Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey

Skema
2022-12-11
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
3rd Week of Advent

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
December 11 – 17, 2022

Sun
11
Mon
12
Tue
13
Wed
14
Thu
15
Fri
16
Sat
17

Office
3rd Sunday of Advent
Our Lady of Guadalupe
St Lucy
St John of the Cross
Advent Weekday
Advent Weekday
Advent Weekday

Vigils
Isa 29:13-24
Prov 8:32-9:11
Isa 30:27-33; 31:4-9
Isa 31:1-3; 32:1-8
Isa 32:14-33:6
Isa 33:7-24
Isa 45:1-13

Lauds
Zech 2:10-17
Sir 4:11-18
Isa 52:1-7
Isa 45:18-25
Isa 51:9-16
Isa 35:1-10
Isa 40:1-5

Mass
7
690A
188
189
190
191
193

1st
Isa 35:1-6a, 10
Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab
Zeph 3:1-2, 9-13
Isa 45:6c-8, 18, 21c-25
Isa 54:1-10
Isa 56:1-3a, 6-8
Gen 49:2, 8-10

2nd
Jas 5:7-10

Gospel
Matt 11:2-11
Luke 1:39-47
Matt 21:28-32
Luke 7:18b-23
Luke 7:24-30
John 5:33-36
Matt 1:1-17

Vespers
Rom 9:1-8
Gal 3:23-29
Rom 11:13-20
Rom 11:25-36
Rom 13:8-14
Rom 15:4-13
1 Thess 5:16-24

Vigils Reading
2022-12-10
The Historical Meeting Point of Martyrdom and Monasticism7 A chapter talk by St. Christian de Chergé
From the beginnings of Christian monasticism, there has been both continuity and discontinuity between the monastic choice and martyrdom. As we know, there is continuity in time: during the first centuries of persecutions there were certainly vocations to the solitary life, dedicated to prayer and intercession for all. It is easy to imagine John the Evangelist withdrawing into solitude and inspiring followers. But the threat was there for them and for everyone, and there was need to sustain believers’ courage and faith in that direct form of sequela Christi—the offering of martyrdom—to which they left themselves exposed by the very fact of being Christian. And there is discontinuity, because Constantine’s “peace of the Church” was needed in order for monasticism to find its specific place, when laxity and ease were quickly undermining the vitality of gospel witness.
It was indeed the gospel that incited Anthony to “lose his life” in a way different from the shedding of blood through “pagan” hatred. Paganism was not dead; it transplanted itself in the Church, where “secularization” made rapid headway. Anthony, therefore, would be “pursued” by the Word. He heard it and embodied it by following it literally and on the spot. It happened as quickly as the fall of the ax on the neck of Cecilia or Lucy. But for Anthony it was only the first step of the Pasch, the passing over. It then took dozens of years for the letter to be truly rewritten in terms of the spirit, in order to find, following Jesus’ example, ways of combining time and eternity, the earth and the things above. Anthony and many others instinctively returned to the place of the first Passover, the desert, for this unique kind of martyrdom.
Earlier persecutions had singled out towns—and even big cities—to offer the spectacle of faith to the crowds in the arenas as if it were a game. The persecutions faded away, but the Adversary remained and continued to have his fun. He, then, was the one to take on directly. Anthony’s combat was not againstpeople, pagans or not, but against the traditional Enemy of humankind, whom he confronted as a solitary, confident that he could contribute to conquering him where he is most rampant.

This flight from the spirit of the world and this fierce but humble solitude will become, strangely enough, “the seeds of Christianity,” to use the phrase Tertullian applied to the early martyrs. It is to this drop by drop spending of flesh and blood in the desert 7 Christian de Chergé, Dieu pour tout jour. Chapitres de Père Christian de Chergé à la communauté de Tibhirine [1986–1996], Les Cahier de Tibhirine 1, Abbaye Notre-Dame d’Aiguebelle, p. 449. Trans. Fr. Elias Dietz, OCSO we must constantly return, in order to sustain the specific fruitfulness of our lives here and now.

Vigils Reading
2022-12-09
If you Knew the Gift of God6
From the spiritual writings of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
What is the gift of God if not Himself? And, the beloved disciple tells us: “He came to His own and His own did not accept Him.” St. John the Baptist could still say to many souls these words of reproach: “There is one in the midst of you, ‘in you,’ whom you do not know.”
“If you knew the gift of God…” There is one who knew this gift of God, one who did not lose one particle of it, one who was so pure, so luminous that she seemed to be Light itself. One whose life was so simple, so lost in God that there is hardly anything we can say about it.
Faithful Virgin, “who kept all these things in her heart.” She remained so little, so recollected in God’s presence, in the seclusion of the temple, that she drew down upon herself the delight of the Holy Trinity: “Because He has looked upon the lowliness of His servant, henceforth all generations shall call meblessed!” The Father bending down to this beautiful creature, who was so unaware of her own beauty, willed that she be the Mother in time of Him whose Father He is in eternity. Then the Spirit of love who presides over all of God’s works came upon her; the Virgin said her fiat: “Behold the servant of the Lord, be it done to me according to Your word,” and the greatest of mysteries was accomplished. By the descent of the Word in her, Mary became forever God’s prey.
It seems to me that the attitude of the Virgin during the months that elapsed between the Annunciation and the Nativity is the model for interior souls, those whom God has chosen to live within, in the depths of the bottomless abyss. In what peace, in what recollection Mary lent herself to everything she did! How even the most trivial things were divinized by her! For through it all the Virgin remained the adorer of the gift of God! This did not prevent her from spending herself outwardly when it was a matter of charity; the Gospel tells us that Mary went in haste to the mountains of Judea to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Never did the ineffable vision that she contemplated within herself in any way diminish her outward charity. For, a pious author says, if contemplation “continues toward praise and towards the eternity of its Lord, it possesses unityand will not lose it. If an order from Heaven arrives, contemplation turns towards men, sympathizes with their needs, is inclined towards all their miseries; it must cry and be fruitful. It illuminates like fire, and like it, it burns, absorbs and devours, lifting up to Heaven what it has devoured. And when it has finished its work here below, it rises, burning with its fire, and takes up again the road on high

6 Elizabeth of the Trinity. I Have Found God, The Complete Works: Volume One. Trans. Sister Aletheia Kane, O.C.D. ICS Publications, 1984. 110-111.

Vigils Reading - Immaculate Conception
2022-12-08
“I am the Immaculate Conception” – Mary Reveals Her Name5 The final writing of St. Maximilian Kolbe
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. These words fell from the lips of the Immaculata herself. Hence, they must tell us in the most precise and essential manner who she really is.
Who then are you, O Immaculate Conception?
Not God, of course, because he has no beginning. Not an angel, created directly out of nothing. Not Adam, formed out of the dust of the earth. Not Eve, molded from Adam’s rib. Not the Incarnate Word, who exists before all ages, and of whom we should use the word “conceived” rather than “conception.” Humans do not exist before their conception, so we might call them created “conceptions.” But you, O Mary, are different from all other children of Eve. They are conceptions stained by original sin; whereas you are the unique, Immaculate Conception.
If the fruit of created love is a created conception, then the fruit of divine Love, that prototype of all created love, is necessarily a divine “conception.” The Holy Spirit is, therefore, the “uncreated, eternal conception,” the prototype of all the conceptions that multiply life throughout the whole universe.
The Father begets; the Son is begotten; the Spirit is the “conception” that springs from their love; there we have the intimate life of the three Persons by which they can be distinguished one from another. But they are united in the oneness of their Nature, of their divine existence.
The Spirit is, then, this thrice holy “conception,” this infinitely holy, Immaculate Conception.
In what does this life of the Spirit in Mary consist? He himself is uncreated Love in her; the Love of the Father and of the Son, the Love by which God loves himself, the very love of the Most Holy Trinity. He is a fruitful Love, “Conception.” Among creatures made in God’s image the union brought about by married love is the most intimate of all. In a much more precise, more interior, more essential manner, the Holy Spirit lives in the soul of the Immaculata, in the depths of her very being. He makes her fruitful, from the very first instant of her existence, all during her life, and for all eternity.

This eternal “Immaculate Conception” (which is the Holy Spirit) produces in an immaculate manner divine life itself in the womb (or depths) of Mary’s soul, making her the Immaculate Conception, the human Immaculate Conception. And the virginal womb of Mary’s body is kept sacred for him; there he conceives in time…the human life of the Man-God.
And so the return to God (which is love)…by the Spirit the Son becomes incarnate in the womb of the Immaculata; and through this Son love returns to the Father.
In the Holy Spirit’s union with Mary we observe more than the love of two beings; in one there is all the love of the Blessed Trinity; in the other, all of creation’s love. So it is that in this union heaven and earth are joined; all of heaven with all the earth, the totality of eternal love with the totality of created love. It is truly the summit of love.
At Lourdes, the Immaculata did not say of herself that she had been conceived immaculately, but, as St. Bernadette repeated it, “Que soy era immaculada councepciou”: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
If among human beings the wife takes the name of her husband because she belongs to him, is one with him, becomes equal to him and is, with him, the source of new life, with how much greater reason should the name of the Holy Spirit, who is the divine Immaculate Conception, be used as name of her in whom he lives as uncreated Love, the principle of life in the whole supernatural order of grace?

5 H.M. Manteau-Bonamy, OP. Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit. Trans. Richard Arnandez, FSC. Libertyville, IL: Franciscan, Marytown Press, 1977. 2-5.

10

Vigils Reading - St Ambrose
2022-12-07
A Letter to Irenaeus by Saint Ambrose
If someone has taken up residence in the heavenly city, let him not leave its life and customs, since he is an inhabitant. Let him not again depart, or retrace the steps, I do not say, of the body, but of the heart. Let him not come back from there. Behind him is wantonness; behind is impurity. Your feet should not turn back, neither should your actions turn back. Your hands should not hang idle, nor should the knees of your devotion and faith become weak. Let no weakness cause your will to backslide, nor evil deeds recur. You have made your entrance, now remain. You have reached this place, stand firm. ‘Being safe, save thy life.’
In your ascent, take the straight path; it is not safe to turn back. Here is the road; there is downfall. Here is the path upward; there, a precipice. there is work in ascending, danger in ascending. The Lord who is powerful will protect you if you are grounded and hedged round with the ramparts of the Prophets and the bulwarks of the Apostles. For this reason, the Lord says to you: ‘Enter and tread the grape, for the vintage time is here.’ Let us be found within, not out of doors. In the Gospel, too, the Son of God says: ‘Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take his vessels.’ Surely, He does not mean our present dwelling but that one of which ‘He has spread the sky like a roof.’
Remain within, therefore, within Jerusalem, within your soul which is peaceful, meek, and tranquil. Do not leave it or go down to take your vessels with honors or riches or pride. Remain within, so that strangers may not pass through you, so that neither sins nor vain works nor useless thoughts may pass through your soul. This will not happen if you wage a holy war against the snare of the passions on behalf of devotion and faith and in the pursuit of truth, if you will put on the armor of God in your fight against spiritual diseases and the cunning of the Evil One who tempts our senses with cunning and fraud. Yet, he is easily crushed by the gentle warrior who does not sow discord, but, as befits the servant of God, attaches faith with moderation and refutes those who are his adversaries. Of this man Scriptures says: ‘Let the warrior who is gentle arise,’ and the weak man says: ‘I can do all things in him who strengthens me.’

Waters will flow upon him from his vessels and the depths of his wells, or from his belly will flow living waters, spiritual waters which the Holy Spirit gives to the faithful. May He deign to water your soul, too, so that in you there may abound the fount of water springing up into life

4The Fathers of the Church. Vol 26 – Letters of St. Ambrose. Catholic Univ. Washington, 1954, pp. 446-447.

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2022-12-06 19:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago)
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Vigils Reading
2022-12-06
A Reading from the Third Advent Sermon
of Bl. Guerric of Igny3
Be prepared now Israel to meet the Lord, for he is coming. And you too, my dear brethren, be prepared as well; for the Son of Man will come when you least expect him. He is coming, nothing is more certain than that; but when he will arrive – nothing is less certain. Right up to the last moment we will not know the actual time the Father in his almighty power has appointed. Even the angels who stand before him have not been given the privilege of knowing that day or hour… All we can say is that it is knocking at the door for the old, and lies in wait for the young. O that they would keep careful watch over themselves who see death so ready to enter, nay rather who see it entering. For has it not already entered, at least to some extent, a body grown senile and decrepit? Yet in many who are already half-dead one can see worldly desires still alive. The limbs are growing cold and the fire of avarice still burns within; life is coming to its end and ambition still strains ahead. Because our youth or health perhaps appear to promise some more years ahead of us death is not often before our eyes, but this is the very reason why, if we are wise, it should be in our thoughts, lest that day come like a thief in the night and find us unprepared and unready… There is therefore only one thing that makes us safe: never to think that we are safe. For fear makes a careful man always prepared until at length fear can give way to security and not security to fear.
Brethren, how beautiful and blessed it is not only to be without fear of death but with the assurance of a good conscience to triumph over it; in the spirit and words of St. Martin, to rebuke the foul beast if he dares to present himself, to open joyfully to the Judge when he comes and knocks. At that hour you will see unfortunates like me tremble, begging for a truce and having it denied them; wanting to buy the oil of penance for a sorrowing conscience and not having enough time; desirous of turning aside those ghostly specters and not being able to do so; anxious to hide away in the body from angry wrath and being forced to go forth. He will go forth, his spirit shall go forth and the sinner shall return into his earth whence he was drawn. In that day all their thoughts shall perish. It is only human, I know, to be distressed about the moment of our passage from the earth. Even the perfect wish not to be stripped but rather to be further clothed. And although their conscience does not in fact reproach them, yet since that is not where their justification lies, they must of necessity fear the unknown judgment.

When therefore you can say: “My heart is ready, O God,” because it is emptied of evil, “my heart is ready,” because it is full of holy desires, then busy yourself with what follows: “I will sing and recite a psalm.” And whatever may be your voice, singing or reciting, let this intention be in your mind: “Arise, my Glory, arise at my coming, for as far as in me lies I have gone to meet you.

3Guerric of Igny – Liturgical Sermons – vol I – CF #8 – Cistercian Publications – Spencer, MA – 1970 pg. 14-21.

Jim Finley
2022-12-05 12:00 - 13:00, 2022-11-28 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
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Vigils Reading
2022-12-05
Sermon One for the Coming of the Lord2 by St. Aelred of Rievaulx
Let us see how all the saints who lived before his first coming longed for him and let us follow their example, not the example of those who love the world. For scripture says: The world will perish and so will its unruly appetites. So those who love the world will perish together with the world when it perishes.
The Prophet Isaiah said with great longing: Would that you would burst the heavens, Lord, and come down. The prophet knew that Providence had determined the time of his coming, but he found it very difficult to endure such a delay. And therefore he longed for God, if it were possible, to anticipate the hour he had fixed.
It is as if he had said: I know, O Lord, that you are waiting for the time which you foresaw from the beginning. You are waiting until everything has been fulfilled which the holy ones have said must be fulfilled before your coming. But would that you would burst the heavens, Lord – that is, if only you would, if it were possible, break through that plan of yours which you have revealed to the heavens – that is, to your saints – and come. Look how many years have passed since you first promised us that he would come and still he does not come. It would seem that you are only deceiving us.
But what did Christ do in his compassion? Indeed, he did not let his prophet suffer such grief for long without great consolation. Listen to what the same prophet says a little further on: You come down and the mountains dissolved before your face. You hear something amazing in this. First he said:
Would that you would come down, Lord, and now he says: You came down and the mountains dissolved before your face, as though what he had been so longing for had already happened. Why is this? In my opinion, when holy Isaiah was in that distress over the devil’s pride and human wickedness, our Lord, to console him, showed him in spirit what we now see, namely, that the whole world would believe in him and kings and princes adore him, that all idols should be destroyed and those who were proud be made humble by the Lord’s coming. Surely this is what the prophet saw in spirit when he exalted and rejoiced.

Oh dearest brothers, if only we, now that we see this fulfilled, could feel as much joy as he felt when he saw that it was still having to be fulfilled. We now see it. We can turn to our Lord and say with great joy: Lord, you came down and the mountains dissolved before your face. This has now been fulfilled just as David also desired when he said: Touch the mountains and they will smoke. By the grace of the Holy Spirit he touched the mountains – that is, the proud of this world. And look how they dissolved, that is, how they were humbled. They began to weep for their sins. Do you not see this every day, brothers? Do you not every day see the proud of this world turning to the Lord in great confusion, with great fear humbling themselves and weeping for their sins? Of course, this happens every day, brothers. Even if it does not happen before our eyes every day, it is happening every day in the holy Church2Aelred of Rievaulx – The Liturgical Sermons – Cistercian Fathers Series #58 – Cistercian Publications – Kalamazoo – 2001 – p 61.

Vigils Reading - 2nd Sun Advent
2022-12-04
A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew
by St. Augustine1
The gospel tells us that some people were rebuked by the Lord because, clever as they were at reading the face of the sky, they could not recognize the time for faith when the kingdom of heaven was at hand. It was the Jews who received this reprimand, but it has also come down to us. The Lord Jesus began his preaching of the gospel with the admonition: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. His forerunner, John the Baptist, began in the same way: Repent, he said, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Today, for those who will not repent at the approach of the kingdom of heaven, the reproof of the Lord is the same. As he points out himself, You cannot expect to see the kingdom of heaven coming. The kingdom of heaven, he says elsewhere, is within you.
Each of us would be wise therefore to take to heart the advice of his teacher, and not waste this present time. It is now that the Savior offers us his mercy; now, while he still spares the human race. Understand that it is in hope of our conversion that he spares us, for he desires no one’s damnation. As for when the end of the world will be, that is God’s concern. Now is the time for faith. Whether any of us here present will see the end of the world I know not; very likely none of us will. Even so, the time is very near for each of us, for we are mortal. There are hazards all around us. We should be in less danger from them were we made of glass. What is more fragile than a vessel of glass? And yet it can be kept safe and last indefinitely. Of course it is exposed to accident, but it is not liable to old age and the suffering it brings. We therefore are the more frail and infirm. In our weakness we are haunted by fears of all the calamities that regularly befall the human race, and if no such calamity overtakes us, still, time marches on. We may evade the blows of fortune, but shall we evade death? We may escape perils from without, but shall we escape what comes from within us? Now, suddenly, we may be attacked by any malady. And if we are spared? Even so, old age comes at last, and nothing will delay it1 Journey with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press – NY – 1992 n- pg 18.

Skema
2022-12-04
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
2nd Week of Advent

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
December 4 – 10, 2022

Sun
4
Mon
5
Tue
6
Wed
7
Thu
8
Fri
9
Sat
10

Office
2nd Sunday of Advent
Advent Weekday
Advent Weekday
St Ambrose
Immaculate Conception
Advent Weekday
Advent Weekday

Vigils
Isa 22:8b-23
Isa 24:1-18
Isa 24:19-25:5
Isa 25:6-26:6
Rom 5:12-21
Isa 27:1-13
Isa 29:1-8

Lauds
Isa 4:2-6
Isa 10:20-27a
Isa 9:1-6
Isa 11:1-9
Isa 43:1-7
Zeph 3:14-20
Isa 11:10-16

Mass
4
181
182
183
689
185
186

1st
Isa 11:1-10
Isa 35:1-10
Isa 40:1-11
Isa 40:25-31
Gen 3:9-15, 20
Isa 48:17-19
Sir 48:1-4, 9-11

2nd
Rom 15:4-9

Eph 1:3-6, 11-12

Gospel
Matt 3:1-12
Luke 5:17-26
Matt 18:12-14
Matt 11:28-30
Luke 1:26-38
Matt 11:16-19
Matt 17:9a, 10-13

Vespers
Rom 5:1-11
Rom 6:1-11
Rom 8:18-27
Gal 4:21-5:1
Rom 8:28-39
Rom 8:1-6
Rom 8:9-17

Vigils Reading - St Francis Xavier
2022-12-03
St. Francis Xavier
from Butler’s Lives of the Saints[1]

Francis 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.

They 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.

In the spring of 1545 Francis set out for Malacca, on the Malay peninsula, where he spent four months. 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.

Francis 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. Before leaving Kagoshima he visited the fortress of Ichiku, where the baron’s wife, her steward and others accepted Christianity. Xavier left the rest in the care of the steward, and twelve years later the Jesuit lay-brother, Luis de Almeida, found these isolated converts still retaining their first fervor and faithfulness.

At 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.

Francis 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.
[1] Butler’s Lives of the Saints – revised edition – Harper – San Francisco – 1991 – p 398f

Vigils Reading
2022-12-02
Knowing How to Wait
A meditation by Saint Rafael Arnaiz[1]

In La Trapa, we Trappists have a consolation that is little known in the world … Here in the house of God, away from all that hustle and bustle, we can clearly see how short everything is as time passes … The world knows it too, but it’s different.

When the world talks about how quickly life passes, it does so with a hint of sadness. It laments how short-lived everything is … People often live in the past, and what good does it do them? … They don’t change their ways. They just use whatever time they have left to keep searching for the things they didn’t find in the life they’ve already lived. Then their final years come, and then they become even more aware of their nostalgia for the past and how short-lived everything is … Old age is so sad, according to the world.

In La Trapa, monks don’t care about the past … They just have the great consolation of knowing that whatever remains of this life will pass, too. What more is there to do, then, but wait? And they wait with such joy and peace, certain of what is to come.

What peace it brings to the soul to think that neither human beings nor world events can hinder the coming of what awaits us … With each passing day, we are a step closer to the beginning of our true lives. What the world sees as the end is what the monk sees as the beginning. Everything comes, everything goes … only God remains.
[1] Saint Rafael Arnaiz. The Collected Works. Ed. Sr. Maria Gonzalo-Garcia, OCSO. Trans. Catherine Addington. MW 61. Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2022. 415.

Vigils Reading
2022-12-01
Sermon for the Coming of the Lord
by Aelred of Rievaulx[1]

It is time, dear brothers, for us to sing to the Lord of mercy and judgment. For it is the coming of the Lord, of the Almighty, who came and is to come. But how or to what place will he come or did he come? It is clearly his voice that says, I fill heaven and earth. But how could he have come to heaven or earth if he fills heaven and earth? Listen to the gospel: He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He was, therefore, both present and absent. He was present because he was in the world; he was absent, because the world did not know him.

He is not far, says Paul, from any one of us. In him we live, move, and are. And yet salvation is far from sinners. He was near in terms of his essence, but far in terms of his grace. How could he not be far, since he was neither recognized, believed, feared, nor loved? He was far from sinners: he did not call back the wandering, raise up the downtrodden, ransom the captives, or raise up the dead. He was far, I say, when he neither bestowed a heavenly reward upon the righteous nor openly imposed eternal damnation on the wicked.

The unrecognized one came so as to be recognized; the unbelieved, to be believed; he who was not feared, to be feared; the unloved, to be loved. Thus, he who was essentially present came mercifully, so that we might recognize his humanity, believe in his divinity, fear his power, and love his kindness. His humanity appeared in the taking up of our weakness, his divinity in performing miracles, his power in overthrowing the demons, his kindness in welcoming sinners.
Consider, if you will, what God is, and why he laid aside such majesty, why he emptied himself of such power, why he weakened such strength, why he brought low such loftiness, why he made a fool of such wisdom. Is this human righteousness? Far from it. Everyone turned aside, all were made useless; there was no one who did good. What then? Did he lack anything? Not at all. His is the earth and its fullness. Or did he by chance need us for something? By no means. He is my God, and he does not need my goods. What then? Truly, Lord, it is not my righteousness, but your mercy; not your lack, but my need. For you said, “Mercy will be built in the heavens.” This is clearly so, for wretchedness abounds on earth. Therefore, of your first coming, I will sing to you of mercy, Lord.

For it was from mercy that, having become human, he took our weaknesses on himself. From mercy he instilled faith in his divinity by miracles. It was just as much from mercy that he revealed the demons’ shrewdness to us and emptied their power. From mercy, he did not reject the prostitute’s touch, but approved her devotion. Thus he showed himself humble in his humanity, powerful in his miracles, strong in overcoming the demons, and gentle in taking on our sins. And all of this came forth from the fountain of mercy, all flowed forth from the depths of goodness. And therefore, in this your first coming, I will sing to you of mercy, Lord. Rightly, because the earth is full of your mercy.
[1] Aelred of Rievaulx. Homilies on the Prophetic Burdens of Isaiah. Trans. Lawrence White. CF 83. Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2018. 5-7.

Vigils Reading - St Andrew
2022-11-30
ST ANDREW’S UNIQUE ROLE AMONG THE APOSTLES
from a Sermon by St. John Henry Newman[1]
St. John the Evangelist, [introduces St Andrew in his gospel] under circumstances which show that, little as is known of this Apostle now, he was, in fact, very high in the favour and confidence of his Lord. In his twelfth chapter he describes Andrew as bringing to Christ certain Greeks who came up to Jerusalem to worship and who were desirous of seeing Him. And, what is remarkable, these strangers had first applied to St. Philip, who, though an Apostle himself, instead of taking upon him to introduce them had recourse to his fellowtownsman St. Andrew, as if, whether from age or intimacy with Christ, a more suitable channel for furthering their petition. “Philip comes, and tells Andrew; and again, Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.”

These two Apostles are also mentioned together in the sixth chapter of the same Gospel, at the consultation which preceded the miracle of the loaves and fishes; and there again Andrew is engaged, as before in the office of introducing strangers to Christ. “There is a lad here,” he says to his Lord, a lad who perhaps, had not courage to come forward of himself, “who has five barley loaves and two small fishes.”

The information afforded by these passages, of St. Andrew’s especial acceptableness to Christ among the apostles, is confirmed by the only place in the other Gospels, beside the catalogue, in which his name occurs. After our Lord had predicted the ruin of the Temple, “Peter, James, John, and Andrewasked Him privately: ‘Tell us when shall these things be?'” and it was to these four that our Saviour revealed the signs of his coming, and of the end of the world (Mk 13:3). Here St. Andrew is represented as in the especial confidence of Christ; and associated too with those Apostles whom he is known to have selected from the Twelve, on various occasions, by tokens of his peculiar Favour.

Little is known of St. Andrew in addition to these inspired notices of him. He is said to have preached the Gospel in Scythia; and he was at length martyred in Achaia. His death was by crucifixion; that kind of cross being used, according to the tradition, which still goes by his name.

Yet, little as Scripture tells us concerning him, it affords us enough for a lesson, and that an important one. These are the facts before us. St. Andrew was the first convert among the Apostles; he was especially in our Lord’s confidence; thrice is he described as introducing others to him; lastly, he is little known in history, while the place of dignity and the name of highest renown have been allotted to his brother Simon, whom he was the means of bringing to the knowledge of his Saviour.

Our lesson then is this; that those persons are not necessarily the most useful in their generation, nor the most favored by God, who make the most noise in the world, and who seem to be principals in the great changes and events recorded in history; on the contrary, that even when we are able to point to a certain number of persons as the real instruments of any great blessings vouchsafed to humankind, our relative estimate of them, one with another, is often very erroneous: so that, on the whole, if we would trace truly the hand of God in human affairs, and pursue his bounty as displayed in the world to its original sources, we must unlearn our admiration of the powerful and distinguished, our reliance on the opinion of society, our respect for the decisions of the learned or the multitude, and turn our eyes to private life, watching in all we read or witness for the true sign of God’s presence, the graces of personal holiness manifested in his elect; which, weak as they may seem to humankind, are mighty through God, and have an influence upon the course of his Providence, and bring about great events in the world at large, when the wisdom and strength of the natural man are of no avail.

[1]PAROCHIAL & PLAIN SERMONS II, London 1898, 3-4&5.

Vigils Reading
2022-11-29
Commentary on Isaiah
by Eusebius of Caesarea[1]

The kindest promise was made to the Jewish nation, and it is true that it was revealed that they would possess their own land, but now the calling in fact has been engaging the Gentiles. Therefore, in no way does he introduce the new law as parallel to the law of Moses or as another word parallel to the old, but rather as a new mountain, unseen in times past but now manifest.

The mountain of God may be understood in various ways. Like the Jewish people who read the Scriptures literally, one could assume that it is the land of Palestine. But according to the deeper meaning, according to the final word, the high and heavenly and angelic word of God and the divine apostle of the “heavenly” Zion teaches that it is “the Jerusalem above, which is the mother of us all.” This mountain was not manifest to the men of old, but the divine Spirit prophesies that it will be manifest to all nations in the last days, when Christ would “appear to put away sin.” Therefore all nations – “both Greeks and barbarians,” which indeed turn from the error of polytheism and from the literal mountains which were in ancient times thought to be dedicated to demons or to the gods – will strive after the God who is proclaimed in revelation. For this reason, as though speaking one to another, he says: Come, let us go us to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will declare to us his way, and we will walk in it. And so the Word promises to the nations that he will make the mountain and the house of God manifest in the heavens and known to all who are instructed.

The Christ could very well be this evangelical law, who relocated from the “heavenly” Zion above and set up shop in the Zion on the earth, where the death of the Savior at the hands of men and his resurrection from the dead took place. For once the mysteries and precepts of the new covenant came to power, they advanced throughout the entire world. This same law and the new preaching of the evangelical word to all nations educated those who welcomed it in what concerns the mountain and the house of God, and it taught the nations, saying: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob.

He also judged between the nations, for he convicted many a people, here exposing the former error among those who have believed in him, there convicting those who have not believed in him, who perish along with their case. Those who have received him, who were set free from every inclination for war, spend the rest of their quiet lives recovering in peace, no longer inciting hostility from opposing power nor living as subject to the demons who had mastery over them long ago. The Savior himself bestowed this “peace” to his disciples when he said: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” This means literally that, in the end, after his theophany and after the preaching of the evangelical lawto the nations, the nations were deemed worthy to partake of the deepest peace.
[1] Eusebius of Caesarea. Ancient Christian Texts: Commentary on Isaiah. Ed. Joel C. Elowsky. Trans. Jonathan J. Armstrong. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013. 11-12.

Vigils Reading
2022-11-28
The Six Aspects of Advent
A sermon by St. Bernard of Clairvaux[1]

Today, brothers, we celebrate the beginning of Advent. Its name, at least – like those of the other solemn seasons – is familiar enough and known to all the world, yet the reason behind the name is perhaps not so. Weigh well the reasoning behind this Advent – this coming.

The Son’s coming was not accomplished apart from the loftiest counsels of the Trinity, and if we consider the cause of our exile, we can perhaps note – even if only in part – how appropriate it was that the Son should set us free. That Daystar [Lucifer] who rose at dawn, was cast down and fell headlong because he tried to usurp the likeness of the Most High and thought equality with God – which belongs to the Son – something to be grasped.

You see how [Lucifer] is truly what the Lord said, a liar, and the father of lies. He was a liar when he said, I will be like the Most High, and he was the father of lies when he poured out the poison of his deceit upon human beings, telling them, You shall be like gods. You too, you human being, if you see thieves, you go along with them.

In fact, our leaders, Adam and Eve, the leading figures of our race, were disobedient and the companions of thieves; at the instigation of the serpent – or rather of the devil in the guise of a serpent – , they tried to steal what belongs to the Son of God. The Father did not ignore the insult to the Son – for the Father loves the Son – but immediately took vengeance on humanity and made his hand heavy upon us.
What should the Son do when he sees the Father zealous on his behalf and unsparing of any creature? ‘See’, he says, ‘because of me the Father is losing his creatures…on my account he has lost many of the angels and all of the human beings. Therefore, so that they may know that I love the Father, let those whom he seems somehow to have lost on my account be restored to him through me. If this storm has arisen on my account, says Jonah, pick me up and throw me into the sea!’

‘They all envied me. I am coming, and I am showing myself to be such that anyone who chooses to be envious, who aches to imitate me, may do so, and this emulation may become a good thing.’

So then, Lord, I entreat, be pleased to rescue me, for I am weak…Let Truth come so that falsehood can be exposed and that I will recognize the truth and the truth will set me free, if only I altogether renounce falsehood once exposed and cling fast to the truth once recognized.
[1] Bernard of Clairvaux. Sermons for Advent and the Christmas Season. Ed. John Leinenweber. Trans. Irene Edmonds, Wendy Mary Beckett, and Conrad Grenia, OCSO. CF 51. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications, 2007. 3-7.

Vigils Reading - 1st Sun Advent
2022-11-27
A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew
by Paschasius Radbertus[1]

Watch, 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.

I 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.

Consequently 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.

Consider 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.

[1] Journey with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press – New York – 1992 – pg 16

Skema
2022-11-27
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
1st Week of Advent

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
November 27 – December 3, 2022

Sun
27
Mon
28
Tue
29
Wed
30
Thu
1
Fri
2
Sat
3

Office
1st Sunday of Advent
Advent Weekday
Advent Weekday
St. Andrew
Advent Weekday
Advent Weekday
St Francis Xavier

Vigils
Isa 1:1-18
Isa 1:21-2:5
Isa 2:6-22
1 Cor 1:18-2:5
Isa 10:5-21
Isa 19:11-25
Isa 21:1-12

Lauds
Micah 7:14-20
Isa 6:1-7
Isa 6:8-13
Deut 30:8-14
Isa 7:10-16
Isa 5:1-7
Isa 5:15-25

Mass
1
175
176
684
178
179
180

1st
Isa 2:1-5
Isa 4:2-6
Isa 11:1-10
Rom 10:9-18
Isa 26:1-6
Isa 29:17-24
Isa 30:19-21, 23-26

2nd
Rom 13:11-14

Gospel
Matt 24:37-44
Matt 8:5-11
Luke 10:21-24
Matt 4:18-22
Matt 7:21, 24-27
Matt 9:27-31
Matt 9:35-10:1, 5a, 6-8

Vespers
Rev 22:12-21
Rom 1:1-12
Rom 1:13-17
1 Thess 2:8-13
Rom 2:12-16
Rom 2:17-24
Rom 3:21-26

Vigils Reading: Weekday
2022-11-26
A Reading from a Sermon on the Song of Songs by St Bernard[1]
This is the title: “The Beginning of the Song of Songs of Solomon.” Observe first the name of the Peacemaker, “Solomon”; that is appropriate at the beginning of a book which opens with the sign of peace, the kiss. And note, too, that only minds at peace are invited by this kind of opening to understand the Scriptures, minds which master the disturbances caused by the vices and the tumults of care within themselves.
Again, the title says not simply “Song,” but “Song of Songs.” Do not think that that is unimportant. I have read many songs in Scripture, and I do not remember any with that title. Israel sang a song to the Lord because he had escaped the sword and yoke of Pharaoh, and the twofold miracle of the Red Sea both freed and avenged him. The song he sang is not called “The Song of Songs,” but, if I remember correctly, Scripture says, “Israel sang this song to the Lord”.
Deborah sang and Judith sang, and the mother of Samuel sang, and some of the prophets sang too. And none of them is said to have called his song the “Song of Songs.” You will find, if I am not mistaken, that each sang in gratitude for himself or on behalf of his own people, for a victory, for example, for escape from danger, or for something longed-for which had been given. And so then many have sung, each for his own reason, so that they should not be found ungrateful for God’s goodness to them, as in “He gives thanks to you, O God, for blessing him” (Ps 48:19).
But King Solomon, singular in wisdom, sublime in glory, rich in possessions, secure in peace, is not known to have been in need of any benefit for whose granting he would have sung this song. Nor does Scripture itself anywhere say that he did. And so, divinely inspired, he sang the praises of Christ and the Church, of the gift of holy love and the mystery of eternal union with God. And at the same time he expressed the longing of the holy soul, its wedding song; and exulting in the Spirit, he composed a joyful song.
Yet it is in figurative language. It is not surprising that he veiled his face like Moses. It must have shone no less than Moses’ face did when he met God face to face, for in those days there was no one, or almost no one, who could bear the glory of the face of God unveiled. Therefore I think this wedding song is given its title because it is excellent, and that is why it alone is deservedly called “The Song of Songs,” just as he in whose honor it is sung is alone called “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (1 Tm 6:15).
[1]Bernard of Clairvaux, Trans. G R Evans in Classics of Western Spirituality, (Paulist Press NY, 1987) pp. 212-213.

Vigils Reading: Weekday
2022-11-25
A Reading from a Sermon on the Song of Songs, by Bernard of Clairvaux.[1]
What does [the bride] mean then by saying: “I am beautiful like the curtains of Solomon”? I feel that here we have a great and wonderful mystery, provided that we apply the words, not to the Solomon of this Song, but to him who said of himself: “What is here is greater than Solomon.” This Solomon to whom I refer is so great a Solomon that he is called not only Peaceful─which is the meaning of the word Solomon─but Peace itself; for Paul proclaims that “He is our Peace.”
The bride’s form must be understood in a spiritual sense, her beauty as something that is grasped by the intellect; it is eternal because it is an image of eternity. Her gracefulness consists of love, and you have read that “love never ends.” It consists of justice, for “her justice endures forever.” It consists of patience, and Scripture tells you “the patience of the poor shall not perish forever.” What shall I say of voluntary poverty? Of humility? To the former an eternal kingdom is promised, to the latter an eternal exaltation. To these must be added the holy fear of the Lord that endures forever and ever; prudence too, and temperance and fortitude and all the other virtues; what are they but the pearls in the jewelled raiment of the bride, shining with unceasing radiance?
How lowly! Yet how sublime! At the same time tent of Kedar and sanctuary of God; an earthly tent and a heavenly palace; a mud hut and a royal apartment; a body doomed to death and a temple bright with light; an object of contempt to the proud, yet the bride of Christ. She is black but beautiful, daughters of Jerusalem: for though the hardship and sorrow of prolonged exile darkens her complexion, a heavenly loveliness shines through it, the curtains of Solomon enhance it…Indeed you must note the prudence, the great wisdom, the amount of discretion and sense of fittingness generated in the bride by that controlled interplay of lowliness and exaltation according as occasion demands, so that amid the ups and downs of this world her sublime gifts sustain her lowliness lest she succumb to adversity; while her lowliness curbs her exaltation or good fortune will bring it toppling down. These poles of her life act so harmoniously. Though of their nature opposites they will work with equal effectiveness for the good of the bride. They subserve her spiritual welfare.
[1]Sermon 27 in On the Song of Songs II, The Works of Bernard of Clairvaux vol. 3, Cistercian Fathers Series no. 7. Kalamazoo MI 1976. pp.75-76.86.

Vigils Reading: St. Andrew & Companions--Thanksgiving
2022-11-24
The martyrs’ share in Christ’s victory,
from a letter of St Paul Le-Bao-Tinh. [1]
I, Paul, in chains for the name of Christ, wish to relate to you the trials besetting me daily, in order that you may be inflamed with love for God and join with me in his praises, “for his mercy is for ever.” The prison here is a true image of everlasting hell: to cruel tortures of every kind (shackles, iron chains, manacles) are added hatred, vengeance, calumnies, obscene speech, quarrels, evil acts, swearing, curses, as well as anguish and grief. But the God who once freed the three children from the fiery furnace is with me always; he has delivered me from these tribulations and made them sweet, “for his mercy is for ever.”
In the midst of these torments, which usually terrify others, I am, by the grace of God, full of joy and gladness, because I am not alone: Christ is with me. Our Master bears the whole weight of the cross, leaving me only the tiniest, last bit. He is not a mere onlooker in my struggle, but a contestant and the victor and champion in the whole battle. Therefore upon his head is placed the crown of victory, and his members also share in his glory.
How am I to bear with the spectacle, as each day I see emperors, mandarins, and their retinue blaspheming your holy name, O Lord, “who are enthroned above the Cherubim and Seraphim”? Behold, the pagans have trodden your cross underfoot! Where is your glory? As I see all this, I would, in the ardent love I have for you, prefer to be torn limb from limb and to die as a witness to your love. O Lord, show your power, save me, sustain me, that in my infirmity your power may be shown and may be glorified before the nations: grant that I may not grow weak along the way, and so allow your enemies to hold their heads up in pride.
Beloved brothers, as you hear all these things may you give endless thanks in joy to God, from whom every good proceeds; bless the Lord with me, “for his mercy is for ever.” “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor” on his lowly servant and from this day all generations will call me blessed, “for his mercy is for ever.”
“O praise the Lord, all you nations, acclaim him, all you peoples,” for “God chose what is weak in the world to confound the strong, God chose what is low and despised” to confound the noble. Through my mouth he has confused the philosophers who are disciples of the wise of this world, “for his mercy is for ever.” I write these things to you in order that your faith and mine may be united. In the midst of this storm I cast my anchor toward the throne of God, the anchor that is the lively hope in my heart.
Beloved brothers, for your part “so run that you may attain the crown,” put on the “breastplate of faith” and take up “the weapons” of Christ “for the right hand and for the left,” as my patron Saint Paul has taught us. “It is better for you to enter life with one eye or crippled” than, with all your members intact, to be cast away. Come to my aid with your prayers, that I may have the strength to fight according to the law, and indeed “to fight the good fight” and to fight until the end and so finish the race. We may not again see each other in this life, but we will have the happiness of seeing each other again in the world to come, when, standing at the throne of the spotless Lamb, we will together join in singing his praises and exult for ever in the joy of our triumph.
[1] Le Clerge Tonkinois et Ses Pretres Martyrs, A. Launay (Paris: Paris Foreign Mission Society, 1925), pp. 80-83.

Vigils Reading: St. Columban
2022-11-23
On Discretion. From the Rule of St. Columban for Monks.[1]
How necessary discretion is for monks is shown by the mistake of many, and indicated by the downfall of some, who beginning without discretion and passing their time without a sobering knowledge, have been unable to complete a praiseworthy life; since, just as error overtakes those who proceed without a path, so for those who live without discretion intemperance is at hand, and this is always the opposite of virtues which are placed in the mean between each extreme. Therefore we must pray God continually that He would bestow the light of true discretion to illumine this way, surrounded on every side by the world’s thickest darkness, so that His true worshippers may be able to cross this darkness without error to Himself. So discretion has got its name from discerning, for the reason that it discerns in us between good and evil, and also between the moderate and the complete. For from the beginning either class has been divided like light and darkness, that is, good and evil, after evil began through the devil’s agency to exist by the corruption of good, but through God’s agency Who first illumines and then divides.
What things then are good? Doubtless those which are untouched, and have remained in the undefiled state of their creation; which God alone created and prepared, according to the Apostle, that we should walk in them; which are the good works in which in Christ Jesus we were created, namely goodness, innocence, righteousness, justice, truth, pity, love, saving peace, spiritual joy, together with the fruit of the Spirit – all these with their fruits are good. Since this is so, the good must be firmly held by those that have God’s help, which is ever to be prayed for in prosperity and in adversity, lest either in prosperity we be lifted up to pride, or in adversity be cast down to despair. Thus we must always restrain ourselves from either danger, that is, from all excess by a splendid temperance and true discretion, which cleaves to Christian lowliness and opens the way of perfection to Christ’s true soldiers, namely by ever discerning rightly in doubtful cases.
Thus between the little and the excessive there is a reasonable measure in the midst, which ever recalls us from every superfluity on either side, and in every case provides what is universally fixed by human need, and spurns the unreasonable demand of superfluous desire. And this measure of true discretion, weighing all our actions in the scales of justice, in no way allows us to err from what is just, or to suffer a mistake, if we ever follow straight behind it as our leader. For while we must always restrain ourselves from either side, according to that saying: “Keep yourselves from the right and from the left,” we must ever proceed straight forward by discretion, that is, by the light of God, while very often we say and sing the victorious psalmist’s verse: “My God, enlighten my darkness, since in You I am rescued from temptation. For temptation is the life of humans on earth.”
[1] Sancti Columbani Opera. edited by G.S.M. Walker. The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. 1957. p.135.

Vigils Reading: St. Cecilia
2022-11-22
A reading on St. Cecilia, from a homily by Ronald Knox. 1
The legends of the early Roman saints, among whom St. Cecilia is numbered, do not always command great attention from the critically minded historian. But whether the story of St. Cecilia as it is told in her acts is all true or only partly true, there is a simplicity about the whole story and a simplicity about St. Cecilia’s character in the story which demands a retelling. Let me remind you in the most general way of her story: how she was married to a young pagan called Valerian, but persuaded him to respect her vow of virginity, because her guardian angel would make him sorry for it if he did otherwise; how Valerian wanted to see this guardian angel, but Cecilia, with her innocent craft, said he could not do that unless he was baptized first; how he was baptized, and saw the angel at her side as she prayed; how he made a convert of his brother Tiburtius, and how first the two brothers, and then Cecilia herself were punished with death for professing the Christian religion. It is an old story, and a familiar one: and while we do all homage to other great saints for their public witness to Christ, we shall always need St. Cecilia as well, quietly working at home for the conversion of her own husband and his family.
Not that St. Cecilia herself was in the position of a modern wife. Like so many Christian ladies of her time, she had taken, in imitation of our blessed Lady, a vow of perpetual virginity. These virgin martyrs were martyrs because they were virgins: it was because they insisted on keeping their vow when their parents wished them to marry that the secret of their attachment to the Christian faith was discovered; and it was their persistency in maintaining it that led to their martyrdom. It would be hard to estimate, I think, how much the unpopularity in Roman society of the Christian faith owed to its tradition of virginity. Virginity is an ideal which the pagan had no right to misunderstand. For, in theory, they, too, honored it; and it should have commended itself to their heathen instinct for sacrifice. For the point of a sacrifice is that the victim should be spotless, the best of its kind. You must offer not what you can well afford to spare, but what will cost you something. That is the pagan idea of sacrifice; and the Christian idea of sacrifice is based on the same principle. In order to give up something to God, we forgo, not the sinful pleasures which we have no right to in any case, but the lawful pleasures which he has given us to enjoy if we will. So, let St. Cecilia’s feast remind us to take our Christian vocation seriously, to follow out in our lives the words we profess with our lips. And may this Roman maiden pray for us who worship here and for those who minister to us, that when Christ, the Master she served, comes again in judgment, we may be found blameless before almighty God.
1
ASt. Cecilia@, in Occasional Sermons, ed. by Philip Caraman, SJ; New York: Sheed and Ward, 1960, pp. 6-10.

Vigils Reading: Presentation B.V.M.
2022-11-21
The Virgin Mary and the Temple, by Fr. Yves Congar[1]
The only occasion on which the Gospels expressly mention the Virgin Mary in connection with the Temple are in the account of her Purification and of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (LK 2:23-38) and the finding of the child Jesus in the Temple after four days’ absence on his part and three anxious searching by his parents (LK 2:42-50). To these very brief indications, the piety of Christians very soon added the idea of the presentation of Mary in the Temple at the age of three to be consecrated to the service of God. We are dealing here with a symbolical representation of a profound spiritual reality about which the tradition and the doctrine of the Church provide us with valid information. Mary, predestined to be the Mother of Jesus, true God and true man, and to be worthy of her vocation, was prepared by the gift of exceptional graces and lived with unfailing fidelity a most pure life of inner consecration to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As the type of all faithful souls and of the Church herself, Mary expressed spiritually and supremely in her life the “presentation” which, for each one of us, is to begin by the service of faith and to be consummated in heaven.
It is obvious that the tradition and doctrine of the Church may, without falling prey to the imaginary productions of the apocrypha, propound statements concerning the status of the Mother of God in relation either to the Jewish messianic temple going far beyond what we are explicitly told in the three short passages from the Gospel which narrate the incidents mentioned above. If Mary is the Mother of God, she has a special relation to the body of Christ which is the true temple–to his physical body and doubtless also, in a certain sense, to his body the Church. She is herself a temple of God in a quite specific and sublime way, both because Christ was within her from the moment of his conception until that of his birth, and because of the exceptional spiritual gifts she received in preparation for her divine motherhood and as a reward for her free acceptance of this vocation (LK 1:38), not only after the Annunciation but during the whole of her life. Hence the liturgy–the Oriental liturgy in particular–shows a profound understanding of the mystery of Mary when it constantly uses the texts concerning the Temple and the tabernacle in order to express it.
[1]The Mystery of the Temple,Westminster(Maryland) 1962, p.254-255.

Compline
2022-11-20 19:30 - 20:00 (America/New_York)

Vigils Reading: Christ the King
2022-11-20
A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke by St Bernard of Clairvaux 1
The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. These are the angel’s words to the Virgin concerning the son he had announced, promising that he would succeed to the kingdom of David. No one questions the origin of our Lord Jesus from the line of David, but how, I wonder, will God give him the throne of David, since Jesus never reigned in Jerusalem and would not consent to the crowds who would make him king – he even protested before Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world. Besides, what importance could be attached to his sitting on the throne of David his father when he was already seated on the cherubim, on a throne high and lifted up, as the prophet says? But we know that another Jerusalem is meant, different from the present one where David once reigned, a city much nobler and richer. God will indeed give him the throne of his father David when he has established him as king over Zion, his holy mountain – he will give him not a symbolic but a real throne, not a temporal but an eternal throne, not an earthly but a heavenly throne.
He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Again, if we take this in a temporal sense, how is it that Christ will reign for ever over something not eternal in itself? We must look, then, for a house of Jacob that is eternal, over which he will reign for ever. Are there any among us who, in accordance with the meaning of the name Jacob (supplanter), will supplant the devil in their hearts, struggle against their vices and desires, so that sin will not reign in their bodies, but Jesus only, through grace now, through glory for all eternity? Blessed are they in whom Jesus will reign for ever, for they shall reign with him, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Oh how glorious is that kingdom where kings are gathered together to give united praise and honor to the King of kings and Lord of lords, in the contemplation of whose splendor the just shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Father. Oh that Jesus, out of the love he has for his people, may remember me, a sinner, when he comes into his kingdom! Oh that he may deign to come and save me on that day when he delivers up his kingdom to his God and Father, so that I may see the joy of his chosen ones and rejoice in the gladness of his people. Then I too shall be able to praise him together with his inheritance.
And now, Lord Jesus, come and remove the stumbling blocks within the kingdom which is my soul, so that you who ought to may reign in it. Greed comes along and claims its throne in me; arrogance would dominate me; pride would be my king. Comfort and pleasure say: “We shall reign!” Ambition, detraction, envy, anger fight within me for supremacy, and seem to have me entirely in their power. But I resist insofar as I can; I struggle against them insofar as I receive your help. I protest that Jesus is my Lord. I keep myself for him since I acknowledge his rights over me. To me he is God, to me he is Lord, and I declare: I will have no king but the Lord Jesus! Come then, Lord, rout them by your power and you will reign in me, for you are my king and my God, who grant victories to Jacob.
1Journey with the Fathers – Year C – New City Press – NY – 1997 – pg 136

Skema: Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
2022-11-20
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
34th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (II)
November 20 – 26, 2022

Sun
20
Mon
21
Tue
22
Wed
23
Thu
24
Fri
25
Sat
26

Office
Christ the King
Presentation of the BVM
St Cecilia
St Columban
St Andrew & Companions
Thanksgiving
Weekday
Weekday

Vigils
Ezek 34:11-31
Song 3:1-11
Song 4:1-5:1
Song 5:2-6:3
Song 6:4-7:6
Song 7:7-8:4
Song 8:5-14

Lauds
Jerm 10:1-10
Mal 2:1-9
Mal 2:10-16
Mal 2:17-3:5
Mal 3:6-12
Mal 3:13-18
Mal 3:19-24

Mass
162
503
504
505
943.3, 944.3, 947.6
507
508

1st
2 Sam 5:1-3
Rev 14:1-3, 4b-5
Rev 14:14-19
Rev 15:1-4
Isa 63:7-9
Rev 20:1-4, 11-21:2
Rev 22:1-7

2nd
Col 1:12-20

Col 3:12-17

Gospel
Luke 23:35-43
Luke 21:1-4
Luke 21:5-11
Luke 21:12-19
Luke 17:11-19
Luke 21:29-33
Luke 21:34-36

Vespers
Eph 1:15-23
1 Cor 15:20-28
1 Cor 15:29-34
1 Cor 15:35-41
1 Cor 15:42-49
1 Cor 15:50-58
Rev 1:1-8

Vigils Reading - Memorial B.V.M.
2022-11-19
MY63
11.19.22
From a Letter by St. Athanasius, Bishop[1]
The Apostle tells us: the Word took to himself the children of Abraham, and so had to be like his brothers and sisters in all things. He had then taken a body like ours. This explains the fact of Mary’s presence: she is to provide him with a body of his own, to be offered for our sake. Scripture records her giving birth, and says: She wrapped him in swaddling clothes. Her breasts, which fed him, were called blessed. Sacrifice was offered because the child was her firstborn. Gabriel used careful and prudent language when he announced his birth. He did not speak of “what will be born in you” to avoid the impression that a body would be introduced into her womb from outside; he spoke of “what will be born from you,” so that we might know by faith that her child originated within her and from her.
By taking our nature and offering it in sacrifice, the Word was to destroy it completely and then to invest it with his own nature, and so prompt the Apostle to say: This corruptible body must put on incorruption; this mortal body must put on immortality.
This was not done in outward show only, as some have imagined. This is not so. Our Savior truly became human, and from this has followed the salvation of humanity as a whole. Our salvation is in no way fictitious, nor does it apply only to the body. The salvation of the whole person, that is, of soul and body, has really been achieved in the Word himself.
What was born of Mary was therefore human by nature, in accordance with the inspired Scriptures, and the body of the Lord was a true body: It was a true body because it was the same as ours. Mary, you see, is our sister, for we are all born from Adam.
The words of St. John: The Word was made flesh, bear the same meaning, as we can see from a similar phrase in Saint Paul: Christ was made a curse for our sake. The human body has acquired something great through its communion and union with the Word. From being mortal it has been made immortal; though it was a living body, it has become a spiritual one; though it was made from the earth it has passed through the gates of heaven.
Even when the Word takes a body from Mary, the Trinity remains a Trinity, with neither increase nor decrease. It is forever perfect. In the Trinity we acknowledge one Godhead, and thus one God, the Father of the Word, is proclaimed in the Church.
[1]Liturgy of the Hours I, St. Athanasius, Catholic Book Publ., 1975,p484
