Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey

Vigils Reading
2025-09-26
THE FRAGRANCE OF
GOD’S HEALING PRESENCE
From a meditation by William of Saint-Thierry
◊◊◊
Lord, you are pitying and merciful, patient and kind beyond all measure.
You are gracious to all, and your compassions rest on all your works. You
yourself exhort us, Lord, to pray and to watch in prayer; so does your Holy
Spirit. You exhort us and teach us to do so, out of your tenderness and pity and
your will to show us mercy. And you make out our case beforehand for us,
establishing for us judgment and justice, so that, if we pray as we should, you
may have just cause for showing mercy. And you have fixed for us even our form
of prayer, so that you, who are for us both judge and advocate, may in no respect
fail us in our cause. And you have told us to ask boldly in your name, and to
believe that we shall receive whatever we have asked, and that those things for
which we pray will come to pass.
It is your goodness, Lord, that leads you to do this; we, on the other hand,
are bound by grim necessity. And yet, in spite of all your exhortation, we are
slow to pray; in spite of your bidding we neglect to do it, and we do not believe
your promises. Nevertheless, you in your mercy and your great compassion
rouse the slothful and the negligent; your patience overlooks our lack of trust.
And further, since we neither know how to pray aright, nor have the power to do
so, you send your Holy Spirit, that he may help our weakness and intercede for
us with groanings that cannot be uttered.
We pray, therefore, because you tell us to do so; we ask with confidence,
because we have your promise; and forthwith you run to meet us and answer
our prayer, finding in us a ground for your forgiveness, because you have
yourself made us forgivable.
Loving as you are, O Lord, now you multiply your loving-kindness on us
all, and we begin to see your mercies that are over all your works. For when, O
God, instead of fleeing from us, you begin to draw near and to rejoice our spirits
with your consolation, the soul’s dead senses catch the fragrance of your healing
presence and perceive its touch, and forthwith come to life; faith leaps up and
confidence is cheered; the heart is kindled, and tears run down to fan the new-lit
fire, not to quench it.
When your Spirit helps our weakness thus, your sweetness moves us to
weep copious floods of sweet and fruitful tears; and when your loving-comfort
wipes the tears away, they flow the more profusely and become our meat by day
and night, a strong and pleasant food. For it is a happy thing for us who are your
people and the sheep of your pasture, O Lord our God, to weep before you who
are our Creator.

Vigils Reading - St Vincent de Paul
2025-09-27
ST VINCENT DE PAUL
From the writing of John P McGowan
◊◊◊
St Vincent de Paul has been proclaimed the “Universal Patron of Charity.”
If the changes which he effected in the domain of charity were so radical as to
merit him this title, then we are forced to conclude that the ideas that moved
him were equally as radical. [In this,] he has contributed much to what has been
called the devotional revolution of the Counter-Reformation—the renewed
veneration for the Incarnate Word…
When the Saint arrived in Paris in 1608, after his varied and adventurous
career, he was twenty-eight. Almost immediately, he placed himself under the
direction of Father, later Cardinal, de Bérulle, an eminent ecclesiastic to whom
all the priests of Paris who aspired to a higher degree of perfection instinctively
turned for guidance… De Bérulle maintained that God is the center about which
all religious life should turn.
Spiritual thought had for too long a time preferred to adopt the…
“reformation of self”— the planting of virtues and the uprooting of vices —as the
end of perfection. This made for preoccupation with self and led to an
exaggerated individualism. De Bérulle restored the virtue of religion to its pre-
eminent place by laying down as the cornerstone of his doctrine the principle
that the greatness and majesty of God must be recognized before everything
else, even one’s salvation…
The second principle of this doctrine is that God can only be fittingly
worshiped in the Incarnate Word. The center and bond of all is Christ, God like
the Father, and Man like ourselves, Who united heaven and earth in Himself,
and Who is Himself our Religion. Christ is the great Adorer, the great Sacrificer,
the great High Priest. [What St Vincent did for this doctrine] was reaffirm the
social implications of perfection by insisting that God must be loved in Christ
and that Christ must be loved in all people, and all people [must be loved] in
Him…
To “put on the Spirit of Christ” is in the eyes of St Vincent the primary,
sovereign and all-embracing means of realizing this end. It serves as a guiding
principle by which one can acquire the “Mind of Christ.” St Vincent sees the one
who has put on the “Spirit of Christ” as a christ who will do the work of Christ…
He never tires of teaching that Christ is the Master Whose lessons must be
learned by all who would follow Him…
[St Vincent himself says:] “Our vocation is…to go, not into one parish, or
into one province only, but through the entire earth. For what purpose? To
influence the hearts of all, to do what the Son of God has done; He, Who came to
cast fire on this earth and to overspread it with the flame of His love; what have
we to desire unless His love should burn and consume all?… It is not enough
that I love God, if my neighbor does not also love Him… I ought to love my
neighbor [in order to] cause them to love their most lovable Creator, that by a
return of love they may be inflamed with love of God, who has so loved them as
to deliver His own Son to death for their salvation. This is my obligation.”

Skema
2025-09-28
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
26th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (I)
Sept. 28 – Oct. 4, 2025

Sun
28
Mon
29
Tue
30
Wed
1
Thu
2
Fri
3
Sat
4

Office
26th Sunday
St Michael & All Angels
St Jerome
St Theresa of the Child Jesus
Weekday
Louisville Cathedral
St Francis

Vigils
Sir 33:1-18
Dan 10:4-11:1
Sir 33:19-33
Sir 34:1-20
Sir 34:21-31
2 Chron 7:1-16
Sir 35:1-14

Lauds
Zeph 3:14-20
Gen 28:10-17
Haggai 1:1-8
Hag 1:9-11
Hag 1:12-15
Ezek 43:1-7a
Hag 2:1-9

Mass
138
647
456
457
458
701.1, 706.2
460

1st
Amos 6:1a, 4-7
Rev 12:7-12a
Zech 8:20-23
Neh 2:1-8
Neh 8:1-4a, 5-6, 7b-12
1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30
Bar 4:5-12, 27-29

2nd
1 Tim 6:11-16

Gospel
Luke 16:19-31
John 1:47-51
Luke 9:51-56
Luke 9:57-62
Luke 10:1-12
Luke 19:1-10
Luke 10:17-24

Vespers
1 Tim 6:3-10
Heb 1:5-14
1 Tim 6:11-16
1 Tim 6:17-21
2 Tim 1:1-8
Rev 21:1-5
2 Tim 1:9-14

Vigils Reading - 26th Sunday
2025-09-28
THE HOSPITALITY OF ABRAHAM
From a commentary by St John Chrysostom
◊◊◊
It is worthwhile inquiring why the rich man saw Lazarus in Abraham’s
arms, and not in the company of some other righteous person. The reason is
that Abraham was hospitable, and so the sight of Lazarus with Abraham was
meant to reproach the rich man for his own in hospitality. Abraham used to
pursue even passers-by and drag them into his home, whereas the rich man
disregarded someone lying in his own doorway. Although he had within his
grasp so great a treasure, such an opportunity to win salvation, he ignored the
poor man day after day. He could have helped him but he failed to do so.
The patriarch was not like that but just the opposite. He would sit in his
doorway and catch all who passed by. And just as a fisherman casting a net into
the sea hauls up fish, yes, but also quite often gold and pearls, so Abraham while
catching people in his net finished by catching angels, though strangely enough
without knowing it.
Even Paul marvels at this and gives the advice: Remember to welcome
strangers into your homes, for some by doing so have entertained angels
without knowing it. And he did well to say without knowing it, for if Abraham
had welcomed his guests with such kindness because he knew who they were he
would have done nothing remarkable. He is praiseworthy only because, without
knowing who the passers-by were and taking them to be simply human
wayfarers, he yet invited them in with such good will.
And this is true of you also. If you show much eagerness in welcoming
some famous and distinguished person you do nothing remarkable; often the
high rank of a guest compels even a reluctant host to show every sign of
courtesy. But we do something truly great and admirable when we give a most
courteous welcome to all, even the outcasts of society or people of humble
condition. Hence Christ himself praised those who so acted, declaring:
Whatever you did for one of these very poor people you did to me. He also said:
It is not your Father’s will that one of these little ones should perish. Indeed
throughout the gospel Christ speaks a great deal about the little people and
those of the humblest condition.
And so Abraham also, knowing this, did not ask who travelers were or
where they come from, as we do today, but simply welcomed them all. Anyone
wishing to show kindness should not inquire into other people’s lives, but has
only to alleviate their poverty and supply their needs, as Christ commanded
when he said: Imitate your Father in heaven, who makes his sun to rise on good
and bad alike, and sends rain on the just and unjust.

Vigils Reading - St Michael & All Angels
2025-09-29
THE MESSENGERS OF GOD
From the writing of St Gregory the Great
◊◊◊
You should be aware that the word “angel” denotes a function rather than
a nature. Those holy spirits of heaven have indeed always been spirits. They can
only be called angels when they deliver some message. Moreover those who
deliver messages of lesser importance are called angels; and those who proclaim
messages of supreme importance are called archangels.
And so it was that not merely an angel but the archangel Gabriel was sent
to the Virgin Mary. It was only fitting that the highest angel should come to
announce the greatest of messages.
Some angels are given proper names to denote the service they are
empowered to perform. In that holy city where perfect knowledge flows from
the vision of Almighty God, those who have no names may easily be known. But
personal names are assigned to some, not because they would not be known
without them, but rather to denote their ministry when they come among us.
Thus Michael means “Who is like God?”; Gabriel is “The Strength of God”; and
Raphael is “God’s Remedy”.
Whenever some act of wondrous power must be performed, Michael is
sent, so that his action and his name may make it clear that no one can do what
God does by his superior power. So also our ancient foe desired in his pride to be
like God, saying: I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the
stars of heaven; I will be like the Most High. He will be allowed to remain in
power until the end of the world when he will be destroyed in the final
punishment. Then he will fight with the archangel Michael, as we are told by
John: A battle was fought with Michael the archangel.
So too Gabriel, who is called God’s strength, was sent to Mary. He came to
announce the One who appeared as a humble man to quell the cosmic powers.
Thus God’s strength announced the coming of the Lord of the heavenly powers,
mighty in battle.
Raphael means…God’s remedy, for when he touched Tobit’s eyes in order
to cure him, he banished the darkness of his blindness. Thus since he is to heal,
he is rightly called God’s remedy.

Vigils Reading - St Jerome
2025-09-30
A LETTER FROM ST JEROME
TO ST EUSTOCHIUM
◊◊◊
When the inner man has begun to waver a little between vices and virtues,
say: Why art thou sad, O my soul? And why dost thou trouble me? Hope in
God, for I will give praise to Him: the salvation of my countenance, and my
God. I would not have you permit such a thought to arise. Let nothing that is of
Babylon, nothing of confusion, grow up within you. While the enemy is small,
destroy him. Let wickedness be nipped in the bud.
How often, when I was established in the desert and in that vast solitude
which is scorched by the sun’s heat and affords a savage habitation for monks,
did I think myself amid the delights of Rome! I would sit alone because I was
filled with bitterness. My limbs were roughly clad in sackcloth – an unlovely
sight. My neglected skin had taken on the appearance of an Ethiopian’s body.
Daily I wept, daily I groaned, and whenever insistent slumber overcame
my resistance, I bruised my awkward bones upon the bare earth. Of food and
drink I say nothing, since even the sick drink only cold water, and to get any
cooked food is a luxury. There was I, therefore, who from fear of hell had
condemned myself to such a prison, with only scorpions and wild beasts as
companions. Yet I was often surrounded by dancing girls. My face was pale
from fasting, and my mind was hot with desire in a body cold as ice. Though my
flesh, before its tenant, was already as good as dead, the fires of passions kept
boiling within me.
And so, destitute of all help, I used to lie at Jesus’ feet. I bathed them with
my tears, I wiped them with my hair. When my flesh rebelled, I subdued it by
weeks of fasting. I do not blush at my hapless state; nay rather, I lament that I
am not now what I was then. I remember that I often joined day to night with
my lamentation and did not cease beating my breast until peace of mind
returned with the Lord’s rebuke. I was afraid even of my little cell – as though it
were conscious of my thoughts. Angry at myself and tense, I used to go out
alone into the desert. Whenever I saw some deep valley, some rugged
mountain, some precipitous crags, it was this I made my place of prayer, my
place of punishment for the wretched flesh. And – as my Lord Himself is
witness – after many tears, after fixing my eyes on the heaven, I sometimes
seemed to myself to be surrounded by companies of angels and rejoiced, singing
happily: We run after thee to the odor of thy ointments.

Vigils Reading - St Theresa of the Child Jesus
2025-10-01
THE CHILD DESTINED
TO BE A SAINT
From “The Hidden Face: A Life of Thérèse of Lisieux” by Ida Goerres
◊◊◊
To what extent little Thérèse had, in the depths of her self, really
renounced her beloved sister…is revealed clearly enough by her own description
of the agonies suffered in the visiting room at the Carmel… Thérèse resigned
herself to her sister’s abandonment…but in the dark, speechless abysses of the
blood all the forces of nature rebelled, immoderately and irreconcilably, against
this deprivation…
The demonic influence…should be perceived in the uncanny struggle that
must have gone on in the unconscious depths of her soul… A crisis which
produces a state of confusion and agitation in body and soul, which attacks
simultaneously a person’s alertness, confidence, presence of mind and powers
of resistance, can at the same time…also mean a grave temptation, a diabolical
invitation to discouragement in the face of life. It can lead to stifling inhibitions,
to erroneous interpretations of the self, to lifelong hypochondria about one’s
“weak” sides — all attitudes which may later on hinder radical, heroic
commitment… She was terrified by the incomprehensible forces that
overwhelmed her.
Nevertheless, we believe that a decision must have taken place deep
within her when, in the midst of her direst distress, the saving grace of the vision
of Mary shone upon her. We believe that at this point Thérèse was confronted
with a temptation, for all that it was hidden in the unplumbed depths of her
soul. For here she was confronted with alternatives, and the second of these was
the perilous one. She could accept the offered comfort, the new support and
protection. That is, she could abandon her wild despair over what she had lost,
could really carry out the unendurable renunciation within the core of her ego,
could release the hand of Pauline and reach across the irrevocable gulf for the
hand of the Blessed Virgin. Or…she could cling to her despair, could hold tight
to her neurosis, could maintain her protest…
Such decisions take place not by deliberate processes of thought, but far
below such strata of thoughts and words, by a lightning-like opening or closing
at the core of our being.
Precisely here we see the child destined to be a saint: not that the miracle
happened to her, but that she obeyed it. She did ‘the right thing’…in simple
obedience… She was beyond all human aid and almost insane with fear because
her state of abandonment was so incomprehensible to her. And yet, through all
this, her submissive heart clung, uncomprehendingly and tormentedly, but
prayerfully and trustfully, to God.
In this case, too, she learned the lesson that was later to be enunciated
again and again in her spiritual message to the world: that grace can do
anything, that grace offered, vouchsafed out of pure mercy, not to be won by any
degree of struggle; that acceptance of and dependence upon this grace is man’s
crucial ‘act’ which will save him gloriously when all toil and effort, all exercise of
will in renunciation, cannot help him to overcome his innate nature. To be sure,
she did not yet unconsciously know this, would not know it for a long time to
come. But she had experienced it; this lesson had entered her very being and
could no longer be expunged.

Vigils Reading
2025-10-02
BEING PLACED INSIDE
GOD’S GRANDEUR
By St Teresa of Avila
◊◊◊
You must have already heard about God’s marvels manifested in the way
silk originates. The silkworms come from seeds about the size of little grains of
pepper… When the warm weather comes and the leaves begin to appear on the
mulberry tree, the seeds start to live, for they are dead until then. The worms
nourish themselves on the mulberry leaves until, having grown to full size, they
settle on some twigs. There with their little mouths they themselves go about
spinning the silk and making some very thick little cocoons in which they
enclose themselves. The silkworm, which is fat and ugly, then dies, and a little
white butterfly, which is very pretty, comes forth from the cocoon.
Now if this were not seen but recounted to us as having happened in other
times, who would believe it? Or what reasoning could make us conclude that a
thing as nonrational as a worm or bee could be so diligent in working for our
benefit and with so much industriousness? And the poor little worm loses its life
in the challenge. Well, once this silkworm is grown, it begins to spin the silk and
build the house wherein it will die. I would like to point out here that this house
is Christ.
Therefore, courage! Let’s be quick to do this work and weave this little
cocoon by taking away our self-love and self-will, our attachment to any earthly
thing, and by performing deeds of penance, prayer, mortification, obedience,
and of all the other things you know. Would to heaven that we would do what we
know we must; and we are instructed about what we must do. Let it die; let this
silkworm die, as it does in completing what it was created to do! And you will see
how we see God, as well as ourselves placed inside God’s grandeur, as is this
little silkworm within its cocoon.
Oh, now, to see the restlessness of this little butterfly, even though it has
never been quieter and calmer in its life, is something to praise God for! And the
difficulty is that it doesn’t know where to alight and rest. Since it has
experienced such wonderful rest, all that is sees on earth displaces it, especially
if God gives it this wine often. Almost each time it gains new treasures. It no
longer has any esteem for the works it did while a worm, which was to weave the
cocoon little by little; it now has wings. How can it be happy walking step by step
when it can fly?

Vigils Reading - Louisville Cathedral
2025-10-03
ON THE DEDICATION OF A CHURCH
By St Bernard of Clairvaux
◊◊◊
Today we celebrate another glorious feast: it is the feast of the Lord’s
house, of God’s temple, of the city of the eternal King, of Christ’s bride. Let us
ask ourselves what this house of God, this temple, this city, and this bride can
be. With awe and reverence I say: It is we ourselves. I say it is we ourselves, but
in the heart of God; it is we ourselves, but by his grace and not by any merits of
our own. We humans must beware of appropriating what belongs to God, of
taking the glory to ourselves; otherwise, if we exalt ourselves, he will humble us
and bring us down to our proper level.
On the other hand, a humble acknowledgment of our maladies will arouse
his compassion. Indeed, this is enough to make God feed us in our hunger like a
well-to-do father. So, under his protection we shall have bread in abundance
and thus become his house in which life-giving food is never lacking.
Bear in mind also that he describes his house as a house of prayer, and
that holiness befits this house; then the purity of self-restraint will accompany
the tears of repentance, and what is already God’s house will become his temple
as well. Be holy, says the Lord, because I am holy. And the Apostle says: Do you
not realize that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and the Holy
Spirit dwells in you?
But is even holiness enough? According to the Apostle, peace too is
necessary, for he says: Strive to be at peace with everyone, and to achieve the
holiness without which no one can see God. It is peace that makes brothers
dwell together in unity and builds for our king, the true king of peace, a new city
also called Jerusalem, which means “vision of peace.”
But how can so great a king become a bridegroom, and a city a bride? This
is possible to love alone, which is as strong as death, and can do anything. Can it
not easily lift her up, when it has already brought him down?
And so, if the abundance of our food shows us to be the house of a great
Father, if holiness shows us to be God’s temple, if the sharing of a common life
shows us to be the city of the great king, and if love shows us to be the bride of
the immortal bridegroom, then we can surely say without hesitation that today’s
feast is our feast. Nor should you be surprised that such a feast is celebrated here
on earth; it is, after all, being celebrated in heaven too! For if as Truth says, so it
must be true, there is joy in heaven and even among God’s angels over a single
sinner repenting, then the joy there today must be many times greater at so
many sinners repenting. Let us then share the rejoicing of the angels, let us
share the joy of God, and let us keep today’s feast with thanksgiving, for the fact
that it is our own should make us all the more willing to celebrate it.

Vigils Reading - St Francis
2025-10-04
ST FRANCIS AND THE PEASANT
From “The Little Flowers of St Francis”
◊◊◊
The next morning, as his companions knew that…St Francis was too weak
to be able to continue the journey on foot, they went up to a poor local peasant
and asked him, for the love of God to lend his donkey for their Father, Brother
Francis, who could not travel on foot. Hearing Brother Francis mentioned, the
man asked them: “Are you the friars of that Brother Francis of Assisi about
whom people say so much good?”
The friars answered, “Yes,” and that it was really for him that they were
asking for the donkey.
Then with great devotion and care this good man saddled the donkey and
led it to St Francis, and with great reverence helped him get into the saddle.
Then they continued their journey, the peasant walking with them behind
his donkey. And after they had gone awhile, he said to St Francis: “tell me, are
you Brother Francis of Assisi?”
St Francis answered that he was.
“Well then,” said the peasant, “try to be as good as everyone thinks you
are, because many people have great faith in you, so I urge you: never let there
be anything in you different from what they expect of you.”
When St Francis heard these words, he did not mind being admonished
by a peasant, and he did not say to himself, as many proud fellows who wear the
cowl nowadays would say, “Who is this brute who admonishes me?” But he15
immediately got off the donkey and threw himself on his knees before the
farmer and humbly kissed his feet, thanking him for having deigned to
admonish him so charitably.
Then his companions and the peasant very devoutly helped him to his feet
and sat him on the donkey again. And they traveled on.
And when they had climbed about halfway up the mountain, because the
summer heat was very great and the path was long and steep, the peasant began
to suffer intensely from thirst, and he called ahead to St Francis: “I am dying of
thirst. If I don’t have something to drink, I’ll suffocate in a minute!”
So St Francis immediately got off the donkey and began to pray. And he
remained kneeling on the ground, raising his hands toward heaven, until he
knew by revelation that God had granted his prayer. Then he said to the
peasant, “run quickly to that rock, and their you’ll find running water which
Christ in his mercy has just caused to flow from the rock.”
The man ran to the place which St Francis had shown him, and found a
very fine spring that had been made to flow through the hard rock by the power
of St Francis’ prayer. And he drank all he wanted and felt better.

Skema
2025-10-05
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
27th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (I)
October 5 – 11, 2025

Sun
5
Mon
6
Tue
7
Wed
8
Thu
9
Fri
10
Sat
11

Office
27th Sunday
St Bruno
Our Lady of the Rosary
Office for the Dead
Weekday
Weekday
St John XXIII

Vigils
Sir 35:15-26
Sir 36:1-22
Judith 15:8-16:2, 11-16
Sir 36:23-31
Sir 37:1-15
Sir 37:16-31
Sir 38:1-23

Lauds
Hag 2:10-14
Hag 2:15-19
Sir 39:12-22
Hag 2:20-23
Zechariah 1:1-6
Zech 1:7-13
Zech 1:14-17

Mass
141
461
462
463
464
465
466

1st
Habb 1:2-3; 2:2-4
Jonah 1:1-2:2, 11
Jonah 3:1-10
Jonah 4:1-11
Mal 3:13-20b
Joel 1:13-15; 2:1-2
Joel 4:12-21

2nd
2 Tim 1:6-8, 13-14

Gospel
Luke 17:5-10
Luke 10:25-37
Luke 10:38-42
Luke 11:1-4
Luke 11:5-13
Luke 11:15-26
Luke 11:27-28

Vespers
2 Tim 2:1-7
2 Tim 2:8-13
Acts 1:12-14
2 Tim 2:14-19
2 Tim 2:20-26
2 Tim 3:1-9
2 Tim 3:10-17

Vigils Reading - 27th Sunday
2025-10-05
WATCH AND PRAY
From a commentary by St Augustine
◊◊◊
Reading the holy gospel nourishes in us the habit of prayer, builds up our
faith, and disposes us to trust in the Lord rather than in ourselves. What more
powerful motive to prayer could be proposed to us than the parable of the unjust
judge? An unprincipled man, without fear of God or regard for other people,
that judge nevertheless ended by granting the widow’s petition. No kindly
sentiment moved him to do so; he was rather worn down by her pestering. Now
if a man can grant a request even when it is odious to him to be asked, how can
we be refused by the one who urges us to ask?
Having persuaded us, therefore, by a comparison of opposites that we
ought always to pray and never lose heart, the Lord goes on to put the
question: Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, do you think he will find
faith on earth? Where there is no faith, there is no prayer. Who would pray for
something he did not believe in? So when the blessed apostle exhorts us to pray
he begins by declaring: Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved;
but to show that faith is the source of prayer and the stream will not flow if its
springs are dried up, he continues: But can people call upon him in whom they
do not believe?
We must believe, then, in order to pray; and we must ask God that the
faith enabling us to pray may not fail. Faith gives rise to prayer, and this prayer
obtains an increase of faith. Faith, I say, gives rise to prayer, and is in turn
strengthened by prayer. It was to guard against their faith failing in times of
temptation that the Lord told his disciples: Watch and pray that you may not
enter into temptation…
What does it mean to enter into temptation? It means to turn one’s back
on faith. Temptation grows stronger in proportion as faith weakens, and
becomes weaker in proportion as faith grows strong. To convince you, beloved,
that he was speaking of the weakening and loss of faith when he told his
disciples to watch and pray that they might not enter into temptation, the Lord
said in this same passage of the gospel: This night Satan has demanded to sift
you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail.
Is the protector to pray, while the person in danger has no need to do so?
But in asking whether the Son of Man would find faith on earth at his
coming, the Lord was speaking of perfect faith. That kind of faith is indeed
hardly to be found on earth. Look at God’s Church: it is full of people. Who
would come here if faith were non-existent? But who would not move
mountains if that faith were present in full measure? Mark the apostles: they
would never have left everything they possessed and spurned worldly ambition
to follow the Lord unless their faith had been great; and yet that faith of theirs
could not have been perfect, otherwise they would not have asked the Lord to
increase it.

Vigils Reading - St Bruno
2025-10-06
ST BRUNO
FOUNDER OF THE CARTHUSIANS
From Butler’s Lives of the Saints
◊◊◊
Bruno came of a good family and was born at Cologne about the year
1020. While still young he left home to finish his education at the cathedral
school of Rheims… In 1056 he was invited to return to his school as professor of
grammar and theology. He taught in the school of Rheims for eighteen years…
However Bruno had decided to abandon the active…life precisely at a
time when the church of Rheims was ready to choose him as archbishop.
He…renounced whatever held him in the world, and persuaded some of his
friends to accompany him into solitude. They first put themselves under the
direction of St Robert, abbot of Molesmes (who afterwards founded Citeaux),
and lived in a hermitage at Seche-Fontaine near by. In this solitude Bruno and
his companions deliberated what it was best for them to do. He decided to apply
to St Hugh, bishop of Grenoble…
St Bruno and his six companions arrived at Grenoble about midsummer
in 1084, and begged from St Hugh some place where they might serve God,
remote from worldly affairs… Hugh…assigned them to the desert of Chartreuse,
promising his utmost assistance to establish them there. Bruno and his
companions immediately built an oratory there, and small cells at a little
distance from the other, like the ancient lauras of Palestine. Such was the origin
of the order of the Carthusians, which took its name from this desert of
Chartreuse…
St Hugh became so great an admirer of Bruno that he took him for his
spiritual father and often went from Grenoble to the Chartreuse to enjoy his
conversation and improve himself by his advice and example. But his fame went
beyond Grenoble and reached the ears of Eudes de Chatillon, his former pupil
and now Pope Urban II… The Pope sent him an order to come to Rome that he
might assist him by his counsels in the governance of the Church. Bruno could
scarcely have met with a more severe trial of his obedience or made a greater
sacrifice. Nevertheless he set out in 1090…
Bruno…had permission to occupy a hermitage among the ruins of the
baths of Diocletian, where he would be close at hand when required by the pope.
Soon Pope Urban pressed him to accept the archbishopric of Reggio in Calabria,
but Bruno excused himself with great earnestness, and redoubled his requests
to live in solitude. Urban consented at length that he might retire to a wilderness
in Calabria where he would be at hand…
In 1099 Landuin, whom Bruno had appointed as Prior of the Chartreuse,
went to Calabria to consult Bruno about the form of living which he had
instituted, for the monks were desirous not to depart from the spirit and rule of
their master. Bruno wrote them a letter full of tender charity and the spirit of
God. In it he instructed them in all practices of solitary life, solved the
difficulties which they proposed to him, comforted them in their troubles, and
encouraged them in perseverance.
His last sickness came upon him towards the end of September 1101… He
resigned his soul to God on Sunday, October 6, 1101. St Bruno has never been
formally canonized, the Carthusians being averse to all occasions of publicity.
But in 1514 they obtained permission from Pope Leo X to keep his feast, and in
1674 Clement X extended it to the whole western Church.

Vigils Reading - Our Lady of the Rosary
2025-10-07
THE PRAYER OF MARY
From the Apostolic Letter of Pope John Paul II on the rosary
◊◊◊
The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, which gradually took form in the second
millenium under the guidance of the Spirit of God… still remains, at the dawn of
this third millenium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a
harvest of holiness. It…has lost none of the freshness of its beginnings and feels
drawn by the Spirit of God to set out into the deep…in order once more to
proclaim, and even to cry out, before the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and
Savior, the way, and the truth and the life, the goal of human history and the
point on which the desires of history and civilization turn.
The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a
Christocentric prayer. In the sobriety of its elements, it has all the depth of the
Gospel message in its entirety, of which it can be said to be a compendium. It is
an echo of the prayer of Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the
redemptive Incarnation that began in her virginal womb. With the Rosary, the
Christian people sit at the school of Mary and are led to contemplate the beauty
of the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love. Through the Rosary
the faithful receive abundant grace, as though from the very hands of the
mother of the Redeemer…
The contemplation of Christ has an incomparable model in Mary. In a
unique way, the face of the Son belongs to Mary. It was in her womb that Christ
was formed, receiving from her a human resemblance that points to an even
greater spiritual closeness. No one has ever devoted themselves to the
contemplation of the face of Christ as faithfully as Mary. The eyes of her heart
already turned to Him at the Annunciation, when she conceived him by the
power of the Holy Spirit.
Mary lived with her eyes fixed on Christ, treasuring His every word: She
kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. The memories of Jesus…were
always with her, leading her to reflect on the various moments of her life at her
Son’s side. In a way those memories were to be the rosary that she recited
uninterruptedly throughout her earthly life.
Even now, amid the joyful songs of the heavenly Jerusalem, the reasons
for her thanksgiving and praise remain unchanged. They inspire her maternal
concern for the pilgrim Church, in which she continues to relate her personal
account of the Gospel. Mary constantly sets before the faithful the mysteries of
her Son, with the desire that the contemplation of those mysteries will release
all their saving power. In the recitation of the Rosary, the Christian community
enters into contact with the memories and the contemplative gaze of Mary.

Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
2025-10-08
THE NEWNESS OF LIFE
From “The Mystery of Time” by Fr Jean Mouroux
◊◊◊
Christ died to deliver us from the condemnation to eternal death and from
the fear which enslaves the sinner. He has conquered death, the child of sin,
because he has conquered sin itself. He has undergone death to destroy it. He
has overcome this radical contradiction by elevating us to a participation in his
risen life, in “life eternal.” Death has not yet been completely eradicated, but it
has been completely transformed. Christ has delivered us all to the Cross
because He, the Head of mankind, the Center of the redeemed universe, the
Savior, “bore us all in Himself” during his sacrifice. Thus “if one died for all, then
all were dead”, and all are saved from the satanical power of death. It is love, not
damnation, which envelops us and restores us to God. It envelops us as
individuals; as members of the human race; and as members of the Church…
It’s infinite blessing affects our personal life at baptism, where with Christ
we “are dead to sin, but alive to God”. The power of the Risen Christ dwells in us
that “we may walk in the newness of life,” that each day we may cast sin farther
away and crown our lives with the divine agape. The life of Christians in time is
a paradoxical one. They are dead to sin, yet must die to it each day; they live in
God, and must live for him each day; they are the battleground of an
eschatological struggle in which Christ the Conqueror faces the vanquished
devil, that he may triumph once again in the freedom of a regenerated heart. By
immersing himself ever more deeply into baptism and Christ, the Christian
grows with Christ and brings about his victory even in death.
Insofar as he lives in Christ, the Christian is totally enveloped by Christ
both before and after death. Before death, Christ is the life-giving, saving Lord.
After death, he calls, judges, purifies, and transfigures the life he has given. Here
below, he communicates the seed of immortality, especially in the Eucharist. Up
above, He will be the source of glory which will transform our soul and our body.
The Eternal One is present before and after death. So at our death Christ is
present as the Savior who protects Christians from the last assault of the evil
one, revives their flagging spirits, and leads them from the time of testing to
their eternal reward.
Christ is the Mediator through whom and in whom every Christian
experiences death. Externally, death still seems to be a terrible process of
annihilation. But internally it is the mysterious maturation of the new creature
in Jesus Christ. “This is the will of my Father who sent me: that every one who
sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise them on
the last day”. “I am the bread of life. This is the bread that came down from
heaven so that one may eat it and not die”.

Vigils Reading
2025-10-09
A COMMUNITY OF PARDON
From “Seasons of Celebration” by Thomas Merton
◊◊◊
Let us remember especially that the Church is a community of pardon. All
who have entered the common life of the body of Christ have done so by the way
of pardon. And they remain in the Body of Christ only through pardon, through
the mystery of Christ: not only of Christ, as Head, but also of Christ in His
members.
The mercy and pardon of Christ must be continually at work in all the
members and through all the members of the Mystical Body. This is what makes
the Church truly a Mother: she gives life by gentleness, understanding, love and
pardon. She forgives sins, that is to say she heals separations. Sin is separation
from God, and from those who love God. Sin is a cutting off from life. It is a
spiritual death and pardon is the restoration of life.
The Spirit by which the Church lives is the Spirit of love, of unity. Unity
can be preserved or restored only by understanding, acceptance and pardon.
The Church is a body of people who know they are forgiven and who forgive
repeatedly because they are themselves forgiven repeatedly.
The Church is then not so much a body of people who are pure and never
offend, but of those who, in their weakness and frailty, frequently err and
offend, but who have received from God the power to forgive one another in His
name. They possess the Holy Spirit and they can give the Holy Spirit in some
sense, to one another. The Holy Spirit Himself moves them to do this, and acts
in them, to save others.
We, then, who form one body in Christ, share with one another the
message of Christ’s divine truth, we share His word, we share His worship, we
share His love, we share His Spirit.
In building a community of pardon which is the temple of God, we have to
recognize that no one of us is complete, self-sufficient, perfectly holy in himself.
No one can rest in one’s own virtues and interior life. We do not live for
ourselves alone. To live for oneself alone is to die. We grow and flourish in our
own lives in so far as we live for others and through others. What we ourselves
lack God has given them. They must complete us where we are deficient.
Often the good that is given us by God is given us only to be shared with
another. If God sees that we will not pardon and will not be open, that we will
not share, then the good is not given us. But to the one in whom there is the
greatest readiness to share with all, most is given. The greatest of gifts then is
this openness, this love, this readiness to accept and to pardon and to share with
others, in the Spirit of Christ. If we are open we will not only offer pardon, but
will not disdain to seek it and recognize our own desperate need of it.

Vigils Reading
2025-10-10
ONE IN CHRIST
From a sermon by St Leo the Great
◊◊◊
I rejoice, dearly beloved, in the pious affection of your devotion, and I give
thanks to God that I see in you the love of Christian unity. For your very
presence here testifies that you understand that the annual return of this day is
a matter for common rejoicing; and that in celebrating the annual festival of the
Shepherd, you are honouring the whole flock.
For though the universal Church is ordered in varying degrees, so the
whole is made up from the diverse members of the sanctified Body, we are all, n
evertheless, as the Apostle says, one in Christ; and no one is separated by office
from another, so that even the least among us is related to the head.
Therefore, Beloved, in its unity of faith and baptism, our society is
undivided, and its dignity is the dignity of all its members; according to the
words of the blessed Peter, spoken by his own consecrated voice: Be you as
living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And a little later: You are a
chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people.
For all who are born again in Christ, the sign of the Cross makes kings,
and the anointing of the Holy Spirit consecrates priests; so that apart from the
special service of our ministry, let all spiritual and reasoning Christians know
that they are of royal birth, and sharers of the priestly office.
For what is so kingly as the soul that is subject to God, and the ruler of its
own body? And what is so priestly as to dedicate to the Lord a pure conscience,
and to offer him on the altar of our hearts the unstained gift of our love? And
since by God’s grace this has been given to us all, it is for you a devout and
praiseworthy thing to rejoice on the day of our coronation as though the honour
were your own.

Vigils Reading - St Pope John XXIII
2025-10-11
THE SPIRITUAL TESTAMENT
AND LAST WISHES
of St Pope John XXIII
◊◊◊
On the point of presenting myself before the One and Triune Lord who
created me, redeemed me, chose me to be his priest and bishop, and covered me
with unending graces, I entrust my poor soul to His mercy; I humbly ask pardon
for my sins and deficiencies. I offer Him the little good, although petty and
imperfect, that with His aid I have succeeded in doing, for His glory, for the
service of Holy Church, for the edification of my brethren, begging Him finally
to receive me, like a good and kind Father, with His Saints into eternal
happiness.
I profess once again with all my heart my entire Christian and Catholic
faith, my adherence and subjection to the Holy Apostolic and Roman Church,
and my complete devotion and obedience to her August Head, the Supreme
Pontiff, whom it was my great honor to represent for long years in various
regions of the East and West, who at the end chose me to come to Venice as
Cardinal and Patriarch, and whom I have always followed with sincere
affection, aside from and above any dignity conferred upon me.
The sense of my own littleness and nothingness has always been my good
companion, keeping me humble and calm, and making me employ myself to the
best of my ability in a constant exercise of obedience and charity for souls and
for the interests of the Kingdom of Jesus, my Lord and my all. To Him be all
glory; for me and for my merit, His mercy.
7The Encyclicals and Other Messages of John XXIII – TPS Press – Washington DC – 1964 – pg 465.15
I ask pardon of those whom I have unwittingly offended, of all to whom I
have not been a source of edification. I feel that I have nothing to forgive anyone,
for all who have known and dealt with me – including those who have offended
me, scorned me, held me in bad esteem (with good reason, for that matter), or
have been a source of affliction for me – I regard solely as brothers and
benefactors, to whom I am grateful and for whom I pray and always will pray.
Born poor, but of honorable and humble people, I am particularly happy
to die poor, having given away, in accord with the various demands and
circumstances of my simple and modest life, for the benefit of the poor and of
Holy Church that had nurtured me, all that came into my hands – which was
little enough as a matter of fact – during the years of my priesthood and
episcopacy. Outward appearances of ease and comfort often veiled hidden
thorns of distressing poverty and kept me from giving with all the largess I
would have liked. I thank God for this grace of poverty which I vowed in my
youth, poverty of spirit as a priest of the Sacred Heart, and real poverty…
As I face death, I recall each and every one – those who preceded me in
taking the final step, those who will survive me and who will follow me. May
they pray for me. I will repay them from Purgatory or from Paradise, where I
hope to be received. I repeat it once again, not because of my merits, but because
of the mercy of the Lord. At the moment for saying farewell, or better still,
arrivederci, I once more remind everyone of what counts most in life: blessed
Jesus Christ, His Holy Church, His Gospel; and in the Gospel, above all, the
Pater noster in the spirit and heart of Jesus and the Gospel, the truth and
goodness, the goodness meek and kind, active and patient, victorious and
unbowed.

Skema
2025-10-12
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
28th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (I)
October 12 – 18, 2025

Sun
12
Mon
13
Tue
14
Wed
15
Thu
16
Fri
17
Sat
18

Office
28th Sunday
Weekday
Weekday
St Teresa of Avila
St Hedwig
St Ignatius of Antioch
St Luke

Vigils
Sir 38:24-34
Sir 39:1-16
Sir 39:17-35
Sir 40:1-17
Sir 40:18-30
Sir 41:1-13
Ezek 1:1-14

Lauds
Zech 2:1-9
Zech 2:10-17
Zech 3:1-7
Zech 3:8-4:5
Zech 4:6-10a
Zech 4:10b-5:4
Isa 52:7-10

Mass
144
467
468
469
470
471
661

1st
2 Kgs 5:14-17
Rom 1:1-7
Rom 1:16-25
Rom 2:1-11
Rom 3:21-30
Rom 4:1-8
2 Tim 4:10-17b

2nd
2 Tim 2:8-13

Gospel
Luke 17:11-19
Luke 11:29-32
Luke 11:37-41
Luke 11:42-46
Luke 11:47-54
Luke 12:1-7
Luke 10:1-9

Vespers
2 Tim 4:1-8
2 Tim 4:9-22
Titus 1:1-9
Titus 1:10-16
Titus 2:11-15
Titus 3:1-8a
Titus 3:8b-15

Vigils Reading - 28th Sunday
2025-10-12
THE CRY OF THE HEART
From a commentary by Bruno of Segni
◊◊◊
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus passed through the border between
Samaria and Galilee, and when he entered one of the villages ten lepers came to
meet him. What do these ten lepers stand for if not the sum total of all sinners?
When Christ the Lord came not all men and women were leprous in body, but in
soul they were, and to have a soul full of leprosy is much worse than to have a
leprous body.
But let us see what happened next. Standing a long way off they called out
to him: “Jesus, Master. Take pity on us.” They stood a long way off because no
one in their condition dared come too close. We stand a long way off too while
we continue in sin. To be restored to health and cured of the leprosy of sin, we
also must cry out: “Jesus, Master, take pity on us.” That cry, however, must
come not from our lips but from our heart, for the cry of the heart is louder: it
pierces the heavens, rising up to the very throne of God.
When Jesus saw the lepers he told them to go and show themselves to the
priests. God has only to look at people to be filled with compassion. He pitied
these lepers as soon as he saw them, and sent them to the priests not to be
cleansed by them, but to be pronounced clean.
And as soon as they went they were cleansed. Let all sinners listen to this
and try to understand it. It is easy for the Lord to forgive sins. Sinners have often
been forgiven before they come to a priest. In fact their repentance and healing
occur simultaneously: at the very moment of their conversion they pass from
death to life. Let them understand, however, what this conversion means, let
them understand the Lord’s words: Return to me with all your heart, with
fasting, weeping and mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.
To be really converted one must be converted inwardly, in one’s heart, for a
humbled contrite heart God will not spurn.
One of them, when he saw that he was cured, went back again, praising
God at the top of his voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.
Now this man was a Samaritan. He stands for all those who, after their
cleansing by the waters of baptism or healing by the sacrament of penance,
renounce the devil and take Christ as their model, following him with praise,
adoration and thanksgiving, and nevermore abandoning his service.
And Jesus said to him: “Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved
you.” Great therefore is the power of faith. Without it, as the Apostle says, it is
impossible to please God. Abraham believed God and because of this God
regarded him as righteous. Faith saves, faith justifies, faith heals both body and
soul.

Vigils Reading
2025-10-13
THE ONE TRUE VISION
OF CHRISTIAN FAITH
From a sermon by St John Henry Newman
◊◊◊
However much a duty it is to undergo excitements when they are sent
upon us, it is plainly unchristian, a manifest foolishness and sin, to seek out any
such, whether secular or religious. Hence gaming is so great an offense; as being
a presumptuous creation on our part of a serious, if not an overpowering
temptation to fix the heart upon an object of this world. Hence, the mischief of
many amusements, of (what is called) the fashion of the day; which are devised
for the very purpose of taking up the thoughts, and making time pass easy.
Quite contrary is the Christian temper, which is in its perfect and peculiar
enjoyment when engaged in that ordinary, unvaried course of duties which God
assigns, and which the world calls dull and tiresome. To get up day after day to
the same employments, and to feel happy in them, is the great lesson of the
Gospel; and, when, exemplified in those who are alive to the temptation of being
busy, it implies a heart weaned from the love of this world. True, illness of body,
as well as restlessness of mind, may occasionally render such a life a burden. It
is true also that indolence, self-indulgence, timidity and other similar bad
habits, may adopt it by preference, as a pretext for neglecting more active
duties.
Men and women of energetic minds and talents for action are called to a
life of trouble; they are the compensations and antagonists of the world’s evils.
Still let them never forget their place – they are persons of war, and we war that
we may obtain peace. They are but persons of war, honored indeed by God’s
choice, and, in spite of all momentary excitements, resting in the depth of their
hearts upon the One true Vision of Christian faith…amid the unostentatious
duties of ordinary life.
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; but
one thing is needful, and Mary has chosen that good part which shall not be
taken away from her.” Such is our Lord’s judgment, showing that our true
happiness consists in being at leisure to serve God without excitements. For this
gift we especially pray in one of our Collects: “Grant, O Lord, that the course of
this world may be so peaceably ordered by your governance, that your Church
may joyfully serve you in all godly quietness.”

Vigils Reading
2025-10-14
THE SAFEGUARD OF CHARITY
From “The Mirror of Charity” by St Aelred of Rievaulx
◊◊◊
I think it advisable for us who are called monks to take into account and
examine more closely the force of our rule… Does <St Benedict> not declare
that the reason for his institution is the preservation of charity and the
correction of vices?
Why do you throw the Rule up to me, <another fellow> says. Have charity
and do what you want. Let us eat and drink, then, not because tomorrow we die,
but because we are full of charity.
Of charity, I ask, or vanity?
Well, you reply, if someone has charity, is he not fulfilling the Rule?
How many holy canons, holy priests, holy bishops, and also holy couples
sense that they possess charity, but are very aware that they have not promised
profession and do not keep the rule for monks? If, however, we are speaking
about those who have made profession of the Rule itself, what is being said is
true—if, that is, he understands what he is talking about.
Why then, you say, do you obligate me by the authority of the Rule to
these harsh practices?
If you have charity it is not necessary for you to be forced to fulfill the
promises which your lips have uttered. If you scorn fulfilling the things you
promised by putting your signature to them and calling on God and his saints as
your witnesses, you can be very sure you do not have charity. For do you love
someone you mock? If anyone does other than he has promised, he said, let him
know that he will be condemned by the God whom he mocks. What then? Do we
condemn the dispensations granted in the Rule by our fathers, or those granted
today? On the contrary, we allege that they can reasonably be granted because
they arise from the precepts of a man, but not of God. But it is not within the
prerogative of any man that he change or diminish any of the divine precepts.
We must carefully ward against letting a dispensation—a modification or
variation—become in any way destruction. Since the reason for the institution
itself is the safeguard of charity and the correction of vices, the dispensation will
obviously be reasonable if it furthers this purpose. If, on the other hand, vices
are fostered by the dispensation more than by the institution, charity is violated.
Even if it may do no harm in itself, the dispensation is surely not without
danger.

Vigils Reading - St Teresa of Avila
2025-10-15
ST TERESA’S CHILDHOOD
From the autobiography of St Teresa of Avila
◊◊◊
To have had virtuous and God-fearing parents along with the graces the
Lord granted me should have been enough for me to have led a good life, if I had
not been so wretched. My father was fond of reading good books, and thus he
also had books in Spanish for his children to read. These good books together
with the care my mother took to have us pray and be devoted to our Lady and to
some of the saints began to awaken in me…to the practice of virtue. And they
themselves possessed many.
We were in all three sisters and nine brothers. All resembling their
parents in being virtuous, through the goodness of God, with the exception of
myself – although I was the most loved of my father. And it seemed that he was
right – before I began to offend God. For I am ashamed when I recall the good
inclinations the Lord gave me and how poorly I knew how to profit by them.
My brothers and sisters did not in any hold me back from the service of
God. I had one brother about my age. We used to get together to read the lives
of the saints… When I considered the martyrdoms the saints suffered for God, it
seemed to me that the price they paid for going to enjoy God was very cheap, and
I greatly desired to die in the same way. I did not want this on account of the
love I felt for God but to get to enjoy very quickly the wonderful things I read
there were in heaven. And my brother and I discussed together the means we
should take to achieve this. We agreed to go off to the land of the Moors and beg
them, out of love for God, to cut off our heads there.
Having parents seemed to us the greatest obstacle. We were terrified in
what we read about the suffering and the glory that was to last forever. We spent
a lot of time talking about this and took delight in often repeating: forever and
ever and ever. As I said this over and over, the Lord was pleased to impress
upon me in childhood the way of truth.
When I saw it was impossible to go where I would be killed for God, we
made plans to be hermits. And in the garden that we had in our house, we tried
as we could to make hermitages piling up little stones which afterwards would
quickly fall down again. And so in nothing could we find a remedy for our
desire. It gives me devotion now to see how God gave me so early what I lost
through my own fault.
I gave what alms I could, but that was little. I sought out solitude to pray
my devotions, and they were many, especially the rosary, to which my mother
was very devoted; and she made us devoted to it too. When I played with other
girls I enjoyed it when we pretended we were nuns in a monastery, and it
seemed to me that I desired to be one, although not as much as I desired the
other things I mentioned.

Vigils Reading - St Hedwig
2025-10-16
ST HEDWIG OF SILESIA
From Butler’s Lives of the Saints
◊◊◊
Hedwig was born in Bavaria about the year 1174, the daughter of
Berthold, count of Andechs. When she was only twelve she was married to
Henry, duke of Silesia. Together they founded a large number of religious
houses, the best known of which was a convent for Cistercian nuns at Trebnitz,
near Breslau in modern Poland, the first convent for women in Silesia. These
foundations helped both to develop the religious life of the people and to spread
a common German culture throughout their lands. They also established
hospitals and a house for lepers.
Their seventh and last child was born in 1209, and Hedwig persuaded her
husband to take a mutual vow of chastity. They lived apart, with Hedwig taking
up residence close to the nunnery at Trebnitz, and often sharing the austere life
of the nuns. She recommended fasting to those who wanted to live holier lives,
saying that it could “master concupiscence, lift up the soul, confirm it in the
paths of virtue, and prepare a fine reward for the Christian”.
Much of the rest of Hedwig’s life was spent in trying to keep peace
between her warring sons Henry and Conrad and in attempts to make peace
between her husband and his enemies. When Henry died in 1238, she
comforted those who mourned him with the words, “Would you oppose the will
of God? Our lives are his; our will is whatever he is pleased to ordain, whether
our own death or that of our friends.” She took the habit at Trebnitz but did not
take any religious vows, remaining free to administer her property for the good
of the poor. We are told that she took great care to instruct the uneducated in
their religion, on one occasion having an old woman share a room with her so
that they could go through the Our Father together whenever there was a free
moment. After ten weeks of patient teaching, the old woman could repeat and
understand the prayer.
When her son Henry II was killed in 1240 fighting the Tartar invaders,
Hegwig knew of his death three days before a messenger arrived from the
battlefield. Other miracles were attributed to her; she cured a blind man, for
example, and had the gift of prophecy, foretelling her own death in October
1243. She was canonized in 1267, and her feast was extended to the Western
Church in 1706.

Vigils Reading - St Ignatius of Antioch
2025-10-17
GOD’S WHEAT
From the Letter of St Ignatius of Antioch to the Romans
◊◊◊
I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for
God if only you do not stand in my way. I plead with you: show me no untimely
kindness. Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am
God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become God’s pure
bread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a
sacrificial victim for God.
No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any
way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth.
He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our
sakes is my one desire. The time for my birth is close at hand. Forgive me, my
brothers. Do not stand in the way of my birth to real life; do not wish me
stillborn. My desire is to belong to God. Do not, then, hand me back to the world.
Do not try to tempt me with material things. Let me attain pure light. Only on
my arrival there can I be fully a human being. Give me the privilege of imitating
the passion of my God. If you have him in your heart, you will understand what I
wish. You will sympathize with me because you will know what urges me on.
The prince of this world is determined to lay hold of me and to undermine
my will which is intent on God. Let none of you here help him; instead show
yourselves on my side, which is also God’s side. Do not talk about Jesus Christ as
long as you love this world. Do not harbor envious thoughts.
And supposing I should see you, if then I beg you to intervene on my
behalf, do not believe what I say. Believe instead what I am now writing to you.
For though I am alive as I write to you, still my real desire is to die. My love for
this life has been crucified, and there is no yearning in me for any earthly thing.
Rather within me is the living water which says deep inside me: “Come to the
Father.” I no longer take pleasure in perishable food or in the delights of this
world. I want only God’s bread, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, formed of the
seed of David, and for drink I crave his blood, which is love that cannot perish.
I am no longer willing to live a merely human life, and you can bring about
my wish if you will. Please, then, do me this favor, so that you in turn may meet
with equal kindness. Put briefly, this is my request: believe what I am saying to
you. Jesus Christ himself will make it clear to you that I am saying the truth.
Only truth can come from that mouth by which the Father has truly spoken.
Pray for me that I may obtain my desire. I have not written to you as a mere man
would, but as one who knows the mind of God. If I am condemned to suffer, I
take it that you wish me well. If my case is postponed, I can only think that you
wish me harm.

Vigils Reading - St Luke
2025-10-18
ST LUKE THE EVANGELIST
By Servant of God Marie-Joseph Lagrange
◊◊◊
A custom had grown up among the Greeks of dedicating literary works to
some distinguished personage, a custom followed by Jewish writers. Luke
addresses his little book to Theophilus, a certain Christian distinguished by the
title of ‘Excellent,” but otherwise unknown to us. A few years later Josephus, as
a Jew writing on things Jewish for Roman readers, thought it advisable to insist
at some length on his impartiality. But Luke, following the example of Polybius,
thought that his impartiality might be taken for granted, and considered it
enough to point out that his aim was to show for his noble friend’s benefit the
solid truth of what he had been taught. He thus confesses that his purpose is (to
use the current term) apologetic…
Now only too often apologists have a bad name. They are accused of being
like certain lawyers, not over-nice in their choice of an argument so long as it
gets home: of being ready, for instance, to use even bad arguments on people of
little discernment likely to be convinced by them. But Luke aspires to be an
historian worthy of the name and to convince people who are well able to judge.
And, moreover, the very nobility of the cause which it is a writer’s ambition to
serve puts upon him the obligation of making use only of such facts as are
beyond dispute. This means that he must have recourse to none but
unimpeachable witnesses. And this, indeed, is what Luke professes to do.
Ever since he was first associated with the preaching of the gospel, he had
made it his business to get at the facts. This was all the more easy for him,
inasmuch as he was, owing to his apostolic work, in constant touch with the very
people who had been eyewitnesses from the beginning – with the Apostles, that
is, and the first disciples.
Now these Apostles and disciples preached first of all among the Jews
who had just condemned Jesus on false testimony; their own witness, they
claimed, was true. Could they, then, have put forward anything untrue without
being at once contradicted by fiercely hostile opponents? People sitting round
the fireside at night are content to listen even to the most fanciful of stories if
only they are interesting… But the disciples of Jesus were hardy enough to carry
on a work which the leaders of the nation had condemned as subversive of the
religion of their fathers. There was one temptation to which the disciples might
have seemed in danger of succumbing, from a desire to make their message
more acceptable: the temptation, namely, to modify certain features, to portray
Jesus as submissive to the Law, deferential to the rabbis, respectful towards the
priests.
But, far from yielding to it, they gave a faithful account of the very words
and deeds for which He had been condemned, and thereby showed themselves
absolutely trustworthy. It was precisely this fidelity to the facts which caused
their testimony to be instantly punished with imprisonment. Luke had been
present more than once when this same testimony had been received with
furious outbursts of hatred, though the facts no one had dared to deny. So he
was sure of the truth of the story he was about to tell once more. For he was not
the first to tell it: those facts, which had proved for so many the source of a new
life, had been related by many before him. He mentions no names, however.
Tradition gives those of St Matthew and St Mark; scholars conjecture others.

Skema
2025-10-19
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
29th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (I)
October 19 – 25, 2025

Sun
19
Mon
20
Tue
21
Wed
22
Thu
23
Fri
24
Sat
25

Office
29th Sunday
Weekday
Weekday
St John Paul II
Office for Vocations
Weekday
Memorial of the BVM

Vigils
Sir 41:14-22
Sir 42:1-14
Sir 42:15-25
Sir 43:1-18
Sir 43:19-33
Sir 51:1-12
Sir 51:13-30

Lauds
Zech 5:5-11
Zech 6:1-8
Zech 6:9-15
Zech 7:1-7
Zech 7:8-14
Zech 8:1-6
Zech 8:7-11

Mass
147
473
474
475
476
477
478

1st
Exod 17:8-13
Rom 4:20-25
Rom 5:12, 15b, 17-19, 20b-21
Rom 6:12-18
Rom 6:19-23
Rom 7:18-25a
Rom 8:1-11

2nd
2 Tim 3:14-4:2

Gospel
Luke 18:1-8
Luke 12:13-21
Luke 12:35-38
Luke 12:39-48
Luke 12:49-53
Luke 12:54-59
Luke 13:1-9

Vespers
Jas 1:1-11
Jas 1:12-18
Jas 1:19-27
Jas 2:1-13
Jas 2:14-17
Jas 2:18-26
Jas 3:1-5a

Vigils Reading - 29th Sunday
2025-10-19
THANKSGIVING AND PRAYER
From a commentary by St Gregory of Nyssa
◊◊◊
The divine Word teaches us how to pray, explaining to disciples worthy of
him, and eagerly longing for knowledge of prayer, what word to use to gain a
hearing from God.
Those who fail to unite themselves to God through prayer cut themselves
off from God, so the first thing we have to learn from the Word is that we need to
pray continually and not lose heart. Prayer brings us close to God, and when we
are close to God we are far from the Enemy. Prayer safeguards chastity, controls
anger, and restrains arrogance. It is the seal of virginity, the assurance of
marital fidelity, the shield of travelers, the protection of sleepers, the
encouragement of those who keep vigil, the cause of the farmer’s good harvest
and of the sailor’s safety. Therefore I think that even if we spent the whole of our
lives in communion with God through thanksgiving and prayer, we should still
be as far from adequately repaying our benefactor as we should have been had
we not even desired to repay him.
Time has three divisions, past, present and future. In all three we
experience the Lord’s kindly dealings with us. If you consider the present, you
live in him; if you consider the future, your hope of obtaining what you look
forward to is in him; if you consider the past, you would not have existed had
you not been created by him. Your birth is his kindly gift to you, and after birth
his kindness toward you continued, since as the apostle says, you live and move
in him. On this same kindness depend all your hopes for the future. Only over
the present have you any control. Therefore, even if you give thanks to God
unceasingly throughout your life, you will hardly meet the measure of your debt
for present blessings, and as for those of the past and future, you will never find
a way of repaying what you owe.
And yet we, who are so far from being capable of showing due gratitude,
do not even give thanks to the best of our ability. We fail to set aside, I do not say
the whole day, but even the smallest portion of the day, to be spent with God.
Who restored to its original beauty that divine image in me that was
blurred by sin? Who draws me back to the blessedness I knew before I was
driven out of paradise, deprived of the tree of life, and submerged in the abyss of
worldliness? As scripture says, There is no one who understands. If we realize
these things we would give thanks continually, endlessly, throughout the whole
of our lives.

Vigils Reading
2025-10-20
THE PRECEPTS OF THE RULE
From “The Mirror of Charity” by St Aelred of Rievaulx
◊◊◊
Speaking about things having to do with charity, humility, patience, and
other virtues…what Christian is not obligated to these precepts? Does Benedict
recommend one kind of charity in his Rule and Augustine another in his? Does
not each recommend that charity which Christ recommends in the law and the
Gospel?
We can ask the same thing about the other virtues. Who in his right mind,
in exhorting others to virtue will say that these precepts are his and not rather
those of Christ? What difference will there be then among the precepts of the
different Rules? Surely, how to eat, dress, work, read, keep vigil, sing psalms,
correct and be corrected, and other things like this, because they are found to be
different in the different rules. Consequently, things said to be especially
characteristic of Basil or Augustine or Benedict are not imposed on all
Christians by gospel authority, but are simply proposed to them. To those who
profess these rules, however, they are no longer simply proposed, but they are
also imposed on them.
If these are not the things, what are? Obviously, everything they put into
their rules about charity, humility, and the other virtues, they recommend not
as their own precepts, but as the Lord’s. They invite not only monks but all
Christians to follow them, not as being their own (for who would believe them?),
but as being Christ’s. If obedience according to the Rule of Saint Benedict means
obeying the precepts of his Rule, and if the precepts of his Rule consist of the
things we have enumerated, how can anyone who does not keep them keep the
essential character of the monastic profession, since that obedience we profess
is the essential character of monastic profession?
He will perhaps say what certainly ought to be said: that we also profess
the first two according to the Rule, and he will affirm that it is not in stability of
place or obedience that diversity among the rules lies—since these same things
are binding on monks, clerics, canons, and bishops—but solely in conversion of
life. Is not one and the same obligation to stability incumbent upon all? Would
anyone be so presumptuous as to transfer from one place to another without the
consent of his superior?
Furthermore, if we do profess conversion of life, not according to the Rule
but simply in an indeterminate way, those who are called penitents in the
Church do the same, as do those who flee the shipwreck of fornication for the
port of marriage. Who among them does not promise conversion of life? Hence
for some diversity to be found among the diverse types of conversion of life
which are professed according to the diverse rules, there is nothing to which we
may have recourse except those traits which constitute the diversity…

Vigils Reading
2025-10-21
CHRISTIAN UNITY
From the Encyclical “Ut Unum Sint” by Pope St John Paul II
◊◊◊
The Second Vatican Council exhorts “all Christ’s faithful to remember
that the more they strive to live according to the Gospel, the more they are
fostering and even practicing Christian unity. For they can achieve depth and
ease in strengthening mutual brotherhood to the degree that they enjoy
profound communion with the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit. “This
change of heart and holiness of life, along with public and private prayer for the
unity of Christians should be regarded as the soul of the whole ecumenical
movement, and can rightly be called ‘spiritual ecumenism’.”
We proceed along the road leading to the conversion of hearts guided by
love which is directed to God and, at the same time, to all our brothers and
sisters, including those not in full communion with us. Love gives rise to the
desire for unity, even in those who have never been aware of the need for it. Love
builds communion between individuals and between Communities. If we love
one another, we strive to deepen our communion and make it perfect. Love is
given to God as the perfect source of communion – the unity of Father, Son and
Holy Spirit – that we may draw from that source the strength to build
communion between individuals and Communities or to reestablish it between
Christians still divided. Love is the great undercurrent which gives life and adds
vigor to the movement toward unity.
This love finds its most complete expression in common prayer. When
brothers and sisters who are not in perfect communion with one another come
together to pray, the Second Vatican Council defines their prayer as the soul of
the whole ecumenical movement. This prayer is “a very effective means of
petitioning for the grace of unity”, “a genuine expression of ties which even now
bind Catholics to their separated brethren. Even when prayer is not specifically
offered for Christian unity, but for other intentions such as peace, it actually
becomes an expression and confirmation of unity. The common prayer of
Christians is an invitation to Christ himself to visit the community of those who
call upon him: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the
midst of them.”
Along the ecumenical path to unity, pride of place certainly belongs to
common prayer; the prayerful union of those who gather together around Christ
himself. If Christians, despite their divisions, can grow ever more united in
common prayer around Christ, they will grow in the awareness of how little
divides them in comparison to what unites them. Fellowship in prayer leads
people to look at the Church and Christianity in a new way. It must not be
forgotten in fact that the Lord prayed to the Father that his disciples might be
one, so that their unity might bear witness to his mission and that the world
would believe that the Father had sent him. “Ecumenical prayer” is at the
service of the Christian mission and its credibility. It must be especially present
in the life of the Church and in every activity aimed at fostering Christian unity.
