Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey

Vigils Reading - Pentecost Sunday
2023-05-28
RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT
From a commentary by St Augustine1 ◊◊◊
The happy day has dawned for us on which Holy Church makes her first radiant appearance to the eyes of faith and sets the hearts of believers on fire. It is the day on which we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit by our Lord Jesus Christ, after he had risen from the dead and ascended into glory. In the gospel it is written: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, rivers of living water shall flow from his heart. The Evangelist explains these words by adding: Jesus said this about the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive. For the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified. Now the glorification of Jesus took place when he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, but all was not yet accomplished. The Holy Spirit still had to be given; the one who made the promise had to send him. This is precisely what occurred at Pentecost.
After being in the company of his disciples for the forty days following his resurrection, the Lord ascended into heaven, and on the fiftieth day – the day we are now celebrating – he sent the Holy Spirit. The account is given in Scripture: Suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and there appeared to them tongues like fire which separated and came to rest on each one of them. And they began to speak in other tongues, as the Holy Spirit gave them power of utterance. That wind cleansed the disciples’ hearts, blowing away fleshly thoughts like so much chaff. The fire burnt up their unregenerate desires as if they were straw. The tongues in which they spoke as the Holy Spirit filled them were a foreshadowing of the Church’s preaching of the Gospel in the tongues of all nations.

After the flood, in pride and defiance of the Lord, an impious generation erected a high tower and so brought about the division of the human race into many language groups, each with its own peculiar speech which was unintelligible to the rest of the world. At Pentecost, by contrast, the humble piety of believers brought all these diverse languages into the unity of the Church. What discord had scattered, love was to gather together. Like the limbs of a single body, the separated members of the human race would be restored to unity by being joined to Christ, their common head, and welded into the oneness of a holy body by the fire of love. Anyone therefore who rejects the gift of peace and withdraws from the fellowship of this unity cuts himself off from the gift of the Holy Spirit.
So then, my fellow members of Christ’s body, you are the fruits of unity and the children of peace. Keep this day with joy, celebrate it in freedom of spirit, for in you is fulfilled what was foreshadowed in those days when the Holy Spirit came. At that time whoever received the Holy Spirit spoke in many languages, individual though he was. Now in the same way unity itself speaks through all nations in every tongue. If you yourselves are established in that unity you have the Holy Spirit among you, and nothing can separate you from the Church of Christ which speaks in the language of every nation of the world

1 Journey with the Fathers: Commentaries on the Sunday Gospels – Year A. Ed. Edith Barnecut, OSB. New York: New City Press, 1992. 72-73.

Skema
2023-05-28
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
8th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
May 28 – June 3, 2023

Sun
28
Mon
29
Tue
30
Wed
31
Thu
1
Fri
2
Sat
3

Office
Pentecost Sunday
Mary, Mother of the Church
Weekday
Visitation of the BVM
St Justin Martyr
Weekday
St Charles Lwanga & Companions

Vigils
* Special Vigil
Gen 1:1-1:19
Gen 1:20-2:3
Gal 3:15-29
Gen 2:4-25
Gen 3:1-24
Gen 4:1-26

Lauds
Joel 3:1-5
Prov 1:1-7
Prov 1:8-19
Zech 2:10-17
Prov 1:20-33
Prov 2:1-11
Prov 3:1-12

Mass
63
BVM Lect pg 118-138
348
572
350
351
352

1st
Acts 2:1-11
Acts 1:12-14
Sir 35:1-12
Zeph 3:14-18a
Sir 42:15-25
Sir 44:1, 9-13
Sir 51:12cd-20

2nd
1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13
Psalm 87[86]: 1-2, 3+5, 6-7

Gospel
John 20:19-23
John 19:25-34
Mark 10:28-31
Luke 1:39-56
Mark 10:46-52
Mark 11:11-26
Mark 11:27-33

Vespers
Gal 5:16-25
Gal 1:1-10
Gal 1:11-24
Rom 12:9-21
Gal 2:1-10
Gal 2:11-14
1 Cor 2:1-10

*1) Gen 11:1-9 2) Exod 19:3-8a, 16-20 3) Ezek 36:16-28 4) Acts 2:1-11 5) Rom 8:5-27

Vigils Reading - St Augustine of Canterbury
2023-05-27
ST. AUGUSTINE, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
From the writings of Alban Butler7 ◊◊◊
When Pope St. Gregory the Great decided that the time had come for the evangelization of Anglo-Saxon England, he chose as missionaries some thirty or more monks from his monastery of St. Andrew… As their leader he gave them their own prior, Augustine. The party set out from Rome in the year 596; but no sooner had they arrived in Provence than they were assailed with warnings about the ferocity of the Anglo-Saxons and the dangers of the Channel. Greatly discouraged, they persuaded Augustine to return to Rome and obtain leave to abandon the enterprise. St. Gregory, however, had received definite assurance that the English were well disposed towards the Christian faith; he therefore sent Augustine back to his brethren with words of encouragement which gave them heart to proceed on their way.
They landed in the Isle of Thanet in the territory of Ethelbert, king of Kent, who was baptized at Pentecost 597. Almost immediately afterwards St. Augustine paid a visit to France, where he was consecrated bishop of the English by St. Virgilius, metropolitan of Arles. At Christmas of that same year, many of Ethelbert’s subjects were baptized, as St. Gregory joyfully related in a letter to Eulogius, the patriarch of Alexandria. Augustine sent two of his monks, Laurence and Peter, to Rome to give a full report of his mission, to ask for more helpers and obtain advice on various points. They came back bringing the pallium for Augustine and accompanied by a fresh band of missionaries, amongst whom were St. Mellitus, St. Justus and St. Paulinus.

Gregory outlined for Augustine the course he should take to develop a hierarchy for the whole country, and both to him and to Mellitus gave very practical instructions on other points. Pagan temples were not to be destroyed, but were to be purified and consecrated for Christian worship. Local customs were as far as possible to be retained, days of dedication and feasts of martyrs being substituted for heathen festivals.
In Canterbury itself St. Augustine rebuilt an ancient church which, with an old wooden house, formed the nucleus for his metropolitan basilica and for the later monastery of Christ Church. These buildings stood on the site of the present cathedral begun by Lanfranc in 1070. Outside the walls of Canterbury he made a monastic foundation, which he dedicated in honour of St. Peter and St. Paul. After his death this abbey became known as St. Augustine’s, and was the burial place of the early archbishops.
Cut off from much communication with the outside world, the British church clung to certain usages at variance with those of the Roman tradition. St. Augustine invited the leading ecclesiastics to meet him at some place just on the confines of Wessex, still known in Bede’s day as Augustine’s Oak. There he urged them to comply with the practices of the rest of Western Christendom, and more especially to co-operate with him in evangelizing the Anglo-Saxons. Fidelity to their local traditions, however, made them unwilling. A second conference proved a said failure. Because St. Augustine failed to rise when they arrived, the British bishops decided that he was lacking in humility and would neither listen to him nor acknowledge him as their metropolitan.
The saint’s last years were spent in spreading and consolidating the faith throughout Ethelbert’s realm, and episcopal sees were established at London and Rochester. About seven years after his arrival in England, St. Augustine passed to his reward, on May 26, 605

7Butler’s Lives of Saints. Harper, 1991, pp. 158-159.

Vigils Reading
2023-05-26
CONCERNING THE TRIPLE LOVE OF GOD
A sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux6 ◊◊◊
Love not the world nor the things which are in the world. For all that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father…Whoever therefore will be a friend of this world becomes an enemy of God… Blessed Gregory explains that love itself is knowledge. Love therefore is triple, love that excludes that triple worldly passion that is not from the Father. And besides, three times, I believe, Peter was asked by Christ, Do you love me, do you love me, do you love me? Perhaps this love about which the Law teaches is also triple: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole strength. That is, you shall love sweetly or affectionately, you shall love prudently, you shall love bravely…
Did he not make himself somehow foolish, he who has delivered his soul unto death and has borne the sins of many…? Was he not drunk with the wine of charity and unmindful of himself, against the advice of Peter, who said, “Take care for yourself”?… What is more, we have said that this mystery certainly reaches to the heart’s affectionate love… Therefore this love counteracts concupiscence of the flesh. For how could carnal sweetness compare to the genuine sweetness of Christ’s passion?
However, this sweetness can be deceptive if it lacks prudence. And besides, poison in the honey can be avoided only with difficulty. In that case, prudence must be present, by which we can diligently investigate interior mysteries, so that we may be ready always to satisfy everyone who asks for a

reason… Indeed this earnest soul cannot be curious about worldly matters, saying with the prophet, O how have I loved your Law, O Lord! It is my meditation all the day.
The third way is so that each of us loves bravely: to the extent that we cannot be deceived, so also we cannot be compelled; thus we are prepared to suffer all things for the sake of justice. For everyone knows that the King of heaven did not seek earthly rule and honors, but rejected them instead…
And so it was that Peter was questioned about these three types of love, for earlier he had been found wanting… Though he loved Christ sweetly, as it were, he said, Far be it from you, for he loved foolishly. So he also deserved to hear, Get behind me, Satan, because you understand not the things that are of God… But on the night in which the Lord was to be handed over, both sweetly and wisely was Peter loving when he said, Lord, I am ready to go with you both into prison and to death. But he was not loving bravely, because “He that is fallen low did never firmly stand.” The power from on high had not yet come, which, once accepted, Peter did not refuse, but using his liberated voice, he said, You be the judge whether we ought to obey God rather than human beings.
Is it not fitting that Peter, who was put in charge of feeding the flock, was asked to give an account of his love? For one who is intoxicated and burning with the wine of charity should lead others, unmindful of himself, so that he seeks not things that are his own but rather things that are Jesus Christ’s. And note that when Peter was asked if he loved more than these others, he only answered that he loved. He was upset, for he dared not assert what he had rashly said before. And perhaps for that reason he was deeply grieved, for he had said before, Even if all shall be scandalized in you, yet not I

6 St Bernard of Clairvaux. Monastic Sermons. CF 68. Trans. Daniel Griggs. Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2016. 166-170.

Vigils Reading - St Bede the Venerable
2023-05-25
AND YOU TOO WILL BEAR WITNESS
A homily from St Bede the Venerable5 ◊◊◊
We find from many places in the holy gospel that before the coming of the Holy Spirit, the disciples were less capable of understanding the hidden mysteries of the divine sublimity, and were less brave in tolerating the adversities brought on by human depravity. When the Spirit came upon them with an increase of divine insight, there was given them the constancy [needed] to overcome human persecution as well. Hence it is said to them now, in the Lord’s promise, ‘When the Paraclete comes, whom I shall send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me; and you too will bear witness’…
The Spirit, upon his coming, bore witness concerning the Lord. Breathing into the hearts of the disciples, he revealed to them by his bright light everything about which mortals were to have knowledge concerning [the Lord], namely, that he was equal and of the same substance with the Father before the ages; that he became of the same substance as we at the end of the ages; that he was born of a virgin and lived in the world without sin; that he went forth from the world when he wished and by the kind of death that he wished; that by rising from the dead he truly destroyed death and raised up the true flesh in which he had suffered, and at his ascension took it up into heaven, and established it at the right hand of his Fathers’ glory; that all the writings of the prophets bear witness to him; that the confession of his name was to be extended even to the end of the earth, and that the rest of the mysteries of his faith were unlocked for his disciples by the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Nor was whatever they correctly discerned conceded to them alone by the gift of the Spirit, but also to all who believe in the Lord through their word.

‘He’, Jesus says, ‘will bear witness concerning me, and you will bear witness’. Once they had put aside their initial fear, they ministered outwardly by telling others what they had received inwardly by the Spirit’s teaching. The Spirit himself both illumined their hearts by knowledge of the truth, and by the preeminence of his power roused them to teach what they knew. Hence in Isaiah the Spirit is rightly called ‘of strength and knowledge’. He is indeed the Spirit ofknowledge, since it is by his help that we rightly acknowledge what we must do and even think; he is also the Spirit of strength, since it is by his help that we receive [the strength] to carry out what we know well that we should do, lest we be driven away by some adversity from the good deeds we have begun…
He who warned them ahead of time that the hour of persecution would come is the one who, a little later, pledged his help to his faithful in the persecution, saying, ‘You will have distress in the world; but have confidence; I have overcome the world’. He elsewhere promised the crown of life to those who are sincerely engaged in strife, saying, ‘Blessed are those who suffer persecution for the sake of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’

5 Bede the Venerable. Homilies on the Gospels: Book Two – Lent to the Dedication of the Church. Trans. Lawrence T. Martin and David Hurst, OSB. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1991. 149-151.

Vigils Reading
2023-05-24
WHAT TRUE FAITH IS
From the writing of Johann Arndt4
◊◊◊
He who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God. Faith is a deep assent and unhesitating trust in God’s grace promised in Christ and in the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. It is ignited by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit…
By this deep trust and heartfelt assent, man gives his heart completely and utterly to God, rests in God alone… becomes one spirit with God, receives from him new power, new life, new consolation… This is the new birth that comes from faith in Christ… a certain true assurance of things on which man hopes and a conviction concerning things man does not see. The consolation of living faith becomes powerful in the heart; it convinces the heart, in that one finds in one’s soul heavenly goodness, namely, rest and peace in God, so certain and true that one might then die with a happy heart…
Through this power of God we are once again drawn into God, inclined toward God, transplanted and set in God, taken out of Adam and as a cursed vine placed in Christ the blessed and living vine. Thus, in Christ we possess all his goods and are made righteous in him… Just as once through Adam’s fall, through the deception and treachery of the Devil, the seed of the serpent was sowed in man – that is, the evil, satanic pattern of life out of which an evil, poisonous fruit grew – so by God’s word and the Holy Spirit faith was sowed in man as a seed of God in which all divine virtues, qualities, and characteristics, in a hidden manner, were contained and grew out to a beautiful and new image of God, to a beautiful and new tree on which the fruits are love, patience, humility, meekness, peace, chastity, righteousness, the new man, and the whole kingdom of God. The true sanctifying faith renews the whole man, purifies the heart, unites with God, makes the heart free from earthly things, hungers and thirsts after righteousness, works love, gives peace, joy, patience, consolation in all suffering, conquers the world, makes children heirs of God and of all heavenly eternal good and co-heirs of Christ…

If we fall in weakness and stumble, God’s grace does not fall away if we arise again through true repentance. Christ remains always Christ and the Sanctifier. He may be grasped with weak or with strong faith. Weak faith belongs as much to Christ as strong. Whether a man is weak or strong of faith, he is Christ’s own just the same. The grace that is promised is common to all Christians and is eternal. On this, faith must rest, whether it be weak or strong. In his time, God will allow you to come to refreshing, joyous consolation, whether he bring it to your heart in a short time or in a longer period

4 Johann Arndt. True Christianity. Trans. Peter Erb. New York: Paulist Press, 1979. 45-48.

Vigils Reading
2023-05-23
HOW JESUS IS HEAVEN TO THE SOUL
From “The Scale of Perfection” by Walter Hilton3
What is heaven to a reasoning soul? Surely, nothing other than Jesus, our God. For if heaven is that which is above all things, then God alone is heaven to a man’s soul, for he alone is superior to the nature of the soul. Therefore if grace enables a soul to perceive the divine nature of Jesus, it sees heaven itself, for it sees God…
It is commonly said that a soul shall see God in all things and within itself. It is true that God is in all created things, but not in the way that a kernel is hidden within the shell of a nut, or as a small object is contained within a greater. He is within all things, maintaining and preserving them in being, but he is present in a spiritual way, exercising the power of his own blessed nature and invisible purity. For just as an object that is very precious and pure is laid in a secure place, so by the same analogy the nature of God, which is supremely precious, pure, and spiritual, utterly unlike any physical nature, is hidden within all things. Anyone who desires to seek God within must therefore forget all material things, for these are exterior; he must cease to consider his own body or even his own soul, and consider the uncreated nature of God who made him, endowed him with life, upholds him, and gives him reason, memory, and love. All these gifts come to him through the power and sovereign grace of God. This must be the soul’s course of action when it is touched by grace; otherwise it will be of little use to seek God within itself or in his creation…
The soul that by grace possesses the fullest knowledge of truth has the clearest vision of God… For as the sun reveals itself and all material things to the eye by its own light, so God, who is also truth, reveals himself first to the understanding of the soul, and by this means bestows all the spiritual knowledge that the soul requires. For the prophet says: Lord, in your light we shall see all light. That is: we shall see that you are truth by the light of yourself.

In the same way, God is described as fire: Our God is a consuming fire. This does not mean that God is the element of fire which heats and consumes physical objects, but that God is love and charity. For just as fire consumes all material objects that can be destroyed by it, so the love of God burns and consumes all sin out of the soul and makes it clean, as fire purifies all kinds of metal. These descriptions and all other material comparisons applied to God in holy scripture must be understood in a spiritual sense, for otherwise they are meaningless. But the reason why such words are employed to describe God is that we are so worldly in our outlook that we cannot speak of God without at first using such expressions. However, when the eyes of the soul are opened by grace, and we are enabled to catch a glimpse of God, then our souls can quite easily interpret these material descriptions in a spiritual sense…
This is the beginning of contemplation, of which St Paul said: We do not contemplate the things that are seen, but those that are not seen; for the things that are seen are temporal, but those that are not seen are eternal. It is these things that the soul should aspire to gain, partially indeed in this present life, but fully in the bliss of heaven. For the full bliss and eternal life of the rational soul consist in this vision and knowledge of God. Father, this is eternal life, that your chosen souls should know you, and Jesus Christ your son whom you have sent, to be the one true God

3 Hilton, Walter. The Scale of Perfection. St. Meinrad, IN: Abbey Press, 1975. 106-108.

Vigils Reading
2023-05-22
THAT WE MAY ASCEND TO WHERE HE IS
A Sermon by St. Aelred of Rievaulx2
For some time now we have been keeping before our minds the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, for the same length of time as he spent in the world after his resurrection. Today we celebrate the day on which he showed us openly that all the things which he did and suffered in this world he did to lead us from the death into which we fell through Adam to true life, and to raise us up from this exile to our homeland for which we were created – that is, to heaven.
He died for our sins and he rose for our justification and he ascended into heaven for our glorification… That blessedness which we are awaiting… he willed to show forth today in his own person by ascending into heaven. He did this so that we might be certain that we, who are his members, may ascend to where he, who is our head, has ascended.
Therefore, dearest brothers, we ought to celebrate this day with great joy because there can be no greater glorification of the human person than what has been shown to us today. This nature of ours which has been so depraved and degraded that it was even compared to brute animals – as the Prophet says, Man, when he was in honor, did not understand and became comparable to stupid beasts. This nature was in our Lord Jesus Christ so exalted that every other creature is beneath it and even the angels adore it as something beyond them.
As you have often heard, after his resurrection Our Lord willed to remain in this world in bodily form for forty days for many reasons. He wanted to confirm his resurrection and to demonstrate in many ways that he truly rose from the dead in the flesh. Therefore he often ate and drank with his disciples and he openly showed them his wounds. And when the Apostle Thomas was unwilling to believe that the other apostles had seen him, he allowed Thomas to touch his side and his hands. By his bodily presence he wanted to reassure his disciples, grieved beyond measure during his passion and almost in despair, and to prove to them on the authority of the Scriptures that it was necessary for him to die and to rise again. Moreover he opened for them the meaning of the Scriptures that they might understand them.

Yet – and we should notice this – before his passion and resurrection he fasted for the same length of time that he chose to be physically with his disciples after the resurrection. By his fasting he commended to us the value of the physical affliction which we ought to endure in this life. By his physical presence which he revealed to his own after his resurrection, we are able to understand the consolation of his utterly sweet presence which we will experience after our own resurrection. Both were commended to us over the same length of time because it is in the measure to which we bear affliction for Christ in this life that we shall receive consolation in the life to come…
Let it be our sole concern: to remain attached to him with our whole heart, our whole mind, our whole strength, recognizing who our Head is, where our Head is. Let us live as befits the members of that Head, with our minds fixed not here where our lower part is, but there where our Head has today ascended, beseeching God, the Father almighty, to deign to give us his grace, so that all the attachment of our devotion may be directed to where our very substance, Jesus our Lord, is with him, with whom he lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit through all the ages of ages

2 Aelred of Rievaulx. The Liturgical Sermons. CF 58. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2001. 205.

Compline
2023-05-21 19:25 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Sunday, May 21th at 7:25 pm
Zoom link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/3917499727

Vigils Reading - Ascension of the Lord
2023-05-21
LET THE KING OF GLORY ENTER
A commentary by St Gregory of Nyssa1
The gospel describes the Lord’s life upon earth and his return to heaven. But the sublime prophet David, as though unencumbered by the weight of his body, rose above himself to mingle with the heavenly powers and record for us their words as they accompanied the Master when he came down from heaven. Ordering the angels on earth entrusted with the care of human life to raise the gates, they cried: Lift up your gates, you princes; be lifted up you everlasting doors. Let the King of glory enter.
But because wherever he is he who contains all things in himself makes himself like those who receive him, not only becoming a man among human beings, but also when among angels conforming his nature to theirs, the gatekeepers asked: Who is this King of glory?
He is the strong one, they were told, mighty in battle, the one who is to grapple with and overthrow the captor of the human race who has the power of death. When this last enemy has been destroyed, he will restore us to freedom and peace.
Now the mystery of Christ’s death is fulfilled, victory is won, and the cross, the sign of triumph, is raised on high. He who gives us the noble gifts of life and a kingdom has ascended into heaven, leading captivity captive. Therefore the same command is repeated. Once more the gates of heaven must open for him. Our guardian angels, who have now become his escorts, order them to be flung wide so that he may enter and regain his former glory. But he is not recognized in the soiled garments of our life, in clothes reddened by the winepress of human sin. Again the escorting angels are asked: Who is this King of glory? The answer is no longer, The strong one, mighty in battle but, The lord of hosts, he who has gained power over the whole universe, who has recapitulated all things in himself, who is above all things, who has restored all creation to its former state: He is the King of glory.

You see how much David has added to our joy in this feast and contributed to the gladness of the Church. Therefore as far as we can let us imitate the prophet by our love for God, by gentleness and by patience with those who hate us. Let the prophet’s teaching help us to live in a way pleasing to God in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen

1 Journey with the Fathers: Commentaries on the Sunday Gospels – Year A. Ed. Edith Barnecut, OSB. New York: New City Press, 1992. 68-69.

Skema
2023-05-21
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
7th Week of Easter

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
May 21 – 27, 2023

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

Office
Ascension of the Lord
Easter Weekday
Easter Weekday
Easter Weekday
St Bede the Venerable
Easter Weekday
St Augustine of Canterbury

Vigils
Eph 4:1-24
1 Jn 4:1-10
1 Jn 4:11-21
1 Jn 5:1-12
1 Jn 5:13-21
2 Jn 1-13
3 Jn 1-15

Lauds
Dan 7:9-14
2 Tim 3:10-17
2 Tim 4:1-5
2 Tim 4:6-8
Titus 1:1-9
Titus 2:11-15
Titus 3:1-8

Mass
58
297
298
299
300
301
302

1st
Acts 1:1-11
Acts 19:1-8
Acts 20:17-27
Acts 20:28-38
Acts 22:30; 23:6-11
Acts 25:13b-21
Acts 28:16-20, 30-31

2nd
Eph 1:17-23

Gospel
Matt 28:16-20
John 16:29-33
John 17:1-11a
John 17:11b-19
John 17:20-26
John 21:15-19
John 21:20-25

Vespers
Eph 2:1-10
Acts 24:10-16
Acts 25:7-12
Acts 26:24-31
Acts 28:16-23
Acts 28:24-31
Rom 8:9:17

Cleveland LCG Meeting
2023-05-20 15:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York)
Content is protected.

Easter Weekday
2023-05-20
HOW SHE SAW JESUS STANDING AT THE RIGHT HAND
OF THE POWER OF GOD
From the “The Life of Beatrice of Nazareth”7
◊◊◊
…It happened that the adversary of the human race, with all the vices
assembled in their bands, rushed in upon her ready to fight, and cruelly attacked
her valiant heart with as many assaults of temptation as there are different kinds
of vices. Christ’s soldier, seeing herself in the midst of the sea, rocked and
overwhelmed by stormy waves, and harassed on all sides with heavy storms and
weighty struggles, began to waste away, unnerved by great fear… She did not
fear single combat with any one of them, if it reared up alone, but with all of them
rushing in together and each of them exercising its own wicked activity, such a
need for resistance on all sides arose that, her strength worn out and confidence
all but collapsing, she nearly despaired of God’s mercy.
Beatrice, seeing that faith and hope, that most constant of virtues, were
almost on the point of perishing within her, and that no virtue remained with
which to defend herself in such a crisis, no longer presumed to enter such a
struggle; grief-stricken and worn-out she prepared herself, and rising up fled
quickly to the church, and with a great storm of tears, with bitter groans, sighs,
and weeping she besought the divine clemency to have mercy on her in such a
dangerous crisis…
When Beatrice had poured… forth… the great bitterness of her heart, she
quickly fled to the solace of prayer, and she called upon the divine mercy… The
loving and merciful Lord, who never deserts those who trust in his mercy, who is
close to the troubled of heart and always saves the humble in spirit… did not
refuse to turn the eyes of his mercy on his chosen spouse in the time of her need.
Regarding his faithful fighter and understanding that she was laboring in a
weighty struggle, he put forth his merciful hand to console her, and putting to
flight the insults of the demonic powers and all the troubles caused by the vices,
he with his unspeakable kindness and mercy called her back into the harbor of
tranquility.
…She was caught up beyond herself and saw in ecstasy of mind – with the
eyes of the mind, not of the flesh, – the heavens opened and Jesus standing at the
right hand of the power of God, prepared to help her, leaning over mercifully
toward her to raise her up, console, and snatch her from the attacks of the
opposing powers. When the Lord’s virgin… had gazed on him with longing eyes,
she perceived two things, mercy and love, radiating from him toward her, and
immediately with an enlightened mind she recognized what they meant. In the
ray of mercy she saw, she deserved to be rebuked by the Lord for being so
disturbed in the struggle, so weighed down with fear and sorrow… In the ray of
love she recognized clearly that the Lord was propitious and merciful toward
her, that his kindness was helping her, not beating her down or casting her off
from the divine mercy… but rather exalting her, raising her up and lifting her to
the summit of the virtues.
…She gave thanks to Almighty God with exultation of heart… recognizing
clearly the divine mercy toward her… With the Lord’s help she henceforth
remained stronger in faith, more constant in hope, more valiant in tribulation,
and more spiritual against the opposing powers.
7 The Life of Beatrice of Nazareth. CF 50. Trans. Roger De Ganck. Kalamazoo, MI:
Cistercian Publications, 1991. 175, 177, 179.

Easter Weekday
2023-05-19
EVERYTHING IS OBTAINABLE
FOR SOMEONE WHO PRAYS
From “The Commendation of Faith” by Baldwin of Forde6
◊◊◊
The Lord says to his disciples: ‘Truly, truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of
the Father in my name he will give it to you.’ And in the gospel of Mark:
‘Whatever you ask when you pray, believe that you will receive them and they
will come to you.’ In the gospel of Matthew: ‘If two of you on earth agree about
anything, whatever you ask will be given you by my Father who is in heaven.’
From these passages, note that everything is obtainable for someone who
prays, just as it is said that everything is possible for someone who believes.
Faith and prayer are recognized to have similar power, and one helps the other
in turn… The Lord shows the disciples the power of faith and at once adds the
power of prayer, thereby showing that it is conjoined to [faith] by a kind of
similarity: ‘Have faith in God. Truly I tell you: whoever says to this mountain,
“Get up and throw yourself into the sea”, and does not doubt in his heart, but
believes that what he said will be done, will be done for him’… Consider from
these words how powerful faith is in everything that is said without any doubt
that it will be done, and, equally, how powerful prayer is in everything that is
asked for in the faith that it will come to pass…
But what if someone says: ‘Who can say to this mountain without any
doubt: “Get up, and throw yourself into the sea”? Does it not seem just as
impossible not to doubt this as actually to do it? But if these two things – doing it
and not doubting it – are not possible for us, but only for divine power, then it
can seem unworthy of God to make such a promise. How can he promise that a
mountain will be moved by a simple utterance, provided we have said it without
any doubt, when that very doubt, so far as it is in our power, is as immovably
fixed in our heart as this mountain is in its place?’…
For although the Lord promises us his help in all things, and although he
says that not a hair of our head shall perish and thereby says that he will make us
secure, who is there who is firm in faith at all times and secure in all places? Who
can always stand by himself? Who does not sometimes waver? Who never
doubts? Thus it follows that we, who have only a little faith, need to have our
faith increased and are always bound to offer to God our confession of faith and
to beg him unceasingly to help our unbelief, saying: ‘Lord, I believe: help my
unbelief.’… He helps our weakness when he gives us the capacity to be capable of
little. He helps our unbelief when he makes us believe that we believe little…
This is a wonderful dispensation of God by which he allows those he has chosen
to fall for a time so that they may rise up all the stronger, so that they may be
more cautious, so that they trust less in themselves, so that they recognize their
weakness more perfectly, so that they cling to God more firmly, so that they hold
his grace, without which they can do nothing….
6 Baldwin of Forde. The Commendation of Faith. CF 59. Trans. Jane Patricia Freeland
and David N. Bell. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2000. 145-147,151-152, 155

Easter Weekday
2023-05-18
EVERYONE GIVING BIRTH WILL SUFFER
From the “Homilies on the Prophetic Burdens of Isaiah” by St Aelred of Rievaulx5
◊◊◊
Oh brothers, there is no pain as of one giving birth. But there is a physical
birth, a spiritual birth, and a punitive birth. And certainly, a woman is sad when
she is in labor, because her hour has come. Pain takes hold of her members; death,
her eyes; and fear, her conscience. She does not know how it will turn out.
A spiritual birth takes place when the holy ones give birth to spiritual
children by instruction and care. One such holy person said, My little children,
with whom I am again in labor. And this birth is not without pain. For such a
person must rejoice with those rejoicing, weep with those weeping, be weak with
the weak, burn with the scandalized, and much more. It is also a spiritual birth
when the barren and unfruitful soul conceives by fear of the Lord. Turned toward
the Lord, such a soul gives birth to the beginnings of good works. And what pain
lies in this birth when the flesh resists the spirit and habit resists the will! One
moment, the mind desires good works, and the next it does not; one moment it
fears, and the next it trusts; one moment, desire for the good impels it, and the
next, the pleasure of evil pulls it back!
A harmful birth takes place when a person conceives pain and gives birth
to iniquity, when it conceives from a desire to acquire and gives birth by carrying
out that desire. This is why the Lord said in the gospel, Woe to you who are
pregnant or nursing! Woe indeed to those conceiving and giving birth in this
way. Even if now they exult when they do evil and rejoice in wicked things, as
though giving birth they will suffer pain when death draws near. For just as a
woman who conceives in pleasure suffers great pain when she is in labor, so too
the soul, corrupted by pleasures and vices, is crushed by sadness and pain when
the wages of corruption begin to appear at death. When the soul’s belated
repentance is turned back on itself, it will begin to feel what is written: Walk in
the light of your fire and in the flame that you lit for yourselves.
We can call a birth punitive when someone dies in a condition of
punishment as though giving birth. The dead receive the punishment they
conceived by sinning, as though giving birth to a most unhappy progeny. How
much more happily does a person conceive repentance for sins from the fear of
God and give birth to conversion of life! This birth, although not without pain,
prepares joy in tranquility of conscience, because when she gives birth to the
child, she does not remember her distress anymore on account of her joy, and
whoever sows tearfully will reap joyfully, and Blessed are those who mourn, for
they will be consoled. Therefore, everyone who abandoned the faith – whether
overcome by torture during persecution or corrupted by vice during peacetime –
as though giving birth will suffer pain, either by profitably repenting or unhappily
dying.
5 St Aelred of Rievaulx. Homilies on the Prophetic Burdens of Isaiah. CF 83. Trans.
Lewis White. Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2018. 86-87.

Easter Weekday
2023-05-17
THE SACRAMENT OF POVERTY
From “The Starved and the Silent” by Fr Aloysius Schwartz4
◊◊◊
Christ lives on in the world today and exerts his influence upon it in three
ways: 1) the Eucharist, 2) the inspired word of Scripture, and 3) the person of the
poor. He who made us dwells among us. He can be found not only in the silence
of our tabernacles and in the solemn language of our sacred books, but also on
our streets and in our marketplaces. The living Christ is as close to us as the
nearest poor person…
Down through the history of the Church, the saints, with that penetrating
insight and clairvoyance which characterized them, always saw Christ in the
person of the poor… A typical story is that related in the life of St. Martin of
Tours. Of a cold wintry night Martin of Tours was returning to Amiens on
horseback. A beggar, half-frozen from the cold, asks for alms in the name of
Christ. Martin has nothing except his weapons and his clothes, so he rents his
cloak in two, gives one half to the beggar, and continues on his way. The
following night Christ appears to Martin, clothed in the half-cloak which he gave
the beggar, and speaks these words: “Martin, catechumen, has covered me with
his garment.”…
It requires faith of the deepest kind to see God present in the person of the
poor. It requires the faith of the centurion… who could look up at the crushed
figure of Christ upon the cross, a figure in whom there was neither beauty nor
comeliness… an object of scorn and ridicule… and say: “Indeed this was the Son
of God.”…
The Son of God could have cast himself down unhurt from the pinnacle of
the temple and in a blaze of spectacular circus glory forced the belief of all
onlookers in the divinity of his person. He also could have fed the crowds with
loaves and fishes not once or twice, but every day in order to buy their love. But
God did not want to force belief nor to buy love. He wanted it given in humility
and lowliness or he wanted it not at all…
So it is that the Infinite God chooses to reveal himself to man through the
most finite of finite things: the commonplace, everyday elements of bread and
wine, the simple words of human language, a child born in a stable and later
nailed to a tree, and the teeming masses of the poor who will always be with us.
Man’s eyes must be washed with truth and his heart cleansed with humility if he
is to come to God on these lowly terms…
The poor have been… anointed by poverty and suffering to become
mediators between man and God. Through them, men are permitted to sacrifice
themselves to God, and in turn, God gives himself to men. Christ’s presence in
the poor marvelously complements his presence in the Eucharist. In the
Sacrament of the Eucharist, the Son of God gives himself to us in the form of
bread; and we approach the table of communion as spiritual beggars – with
outstretched hand and hungry heart. In the “sacrament of poverty,” the roles are
mysteriously reversed: Christ is now the beggar, and he humbly approaches us
and pleads with us to give him bread… Although the mode, manner, and means
may differ, there is a great similarity between Christ dwelling in the Eucharist
and Christ dwelling in the person of the poor. In one case the presence is
sacramental, in the other social or mystical. In both cases the presence is real.
4 Schwartz, Aloysius. The Starved and the Silent. Garden City, NY: Doubleday &
Company, INC., 1966. 156-159, 161.

Easter Weekday
2023-05-16
WE SCARCELY KNOW OURSELVES
From the writings of Servant of God Dorothy Day 3
◊◊◊
Much as we want to, we do not really know ourselves. Do we really want
to see ourselves as God sees us, or even as our fellow human beings see us?
Could we bear it, weak as we are?… We do not want to be given that clear inward
vision which discloses to us our most secret faults. In the Psalms there is that
prayer “Deliver me from my secret sins.”… They were what I read most when I
was in jail… I read with a sense of coming back to something that I had lost.
There was an echoing in my heart. And how can anyone who has known human
sorrow and human joy fail to respond to these words?
Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. Let thy
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. If thou, O Lord, wilt mark
iniquities: Lord who shall stand it. For with thee there is merciful forgiveness…
All through those weary first days in jail when I was in solitary
confinement, the only thoughts that brought comfort to my soul were those lines
in the Psalms that expressed the terror and misery of man suddenly stricken and
abandoned. Solitude and hunger and weariness of spirit – these sharpened my
perceptions so that I suffered not only my own sorrow but the sorrows of those
about me. I was no longer myself. I was mankind… The sorrows of the world
encompassed me. I was like one gone down into the pit. Hope had forsaken me…
And yet if it were not the Holy Spirit that comforted me, how could I have been
comforted, how could I have endured, how could I have lived in hope?…
“What glorious hope!” Mauriac writes. “There are all those who will
discover that their neighbor is Jesus himself, although they belong to the mass of
those who do not know Christ or who have forgotten Him… Even some of those
who think they hate Him have consecrated their lives to Him; for Jesus is
disguised and masked in the midst of men, hidden among the poor, among the
sick, among prisoners, among strangers. Many who serve Him officially have
never known who He was, and many who do not even know His name will hear
on the last day the words that open to them the gates of joy. ‘Those children
were I, and I those working men. I wept on the hospital bed. I was that murderer
in his cell whom you consoled.’”
But always the glimpses of God came most when I was alone. Objectors
cannot say that it was fear of loneliness and solitude and pain that made me turn
to Him. It was in those few years when I was alone and most happy that I found
Him. I found Him at last through joy and thanksgiving, not through sorrow. Yet
how can I say that either? Better let it be said that I found Him through His poor,
and in a moment of joy I turned to Him… If Christ established His Church on
earth with Peter as its rock, that faulty one who denied Him three times, who fled
from Him when he was in trouble, then I, too, wanted a share in that tender
compassionate love that is so great…
The experiences that I have had are more or less universal. Suffering,
sadness, repentance, love, we all have known these. They are easiest to bear
when one remembers their universality, when we remember that we are all
members or potential members of the Mystical Body of Christ. A conversion is a
lonely experience. We do not know what is going on in the depths of the heart
and soul of another. We scarcely know ourselves.
3 Day, Dorothy. By Little and By Little – The Selected Writings of Dorothy Day. Ed.
Robert Ellsberg. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1983. 4-7, 9.

St. Pachomius
2023-05-15
CLOTHED IN THE MONK’S HABIT
An excerpt from “The Life of St Pachomius” 2
There was a man called Pachomius, who was… born of pagan parents in the Thebaid. He received the great mercy of becoming a Christian… Moved by the love of God, he sought to become a monk. When he was told of an anchorite called Palamon, he went to him to share his anchorite life. When he arrived, he knocked on the door. The old man looked down from above and said, ‘What do you want?’ – for he was abrupt in speech. He replied, ‘I ask you, father, make me a monk.’ He said to him, ‘You cannot. This work of God is not so simple; for many have come but have not persevered.’ Pachomius said, ‘Put me to the test at it and see’. The old man spoke again, ‘First try yourself out for a while, then come here again’… When the youth heard the old man say this, he was still more strengthened in spirit to endure every hardship with him. ‘I believe,’ he said to him, ‘that with the help of God and your prayers, I will endure…’ Then opening the door, [the old man] let him in and clothed him in the monk’s habit…
Once, journeying through that desert a considerable distance, he came to a deserted village called Tabennesi. There he prayed to express his love of God. And as he protracted his prayer a voice… said to him, ‘Stay here and build a monastery; for many will come to you to become monks’. When he heard this and in purity of heart discerned according to the Scriptures that the voice was holy, he returned to his father and told him about it. He had to use great persuasion, for his father was greatly grieved, because he held him as his true son… Then the old man said, ‘Since I believe this has come to you from God, let us make a covenant between us, that we shall visit each other in turn, you and I, so as not to be separated from each other….’ This they did as long as Palamon, the true athlete of Christ, lived…
<Pachomius’s> brother according to the flesh, who was called John, heard [about him] and came to him… Remembering the promise he had made to God, Pachomius began with his brother to build a larger monastery, to receive those who would come to this life… After this, he went with to an island to cut rushes for mats. And as he was keeping vigil alone, praying to be taught the whole will of God, an angel appeared to him from the Lord, just as one appeared to Manoah and his wife about the birth of Samson. The angel said to him, ‘The will of God is to minister to the race of men in order to reconcile them to himself.’ He said this three times and went away.
He thought about the voice which he had heard and was reassured. Then he began to receive those who came to him. After appropriately testing them and their parents, he clothed them in the monks’ habit. He introduced them to the life gradually. First, they had to renounce all the world, their parents, and themselves, and follow the Saviour who taught doing so, for this is to carry the Cross. Being well taught by him according to the Scriptures, they bore fruits worthy of their vocation.
2 Pachomian Koinonia: Volume One – The Life of Saint Pachomius and his disciples. CF 45. Trans. Armand Veilleux. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1980. 299, 301-302, 305-308, 311-312.

6th Sunday of Easter
2023-05-14
I WILL ASK THE FATHER
A commentary by St John Chrysostom 1
◊◊◊
If you love me, said Christ, keep my commandments. I have commanded you
to love one another and to treat one another as I have treated you. To love me is
to obey these commands, to submit to me your beloved. And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another Counselor. This promise shows once again Christ’s
consideration. Because his disciples did not yet know who he was, it was likely
that they would greatly miss his companionship, his teaching, his actual physical
presence, and be completely disconsolate when he had gone. Therefore he said: I
will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, meaning another like
himself.
They received the Spirit after Christ had purified them by his sacrifice. The
Spirit did not come down on them while Christ was still with them, because this
sacrifice had not yet been offered. But when sin had been blotted out and the
disciples, sent out to face danger, were preparing themselves for the battle, they
needed the Holy Spirit’s coming to encourage them. If you ask why the Spirit did
not come immediately after the resurrection, this was in order to increase their
gratitude for receiving him by increasing their desire. They were troubled by
nothing as long as Christ was with them, but when his departure had left them
desolate and very much afraid, they would be most eager to receive the Spirit.
He will remain with you, Christ said, meaning his presence with you will not
be ended by death. But since there was a danger that hearing of a Counselor
might lead them to expect another incarnation and to think they would be able to
see the Holy Spirit, he corrected this idea by saying: The world cannot receive him
because it does not see him. For he will not be with you in the same way as I am,
but will dwell in your very souls, He will be in you.
Christ called him the Spirit of truth because the Spirit would help them to
understand the types of the old law. By He will be with you he meant, He will be
with you as I am with you, but he also hinted at the difference between them,
namely, that the spirit would not suffer as he had done, nor would he ever
depart.

The world cannot receive him because it does not see him. Does this imply
that the Spirit is visible? By no means; Christ is speaking here of knowledge, for
he adds: or knows him. Sight being the sense by which we perceive things most
distinctly, he habitually used this sense to signify knowledge. By the world he
means here the wicked, thus giving his disciples the consolation of receiving a
special gift. He said that the Spirit was another like himself, that he would not
leave them, that he would come to them just as he himself had come, and that he
would remain in them. Yet even this did not drive away their sadness, for they
still wanted Christ himself and his companionship. So to satisfy them he said: I
will not leave you orphans; I will come back to you. Do not be afraid, for when I
promised to send you another counselor I did not mean that I was going to
abandon you for ever, nor by saying that he would remain with you did I mean
that I would not see you again. Of course I also will come to you; I will not leave
you orphans.
1 Journey with the Fathers: Commentaries on the Sunday Gospels – Year A. Ed. Edith
Barnecut, OSB. New York: New City Press, 1992. 66-67.

Skema: Easter 6th Week
2023-05-14
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
6th Week of Easter

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
May 14 – 20, 2023

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

Office
6th Sunday of Easter
St Pachomius
Easter Weekday
Easter Weekday
Easter Weekday
Easter Weekday
Easter Weekday

Vigils
1 Jn 1:1-10
1 Jn 2:1-11
1 Jn 2:12-17
1 Jn 2:18-29
1 Jn 3:1-10
1 Jn 3:11-17
1 Jn 3:18-24

Lauds
1 Tim 4:11-16
1 Tim 6:11-16
2 Tim 1:1-8
2 Tim 1:9-14
2 Tim 2:1-7
2 Tim 2:8-13
2 Tim 2:20-26

Mass
55
291
292
293
294
295
296

1st
Acts 8:5-8, 14-17
Acts 16:11-15
Acts 16:22-34
Acts 17:15, 22-18:1
Acts 18:1-8
Acts 18:9-18
Acts 18:23-28

2nd
1 Pet 3:15-18

Gospel
John 14:15-21
John 15:26-16:4a
John 16:5-11
John 16:12-15
John 16:16-20
John 16:20-23
John 16:23b-28

Vespers
Acts 19:23-30
Acts 20:7-12
Acts 21:7-14
Acts 21:27-34
Acts 22:23-30
Acts 23:12-16
Col 3:1-11

LCG Chicago 9:00 am CDT
2023-05-13 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
VIA ZOOM VIDEOCONFERENCE
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9:00 Gather for Opening prayer and lighting of the candles illuminating the Theotokos icon of Blessed Mother Mary and the baby Jesus.
We also pray for all our lay Cistercian sisters and brothers in the US and around the world. Specially we pray for our Gethsemani monks. Finally, we pray this month specially for these Gethsemani monks:
Br. Aaron Schulte
Br. Gaetan Blanchette
Fr. Peter Tong
9:10 Lectio. Our lectio piece will be led by Robert Johnson.
9:50 Reading. Our reading this month is The Divine Dance by Richard Rohr (through Part I, page 117)
10:45 Housekeeping. Volunteer to lead lectio next month? Is Chicago an on-line community? Report on LCG Advisory Council activity, Chicago representative(s); host October LCG retreat, theme?
11:00 Update. Share how the Holy Spirt has entered our lives as lay Cistercians since our last meeting. How goes our Lenten experience?
11:45 Closing worship and prayer. We will pray the liturgical hour of None as with our Gethsemani monks (identical Psalms as done today at Gethsemani Abbey.)

We look forward to our continuing LCG Chicago journey at our next meeting: June 10, 2023.

Vigils Reading - Our Lady of Fatima
2023-05-13
THE 13TH OF MAY, 1917
From the memoirs of Sister Lucia7
High up on the slope in the Cova da Iria, I was playing with Jacinta and Francisco at building a little stone wall around a clump of furze. Suddenly we saw what seemed to be a flash of lightning. “We’d better go home,” I said to my cousins, “that’s lightning; we may have a thunderstorm.” “Yes, indeed!” they answered.
We began to go down the slope, hurrying the sheep along towards the road. We were more or less half-way down the slope, and almost level with a large Holm oak tree that stood there, when we saw another flash of lightning. We had only gone a few steps further when, there before us on a small Holm oak, we beheld a Lady all dressed in white. She was more brilliant than the sun, and radiated a light more clear and intense than a crystal glass filled with sparkling water, when the rays of the burning sun shine through it. We stopped, astounded, before the Apparition. We were so close, just a few feet from her, that we were bathed in the light which surrounded her, or rather, which radiated from her.
Then Our Lady spoke to us: “Do not be afraid. I will do you no harm.” “Where are you from?” “I am from Heaven.” “What do you want of me?” “I have come to ask you to come here for six months in succession, on the 13th day, at this same hour. Later on, I will tell you who I am and what I want. Afterwards, I will return here yet a seventh time.” “Shall I go to Heaven too?” “Yes, you will.” “And Jacinta?” “She will go also.” “And Francisco?” “He will go there too, but he must say many Rosaries.” Then I remembered to ask about two girls who had died recently. They were friends of mine and used to come to my home to learn weaving with my eldest sister. “Is Maria das Neves in Heaven?” “Yes, she is.”… “And Amélia?” “She will be in purgatory until the end of the world.”

“Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?” “Yes, we are willing.” “Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort.” As she pronounced these last words “…the grace of God will be your comfort”, Our Lady opened her hands for the first time, communicating to us a light so intense that, as it streamed from her hands, its rays penetrated our hearts and the innermost depths of our souls, making us see ourselves in God, Who was that light, more clearly than we see ourselves in the best of mirrors. Then, moved by an interior impulse that was also communicated to us, we fell on our knees, repeating in our hearts: “O most Holy Trinity, I adore You! My God, my God, I love You in the most Blessed Sacrament!”
After a few moments, Our Lady spoke again: “Pray the Rosary every day, in order to obtain peace for the world, and the end of the war.” Then she began to rise serenely, going up towards the east, until she disappeared in the immensity of space

7 Fatima is Lucia’s Own Words – Sister Lucia’s Memoirs. Ed. Fr. Louis Kondor, SVD. Trans. Dominican Nuns of Perpetual Rosary. Fatima, Portugal: Secretariado Dos Pastorinhos, 2007, 174-176.

Vigils Reading
2023-05-12
LOVE ONE ANOTHER
a homily by St Gregory the Great6
Since all of our Lord’s sacred utterances contain commandments, why does he say about love as if it were a special commandment: This is my commandment, that you love one another? It is because every commandment is about love, and they all add up to one commandment because whatever is commanded is founded on love alone. As a tree’s many branches come from one root, so do many virtues come forth from love alone. The branch which is our good works has no sap unless it remains attached to the root of love. Our Lord’s commandments are then both many and one: many through the variety of the works, one in their root which is love. He himself instructs us to love our friends in him, and our enemies for his sake. That person truly possesses love who loves his friend in God and his enemy for God’s sake.
There are some people who love their neighbors, drawn by blood relationship or by natural affection, and Scripture does not oppose this kind of love. But what we give freely and naturally is one thing, and the obedience we owe to the Lord’s commandments out of love is another. Those I’ve mentioned indisputably love their neighbors, yet they don’t attain love’s sublime rewards since their love does not come from spiritual but from natural motives.
Therefore when the Lord said: This is my commandment, that you love one another, he added immediately: Just as I have loved you, meaning, ‘You must love for the same reason that I have loved you.’ Dearly beloved, we must consider this carefully. When our ancient enemy draws our hearts to delight in temporal things, he is stirring up a weaker neighbor against us. This neighbor may be plotting to take away the very things we love. In doing this our ancient enemy is not concerned to do away with our earthly possessions; he wants to destroy our lives. Suddenly we are set on fire with hatred, and while we desire to be outwardly unconquerable, inwardly we are gravely wounded. When we defend our small outer possession, we lose our great inner one, since when we love something temporal we lose our true love. Everyone who takes away our possessions is an enemy. But if we begin to hate our enemy, our loss is of something internal. When then we suffer something external from a neighbor, we must be on our guard against a hidden ravager within. This one is never better overcome then when we love the one who ravages us from without. The unique, the highest proof of love is this, to love the person who is against us. This is why Truth himself bore the suffering of the cross and yet bestowed his love on his persecutors, saying: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

Why should we wonder that his living disciples loved their enemies, when their dying master loved his. He expressed the depth of his love when he said: No one has greater love than this, than that he lay down his life for his friends. The Lord had come to die even for his enemies, and yet he said he would lay down his life for his friends to show us that when we are able to win over our enemies by loving them even our persecutors are our friends.
But no one is persecuting us to the point of death. How then can we prove that we love our friends?… John the Baptist says: Let him who has two tunics give to him who has none. Will a person, then, who will not give up his tunic for the sake of God during quiet times give up his life during a persecution? Cultivate the virtue of love in tranquil times by showing mercy, then, so that it will be unconquerable in times of disorder. Learn first to give up your possession for almighty God, and then yourself

6 Gregory the Great. Forty Gospel Homilies. CS 193. Trans. Dom David Hurst. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1990. 212-214.

Vigils Reading - Holy Abbots of Cluny
2023-05-11
FROM THE LIFE OF ST. ODO OF CLUNY
By John of Salerno5

It was about the feast of St. Martin, which feast we are accustomed to celebrate with an octave, and at the end of Lauds on the octave day, before it was light, and when all had retired to their beds to rest rather than to sleep, our father <Odo> used to relate that this vision was granted to a certain poor old man. He saw a venerable figure with white hair, wearing a splendid stole and acope, with a bishop’s crozier in his hand. Coming nearer, the figure began to inspect closely the structure of the monastery. When asked who he was and why he was inspecting the building, he said: “I am the one whose octave day the brethren are celebrating, and I have come to visit them. Tell them not to give up, but to carry on with the work they have begun.”… The brethren, therefore, delighted and feeling secure in the promise of such a one, began to give thanks to God with joyous hearts. Who the person was, who saw this vision, it is not for me to say, because it was our father’s custom deliberately never to describe his own person. But if anything had appeared to him, great or small, he described what he had seen in this way – one of our brethren, or a certain poor old man, saw this or that.
…Odo sometimes confessed that his means always sufficed both to feed the brethren and to give alms to the poor. Never did a poor man turn away empty from the bosom of his mercy. Whenever I went out with him he was always careful to ask if we had something for the poor, and if we had all that was necessary, he went on his way happily and without hesitation. And because he gave to all who asked of him, by the power of God all things were supplied to him.

He always had in mind that precept of Tobias: See that you turn not your face away from that time, and give to all who ask of you…
When he was on a journey he used to make any boys that he found on the road sing something and as though to pay their performance he would order them to be given a present… He used to speak in this way that we might be encouraged by their cheerfulness, and that they might profit by his mercy. For his words were full of joy and his speech used to make us laugh with delight. But always holding the reins of moderation in his hand, he would quote that chapter of the Rule which says, not to love much or violent laughter… So he restrained us while his spiritual joy filled our hearts with inward rejoicing. But what can one such as I say that is worthy of him, or what can I relate of such great happiness?… He was like a cornerstone with four faces, angelic and human, bountiful and pleasing, so that that seemed to be fulfilled in him daily which we read in the psalm: Acceptable is the man that showeth mercy and lendeth, and again as the Apostle Paul says: God loveth a cheerful giver

5 St. Odo of Cluny. Trans. Dom Gerard Sitwell, O.S.B. London: Sheed and Ward, 1958. 41-46.

Vigils Reading - St Damien De Veuster
2023-05-10
THE SPIRIT OF ST DAMIEN
The Leper Priest of Molokai, Hawaii4
<Fr Damien De Veuster> landed at the leprosy colony of Molokai on Saturday, May 10, 1873… Damien had entered a house of death. From the moment he arrived at the leprosy settlement, his faith and his intellect intuitively knew that this was the challenge for which his huge missionary’s heart was longing… “They are repugnant to look at, but they also have a soul redeemed at the price of the precious blood of our Divine Savior… If I cannot heal them, as he could, at least I can offer them comfort.” That was Damien’s choice: to look at the lepers with the loving eyes of Jesus…
Damien not only cared for the sick; he also gave them back their human dignity and self-respect by pointing out their own responsibility… Together with his sick companions, Damien entered the battle against meaninglessness, emptiness, and despair. He made sure that they did not waste their lives… If necessary, he could become angry. But he also offered them alternatives… He reconciled them, not only with one another, but with God. Through his pastoral work, his sermons, the liturgies at which he presided, and the sacraments he administered, he taught his flock that each one of them was valuable in the eyes of God…
Damien lived among the lepers for sixteen years. Those years made an enormous difference to the settlement… The condition he found in 1873 among the eight hundred lepers was one of great lawlessness and unrestrained behavior… The greatest gift he gave them was to succeed in transforming an orderless throng into a living community around Christ, where they learned to care for one another… The rare visitors to the island were often surprised by the music and the joyfulness… in the settlement.

Each week, he visited every house. From the beginning he learned to adapt his words to the situation… “In almost every house I have to change my tone. Sometimes I use soft words in order to console. Sometimes I add some vinegar, in order to make them understand the situation they are in. From time to time a real storm breaks loose. Then I threaten them with terrible punishments, whenever they would not change their heart.”… The lepers felt that the Belgian missionary, in his angry outbursts, was genuinely concerned about them. After all, he gratuitously and voluntarily gave his life for them. Many converted to Catholicism because of him. “Our two churches are very busy”, he recorded with satisfaction in 1879. “Last year we baptized 110… The great majority of the patients are not Catholic when they arrive, but they dieCatholic.”…
After it was determined with certainty that Damien had contracted leprosy, he lived nearly five years with what he called the “terrible disease”… In the fall of 1888 Damien felt his physical strength quickly fading… Monday, April 15, was the first day of Holy Week. Damien knew his hour had come. “The Lord is calling me to celebrate Easter with him.”… He… died in the arms of Father Conrardy and Brother Sinnett… “I have never seen a happier death”, Sinnett wrote… All the marks of leprosy had disappeared from his face…. Damien was buried, according to his long-expressed wish, near his church, on the spot where he had spent his first nights on Molokai, under the shade of his beloved pandanus tree

4 De Volder, Jan. The Spirit of Father Damien: The Leper Priest – A Saint for Our Times. Trans. John Steffen. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010. 33, 45-47, 51, 59-60, 108, 138, 154.

Vigils Reading
2023-05-09
NOT AS THE WORLD GIVES PEACE
From a homily by St Oscar Romero3

…Justice is not enough; love also is necessary… We have said that the power of the Christian is love, and we repeat it: the power of the church is love.
Love enables us to feel that we are sisters and brothers to one and all… As long as we do not reach that strength of love, we cannot be true peacemakers. Those whose hearts are filled with resentment, violence, and hatred cannot be forgers of peace. We have to know how to love like Jesus, who loved even those who crucified him: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do… If they knew you, they would love you… Give them love also, Lord.” How much good the powerful would do if they truly loved and were not selfish and envious! How beautiful the world would be… if we all were to expand this power of love!
Here the Second Vatican Council was careful to define two kinds of peace, and we should pay close attention to this. One kind of peace is that which Christ reserved for his closest friends, those who understood the redemption and the need to root out sin from themselves. As long as there is sin in the heart, there can be no truly divine peace, such as the peace Christ achieved when he reconciled us with the Father by dying on the cross and bearing the sins of all of us in his body. For us Christians and Catholics, this is the culmination of peace: peace in the grace of God, the peace of those who have left sin and controlled their passions, the peace of holy souls. This is the peace that Christ spoke of: “I leave you peace; my peace I give to you, not as the world gives peace.”

Here we distinguish another kind of peace, the peace that the church shares with the world, the peace that non-Christians can also possess, the peace of people of good will that we sing about in the Gloria of the Mass… Here is meant this other peace, the peace that proceeds from natural love. It is the peace of those who, even though they do not know God, are able to discover the intense power of being in solidarity with those who suffer. It is the peace that enables people to bring a little comfort to the grief-stricken and to denounce injustices… This is the peace that all people can possess…
The problem of peace is immense, and it needs many peacemakers: priests, men and women religious, laity… the call goes out to all… Let each one of us, according to our means, nurture this vocation to become instruments of peace… Those whose hearts feel the need for God, those who find the joy of life in the cross and sacrifice, those who have learned the true secret of peace in the crucified One. This secret consists of loving God to the extreme of letting oneself be killed for him and of loving one’s neighbors to the point of being crucified for them. This is the love of the modern redeemers, the love of Christ, this love that endures forever. Let us promise this to the Lord while we proceed to proclaim our faith in him

3 St Oscar Arnulfo Romero. A Prophetic Bishop Speaks to His People – The Complete Homilies of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero Vol. 1 (of 6). Trans. Joseph Owens, SJ. Miami: Convivium Press, 2015. 181-184.

Vigils Reading - Bl Christian de Cherge
2023-05-08
THE FINAL TESTIMONY
of Bl Christian de Chergé2
If the day comes, and it could be today, that I am a victim of the terrorism that seems to be engulfing all foreigners living in Algeria, I would like my community, my Church, and my family to remember that I have dedicated my life to God and Algeria.
That they accept that the Lord of all life was not a stranger to this savage kind of departure; that they pray for me, wondering how I found myself worthy of such a sacrifice; that they link in their memory this death of mine with all the other deaths equally violent but forgotten in their anonymity.
My life is not worth more than any other – not less, not more. Nor am I an innocent child. I have lived long enough to know that I, too, am an accomplice of the evil that seems to prevail in the world around, even that which might lash out blindly at me. If the moment comes, I would hope to have the presence of mind, and the time, to ask for God’s pardon and for that of my fellowman, and, at the same time, to pardon in all sincerity he who would attack me.
I would not welcome such a death. It is important for me to say this. I do not see how I could rejoice when this people whom I love will be accused, indiscriminately, of my death. The price is too high, this so-called grace of the martyr, if I owe it to an Algerian who kills me in the name of what he thinks is Islam.

I know the contempt that some people have for Algerians as a whole. I also know the caricatures of Islam that a certain (Islamist) ideology promotes. It is too easy for such people to dismiss, in good conscience, this religion as something hateful by associating it with violent extremists. For me, Algeria and Islam are quite different from the commonly held opinion. They are body and soul. I have said enough, I believe, about all the good things I have received here, finding so often the meaning of the Gospels, running like some gold thread through my life, and which began first at my mother’s knee, my very first church, here in Algeria, where I learned respect for the Muslims.
Obviously, my death will justify the opinion of all those who dismissed me as naïve or idealistic: “Let him tell us what he thinks now.” But such people should know my death will satisfy my most burning curiosity. At last, I will be able – if God pleases – to see the children of Islam as He sees them, illuminated in the glory of Christ, sharing in the gift of God’s Passion and of the Spirit, whose secret joy will always be to bring forth our common humanity amidst our differences.
I give thanks to God for this life, completely mine yet completely theirs, too, to God, who wanted it for joy against, and in spite of, all odds. In this Thank You – which says everything about my life – I include you, my friends past and present, and those friends who will be here at the side of my mother and father, of my sisters and brothers – thank you a thousandfold.
And to you, too, my friend of the last moment, who will not know what you are doing. Yes, for you, too, I wish this thank-you, this “A-Dieu,” who image is in you also, that we may meet in heaven, like happy thieves, if it pleases God, our common Father. Amen! Insha Allah

2 Reprinted in: Kiser, John W. The Monks of Tibhirine: Faith, Love, and Terror in Algeria. New York, St. Martin’s Press, 2002. 244-246.

Vigils Readings
2023-05-07
IT IS THE WAY THAT LEADS US
a commentary by St Ambrose1
Let us march forward intrepidly to meet our Redeemer, Jesus, pursuing our onward course without swerving until we come to the assembly of the saints and are welcomed by the company of the just. It is to join our Christian forebears that we are journeying, to those who taught us our faith – that faith which comes to our aid and safeguards our heritage for us even when we have no good works to show. In the place we are making for the Lord will be everyone’s light; the true light which enlightens every human person will shine upon all. In the house where we are going the Lord Jesus has prepared many dwelling-places for his servants, so that where he is we also may be, for this was his desire. Hear his own words about them: In my Father’s house are many dwelling-places, and about his desire: I will come again, he says, and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.
“But he was speaking only to his disciples” you say, “and so it was to them alone that the many dwelling-places were promised.” Do you really suppose it was only for the eleven disciples they were prepared? And what of the saying about people coming from all the corners of the earth to sit at table in the kingdom of heaven? Do we doubt that the divine will will be accomplished? But for Christ, to will is to do! Accordingly he has shown us both the way and the place: You know where I am going, he said, and you know the way. The place is where the Father is; the way is Christ, according to his own declaration: I am the way, and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me. Let us set out on this way, let us hold fast to truth, let us follow life. It is the way that leads us, the truth that strengthens us, the life that is restored to us through him.

To make sure that we really understand his will, Christ prays later on:
Father, it is my desire that those whom you have given me may be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory. How graciously he asks for what he had already promised! The promise came first and then the request, not the other way around. Conscious of his authority and knowing the gift was at his own disposal, he made the promise; then, as if to show his filial submission, he asked his Father to grant it. He promised first to make us aware of his power; he asked afterwards to show us his loving deference to his Father.
Yes, Lord Jesus, we do follow you, but we can only come at your bidding. No one can make the ascent without you, for you are our way, our truth, our life, our strength, our confidence, our reward. Be the way that receives us, the truth that strengthens us, the life that invigorates us

1 Journey with the Fathers: Commentaries on the Sunday Gospels – Year A. Ed. Edith Barnecut, OSB. New York: New City Press, 1992. 64-65.

Skema
2023-05-07
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
5th Week of Easter

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
May 7 – 13, 2023

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

Office
5th Sunday of Easter
Bl Christian de Cherge
Easter Weekday
St Damien de Veuster
Holy Abbots of Cluny
Easter Weekday
Our Lady of Fatima

Vigils
Rev 18:21-19:10
Rev 19:11-21
Rev 20:1-15
Rev 21:1-8
Rev 21:9-27
Rev 22:1-9
Rev 22:10-21

Lauds
Col 2:9-15
Col 3:1-11
Col 3:12-17
1 Tim 1:1-7
1 Tim 1:12-17
1 Tim 2:1-7
1 Tim 4:6-10

Mass
52
285
286
287
288
289
290

1st
Acts 6:1-7
Acts 14:5-18
Acts 14:19-28
Acts 15:1-6
Acts 15:7-21
Acts 15:22-31
Acts 16:1-10

2nd
1 Pet 2:4-9

Gospel
John 14:1-12
John 14:21-26
John 14:27-31a
John 15:1-8
John 15:9-11
John 15:12-17
John 15:18-21

Vespers
Acts 16:35-40
Acts 17:1-5a
Acts 17:10-15
Acts 17:16-23
Acts 18:18-23
Acts 19:8-12
Acts 19:13-20

Vigils Reading
2023-05-06
WHATSOEVER YOU SHALL ASK
From a treatise by St. Augustine7

The Lord, by His promise, gave those whose hopes were resting on Himself a special ground of confidence, when He said, For I go to the Father; and whatsoever you shall ask in my name, I will do it. His proceeding, therefore, to the Father, was not with any view of abandoning the needy, but of hearing and answering their petitions. But

what is to be made of the words, Whatsoever you shall ask, when we behold His faithful ones so often asking and not receiving? Is it, shall we say, for no other reason but that they ask amiss? For the Apostle James made this a ground of reproach when he said, You ask and receive not, because <you> ask amiss… What one, therefore, wishes to receive, in order to turn to an improper use, God in His mercy rather refuses to bestow…
Do we not see how the Israelites got to their own hurt what their guilty lusting craved? For while it was raining manna on them from heaven, they desired to have flesh to eat. They disdained what they had, and shamelessly sought what they had not… For when evil becomes our delight, and what is good the reverse, we ought to be entreating God rather to win us back to the love of the good, than to grant us the evil… But to let us know that the wrong lies not with any creature of God, but with obstinate disobedience and inordinate desire, it was not in swine’s flesh that the first man found death, but in an apple; and it was not for a fowl, but for a dish of pottage, that Esau lost his birthright.

Accordingly, when we wish Him to do whatsoever we ask, let it not be in any way, but in His name… of the Saviour, that we present our petition… For He who condescends to be the Saviour of the faithful, is also a Judge to condemn the ungodly. Whatsoever, therefore, any one that believes in Him shall ask in that name which He bears to those

who believe in Him, He will do it; for He will do it as the Saviour… On that account, not only as the Saviour, but also as the good Master, He taught us, in the very prayer He gave us, what we should ask, in order that, whatsoever we shall ask, He may do it; and that we, too, might thereby understand that we cannot be asking in the Master’s name anything that is inconsistent with the rule of His own instructions.
In no respect, therefore, does the Son act without the Father, since He so acts for

the very purpose that in Him the Father may be glorified. The Father, therefore, acts in the Son, that the Son may be glorified in the Father: and the Son acts in the Father, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; for the Father and the Son are one.

7 St Augustine. The Fathers of the Church: St. Augustine – Tractates on the Gospel of John. Tractate 67. https://sites.google.com/site/aquinasstudybible/home/gospel-of-john-commentary/st-augustine-on- john/augustine-on-john-14
