Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mass
133
449
450
451
452
647
454

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mass
130
443
444
445
643
447
448

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

2nd
Rom 14:7-9

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mass
127
437
438
439
638
639
442

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

2nd
Rom 13:8-10

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

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

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

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

Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
2023-09-07
THE CROSS
From “Gravity and Grace” by Simone Weil5
◊◊◊
Christ healing the sick, raising the dead… that is the humble, human, almost low part of his mission. The supernatural part is the sweat of blood, the unsatisfied longing for human consolation, the supplication that he might be spared, the sense of being abandoned by God. The abandonment at the supreme moment of the crucifixion, what an abyss of love on both sides! ‘My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?’ There we have the real proof that Christianity is something divine… The cross…
The tree of life was a wooden beam. Something which does not give fruit, but only vertical movement. “The Son of Man must be lifted up and he will draw all men unto himself.’… Leaves and fruit are a waste of energy if our only wish is to rise. Adam and Eve sought for divinity in…fruit. But it is prepared for us on dead wood… where a corpse is hanging. We must look for the secret of our kinship with God in our mortality.
God wears himself out through the infinite thickness of time and space in order to reach the soul and to captivate it. If it allows a pure and utter consent (though brief as a lightning flash) to be torn from it, then God conquers that soul. And when it has become entirely his he abandons it. He leaves it completely alone and it has in its turn, but gropingly, to cross the infinite thickness of time and space in search of him whom it loves. It is thus that the soul, starting from the opposite end, makes the same journey that God made towards it. And that is the cross… We are what is furthest from God, situated at the extreme limit from which it is not absolutely impossible to come back to him…
In order that we should realize the distance between ourselves and God it was necessary that God should be a crucified slave. For we do not realize distance except in the downward direction. It is much easier to imagine ourselves in the place of God the Creator than in the place of Christ crucified…
Of the links between God and man, love is the greatest. It is as great as the distance to be crossed. So that the love may be as great as possible, the distance is as great as possible. That is why evil can extend to the extreme limit beyond which the very possibility of good disappears. Evil is permitted to touch this limit… How could that which is good love that which is evil without suffering? And that which is evil suffers too in loving that which is good. The mutual love of God and man is suffering…
For if he had made the best of all possible worlds, it would mean that he could not do very much. God crosses through the thickness of the world to come to us…
Suffering is at the same time quite external with regard to innocence and quite essential to it. Blood on snow. Innocence and evil… An innocent being who suffers sheds the light of salvation upon evil. Such a one is the visible image of the innocent God. That is why a God who loves man and a man who loves God have to suffer…
5 Weil, Simone. Gravity and Grace. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963. 79-83.

Vigils Reading
2023-09-06
THE WOUND OF LOVE
From the writings of St Gertrud the Great4
◊◊◊
I had laid a certain person under an obligation to slip these words on my behalf into her daily prayer before the crucifix. She was to say, ‘By your heart that was wounded through and through, most loving Lord, pierce her heart with… your love, so much so that it may be unable to possess anything that is of this earth, but may be possessed by the unique power of your divinity’. It was these prayers, I believe, that spurred you into action…
Out of the overflowing generosity of your goodness and by the permission of your mercy I was coming to receive the sacrament of your most holy body and blood, when you infused me with an earnest longing which compelled me to break out and say, ‘Lord, I admit that, as far as my merits go, I am not worthy to receive the least of your gifts. But by the merits and earnest longing of all those around I beseech your loving-kindness to pierce my heart with the arrow of your love’. Soon I became aware that the force of these words had reached your divine Heart, as much because of an inflow of inner grace as because of the manifestation of an unmistakable sign on an image of your crucifixion.
For when I had received the life-giving sacrament, and had returned to my place in choir, it seemed to me as if something like a ray of the sun came out from the right-hand side of the crucified Christ painted on the page, that is, from the wound in the side. It had a sharp point like an arrow and, astonishingly, it stretched forward and, lingering thus for a while, it gently elicited my love. But my longing was not thus satisfied until the following Wednesday when, after mass, the faithful honor the generous gift of your incarnation and annunciation, which all must adore. I too, although less worthily, was concentrating on this devotion. Suddenly you were there unexpectedly, opening a wound in my heart with these words: ‘May all your emotions come together in this place; that is may the sum total of your delight, hope, joy, sorrow, fear and your other emotions be fixed firmly in my love’.
I immediately remembered that I had sometimes heard that wounds should be washed, anointed and bound up. At that time you had not yet taught me, once and for all, how to do this. But after a while you revealed it more fully to me, by means of someone who to your praise… has attuned her inner ear much more reliably and more sensitively than I have… to catch the continual flow of your loving whispers. Her advice to me was that, while worshiping with constant devotion the love of your Heart hanging on the cross, I should draw water of devotion, to wash away every offense… so that I might direct all my thoughts, words, and deeds, given strength by love, toward you, and in this way cling inseparably to you.
I offer you mourning for my far too numerous offenses against your divinely noble goodness, which I have assaulted so variously, in thought, word and deed; but especially in that I made such faithless, careless and disrespectful use of the gifts of yours. For if you had handed over to me, unworthy as I am, a hempen thread in memory of yourself, I should rightly have treated it with more conscientious respect!… Therefore, Giver of gifts… give the reader of these words… pity for you, in that your passion for souls has for so long confined a jewel… to the muddy bilge-water of my heart! While offering prayer and thanksgiving, may [the reader] extol your mercy… In this way some reparation may be made to you for my deficiency.
4 St Gertrud the Great of Helfta. The Herald of God’s Loving-Kindness: Books 1& 2. CF 35. Trans. Alexandra Barratt. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1991. 112-115.
9

Vigils Reading - St Teresa of Calcutta
2023-09-05
GENEROSITY
From the book “In My Own Words” by St Mother Teresa3
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Without a spirit of sacrifice, without a life of prayer, without an intimate attitude of penance, we would not be capable of carrying our work. We feed ourselves, not to please our senses, but to show our Lord that we want to work for him and with him, to live a life of sacrifice and reparation…
One night, a man came to our house to tell me that a Hindu family, a family of eight children, had not eaten anything for days. They had nothing to eat. I took enough rice for a meal and went to their house. I could see the hungry faces, the children with their bulging eyes. The sight could not have been more dramatic! The mother took the rice from my hands, divided it in half and went out. When she came back a little later, I asked her: “Where did you go? What did you do?” She answered, “They also are hungry.” “They” were the people next door, a Muslim family with the same number of children to feed and who did not have any food either. That mother was aware of the situation. She had the courage and the love to share her meager portion of rice with others. In spite of her circumstances, I think she felt very happy to share with her neighbors the little I had taken her. In order not to take away her happiness, I did not take her anymore rice that night. I took her some more the following day.
“What is a Christian?” someone asked a Hindu man. He responded, “The Christian is someone who gives.” I ask you one thing: do not tire of giving, but do not give your leftovers. Give until it hurts, until you feel the pain. Open your hearts to the love God instills in them. God loves you tenderly. What he gives you is not to be kept under lock and key, but to be shared. The more you save, the less you will be able to give. The less you have, the more you will know how to share. Let us ask God, when it comes time to ask him for something, to help us to be generous.
It was late in the day (around ten at night) when the doorbell rang. I opened the door and found a man shivering from the cold. “Mother Teresa, I heard that you just received an important prize. When I heard this I decided to offer you something too. Here you have it: this is what I collected today.” It was little, but in his case it was everything. I was moved more than by the Nobel prize.
One day a young couple came to our house and asked for me. They gave me a large amount of money. I asked them, “Where did you get so much money?” They answered, “We got married two days ago. Before we got married we had decided not to celebrate the wedding, not to buy wedding clothes, not to have a reception or a honeymoon. We wanted to give you the money I saved.” I know what such a decision meant, especially for a Hindu family. That is why I asked them, “But how did you think of such a thing?” “We love each other so much,” they answered, “that we wanted to share the joy of our love with those you serve.”
To share: what a beautiful thing! We should learn how to give. If we worry too much about ourselves, we won’t have time for others.
3 In My Own Words – The Words of Mother Teresa. Compiled by Jose Luis Gonzales-Balado. Accessed Online: Aug. 28, 2023.

Vigils Reading
2023-09-04
ON WORK AND PRAYER
From “The Divine Milieu” by Fr. Teilhard de Chardin2
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Our work appears to us, in the main, as a way of earning our daily bread. But its essential virtue is of a higher order: through it we complete in ourselves the subject of the divine union; and through it again we augment in some sense, in relation to ourselves, the divine end of that union, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence whatever our human function may be, whether artist or workingman or scholar, we can, if we are Christians, speed towards the object of our work as though towards an outlet open on the supreme fulfillment of our beings.
We ought to accustom ourselves to this basic truth till we are steeped in it, until it becomes as familiar to us as the perception of relief or the reading of words. God, in all that is most living and incarnate in Him, is not withdrawn from us beyond the tangible sphere; He is waiting for us at every moment in our action, in our work of the moment. He is in some sort at the tip of my pen, my spade, my brush, my needle – of my heart and of my thought. By pressing the stroke, the line, or the stitch, on which I am engaged, to its ultimate natural finish, I shall arrive at the ultimate aim towards which my innermost will tends.
I do not think I am exaggerating when I say that nine out of ten practicing Christians feel that work is always at the level of a ‘spiritual encumbrance.’ In spite of the practice of right intentions, and the day offered every morning to God, the general run of the faithful dimly feel that time spent at the office or the studio, in the fields or in the factory, is time diverted from prayer and adoration.
On the contrary, try, with God’s help, to perceive the connection even physical and natural which binds your labor with the building of the Kingdom of Heaven; try to realize that heaven itself smiles upon you and, through your works, draws you to itself; then, as you leave church for the noisy streets, you will remain with only one feeling, that of continuing to immerse yourself in God. If your work is dull or exhausting, take refuge in the inexhaustible and becalming interest of progressing in the divine life. If your work enthralls you, then allow the spiritual impulse which matter communicates to you to enter into your taste for God whom you know better and desire more under the veil of His works. Never, at any time, “whether eating or drinking,” consent to do anything without first of all realizing its significance and constructive value in Christ Jesus, and pursuing it with all your might. This is not simply a commonplace precept for salvation: it is the very path to sanctity for each man according to his state and calling. For what is sanctity in a creature if not to cleave to God with the maximum of his strength? And what does that maximum cleaving to God mean if not the fulfillment — in the world organized around Christ — of the exact function, be it lowly or eminent, to which that creature is destined both by natural endowment and by supernatural gift?… Right from the hands that knead the dough, to those that consecrate it, the great and universal Host should be prepared and handled in a spirit of adoration.
May the time come when men, having been awakened to a sense of the close bond linking all the movements of this world in the unique work of the Incarnation, shall be unable to give themselves to a single one of their tasks without illuminating it with the clear vision that their work – however elementary it may be – is received and made use of by a Center of the universe.
2 The Divine Milieu, New York, 1960, pp. 32ff.

Vigils Reading
2023-09-03
TO TAKE UP ONE’S CROSS
From a commentary by St Augustine 1
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Our Lord’s command seems hard and heavy, that anyone who wishes to follow him must renounce himself. But no command is hard and heavy when it comes from one who helps to carry it out. That other saying of his is true: My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Whatever is hard in his commands is made easy by love.
We know what great things love can accomplish, even though it is often base and sensual. We know what hardships people have endured, what intolerable indignities they have borne to attain the object of their love. What we love indicates what sort of people we are, and therefore making a decision about this should be our one concern in choosing a way of life. Why be surprised if people who set their hearts on Christ and want to follow him renounce themselves out of love? If we lose ourselves through self-love we must surely find ourselves through self-renunciation.
Who would not wish to follow Christ to supreme happiness, perfect peace, and lasting security? We shall do well to follow him there, but we need to know the way. The Lord Jesus had not yet risen from the dead when he gave this invitation. His passion was still before him; he had still to endure the cross, to face outrages, reproaches, scourging; to be pierced by thorns, wounded, insulted, taunted and put to death. The road seems rough, you draw back, you do not want to follow Christ. Follow him just the same. The road we made for ourselves is rough, but Christ has leveled it by passing over it himself.
Who does not desire to be exalted? Everyone enjoys a high position. But self-abasement is the step that leads to it. Why take strides that are too big for you – do you want to fall instead of going up? Begin with this step and you will find yourself climbing. The two disciples who said: Lord, command that one of us shall sit at your right hand in your kingdom and the other at your left had no wish to think about this step of self-abasement. They wanted to reach the top without noticing the step that led there. The Lord showed them the step, however, by his reply: Can you drink the cup that I am to drink? You who aim at the highest exaltation, can you drink the cup of humiliation? He did not simply give the general command: Let him renounce himself and follow me but added: Let him take up his cross and follow me.
What does it mean to take up one’s cross? It means bearing whatever is unpleasant – that is following me. Once you begin to follow me by conforming your life to my commandments, you will find many to contradict you, forbid you, or dissuade you, and some of these will be people who call themselves followers of Christ. Therefore if you meet with threats, flattery, or opposition, let this be your cross; pick it up and carry it – do not collapse under it. These words of our Lord are like an exhortation to endure martyrdom. If you are persecuted you ought, surely, to make light of any suffering for the sake of Christ.
1 Journey with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press – NY 1999 – pg 120-121.

Skema - 22nd Week Ordinary Time
2023-09-03
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
22nd Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
September 3 – 9, 2023

Sun
3
Mon
4
Tue
5
Wed
6
Thu
7
Fri
8
Sat
9

Office
22nd Sunday
Weekday Labor Day
St Teresa of Calcutta
Weekday
Office for the Dead
Nativity of the BVM
St Peter Claver

Vigils
Josh 24:16-33
Ruth 1:1-22
Ruth 2:1-23
Ruth 3:1-18
Ruth 4:1-22
Gen 3:8-20
1 Sam 1:1-19

Lauds
Joel 2:12-17
Joel 2:18-19, 23-27
Joel 3:1-5
Joel 4:1-3, 11-16
Joel 4:17-21
Zech 8:1-8
Amos 1:1-5

Mass
124
431, 559
432
433
434
636
436

1st
Jer 20:7-9
1 Thess 4:13-18
1 Thess 5:1-6, 9-11
Col 1:1-8
Col 1:9-14
Micah 5:1-4a
Col 1:21-23

2nd
Rom 12:1-2

Gospel
Matt 16:21-27
Matt 13:54-58
Luke 4:31-37
Luke 4:38-44
Luke 5:1-11
Matt 1:18-23
Luke 6:1-5

Vespers
Jas 2:18-26
Jas 3:1-5a
Jas 3:5b-12
Jas 3:13-18
Jas 4:1-4
Rom 8:28-39
Jas 4:5-12

Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
2023-09-02
WHY DID SHE NOT ASCEND WITH HIM IN HIS ASCENSION?
From the writing of St Amadeus of Lausanne7
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As I reflect and often ponder over in my mind the assumption of the Mother of God, a certain question comes to my mind, worthy of examination, profitable when answered, which will obviously be pleasant when it is shared. The question is why, when the Lord ascended into heaven, did his mother who embraced him with such affection not follow him at once? Since she was weighed down with no cloud of sin, soiled with no spot on her life, glowed more than a fire because of her charity, was brighter than the light by reason of her chastity, even outdistanced the denizens of heaven through the uniqueness of the virgin birth, it seemed strange that she was not carried at once to heaven with her Son.
Doubtless Enoch walked with God in purity of heart and was seen no more, for God took him. Elijah also, burning with the great fire of charity, is said to have been carried away by a chariot of fire and horses of fire. But she who surpassed Enoch in purity of heart and was greater than Elijah through the privilege of her love, why was she not straightway carried into heaven along with him whom she bore? For she was full of grace and blessed among women. She alone was found worthy to conceive true God from true God… She suffered with him in his death… She lived again in the Spirit in his resurrection… Why did she not ascend with him in his ascension?… Why was her holy desire, hotter than fire, held back?
Because that delay was no small comfort for Christ’s disciples. That delay did not detract from the mother and it brought to the world the medicines of salvation. For the Lord Jesus willed that on his return to his Father his disciples should enjoy maternal comfort and teaching. Though indeed they had been taught by the Spirit, yet they could be taught by her who put forth to the world the sun of righteousness and brought for us from a virgin meadow, from an unspotted womb, the fount of wisdom. In short, with wondrous goodness provision was made for the primitive Church which no longer saw God present in the flesh, that it might see his mother and be refreshed by the lovely sight…

For what is there so lovely, so seemly and delightful, as to behold the mother of the Creator and Redeemer of the world? If the sepulchre of that same Redeemer, which still exists today, is so delightful in our sight, if the stone on which rested the holy stock of Jesse is sought out by such a great concourse that it calls forth the affections and thoughts of all men and attracts everything by a kind of religious charm, what joy was it to see the Mother of God as long as the divine pity allowed her to stay with us on earth in our common life?…
For as soon as she was seen glowing with the fire of holy love, she sweetly inflamed the hearts of those near her, brought faith to the hearts, urged them to modesty, made what was honorable lovely, drawing them to righteousness. She breathed the flower of virginity, sowed the untilled field of chastity, portraying before their eyes the picture of humility and showing them the mark of truthfulness. Around her was an unfailing brightness and in her face a glowing fire. A swift-flowing river of fire went forth from her to set on fire her foes, to warm her friends, to help her neighbors, to burn up her enemies. It is said by those who understand the nature of living things that the poisonous snake by the mere sight of it and by its deadly breath kills whatever is near it. In the same way she, hotly inflamed by its nearness with the heat of the divine fire and sprinkled with the blazing flames of the Word, breathed forth the scent of the grace of the resurrection upon those who were far off and those who were near

7 Amadeus of Lausanne. Eight Homilies on the Praises of Blessed Mary. CF 18B. Trans. by Grace Perigo. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1979. 59-61.

Vigils Reading
2023-09-01
THE GATE OF ENTRY TO THE CASTLE
From “The Interior Castle” by St Teresa of Avila6 ◊◊◊
Consider our soul to be like a castle made entirely out of a diamond or of very clear crystal, in which there are many rooms, just as in heaven there are many dwelling places. For in reflecting upon it carefully, Sisters, we realize that the soul of the just person is nothing else but a paradise where the Lord says He finds His delight. So then, what do you think that abode will be like where a King so powerful, so wise, so pure, so full of all good things takes His delight? I don’t find anything comparable to the magnificent beauty of a soul and its marvelous capacity. Indeed, our intellects, however keen, can hardly comprehend it, just as they cannot comprehend God; but He Himself says that He created us in His own image and likeness…
It is a shame and unfortunate that through our own fault we don’t understand ourselves or know who we are. Wouldn’t it show great ignorance… if someone when asked who he was didn’t know, and didn’t know his father or mother or from what country he came? Well now, if this would be so extremely stupid, we are incomparably more so when we do not strive to know who we are, but limit ourselves to considering only roughly these bodies. Because we have heard and because faith tells us so, we know we have souls. But we seldom consider the precious things that can be found in this soul, or who dwells within it, or its high value. Consequently, little effort is made to preserve its beauty…
For if this castle is the soul, clearly one doesn’t have to enter it since it is within oneself. How foolish it would seem were we to tell someone to enter a room he is already in. But you must understand that there is a great difference in the ways one may be inside the castle. For there are many souls who are in the outer courtyard — which is where the guards stay — and don’t care at all about entering the castle, nor do they know what lies within that most precious place, nor who is within, nor even how many rooms it has…

Insofar as I can understand, the gate of entry to this castle is prayer and reflection. I don’t mean to refer to mental more than vocal prayer, for since vocal prayer is prayer it must be accompanied by reflection. A prayer in which a person is not aware of whom he is speaking to, what he is asking, who it is who is asking and of whom, I do not call prayer however much the lips may move… Anyone who has the habit of speaking before God’s majesty as though he were speaking to a slave, without being careful to see how he is speaking, but saying whatever comes to his head and whatever he has learned from saying at other times, in my opinion is not praying. Please God, may no Christian pray in this way…
Well now, we are not speaking to these crippled souls, for if the Lord Himself doesn’t come to order them to get up — as He did the man who waited at the side of the pool for thirty years — they are quite unfortunate and in serious danger. But we are speaking to other souls that, in the end, enter the castle. For even though they are very involved in the world, they have good desires and sometimes, though only once in a while, they entrust themselves to our Lord and reflect on who they are, although in a rather hurried fashion… Sometimes they do put all these things aside, and the self-knowledge and awareness that they are not proceeding correctly in order to get to the door is important.
Finally, they enter the first, lower rooms… They have done quite a bit just by having entered..

6 St Teresa of Avila. The Interior Castle. Trans. Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. New York: Paulist Press, 1979. 35-39
