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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251114
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251115
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251109T000635Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251109T000635Z
UID:14248-1763078400-1763164799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE TRUE CHRISTIAN \nFrom a treatise by St Augustine \n◊◊◊ \nLet us not flatter ourselves in the mere fact that we are called Christians; \nrather\, let us believe that we deserve to be judged if we assume a name to which \nwe have no claim. Or\, if there are any who are so unbelieving\, so unfaithful\, so \npersistent\, so obstinate\, so bold\, that they do not fear the imminent anger and \nindignation of God the judge\, let them at least feel abashed before human \njudgments. Let them realize how dull\, how foolish\, and how senseless they are \nconsidered even by other people\, since their vanity and madness are so great \nthat they take upon themselves a name to which they are not entitled. For\, who \nis so conceited and so pitiable that he would dare to establish himself as a lawyer \nif he is uneducated? Who is so mad and bereft of reason that he would proclaim \nhimself a soldier if he does not know how to use arms? One does not choose \nsuch a name without reason. \nTo be called a cobbler\, one must repair shoes; to be looked upon as an \nartisan or workman\, one must produce proof of one’s art; to be recognized as a \ntrader\, one exhibits costly objects originally purchased at a smaller price. From \nexamples of this sort we realize that there is no name without the corresponding \nact and\, furthermore\, that every name is derived from the antecedent act. Now\, \nthen\, are you called a Christian when you perform no distinctively Christian \nacts? \nThe name Christian connotes justice\, goodness\, integrity\, patience\, \nchastity\, prudence\, humility\, kindliness\, innocence and piety; how do you \ndefend your assumption of that name when your conduct manifests so few out \nof so many virtues? One is truly a Christian who is one not in name only but also \nin deed; who imitates and follows Christ in all respects; who is holy\, innocent\, \nundefiled\, chaste; in whose heart evil finds no room\, since this heart is \ndominated by piety and by a goodness which\, knowing only how to bring help to \nall\, knows not how to harm or injure anybody. \nWe are Christians when\, according to the example of Christ\, we are \naccustomed to do good to those who oppose us and to pray for our persecutors \nand our enemies rather than to hate them. Whoever is quick to hurt or harm \nanother person lies when he calls himself a Christian; we are truly Christians \nwhen we can say in all honesty: “I have harmed nobody; I have lived in justice \nwith all.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-365/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251115
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251116
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251109T000754Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251109T000754Z
UID:14250-1763164800-1763251199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Gethsemani Church
DESCRIPTION:THE DEDICATION OF OUR CHURCH \nFrom a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux \n◊◊◊ \nMy brethren\, we ought to observe today’s festivity all the more devoutly \nfor the reason that it is so peculiarly our own. All the other sacred solemnities \nwhich we keep are common to us with the faithful in general. But this is so \nproper to ourselves that if we do not keep it\, it will not be kept at all. It is our own \nfeast\, because it is the feast of the dedication of our own church. It is still more \nour own because it is the feast of our own selves. For what of sanctity can belong \nto these dead walls which cause them to be honored with a religious solemnity? \nThey are undoubtedly holy\, but it is because of your bodies. Will anyone \nquestion that your bodies are holy\, since they are “the temples of the Holy \nSpirit”? \nConsequently your souls are sanctified because of the spirit of God “Who \nis in you”\, your bodies are sanctified because of your souls\, and this house is \nsanctified also because of your bodies. The Psalmist prayed “Preserve my soul \nfor I am holy”. Truly “God is wonderful in His saints”\, not alone in His saints in \nheaven\, but also those on earth. For He has His saints in both places and shows \nHimself wonderful in them all\, beatifying those above\, consummating the \nsanctity of those below. \nAccordingly it is your own festival\, dearest brethren\, your very own\, that \nyou are celebrating today. You have been dedicated to the Lord and the Lord has \nchosen and adopted you as His own peculiar people. Oh\, how wisely you have \nacted…in renouncing all that you might have possessed in this world\, since by \ndoing so you have deserved to become the peculiar people of the world’s \nCreator\, and to have Him as your special possession\, for He is undoubtedly “the \nportion and inheritance” of His own! \nSee\, therefore\, if it is not right to observe as a festival the day on which the \nLord adopted us as His own and took formal possession of us through His \nministers\, thus accomplishing in fact what He had promised long ago\, saying\, “I \nin the midst of them shall be their God”\, while we should be “the people of His \npasture and the sheep of His hand”. For when this house was consecrated to the \nLord by the ministry of the Bishop\, it was manifestly for our sake it was done; \nnot only for the sake of those who were actually present then\, but also for the \nsake of all those who until the end of time shall serve God in this holy place. \nTherefore\, dearest brethren\, it is necessary that what has already been \naccomplished in the walls in a visible manner should be invisibly accomplished \nin ourselves.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-gethsemani-church-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251116
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251117
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251116T120922Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T120922Z
UID:14262-1763251200-1763337599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n33rd Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nNovember 16 – 22\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n16\nMon\n17\nTue\n18\nWed\n19\nThu\n20\nFri\n21\nSat\n22\n\n\nOffice\n33rd Sunday\nWeekday\nOffice for Vocations\nSt Mechtild\nWeekday\nPresentation of the BVM\nSt Cecilia\n\n\nVigils\nDaniel 8:1-14\nDaniel 8:15-27\nDaniel 9:1-19\nDaniel 9:20-27\nDaniel 10:1-11:1\nDaniel 11:2-20\nDaniel 11:21-45\n\n\nLauds\nZech 14:1-5\nZech 14:6-11\nZech 14:12-15\nZech 14:16-21\nMalachi 1:1-5\nMal 1:6-10\nMal 1:11-14\n\n\nMass\n159\n497\n498\n499\n500\n501\n502\n\n\n1st\nMal 3:19-20a\n1 Macc 1:10-15\, 41-43\, 54-57\, 62-63\n2 Macc 6:18-31\n2 Macc 7:1\, 20-31\n1 Macc 2:15-29\n1 Macc 4:36-37\, 52-59\n1 Macc 6:1-13\n\n\n2nd\n2 Thess 3:7-12\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 21:5-19\nLuke 18:35-43\nLuke 19:1-10\nLuke 19:11-28\nLuke 19:41-44\nLuke 19:45-48\nLuke 20:27-40\n\n\nVespers\n2 Pet 1:20-2:3\n2 Pet 2:4-10a\n2 Pet 2:10b-16\n2 Pet 2:17-22\n2 Pet 3:1-7\n2 Pet 3:8-13\n1 Cor 15:20-28
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-133/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251116
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251117
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251116T121232Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121232Z
UID:14264-1763251200-1763337599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 33rd Sunday
DESCRIPTION:BY PATIENT ENDURANCE \nFrom a commentary by Nilus of Ancyra \n◊◊◊ \nIn time of trial it is of great profit to us patiently to endure for God’s sake\, \nfor the Lord says: By patient endurance you will win life for yourselves. He did \nnot say by your fasting\, or your solitude or silence\, or your singing of psalms\, \nalthough all these are helpful in saving your soul. But he said: By patient \nendurance in every trial that overtakes you\, and in every affliction\, whether this \nbe insolent and contemptuous treatment\, or any kind of disgrace\, either small \nor great; whether it be bodily weakness\, or the belligerent attacks of Satan\, or \nany trial whatsoever caused either by other people or by evil spirits. \nBy patient endurance you will win life for yourselves\, although to this \nmust be added wholehearted thanksgiving and prayer\, and humility. For you \nmust be ready to bless and praise your benefactor\, God the Savior of the world\, \nwho disposes all things\, good or otherwise\, for your benefit. \nThe apostle writes: With patient endurance we run the race of faith set \nbefore us. For what has more power than virtue? What more firmness or \nstrength than patient endurance? Endurance\, that is\, for God’s sake. This is the \nqueen of virtues\, the foundation of virtue\, a haven of tranquility. It is peace in \ntime of war\, calm in rough waters\, safety amidst treachery and danger. It makes \nthose who practice it stronger than steel. No weapons or brandished bows\, no \nturbulent troops or advancing seige engines\, no flying spears or arrows can \nshake it. Not even the host of evil spirits\, nor the dark array of hostile powers\, \nnor the devil himself standing by with all his armies and devices will have power \nto injure the man or woman who has acquired this virtue through Christ.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-33rd-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251117
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251118
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251116T121421Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121421Z
UID:14266-1763337600-1763423999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE INNER SELF \nFrom the writing of Thomas Merton \n◊◊◊ \nThe inner self is not a part of our being\, like a motor in a car. It is our \nentire substantial reality itself\, on its highest and most personal and most \nexistential level. It is like life\, and it is life: it is our spiritual life when it is most \nalive. It is the life by which everything else in us lives and moves.. If it is \nawakened\, it communicates a new life to the intelligence in which it lives\, so that \nit becomes a living awareness of itself: and this awareness is not so much \nsomething that we ourselves have as something that we are… \nThe inner self is as secret as God\, and like Him\, it evades every concept \nthat tries to seize hold of it with full possession. It is a life that cannot be held \nand studied as an object\, because it is not a “thing.” It is not reached and coaxed \nforth from hiding by any process under the sun\, including meditation. All we \ncan do with any spiritual discipline is produce within ourselves something of the \nsilence\, the humility\, the detachment\, the purity of heart\, and the indifference \nwhich are required if the inner self is to make some shy\, unpredictable \nmanifestation of his presence. \nAt the same time\, however\, every deeply spiritual experience\, whether \nreligious or moral\, or even artistic\, tends to have in it something of the presence \nof the interior self. Only from the inner self does any spiritual experience gain \ndepth\, reality\, and a certain in communicability. But the depth of ordinary \nexperience only gives us a derivative sense of the inner self. It reminds us of the \nforgotten levels of interiority in our spiritual nature\, and of our helplessness to \nexplore them. \nFrom THE INNER EXPERIENCE quoted by William Shannon in his book: Thomas Merton’s Dark Path\, Farrar- \nStraus-Giroux N.Y.\, 1987\, pp. 116-117. \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-366/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251118
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251119
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251116T121529Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121529Z
UID:14268-1763424000-1763510399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
DESCRIPTION:FOR THE GOOD OF ALL \nBy Henri Le Saux \n◊◊◊ \nVocations are as diverse as temperaments are diverse. More simply\, we \ncould say that certain temperaments are more predisposed to the solitary life \nand others to life in the world. Among the great vocations there are the Sages \nand there are the Prophets. There are those whom the Holy Spirit compels them \nto withdraw within themselves and to meditate night and day on the Law of the \nLord\, like the inspired scribes of Israel and those first hermits of Mount Carmel. \nAnd there are those who are called to proclaim the Word of God to others. \nIn the world we must have people who testify that God is beyond all \nsymbol\, people who witness to the absolute. We must have people who\, in the \nname of the world\, place the world at the center and who live in this center \nwhere God dwells. We needed some of them even in the Church to ward off \npragmatism which constantly threatens it\, even under the finest outward \nappearances of pastoral and missionary zeal. We need people who take literally \nthe call of Christ to poverty\, to freedom from concern about the morrow\, to \nindifference to all but the one essential thing. We are so made that it is only in \nfellowship\, in collaboration and in one person complementing the qualities of \nanother\, that we are completely capable of putting the Gospel into effect. \nIndeed\, alongside the people who witness to the immutability of God\, \nthere must be people who witness to his activity. Alongside the people who \nwitness to his transcendence\, there must be those who witness to his \nimmanence. There must be people who enter with all their abilities into the \nDivine plan for the development of the universe and for the growth of the \nmystical body of the Lord. God did not intend everything in universe to be made \nall at once. He chose to have his creation – and above all\, humanity – working \nwith him. It is through secondary causes that God leads the world to find its \nconsummation. \nAt the human level\, this collaboration becomes freedom. At the same \ntime it becomes understanding. This means that we are called to use our \nintelligence to discover how best to improve the conditions of human life. We \nare responsible and intelligent collaborators in the work of creating and of \nruling the world. We cannot refuse to take part in it without refusing God \nhimself. That is inscribed in our human birth and in the condition of \ncommunion (or koinonia)\, which is the condition of our existence\, human as \nwell as Christian. \nHowever\, not everyone is called to collaborate in the same way. There are \nkings and there are farmers; there are doctors and there are merchants. The \nimportant point is that each one\, wherever God has placed them\, should always \nwork for the good of all. Selfishness is not only the act of someone who may \nwithdraw to the desert out of laziness or cowardice. It is no less present in the \none who has chosen to live in the world\, but who uses the world for their own \nexclusive gain. Every vocation is a service\, both in the church and in the world. \nEach of us is at the service of each other.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-office-for-vocations-25/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251119
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251120
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251116T121648Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121648Z
UID:14270-1763510400-1763596799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Mechtild
DESCRIPTION:OUR SERVICE OF GOD \nAn excerpt from “The Book of Special Grace” by St Mechthild of Hackeborn \n◊◊◊ \nIf any obstacle arises in our service of God\, whether from the attitude of \nothers\, from external circumstances\, from our own desires\, memories\, or from \nany other cause – whatever the impediment\, we should take it as a messenger \nfrom God\, sending it back to Him\, so to speak\, with praise and thanksgiving. \nThree things very pleasing to God are: first\, never to abandon one’s \nneighbors in their needs\, and to excuse their shortcomings and sins as much as \npossible; second\, in tribulation to seek refuge only in God\, abandoning to Him \nalone all that disquiets the heart; third\, to walk with Him in truth. \nWhen it is time to eat or to sleep\, say in your heart: “Lord\, in union with \nthe love with which you created this useful thing for me\, and yourself made us of \nit when you were on earth\, I take it for your eternal praise and for my bodily \nneed.” The Blessed Virgin tells us: “if you wish to be truly holy\, stay close to my \nSon; he is holiness itself\, making all things holy.” \nWe should be lovingly grateful not only for the spiritual blessings God \ngives us\, but for all bodily necessities\, such as food and clothing\, receiving them \nwith a sincerely thankful heart and considering ourselves unworthy of them. \nWe should also thank God for everything that he has given to his Mother and to \nthe angels. \nWorks which give no human satisfaction may nevertheless be very \npleasing to God. What best pleases God in members of religious orders is purity \nof heart\, holy desires\, gentle kindness in conversation\, and works of charity. \nWhen you are alone\, raise your heart constantly to God\, speak with him and \ndirect all your desire to him with great intensity. You can never be in so large a \ncrowd that you are not alone with him. \nWhen those who receive from the Lord the gift of a fine orchard\, they \ncannot taste the fruit until it is ripe. Likewise\, when one receives a special grace\, \nany interior joy is not experienced until by the practice of mortification one has \nbroken the hard rind of earthly pleasure.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-mechtild/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251120
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251121
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251116T121758Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121758Z
UID:14272-1763596800-1763683199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE ONE BODY OF CHRIST \nFrom a commentary by Origen \n◊◊◊ \nThe temple and the body of Jesus\, seem to me…to be a type of the church \nsignifying that it is built of living stones\, a spiritual house for a holy priesthood… \nThe temple will be rebuilt and the body will rise again on the third day\, after the \nday of evil which threatens it and the day of consummation which comes after. \nFor the third day will rise on the new heaven and the new earth when these \nbones – the whole house of Israel – will rise again on the great day of the Lord\, \nvictorious over death. \nThus it is that the already completed resurrection of Christ\, including his \nsufferings on the cross\, contains the mystery of the resurrection of the whole \nbody of Christ. But as that physical body of Jesus was crucified and buried and \nthen raised up\, so the whole body of Christ’s saints is crucified with Christ and \nnow lives no longer…For Scripture says: All my bones are scattered. \nBut when the actual resurrection of the true and more perfect body of \nChrist takes place\, then those who are now the members of Christ\, (for they will \nthen be dry bones) will be brought together\, bone to bone\, and fitting to fitting\, \nto the measure of the stature of the fullness of the body of Christ. Then the many \nmembers will be the one body\, all the members of the body\, though they are \nmany\, becoming one body. But the distinction between foot and hand and eye \nand ear and nose\, which in one sense fills out the head and in another sense \nrepresents the feet and the rest of the members\, the weaker and the humbler\, \nthe less honorable and the more honorable – this distinction is for God alone to \nmake who will put together the body and\, more than he does now\, will give the \ngreater honor to the inferior part\, that there may be no discord in the body\, \nbut that the members may have the same care for one another\, and if one \nmember suffers\, all suffer together; if one member is honored\, all rejoice \ntogether.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-367/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251121
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251122
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251116T121940Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T121940Z
UID:14274-1763683200-1763769599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Presentation of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:THE VIRGIN AND THE TEMPLE \nFrom the writing of Fr Yves Congar6 \n◊◊◊ \nThe only occasion on which the Gospels expressly mention the Virgin \nMary in connection with the Temple are in the account of her Purification and of \nthe Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the finding of the child Jesus in the \nTemple after four days’ absence on his part and three anxious searching by his \nparents. To these very brief indications\, the piety of Christians very soon added \nthe idea of the presentation of Mary in the Temple at the age of three to be \nconsecrated to the service of God. We are dealing here with a symbolical \nrepresentation of a profound spiritual reality about which the tradition and the \ndoctrine of the Church provide us with valid information. \nMary\, predestined to be the Mother of Jesus\, true God and true man\, and \nto be worthy of her vocation\, was prepared by the gift of exceptional graces and \nlived with unfailing fidelity a most pure life of inner consecration to the God of \nAbraham\, Isaac and Jacob. As the type of all faithful souls and of the Church \nherself\, Mary expressed spiritually and supremely in her life the “presentation” \nwhich\, for each one of us\, is to begin by the service of faith and to be \nconsummated in heaven. \nIt is obvious that the tradition and doctrine of the Church may\, without \nfalling prey to the imaginary productions of the apocrypha\, propound \nstatements concerning the status of the Mother of God in relation either to the \nJewish messianic temple going far beyond what we are explicitly told in the \nthree short passages from the Gospel which narrate the incidents mentioned \nabove. \nIf Mary is the Mother of God\, she has a special relation to the body of \nChrist which is the true temple – to his physical body and doubtless also\, in a \ncertain sense\, to his body the Church. She is herself a temple of God in a quite \nspecific and sublime way\, both because Christ was within her from the moment \nof his conception until that of his birth\, and because of the exceptional spiritual \ngifts she received in preparation for her divine motherhood and as a reward for \nher free acceptance of this vocation\, not only after the Annunciation but during \nthe whole of her life. Hence the liturgy – the Oriental liturgy in particular – \nshows a profound understanding of the mystery of Mary when it constantly uses \nthe texts concerning the Temple and the tabernacle in order to express it. \n6 The Mystery of the Temple\, Westminster(Maryland) 1962\, p.254-255.11
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-presentation-of-the-bvm-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251122
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251123
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251116T122310Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T122310Z
UID:14276-1763769600-1763855999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Cecilia
DESCRIPTION:THE VIRGINITY OF \nST CECILIA \nFrom a homily by Fr Ronald Knox \n◊◊◊ \nThe legends of the early Roman saints\, among whom St Cecilia is \nnumbered\, do not always command great attention from the critically minded \nhistorian. But whether the story of St Cecilia as it is told in her acts is all true or \nonly partly true\, there is a simplicity about the whole story and a simplicity \nabout St Cecilia’s character in the story which demands a retelling. \nLet me remind you in the most general way of her story: how she was \nmarried to a young pagan called Valerian\, but persuaded him to respect her vow \nof virginity\, because her guardian angel would make him sorry for it if he did \notherwise; how Valerian wanted to see this guardian angel\, but Cecilia\, with her \ninnocent craft\, said he could not do that unless he was baptized first; how he was \nbaptized\, and saw the angel at her side as she prayed; how he made a convert of \nhis brother Tiburtius\, and how first the two brothers\, and then Cecilia herself \nwere punished with death for professing the Christian religion. It is an old story\, \nand a familiar one: and while we do all homage to other great saints for their \npublic witness to Christ\, we shall always need St Cecilia as well\, quietly working \nat home for the conversion of her own husband and his family. \nNot that St Cecilia herself was in the position of a modern wife. Like so \nmany Christian ladies of her time\, she had taken\, in imitation of our blessed \nLady\, a vow of perpetual virginity. These virgin martyrs were martyrs because \nthey were virgins: it was because they insisted on keeping their vow when their \nparents wished them to marry that the secret of their attachment to the \nChristian faith was discovered; and it was their persistency in maintaining it \nthat led to their martyrdom. \nIt would be hard to estimate…how much the unpopularity in Roman \nsociety of the Christian faith owed to its tradition of virginity. Virginity is an \nideal which the pagan had no right to misunderstand. For\, in theory\, they\, too\, \nhonored it; and it should have commended itself to their heathen instinct for \nsacrifice. For the point of a sacrifice is that the victim should be spotless\, the \nbest of its kind. You must offer not what you can well afford to spare\, but what \nwill cost you something. That is the pagan idea of sacrifice; and the Christian \nidea of sacrifice is based on the same principle. In order to give up something to \nGod\, we forgo\, not the sinful pleasures which we have no right to in any case\, but \nthe lawful pleasures which he has given us to enjoy if we will. \nSo\, let St Cecilia’s feast remind us to take our Christian vocation seriously\, \nto follow out in our lives the words we profess with our lips. And may this \nRoman maiden pray for us who worship here and for those who minister to us\, \nthat when Christ\, the Master she served\, comes again in judgment\, we may be \nfound blameless before almighty God.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-cecilia-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251123
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251124
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251122T143440Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251122T143440Z
UID:14278-1763856000-1763942399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n34th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nNovember 23 – 29\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n23\nMon\n24\nTue\n25\nWed\n26\nThu\n27\nFri\n28\nSat\n29\n\n\nOffice\nChrist the King\nSt Andrew Dung-Lac & Companions\nSt Catherine of Alexandria\nWeekday\nWeekday \nThanksgiving\nWeekday\nMemorial of the BVM\n\n\nVigils\nIsa 33:2-22\nDaniel 12:1-13\nDaniel 13:1-33\nDaniel 13:34-64\nDeut 26:1-19\nDaniel 14:1-22\nDaniel 14:23-42\n\n\nLauds\nJerm 23:1-6\nMal 2:1-9\nMal 2:10-16\nMal 2:17-3:4\nJoel 2:21-27\nMal 3:6-12\nMal 3:13-21\n\n\nMass\n162\n503\n504\n505\n943.3\, 944.3\, 947.6\n507\n508\n\n\n1st\n2 Sam 5:1-3\nDan 1:1-6\, 8-20\nDan 2:31-45\nDan 5:1-6\, 13-14\, 16-17\, 23-28\nIsa 63:7-9\nDan 7:2-14\nDan 7:15-27\n\n\n2nd\nCol 1:12-20\n\n\n\nCol 3:12-17\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 23:35-43\nLuke 21:1-4\nLuke 21:5-11\nLuke 21:12-19\nLuke 17:11-19\nLuke 21:29-33\nLuke 21:34-36\n\n\nVespers\nRev 19:11-16\n2 John 1-6\n2 John 7-13\n3 John 1-8\n\n3 John 9-15\nRev 1:1-8
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-134/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251123
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251124
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251122T143653Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251122T143653Z
UID:14280-1763856000-1763942399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Christ the King
DESCRIPTION:IN THE STEPS \nOF THE MARTYRS \nFrom a homily by St Augustine \n◊◊◊ \nLet us not imagine that in keeping the feast of the Martyrs with great \nsolemnity\, we are benefiting them. They who are in the joy of heaven with the \nangels have no need of our honors and if they rejoice with us\, it is at being \nimitated\, not at being honored. However\, though this veneration does not \nbenefit them\, it is useful for us: but to honor them without imitating them\, \nwould be lying flattery. If then these solemnities have been instituted in the \nChurch of Christ\, it is only to unite all the members of Christ and to enlist them \nas followers in the steps of the martyrs of Christ. Such is the fruit of today’s \nfestival; there is no question of any other. \nWhen\, in fact\, we propose God himself as our example\, human weakness \nreadily answers that it is above its power to imitate him to whom it cannot be \ncompared. In that case Jesus Christ our Lord will be proposed to it as model \nwho\, being God\, clothed himself in mortal flesh in order the better to persuade \nus also clothed in this same flesh\, adding word to example; Christ\, it is written\, \n“suffered for our sake\, and left you his own example; you were to follow in his \nfootsteps”. \nYet will not frail humanity reply again: “What comparison is there \nbetween me and Christ? He was one of us\, but he was God. He took flesh\, but \nwithout ceasing to be the Word\, assuming a new nature without losing that \nwhich was proper to him. For\, as St Paul says\, “God was in Christ\, reconciling \nthe world to himself”. Once again\, how can I compare myself with Christ? \nTherefore\, to remove all pretext from the faithlessness of the weak\, the \nMartyrs have made a broad way for us. It was necessary that the foundation \nshould be solid as stone\, in order that our footsteps should be steady: they have \ncemented it with their blood and their testimony\, and finally\, reckoning nothing \nof their bodies\, they have thrown them under the feet of Christ as he advances to \nthe conquest of the heathen\, as\, On Palm Sunday\, the people threw their \ngarments under the feet of the ass on which he rode. Who would be ashamed to \nsay: “I am inferior to God”? I grant you are very much so. “I am inferior to \nChrist”? Yes\, certainly\, and even to his humanity. \nBut Peter was what you are; so was Paul\, and the Apostles and Prophets \nwere all what you are yourself. If the example of our Lord alarms you\, at least \nimitate those who are like you his servant. They go before you in dense crowds: \nno more excuse for your lukewarmness. Will you say to me again: “I am very far \nfrom Peter and Paul”? Are you then also far from truth? There where the \nilliterate receive the crown\, there is no excuse for vanity. Are you less than \nchildren? \nWatch then…that in celebrating the sufferings of the Martyrs you fill \nyourself with the desire to imitate them. They knew that they must choose a \ngood cause if their work was to be made fruitful. They remembered that not \nonly had our Lord said: “Blessed are the persecuted”\, but: “blessed are those \nwho suffer persecution in the cause of right”. Choose yourselves the good cause\, \nand do not be disturbed by what you suffer in so doing.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-christ-the-king/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251124
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251125
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251122T143827Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251122T143827Z
UID:14282-1763942400-1764028799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Andrew Dung-Lac & Companions
DESCRIPTION:IN THE STEPS \nOF THE MARTYRS \nFrom a homily by St Augustine \n◊◊◊ \nLet us not imagine that in keeping the feast of the Martyrs with great \nsolemnity\, we are benefiting them. They who are in the joy of heaven with the \nangels have no need of our honors and if they rejoice with us\, it is at being \nimitated\, not at being honored. However\, though this veneration does not \nbenefit them\, it is useful for us: but to honor them without imitating them\, \nwould be lying flattery. If then these solemnities have been instituted in the \nChurch of Christ\, it is only to unite all the members of Christ and to enlist them \nas followers in the steps of the martyrs of Christ. Such is the fruit of today’s \nfestival; there is no question of any other. \nWhen\, in fact\, we propose God himself as our example\, human weakness \nreadily answers that it is above its power to imitate him to whom it cannot be \ncompared. In that case Jesus Christ our Lord will be proposed to it as model \nwho\, being God\, clothed himself in mortal flesh in order the better to persuade \nus also clothed in this same flesh\, adding word to example; Christ\, it is written\, \n“suffered for our sake\, and left you his own example; you were to follow in his \nfootsteps”. \nYet will not frail humanity reply again: “What comparison is there \nbetween me and Christ? He was one of us\, but he was God. He took flesh\, but \nwithout ceasing to be the Word\, assuming a new nature without losing that \nwhich was proper to him. For\, as St Paul says\, “God was in Christ\, reconciling \nthe world to himself”. Once again\, how can I compare myself with Christ? \n2 Sermon 325. Trans.\, Lectionary and Martyrology\, ed. Encalcat Abbey\, 1956\, 509-510.5 \nTherefore\, to remove all pretext from the faithlessness of the weak\, the \nMartyrs have made a broad way for us. It was necessary that the foundation \nshould be solid as stone\, in order that our footsteps should be steady: they have \ncemented it with their blood and their testimony\, and finally\, reckoning nothing \nof their bodies\, they have thrown them under the feet of Christ as he advances to \nthe conquest of the heathen\, as\, On Palm Sunday\, the people threw their \ngarments under the feet of the ass on which he rode. Who would be ashamed to \nsay: “I am inferior to God”? I grant you are very much so. “I am inferior to \nChrist”? Yes\, certainly\, and even to his humanity. \nBut Peter was what you are; so was Paul\, and the Apostles and Prophets \nwere all what you are yourself. If the example of our Lord alarms you\, at least \nimitate those who are like you his servant. They go before you in dense crowds: \nno more excuse for your lukewarmness. Will you say to me again: “I am very far \nfrom Peter and Paul”? Are you then also far from truth? There where the \nilliterate receive the crown\, there is no excuse for vanity. Are you less than \nchildren? \nWatch then…that in celebrating the sufferings of the Martyrs you fill \nyourself with the desire to imitate them. They knew that they must choose a \ngood cause if their work was to be made fruitful. They remembered that not \nonly had our Lord said: “Blessed are the persecuted”\, but: “blessed are those \nwho suffer persecution in the cause of right”. Choose yourselves the good cause\, \nand do not be disturbed by what you suffer in so doing.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-andrew-dung-lac-companions/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251125
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251126
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251122T143928Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251122T143928Z
UID:14284-1764028800-1764115199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Catherine of Alexandria
DESCRIPTION:ST CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints \n◊◊◊ \nSince about the tenth century\, veneration of St Catherine of Alexandria \nhas been marked in the East\, but from the time of the Crusades until the 18th \ncentury her popularity was even greater in the West. Numerous churches were \ndedicated in her honor\, including the parish church of Gethsemani Abbey at \nNew Haven\, KY. She was venerated as patroness of maidens and women \nstudents of philosophers\, preachers and apologists. Adam of St Victor wrote a \npoem in her honor; hers was one of the heavenly voices heard by St Joan of Arc. \nBut not a single fact about her life or death has been established. \nIt is said in her Acts that she belonged to a patrician family of Alexandria \nand devoted herself to learned studies\, in the course of which she learned about \nChristianity. She was converted by a vision of Our Lady and the Holy Child. \nWhen Maxentius began persecuting Christians\, Catherine went to him and \nrebuked him for his tyranny. He could not answer her arguments against his \ngods\, so summoned fifty philosophers to oppose her. These confessed \nthemselves convinced by the learning of this Christian girl\, and were therefore \nburned to death by the infuriated emperor. \nThen he tried to seduce Catherine with an offer of a consort’s crown\, and \nwent off to inspect a camp. On his return he discovered that his wife and an \nofficer had gone to see Catherine out of curiosity and had both been converted\, \ntogether with two hundred soldiers of the guard. They accordingly were all slain \nand Catherine was sentenced to be killed on a spiked wheel. When she was \nplaced on it\, her bonds were miraculously loosed and the wheel broke\, its spikes \nflying off and killing many of the onlookers. Then she was beheaded. \nAll the texts of the “acts” of Catherine state that her body was carried by \nangels to Mount Sinai\, where a church and monastery were afterwards built. In \n527 the Emperor Justinian built a monastery for hermits of the place\, and the \nbody of Catherine was said to have been taken there in the 8th or 9th century. \nThe monastery has borne her name since then. \nThe great monastery of Mount Sinai still claim the alleged relics of St \nCatherine\, in the care of the monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church. \nArchbishop Falconio of Santa Severina said that the meaning of the “angels” is \nthat her body was carried by the monks of Sinai to their monastery. Tradition \nhas referred to the monastic life as “the angelic life”. This is still a current \nexpression in Eastern monasticism.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-catherine-of-alexandria-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251126
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251127
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251122T144033Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251122T144033Z
UID:14286-1764115200-1764201599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:OF TOMBS AND GARDENS \nFrom the writing of Blessed Guerric of Igny \n◊◊◊ \nWhose voice is fittingly heard in the assembly of brethren and friends\, \nthat is\, in the Church of the saints\, the Bridegroom himself indicates when he \nsays: “You who dwell in the gardens\, friends are listening; let me hear your \nvoice.” \nIt is not I to whom this should be said; I am not one who dwells in gardens \n—I seem to myself rather to be of those who dwell in tombs. For what are the \nbodies of sinners but tombs of the dead. Therefore they who are devoted to their \nbodies dwell not in gardens\, but in tombs and exasperate God until he who leads \nforth prisoners in strength cries with a loud voice: “Lazarus\, come forth”; and he \ngives his disciples the command: “Loose him and let him go free.” \nTo be sure there is a great difference between tombs and gardens. The \nformer are full of every filth and of dead men’s bones\, the latter are full of \nflowers or fruits in all their sweetness and grace. What if tombs are sometimes \nseen in gardens – for the Lord was buried in a garden? \nIf there are tombs in a garden surely there are not gardens in tombs. Yet \nperhaps there are\, but in the tombs of the just. There indeed a certain most \nagreeable pleasantness which belongs to gardens will flourish as in spring\, the \nspringtime\, that is\, of their resurrection when their flesh will blossom again. \nNot only the bones of the just man will sprout like grass\, but also the whole of the \njust man will sprout like a lily and bloom forever before the Lord. \nNot so the godless\, not so. They are buried with the burial of an ass. \nWithout any hope of a better resurrection\, they are subject to corruption\, as a \nforetaste of their future fate. Concerning their tombs I had begun to say that as \ngreat as is the difference between their filth and the beauty of gardens in flower\, \nincomparably greater is the difference between the delight of spiritual men and \nthe pleasure of carnal joys. \nIt is you then\, if I am not mistaken\, who dwell in gardens\, you who \nmeditate on the law of the Lord day and night” and walk about in as many \ngardens as you read books\, pick as many apples as you select fine thoughts. And \nblessed are you for whom all the apples\, both old and new\, are kept\, that is\, for \nwhom the words of the prophets\, evangelists and Apostles are laid up\, so that to \neach of you those words of the Bride to the Bridegroom seem to be said: “All the \napples\, new and old\, my Beloved\, I have kept for you.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-368/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251127
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251128
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251122T144210Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251122T144210Z
UID:14288-1764201600-1764287999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Thanksgiving
DESCRIPTION:THE FULLNESS \nOF THANKSGIVING \nBy Xavier Léon-Dufour \n◊◊◊ \nThe first reality of biblical history is the gift of God\, gratuitous\, \nsuperabundant\, without return. The encounter with God does not put human \nbeings simply in the presence of the absolute; it completes them and transforms \ntheir lives. Thanksgiving appears as the response to this progressive and \ncontinual grace which one day should blossom in Christ. At the same time there \nis an intense awareness of the gifts of God\, a spirit of soul permeated with \nwonder because of God’s generosity\, a joyous recognition before the divine \ngreatness; thus thanksgiving is essential in the Bible because it is a fundamental \nreligious reaction of creatures when they discover\, in a tremor of joy and \nveneration\, something of God’s greatness and glory… \nAt the time of the New Covenant thanksgiving truly breaks forth\, \nbecoming present everywhere in the prayer and the life of the Christians as it \nhad never existed before among the just of the past. Biblical thanksgiving is \ntruly and essentially Christian. It is not exclusively Christian\, however\, to the \nextent that\, as was written in the Old Testament\, “Israelites praise without \ngiving thanks.” If the Old Testament does not yet know the fullness of \nthanksgiving\, it is because it has not yet tasted the fullness of grace. \nIf praise\, more spontaneous\, more exteriorized\, holds therein perhaps a \ngreater place than thanksgiving properly so called\, more reflective\, more \nattentive to God’s actions and self revelation\, it is because the most holy God is \nrevealed only progressively\, unveiling little by little the amplitude of the action \nand the depth of the gifts of God. \nBecause it is the revelation and the gift of perfect grace\, in the person of \nthe Lord\, it is also the revelation of the perfect thanksgiving rendered to the \nFather in the Holy Spirit. The supreme act of the Lord is thanksgiving; the \nsacrifice which Jesus made of His life in consecrating it to the Father in order \nthat He may sanctify His own is our Eucharist. At the last supper and on the \ncross\, Jesus reveals the drive of all His life and that of His death: thanksgiving \nfrom the heart of the Son. \nThe passion and death of Jesus were necessary that He might fully glorify \nthe Father\, but all His life was an incessant thanksgiving\, which sometimes was \nmade explicit and solemn\, to draw all to believe and return thanks to God with \nJesus. The essential object of this thanksgiving is the work of God\, the \nMessianic realization\, notably manifested by miracles\, the gift of His word \nwhich God has made to everyone. \nThe gift of the Eucharist to the church expresses an essential truth: only \nJesus Christ is our thanksgiving\, just as He alone is our praise. It is He first of all \nwho gives thanks to the Father\, and Christians afterwards in Him. In Christian \nthanksgiving\, Christ is the sole model and sole mediator. In the heavenly \nJerusalem\, with the Messianic work fulfilled\, thanksgiving becomes pure praise \nof glory\, dazzling contemplation of God and the eternal marvels.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-thanksgiving-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251128
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251129
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251122T144317Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251122T144317Z
UID:14290-1764288000-1764374399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE GENTLENESS OF CHARITY \nFrom “The Mirror of Charity” by St Aelred of Rievaulx \n◊◊◊ \nLet anyone who finds it pleasant to enjoy his friend see to it that he enjoy \nhim in the Lord\, not in the world or in pleasure of the flesh\, but in joyfulness of \nspirit. But\, you ask\, what does it mean to enjoy ‘in the Lord’? About the Lord\, the \napostle Paul said: By God he has been made for us wisdom\, sanctification\, and \njustice. Since the Lord is wisdom\, sanctification\, and justice\, to find enjoyment \nin the Lord is to find enjoyment in wisdom\, sanctification\, and justice. By \nwisdom worldly vanity is banished\, by sanctification the vileness of the flesh is \nforsworn\, and by justice all flattery and fawning are checked. \nThen it is charity\, if it comes\, as the apostle says\, from a pure heart\, a clear \nconscience\, and unfeigned faith. A pure heart accepts wisdom\, modesty calms \nthe conscience and unfeigned faith adorns justice. There are those who take \nenjoyment in vain and ludicrous things\, in worldly pomp and mundane \nspectacles\, in the pursuit of vanity\, and in reveling in falsehood. They do not \nenjoy themselves in wisdom\, nor in him who is the strength of God and the \nwisdom of God. Others\, although not worse\, are certainly more vile. In them \nthere is almost nothing human. Obscene depravity has transformed them into \nbeasts who find enjoyment in self-indulgent banqueting and impure desires. \nSince they do not enjoy themselves in the sanctification which consists of the \ngentleness of charity\, they do not\, of course\, enjoy the Lord who was made our \nsanctification by God. \nThere are others who take enjoyment in flattery\, patting each other on the \nback and conniving with each other. While taking care not to offend one \nanother\, they incur each other’s ruin because they do not enjoy themselves in \nthe liberty of justice or in the Lord. \nIf our mutual exchange of words is delightful\, let our talk therefore be \nabout our habits and about Scripture. Let us now grieve together over the \nmiseries of the world\, now rejoice together in the hope of future happiness. Let \nus now refresh one another by confiding our mutual secrets\, now long together \nfor the blessed vision of Jesus\, and for heavenly well-being. \nIf we relax our tense spirits with some pleasant and less lofty subjects\, as \nis sometimes useful\, let these moments of relaxation be filled with rectitude and \nfree of frivolity. Although these subjects may not be weighty\, let them never lack \nconstructiveness. Let us enjoy one another in sanctification\, so that each may \nknow how to possess his vessel—that is to say\, his own body—in sanctification \nand honor\, and not in the passion of desire. Let us take enjoyment in justice\, so \nwe may mutually encourage one another in the spirit of freedom. Let us correct \none another\, knowing that wounds from a friend are better than an enemy’s \ndeceitful kisses.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-369/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251129
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251130
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251122T144426Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251122T144426Z
UID:14292-1764374400-1764460799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
DESCRIPTION:MAIDEN AND MOTHER \nFrom “The Son’s Course” by Gerald Vann \n◊◊◊ \nIn the Church’s devotion to Mary great emphasis is laid on the fact that in \nher motherhood she yet remained a maiden as well; and we shall miss all the \nrichness of the mystery if we think of this insistence as being purely or even \nprimarily concerned with physical conditions. Motherhood produces \nfundamental psychological changes in a woman: it means the loss of some \nqualities and the acquisition of others\, a different mentality\, a different outlook. \nThe mother has known the deep experience of love and joy\, of pain and danger \nand sorrow: we think of her as the symbol of wisdom because she has known in \nher own body the mysteries of good and evil. \nThe girl on the other hand is the symbol of opposite qualities: of a \nfreshness and spontaneity and purity of heart which comes precisely from \ninexperience\, knowing that reality can be ugly\, not yet made wise through \nlessons of sorrow: her courage\, her strength\, her wisdom\, her joy\, are from other \nsources. In Mary alone\, the Maiden-Mother\, these opposite sets of qualities co- \nexist; it is this that gives her personality a richness which is unique; and it is \nbecause of this richness that she can teach us so much. \nMary’s life then is a song at once of innocence and of experience; and as \nthis double richness means a double fear so it means also a double love; and the \nlove in its turn produces a double wisdom\, a double trust\, and therefore a double \ncourage. Mary pondered all these things in her heart: it is her song of \nexperience\, and the source of her wisdom. She knew how He-that-is-mighty \nhad done great things in her; she knew the overshadowing power of the Most \nHigh; she knew the gradually unfolding self-revelation of her Son; and knowing \nthese things she could sense of the resurrection through the cross\, the joy \nthrough the pain\, the triumph through failure; and so she could find the courage \nto meet the sword. \nBehold the handmaid of the Lord: there\, on the other hand\, is her song of \ninnocence: whatever may come it will be well because it is his will\, because he is \nLove: hers are eyes too that can look out untroubled on a future which is veiled\, \nsimply because she has implicit trust in the God she loves\, even before the trust \nhas been justified by experience; and as the mother can say\, I can do all things \nin him who has strengthened me\, so the girl can say\, I can do all things in him \nwho will strengthen me.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-bvm-20/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251130
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251201
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251129T230231Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251129T230231Z
UID:14305-1764460800-1764547199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema\, 1st Week of Advent
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n1st Week of Advent\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (II)\nNovember 30\, – December 6\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n30\nMon\n1\nTue\n2\nWed\n3\nThu\n4\nFri\n5\nSat\n6\n\n\nOffice\n1st Sunday of Advent\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nSt Francis Xavier\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\n\n\nVigils\nIsa 6:1-13\nIsa 7:1-17\nIsa 8:1-18\nIsa 9:7-20\nIsa 10:5-21\nIsa 11:1-16\nIsa 13:1-22\n\n\nLauds\nMicah 7:14-20\nIsa 1:10-18\nIsa 1:21-27\nIsa 2:6-11\nIsa 2:12-21\nIsa 3:8-15\nIsa 5:1-7\n\n\nMass\n1\n175\n176\n177\n178\n179\n180\n\n\n1st\nIsa 2:1-5\nIsa 4:2-6)\nIsa 11:1-10\nIsa 25:6-10a\nIsa 26:1-6\nIsa 29:17-24\nIsa 30:19-21\, 23-26\n\n\n2nd\nRom 13:11-14\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 24:37-44\nMatt 8:5-11\nLuke 10:21-24\nMatt 15:29-37\nMatt 7:21\, 24-27\nMatt 9:27-31\nMatt 9:35-10:1\, 5a\, 6-8\n\n\nVespers\nRev 22:12-21\nRom 1:1-12\nRom 1:13-17\nRom 2:1-11\nRom 2:12-16\nRom 2:17-24\nRom 3:21-26
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-1st-week-of-advent/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251130
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251201
DTSTAMP:20260404T030353
CREATED:20251129T231247Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251129T231247Z
UID:14307-1764460800-1764547199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:1st Sunday in Advent
DESCRIPTION:CHRIST’S TWOFOLD COMING\nFrom a commentary by Paschasius Radbertus 1\n◊◊◊\nWatch\, for you do not know the day or the hour. Like many other scriptural texts\, the admonition is addressed to all of us\, though it is formulated in such a way that it would seem to concern only Christ’s immediate audience. We can all apply it to ourselves because the Last Day and the end of the world will come for each of us on the day we depart this present life. This means we must make sure we die in the state in which we wish to appear on the Day of Judgment\, Bearing this in mind each of us should guard against being led astray and failing to keep watch\, otherwise the day of the Lord’s return may take us unawares. If the last day of our life finds us unprepared\, then we shall be unprepared on that day also. \nI do not for a moment believe the apostles expected the Lord to return in judgment during their own lifetime. All the same there can be no doubt that they took every care not to be drawn from the right path. They kept watch\, observing the universal precepts their master had given to his disciples so as to be ready when he came again. \nConsequently we must always be on the lookout for Christ’s twofold coming\, the one when we shall have to give an account of everything we have done\, and the other when he comes day after day to stir our consciences. He comes to us now in order that his future coming may find us prepared. If my conscience is burdened with sin what good will it do me to know when the Day of Judgment will be? Unless the Lord comes to my soul beforehand and makes his home with me\, unless Christ lives in me and speaks his word in my heart\, it is useless for me to know if and when his coming will take place. Only if Christ is already living in me and I in him will it go well with me when he comes in judgment. If I have already died to the world and am able to say\, The world is crucified to me\, and I to the world\, then\, in a sense\, his final coming is already present to me. \nConsider also our Lord’s warning: Many will come in my name. It is only the Antichrist and his members who\, albeit falsely\, claim the name of Christ\, though they lack his works and his true doctrine and wisdom. You will never find the Lord in Scripture actually declaring\, “I am the Christ.” His teaching and miracles revealed it clearly enough\, for the Father was at work in him. Louder than a thousand acclamations his teaching and mighty works proclaimed: “I am the Christ.” And so whether or not you find him describing himself in so many words\, the works of the Father and his own message of love declared what he was\, whereas the false christs who possessed neither godly deeds nor holy doctrine loudly claimed to be what they were not. \n1\nJourney with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press – New York – 1992 – pg 16
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/1st-sunday-in-advent/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:14309-1764547200-1764633599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Advent Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE MISSION OF CHRIST\nBy Pope St John Paul II 2\n◊◊◊\nIn Christian discipleship and love for the person of Christ there are a number of points concerning the growth of holiness in the consecrated life which merit particular emphasis today. In the first place\, there is need for fidelity to the founding charism and subsequent spiritual heritage of each Institute. It is precisely in this fidelity to the inspiration of the founders and foundresses\, an inspiration which is itself a gift of the Holy Spirit\, that the essential elements of the consecrated life can be more readily discerned and more fervently put into practice. \nFundamental to every charism is a threefold orientation. First\, charisms lead to the Father\, in the filial desire to seek his will through a process of unceasing conversion\, wherein obedience is the source of true freedom\, chastity expresses the yearning of a heart unsatisfied by any finite love\, and poverty nourishes that hunger and thirst for justice which God has promised to satisfy. Consequently the charism of each Institute will lead the consecrated person to belong wholly to God\, to speak with God or about God…so that he or she can taste the goodness of the Lord in every situation. \nSecondly\, the charisms of the consecrated life also lead to the Son\, fostering an intimate and joyful communion of life with him\, in the school of his generous service of God and neighbor. Thus the attitude of consecrated persons is progressively conformed to Christ; they learn detachment from externals\, from the tumult of the senses\, from all that keeps man from that freedom which allows him to be grasped by the Spirit. As a result\, consecrated persons are enabled to take up the mission of Christ\, working and suffering with him in the spreading of his Kingdom. \nFinally\, every charism leads to the Holy Spirit\, insofar as it prepares individuals to let themselves be guided and sustained by him\, both in their personal journeys and in their lives of communion and apostolic work\, in order to embody that attitude of service which should inspire the true Christian’s every choice. \nIn fact\, it is this threefold relationship which emerges in every founding charism\, though with the specific nuances of the various patterns of living. This is so because in every charism there predominates a profound desire to be conformed to Christ to give witness to some aspect of his mystery. This specific aspect is meant to take shape and develop according to the most authentic tradition of the Institute\, as present in its Rule\, Constitutions and Statutes. \nInstitutes of Consecrated Life are thus invited courageously to propose anew the enterprising initiative\, creativity and holiness of their founders and foundresses in response to the signs of the times emerging in today’s world. This invitation is first of all a call to perseverance on the path of holiness in the midst of the material and spiritual difficulties of daily life. But it is also a call to pursue competence in personal work and to develop a dynamic fidelity to their mission\, adapting forms\, if need be\, to new situations and different needs\, in complete openness to God’s inspiration and to the Church’s discernment. But all must be fully convinced that the quest for ever greater conformity to the Lord is the guarantee of any renewal which seeks to remain faithful to an Institute’s original inspiration. \n2\nJohn Paul II\, Post-Synodal Exhortation Vita Consecrata\, 36-37.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/advent-weekday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:14311-1764633600-1764719999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Advent Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE COMING OF CHRIST\nFrom a treatise by St John Chrysostom 3\n◊◊◊\nThe prophets foretold not only that God would become man but also they predicted the manner of his coming. He was not going to come in the midst of thunder\, lightning\, earthquake\, or tumult from the heavens. He was not going to stir up any consternation. His birth struck no man with fear\, for he was born with no one to witness it\, without tumult or confusion\, in the house of a carpenter\, in an ordinary and undistinguished home… \nFor Micah said: “And you\, Bethlehem\, the land of Judah\, are by no means the least among the princes of Judah. For out of you will come the leader who will shepherd my people\, Israel: and his going forth is from the beginning\, from the days of eternity.” Micah was pointing out both the divinity and the humanity of Christ. When he said: “His going forth is from the beginning\, from the days of eternity\,” he revealed his existence before all ages. When he said: “There will come the leader who will shepherd my people\, Israel\,” he revealed Christ’s birth in the flesh. \nAnd notice here that he makes clear another prophecy. Micah not only said where Christ would be born but also that the place would become well known even if it was a little town and little known. For he said: “You are by no means the least among the princes of Judah.” So it is that now the whole world rushes to see Bethlehem\, where he was born and laid in a manger. The place became famous\, and there is no other reason than this why people go there. \nAgain\, another prophet made clear the time of his coming\, when he said\,… “A chief shall not depart from Judah\, nor a ruler from his loins till he come for whom it is reserved\,” meaning Christ. For the first registration was held just at the same time that he was born\, and this was after the Romans had conquered the Jewish nation and had brought them under the yoke of their empire. Something further is meant by the words: “Even he is the expectation of the nations.” For after he had come\, he did draw all the nations to himself. \nAnd Isaiah when on to tell of other marvels and showed how Christ cured the lame\, how he made the blind to see\, and the mute to speak: “Then will the lame man leap like a stag\, and the tongue of those with impediments of speech will be clear and distinct.” And this did not happen until his coming. \n3\nDemonstration Against the Pagans That Christ is God. Trans. Paul W. Harkins\, Fathers of the Church Series\, vol. 73. Washington\, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press\, 1985. pp. 197ff.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/advent-weekday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:14313-1764720000-1764806399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:St. Francis Xavier
DESCRIPTION:ST FRANCIS XAVIER\nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints 4\n◊◊◊\nFrancis Xavier was born in Spanish Navarre at the castle of Xavier\, near Pamplona\, in 1506\, the youngest of a large family. He entered the college of St Barbara and in 1528 gained the degree of licentiate. It was here that he met Ignatius Loyola\, and later joined with him in the first band of seven who vowed themselves to the service of God at Montmartre in 1534. With them he received the priesthood at Venice three years later and in 1540 Ignatius appointed him to join Fr Simon Rodriguez on the first missionary expedition the Society sent out to the East Indies… \nThey arrived at Goa\, India on May 6\, 1542\, after a voyage of thirteen months. Francis opened the mission with the Christians of Goa\, instructing them in the principles of religion and forming the young to the practice of virtue. He walked through the streets ringing a bell to summon the children and slaves to catechism. He offered Mass with lepers each Sunday. For the instruction of the very ignorant or simple he versified the truths of religion to fit popular tunes\, and this was so successful that the practice spread till these songs were being sung everywhere\, in the streets and fields and workshops… \nBut before he left he heard about Japan for the first time from Portuguese merchants. The next fifteen months were spent in endless traveling between Goa\, Ceylon and Cape Comorin\, consolidating his work and preparing for an attempt on that Japan into which no European had yet penetrated. In April 1549 Francis set out\, accompanied by a Jesuit priest and lay-brother and three Japanese converts. On the feast of the Assumption they landed in Japan\, at Kagoshima on Kyushu. \nFrancis set himself to learn Japanese. A translation was made of a simple account of Christian teaching\, and recited to all who would listen. The fruit of twelve months labor was a hundred converts\, but then the authorities began to get suspicious and forbade further preaching. So\, leaving one of the Japanese converts in charge of the neophytes\, Francis pressed further with his companions and went by sea to Hirado\, north of Nagasaki… Twelve years later the Jesuit lay-brother\, Luis de Almeida\, found these isolated converts still retaining their first fervor and faithfulness. \nAt Hirado the missionaries were well received by the ruler and they had more success in a few weeks than they had had at Kagoshima in a year. Xavier’s objective was Miyako (Kyoto)\, then the chief city of Japan. In due time he was able to be received by the authorities\, who gave him permission to preach and provided an empty Buddhist monastery for a residence. He preached with such fruit that he baptized many in that city. \nFrancis decided to revisit his charge in India\, from whence he hoped to extend his mission to China. After dealing with matters in India\, Xavier set sail for China. In august 1552 the convoy reached the desolate island of Shang-chwan\, half-a-dozen miles off the coast and a hundred miles south-west of Hong Kong. Here Xavier fell sick with a fever and died on December 3. He was buried on the island\, but his body which was found to be incorrupt\, was later moved to Goa. He was canonized in 1622 at the same time as Ignatius of Loyola. \n4\nButler’s Lives of the Saints – revised edition – Harper – San Francisco – 1991 – p 398f.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/st-francis-xavier/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:14315-1764806400-1764892799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Advent Weekday
DESCRIPTION:A SIMPLE SURRENDER TO GOD\nFrom the Spiritual Conferences of John Tauler 5\n◊◊◊\n“You shall be witnesses unto me in all Judea.” Judea means “to confess God” or “to praise God.” We are to be God’s witnesses by confessing God in all our actions\, behavior\, and intentions. And this not merely when all goes well with us\, when we are full of joy and delight and natural enthusiasm. People find it easy enough at such times to think that they are confessing God very well. They seem to know and love God well enough as long as things go according to their own will; but as soon as they meet with terrible assaults\, they begin to wonder what they have been about. They have completely lost their bearings now that suffering has come upon them. \nNow we can see clearly what has been at the root and foundation of their confession: not God\, but their feelings. This is an unstable foundation built on shifting sands. God’s true witnesses\, on the other hand\, stand firm\, rooted in God and in God’s will\, in love and in suffering\, no matter what God gives or what God takes away. Nor do they set great store by practices of their own. \nIt often happens that when people have successfully undertaken some pious practices\, they give much thought to the business of planning them and carrying them out; and so they place great reliance on them and exercise their own activity to the utmost. But God\, in an inalienable love\, often breaks down whatever rests on such a foundation as this by frequently arranging things which run contrary to our desires. If we want to keep vigil\, we are obliged to sleep\, against our will; if we like to fast\, we are made to eat; if we would like to be quiet and at rest\, we have to do quite otherwise. In this way everything that we cling to crumbles at our touch\, so that we may be brought face to face with our own bare and naked nothingness. \nThus we should learn to place all our reliance upon God\, confessing God alone in a simple and uncompromising faith\, and resting upon nothing else at all. For just as worldly and sinful persons are seduced by sensual pleasures\, so these people are held back by a complacency in what they do or what they feel\, and are thus hindered from an absolute and simple surrender to God and from the true poverty of spirit which God wants of them. \n5\nSpiritual Conferences\, John Tauler O.P.\, Herder: St. Louis 1961. pp.97-98.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/advent-weekday-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:14317-1764892800-1764979199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Advent Weekday
DESCRIPTION:NOTHING LESS THAN LOVE\nFrom a letter by Hadewijch of Flanders 6\n◊◊◊\nI will tell you without beating about the bush: be satisfied with nothing less than Love. Give reason its time\, and always observe where you heed it too little and where enough. And do not let yourself be stopped by any pleasure through which your reason may be the loser. What I mean by “your reason” is that you must keep your insight ever vigilant in the use of discernment. Never must any difficulty hinder you from serving people\, be they insignificant or important\, sick or healthy. And the sicker they are\, and the fewer friends they have\, the more readily must you serve them. And always bear with aliens willingly. As for all who slander you\, contradict them not. And be desirous to associate with all who scorn you\, for they make the way of Love broader for you. \nLeave not anyone in need out of spite. And never fail to ask about any wise teaching you are ignorant of\, out of spite or shame that you do not know it. For you are bound before God to acquire a knowledge of all the virtues and to learn them by exertion\, questioning\, study\, and earnest purpose. \nAnd if by your fault you have offended anyone\, wait not too long to set it right. You are bound to this by the death of our Lord\, in order to content him. Take whatever means you think the quickest and best to make peace with the one you have offended. \nDo not become so stubbornly attached to anything that God may\, in consequence\, refuse you grace. Do not\, through pride\, spare any service. Do not\, through pride\, refrain from giving gifts to the poor. Do not\, through pride\, fail to ask for anything you need and cannot well do without. Do not\, through pride\, be ashamed that you are hungry\, thirsty\, drowsy\, or cold\, or be ashamed of a repulsive illness\, or of having shown a lack of good understanding or courtliness. For it is great honor and the finest courtly behavior if one acknowledges outwardly what one is ashamed of; but it is great pride not to tell it; and it is outrage and shame to see [in anyone] more evil than is truly to be seen. \nMoreover toward God\, our Beloved\, it is guileful insincerity and odious infidelity. For it is the law of high [promise] and love that the loved one be revealed to the beloved in all that he or she is\, lowly or sublime. \n6\nHadewijch\, The Complete Works\, trans. Mother Columba Hart\, OSB; New York: Paulist Press\, 1980\, pp. 103-104.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/advent-weekday-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:14319-1764979200-1765065599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Advent Weekday
DESCRIPTION:THE ONE RIGHT WAY\nBy St John Henry Newman 7\n◊◊◊\nIt takes a long time really to feel and understand things as they are; we learn to do so only gradually. Profession beyond our feelings is only a fault when we might help it; when either we speak when we need not speak\, or do not feel when we might have felt. Hard insensible hearts\, ready and thoughtless talkers\, these are they whose unreality\, as I have termed it\, is a sin; it is the sin of every one of us\, in proportion as our hearts are cold\, or our tongues excessive. \nBut the mere fact of our saying more than we feel is not necessarily sinful. St Peter did not rise up to the full meaning of his confession\, “Thou art the Christ\,” yet he was pronounced blessed. St James and St John said\, “We are able\,” without clear apprehension\, yet without offense. We ever promise things greater than we master\, and we wait on God to enable us to perform them. Our promising involves a prayer for light and strength. And so again we all say the Creed\, but who comprehends it fully? All we can hope is\, that we are in the way to understand it; that we partly understand it; that we desire\, pray\, and strive to understand it more and more. Our Creed becomes a sort of prayer. Persons are culpably unreal in their way of speaking\, not when they say more than they feel\, but when they say things different from what they feel… \nWhat I have been saying comes to this – be in earnest\, and you will speak of religion where\, and when\, and how you should; aim at things\, and your words will be right without aiming. There are ten thousand ways of looking at this world\, but only one right way. The person of pleasure has his way\, the man of gain his\, and the man of intellect his. Poor people and rich people\, governors and governed\, prosperous and discontented\, learned and unlearned\, each has its own way of looking at the things which come before it\, and each has a wrong way. \nThere is but one right way; it is the way in which God looks at the world. Aim at looking at it in God’s way. Aim at seeing things as God sees them. Aim at forming judgments about persons\, events\, ranks\, fortunes\, changes\, objects\, such as God forms. Aim at looking at this life as God looks at it. Aim at looking at the life to come\, and the world unseen\, as God does. Aim at “seeing the King in His beauty.” All things that we see are but shadows to us and delusions\, unless we enter into what they really mean. \nIt is not an easy thing to learn that new language which Christ has brought us. He has interpreted all things for us in a new way; He has brought us a religion which sheds a new light on all that happens. Try to learn this language. Do not get it by rote\, or speak it as a thing of course. Try to understand what you say. Time is short\, eternity is long… \n7\nParochial and Plain Sermons\, John Henry Newman. Ignatius Press\, San Francisco 1987. pp.977-978.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/advent-weekday-5/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:14336-1765065600-1765151999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n2nd Week of Advent\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (II)\nDecember 7 – 13\, 2025\n\n\n\nSun\n7\nMon\n8\nTue\n9\nWed\n10\nThu\n11\nFri\n12\nSat\n13\n\n\nOffice\n2nd Sunday of Advent\nImmaculate Conception\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nOur Lady of Guadalupe\nSt Lucy\n\n\nVigils\nIsa 14:1-21\nRom 5:12-21\nIsa 29:13-24\nIsa 30:15-26\nIsa 32:1-20\nProv 8:32-9:11\nIsa 35:1-10\n\n\nLauds\nIsa 4:2-6\nJudges 6:34-40\nIsa 9:1-6\nIsa 12:1-6\nIsa 55:6-12\nSir 4:11-18\nIsa 11:10-16\n\n\nMass\n4\n689\n182\n183\n184\n690A\n186\n\n\n1st\nIsa 11:1-10\nGen 3:9-15\, 20\nIsa 40:1-11\nIsa 40:25-31\nIsa 41:13-20\nRev 11:19a; 12:1-6a\, 10ab\nSir 48:1-4\, 9-11\n\n\n2nd\nRom 15:4-9\nEph 1:3-6\, 11-12\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 3:1-12\nLuke 1:26-38\nMatt 18:12-14\nMatt 11:28-30\nMatt 11:11-15\nLuke 1:39-47\nMatt 17:9a\, 10-13\n\n\nVespers\nRom 5:1-11\nRom 8:28-39\nRom 8:18-27\nRom 6:16-23\nRom 7:14-25\nGal 3:23-29\nRom 8:9-17
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-135/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:14338-1765065600-1765151999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils reading - 2nd Sun of Advent
DESCRIPTION:THE TIME FOR FAITH \nFrom a commentary by St Augustine \n◊◊◊ \nThe gospel tells us that some people were rebuked by the Lord because\, \nclever as they were at reading the face of the sky\, they could not recognize the \ntime for faith when the kingdom of heaven was at hand. It was the Jews who \nreceived this reprimand\, but it has also come down to us. The Lord Jesus began \nhis preaching of the gospel with the admonition: Repent\, for the kingdom of \nheaven is at hand. His forerunner\, John the Baptist\, began in the same way: \nRepent\, he said\, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Today\, for those who will \nnot repent at the approach of the kingdom of heaven\, the reproof of the Lord is \nthe same. As he points out himself\, You cannot expect to see the kingdom of \nheaven coming. The kingdom of heaven\, he says elsewhere\, is within you. \nEach of us would be wise therefore to take to heart the advice of his \nteacher\, and not waste this present time. It is now that the Savior offers us his \nmercy; now\, while he still spares the human race. Understand that it is in hope \nof our conversion that he spares us\, for he desires no one’s damnation. As for \nwhen the end of the world will be\, that is God’s concern. \nNow is the time for faith. Whether any of us here present will see the end \nof the world I know not; very likely none of us will. Even so\, the time is very near \nfor each of us\, for we are mortal. There are hazards all around us. We should be \nin less danger from them were we made of glass. What is more fragile than a \nvessel of glass? And yet it can be kept safe and last indefinitely. Of course it is \nexposed to accident\, but it is not liable to old age and the suffering it brings. \nWe therefore are the more frail and infirm. In our weakness we are \nhaunted by fears of all the calamities that regularly befall the human race\, and if \nno such calamity overtakes us\, still\, time marches on. We may evade the blows \nof fortune\, but shall we evade death? We may escape perils from without\, but \nshall we escape what comes from within us? Now\, suddenly\, we may be attacked \nby any malady. And if we are spared? Even so\, old age comes at last\, and nothing \nwill delay it.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-2nd-sun-of-advent/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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UID:14340-1765152000-1765238399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils reading - Immaculate Conception
DESCRIPTION:THE FAVORED ONE \nFrom a commentary by Sophronius of Jerusalem \n◊◊◊ \nHail full of grace\, the Lord is with you. Truly blessed are you among \nwomen\, for you have changed the curse of Eve into a blessing and caused Adam\, \nonce accursed\, to be blessed through you. Truly blessed are you among \nwomen\, for it was through you that the Father’s blessing dawned on humankind \nand freed it from the ancient curse. Truly blessed are you among women\, for \nthrough you your ancestors will be saved\, since you are going to bear the Savior \nwho will gain them God’s salvation. Truly blessed are you among women\, for \nwithout seed you produced the fruit that brings blessing to all the earth\, \nreleasing it from the curse that made it bear thorns. Truly blessed are you \namong women\, for though by nature you are a woman\, you will in very truth \nbecome the mother of God: if he who is to be born of you is truly God incarnate\, \nthen\, since you will be giving birth to God\, you will with perfect justice be called \nthe mother of God. \nDo not be afraid\, Mary\, for you have found favor with God that can \nnever be lost. You have won from God a most glorious favor\, a grace long \ndesired\, a grace of great splendor\, a saving grace\, an unfailing grace\, a grace that \nwill last for ever. Many before you have been holy\, but no one has been as \nfavored as you\, no one as blessed as you\, no one as perfectly sanctified as you\, no \none as highly praised as you. No one else has like you been possessed from the \nfirst by purifying grace\, no one else has been enlightened like you\, or exalted like \nyou\, for no one has approached so close to God as you\, or been enriched with \nsuch divine gifts\, or endowed with such heavenly grace. \nYou surpass all human desire; you surpass all the gifts given by God to the \nwhole human race\, for God’s dwelling within you has made you richer than all \nothers. No one else has been able to contain God as you do; no one else has been \ncapable of receiving God as you have; no one else has deserved to be so \nenlightened by God. And therefore you have not only received God\, the Creator \nand Lord of the universe\, but He has in an unheard-of way taken flesh from you; \nyou bear him in your womb\, and will later give birth to him who will redeem \nhumankind from the Father’s sentence\, and confer on it eternal salvation.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-immaculate-conception-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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CREATED:20251207T144836Z
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UID:14342-1765238400-1765324799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils reading
DESCRIPTION:THE ADVENT OF GOD \nFrom “Pathways in Holy Scripture” by Dom Damasus Winzen \n◊◊◊ \nThe word Advent had for the people of old a magic sound. It put before \ntheir eyes the glorious scene of the king’s return from a victorious war. Preceded \nand followed by the might of his arms\, carrying with him the spoils of victory\, \nthe hosts of the captives\, the treasures of the enemy\, he stands on his chariot\, \nvested in the purple of triumph\, the golden wreath of victory on his head. The \nwhole city is in a delirium of joy. The festive throngs of the citizens line the \nstreets. They greet their king with the royal shout\, acclaiming him as savior and \nkyrios with incense and hymns. In the evening thousands of lights appear on \nwindows and doorways\, on temples\, gates and palaces\, for the light is come\, and \nthe glory of the king is risen upon the city. \nThe Advent of our Ecclesiastical Year does not celebrate the triumphant \nentry of an earthly king into his capital\, but it sees the King of kings whose might \ncovers the earth like a cloud\, returning to the world which He had left because of \nits sin\, crushing His enemies\, extirpating sin and establishing a kingdom of \npeace for those who believe in Him. This is the Divine Action of salvation which \nconstitutes the real meaning of history\, although it may take centuries and \ncenturies to be accomplished. That the birth of Mary’s little babe in the humble \nmanger of Bethlehem is the beginning of this glorious Advent would be hidden \nfrom the eyes of men\, had the glad tiding not been announced from heaven and \nhad the Holy Spirit not spoken in times past to the fathers by the prophets. \nIt is really the vision of the prophets which opens the eyes of the faithful to \nsee beneath the humble form of man the glory of God\, and to realize that Christ’s \nFirst Coming in patience and charity is the beginning of the Day of judgment \nwhich will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven to receive the \nEternal Kingdom from the hands of the Father. It is the unique gift of the \nprophets to see sign and reality\, the human and the divine\, the present and the \nfuture in their compenetration. Therefore\, they “rendered service not so much \nto them selves but to us\,” [as it is written in the first letter of Peter\, us] who \ncelebrate the Advent of God in that incomparable compenetration of visible sign \nand divine reality which is the liturgy of the Church.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-370/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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