Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
2023-08-03
THE LAST STAGE OF LOVE
From “Purgation and Purgatory” by St Catherine of Genoa 5
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In its creation the soul was endowed with all the means necessary for coming to its perfection, for living as it ought to, for not contaminating itself by sin. Once sullied by sin, original and actual, it loses those gifts and dies. It can be brought back to life only by God. The inclination to evil still remains in the soul revivified by Baptism, and unless it is strenuously fought leads back to death.
Afterwards, God revivifies the soul with a special grace of His. In no other way could the soul renounce its self-centeredness or return to the pristine state of its creation; and as the soul makes its way to its first state,its ardor in transforming itself into God is its purgatory, the passionate instinct to overcome its impediments. The last stage of love is that which comes about and does its work without man’s doing. If man were to be aware of the many hidden flaws in him he would despair. These flaws are burned away in the last stage of love. God then shows that weakness to man, so that the soul might see the workings of God, of that flaming love.
Things man considers perfect leave much to be desired in the eyes of God, for all the things of man that are perfect in appearance — what he seeks, feels, knows –contaminate him. If we are to become perfect, the change must be brought about in us and without us; that is, the change is to be the work not of man but of God. This, the last stage of love, is the pure and intense love of God alone. In this transformation, the action of God in penetrating the soul is so fierce

that it seems to set the body on fire and to keep it burning until death. The overwhelming love of God gives it a joy beyond words.
Yet this joy does not do away with one bit of pain in the suffering of the souls in purgatory. As the soul grows in its perfection, so does it suffer more because of what impedes the final consummation, the end for which God made it; so that in purgatory great joy and great suffering do not exclude one another. If contrition could purge it, the soul would turn to it in an instant and forthwith pay its debt; and it would do so impetuously, since it has a clear appreciation of the meaning of that impediment in its way…
The soul, for its part, no longer has a choice of its own. It can seek only what God wills, nor would it want otherwise; and that too is in keeping with God’s decree. Andifthelivingweretoofferalmsforthebenefitofthesoulsinpurgatory, to shorten the assigned time of their purgation, still those souls could not turn with affection to watch, but would leave all things to God, who is paid as He wishes. If those souls could, in gratitude, turn their attention, that would be a self-seeking act that would distract them from the contemplation of the divine will — and that distraction would be hell. The souls in purgatory attend to all that God gives them, injoyandsuffering; norcantheyhaveanyfurtherconcernforthelesserselfsince they have been radically transformed by the will of God.
What He wills for them is what gives them joy. Were a soul to appear in the presence of God with one hour of purgation still due, that would be to do it great harm. It would then suffer more than if it were cast into ten purgatories, for it could not endure the justice and pure goodness of God, nor would it be fitting on the part of God. That soul, aware that complete satisfaction was not as yet fully rendered to God, even if the time lacking were but the twinkling of an eye, would prefer to submit to a thousand hells rather than so appear in God’s presence

5 St Catherine of Genoa. Purgation and Purgatory – The Spiritual Dialogue. Trans. Serge Hughes. New York: Paulist Press, 1979. 80-83.

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Vigils Reading - St John Vianney
2023-08-04
THE CROSS IS THE LADDER TO HEAVEN
From the writings of St. John Vianney 6
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You must love while you’re suffering and suffer while you’re loving. On the road to the cross, it’s only the first few yards that hurt. Souls who give themselves completely to God in their suffering feel an extraordinary contentment. Vinegar will always be vinegar, but oil softens its sharpness so that you scarcely taste it.
There was a little boy, quite near here, in one of the neighboring parishes, who was lying in his bed a mass of sores, very sick and in great pain. I said to him: ‘My poor boy, you must be suffering!’ He replied: ‘No, Monsieur le Curé, today I don’t feel my pain of yesterday, and tomorrow I shan’t feel my pain of today.’ ‘But surely you’d like to get well?’ ‘No, I was bad before I was ill and I might become bad again. I’m all right as I am.’ There was vinegar there, sure enough, but the oil had drowned the taste of it…We don’t understand that, because we’re too earthly. Children in whom the Holy Spirit takes up His Home put us to shame.
The cross is the ladder to heaven. The crosses we meet on the road to heaven are like a fine stone bridge on which you can cross a river. Christians who don’t suffer cross this river on a shaky bridge that’s always in danger of giving way under their feet. Once they’ve been transformed in the flames of love, crosses are like a bundle of hawthorn that you throw on the fire and that the fire reduces to ashes. The hawthorn is thorny, but the ashes are soft. The hawthorn exudes balm and the cross exudes sweetness. But you’ve got to press the thorns in your hands and clasp the cross to your heart if you want them to distil the essence they contain.

Put a good bunch of grapes under the winepress, and a delicious juice will come out. Under the winepress of the cross our soul produces a juice which feeds and strengthens it. When we haven’t got any crosses, we are dry: if we carry them with resignation, what happiness, what sweetness we feel! The cross is the gift God makes to his friends. Contrarieties bring us to the foot of the cross and the cross to the gate of heaven

6 Translated from L’Esprit du Curé d’Ars, by A. Monnin in The Curé D’Ars, F. Trochu, Westminster MD, 1955 pp 101-102.

Vigils Reading - Dedication of Santa Maria Maggiore
2023-08-05
OUR LADY OF THE SNOWS
Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major 7
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As the Church in Rome was continuing to find its way, legend has it that the Mother of God decided to do her part to help. In the year 352, wealthy Roman aristocrats named John and his wife, who were childless and faithful Christians, wanted to use their money to help expand the Church. After praying for direction, John had a dream on the night of August 4, 352, in which our Blessed Mother appeared to him and informed him that she wanted a church built in Rome on the Esquiline Hill. She said that, despite it being the middle of summer, snow would fall on the spot the following day. When John arose on August 5, he went to see Pope Liberius to tell him about his dream… To John’s surprise, Pope Liberius had a similar dream the night before, so they decided to see if snow had fallen on the Esquiline Hill. Sure enough, upon their arrival, they found fresh snow in the form of a foundation for a church. The Pope used the snow to outline the foundation and ordered the church to be built…
In the century that followed, a controversy arose over the appropriate title of Jesus’ mother. Should she be called… the Mother of Christ, or the Mother of God? Nestorius, who was the Archbishop of Constantinople from 428 to 431, argued that Mary was only the mother of Christ’s human side, suggesting that there were two persons in Christ, a divine person and a human person. Archbishop Cyril of Alexandria, on the other hand, argued that Christ was only one Person and that His humanity and divinity were united as one in His personhood. The natural consequence of his argument was that if Mary was the mother of the Person, and the Person was God, then Mary was and is the Mother of God.

To resolve the controversy, Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II called for a church council to be held in Ephesus in 431. Nestorius and Cyril both attended, although Nestorius arrived late, and Cyril’s position won the day. Nestorius was deposed and exiled. Pope Celestine I approved the council’s decision but died shortly afterward. Pope Sixtus III was elected to succeed him in 432 and did much to implement the teachings of the Council of Ephesus. Among them was to rebuild and enlarge the Basilica Liberiana, and to give it a new name in honor of the Mother of God. The core of the current structure of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (Saint Mary Major) on the Esquiline Hill in Rome was built and dedicated by Pope Sixtus sometime before his death in 440.
Today, Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the four main basilicas in Rome, along with Saint Peter’s Basilica on Vatican Hill, Saint John Lateran Basilica (the official cathedral of the Diocese of Rome), and Saint Paul Outside the Walls…
Within the basilica, under the main altar, is the church’s most sacred relic, the wood of the manger in which the baby Jesus was laid… Another important relic is the Salus Populi Romani, an icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to legend, this ancient icon is the first icon to be painted of Mary and was painted by Saint Luke, the Gospel writer. For centuries, as a reminder of the legend of the miraculous summer snowfall, white rose petals have been dropped on the faithful from the dome of the Basilica every August 5.
Though the relics, history, and legends attached to this ancient church are inspirational, perhaps the most enduring inspiration we can take from this church is that it has been a place of divine worship for more than 1,600 years. Since that time, almost every pope has offered Mass there, countless millions have prayed there, numerous saints have made a pilgrimage to that holy church, and our Blessed Mother has certainly received and answered many prayers within those walls

7 https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/august-5-dedication-of-the-basilica-of-saint- mary-major/Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. Accessed: July 24, 2023.

Skema
2023-08-06
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
18th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
August 6 – 12, 2023

Sun
6
Mon
7
Tue
8
Wed
9
Thu
10
Fri
11
Sat
12

Office
Transfiguration of the Lord
St Cajetan
St Dominic
St Teresa Benedicta
St Lawrence
St Clare
Memorial of the BVM

Vigils
2 Cor 3:7-4:6
Gen 47:27-48:22
Gen 49:1-27
Gen 49:28-50:14
Sir 51:1-12
Gen 50:15-26
Josh 1:1-18

Lauds
Exod 24:12-18
Hos 6:1-6
Hos 6:7-7:2
Hos 7:3-10
Acts 6:1-6
Hos 7:11-16
Hos 8:1-7

Mass
614
407
408
409
618
411
412

1st
Dan 7:9-10, 13-14
Num 11:4b-15
Num 12:1-13
Num 13:1-2, 25-14:1, 26a-29a, 34-35
2 Cor 9:6-10
Deut 4:32-40
Deut 6:4-13

2nd
2 Peter 1:16-19

Gospel
Matt 17:1-9
Matt 14:13-21
Matt 14:22-36
Matt 15:21-28
John 12:24-26
Matt 16:24-28
Matt 17:14-20

Vespers
1 Jn 5:9-12
1 Tim 4:11-16
1 Tim 5:1-8
1 Tim 5:9-16
Rev 7:9-17
1 Tim 5:17-25
1 Tim 6:1-10

Vigils Reading - Transfiguration of the Lord
2023-08-06
THE BOMBING OF HIROSHIMA AUGUST 6th, 1945
From the recorded account of Fr. Pedro Arrupe 1
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It was 8:15 when a magnesium flash ripped across the blue sky. I was in my office with another Jesuit… The whole house shook, the windows shattered, the doors twisted, and the fragile walls of mud and cane broke like cards crushed by a giant hand. That terrible force, which we thought would rip the building from its foundation, threw us to the ground… When that initial earthquake finished, we stood up… I saw that not a single one was wounded… Immediately afterward, a gigantic mountain of clouds swept up into the sky. In the very center of the explosion, there appeared a horrific thunderhead and, with it, a fierce five hundred-mile an hour wind that swept away everything within a six-kilometer radius…
Everywhere there was death and destruction, and we were reduced to impotence. And he was there, knowing everything, contemplating everything, and waiting for our offering to take part in the work of rebuilding everything. I left the chapel, and my decision was immediate. We would turn the house into a hospital… But there were more than two hundred thousand victims. Where to begin?… Within a few minutes the wounded people began to appear, like walking ghosts, with their skin torn and their bodies covered with boils and red and violet spots… All of them had expressions of horror on their faces, as if they had just escaped from hell… It was an uninterrupted flow of half-burned bodies stumbling forward…
After taking care of the most urgent medical problems, <I> prepared to celebrate Mass… The half-destroyed chapel was full of shuddering sick people who were lying next to one another on the ground; they were suffering terribly and writhing in pain. I began the Mass as best I could in the midst of that human mass that had not the slightest idea of what was happening on the altar. I will never forget the horrible impression I had when I turned toward them at the Dominus vobiscum and contemplated that spectacle from the altar. I could not utter a word. I was as if paralyzed, with my arms stretched open, beholding that human tragedy… They looked at me with anguish-filled eyes, with desperation, as if they were hoping that some consolation would reach them from the altar. What a terrible scene that was! A few minutes later, the One of whom John the Baptist said, “In the midst of you is one whom you do not know” came down on the altar.

I have never felt again as I felt then the sadness of the unbelievers’ incomprehension regarding Jesus Christ. Their Savior was there among them, the one who had given his life for them… but they did not know that he was in the midst of them. I was the only one who knew it. From my lips came spontaneously a prayer for those who had had the savage cruelty to drop the atomic bomb: “Lord, forgive them for they know not what they do,” and for those who were lying near me, twisting in pain: “Lord, grant them faith […], so that they see; give them the strength to put up with the pain.” When I raised the host’ before those wounded, destroyed bodies, a cry rose from my heart: “My Lord and my God, have pity on this flock that has no Shepherd.” “So that I may believe in you, Lord, remember that they also have to come to know you.”
Torrents of grace no doubt flowed from that host and from that altar. Six months later, when all the patients had recovered and left our house (only two persons died in our care), many of them had been baptized, and all had had the experience of a Christian charity that knows how to understand, help, and console in ways that surpass all human expectation. Such charity had communicated to them a serenity that helped them to smile despite the pain and to pardon even those who had caused their suffering

1 Lamet, Pedro Miguel. Pedro Arrupe: Witness of the Twentieth Century, Prophet of the Twenty-First. Boston College: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2020. 173-175, 177, 179-180.

Vigils Reading - St Cajetan
2023-08-07
ST CAJETAN
From the writings of Alban Butler2
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St Cajetan was son of Caspar, Count of Thiene, of the nobility of Vicenza, where he was born in 1480. Two years later his father was killed, fighting for the Venetians against King Ferdinand of Naples. Cajetan went for four years to Padua University, where he distinguished himself in theology, and took the degree of doctor in civil and canon law in 1504. He then returned to his native town, of which he was made senator. In pursuance of his resolve to serve God as a priest he received the tonsure. In 1506 he went to Rome. Soon after his arrival Pope Julius II conferred on him the office of protonotary… On the death of Julius Cajetan refused his successor’s request to continue in that office, and devoted three years to preparing himself for the priesthood. He was ordained in 1516, being thirty-three years old, and returned to Vicenza in 1518.
Cajetan had re-founded a confraternity in Rome called “The Oratory of the Divine Love”, which was an association of zealous and devout clerics who devoted themselves to labor with all their power to promote God’s honor and the welfare of souls… but consisted only of men in the lowest station of life. This circumstance gave great offence to his friends, who thought it a reflection on the honor of his family. He persisted, however, and sought out the sick and the poor throughout the whole town, served them and cared for those who suffered from the most loathsome diseases in the hospital of the incurables. He founded a similar oratory at Verona and then went in 1520 to Venice where he took up his lodgings in the new hospital of that city… He introduced exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in that city, as well as continuing the promotion of frequent communion.

The state of Christendom at this time shocked and distressed Cajetan, and in 1523 he went back to Rome to confer with his friends of the Oratory of Divine Love. They agreed that little could be done other than by reviving in the clergy the spirit and zeal of those holy pastors who first planted the faith, and a plan was formed for instituting an order of regular clergy upon the model of the lives of the Apostles. The first associates of Cajetan were John Peter Caraffa, who later became pope under the name of Paul IV. The institute was approved by Clement VII, and Caraffa was chosen as the first provost general. From the name of his episcopal see of Theatensis these clerks regular came to be distinguished from others as Theatines.
The success of the new congregation was not immediate, and in 1527, when it still numbered only a dozen members, the army of Emperor Charles V sacked Rome. The Theatines house was demolished and the members had to escape to Venice. Cajetan was sent to Verona, where both the clergy and the laity were opposing the reformation of discipline, which their bishop was endeavoring to introduce among them. A general improvement was the fruit of his example, preaching and labors.
Worn out with trying to appease civil strife in Naples, and disappointed at the suspension of the Council of Trent, from which he hoped so much for the Church’s good, Cajetan had to take to his bed in the summer of 1547. The end came on Sunday, August 7. Many miracles wrought by his intercession were approved at Rome after rigorous scrutiny, and he was canonized in 1671

2 Butler’s Lives of the Saints, revised edition by Michael Walsh, Harper, San Francisco, 1991, pg. 240.

Vigils Reading - St Dominic
2023-08-08
THE SIX VIRTUES OF ST. DOMINIC
From the writings of St Mechthild 3
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On the feast of St. Dominic I prayed to our Lord for the whole Order of Preachers. Our dear Lord deigned to come to me himself and he brought along St. Dominic… Our Lord said: “My son Dominic had four things about him while on earth that all priors should have about them. He loved his fellow Dominicans so much that he could never bear to trouble them with things arising from some whim of his own. The second is that he often improved the food to help and show affection for his brethren, so that the young brothers might not think back on the world and so that the older ones might not succumb on the way. The third is that in holy wisdom he provided for them the model for being moderate, for the sake of God, in their whole being, in all their customs, and in all their wants. The fourth is that he was so merciful that he never wanted to burden his dear brethren with any kind of penance that the order did not require for wrongdoing.”…
After this our dear Lord said: “I love two things in the Order of Preachers so much that my divine heart unceasingly smiles upon it. The first is the holiness of their life; the second is their great value for the church. In addition, they greet my Holy Trinity with seven things. These are: deep sighs, sincere weeping, intense longing, strict discipline, distressful exile, genuine humility, and joyous love.”…
In the Order of Preachers a brother <Heinrich> died on the solemn feast of Easter… After he was buried, a certain person went to where his dead body was and greeted both soul and body. She did this regularly upon the death of religious people. There God celebrated in her soul a divine feast, and his soul was shown to her in God’s embrace in great glory. She saw clearly that his glory was not yet complete, and she asked our Lord how long he was going to remain like that and whether he had suffered at all in purgatory. Our Lord said: “He shall remain like this for a week.” That is, seven days and seven nights. He had rested himself on God’s breast in untold bliss of spiritual fervor that he had not experienced on earth. Very quickly had he come there without suffering, just as a mother takes up her dear child out of the ashes onto her lap…

Then he invited me to his feast, where he was going to receive his glory. The whole heavenly army prepared for it and joined together in a beautiful procession. St. Dominic came with a whole throng. They were all preachers, and they all wore the golden crowns of those who died in the order, crowns that differed in value according to how holy they had been in the order. St. Dominic brought a shining crown toward Brother Heinrich that sparkled as beautifully as the sun at its brightest. He gave it to him as a reward from God, because he had followed his holy example in the Dominican order. St. Dominic is indescribably more beautiful than the others because he receives a special honor from each brother as a reward. I saw him especially well clothed because of three qualities. He wears a white garment of innate purity; in addition, a green garment of growing wisdom of God, and also a red garment decorated with clasps because he had suffered spiritual martyrdom. They carry a military standard displaying the order’s honor, one that no one else carries…
Our Lord sat in his omnipotence and crowned this brother with three kinds of honors. They were simple obedience, voluntary poverty, constant humiliation. Brother Heinrich thanked our Lord thus: “I thank you, Lord, that you found me, preserved me, and received me.” He then bowed to our Lord and turned to his brothers. St. Dominic said: “Welcome, dear son, now enter into the glory of your Lord!

3 St Mechthild of Magdeburg. The Flowing Light of the Godhead. Trans. Frank Tobin. New York: Paulist Press, 1998. 164-167.

Vigils Reading - St Teresa Benedicta
2023-08-09
I WILL REMAIN WITH YOU
From the writings of Edith Stein (St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) 4
◊◊◊
You reign at the Father’s right hand in the kingdom of his eternal glory as God’s Word from the beginning. You reign on the Almighty’s throne also in transfigured human form, ever since the completion of your work on earth. I believe this because your word teaches me so, and because I believe, I know it gives me joy, and blessed hope blooms forth from it. For where you are, there also are your own. Heaven is my glorious homeland, I share with you the Father’s throne.
The Eternal who made all creatures, Who, thrice holy, encompasses all being, in addition has a silent, special kingdom of his own. The innermost chamber of the human soul is the Trinity’s favorite place to be, His heavenly throne on earth. To deliver this heavenly kingdom from the hand of the enemy, the Son of God has come as Son of Man, He gave his blood as the price of deliverance.
In the heart of Jesus, which was pierced, the kingdom of heaven and the land of earth are bound together. Here is for us the source of life. This heart is the heart of the triune Divinity, and the center of all human hearts that bestows on us the life of God. It draws us to itself with secret power, it conceals us in itself in the Father’s bosom and floods us with the Holy Spirit. This Heart, it beats for us in a small tabernacle where it remains mysteriously hidden in that still, white host.

That is your royal throne on earth, O Lord, which visibly you have erected for us, and you are pleased when I approach it. Full of love, you sink your gaze into mine and bend your ear to my quiet words and deeply fill my heart with peace.
Yet your love is not satisfied with this exchange that could still lead to separation: Your heart requires more. You come to me as early morning’s meal each daybreak. Your flesh and blood become food and drink for me and something wonderful happens. Your body mysteriously permeates mine and your soul unites with mine: I am no longer what once I was.
You come and go, but the seed that you sowed for future glory, remains behind buried in this body of dust. A luster of heaven remains in the soul, a deep glow remains in the eyes, a soaring in the tone of voice. There remains the bond that binds heart to heart, the stream of life that springs from yours and animates each limb. How wonderful are your gracious wonders! All we can do is be amazed and stammer and fall silent because intellect and words fail

4 Stein, Edith. The Collected Works of Edith Stein IV – The Hidden Life: Essays, Meditations, Spiritual Texts. Ed. Dr. L Gelber and Michael Linssen, O.C.D. Trans. Waltraut Stein, PH.D. Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 1992. 141-145.

Vigils Reading - St Lawrence
2023-08-10
CONCERNING BURNED LOVE
From the writings of St Mechthild 5
◊◊◊
“Ah, dear Lord, have mercy on one who has been consumed here in the fire of your love and has been absorbed in your humility and has been annihilated in all things.” God speaks: “My Godhead burned you; My humanity recognized you; My Holy Spirit sanctified you in your poverty…”
Whenever I think of death… my desire reaches back to the time of the martyrs, that I might shed my sinful blood in true Christian faith for the sake of Jesus whom I love. A special gift forces me to dare to state this: that I love God. For whenever vice and suffering come my way, my soul begins to burn in the fire of true love of God with such sweetness that my body floats suspended in divine pleasure. But a sadness remains in my senses, and I pray to God for all who slander me or revile me, that God preserve them from sin…
When I come to die… I shall thank God that I bear the name of Christian and that I came to true Christian faith. And if I were to remain here longer, I would strive to be a help to Holy Christianity that is afflicted with many sins…
An unworthy person pondered in her simplicity God’s nobility. And God let her recognize in her senses and see with the eyes of her soul a fire that burned unceasingly in the heights above all things. The fire had been burning without a beginning and shall keep on burning without end. This fire is God eternal, who holds within himself eternal life and from whom all things have come forth. The sparks of the fire that have shot forth are the holy angels. The bright flickerings of the fire are all the saints of God… The ever-glowing coals of the fire are all the blessed here on earth who are on fire with heavenly love and shine with good example. All those who have grown cold in sin can warm themselves on the coals…

The smoke of the fire is all earthly things that one often makes use of with improper pleasure. How beautifully they shine in our eyes. How wantonly they play in our hearts. And yet they bear hidden within them a great amount of bitterness, for they disappear like smoke and blind the best. They make even the holiest persons bleary-eyed.
The comfort of the fire is the delightful pleasure that our soul receives inwardly from God through the warmth of the divine fire, so sacred that we, on fire, reflect back toward the heavenly fire, and we persevere in virtue so that we are not extinguished. The bitterness of the fire is the word that God shall speak on the last day: “Go from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!” The radiance of the fire is the gleaming sight of the divine countenance of the Holy Trinity that shall flood our body and soul with light, so that we shall see and know there the marvelous bliss that here we cannot even name. These things have come out of this fire and flow back into it, each according to God’s disposition, in eternal praise.
Whoever wishes to speak more about this, Let him prostrate himself in this fire And see and taste how the Godhead flows, How humanity pours,
How the Holy Spirit wrestles
And vanquishes many a heart, Forcing it to love God in many different ways

5 St Mechthild of Magdeburg. The Flowing Light of the Godhead. Trans. Frank Tobin. New York: Paulist Press, 1998. 252-256.

Vigils Reading - St Clare
2023-08-11
THE TESTAMENT OF SAINT CLARE
From “The Life and Writing of St Clare of Assisi6
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Among the many graces which we have received and continue daily to receive from the liberality of the Father of mercies, and for which we must give deepest thanks to our glorious God, our vocation holds first place. Indeed, because it is the more perfect and the greater among these graces, so much the more does it claim our gratitude. Therefore the Apostle says: “Know your vocation”.
The Son of God became for us the Way; and that Way our Blessed Father Francis, His true lover and imitator, has shown and taught us by word and example. For when the Saint as yet had neither Friars nor companions and, shortly after his conversion, was repairing the Church of San Damiano and there, filled completely with divine consolation, was led to abandon the world wholly and forever, in great joy and in the illumination of the Holy Spirit he prophesied concerning us what the Lord later fulfilled. For at that time he mounted the wall of the church and cried with a loud voice… “Come and help me in building the Monastery of San Damiano; for here will dwell Ladies whose good name and holy life will glorify our Heavenly Father throughout His holy Church.”
In this therefore we can behold the great kindness of God toward us, who of the abundance of His mercy and love deigned to speak thus through His Saint of our vocation and election. And it was not of us alone that our most blessed Father prophesied these things, but of all others likewise who were to enter the holy calling to which God has called us. With what solicitude, therefore, and fervor of mind and body must we not observe the commandments of God and of our Father,

that with the help of God we may return to Him with increase the talent He has given us! For the Lord has placed us as an example and mirror not only for other men, but also for our Sisters whom God has called to our way of life, that they in turn should be a mirror and an example to those living in the world.
Since therefore the Lord has called us to such heights of holiness that in us our other Sisters may behold themselves who are to be an example to mankind, we are truly bound to bless the Lord and praise Him and to be strengthened in Him more and more to do good. Wherefore if we live according to the pattern given us, we shall leave others a noble example and after life’s short labor gain the prize of eternal happiness.
After the most high celestial Father had deigned to enlighten my heart by His mercy and grace to do penance after the example and teaching of our most Blessed Father Francis… I voluntarily promised him obedience with the few Sisters whom the Lord had given me… And thus by the will of God and of our most blessed Father Francis we came to dwell at the church of San Damiano. There in a short time the Lord by His mercy and grace increased our number that what He had prophesied through His Saint might come to pass…
For this reason I bend my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that through the prayers and merits of the glorious and holy Virgin Mary, His Mother, and of our most blessed Father Francis and all the Saints, the Lord Himself who has given us a good beginning will give also the increase, and likewise constant perseverance to the end

6 The Life and Writings of Saint Clare of Assisi. St. Bonaventure, NY: The Franciscan Institute, 1953. 82-84, 87.

Vigils Reading - Memorial of B.V.M.
2023-08-12
THE GLORIOUS AND HAPPY TRANSITION OF THE MOST HOLY MARY
From “The Mystical City of God” by Venerable Mary of Agreda7
◊◊◊
The day was approaching in which the true and living Ark of the covenant was to be placed in the temple of the celestial Jerusalem… Three days before the most happy Transition of the great Lady, the Apostles and disciples were gathered in Jerusalem and in the Cenacle. The first one to arrive was saint Peter…
The great Lady came to the entrance of her oratory in order to receive the vicar of Christ our Savior. Kneeling at his feet She asked his blessing and said: “I give thanks and praise to the Almighty, that He has brought to me the holy Father for assisting me in the hour of my death.” Then came saint Paul, to whom the Queen showed the same reverence with similar tokens of her pleasure at seeing him…
The great Lady looked upon them all with her accustomed modesty and reverence and spoke to them as follows: “My dearest children, give permission to your servant to speak in your presence and to disclose my humble desires.” Saint Peter answered that all listened with attention and would obey Her in all things… She then prostrated Herself and kissed the feet of saint Peter as the vicar of Christ… From saint Peter She went to saint John, and kneeling likewise at his feet, said: “Pardon, my son and my master, my not having fulfilled toward thee the duties of a Mother as I ought and as the Lord had commanded me, when from the Cross He appointed thee as my son and me as thy mother. I humbly and from my heart thank thee for the kindness which thou hast shown me as a son. Give me thy benediction for entering into the vision and company of Him who created me.” …

She rose to her feet and addressed them all, saying: “Dearest children and my masters, always have I kept you in my soul and written in my heart. I have loved you with that tender love and charity, which was given to me by my divine Son, whom I have seen in you, his chosen friends. In obedience to his holy and eternal will, I now go to the eternal mansions, where I promise you as a Mother I will look upon you by the clearest light of the Divinity, the vision of which my soul hopes and desires in security. I commend unto you my mother, the Church, the exaltation of the name of the Most High, the spread of the evangelical law, the honor and veneration for the words of my divine Son, the memory of his Passion and Death, the practice of his doctrine. My children, love the Church, and love one another with that bond of charity, which your Master has always inculcated upon you. To thee, Peter, holy Pontiff, I commend my son John and all the rest.”
The words of the most blessed Mary, like arrows of a divine fire, penetrated the hearts of all the Apostles and hearers… All of them wept, and with them wept also the sweetest Mary, who could not resist this bitter and well-founded sorrow of her children…
Only saint John and some of the Apostles were enlightened as to the presence of Christ the Savior, yet the others felt in their interior its divine and powerful effects… Her tunic was folded about her sacred body, her hands were joined and her eyes fixed upon her divine Son, and She was entirely inflamed with the fire of divine love… She pronounced those words of her Son on the Cross: “Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.” Then She closed her virginal eyes and expired

7 Mary of Agreda. City of God – The Coronation. Trans. Fiscar Marison. Washington, NJ: Ave Maria Institute, 1971. 620-626.

Skema:19th Week in Ordinary Time
2023-08-13
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
19th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
August 13 – 19, 2023

Sun
13
Mon
14
Tue
15
Wed
16
Thu
17
Fri
18
Sat
19

Office
19th Sunday
St Maximilian Kolbe
Assumption of the BVM
Weekday
Weekday
Blessed Martyrs of Rochefort
Bl Guerric

Vigils
Josh 2:1-24
Josh 3:1-17
Eph 1:15-2:10
Josh 4:1-24
Josh 5:1-15
Josh 6:1-27
Josh 7:1-26

Lauds
Hos 8:8-14
Hos 9:1-9
1 Chron 15:1-4, 14-16, 25-28; 16:1-2
Hos 9:10-17
Hos 10:1-8
Hos 10:9-15
Hos 11:1-7

Mass
115
413
622
415
416
417
418

1st
1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-13a
Deut 10:12-22
Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a; 10ab
Deut 34:1-12
Josh 3:7-10a, 11, 13-17
Josh 24:1-13
Josh 24:14-29

2nd
Rom 9:1-5

1 Cor 15:20-27

Gospel
Matt 14:22-33
Matt 17:22-27
Luke 1:39-56
Matt 18:15-20
Matt 18:21-19:1
Matt 19:3-12
Matt 19:13-15

Vespers
1 Tim 6:11-16
Eph 2:1-10
Rom 8:28-39
1 Tim 6:17-21
Titus 1:1-9
Titus 1:10-16
2 Tim 1:6-14

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
2023-08-13
LORD, I AM DROWNING, SAVE ME!
From a commentary by St Augustine 1
◊◊◊
The gospel tells us how Christ the Lord walked upon the waters of the sea,
and how the apostle Peter did the same until fear made him falter and lose
confidence. Then he began to sink and emerged from the water only after calling
on the Lord with renewed faith.
Now we must regard the sea as a symbol of the present world, and the
apostle Peter as a symbol of the one and only Church. For Peter, who ranked first
among the apostles and was always the most ready to declare his love for Christ,
often acted as a spokesman for them all. For instance, when the Lord Jesus asked
who people thought he was and the other disciples had cited various opinions, it
was Peter who responded to the Lord’s further question, But who do you say that I
am? With the affirmation: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. One replied
for all because all were united.
When we consider Peter as a representative member of the Church we
should distinguish between what was due to God’s action in him and what was
attributable to himself. Then we ourselves shall not falter, then we shall be
founded upon the rock and remain firm and unmoved in the face of the wind, rain,
and floods, which are the trials and temptations of this present world. Look at
Peter, who in this episode is an image of ourselves; at the moment he is all
confidence, at the next all uncertainty and doubt; now he professes faith in the
immortal One, now he fears for his life.
Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you upon the water. When the Lord said:
Come Peter climbed out of the boat and began to walk on the water. This is what
he could do through the power of the Lord; what by himself? Realizing how
violently the wind was blowing, he lost his nerve and as he began to sink he called
out: “Lord, I am drowning, save me. When he counted on the Lord’s help it enabled
him to walk on the water; when human frailty made him falter he turned once
more to the Lord, who immediately stretched out his hand to help him, raised him
up as he was sinking, and rebuked him for his lack of faith.
Think, then, of this world as a sea, whipped up to tempestuous heights by
violent winds. A person’s own private tempest will be his or her unruly desires. If
you love God you will have the power to walk upon the waters, and all the world’s
swell and turmoil will remain beneath your feet. But if you love the world it will
surely engulf you, for it always devours its lovers, never sustains them. If you feel
your foot slipping beneath you, if you become a prey to doubt or realize that you
are losing control, if, in a word, you begin to sink, say: Lord, I am drowning, save
me! Only he who for your sake died in your fallen nature can save you from a death
inherent in that fallen nature.
1
Journey with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press, NY – 1984 – p. 114-115.

St. Maximilian Kolbe
2023-08-14
A MIGHTY EXPLOSION OF LIGHT
From a testimony at the beatification of St Maximilian Kolbe 2
◊◊◊
Fr Kolbe and I worked together in May or June 1941. We were bringing sand up from the Sola River. This was some of Auschwitz’s heaviest work, so our squad had a very hard time indeed. The work itself was very painful; we were lightly and very insufficiently dressed, and yet we had to wade into the cold water to dig the sand. In addition the guards beat us cruelly or sometimes killed prisoners outright. From the first time I saw Father Maximilian I was struck by his dignity and calm, so different from others. In spite of the terrible conditions and bad treatment, he never complained nor did he curse. Instead he tried to comfort the other prisoners and lift our spirits. During the three weeks we worked together, I sometimes saw beat Father Kolbe with a big stick. Each time, Father Kolbe took it without a murmur.
The news of his death was an enormous shock to the whole camp. We became aware someone among us in this spiritual dark night of the soul was raising the standard of love on high. Someone unknown, like everyone else, tortured and bereft of name and social standing, went to a horrible death for the sake of someone not even related to him. Therefore it is not true, we cried, that humanity is cast down and trampled in the mud, overcome by oppressors, and overwhelmed by hopelessness. Thousands of prisoners were convinced the true world continued to exist and that our torturers would not be able to destroy it. More than one individual began to look within himself for this real world, found it, and shared it with his camp companion, strengthening both in this encounter with5 evil. To say that Father Kolbe died for one of us or for that person’s family is too great a simplification. His death was the salvation of thousands. And on this, I would say, rests the greatness of that death. That’s how we felt about it. And as long as we live, we who were at Auschwitz will bow our heads in memory of it as at that time we bowed our head before the bunker of death by starvation. That was a shock full of optimism, regenerating and giving strength; we were stunned by his act, which became for us a mighty explosion of light….
2 Beatificationis et Canonizationis Servi Dei Maximiliani M Kolbe, Sacerdotis Professi Ordinis Fratrum Minor Conventualium, Cracow, 1971, in Patricia Treece, ” A Man For Others”, San Francisco, 1982, pp 139, 178- 179.

Assumption of the BVM
2023-08-15
SHE FOUND HIM WHOM HER SOUL LOVES
From a sermon by St Aelred of Rievaulx 3
◊◊◊
Among all those who are Christ’s, she who tastes his goodness more
intimately and more delicately is of greater excellence, more blessed, and more
attractive. She is to him not only a creature, a handmaid, a friend, and a daughter,
but also a mother. So then it is only right that we welcome her feast with greater
delight and gladness. But today even more we should rejoice with her because
today her joy was completely fulfilled. Great was her joy when the angel greeted
her. Great was her joy when she felt the coming of the Holy Spirit, when that
marvelous fusion of the Son of God with her flesh took place in her womb, so that
he, one and the same, was the Son of God and her Son. Great was her joy when she
held such a Son in her arms, when she listened to his words, when she saw his
miracles. And because her sorrow was so great at the Passion, she took wondrous
joy again in his resurrection and greater still at his ascension. But all these joys
were surpassed by the joy which she receives today.
Up to this day, brothers, Mary, the blessed Mother of God, knew her dearest
Son in the flesh. Although she fastened all her desires and all her love there, where
he was, after her dearest Son and Lord ascended into heaven, so long as she
remained in this corruptible flesh, what she had seen of him in the flesh could not
fade from her memory. For his deeds and words were always coming to her mind
and above all there lingered in her heart the features of his exquisite face. Today,
however, she passed from this world and went up to the heavenly kingdom. There
she began to contemplate his brightness, power, and divinity, and her joy and her
longing were fulfilled. So with good reason could she say: “I have found him whom
my soul loves”. She holds him and she does not let him go…
Today the Blessed Virgin… entered that heavenly court. She saw the white
robes of the virgins, the ruddy crowns of the martyrs, the thrones of the apostles,
and in the midst of them she found her Son reigning. Ascending higher than the
very highest of the saints, she has arrived at such knowledge of the divinity that
she then glories in having found him for the first time.
O blessed soul, who left behind not only the patriarchs and prophets, the
apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, but also the angels… and all heaven’s
array, and so reached her dearest Son. Then she utterly found him whom now her
soul loves utterly. She found him and she held him. She holds him in the embraces
of an utterly perfect love and she can never lose him because she can never love
him any less.
Let us lift up our hearts therefore, brothers, to Our Lady, our Advocate. Let
us reflect on how much hope we have in her. Just as she surpasses every creature
in excellence, so also she is more merciful and kinder than any creature. Let us
then confidently entreat her who can by her excellence assist us and by her mercy
chooses to do so, that she may implore her Son for us so that as he deigned to be
born of her for us, he may through her deign to have mercy on us.
3 Aelred of Rievaulx. The Liturgical Sermons – CF #58 – Cistercian Publications,Kalamazoo – 2001.

Weekday
2023-08-16
IN PRAISE OF THE VIRGIN MARY
From the devotional poems of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 4
◊◊◊
Clear the way for the entrance of the bold adventuress who undoes injustice, who smashes insults. The sun’s rays are her resplendent armor, the stars her helmet, the moon her boots. On her shining shield with which she dazzles hell, a mountain is emblazoned and golden letters: Most beautiful .
Celebrated for her beauty, feared for her ferocity, she is jaunty and valiant, and angelic is her beauty… She dispelled the charms of the ancient serpent whose conspiracy set us under slavery’s yoke. She avenges wrongs and annuls unjust laws, gives refuge to orphans’ and shelter to widows. She liberated prisoners from that prison where, were it not for her daring spirit, still they’d await their release. All hell trembles at the mere mention of her name. And they say its very kings fast on her vigil. She’s the one who bore for us a Lion, whose fierce roar has put to shameful flight the Dragon and his sorcery. Warrior most valiant amid the cheering throng, her service to the Holy Empire entitles her to the imperial crown.
The celebrated champion who with spirit and skill won over the Holy Land, where she triumphs forever. She is the one, whose tread no demon can endure. When he sees her feet, He takes to his heels.
Crowned with glory and honor, the deeds that brought her fame, since they cannot be contained on earth, send her riding out of this world.
As knight errant of the spheres on a new adventure, she finds the hidden treasure sought by so many. There with a certain virtue secretly sheltering her, she is assured of life eternal. She comes just in time, and it would be only just, for her not to die like the others who lived like no other.
4 Sor Juana Inén de la Cruz. Selected Writings. Trans. Pamela K. Rapparport. New York: Paulist Press, 2005. 45, 49-51.

Weekday
2023-08-17
A BRIGHT CLOUD OF SPIRITUALITY
RISING FROM EVERY HOME AND EVERY HEART
From the writing of Servant of God Dolindo Ruotolo 5
◊◊◊
I am writing to you in the light of the Holy Rosary, the prayer that brings us
so close to Our Lord. With this prayer… Mary Most Holy comes to meet Christians
in the same way that she meets them at Lourdes, Fatima, Tre-Fontane and any
other place where She appeared. She comes with all the riches of the mysteries of
the Life, Passion, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord. Do we not honor the wheat
that is used for the Sacrament of the Eucharist? The Rosary is a granary of Graces.
Do we not honor the grapes used for… the Eucharist? The Rosary is the vineyard
that produces the fruits of Jesus and Mary. It has been and still is the vineyard of
God and the fullness of life for us.
Mary Most Holy wanted the beads to be called a Rosary, that is, a rosebush.
Roses bloom in the mild weather, but they remain in bloom all year round. The
same is true of the Rosary for Christian people. The Rosary is newly born every
day. It is a rosebush that we daily offer to God, much as incense was offered to God,
on an altar of gold, in ancient times… It is a heavenly garland of precious pearls, in
which every part affords a treasure of Indulgences and assurance of mercy for the
merits of Jesus and Mary…
Who can recall well the Mysteries of our Redemption without the Rosary?
The secret of our interior life is in the recalling of the mysteries… Amid the
disharmony of our chaotic lives, the Rosary is the instrument, the harp or the
psaltery with its ten chords for each group of harmonies. With the Rosary we
continually raise a song of love from earth… It is a bright cloud of spirituality, rising
from every home and every heart. Does not the harpist play music written by a
master? Does he not go over it again and again, with his finger on the chords,
making the sweet sounds, written from the heart and produced by the press of his
fingers? Well then, so do we. We recite the Rosary going over the keys of love
flowering from the life of Jesus and Mary in the mysteries of their life. On the beads
of the Rosary we sing those canticles of love that redeemed us.
As an army has its march music, marking the time for the soldiers, so does
the Rosary lovingly mark time for the Church Militant. It is like the clashing of the
trumpets accompanying the siege of Jericho and it shook its walls to the
foundation…
O Most Holy Rosary, the incense kindled by Mary Most Holy, you are the
fragrance mixed by Her with the art of master, because the Joyful, Sorrowful,
Luminous and Glorious Mysteries raise a fragrant cloud of the prayer. O Most Holy
Rosary, may your flowers bloom on the desolate flowerbeds of unbelievers and let
simple and lively Faith come to bloom again.
5 Ruotolo, Dolindo. Meditations on the Holy Rosary of Mary. Trans. Giovanna Invitti Ellis. Selfpublished online, 2006. www.donlindo.org. Accessed: April 20, 2022.

Blessed Martyrs of Rochefort
2023-08-18
AN EXCERPT FROM THE ENCYCLICAL “SALVIFICI DOLORIS”
by Pope St John Paul II 6
◊◊◊
The Cross of Christ throws salvific light, in a most penetrating way, on man’s
life and in particular on his suffering. For through faith the Cross reaches
man together with the Resurrection: the mystery of the Passion is contained in the
Paschal Mystery. The witnesses of Christ’s Passion are at the same time witnesses
of his Resurrection. Paul writes: “That I may know him (Christ) and the power of
his Resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that
if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead”. Truly, the Apostle first
experienced the “power of the Resurrection” of Christ, on the road to Damascus,
and only later, in this paschal light, reached that ” sharing in his sufferings”…
The witnesses of the Cross and Resurrection were convinced that “through
many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God”… Thus to share in the
sufferings of Christ is, at the same time, to suffer for the Kingdom of God. In the
eyes of the just God, before his judgment, those who share in the suffering of Christ
become worthy of this Kingdom. Through their sufferings… they repay the infinite
price of the Passion and death of Christ, which became the price of our
Redemption: at this price the Kingdom of God has been consolidated anew in
human history, becoming the definitive prospect of man’s earthly existence. Christ
has led us into this Kingdom through his suffering…
To the prospect of the Kingdom of God is linked hope in that glory which has
its beginning in the Cross of Christ… If, in fact, the Cross was to human eyes
Christ’s emptying of himself, at the same time it was in the eyes of God his being
lifted up. On the Cross, Christ attained and fully accomplished his mission: by
fulfilling the will of the Father, he at the same time fully realized himself. In
weakness he manifested his power, and in humiliation he manifested all his
messianic greatness. Are not all the words he uttered during his agony on Golgotha
a proof of this greatness, and especially his words concerning the perpetrators of
his crucifixion: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”? To those
who share in Christ’s sufferings these words present themselves with the power
of a supreme example…
In the Paschal Mystery Christ began the union with man in the community of
the Church. The mystery of the Church is expressed in this: that already in the act
of Baptism, which brings about a configuration with Christ, and then through his
Sacrifice—sacramentally through the Eucharist—the Church is continually being
built up spiritually as the Body of Christ. In this Body, Christ wishes to be united
with every individual, and in a special way he is united with those who suffer…
Christ has in a sense opened his own redemptive suffering to all human suffering.
In so far as man becomes a sharer in Christ’s sufferings—in any part of the world
and at any time in history—to that extent he in his own way completes the suffering
through which Christ accomplished the Redemption of the world… Only within
this radius and dimension of the Church as the Body of Christ, which continually
develops in space and time, can one think and speak of “what is lacking” in the
sufferings of Christ.
6 Pope John Paul II. Salvifici Doloris. Part 21. www.holysee.org. Accessed: August 11, 2023.

Blessed Guerric of Igny
2023-08-19
ALL GENERATIONS WILL CALL HER BLESSED
From a sermon by Blessed Guerric of Igny 7
◊◊◊
“Mary has chosen the best part.” This was said of Mary, the sister of
Martha, but it was realized… with greater fullness and holiness in Mary, Mother of
the Lord. For… the blessed Virgin Mary chose the best part; or rather she entered…
into unending possession of what she had chosen long before: to keep close to the
Lord, to be inseparable from him, and to enjoy God’s Word for all eternity.
After her Son ascended to where he was before, the mother, released from
all temporal anxiety and more fully enlightened by the Holy Spirit, rejoiced to be
still and see that Jesus is God. A vision of wholly ineffable joy and supreme delight
for all who love Jesus, but before all others for her who gave birth to Jesus. As the
grace of giving birth to God was conferred on her apart from all others, so was the
privilege of glorying in him to whom she gave birth. Altogether her own and
without comparison was the glory of the Virgin Mother, to see God the King of all
in the diadem of the flesh with which she crowned him, so as to recognize God and
adore him in her own body and see her own body glorified in God. These are the
truths which in the meantime Mary rejoiced to contemplate, this is the best part
which she has chosen, which… has not been taken away from her but brought to
perfection in her. For since she was not careless or remiss in Martha’s work she
has not been left without Mary’s fruit. Toil is in action, fruit or reward in
contemplation.
We say these things to you, brethren, so that if you feel a desire for that best
part which is praised in Mary, you may know that it is the reward of the one who
cannot be reproached for failing to do Martha’s part: it is not right that reward
should be sought before merit. It behooves Jacob first to be united with Leah
before enjoying Rachel’s embraces; and he himself has to be called and to be Jacob
before becoming Israel. “If they will make you master of the feast,” says the Wise
Man, “make good provision for the guests, and so take your place among them; your
duty done, recline at ease and rejoice on their account and receive the crown that
marks their favor.” The toil involved in work or the anxieties of administration are
seeds of justice, through which joys are to be reaped from the fruit of consoling
mercy. For so the Prophet says: “Sow for yourselves in justice, reap from the fruit of
mercy”. But one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and one who sows
with a blessing will also reap with a blessing.
No one to be sure sowed with so generous a blessing as she who was blessed
among women and brought forth blessed seed from her womb. So let Mary reap
her blessings; let her who sowed the blessing of all nations receive in a way all her
own the blessing of all nations. “All generations,” she says, “will call me blessed.”
7
“Fourth Sermon for the Assumption,” Liturgical Sermons, vol. 2 (Cistercian Fathers Series 32),
Spencer MA: Cistercian Publications, 1971, pp. 186-191.

Cleveland LCG Meeting
2023-08-19 14:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
Cleveland LCG Meeting
August 19th at 2:00 pm
Place: St. Martin of Tours/zoom

Skema
2023-08-20
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
20th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
August 20 – 26 2023

Sun
20
Mon
21
Tue
22
Wed
23
Thu
24
Fri
25
Sat
26

Office
St Bernard
St Pius X
Queenship of BVM
St Rose of Lima
St Bartholomew
Office for Vocations
Weekday

Vigils
Sir 50:5-20
Josh 8:1-29
Josh 8:30-9:2
Josh 9:3-27
Gen 28:10-22
Josh 10:1-15
Josh 10:16-27

Lauds
Sir 39:6-11
Hos 11:8-11
Hos 12:1-7
Hos 12:8-15
Deut 18:15-19
Hos 13:1-8
Hos 13:9-14:1

Mass
641, 660, 574
419
420, 627
421
629
423
424

1st
Wis 7:7-10, 15-16
Judg 2:11-19
Judg 6:11-24a
Judg 9:6-15
Rev 21:9b-14
Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22
Ruth 2:1-3, 8-11; 4:13-17

2nd
Phil 3:17-4:1

Gospel
Matt 5:13-19
Matt 19:16-22
Luke 1:26-38
Matt 20:1-16
Jn 1:45-51
Matt 22:34-40
Matt 23:1-12

Vespers
1 Jn 2:12-17
Titus 2:1-10
Titus 2:11-15
Titus 3:1-9
1 Peter 5:1-11
Tit 3us:11-15
Philem 1-11

Vigils Reading - St Bernard
2023-08-20
BERNARD’S WIDENING MISSION
From the “Vita prima” by William of Saint-Thierry 1 ◊◊◊
Bernard was beloved by God and mankind. In that valley of his and in the local towns and regions that he was often obliged to visit for the requirements of the house, he blossomed with his virtuous deeds and miracles. Then he began to be drawn farther afield into distant places either because of the common needs of the church or the love of the brothers, or by obedience to superiors, or else to bring back peace so desperately needed and restore it between churches and secular princes in discord with one another… and by the power of faith to make possible many things that seemed impossible to the spirit of the world; as it were by moving mountains…
His powerful preaching began especially to shine out to such an extent that he even softened the hardhearted among his hearers, so that he hardly ever returned empty handed. After a while he became so remarkably proficient in his sermons and in his exemplary way of life that he was like a net for the word of God in the hand of a fisherman, so great was the quantity of rational fish that he began to catch. From each of these captures the boat of the house of God seemed to be filled. Briefly, then, it came about that what this little-known and ailing man, at death’s door and strong only in speech, did in this life was a greater miracle than all his other miracles.
At that time Clairvaux (in name and in reality a Clear Valley), that valley whose light radiated with divine brilliance as if from the peaks, was spreading its vigor down into the sloping plains of the world… From a valley within narrow limits it has grown exceedingly wide and spacious into a cloistered dwelling… growing rapidly and increasing in numbers, so that now this place is too cramped for the great number of

those abiding there… From all sides the brothers are sought after and sent, since the kings of the nations and princes of the church reckon themselves blessed, as do the cities and regions everywhere, if they can merit to increase in renown by having a company from that house and regime of the man of God…
God’s fisherman, then, did not fail to let down his net for capturing fish at the Lord’s command, and while some turned away and others followed their own path, the full tally of that holy congregation never lessened. To this very day, those catches of his have come and amazingly are still coming from Châlons, from Paris, from Mainz, from Liège, and from many other cities. From other regions too: Flanders, Germany, Italy, Aquitaine. Wherever he goes, for whatever reason, or wherever he is needed, or where still to this day the man of God is required to visit, wherever he goes he comes back full, totally supported by the grace of the Holy Spirit. This fullness accompanies him everywhere.
Nor does he forget those he has sent elsewhere, but wherever they are he himself always preserves fatherly concern over them. Just as rivers return to the place from which they arise, so either his sons’ glad news or their sorrowful news comes back to him daily. Often what is happening among them is made known to him from his fatherly concern for them, by divine intuition without any human contact, though they are far away from him. If anything is provided, if anything is to be corrected among them, their temptations or their extravagances, sicknesses or death, or any intrusion of worldly troubles, he knows. So he often enjoins on those at home prayers for certain needs of absent brothers. Sometimes even those dying in far-off places make known to him through vision that he should come to them, asking him for his blessing and indeed for permission to die. This is done out of obedience in those being sent and love in the one who sends them

1 William of Saint-Thierry. The First Life of Bernard of Clairvaux. CF 66. Trans. Hilary Costello, OCSO. Collegeville, Minnesota: Cistercian Publications, 2015. 64-67.

Compline August 20th at 7:25 pm
2023-08-20 19:25 - 20:00
Compline zoom link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/3917499727

Vigils Reading - St Pius X
2023-08-21
AN EXCERPT FROM “CERBO NIMIS”
An encyclical on the teaching of Christian Doctrine by St Pius X 2
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Those who still are zealous for the glory of God are seeking the causes and reasons for this decline in religion. Coming to a different explanation, each points

out, according to his own view, a different plan for the protection and restoration of the kingdom of God on earth… While we should not overlook other considerations, We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and, as it were, infirmity of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found above all in ignorance of things divine…
The Apostle Paul… places the foundation of holiness and sound morals upon a knowledge of divine things – which holds in check evil desires: “See to it therefore, brethren, that you walk with care: not as unwise but as wise. . . Therefore, do not become foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is…
All this becomes evident on a little reflection. Christian teaching reveals God and His infinite perfection with far greater clarity than is possible by the human

faculties alone. Nor is that all. This same Christian teaching also commands us to honor God by faith, which is of the mind, by hope, which is of the will, by love, which is of the heart; and thus the whole man is subjected to the supreme Maker and Ruler of all things. The truly remarkable dignity of man as the son of the heavenly Father, in Whose image he is formed, and with Whom he is destined to live in eternal happiness, is also revealed only by the doctrine of Jesus Christ. From this very dignity, and from man’s knowledge of it, Christ showed that men should love one another as brothers, and should live here as become children of light, “not

of revelry and drunkenness, not in debauchery and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy.”
He also bids us to place all our anxiety and care in the hands of God, for He will provide for us; He tells us to help the poor, to do good to those who hate us, and to prefer the eternal welfare of the soul to the temporal goods of this life.

Without wishing to touch on every detail, nevertheless is it not true that the proud man is urged and commanded by the teaching of Christ to strive for humility, the source of true glory? “Whoever, therefore, humbles himself. . . he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
From that same teaching we learn prudence of the spirit, and thereby we avoid prudence of the flesh; we learn justice, by which we give to every man his due; fortitude, which prepares us to endure all things and with steadfast heart suffer all things for the sake of God and eternal happiness; and, last of all, temperance through which we cherish even poverty borne out of love for God, nay, we even glory in the cross itself, unmindful of its shame. In fine, Christian teaching not only bestows on the intellect the light by which it attains truth, but from it our will draws that ardor by which we are raised up to God and joined with Him in the

practice of virtue

2 Pope St. Pius X. Cerbo Nimis. www.holysee.org. Accessed: August 16, 2023.

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Vigils Reading - Queenship of BVM
2023-08-22
THE WAY OF DIVINE LOVE
From a mystical dialogue between the Virgin Mary and Sr. Josefa Menéndez 3
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Our Lady appeared in all her beauty… “Daughter,” she replied…”do not be afraid, for <the devil> can only do one thing, that is, give you opportunities of increasing your merit. Do you not know that I am watching over you and that Jesus will never abandon you?”… A thrill of joy transfused the face of Our Lady, as she recalled the beatitude of the eternal present she now possessed, and stooping to her child’s lowliness, she related to her something of the earthly pilgrimage which led her from the shadow of its sorrows to the effulgence of never-ending bliss… She said… ‘during the whole of my life in this world my soul was transpierced by a sword of grief.’
I asked her… if the presence of the Child Jesus, so small and so lovely, had not been the best of consolations? “Listen, child,'” Our Lady went on. “From childhood I knew of divine things and the hopes centred in the coming of the Messiah. So when the Angel declared the mystery of the Incarnation to me, and I found myself chosen as the Mother of the Redeemer of mankind, though my heart adhered to the divine will with entire submission, it was drowned in a sea of bitterness and woe. For I knew all that this tender and heavenly Child was destined to endure, and Simeon’s prophecy only confirmed the anguish of my mother’s heart.
Can you, then, imagine how I felt while contemplating My Son’s charms, His heavenly countenance, His hands, and feet which I knew were to be so cruelly ill- treated? I kissed those little hands, and felt my lips already stained with the Precious Blood that one day would gush from their wounds. I kissed His feet, and already saw them nailed to the Cross. And as I carefully tended His hair, I pictured it all clotted with Blood and entangled in the cruel thorns. And when at Nazareth, He first ventured on a few steps, hastening with outstretched arms to meet me, my tears fell as I pictured them extended on the Cross on which He was to die.

“When He reached boyhood, He was so divinely beautiful that none could contemplate Him unmoved. . . yet in my heart, the heart of a mother, the sword was turned at the thought of the tortures that were to be inflicted on Him, of which I felt beforehand the savage recoil. Then He left me for three years during His apostolic life, and there followed the terrible hours of His Passion and Death. What a martyrdom! When after three days I saw Him in the glory of His risen life the trial changed, for I knew that He could suffer no more. but O! how sad it was to part from Him! My sole relief then lay in consoling Him, by repairing for the sins of men. And my long exile began…
“I was about to enter my seventy-third year, when my soul passed like a flash from earth to heaven. At the end of three days the Angels fetched my body and brought it in triumph and jubilation to reunite it to my soul. What adoration! What admiration! What sweetness, when at long last my eyes beheld in glory His Majesty surrounded by the angelic choirs… my Son… my God! And how, daughter, can I express the amazement of my lowliness when I was crowned with such gifts and overwhelmed with jubilations and rejoicings? . . . Sorrow had indeed passed away, never to return. For all eternity, glory, sweetness, and love were mine.’ Our Lady spoke with enthusiasm… yet all her words still mirrored sweetest humility.
There was silence for a short time, for Our Lady seemed absorbed by the recollection of that marvellous entry into heaven. Then once more turning to Josefa, and looking lovingly upon her, she said: “All things pass away, daughter, and bliss is everlasting. Suffer and love. My Son will soon crown your efforts and labours. Do not fear, He and I both love you!

3 Sister Josefa Menéndez. The Way of Divine Love. Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Press, 1950. 407-410.

Vigils Reading - St Rose of Lima
2023-08-23
HER GARDEN-CELL
From the life of St Rose of Lima 4
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Rose had always loved solitude: it was a natural and supernatural attraction to her; and even in her childish days she had persuaded her favourite brother Ferdinand… to help her in building a sort of little arbour in the garden where she could go and hide when she wanted to pray unseen… This little hermitage, as she called it, was built only of light branches, with interwoven palm-leaves, and leant against the garden wall… probably a mere boy’s construction, though used by the Saint for many years as her oratory…
But when the days of more serious usefulness in the household came… the childish resort had to be deserted… It proved, however, to have been only a forestalling… When the great question of her following the call of God to a single life, and giving up the world, was settled… the thought of her old hermitage revived in her, and she began to conceive a strong wish for a refuge of the same kind more suited to her present years and circumstances…
She told her mother how earnestly she desired leave and opportunity to be more alone, and begged to be allowed to build a regular little cell for herself at the bottom of the garden, where she might spend her days with her prayers… Marie de Flores at first flatly refused to listen to such a request, and to allow her daughter to bury herself alive, as she expressed it. Rose, however, did not despair; but… had recourse to Our Lady… in her favourite Rosary Chapel; and this time she was bold enough to beg Our Lord to give her some special sign…

She obtained it in a wonderful way: for a favourite coral Rosary of hers, which she had begged the sacristan of the Chapel to hang round the Madonna’s neck, and which he had placed there with great trouble, the statue being so high up that he had to climb a ladder to reach it, was found, after being there two days, miraculously moved from the Mother’s neck and placed on the hand of her Divine Infant. This of course showed the holy girl at once that her wish was pleasing to God… and accordingly she went and asked her confessor… to go and intercede for her with her mother. This time Marie de Flores gave in at once; and Rose began the construction of her cell the very next morning… It was finished in a day or two, was made of wood, and was five feet long and four wide; it had one little window… When <her confessor> saw the cell he remarked on its smallness with some wonder. “It is large enough”, said Rose, “for the Beloved of my soul and me”.
Within these narrow walls, then, till within about three years of her death, we must picture Rose of St. Mary as leading the chief part of her daily life… Rose left her cell… for three objects only: to go to church, to help sick friends or relations, and to visit or find out poor and miserable women, whom she made it one of her duties and pleasures to nurse or relieve.
When, at sunrise, she crossed the garden to get to her hermitage, she would call upon all Nature to glorify the Maker of all things with her. Then might the trees be seen bowing over her path, shaking off the dewdrops, and rustling their leaves so as to send forth harmonious sounds. Then would the flowers sway gracefully on their stalks, half opening their petals to give out their sweetest fragrance, and so in their own way celebrate the praises of God… A friend, taken by Rose one day across the garden with her at dawn . . . was witness of this extraordinary sight, and of what was to her still more astonishing, the quiet way in which her companion took it. The Saint saw her bewilderment, but simply said, “Do you think, Sister, that anyone can honour the Maker of the world enough?

4 Capes, F. M. St. Rose of Lima: The Flower of the New World. London: R. & T. Washbourne, LTD, 1913. 101-105, 115-116.

Vigils Reading - St Bartholomew
2023-08-24
THE WEAKNESS OF GOD IS STRONGER THAN MEN
From a homily by St John Chrysostom 5
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It was clear through unlearned men that the cross was persuasive, in fact, it persuaded the whole world. Their discourse was not of unimportant matters but of God and true religion, of the Gospel way of life and future judgment, yet it turned plain, uneducated men into philosophers. How the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and his weakness stronger than men!
In what way is it stronger? It made its way throughout the world and overcame all men; countless men sought to eradicate the very name of the Crucified, but that name flourished and grew ever mightier. Its enemies lost out and perished; the living who waged war on a dead man proved helpless. Therefore, when a Greek tells me I am dead, he shows only that he is foolish indeed, for I, whom he thinks a fool, turn out to be wiser than those reputed wise. So too, in calling me weak, he but shows that he is weaker still. For the good deeds which tax-collectors and fishermen were able to accomplish by God’s grace, the philosophers, the rulers, the countless multitudes cannot even imagine.
Paul had this in mind when he said: The weakness of God is stronger than men. That the preaching of these men was indeed divine is brought home to us in the same way. For how otherwise could twelve uneducated men, who lived on lakes and rivers and wastelands, get the idea for such an immense enterprise? How could men who per- haps had never been in a city or a public square think of setting out to do battle with the whole world? That they were fearful, timid men, the evangelist makes clear; he did not reject the fact or try to hide their

weaknesses. Indeed he turned these into a proof of the truth. What did he say of them? That when Christ was arrested, the others fled, despite all the miracles they had seen, while he who was leader of the others denied him!
How then account for the fact that these men who in Christ’s lifetime did not stand up to the attacks by the Jews, set forth to do battle with the whole world once Christ was dead — if, as you claim, Christ did not rise and speak to them and rouse their courage? Did they perhaps say to themselves: “What is this? He could not save him- self but he will protect us? He did not help himself when he was alive, but now that he is dead he will extend a helping hand to us? In his lifetime he brought no nation under his banner, but by uttering his name we will win over the whole world?” Would it not be wholly irrational even to think such thoughts, much less to act upon them?
It is evident, then, that if they had not seen him risen and had proof of his power, they would not have risked so much

5 (Hom.4. 3.4: PG 61, 34-36). Found in – The Liturgy of the Hours: Vol. 4 – Ordinary Time Weeks 18-34. New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1975. 1344-1346.

Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
2023-08-25
TO A MONK ENTERING THE ARENA OF COMBAT
From the letters of Elder Joseph the Hesychast 5
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Rejoice in the Lord, beloved child, whom the grace of my Jesus has enlightened and delivered from the world; who has flown to the wilderness and dwelt in a monastery with a holy synodia, and now glorifies and thanks God with all his soul. Divine grace, my child, is like bait which enters the soul and without coercion attracts a person toward higher and superior things. It knows how to catch us rational fish and to pull us out of the sea of the world. But then what? Once God takes the monastic aspirant out of the world and brings him to the wilderness, He doesn’t immediately show him his passions and the temptations, until he becomes a monk and Christ binds him with His fear. Then the trial, the struggle, and the fight begin.
If a novice exerts himself from the beginning and lights his torch of asceticism with his struggles before it is too late, it will not go out when grace withdraws and temptations come. Otherwise, when grace does withdraw, he will return to his previous state. Then, corresponding to the passions he had in the world, temptations will arise and will revive his former habits which used to enslave him because he used to cater to them.
First of all, my child, know that there are great differences from man to man and monk to monk… For from the beginning of creation He separated men into three classes: He gave five talents to one, two to another, and one to the other. The first one has the highest gifts: he has greater mental capacity and is called “taught by God,” because he receives teachings from God without a teacher, just like St. Anthony the Great, St. Onouphrios, St. Mary of Egypt, Cyril Phileotes, Luke of Steirion, and thousands of others in the old days who became perfect without a guide. The second

type of person has to be taught what is good in order to do it. And the third one, even if he hears, even if he learns, he hides it in the ground: he doesn’t do anything.
So that is why there is such a big difference among the people and monks that you see. And that is why first and foremost you must “know thyself.” That is, know who you really are in truth, and not what you imagine you are. With this knowledge you become the wisest man. With this kind of awareness, you reach humility and receive grace from the Lord. However, if you don’t obtain self-knowledge, but consider only your toil, know that you will always remain far from the path. The prophet does not say, “Behold, O Lord, my toil,” but says, “Behold my humility and my toil.” Toil is for the body, and humility is for the soul. Moreover, the two together, toil and humility, are for the whole man.
Who has conquered the devil? He who knows his own weaknesses, passions, and shortcomings. Whoever is afraid of knowing himself remains far from knowledge, and he doesn’t love anything else except seeing faults in others and judging them. He doesn’t see gifts in other people, but only shortcomings. And he doesn’t see his own shortcomings, but only his gifts. This is truly the sickness that plagues us men… we fail to recognize one another’s gifts. One person may lack many things, but many people together have everything. What one person lacks, another person has. If we acknowledged this, we would have a great deal of humility, because God, Who adorned men in many ways and showed inequality in all of his creations, is honored and glorified; not as the unbelievers say, who toil trying to bring equality by overturning the divine creation. God made all things in wisdom.
Therefore, my child, now that it is still the beginning, see to it that you know yourself well, so that you set humility as a firm foundation. See to it that you learn obedience and acquire the prayer

5 Elder Joseph the Hesychast. Monastic Wisdom – The Letters of Elder Joseph the Hesychast. Florence, AZ: St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery, 1998. 47-51.

Vigils Reading
2023-08-26
WE OUGHT TO LIVE AS HE LIVED
From a homily by Isaac of Stella 6
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Those born of God are pronounced divine in the words, “Gods you are, I myself have declared it.” Man is born of man, yet mortal man may, through what belongs essentially to his nature, shun the devil and his works lest he be there forever, and go over wholly to God, with whom alone “it shall be well with him.” In other words, man must shun the devil and what is the devil’s; man must return to himself and be content with his limitations; man’s destiny is to ascend to God and grow divinely rich.
The devil’s children are, indeed, all of them blind. “Their malice has so darkened their minds” that even when prosperous they regard themselves as paupers. They simply cannot see how readily their bodily needs are satisfied. They are deaf also, deaf to God’s voice, even when it promises that “those who fear him never go wanting.” They are deaf and therefore they keep toiling for what is useless! It is for you, dear friends, to keep your eyes on your heaven-sent Teacher. He not only became man for man’s salvation, he became man for man’s instruction. He would strip man of the devil’s livery and clothe him with divineness.
We ought to live as he lived, he whose birth, whose life, whose death were those of one truly poor. The worth of our confidence, after all, depends on whether our life in this world is like his, on whether we behave as he behaved and so make good our claim to be dwelling in him. The spirit of Fear made him so lowly that, though he was God, he subjected himself to men. “He lived in subjection to them,” the text says. He was so meek, owing to the spirit of Piety, as to be undisturbed amid the wrongs he suffered. He had good reason to refer most specially to these two virtues of his in the words, “Learn from me; I am meek and humble of heart.” Thanks to the spirit of knowledge he was so compassionate and largehearted that “when he caught sight of the city,” the city that would have none of him, “he wept over it.” His enemies were unable to disturb his meekness, but for a friend of his he lovingly distressed himself, he sighed deeply and wept over him.

The spirit of Fortitude gave him such love for justice that for its sake, though it cost him his life, he spoke out, he made no exceptions, he pronounced woe after woe on Scribe and Pharisee, and on Lawyer as well. Full of the mercy that comes the spirit of Counsel, he did not spare himself, “but gave his life as a ransom for the lives of many,” gave proof of love than which there is no greater. The spirit of Understanding bestowed on him a heart so clean that his holy soul, more clearly than any other creature, perceived him to whom it was joined, God. Such peace is his, through the spirit of Wisdom, that in his person all are established in peace with God. He is the only begotten Son by his very nature; his spiritual union with God makes him “the first-born among many brethren.”
Let this man, my brethren, be “your one teacher, Christ,” this man who is, for your sake, “a scroll written on the inside of the page and on the outside.” Read of this man by reading him, learn from him by learning him. Copy from this pattern the pattern both on the inside and on the outside of yourselves, in your interior and in your behavior. Your lives should teach others to live as he lived. That is why we are told, “Glorify and carry God about in your bodies.” May he himself make us this very gift

6 Isaac of Stella. Sermons on the Christian Year: Volume One. Trans. Hugh McCaffery. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1979. 69-71.

Skema
2023-08-27
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
21st Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
August 27 – September 2, 2023

Sun
27
Mon
28
Tue
29
Wed
30
Thu
31
Fri
1
Sat
2

Office
21st Sunday
St Augustine
Martyrdom of St John Baptist
SS Warren & Amodeus
Weekday
Weekday
Memorial of BVM

Vigils
Josh 10:28-43
Josh 11:1-23
2 Cor 4:7-5:8
Josh 22:1-20
Josh 22:21-34
Josh 23:1-16
Josh 24:1-15

Lauds
Hos 14:2-10
Joel 1:1-8
Wis 3:1-9
Joel 1:9-12
Joel 1:13-20
Joel 2:1-6
Joel 2:7-11

Mass
121
425
634
427
428
429
430

1st
Isa 22:19-23
1 Thess 1:1-5, 8b-10
Jerm 1:17-19
1 Thess 2:9-13
1 Thess 3:7-13
1 Thess 4:1-8
1 Thess 4:9-11

2nd
Rom 11:33-36

Gospel
Matt 16:13-20
Matt 23:13-22
Mark 6:17-29
Matt 23:27-32
Matt 24:42-51
Matt 25:1-13
Matt 25:14-30

Vespers
Philem 12-25
Jas 1:1-11
Acts 13:16-26
Jas 1:12-18
Jas 1:19-27
Jas 2:1-13
Jas 2:14-17
