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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260407
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260408
DTSTAMP:20260413T082635
CREATED:20260405T005500Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005500Z
UID:14783-1775520000-1775606399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Tuesday
DESCRIPTION:From a prayer by \nWILLIAM OF ST THIERRY \n◊◊◊ \nO Truth supreme\, you are the heaven of heavens\, you who are what you \nare\, who have your being from yourself\, who belong to yourself and are \nsufficient to yourself. You lack nothing\, yet you have no excess; you have within \nyourself supremest concord\, utmost clarity\, most perfect fullness and \ncompletest life. \nO Lord\, the height\, the depth\, the wisdom and the might – are these the \nheaven of which you are the door? It is so\, truly; that is why the ark of the \ncovenant was seen in heaven when the door was opened… You are yourself that \nark. In you from all eternity was hidden\, and in you in these latter days has been \nfulfilled\, all that from the beginning of the world has been revealed to all the \nsaints and prophets by the Law and by the prophecies\, by wonders and by \nsigns… \nThese blessings\, that were hidden in your secret heaven through the ages\, \nyou at the ages’ end unveiled to the world’s longing eyes\, when you opened in \nheaven the door that is yourself. You opened that door when your grace \nappeared to all [people]\, teaching us… The heavens being thus opened\, all the \ngood and glory and delight of heaven poured itself out on earth. And then\, O \nGod\, who spared not your own Son\, but delivered him up for us all\, the \ngreatness of your kindness…to us was published openly to all. You made known \nyour salvation to the world\, and in the sight of all the nations you revealed your \nrighteousness… \nThose unsearchable riches of your glory\, Lord\, were hidden in your secret \nplace in heaven until the soldier’s spear opened the side of your Son our Lord \nand Savior on the cross\, and from it flowed the mysteries of our redemption. \nNow we may not only thrust our finger or our hand into his side\, like Thomas\, \nbut through that open door may enter whole\, O Jesus\, even into your heart\, the \nsure seat of your mercy\, even into your holy soul that is filled with the fullness of \nGod\, full of grace and truth\, full of our salvation and our consolation… \nOpen\, O Lord\, the ark-door of your side\, that all your own who shall be \nsaved may enter in\, before this flood that overwhelms the earth. Open to us your \nbody’s side\, that those who long to see the secrets of your Son may enter in\, and \nmay receive the sacraments that flow [from there]\, even the price of their \nredemption. Open the door of your heaven\, that your redeemed may see the \ngood things of God in the land of the living\, though they still labor in the land of \nthe dying… \nOpen to me\, O Lord\, so that\, although I am a stranger unworthy of \nenrollment as a citizen\, yet nonetheless\, I may by your gift be suffered on \noccasion for a little while to journey there\, that I may truly see your glory\, and \nnot come out again unless I am thrown out!.. O\, if only I may see\, if only I may \npersevere\, if only I may hear some day: “Enter into the joy of your Lord\,” and \nmay thus enter in\, never to come out again!
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-tuesday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260408
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260409
DTSTAMP:20260413T082635
CREATED:20260405T005602Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005602Z
UID:14785-1775606400-1775692799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Wednesday
DESCRIPTION:From the Catechesis of \nST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM \n◊◊◊ \nIf we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood\, we should go back to \nthe ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt. “Sacrifice a Lamb without \nblemish\, commanded Moses\, and sprinkle its blood on your doors.” If we were \nto ask him what he meant\, and how the blood of an irrational beast could \npossibly save men endowed with reason\, his answer would be that the saving \npower lies not in the blood itself\, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s \nblood. In those days\, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors he \ndid not dare to enter\, so how much less will the devil approach now when he \nsees\, not that figurative blood on the doors\, but the true blood on the lips of \nbelievers\, the doors of the temple of Christ. \nIf you desire further proof of the power of this blood\, remember where it \ncame from\, how it ran down from the cross\, flowing from the Master’s side. The \ngospel records that when Christ was dead\, but still hung on the cross\, a soldier \ncame and pierced his side with a lance and immediately there poured out water \nand blood. Now the water was a symbol of Baptism and the blood\, of the holy \nEucharist. The soldier pierced the Lord’s side\, he breached the wall of the sacred \ntemple\, and I have found the treasure and made it my own. So also with the \nlamb: the Jews sacrificed the victim and I have been saved by it. \n“There flowed from his side water and blood.” Beloved\, do not pass over \nthis mystery without thought\, it has yet another hidden meaning\, which I will \nexplain to you. I said that water and blood symbolized Baptism and the holy \nEucharist. From these two sacraments the Church is born: from Baptism\, “the \ncleansing water that gives rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit\,” and \nfrom the holy Eucharist. Since the symbols of Baptism and the Eucharist flowed9 \nfrom his side\, it was from his side that Christ fashioned the Church\, as he had \nfashioned Eve from the side of Adam. Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the \nstory of the first man and makes him exclaim: “Bone from my bones and flesh \nfrom my flesh!” As God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman\, so \nChrist has given us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God \ntook the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep\, and in the same way Christ gave us \nthe blood and the water after his own death. \nDo you understand\, then\, how Christ has united his bride to himself and \nwhat food he gives us all to eat? By one and the same food we are both brought \ninto being and nourished. As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood \nand milk\, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own blood those to whom \nhe himself has given life.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-wednesday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260409
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260410
DTSTAMP:20260413T082635
CREATED:20260405T005703Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005703Z
UID:14787-1775692800-1775779199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Thursday
DESCRIPTION:From a sermon by \nST JOHN HENRY NEWMAN \n◊◊◊ \nOur Lord expressly promises all Christians a certain gracious \nmanifestation of himself\, which it is natural\, at first sight\, to suppose a sensible \none: and many persons understand it to be such\, as if it were not more blessed to \nbelieve than to see. Our Lord says; “He that has my commandments and keeps \nthem\, he it is that loves me; and he that loves me\, shall be loved of my Father\, \nand I will love him and will manifest myself to him.” When Jude asked him\, \n“Lord\, how is it that you will manifest yourself unto us\, and not unto the \nworld?” Our Lord answered\, “If one loves me\, he will keep my words; and my \nFather will love him\, and we will come unto him\, and make our abode with \nhim.” In accordance with this promise\, St Paul says\, “The Spirit itself bears \nwitness with our spirit\, that we are the children of God”; and St John\, “He that \nbelieves in the Son of God has the witness in himself.” \nNow\, that this great gift\, whatever it be\, is of a nature to impart \nillumination\, sanctity\, and peace\, to the soul to which it comes\, far from \ndisputing\, I would earnestly maintain. And\, in this indirect way\, doubtless\, it is \nin a certain sense apprehended and perceived; perceived in its effects\, with a \nconsciousness that those effects cannot come of themselves\, but imply a gift \nfrom which they come\, and a presence of which they are\, as it were\, the shadow\, \na voice of which they are the echo. \nBut there are persons who desire the inward manifestation of Christ to be \nmuch more sensible than this. They will not be contented without some sensible \nsign and direct evidence that God loves them; some assurance\, in which faith \nhas no part\, that God has chosen them; and which may answer to their \nanticipations of what Scripture calls “the secret of the Lord\,” and “the hidden \nmanna” which Christ invites us to partake. Some\, for instance\, hold that their \nconscience would have no peace\, unless they recollected the time when they \nwere converted from darkness to light\, from a state of wrath to the kingdom of \nGod. \nOthers consider that\, in order to possess the seal of election\, they must be \nable to discern in themselves certain feelings or frames of mind\, a renunciation \nof their own merit\, and an apprehension of gospel salvation; as if it were not \nenough to renounce ourselves and follow Christ\, without the lively \nconsciousness that we are doing so; and that in this lies “the secret of the Lord.” \nOthers go further; and think that without a distinct inward assurance of his \nsalvation\, one is not in a saving state. \nThis is what men and women often conceive; not considering that \nwhatever be the manifestation promised to Christians by our Lord\, it is not \nlikely to be more sensible and more intelligible than the great sign of his own \nResurrection. Yet even that\, like the miracle wrought upon Jonah\, was in secret\, \nand they who believed without seeing it were more blessed than those who saw.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-thursday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260410
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260411
DTSTAMP:20260413T082635
CREATED:20260405T005807Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005807Z
UID:14789-1775779200-1775865599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Friday
DESCRIPTION:From a sermon by \nST JOHN HENRY NEWMAN \n◊◊◊ \nNow let us contemplate the means which God’s Divine Wisdom actually \nadopted with a view to making Christ’s resurrection subservient to the \npropagation of His Gospel. He showed Himself openly\, not to all the people\, but \nto witnesses chosen before of God. It is\, indeed\, a general characteristic of the \ncourse of God’s providence to make the few the channels of His blessings to the \nmany; but in the instance we are considering\, a few were selected because only a \nfew could be made instruments… \nTo be witnesses of His resurrection it was necessary to have known our \nLord intimately before His death. This was the case with the Apostles; but it was \nnot enough. It was necessary that they should be certain it was He himself\, the \nvery same whom they had known before. You recollect how He urged them to \nhandle Him\, and be sure that they could testify to His rising again… But people \nare not easily prevailed upon to be faithful advocates of any cause. Not only is \nthe multitude fickle; but the best\, unless urged\, tutored\, disciplined to their \nwork\, give way; untrained nature has no principles. \nIt would seem\, then\, that our Lord gave His attention to a few because\, if \nthe few are gained\, the many will follow. To these few He showed Himself again \nand again. These He restored\, comforted\, warned\, inspired. He formed them to \nHimself\, that they might show forth His praise. That period of preparatory \nprayer\, meditation and instruction which the Apostles passed through under \nour Lord’s visible presence for forty days\, was to them something that could not \nhave been had they been following Him from place to place in public and mixing \nin the busy crowds of the world. \nSo much then in answer to the question: Why did Christ not show Himself \nto the whole Jewish people after His resurrection? – I ask in reply: what would \nhave been the purpose of it? – a mere passing triumph over sinners whose \njudgment is reserved for the next world. On the other hand\, such a procedure \nwould have interfered with\, even defeated\, the real object of His rising again\, \nnamely\, the propagation of His Gospel through the world by means of His own \nintimate friends and followers. \nWe\, too\, though we are not witnesses of Christ’s actual resurrection\, are so \nspiritually. By a heart awake from the dead\, and by affections set on heaven\, we \ncan as truly and without figure witness that Christ lives\, as they did. Whoever \nbelieves in the Son of God has the witness in themselves. Truth bears witness by \nitself to its Divine Author. Whoever obeys God conscientiously\, and lives holily\, \nforces all about them to believe and tremble before the unseen power of Christ. \nTo the world at large the believer does not witness; for few can see them \nnear enough to be moved by their manner of living. But to one’s neighbors one \nmanifests the Truth in proportion to their knowledge of the person; and some of \nthem\, through God’s blessing\, catch the holy flame\, cherish it\, and in their turn \ntransmit it. And thus in a dark world Truth still makes way in spite of the \ndarkness\, passing from hand to hand.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-friday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260411
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260412
DTSTAMP:20260413T082635
CREATED:20260405T005908Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T005908Z
UID:14791-1775865600-1775951999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Easter Saturday
DESCRIPTION:From the writing of \nFR BRUCE VAWTER \n◊◊◊ \nIn biblical faith the resurrection is something; something did occur to \naccount for the appearances of Jesus after his death. It is not to retreat into \nobscurity or equivocation to confess that we have no better way of defining that \nsomething than to call it resurrection. We cannot define what is indefinable in \nterms of human experience; we can only describe it in some fashion by the use of \nthe pictures we call analogies. The picture we use following the New Testament \nprecedent to describe both what God effected in Christ and\, with it as the \nproleptic example\, what its faith promises to all who share in God’s kingdom\, is \nmythical to the extent that\, taken in all literalness\, it might equally well serve to \ndescribe the resuscitation of a corpse\, which the New Testament does not intend \nto do… \nPaul…for all his insistence on the resurrection as a reality\, did not think of \nit as a resurrection of dead flesh: “Perhaps someone will say\, ‘How are the dead \nto be raised up? What kind of body will they have?’ A nonsensical question! \nThe seed you sow does not germinate unless it dies. When you sow\, you do not \nsow the full-blown plant but a kernel of wheat or some other grain. God gives \nbody to it as he pleases – to each seed its own fruition… So is it with the \nresurrection of the dead.” \nPaul admittedly tells us more about what\, in his view\, the resurrection is \nnot than what it is\, but at the same time he tells us enough to dissuade us from \ndismissing lightly the testimony of his senses\, which he joined to the witness of \nhis tradition. Here was a man quite conscious of the validity of what are \nsometimes thought to be modern and scientific objections to the idea of \nresurrection; a man convinced that something had occurred that he could only \ncall resurrection while regretting the inadequacy of the concept. Paul was as \nprepared as anyone today for demythologizing\, but he was not prepared to \ndisallow any fact out of his inability to explain it. Rather than deny the fact\, he \npreferred to retain the myth with all its attendant ambiguities.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-easter-saturday-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260411T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260411T120000
DTSTAMP:20260413T082635
CREATED:20260322T211829Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260322T211829Z
UID:14739-1775898000-1775908800@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Welcome: LCG Chicago 9:00 am CDT
DESCRIPTION:All are welcome to visit with the Chicago lay Community at: \nJoin Zoom Meeting \nhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/86028356465 \nMeeting ID: 860 2835 6465 \nOne tap mobile \n+13126266799\,\,86028356465# US (Chicago) \n+13092053325\,\,86028356465# US
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/welcome-lcg-chicago-900-am-cdt/
CATEGORIES:LCG Local Community Meetings,LCG open events
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260412
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260413
DTSTAMP:20260413T082635
CREATED:20260412T002052Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260412T002052Z
UID:14804-1775952000-1776038399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n2nd Week of Easter\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (A)\, Weekdays (II)\nApril 12 – 18\, 2026\n\n\n\nSun\n12\nMon\n13\nTue\n14\nWed\n15\nThu\n16\nFri\n17\nSat\n18\n\n\nOffice\n2nd Sunday of Easter\nEaster Weekday\nEaster Weekday\nEaster Weekday\nEaster Weekday\nEaster Weekday\nEaster Weekday\n\n\nVigils\nCol 3:1-17\nActs 4:32-5:16\nActs 5:17-42\nActs 6:1-15\nActs 7:1-16\nActs 7:17-43\nActs 7:44-8:3\n\n\nLauds\nRev 3:1-6\nRev 3:14-22\nRev 4:6-11\nRev 5:6-10\nRev 6:1-4\nRev 6:9-11\nRev 7:1-4/8\n\n\nMass\n43\n267\n268\n269\n270\n271\n272\n\n\n1st\nActs 2:42-47\nActs 4:23-31\nActs 4:32-37\nActs 5:17-26\nActs 5:27-33\nActs 5:34-42\nActs 6:1-7\n\n\n2nd\n1 Pet 1:3-9\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 20:19-31\nJohn 3:1-8\nJohn 3:7b-15\nJohn 3:16-21\nJohn 3:31-36\nJohn 6:1-15\nJohn 6:16-21\n\n\nVespers\nRev 3:7-13\nRev 4:1-5\nRev 5:1-5\nRev 5:11-14\nRev 6:5-8\nRev 6:12-17\nRev 7:9-12
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-150/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260412
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260413
DTSTAMP:20260413T082635
CREATED:20260412T002222Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260412T002222Z
UID:14806-1775952000-1776038399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 2nd Sunday of Easter
DESCRIPTION:From a commentary by \nST CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA \n◊◊◊ \nBy his miraculous entry through closed doors Christ proved to his \ndisciples that by nature he was God and also that he was none other than their \nformer companion. By showing them his side and the marks of the nails\, he \nconvinced them beyond a doubt that he had raised the temple of his body\, the \nvery body that had hung upon the cross. He had destroyed death’s power over \nthe flesh\, for as God he was life itself. \nBecause of the importance he attached to making his disciples believe in \nthe resurrection of the body\, and in order to prevent them from thinking that \nthe body he now possessed was different from that in which he had suffered \ndeath upon the cross\, he willed to appear to them as he had been before\, even \nthough the time had now come for his body to be clothed in a supernatural glory \nsuch as no words could possibly describe. \nWe have only to recall Christ’s transfiguration on the mountain in the \npresence of his holy disciples\, to realize that mortal eyes could not have endured \nthe glory of his sacred body had he chosen to reveal it before ascending to the \nFather. Saint Matthew describes how Jesus went up the mountain with Peter\, \nJames and John\, and how he was transfigured before them. His face shone like \nlightning and his clothes became white as snow. But they were unable to endure \nthe sight and fell prostrate on the ground. \nAnd so\, before allowing the glory which belonged to it by every right to \ntransfigure the temple of his body\, our Lord Jesus Christ in his wisdom \nappeared to his disciples in the form that they had known. He wished them to \nbelieve that he had risen from the dead in the very body that he had received \nfrom the blessed virgin\, and in which he had suffered crucifixion and death\, as \nthe Scriptures had foretold. Death’s power was over the body alone\, and it was \nfrom the body that it was banished. \nIf it was not Christ’s dead body that rose again\, how was death conquered\, \nhow was the power of corruption destroyed? It could not have been destroyed by \nthe death of a created spirit\, of a soul\, of an angel\, or even of the Word of God \nhimself. Since death held sway only over what was corruptible by nature\, it was \nin this corruptible nature that the power of the resurrection had to show itself in \norder to end death’s tyranny. \nWhen Christ greeted his disciples with the words: Peace be with you\, by \npeace he meant himself for Christ’s presence always brings tranquility of soul. \nThis is the grace Saint Paul desired for believers when he wrote: The peace of \nChrist\, which passes all understanding\, will guard your hearts and minds. The \npeace of Christ\, which passes all understanding\, is in fact the Spirit of Christ\, \nwho fills those who share in him with every blessing.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-2nd-sunday-of-easter-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260413
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260414
DTSTAMP:20260413T082635
CREATED:20260412T002355Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260412T002355Z
UID:14808-1776038400-1776124799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:From a reading by \nGERTRUD THE GREAT \n◊◊◊ \nHow wondrous is your temple\, God\, king of virtues. How glorious your \ndwelling-place\, where you\, God most high\, preside in your majesty over all \nthings. The virtue of my soul grows faint in its yearning to enter into your glory. \nGod\, my God\, love and jubilation of my heart\, refuge and virtue\, God\, my glory \nand my praise\, oh when will my soul praise you in the church of the saints? \nO when will my eyes see you\, my God\, God of gods? God of my heart\, oh \nwhen will you gladden me with the sight of your face? Oh when will you bestow \nupon me the desire of my soul by manifesting your glory? Oh when will I enter \ninto your might to see your virtue and glory? Oh when will you clothe me with \nthe mantle of your praise instead of a spirit of sorrow so that\, together with the \nangels\, all the parts of my body may render you praise? \nGod of my life\, oh when will I enter into the tabernacle of your glory in \norder that I\, too\, may proclaim to you the most splendid alleluia and that my \nsoul and my heart may confess to you in the presence of all your saints that you \nhave magnified your mercies toward me. My God\, my very bright inheritance\, \noh when\, after the snares of this death have been destroyed\, will I personally see \nyou without mediation\, and praise you? Oh when will I dwell in your tabernacle \nforever in order that I may assiduously praise your name and sing to your \nmagnificence a new hymn about your limitless mercies?
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-415/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260414
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260415
DTSTAMP:20260413T082635
CREATED:20260412T002516Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260412T002516Z
UID:14810-1776124800-1776211199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:From a reading by \nHANS URS VON BALTHASAR \n◊◊◊ \nThe Apostles are the founders of the Church\, officially chosen and called \nby the Lord\, whose first function will be to be eyewitnesses. They are drawn into \nliving community with the Messiah\, a relationship in which they will enjoy with \nthis man\, who is `God among us’\, a commerce that is fully human\, that engages \nboth their senses and their spirit. They are ‘those with him’\, ‘those who \naccompany him’\, and ‘those around him’. \nThis is what they are\, and they will grow more and more into this way of \nlife in the course of Jesus’ life. They constitute the original cell of God’s \ncommunity with us\, which had been promised and is now being realized. All \nthose coming after them who wish to have community with God must become a \npart of this original cell. \nThere are many others who come to the Lord\, only to go away again\, many \nothers who stay with him a while only then to leave him\, or simply others who \nhave a loose connection with him without any particular calling. By contrast\, \nthe Apostles enjoy a community with Jesus which has precise contours\, a \ncommunity which he has consciously established and maintained\, which is \nfounded on the definitive life-long renunciation of all else: it is something \nwholly formed\, distinctive in shape. And yet it is not something magical \nimposed from above\, since the son of perdition will indeed fall away; rather\, it is \nthe realization of the covenant-partnership between God and ourselves. \nEyewitness\, in turn\, is an association with the Lord in his public life\, in his \nPassion\, and in his death which is the communal\, human\, and realistic \nexperience of God which continues and fulfills the Old Testament’s promise of \nan earthly God-with-us. \nBut this phase comes to an end with Jesus’ death; the Apostles’ senses\, \naccustomed to his existence\, now fall into the void; there is no longer anything \nthere to see\, to hear\, to touch; the Apostles’ whole human experience breaks off \nwith the three days in death\, then to resume anew\, without any traceable \ncontinuity\, with Christ’s Resurrection\, at a place whose distance from the point \nof disruption can be known and measured only by God; and now\, during the \nforty days\, the association with the Lord will be experienced with wholly new \nsenses. \nThe eyewitness of the Apostles draws all its force from this last phase\, to \nbe sure; otherwise they could hardly bear witness to anything more than an \nextraordinary man who was prophetically gifted and who performed miracles. \nBut it draws its force not\, indeed\, solely from the witness of the Resurrection\, \nbut from the fact that the man who appeared to them was the same whom they \nhad known previously from long association and whom they had seen suffer and \ndie. Seeing him\, hearing him\, touching him\, observing how he eats\, the proof of \nthe wounds” all of this receives its full significance only in that light.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-416/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260415
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260416
DTSTAMP:20260413T082635
CREATED:20260412T002626Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260412T002749Z
UID:14812-1776211200-1776297599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:From a reading by \nST AMBROSE \n◊◊◊ \nWhat is virginal chastity but purity free from stain. And whom can we \njudge to be its author but the immaculate Son of God\, whose flesh saw no \ncorruption\, whose Godhead experienced no infection? Consider\, then\, how \ngreat are the merits of virginity. Christ was before the Virgin\, Christ was of the \nVirgin. Begotten indeed of the Father before the ages\, but born of the Virgin for \nthe ages. The former was of His won nature\, the latter is for our benefit. The \nformer always was\, the latter He willed. \nConsider\, too\, another merit of virginity. Christ is the spouse of the \nVirgin\, and if one may so say “spouse” of virginal chastity\, for virginity is of \nChrist\, not Christ of virginity. He is\, then\, the Virgin who was espoused\, the \nVirgin who bore us\, who fed us with her milk\, of whom we read: “What great \nthings has the virgin of Jerusalem done! The breasts shall not fail from the rock\, \nnor snow from Lebanon\, nor the water which is borne by the strong wind.” \nWho is this virgin that is watered with the streams of the Trinity\, from \nwhose rock waters flow\, whose breasts fail not\, and whose honey is poured \nforth? Now\, according to the Apostle\, the rock is Christ. Therefore\, from Christ \nthe breasts fail not\, nor brightness from God\, nor the river from the Spirit. This \nis the Trinity which waters their Church\, the Father\, Christ\, and the Spirit. \nBut let us now come down from the mother to the daughters. “Concerning \nvirgins\,” says the Apostle\, “I have no commandment of the Lord.” If the teacher \nof the Gentiles had none\, who could have one? And in truth he had no \ncommandment\, but he had an example. For virginity cannot be commanded\, \nbut must be wished for\, for things which are above us are matters for prayer \nrather than under mastery. “But I would have you\,” he says\, “be without care. \nFor he who is without a wife is careful for the things which are the Lord’s\, how he \nmay please God… And the virgin takes thought for the things of the Lord\, that \nshe may be holy in body and in spirit. For she that is married takes thought for \nthe things of the world\, how she may please her husband.” \nI am not indeed discouraging marriage\, but am enlarging upon the \nbenefits of virginity.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-417/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260416
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260417
DTSTAMP:20260413T082635
CREATED:20260412T002916Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260412T002916Z
UID:14815-1776297600-1776383999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:From a reading by \nFR HUGO RAHNER \n◊◊◊ \nPrecisely in weakness the Church of the crucified is the very essence of \nGod’s force of grace\, the sacramentally humble symbol of the irresistibly \nvictorious love of the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The weak Church is the \njoy of our faith. Not only despite her weakness\, but rather because she is weak. \nThis is no theological dialectic that would release us from the responsibility of \nconstantly attempting anew to perfect the power of the Church’s witness\, her \nholiness\, even her glory that can be dramatized here on earth. \nHowever\, our faith in the Church remains pure\, resilient\, filled with \nunshatterable joy in the victory of Our Lord\, only if we perceive that the power \nand dominion of God\, which is totally different in nature from anything else in \nour experience\, chooses to show itself most often in earthly impotence and \ndespicability – as long as we in the midst of the Church celebrate the death of \nOur Lord\, until Christ returns as the Messiah of glory. Christ\, once and for all\, \ndied beyond the barricades of human comprehensibility\, and therefore the \nChurch must bear his disgrace. \nAlas\, this is so difficult for us here below to comprehend. Our eyes are \nveiled\, and our hearts are still as dull as those of the journeying disciples of \nEmmaus. They recognized the Lord only after the breaking of bread. Then\, \nhowever\, their hearts burned. It is the same with us… \nThis also holds true for the mystery of the Church. It is the same for her as \nit was for Our Lord: In sacrifice has he conquered\, in the breaking of bread he \ninflamed joy\, in the fact that he was killed has he driven out the prince of this \nworld. Therefore we recognize him and his Church only in the breaking of bread\, \nin the breaking of our believing hearts. \nAnd from his broken Church we discover with the quiet delight of tested\, \nsuffered\, disappointed and wise faith: Here is the Lord. Here is his Church\, the \nholy\, the catholic. Then our hearts also burn. Then we know: She is still on the \ndesert path\, but this leads into the promised land. She is still on the way of the \ncross to death’s place of skulls\, but only so will the Pasch come\, and this means \nthe transition to the eternal… \n“Probably there is much in the Church that betrays the weaknesses of our \nhuman nature. Her divine founder\, however\, endures these weaknesses. He \nendures them even in the higher members of his mystical body… Therefore\, the \nfact that many members suffer from spiritual infirmity is no reason for us to \nlessen our love for the Church\, rather it is an occasion for us to feel deeper \nsympathy with her members.” \nLook about in this world – everywhere there is desert\, aimless wandering\, \nthirst that cannot be quenched\, strangers who no longer know home. But in this \ndesert you see a thornbush burst into flames\, and you hear the divine words: “The \nplace where you stand is holy ground”. This is a type\, a model of the holy Church. \nShe is a wretched\, prickly shrub in the desert\, but even now she bursts into flames \nwith heavenly fire. Here we stand: we believe in this Church of weak brambles \nand tremendous fire. She is our trial of faith and our love’s joy.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-418/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260417
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260418
DTSTAMP:20260413T082635
CREATED:20260412T003021Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260412T003021Z
UID:14817-1776384000-1776470399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:From a reading by \nFR LOUIS BOUYER \n◊◊◊ \nThe discovery of grace\, the discovery of love which loves us without \nlooking for any return\, which loves us although we are sinners\, which loves us in \nour sin\, but which alone will lead us\, by obscure ways known to God alone\, from \nsin to sanctity\, that is\, in the last analysis\, the great discovery. Then it is that God \nreveals Himself to us as One who speaks to us\, as One whose Word for the \nsecond time draws us out of nothingness to being\, as One whom we have not so \nmuch to seek as to discover seeking us. It is He\, the Shepherd who left the \nninety-nine sheep in safety to seek and save that which was lost. It is He\, the \nFather of the prodigal who goes along the road to welcome his son when he has \nscarcely started out to meet his father\, and takes him in his arms. \n“To seek God”\, to seek Him as a person\, as the Person par excellence\, and \nnot only as the “Thou” to whom all our love should be addressed\, but as the “I” \nwho has first approached us\, whose word of love\, addressed to the primeval \nchaos\, drew us forth from it in the first place\, and\, spoken to us in our sin\, draws \nus forth from it again: to be a monk is nothing else than this. \nTo be a monk\, then\, is simply to be an integral Christian. And regarded in \nthis light\, the Christian is simply the person restored by the Word of the Gospel \nto the vocation which the creative Word destined for each: to respond to the \nWord of Agape by the word of faith\, in order eventually to meet God face to face. \nCommenting on Canticle of Canticles\, Origen tells us that the Church\, \nunder the old dispensation\, only heard the Bridegroom’s voice\, whereas in the \nnew\, she is offered the sight of his countenance. And he adds that the \ndevelopment of the Christian life is made up solely of this transition. The monk \nis the one who does not limit him or herself to accepting it in some measure \npassively\, by yielding to grace slothfully and reluctantly. The monk is one who \nresponds with the whole heart to the call which comes from the very heart of \nGod. \nMonks are of the number of the violent who will not allow the divine \nKingdom to fall upon them as it were unawares\, but who take it by storm in \nadvance. For that the monks have staked their all\, they have burned their boats. \nTo the one who believes that life consists in what is possessed\, the monk seems \nto be consenting to\, even to be deliberately seeking\, a fatal renunciation. To the \none who knows that being is of greater value than having\, and that being which \nis of value is not that which passes but that which endures\, the monk will seem \nto be the only true humanist. For the human person is born only as subject to the \ndivine Word and will only be fully that person the day when\, freed from the \nnothingness which holds one prisoner\, fully surrendered to the Word which \ncalls\, the person will at last come to discover the Face which promised us being \nin promising us His own image.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-419/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260418
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260419
DTSTAMP:20260413T082635
CREATED:20260412T003133Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260412T003133Z
UID:14819-1776470400-1776556799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:From a commentary by \nWILLIAM OF ST THIERRY \n◊◊◊ \n“Come\, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord\, and to the house of the \nGod of Jacob\, and He will teach us his ways.” \nYearnings\, strivings\, thoughts and affections\, and all that is within me\, \ncome and let us go up to the mountain or place where the Lord both sees and is \nseen! But worries and anxieties\, concerns and toils\, and all the sufferings \ninvolved in my enslaved condition\, all of you must stay here with the donkey – I \nmean my body – while I and the lad – my intellectual faculties – hasten up the \nmountain; so that when we have worshiped\, we may come back to you. \nFor we shall come back\, and that unfortunately\, all too soon. Love of the \ntruth does indeed lead us far from you; but for the brethren’s sake\, the truth of \nthe love forbids us to abandon or reject you. But\, though you need thus call us \nback\, that sweet experience must not be wholly forgotten on your account. \nBut alas\, O Lord\, alas! To want to see God when one is unclean in heart is \nsurely quite outrageous\, rash and presumptuous\, and altogether out of order \nand against the rule of the word of truth and of your wisdom! Yet you are he who \nis supremely good\, goodness itself\, the life of our hearts and the light of our \ninward eyes. For your goodness’ sake\, then\, have mercy on me\, Lord; for the \nbeholding of your goodness is of itself my cleansing\, my confidence\, my \nholiness… \nSince it happens only by your gift\, you know how from the inmost depths \nof my being and after I have put away from me all striving after worldly honors \nand delights and pleasures\, and everything else that can – and often does – \narouse in me the lust of the flesh\, or of the eyes\, or that stirs me in a wrong \nambition – you know how my heart then says to you: “My face has sought you; \nyour face will I seek. Do not turn your face from me; do not turn away in anger \nfrom your servant.”… \nLet your voice testify deep down within my soul and spirit\, shaking my \nwhole being like a raging storm\, while my inward eyes are dazzled by the \nbrightness of your truth\, which keeps on telling me: “No man shall see you and \nlive.” For I indeed am as yet wholly in my sins\, I have not learned yet how to die \nto myself in order to live to you. \nAnd yet it is by your command and by your gift that I stand upon the rock \nof faith in you\, the rock of the Christian faith\, and in the place where truly you \nare present. On that rock I take my stand meanwhile\, with such patience as I can \ncommand\, and I embrace and kiss your right hand that covers and protects me. \nAnd sometimes\, when I gaze with longing\, I do see the “back” of him who sees \nme; I see your Son Christ “passing by” in the abasement of his incarnation.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-420/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260509T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260509T120000
DTSTAMP:20260413T082635
CREATED:20260406T153956Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260406T154454Z
UID:14796-1778317200-1778328000@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Chicago LCG 9:00 am CDT
DESCRIPTION:All are welcome \n  \nJoin Zoom Meeting \nhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/86028356465 \nMeeting ID: 860 2835 6465 \nOne tap mobile \n+13126266799\,\,86028356465# US (Chicago) \n+13092053325\,\,86028356465# US
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/chicago-lcg-900-am-cdt/
CATEGORIES:LCG Local Community Meetings,LCG open events
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