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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260330
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260331
DTSTAMP:20260405T041137
CREATED:20260329T024510Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260329T024510Z
UID:14747-1774828800-1774915199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Monday of Holy Week
DESCRIPTION:From a sermon by 2\nST AELRED OF RIEVAULX\n◊◊◊\nOur Lord Jesus Christ worked our salvation not in one way only\, but undoubtedly in many ways. Since it was in mercy that he had planned our redemption\, he wrought this redemption in such a way that he might serve as an example for us… In this season you are recalling this redemption of ours. Be careful\, then\, to reflect not only on the fact of this redemption but also on two other points: the manner in which this redemption was wrought\, and the place in which it was wrought. The manner of redemption is the suffering of the Cross; the place\, outside the city. \nLet us then learn from the Cross of Jesus our proper way of living. Should I say ‘living’ or\, instead\, ‘dying’? Rather\, both living and dying. Dying to the world\, living for God. Dying to vices and living by the virtues. Dying to the flesh\, but living in the spirit. Thus in the Cross of Christ there is death and in the Cross of Christ there is life. The death of death is there\, and the life of life. The death of sins is there and the life of the virtues. The death of the flesh is there\, and the life of the spirit. But why did God choose this manner of death? He chose it as both a mystery and an example. In addition\, he chose it because our sickness was such as to make such a remedy appropriate. \nIt was fitting that we who had fallen because of a tree might rise up because of a tree. Fitting that the one who had conquered by means of a tree might also be conquered by means of a tree… And because we had fallen from the security of that most blessed place on earth into this great\, expansive sea\, it was fitting that wood should be made ready to carry us across it. For no one crosses the sea except on wood\, or this world except on the Cross… \nDeath on a Cross is endured not on the earth but above the earth; and the victim’s limbs are not cut off but stretched. They are stretched horizontally and perpendicularly\, so that the crucified man is stretched out in the four directions and seems to embrace the four quarters of the world\, taking possession of both heaven and earth. For when a Cross is set upright\, the head is directed to heaven and the feet to earth\, and the outstretched arms to what is located between heaven and earth. Moreover\, if you lay a crucified man on the ground\, one part of him will occupy the east\, another the west\, another the south\, and another the north. \nDo you see\, now\, the mystery in the kind of death Christ chose? The Apostle sets forth this point with clarity\, when he says: He humbled himself\, becoming obedient unto death\, even to death on the Cross. And\, revealing the mystery\, he says: Therefore God exalted him and gave him the name that is above all names\, so that at the name of Jesus every knee might bend of those who are in heaven\, on earth\, and under the earth. Since\, then\, he was to take possession of heaven and earth through the Cross\, on the Cross he embraced heaven and earth. \n2\nSt Aelred\, In Hebd. Sancta\, sermon 36.1-2.4 (CCM 2A:294-295); Word in Season II\, 2nd ed.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/monday-of-holy-week-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260331
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260401
DTSTAMP:20260405T041137
CREATED:20260329T025211Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260329T025211Z
UID:14749-1774915200-1775001599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Tuesday of Holy Week
DESCRIPTION:From “On the Virtue of Patience” by 3\nST CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE\n◊◊◊\nJesus Christ\, our God and Lord\, said that he had come down to earth to do his Father’s will. Among the virtues that revealed his divine majesty was the endurance that mirrored his Father’s patience. Every act of his\, from the moment of his first appearing\, bore the stamp of the patience with which it was carried out. He was no sinner\, but the Son of God; yet when he descended to earth from the heights of heaven\, he did not disdain to assume human nature and bear the sins of men. \nLaying aside his immortality for a while\, he suffered himself to be made mortal\, in order that the innocent could die to save the guilty. He\, the Lord\, was baptized by a servant\, and though he had come to grant forgiveness of sins he did not think it beneath him to wash in the life-giving waters. He fasted for forty days\, yet it is through him that others are filled with good things. If he hungered and thirsted\, it was to enable those who were faint for want of the word and grace of God to be filled with bread from heaven. He engaged in combat with the devil who tempted him\, but was content to defeat his enemy by words alone. \nHe did not govern his disciples as a master rules his slaves. He was kind and gentle\, loving them as brothers\, even washing the feet of the apostles\, showing by his example how a servant should bear himself toward his equals when his master dealt in such a way with his servants. No wonder he could show such goodness to the disciples who obeyed him\, if he was able to bear so long and so patiently with Judas\, eating and drinking with his enemy\, recognizing the foe in his own household yet neither exposing him publicly nor refusing his treacherous kiss. \nAt the time of his Passion and Cross\, even before it had gone as far as the inhuman crucifixion and the shedding of his blood\, how patiently he bore reviling and reproach\, insult and mockery! A little while before\, he had cured the eyes of a blind man with his spittle\, yet now he allowed his tormentors to spit in his face. His servants today scourge the devil and his angels in the name of Christ\, but at the time of his Passion Christ himself submitted to being scourged. He crowns the martyrs with never-fading flowers\, though he himself was crowned with thorns. Others he clothes in the garment of immortality\, yet he himself was stripped of his earthly garments. He had fed them with bread from heaven\, yet he himself was fed with gall; and he who had poured out the saving cup was offered vinegar to drink. \nHe the innocent\, he the just\, he rather who is the embodiment of innocence and justice\, is counted among evil-doers. Truth is confuted by false evidence. The future judge is subjected to judgment; the Word of God is led to the Cross in silence. At the Lord’s crucifixion the stars are thrown into confusion\, the elements are disturbed\, earth trembles\, and night swallows up day. But he himself is silent\, unmoved\, hiding every sign of his godhead throughout the whole duration of his Passion. Enduring all things\, he perseveres to the end\, so that in him patience may be brought to its full measure of perfection. \n3 St Cyprian\, On the Virtue of Patience 6-7 (CSEL 3:401-402); Word in Season II\, 1st ed.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/tuesday-of-holy-week-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260401
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260402
DTSTAMP:20260405T041137
CREATED:20260329T025719Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260329T025719Z
UID:14751-1775001600-1775087999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Wednesday of Holy Week
DESCRIPTION:From a sermon by 4\nST LEO THE GREAT\n◊◊◊\nWhen God\, whose absolute being is immune from suffering\, assumed our fragile humanity in Christ\, he strengthened it beyond measure. Henceforth it was no longer to remain under death’s dominion; through a nature immortal in itself\, mortal man would be raised to life. \nWe must strive\, dearly beloved\, with great effort of soul and body to join ourselves inseparably to this mystery. While failure to observe the Paschal Solemnity would be a very grave offense\, it would be still more dangerous to be united with congregations at Church but have no sharing in our Lord’s Passion. The apostle’s saying is true: If we suffer with him\, we shall also reign with him.No one can truly worship the suffering\, dead and risen Christ unless he himself suffers\, dies\, and rises again with him. \nFor all the Church’s children this sharing in Christ’s death and resurrection begins at the mystery of regeneration\, when sin is destroyed and we are born to new life. There the Lord’s three-day sojourn in the grave is represented by a three-fold immersion. The stone is\, as it were\, rolled away from the tomb\, and those who enter the font in their old\, sin-stained condition are brought forth new by the baptismal waters. What has been effected in mystery\, however\, must still be carried out in their daily lives. As long as they are in this mortal body\, those who are born of the Spirit must take up their cross. \nChrist has lifted us up with himself on the Cross: there let the Christian take his stand. He knows it is the place where his human nature was redeemed\, and all his steps should be directed toward it – for the Lord’s Passion is prolonged until the end of the world. Just as it is he whom we honour and love in the saints\, he whom we feed and clothe in the poor\, so too it is he who suffers in all who endure adversity for the sake of what is right\, unless\, indeed\, we are to imagine that\, with the spread of the faith\, all persecution has come to an end together with every conflict which ever raged against the blessed martyrs – as if the bearing of the Cross were reserved only for those who have to suffer atrocious torments for the love of Christ. \nWise souls who have learned to fear and love the one and only Lord and to hope in him alone\, mortify their passions and crucify their bodily senses. They prefer the will of God to their own lives\, and insofar as they renounce love of self for love of God\, they love themselves all the more truly. In such members of Christ’s body\, beloved brethren\, the Holy Passover is celebrated properly and they shall lack none of those victories which our Saviour’s Passion has won. \n4\nSt Leo the Great\, Sermon 70.3-5 – Good Friday 443 (PL 54\,:382-384); Word in Season II\, 2nd ed.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/wednesday-of-holy-week-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260402
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260403
DTSTAMP:20260405T041137
CREATED:20260329T030224Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260329T030224Z
UID:14753-1775088000-1775174399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Thursday of Holy Week
DESCRIPTION:From the writing of 5\nST EPHREM OF SYRIA\n◊◊◊\nThe evening before our Lord gave himself up to death he shared his own body with his Apostles and offered them his blood\, with the command that they were to do what he had done in order to keep the memory of his Passion alive. Then a strange thing happened. Earlier Jesus had charged his disciples not to fear death. Do not be afraid of those who have power to kill your body\, he had said. But now he himself showed fear\, and begged to be spared the cup of suffering. Father\, he prayed if it be possible\, let this cup pass me by. How are we to explain this? \nThe answer is that our Lord’s petition was wrung from the human weakness he had made his own. There was no pretense about his incarnation; it was absolutely real. And since the donning of our poor humanity had made him puny and defenseless\, it was only natural that he should experience fear and alarm. Eating to alleviate hunger\, showing weariness after exertion\, and revealing human weakness by the need for sleep were all the effects of his taking our flesh and clothing himself with our infirmity. Consequently when the moment of death drew near\, he necessarily experienced the ultimate frailty of our human condition; he was gripped by a dreadful horror of dying. \nIt was then that Jesus said to his disciples: Stay awake and pray that you may be spared the test. The spirit is willing\, but the flesh is weak. And in answer to our question he might well say: ‘When you are afraid\, it is not your spirit that trembles but your human weakness. Remember then that I myself tasted the fear of death in my desire to convince you that I truly shared your flesh and blood.’ \nA further answer to our question is that Jesus wished to teach his disciples how to commit themselves to God both in life and in death. His own divine knowledge made him supremely wise\, yet he prayed for what his Father judged to be expedient. How much more ought we ignorant men to surrender our wills to God’s omniscience! \nWe may also tell ourselves that we too were in our Lord’s mind as he prayed. In time of temptation our minds become confused and our imagination runs riot. By persevering in prayer Jesus was showing us how much we ourselves need to pray if we are to escape the wiles and snares of the devil. It is only by constant prayer that we gain control of our distracted thoughts. \nFinally\, there is our Lord’s desire to strengthen all who are afraid of death. By letting them see that he himself had experienced fear he would show them that fear does not necessarily lead to sin\, provided one continues to resist it. This is the force of our Lord’s concluding prayer: Not my will\, Father\, but yours be done. He is saying: ‘Yes\, Father\, I am ready to die in order to bring life to many.’ \n5. St Ephrem of Syria\, Diatessaron 20.3-4\, 6-7 (CSCO 145:201-204); Word in Season II\, 2nd ed.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/thursday-of-holy-week/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260403
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260404
DTSTAMP:20260405T041137
CREATED:20260329T030628Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260329T030628Z
UID:14755-1775174400-1775260799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Good Friday
DESCRIPTION:From a sermon by 6\nST LEO THE GREAT\n◊◊◊\nWhen our Lord was handed over to the will of his cruel foes\, they ordered him\, in mockery of his royal dignity\, to carry the instrument of his own torture. This was done to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah: A child is born for us\, a son is given to us; sovereignty is laid upon his shoulders. To the wicked\, the sight of the Lord carrying his own Cross was indeed an object of derision; but to the faithful a great mystery was revealed\, for the Cross was destined to become the scepter of his power. Here was the majestic spectacle of a glorious conqueror mightily overthrowing the hostile forces of the devil and nobly bearing the trophy of his victory. \nAs the crowd accompanied Jesus to the place of execution\, the soldiers found a man called Simon of Cyrene\, onto whose shoulders they transferred the weight of the Lord’s Cross. This action prefigured the faith of the Gentiles\, to whom the Cross of Christ would mean glory rather than shame. By this substitution the atonement of the unblemished lamb and the fulfillment of all the rites of the old Law passed from the people of the circumcision to the Gentiles\, from the children born of the flesh to those born of the spirit. \nIn the words of the Apostle: Christ our Passover is sacrificed. As the new and authentic sacrifice of reconciliation\, it was not in the Temple\, whose cult was now at an end\, that he offered himself to the Father; nor was it within the walls of the city doomed to destruction for its crimes. It was beyond the city gates\, outside the camp\, that he was crucified\, in order that when the ancient sacrificial dispensation came to an end a new victim might be laid on a new altar\, and the Cross of Christ become the altar not of the Temple\, but of the world. \nYou drew all things to yourself\, Lord\, when all the elements combined to pronounce judgment in execration of that crime. Figures gave way to reality\, prophecy to manifestation\, Law to Gospel. You drew all things to yourself in order that the worship of the whole human race could be celebrated everywhere in a sacramental form which would openly fulfill what had been enacted by means of veiled symbols in that single Jewish Temple. \n6\nSt Leo the Great\, Sermon 59.4-6 – Weds in HWK 444 (PL 54:339-341); Word in Season II\, 1st ed.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/good-friday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260404
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260405
DTSTAMP:20260405T041137
CREATED:20260329T031230Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260329T031230Z
UID:14757-1775260800-1775347199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Holy Saturday
DESCRIPTION:From a homily by 7\nST AUGUSTINE\n◊◊◊\nToday\, my dearest friends\, there is every reason for heaven to rejoice and earth to be glad. It is a day on which more light shines forth from the tomb than rays from the sun. When our Lord and Savior was born as one of us he brought light into the world; so also today\, being dead in the body\, he has illumined the underworld with the powerful presence of his divinity as well as of his human soul. Today at the Lord’s visitation there is leaping and dancing in the nether regions over the fulfillment of the prophecy: The people that sat in darkness(that is to say the whole human race enveloped in the gloom of Sheol) has seen a great light. He who created Adam has this day sought him out in the underworld\, and by his own power has set him free. \nWonderful beyond words is the loving kindness of our God! Death had indeed invaded Paradise\, but life has now conquered the abyss\, and by assuming our mortality the Son of God has trodden underfoot the law that all must die. Thus he has made good the prophet’s assertion: O death\, I will be your death! Those whom you have caused to die through sin I will gather up from that place of eternal ruin\, and by dying myself I will deliver them from everlasting death. \nLook now at the author of our undoing! With what snares he is entangled and fettered! As he deceived us\, so he is himself deceived; in the very act of killing he is destroyed. \nWhen the Lord’s body was laid in the tomb\, he himself descended into the lowest and most hidden abode of the infernal regions. There\, where he was presumed to be held captive\, he bound death fast\, and so broke the chains of all who had died. And from that place whence none had ever returned before\, not even alone\, he carried off an immense plunder with which he penetrated the heavens. \nSee what tremendous things God’s surpassing love has accomplished for our healing and restoration! For our sake he was led like a sheep to the slaughter\, having taken upon himself the evils of this present life in order to bestow upon us the good things of eternity. \n7\nSermo Mai 146: PLS 2\, 1242-1243(CL I p 168-169).
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/holy-saturday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260405
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260406
DTSTAMP:20260405T041137
CREATED:20260405T005104Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005104Z
UID:14777-1775347200-1775433599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\nEaster Octave\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (II)\nApril 5 – 11\, 2026\n\n\n\nSun\n5\nMon\n6\nTue\n7\nWed\n8\nThu\n9\nFri\n10\nSat\n11\n\n\nOffice\nEaster Sunday\nEaster Monday\nEaster Tuesday\nEaster Wednesday\nEaster Thursday\nEaster Friday\nEaster Saturday\n\n\nVigils\n* Easter Vigil\nActs 1:1-26\nActs 2:1-21\nActs 2:22-41\nActs 2:42-3:11\nActs 3:12-26;4:1-4\nActs 4:5-31\n\n\nLauds\nActs 13:28-33\n1 Cor 15:1-11\n1 Cor 15:12-19\n1 Cor 15:20-28\n1 Cor 15:35-41\n1 Cor 15:42-49\n1 Cor 15:50-58\n\n\nMass\n42\n261\n262\n263\n264\n265\n266\n\n\n1st\nActs 10:34a\, 37-43\nActs 2:14\, 22-33\nActs 2:36-41\nActs 3:1-10\nActs 3:11-26\nActs 4:1-12\nActs 4:13-21\n\n\n2nd\nCol 3:1-4\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 20:1-9\nMatt 28:8-15\nJohn 20:11-18\nLuke 24:13-35\nLuke 24:35-48\nJohn 21:1-14\nMark 16:9-15\n\n\nVespers\nRev 1:12-18\nRev 1:1-8\nRev 1:9-11\nRev 2:1-7\nRev 2:8-11\nRev 2:12-17\nRev 2:18-29\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEaster Vigil Readings* 1st) Gen 1:1-2:2 2nd) Gen 22:1-18 3rd) Exod 14:15-15:1 4th) Isa 54:5-14 5th) Isa 55:1-11 6th) Bar 3:9-15\,32-4:4 7th) Ezek 36:16-17a\,18-28 Epistle) Rom 6:3-11 Gospel) Matt 28:1-10
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-149/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260405
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260406
DTSTAMP:20260405T041137
CREATED:20260405T005230Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005230Z
UID:14779-1775347200-1775433599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Sunday
DESCRIPTION:From a commentary by \nRUFINUS OF AQUILEIA \n◊◊◊ \n“On the third day He rose again from the dead.” The glory of His \nresurrection brought out in Christ the splendor of everything that previously \nseemed feeble and weak. If a few moments ago you thought it impossible for \nOne who was immortal to reach death\, you can now perceive the impossibility of \nHis being mortal who is declared to have vanquished death and to have risen \nagain. \nIn this you should discern the Creator’s goodness\, in His readiness to \nfollow you down to the depths to which your sins have plunged you. You should \nnot\, either\, suggest that anything is impossible for God\, the Creator of all things\, \nimagining that His work could have been brought to an end by falling into an \nabyss to which He could not penetrate in order to accomplish salvation… \nSo He returned victoriously from the dead\, bringing with Him spoils from \nhell. For He conducted forth those whom death held prisoners\, as He Himself \nhad prophesied in the words: “When I am lifted up from the earth\, I will draw \nall things to myself.” The Gospel bears witness to this when it states: “The \ngraves were opened\, and many bodies of the saints that slept arose\, and they \nappeared to many\, and entered into the holy city.” By this is meant…the city \nintended by the Apostle when he wrote: “But that Jerusalem\, which is above is \nfree: which is mother of us all.” \nHe made the same point again to the Hebrews: “For it became Him for \nwhom are all things\, and by whom are all things\, who had brought many \nchildren to glory\, to perfect the author of their salvation by His passion.” By \nHis passion\, therefore\, He made perfect that human flesh which had been \nbrought down to death by the first man’s sin\, and restored it by the power of His \nresurrection: sitting on God’s right hand\, He placed it in the highest heavens. In \nview of this the Apostle says: “Who has raised us up together\, and has made us \nsit together in the heavenly places.” \nIt was He\, you see\, who was the potter mentioned by the prophet \nJeremias: “The vessel which had fallen from His hand and was broken\, He \nagain raised up with His hands and formed anew\, as it seemed good in His \neyes.” So it seemed good to Him to raise the mortal and corruptible body He had \nassumed from the rocky tomb\, and rendering it immortal and incorruptible to \nplace it\, no longer in an earthly environment\, but in heaven at His Father’s right \nhand…
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-sunday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260406
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260407
DTSTAMP:20260405T041137
CREATED:20260405T005354Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005354Z
UID:14781-1775433600-1775519999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Monday
DESCRIPTION:From a homily by \nPOPE BENEDICT XVI \n◊◊◊ \n“You seek Jesus of Nazareth\, who was crucified. He is risen. He is not \nhere.” With these words\, God’s messenger\, robed in light\, spoke to the women \nwho were looking for the body of Jesus in the tomb. \nBut the evangelist says the same thing to us: Jesus is not a character of the \npast. He lives and He walks before us as one who is alive; he calls us to follow \nhim\, the Living One\, and in this way to discover for ourselves the path of life. \nAt Easter we rejoice because Christ did not remain in the tomb\, his body \ndid not see corruption; he belongs to the world of the living\, not to the world of \nthe dead; we rejoice because he is the Alpha and also the Omega\, as we proclaim \nin the Rite of the Paschal candle; he lives not only yesterday\, but today and for \neternity. \nBut somehow the Resurrection is situated so far beyond our horizon\, so \nfar outside all our experience that\, returning to ourselves\, we find ourselves \ncontinuing the argument of the disciples: Of what exactly does this “rising” \nconsist? What does it mean for us\, for the whole world\, and the whole of history? \nA theologian once said that the miracle of a corpse returning to life would \nbe ultimately irrelevant precisely because it would not concern us. In fact if it \nwere simply that someone was once brought back to life\, and no more than that\, \nin what way would that concern us? But the point is that Christ’s Resurrection is \nsomething more\, something different… It is the…most crucial leap into a totally \nnew dimension that there has ever been in the long history of life and its \ndevelopment: a leap into a completely new order which does concern us\, and \nconcerns the whole of history. \nThe crucial point is that this man Jesus was not alone\, he was not an “I” \nclosed in upon itself. He was one single reality with the living God\, so closely \nunited with him as to form one Person with him. He found himself\, so to speak\, \nin an embrace with him who is life itself\, an embrace not just on the emotional \nlevel\, but one which included and permeated his being. His own life was not just \nhis own\, it was an existential and essential communion with God\, a “being taken \nup” into God\, and hence\, it could not in reality be taken away from him. \nOut of love\, he could allow himself to be killed\, but precisely by doing so \nhe broke the definitiveness of death\, because in him the definitiveness of life \nwas present. He was one single reality with indestructible life\, in such a way that \nit burst forth anew through death… \nHis death was an act of love\, of self-giving. At the Last Supper he \nanticipated death and transformed it into self-giving. His existential \ncommunion with God was concretely an existential communion with God’s \nlove\, and this love is the real power against death\, it is stronger than death. \nThe Resurrection was like an explosion of light\, an explosion of love which \ndissolved the hitherto indissoluble compenetration of “dying and becoming”. It \nushered in a new dimension of being. A new dimension of life in which\, in a \ntransformed way\, matter too was integrated and through which a new world \nemerges.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-monday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260407
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260408
DTSTAMP:20260405T041137
CREATED:20260405T005500Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005500Z
UID:14783-1775520000-1775606399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Tuesday
DESCRIPTION:From a prayer by \nWILLIAM OF ST THIERRY \n◊◊◊ \nO Truth supreme\, you are the heaven of heavens\, you who are what you \nare\, who have your being from yourself\, who belong to yourself and are \nsufficient to yourself. You lack nothing\, yet you have no excess; you have within \nyourself supremest concord\, utmost clarity\, most perfect fullness and \ncompletest life. \nO Lord\, the height\, the depth\, the wisdom and the might – are these the \nheaven of which you are the door? It is so\, truly; that is why the ark of the \ncovenant was seen in heaven when the door was opened… You are yourself that \nark. In you from all eternity was hidden\, and in you in these latter days has been \nfulfilled\, all that from the beginning of the world has been revealed to all the \nsaints and prophets by the Law and by the prophecies\, by wonders and by \nsigns… \nThese blessings\, that were hidden in your secret heaven through the ages\, \nyou at the ages’ end unveiled to the world’s longing eyes\, when you opened in \nheaven the door that is yourself. You opened that door when your grace \nappeared to all [people]\, teaching us… The heavens being thus opened\, all the \ngood and glory and delight of heaven poured itself out on earth. And then\, O \nGod\, who spared not your own Son\, but delivered him up for us all\, the \ngreatness of your kindness…to us was published openly to all. You made known \nyour salvation to the world\, and in the sight of all the nations you revealed your \nrighteousness… \nThose unsearchable riches of your glory\, Lord\, were hidden in your secret \nplace in heaven until the soldier’s spear opened the side of your Son our Lord \nand Savior on the cross\, and from it flowed the mysteries of our redemption. \nNow we may not only thrust our finger or our hand into his side\, like Thomas\, \nbut through that open door may enter whole\, O Jesus\, even into your heart\, the \nsure seat of your mercy\, even into your holy soul that is filled with the fullness of \nGod\, full of grace and truth\, full of our salvation and our consolation… \nOpen\, O Lord\, the ark-door of your side\, that all your own who shall be \nsaved may enter in\, before this flood that overwhelms the earth. Open to us your \nbody’s side\, that those who long to see the secrets of your Son may enter in\, and \nmay receive the sacraments that flow [from there]\, even the price of their \nredemption. Open the door of your heaven\, that your redeemed may see the \ngood things of God in the land of the living\, though they still labor in the land of \nthe dying… \nOpen to me\, O Lord\, so that\, although I am a stranger unworthy of \nenrollment as a citizen\, yet nonetheless\, I may by your gift be suffered on \noccasion for a little while to journey there\, that I may truly see your glory\, and \nnot come out again unless I am thrown out!.. O\, if only I may see\, if only I may \npersevere\, if only I may hear some day: “Enter into the joy of your Lord\,” and \nmay thus enter in\, never to come out again!
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-tuesday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260408
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260409
DTSTAMP:20260405T041137
CREATED:20260405T005602Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005602Z
UID:14785-1775606400-1775692799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Wednesday
DESCRIPTION:From the Catechesis of \nST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM \n◊◊◊ \nIf we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood\, we should go back to \nthe ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt. “Sacrifice a Lamb without \nblemish\, commanded Moses\, and sprinkle its blood on your doors.” If we were \nto ask him what he meant\, and how the blood of an irrational beast could \npossibly save men endowed with reason\, his answer would be that the saving \npower lies not in the blood itself\, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s \nblood. In those days\, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors he \ndid not dare to enter\, so how much less will the devil approach now when he \nsees\, not that figurative blood on the doors\, but the true blood on the lips of \nbelievers\, the doors of the temple of Christ. \nIf you desire further proof of the power of this blood\, remember where it \ncame from\, how it ran down from the cross\, flowing from the Master’s side. The \ngospel records that when Christ was dead\, but still hung on the cross\, a soldier \ncame and pierced his side with a lance and immediately there poured out water \nand blood. Now the water was a symbol of Baptism and the blood\, of the holy \nEucharist. The soldier pierced the Lord’s side\, he breached the wall of the sacred \ntemple\, and I have found the treasure and made it my own. So also with the \nlamb: the Jews sacrificed the victim and I have been saved by it. \n“There flowed from his side water and blood.” Beloved\, do not pass over \nthis mystery without thought\, it has yet another hidden meaning\, which I will \nexplain to you. I said that water and blood symbolized Baptism and the holy \nEucharist. From these two sacraments the Church is born: from Baptism\, “the \ncleansing water that gives rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit\,” and \nfrom the holy Eucharist. Since the symbols of Baptism and the Eucharist flowed9 \nfrom his side\, it was from his side that Christ fashioned the Church\, as he had \nfashioned Eve from the side of Adam. Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the \nstory of the first man and makes him exclaim: “Bone from my bones and flesh \nfrom my flesh!” As God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman\, so \nChrist has given us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God \ntook the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep\, and in the same way Christ gave us \nthe blood and the water after his own death. \nDo you understand\, then\, how Christ has united his bride to himself and \nwhat food he gives us all to eat? By one and the same food we are both brought \ninto being and nourished. As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood \nand milk\, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own blood those to whom \nhe himself has given life.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-wednesday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260409
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260410
DTSTAMP:20260405T041137
CREATED:20260405T005703Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005703Z
UID:14787-1775692800-1775779199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Thursday
DESCRIPTION:From a sermon by \nST JOHN HENRY NEWMAN \n◊◊◊ \nOur Lord expressly promises all Christians a certain gracious \nmanifestation of himself\, which it is natural\, at first sight\, to suppose a sensible \none: and many persons understand it to be such\, as if it were not more blessed to \nbelieve than to see. Our Lord says; “He that has my commandments and keeps \nthem\, he it is that loves me; and he that loves me\, shall be loved of my Father\, \nand I will love him and will manifest myself to him.” When Jude asked him\, \n“Lord\, how is it that you will manifest yourself unto us\, and not unto the \nworld?” Our Lord answered\, “If one loves me\, he will keep my words; and my \nFather will love him\, and we will come unto him\, and make our abode with \nhim.” In accordance with this promise\, St Paul says\, “The Spirit itself bears \nwitness with our spirit\, that we are the children of God”; and St John\, “He that \nbelieves in the Son of God has the witness in himself.” \nNow\, that this great gift\, whatever it be\, is of a nature to impart \nillumination\, sanctity\, and peace\, to the soul to which it comes\, far from \ndisputing\, I would earnestly maintain. And\, in this indirect way\, doubtless\, it is \nin a certain sense apprehended and perceived; perceived in its effects\, with a \nconsciousness that those effects cannot come of themselves\, but imply a gift \nfrom which they come\, and a presence of which they are\, as it were\, the shadow\, \na voice of which they are the echo. \nBut there are persons who desire the inward manifestation of Christ to be \nmuch more sensible than this. They will not be contented without some sensible \nsign and direct evidence that God loves them; some assurance\, in which faith \nhas no part\, that God has chosen them; and which may answer to their \nanticipations of what Scripture calls “the secret of the Lord\,” and “the hidden \nmanna” which Christ invites us to partake. Some\, for instance\, hold that their \nconscience would have no peace\, unless they recollected the time when they \nwere converted from darkness to light\, from a state of wrath to the kingdom of \nGod. \nOthers consider that\, in order to possess the seal of election\, they must be \nable to discern in themselves certain feelings or frames of mind\, a renunciation \nof their own merit\, and an apprehension of gospel salvation; as if it were not \nenough to renounce ourselves and follow Christ\, without the lively \nconsciousness that we are doing so; and that in this lies “the secret of the Lord.” \nOthers go further; and think that without a distinct inward assurance of his \nsalvation\, one is not in a saving state. \nThis is what men and women often conceive; not considering that \nwhatever be the manifestation promised to Christians by our Lord\, it is not \nlikely to be more sensible and more intelligible than the great sign of his own \nResurrection. Yet even that\, like the miracle wrought upon Jonah\, was in secret\, \nand they who believed without seeing it were more blessed than those who saw.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-thursday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260410
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260411
DTSTAMP:20260405T041137
CREATED:20260405T005807Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005807Z
UID:14789-1775779200-1775865599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Friday
DESCRIPTION:From a sermon by \nST JOHN HENRY NEWMAN \n◊◊◊ \nNow let us contemplate the means which God’s Divine Wisdom actually \nadopted with a view to making Christ’s resurrection subservient to the \npropagation of His Gospel. He showed Himself openly\, not to all the people\, but \nto witnesses chosen before of God. It is\, indeed\, a general characteristic of the \ncourse of God’s providence to make the few the channels of His blessings to the \nmany; but in the instance we are considering\, a few were selected because only a \nfew could be made instruments… \nTo be witnesses of His resurrection it was necessary to have known our \nLord intimately before His death. This was the case with the Apostles; but it was \nnot enough. It was necessary that they should be certain it was He himself\, the \nvery same whom they had known before. You recollect how He urged them to \nhandle Him\, and be sure that they could testify to His rising again… But people \nare not easily prevailed upon to be faithful advocates of any cause. Not only is \nthe multitude fickle; but the best\, unless urged\, tutored\, disciplined to their \nwork\, give way; untrained nature has no principles. \nIt would seem\, then\, that our Lord gave His attention to a few because\, if \nthe few are gained\, the many will follow. To these few He showed Himself again \nand again. These He restored\, comforted\, warned\, inspired. He formed them to \nHimself\, that they might show forth His praise. That period of preparatory \nprayer\, meditation and instruction which the Apostles passed through under \nour Lord’s visible presence for forty days\, was to them something that could not \nhave been had they been following Him from place to place in public and mixing \nin the busy crowds of the world. \nSo much then in answer to the question: Why did Christ not show Himself \nto the whole Jewish people after His resurrection? – I ask in reply: what would \nhave been the purpose of it? – a mere passing triumph over sinners whose \njudgment is reserved for the next world. On the other hand\, such a procedure \nwould have interfered with\, even defeated\, the real object of His rising again\, \nnamely\, the propagation of His Gospel through the world by means of His own \nintimate friends and followers. \nWe\, too\, though we are not witnesses of Christ’s actual resurrection\, are so \nspiritually. By a heart awake from the dead\, and by affections set on heaven\, we \ncan as truly and without figure witness that Christ lives\, as they did. Whoever \nbelieves in the Son of God has the witness in themselves. Truth bears witness by \nitself to its Divine Author. Whoever obeys God conscientiously\, and lives holily\, \nforces all about them to believe and tremble before the unseen power of Christ. \nTo the world at large the believer does not witness; for few can see them \nnear enough to be moved by their manner of living. But to one’s neighbors one \nmanifests the Truth in proportion to their knowledge of the person; and some of \nthem\, through God’s blessing\, catch the holy flame\, cherish it\, and in their turn \ntransmit it. And thus in a dark world Truth still makes way in spite of the \ndarkness\, passing from hand to hand.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-friday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260411
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260412
DTSTAMP:20260405T041137
CREATED:20260405T005908Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005908Z
UID:14791-1775865600-1775951999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Saturday
DESCRIPTION:From the writing of \nFR BRUCE VAWTER \n◊◊◊ \nIn biblical faith the resurrection is something; something did occur to \naccount for the appearances of Jesus after his death. It is not to retreat into \nobscurity or equivocation to confess that we have no better way of defining that \nsomething than to call it resurrection. We cannot define what is indefinable in \nterms of human experience; we can only describe it in some fashion by the use of \nthe pictures we call analogies. The picture we use following the New Testament \nprecedent to describe both what God effected in Christ and\, with it as the \nproleptic example\, what its faith promises to all who share in God’s kingdom\, is \nmythical to the extent that\, taken in all literalness\, it might equally well serve to \ndescribe the resuscitation of a corpse\, which the New Testament does not intend \nto do… \nPaul…for all his insistence on the resurrection as a reality\, did not think of \nit as a resurrection of dead flesh: “Perhaps someone will say\, ‘How are the dead \nto be raised up? What kind of body will they have?’ A nonsensical question! \nThe seed you sow does not germinate unless it dies. When you sow\, you do not \nsow the full-blown plant but a kernel of wheat or some other grain. God gives \nbody to it as he pleases – to each seed its own fruition… So is it with the \nresurrection of the dead.” \nPaul admittedly tells us more about what\, in his view\, the resurrection is \nnot than what it is\, but at the same time he tells us enough to dissuade us from \ndismissing lightly the testimony of his senses\, which he joined to the witness of \nhis tradition. Here was a man quite conscious of the validity of what are \nsometimes thought to be modern and scientific objections to the idea of \nresurrection; a man convinced that something had occurred that he could only \ncall resurrection while regretting the inadequacy of the concept. Paul was as \nprepared as anyone today for demythologizing\, but he was not prepared to \ndisallow any fact out of his inability to explain it. Rather than deny the fact\, he \npreferred to retain the myth with all its attendant ambiguities.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-saturday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260411T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260411T120000
DTSTAMP:20260405T041137
CREATED:20260322T211829Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260322T211829Z
UID:14739-1775898000-1775908800@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Welcome: LCG Chicago 9:00 am CDT
DESCRIPTION:All are welcome to visit with the Chicago lay Community at: \nJoin Zoom Meeting \nhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/86028356465 \nMeeting ID: 860 2835 6465 \nOne tap mobile \n+13126266799\,\,86028356465# US (Chicago) \n+13092053325\,\,86028356465# US
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/welcome-lcg-chicago-900-am-cdt/
CATEGORIES:LCG Local Community Meetings,LCG open events
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