Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey

Vigils Reading
2022-10-21
From a letter of Saint Jerome of Jerusalem [1]

Scripture says: “I shall destroy the wisdom of the wise, and condemn the intelligence of the intelligent”. True wisdom will destroy the false; and although preaching about the cross is foolishness, yet Paul speaks wisdom among the mature. “Not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, who pass away”, but he speaks “the wisdom of God which was hidden in a mystery, and which God predestined from the beginning”. The wisdom of God is Christ. For “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God”. This wisdom was hidden in a mystery, in which all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge were hidden, and he who was hidden in the mystery was predestined from the beginning. He was predestined and prefigured in the law and the prophets. That is why the prophets were also called seers: for they saw him whom the rest did not see. “Abraham saw his day and rejoiced”. The heavens were opened to Ezekiel on behalf of a sinful people. “Open my eyes”, said David, “so that I may gaze on the wonders of your law”. For the law is spiritual and needs to be revealed to be understood, and so that we may contemplate the glory of God when his face is revealed.

In the Acts of the Apostles there is a holy eunuch who was reading Isaiah, and when Philip asked him: “Do you really understand what you are reading?” he answered: “How can I without a teacher?” To speak of myself for a moment, I am neither holier nor more zealous than that eunuch, who came to the temple from Ethiopia, that is, from the ends of the earth. He loved the law and divine knowledge so much that even when sitting in his chariot he read the sacred writings. And yet all the time that he was holding the book, ruminating on the Lord’s words, reading them fluently and out loud, he did not know whom he was unwittingly revering in the book. Then Philip came and showed him Jesus, who lay enclosed in the text in secret. The marvelous power of a teacher! In that same hour the eunuch believed, was baptized, was faithful and holy, and turned from a pupil into a master.

I beg you, dearest brother, to live in the midst of these things, meditate on them, know nothing else, look for nothing – does that not seem to you to be a dwelling-place in the heavenly kingdom already here on earth? The petitioner receives what he asks for; the door is opened to one who knocks; the seeker finds. Let the knowledge that we acquire on earth be such as to continue to be ours in heaven.

[1] A Word in Season – vol. VIII – Augustinian Press – 1999 – p 185f

Vigils Reading
2022-10-20
From the writings of St. Gregory of Nyssa [1]

There is one way to guard and care for our souls, and that is to remember God with longing and to cling without fail to good thought. Our zeal must therefore continue at all times, whether we are eating, drinking, resting, working or conversing, so that whatever we do may be done for the glory of God and not for our own, and so that our lives may suffer no stain or pollution from the snares of the devil.

But all the same, for those who love God, to practice his commandments is an easy and enjoyable task, since our love for him lightens the struggle and makes it welcome. It is for that reason that the devil strives by every means to drive out the fear of the Lord from our souls, and to destroy our love for him with unlawful pleasure and treacherous delights. It is why he does his best to catch our soul off guard and without its spiritual armor, and so to destroy our labors, offering us earthly in place of heavenly glory, and confusing our vision of true beauty with its deceptive image. For if he finds the guards careless, he is quick to seize the opportunity to appear to the field of virtue, and amidst the growing corn to sow his own weeds, that is, slander, arrogance, vainglory, desire for honor, quarreling, and all the other products of evil. Therefore we must be vigilant and keep watch for our enemy on all sides, so that whatever shameless device he uses against us we may drive him off before he lays hands on our souls.

You must often remember that story of how Abel and Cain offered sacrifice to the Lord, Abel with some of his firstborn sheep and their fat, Cain with fruits of the earth, but no first fruits. And God observed Abel’s sacrifice, as Scripture tells us, but the gifts of Cain he ignored. What then is the moral of the story? It teaches us that God accepts whatever we offer him in fear and faith, but has no use for the costliest gift offered without love. The very reason why Abraham received Melchizedek’s blessing is that he offered the priest of God the first fruits and the richest spoils. Now the richest spoils and the first fruits that we ourselves possess are our souls and our minds; and thus we are commanded to make no trivial sacrifice of praise and prayer to God, nor to offer the Lord any chance gift but what is best in our souls, or rather to dedicate to God our entire souls with all possible love and desire. So continuously nourished by the grace of the Spirit and taking to ourselves the power that comes from Christ, we shall run with ease the race of salvation and make the struggle for righteousness carefree and joyous. For God himself with help us to toil with zeal, and will accomplish his righteous works through us.
[1] A Word in Season – vol. VIII – Augustinian Press – 1999 – pg 166f

Vigils Reading - North American Martyrs
2022-10-19
The North American Martyrs,
from Butler’s Lives of the Saints.[1]

On March 16, 1649, the Iroquois attacked the village at which Brebeuf and Lalemant were stationed. The torture of these two missionaries was as atrocious as anything recorded in history. At the height of the torments Father Lalemant raised his eyes to Heaven and invoked God’s aid, whilst Father de Brebeuf set his face like a rock as though insensible to the pain. Then, like one recovering consciousness, he preached to his persecutors and to the Christian captives until the savages gagged his mouth, cut off his nose, tore off his lips, and then, in derision of baptism, deluged him and his companion martyrs with boiling water. Finally, large pieces of flesh were cut out of the bodies of both the priests and roasted by the Indians, who tore out their hearts before their death by means of an opening above the breast, feasting on them and their blood, which they drank while it was still warm.

Before the end of the year 1649 the Iroquois had penetrated as far as the Tobacco nation, where Father Garnier had founded a mission in 1641 and where the Jesuits now had two stations. The inhabitants of the village of Saint-Jean hearing that the enemy was approaching, sent out their men to meet the attackers, who, however, took a roundabout way and arrived at the gates unexpectedly. An orgy of incredible cruelty followed, in the midst of which Garnier, the only priest in the mission, hastened from place to place, giving absolution to the Christians and baptizing the children and catechumens, totally unmindful of his own fate. While thus employed he was shot down by the musket of an Iroquois. He strove to reach a dying man whom he thought he could help, but after three attempts he collapsed, and subsequently received his death-blow from a hatchet which penetrated to the brain.

Father Noel Chabanel, the missionary companion of Garnier, was immediately recalled. He had started on his way back with some Christian Hurons when they heard the cries of the Iroquois returning from Saint-Jean. The father urged his followers to escape, but was too much exhausted to keep up with them. His fate was long uncertain, but a Huron apostate eventually admitted having killed the holy man out of hatred of the Christian faith.

These martyrs of North America, SS John de Brebeuf, Isaac Jogues, Anthony Daniel, Gabrial Lalemant, Charles Garnier, Noel Chabanel, Rene Goupil and John Lalande, were canonized in 1930.
[1]Butler’s Lives of the Saints, ed. Michael Walsh, Harpers San Francisco, 1985, p.136-137.

Rule of Benedict: Reflections. 7 pm CDT
2022-10-18 19:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago)
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Oct. 18-Chapter 14: How the night office is to be said on the feasts of the saints
On the feasts of Saints and on all festivals let the Office be performed as we have prescribed for Sundays, except that the Psalms, the antiphons and the lessons belonging to that particular day are to be said. Their number, however, shall remain as we have specified above.

Vigils Reading - St Luke
2022-10-18
The Right Use of Material Posessions,
commentary by Joseph A Fitzmyer,SJ[1]

No other New Testament writer, save perhaps the author of the Epistle of James, speaks so forthrightly as does Luke about the use of material possessions by Christian disciples. More than the other evangelists Luke either preserves sayings of Jesus about this topic or puts on his lips statements that concern wealth, money, and material goods in general. In Acts Luke further sketches an idyllic picture of the early Jewish Christian community in Jerusalem with is common ownership of property and the sharing of wealth and possessions as a model for the community of his own day. Luke was clearly not happy about what he had seen of the use of wealth and possessions by Christian disciples.
So he portrays Jesus speaking about this matter both in sayings that he has taken over from Mark and “Q” and also in a number of sayings that he has composed himself or derived from his own source “L.” For instance, in Mark Jesus tells a rich young man to sell what he possesses, give the proceeds to the poor, and come, follow him, whereas in Luke Jesus tells “the magistrate”: “Sell all that you have”. Again in Mark, the first disciples called leave their nets to follow Jesus, but in Luke they leave “everything” to do so.
The contrast between the rich and the poor surfaces often in the Lucan story, in Mary’s Magnificat, in the instruction of John the Baptist to the poor, in Jesus’ interpretation of Isaiah 61:1-2 in his Nazareth synagogue sermon, in the first beatitude and first woe, in the story of the rich man and Lazarus, and in Jesus’ advice to “invite the poor” to dinner instead of rich neighbors who might reciprocate.
In the special Lucan material, in particular, one detects a twofold attitude toward material possessions’: (1) a moderate attitude, in which the Lucan Jesus advocates a prudent use of such posessions to give assistance to human beings who are less fortunate: “Give to everyone who begs from you”, as well as in the story of the dishonest manager a radical attitude, which recommends the absolute renunciation of all wealth: “Everyone of you who does not say goodbye to all he has cannot be a disciple of mine”; or “No servant can serve two masters; either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon”. For Luke all of this is not merely a question of haves and have-nots, since there is an eschatological dimension to the topic, which the first beatitude and the first woe make clear, as well as does Mary’s Magnificat. Having and not having material possessions ultimately symbolize an important aspect of the disciple’s inner response to the call of God and to his visitation of his people in and through the ministry of Jesus. Material possessions are liable to stand in the way of the proper response, and Luke is concerned that they do not.

[1]Luke the Theologian, Joseph A Fitzmyer,SJ, Paulist Press, 1989, p.137-138

Vigils Reading - St Ignatius of Antioch
2022-10-17
From a Letter to the Romans by St. Ignatius, bishop and martyr [1]

I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God if only you do not stand in my way. I plead with you: show me no untimely kindness. Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become God’s pure bread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God.

No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire. The time for my birth is close at hand. Forgive me, my brothers. Do not stand in the way of my birth to real life; do not wish me stillborn. My desire is to belong to God. Do not, then, hand me back to the world. Do not try to tempt me with material things. Let me attain pure light. Only on my arrival there can I be fully a human being. Give me the privilege of imitating the passion of my God. If you have him in your heart, you will understand what I wish. You will sympathize with me because you will know what urges me on.

The prince of this world is determined to lay hold of me and to undermine my will which is intent on God. Let none of you here help him; instead show yourselves on my side, which is also God’s side. Do not talk about Jesus Christ as long as you love this world. Do not harbor envious thoughts. And supposing I should see you, if then I beg you to intervene on my behalf, do not believe what I say. Believe instead what I am now writing to you. For though I am alive as I write to you, still my real desire is to die. My love for this life has been crucified, and there is no yearning in me for any earthly thing. Rather within me is the living water which says deep inside me: “Come to the Father.” I no longer take pleasure in perishable food or in the delights of this world. I want only God’s bread, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, formed of the seed of David, and for drink I crave his blood, which is love that cannot perish.

I am no longer willing to live a merely human life, and you can bring about my wish if you will. Please, then, do me this favor, so that you in turn may meet with equal kindness. Put briefly, this is my request: believe what I am saying to you. Jesus Christ himself will make it clear to you that I am saying the truth. Only truth can come from that mouth by which the Father has truly spoken. Pray for me that I may obtain my desire. I have not written to you as a mere man would, but as one who knows the mind of God. If I am condemned to suffer, I take it that you wish me well. If my case is postponed, I can only think that you wish me harm.
[1] The Liturgy of the Hours – vol. IV – Catholic Book Publishing Co – New York – 1975 – pg 1490

Compline
2022-10-16 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
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Vigils Reading - 29th Sun ORD
2022-10-16
A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke by Gregory of Nyssa [1]

The divine Word teaches us how to pray, explaining to disciples worthy of him, and eagerly longing for knowledge of prayer, what word to use to gain a hearing from God.
Those who fail to unite themselves to God through prayer cut themselves off from God, so the first thing we have to learn from the Word is that we need to pray continually and not lose heart. Prayer brings us close to God, and when we are close to God we are far from the Enemy. Prayer safeguards chastity, controls anger, and restrains arrogance. It is the seal of virginity, the assurance of marital fidelity, the shield of travelers, the protection of sleepers, the encouragement of those who keep vigil, the cause of the farmer’s good harvest and of the sailor’s safety. Therefore I think that even of we spent the whole of our lives in communion with God through thanksgiving and prayer, we should still be as far from adequately repaying pur benefactor as we should have been had we not even desired to repay him.

Time has three divisions, past, present and future. In all three we experience the Lord’s kindly healings with us. If you consider the present, you live in him; if you consider the future, your hope of obtaining what you look forward to is in him; if you consider the past, you would not have existed had you not been created by him. Your birth is his kindly gift to you, and after birth his kindness toward you continued, since as the apostle says, you live and move in him. On this same kindness depend all your hopes for the future. Only over the present have you any control. Therefore, even if you give thanks to God unceasingly throughout your life, you will hardly meet the measure of your debt for present blessings, and as for those of the past and future, you will never find a way of repaying what you owe. – over –

And yet we, who are so far from being capable of showing due gratitude, do not even give thanks to the best of our ability. We fail to set aside, I do not say the whole day, but even the smallest portion of the day, to be spent with God.

Who restored to its original beauty that divine image in me that was blurred by sin? Who draws me back to the blessedness I knew before I was driven out of paradise, deprived of the tree of life, and submerged in the abyss of worldliness? As scripture says, There is no one who understands. If we realize these things we would give thanks continually, endlessly, throughout the whole of our lives.
[1] Journey with the Fathers – Year C – New City Press – 1994 – pg 126

Skema
2022-10-16
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
29th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (II)
October 16 – 22, 2022

Sun
16
Mon
17
Tue
18
Wed
19
Thu
20
Fri
21
Sat
22

Office
29th Sunday
St Ignatius of Antioch
St Luke
North American Martyrs
Weekday
Weekday
Memorial of the BVM

Vigils
Sir 24:1-15
Sir 24:16-33
Ezek 1:1-14
Sir 25:1-11
Sir 25:13-26
Sir 26:1-6, 13-29
Sir 27:1-15

Lauds
Nahum 3:14-19
Hab 1:1-4
Isa 52:7-10
Hab 1:5-11
Hab 1:12-17
Hab 2:1-4
Hab 2:5-8

Mass
147
473
661
475
476
477
478

1st
Exod 17:8-13
Eph 2:1-10
2 Tim 4:10-17b
Eph 3:2-12
Eph 3:14-21
Eph 4:1-6
Eph 4:7-16

2nd
2 Tim 3:14-4:2

Gospel
Luke 18:1-8
Luke 12:13-21
Luke 10:1-9
Luke 12:39-48
Luke 12:49-53
Luke 12:54-59
Luke 13:1-9

Vespers
Jas 4:13-17
Jas 5:1-6
Acts 11:19-26
Jas 5:7-12
Jas 5:13-20
1 Pet 1:1-7
1 Pet 1:8-12

Vigils Reading - St Teresa of Avila
2022-10-15
From a Work by St. Teresa of Avila [1]

If Christ Jesus dwells in a person as his friend and noble leader, that one can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandons us. He is a true friend. And I clearly see that if we expect to please him and receive an abundance of his graces, God desires that these graces must come to us from the hands of Christ, through his most sacred humanity, in which God takes delight.

Many, many times I have perceived this through experience. The Lord has told it to me. I have definitely seen that we must enter by this gate if we wish his Sovereign Majesty to reveal to us great and hidden mysteries. A person should desire no other path, even if he is at the summit of contemplation; on this road he walks safely. All blessings come to us through Our Lord. He will teach us, for in beholding his life we find that he is the best example.

What more do we desire from such a friend at our side? Unlike our friends in the world, he will never abandon us when we are troubled or distressed. Blessed is the one who truly loves him and always keeps him near. Let us consider the glorious St. Paul: it seems that no other name fell from his lips than that of Jesus, because the name of Jesus was fixed and embedded in his heart. Once I had come to understand this truth, I carefully considered the lives of the saints, the great contemplatives, and found that they took no other path: Francis, Anthony of Padua, Bernard, Catherine of sienna. A person must walk along this path in freedom, placing himself in God’s hands. If God should desire to raise us to the position of one who is an intimate and shares his secrets, we ought to accept this gladly.

Whenever we think of Christ we should recall the love that led him to bestow on us so many graces and favors, and also the great love God showed in giving us in Christ a pledge of his love; for love calls for love in return. Let us strive to keep this always before our eyes and to rouse ourselves to love him. For if at some time the Lord should grant us the grace of impressing his love on our hearts, all will become easy for us and we shall accomplish great things quickly and without effort.
[1] The Liturgy of the Hours – vol IV – Catholic Book Publishing Co – New York – 1975 – pg 1483

Vigils Reading
2022-10-14
The wisdom of Ben Sirach –
from a book by Fr Evode Beaucamp, O.F.M. [1]

At a time when Greek civilization and culture are about to submerge the Near East, the Book of Ben Sirach prepares Israel so that it will not allow itself to be swallowed up. This was not the first time the Chosen People, strong in the privilege of their election, had withstood the unifying force of history. They owed their success to their prophets and their allies of the Temple and royal house. Already Israel had reached to the gods of Canaan; already David’s small kingdom in the Fertile Crescent had been one of the last States to succumb to the attacks of the invaders from Assyria and Babylon. Even then, in spite of the frightful crisis of the seventh century, branded by Zephaniah and Jeremiah, and even into the Exile itself, the best part of Israel was fiercely obstinate in safeguarding its personality and in believing in the independence of its absolute destiny.

But now, since the Macedonian invasion Jewish exclusiveness will have to face up to an entirely new kind of imperialism and a new type of danger. While other conquerors were content with imposing their military, social and political domination upon the vanquished, along with the dangerous presence of their pantheon, Alexander intended to bend the minds of the Barbarians and render them pliant to a wisdom with universal pretensions. Hence it was inevitable that the Jews themselves would be called upon to welcome the civilization of the conqueror and to commune with the rest of the world in the ideal he made of beauty, truth and humanism.

At the time when Ben Sirach was working on his book, Judea was in the process of changing its rulers. It appeared to Antiochus III that the only way to bring about unity was to impose Hellinization upon all. He set to work and was very successful, except in the case of the Jews who opposed his efforts with great energy. They were resolved never to be dispossessed of the Wisdom which they regarded as the best part of their patrimony.

Sirach must be seen as the first builder of this resistance which would end in victory for the Jews. Their intransigence can be explained only by their enthusiastic and powerful faith. It was not up to Israel to dispose of this Wisdom since it did not chose her, but she came and established herself in Israel. If she imposes herself invincibly upon Israel, it is because she has issued from the mouth of God. The people have not in any way taken part in building her up; and if they enjoy her it is because the Lord has granted her as a free gift to whomever he pleases. As Sirach says: “All wisdom comes from the Lord and is with him for ever. The sand of the sea, the drops of the rain, and the days of eternity, who can count them? The height of heaven, the breadth of the earth, the abyss, and wisdom, who can search them out? Wisdom was created before all things, and prudent understanding from eternity. The root of wisdom, to whom has it been revealed? The Lord himself created wisdom; and he supplied her to those who love him.” (1: 1-10)
[1] Man’s Destiny in the Books of Wisdom – Evode Beaucamp, OFM – Alba House – Staten Island, NY – 1970 – pg 116 f

Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
2022-10-13
A reading about the Church and our anticipated victory over death, from Sacraments and Orthodoxy by Fr. Alexander Schmemann. 1

The liturgy of Christian death does not begin when a man has come to the inescapable end and his corpse lies in church for the last rites while we stand around, the sad yet resigned witnesses of the dignified removal of a man from the world of the living. It begins every day as the Church ascending into heaven, “puts aside all earthly care”; it begins every feast day; it begins especially in the joy of Easter. The whole life of the Church is in a way the sacrament of our death, because all of it is the proclamation of the Lord’s death, the confession of his resurrection.

The Church is the entrance into the risen life of Christ, communion in life eternal, “joy and peace in the Holy Spirit.” And it is the expectation of the “day without evening” of the Kingdom; not of any “other world,” but of the fulfillment of all things and all life in Christ. In him death itself has become an act of life, for he has filled it with himself, with his love and light. In him “all things are yours; whether the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor 3.21-23). And if I make this new life mine, mine this hunger and thirst of the Kingdom, mine this expectation of Christ, mine the certitude that Christ is Life, my very death will be an act of communion with Life. For neither life nor death can separate us from the love of Christ. I do not know when and how the fulfillment will come. I do not know when all things will be consummated in Christ. I know nothing about the “whens” and “hows.” But I know that in Christ this great Passage, the Pascha of the world has begun, that the light of the “world to come” comes to us in the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit, for Christ is risen and Life reigns.
1 New York, 1965, pp. 130-133.

Vigils Reading
2022-10-12
A Commentary on Ben Sirac by St John Chrysostom [1]

Ben Sirac recommends great caution in the choice of friends. St John Chrysostom develops this further. “A friend is truly more to be desired than light itself, I mean a genuine friend. I am speaking of spiritual friends, who care for friendship more than anything else. Let me show you what friendship is like: friends, Christ’s friends, surpass parents and children. Do not quote the people of today to me. Think of how, in the days of the apostles, the ordinary Christians had one soul and one heart, and claimed not a single possession as their own, but gave to each whatever was needed. There was no mine or yours in those days. This is friendship, that none should think of their property as their own, but as belonging to their neighbor or to anyone other than themselves. In this way they must care for the souls of others as for their own, and others likewise must show the same attitude. But how, you ask, is such a thing possible? It is only not possible because we are unwilling to try it. If we were really willing to try it, it would be perfectly possible. For if it had been impossible, Christ would not have commanded it, nor would he have spoken about love in the way he did. Friendship is a great thing, just how great no one could know nor could any words describe without the experience of it.

Those who love do not wish to command or rule, they prefer to be ruled and commanded themselves. They prefer to give rather than receive a favor, for they love and always feel as if they could never do enough for another. They do not enjoy being well treated themselves as much as doing good to others, for they prefer to be in the debt of others and have others in their debt as well. And they want to show kindness to others without appearing to do so, but rather to be in their debt. And they want to be first in kindness without appearing to be first but rather to be repaying it, just as God did with humanity. He intended to give His Son for us, but so that He might not appear to give but rather to owe him to us, he commanded Abraham to give his son, so that his own great deed should not appear to be great. For when there is no friendship our kindness is full of reproaches, and we exaggerate our small acts; but when there is friendship, we try to hide our kindness, and are also anxious to show that our great acts are small, so as not to make our friends feel they are debtors, but that in having them as our debtors we ourselves are in debt to them.
[1] A Word in Season – vol. VIII -Augustinian Press – 1999 pg 156

Vigils Reading - St John XXIII
2022-10-11
Spiritual Testament and Last Wishes by St. Pope John XXIII 1
On the point of presenting myself before the One and Triune Lord who created me, redeemed me, chose me to be his priest and bishop, and covered me with unending graces, I entrust my poor soul to His mercy; I humbly ask pardon for my sins and deficiencies. I offer Him the little good, although petty and imperfect, that with His aid I have succeeded in doing, for His glory, for the service of Holy Church, for the edification of my brethren, begging Him finally to receive me, like a good and kind Father, with His Saints into eternal happiness.
I profess once again with all my heart my entire Christian and Catholic faith, my adherence and subjection to the Holy Apostolic and Roman Church, and my complete devotion and obedience to her August Head, the Supreme Pontiff, whom it was my great honor to represent for long years in various regions of the East and West, who at the end chose me to come to Venice as Cardinal and Patriarch, and whom I have always followed with sincere affection, aside from and above any dignity conferred upon me. The sense of my own littleness and nothingness has always been my good companion, keeping me humble and calm, and making me amploy myself to the best of my ability in a constant exercise of obedience and charity for souls and for the interests of the Kingdom of Jesus, my Lord and my all. To Him be all glory; for me and for my merit, His mercy. “My merit is the mercy of the Lord. O Lord, You know everything: You know that I love You.” This alone is enough for me.
I ask pardon of those whom I have unwittingly offended, of all to whom I have not been a source of edification. I feel that I have nothing to forgive anyone, for all who have known and dealt with me – including those who have offended me, scorned me, held me in bad esteem (with good reason, for that matter), or have been a source of affliction for me – I regard solely as brothers and benefactors, to whom I am grateful and for whom I pray and always will pray. – over –
Born poor, but of honorable and humble people, I am particularly happy to die poor, having given away, in accord with the various demands and circumstances of my simple and modest life, for the benefit of the poor and of Holy Church that had nurtured me, all that came into my hands – which was little enough as a matter of fact – during the years of my priesthood and episcopacy. Outward appearances of ease and comfort often veiled hidden thorns of distressing poverty and kept we from giving with all the largess I would have liked. I thank God for this grace of poverty which I vowed in my youth, poverty of spirit as a priest of the Sacred Heart, and real poverty. This grace has sustained me in never asking for anything, neither positions nor money, nor favors – never, not for myself, nor for my relatives or friends.
The goodness directed toward my poor person by all whom I met along the path made my life serene. As I face death, I recall each and every one – those who preceded me in taking the final step, those who will survive me and who will follow me. May they pray for me. I will repay them from Purgatory or from Paradise, where I hope to be received. I repeat it once again, not because of my merits, but because of the mercy of the Lord.
At the moment for saying farewell, or better still, arrivederci, I once more remind everyone of what counts most in life: blessed Jesus Christ, His Holy Church, His Gospel; and in the Gospel, above all, the Pater nosterin the spirit and heart of Jesus and the Gospel, the truth and goodness, the goodness meek and kind, active and patient, victorious and unbowed.
My children, my brethren, arrivederci. In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
1The Encyclicals and Other Messages of John XXIII – TPS Press – Washington DC – 1964 – pg 465

Vigils Reading
2022-10-10
A Reading on the Book of Sirach from Fr. Raymond MacKenzie S.J. [1]

As a follow-up to the preceding sections, against pride and against superficial judgments, Ben Sira now considers the golden mean, the middle way between two extremes. This is his version of the Greek slogan meden agan , “Nothing too much”.
The sage begins by condemning premature judgments, as also involvement in others’ business. Then, with renewed address “My son”, he warns against being a “workaholic” in pursuit of wealth. As always, Ben Sira insists that human beings must not “play God”; they must act, of course, as prudently and effectively as they can, but realizing always that the last word belongs to the Lord. Ben Sira expresses reverent amazement at the Lord’s actions in reversing human fortunes; he does not suggest that such reverses can be explained as reward or punishment for human acts.

Verse 14 brings a favorite doctrine of Ben Sirra: the universal causality of the God of Israel. All dualism is excluded from this sapiential theology. There is not – as there was in Zoroastrianism, for example – any evil Spirit on a level with the Lord, to whom things wrong or displeasing might be attributed. Ben Sira affirms the origin in the Lord of evil as well as good, death as well as life, etc. leaving for later discussion how this is to be understood.

Verses 18-19 are as follows: “There is a man who is rich through his diligence and self-denial, and this is the reward allotted to him: when he says: “I have found rest and now I shall enjoy my goods!” he does not know how much time will pass until he leaves them to others and dies.” This is expanded in dramatic dialogue form in the Lucan parable of Lk 12:16-21: “I will pull down my barns and build larger ones… and I will say to my soul, Soul, take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you.”
[1] Sirach – R.A.F. MacKenzie SJ – Old Testament Message – vol. 19 – Michael Glazier Inc – Wilmington, DE – 1983 – pg60

Vigils Reading - 28th Sun ORD
2022-10-09
A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke by Bruno of Segni [1]

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus passed through the border between Samaria and Galilee, and when he entered one of the villages ten lepers came to meet him. What do these ten lepers stand for if not the sum total of all sinners? When Christ the Lord came not a;; men and women were leprous in body, but in soul they were, and to have a soul full of leprosy is much worse than to have a leprous body.
But let us see what happened next. Standing a long way off they called out to him: “Jesus, Master. Take pity on us.” They stood a long way off because no one in their condition dared come too close. We stand a long way off too while we continue in sin. To be restored to health and cured of the leprosy of sin, we also must cry out: “Jesus, Master, take pity on us. That cry, however, must come not from our lips but from our heart, for the cry of the heart is louder: ot pierces the heavens. Rising up to the very throne of God.
When Jesus saw the lepers he told them to go and show themselves to the priests. God has only to look at people to be filled with compassion. He pitied these lepers as soon as he saw them, and sent them to the priests not to be cleansed by them, but to be pronounced clean.
And as soon as they went they were cleansed. Let all sinners listen to this and try to understand it. It is easy for the Lord to forgive sins. Sinners have often been forgiven before they come to a priest. In fact their repentance and healing occur simultaneously : at the very moment of their conversion they pass from death to life. Let them understand, however, what this conversion means, let them understand the Lord’s words: Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping and mourning;and rend your hearts and not your garments. To be really converted one must be converted inwardly, in one’s heart, for a humbled contrite heart God will not spurn.
One of them, when nhe saw that he was cured, went back again, praising God at the top of his voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. Now this man was a Samaritan.He stands for all those who, after their cleansing by the waters of baptism or healing by the sacrament of penance, renounce the devil and take Christ as their model, following him with praise, adoration and thanksgiving, and nevermore abandoning his service.
And Jesus said to him: “Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you/” Great therefore is the power of faith- Without it, as the Apostle says, it is impossible to please God. Abraham believed God and because of this God regarded him as righteous. Faith saves, faith justifies, faith heals both body and soul.
[1] Journey with the Fathers – Yea5r C –New City Press – 1984 – pg 124

Skema, 28th Week ORD
2022-10-09
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
28th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (II)
October 9 – 15, 2022

Sun
9
Mon
10
Tue
11
Wed
12
Thu
13
Fri
14
Sat
15

Office
28th Sunday
Weekday
St John XXIII
Weekday
Office for the Dead
Weekday
St Teresa of Avila

Vigils
Sir 20:16-31
Sir 21:1-14
Sir 21:15-28
Sir 22:1-15
Sir 22:16-27
Sir 23:1-15
Sir 23:16-27

Lauds
Mic 7:14-20
Nahum 1:1-8
Nahum 1:9-2:1
Nahum 2:2-8
Nahum 2:9-14
Nahum 3:1-7
Nahum 3:8-13

Mass
144
467
468
469
470
471
472

1st
2 Kgs 5:14-17
Gal 4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1
Gal 5:1-6
Gal 5:18-25
Eph 1:1-10
Eph 1:11-14
Eph 1:15-23

2nd
2 Tim 2:8-13

Gospel
Luke 17:11-19
Luke 11:29-32
Luke 11:37-41
Luke 11:42-46
Luke 11:47-54
Luke 12:1-7
Luke 12:8-12

Vespers
Jas 2:14-17
Jas 2:18-26
Jas 3:1-5a
Jas 3:5b-12
Jas 3:13-18
Jas 4:1-4
Jas 4:5-12

Vigils Reading - St Theresa of Child Jesus
2022-10-08
The mission of St. Thérèse of Lisieux: a reading from a book by Hans Urs von Balthasar. 1

There can be no doubt that Thérèse of Lisieux was directly entrusted by God with a mission to the Church. Thérèse’s mission, at the very first glance, displays the marks of a clearly defined, and quite exceptional character. This is much less due to the personal drama of the little saint than to the sacred Form into which the trickling grains of petty anecdotes are compressed, into a hard, unbreakable block, by a firm invisible hand. It is contrary to all expectation that the simple, modest story of this little girl should eventually culminate, as it irrefutably does, in the enunciation of theological truths. Originally she herself never dreamt that she might be chosen to bear some fundamental message to the Church. She only became aware of it gradually; in fact, it did not occur to her until her task was almost completed, after she had already lived out her teaching and was writing the last chapters of her book. Suddenly, as she saw it all laid out before her, she recognized its strangeness, that in her obedience she had unwillingly conceived something beyond her own personality. And now that she saw it she also understood it, and seized it with a kind of violence.

Ever since her childhood Thérèse had shown a striking inclination to meditating and reflecting upon herself. [This] meant that when she discovered her mission she became intensely conscious of it in a manner rare amongst the saints. At that moment she realized she was to be set on a pedestal, and that every bit of her life, even its smallest details, would be used as a pattern for many of the little ones. She regards the publication of her manuscript as an important work; she knows that all the world will love me, and that her writings will do a great deal of good. During her last months, as if making her last will and testament, she repeats constantly: One must tell souls. Exactly the same expressions recur in reference to the mission she is soon to begin in heaven: I feel that my mission will soon begin to teach souls to love God as I love Him, to give them my little way. If my wishes are realized, I shall spend my Heaven on earth until the end of the world. Similarly she recognizes the function within the Church of her mission. She not only foresees the proclamation of her own sanctity but she also, as it were, foresaw the canonization of her doctrine. The two are not separable. It is not so much her writings as her life itself which is her doctrine, especially since her writings speak about her life more than anything else. Nor does she hesitate to propose her life as an example for the Church, because it is in her life that she sees the realization of that doctrine which can do so much good.

So her life only contains exemplary value for the Church insofar as the Holy Spirit has possessed her and used her in order to demonstrate something for the sake of the Church, opening up new vistas onto the Gospels. That, and that alone, should be the motive for the Church’s interest in Thérèse. That, and that alone, should engage the attention of those who feel themselves put off my many features of her cultus, or even of her character, or who experience indefinable objections to them. In fact, there are few other cases in which it is so prudent to distinguish between the mission of a saint and its essentials.

In the case of Thérèse of Lisieux the dramatic tension between her mission and her person needs specially to be borne in mind, and to be appreciated primarily in theological terms; the essence of sanctity has to be grasped as truly evangelical, as belonging to the Church, as a mission and not simply as an individual ascetical, mystical manifestation. Moreover it is not just because of contemporary needs, but because of the depth of revealed truth that portraits of the saints must in future be remodeled, so that the saints can again live amongst us, and in us, as the best protectors and inspirers of the community of the saints, which is the Church.

1
Thérèse of Lisieux: The Story of a Mission, trans. by Donald Nicholl, New York: Sheed and Ward, 1954, pp xix ff.

Our Lady of the Rosary
2022-10-07
From the Apostolic Letter of Pope John Paul II on the Rosary [1]
The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, which gradually took form in the second millenium under the guidance of the Spirit of God, is a prayer loved by countless saints and encouraged by the magisterium. Simple yet profound, it still remains, at the dawn of this third millenium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness. It blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian life, which after 2,000 years, has lost none of the freshness of its beginnings and feels drawn by the Spirit of God to set out into the deep (duc in altum!) in order once more to proclaim, and even to cry out, before the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, the way, and the truth and the life@ (Jn.14:6), the goal of human history and the point on which the desires of history and civilization turn@.
The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer. In the sobriety of its elements, it has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety, of which it can be said to be a compendium. It is an echo of the prayer of Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the redemptive Incarnation that began in her virginal womb. With the Rosary, the Christian people sit at the school of Mary and are led to contemplate the beauty of the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love. Through the Rosary the faithful receive abundant grace, as though from the very hands of the mother of the Redeemer.
The Rosary, reclaimed in its full meaning, goes to the very heart of Christian life; it offers a familiar yet fruitful spiritual and educational opportunity for personal contemplation, the formation of the people of God, and the new evangelization. But the most important reason for strongly encouraging the practice of the Rosary is that it represents a most effective means of fostering among the faithful that commitment to the contemplation of the Christian mystery that I have proposed as a genuine training in holiness. What is needed is a Christian life distinguished above all in the art of prayer. Inasmuch as contemporary culture, even amid so many indications to the contrary, has witnessed the flowering of a new call for spirituality, due also to the influence of other religions, it is more urgent than ever that our Christian communities should become a genuine schools of prayer.
The Rosary belongs among the finest and most praiseworthy traditions of Christian contemplation. Developed in the West, it is a typically meditative prayer, corresponding in some way to the prayer of the heart, or Jesus prayer, that took root in the soil of the Christian East.
The contemplation of Christ has an incomparable model in Mary. In a unique way, the face of the Son belongs to Mary. It was in her womb that Christ was formed, receiving from her a human resemblance that points to an even greater spiritual closeness. No one has ever devoted themselves to the contemplation of the face of Christ as faithfully as Mary. The eyes of her heart already turned to Him at the Annunciation, when she conceived him by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Mary lived with her eyes fixed on Christ, treasuring His every word: She kept all these things, pondering them in her heart (Lk 2:19). The memories of Jesus, impressed on her heart, were always with her, leading her to reflect on the various moments of her life at her Son’s side. In a way those memories were to be the rosary that she recited uninterruptedly throughout her earthly life.
Even now, amid the joyful songs of the heavenly Jerusalem, the reasons for her thanksgiving and praise remain unchanged. They inspire her maternal concern for the pilgrim Church, in which she continues to relate her personal account of the Gospel. Mary constantly sets before the faithful the mysteries of her Son, with the desire that the contemplation of those mysteries will release all their saving power. In the recitation of the Rosary, the Christian community enters into contact with the memories and the contemplative gaze of Mary.
[1] Rosarium Virginis Mariae of Pope John Paul II – The Pope Speaks – vol. 48, #2, March, April, 2003

St. Bruno
2022-10-06
From a letter to his Carthusian sons by St. Bruno [1]
From the frequent and pleasant reports of our most blessed brother, I know of your reasoned and truly praiseworthy discipline, carried out with unwavering rigor. Since I have heard of your holy love and constant pursuit of honesty and virtue, my spirit rejoices in the Lord. I rejoice and am drawn to praise and give thanks to God, and still I long to love him. I rejoice, as I should, in the growing fruits of your strength, and yet I grieve and am ashamed that I lie idle and senseless in the mire of my sins.
Therefore rejoice, my dearest brothers, because you are so blessed and because of the bountiful hand of God’s grace upon you. Rejoice, because you have escaped the various dangers and shipwrecks of the stormy world. Rejoice, because you have reached the quiet and safe anchorage of a secret harbor. Many wish to come into this port, and many make great efforts to do so, yet do not achieve it. Indeed many, after reaching it, have been thrust out, since it was not granted them from above.
Therefore, my brothers, you should consider it certain and well-established that whoever partakes of this desirable good, should he in any way lose it, will grieve to his death, if he has any regard or concern for the salvation of his soul.
My dearest lay brothers, of you I say: “My soul magnifies the Lord”. For I have learned of the generosity of his mercy toward you from the report of your Prior and dearest father; he rejoices and takes great pride in you. And let us rejoice that since you are acquainted with the knowledge of letters, almighty God will inscribe in your hearts with his finger not only his love but also the knowledge of his holy law. By your work you show what you love and what you know. When you observe true obedience with prudence and enthusiasm, it is clear that you wisely pick the most delightful and nourishing fruit of divine Scripture.
[1] The Liturgy of the Hours – vol. IV – Catholic Book Publishing Co – New York – 1975 – pg 1468

Weekday
2022-10-05
Wisdom in The Book of Sirach – from a book by Fr Evode Beaucamp, OFM [1]
The author of Ecclesiasticus is currently known as Sirach or Ben Sira in Hebrew. He is a scribe who was active in Jerusalem around the beginning of the second century, between 190 and 170 B.C. His work, written in Hebrew, was not known directly in the Christian tradition. Christians read it in the Greek translation made by the author’s grandson. The original text disappeared in the course of the Middle Ages. Someone discovered a manuscript by chance in 1896, which restores two-thirds of the original text.
Until the present, Israel’s Wisdom has never had to set herself in opposition or even compare herself with the wisdom of other nations. She was perfectly original; and there are some who wrongly judged her as being fundamentally and initially universal in her appeal. However Wisdom speaks solely to Israel. Neither Proverbs, Job nor Qoheleth claims to be doing anything else but encouraging the Jew to adhere personally to the Covenant, whose demands they both formulate and help him realize the consequences of non-conformity.
But now a new event, the intrusion of Hellenism, forces Judaism to clarify its position. It is no longer between wisdom and folly, i.e. between accepting or refusing the Covenant, that the Israelite will have to choose, but between fidelity to the traditions of his ancestors and the acceptance of the new gods, as dangerous as the old ones, for they would make Israel forgetful of its vocation. The influence of Greek culture, philosophy, and civilization was such that it attracted the whole Orient and even Israel had a fascination for it.
To triumph over this, Jewish thought will have to declare itself clearly; and it will not do this without making clear distinctions and opposing something very definite. No writer before him had analyzed the secrets of the heart as deeply as did Sirach, e.g. envy and avarice, revenge, pride, human respect. The delicacy of the moralist is shown by the special attention he gives to the most exquisite of human feelings: friendship. This delicacy suggested to him certain insights that always hold true on acquisition of friends. “When you gain a friend, gain him through testing, and do not trust him hastily.” He is no less exquisite in defining modesty as the exact consciousness of one’s own worth, and which keeps one away from extreme humility and proud presumption: “Who will honor the man that dishonors his own life?” If we keep in mind that the ancient sages, Egyptian or otherwise, were not overly attracted to the virtue of humility, we shall appreciate this man’s discernment, for he seems to speak from actual experience. Does not the ancient morality of the Sages seem to have reached the vigil of the new era when the law of the Gospel will be promulgated? However the time of self-donation and the folly of the Cross has not yet arrived: the time when the disciple will be mature enough to understand the meaning of these strange words: “He who loses his soul will save it.” In fact two long centuries will separate Israel from the conclusion of the New Covenant.
[1] Man’s Destiny in the Books of Wisdom – Evode Beaucamp, O.F.M. – Alba House – Society of St Paul – Staten Island, NY – 1970 – p 103f

Rule of Benedict: Reflections. 7 pm CDT
2022-10-04 19:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago)
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Chapter 7: On Humility-Sixth degree 49-50
The sixth degree of humility is that a monk be content with the poorest and worst of everything, and that in every occupation assigned him he consider himself a bad and worthless workman, saying with the Prophet, “I am brought to nothing and I am without understanding; I have become as a beast of burden before You, and I am always with You” (Ps: 22-23).

St. Francis of Assisi
2022-10-04
A Reading from The Testament of St. Francis of Assisi.[1]
The Lord granted me, Brother Francis, to begin to do penance in this way: While I was in sin, it seemed very bitter to me to see lepers. And the Lord Himself led me among them and I had mercy upon them. And when I left them that which seemed bitter to me was changed into sweetness of soul and body; and afterward I lingered a little and left the world.
And the Lord gave me such faith in churches that I would simply pray and speak in this way: “We adore you, Lord Jesus Christ, in all Your churches throughout the world, and we bless You, for through Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.”
And after the Lord gave me brothers, no one showed me what I should do, but the Most High Himself revealed to me that I should live according to the form of the Holy Gospel. And I had this written down simply and in a few words and the Lord Pope confirmed it for me. And those who came to receive life gave to the poor everything which they were capable of possessing and they were content with one tunic, patched inside and out, with a cord and short trousers. And we had no desire for anything more. We [who were] clerics used to say the Office as other clerics did; the lay brothers said the Our Father; and we quite willingly stayed in churches. And we were simple and subject to all.
And I used to work with my hands, and I [still] desire to work; and I firmly wish that all my brothers give themselves to honest work. Let those who do not know how [to work] learn, not from desire of receiving wages for their work but as an example and in order to avoid idleness. And when we are not paid for our work, let us have recourse to the table of the Lord, seeking alms from door to door. The Lord revealed to me a greeting, as we used to say: “May the Lord give you peace.”
Let the brothers beware that they by no means receive churches or poor dwellings or anything which is built for them, unless it is in harmony with [that] holy poverty which we have promised in the Rule, [and] let them always be guests there as pilgrims and strangers.
[1]Francis and Clare: The Complete Works, tr. RJ Armstrong OFM & IC Brady OFM, Paulist Press NY 1982. pp.154-156.

Consecration Louisville Cathedral
2022-10-03
A READING ABOUT THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY AS THE NEW TEMPLE,
FROM A BOOK BY FR JEAN DANIELOU.[1]
It is the manhood of Jesus that is the Temple of the new Law, but this manhood must be taken as a whole, that is to say, it is the Mystical Body in its entirety; this is the complete and final Temple. The dwelling of God is the Christian community whose Head is in heaven, and whose members are still making their earthly pilgrimage; it is the true Temple of which the Temple of stone was the figure. “Be you also as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”(1Pt2,5). “Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners: but you are fellow citizens with the saints and the domestics of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone: in whom all the building, being framed together, grows up into a holy temple in the Lord”(Eph2,19-21).
There is a basic difference between the Temple at Jerusalem and the Christian Church. Under the old law, the presence of God is connected with the building of stone; under the new law, it is connected with the spiritual community. The church of stone is not in the succession of the Temple, but of the synagogue; it is the assembly, the ecclesia, the meeting-place. Or rather, at the same time it continues both of them, since it is the normal place for the sacrifice. But it can be dispensed with; it is not necessary that it should be there for the celebration of the Mass, while the community is necessary.
Thus is fulfilled the saying of Jesus: “Where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”(Mt18,20). It is the essential condition required for the offering of an acceptable host that is presented in the Sermon on the Mount, where it is written: “If you offer your gift at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has any thing against you, go first to be reconciled to your brother: and then coming you shall offer your gift”(Mt5,23-24). No offering is accepted save that which is made in charity, in community. For there the temple is, the one and only place where man is in the presence of God.
This is an extraordinary fact, as extraordinary in its own order as the presence of God in the Temple at Jerusalem. God enters into relationship not with isolated souls, but with the community. Through the baptismal rites, the entry of the catechumen into the church of stone is a figure of entry into the living Church, into the community which is the place of meeting with God. Of this meeting the Eucharist is the permanent sign, being at once the sacrament of the mystical body and the sign of the real presence, and bringing about at the same time union with God and the strengthening of the bonds of charity. Sin has the effect simultaneously of alienating the sinner from the presence of God, and of separating the sinner from the community. The primitive discipline of the Church made this clear when it excluded the sinner publicly from the community. The sinner still remains excluded from communion; and reconciliation with God is necessarily required by the community as intermediary. This is the meaning of confession, in which the priest represents the people, which itself represents God.
This is why the Church has the deposit of the living Word of God. It is in her that the Word mysteriously dwells, thus continuing the Incarnation of the Logos. We come to faith in Christ not by the study of dead literary documents, but in a preliminary way through the living witness of an organism sustained and animated by Christ, through the teaching of the living Apostolic Church; in a full and effective way by immediate contact with the living Christ in the Church, through the operation of grace acting in all its fullness in the sacrament.
[1]The Presence of God, Jean Danielou, Baltimore 1958, 29-31.

Skema 27th Week in Ordinary Time
2022-10-02
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
27th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (II)
October 2 – 8, 2022

Sun
2
Mon
3
Tue
4
Wed
5
Thu
6
Fri
7
Sat
8

Office
27th Sunday
Louisville Cathedral
St Francis
Weekday
St Bruno
Our Lady of the Rosary
Weekday

Vigils
Sir 18:1-18
2 Chron 7:1-16
Sir 18:19-33
Sir 19:1-17
Sir 19:20-30
Judith 15:8-16:2, 11-16
Sir 20:1-15

Lauds
Mic 5:9-14
Ezek 43:1-7a
Mic 6:1-8
Mic 6:9-16
Mic 7:1-7
Sir 39:12-22
Mic 7:8-10

Mass
141
701.1, 704.3, 706.2
462
463
464
465
466

1st
Habb 1:2-3; 2:2-4
Heb 12:18-19, 22-24
Gal 1:13-24
Gal 2:1-2, 7-14
Gal 3:1-5
Gal 3:7-14
Gal 3:22-29

2nd
2 Tim 1:6-8, 13-14

Gospel
Luke 17:5-10
Luke 19:1-10
Luke 10:38-42
Luke 11:1-4
Luke 11:5-13
Luke 11:15-26
Luke 11:27-28

Vespers
Philem 12-25
Acts 7:44-50
Jas 1:1-11
Jas 1:12-18
Jas 1:19-27
Acts 1:12-14
Jas 2:1-13

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
2022-10-02
A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke by St. Augustine [1]
Reading the holy gospel nourishes in us the habit of prayer, builds up our faith, and disposes us to trust in the Lord rather than in ourselves. What more powerful motive to prayer could be proposed to us than the parable of the unjust judge? An unprincipled man, without fear of God or regard for other people, that judge nevertheless ended by granting the widow’s petition. No kindly sentiment moved him to do so; he was rather worn down by her pestering. Now if a man can grant a request even when it is odious to him to be asked, how can we be refused by the one who urges us to ask?
Having persuaded us, therefore, by a comparison of opposites that we ought always to pray and never lose heart, the Lord goes on to put the question: Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, do you think he will find faith on earth? Where there is no faith, there is no prayer. Who would pray for something he did not believe in? So when the blessed apostle exhorts us to pray he begins by declaring: Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; but to show that faith is the source of prayer and the stream will not flow if its springs are dried ip, he continues: But can people call upon him in whom they do not believe?
We must believe, then, in order to pray; and we must ask God that the faith enabling us to pray may not fail. Faith gives rise to prayer, and this prayer obtains an increase of faith. Faith, I say, gives rise to prayer, and is in turn strengthened by prayer. It was to guard against their faith failing in times of temptation that the Lord told his disciples: Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.
Watch, he says: and pray that you may not enter into temptation. What does it mean to enter into temptation? It means to turn one’s back on faith. Temptation grows stronger in proportion as faith weakens, and becomes weaker in proportion as faith grows strong. To convince you, beloved, that he was speaking of the weakening and loss of faith when he told his disciples to watch and pray that they might not enter into temptation, the Lord said in this same passage of the gospel: This night Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail. Is the protector to pray, while the person in danger has no need to do so?
But in asking whether the Son of Man would find faith on earth at his coming, the Lord was speaking of perfect faith. That kind of faith is indeed hardly to be found on earth. Look at God’s Church: it is full of people. Who would come here if faith were non-existent? But who would not move mountains if that faith were present in full measure? Mark the apostles: they would never have left everything they possessed and spurned worldly ambition to follow the Lord unless their faith had been great; and yet that faith of theirs could not have been perfect, otherwise they would not have asked the Lord to increase it.
[1] Journey with the Fathers – Year C – New Coty Press – 1994 – pg 122

Vigils Reading - St Theresa of Child Jesus
2022-10-01
10SN0102
10.01.2022

The mission of St. Thérèse of Lisieux: a reading from a book by Hans Urs von Balthasar. 1
There can be no doubt that Thérèse of Lisieux was directly entrusted by God with a mission to the Church. Thérèse’s mission, at the very first glance, displays the marks of a clearly defined, and quite exceptional character. This is much less due to the personal drama of the little saint than to the sacred Form into which the trickling grains of petty anecdotes are compressed, into a hard, unbreakable block, by a firm invisible hand. It is contrary to all expectation that the simple, modest story of this little girl should eventually culminate, as it irrefutably does, in the enunciation of theological truths. Originally she herself never dreamt that she might be chosen to bear some fundamental message to the Church. She only became aware of it gradually; in fact, it did not occur to her until her task was almost completed, after she had already lived out her teaching and was writing the last chapters of her book. Suddenly, as she saw it all laid out before her, she recognized its strangeness, that in her obedience she had unwillingly conceived something beyond her own personality. And now that she saw it she also understood it, and seized it with a kind of violence.
Ever since her childhood Thérèse had shown a striking inclination to meditating and reflecting upon herself. [This] meant that when she discovered her mission she became intensely conscious of it in a manner rare amongst the saints. At that moment she realized she was to be set on a pedestal, and that every bit of her life, even its smallest details, would be used as a pattern for many of the little ones. She regards the publication of her manuscript as an important work; she knows that all the world will love me@, and that her writings will do a great deal of good. During her last months, as if making her last will and testament, she repeats constantly: One must tell souls Exactly the same expressions recur in reference to the mission she is soon to begin in heaven: AI feel that my mission will soon begin C to teach souls to love God as I love Him, to give them my little way. If my wishes are realized, I shall spend my Heaven on earth until the end of the world. Similarly she recognizes the function within the Church of her mission. She not only foresees the proclamation of her own sanctity Y but she also, as it were, foresaw the canonization of her doctrine. The two are not separable C it is not so much her writings as her life itself which is her doctrine, especially since her writings speak about her life more than anything else. Nor does she hesitate to propose her life as an example for the Church, because it is in her life that she sees the realization of that doctrine which can do so much good.
So her life only contains exemplary value for the Church insofar as the Holy Spirit has possessed her and used her in order to demonstrate something for the sake of the Church, opening up new vistas onto the Gospels. That, and that alone, should be the motive for the Church’s interest in Thérèse. That, and that alone, should engage the attention of those who feel themselves put off my many features of her cultus, or even of her character, or who experience indefinable objections to them. In fact, there are few other cases in which it is so prudent to distinguish between the mission of a saint and its essentials.
In the case of Thérèse of Lisieux the dramatic tension between her mission and her person needs specially to be borne in mind, and to be appreciated primarily in theological terms; the essence of sanctity has to be grasped as truly evangelical, as belonging to the Church, as a mission and not simply as an individual ascetical, mystical manifestation. Moreover it is not just because of contemporary needs but because of the depth of revealed truth that portraits of the saints must in future be remodeled, so that the saints can again live amongst us, and in us, as the best protectors and inspirers of the community of the saints, which is the Church.
1
Thérèse of Lisieux: The Story of a Mission, trans. by Donald Nicholl, New York: Sheed and Ward, 1954, pp xix ff.

Vigils Reading - St Jerome
2022-09-30
09SN3002
09.30.2022
Saint Jerome’s advice about Scripture: a reading from his letter to Paulinus. 1
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” (Ps 119.20). 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” (Mt 7.8).Let us learn upon earth that knowledge which will continue with us in heaven.1Letter LIII in The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series Two, Volume 6; translated by W. H. Fremantle, p. 101-102.

Vigils Reading - St Michael & All Angels
2022-09-29
Currently unavailable

Vigils Reading
2022-09-28
OT-WIS07
09/28/22

HOW ALL THINGS HAVE BEEN MADE IN WISDOM,
from a Sermon by St. Gregory of Nyssa[1]

How is it then that the voice of the Lord, which promises that God may be seen if we are pure, should not contradict those who, according to St Paul, evidently speak the truth if they contend that the contemplation of God is beyond our power?
I think it will be best first to say a few words relevant to this subject by way of digression, so that our consideration of the present question may become more methodical. The Divine Nature, whatever It may be in Itself, surpasses every mental concept. For It is altogether inaccessible to reasoning and conjecture, nor has there been found any human faculty capable of perceiving the incomprehensible; for we cannot devise a means of understanding inconceivable things. Therefore the great Apostle calls His ways “unsearchable”(Rom 11:33), meaning by this that the way that leads to the knowledge of the Divine Essence is inaccessible to thought. That is to say, none of those who have passed through life before us has made known to the intelligence so much as a trace by which might be known what is above knowledge.
Since such is He whose nature is above every nature, the Invisible and Incomprehensible is seen and apprehended in another manner. Many are the modes of such perception. For it is possible to see Him who has “made all things in wisdom” (Ps 103:24) by way of inference through the wisdom that appears in the universe. It is the same as with human works of art where, in a way, the mind can perceive the maker of the product that is before it, because he has left on his work the stamp of his art. In this, however, is seen not the nature of the artist, but only his artistic skill which he has left impressed on his handiwork. Thus also, when we look at the order of creation, we form in our mind an image not of the essence, but of the wisdom of Him who has made all things wisely. And if we consider the cause of our life, that He came to create us not from necessity, but from the free decision of His Goodness, we say that we have contemplated God by this way, that we have apprehended his Goodness–though again not His Essence, but His Goodness. It is the same with all other things that raise the mind to transcendent Goodness, all these we can term apprehensions of God, since each one of these sublime meditations places God within our sight. For power, purity, constancy, freedom from contrariety–all these engrave on the soul the impress of a Divine and transcendent Mind. Hence it is clear through what has just been said that the Lord speaks the truth when He promises that God will be seen by those who have a pure heart; nor does Paul deceive when he asserts in his letters that no one has seen God nor can see Him. For He is invisible by nature, but becomes visible in His energies. For He may be contemplated in the things that are referred to Him.
[1]LIGHT FROM LIGHT, Edited by L. Dupre & J. Wiseman, OSB (Paulist Press, NY 1988) pp. 50-51.
