Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey

Vigils Reading
2023-09-06
THE WOUND OF LOVE
From the writings of St Gertrud the Great4
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I had laid a certain person under an obligation to slip these words on my behalf into her daily prayer before the crucifix. She was to say, ‘By your heart that was wounded through and through, most loving Lord, pierce her heart with… your love, so much so that it may be unable to possess anything that is of this earth, but may be possessed by the unique power of your divinity’. It was these prayers, I believe, that spurred you into action…
Out of the overflowing generosity of your goodness and by the permission of your mercy I was coming to receive the sacrament of your most holy body and blood, when you infused me with an earnest longing which compelled me to break out and say, ‘Lord, I admit that, as far as my merits go, I am not worthy to receive the least of your gifts. But by the merits and earnest longing of all those around I beseech your loving-kindness to pierce my heart with the arrow of your love’. Soon I became aware that the force of these words had reached your divine Heart, as much because of an inflow of inner grace as because of the manifestation of an unmistakable sign on an image of your crucifixion.
For when I had received the life-giving sacrament, and had returned to my place in choir, it seemed to me as if something like a ray of the sun came out from the right-hand side of the crucified Christ painted on the page, that is, from the wound in the side. It had a sharp point like an arrow and, astonishingly, it stretched forward and, lingering thus for a while, it gently elicited my love. But my longing was not thus satisfied until the following Wednesday when, after mass, the faithful honor the generous gift of your incarnation and annunciation, which all must adore. I too, although less worthily, was concentrating on this devotion. Suddenly you were there unexpectedly, opening a wound in my heart with these words: ‘May all your emotions come together in this place; that is may the sum total of your delight, hope, joy, sorrow, fear and your other emotions be fixed firmly in my love’.
I immediately remembered that I had sometimes heard that wounds should be washed, anointed and bound up. At that time you had not yet taught me, once and for all, how to do this. But after a while you revealed it more fully to me, by means of someone who to your praise… has attuned her inner ear much more reliably and more sensitively than I have… to catch the continual flow of your loving whispers. Her advice to me was that, while worshiping with constant devotion the love of your Heart hanging on the cross, I should draw water of devotion, to wash away every offense… so that I might direct all my thoughts, words, and deeds, given strength by love, toward you, and in this way cling inseparably to you.
I offer you mourning for my far too numerous offenses against your divinely noble goodness, which I have assaulted so variously, in thought, word and deed; but especially in that I made such faithless, careless and disrespectful use of the gifts of yours. For if you had handed over to me, unworthy as I am, a hempen thread in memory of yourself, I should rightly have treated it with more conscientious respect!… Therefore, Giver of gifts… give the reader of these words… pity for you, in that your passion for souls has for so long confined a jewel… to the muddy bilge-water of my heart! While offering prayer and thanksgiving, may [the reader] extol your mercy… In this way some reparation may be made to you for my deficiency.
4 St Gertrud the Great of Helfta. The Herald of God’s Loving-Kindness: Books 1& 2. CF 35. Trans. Alexandra Barratt. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1991. 112-115.
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Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
2023-09-07
THE CROSS
From “Gravity and Grace” by Simone Weil5
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Christ healing the sick, raising the dead… that is the humble, human, almost low part of his mission. The supernatural part is the sweat of blood, the unsatisfied longing for human consolation, the supplication that he might be spared, the sense of being abandoned by God. The abandonment at the supreme moment of the crucifixion, what an abyss of love on both sides! ‘My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?’ There we have the real proof that Christianity is something divine… The cross…
The tree of life was a wooden beam. Something which does not give fruit, but only vertical movement. “The Son of Man must be lifted up and he will draw all men unto himself.’… Leaves and fruit are a waste of energy if our only wish is to rise. Adam and Eve sought for divinity in…fruit. But it is prepared for us on dead wood… where a corpse is hanging. We must look for the secret of our kinship with God in our mortality.
God wears himself out through the infinite thickness of time and space in order to reach the soul and to captivate it. If it allows a pure and utter consent (though brief as a lightning flash) to be torn from it, then God conquers that soul. And when it has become entirely his he abandons it. He leaves it completely alone and it has in its turn, but gropingly, to cross the infinite thickness of time and space in search of him whom it loves. It is thus that the soul, starting from the opposite end, makes the same journey that God made towards it. And that is the cross… We are what is furthest from God, situated at the extreme limit from which it is not absolutely impossible to come back to him…
In order that we should realize the distance between ourselves and God it was necessary that God should be a crucified slave. For we do not realize distance except in the downward direction. It is much easier to imagine ourselves in the place of God the Creator than in the place of Christ crucified…
Of the links between God and man, love is the greatest. It is as great as the distance to be crossed. So that the love may be as great as possible, the distance is as great as possible. That is why evil can extend to the extreme limit beyond which the very possibility of good disappears. Evil is permitted to touch this limit… How could that which is good love that which is evil without suffering? And that which is evil suffers too in loving that which is good. The mutual love of God and man is suffering…
For if he had made the best of all possible worlds, it would mean that he could not do very much. God crosses through the thickness of the world to come to us…
Suffering is at the same time quite external with regard to innocence and quite essential to it. Blood on snow. Innocence and evil… An innocent being who suffers sheds the light of salvation upon evil. Such a one is the visible image of the innocent God. That is why a God who loves man and a man who loves God have to suffer…
5 Weil, Simone. Gravity and Grace. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963. 79-83.

Vigils Reading - Nativity of the BVM
2023-09-08
MARY’S BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD
From a homily by Ogier of Locedio6
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This most holy Virgin Mary was of royal lineage: Joachim was her father, and Anne her mother. She is that mighty woman presaged by the Lord when, at the time of Eve’s undoing, he told the serpent, ‘You shall lie in wait for her heel, and she shall trample your head.’ She is that mighty Virgin who trampled the head of the dragon by her power… Through her the Lord delivered our first parents, Adam and Eve, from everlasting death… She is that valiant woman, endowed with strength and choicest virtue, of whom Solomon spoke: Who shall find a valiant woman? Hers is a prize far beyond all bounds. Indeed, her prize was none other than the Son of God the Father, who from far beyond all bounds… marvelously and ineffably entered the enclosure of the virginal womb…
How greatly God’s angels rejoiced when thus the restoration of humankind was secured! The whole world leapt for joy, heaven thundered with praise, the earth danced for delight, her song of joy soon joined by the skies above and the seas below… so the whole universe took on its pristine glory as that most blessed daughter was told: Virgin Mother of God, your birth is news of joy to all the world! If therefore all the orders of angels rejoice in the birth of Mary the Mother of God, let all orders of monks rejoice therein as well. If heaven and earth rejoice, then all Christ’s consecrated virgins also. Let everyone rejoice… with great joy, for the birth of Mary the sacred Virgin spells joy for the whole of heaven and earth.
Thus Mary, the morning star that drives away all darkness, came forth from her mother’s womb beautiful as the moon, sought-out as the sun, dreadful as a well-armed camp, the glorious light that came forth from the darkness, within whose womb Light itself would shine. From Jesse’s root there came the Virgin who would bear the flower. It is she who says, I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys’. Before that fragrant flower all other flowers lose the sweetness of their scent… By means of Anna and Joachim God created that remedy whereby humankind would be freed from everlasting death. Through… blessed Mary, the Lord gives light to the blind, heals the sick, raises the dead, frees us from sin, justifies us through grace, and crowns us with his glory.
Let therefore all the just rejoice at the birth of her through whom they have been justified. Let the blessed rejoice who through her have been made blessed… Let them approach the blessed child, the sublime Queen on high. Let them embrace her, let them cradle her in the arms of perfect love. Let them bear her in their hearts, her praises ever on their tongues, so as to possess her with their love. For this is no woman to be slighted, this is no ordinary mother: this is blessed Mary, wholly sweet and lovable…
She is the sweetness of myrrh, the absence of all bitterness. She who was never to dwell in the bitterness of sin is rightly named Mary. She never sinned nor ever wished to sin, in thought or word or deed. Wholly beautiful, there was no blemish in her; only thus could she become the Mother of the Lord…
6 Ogier of Locedio. In Praise of God’s Holy Mother. Trans. D. Martin Jenni. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2006. 34-40.
13

Vigils Reading - St Peter Claver
2023-09-09
ST PETER CLAVER
THE SLAVE OF THE NEGROES
From Butler’s Lives of the Saints
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He was born in Catalonia, about 1581, and as he showed fine qualities of mind and spirit was destined for the Church and sent to study at the University of Barcelona. Here he graduated with distinction [and entered] the Society of Jesus. He left Spain forever in April 1610, and was ordained priest at Cartagena, in what is now the republic of Colombia. By the time of his ordination the slave trade had been established in the Americas for nearly a hundred years, and the port of Cartagena was one of its principal centers, being conveniently situated as a clearing house…
At this time the leader of the work among the Negroes was Father Alfonso de Sandoval, a great Jesuit missionary who spent forty years in the service of the slaves, and after working under him Peter Claver declared himself “the slave of the Negroes forever”. Although by nature shy and without self-confidence he threw himself into the work with method and organization. He enlisted bands of assistants, and as soon as a slave-ship entered the port he went to wait on its living freight. The slaves were disembarked and shut up in the yards. Into these yards or sheds St. Peter Claver plunged, with medicines and food, bread, brandy, lemons, tobacco to distribute among the Negroes, some of whom were too frightened, others too ill, to accept them. “We must speak to them with our hands, before we try to speak to them with our lips”, Claver would say. When he came upon any who were dying he baptized them, and then sought out all babies born on the voyage that he might baptize them. He had a band of seven interpreters, one of whom spoke four Negro dialects, and with their help he taught the slaves and prepared them for baptism, not only in groups but individually. He made use of pictures, showing our Lord suffering on the cross; above all he tried to instill in them… some idea that as redeemed human beings they had dignity and worth, even if as slaves…
It is estimated that in forty years St. Peter Claver instructed and baptized over 300,000 slaves. When there was time and opportunity he took the same trouble to teach them how properly to use the sacrament of penance, and in one year is said to have heard the confessions of more than five thousand. Many of the stories both of the heroism and of the miraculous powers of St. Peter Claver concern his nursing of sick and diseased Negroes, in circumstances often that no one else, black or white, could face.
In 1650… sickness attacked his emaciated and weakened body, and he was recalled to the Jesuit residence at Cartagena. But here a virulent epidemic had begun to show itself, and one of the first to be attacked among the Jesuits was the debilitated missionary, so that his death seemed at hand. After receiving the last sacraments he recovered, but he was a broken man. For the rest of his life pain hardly left him, and a trembling in his limbs made it impossible for him to celebrate Mass. He…would sometimes hear confessions. Otherwise he remained in his cell, not only inactive but even forgotten and neglected.
On September 6, 1654 he was taken very ill and became comatose. The rumor of his approaching end spread round the city, everyone suddenly remembered the saint again, and numbers came to kiss his hands before it was too late; his cell was stripped of everything that could be carried off as a relic. St. Peter Claver never fully recovered consciousness, and died two days later on the birthday of our Lady. The civil authorities who had looked askance at his solicitude for mere Negro slaves, and the clergy, who had called his zeal indiscreet and his energy wasted, now vied with one another to honor his memory…
He was canonized in 1888 and was declared by Pope Leo XIII patron of all missionary enterprises among Negroes.

Skema
2023-09-10
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
23rd Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
September 10 – 16, 2023

Sun
10
Mon
11
Tue
12
Wed
13
Thu
14
Fri
15
Sat
16

Office
23rd Sunday
Weekday
Weekday
St John Chrysostom
Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Our Lady of Sorrows
SS Cornelius & Cyprian

Vigils
1 Sam 1:20-2:11
1 Sam 2:12-36
1 Sam 3:1-21
1 Sam 4:1-22
Isa 52:13-53:12
2 Macc 7:20-41
1 Sam 5:1-12

Lauds
Amos 1:6-10
Amos 1:11-15
Amos 2:1-5
Amos 2:6-16
Isa 45:21-25
Baruch 4:9b-20
Amos 3:1-8

Mass
127
437
438
439
638
639
442

1st
Ezek 33:7-9
Col 1:24-2:3
Col 2:6-15
Col 3:1-11
Num 21:4b-9
Heb 5:7-9
1 Tim 1:15-17

2nd
Rom 13:8-10

Gospel
Matt 18:15-20
Luke 6:6-11
Luke 6:12-19
Luke 6:20-26
John 3:13-17
John 19:25-27
Luke 6:43-49

Vespers
Jas 4:13-17
Jas 5:1-6
Jas 5:7-12
Jas 5:13-20
1 Cor 1:18-25
1 Pet 4:12-16
1 Pet 1:1-7

Vigils Reading - 23rd Sun ORD
2023-09-10
IF YOUR BROTHER SINS AGAINST YOU
From a commentary by St Jerome
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If our brother sins against us and injures us for any reason, we have the power, or rather the obligation, to forgive. For we are commanded to forgive debts for our debtors. But if anyone sins against God, it no longer depends on our choice. For the Holy Scripture says: “If a man sins against a man, the priest will pray for him; but if he sins against God, who will pray for him?” In contrast with this, we are mild about an injury to God, but annoyed to the point of hatred about insults to ourselves! Now our brother ought to be corrected privately. Otherwise, he may all at once lose his shame and modesty and continue in sin. And if he in fact listens, we have gained his soul, and by the salvation of another we have achieved salvation for ourselves as well.
On the other hand, if he is unwilling to listen, a brother should be summoned. And if he does not listen to that one, even a third brother should be summoned. This is done either out of zeal for correcting him or for the purpose of meeting together with witnesses. Next, if he is unwilling to listen to them, then the matter must be told to many. In this way they formally renounce the one who could not be saved by shame, in the hope that he might be saved by their reproaches. Now when it is said: “Let him be to you as a pagan and a tax collector,” it is shown that the one who has the name of believer but who does the works of unbelievers is more accursed than those who are openly Gentiles. For they are called “tax collectors” as a figure of speech referring to those who pursue worldly gain and collect taxes by means of business, fraud, theft, crimes, and perjury…

Now the secret response or unspoken thought of this brother who despises [the Church] could be: Well, if you despise me, I also will despise you. If you condemn me, you too will be condemned by my sentence of judgment. Because of this possibility, Jesus gave authority to the apostles to ensure that those who are condemned by such measures may know that the human verdict is corroborated by a divine verdict, and whatever is bound on earth is equally bound in heaven…
Therefore, a reward is even promised that we might hasten toward peace more solicitously, since he says that he will be in the midst of the two or three. This accords with that [famous] example of the tyrant who made prisoners of two men who were friends. One of them left his friend as a hostage in his place and went back to see his mother. By keeping the one man in prison while releasing the other, the tyrant wanted to test them. When the friend returned on the appointed day, the tyrant so admired the fidelity of both men that he begged them to enroll himself as the third partner in their friendship. We can also interpret this spiritually, that where the spirit, soul, and body agree and do not have a war of diverse wills between them, as the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, concerning any matter that they ask, they will procure it from the Father

1 St Jerome. The Fathers of the Church: St Jerome – Commentary on Matthew. Vol. 117. Trans. Thomas P. Scheck. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2008. 211- 212.

Vigils Reading
2023-09-11
THE RISE OF THE CISTERCIAN ORDER
From the “Exordium Magnum” of Conrad of Eberbach2 ◊◊◊
By the generous grace of God, the number of persons in the church at Cîteaux increased and the mother who had hitherto mourned in sadness because she was barren began to rejoice in many children. That vine of the Lord of hosts began to send out shoots far and wide…
In those days the abbeys which that church founded in various dioceses grew by the great and potent blessing of the Lord so much that within eight years, from the time of the foundation of La Ferté which was the first daughter house of Cîteaux… twelve monasteries had been founded and built by those who were originally sent out from Cîteaux and by others who were raised up by them. It was a pleasant enough sight, and in this activity they stood out as imitators of the most blessed Father Benedict, whose life and statutes they desired with all their hearts to emulate, for it is written of that father that he built twelve monasteries which handed down the precepts of his Rule to be observed. So in the renewal of this way of life according to that Rule they established twelve monasteries which passed on the cup of salvation to the whole world, like the twelve apostles of Christ, drunk with the grace of the Holy Spirit.
In fact, before the Cistercian abbeys began to flourish, the most reverend father Stephen, inspired by the Holy Spirit and in council with his brothers, set out to write down a decree which was called the Charter of Charity. In it we are taught how the communities of our Order, dispersed throughout various parts of the world and divided by various languages, have been bound by the cord of marvelous charity and the manifestation of mutual respect and have become one church, one way of life, even one body in Christ. He decided to call this decree the Charter of Charity because by its statutes all monetary exactions were rejected and only what belongs to charity and the salvation of souls was maintained in all things human and divine. Among those things which the blessed man and his brothers had with marvelous foresight decreed for the preservation of peace and charity and to keep the discipline of the holy Order from censure, this was especially found worthy of acceptance: that all the abbots of the Order were to meet once a year at Cîteaux and hold a General Chapter at which they should discuss very carefully the whole ordering of their life and the unbroken peace which was very deliberately to be kept among themselves.

To this end, their mode of life was quite often examined and consolidated by the authority of the Holy Scriptures so that it could not easily grow tepid but would be able to thrive over the space of many years. It is for this reason that from then until now the reverend fathers of the Cistercian Order visit their motherhouse once a year to hold a General Chapter, and by the anointing of the Holy Spirit they formulate statutes, a full description of which is contained in the Book of Determinations. So, from diverse elements they confected an antidote for the health of souls and endeavored to discern what was necessary throughout the whole brotherhood of our congregation

2 Conrad of Eberbach. The Great Beginning of Cîteaux: A Narrative of the Beginning of the Cistercian Order. CF 72. Trans. Benedicta Ward, SLG, and Paul Savage. Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2012. 109-111.

Vigils Reading
2023-09-12
THE SOUL’S ENCOUNTER WITH GOD
From the writings of Blessed Madeleine Delbrêl3
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We do not need to find silence; we already have it. The day we lack silence is the day we have not learned how to keep it. All the noises around us cause much less disturbance than we ourselves do. The real noise is the echo things make within us… Silence is the place where the Word of God dwells; if we limit ourselves to repeating this word, then we can speak without ceasing to be silent… We make our souls into so many caves of silence wherein the word of God can dwell and resound…
Encountering him in all places is what creates our solitude. For us, being truly alone means sharing in God’s solitude. God is so great that nothing can find room anywhere else but within him. For us, the whole world is like a face-to-face meeting with the one whom we cannot escape… We encounter his imprint on the earth. We encounter his Providence in the laws of science. We encounter Christ in all these “little ones who are his own”… We encounter Christ rejected, in the sin that wears a thousand faces. How could we possibly have the heart to mock these people or to hate them, this multitude of sinners with whom we rub shoulders? The solitude of God in fraternal charity; it is Christ serving Christ, Christ in the one who is serving and Christ in the one who is being served…
We know that only obedience can root us in his death… The tiny circumstances of life are faithful… they do not leave us alone for a moment; and the “yeses” we have to say to them follow continuously, one after the other. When we surrender to them without resistance we find ourselves wonderfully liberated from ourselves. We float in Providence like a cork on the ocean waters…

When we live with others, obedience also means we set aside our own tastes and leave things in the place others have put them. In this way, life becomes an epic film in slow motion. It does not make our head spin. It does not take our breath away. Little by little, thread by thread, it eats away at the old man’s frame, which cannot be mended and must be made new from the ground up. When we thus become accustomed to giving up our will to so many tiny things, we will no longer find it hard… And our hope is that death, too, will be easy. It will not be a big ordeal, but rather the outcome of small ordinary sufferings, to which we have given our assent as they passed, one after the other…
We believe that doing little things with God and as God does is as much a way of loving him as doing great deeds for him. Besides, we’re not very well in- formed about the greatness of our acts. There are nevertheless two things we know for sure: first, whatever we do can’t help but be small; and second, whatever God does is great. And so we go about our activities with a sense of great peace. We know that all our work consists in not shifting about under grace; in not choosing what we would do; and that it is God who acts through us… Each docile act makes us receive God totally and give God totally, in a great freedom of spirit.
And thus life becomes a celebration. Each tiny act is an extraordinary event, in which heaven is given to us, in which we are able to give heaven to others. It makes no difference what we do, whether we take in hand a broom or a pen. Whether we speak or keep silent. Whether we are sewing or holding a meeting, caring for a sick person or tapping away at the typewriter. Whatever it is, it’s just the outer shell of an amazing inner reality: the soul’s encounter with God, renewed at each moment, in which, at each moment, the soul grows in grace and becomes ever more beautiful for her God

3 Blessed Madeleine Delbrêl. We, The Ordinary People Of The Streets. Accessed Online: Sep. 2023.

Vigils Reading - St John Chrysostom
2023-09-13
ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
From “Historical Sketches” by St John Henry Cardinal Newman4 ◊◊◊
Whence this devotion to St. John Chrysostom, which leads me to dwell upon the thought of him, and makes me kindle at his name, when so many other great Saints…command indeed my veneration, but exert no personal claim upon my heart? Many holy people have died in exile, many holy people have been successful preachers; and what more can we write upon St. Chrysostom’s monument than this, that he was eloquent and that he suffered persecution? He is not an Athanasius, expounding a sacred dogma with a luminousness which is almost an inspiration. Nor, except by the contrast, does he remind us of that Ambrose who kept his ground obstinately in an imperial city, and fortified himself against the heresy of a court by the living rampart of a devoted population. Nor is he Gregory or Basil, rich in the literature and philosophy of Greece, and embellishing the Church with the spoils of heathenism. Nor is he a Jerome, so dead to the world that he can imitate the point and wit of its writers without danger to himself or scandal to his brethren. He has not trampled upon heresy, nor smitten emperors, nor beautified the house or the service of God, nor knit together the portions of Christendom, nor founded a religious order, nor built up the framework of doctrine, nor expounded the science of the Saints; yet I love him, as I love David or St. Paul.
How am I to account for it? I consider St. Chrysostom’s charm to lie in his intimate sympathy and compassionateness for the whole world, not only in its strength, but in its weakness; in the lively regard with which he views everything that comes before him, taken in the concrete, whether as made after its own kind or as gifted with a nature higher than its own. It is the interest which he takes in all things, not so far as God has made them alike, but as he has made them different from each other. I speak of the discriminating affectionateness with which he accepts everyone for what is personal and unlike others….

I speak of the kindly spirit and the genial temper with which he looks round at all things which this wonderful world contains; of the graphic fidelity with which he notes them down upon the tablets of his mind, and of the promptitude and propriety with which he calls them up as arguments or illustrations in the course of his teaching as the occasion requires. Possessed though he be by the fire of ardent charity, he has not lost one fibre, he does not miss one vibration of the complicated whole of human sentiment and affection; like the miraculous bush in the desert, which for all the flame that wrapt it round, was not thereby consumed.
That loving scrutiny, with which he follows the Apostles as they reveal themselves to us in their writings, he practices in various ways towards all people, living and dead, high and low, those whom he admires and those whom he weeps over. He writes as one who was ever looking out with sharp but kind eyes upon the world of humans and their history; and hence he has always something to produce about them, new or old, to the purpose of his argument, whether from books or from the experience of life. Head and heart were full to overflowing with a stream of mingled “wine and milk”, of rich vigorous thought and affectionate feeling. This is why his manner of writing is so rare and special; and why, when once a student enters into it, he will ever recognize him, wherever he meets with extracts from him… And therefore I have a devotion for him

4 Historical Sketches, II, pp. 284-287.

Vigils Reading - Exaltation of the Holy Cross
2023-09-14
GIVE ME TO DRINK
From “Story of a Soul” by St Thérèse of Lisieux5 ◊◊◊
One Sunday, looking at a picture of Our Lord on the Cross, I was struck by the blood flowing from one of the divine hands. I felt a great pang of sorrow when thinking this blood was falling to the ground without anyone’s hastening to gather it up. I was resolved to remain in spirit at the foot of the Cross and to receive the divine dew. I understood I was then to pour it out upon souls. The cry of Jesus on the Cross sounded continually in my heart: “I thirst!” These words ignited within me an unknown and very living fire. I wanted to give my Beloved to drink and I felt myself consumed with a thirst for souls. As yet, it was not the souls of priests that attracted me, but those of great sinners; I burned with the desire to snatch them from the eternal flames.
To awaken my zeal God showed me my desires were pleasing to Him. I heard talk of a great criminal just condemned to death for some horrible crimes; everything pointed to the fact that he would die impenitent. I wanted at all costs to prevent him from falling into hell, and to attain my purpose I employed every means imaginable. Feeling that of myself I could do nothing, I offered to God all the infinite merits of Our Lord, the treasures of the Church, and finally I begged Céline to have a Mass offered for my intentions… Far from laughing at me, she asked if she could help convert my sinner. I accepted gratefully, for I would have wished all creatures would unite with me to beg grace for the guilty man.
I felt in the depths of my heart certain that our desires would be granted, but to obtain courage to pray for sinners I told God I was sure He would pardon the poor, unfortunate Pranzini; that I’d believe this even if he went to his death without any signs of repentance or without having gone to confession. I was absolutely confident in the mercy of Jesus. But I was begging Him for a “sign” of repentance only for my own simple consolation.

My prayer was answered to the letter!… The day after his execution I found the newspaper “La Croix. “I opened it quickly and what did I see? Ah my tears betrayed my emotion and I was obliged to hide. Pranzini had not gone to confession. He had mounted the scaffold and was preparing to place his head in the formidable opening, when suddenly, seized by an inspiration, he turned, took hold of the crucifix the priest was holding out to him and kissed the sacred wounds three times! Then his soul went to receive the merciful sentence of Him who declares that in heaven there will be more joy over one sinner who does penance than over ninety-nine just who have no need of repentance!”
I had obtained the “sign” I requested, and this sign was a perfect replica of the grace Jesus had given me when He attracted me to pray for sinners. Wasn’t it before the wounds of Jesus, when seeing His divine blood flowing, that the thirst for souls had entered my heart? I wished to give them this immaculate blood to drink, this blood which was to purify them from their stains, and the lips of my “first child” were pressed to the sacred wounds!
What an unspeakably sweet response! After this unique grace my desire to save souls grows each day, and I seemed to hear Jesus say to me what he said to the Samaritan woman: “Give me to drink!” It was a true interchange of love: to souls I was giving the blood of Jesus, to Jesus I was offering these same souls refreshed by the divine dew. I slaked His thirst and the more I gave Him to drink, the more the thirst of my poor little soul increased, and it was this ardent thirst He was giving me as the most delightful drink of His love

5 Story of A Soul: The Autobiography of St Thérèse of Lisieux. Trans. John Clarke, O.C.D. Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1996. 99-101.

Vigils Reading - Our Lady of Sorrows
2023-09-15
THAT MY TEARS OF LOVE MAY MINGLE WITH YOURS
A reflection attributed to Jacopo da Todi6
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The sorrowful mother was standing in tears beside the cross on which her Son was hanging. Her soul was full of grief and anguish and sorrow, for the sword of prophecy pierced it.
How sad now and how unhappy at the fate of her only Son was that mother, once called blessed; how the faithful mother grieved and lamented as she saw her glorious Son so shamefully treated.
Who is there who would not weep, were he to see Christ’s mother in such great suffering? Or who could help feeling sympathy with the mother, were he to think of her sorrowing with her Son?
Yet she actually saw Jesus in agony and broken by the scourging, and this because of the sins of her own people. She saw her dear Son all the time he was dying and abandoned until he yielded up his soul.
Come then, mother, from whom all love springs, make me understand the meaning of your sorrow that I may mourn with you. Make my heart burn with love of Christ, my God, that he may look on me with favor.

Holy mother, do this for me. Pierce my heart once and forever with the wounds of your crucified Son. Let me share with you the pain of your Son’s wounds, for he thought it right to bear such sufferings for me.
Grant that my tears of love may mingle with yours and that, as long as I live, I may feel the pains of my crucified Lord. To stand with you beside the cross and be your companion in grief is my own wish.
Virgin without equal among virgins, do not now turn down my request; grant that I may mourn with you. Grant that I carry about the dying state of Christ; grant that I be a sharer of his passion; grant that I relive his wounds. Grant that I be wounded with his wounds; grant that I drink to my soul’s content of the chalice of his cross and blood. Be a defense to me, virgin Mary, on the judgment day, and I will not burn and be consumed in the fires of hell.
When it is time, Lord Christ, for me to leave this world, give me through your mother’s prayers the palm of victory. When my body is dead, grant that my soul be given the glory of paradise

6 The Roman Missal, Lectionary for Mass (RSV-CE), Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1970, p. 1470.

Vigils Reading - SS Cornelius & Cyprian
2023-09-16
THE SAME UNBROKEN HARMONY
From a letter by St Cyprian, bishop and martyr7
◊◊◊
Cyprian sends greetings to his brother Cornelius. My very dear brother, we have heard of the glorious witness given by your courageous faith. On learning of the honor you had won by your witness, we were filled with such joy that we felt ourselves sharers and companions in your praiseworthy achievements. After all, we have the same Church, the same mind. The same unbroken harmony. Why then should a priest not take pride in the praise given to a fellow priest as though it were given to him? What brotherhood fails to rejoice in the happiness of its brothers wherever they are?
Words cannot express how great was the exaltation and delight here when we heard of your good fortune and brave deeds: how you stood out as a leader of your brothers in their declaration of faith, while the leader’s confession was enhanced as they declared their faith. You led the way to glory, but you gained many companions in that glory; being foremost in your readiness to bear witness on behalf of all, you prevailed on your people to become a single witness. We cannot decide which we ought to praise, your own ready and unshaken faith or the love of your brothers who would not leave you. While the courage of the bishop who thus led the way has been demonstrated, at the same time the unity of the brotherhood who followed has been manifested. Since you have one heart and one voice, it is the Roman Church as a whole that has thus borne witness.
Dearest brother, bright and shining is the faith which the blessed Apostle praised in your community. He foresaw in the spirit the praise your courage deserves and the strength that could not be broke; he was heralding the future when he testified to your achievements; his praise of the fathers was a challenge to the sons. Your unity, your strength have become shining examples of these virtues to the rest of the brethren.

Divine providence has now prepared us. God’s merciful design has warned us that the day of our own struggle, our own contest, is at hand. By that shared love which binds us closely together, we are doing all we can to exhort our congregation, to give ourselves unceasingly to fastings, vigils and prayers in common. These are the heavenly weapons which give us strength to stand firm and endure; they are the spiritual defenses, the God-given armaments that protect us.
Let us then remember one another, united in mind and heart. Let us pray without ceasing, you for us, we for you; by the love we share we shall thus relieve the strain of these great trials

7 The Liturgy of the Hours – vol. IV – Catholic Book Publishing Co – New York – 1975 – p 1406.

Cleveland LCG meeting
2023-09-16 14:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
Cleveland LCG Meeting
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm at St. Martin of Tours / zoom

Skema
2023-09-17
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
24th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
September 17 – 23, 2023

Sun
17
Mon
18
Tue
19
Wed
20
Thu
21
Fri
22
Sat
23

Office
24th Sunday
Weekday
Weekday
St Andrew Kim & Companions
St Matthew
Weekday
St Pius of Pietrelcina

Vigils
1 Sam 6:1-7:1
1 Sam 7:2-17
1 Sam 8:1-22
1 Sam 9:1-24
Job 28:1-28
1 Sam 9:25-10:16
1 Sam 10:17-11:15

Lauds
Amos 3:9-12
Amos 3:13-15
Amos 4:1-5
Amos 4:6-10
Prov 3:1-6, 13-18
Amos 4:11-13
Amos 5:1-6, 8-9

Mass
130
443
444
445
643
447
448

1st
Sir 27:30—28:7
1 Tim 2:1-8
1 Tim 3:1-13
1 Tim 3:14-16
Eph 4:1-7, 11-13
1 Tim 6:2c-12
1 Tim 6:13-16

2nd
Rom 14:7-9

Gospel
Matt 18:21-35
Luke 7:1-10
Luke 7:11-17
Luke 7:31-35
Matt 9:9-13
Luke 8:1-3
Luke 8:4-15

Vespers
1 Pet 1:8-12
1 Pet 1:13-16
1 Pet 1:17-21
1 Pet 1:22-25
Rom 10:8-15
1 Pet 2:1-10
1 Pet 2:11-17

Vigils Reading - 24th Sunday ORD
2023-09-17
FORGIVE AND YOU WILL BE FORGIVEN
From a commentary by St Augustine1
◊◊◊
The Lord puts the parable of the unforgiving debtor before us that we may learn from it. He has no desire for us to die, so he warns us: This is how your heavenly Father will deal with you if you, any of you, fail to forgive your brother or sister from your heart.
Take notice now, for clearly this is no idle warning. The fulfillment of this command calls for the most vigorous obedience. We are all in debt to God, just as other people are in debt to us. Is there anyone who is not God’s debtor? Only a person in whom no sin can be found. And is there anyone who has no brother or sister in his debt? Only if there be someone who has never suffered any wrong. Do you think anyone can be found in the entire human race who has not in turn wronged another in some way, incurring a debt to that person? No, all are debtors, and have others in debt to them. Accordingly, God who is just has told you how to treat your debtor, because he means to treat his in the same way.
There are two works of mercy which will set us free. They are briefly set down in the gospel in the Lord’s own words: Forgive and you will be forgiven, and Give and you will receive. The former concerns pardon, the latter generosity. As regards pardon he says: “Just as you want to be forgiven, so someone is in need of your forgiveness.” Again, as regards generosity, consider when a beggar asks you for something that you are a beggar too in relation to God. When we pray we are all beggars before God. We are standing at the door of a great householder, or rather, lying prostrate, and begging with tears. We are longing to receive a gift — the gift of God himself.

What does a beggar ask of you? Bread. And you, what do you ask of God, if not Christ who said: I am the living bread that has come down from heaven? Do you want to be pardoned? Then pardon others. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Do you want to receive? Give and you will receive.
If we think of our sins, reckoning up those we have committed by sight, hearing, thought, and countless disorderly emotions, I do not know whether we can even sleep without falling into debt. And so, every day we pray; every day we beat upon God’s ears with our pleas; every day we prostrate ourselves before him saying: Forgive us our trespasses, as we also forgive those who trespass against us. Which of our trespasses, all of them or only some? All, you will answer. Do likewise, therefore, with those who have offended you. This is the rule you have laid down for yourself, the condition you have stipulated. When you pray according to this pact and covenant you remember to say: Forgive us, as we also forgive our debtors

2

1 Journey with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press, NY – 1984 – p. 124-125.

Compline September 17th at 7:25 pm EST
2023-09-17 19:25 - 20:00
Compline zoom link
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/3917499727

Vigils Reading
2023-09-18
THE GREATNESS OF DIVINE MERCY
From the maxims of Stephen of Muret2
◊◊◊
Blessed are you when none but God and you yourself see your own sins; this is one of the superlative mercies of God. He rarely rids you of any of your mortal flaws totally while you live on earth. Rather he covers them, like one covers embers with ash, so that only you and he perceive them. If you are a servant of God, knowing your sins are still with you will produce conflict within, and this disharmony is the first step toward inner peace…
If we could see other’s thoughts, no one would be considered good. Often something is seem where it is not, and unnoticed where it is. You might see a person’s body engaged in doing good, though their heart be not in it. So, consider it a huge kindness shown you if God keeps you ignorant of other’s thoughts.
When God shows mercy to anyone, the very same kind of compassion is being shown, whether its object be one who has lived long years in doing good, or a sinner who has just turned to God at the end of life. If you question this state of affairs and insist that a sinner, who has never bothered to labor at a good life, must then be more tenderly loved by God than the decent person who has worked hard to be so, I will answer you in this way: If you have been enabled to live a dutiful sort of life all these years, you do not merely have an equal share with the sinner in God’s compassion, but yours is a greater share. For had you not been held safely in the hands of God, be quite sure that you would have fallen into the same sins, perhaps sinking even lower!

Where wrongdoing is concerned, we are all infected with the same rot. So then, if you are one of the favored ones who were not only made whole, but for whom moral goodness has long been a source of joy, consider yourself twice as tenderly loved by God. Is it not a greater advantage, therefore, to be able to endure the fire and heat of any passion without being burnt thereby, than it is to have escaped the fire altogether? After all, you were given a certain freedom from your sinfulness, while others will have to suffer for theirs, either in this life or in the fiery purification of death.
Here is another token of compassion which turns out to be a greater favor for those whom God saves early in life. The more upright your life, the more intense will be your felt need and desire for the wholeness God alone accomplishes. Indeed, God can more lovingly care for those who know their need and poverty (when they choose it) than for any who think they need nothing. It is a mark of a genuinely shameless person to experience neither aspiration nor interest toward receiving salvation; whereas one who is dutiful can be heard sighing and weeping when that grace is yet far off. When this is so, God, with the tenderest pity, fulfills that desire..

2 Stephen of Muret. Maxims. Trans. Deborah van Doel, OCD. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2002. 125, 129-130.

Vigils Reading
2023-09-19 08:00 - 17:00
IN GOD’S ETERNAL DESIGNS
From the writings of St Charles de Foucauld3
◊◊◊
My Lord Jesus, you are with us even to the end of the world.’ Not only in the Holy Eucharist, but also in your grace. Your grace dwells in the Church, it dwells also in every faithful soul. The Church is your spouse, and so also is the faithful soul your spouse.
Your grace works in them, conforming them to yourself. It works without ceasing in the Church to perfect her. She grows more perfect by the increasing number of her saints. Always new ones are being added to the old ones, and the crown of saints is completed every day by new jewels; she grows more perfect through her dogmas being more and more clearly defined… she grows more perfect through the fresh crosses which you lay upon her daily and the victories she wins daily against the Prince of this world. She grows more perfect by the persecutions that she bears in one century after another, and in her suffering she grows more and more like to her Spouse; she grows more perfect through the merits of her members added daily to the merit of past days. A sum of holiness growing unceasingly, a sum which glorifies God anew, adding itself always to the ancient glory which is ever living before the Lord.
She grows more perfect by the multitude of masses, by the tabernacles, by the communions in which Jesus is daily offered on earth to God, fresh offerings adding themselves to former ones; she grows more perfect because the grace of today added to the past graces cannot fail to carry the spouse from height to height ever nearer to her Lover. Jesus is the soul of the Church, he gives to her what the soul gives to the body — life. He gives her immortal life so that she shall never be destroyed, he gives her light, making her infallible in declaring the truth; he works through her and carries on through her the work that he began whilst he lived amongst men. He works for the glory of God through the sanctifying of man. This work is the aim of the Church as it was the aim of Christ; through her Jesus accomplishes it unceasingly through the centuries.

You dwell in the souls of the faithful, Lord… You become, as it were, the soul of their soul, your grace supports it in everything, enlightens its intellect, directs its will; it is no longer the soul that acts, it is you who work in her. You give her life, the life of grace, sowing the seeds of the glorified life with increasing abundance; you give her the truth and you establish it in her, you make her understand it, you unbind her eyes and make her see all things with the eyes of faith; you set her thus in the divine life high above the shadows of the world. You continue your work in her.
The end of all men, as it is the end of the earth, and your own aim, my Lord Jesus, is the glory of God, that is to say, the outward manifestation of his glory, and the sanctification of men. You love us: therefore the more perfect we are the greater is your consolation; we should desire with all our might to please you, for you tell us to love you with all our strength. It is our duty to desire to be as perfect as possible. Make then our thoughts, words, actions, like to yours, live in us, reign in us that it may no longer be we that live, but you, my God, that live in us, and who, using our bodies and our souls, which we give to you without reserve, may continue through them your life and your work in this world. That work is the glory of God and the salvation of men in that measure which you have decreed yourself in your eternal designs; in you, by you, and for you

3 Charles de Foucauld. Meditations of a Hermit. Trans. by Charlotte Balfour. London: Burns & Oates, 1981. 56-58.

Vigils Reading - St Andrew Kim & Companions
2023-09-20
THE CROWN OF FAITH
From the final exhortation of St Andrew Kim Taegon, priest and martyr[1]

In this world of perils and hardship if we did not recognize the Lord as our Creator, there would be no benefit either in being born or in our continued existence. We have come into this world by God’s grace; by that same grace we have received baptism, entrance into the Church, and the honor of being called Christians. Yet what good will this do us if we are Christians in name alone and not in fact? We would have come into the world for nothing, we would have entered the Church for nothing, and we would have betrayed even God and his grace. It would be better never to have been born than to receive the grace of God and then to sin against him…

When he was in the world, the Lord Jesus bore countless sorrows and by his own passion and death founded his Church; now he gives it increase through the sufferings of his faithful. No matter how fiercely the powers of this world oppress and oppose the Church, they will never bring it down. Even since his ascension and from the time of the apostles to the present, the Lord Jesus has made his Church grow even in the midst of tribulation.

For the last fifty or sixty years, ever since the coming of the Church to our own land of Korea, the Faithful have suffered persecution over and over again. Persecution still rages and as a result many who are friends in the household of the faith, myself among them, have been thrown into prison and like you are experiencing severe distress. Because we have become the one Body, should not our hearts be grieved for the members who are suffering? Because of the human ties that bind us, should we not feel deeply the pain of our separation? But, as the Scriptures say, God numbers the very hairs of our head and in his all-embracing providence he has care over us all. Persecution, therefore, can only be regarded as the command of the Lord or as a prize he gives or as a punishment he permits.

Hold fast, then, to the will of God and with all your heart fight the good fight under the leadership of Jesus; conquer again the diabolical power of this world that Christ has already vanquished. I beg you not to fail in your love for one another, but to support one another and to stand fast until the Lord mercifully delivers us from our trials. There are twenty of us in this place and by God’s grace we are so far all well. If any of us is executed, I ask you not to forget our families. I have many things to say, yet how can pen and paper capture what I feel? I end this letter. As we are all near the final ordeal, I urge you to remain steadfast in faith, so that at last we will reach heaven and there rejoice together.
[1] Pro Corea Documenta, ed. Mission Catholique Seoul (Seoul-Paris, 1938) v. 1, pp. 74-75; trans. in NCCB Newsletter, v. 21, August/September 1985.

Vigils Reading - St Matthew
2023-09-21
A MAN CALLED MATTHEW
From a homily by St Bede the Venerable5
◊◊◊
Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him: Follow me. Jesus saw Matthew, not merely in the usual sense, but more significantly with his merciful understanding of men.
He saw the tax collector and, because he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him, he said to him: Follow me. This following meant imitating the pattern of his life – not just walking after him. Saint John tells us: Whoever says he abides in Christ ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
And he rose and followed him. There is no reason for surprise that the tax collector abandoned earthly wealth as soon as the Lord commanded him. Nor should one be amazed that neglecting his wealth, he joined a band of men whose leader had, on Matthew’s assessment, no riches at all. Our Lord summoned Matthew by speaking to him in words. By an invisible, interior impulse flooding his mind with the light of grace, he instructed him to walk in his footsteps. In this way Matthew could understand that Christ, who was summoning him away from earthly possessions, had incorruptible treasures of heaven in his gift.
As he sat at table in the house, behold many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. This conversion of one tax collector gave many men, those from his own profession and other sinners, an example of repentance and pardon. Notice also the happy and true anticipation of his future status as apostle and teacher of the nations. No sooner was he converted than Matthew drew after him a whole crowd of sinners along the same road to salvation. He took up his appointed duties while still taking his first steps in the faith, and from that hour he fulfilled his obligation and thus grew in merit.

To see a deeper understanding of the great celebration Matthew held at his house, we must realize that he not only gave a banquet for the Lord at his earthly residence, but far more pleasing was the banquet set in his own heart which he provided through faith and love. Our Savior attests to this: Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hearts my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him, and he with me.
On hearing Christ’s voice, we open the door to receive him, as it were, when we freely assent to his promptings and when we give ourselves over to doing what must be done. Christ, since he dwells in the hearts of his chosen ones through the grace of his love, enters so that he might eat with us and we with him. He ever refreshes us by the light of his presence insofar as we progress in our devotion to and longing for the things of heaven. He himself is delighted by such a pleasing banquet

5 The Liturgy of the Hours: Vol. IV. New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1975. 1418-1419.

Vigils Reading
2023-09-22
AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS
From the writings of St Edith Stein6
◊◊◊
We hear repeatedly that St. John of the Cross desired nothing for himself but to suffer and be despised. We want to know the reason for this love of suffering. Is it merely the loving remembrance of the path of suffering of our Lord on earth, a tender impulse to be humanly close to him by a life resembling his? This does not seem to correspond to the lofty and strict spirituality of the mystical teacher. And in relation to the Man of Sorrows, it would almost seem that the victoriously enthroned king, the divine conqueror of sin, death, and hell is forgotten. Did not Christ lead captivity captive? Has he not transported us into a kingdom of light and called us to be happy children of our heavenly Father?
The sight of the world in which we live, the need and misery, and the abyss of human malice, again and again dampens jubilation over the victory of light. The world is still deluged by mire, and still only a small flock has escaped from it to the highest mountain peaks. The battle between Christ and the Antichrist is not yet over. The followers of Christ have their place in this battle, and their chief weapon is the cross.
What does this mean? The burden of the cross that Christ assumed is that of corrupted human nature, with all its consequences in sin and suffering to which fallen humanity is subject. The meaning of the way of the cross is to carry this burden out of the world. The restoration of freed humanity to the heart of the heavenly Father, taking on the status of a child, is the free gift of grace, of merciful love. But this may not occur at the expense of divine holiness and justice. The entire sum of human failures from the first Fall up to the Day of Judgment must be blotted out by a corresponding measure of expiation. The way of the cross is this expiation… Thus, when someone desires to suffer, it is not merely a pious reminder of the suffering of the Lord. Voluntary expiatory suffering is what truly and really unites one to the Lord intimately…

But because being one with Christ is our sanctity, and progressively becoming one with him our happiness on earth, the love of the cross in no way contradicts being a joyful child of God. Helping Christ carry his cross fills one with a strong and pure joy, and those who may and can do so, the builders of God’s kingdom, are the most authentic children of God. And so those who have a predilection for the way of the cross by no means deny that Good Friday is past and that the work of salvation has been accomplished. Only those who are saved, only children of grace, can in fact be bearers of Christ’s cross. Only in union with the divine Head does human suffering take on expiatory power. To suffer and to be happy although suffering, to have one’s feet on the earth, to walk on the dirty and rough paths of this earth and yet to be enthroned with Christ at the Father’s right hand, to laugh and cry with the children of this world and ceaselessly sing the praises of God with the choirs of angels — this is the life of the Christian until the morning of eternity breaks forth

6 Stein, Edith. The Collected Works of Edith Stein: Vol IV. The Hidden Life – Essays, Meditations, Spiritual Texts. Trans. Waltraut Stein, PH.D. Washington, D.C., ICS Publications, 1992. 91-93.

Vigils Reading - St Pius of Pietrelcina
2023-09-23
A LETTER FROM PADRE PIO TO HIS SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR7
◊◊◊
I reply to your last letter after a slight delay, not because I felt less need to speak to my father, but solely on account of the exceptional state of my health… Your own letter… brought some slight relief to my poor soul, sufficient to make it possible to bear – I do not say lightheartedly, but at least steadfastly – the cross to which the Lord in his mercy has been pleased to subject me. For this may the goodness of the heavenly Father ever be blessed. To you my most heartfelt thanks and infinite blessings, while I solemnly promise before the Lord to continue to raise my voice to heaven for you and with greater fervor than before.
In order that God may more readily hear my poor prayers, I will make every effort with the assistance of divine grace to be a good religious priest, so that I may be able to say one day with the Apostle: “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ”. I promise myself this much with Jesus’ assistance. Unfortunately I don’t deserve his assistance but I am led to hope for it by his inexhaustible charity towards all of us.
I told you, Father, that your letter, thank heaven, brought me a little relief. But I submit to you also the very great terror I experienced when I learned that you consider suspect those threats which I mentioned in my last. As you know, Father, I would not wish to be a victim of the devil in anything whatsoever and although I am more certain of the reality of those locutions than I am of my own existence, I am still struggling against myself and protest that I want to believe nothing of all this, for the sole reason that you, my director, have cast a doubt upon it. Am I right or wrong in this?

You must know, moreover, Father, that Jesus has not shown offense by any means at my failure to attach importance to what he said and to give my accidental assent to it. I say accidental to distinguish it from that deep and substantial conviction which still endures after all the efforts of my soul not to believe it. I am not free to divest myself of this conviction. What am I to do, Father? Am I unwittingly a victim of the enemy? Enlighten me, for pity’s sake, on this point, which I too would prefer to remain obscure.
How difficult, dear Father, is the way of Christian perfection for a soul as ill- disposed as mine! My wickedness makes me fearful at every step I take: may the good God sustain me and prevent me from betraying him! You know, Father, that I attach no importance at all to this extraordinary state of mine. For this reason I never stop asking Jesus to lead me by the ordinary path followed by everyone else, for I am well aware that the way by which divine mercy is leading me is not suitable for my soul, accustomed as it is to very material food. What I say to the Lord is that I am seeking the amendment of my life, my spiritual resurrection, true and substantial love, the sincere conversion of my whole self to him.
Speak to me at length, my dear Father, about all this and if you find me at fault, do not keep silence. Raise your voice, punish me again: I want to love Jesus as I should. I desire this love; I know I love him, but – dear God! – how inferior my love is to my desire to love! Ought it not be the opposite, that my love should surpass the desire for it? Speak to me about this, knowing as you do that it is one of the many thorns which contribute my spiritual martyrdom… I kiss your hand and ask you not to refuse me your fatherly blessing.

7 Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters, vol. 1, p. 622, Editions “Voce di Padre Pio”, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, 1980.

Skema
2023-09-24
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
25th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
September 24 – 30, 2023

Sun
24
Mon
25
Tue
26
Wed
27
Thu
28
Fri
29
Sat
30

Office
25th Sunday
Weekday
Office for Vocations
St Vincent de Paul
Weekday
St Michael & All Angels
St Jerome

Vigils
1 Sam 12:1-25
1 Sam 13:2-22
1 Sam 13:23-14:23a
1 Sam 14:23b-48
1 Sam 15:1-23
Dan 10:4-11:1
1 Sam 15:24-16:13

Lauds
Amos 5:7, 10-15
Amos 5:16-20
Amos 5:21-27
Amos 6:1-7
Amos 6:8-14
Gen 28:10-17
Amos 7:1-6

Mass
133
449
450
451
452
647
454

1st
Isa 55:6-9
Ezra 1:1-6
Ezra 6:7-8, 12b, 14-20
Ezra 9:5-9
Hag 1:1-8
Rev 12:7-12a
Zech 2:5-9, 14-15a

2nd
Phil 1:20c-24, 27a

Gospel
Matt 20:1-16a
Luke 8:16-18
Luke 8:19-21
Luke 9:1-6
Luke 9:7-9
John 1:47-51
Luke 9:43b-45

Vespers
1 Pet 2:18-25
1 Pet 3:8-12
1 Pet 3:13-17
1 Pet 3:18-22
1 Pet 4:1-6
Heb 1:5-14
1 Pet 4:7-11

Vigils Reading - 25th Sun ORD
2023-09-24
THE 11th HOUR
From a commentary by St Augustine1
◊◊◊
The gospel story about the vineyard workers is appropriate to this time of year, the season of the earthly grape harvest. But there is also another harvest, the spiritual one, at which God rejoices in the fruits of his vineyard.
The kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out to hire men to work in his vineyard. In the evening he gave orders for all to be paid, beginning with the last comers and ending with the first. Now why did he pay the last comers first? Will not everyone be rewarded at the same time? We read in another gospel passage how the king will say to those placed on his right hand: Come, you whom my Father has blessed: take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. If all, then, are to receive their wages together, how should we understand this statement about those who arrived at the eleventh hour being paid first, and those who had been working since daybreak being paid last? If I can say anything to further your understanding, thanks be to God. Give thanks to him who teaches you through me, for my own knowledge is not the source of my teaching.
To take an example, then, let us ask which of two workers receives his wages sooner, one who is paid after an hour, or one who is paid after twelve hours? Anyone will answer: “One who is paid after an hour.” So also in our parable. All the workmen were paid at the same time, but because some were paid after an hour and others after twelve hours, the former, having had a shorter time to wait, may be said to have received their wages first.

The earliest righteous people like Abel and Noah, called as it were at the first hour, will receive the joy of resurrection at the same time as we do. So also will others who came later, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and those contemporary with them, called as we may say at the third hour; Moses and Aaron and those called with them at the sixth hour; and after them the holy prophets, called at the ninth hour. At the end of the world all Christians, called at the eleventh hour, will receive the joy of resurrection together with those who went before them. All will be rewarded at the same time, but the first comers will have had the longest to wait. Therefore, if they receive their reward after a longer period and we after a shorter one, the fact that our reward is not delayed will make it seem as though we were receiving it first, even though we all receive it together.
In that great reward, then, we shall all be equal-the first to the last and the last to the first. For the denarius stands for eternal life, in which all will have the same share. Although through diversity of merit some will shine more brilliantly than others, in the possession of eternal life there will be equality. What is endless for all will not be longer for one and shorter for another. What has no bounds will have none either for you or for me. Those who lived chastely in the married state will have one kind of splendor; virgins will have another. The reward for good works will differ from the crown of martyrdom; but where eternal life is concerned there can be no question of more or less for anyone. Whatever may be the individual’s degree of glory, each one will live in it eternally. This is the meaning of the denarius

1 Letter LIII in The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series Two, Volume 6; translated by W. H. Fremantle, p. 101-102.

Vigils Reading
2023-09-25
TRUE PRAYER
From the writings of St Macarius2
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The person, that wishes to come to the Lord and to be deemed worthy of eternal life and to become the dwelling place of Christ and to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that he may be able to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit and perform the commandments of Christ purely and blamelessly, ought to begin first by believing firmly in the Lord and giving himself completely to the words of His commands and renouncing the world in all things so that his whole mind may be taken up with nothing ephemeral…
Then the Lord, seeing such an intention and his good diligence, how he strives to remember the Lord and always seeks to do good and is humble and meek and loving, how he guides his heart, whether he wishes or not, to the best of his ability with force, has mercy on him and frees him from his enemies and the indwelling sin. He fills him with the Holy Spirit. And gradually without force or struggle he keeps all the Lord’s commandments in truth. Or, rather, it is the Lord who keeps in him His very own commandments and then He brings forth the fruits of the Spirit purely.
It is, however, necessary at first for one coming to the Lord to force himself thus to do good and even if he should not in his heart be so inclined, he must constantly await His mercy with unshakened faith and push himself to love, even if he does not have love. He ought to push himself to meekness, even if he has none, to mercy and to have a merciful heart. He must force himself to be disregarded, and when he is looked down by others, let him rejoice. When he is made light of or dishonored, let him not become angry according to the saying: “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves”. Let him push himself to prayer even when he does not possess the prayer of the Spirit. And so, God, seeing him striving so and pushing himself by determination, even if the heart is unwilling, gives him the authentic prayer of the Spirit, gives him true charity, true meekness… true kindness, and, simply put, fills him with the fruits of the Spirit.

But, if anyone pushed to attain for himself only prayer… but he does not strive earnestly for meekness and humility and charity and all the other commandments of the Lord, neither taking pains or struggling and battling to succeed in these…sometimes he may be given a grace of prayer… but he has the same traits he had before. He has no meekness because he did not seek it with effort and he did not prepare himself beforehand to become such. He has no humility since he did not ask for it and did not push himself to have it. He has no charity toward all men because he was not concerned with this and did not strive for it in his asking for the gift of prayer. And in doing his work, he has no faith nor trust in God since he did not know himself, that he appeared without it… For just as he forces himself to prayer even when unwilling, so everyone must push himself likewise to trust, so also to humility, so to charity, so to meekness, sincerity and simplicity…
Let us pray that the Spirit may teach us true prayer which now we are unable to accomplish even through our earnest striving. He will teach us how to accomplish, with hearts of compassion, kindness and all the other commandments of the Lord truly without any trouble and force since the Spirit Himself knows how to fill us with His fruit. And so we fulfill the commandments of God through His Spirit who alone knows the will of the Lord

2 Intoxicated with God – The Fifty Spiritual Homilies of Macarius. Trans. George A. Maloney, S.J., Denville, NJ: Dimension Books, 1978. 128-131.

Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
2023-09-26
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
From the writing of John Ruusbroec3
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Now you should note three things which make a person good. The first thing which a person must have in order to be good is a purified conscience, free from any reproach of mortal sin… The second thing… is the need to obey God, the holy Church, and his own conscience in all things…The third thing… is that he primarily intends God’s glory in all his works… These three things, when possessed in this way, make a person good. Whoever lacks a single one of them is not a good person and does not abide in God’s grace. But whenever a person resolves in his heart to bring about these three things in his own life, then in that very moment — regardless of how evil he was previously — he becomes a good person, open to God and full of God’s grace.
If this good person is to go on and become an interiorly fervent and spiritual person, then three further things are necessary: The first is a heart unencumbered by images; the second is spiritual freedom in his desires; and the third is an experience of interior union with God… In his exercises a person should make use of good images, such as our Lord’s passion and anything else which can stir a person to greater devotion. In possessing God, however, a person must descend to that imageless bareness which is God himself. This is the first thing necessary for a spiritual life and is its very foundation.
The second thing is interior freedom, which means that a person can be raised to God in all his interior exercises without hindrance and without the encumbrance of images. Such exercises are thanksgiving, praise, worship, devout prayers… and all the other things which longing and affection can bring about with the help of God’s grace… By means of these interior exercises a person attains the third thing necessary for a spiritual life, which is that he experiences spiritual union with God. Whoever, then, in his interior exercises ascends freely and without images to his God and intends nothing but God’s glory will savor God’s goodness and will experience true interior union with God… In this way, activity and union are constantly renewed, and this renewal in work and in union constitutes a spiritual life…

You should also know that if this spiritual person is to become a contemplative three more things are necessary: The first is that he must experience the depth of his being as having no ground and must possess it in this way; the second is that his exercises must be devoid of particular form or measure; and the third is that his turning within himself must be characterized by the enjoyment of God…
You can thus see that this Unity of God which draws all things to itself is nothing other than a love which has no ground and which lovingly draws the Father and the Son and all that lives in them into a state of eternal enjoyment. In this love we will ceaselessly burn and be consumed by fire for all eternity, for in this lies the blessedness of all spirits… Through the same love we will ascend and transcend ourselves as we rise to an incomprehensible height. In this formless love we will wander about, and it will lead us to the measureless breadth of God’s love. In it we will flow forth and flow out of ourselves into the uncomprehended abundance of God’s riches and goodness. In it we will also melt and be dissolved, revolve and be eternally whirled around in the maelstrom of God’s glory

3 John Ruusbroec. The Spiritual Espousals and Other Works. Trans. James A. Wiseman, O.S.B. New York: Paulist Press, 1985. 156-159.

Vigils Reading - St Vincent de Paul
2023-09-27
GOD LOVES THE POOR
From the writings of St Vincent de Paul4
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Even though the poor are often rough and unrefined, we must not judge them from external appearances nor from the mental gifts they seem to have received. On the contrary, if you consider the poor in the light of faith, then you will observe that they are taking the place of the Son of God who chose to be poor. Although in his passion he almost lost the appearance of a man and was considered a fool by the Gentiles and a stumbling block by the Jews, he showed that his mission was to preach to the poor… We also ought to have this same spirit and imitate Christ’s actions, that is, we must take care of the poor, console them, help them, support their cause.
Since Christ willed to be born poor, he chose for himself disciples who were poor. He made himself the servant of the poor and shared their poverty. He went so far as to say that he would consider every deed which either helps or harms the poor as done for or against himself. Since God surely loves the poor, he also loves those who love the poor. For when one person holds another dear, he also includes in his affection anyone who loves or serves the one he loves. That is why we hope that God will love us for the sake of the poor. So when we visit the poor and needy, we try to be understanding where they are concerned. We sympathize with them so fully that we can echo Paul’s words: I have become all things to all people. Therefore we must try to be stirred by our neighbor’s worries and distress. We must beg God to pour into our hearts sentiments of pity and compassion and to fill them again and again with these dispositions.

It is our duty to prefer the service of the poor to everything else and to offer such service as quickly as possible. If a needy person requires medicine or other help during prayer time, do whatever has to be done with peace of mind. Offer the deed to God as your prayer. Do not become upset or feel guilty because you interrupted your prayer to serve the poor. God is not neglected if you leave him for such service. One of God’s works is merely interrupted so that another can be carried out. So when you leave prayer to serve some poor person, remember that this service is performed for God. Charity is certainly greater than any rule. Moreover, all rules must lead to charity. Since she is a noble mistress, we must do whatever she commands. With renewed devotion, then, we must serve the poor, especially beggars and outcasts. They have been given to us as our masters and patrons

4 The Liturgy of the Hours vol. IV Catholic Book Publishing Co – New York – 1975 – pg 1424.

Vigils Reading
2023-09-28
HOW JESUS IS THE CONSUMMATION
From the writings of Nicholas of Cusa5
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We experience, O Lord, that your… Spirit, infinite in its power, is received in many ways. For it is received in one way in one in whom it produces a prophetic spirit, in another in one who is given skill to interpret, and in another by one to whom it teaches knowledge, and it is received still otherwise in others. For its gifts are diverse …just as the same heat of the sun produces different fruit of different trees. I see, Lord, that your Spirit cannot be lacking to any… because it is the Spirit of spirits and the movement of movements and fills the whole world…
O Lord, who work all things for yourself, you have created this entire world… as if you were a painter who mixes different colors in order finally to be able to paint oneself and to have an image of oneself wherein one may be delighted and one’s art find rest… For each… sees in you, my God, something which must be revealed to the others if they would attain to you… The spirits, full of love, therefore, reveal their secrets to one another, and thereby the knowledge of the beloved is increased as well as the desire for the beloved, and the sweetness of joy grows ardent… All come to rest in this Spirit as in the final perfection of the image of God, of whose image they have attained likeness and some degree of perfection…
All things rouse me to turn toward you; all Scripture strives to do nothing else but to disclose you… Above all, you have given me Jesus as Master, as ‘the Way, the Life, and the Truth’, so that nothing at all can be lacking to me. You strengthen me by your Holy Spirit, through whom you inspire choices of life and holy desires.

You draw me by a foretaste of the sweetness of the life of glory to love you, the infinite Good. You enrapture me in order to be above myself and to foresee the place of glory to which you invite me. You show me many most delectable dishes which draw me by their excellent savor. You permit me to see the treasury of riches, of life, of joy, and of beauty. In nature as well as in art, you uncover the fountain from which flows all that is desirable. You keep nothing secret. You do not hide the channel of love, nor of peace, nor of rest. You offer all things to me, wretched as I am, whom you have created from nothing.
Why then do I delay? Why do I not hasten to the aroma of the ointments of my Christ? Why do I not enter into the joy of my Lord? What holds me back? If ignorance of you, Lord, has restrained me, and the vain delight of the sensible world, they will hold me back no longer. For because you grant me to will, I will to forsake the things of this world, for the world wills to forsake me. I hasten toward the goal; I have almost finished my course; I look forward to its end, for I strive after the crown. Draw me, Lord, for no one may come to you unless drawn by you, so that drawn to you, I may be made absolute from this world and may be joined to you, the absolute God, in the eternity of the glorious life

5 Nicholas of Cusa. Selected Spiritual Writings (Classics of Western Spirituality). Paulist, 1997. 287-289.

Vigils Reading - St Michael & All Angels
2023-09-29
THE ANGELS
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church6
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St. Augustine says: “Angel’ is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is ‘spirit’; if you seek the name of their office, it is ‘angel’: From what they are, ‘spirit’, from what they do, ‘angel’.” With their whole beings the angels are servants and messengers of God. Because they ‘always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven’ they are the “mighty ones who do his word, harkening to the voice of his word.”
As purely spiritual creatures angels have intelligence and will: they are personal and immortal creatures, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures, as the splendor of their glory bears witness.
Christ is the center of the angelic world. They are his angels: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him…” They belong to him because they were created through and for him: “for in him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities – all things were created through him and for him.” They belong to him still more because he has made them messengers of his saving plan: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation?”
Angels have been present since creation throughout the history of salvation, announcing this salvation from afar or near and serving the accomplishment of the divine plan: they closed the earthly paradise; protected Lot; saved Hagar and her child; stayed Abraham’s hand; communicated the law by their ministry; led the People of God; announced births and callings; and assisted the prophets, just to cite a few examples. Finally, the angel Gabriel announced the birth and the Precursor and that of Jesus himself.

From the Incarnation to the Ascension, the life of the Word incarnate is surrounded by the adoration and service of angels. When God “brings the firstborn into the world, he says: “Let all God’s angels worship him”. Their song of praise at the birth of Christ has not ceased resounding in the Church’s praise: “Glory to God in the highest!” They protect Jesus in his infancy, serve him in the desert, strengthen him in his agony in the garden, when he could have been saved by them from the hands of his enemies as Israel had been. Again, it is the angels who “evangelize” by proclaiming the Good News of Christ’s Incarnation and Resurrection. They will be present at Christ’s return, which they will announce, to serve at his judgment.
In the meantime, the whole life of the Church benefits from the mysterious and powerful help of angels. In her liturgy, the Church joins with the angels to adore the thrice-holy God. She invokes their assistance… in the funeral liturgy’s “May the angels lead you into Paradise”. Moreover, in the “Cherubic Hymn” of the Byzantine Liturgy, she celebrates the memory of certain angels more particularly St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, and the guardian angels.
From infancy to death human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession. “Besides each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life.” Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and humanity united in God

6 The Catechism of the Catholic Church,USCC,Libreria Editrice Vaticana,’94, p.85-87.

Vigils Reading - St Jerome
2023-09-30
ON THE LOVE OF SCRIPTURE
A letter from St Jerome to Paulinus7
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You see how, carried away by my love of the scriptures, I have exceeded the limits of a letter yet have not fully accomplished my object. We have heard only what it is that we ought to know and to desire, so that we too may be able to say with the psalmist: “My soul breaks out with the fervent desire it always has had for your judgments”. But the saying of Socrates about himself— “I only know this: that I know nothing”—is fulfilled in our case also.
The New Testament I will briefly deal with. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the Lord’s team of four, the true cherubim or store of knowledge. [Like the description in the prophet Ezekiel,] with them the whole body is full of eyes, they glitter as sparks, they run and return like lightning, their feet are straight feet, and lifted up, their backs also are winged, ready to fly in all directions. They hold together each by each and are interwoven one with another: like wheels within wheels they roll along and go wherever the breath of the Holy Spirit wafts them. The apostle Paul writes to seven churches (for the eighth epistle, that to the Hebrews, is not generally counted in with the others). He instructs Timothy and Titus; he interceded with Philemon for his runaway slave. Of him I think it better to say nothing than to write inadequately.
The Acts of the Apostles seem to relate a mere unvarnished narrative, descriptive of the infancy of the newly born church; but when once we realize that their author is Luke the physician whose praise is in the gospel, we shall see that all his works are medicine for the sick soul. The apostles James, Peter, John and

Jude have published seven epistles at once spiritual and to the point, short and long, short that is in words but lengthy in substance so that there are few indeed who do not find themselves in the dark when they read them. The apocalypse of John has as many mysteries as words. In saying this I have said less than the book deserves. All praise of it is inadequate; manifold meanings lie hid in its every word.
I beg of you, my dear brother, to live among these books, to meditate upon them, to know nothing else, to seek nothing else. Does not such a life seem to you a foretaste of heaven here on earth? Let not the simplicity of the scripture or the poorness of its vocabulary offend you: for these are due either to the faults of translators or else to deliberate purpose: for in this way it is better fitted for the instruction of an unlettered congregation as the educated person can take one meaning and the uneducated another from one and the same sentence. I am not so dull or so forward as to profess that I myself know it, or that I can pluck upon the earth the fruit which has its root in heaven, but I confess that I should like to do so. I put myself before the man who sits idle and, while I lay no claim to be a master, I readily pledge myself to be a fellow-student. “Every one that asks, receives; and those that seek, find; and to those that knock, it shall be opened”.
Let us learn upon earth that knowledge which will continue with us in heaven

7 Letter LIII in The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series Two, Volume 6; translated by W. H. Fremantle, p. 101-102.
