Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey

Vigils Reading - St Monica
2022-08-27
ON THE PRAYER OF HIS MOTHER MONICA FOR HIS CONVERSION, from the Confessions of St Augustine[1]

You, O God, sent down your help from above (ps 143:7) and rescued my soul from the depths of this darkness because my mother, your faithful servant, wept to you for me, shedding more tears for my spiritual death than other mothers shed for the bodily death of a son. For in her faith and in the spirit which she had from you she looked on me as dead. You heard her and did not despise the tears which streamed down and watered the earth in every place where she bowed her head in prayer. You heard her, for how else can I explain the dream with which you consoled her, so that she agreed to live with me and eat at the same table in our home? Lately she had refused to do this, because she loathed and shunned the blasphemy of my false beliefs.
She dreamed that she was standing on a wooden rule, and coming towards her in a halo of splendor she saw a young man who smiled at her in joy, although she herself was sad and quite consumed with grief. He asked her the reason for her sorrow and her daily tears, not because he did not know, but because he had something to tell her, for this is what happens in visions. When she replied that her tears were for the soul I had lost, he told her to take heart for, if she looked carefully, she would see that where she was, there also was I. And when she looked, she saw me standing beside her on the same rule.
Where could this dream have come from, unless it was that you listened to the prayer of her heart? For your goodness is almighty; you take good care of each of us as if you had no others in your care, and you look after all as you look after each. And surely it was for the same reason that, when she told me of the dream and I tried to interpret it as a message that she need not despair of being one day such as I was then, she said at once and without hesitation ‘No! He did not say “Where he is, you are”, but “Where you are, he is”.’ – over –

I have often said before and, to the best of my memory, I now declare to you, Lord, that I was much moved by the answer, which you gave me through my mother. She was not disturbed by my interpretation of her dream, plausible though it was, but quickly saw the true meaning, which I had not seen until she spoke. I was more deeply moved by this than by the dream itself, in which the joy for which this devout woman had still so long to wait was foretold so long before to comfort her in the time of her distress. For nearly nine years were yet to dome during which I wallowed deep in the mire and the darkness of delusion. Often I tried to lift myself, only to plunge the deeper. Yet all the time this chaste, devout, and prudent woman, a widow such as is close to your heart, never ceased to pray at all hours and to offer you the tears she shed for me. The dream had given new spirit to her hope, but she gave no rest to her sighs and her tears. Her prayers reached your presence (ps 87:3) and yet you still left me to twist and turn in the dark.
[1]THE CONFESSIONS, by St Augustine trans. by R. S. Pine-Coffin (Penguin Books 1961) pp. 68-69.

Vigils Reading
2022-08-26
From a Homily of Isaac the Syrian 1
Let us shun the body with all our strength, surrender our souls to God, and in the Lord’s name enter into the arena of temptations. May he that preserved Joseph in the land of Egypt and showed him forth as an icon and exemplar of chastity, who kept Daniel unharmed in the lion’s den and the three youths in the firey furnace, and who delivered Jeremiah from the pit of mire and bestowed mercy upon him in the camp of the Chaldeans, and who brought Peter out of prison while the doors were shut and saved Peter from the synagogue of the Jews and, to speak simply, he that always continues with his servants in every place and country, who manifests his power and victory in them, who preserves them with manifest wonders and who reveals his salvation to them in all their afflictions, may he give us strength also, and rescue us from amid the waves that encompass us.
Let us, therefore, acquire zeal in our souls against the devil and his commissaries even such as the Maccabees had, and the holy prophets, apostles, martyrs, the righteous and the just. For these men proved allies of the divine laws and the commandments of the Spirit in fearful places and amid grievous tribulations. Mightily did they put the world and the flesh behind their backs and persevere in their righteousness; and they were not overcome by the perils that encircled both their soul and body, but courageously they took the victory, and their names are written in the book of life until the coming of Christ. By God’s decree their teaching has been preserved for our instruction and strengthening, as the blessed apostle testifies, that we might become wise and learn the ways of God, and keep their histories and lives in view as living and breathing icons, and take our example from them, and run their course, and make ourselves like unto them. The words of God are as sweet to the soul possessed of great understanding, as food that delights the body; and the histories of the righteous are as desirable to the ears of the meek, as continual watering to a newly planted tree.
1A Word in Season – vol. VIII – Augustinian Press – 1999 – pg 245

Vigils Reading
2022-08-25
A Reading on the Book of Maccabees from a book by Dom Damasus Winzen 1
During the exile, a great winnowing took place: out of it emerged a remnant of those who were determined to remain faithful. They were certain of the unique character of their religion and their chosenness, and this very certainty gave them an absolute determination to survive and an abiding hope in the future. When the dawn of a new day seemed to arise with the downfall of Babylon, and Cyrus, king of Persia, ended the Babylonian exile in 537 B.C., through a decree which allowed the Jews to return into their homeland, forty thousand were ready. Under the leadership of Zerubbabel, a prince of the house of David, as governor, and Jeshua, son of Josadak, as high priest, they set out to rebuild the temple and the city. After long years of rivalries, intrigues and open hostilities on the part of the neighboring tribes the second temple was finished and dedicated in the year 516 B.C. When the attacks from the outside did not cease, Nehemiah, a high official of Jewish blood at the Persian court, was sent to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Despite determined opposition on the part of Israel’s enemies this task was carried out successfully. Now the most important step in this whole work of reconstruction was taken by Ezra, the scribe. He was a man of the book. He represented all that Israel had learned in the school of the exile.
Now all the essential factors that were going to determine this period of Jewish history were set up: the temple with its ritual and its leading official, the high priest; the walls of Jerusalem under the guardianship of the governor; the law, entrusted to the scribes. Divine Providence, which was now leading the chosen people into the last phase of preparation for the coming of the Messiah Jesus, arranged the course of events in such a way that all the hopes put on these things by the Jewish people came to nought. The temple with its treasures and the high priests with their enormous revenues became objects for foreign powers to plunder or buy. The walls of Jerusalem, the symbol of political power, conquered after bloody battles by Judas Maccabeus, were held thereafter by Jewish kings until “the scepter was taken was taken away from Judah” by Herod, the Idumaean. The “fence” which the Pharisees built around the religion finally eclipsed the law of Moses, so that when the Messiah came he could say to the scribes: “You make void the commandments of God that you may keep your own traditions”. (Mk 7:9). The entire period of reconstruction which followed the Babylonian exile was designed to make it clear that this temple, and this Jerusalem, and these doctors of the law were not the fulfillment of the glorious promise which God had made through Isaiah and Jeremiah about the new covenant he was going to make with his people.
This was also the tragedy of the Maccabees. With all their valor and all their heroism, their restoration of the temple and of the Jewish state was never wholly successful. In the eyes of orthodox Jews they remained usurpers, and for that reason the two books which tell of their great deeds were never received into the Jewish canon of holy Scripture. For us Christians, however, they are of greatest importance, because they give us a picture of the conflict between Judaism and Hellenism which developed in the 3rdand 2nd century B.C. As a consequence of the invasion by Greek civilization that took place in the wake of Alexander’s conquest of the Persian empire. The process of Hellenization might have gone much further had not Antiochus Epiphanes of Syria attempted to substitute pagan worship for Jewish. This brought about the Maccabean revolt recounted in the books of Maccabees.
1Pathways in Scripture – Damasus Winzen – Word of Life – Ann Arbor, MI – 1976 – pg 152

Vigils Reading - St Bartholomew
2022-08-24
Feast of St Bartholomew -taken from Butler’s Lives of Saints

Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles. Only the synoptic gospel, however, refer to him by the name Bartholomew. The Gospel of John seems to refer to him as Nathanael. Nothing much more is actually known of him. The gospels continually put together Philip and Bartholomew, just as John says that Philip and Nathanael came together to Christ. Of him Christ said: “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guilt/”
Popular traditions and legends say that Bartholomew preached the gospel in India, then went to greater Armenia. After converting a number of people there he was flayed alive by the barbarians, whereupon King Astyages ordered him to be beheaded.
Bartholomew is said to have preached in Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt and elsewhere. Eusebius in the early fourth cemtury gives the earliest reference to India. When later missionaries came to India, the native people showed them a copy of the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew which they said Bartholomew had given to them.
The travels attributed to the relics of St Bartholomew seem even broader than his travels when alive. His legendary loss of skin made him the patron of tanners.
[1] Nut;ler’s Lives of Saints – The Liturgical Press = Collegeville, M1998n- pg 232.

Vigils Reading - St Rose of Lima
2022-08-23
From the writings of St. Rose of Lima [1]

Our Lord and Savior lifted up his voice and said with incomparable majesty: Let all know that grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. Let them know that the gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase. Let them take care not to stray or be deceived. This is the only true stairway to paradise, and without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven.
When I heard these words, a strong force came upon me and seemed to place me in the middle of a street, so that I might say in a loud voice to people of every age, sex and status: Hear, O people; hear, O nations. I am warning you about the commandment of Christ by using words that came from his own lips: We cannot obtain grace unless we suffer afflictions. We must heap trouble upon trouble to attain a deep participation in the divine nature, the glory of the children of God and perfect happiness of soul.
That same force strongly urged me to proclaim the beauty of divine grace. It pressed me so that my breath came slow and forced me to sweat and pant. I felt as if my soul could no longer be kept in the prison of the body, but that it had burst its chains and was free and alone and was going very swiftly through the whole world saying: AIf only mortals would learn how great it is to possess divine grace, how beautiful, how noble, how precious. How many riches it hides within itself, how many joys and delights! Without doubt they would devote all their care and concern to winning for themselves pains and afflictions. All people throughout the world would seek trouble, infirmities and torments, instead of good fortune, in order to attain the unfathomable treasure of grace. This is the reward and the final gain of patience. No one would complain about his cross or about troubles that may happen to him, if he would come to know the scales on which they are weighed when they are distributed to souls.
[1] The Liturgy of the Hours, vol. iv, pg. 1342, Catholic Book Publishing Co., New York, 1975

Vigils Reading - Queenship of Mary
2022-08-22
WHAT DO WE MEAN WHEN WE SPEAK OF THE QUEENSHIP OF MARY?
from the writings of Thomas Merton[1]

Mary alone, of all the saints, is, in everything, incomparable. She has the sanctity of them all and yet resembles none of them. And still we can talk of being like her. This likeness to her is not only something to desire –it is one human quality most worthy of our desire: but the reason for that is that she, of all creatures, most perfectly recovered the likeness to God that God willed to find, in varying degrees, in us all.
It is necessary, no doubt, to talk about her privileges as if they were something that could be made comprehensible in human language and could be measured by some human standard. It is most fitting to talk about her as a Queen and to act as if you knew what it meant to say she has a throne above all the angels. But this should not make anyone forget that her highest privilege is her poverty and her greatest glory is that she is most hidden, and the source of all her power is that she is as nothing in the presence of Christ, of God.
This is often forgotten by Catholics themselves, and therefore it is not surprising that those who are not Catholic often have a completely wrong conception of Catholic devotion to the Mother of God. They imagine, and sometimes we can understand their reasons for doing so, that Catholics treat the Blessed Virgin as an almost divine being in her own right, as if she had some glory, some power, some majesty of her own that placed her on a level with Christ himself. They regard the Assumption of Mary into heaven as a kind of apotheosis and her Queenship as a strict divinization. Hence her place in the Redemption would seem to be equal to that of her Son. But this is all completely contrary to the true mind of the Catholic Church. It forgets that Mary’s chief glory is her nothingness, in the fact of being the “Handmaid of the Lord,” as one who in becoming the Mother of God acted simply in loving submission to his command, in the pure obedience of faith. She is blessed not because of some mythical pseudo-divine prerogative, but in all her human and womanly limitations as one who has believed. It is the faith and the fidelity of this humble handmaid, “full of grace” that enables her to be the perfect instrument of God, and nothing else but his instrument. The work that was done in her was purely the work of God. “He that is mighty has done great things in me.” The glory of Mary is purely and simply the glory of God in her, and she, like anyone else, can say that she has nothing that she has not received from him through Christ.
As a matter of fact, this is precisely her greatest glory: that having nothing of her own, retaining nothing of a “self” that could glory in anything for her own sake, she placed no obstacle to the mercy of God and in no way resisted his love and his will. Hence she received more from him than any other saint. He was able to accomplish his will perfectly in her, and his liberty was in no way hindered or turned from its purpose by the presence of an egotistical self in Mary. She was and is in the highest sense a person precisely because, being “immaculate,” she was free from every taint of selfishness that might obscure God’s light in her being. She was then a freedom that obeyed him perfectly and in this obedience found the fulfillment of perfect love.
[1]New Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton (New Directions NY 1961) pp. 169-171.

Compline 7:30 pm est
2022-08-21 19:30 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Content is protected.

Vigils Reading
2022-08-21
Commentary on Gospel of Luke by Anselm of Canterbury 1
God cries out that the kingdom of heaven is for sale. The glorious bliss of this kingdom surpasses the power of mortal eye to see, mortal ear to hear, mortal heart to conceive. If anyone asks the price that must be paid, the answer is: The One who wishes to bestow a kingdom in heaven has no need of earthly payment. No one can give God anything he does not possess, because everything belongs to him. Yet he does not give such a precious gift gratis, for he will not give it to anyone who lacks love. After all, people do not give away what they hold dear to those without appreciation. So since God has no need of your possessions but must not bestow such a precious gift on anyone who disdains to value it, love is the one thing he asks for; without this he cannot give it. Give love, then, and receive the kingdom: love and it is yours.

To reign in heaven simply means exercising a single power with God and all the holy angels and saints through being so united with them in love as to want only what they want. Love God more than yourself, then, and already you will begin to have what you desire to possess fully in heaven. Be at one with God and with other men and women – so long as they are not at variance with God – and already you will begin to reign with God and all the saints. The desires of God and all the saints will be the same as yours in heaven, if your desires now are the same as those of God and other people. So if you want to be a king in heaven, love God and other people as you should and then you will deserve to become what you desire.

But you cannot have this perfect love unless you empty your heart of every other love. That is why those who fill their hearts with love of God and neighbor desire nothing but the will of God or that of some fellow human being – provided this is not contrary to God. That is why they devote themselves to prayer, spiritual conversations, and reflection, for it is a joy to them to long for God and to speak, hear and think about him whom they dearly love. That is why they rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, show compassion to those in distress, and give to the needy, since they love others as themselves. Hence too their contempt for riches, power, pleasure, honor, and praise. Those who love these things frequently offend against God and their neighbor – for the whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments. So those who wish to possess the fullness of that love which is the price of the kingdom of heaven should love contempt, poverty, toil and subjection, as do the saints.

Skema
2022-08-21
Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (II)
August 21 – 27, 2022

Sun
21
Mon
22
Tue
23
Wed
24
Thu
25
Fri
26
Sat
27

Office
21st Sunday
Queenship of Mary
St Rose of Lima
St Bartholomew
Weekday
Weekday
St Monica

Vigils
2 Macc 1:1-17
2 Macc 1:18-36
2 Macc 2:1-18
Gen 28:10-22
2 Macc 2:19-32
2 Macc 3:1-23
2 Macc 3:24-40

Lauds
Joel 4:1-3, 11-16
Joel 4:17-21
Amos 1:1-5
Deut 18:15-19
Amos 1:6-10
Amos 1:11-15
Amos 2:1-5

Mass
123
425, 627
426
629
428
429
430

1st
Isa 66:18-21
2 Thess 1:1-5, 11-12
2 Thess 2:1-3a, 14-17
Rev 21:9b-14
1 Cor 1:1-9
1 Cor 1:17-25
1 Cor 1:26-31

2nd
Heb 12:5-7, 11-13

Gospel
Luke 13:22-30
Luke 1:26-38
Matt 23:23-26
Jn 1:45-51
Matt 24:42-51
Matt 25:1-13
Matt 25:14-30

Vespers
Eph 6:10-17
Eph 6:18-24
1 Thess 1:1-10
1 Peter 5:1-11
1 Thess 2:1-8
1 Thess 2:9-12
1 Thess 2:13-16

Vigils Reading - St Bernard
2022-08-20
08.SN2008 08.20.22

St. 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.
…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.
On 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.
Thus, 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.
In 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.

Vigils Reading - Bl Guerric
2022-08-19
08SN1903
08.19.22
The Life of Bl Guerric of Igny – from the Introduction to his Sermons
By Fr Hilary Costello, OCSO [1]
Guerric 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.
Like 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.
Igny 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.
Along with Bernard, Aelred of Rievaulx and William of St Thierry, Guerric has been called the four evangelists of Citeaux.
[1] Guerric of Igny – Liturgical Sermons – vol. 1 – Cistercain Fathers Series #8 – Cistercian Publications – Spencer, MA – 1970 – pg xi ff

Vigils Reading - Weekday
2022-08-18
OT-GEN96
08.18.22

Jacob Blesses the sons of Joseph – by St John CHrysostom [1]
Joseph 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.
We 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.
Let 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.
[1] The Fathers of the Church – St John Chrysostom – Homilies on Genesis – vol. 3 – Catholic University Press – Washington DC = 1992 = pg 257

Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
2022-08-17
DEAD-43
08.17.2022
Fear and Hope from a book by Michael Schmaus1
To 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.
Although 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.
1 Dogma 6, Justification & the Last Things. Michael Schmaus, Sheed & Ward, 1977, pp.220-221

Rule of Benedict: Reflection. 7 pm CDT
2022-08-16 19:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88434101612?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 884 3410 1612
Passcode: [REDACTED]
One tap mobile
+13126266799,,88434101612# US (Chicago)
Apr. 16-Aug. 16-Dec. 16-Chapter 61: How Pilgrim Monks Are To Be Received.
But 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.
Moreover, 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).
END OF READING

Vigils Reading - Weekday
2022-08-16
OT-GEN95
08.18.22

A Commentary on the Book of Genesis by St John Chrysostom [1]

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. “
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.
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.
Consider 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.
“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.

[1] The Fathers of the Church – St John Chrysostom – Homilies on Genesis – vol. 3 – Catholic University Press – Washington DC – 1992 – pg 245

Vigils Reading - Assumption B.V.M.
2022-08-15
08SN1501
08/15/21
Sermon of St Aelred of Rievaulx on the Assumption [1]
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.
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.
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.
First, 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.
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.
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.

[1] Aelred of Rievaulx – The Liturgical Sermons – Cistercian Fathers Series #58 – Cistercian Publications – Kalamazoo – 2001

Vigils Reading - 20TH Sunday Ordinary Time
2022-08-14
NT-LK20
08.14.22
A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke by Denis the Carthusian 1
I 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.
Christ 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.
There 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.
The 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.
Good, 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.
1Journey with the Fathers – Year C – New City Press – New York – 2000 – pg 108

SKEMA - Week 20 Ordinary Time
2022-08-14
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
20th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (II)
August 14 – 20, 2022

Sun
14
Mon
15
Tue
16
Wed
17
Thu
18
Fri
19
Sat
20

Office
20th Sunday
Assumption of the BVM
Weekday
Office for the Dead
Weekday
Bl Guerric
St Bernard

Vigils
Gen 47:1-26
Sir 24:1-16
Gen 47:27-48:22
Gen 49:1-27
Gen 49:28-50:14
Gen 50:15-26
Sir 50:5-20

Lauds
Joel 2:1-6
Josh 4:4-10
Joel 2:7-11
Joel 2:12-17
Joel 2:18-19, 23-27
Joel 3:1-5
Wis 8:2-13

Mass
120
622
420
421
422
423
641, 660, 574

1st
Jer 38:4-6, 8-10
Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a; 10ab
Ezek 28:1-10
Ezek 34:1-11
Ezek 36:23-28
Ezek 37:1-14
Wis 7:7-10, 15-16

2nd
Heb 12:1-4
1 Cor 15:20-27

Phil 3:17-4:1

Gospel
Luke 12:49-53
Luke 1:39-56
Matt 19:23-30
Matt 20:1-16
Matt 22:1-14
Matt 22:34-40
Matt 5:13-19

Vespers
Rom 8:28-39
1 Cor 15:50-58
Eph 5:6-14
Eph 5:15-20
Eph 6:1-9
1 Jn 3:19-24
1 Jn 4:7-16

Chicago LCG. August Meeting 9 am CDT
2022-08-13 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89754756540?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 897 5475 6540
Passcode: [REDACTED]
AGENDA
9:00 Gather for Opening prayer and lighting of the candles illuminating the Theotokos icon of Blessed Mother Mary and the baby Jesus.
We also pray for all our lay Cistercian sisters and brothers in the US and around the world. Specially we pray for our Gethsemani monks. Finally, we pray this month specially for these Gethsemani monks:
Br. Thomas Richards
Br. Gregory Escardo
Br. Maximilian Pickerill
9:10 Lectio. Our lectio piece will be led by Anthony .
9:50 Reading. Our discussion this month will continue Michael Casey’s Coenobium. Discussion lead assignments for chapters four, five, and six are:

Leon Peck
Mary Ann Dier-Zimmermann, and
Tina Parayre

10:45 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.
11:00 Update. Share how the Holy Spirt has entered our lives as lay Cistercians since our last meeting.
11:45 Closing worship and prayer. We will pray the liturgical hour of None as with our Gethsemani monks (identical Psalms as done today at Gethsemani Abbey.)
We look forward to our continuing LCG Chicago journey at our next meeting: September 10, 2022.

Reading: Memorial B. V. M.
2022-08-13
A Reading about Mary and Waiting for Christ, from a book by Fr Jean Daniélou.[i]
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.
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.
[i].”Advent”, New York 1951, 102-103, 109-110.

Reading: Weekday
2022-08-12
A Commentary on Genesis
from Quodvult Deus of Carthage [1]
Joseph 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.
[1]A Word in Season – vol. VII – Augustinian Press – 1999 – pg. 95

Reading: St. Clare
2022-08-11
A READING FROM THE TESTAMENT OF ST CLARE[1]
I 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.
And 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.
In 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.
Therefore, 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!
[1]THE CALL OF ST CLARE, by H. Daniel-Rops, Trans by S. Attanasio (Hawthorn Books, Inc. NY 1963) pp 138-140.

Reading: St. Lawrence
2022-08-10
From a sermon by St Augustine on the feast of St Lawrence 1
The 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.
Brethren, 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.
I 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.
Let 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!
Christ 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.
1The Liturgy of the Hours – vol. IV – pg 1305 – Catholic Book Publishing Co – New York – 1975

Reading: St. Teresa Benedicta
2022-08-09
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) [1]
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.”
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.”
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.
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.
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)
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.”
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.
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.
[1] Butler’s Lives of the Saints – New Full Edition – August – Burns & Oates – The Liturgical Press – Collegeville, MN – 1998 – pg 75f

Reading: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
2022-08-07
Commentary on the Gospel of Luke by Gregory of Nyssa [1]
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.
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.
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.
[1] Journey with the Fathers – Year C – New City Press – 1994 – pg 106

Skema: Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
2022-08-07
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
19th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (II)
August 7 – 13, 2022

Sun
7
Mon
8
Tue
9
Wed
10
Thu
11
Fri
12
Sat
13

Office
19th Sunday
St Dominic
St Teresa Benedicta
St Lawrence
St Clare
Weekday
Memorial of the BVM

Vigils
Gen 42:1-17
Gen 42:18-38
Gen 43:1-34
Exodus 18:13-26
Gen 44:1-34
Gen 45:1-28
Gen 46:1-7, 26-34

Lauds
Hos 13:1-8
Hos 13:9-14:1
Hos 14:2-10
Tobit 4:5-11
Joel 1:1-8
Joel 1:9-12
Joel 1:13-20

Mass
117
413
414
618
416
417
418

1st
Wis 18:6-9
Ezek 1:2-5, 24-28c
Ezek 2:8-3:4
2 Cor 9:6-10
Ezek 12:1-12
Ezek 16:1-15, 60, 63
Ezek 18:1-10, 13b, 30-32

2nd
Heb 11:1-2, 8-19

Gospel
Luke 12:32-48
Matt 17:22-27
Matt 18:1-5, 10, 12-14
John 12:24-26
Matt 18:21-19:1
Matt 19:3-12
Matt 19:13-15

Vespers
Eph 3:14-21
Eph 4:1-6
Eph 4:7-16
Rev 6:7-11
Eph 4:17-24
Eph 4:25-32
Eph 5:1-5

Vigils Reading - Transfiguration
2022-08-06
A Commentary on the Gospel of Mark by St. Ephrem 1
Jesus 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.
He 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.
1Journey with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – NY -1993 – pg 32

Vigils Reading - St Mary Major
2022-08-05
From a Homily delivered at the Council of Ephesus by St. Cyril of Alexandria [1]

I 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.
Therefore, holy and incomprehensible Trinity, we salute you at whose summons we have come together to this church of Mary, the Mother of God.
Mary, 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.
We 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.
What 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
Who 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?
Behold 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.

[1] The Liturgy of the Hours – Catholic Publishing Co – NY – 1978

Vigils Reading - St John Vianney
2022-08-04
Prayer in the life of the Curé d’Ars:
a reading from an encyclical by ST. John XXIII.

To 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.

Let 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!

We 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!

With 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.
The 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.

Vigils Reading
2022-08-03
A Commentary on the Book of Genesis by St John Chrysostom [1]

You 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.
Joseph 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.
Even 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”.
At 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.”
The 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.
After 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.
Let 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.
[1] The Fathers of the Church – vol/ 87 – St John Chrysostom – Homilies on Genesis – vol. 3 – Catholic University Press – Washington DC – 1992 – pg 212
