Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey

Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
2024-07-30
THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD TO COME
From “Sacraments and Orthodoxy” by Fr Alexander Schmemann3
◊◊◊
The liturgy of Christian death does not begin when one comes to the
inescapable end and their corpse lies in church for the last rites while we stand
around, the sad yet resigned witnesses of the dignified removal of one from the
world of the living. It begins every day as the Church ascending into heaven,
“puts aside all earthly care”; it begins every feast day; it begins especially in the
joy of Easter. The whole life of the Church is in a way the sacrament of our death,
because all of it is the proclamation of the Lord’s death, the confession of his
resurrection.
The Church is the entrance into the risen life of Christ, communion in life
eternal, “joy and peace in the Holy Spirit.” And it is the expectation of the “day
without evening” of the Kingdom; not of any “other world,” but of the fulfillment
of all things and all life in Christ. In him death itself has become an act of life,
for he has filled it with himself, with his love and light. In him “all things are
yours; whether the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come;
all are yours; and you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.”
And if I make this new life mine, mine this hunger and thirst of the
Kingdom, mine this expectation of Christ, mine the certitude that Christ is Life,
my very death will be an act of communion with Life. For neither life nor death
can separate us from the love of Christ. I do not know when and how the
fulfillment will come. I do not know when all things will be consummated in
Christ. I know nothing about the “when’s” and “how’s.” But I know that in Christ
this great Passage, the Pascha of the world has begun, that the light of the “world
to come” comes to us in the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit, for Christ is risen
and Life reigns.

Vigils Reading - St Ignatius of Loyola
2024-07-31
THE INTERIOR GRACE OF PRAYER
From “The Spiritual Journal” of St Ignatius of Loyola4
◊◊◊
In the usual prayer, from beginning to end, I had the help of a very interior
and gentle grace, full of warm devotion and very sweet. While preparing the
altar and vesting, I saw a representation of the name of Jesus with much love,
confirmation and increased desire to follow him, accompanied by tears and
sobs.
All through the Mass very great devotion, on the whole, with many tears,
and several times loss of speech, all devotion and feeling being directed to Jesus.
I could not apply myself to the other Persons, except to the First Person as
Father of such a Son, with spiritual answers, how he is Father, how he is Son!
Having finished Mass, I had during the prayer that same feeling towards the
Son, and how I would have desired the confirmation of the Most Holy Trinity,
and felt that it was given to me through Jesus, when he showed himself to me
and gave me such interior strength and certainty of the confirmation, without
any fear of the future. The thought suggested itself to me to beg Jesus to obtain
pardon for me from the most Holy Trinity. I felt an increased devotion, tears
and sobs, and the hope of obtaining the grace, when I found myself so vigorous
and strengthened concerning the future.
Later…there was a fresh representation of Jesus with great devotion and
movement to tears. Later, as I walked through the street, I had a vivid
representation of Jesus with interior movements and tears. After I had spoken
with [Cardinal] Carpi, and was on the way home, I felt great devotion. After
dinner, especially when I passed through the door of the Vicar, in the house of
the Cardinal of Trani, I felt or saw Jesus, had many interior movements and
many tears, begging and praying Jesus to obtain pardon for me from the Most
Holy Trinity, while I felt remaining in me a great confidence of being heard.
At these times, when I sensed or saw Jesus, I felt so great a love within
me that I thought that nothing could happen in the future that would separate
me from Him, or cause me to doubt about the graces or confirmation I had
received.

4 reprinted in Light from Light, ed. by L. Dupre and J. Wiseman, OSB, New York: Paulist Press, 1988, pp. 266-267.9

Vigils Reading - St Alphonsus Ligouri
2024-08-01
THE FULLNESS OF HIMSELF
From a sermon by St Alphonsus Ligouri5
◊◊◊
All holiness and perfection of soul lies in our love for Jesus Christ our
God, who is our Redeemer and our supreme good. It is part of the love of God
to acquire and to nurture all the virtues that make one perfect.
Has not God in fact won for himself a claim on all our love? From all
eternity he has loved us. And it is in this vein that he speaks to us: “O consider
carefully that I first loved you. You had not yet appeared in the light of day, nor
did the world yet exist, but already I loved you. From all eternity I have loved
you.”
Since God knew that we are enticed by favors, he wished to bind us to his
love by means of his gifts: “I want to catch mortals with these snares, these
chains of love in which they allow themselves to be entrapped, so that they will
love me.” And all the gifts which he bestowed on us were given to this end. He
gave us a soul, made in his likeness, and endowed with memory, intellect and
will; he gave us a body equipped with the senses; it was for us that he created
heaven and earth and such an abundance of things. He made all things out of
love for us, so that all creation might serve us, and we in turn might love God
out of gratitude for so many gifts.
But God did not wish to give us only beautiful creatures; the truth is that
to win for himself our love, he went so far as to bestow upon us the fullness of
himself. The eternal Father went so far as to give us his only Son. When he saw
that we were all dead through sin and deprived of his grace, what did he do?
Compelled, as the Apostle says, by the superabundance of his love for us, he
sent his beloved Son to make reparation for us and to call us back to a sinless
life.
By giving us his Son, whom he did not spare precisely so that he might
spare us, he bestowed on us every good: grace, love and heaven; for all these
goods are certainly inferior to the Son: He who did not spare his own Son, but
handed him over for all of us; how could he fail to give us along with his Son
all good things?

5 The Liturgy of the Hours – vol. III – pg 1568 – Catholic Book Publishing Co – New York – 1975.11

Vigils Reading
2024-08-02
CONSOLATION AND DESOLATION
From “The Spiritual Exercises” of St Ignatius of Loyola6
◊◊◊
I call it consolation when an interior movement is aroused in the soul, by
which it is inflamed with love of its Creator and Lord, and as a consequence, can
love no creature on the face of the earth for its own sake, but only in the Creator
of them all. It is likewise consolation when one sheds tears that move to the
love of God, whether it be because of sorrow for sins, or because of the sufferings
of Christ our Lord, or for any other reason that is immediately directed to the
praise and service of God. Finally, I call consolation every increase of faith,
hope, and love, and all interior joy that invites and attracts to what is heavenly
and to the salvation of one’s soul by filling it with peace and quiet in its Creator
and Lord.
I call it desolation what is entirely the opposite of what is described above,
as darkness of soul, turmoil of spirit, inclination to what is low and earthly,
restlessness rising from many disturbances and temptations which lead to want
of faith, want of hope, want of love. The soul is wholly slothful, tepid, sad, and
separated, as it were, from its Creator and Lord. For just as consolation is the
opposite of desolation, so the thoughts that spring from consolation are the
opposite of those that spring from desolation.
In time of desolation we should never make any change, but remain firm
and constant in the resolution and decision which guided us the day before the
desolation, or in the decision to which we adhered in the preceding consolation.
For just as in consolation the good spirit guides and counsels us, so in desolation
the evil spirit guides and counsels. Following his counsels we can never find the
way to a right decision.
Though in desolation we must never change our former resolutions, it will
be very advantageous to intensify our activity against the desolation. We can
insist more upon prayer, upon meditation, and on much examination of
ourselves. We can make an effort in a suitable way to do some penance.
When we are in desolation, we should be mindful that God has left us to
our natural powers to resist the different agitations and temptations of the
enemy in order to try us. We can resist with the help of God, which always
remains, though we may not clearly perceive it. For though God has taken from
us the abundance of fervor and overflowing love and the intensity of His favors,
nevertheless, we have sufficient grace for eternal salvation.
When one is in desolation, he should strive to persevere in patience. This
reacts against the vexations that have overtaken him. Let him consider, too,
that consolation will soon return, and in the meantime, he must diligently use
the means against desolation which have been given above.

6 Trans., Louis J Puhl SJ, Loyola Chicago, 316. 3. pp 142-143.13

Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
2024-08-03
MARY AND GOD’S REDEMPTIVE PLAN
From “Seasons of Celebration” by Thomas Merton7
◊◊◊
In Mary is perfectly realized God’s whole creative and redemptive plan.
That is why she is said to be for us a light of truth and a pattern of life. That is
why her spiritual beauty includes in itself all the beauty which we see here and
there, in partial and incomplete form, in the universe. In her is all the beauty of
the world, transfigured and elevated to a level beyond our comprehension: and
yet since that perfection was reached by the fulfillment of the obediential
potency in her nature, which is also our nature, there is a certain connaturality
in us which makes us respond to her transcendent radiance even though it
remains obscure to us. We cannot help but see that she is, like ourselves, a
human creature whose littleness has been glorified in the light of Christ and
who has been saved from the power of darkness and evil by the grace of His
cross.
It remains then for us to celebrate her immaculate beauty, to open our
hearts to the same light of truth which sanctified her, the same grace which
made her pleasing to the Most High, Who is her creator as He is ours, and who
wishes to see realized in us the same ineffable mystery of light. More than that,
He wishes to see the whole world saved and transfigured in that light, by reason
of our perfect acceptance of His gift, His love, and His grace, and our
transmission of the power of His love to all people and to all other beings by our
work, our prayers and our love.

7 New York, 1965, pp. 169-170.

Skema
2024-08-04
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
18th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (B), Weekdays (II)
August 4 – 10, 2024

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

Office
18th Sunday
Weekday
Transfiguration of the Lord
St Cajetan
St Dominic
St Teresa Benedicta
St Lawrence

Vigils
1 Sam 20:1-24a
1 Sam 20:24b-21:1
2 Cor 3:7-4:6
1 Sam 21:2-22:5
1 Sam 22:6-23
1 Sam 23:1-28
Exodus 18:13-26

Lauds
Hab 2:15-20
Hab 3:1-7
Sir 48:1-11
Hab 3:8-15
Hab 3:16-19
Zephaniah 1:1-6
Tobit 4:5-11

Mass
113
407
614
409
410
411
618

1st
Exod 16:2-4, 12-15
Jer 28:1-17
2 Peter 1:16-19
Jer 31:1-7
Jer 31:31-34
Nah 2:1, 3; 3:1-3, 6-7
2 Cor 9:6-10

2nd
Eph 4:17, 20-24

Gospel
John 6:24-35
Matt 14:13-21
Mark 9:2-10
Matt 15:21-28
Matt 16:13-23
Matt 16:24-28
John 12:24-26

Vespers
Titus 1:1-9
Titus 1:10-16
1 Jn 5:9-12
Titus 2:11-15
Titus 3:1-8a
Titus 3:8b-15
Jas 1:1-11

Vigils Reading - 18th Sunday
2024-08-04
THE BREAD OF LIFE
From a commentary by Theophylact of Ohrid1
◊◊◊
Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written, “He gave them
bread from heaven to eat.” Wishing to persuade Christ to perform the kind of
miracle that would provide them with bodily nourishment, the people in their
insatiable greed called to mind the manna. What was the reply of Our Lord
Jesus, the infinite wisdom of God? It was not Moses who gave you bread. In
other words, “Moses did not give you the true bread. On the contrary everything
that happened at that time was a prefiguring of what is happening now…”
Our Lord refers to himself as the true bread not because the manna was
something illusory, but because it was only a type and a shadow, and not the
reality it signified.
This bread, being the Son of the living Father, is life by its very nature,
and accordingly gives life to all. Just as earthly bread sustains the frail substance
of the flesh and prevents it from falling into decay, so Christ quickens the soul
through the power of the Spirit, and also preserves the body for immortality.
Through Christ, resurrection from the dead and bodily immortality have been
graciously bestowed upon the human race.
Jesus said to the people: “I am the Bread of Life. Whoever come to me
shall never hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” He did not
say the bread of bodily nourishment, but the bread of life. For when everything
has been reduced to a condition of spiritual death, the Lord gave us life through
himself, who is bread because, as we believe, the leaven in the dough of our
humanity was baked through and through by the fire of his divinity. He is the
bread not of this ordinary life, but of a very different kind of life which death3
will never cut short.
Whoever believes in this bread, will never hunger, will never be famished
for want of hearing the Word of God, nor will such a person be parched by
spiritual thirst through lack of the waters of baptism and the consecration
imparted by the Spirit. The unbaptized, deprived of the refreshment afforded
by the sacred water, suffer thirst and great aridity. The baptized on the other
hand, being possessed of the Spirit, enjoy its continual consolation.

Vigils Reading
2024-08-05
AN INDESTRUCIBLE TEMPLE
From a homily delivered at the Council of Ephesus
by St Cyril of Alexandria1
◊◊◊
I see here a joyful company of Christians met together in ready response
to the call of Mary, the holy and ever virgin Mother of God. Now the joyful
saying of David the psalmist: How good and pleasant it is for brothers to live
together in unity has come true for us. Therefore, holy and incomprehensible
Trinity, we salute you at whose summons we have come together to this church
of Mary, the Mother of God.
Mary, Mother of God, we salute you. Precious vessel, worthy of the whole
world’s reverence, you are an ever-shining light, the crown of virginity, the
symbol of orthodoxy, an indestructible temple, the place that held him whom
no place can contain, mother and virgin. Because of you, the holy Gospels could
say: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
We salute you, for in your holy womb he, who is beyond all limitation,
was confined. Because of you, the holy Trinity is glorified and adored; the cross
is called precious and is venerated throughout the world; the heavens exult; the
angels and archangels make merry; demons are put to flight; the devil, that
tempter, is thrust down from heaven; the fallen race of humans is taken up on
high; all creatures possessed by the madness of idolatry have attained
knowledge of the truth believers receive holy baptism; the oil of gladness is
poured out, the Church is established throughout the world; pagans are brought
to repentance.
What more is there to say? Because of you, the light of the only-begotten
Son of God has shone upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of5
death; prophets pronounced the word of God; the apostles preached salvation
to the Gentiles, the dead are raised to life, and kings rule by the power of the
holy Trinity.
Who can put Mary’s high honor into words? She is both mother and
virgin. I am overwhelmed by the wonder of this miracle. Of course, no one could
be prevented from living in the house he had built for himself, yet who would
invite mockery by asking his own servant to become his mother?
Behold then the joy of the whole universe. Let the union of God and man
in the Son of the Virgin Mary fill us with awe and adoration. Let us fear and
worship the undivided Trinity as we sing the praise of the ever-virgin Mary, the
holy temple of God himself, her Son and spotless Bridegroom. To him be glory
for ever and ever.

Vigils Reading - Transfiguration of the Lord
2024-08-06
THE TRANSFIGURATION OF JESUS
By Han Urs von Balthasar1
◊◊◊
The Gospel of the Transfiguration is preceded by the first reading telling
the story of Abraham’s sacrifice. And for good reason, for the Transfiguration
of the Lord was to be the Father’s demonstration of what his “beloved Son” truly
is, the One whom he will permit to be ‘slaughtered’ for and by mankind. For the
Jews, Abraham’s sacrifice is … the climax of their relationship with God, and
they emphasize that it was a double sacrifice: the sacrifice of a father, who draws
his knife, and the sacrifice of a son, who agreed to his own slaughter …. [The
event represents] the extreme form of what God can require … from a man who
is in a covenant relationship with him. The horror of it consists not in the
command to kill the son of one’s own body …; rather, the horror lies in the fact
that this son was miraculously given by God and destined to imitate and
accomplish the divine promises. In his command God contradicts himself. Yet
though the command may be incomprehensibly contradictory to man, he must
obey because God is God.
The second reading resolves the apparent paradox by showing that God
reveals himself as love in essence, a love that does not contradict itself if it sends
the Son of God into real death and thereby fulfills the promise to “give
everything”, namely, to bestow eternal life. Here the extreme is not the one-
sided obedience of man in the face of an incomprehensible command of God;
rather it is the way the Son’s obedient willingness to enter death for the sake of
everyone is united with the Father’s willingness to sacrifice … [everything, even
to the point of not holding back his Son]. In this, God is not only “with us”, as
in the Old Testament’s “Emmanuel”, but is ultimately “for us”, his chosen ones.
In this he has not merely given us something great, but has given us everything
he is and has ….
In this perspective the true meaning of the light… radiating from the Son
on the mountain in the Gospel can be understood. In no way is this light
produced through absorption in oneself; rather it is the radiant … light of
perfect surrender: it shows what the Father has really given up to “slaughter”
for the world, what the new Isaac permits to be done to himself out of obedient
love toward the Father, what the “overshadowing” luminous cloud veils [in the]
divine mystery. Fear and chatter on the part of the men necessarily follow, but
they are commanded to avoid abusing by empty talk what they have witnessed.
It will interpret itself in the death and Resurrection of the Lord.

Vigils Reading - St Cajetan
2024-08-07
ST CAJETAN
From the writing of Alban Butler1
◊◊◊
St Cajetan was son of Caspar, Count of Thiene, of the nobility of Vicenza,
where he was born in 1480. Two years later his father was killed, fighting for
the Venetians against King Ferdinand of Naples. Cajetan went for four years to
Padua University, where he distinguished himself in theology, and took the
degree of doctor in civil and canon law in 1504. He then returned to his native
town, of which he was made senator. In pursuance of his resolve to serve God
as a priest he received the tonsure. In 1506 he went to Rome. Soon after his
arrival Pope Julius II conferred on him the office of protonotary… On the death
of Julius Cajetan refused his successor’s request to continue in that office, and
devoted three years to preparing himself for the priesthood. He was ordained
in 1516, being thirty-three years old, and returned to Vicenza in 1518.
Cajetan had re-founded a confraternity in Rome called “The Oratory of
the Divine Love”, which was an association of zealous and devout clerics who
devoted themselves to labor with all their power to promote God’s honor and
the welfare of souls… but consisted only of men in the lowest station of life. This
circumstance gave great offence to his friends, who thought it a reflection on
the honor of his family. He persisted, however, and sought out the sick and the
poor throughout the whole town, served them and cared for those who suffered
from the most loathsome diseases in the hospital of the incurables. He founded
a similar oratory at Verona and then went in 1520 to Venice where he took up
his lodgings in the new hospital of that city… He introduced exposition of the
Blessed Sacrament in that city, as well as continuing the promotion of frequent
communion.
The state of Christendom at this time shocked and distressed Cajetan, and
in 1523 he went back to Rome to confer with his friends of the Oratory of Divine
Love. They agreed that little could be done other than by reviving in the clergy
the spirit and zeal of those holy pastors who first planted the faith, and a plan
was formed for instituting an order of regular clergy upon the model of the lives
of the Apostles. The first associates of Cajetan were John Peter Caraffa, who
later became pope under the name of Paul IV. The institute was approved by
Clement VII, and Caraffa was chosen as the first provost general. From the
name of his episcopal see of Theatensis these clerks regular came to be
distinguished from others as Theatines.
The success of the new congregation was not immediate, and in 1527,
when it still numbered only a dozen members, the army of Emperor Charles V
sacked Rome. The Theatines house was demolished and the members had to
escape to Venice. Cajetan was sent to Verona, where both the clergy and the
laity were opposing the reformation of discipline, which their bishop was
endeavoring to introduce among them. A general improvement was the fruit of
his example, preaching and labors.
Worn out with trying to appease civil strife in Naples, and disappointed
at the suspension of the Council of Trent, from which he hoped so much for the
Church’s good, Cajetan had to take to his bed in the summer of 1547. The end
came on Sunday, August 7. Many miracles wrought by his intercession were
approved at Rome after rigorous scrutiny, and he was canonized in 1671.

Vigils Reading - St Dominic
2024-08-08
THE PRAYER OF ST DOMINIC1
◊◊◊
The holy father Dominic also had another beautiful way of praying, full of
devotion and grace. After the canonical Hours and the grace which is said in
common after meals, the father would go off quickly on his own to a cell or
somewhere, sober and alert and anointed with a spirit of devotion which he had
drawn from the divine words which had been sung in choir or during the meal;
there he would sit down to read or pray, recollecting himself in himself and
fixing himself in the presence of God. Sitting there quietly he would open some
book before him, arming himself first with the sign of the cross, and then he
would read. And he would be moved in his mind as delightfully as if he heard
the Lord speaking to him.
As the Psalm says, “I will hear what the Lord God is saying in me.” It was
as if he were arguing with a friend; at one moment he would appear to be feeling
impatient, nodding his head energetically, then he would seem to be listening
quietly, then you would see him disputing and struggling, and laughing and
weeping all at once, fixing his gaze, submitting, then again speaking quietly and
beating his breast. If anyone was inquisitive enough to want to spy on him
secretly, he would find that the holy father Dominic was like Moses, who went
into the innermost desert and saw the burning bush and the Lord speaking and
calling to him to humble himself. The man of God had a prophetic way of
passing quickly from reading to prayer and from meditation to contemplation.
When he was reading like this on his own, he used to venerate the book
and bow to it and sometimes kiss it, particularly if it was a book of the gospels
or if he was reading the words which Christ had spoken with his own lips. And
sometimes he used to hide his face and turn it aside, or he would bury his face
in his hands and hide it a little in his scapular. And then he would also become11
anxious and full of yearning, and he would also rise a little, respectfully, and
bow as if he were thanking some very special person for favours he has
bestowed. Then, quite refreshed and at peace in himself, he would continue
reading his book.

Vigils Reading - St Teresa Benedict
2024-08-09
THE EUCHARIST
AS A MEANS OF SALVATION
From an essay by St Edith Stein1
◊◊◊
Christ’s suffering and death are continued in His mystical Body and in
each of His members. Everyone must suffer and die. But if that person is a
living member of the Body of Christ, their suffering and death will receive
redemptive power from the divinity of the Head. This is the objective reason
why all the saints have desired to suffer. This is not a pathological pleasure in
suffering. It is true, to natural reason it appears as a perversion. But in the light
of the mystery of salvation it shows itself to be highly reasonable. And thus, the
one who is united to Christ will remain unmoved even in the dark night of
feeling estranged from, and abandoned by God. Perhaps divine providence is
using his agony to deliver another, who is truly a prisoner cut off from God.
Therefore, we will say: “Thy will be done” even, and particularly so, in the
darkest night… For God has come to redeem us, to unite us to Himself and to
each other, to conform our will to His. He knows our nature. He reckons with
it, and has therefore given us every help necessary to reach our goal…
The Savior, knowing that we are and remainA men who have daily to
struggle with our weaknesses, aids our humanity in a manner truly divine. Just
as our earthly body needs its daily bread, so the divine life in us must be
constantly fed. “This is the living bread that came down from heaven”. If we
make it truly our daily bread, the mystery of Christmas, the Incarnation of the
Word, will daily be re-enacted in us. And this, it seems, is the surest way to
remain in constant union with God, and to grow every day more securely and
more deeply into the mystical Body of Christ…13
Is it really demanding too much to make room in our life for the
Eucharistic Savior, so that He may transform our life into His own? We have
time for so many useless things: we read senseless rubbish in books, periodicals
and newspapers… All these are distractions by which one wastes time and
strength…
Thus, being a child of God means to become small and at the same time
to become great. Living eucharistically means quite naturally to leave the
narrowness of one’s own life and to grow into the breadth of the Christ life…
Who could assist at the Holy Sacrifice with a receptive mind and heart and not
be filled with the sacrificial spirit, burning with the desire that his own small
personal life should be merged into the great work of the Savior?

Vigils Reading - St Lawrence
2024-08-10
ST LAWRENCE
By St Augustine1
◊◊◊
The Roman Church commends to us today the anniversary of the triumph
of St. Lawrence. For on this day he trod the furious pagan world underfoot and
flung aside its allurements, and so gained victory over Satan’s attack on his
faith. As you have often heard, Lawrence was a deacon of the Church at Rome.
There he ministered the sacred blood of Christ; there for the sake of Christ’s
name he poured out his own blood. St John the Apostle was evidently teaching
us about the mystery of the Lord’s supper when he wrote: Just as Christ laid
down his life for us, so we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. My
brethren, Lawrence understood this and, understanding, he acted on it. Just as
he had partaken of a gift of self at the table of the Lord, so he prepared to offer
such a gift. In his life he loved Christ; in his death he followed in his footsteps.
Brethren, we too must imitate Christ if we truly love him. We shall not be
able to render better return on that love than by modeling our lives on his.
Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow in his steps.
In saying this, the Apostle Peter seems to have understood that Christ suffered
only for those who follow in his steps, in the sense that Christ’s passion is of no
avail to those who do not. The holy martyrs followed Christ even to the shedding
of their life’s blood, even to reproducing the very likeness of his passion. They
followed him, but not they alone. It is not true that the bridge was broken after
the martyrs crossed; nor is it true that after they had drunk from it, the fountain
of eternal life dried up.
I tell you again and again, my brethren, that in the Lord’s garden are to
be found not only the roses of his martyrs. In it there are also the lilies of the
virgins, the ivy of wedded couples, and the violets of widows. On no account15
may any class of people despair, thinking that Christ has not called them. Christ
suffered for all. What the Scriptures say of him is true: He desires all to be saved
and to come to knowledge of the truth.
Let us understand, then, how a Christian must follow Christ even though
he does not shed his blood for him, and his faith is not called upon to undergo
the great test of the martyr’s sufferings. The apostle Paul says of Christ our Lord:
Though he was in the form of God he did not consider equality with God a prize
to be clung to. How unrivaled his majesty! But he emptied himself, taking on
the form of a slave, made in human likeness, and presenting himself in human
form. How deep his humility!
Christ humbled himself. Christian, that is what you must make your own.
Christ became obedient. How is it that you are proud? When this humbling
experience was completed and death itself lay conquered, Christ ascended into
heaven. Let us follow him there, for we hear Paul saying: If you have been raised
with Christ, you must lift your thoughts on high, where Christ now sits at the
right hand of God.

LCG Chicago Monthly Meeting 9:00 am CDT
2024-08-10 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
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Skema
2024-08-11
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
19th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (B), Weekdays (II)
August 11 – 17, 2024

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

Office
19th Sunday
Office for Vocations
Weekday
St Maximilian Kolbe
Assumption of the BVM
Weekday
Weekday

Vigils
1 Sam 24:1-25:1
1 Sam 25:2-22
1 Sam 25:23-43
1 Sam 26:1-25
Sir 24:1-16
1 Sam 27:1-12
1 Sam 28:1-25

Lauds
Zeph 1:7-13
Zeph 1:14-18
Zeph 2:1-7
Zeph 2:8-15
Josh 4:4-10
Zeph 3:1-7
Zeph 3:8-13

Mass
116
413
414
415
622
417
418

1st
1 Kgs 19:4-8
Ezek 1:2-5, 24-28c
Ezek 2:8-3:4
Ezek 9:1-7; 10:18-22
Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a; 10ab
Ezek 16:1-15, 60, 63
Ezek 18:1-10, 13b, 30-32

2nd
Eph 4:30-5:2

1 Cor 15:20-27

Gospel
John 6:41-51
Matt 17:22-27
Matt 18:1-5, 10, 12-14
Matt 18:15-20
Luke 1:39-56
Matt 19:3-12
Matt 19:13-15

Vespers
Jas 1:12-18
Jas 1:19-27
Jas 2:1-13
Eph 2:1-10
Rom 8:28-39
Jas 2:14-17
Jas 2:18-26

Vigils Reading - 19th Sunday
2024-08-11
HIS MOST DIVINE LIFE
From a commentary by Denis the Areopagite1
◊◊◊
In his goodness and love for humankind, Jesus, the most divine Word,
one, simple, and hidden, assumed our nature, appearing though unchanged in
his own nature as a being both composite and visible. Graciously he received us
into unifying communion with himself, joining our lowliness to his sublime
divinity, under the sole condition that we in our turn should adhere to him as
members of his body by living a pure and godly life like his, and not giving reign
to ruinous, death-dealing passions, which would make us incapable of union
with those completely healthy and divine members.
If we aspire to communion with Jesus, we must fix our eyes upon the most
holy life he lives in the flesh and follow the example of his divine innocence so
as to become pure and godlike. Then, in a manner befitting us, he will give us a
resemblance to himself.
The bishop manifests these truths in the sacred rites he performs when
he publicly unveils the hidden gifts, divides them into many parts, and by the
perfect union of the sacrament he distributes with those who receive it, admits
the recipients to communion with it. For by thus presenting Jesus Christ to our
eyes he shows us the very life of our spirit and understanding in a way
perceptible to our senses, as it were pictorially. He shows us how Christ came
forth from his divine concealment to assume for love of humanity our human
form, becoming completely human without loss of his own identity, how while
remaining unchanged he descended from his natural unity to the level of our
divisibility, and how through the beneficent deeds inspired by his love for us,
He calls the human race to communion with himself and to share in his
blessings. He asks only that we unite ourselves to his most divine life by3
imitating it to the best of our ability, so as to enter into a real communion with
God and his divine mysteries.

Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
2024-08-12
THE DIVINE CALL
From the writing of Hans Urs von Balthasar1
◊◊◊
Christian revelation is primarily a revelation of hearing, not of seeing.
Although the image of seeing is not excluded – for “we see now through a
mirror in an obscure manner”; wisdom, when it appears, is the “mirror … and
image” of the divine goodness; and Christ is “the image of the invisible God”
so that, in seeing him, we also see the Father – nevertheless the comparison
with hearing is the dominant one in revelation: the Second Person is heard
primarily as “Word” and faith in him comes by hearing. The hearing of the Word
is by no means a temporary substitute for the seeing that is wanting to us here
below. On the contrary, it is the lasting proof that God never is and never will
be a mere “object” of knowledge to us, but is rather the infinitely sovereign
majesty of a Trinity of Persons that makes itself known in whatever way and to
whomever it wills.
That God speaks to us in his personal word is a greater grace than that we
are allowed to see him: That we are deemed worthy of his word is the grace of
graces that makes us partners in a divine, even Trinitarian, conversation. That
the word of God is spoken to us is the highest revelation and honor the personal
God can bestow upon us, for it presumes that God considers us capable of
understanding his word through the gift of his grace and of possessing the Spirit
who “searches all things, even the deep things of God, that we may know all
things that have been given us by God”. So tremendous is this grace that the
creature thus addressed by God must forget its own wishes and desires, even its
longing for “eternal happiness” and for the “vision of God” so that, trembling
in the depths of its being, it may fall to the ground and hear his voice only to
ask: “What shall I do, Lord?”5
But one who has been thrown to the ground by the impact of this
compelling voice is also “set upon his feet” by it. When God speaks, He wants a
partner. He wants one who is erect, who, hearing his voice, is yet able to stand
upon his feet and answer: “…I fell upon my face, and I heard the voice of the
one that spoke. And he said to me: Son of man, stand upon your feet, and I will
speak to you. And the Spirit entered into me after he spoke to me, and he set
me upon my feet; and I heard him speaking to me…”.
When God speaks personally, he wants to be understood personally;
when he utters his personal word into the world, he wants that word to be
returned to him, not as a dead echo, but as a personal response from his
creature in an exchange that is genuinely a dialogue even though it can be
conducted only in the unity of the divine Word that mediates between the
Father and us. But just as that divine Word proceeds from the Father, yet is not
the Father, but only declares the Father, so the creature can give back to the
Father this word it has received by uttering itself in it – or better, by letting itself
be uttered by it.

Vigils Reading
2024-08-13
THE CENOBITIC LIFE
From the writing of Baldwin of Ford.1
◊◊◊
The common life of the angels is a sort of copy of that common life which
is in God, of God, and is God. It is united in perfect peace by the Holy Spirit,
who is its love, its bond, and its communion. ‘By the word of the Lord the
heavens were established, and all their virtue by the spirit of his mouth.’ The
heavens are the angels in whom God dwells as their common life and common
blessedness, and in his love they live in concord and happiness. Each of them
loves all the others, and all of them love each; they all want the same things and
all are averse to the same things; what pleases one is displeasing to none, and
what one wants, they all want. There is one purpose and one will for all; all feel
the same thing, and all sense the same thing.
There is no one here puffed up with pride, no one consumed with envy,
no outbursts of anger, no quarrels or discord, no murmurs of impatience, and
no one is defamed by treacherous tongues. Here all is at peace, all is calm, all is
tranquil. There is nothing disordered, nothing undisciplined, nothing contrary
to order or obedience, nothing secretly put away with the intention of keeping
it for oneself. Everything is open and aboveboard, everything is plain, and
things which are proper to each individual are common to all through the
sharing of love and the love of sharing. They are all [assembled] in one temple
and raise their shouts of joy to God in common; all at the same time read and
meditate and contemplate in the book of life; and they all refresh themselves
communally at one and the same table. They take their rest together in the place
of eternal repose, and there is no one who does anything on his own which can
disturb or damage their common peace, obedience, or order.
Such is the fellowship— the happiest and most joyous [of fellowships] —
of the citizens of the realms above who live the common life, and we who are
still upon earth should follow their way of life by [living] the common life after
their example. Thus, we might deserve to be joined with them in intimate
companionship, a companionship which will be the more intimate the more it
is granted us from above to imitate their life, through the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the charity of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

Vigils Reading - St Maximilian
2024-08-14
A TESTIMONY FROM
THE BEATIFICATION PROCESS
OF ST MAXIMILIAN KOLBE1
◊◊◊
Fr Kolbe and I worked together in May or June 1941. We were bringing
sand up from the Sola River. This was some of Auschwitz’s heaviest work, so
our squad had a very hard time indeed. The work itself was very painful; we
were lightly and very insufficiently dressed, and yet we had to wade into the cold
water to dig the sand. In addition, the guards beat us cruelly or sometimes
killed prisoners outright. From the first time I saw Father Maximilian I was
struck by his dignity and calm, so different from others. In spite of the terrible
conditions and bad treatment, he never complained nor did he curse. Instead,
he tried to comfort the other prisoners and lift our spirits. During the three
weeks we worked together, I sometimes saw the kapo beat Father Kolbe with a
big stick. Each time, Father Kolbe took it without a murmur.
The news of his death was an enormous shock to the whole camp. We
became aware someone among us in this spiritual dark night of the soul was
raising the standard of love on high. Someone unknown, like everyone else,
tortured and bereft of name and social standing, went to a horrible death for the
sake of someone not even related to him. Therefore it is not true, we cried, that
humanity is cast down and trampled in the mud, overcome by oppressors, and
overwhelmed by hopelessness. Thousands of prisoners were convinced the true
world continued to exist and that our torturers would not be able to destroy it.
More than one individual began to look within himself for this real world, found
it, and shared it with his camp companion, strengthening both in this encounter
with evil. To say that Father Kolbe died for one of us or for that person’s family
is too great a simplification.
His death was the salvation of thousands. And on this, I would say, rests
the greatness of that death. That’s how we felt about it. And as long as we live,
we who were at Auschwitz will bow our heads in memory of it as at that time we
bowed our head before the bunker of death by starvation. That was a shock full
of optimism, regenerating and giving strength; we were stunned by his act,
which became for us a mighty explosion of light in the dark camp night.

Vigils Reading - Assumption of the BVM
2024-08-15
TODAY SHE HAS FOUND HIM
From a sermon by St Aelred of Rievaulx1
◊◊◊
Among all those who are Christ’s, she who tastes his goodness more
intimately and more delicately is of greater excellence, more blessed, and more
attractive. She is to him not only a creature, a handmaid, a friend, and a
daughter, but also a mother. So, then it is only right that we welcome her feast
with greater delight and gladness. But today even more we should rejoice with
her because today her joy was completely fulfilled. Great was her joy when the
angel greeted her. Great was her joy when she felt the coming of the Holy Spirit,
when that marvelous fusion of the Son of God with her flesh took place in her
womb, so that he, one and the same, was the Son of God and her Son. Great was
her joy when she held such a Son in her arms, when she listened to his words,
when she saw his miracles. And because her sorrow was so great at the Passion,
she took wondrous joy again in his resurrection and greater still at his
ascension. But all these joys were surpassed by the joy which she receives today.
Up to this day…Mary, the blessed Mother of God, knew her dearest Son
in the flesh. Although she fastened all her desires and all her love there, where
he was, after her dearest Son and Lord ascended into heaven, so long as she
remained in this corruptible flesh, what she had seen of him in the flesh could
not fade from her memory. For his deeds and words were always coming to her
mind and above all there lingered in her heart the features of his exquisite face.
Today, however, she passed from this world and went up to the heavenly
kingdom. There she began to contemplate his brightness, power, and divinity,
and her joy and her longing were fulfilled. So with good reason could she say: “I
have found him whom my soul loves”. She holds him and she does not let him
go… Today she has found him whom her soul loves, she has found him in spirit,11
she loves him in spirit, she holds him in spirit and therefore she will never again
lose him…
She loved him more than anyone else did, so she yearned for him more
than anyone else did, and therefore sought him more persistently. But him
whom until now her flesh loved, now her soul loves. And now she says: “I will
rise and go the rounds of the city”. Today the Blessed Virgin went up into heaven
and went round the whole of that heavenly city in the full natural vigor of her
mind. Today she entered that heavenly court. She saw the white robes of the
virgins, the ruddy crowns of the martyrs, the thrones of the apostles, and in the
midst of them she found her Son reigning. Ascending higher than the very
highest of the saints, she has arrived at such knowledge of the divinity that she
then glories in having found him for the first time… She holds him in the
embraces of an utterly perfect love and she can never lose him because she can
never love him any less.
Let us lift up our hearts therefore, brothers, to Our Lady, our Advocate.
Let us reflect on how much hope we have in her. Just as she surpasses every
creature in excellence, so also she is more merciful and kinder than any
creature. Let us then confidently entreat her who can by her excellence assist us
and by her mercy chooses to do so, that she may implore her Son for us so that
as he deigned to be born of her for us, he may through her deign to have mercy
on us.

Vigils Reading
2024-08-16
IN PRAISE OF
THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY1
From a sermon by Amadeus of Lausanne1
◊◊◊
Since we have, at the bidding of God, embarked upon the praises of the
Blessed Virgin, it remains for us to complete her praise from the bottom of our
heart and with dutiful voice. Let us gaze upon her glory and, entering the depth
of so great a light, let us with swelling heart and unspeakable joy hasten through
the vivid brightness of the paths, saying with Solomon, ‘Her paths are lovely and
all her ways are peaceful’. What if, as the same prophet says, ‘the path of the
just, as a shining light, goes forth and grows into the perfect day’? Who will be
able to express the light and brightness of her paths? Yet we shall try to explain
in part the progress and additions of her paths so that she may be perceived as
glorious in her steps and be proclaimed in each of them.
For she possessed progress clearly marked and distinct growth, so that
she advanced according to the fairest order of Charity and, going forward from
virtue to virtue, she saw the God of gods in Sion, being changed from glory to
glory as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Firstly, therefore, she was deemed worthy to be adorned with the beauty
of all the virtues. Secondly, she was united to the Holy Spirit in a bond of
wedlock. Thirdly, she was found the Mother of the Savior. Fourthly, a sword
pierced her soul and by the flesh taken of her flesh the ruin of the lost world is
restored. Fifthly, she rejoices in her Son arising and ascending above the heaven
of heavens to the right hand of the Father. Sixthly, she is caught up from this
world and as the Lord hastens to meet her she is places above the denizens of
heaven. Seventh, she will be completed when the fullness of the Gentiles shall
have entered and all Israel shall be saved. For beyond what it is right to be said13
or believed, she rejoices in the general salvation of the elect, knowing that it was
for them that the Son of God took flesh from her. Therefore, she will then be
fulfilled, God providing a better thing, lest without us she should not be made
perfect.

Vigils Reading
2024-08-17
A SONG OF INNOCENCE AND
EXPERIENCE
By Gerald Vann1
◊◊◊
In the Church’s devotion to Mary great emphasis is laid on the fact that in
her motherhood she yet remained a maiden as well; and we shall miss all the
richness of the mystery if we think of this insistence as being purely or even
primarily concerned with physical conditions. Motherhood produces
fundamental psychological changes in a woman: it means the loss of some
qualities and the acquisition of others, a different mentality, a different outlook.
The mother has known the deep experience of love and joy, of pain and danger
and sorrow: we think of her as the symbol of wisdom because she has known in
her own body the mysteries of good and evil.
The girl on the other hand is the symbol of opposite qualities: of a
freshness and spontaneity and purity of heart which comes precisely from
inexperience, knowing that reality can be ugly, not yet made wise through
lessons of sorrow: her courage, her strength, her wisdom, her joy, are from other
sources. In Mary alone, the Maiden-Mother, these opposite sets of qualities co-
exist; it is this that gives her personality a richness which is unique; and it is
because of this richness that she can teach us so much.
Mary’s life then is a song at once of innocence and of experience; and as
this double richness means a double fear so it means also a double love; and the
love in its turn produces a double wisdom, a double trust, and therefore a double
courage. Mary pondered all these things in her heart: it is her song of
experience, and the source of her…wisdom. She knew how He-that-is-mighty
had done great things in her; she knew the overshadowing power of the Most
High; she knew the gradually unfolding self-revelation of her Son; and knowing15
these things she could sense of the resurrection through the cross, the joy
through the pain, the triumph through failure; and so she could find the courage
to meet the sword.
Behold the handmaid of the Lord: there, on the other hand, is her song of
innocence: whatever may come it will be well because it is his will, because he
is Love: hers are eyes too that can look out untroubled on a future which is
veiled, simply because she has implicit trust in the God she loves, even before
the trust has been justified by experience; and as the mother can say, I can do
all things in him who has strengthened me, so the girl can say, I can do all things
in him who will strengthen me.

Skema
2024-08-18
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
20th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (B), Weekdays (II)
August 18 – 24, 2024

Sun
18
Mon
19
Tue
20
Wed
21
Thu
22
Fri
23
Sat
24

Office
20th Sunday
Bl Guerric
St Bernard
St Pus X
Queenship of Mary
St Rose of Lima
St Bartholomew

Vigils
1 Sam 29:1-11
1 Sam 30:1-25
Sir 50:5-20
1 Sam 31:1-13
Nehemiah 1:1-11
Neh 2:1-20
Gen 28:10-22

Lauds
Zeph 3:14-20
Haggai 1:1-8
Wis 8:2-13
Hag 1:9-15
Hag 2:1-9
Hag 2:10-14
Deut 18:15-19

Mass
119
419
641, 660, 574
421
422, 627
423
629

1st
Prov 9:1-6
Ezek 24:15-23
Wis 7:7-10, 15-16
Ezek 34:1-11
Ezek 36:23-28
Ezek 37:1-14
Rev 21:9b-14

2nd
Eph 5:15-20

Phil 3:17-4:1

Gospel
John 6:51-58
Matt 19:16-22
Matt 5:13-19
Matt 20:1-16
Luke 1:26-38
Matt 22:34-40
Jn 1:45-51

Vespers
Jas 3:1-5a
1 Jn 3:19-24
1 Jn 4:7-16
Jas 3:5b-12
Jas 3:13-18
Jas 4:1-4
Jas 4:5-12

Vigils Reading - 20th Sunday ORD
2024-08-18
REAL FOOD
AND REAL DRINK
From a commentary by Theophylact of Ohrid1
◊◊◊
We have heard that unless we eat the flesh of the Son we shall not have
life. We must have unwavering faith, then, when we partake of the sacred
mysteries, and not inquire “How?” Unspiritual people, that is, those led by a
natural way of thinking, are not open to spiritual realities surpassing the natural
order, and so lack understanding of the spiritual nourishment the Lord’s flesh
affords.
Those who do not share this flesh do not share in eternal life because they
reject Jesus the true life. What is consumed is the flesh not merely of a man but
of God, and being one with the Godhead, it has power to deify. This is real
nourishment: its sustaining power does not last only for a time; it does not
decompose like perishable food. But helps us to attain everlasting life.
Likewise, the cup of the Lord’s blood is real drink, for it does not quench our
thirst only for a time, but keeps those who drink it free from thirst forever, as
the Lord said to the Samaritan woman: Whoever drinks the water that I shall
give will never thirst again. Whoever receives the grace of the Holy Spirit by
sharing in the mysteries will never suffer from spiritual hunger and thirst the
way unbelievers do.
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood, live in me and I in them. As
I draw life from the living Father who sent me, so whoever eats me will draw
life from me. From these words we can begin to understand the mystery of
communion. Those who eat and drink the Lord’s flesh and blood lives in the
Lord and the Lord lives in them. A marvelous and inexplicable union occurs by
which God is in us, and we are in God. Does this not fill you with awe as you
listen?
It is not God alone that we eat, for he is intangible and incorporeal; he can
be apprehended neither by our eyes nor by our teeth; nor, on the other hand, is
it simply the flesh of a man, which would avail us nothing. Rather, in a union
defying explanation, God has made flesh one with himself, so that the flesh now
has life-giving power. This not because its nature is changed into the nature of
God. Of course not! A comparison may be made with iron put into fire. It
remains iron but displays the energy of fire. So also, the Lord’s flesh remains
flesh, but it has the life-giving power because it is the flesh of the Word of God.
And so, Christ says, As I draw life from the Father, or in other words, as
I was born of the Father who is life, so those who eat me will draw life from me,
because they will be united to me and, as it were, transformed into me, who am
possessed of life-giving power.

Vigils Reading - Bl Guerric
2024-08-19
THE LIFE OF
BLESSED GUERRIC OF IGNY
By Fr Hilary Costello, OCSO1
◊◊◊
Guerric of Igny was born around 1075 at Tournai and was educated in the
humanities, dialectic and theology at the cathedral school. Guerric was first
attracted to the eremitical life. He went to Clairvaux without any idea of staying
there. He only wanted to derive spiritual advantage from a meeting with the
Abbot Bernard. Bernard saw the makings of a good monk in Guerric and urged
him to stay.
Like so many of the Clairvaux community, Guerric was considerably older
than his abbot. By human standards he was more mature and experienced.
Guerric remained at Clairvaux for thirteen years. Igny was founded as the fourth
foundation of Clairvaux in 1127.
In 1138 the first abbot of Igny, Humbert, resigned and returned to
Clairvaux. Guerric was chosen as its second abbot. There is a passage in the Vita
Hugonis which suggests that Bernard influenced the choice considerably. “It
was Bernard who brought Guerric to the monastic life and Bernard favored
his election as abbot. He knew of no man living more holy than Guerric and so
declared him the one candidate for the office.” But this does not indicate that
Guerric was imposed on the community. The monks of twelve years standing
would have known him at Clairvaux. Guerric himself says that the community
chose him: ‘I am no physician and, in my house, there is no bread’. That is what
I said from the start: ‘Do not make me your leader.’ It is not right for one to
rule who cannot be of service. And how can he be of service who is not a
physician and in whose house there is no bread? He has neither the art of
healing souls nor learning to feed them with? I told you this, but you would5
not listen. You made me your superior.” Guerric may indeed have been about
sixty years old, but then his long experience both before and after his entrance
into Clairvaux must have been thought a valuable asset.
Igny flourished under Guerric. Vocations were plentiful and so were
benefactors. Much land and money was given to the monastery during his
tenure. It was none of this that was to make the abbot’s name known to
posterity, but the spiritual teaching committed to writing in his sermons. He
seems to have died on August 19, 1157. More than six hundred years later his
remains were taken into a new church.
Along with Bernard, Aelred of Rievaulx and William of St Thierry, Guerric
has been called the four evangelists of Citeaux.

Vigils Reading - St Bernard
2024-08-20
THE MELLIFLOUS DOCTOR
By Pope Pius XII1
◊◊◊
“The last of the Fathers, but certainly not unequal to the earlier ones“,
was remarkable for such qualities of nature and mind, which were enriched by
God with heavenly gifts, that amid the varied and sometimes stormy events of
his age, he seemed to dominate by his sanctity, wisdom and most prudent
counsel. It is a source of gratification so to meditate on his merits and to set
them forth in writing that, not only the members of his own Order, but also all
those who find their delights principally in whatever is true, beautiful or holy
may feel themselves spurred on to imitate the brilliant example of his virtues.
His doctrine was drawn almost exclusively from the pages of Sacred
Scripture and from the Holy Fathers, which he had at hand day and night in his
profound meditations; and not from the subtle reasonings of dialecticians and
philosophers, which on more than one occasion he appeared to hold in low
esteem. But it should be remarked that he does not reject that human
philosophy which is genuine philosophy, namely, that which leads to God, to
correct living and to Christian wisdom.
It is clear that in his study and his contemplation under the influence of
love rather than the subtlety of human reasoning, Bernard’s sole aim was to
direct toward the Supreme Truth all the rays of truth which he had assembled
from many different sources; drawing from them light for the mind, the fire of
charity for the soul, and correct norms for the guidance of conduct. This is
indeed true wisdom, which transcends all things human, and brings everything
back to its source, that is, to God, in order to convert all to Him. The Mellifluous
Doctor makes his way with deliberate care through the uncertain and
precarious circuits of reasoning, not trusting in the keenness of his own mind7
nor depending upon the labored and artful syllogisms which many of the
dialecticians of his time frequently abused, but, like an eagle, attempting to fix
his eyes on the sun, he pushes on with swift flight to the summit of truth.
The charity which activated him makes light of obstacles and, so to speak,
gives wings to the mind. For him, learning is not the final goal, but rather a path
leading to God; it is not the cold object of empty speculation, an intellectual
diversion, fascinating the mind with its play of light and glory, but it is moved,
impelled and governed by love. Wherefore, borne up by this wisdom and by
means of meditation, contemplation and love, Bernard ascends the peak of the
mystical life and is united with God Himself, tasting at times almost infinite
happiness even in this mortal life.

Vigils Reading - St Pius X
2024-08-21
A READING ON ST PIUS X
By Leonard von Matt1
◊◊◊
Pius X, the canonized Pope, holds a special place in the hearts of the
faithful. But this devotion of the faithful did not begin only at his canonization,
when the Church publicly proclaimed the holiness of his life: it began from the
moment when he ascended the papal throne. At once there grew up an
understanding between the Shepherd and his flock. The first to understand him
were the simple, humble people, who recognized him for what he was.
The obvious quality which led to his canonization was his outstanding
holiness. With Pius X, sanctity seemed to be the most natural thing in the
world. It quietly enlivened all that he said or did. Yet it would seem that
Giuseppe Sarto’s natural temperament inclined to a certain violence, easily
inflamed, and no one will ever know how much struggle it cost him to achieve
that gentleness and unruffled goodness for which he was so renowned. We can
follow him on the narrow path which he set himself as church-student, curate,
parish-priest, bishop, cardinal and Pope; but the moment of his vocation to the
priesthood and the beginning of his heroic sanctity are secrets known to God
alone.
A certain holiness seems to have been his from the beginning: his striving
after a virtuous life seems never to have been interrupted, his charity never
diminished. But it was when he began what he called the Ascent of Mount
Calvary, when he became Pope, that his great sanctity became evident. It was
his conscientiousness that turned the enormous responsibility of the office into
a crucifixion: he gave himself unstintingly to the service of the Church, and
spent himself without reserve for the love of God and everyone. His sanctity lay
in this total dedication: it was thus an inner and in a great measure a hidden9
sanctity: there were no spectacular penances, no remarkable practices beyond
those of a normal, good Christian. It might almost be said that Pius X became
a saint in spite of himself by sanctifying himself and his nature and by not
resisting God’s grace that drew him on.

Vigils Reading - Queenship of Mary
2024-08-22
WHAT DO WE MEAN WHEN WE SPEAK
OF THE QUEENSHIP OF MARY?
From the writing of Thomas Merton1
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Mary alone, of all the saints, is, in everything, incomparable. She has the
sanctity of them all and yet resembles none of them. And still, we can talk of
being like her. This likeness to her is not only something to desire — it is one
human quality most worthy of our desire: but the reason for that is that she, of
all creatures, most perfectly recovered the likeness to God that God willed to
find, in varying degrees, in us all.
It is necessary, no doubt, to talk about her privileges as if they were
something that could be made comprehensible in human language and could
be measured by some human standard. It is most fitting to talk about her as a
Queen and to act as if you knew what it meant to say she has a throne above all
the angels. But this should not make anyone forget that her highest privilege is
her poverty and her greatest glory is that she is most hidden, and the source of
all her power is that she is as nothing in the presence of Christ, of God.
This is often forgotten by Catholics themselves, and therefore it is not
surprising that those who are not Catholic often have a completely wrong
conception of Catholic devotion to the Mother of God. They imagine, and
sometimes we can understand their reasons for doing so, that Catholics treat
the Blessed Virgin as an almost divine being in her own right, as if she had some
glory, some power, some majesty of her own that placed her on a level with
Christ himself. They regard the Assumption of Mary into heaven as a kind of
apotheosis and her Queenship as a strict divinization.11
Hence her place in the Redemption would seem to be equal to that of her
Son. But this is all completely contrary to the true mind of the Catholic Church.
It forgets that Mary’s chief glory is her nothingness, in the fact of being the
“Handmaid of the Lord,” as one who in becoming the Mother of God acted
simply in loving submission to his command, in the pure obedience of faith. She
is blessed not because of some mythical pseudo-divine prerogative, but in all
her human and womanly limitations as one who has believed. It is the faith and
the fidelity of this humble handmaid, “full of grace” that enables her to be the
perfect instrument of God, and nothing else but his instrument. The work that
was done in her was purely the work of God. “He that is mighty has done great
things in me.” The glory of Mary is purely and simply the glory of God in her,
and she, like anyone else, can say that she has nothing that she has not received
from him through Christ.
As a matter of fact, this is precisely her greatest glory: that having nothing
of her own, retaining nothing of a “self” that could glory in anything for her own
sake, she placed no obstacle to the mercy of God and in no way resisted his love
and his will. Hence, she received more from him than any other saint. He was
able to accomplish his will perfectly in her, and his liberty was in no way
hindered or turned from its purpose by the presence of an egotistical self in
Mary. She was and is in the highest sense a person precisely because, being
“immaculate,” she was free from every taint of selfishness that might obscure
God’s light in her being. She was then a freedom that obeyed him perfectly and,
in this obedience, found the fulfillment of perfect love.

Vigils Reading - St Rose of Lima
2024-08-23
THE BEAUTY OF DIVINE GRACE
From the writing of St Rose of Lima1
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Our Lord and Savior lifted up his voice and said with incomparable
majesty: Let all know that grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that
without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. Let
them know that the gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase. Let them
take care not to stray or be deceived. This is the only true stairway to paradise,
and without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven.
When I heard these words, a strong force came upon me and seemed to
place me in the middle of a street, so that I might say in a loud voice to people
of every age, sex and status: Hear, O people; hear, O nations. I am warning you
about the commandment of Christ by using words that came from his own lips:
We cannot obtain grace unless we suffer afflictions. We must heap trouble upon
trouble to attain a deep participation in the divine nature, the glory of the
children of God and perfect happiness of soul.
That same force strongly urged me to proclaim the beauty of divine grace.
It pressed me so that my breath came slow and forced me to sweat and pant. I
felt as if my soul could no longer be kept in the prison of the body, but that it
had burst its chains and was free and alone and was going very swiftly through
the whole world saying: If only mortals would learn how great it is to possess
divine grace, how beautiful, how noble, how precious. How many riches it hides
within itself, how many joys and delights! Without doubt they would devote all
their care and concern to winning for themselves pains and afflictions. All
people throughout the world would seek trouble, infirmities and torments,
instead of good fortune, in order to attain the unfathomable treasure of grace.
This is the reward and the final gain of patience. No one would complain about13
his cross or about troubles that may happen to him, if he would come to know
the scales on which they are weighed when they are distributed to souls.

Vigils Reading - St Bartholomew
2024-08-24
THE VIRTUE OF INNOCENCE
From a sermon by St John Henry Newman1
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It is not only among the poor and lowly that the blessed character
of guilelessness is found to exist. Secular learning and dignity have
doubtless in their respective ways a powerful tendency to rob the heart of
its brightness and purity; yet even in kings’ courts, and the schools of
philosophy, Bartholomew may be discovered. Nay, like the Apostles, they
have been subjected to the world’s buffets, they have been thwarted in
their day, lived in anxiety, and seemingly lost by their honesty, yet without
being foiled either of its present comfort or its ultimate fruit.
I have in these remarks spoken of guileless persons as members of
society, because I wished to show that, even in that respect in which they
seem deficient, they possess a hidden strength, and unconscious wisdom,
which makes them live above the world, and sooner or later triumph over
it. The weapons of their warfare are not carnal; and they are fitted to be
Apostles, though they seem to be ordinary people. Such is the blessedness
of the innocent, that is, of those who have never given way to evil, or
formed themselves to habits of sin; who in consequence literally do not
know its power of its misery who have thoughts of truth and peace ever
before them, and are able to discern at once the right and wrong in
conduct, as by some delicate instrument which tells truly because it has
never been ill-treated.
Nay, such may be the portion (through God’s mercy) even of those
who have at one time departed from Him, and then repented; in
proportion as they have learned to love God, and have purified
themselves, not only from sin, but from the recollections of it.15
Lastly, more is requisite for the Christian, even than guilelessness
such as Bartholomew’s. When Christ sent forth him and his brethren into
the world, He said, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of
wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”
Innocence must be joined to prudence, discretion, self-command, gravity,
patience, perseverance in well-doing, as Bartholomew doubtless learned
in due season under his Lord’s teaching; but innocence is the beginning.
Let us then pray God to fulfill in us “all the good pleasure of His
goodness, and the work of faith with power;” that if it should please Him
suddenly to bring us forward to great trials, as He did His Apostles, we
may not be taken by surprise, but be found to have made a private or
domestic life a preparation for the achievements of Confessor and
Martyrs.
