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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260928
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260929
DTSTAMP:20260927T114403Z
CREATED:20260927T114403Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260927T114403Z
UID:15505-1790553600-1790639999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “The Spiritual Exercises” of \nST GERTRUDE THE GREAT \n◊◊◊ \nPray to the Lord\, the King of kings himself\, that he may accept you in the \nmilitia of love and teach you to take upon yourself the pleasant yoke and light \nburden so that you may follow your Lord with your cross\, clinging to your God \nwith undivided love; and say this with prayer and verse: \nYou\, Lord\, are my hope\, my keeper\, and my refuge: you are with me in \nevery tribulation. O God\, cherishing love\, anyone who is found to be strong and \nquick in the work of your love – that one truly will stand in the presence of your \nroyal face at all times… O queen of queens\, charity\, make me\, for the sake of your \nglory\, bound to you by oath in the new militia of cherishing you. Teach me to set \nmy hand to strong things and\, in you and through you\, quickly and unweariedly \nto go about and fulfill most faithfully the business of your cherishing-love. Gird \nmy thigh with the sword of your Spirit\, most mighty one and make me put on \nvirility in my mind so that in all virtue I may act viriliously and energetically; \nand\, inseparably with you\, I may persevere\, well strengthened in you\, with an \nunconquerable mind. \nMay all my vigor become so appropriated to your charity and my senses so \nfounded and firm in you that\, while of the fragile sex\, I may\, by virtue of a \nrational soul and virile mind\, attain to that kind of love which leads to the \nbridal-couch of the interior bed-chamber of perfect union with you. Now\, O \nlove\, hold and possess me as your own\, for already I no longer have – if not in \nyou – either spirit or soul.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-471/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260929
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260930
DTSTAMP:20260927T114534Z
CREATED:20260927T114534Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260927T114534Z
UID:15507-1790640000-1790726399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Michael & All Angels
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nTHE CATECHISM OF \nTHE CATHOLIC CHURCH \n◊◊◊ \nSt Augustine says: “Angel’ is the name of their office\, not of their nature. \nIf you seek the name of their nature\, it is ‘spirit’; if you seek the name of their \noffice\, it is ‘angel’: From what they are\, ‘spirit’\, from what they do\, ‘angel’.“ \nWith their whole beings the angels are servants and messengers of God. \nBecause they always behold the face of the Father who is in heaven they are the \n“mighty ones who do his word\, harkening to the voice of his word.“ \nAs purely spiritual creatures angels have intelligence and will: they are \npersonal and immortal creatures\, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures\, \nas the splendor of their glory bears witness. Christ is the center of the angelic \nworld. They are his angels: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory\, and all \nthe angels with him…” They belong to him because they were created through \nand for him: “for in him all things were created in heaven and on earth\, visible \nand invisible\, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities.“ \nThey belong to him still more because he has made them messengers of his \nsaving plan: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve\, for the \nsake of those who are to obtain salvation?“ \nAngels have been present since creation throughout the history of \nsalvation\, announcing this salvation from afar or near and serving the \naccomplishment of the divine plan: they closed the earthly paradise; protected \nLot; saved Hagar and her child; stayed Abraham’s hand; communicated the law \nby their ministry; led the People of God; announced births and callings; and \nassisted the prophets\, just to cite a few examples. Finally\, the angel Gabriel \nannounced the birth and the Precursor and that of Jesus himself. \nFrom the Incarnation to the Ascension\, the life of the Word incarnate is \nsurrounded by the adoration and service of angels. When God “brings the \nfirstborn into the world\, he says: “Let all God’s angels worship him“. Their song \nof praise at the birth of Christ has not ceased resounding in the Church’s praise: \n“Glory to God in the highest!” They protect Jesus in his infancy\, serve him in \nthe desert\, strengthen him in his agony in the garden\, when he could have been \nsaved by them from the hands of his enemies as Israel had been. Again\, it is the \nangels who “evangelize” by proclaiming the Good News of Christ’s Incarnation \nand Resurrection. They will be present at Christ’s return\, which they will \nannounce\, to serve at his judgment. \nIn the meantime\, the whole life of the Church benefits from the \nmysterious and powerful help of angels. In her liturgy\, the Church joins with \nthe angels to adore the thrice-holy God. She invokes their assistance…in the \nfuneral liturgy’s “May the angels lead you into Paradise“. \nMoreover\, in the “Cherubic Hymn” of the Byzantine Liturgy\, she \ncelebrates the memory of certain angels more particularly St Michael\, St \nGabriel\, St Raphael\, and the guardian angels. From infancy to death human life \nis surrounded by their watchful care and intercession…
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-michael-all-angels-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260930
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261001
DTSTAMP:20260927T114659Z
CREATED:20260927T114659Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260927T114659Z
UID:15509-1790726400-1790812799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Jerome
DESCRIPTION:A letter from St Jerome to \nPAULINUS \n◊◊◊ \nYou see how\, carried away by my love of the scriptures\, I have exceeded \nthe limits of a letter yet have not fully accomplished my object. We have heard \nonly what it is that we ought to know and to desire\, so that we too may be able to \nsay with the psalmist: “My soul breaks out with the fervent desire it always has \nhad for your judgments”. But the saying of Socrates about himself — “I only \nknow this: that I know nothing”—is fulfilled in our case also. \nThe New Testament I will briefly deal with. Matthew\, Mark\, Luke and \nJohn are the Lord’s team of four\, the true cherubim or store of knowledge. [Like \nthe description in the prophet Ezekiel\,] with them the whole body is full of eyes\, \nthey glitter as sparks\, they run and return like lightning\, their feet are straight \nfeet\, and lifted up\, their backs also are winged\, ready to fly in all directions. \nThey hold together each by each and are interwoven one with another: \nlike wheels within wheels\, they roll along and go wherever the breath of the Holy \nSpirit wafts them. The apostle Paul writes to seven churches… He instructs \nTimothy and Titus; he interceded with Philemon for his runaway slave. Of him I \nthink it better to say nothing than to write inadequately. \nThe Acts of the Apostles seem to relate a mere unvarnished narrative\, \ndescriptive of the infancy of the newly born church; but when once we realize \nthat their author is Luke the physician whose praise is in the gospel\, we shall see \nthat all his works are medicine for the sick soul. \nThe apostles James\, Peter\, John and Jude have published seven epistles \nat once spiritual and to the point\, short and long\, short that is in words but \nlengthy in substance so that there are few indeed who do not find themselves in \nthe dark when they read them. The apocalypse of John has as many mysteries as \nwords. In saying this I have said less than the book deserves. All praise of it is \ninadequate; manifold meanings lie hid in its every word. \nI beg of you\, my dear brother\, to live among these books\, to meditate upon \nthem\, to know nothing else\, to seek nothing else. Does not such a life seem to \nyou a foretaste of heaven here on earth? Let not the simplicity of the scripture or \nthe poorness of its vocabulary offend you: for these are due either to the faults of \ntranslators or else to deliberate purpose: for in this way it is better fitted for the \ninstruction of an unlettered congregation as the educated person can take one \nmeaning and the uneducated another from one and the same sentence. \nI am not so dull or so forward as to profess that I myself know it\, or that I \ncan pluck upon the earth the fruit which has its root in heaven\, but I confess that \nI should like to do so. I put myself before the man who sits idle and\, while I lay \nno claim to be a master\, I readily pledge myself to be a fellow-student… Let us \nlearn upon earth that knowledge which will continue with us in heaven.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-jerome-5/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261001
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261002
DTSTAMP:20260927T114837Z
CREATED:20260927T114837Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260927T114837Z
UID:15511-1790812800-1790899199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Therese of the Child Jesus
DESCRIPTION:A letter from the “Illustrimissimi” of \nPOPE JOHN PAUL THE FIRST \n◊◊◊ \nI was seventeen years old when I read your autobiography. \nFor me it was like a bolt from the blue. “Story of a little flower” you had \ncalled it. To me it seemed the story of a “steel bar” because of the willpower\, the \ncourage\, and the decision that shone from it. Once you had chosen the path of \ncomplete devotion to God\, nothing then could stand in your way: no illness\, no \nexternal contradictions\, no inner shadows or uncertainty. \nRereading you\, I am impressed now by the way in which you loved God \nand your neighbor. Saint Augustine had written: “We go to God\, not with \nwalking but with loving.” You also call your path the “way of love.” Christ had \nsaid: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” \nPerfectly in line with these words\, you felt yourself like “a little bird without \nstrength and without wings“; in God\, on the contrary\, you saw the eagle\, who \ncame down to carry you to the heights on His won wings. You called divine \ngrace the “elevator\,” which raised you to God quickly and without toil\, since you \nwere “too small to climb the harsh stairway of perfection.“ \nI wrote above “without toil.” Let there be no misunderstanding: that is \ntrue in one aspect\, but in another…Let me remember your last months; your \nsoul advances in a kind of dark tunnel\, it sees nothing of what it formerly saw \nclearly. “Faith\,” you write\, “is no longer a veil\, but a wall.” The physical \nsufferings are so great that they make you say: “If I had not had faith\, I would \nhave given myself death.“ \nNevertheless\, you continue saying\, with the will of the Lord whom you \nlove: “I sing the happiness of Paradise\, but without feeling joy; I sing simply \nthat I want to believe.” Your last words were: “My God\, I love you!“ \nTo God’s compassionate love you had offered yourself as victim. All this \ndid not prevent you from enjoying beautiful and good things: before your final \nillness\, you painted joyously\, wrote poems and little sacred plays\, interpreting \nroles in some of them with the taste of a sensitive actress. \nIn your last illness\, during a moment of remission\, you asked for some \nchocolate pastries. You were not afraid of your own imperfections\, nor even of \nhaving sometimes dozed off in weariness during meditation. (“Mothers love \ntheir children also when they are asleep!“) \nLoving your neighbor\, you drove yourself to render little services\, useful \nbut unobserved\, and to prefer\, when possible\, the people who irked you and had \nleast in common with you. Behind their not very likable faces\, you sought the \nlovable face of Christ. And this effort\, this seeking\, was not noticed. “Mystical \nas she is in chapel and at work\,” the mother superior wrote of you\, “she is \nequally comical and full of fun during recreation\, when she makes us split our \nsides laughing.“ \nThese few lines I have written are very far from containing your complete \nmessage to Christians. They suffice\, all the same\, to indicate some lines for us to \nfollow. \n  \n5 Illustrissimi\, Letters from Pope John Paul I. Albino Luciani/ Little\, Brown and Co.1978. p.147-8.10
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-therese-of-the-child-jesus-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261002
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261003
DTSTAMP:20260927T114944Z
CREATED:20260927T114944Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260927T114944Z
UID:15513-1790899200-1790985599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from the Spiritual Conferences of \nJOHN TAULER \n◊◊◊ \n“You shall be witnesses unto me in all Judea.” Judea means “to confess \nGod” or “to praise God.” We are to be God’s witnesses by confessing God in all \nour actions\, behavior\, and intentions. And this not merely when all goes well \nwith us\, when we are full of joy and delight and natural enthusiasm. People find \nit easy enough at such times to think that they are confessing God very well. \nThey seem to know and love God well enough as long as things go according to \ntheir own will; but as soon as they meet with terrible assaults\, they begin to \nwonder what they have been about. \nThey have completely lost their bearings now that suffering has come \nupon them. Now we can see clearly what has been at the root and foundation of \ntheir confession: not God\, but their feelings. This is an unstable foundation built \non shifting sands. God’s true witnesses\, on the other hand\, stand firm\, rooted in \nGod and in God’s will\, in love and in suffering\, no matter what God gives or what \nGod takes away. Nor do they set great store by practices of their own. \nIt often happens that when people have successfully undertaken some \npious practices\, they give much thought to the business of planning them and \ncarrying them out; and so they place great reliance on them and exercise their \nown activity to the utmost. But God\, in an inalienable love\, often breaks down \nwhatever rests on such a foundation as this by frequently arranging things \nwhich run contrary to our desires. \nIf we want to keep vigil\, we are obliged to sleep\, against our will; if we like \nto fast\, we are made to eat; if we would like to be quiet and at rest\, we have to do \nquite otherwise. In this way everything that we cling to crumbles at our touch\, so \nthat we may be brought face to face with our own bare and naked nothingness. \nThus we should learn to place all our reliance upon God\, confessing God \nalone in a simple and uncompromising faith\, and resting upon nothing else at \nall. For just as worldly and sinful persons are seduced by sensual pleasures\, so \nthese people are held back by a complacency in what they do or what they feel\, \nand are thus hindered from an absolute and simple surrender to God and from \nthe true poverty of spirit which God wants of them.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-472/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261003
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261004
DTSTAMP:20260927T115111Z
CREATED:20260927T115111Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260927T115111Z
UID:15515-1790985600-1791071999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Louisville Cathedral
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST OSCAR ROMERO \n◊◊◊ \nA Christian must be concerned to form community and see that the \ncommunity keeps growing in depth of faith and missionary extension. \nChristians must be dissatisfied as long as they see so many baptized persons \nwho have not perceived the richness of their baptism. What the apostles used to \ndo was to take that treasure and make it greater by forming communities and \ncommunity life. \nThis community sense is something we urgently need today in our \ncountry. At times there is confusion between the Christian community and the \npolitical group. Some are unable to tell the difference because the members of a \ncommunity don’t deepen their faith and they get mixed up. \nIn my pastoral letter\, I say that often our people\, especially the young \npeople\, have reached political maturity earlier than Christian maturity\, and they \nsee life more in political terms\, as though the political dimension of life were the \nonly one\, and they have no time left for what is Christian. But it should be the \nother way around: what is Christian comes first\, and it is thence that each one \nshould discover his or her proper place in the country\, in whatever vocation God \ngives one. \nIf God gives a political vocation. one should live it\, but as a Christian. That \nway we’ll have the sort of people needed nowadays\, people who will become \nmature in a Christian community\, will mature in the gospel\, in their faith\, in \ntheir commitment to Christ\, in their following of the Lord\, who will not let them \nbetray him in the laws or customs of the land\, that is\, in political life. And they \nwill then become the leaders of the transformations that the nation needs today \nmore than ever\, Christians thoroughly committed to Christ\, in a community \nthat is God’s people and\, as the Bible says\, is like a light on a mountaintop. \nToday\, with so much confusion\, so many groups\, so many claims\, the \nChristian community should consider itself a bright light\, providing light and \norientation to everything that happens around us.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-louisville-cathedral-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261004
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261005
DTSTAMP:20261004T115010Z
CREATED:20261004T115010Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261004T115010Z
UID:15531-1791072000-1791158399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n27th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (II)\nOctober 4 – 10\, 2026\n\n\n\nSun\n4\nMon\n5\nTue\n6\nWed\n7\nThu\n8\nFri\n9\nSat\n10\n\n\nOffice\n27th Sunday\nWeekday\nSt Bruno\nOur Lady of the Rosary\nWeekday\nWeekday\nWeekday\n\n\nVigils\nSir 7:1-17\nSir 7:18-36\nSir 8:1-19\nJudith 15:8-16:2\, 11-16\nSir 9:1-18\nSir 10:1-18\nSir 10:19-31\n\n\nLauds\nHag 2:10-14\nHag 2:15-19\nHag 2:20-23\nSir 39:12-22\nZechariah 1:1-6\nZech 1:7-13\nZech 1:14-17\n\n\nMass\n139\n461\n462\n463\n464\n465\n466\n\n\n1st\nIsa 5:1-7\nGal 1:6-12\nGal 1:13-24\nGal 2:1-2\, 7-14\nGal 3:1-5\nGal 3:7-14\nGal 3:22-29\n\n\n2nd\nPhil 4:6-9\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMatt 21:33-43\nLuke 10:25-37\nLuke 10:38-42\nLuke 11:1-4\nLuke 11:5-13\nLuke 11:15-26\nLuke 11:27-28\n\n\nVespers\n2 Peter 1:1-9\n2 Pet 1:10-15\n2 Pet 1:16-19\nActs 1:12-14\n2 Pet 1:20-2:3\n2 Pet 2:4-10a\n2 Pet 2:10b-16
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-171/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261004
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261005
DTSTAMP:20261004T115556Z
CREATED:20261004T115122Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261004T115556Z
UID:15533-1791072000-1791158399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 27th Sunday
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST BASIL THE GREAT \n◊◊◊ \nYou need only look at the vine to be reminded of your own nature\, that is\, \nif you observe it intelligently. No doubt you remember the image used by the \nLord in which he says that he is the vine and the Father the vinedresser. Each of \nus who have been grafted onto the Church by faith he calls branches\, and he \nurges us to bear much fruit so as not to be rejected as useless and thrown into \nthe fire. \nThroughout the Scriptures the Lord continually likens human souls to \nvines. He says for instance: My beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; and \nagain: I planted a vineyard and put a hedge around it. Clearly it is human souls \nthat he calls his vineyard\, and the hedge he has put round them is the security of \nhis commandments and the protection of the angels; for the angel of the Lord \nwill encamp around those who fear him. Moreover\, by establishing in the \nChurch apostles in the first place\, prophets in the second\, and teachers in the \nthird\, he has surrounded us as though by a firmly planted palisade. \nIn addition\, the Lord has raised our thoughts to heaven by the examples \nof saints of past ages. He has kept them from sinking to the earth where they \nwould deserve to be trampled on\, and he wills that the bonds of love\, like the \ntendrils of a vine\, should attach us to our neighbors and make us rest on them\, \nso that always climbing upward like the vines growing on trees\, we may reach \nthe loftiest heights. \nHe also requires that we allow ourselves to be weeded. To be spiritually \nweeded means to have renounced worldly ambitions that burdened our hearts. \nAnyone who has renounced the love of material things and attachment to \npossessions\, or who has come to regard as despicable and deserving of \ncontempt the poor\, wretched glory of this world\, is like a weeded vine. Freed \nfrom the profitless burden of earthly aspirations\, that person can breathe again. \nFinally\, following out the implications of the comparison\, we must not \nrun to wood\, or\, in other words\, show off or seek the praise of outsiders. Instead\, \nwe must bear fruit by reserving the display of our good works for the true vine \ndresser.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/15533/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261005
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261006
DTSTAMP:20261004T115328Z
CREATED:20261004T115328Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261004T115328Z
UID:15536-1791158400-1791244799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-473/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261006
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261007
DTSTAMP:20261004T115443Z
CREATED:20261004T115443Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261004T115443Z
UID:15538-1791244800-1791331199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Bruno
DESCRIPTION:A letter from St Bruno to \nHIS CARTHUSIAN SONS \n◊◊◊ \nFrom the frequent and pleasant reports of our most blessed brother\, I \nknow of your reasoned and truly praiseworthy discipline\, carried out with \nunwavering rigor. Since I have heard of your holy love and constant pursuit of \nhonesty and virtue\, my spirit rejoices in the Lord. I rejoice and am drawn to \npraise and give thanks to God\, and still I long to love him. I rejoice\, as I should\, \nin the growing fruits of your strength\, and yet I grieve and am ashamed that I lie \nidle and senseless in the mire of my sins. \nTherefore rejoice\, my dearest brothers\, because you are so blessed and \nbecause of the bountiful hand of God’s grace upon you. Rejoice\, because you \nhave escaped the various dangers and shipwrecks of the stormy world. Rejoice\, \nbecause you have reached the quiet and safe anchorage of a secret harbor. Many \nwish to come into this port\, and many make great efforts to do so\, yet do not \nachieve it. Indeed many\, after reaching it\, have been thrust out\, since it was not \ngranted them from above. \nTherefore\, my brothers\, you should consider it certain and well- \nestablished that whoever partakes of this desirable good\, should he in any way \nlose it\, will grieve to his death\, if he has any regard or concern for the salvation of \nhis soul. \nMy dearest lay brothers\, of you I say: “My soul magnifies the Lord”. For I \nhave learned of the generosity of his mercy toward you from the report of your \nPrior and dearest father; he rejoices and takes great pride in you. And let us \nrejoice that since you are acquainted with the knowledge of letters\, almighty \nGod will inscribe in your hearts with his finger not only his love but also the \nknowledge of his holy law. By your work you show what you love and what you \nknow. When you observe true obedience with prudence and enthusiasm\, it is \nclear that you wisely pick the most delightful and nourishing fruit of divine \nScripture.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-bruno-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261007
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261008
DTSTAMP:20261004T115719Z
CREATED:20261004T115719Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261004T115719Z
UID:15541-1791331200-1791417599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Our Lady of the Rosary
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nFR ROMANO GUARDINI \n◊◊◊ \nTo linger in the domain of Mary is something divinely great. One does not \nask about the utility of truly noble things\, because they have their meaning \nwithin themselves. So it is of infinite meaning to draw a deep breath of this \npurity\, to be secure in the peace of this union with God. \nWith this we come back to what was said in the beginning. We need a \nplace of holy tranquility that is pervaded by the breath of God and where we \nmeet the great figures of the faith. This place is really the inaccessibility of God \nhimself which is opened to us only through Christ. All prayer begins when we \nbecome silent\, when we recollect our scattered thoughts and feel remorse at our \ntrespasses\, when we direct our thoughts toward God. If we do all this\, the place \nis thrown open\, not only as a domain of spiritual tranquility and mental \nconcentration\, but as something that comes from God. \nWe are always in need of this place\, especially when the convulsions of the \ntimes make clear something that has always existed but which is sometimes \nhidden by outward well-being and a prevailing “peace of mind”: namely\, the \nhomelessness of our lives. In such times\, a great courage is demanded from us: \nnot only a readiness to dispense with more and to accomplish more than usual\, \nbut to persevere in a vacuum we do not otherwise notice. So\, we require more \nthan ever this place of which we speak\, not to creep into to hide\, but as a place to \nfind the core of things\, to become calm and confident once more. \nFor this reason the Rosary is so important in times like ours–assuming\, of \ncourse\, that all slackness and exaggeration are done away with\, and it is used in \nits clear and original forcefulness. This is all the more important because the \nRosary does not require any special preparation. We do not need to generate \nthoughts of which we are not capable at the moment or at any other time. We \nstep into a well-ordered world\, meet familiar images and find roads that lead us \nto the essential. \nThe Rosary has the character of a sojourn. Its essence is the sheltering \nsecurity of a quiet\, holy world that envelops the person who is praying. This is \nparticularly evident when we compare it with the Stations of the Cross\, which \nhave the character of a journey. We follow the Master from one “station” to \nanother\, and feel at the end that we have reached our goal. The Rosary is not a \nroad\, but a place\, and it has no goal but a depth. To linger in it has great \ncompensations.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-our-lady-of-the-rosary-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261008
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261009
DTSTAMP:20261004T115828Z
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UID:15544-1791417600-1791503999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nWILLIAM OF ST THIERRY \n◊◊◊ \nLord\, you are pitying and merciful\, patient and kind beyond all measure. \nYou are gracious to all\, and your compassion rests on all your works. You \nyourself exhort us\, Lord\, to pray and to watch in prayer; so does your Holy \nSpirit. You exhort us and teach us to do so\, out of your tenderness and pity and \nyour will to show us mercy. \nAnd you make out our case beforehand for us\, establishing for us \njudgment and justice\, so that\, if we pray as we should\, you may have just cause \nfor showing mercy. And you have fixed for us even our form of prayer\, so that \nyou\, who are for us both judge and advocate\, may in no respect fail us in our \ncause. And you have told us to ask boldly in your name\, and to believe that we \nshall receive whatever we have asked\, and that those things for which we pray \nwill come to pass. \nIt is your goodness\, Lord\, that leads you to do this; we\, on the other hand\, \nare bound by grim necessity. And yet\, in spite of all your exhortation\, we are \nslow to pray; in spite of your bidding we neglect to do it\, and we do not believe \nyour promises. Nevertheless\, you in your mercy and your great compassion \nrouse the slothful and the negligent; your patience overlooks our lack of trust. \nAnd further\, since we neither know how to pray aright\, nor have the power to do \nso\, you send your Holy Spirit\, that he may help our weakness and intercede for \nus with groanings that cannot be uttered. \nWe pray\, therefore\, because you tell us to do so; we ask with confidence\, \nbecause we have your promise; and forthwith you run to meet us and answer \nour prayer\, finding in us a ground for your forgiveness\, because you have \nyourself made us forgivable. \nLoving as you are\, O Lord\, now you multiply your loving-kindness on us \nall\, and we begin to see your mercies that are over all your works. For when\, O \nGod\, instead of fleeing from us\, you begin to draw near and to rejoice our spirits \nwith your consolation\, the soul’s dead senses catch the fragrance of your healing \npresence and perceive its touch\, and forthwith come to life; faith leaps up and \nconfidence is cheered; the heart is kindled\, and tears run down to fan the new-lit \nfire\, not to quench it. \nWhen your Spirit helps our weakness thus\, your sweetness moves us to \nweep copious floods of sweet and fruitful tears; and when your loving-comfort \nwipes the tears away\, they flow the more profusely and become our meat by day \nand night\, a strong and pleasant food. For it is a happy thing for us who are your \npeople and the sheep of your pasture\, O Lord our God\, to weep before you who \nare our Creator.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-474/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261009
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261010
DTSTAMP:20261004T115934Z
CREATED:20261004T115934Z
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UID:15546-1791504000-1791590399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nXAVIER LEON-DUFOUR \n◊◊◊ \nIn its internal logic\, punishment reveals God: it is like a theophany \nadapted to the sinner. He who does not accept the grace of the divine visit \nclashes with holiness and encounters God. This is what the prophet repeats \nwithout ceasing: “Then you will know that I am Yahweh”. Because punishment \nis revelation\, it is the Word which executes it; and it is in confrontation with the \ncrucified that it assumes its true dimensions. \nSince punishment is thus ordered to the recognition of Yahweh and of \nJesus\, it is so much the more terrible when the one whom it affects is closer to \nGod. The same presence\, sweet to the pure heart\, becomes painful to the \nhardened heart even though all suffering is not punishment. Still more\, \npunishment reveals the depths of God’s heart: his jealousy as soon as one \nentered into God’s covenant\, God’s wrath and vengeance toward the enemies\, \nGod’s justice and readiness to pardon and finally God’s mercy and pressing \nlove…. But there is a punishment at the very heart of our history where the \ntempter and sin have been struck dead — it is the cross where the Wisdom of \nGod shines forth. In the cross\, the “closed” condemnation of Satan\, sin\, and \ndeath\, and the “open” suffering\, the source of life\, coincide. \nThis wisdom has made its way through every ancient covenant; the \neducation of liberty was not able to be accomplished without “correction”. \nPunishment is connected with the law; historically\, this age has passed\, but \npsychologically many Christians delay there still: punishment is\, then\, one of \nthe bonds which continues to unite the sinner to God. But the Christian who \nlives with the Spirit is free from punishment. If he recognizes this as coming \n5 Dictionary of Biblical Theology\, Xavier Leon-Dufour\, Seabury Press\, 1970\, p. 476.11 \nfrom the love of the Father\, it is in view of conversion. And\, in our \neschatological times\, the true and only punishment is final obduracy. \nThis proximity of decisive judgment\, already at work\, confers on the \npunishment of “carnal” human being the value of a sign: it anticipates the \ncondemnation of everything that is not able to inherit the kingdom. But for the \n“spiritual\,” the judgment is justification: the punishment then becomes \nexpiation in Christ; voluntarily accepted\, it makes the flesh die to live according \nto the Spirit.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-475/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261010
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261011
DTSTAMP:20261004T120041Z
CREATED:20261004T120041Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261004T120041Z
UID:15548-1791590400-1791676799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX \n◊◊◊ \n“In all things give thanks to God.” If you can credit yourself with wisdom \nor with virtue\, realize that the credit is due rather to Christ\, who is the Power \nand the Wisdom of God. \n“Who is so mad\,” you say\, “as to presume otherwise?” Actually nobody. \nEven the Pharisee gives thanks\, although his justice merits no praise from God. \nAnd if\, as the Gospel points out\, his act of thanksgiving does not increase his \ngrace\, why is this so? Because the pieties that our mouths proclaim will not \njustify the pride of our heart in the sight of him who is repelled by the arrogant. \n“God is not mocked\, O Pharisee. What do you have that was not given to \nyou?” “Nothing\,” he says\, “and therefore I offer thanks to the giver.” But if there \nis really nothing\, then you had no antecedent merit to warrant your reception of \nthe things of which you boast. And if you admit this\, then in the first place it is \nfutile to give yourself airs at the expense of the publican who does not possess as \nmuch as you because he has not received as much… \nWhen you despise others\, however\, you betray the inner reality of your \ncondition\, you are speaking from a double heart\, with one lending your tongue \nto a lie\, with the other usurping the honor due to truth. Never would you judge \nthe publican more despicable than yourself if you did not consider that you are \nmore honorable than he. But how will you reply to the principle laid down by the \nApostle: ‘Honor and glory to the only God?’ How reply to the angels who in their \nteaching distinguish between what God reserves for himself and what he is \nwilling to share with men? Their song is: ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven\, \nand peace on earth to men of good-will.’ \nDo you not perceive that the Pharisee\, in offering thanks\, honors God with \nhis lips but in his heart pays tribute to himself? And so\, through force of habit \nmore than by intention or inclination\, you will hear people of all sorts \npronouncing words of thanks… For instance\, when the thief has bagged the loot \nfor which he has planned\, he celebrates in the privacy of his hide-out and says: \n“Thank God!”… The murderer will brag and express his thanks for the \noverthrow of a rival\, for having had revenge on an enemy. And the adulterer will \nutter an irreverent “Thank you God\,” as he capers with delight on having gone to \nbed at last with the woman he has long pursued. \nIt is clear then that God will listen only to the thanks that spring from a \npure and genuine simplicity of heart. I say “pure heart\,” because when those \nwho boast of their evil conduct presume to thank God for it\, they bring him \ndown to the level of their own profligacy and make him share in their wicked \npleasures. God says to people of this kind: “Do you really think I am like you? I \ncharge\, I indict you to your face.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-476/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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