \nBr. Thomas Richards \nBr. Gregory Escardo \nBr. Maximilian Pickerill \n 9:10 Lectio. Our lectio piece will be led by Anthony . \n 9:50 Reading.  Our discussion this month will continue Michael Casey’s Coenobium. Discussion lead assignments for chapters four\, five\, and six are: \n\nLeon Peck\nMary Ann Dier-Zimmermann\, and\nTina Parayre\n\n10:45 Housekeeping.   Volunteer to lead lectio next month?  Report on LCG Advisory Council activity. Select leaders for next month.  Awareness of existing LCG programs and possible future programs. \n11:00 Update.   Share how the Holy Spirt has entered our lives as lay Cistercians since our last meeting. \n11:45 Closing worship and prayer.  We will pray the liturgical hour of None as with our Gethsemani monks (identical Psalms as done today at Gethsemani Abbey.) \nWe look forward to our continuing LCG Chicago journey at our next meeting: September 10\, 2022. URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/chicago-lcg-august-meeting-9-am-cdt/ CATEGORIES:LCG Local Community Meetings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220813 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220814 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220806T210235Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220806T210235Z UID:8941-1660348800-1660435199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Reading: Memorial B. V. M. DESCRIPTION:A Reading about Mary and Waiting for Christ\, from a book by Fr Jean Daniélou.[i] \n             The Blessed Virgin had a most crucial role in the first coming of Christ.  In her culminated all the expectation of the Jewish people\, insofar as all the prepara­tions\, aspirations\, inspirations\, graces\, which had filled the Old Testament\, all came together and were summed up in her; it is true to say that at the eve of Christ’s coming she was the epitome and incarnation of the long waiting of twenty centuries.  The whole of the Old Testament seems to come together in her with a more ardent longing and a more complete spiritual preparation for Our Lord’s coming.  Every valley shall be filled\, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low.  The work of the Old Testament was one of education: the human race\, rugged\, coarse\, as yet unformed\, still utterly carnal-minded\, must be made able\, bit by bit\, to take God’s gifts\, to receive the Holy Spirit.  It was a long\, progressive work of training.  And the training culminated in the soul of the Blessed Virgin; and if we can say that in some sense her soul is outside time\, and that in her eternity is present\, then we may also say that she was prepared by the education of the whole of her people: she is the marvelous flower sprung out of Israel\, the final point in the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit in the souls of all the prophets and all the holy women of Israel.  It is in fact\, ab­solutely true to say that in her every valley was filled\, every mountain and hill brought low.  That is to say\, in her our Lord’s path was smooth before Him. \n            All this\, which was simply the preparation and foreshadowing of Christ in Our Lady’s soul\, is a reality still present to us\, for the mystery we are now living in the world is the mystery of Christ’s gradual coming into all souls\, into all nations.  Christ had appeared in the flesh\, the culmination of Israel’s hopes; Mary had seen him for whom she had waited\, she had held in her arms the child born in Bethlehem\, and with Simeon had been able to salute Him as a Light to enlighten the Gentiles.  Christ\, then\, had certainly come.  He has come\, but He is always He that is to come.  He has come\, but not yet wholly come; and though the waiting of Israel had been crowned\, Israel is nonetheless still waiting.  We live always during Advent\, we are always waiting for the Messiah to come.  He has come\, but is not yet fully manifest.  He is not fully manifest in each of our souls; He is not fully manifest in the world as a whole: that is to say\, that just as Christ was born according to the flesh in Bethlehem of Juda so must He be born according to the spirit in each of our souls. \n    [i].”Advent”\, New York 1951\, 102-103\, 109-110. URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/reading-memorial-b-v-m/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220812 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220813 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220806T204129Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220806T204129Z UID:8939-1660262400-1660348799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Reading: Weekday DESCRIPTION:A Commentary on Genesis \nfrom Quodvult Deus of Carthage [1] \nJoseph ordered his brothers’ sacks to be filled with corn and the money they had brought to be returned to each one. This was to show that the grace of Christ\, who is our Joseph\, does not come from works\, for otherwise grace would not be grace. Joseph’s brethren come for the second time with Benjamin as they had promised; and for the second time five thousand Jews come to Christ\, followed by Paul\, the least – or the last – of the apostles. Joseph saw Benjamin\, his brother and his mother’s son\, and he wept at the sight. Jesus saw Paul savaging our mother the Church and he took  pity on him. The same Paul says that Jesus appeared to him\, as it were born after his time. Benjamin’s delivery and birth\, on the other hand\, hastened his mother’s death\, and so he was called the child of grief. Thus Paul\, our Benjamin\, says:  I am not worthy to be called an apostle\, for I persecuted the Church of God. Joseph said of his brothers\, to the head of the household: Take them into the house\, for they are to eat bread with me. So our Joseph says\, through the prophets\, to his brethren: Come\, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have made ready for you. Joseph gave his brethren gifts; and Christ our Joseph made gifts to men when he sent the Holy Spirit to his disciples. Joseph’s gifts to his younger brother were more lavish than those to the others. This is what Paul\, our Benjamin\, said of himself in his preaching: I have labored more than all those: but not I\, but God’s grace working in me. Again\, Joseph ordered his brothers’ sacks to be filled with corn and the money to be given back. Our brethren remonstrate to Joseph at receiving grace upon grace. Joseph orders his own goblet to be placed secretly in Benjamin’s sack\, and it troubled his brethren when it was sought and found in Benjamin’s sack. The cup of Christ’s suffering. given in secret\, is recognized for what it is by grace\, when afflicting Paul’s body. For this is what he meant when he berated the entire synagogue\, as if to say he had found the cup in his sack. For I bear in my body the marks of our Lord Jesus Christ. \n[1]A Word in Season – vol. VII – Augustinian Press – 1999 – pg. 95 URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/reading-weekday/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220811 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220812 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220806T203423Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220806T203423Z UID:8937-1660176000-1660262399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Reading: St. Clare DESCRIPTION:A READING FROM THE TESTAMENT OF ST CLARE[1] \nI admonish all my sisters\, present and to come\, and I exhort them in Our Lord Jesus Christ always to strive to follow the way of holy simplicity\, of humility and of poverty\, and to live worthily and holily just as we have been taught from the beginning of our conversion to Jesus Christ by our blessed father Francis. Thus with these virtues\, not acquired through our merits\, but through the mercy and grace alone of our benefactor\, the Father of Mercies\, the sisters may spread the fragrance of a good name for all the others\, for those sisters who are far and for those who are near. \nAnd in the love of Christ love one another\, and show the love that you have within you outwardly by your works\, so that such an example may inspire the sisters to grow always in the love of God and in mutual charity. I also beseech the sister who shall be entrusted with the guidance of the sisters to govern them more by her virtues and the holiness of her life\, than by the dignity of her office\, so that the sisters\, inspired by her example\, will obey her not only out of duty\, but rather out of love. \nIn addition\, let her show the discretion and solicitude of a good mother for her daughters\, and above all provide all of them with the alms given by the Lord\, giving to each according to her need. Let her also be so kind and so approachable to all\, that they may disclose their needs to her with surety and have recourse to her with confidence\, as they may deem necessary for themselves or for their sisters. For their part the sisters subject to her should remember that they have renounced their wills for God’s sake. \nTherefore\, I will that they obey their mother\, with a spontaneous will\, as they have promised the Lord\, so that this mother\, seeing the charity\, humility and the unity that reigns among them\, may bear the burden of her duties more lightly\, and their holy life may change what is painful and bitter into sweetness for her. How strait is the way that leads to life! And how narrow is the gate through which one must enter! Thus there are few who walk along this path and who pass through this gate. And if there are some who walk along the path for a moment\, O how rare are those who know how to persevere there! But happy are those to whom it is given to walk thereon and to persevere unto the end! \n     [1]THE CALL OF ST CLARE\,  by H. Daniel-Rops\, Trans by S. Attanasio (Hawthorn Books\, Inc. NY 1963) pp 138-140. URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/reading-st-clare/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220810 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220811 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220806T202928Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220806T203010Z UID:8935-1660089600-1660175999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Reading: St. Lawrence DESCRIPTION:From a sermon by St Augustine on the feast of St Lawrence 1 \nThe Roman Church commends to us today the anniversary of the triumph of St. Lawrence. For on this day he trod the furious pagan world underfoot and flung aside its allurements\, and so gained victory over Satan’s attack on his faith. As you have often heard\, Lawrence was a deacon of the Church at Rome. There he ministered the sacred blood of Christ; there for the sake of Christ’s name he poured out his own blood. St John the Apostle was evidently teaching us about the mystery of the Lord’s supper when he wrote: Just as Christ laid down his life for us\, so we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. My brethren\, Lawrence understood this and\, understanding\, he acted on it. Just as he had partaken of a gift of self at the table of the Lord\, so he prepared to offer such a gift. In his life he loved Christ; in his death he followed in his footsteps. \nBrethren\, we too must imitate Christ if we truly love him. We shall not be able to render better return on that love than by modeling our lives on his. Christ suffered for us\, leaving us an example\, that we should follow in his steps. In saying this\, the Apostle Peter seems to have understood that Christ suffered only for those who follow in his steps\, in the sense that Christ’s passion is of no avail to those who do not. The holy martyrs followed Christ even to the shedding of their life’s blood\, even to reproducing the very likeness of his passion. They followed him\, but not they alone. It is not true that the bridge was broken after the martyrs crossed; nor is it true that after they had drunk from it\, the fountain of eternal life dried up. \nI tell you again and again\, my brethren\, that in the Lord’s garden are to be found not only the roses of his martyrs. In it there are also the lilies of the virgins\, the ivy of wedded couples\, and the violets of widows. On no account may any class of people despair\, thinking that Christ has not called them. Christ suffered for all. What the Scriptures say of him is true: He desires all to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. \nLet us understand\, then\, how a Christian must follow Christ even though he does not shed his blood for him\, and his faith is not called upon to undergo the great test of the martyr’s sufferings. The apostle Paul says of Christ our Lord: Though he was in the form of God he did not consider equality with God a prize to be clung to. How unrivaled his majesty! But he emptied himself\, taking on the form of a slave\, made in human likeness\, and presenting himself in human form. How deep his humility! \nChrist humbled himself. Christian\, that is what you must make your own. Christ became obedient. How is it that you are proud? When this humbling experience was completed and death itself lay conquered\, Christ ascended into heaven. Let us follow him there\, for we hear Paul saying: If you have been raised with Christ\, you must lift your thoughts on high\, where Christ now sits at the right hand of God. \n1The Liturgy of the Hours – vol. IV – pg 1305 – Catholic Book Publishing Co – New York – 1975 URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/reading-st-lawrence/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220809 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220810 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220806T202341Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220806T210917Z UID:8933-1660003200-1660089599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Reading: St. Teresa Benedicta DESCRIPTION:St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross  (Edith Stein)  [1] \n           St Teresa Benedicta was born Edith Stein at Breslau\, then in Germany (now Wroclaw\, Poland)\, on October 12\, 1891\, the eleventh child of a Jewish family. Her mother was especially devout. As a schoolgirl and as a student Edith herself was a convinced atheist whose belief that there was no God nevertheless became her way to faith. When she was fifteen she decided never to pray again. But she was always in search of truth and subjected every issue to an intense intellectual scrutiny. As she recalled later\,  ”My quest for truth was my only prayer.” \n                   At the University of Gottingen\, Edith was also impressed by the ideas of Max Scheler. He encouraged Edith to share his interest in the eliciting of ultimate\, eternal and religious values as a prime philosophical task. He introduced her to the importance of contemporary Catholic thought. Edith wrote: “Suddenly the barriers of my rationalist prejudices\, which I had never doubted as they developed in me\, were lifted to reveal the world of faith.” \n          She found the autobiography of St Teresa of Avila in a friend’s house and read it in a single sitting. As she closed the book\, she told herself “This is the truth!” She as baptized a Catholic on January 1\, 1922. She was acutely aware of how this hurt her mother and later accompanied her to the synagogue and read the psalms with her. But Edith did not see her adoption of Christianity as a rejection of the Jewish people. \n          She was already drawn to the Carmelites\, but it was ten years before she entered the Order. She taught philosophy at Speyer and Munster and consciously led her students along the way of knowledge to Christ. After her conscientious study of Thomism\, and her grounding in phenomenology and in varieties of mystical thought\, she herself became a profound thinker and mystic. Her writings testify to her constant exploration of the notions of love and sacrifice as concomitants of knowledge. \n          Edith finally joined the Carmelites at Cologne on October 12\, 1933\, after Hitler had been voted into power and become chancellor of Germany. She told her superior: “Human action cannot help us but only the sufferings of Christ. My aspiration is to share them.” She made her final profession in 1938. In one of her letters she compared herself to Queen Esther in exile at the Persian court. “I believe that the Lord has called me on behalf of all my people.”     (over) \n          Again and again Sr Teresa Benedicta referred to her increasing understanding of the destiny of the people of Israel in the light of the Cross and her personal sense of her task of expiation. She became convinced that “my people’s destiny is also my own”. In one of her prayers she says that she knows that it is the Cross of Christ that the Jewish people must bear and that anyone who realizes this must willingly agree to bear it on behalf of all: “I wanted to bear it. All he had to do was to show me how.” \n          Sr Teresa left Cologne to protect her sisters in religion from Nazi persecution and went to the Carmelite house at Echt\, in the Netherlands\, determined to share the sufferings of Christ. \n          Unlike the bishops of other countries occupied by the Germans\, where the policy of racial murder was generally enforced\, the Catholic bishops of the Netherlands issued a pastoral letter protesting against the deportations. In response the Germans ordered that Christians of Jewish descent or converted from Judaism and resident in the Netherlands should be rounded up and dispatched for “resettlement”. Accordingly\, Sr Teresa\, together with her sister Rosa\, who had also taken refuge with the Echt Carmelites\, was arrested on August 2\, 1942. As they left the convent\, Edith took her sister’s hand and said: “Come on – we are on our way to our own people.” She was murdered on August 9\, 1942 in the gas chambers of the German extermination camp at Auschwitz\, Poland.  She was beatified by Pope John Paul II at Cologne on May 1\, 1987 and canonized by him in 1998. \n[1] Butler’s Lives of the Saints – New Full Edition –  August – Burns & Oates – The Liturgical Press – Collegeville\, MN – 1998 – pg 75f URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/reading-st-dominic/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220807 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220808 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220806T200751Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220806T200751Z UID:8931-1659830400-1659916799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Reading: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time DESCRIPTION:Commentary on the Gospel of Luke by Gregory of Nyssa [1] \n           When the Lord says: Let your loins be girded and your lamps lit\, he is warning us to stay awake\, for a light shining in one’s eyes drives away sleep\, and a tightly fastened belt also makes sleep difficult\, as the discomfort prevents relaxation. But the real meaning of the parable is perfectly clear: a person girded with temperance lives in the light of a clear conscience before God. And so\, with the light of truth shining\, the soul stays awake and is not deceived. It does not dally with illusive dreams. \n          If following the guidance of the Word we attain this goal\, our lives will in a way be like those of the angels\, for we are compared with them on the divine command: You must be like people waiting for their master to return from a wedding\, ready to open the door immediately when he comes and knocks. It was the angels who were awaiting the Master’s return from the wedding. They sat with unsleeping eyes at the heavenly gates\, so that when he returned the King of glory might pass through them once more into the heavenly bliss from which\, as the psalm says\, he had come forth like a bridegroom from his tent. He took us to himself as his virgin bride\, our nature once prostituted to idols being restored by sacramental rebirth to virginal incorruptibility. After the marriage\, when the Church had been wedded to the Word – as John says\, He who has the bride is the bridegroom – and admitted to the bridal chamber of the sacred mysteries\, the angels awaited the King of glory’s return to the blessedness which is his by nature. \n          And so the Lord said our lives should be like theirs. Just as they\, living lives far removed from sin and error\, are ready to receive the Lord at his coming\, so we also should keep watch at the entrance of our houses\, and prepare ourselves to obey him when he comes to our door and knocks. Blessed\, he says\, are those servants whom the master finds so doing when he comes. \n[1] Journey with the Fathers – Year C – New City Press – 1994 – pg 106 URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/reading-19th-sunday-in-ordinary-time/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220807 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220808 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220806T195559Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220806T195559Z UID:8929-1659830400-1659916799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Skema: Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n19th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (II)\nAugust 7 – 13\, 2022\n\n\n \nSun\n7\nMon\n8\nTue\n9\nWed\n10\nThu\n11\nFri\n12\nSat\n13\n\n\nOffice\n19th Sunday\nSt Dominic\nSt Teresa Benedicta\nSt Lawrence\nSt Clare\nWeekday\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nGen 42:1-17\nGen 42:18-38\nGen 43:1-34\nExodus 18:13-26\nGen 44:1-34\nGen 45:1-28\nGen 46:1-7\, 26-34\n\n\nLauds\nHos 13:1-8\nHos 13:9-14:1\nHos 14:2-10\nTobit 4:5-11\nJoel 1:1-8\nJoel 1:9-12\nJoel 1:13-20\n\n\nMass\n117\n413\n414\n618\n416\n417\n418\n\n\n1st\nWis 18:6-9\nEzek 1:2-5\, 24-28c\nEzek 2:8-3:4\n2 Cor 9:6-10\nEzek 12:1-12\nEzek 16:1-15\, 60\, 63\nEzek 18:1-10\, 13b\, 30-32\n\n\n2nd\nHeb 11:1-2\, 8-19\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n\nGospel\nLuke 12:32-48\nMatt 17:22-27\nMatt 18:1-5\, 10\, 12-14\nJohn 12:24-26\nMatt 18:21-19:1\nMatt 19:3-12\nMatt 19:13-15\n\n\nVespers\nEph 3:14-21\nEph 4:1-6\nEph 4:7-16\nRev 6:7-11\nEph 4:17-24\nEph 4:25-32\nEph 5:1-5 URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-nineteenth-week-in-ordinary-time/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220806 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220807 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220730T130230Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220730T130230Z UID:8882-1659744000-1659830399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Transfiguration DESCRIPTION:  \nA Commentary on the Gospel of Mark by St. Ephrem 1 \nJesus took the three apostles up to the mountain for three reasons: first\, to show them the glory of his divinity\, then to declare himself Israel’s redeemer as he had already foretold by the prophets\, and thirdly to prevent the apostles’ being scandalized at seeing him soon afterward enduring those human sufferings which he had freely accepted for their sake. The apostles knew that Jesus was a man; they did not know that he was God. To their knowledge he was the son of Mary\, a man who shared their daily life in this world. On the mountain he revealed to them that he was the Son of God\, that he was in fact God himself. Peter\, James and John were familiar with the sight of their master eating and drinking\, working and taking rest\, growing tired and falling asleep\, experiencing fear and breaking out in sweat. All these things were natural to his humanity\, not to his divinity. He therefore took them up onto the mountain so that they could hear his Father’s voice calling him Son\, and he could show them that he was truly the Son of God and was himself divine. \nHe took them up onto the mountain in order to show them his kingship before they witnessed his passion\, to let them see his mighty power before they watched his death\, to reveal his glory to them before they beheld his humiliation. Then when the Jews took him captive and condemned him to the cross\, the apostles would understand that it was not for any lack of power on his part that Jesus allowed himself to be crucified by his enemies\, but because he had freely chosen to suffer in that way for the world’s salvation. He took them up onto the mountain before his resurrection and showed them the glory of his divinity\, so that when he rose from the dead in that same glory they would realize that this was not something given him as a reward for his labor\, as if he were previously without it. That glory had been his with the Father from all eternity\, as is clear from his words on approaching his freely chosen passion: Father\, glorify me now with the glory I had with you before the world was made. \n1Journey with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – NY -1993 – pg 32 \n  URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-transfiguration/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220805 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220806 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220730T130103Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220730T130103Z UID:8880-1659657600-1659743999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Mary Major DESCRIPTION:  \n  \nFrom a Homily delivered at the Council of Ephesus by St. Cyril of Alexandria [1] \n  \nI see here a joyful company of Christians met together in ready response to the call of Mary\, the holy and ever virgin Mother of God. Now the joyful saying of David the psalmist: How good and pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity has come true for us. \nTherefore\, holy and incomprehensible Trinity\, we salute you at whose summons we have come together to this church of Mary\, the Mother of God. \nMary\, Mother of God\, we salute you. Precious vessel\, worthy of the whole world’s reverence\, you are an ever-shining light\, the crown of virginity\, the symbol of orthodoxy\, an indestructible temple\, the place that held him whom no place can contain\, mother and virgin. Because of you\, the holy Gospels could say: Blessed os he who comes in the name of the Lord. \nWe salute you\, for in your holy womb he\, who is beyond all limitation\, was confined. Because of  you\, the holy Trinity is glorified and adored; the cross is called precious and is venerated throughout the world; the heavens exult; the angels and archangels make merry; demons are put to flight; the devil\, that tempter\, is thrust down from heaven; the fallen race of humans is taken up on heght; all creatures possessed by the madness of idolatry have attained knowledge of the truth believers receive holy baptism; the oil of gladness is poured out\, the Church is established throughout the world; pagans are brought to repentance. \nWhat more is there to say? Because of you\, the light of the only-begotten Son of God has shone upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death; prophets pronounced the word of  God; the apostles preached salvation to the Gentiles\, the dead are raised to life\, and kings rule by the power of the holy Trinity \nWho can put Mary’s high honor into words? She is both mother and virgin. I am overwhelmed by the wonder of this miracle. Of course no one could be prevented from living in the house he had built for himself\, yet who would invite mockery by asking his own servant to become his mother? \nBehold then the joy of the whole universe. Let the union of God and man in the Son of the Virgin Mary fill us with awe and adoration. Let us fear and worship the undivided Trinity as we sing the praise of the ever-virgin Mary\, the holy temple of God himself\, her Son and spotless Bridegroom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. \n         \n[1] The Liturgy of the Hours – Catholic Publishing Co – NY – 1978 URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-mary-major/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220804 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220805 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220730T125931Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220730T125931Z UID:8878-1659571200-1659657599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St John Vianney DESCRIPTION:  \n  \nPrayer in the life of the Curé d’Ars: \na reading from an encyclical by ST. John XXIII. \n  \nTo the priests of this century\, apt to be sensitive to the effect of action and easily tempted by a dangerous activism\, how beneficial is that model of assiduous prayer in a life given up entirely to the care of souls\, which was the Curé d’Ars! O What prevents us priests from being saints\, he said. It is lack of reflection. We don’t search our hearts; we don’t know what we do. Reflection\, prayer\, union with God\, are the things we need. He himself remained\, according to contemporary evidence\, in a state of continual prayer from which he was not distracted by the wearisome burden of confessions nor by his other pastoral cares. He preserved a constant union with God in the midst of an exceedingly busy life. \n  \nLet us listen to him again: he is unfailing on the subject of the joy and blessing of prayer. Man is a beggar who needs to be asking everything from God. How many souls we can convert by our prayers! And he would repeat: prayer is all man’s happiness on earth. This happiness he long enjoyed himself with his eyes\, lit by faith\, contemplating the divine mysteries and\, in adoration of the Word incarnate\, his pure and simple soul lifted towards the Holy Trinity\, the supreme object of his love. And the pilgrims who thronged the Church of Ars realized that the humble priest was confiding to them something of the secret of his own inner life with the frequent exclamation dear to him: A Being loved by God\, united to God\, living in the presence of God: oh\, what happiness in life and in death! \n  \nWe could wish that all priests might be convinced\, by the witness of the holy Curé d’Ars\, of the need to be men of prayer and of the possibility of being so\, whatever the heavy and sometimes severe load of the labors of their ministry. But we need an intense faith\, such as moved Jean-Marie Vianney and made him able to work miracles.  What faith! exclaimed one of his colleagues. Enough to spread over a whole diocese! \n  \nWith St. Pius X\, let us consider it certain and well-founded that a priest\, in order to occupy his station properly and fulfill his duty\, must devote himself before all else to prayer. Above all he should obey Christ’s precept: We ought always to pray\, a precept earnestly recommended by St Paul: Continue steadfastly in prayer\, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. Pray constantly.     \nThe prayer of the Curé d’Ars\, who\, so to speak\, spent the last thirty years of his life in his church where he was kept by his numerous penitents\, was above all a prayer of thanksgiving. His devotion to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar was indeed wonderful. He is there\, he would say\, he who loves us so much; how could we not love him? And most certainly he loved him and felt irresistibly drawn towards the tabernacle: We do not need many words to pray well\,  he explained to his parishioners. We know that God is there\, in the holy tabernacle; we open our hearts to him; we rejoice in his holy presence. This is the best prayer of all. \n  URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-john-vianney/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220803 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220804 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220730T125738Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220730T125738Z UID:8876-1659484800-1659571199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Vigils Reading DESCRIPTION:  \n  \nA Commentary on the Book of Genesis by St John Chrysostom  [1] \n  \nYou notice that when Joseph encountered troubles he had no sense of distress; instead the creative wisdom of God transformed all his distress. Virtue\, wherever you cast it\, reveals its characteristic power\, be it in servitude\, in prison\, in distress or in prosperity. So since\, even when cast into prison\, he won over the chief jailer and received from him control of everything there. \nJoseph rightly interpreted the dreams of the cupbearer of the king and the chief baker. He asked only that they remember him when they have been delivered from prison. “Remember me\, and have me taken out of this dungeon”. Hearing this let us learn\, when we fall foul\, not to be bent on railing against those who have offended us\, but simply to demonstrate our innocence meekly and mildly and to imitate this remarkable man in that\, though being in difficulties\, he did not bring himself to blame others. Far from hankering for the esteem of mortals\, he was content with favor from on high and wanted for an admirer of his conduct only that God on high. Hence\, as he kept silence and endeavored to conceal everything\, the loving Lord brought him to wonderful prominence. \nEven after this\, two years passed before the cupbearer recounted to the king what had happened in prison and the wonderful man who had rightly interpreted his dream. On hearing this\, the king sent for Joseph and released him from the dungeon. See how divine providence had arranged all things so that Pharaoh’s cupbearer and chief  baker should be imprisoned there at the same time and should come to know the man’s wisdom through his interpretation of dreams and should bring him forward now before the Pharaoh. Joseph replies to the king: “Don’t suspect that I utter anything of myself or interpret them by human wisdom. There is no way of coming to knowledge of them without revelation from on high. So be aware that without God\, it is not possible for me to give you a reply”. \nAt this stage Pharaoh was instrumental in the fulfillment of the dream Joseph had when living at his father’s house. Whereas he interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams Pharaoh unwittingly brought Joseph’s dream to pass. Pharaoh realized that these things became clear to him through a revelation from on high. He then says: “Since God has revealed all this to you\, there is no person more discerning than you. You shall therefore be in charge of my household and all the people shall obey your words.” See how all of a sudden the prisoner is made king of the whole of Egypt. Do you see how important it is to bear trials thankfully? Hence Paul also said: “Distress promotes endurance\, endurance promotes character\, character promotes hope and hope does not disappoint.” \nThe text tells us that Joseph was thirty years old at this time. Far from idly considering that there is merely reference here to his age\, let us learn that there is no excuse for anyone to neglect virtue nor any grounds for claiming the pretext of youth when virtue needs to be demonstrated. He had grace from on high to strengthen him. \nAfter hearing this\, let us never despair in the midst of distress nor become frustrated by following by following our own reasoning. Rather\, let us give evidence of sound endurance and be buoyed up by hope\, secure in the knowledge of our Lord’s resourcefulness and the fact that\, instead of ignoring us and abandoning us to the experience of troubles\, he wants to crown us with a resplendent garland for our struggles. It is for this that all holy people have been distinguished. Hence the apostle also said: “It is through great distress that we must enter the kingdom of God.” Christ himself said to the disciples\, “In the world you will have distress.” So let us not be upset at the thought of distress\, but rather listen to Paul’s statement that “those who wish to live religiously in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”  This\, on fact\, is what faith is\, when we do not rely on our bodily eyes alone but imagine with the eyes of the mind things that are not visible. \nLet us really give heed to this and nobly withstand the troubles that beset us\, giving thanks to the loving God for everything and waiting for his recompense from him. May it be the good fortune of all of us to attain this\, thanks to the grace and loving kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. \n[1] The Fathers of the Church – vol/ 87 – St John Chrysostom – Homilies on Genesis – vol. 3 – Catholic University Press – Washington DC – 1992 – pg 212 \n  URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-12/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20220802T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20220802T193000 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220802T191351Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220802T191351Z UID:8910-1659466800-1659468600@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Rule of Benedict: Reflection. 7 pm CDT DESCRIPTION:Join Zoom Meeting \nhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/88434101612?pwd=dHMyRkFBNW52eVJIaytWdng0VmZaZz09 \nMeeting ID: 884 3410 1612 \nPasscode: 807992 \nOne tap mobile \n+13126266799\,\,88434101612# US (Chicago) \n  \nChapter 51: On Brethren Who Go Not Very Far Away \nA Brother who is sent out on some business and is expected to return to the monastery that same day shall not presume to eat while he is out\, even if he is urgently requested to do so by any person whomsoever\, unless he has permission from his Abbot. And if he acts otherwise\, let him be excommunicated. \nEND OF READING URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/rule-of-benedict-reflection-7-pm-cdt/ CATEGORIES:LCG open events END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220802 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220803 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220730T125621Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220730T125621Z UID:8874-1659398400-1659484799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Vigils Reading DESCRIPTION:  \n  \nCommentary on the Book of Genesis by St John Chrysostom [1] \n  \nWhat is read today is sufficient to teach us how great the harm of envy\, and how this ruinous passion of ill-will demonstrated its typical force even to the extent of affecting brotherhood. “At the age of seventeen Joseph was tending the sheep with his brothers.” Why does the author indicate to us his age? For you to learn that his youth constituted no obstacle to virtue and for you to have a complete awareness of the young man’s obedience to his father and his sympathy for his brothers despite their savagery\, and how despite his being so well disposed to them he was unable to win them over to concord with him on the grounds of his youth so as to be able to maintain the bond of love; instead they saw from the outset the youth’s inclination to virtue and the father’s favor from him and were prompted to envy of him. You see\, they brought false reports about Joseph to their father Israel. See the extraordinary degree of their wickedness: they endeavored to undermine their father’s love and devised false stories about their brother\, succeeding only in bringing to light their own envy. \nWhat is meant by “he loved Joseph more than all his other sons\, as he was a son of his old age”? You see\, somehow the children born to one in old age seem particularly dear\, and manage to attract their father’s favor in greater measure. However this was not the only factor in winning his father and causing him to prefer him to his brothers. For Scripture tells us that even after him another son was born. So what can it mean? That it was a kind of grace from on high that made the young man amiable and rendered him preferable to all the others on account of the virtue of his soul. \nEnvy is a terrible passion\, you see\, and when it affects the soul\, it does not leave it before bringing it to an extremely sorry state         \, damaging the soul that gives it birth and affecting the object of its envy in the opposite way to that intended\, rendering him more esteemed. Notice how this remarkable man is depicted as ignorant of what was going on and conversing cheerfully in great simplicity with them as his brothers\, whereas they for their part were in the grip of the passion of envy and were thus brought to hate him. \nNotice how it indicated as cause of their hatred this fact that had its roots in envy: “His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his other sons.” Their father’s affection gave rise to envy of him\, whereas the boy’s virtue won the father’s favor. So they should have imitated their brother and followed his lead so that they might have won their father; yet far from giving thought to this\, they displayed instead a common hatred for the one loved by their father. Whereas they\, for their part\, like men involved in a feud\, gave free rein to the evil lurking within them and had no kind word to say to him\, conducting themselves treacherously\, this remarkable man\, on the contrary\, maintained a brotherly regard for them\, suspecting nothing in his trust in them as brothers\, and attributed everything to himself. \nThis was the passion that even in the beginning led Cain to rush headlong into murdering his brother. Do you see his brother suspecting nothing\, but with full trust in his brother’s plans going out and falling victim  to that deadly blow. In the same fashion the remarkable Joseph dealt with them as brothers\, unaware of their wicked complicity\, he brought to their notice the revelation God had given him in a dream\, foretelling the prosperity that would come his way and the subjection of his brothers. \nThese men\, however\, as I said before\, neither had any respect for nature itself nor took account of the favor shown their brother from on high: from day to day they deepened their hatred\, the fire that burnt secretly within them\, without their father or the young man suspecting anything of the kind nor the fact that they were about to proceed to such awful folly. \nNow all this happened as a type of things to come. As Joseph went off to his brothers to visit them\, to those who had no respect for brotherhood nor for the reason of his coming\, and who first intended to do away with him and then sold him to foreigners\, so too our Lord in fidelity to his characteristic love came to visit the human race: taking flesh of the same source as ours and deigning to become our brother\, he thus arrived among us. In this case things were prefigured as in shadow. \n[1] The Fathers of the Church – vol 87 – St John Chrysostom on Genesis – vol. 3 – Catholic University of America Press – Washington DC – 1002 = pg 186 URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-11/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220801 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220802 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220730T125506Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220730T125506Z UID:8872-1659312000-1659398399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Alphonsus DESCRIPTION:From a sermon by Saint Alphonsus Ligouri\, bishop [1] \n  \nAll holiness and perfection of soul lies in our love for Jesus Christ our God\, who is our Redeemer and our supreme good. It is part of the love of God to acquire and to nurture all the virtues that make one perfect. \nHas not God in fact won for himself a claim on all our love? From all eternity he has loved us. And it is in this vein that he speaks to us: “O consider carefully that I first loved you. You had not yet appeared in the light of day\, nor did the world yet exist\, but already I loved you. From all eternity I have loved you.” \nSince God knew that we are enticed by favors\, he wished to bind us to his love by means of his gifts: “I want to catch mortals with these snare\, these chains of love in which they allow themselves to be entrapped\, so that they will love me.” And all the gifts which he bestowed on us were given to this end. He gave us a soul\, made in his likeness\, and endowed with memory\, intellect and will; he gave us a body equipped with the senses; it was for us that he created heaven and earth and such an abundance of things. He made all things out of love for us\, so that all creation might serve us\, and we in turn might love God out of gratitude for so many gifts. \nBut God did not wish to give us only beautiful creatures; the truth is that to win for himself our love\, he went so far as to bestow upon us the fullness of himself. The eternal Father went so far as to give us his only Son. When he saw that we were all dead through sin and deprived of his grace\, what did he do? Compelled\, as the Apostle says\, by the superabundance of his love for us\, he sent his beloved Son to make reparation for us and to call us back to a sinless life. \nBy giving us his Son\, whom he did not spare precisely so that he might spare us\, he bestowed on us every good: grace\, love and heaven; for all these goods are certainly inferior to the Son: He who did not spare his own Son\, but handed him over for all of us; how could he fail to give us along with his Son all good things? \n[1] The Liturgy of the Hours – vol. III – pg 1568 – Catholic Book Publishing Co – New York – 1975 \n  URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-alphonsus/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220731 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220801 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220730T130452Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220730T130452Z UID:8884-1659225600-1659311999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Vigils Reading DESCRIPTION:  \n  \nA Commentary on the Gospel of Luke by St Basil the Great [1] \n  \n“The land of a rich man produced abundant harvests\, and he thought to himself: What am I to do? I will pull down my barns\, and build larger ones.” \nNow why did that land bear so well\, when it belonged to a man who would make no good use of its fertility? It was to show more clearly the forbearance of God\, whose kindness extends even to such people as this. He sends rain on both the just and unjust\, and makes the sun rise on the wicked and the good alike. \nBut what do we find in this man? A bitter disposition\, hatred of other people\, unwillingness to give. This is the return he made to his Benefactor. He forgot that we all share the same nature; he felt no obligation to distribute his surplus to the needy. His barns were full to the bursting point\, but still his miserly heart was not satisfied. Year by year he increased his wealth\, always adding new crops to the old. The result was a hopeless impasse: greed would not permit him to part with anything he possessed\, and yet because he had so much there was no place to store his latest harvest. And so he is incapable of making a decision and could not escape from his anxiety. What am I to do? \nWho would not pity a man so oppressed? His land yields him no profit but only sighs: it brings him no rich returns\, but only cares and distress and a terrible helplessness. He laments in the same way as the poor do. Is not his cry like that of one hard pressed by poverty? What am I to do? How can I find food and clothing? \nYou who have wealth\, recognize who has given you the gifts you have received. Consider yourself\, who you are\, what has been committed to your charge\, from whom have you received it\, why have you been preferred to most other people? You are the servant of the good God\, a steward on behalf of your fellow servants. Do not imagine that everything has been provided for your own stomach. Take decisions regarding your property as though it belonged to another. Possessions give you pleasure for a short time\, but then they will slip through your fingers and be gone\, and you will be required to give an exact account pf them. \nWhat am I to do? It would have been so easy to say: “I will feed the hungry\, I will open my barns and call in all the poor. I will imitate Joseph in proclaiming my good will toward everyone. I will offer the generous invitation: “Let anyone who lacks bread come to me. You shall share\, each according to need\, in the good things God has given me\, just as though you were drawing from a common well. \n[1] Journey with the Fathers – Year C – New City Press – 1994 – pg 104 \n  URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-13/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220731 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220801 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220730T115320Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220730T115320Z UID:8868-1659225600-1659311999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Skema DESCRIPTION:  \n\n\n\nBiblical Readings for Office and Mass\n18th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (II)\nJuly 31 – August 6\, 2022\n\n\n \nSun\n31\nMon\n1\nTue\n2\nWed\n3\nThu\n4\nFri\n5\nSat\n6\n\n\nOffice\n18thSunday\nSt Alphonsus Ligouri\nWeekday\nWeekday\nSt John Vianney\nSt Mary Major\nTransfiguration of the Lord\n\n\nVigils\nGen 37:21-36\nGen 38:1-30\nGen 39:1-23\nGen 40:1-23\nGen 41:1-32\nGen 41:33-57\n2 Cor 3:7-4:6\n\n\nLauds\nHos 10:1-8\nHos 10:9-15\nHos 11:1-7\nHos 11:8-11\nHos 12:1-7\nHos 12:8-15\nSir 48:1-11\n\n\nMass\n114\n407\n408\n409\n410\n411\n614\n\n\n1st\nEccl 1:2; 2:21-23\nJer 28:1-17\nJer 30:1-2\, 12-15\, 18-22\nJer 31:1-7\nJer 31:31-34\nNah 2:1\, 3; 3:1-3\, 6-7\nDan 7:9-10\, 13-14\n\n\n2nd\nCol 3:1-5\, 9-11\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n\nGospel\nLuke 12:13-21\nMatt 14:13-21\nMatt 14:22-36\nMatt 15:21-28\nMatt 16:13-23\nMatt 16:24-28\nLuke 9:28b-36\n\n\nVespers\nEph 1:11-14\nEph 1:15-23\nEph 2:1-10\nEph 2:11-22\nEph 3:1-7\nEph 3:8-13\n1 Jn 5:9-12\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n  URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-2/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220730 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220731 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220722T134620Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220722T134620Z UID:8864-1659139200-1659225599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial B.V.M. DESCRIPTION:MY 52.DOC\n07.30.22 \nIn her hiddenness we find Mary’s greatness; from a book by Thomas Merton. \nIn all the great mystery of Mary\, then\, one thing remains most clear: that of herself she is nothing\, and that God has for our sakes delighted to manifest his glory and his love in her.\nIt is because she is\, of all the saints\, the most perfectly poor and the most perfectly hidden\, the one who has absolutely nothing whatever that she attempts to possess as her own\, that she can most fully communicate to the rest of us the grace of the infinitely selfless God. And we will most truly possess him when we have emptied ourselves and become poor and hidden as she is\, resembling him by resembling her.\nAnd all our sanctity depends on her maternal love. The ones she desires to share the joy of her own poverty and simplicity\, the ones whom she wills to be hidden as she is hidden\, are the ones who share her closeness to God.\nIt is a tremendous grace\, then\, and a great privilege when a person living in the world we have to live in\, suddenly loses his interest in the things that absorb that world and discovers in his own soul an appetite for poverty and solitude. And the most precious of all the gifts of nature or grace is the desire to be hidden and to vanish from human sight and be accounted as nothing by the world and to disappear from one’s own self-conscious consideration and vanish into nothingness in the immense poverty that is the adoration of God.\nThis absolute emptiness\, this poverty\, this obscurity holds within it the secret of all joy because it is full of God. To seek this emptiness is true devotion to the Mother of God. To find it is to find her. And to be hidden in its depths is to be full of God as she is full of him\, and to share her mission of bringing him to all peoples.\nYet all generations must call her blessed\, because they all receive through her obedience whatever supernatural life and joy is granted to them. And it is necessary that the world should acknowledge her and that the praise of God’s great work in her should be sung in poetry and that cathedrals should be built in her name. For unless Our Lady is recognized as the Mother of God and as the Queen of all the saints and angels and as the hope of the world\, faith in God will remain incomplete. How can we ask him for all the things he would have us hope for if we do not know\, by contemplating the sanctity of the Immaculate Virgin\, what great things he has power to accomplish in us. URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-b-v-m-3/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220729 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220730 DTSTAMP:20260404T160500 CREATED:20220722T134513Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220722T134513Z UID:8862-1659052800-1659139199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - SS Martha & Mary & Lazarus DESCRIPTION:07SN2902.DOC \n                                                                                                                                              07.29.22  \n  \nHow action and contemplation complement one another in our Christian life; \n a reading from the book Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton. [1] \nIn the monastic life one could find\, according to Bernard\, three vocations: That of Lazarus the penitent\, that of Martha the active and devoted servant of the monastic household\, and that of Mary the con­templative. Mary had chosen (said St Bernard) the Abest part\,@ and there was no reason for her to envy Martha or leave her contemplation\, unasked\, to share in the labors of Martha. The portion of Mary is\, by nature\, preferable to the other two and superior to them. And one feels\, reading between the lines of St Bernard\, that this had to be said because it was not unknown for Mary to envy Martha. The portion of Mary was not in fact always desired by the majority. \nSt Bernard himself solves the problem by saying that after all Martha and Mary are sisters and they should dwell together in the same household in peace. They supplement one another. But in actual fact\, true monastic perfection consists above all in the union of all three voca­tions: that of the penitent\, the active worker (in the care of souls above all) and the contemplative. But when Bernard speaks of the care of souls he refers to the duty of instructing and guiding other monks\, rather than apostolic work outside the cloister. Yet the need for preachers and apostolic workers was acute in the twelfth century. \nFor St Bernard\, the contemplative life is that which is normal for the monk\, it is that which he should always desire\, always prefer\, but the active life necessarily has its claims also. Contemplation should always be desired and preferred. Activity should be accepted\, though never sought. In the end the perfection of the monastic life is found in the union of Martha\, Mary and Lazarus in one person-usually such a person will be an abbot\, like Bernard himself. \nIt must not\, of course\, be imagined that either St Gregory or St Bernard is always concerned with contemplation from this problematical viewpoint. Because of the large amount of activity in their own lives they do\, indeed\, give ardent expression to their longing for the silence of contemplative prayer. Yet they always admit that contemplation is not unknown to them in their life of apostolic labor: indeed we sense that their contemplative experience is somehow deeper and richer precisely because of the mystical graces given to them to help them to preach to others. \n[1] New York: Image Books\, 1971\, pp. 54-55. URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-ss-martha-mary-lazarus/ CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR