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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241206
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241207
DTSTAMP:20260403T134801
CREATED:20241201T212009Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241201T212009Z
UID:12885-1733443200-1733529599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE SUMMIT OF WAITING \nBy André Rétif \n◊◊◊ \nJohn’s stay in the desert was simply a burning expectation of the Savior. \nAll the aspirations of the prophets and the just in Israel and the extremely \nfervent desire of the remnant of the holy people found in him their concentrated \nand almost explosive expression. Christ was certainly present to John in his \nsolitude. And so\, when he saw Him with his eyes\, his body did not quake. His \nfaith was so lively and enlightened that he thought his eyes of flesh had seen \nHim previously. \n“A happy life\,” says St. John Chrysostom\, “is to leave humans\, seek the \ncompany of angels\, flee the cities and find Christ in solitude.” Can better words \nbe found to express at once both the focal point of his expectation and its \nrealization? To find Christ in renouncing and abandoning all. This chaste man \nof faith had been the first to light his lamp and was like a person waiting. He was \ngoing to be the first to hear the shout in the night: “Behold\, the Bridegroom \ncomes!” This friend of the Bridegroom who gives his heart free rein\, is the first \nto leap with celestial joy when his Beloved approaches. He was\, it has been said\, \nstarving\, but only for the One who was to come. Hence\, he continues to be the \nmodel of every Christian and every missionary\, whom each dawn and each \nsunset should find awaiting the return of the Son of Man anxiously\, but without \nagitation\, joining in that expectation of the last things\, which we know throbbed \nin the hearts of the early Christians. \nTo John the outline of the Messiah\, which became clearer as he prayed \nand meditated on the sacred passages\, was exceptionally real\, tangible and \nelectrifying\, and the whole world\, contained in the Baptist’s soul\, was sighing for \nHis presence far more ardently than the stag after living water. \nWe must not think that\, because John the Baptist fled from the world\, he \nwas insensible to the ardent longings of his times. Just as a landscape has to be \nviewed from high above in order that one may appreciate its vast expanse\, John \nhad to leave the world to understand it and discover its immense distress; for\, \nwhen viewed in God\, things become extraordinarily clear and well defined. \nJohn\, preceding his captain\, the Messiah\, was the first to test his strength with \nthe devil and sense that the fate of a great number of souls depended on the \noutcome of the conflict. John was the first to take upon himself responsibility \nfor the crowds whom he reached through the light of God without knowing \nthem\, and to pronounce the cry of pity for the sheep without a shepherd. Was he \nnot already the shepherd of that immense flock that was to be led back to the \nfold of God? Was he not an invisible and unknown shepherd who would be \nimprisoned and decapitated in going to find his sheep? \nJohn the Baptist is like all true contemplatives\, monks and saints in being \neminently of his own times\, which\, however\, he surpasses no matter what angle \nwe view him from. Together with Mary\, whose expectation preceded his own \nand was superior to it\, he is the summit of the waiting for the Messiah\, and he \nresembles those peaks on which the sun is already shedding its faint red rays \nwhen everywhere else night still reigns. If we are really to be men of our own \ntimes\, do we not have to free ourselves from them in order to discover through \nGod the whole of their inner meaning?
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-238/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241205
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241206
DTSTAMP:20260403T134801
CREATED:20241201T211902Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241201T211902Z
UID:12883-1733356800-1733443199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:OUR NEED OF \nTHE INCARNATION OF CHRIST \nFrom an oration by St Gregory of Nazianzus \n◊◊◊ \nThe very Son of God\, older than the ages\, the invisible\, the \nincomprehensible\, the incorporeal\, the beginning of beginning\, the light of \nlight\, the fountain of life and immortality\, the image of the archetype\, the \nimmovable seal\, the perfect likeness\, the definition and word of the Father: he it \nis who comes to his own image and takes our nature for the good of our nature\, \nand unites himself to an intelligent soul for the good of my soul\, to purify like by \nlike. He takes to himself all that is human\, except for sin. He comes forth as God\, \nin the human nature he has taken\, one being\, made of two contrary elements\, \nflesh and spirit. Spirit gave divinity\, flesh received it. \nHe who makes rich is made poor; he takes on the poverty of my flesh\, that \nI may gain the riches of his divinity. He who is full is made empty; he is emptied \nfor a brief space of his glory\, that I may share in his fullness. \nWhat is this mystery that surrounds me? I received the likeness of God \nwhen I was created\, but I failed to keep it. He takes on my flesh\, to bring \nsalvation to the image\, immortality to the flesh. He enters into a second union \nwith us\, a union far more wonderful than the first. \nHoliness had to be brought to us by the humanity assumed by one who \nwas God\, so that God might lead us back to himself through the mediation of his \nSon. The Son arranged this for the honor of the Father\, to whom the Son is \nclearly obedient in all things. \nThe Good Shepherd\, who lays down his life for the sheep\, came in search \nof the straying sheep to the mountains and hills on which you used to offer \nsacrifice. When he found it\, he took it on the shoulders that bore the wood of the \ncross\, and led it back to the life of heaven. \nWe need God to take our flesh and die\, that we might live. We have died \nwith him\, that we may be purified. We have risen again with him\, because we \nhave died with him. We have been glorified with him\, because we have risen \nagain with him.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-237/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20241204T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20241204T170000
DTSTAMP:20260403T134801
CREATED:20241201T211803Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241201T211803Z
UID:12881-1733299200-1733331600@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE JOY OF ADVENT \nBy Thierry Maertens & Jean Frisque \n◊◊◊ \nThe announcement of John the Baptist’s birth has put in relief the salient \ntraits of his personality. The circumstances of his birth hardly add new \nelements. Neither the birth nor the circumcision are told for themselves. They \nserve only as a framework for the imposition of the name already proclaimed by \nthe angel. \nThanks to the unexpected agreement of Zechariah and Elizabeth\, the \nname of John the Baptist appears to be willed by heaven. The healing of \nZechariah’s dumbness too is a sign of a heavenly manifestation. Luke dwells on \nthe astonishment and joy caused by the manifestation. These are characteristic \nsymptoms of messianic times. The swiftness with which the news spreads\, \nimage of the swiftness of the spread of the gospel\, is also a sign of the presence of \nheaven among human beings. \nAt the very time these two first chapters of Luke were first put out\, the \ncontemporary world was singularly bereft of joy. The Jewish nation was \ncrushed under the heel of an occupying power\, while the Greek peoples were \nreduced by apathy to alienation. \nAre things very different now\, with uneasiness on every horizon\, in a \nworld where the majority of people are ignored and alienated?… Yet Luke’s \nmessage remains valid. Joy resides in the assurance that one has communion \nwith God\, and that God is present even in human events. It is not however an \nimmediate consequence of belief in God’s presence. The God of the Jansenists \nis not a joyful God\, nor is the God of the pious. The God who gives joy is the God \nwho is present in the whole texture of a human being’s life\, in secular activities\, \nin the most private thoughts and the deepest encounters\, in sufferings that \nsurmount discouragement. The joy of messianic times is this joy.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-236/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241203
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241204
DTSTAMP:20260403T134801
CREATED:20241201T211658Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241201T211658Z
UID:12879-1733184000-1733270399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Francis Xavier
DESCRIPTION:ST FRANCIS XAVIER \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints \n◊◊◊ \nFrancis Xavier was born in Spanish Navarre at the castle of Xavier\, near \nPamplona\, in 1506\, the youngest of a large family. He entered the college of St \nBarbara and in 1528 gained the degree of licentiate. It was here that he met \nIgnatius Loyola\, and later joined with him in the first band of seven who vowed \nthemselves to the service of God at Montmartre in 1534. With them he received \nthe priesthood at Venice three years later and in 1540 Ignatius appointed him to \njoin Fr Simon Rodriguez on the first missionary expedition the Society sent out \nto the East Indies… \nThey arrived at Goa\, India on May 6\, 1542\, after a voyage of thirteen \nmonths. Francis opened the mission with the Christians of Goa\, instructing \nthem in the principles of religion and forming the young to the practice of virtue. \nHe walked through the streets ringing a bell to summon the children and slaves \nto catechism. He offered Mass with lepers each Sunday. For the instruction of \nthe very ignorant or simple he versified the truths of religion to fit popular \ntunes\, and this was so successful that the practice spread till these songs were \nbeing sung everywhere\, in the streets and fields and workshops… \nBut before he left he heard about Japan for the first time from Portuguese \nmerchants. The next fifteen months were spent in endless traveling between \nGoa\, Ceylon and Cape Comorin\, consolidating his work and preparing for an \nattempt on that Japan into which no European had yet penetrated. In April 1549 \nFrancis set out\, accompanied by a Jesuit priest and lay-brother and three \nJapanese converts. On the feast of the Assumption they landed in Japan\, at \nKagoshima on Kyushu. \nFrancis set himself to learn Japanese. A translation was made of a simple \naccount of Christian teaching\, and recited to all who would listen. The fruit of \ntwelve months labor was a hundred converts\, but then the authorities began to \nget suspicious and forbade further preaching. So\, leaving one of the Japanese \nconverts in charge of the neophytes\, Francis pressed further with his \ncompanions and went by sea to Hirado\, north of Nagasaki. Before leaving \nKagoshima he visited the fortress of Ichiku\, where the baron’s wife\, her steward \nand others accepted Christianity. Xavier left the rest in the care of the steward\, \nand twelve years later the Jesuit lay-brother\, Luis de Almeida\, found these \nisolated converts still retaining their first fervor and faithfulness. \nAt Hirado the missionaries were well received by the ruler and they had \nmore success in a few weeks than they had had at Kagoshima in a year. Xavier’s \nobjective was Miyako (Kyoto)\, then the chief city of Japan. In due time he was \nable to be received by the authorities\, who gave him permission to preach and \nprovided an empty Buddhist monastery for a residence. He preached with such \nfruit that he baptized many in that city. \nFrancis decided to revisit his charge in India\, from whence he hoped to \nextend his mission to China. After dealing with matters in India\, Xavier set sail \nfor China. In august 1552 the convoy reached the desolate island of Shang- \nchwan\, half-a-dozen miles off the coast and a hundred miles south-west of Hong \nKong. Here Xavier fell sick with a fever and died on December 3. He was buried \non the island\, but his body which was found to be incorrupt\, was later moved to \nGoa. He was canonized in 1622 at the same time as Ignatius of Loyola.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-francis-xavier-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241202
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241203
DTSTAMP:20260403T134801
CREATED:20241201T211544Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241201T211544Z
UID:12877-1733097600-1733183999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE ADVENT OF GOD \nFrom “Pathways in Holy Scripture” by Dom Damasus Winzen \n◊◊◊ \nThe word Advent had for the people of old a magic sound. It put before \ntheir eyes the glorious scene of the king’s return from a victorious war. Preceded \nand followed by the might of his arms\, carrying with him the spoils of victory\, \nthe hosts of the captives\, the treasures of the enemy\, he stands on his chariot\, \nvested in the purple of triumph\, the golden wreath of victory on his head. The \nwhole city is in a delirium of joy. The festive throngs of the citizens line the \nstreets. They greet their king with the royal shout\, acclaiming him as savior and \nkyrios with incense and hymns. In the evening thousands of lights appear on \nwindows and doorways\, on temples\, gates and palaces\, for the light is come\, and \nthe glory of the king is risen upon the city. \nThe Advent of our Ecclesiastical Year does not celebrate the triumphant \nentry of an earthly king into his capital\, but it sees the King of kings whose might \ncovers the earth like a cloud\, returning to the world which He had left because of \nits sin\, crushing His enemies\, extirpating sin and establishing a kingdom of \npeace for those who believe in Him. This is the Divine Action of salvation which \nconstitutes the real meaning of history\, although it may take centuries and \ncenturies to be accomplished. That the birth of Mary’s little babe in the humble \nmanger of Bethlehem is the beginning of this glorious Advent would be hidden \nfrom the eyes of men\, had the glad tiding not been announced from heaven and \nhad the Holy Spirit not spoken in times past to the fathers by the prophets. It is \nreally the vision of the prophets which opens the eyes of the faithful to see \nbeneath the humble form of man the glory of God\, and to realize that Christ’s \nFirst Coming in patience and charity is the beginning of the Day of judgment \nwhich will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven to receive the \nEternal Kingdom from the hands of the Father. It is the unique gift of the \nprophets to see sign and reality\, the human and the divine\, the present and the \nfuture in their compenetration. Therefore\, they “rendered service not so much \nto them selves but to us\,” [as it is written in the first letter of Peter\, us] who \ncelebrate the Advent of God in that incomparable compenetration of visible sign \nand divine reality which is the liturgy of the Church.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-235/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241201
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241202
DTSTAMP:20260403T134801
CREATED:20241201T211443Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241201T211443Z
UID:12875-1733011200-1733097599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 1st Sunday Advent
DESCRIPTION:THE COMING OF \nYOUR ETERNAL JUDGE \nFrom a commentary by St Gregory the Great1 \n◊◊◊ \nThe Lord says: Heaven and earth will pass away\, but my words will not \npass away. He means: Nothing that is lasting in your world lasts for eternity \nwithout change; and everything that in Him is perceived as passing away is kept \nfirm\, without passing away. His utterance\, which passes away\, expresses \nthoughts that endure without change. \nTherefore\, my friends\, do not love what you see cannot long exist. Keep in \nmind the apostle’s precept\, in which he counsels us not to love the world or the \nthings in the world\, because if anyone loves the world\, the love of the Father is \nnot in him. The day before yesterday…you heard that an old orchard was \nuprooted by a sudden hurricane\, that homes were destroyed and churches \nknocked from their foundations. How many persons who were safe and \nunharmed in the evening\, thinking of what they would do the next day\, suddenly \ndied that night\, caught in a trap of destruction? \nWe must reflect that to bring these things about our unseen Judge caused \nthe movement of a very slight breeze; he called a storm out of a single cloud and \noverthrew the earth; he struck the foundations of many buildings\, causing them \nto fall. What will the Judge do when he comes in person\, when his anger is \nburning to punish sinners\, if we cannot bear him when he strikes us with an \ninsignificant cloud? What flesh will withstand the presence of his anger\, if he \nmoved the wind and overthrew the earth\, stirred up the air and destroyed so \nmany buildings? Paul referred to this severity of the Judge who is to come and \nsaid: It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. \nDearly beloved\, keep that day before your eyes\, and whatever you now \nbelieve to be burdensome will be light in comparison with it. The Lord says of \nthis day through the prophet: Yet once more and I will shake not only the earth \nbut also the heavens. \nYou see how he moved the air\, as I said\, and the earth did not withstand it. \nWho then will bear it when he moves the sky? What shall we call these terrors we \nsee but heralds of the wrath to come? We must reflect that these troubles are as \nmuch unlike the final one as the herald’s role is unlike the judge’s power. Give \nhard thought to that day\, dearly beloved; amend your lives\, change your habits\, \nresist and overcome your evil temptations. The more you now anticipate his \nseverity by fear\, the more securely will you behold the coming of your eternal \nJudge.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-1st-sunday-advent/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241201
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241202
DTSTAMP:20260403T134801
CREATED:20241201T211313Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241201T211313Z
UID:12873-1733011200-1733097599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n1st Week of Advent\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (C)\, Weekdays (I)\nDecember 1 – 7\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n1\nMon\n2\nTue\n3\nWed\n4\nThu\n5\nFri\n6\nSat\n7\n\n\nOffice\n1st Sunday of Advent\nAdvent Weekday\nSt Francis Xavier\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nAdvent Weekday\nSt Ambrose\n\n\nVigils\nIsa 1:1-18\nIsa 1:21-2:5\nIsa 2:6-22\nIsa 3:1-15\nIsa 10:5-21\nIsa 19:11-25\nIsa 21:1-12\n\n\nLauds\nMicah 7:14-20\nIsa 6:1-7\nIsa 6:8-13\nIsa 7:1-9\nIsa 7:10-16\nIsa 5:1-7\nIsa 5:15-25\n\n\nMass\n3\n175\n176\n177\n178\n179\n180\n\n\n1st\nJer 33:14-16\nIsa 2:1-5\nIsa 11:1-10\nIsa 25:6-10a\nIsa 26:1-6\nIsa 29:17-24\nIsa 30:19-21\, 23-26\n\n\n2nd\n1 Thess 3:12-4:2\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nLuke 21:25-28\, 34-36\nMatt 8:5-11\nLuke 10:21-24\nMatt 15:29-37\nMatt 7:21\, 24-27\nMatt 9:27-31\nMatt 9:35-10:1\, 5a\, 6-8\n\n\nVespers\nRev 22:12-21\nRom 1:1-12\nRom 1:13-17\nRom 2:1-11\nRom 2:12-16\nRom 2:17-24\nRom 3:21-26
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-94/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241130
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241201
DTSTAMP:20260403T134801
CREATED:20241124T132346Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T132346Z
UID:12866-1732924800-1733011199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Andrew
DESCRIPTION:THE APOSTLE\, \nST ANDREW \nFrom a sermon by St John Henry Newman7 \n◊◊◊ \nSt John the Evangelist\, [introduces St Andrew in his gospel] under \ncircumstances which show that\, little as is known of this Apostle now\, he was\, in \nfact\, very high in the favour and confidence of his Lord. In his twelfth chapter he \ndescribes Andrew as bringing to Christ certain Greeks who came up to \nJerusalem to worship and who were desirous of seeing Him. And\, what is \nremarkable\, these strangers had first applied to St Philip\, who\, though an \nApostle himself\, instead of taking upon him to introduce them had recourse to \nhis fellowtownsman St Andrew… “Philip comes\, and tells Andrew; and again\, \nAndrew and Philip tell Jesus.” \nThese two Apostles are also mentioned together in the sixth chapter of the \nsame Gospel\, at the consultation which preceded the miracle of the loaves and \nfishes; and there again Andrew is engaged\, as before in the office of introducing \nstrangers to Christ. “There is a lad here\,” he says to his Lord\, a lad who perhaps\, \nhad not courage to come forward of himself\, “who has five barley loaves and \ntwo small fishes.”… After our Lord had predicted the ruin of the Temple\, “Peter\, \nJames\, John\, and Andrew asked Him privately: ‘Tell us when shall these \nthings be?‘” and it was to these four that our Saviour revealed the signs of his \ncoming\, and of the end of the world. Here St Andrew is represented as in the \nspecial confidence of Christ; and associated too with those Apostles whom he is \nknown to have selected from the Twelve\, on various occasions\, by tokens of his \npeculiar Favour. \nLittle is known of St Andrew in addition to these inspired notices of him. \nHe is said to have preached the Gospel in Scythia; and he was at length martyred \nin Achaia. His death was by crucifixion; that kind of cross being used\, according \nto the tradition\, which still goes by his name. Yet\, little as Scripture tells us \nconcerning him\, it affords us enough for a lesson\, and that an important one. \nThese are the facts before us. St Andrew was the first convert among the \nApostles; he was especially in our Lord’s confidence; thrice is he described as \nintroducing others to him; lastly\, he is little known in history\, while the place of \ndignity and the name of highest renown have been allotted to his brother Simon\, \nwhom he was the means of bringing to the knowledge of his Saviour. \nOur lesson then is this; that those persons are not necessarily the most \nuseful in their generation\, nor the most favored by God\, who make the most \nnoise in the world\, and who seem to be principals in the great changes and \nevents recorded in history; on the contrary\, that even when we are able to point \nto a certain number of persons as the real instruments of any great blessings \nvouchsafed to humankind\, our relative estimate of them\, one with another\, is \noften very erroneous: so that\, on the whole\, if we would trace truly the hand of \nGod in human affairs\, and pursue his bounty as displayed in the world to its \noriginal sources\, we must unlearn our admiration of the powerful and \ndistinguished\, our reliance on the opinion of society\, our respect for the \ndecisions of the learned or the multitude\, and turn our eyes to private life\, \nwatching in all we read or witness for the true sign of God’s presence\, the graces \nof personal holiness manifested in his elect; which\, weak as they may seem to \nhumankind\, are mighty through God\, and have an influence upon the course of \nhis Providence\, and bring about great events in the world at large\, when the \nwisdom and strength of the natural man are of no avail.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-andrew-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241129
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241130
DTSTAMP:20260403T134801
CREATED:20241124T132147Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T132147Z
UID:12864-1732838400-1732924799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE VIRGINITY OF SPIRIT \nBy Thomas Merton \n◊◊◊ \nThe monastic life of humility\, obedience\, liturgical prayer\, lectio divina\, \npenance\, manual labor\, contemplation\, tends to ever purify the soul of the monk \nand lead him to intimacy with Christ in that sacred virginity which makes him \nworthy of marriage with the Word of God. This spirit of virginity is the true \nessence of the contemplative life which is our vocation. \nWe are not contemplative by the mere fact of living an enclosed and \npenitential life. We can indeed be more active\, more restless and more \ndistracted in the cloister than we would be in the active life\, if we do not possess \nthe interior virginity of spirit\, the silence and peace of soul\, which enable us to \nfind God in His word\, to listen to the words of Christ\, to move with the \nbreathings of the Holy Spirit within us. \nThe virginity of spirit to which we are called is a purity of heart in which \nour souls preserve their baptismal innocence\, or the innocence of the second \nbaptism of our vows\, and offer themselves in perfect purity to God. Virginity of \nsoul does not preclude temptation and trials\, but the deep spirit of faith which it \nimplies enables us always to rise above the flesh and its storms in order to \nmeditate on the incorruptible beauty of the Word. St Augustine defines \nvirginity as: “Perpetual meditation\, in corruptible flesh\, of what is \nincorruptible.” The life of the virgin soul that is the spouse of Christ is a life \nlived in the pure\, limpid radiance of the Word Himself. \nThe virginity of spirit which keeps us united to the Word is the perfection \nof the monastic life. By it\, the monk not only renounces human marriage\, but \nrather lays hands upon the supernatural and mystical reality of which marriage \nis only an external symbol – the union of love which joins the soul to God “in \none spirit. \n” Virginity of spirit keeps the soul in constant contact with the Holy \nWord of God\, the sanctity of God Himself. Above all\, sacred virginity makes \nvisible the union of the Church with Christ her Divine Spouse. Pope Pius XII \nsays: \n“The most delicate fruit of virginity is this: that virgins make \ntangible as it were the perfect virginity of their Mother the Church \nand the sanctity of her intimate union with Christ. The greatest \nglory of the virgins is undoubtedly to be the living images of the \nperfect integrity of the union of the Church and her Divine \nSpouse.” \nThis is the end and the perfection of the monastic vocation: to find Christ\, \nthe Word\, to cling to Him in the purity of perfect love and unalterable peace\, and \nto say with the Bride in the Canticle: “I found Him whom my soul loves: I held \nhim: and I will not let Him go” \n.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-234/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241128
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241129
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241124T131614Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T131614Z
UID:12862-1732752000-1732838399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Thanksgiving
DESCRIPTION:THE FULLNESS \nOF THANKSGIVING \nBy Xavier Leon-Dufour5 \n◊◊◊ \nThe first reality of biblical history is the gift of God\, gratuitous\, \nsuperabundant\, without return. The encounter with God does not put human \nbeings simply in the presence of the absolute; it completes them and transforms \ntheir lives. \nThanksgiving appears as the response to this progressive and continual \ngrace which one day should blossom in Christ. At the same time there is an \nintense awareness of the gifts of God\, a spirit of soul permeated with wonder \nbecause of God’s generosity\, a joyous recognition before the divine greatness; \nthus thanksgiving is essential in the Bible because it is a fundamental religious \nreaction of creatures when they discover\, in a tremor of joy and veneration\, \nsomething of God’s greatness and glory. The capital sin of pagans\, according to \nPaul\, is “not to have rendered to God either glory or thanksgiving”. And\, in fact\, \nin the mass of hymns created by the piety of Mesopotamia\, the sentiment of \nthanksgiving is rare; while it is very frequent in the Bible and brings out \npowerful outpourings of the soul. \nAt the time of the New Covenant thanksgiving truly breaks forth\, \nbecoming present everywhere in the prayer and the life of the Christians as it \nhad never existed before among the just of the past. Biblical thanksgiving is \ntruly and essentially Christian. It is not exclusively Christian\, however\, to the \nextent that\, as was written in the Old Testament\, “Israelites praise without \ngiving thanks.” If the Old Testament does not yet know the fullness of \nthanksgiving\, it is because it has not yet tasted the fullness of grace. If praise\, \nmore spontaneous\, more exteriorized\, holds therein perhaps a greater place \nthan thanksgiving properly so called\, more reflective\, more attentive to God’s \nactions and self revelation\, it is because the most holy God is revealed only \nprogressively\, unveiling little by little the amplitude of the action and the depth \nof the gifts of God. \nBecause it is the revelation and the gift of perfect grace\, in the person of \nthe Lord\, it is also the revelation of the perfect thanksgiving rendered to the \nFather in the Holy Spirit. The supreme act of the Lord is thanksgiving; the \nsacrifice which Jesus made of His life in consecrating it to the Father in order \nthat He may sanctify His own is our Eucharist. At the last supper and on the \ncross\, Jesus reveals the drive of all His life and that of His death: thanksgiving \nfrom the heart of the Son. The passion and death of Jesus were necessary that \nHe might fully glorify the Father\, but all His life was an incessant thanksgiving\, \nwhich sometimes was made explicit and solemn\, to draw all to believe and \nreturn thanks to God with Jesus. \nThe essential object of this thanksgiving is the work of God\, the Messianic \nrealization\, notably manifested by miracles\, the gift of His word which God has \nmade to everyone. The gift of the Eucharist to the church expresses an essential \ntruth: only Jesus Christ is our thanksgiving\, just as He alone is our praise. It is \nHe first of all who gives thanks to the Father\, and Christians afterwards in \nHim. In Christian thanksgiving\, Christ is the sole model and sole mediator. In \nthe heavenly Jerusalem\, with the Messianic work fulfilled\, thanksgiving \nbecomes pure praise of glory\, dazzling contemplation of God and the eternal \nmarvels.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-thanksgiving/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241128
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241124T131458Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T131458Z
UID:12860-1732665600-1732751999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE WOUNDEDNESS \nOF ALL MORTALS \nFrom a sermon by Isaac of Stella4 \n◊◊◊ \n“Jesus\, when he saw how great was their number\, went up to the \nmountainside.” Today\, dear friends\, we see our heaven-sent Physician \nunsealing the precious perfumes that he has brought with him from the bosom \nof the Father; brought to heal the wounds of the man who\, on his way down \nfrom Jerusalem to Jericho\, fell in with robbers. This unnamed man on his way \ndown represents Adam and all his descendants. It was only right that he should \nfall in with robbers\, he was but paying for the freely chosen folly of his journey. \nHad he but chosen it\, Adam could have remained in the happy state bestowed \non him at his creation\, in that wealth of good things safe from all loss. He freely \nfell because he chose to do so\, and because he journeyed down\, he fell into the \ngrip of the ruthless. He had to endure what he did not wish precisely because he \nrefused to stay where suffering could never have touched him. \nThese malicious robbers are not only the evil spirits\, but also the many \npassions of our bodies and spirit that wounded the Psalmist and made him \ngroan\, “Oh\, how often you have burdened me with bitter trouble.” Yes\, he \nsuffers unwillingly although deservedly; the price (I beg to repeat) of his freely \ndeciding to descend was his meeting robbers and suffering at their hands. Never \nwould the Lord of mercy have allowed man to fall into such cruel hands had not \nman by his own personal and conscious wickedness first deserted him to whom \nhe should have looked for strength. Man forsook God\, man went his way down\, \nand because he went down\, he was forsaken by him who did not go down. \nForsaken by God\, man fell into the power of him to whom such power was \npermitted\, the devil. He showed no pity\, but robbed\, wounded\, and left him \nhalf-dead. He who is altogether dying left man half-dead\, in other words half- \nalive. And such is the life of mortal man: a living dying. The devil’s dying\, on the \nother hand\, is completely deadly\, leaving no room for recall to life. The angels’ \nliving in its turn\, is fully vital\, having no tendency toward death. \nMortal man\, then\, is left half-dead — though alive\, he tends inevitably \ntowards death\, though dead\, he is open to cure. “They wounded him\,” the \nGospel tells us. We must look into this\, see what these wounds are\, even if our \nsituation teaches us what it means far better than any explanation. In addition \nto the weaknesses and afflictions of the body\, themselves “past all numbering”\, \nthe wounds inflicted on and infecting mankind\, in and from our first parent\, are \nof seven kinds\, of many species\, and beyond all counting. The infections that \nstem from Original Sin and afflict us all are only seven\, but they beget a \nwayward\, viper-like brood that caters to all sorts of sinful tendencies.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-233/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241126
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241127
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241124T131358Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T131358Z
UID:12858-1732579200-1732665599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY \nFrom “The Faith and Modern Man” by Fr Romano Guardini3 \n◊◊◊ \nWe associate the word saints with the idea of exceptional persons. In the \nNew Testament\, however\, it signifies Christians generally. Being a Christian at \nall was extraordinary. For the Christians stood out sharply from the \nenvironment; either one lived in the Old Testament world\, or in the Hellenistic- \npagan world\, and by both they were regarded as something strange if not \nhostile. The experience of conversion lifted them out of the environment. A \nsense of the reality of God not learned from natural religious experience or from \nthe teaching of the Old Testament had shaken and\, at the same time\, blessed \nthem. \nIn the existence of Christ\, God’s countenance had been unveiled. The life \nof Christ had made them aware of how God is minded toward us. These \nexperiences had changed their whole lives. They had acquired new ideas of God\, \nnew standards of judging the world. The “renewal of mind” of which the Gospel \nspeaks and which they had begun to fulfill\, now consisted not only in a \nconversion to a good and pious life\, but in a change of direction in their whole \nway of thinking. Thus for them\, actually\, “all things had become new” -and with \nall these “new things” they found themselves still in an old world\, a world which \nregarded them with distrust and hostility. All this is\, in itself\, extraordinary \n-indeed the very essence of the extraordinary\, and the “saint” was one who led \nthis existence. \nBut the spread of Christianity and its increase in members tended to \nobscure its unique nature. Time went on\, the Gospel grew familiar\, and the \nsense of newness wore off. Christianity became the state religion and\, as such\, \nthe official order of society. Thus the fact that being a Christian at all was in itself \nextraordinary faded out of people’s consciousness\, and Christianity grew to be \nregarded as normal and usual.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-232/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241125
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241126
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241124T131154Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T131154Z
UID:12856-1732492800-1732579199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Catherine of Alexandria
DESCRIPTION:ST CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA \nFrom Butler’s Lives of the Saints2 \n◊◊◊ \nSince about the tenth century\, veneration of St Catherine of Alexandria \nhas been marked in the East\, but from the time of the Crusades until the 18th \ncentury her popularity was even greater in the West. Numerous churches were \ndedicated in her honor\, including the parish church of Gethsemani Abbey at \nNew Haven\, KY. She was venerated as patroness of maidens and women \nstudents of philosophers\, preachers and apologists. Adam of St Victor wrote a \npoem in her honor; hers was one of the heavenly voices heard by St Joan of Arc. \nBut not a single fact about her life or death has been established. \nIt is said in her Acts that she belonged to a patrician family of Alexandria \nand devoted herself to learned studies\, in the course of which she learned about \nChristianity. She was converted by a vision of Our Lady and the Holy Child. \nWhen Maxentius began persecuting Christians\, Catherine went to him and \nrebuked him for his tyranny. He could not answer her arguments against his \ngods\, so summoned fifty philosophers to oppose her. These confessed \nthemselves convinced by the learning of this Christian girl\, and were therefore \nburned to death by the infuriated emperor. Then he tried to seduce Catherine \nwith an offer of a consort’s crown\, and went off to inspect a camp. On his return \nhe discovered that his wife and an officer had gone to see Catherine out of \ncuriosity and had both been converted\, together with two hundred soldiers of \nthe guard. They accordingly were all slain and Catherine was sentenced to be \nkilled on a spiked wheel. When she was placed on it\, her bonds were \nmiraculously loosed and the wheel broke\, its spikes flying off and killing many \nof the onlookers. Then she was beheaded. \nAll the texts of the “acts” of Catherine state that her body was carried by \nangels to Mount Sinai\, where a church and monastery were afterwards built. In \n527 the Emperor Justinian built a monastery for hermits of the place\, and the \nbody of Catherine was said to have been taken there in the 8th or 9th century. \nThe monastery has borne her name since then. The great monastery of Mount \nSinai still claim the alleged relics of St Catherine\, in the care of the monks of the \nEastern Orthodox Church. Archbishop Falconio of Santa Severina said that the \nmeaning of the “angels” is that her body was carried by the monks of Sinai to \ntheir monastery. Tradition has referred to the monastic life as “the angelic life”. \nThis is still a current expression in Eastern monasticism.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-catherine-of-alexandria/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241124
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241125
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241124T131050Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T131050Z
UID:12854-1732406400-1732492799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 34th Sunday - Christ the King
DESCRIPTION:THE KINGDOM OF \nTHE BELOVED SON \nFrom a commentary by St Augustine1 \n◊◊◊ \nBanish the groundless fear that filled Herod the Great on hearing that \nChrist was born. More cruel in his fear than in his anger\, he put many children \nto death\, so that Christ also would die. But my kingdom is not of this world\, says \nChrist. What further reassurance do we seek? Come to the kingdom not of this \nworld. Be not enraged by fear\, but come by faith. In a prophecy Christ also \nsaid…God the Father has made me king on Zion his holy mountain. But that \nkingdom and that mountain are not of this world. \nWhat in fact is God’s kingdom? It is simply those who believe in him\, \nthose to whom he said: You are not of this world\, even as I am not of this \nworld. He willed\, nevertheless\, that they should be in the world\, which is why \nhe prayed to the Father: I ask you not to take them out of the world\, but to \nprotect them from the evil one. So here also he did not say my kingdom is not \nin this world\, but is not of this world. And when he went on to prove this by \ndeclaring: If my kingdom were of this world\, my servants would have fought to \nsave me from being handed over… he concluded by saying…my kingdom is not \nfrom here. \nIndeed\, his kingdom is here until the end of time\, and until the harvest it \nwill contain weeds. The harvest is the end of the world\, when the reapers who \nare the angels\, will come and gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin\, and this \ncould not happen if his kingdom were not here. But even so\, it is not from here \nfor it is in exile in the world. Christ says to his kingdom: You are not of the \nworld\, but I have chosen you out of the world. They were indeed of the world \nwhen they belonged to the prince of this world\, before they became his \nkingdom. Though created by the true God\, everyone born of the corrupt and \naccursed stock of Adam is of the world. On the other hand\, everyone who is \nreborn in Christ becomes the kingdom which is no longer of the world. For so \nhas God snatched us from the powers of darkness\, and brought us into the \nkingdom of his beloved Son: that kingdom of which he said My kingdom is not \nof this world; my kingly power does not come from here
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-34th-sunday-christ-the-king/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241124
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241125
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241124T130910Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T130910Z
UID:12852-1732406400-1732492799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n34th Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nNovember 24 – 30\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n24\nMon\n25\nTue\n26\nWed\n27\nThu\n28\nFri\n29\nSat\n30\n\n\nOffice\nChrist the King\nSt Catherine of Alexandria\nWeekday\nWeekday\nWeekday Thanksgiving\nWeekday\nSt Andrew\n\n\nVigils\nEzek 34:11-31\nBar 6:29-50\nBar 6:51-72\nObad 1-11\nDeut 26:1-19\nObad 12-21\nEzek 47:1-12\n\n\nLauds\nJerm 10:1-10\nJob 38:1-12\nJob 42:1-6\nJob 42:7-11\nJoel 2:21-27\nJob 42:12-17\nSir 14:20-27\n\n\nMass\n161\n503\n504\n505\n943.3\, 944.3\, 947.6\n507\n684\n\n\n1st\nDan 7:13-14\nRev 14:1-3\, 4b-5\nRev 14:14-19\nRev 15:1-4\nIsa 63:7-9\nRev 20:1-4\, 11-21:2\nRom 10:9-18\n\n\n2nd\nRev 1:5-8\n\n\n\nCol 3:12-17\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nJohn 18:33b-37\nLuke 21:1-4\nLuke 21:5-11\nLuke 21:12-19\nLuke 17:11-19\nLuke 21:29-33\nMatt 4:18-22\n\n\nVespers\nEph 1:15-23\n1 Cor 15:20-28\n1 Cor 15:29-34\n1 Cor 15:35-41\n1 Cor 15:42-49\n1 Cor 15:50-58\nRev 1:1-8
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-93/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241123
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241124
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241117T022549Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T022648Z
UID:12848-1732320000-1732406399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Columban
DESCRIPTION:TRUE DISCRETION \nFrom “The Rule of St Columban for Monks”7 \n◊◊◊ \nHow necessary discretion is for monks is shown by the mistake of many\, \nand indicated by the downfall of some\, who beginning without discretion and \npassing their time without a sobering knowledge\, have been unable to complete \na praiseworthy life; since\, just as error overtakes those who proceed without a \npath\, so for those who live without discretion intemperance is at hand\, and this \nis always the opposite of virtues which are placed in the mean between each \nextreme. Therefore we must pray God continually that He would bestow the \nlight of true discretion to illumine this way\, surrounded on every side by the \nworld’s thickest darkness\, so that His true worshippers may be able to cross this \ndarkness without error to Himself. \nSo discretion has got its name from discerning\, for the reason that it \ndiscerns in us between good and evil\, and also between the moderate and the \ncomplete. For from the beginning either class has been divided like light and \ndarkness\, that is\, good and evil\, after evil began through the devil’s agency to \nexist by the corruption of good\, but through God’s agency Who first illumines \nand then divides. \nWhat things then are good? Doubtless those which are untouched\, and \nhave remained in the undefiled state of their creation; which God alone created \nand prepared\, according to the Apostle\, that we should walk in them; which are \nthe good works in which in Christ Jesus we were created\, namely goodness\, \ninnocence\, righteousness\, justice\, truth\, pity\, love\, saving peace\, spiritual joy\, \ntogether with the fruit of the Spirit – all these with their fruits are good. Since \nthis is so\, the good must be firmly held by those that have God’s help\, which is \never to be prayed for in prosperity and in adversity\, lest either in prosperity we \nbe lifted up to pride\, or in adversity be cast down to despair… We must always \nrestrain ourselves from either danger\, that is\, from all excess by a splendid \ntemperance and true discretion\, which cleaves to Christian lowliness and opens \nthe way of perfection to Christ’s true soldiers\, namely by ever discerning rightly \nin doubtful cases. \nThus between the little and the excessive there is a reasonable measure in \nthe midst\, which ever recalls us from every superfluity on either side\, and in \nevery case provides what is universally fixed by human need\, and spurns the \nunreasonable demand of superfluous desire. And this measure of true \ndiscretion\, weighing all our actions in the scales of justice\, in no way allows us to \nerr from what is just\, or to suffer a mistake\, if we ever follow straight behind it as \nour leader. For while we must always restrain ourselves from either side\, \naccording to that saying: “Keep yourselves from the right and from the left\,” we \nmust ever proceed straight forward by discretion\, that is\, by the light of God\, \nwhile very often we say and sing the victorious psalmist’s verse: “My God\, \nenlighten my darkness\, since in You I am rescued from temptation. For \ntemptation is the life of humans on earth.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-columbine/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241122
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241123
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241117T022444Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T022444Z
UID:12846-1732233600-1732319999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Cecilia
DESCRIPTION:THE VIRGINITY OF \nST CECILIA \nFrom a homily by Fr Ronald Knox6 \n◊◊◊ \nThe legends of the early Roman saints\, among whom St Cecilia is \nnumbered\, do not always command great attention from the critically minded \nhistorian. But whether the story of St Cecilia as it is told in her acts is all true or \nonly partly true\, there is a simplicity about the whole story and a simplicity \nabout St Cecilia’s character in the story which demands a retelling. Let me \nremind you in the most general way of her story: how she was married to a \nyoung pagan called Valerian\, but persuaded him to respect her vow of virginity\, \nbecause her guardian angel would make him sorry for it if he did otherwise; how \nValerian wanted to see this guardian angel\, but Cecilia\, with her innocent craft\, \nsaid he could not do that unless he was baptized first; how he was baptized\, and \nsaw the angel at her side as she prayed; how he made a convert of his brother \nTiburtius\, and how first the two brothers\, and then Cecilia herself were \npunished with death for professing the Christian religion. It is an old story\, and \na familiar one: and while we do all homage to other great saints for their public \nwitness to Christ\, we shall always need St Cecilia as well\, quietly working at \nhome for the conversion of her own husband and his family. \nNot that St Cecilia herself was in the position of a modern wife. Like so \nmany Christian ladies of her time\, she had taken\, in imitation of our blessed \nLady\, a vow of perpetual virginity. These virgin martyrs were martyrs because \nthey were virgins: it was because they insisted on keeping their vow when their \nparents wished them to marry that the secret of their attachment to the \nChristian faith was discovered; and it was their persistency in maintaining it \nthat led to their martyrdom. It would be hard to estimate\, I think\, how much the \nunpopularity in Roman society of the Christian faith owed to its tradition of \nvirginity. Virginity is an ideal which the pagan had no right to misunderstand. \nFor\, in theory\, they\, too\, honored it; and it should have commended itself to \ntheir heathen instinct for sacrifice. For the point of a sacrifice is that the victim \nshould be spotless\, the best of its kind. You must offer not what you can well \nafford to spare\, but what will cost you something. That is the pagan idea of \nsacrifice; and the Christian idea of sacrifice is based on the same principle. In \norder to give up something to God\, we forgo\, not the sinful pleasures which we \nhave no right to in any case\, but the lawful pleasures which he has given us to \nenjoy if we will. \nSo\, let St. Cecilia’s feast remind us to take our Christian vocation \nseriously\, to follow out in our lives the words we profess with our lips. And may \nthis Roman maiden pray for us who worship here and for those who minister to \nus\, that when Christ\, the Master she served\, comes again in judgment\, we may \nbe found blameless before almighty God.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-cecilia-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241121
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241122
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241117T022326Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T022326Z
UID:12844-1732147200-1732233599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Presentation of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:THE VIRGIN AND THE TEMPLE \nFrom the writing of Fr Yves Congar5 \n◊◊◊ \nThe only occasion on which the Gospels expressly mention the Virgin \nMary in connection with the Temple are in the account of her Purification and of \nthe Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the finding of the child Jesus in the \nTemple after four days’ absence on his part and three anxious searching by his \nparents. To these very brief indications\, the piety of Christians very soon added \nthe idea of the presentation of Mary in the Temple at the age of three to be \nconsecrated to the service of God. We are dealing here with a symbolical \nrepresentation of a profound spiritual reality about which the tradition and the \ndoctrine of the Church provide us with valid information. \nMary\, predestined to be the Mother of Jesus\, true God and true man\, and \nto be worthy of her vocation\, was prepared by the gift of exceptional graces and \nlived with unfailing fidelity a most pure life of inner consecration to the God of \nAbraham\, Isaac and Jacob. As the type of all faithful souls and of the Church \nherself\, Mary expressed spiritually and supremely in her life the “presentation” \nwhich\, for each one of us\, is to begin by the service of faith and to be \nconsummated in heaven. \nIt is obvious that the tradition and doctrine of the Church may\, without \nfalling prey to the imaginary productions of the apocrypha\, propound \nstatements concerning the status of the Mother of God in relation either to the \nJewish messianic temple going far beyond what we are explicitly told in the \nthree short passages from the Gospel which narrate the incidents mentioned \nabove. \nIf Mary is the Mother of God\, she has a special relation to the body of \nChrist which is the true temple – to his physical body and doubtless also\, in a \ncertain sense\, to his body the Church. She is herself a temple of God in a quite \nspecific and sublime way\, both because Christ was within her from the moment \nof his conception until that of his birth\, and because of the exceptional spiritual \ngifts she received in preparation for her divine motherhood and as a reward for \nher free acceptance of this vocation\, not only after the Annunciation but during \nthe whole of her life. Hence the liturgy – the Oriental liturgy in particular – \nshows a profound understanding of the mystery of Mary when it constantly uses \nthe texts concerning the Temple and the tabernacle in order to express it.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-presentation-of-the-bvm/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20241120T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20241120T170000
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241117T022208Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T022208Z
UID:12842-1732089600-1732122000@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:DISCIPLINE IS A CROSS \nBy Baldwin of Ford4 \n◊◊◊ \nA person who is tempted by the flesh\, and who yields to this temptation\, \nhowever\, is someone who feels his passions and gives them his full consent. The \nmore carnal he is\, the more provision he makes for the flesh in gratifying its \ndesires. He does not give his consent to the spirit against the flesh but allies \nhimself with the flesh\, whose desires are opposed to the spirit. \nSuch a person loves wine and good things\, ease and security and plenty. \n[He loves] to be clothed in purple and fine linen and to feast sumptuously every \nday. Nor does he refuse his eyes whatever they desire. He allays all his desires \nimpulsively and willingly\, and whatever does not serve the delights of flesh he \nregards as vain. He reckons that the best thing for him is to enjoy good things in \nhis lifetime\, and he gains nothing more than this by all the toil at which he toils \nunder the sun. The end that carnal man will come to is shown in the gospel \nparable of the rich man and the poor man\, where it says\, “The rich man died and \nwas buried in hell.” And of Babylon it is written\, “As she exalted herself and lived \nin her delights\, so give her a like measure of torment and sorrow!” \nIt is better for us\, then\, to deliver such a man to death for the destruction \nof the flesh than to be drawn with him into the pit of destruction. Our flesh\, \ntherefore\, should be mortified and crucified\, so that the body of sin may be \ndestroyed. Such is in accord with the voice of the prophet speaking to the Lord: \n‘Pierce my flesh with your fear’. \nBecause it is said to carnal man\, ‘You have hated discipline\, If we can find \nno better cross on which to crucify carnal man than the austerity of regular \ndiscipline\, for the discipline which he hates is a torment to him. Regular \ndiscipline is a cross\, and the two pieces of wood from which it is built symbolize \nthe laws of abstinence and continence. Abstinence tempers gluttony\, and the \nlaw of continence restrains excess in all the senses of mind and body: and it is \nprecisely these things which are characteristic of the carnal man.’
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-231/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241119
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241120
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241117T022059Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T022059Z
UID:12840-1731974400-1732060799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Mechthild of Hackeborn
DESCRIPTION:OUR SERVICE OF GOD \nAn excerpt from “The Book of Special Grace” by St Mechthild of Hackeborn3 \n◊◊◊ \nIf any obstacle arises in our service of God\, whether from the attitude of \nothers\, from external circumstances\, from our own desires\, memories\, or from \nany other cause – whatever the impediment\, we should take it as a messenger \nfrom God\, sending it back to Him\, so to speak\, with praise and thanksgiving. \nThree things very pleasing to God are: first\, never to abandon one’s \nneighbors in their needs\, and to excuse their shortcomings and sins as much as \npossible; second\, in tribulation to seek refuge only in God\, abandoning to Him \nalone all that disquiets the heart; third\, to walk with Him in truth. \nWhen it is time to eat or to sleep\, say in your heart: “Lord\, in union with \nthe love with which you created this useful thing for me\, and yourself made us of \nit when you were on earth\, I take it for your eternal praise and for my bodily \nneed.” The Blessed Virgin tells us: “if you wish to be truly holy\, stay close to my \nSon; he is holiness itself\, making all things holy.” \nWe should be lovingly grateful not only for the spiritual blessings God \ngives us\, but for all bodily necessaries\, such as food and clothing\, receiving them \nwith a sincerely thankful heart and considering ourselves unworthy of them. \nWe should also thank God for everything that he has given to his Mother and to \nthe angels. \nWorks which give no human satisfaction may nevertheless be very \npleasing to God. What best pleases God in members of religious orders is purity \nof heart\, holy desires\, gentle kindness in conversation\, and works of charity. \nWhen you are alone\, raise your heart constantly to God\, speak with him and \ndirect all your desire to him with great intensity. You can never be in so large a \ncrowd that your are not alone with him. \nWhen those who receive from the Lord the gift of a fine orchard\, they \ncannot taste the fruit until it is ripe. Likewise\, when one receives a special grace\, \nany interior joy is not experienced until by the practice of mortification one has \nbroken the hard rind of earthly pleasure.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-mechthild-of-hackeborn/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241118
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241119
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241117T021930Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T021930Z
UID:12838-1731888000-1731974399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:CHRIST THE CORNERSTONE \nBy Dom Damasus Winzen2 \n◊◊◊ \nStone is firm and lasting. Builders test their stones\, selecting the most \nsolid for foundations on which to rear the whole building\, for cornerstones to \nhold the wall together\, or for headstones which will lock into a single mass the \nentire structure. Stone likewise offers firm resistance to the thrust of an enemy; \nit will crush him upon whom it falls; it will bruise those who fall against it. \nGod is the “Stone of Israel”\, because he is a God of truth and his mercies \nendure forever. His faithfulness towards his people is the firm and precious \ncornerstone which is laid in Zion. In Christ Jesus\, God’s loyalty becomes \nmanifest. He is the stone that the leaders of Israel rejected when they crucified \nhim… He became the cornerstone when he rose from the dead. When we try to \npenetrate into the meaning of the symbolism of the cornerstone\, we discover \nthat various ideas are fused in this picture. The idea of the foundation stone is \nclearly expressed in Isaiah: Thus says the Lord God: behold I laid in Zion for a \nfoundation a stone\, a tried stone\, a precious cornerstone\, a sure foundation: \nhe that believes shall not make haste. Christ is the foundation stone\, for \nanother foundation no one can lay but that which is laid\, which is Christ Jesus. \nHe alone has wrought our redemption by dying for us and rising for us. We \ndepend entirely on his work and on his strength. The Hebrew word used in \nPsalm 117\, rosch pinnah — still surviving in our word “pinnacle” — has been \ntranslated in various ways as “head of the corner\,” “cornerstone\,” or “head \nstone.” The idea of the cornerstone implies that Christ is a part of the \nfoundation\, but its most important\, visible part\, the part which binds the walls. \nThis is true of Christ\, because in him the two walls of God and mankind\, of the \nJews and the Gentiles\, and the Old and the New Testament meet… \nIn recent years\, more and more scholars agree that rosch pinnah is rather \nthe head stone\, or capstone\, which holds a vault or arch together. The Risen \nSavior is indeed the headstone of the spiritual Temple in which the whole \nbuilding culminates\, which holds it together and defines its design. This three- \nfold meaning of Christ as the cornerstone is well expressed by Cynewulf in his \npoem “Christ.”… \nThou art the wall stone \nthat the workers once threw out from the work\, \nwell it becomes thee that thou be head \nof a mighty hall and weld together \nits wide walls in fast union\, \nFlint unbreakable\, that throughout earth’s dwelling \nall that have eyes may wonder ever more\, \nO Lord of glory.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-230/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241117
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241118
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241117T021819Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T021819Z
UID:12836-1731801600-1731887999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - 33rd Sunday ORD
DESCRIPTION:THE REAPERS OF THE HARVEST \nFrom a commentary by St Gregory Palamas1 \n◊◊◊ \nAll those who hold to the true faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and show \nproof of their faith by good works\, guarding themselves from sins or cleansing \nthemselves from their stains by confession and repentance; who practice the \nvirtues opposed to those sins – temperance\, chastity\, love\, almsgiving\, justice \nand fair dealing – all these\, I say\, will rise again to hear the king of heaven \nhimself saying to them: Come\, my Father’s blessed ones\, inherit the kingdom \nprepared for you since the creation of the world. So they will reign with Christ\, \nreceiving as their inheritance that heavenly kingdom which cannot be shaken\, \nliving forever in the ineffable light that knows no evening and is interrupted by \nno night\, having fellowship with all the saints who have lived from the \nbeginning of time\, and enjoying delights beyond description in Abraham’s \nembrace\, where all pain has fled away and all grief and groaning. \nFor just as there is a harvest for inanimate sheaves of wheat\, so for the \nrational wheat which is the human race\, there is a harvest that cuts people away \nfrom unbelief\, and gathers into faith those who accept the proclamation of the \ngood news. The reapers of this harvest are the Lord’s apostles and their \nsuccessors\, and in the course of time the teachers of the Church. Of them the \nLord said: The reaper receives his wages\, and gathers a crop for eternal life\, \nfor teachers who instruct others in piety will in their turn receive from God such \nrecompense as befits those who gather the obedient into eternal life. \nBut there is yet another harvest: the transfer of each one of us by death \nfrom the present life into that which is to come. The reapers of this harvest are \nnot the apostles but the angels\, who have a greater responsibility than the \napostles\, because after the harvesting they sort out the good and separate them \nfrom the wicked like wheat from darnel. The good they send on to the kingdom \nof heaven\, but the wicked they throw into hell fire. \nAs for us\, who in this present age are God’s chosen people\, a priestly race\, \nthe Church of the living God separated from all the impious and ungodly\, may \nwe be found separated from the darnel in the age to come as well\, and united to \nthose who are saved in Christ our Lord\, who is blessed for ever.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-33rd-sunday-ord/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241117
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241118
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241117T021612Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241117T021612Z
UID:12834-1731801600-1731887999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Skema
DESCRIPTION:Biblical Readings for Office and Mass\n33rd Week in Ordinary Time\n\n\nMass Readings: Sunday (B)\, Weekdays (II)\nNovember 17 – 23\, 2024\n\n\n\nSun\n17\nMon\n18\nTue\n19\nWed\n20\nThu\n21\nFri\n22\nSat\n23\n\n\nOffice\n33rd Sunday\nWeekday\nSt Mechtild\nWeekday\nPresentation of the BVM\nSt Cecilia\nSt Columban\n\n\nVigils\nBar 1:1-22\nBar 2:1-26\nBar 2:27-3:14\nBar 3:15-38\nBar 4:1-29\nBar 4:30-5:9\nBar 6:1-28\n\n\nLauds\nJob 14:1-6\nJob 16:1-12b\nJob 29:1-10\nJob 30:9-19\nJob 30:20-28\nJob 31:2-11\nJob 31:16-23\n\n\nMass\n158\n497\n498\n499\n500\n501\n502\n\n\n1st\nDan 12:1-3\nRev 1:1-4; 2:1-5\nRev 3:1-6\, 14-22\nRev 4:1-11\nRev 5:1-10\nRev 10:8-11\nRev 11:4-12\n\n\n2nd\nHeb 10:11-14\, 18\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGospel\nMark 13:24-32\nLuke 18:35-43\nLuke 19:1-10\nLuke 19:11-28\nLuke 19:41-44\nLuke 19:45-48\nLuke 20:27-40\n\n\nVespers\nRom 11:13-20\nRom 11:25-36\nRom 13:8-14\nRom 15:4-13\n1 Cor 15:1-11\n1 Cor 15:12-19\nRev 19:11-16
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/skema-92/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241116
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241117
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241110T102813Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241110T102813Z
UID:12828-1731715200-1731801599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Gertrude the Great
DESCRIPTION:TO BE ONE WITH GOD \nFrom “The Spiritual Exercises” by St Gertrude the Great7 \n◊◊◊ \nO love\, the fruition of you is that worthiest coupling of your Word and the \nsoul which is brought about by perfect union with God. To use you is to become \nintertwined in God. To enjoy you is to be one with God. You are that peace which \nsurpasses all understanding and you are the road by which one comes to the \ninner chamber. \nOh\, if only it happened to me\, too\, miserable as I am\, to repose for a \nmoment under your dearest cloak of cherishing-love so that my heart might be \nemboldened by one consolatory utterance of your living Word\, or that my soul \nmight hear this good and pleasant word from your mouth: ‘I am your salvation; \nbehold\, now the bedchamber of my heart is open to you.’ \nWhy\, then\, O love so unwavering\, have you deeply loved someone so foul\, \nso ugly\, if not to make her beautiful in you? Your loving-kind charity attracts \nand allures me… \nLet me not be confounded in my expectation but grant me to find rest for \nmy soul in you. I have found nothing more desirable\, I have judged nothing \nmore lovable\, I have wished for nothing more dear than to be held tight\, O love\, \nin your embraces\, to rest under the wings of my Jesus\, and to dwell in the \ntabernacle of divine charity. \nO love\, O radiant noonday\, I would die a thousand times to be at rest in \nyou. If only you would bend to me your face of such beautiful cherishing-love… \nOh\, if I were granted to come exceedingly close to you so that I might now \nfind myself not only next to you but within you. Then\, through you\, sun of \njustice\, flowers of all the virtues might arise in me\, who am dust and ashes. With \nyou as a husband\, my Lord\, such fecundity might enter my soul that the \nrenowned offspring of total perfection would be born in me. Then\, having been \nsnatched from the valley of this misery\, I might be able to glory in you forever in \nthe presence of your desirable face; for you\, mirror without spot\, have not \nscorned to be\, in truth\, coupled with a sinner like me.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-gertrude-the-great-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241115
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241116
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241110T102705Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241110T102705Z
UID:12826-1731628800-1731715199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Gethsemani Church
DESCRIPTION:THE FOUNDATION OF \nGETHSEMANI ABBEY \nBy Dom Eutropius Proust6 \n◊◊◊ \nWe left Louisville on the twentieth of December\, and were to arrive that \nevening at Bardstown. Here we were to call on the Jesuit Fathers\, who conducted \nthe College of St Joseph\, and to whom we had a letter of introduction from Mgr. \nFlaget. We should arrive by daylight at Bardstown\, which was twelve miles from \nGethsemani; but the unfavorable weather delayed us very much\, and we were yet \nnine miles from the town\, when a dark and dreary night set in. We did not stop to \ntake any nourishment by the wayside\, but refreshed ourselves as best we could\, in \nthe wagons\, with bread\, cheese and fruit. The good God supplied the drink. The \nrain did not cease to fall abundantly the entire day\, so that\, alighting from the \nwagons\, we resembled water rats that came out of the river. \nWe arrived at eleven o’clock. The streets were so full of water and mud that \nwe were knee-deep therein. We went directly to St Joseph’s College… Our difficulty \nwas to find the entrance\, for one could not see a yard ahead. Taking with me two \nIrish religious\, we made a circuit of the house to find the entrance…We kept on \nseeking and groping until we succeeded in finding the door. We knocked again and \nagain\, but no answer. Not knowing what to do\, we called aloud together the word \n“Trappist.” In this we were successful. As soon as the good fathers heard that word \nthey opened the windows. I told them who we were\, where we were going\, and that \nI had a letter of introduction to them from Mgr. Flaget\, asking them to give us \nlodging for the night. In an instant three or four of the fathers arose\, with as many \nbrothers\, and the doors were opened for us. A good fire was made in the hall\, and \nthe brothers prepared for us something to eat. At the end of half an hour we were \nled into the refectory\, where we took at the same time our breakfast\, dinner and \nsupper. \nThe following day\, having heard Holy Mass and received Holy Communion\, \nour conductors arrived\, with a new wagon\, borrowed by them at Bardstown. After \nthanking our hosts for their kind hospitality\, we installed ourselves in the wagons \nand pursued our way to Gethsemani. About two o’clock in the afternoon\, we \narrived at the entrance of a large forest\, after passing the little village of New Haven \non the Nashville Railroad. We were informed that this was the beginning of our \nproperty. It is difficult to express the feelings that this announcement produced in \nour souls. I had the wagons stop. Falling on our knees we recited a “Pater and Ave” \nto salute the good guardian angels of Gethsemani; and we kissed the earth soon to \nbe watered by our sweat and even by our tears. We re-entered our wagons and \ncontinued our journey through the woods for three-quarters of an hour. Our hearts \nswelled with emotion. With what feelings of joy and admiration\, did we not \ncontemplate these magnificent woods. We were astonished in finding ourselves so \nrich\, after having made the vow of poverty…We climbed a hill on which are situated \nwooden cottages\, declining with age. We were going to find at last the crib of our \nDivine Saviour at Bethlehem. Such\, too\, were the thoughts of all our religious. \nThey were in transports of joy in beholding these ten or twelve cottages\, thrown \nhere and there on the sloping hillside\, facing the sun. These composed the entire \nmonastery of Gethsemani.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-gethsemani-church-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241114
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241115
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241110T102533Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241110T102533Z
UID:12824-1731542400-1731628799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE INSTRUCTIONS OF MARY \nQUEEN OF THE ANGELS \nGiven to Venerable Mary of Agreda5 \n◊◊◊ \nYour astonishment at the singular favor conferred by me on my \nservant…at his death\, affords me an occasion to tell you of a privilege confirmed \nto me by the Almighty at the time when I bore the soul…to heaven. Although I \nhave already on other occasions revealed to you something of this secret\, you \nshall now understand it more fully in order to increase your filial devotion \ntoward me. When I brought to heaven the happy soul…the eternal Father spoke \nto me: \n“My Daughter and Dove…let my courtiers\, angels and saints \nunderstand that\, for the exaltation of my holy name\, for your glory and for the \nbenefit of mortals\, I now give you my royal word\, that if men\, in the hour of \ntheir death invoke you and call upon you with affection…I will bend to them in \nclemency and look upon them with eyes of fatherly mercy; I will defend and \nguard them against the dangers of that last hour; I will ward off the cruel \nenemies that seek the perdition of souls in that hour; I will furnish them \nthrough you with great helps for resisting these enemies and gaining grace\, if \nthey wish to avail themselves of this help; and you shall present to Me their \nsouls to be rewarded by my liberal hands.” \nFor this privilege the whole triumphant Church\, and I with it\, sang hymns of \nthanks and praise to the Most High. \nSince I see you desirous of knowing how you can obtain from me this \nfavor so precious to the soul\, I answer your pious wish by exhorting you to take \ncare lest you make yourself unworthy by ingratitude and forgetfulness; and \nbefore all\, to gain for yourself that inviolate purity\, which I expect of you… For \nthe great love which I owe and cherish toward God\, obliges me\, with sincerest \naffection and charity to demand of all the observance of his holy law and the \npreservation of their friendship and grace with God. This you must prefer before \nyour life and be willing to die rather than offend your God and highest Good. \nI wish that you set about obeying me\, act out my instructions\, and work \nwith all your might to imitate what you see and write of me; that you permit no \nintermission in your love\, nor forget for one moment the heartfelt affection you \nowe to the liberal mercy of your Lord; that you be thankful for all his blessings \nand to me\, since your obligations are far beyond the power of fulfillment by you \nin this mortal life. Be faithful in your correspondence\, fervent in your devotion\, \nready to do what is most holy and perfect. Let your heart expand and do not \nnarrow it…following the instigations of the devil. Extend your hand to strong \nand powerful deeds\, filled with confidence in the Lord; be not oppressed by \nadversities\, thus impeding the will of the Lord in you\, and the high ends of his \nglory. Retain vivid faith and hope\, even in the greatest assaults and temptations. \nIn all this let…the certain knowledge of possessing through me the happy \nsecurity of those who live under the protection of the Most High… Raise up your \nheart…and withdraw it from these deceits; aspire to that which is most pure and \nholy\, since with you shall be the arm of the Almighty\, who wrought such great \nwonders in Me.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-229/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241113
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241114
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241110T102421Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241110T102421Z
UID:12822-1731456000-1731542399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - All Benedictine Saints
DESCRIPTION:IN PRAISE OF \nTHE MONASTIC VOCATION \nFrom “The Golden Epistle” by William of St-Thierry4 \n◊◊◊ \nSurely it is right to feast in the Lord and rejoice because the fairest part of \nthe Christian religion\, which seemed to come into close contact with heaven\, has \nreturned to life after having died\, has been found after being lost. \nOur ears had heard tell of it\, but we did not believe\, we read in books of it \nand marveled at the ancient glory of the solitary life and at the great grace of God \nmanifested in it; when suddenly we found it in the clearings of a wood\, on \nGod’s mountain\, on the fertile mountain\, where the fair places of the desert now \nwax fat on its richness and the hills are girt with exultation. \nFor there\, through you it now offers itself to all and in you it displays itself. \nHitherto unknown\, it stands revealed in a few simple men. He who brings it \namong us is the same who by means of a few simple men subjected the whole \nworld to himself\, to the amazement of that world. “Do not be afraid then\, you\, \nmy little flock\,” says the Lord\, “but show utter trust\, because your Father has \ndetermined to give you his kingdom”… It is not for you to concern yourselves \nfeebly with the ordinary commandments nor to give your attention only to what \nGod lays down as of obligation; you must seek his desires\, fulfill in yourselves \nwhat is God’s will\, the good thing\, the desirable thing\, the perfect thing. \nIt is for others to serve God\, it is for you to cling to him; it is for others to \nbelieve in God\, know him\, love him and revere him; it is for you to taste him\, \nunderstand him\, be acquainted with him\, enjoy him. \nThis is no slight matter\, no easy goal; but he who\, in his love\, makes you \nsuch promises is almighty and good. He will be faithful in fulfilling them and \nuntiring in giving help. To those who in their great love for him pledge \nthemselves to great things and\, believing and trusting in his grace\, undertake \nwhat is beyond their own strength\, he imparts both the will and the desire; and \nhe follows up the grace to will by bestowing also the power to achieve. Let the \ncalumniator calumniate as he will: if a person faithfully does what is humanly \npossible for him to do\, God himself in his mercy will give judgment for his poor \none\, will champion his cause\, because the person did what he could. \nYet…let all exaltation be far from the opinion you have of yourselves. \nConsider [others] as being far above you in strength and admire their glory\, \nthose who are mighty with both hands – who use their left hand as readily as \ntheir right. As long as they are allowed\, they love to stay inside and devote their \nleisure with all devotion to the contemplation of truth in charity; then when \nnecessity summons or duty impels\, they go out without a moment’s hesitation to \ngive themselves to the practice of charity in truth. \nRather\, in fear and trembling work out your own salvation. Do not \nwonder what others are like but\, to the best of your ability\, what they may \nbecome through your influence; not only those who are now alive but also those \nwho will come after you and take you as their models in the pursuit of their \nvocation. For it is from you\, from your example\, from your authority that all the \nfuture of this holy Order in these parts will derive its character.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-all-benedictine-saints-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241112
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241113
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241110T102150Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241110T102150Z
UID:12820-1731369600-1731455999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:THE CALL TO REPENTANCE \nBy Pope Paul VI3 \n◊◊◊ \nChrist\, who during his life always did what he taught\, spent forty days and \nforty nights in fasting and prayer before beginning his ministry. He began his \npublic mission with this joyful message: “The kingdom of God is at hand”\, and \nimmediately added this command\, “Repent\, and believe in the Good News”. In a \ncertain way\, the whole Christian life is summarized in these words. \nRepentance is the only way of attaining to the kingdom which Christ \nproclaimed\, in other words\, by the total and intimate change and renewal of the \nwhole person\, in thought\, judgment\, and life. This change and renewal effects \nitself in man through the light of that holiness and love of God which has been \nshown and communicated to us wholly in the Son. \nThe Son’s call to repentance becomes all the more obligatory for us \nbecause he not only preached it but offered himself as an example. Christ is\, in \nfact\, the supreme example for penitents. He chose to suffer\, not for his own sins \nbut for those of others. \nWhen anyone comes into Christ’s presence they are enlightened by a new \nlight\, for they see the holiness of God and the gravity of sin. Through Christ’s \nword they receive the message which summons them to conversion and bestows \npardon on sin. They receive these gifts in their fulness through baptism which \nmolds them in the likeness of Christ’s passion\, death and resurrection. After \nbaptism\, their whole life is lived in the light of this mystery. \nTherefore every Christian must follow their Master in self-renunciation\, \nin bearing their cross and in sharing Christ’s suffering. Thus\, transformed in the \nlikeness of his death\, they are able to meditate on the glory of the resurrection. \nThey also follow the Master in living no longer for themselves\, but for Christ \nwho loved them and gave himself for them\, and for their brothers and sisters as \nwell\, completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body\, \nthat is the Church. \nMoreover\, [because] the Church [is] intimately bound to Christ\, the \npenitence of each Christian is also a real and intimate link with the whole \necclesial community. Indeed\, it is not only in the womb of the Church that\, \nthrough baptism\, they receive the initial gift of repentance\, but this gift is \nrestored and reaffirmed—through the sacrament of penance—for those \nmembers of the body of Christ who have fallen into sin. Those who come to this \nsacrament of penance receive there\, through God’s mercy\, pardon for the wrong \nthat they have done. At the same time they are reconciled with the Church\, \nwhom their sin has wounded and who\, by means of love\, example and prayer\, \nlabors for their conversion. \nLastly\, in the Church\, the little work of penance imposed on each penitent \nin the sacrament has a special part in Christ’s infinite expiation; while\, within \nthe order of the Church\, the penitent may unite to sacramental satisfaction \neverything that they do\, suffer and endure. Thus the baptized Christian\, at each \nmoment and in every aspect of their life\, bears the sufferings and death of Jesus \nin his body and soul.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-228/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20241111T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20241111T170000
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241110T102012Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241110T102012Z
UID:12818-1731312000-1731344400@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Martin of Tours
DESCRIPTION:ST MARTIN\, \nA MAN OF PRAYER \nFrom a letter by Pope John XXIII2 \n◊◊◊ \nIf St Martin was a bishop and a zealous pastor who can well be imitated in \nthe practice of charity\, he was also and first of all a monk. You might even say \nthat the only reason he was such a marvelous man of action was that he was first \nof all a man of prayer. And from this point of view too\, he has a great lesson to \ngive to the Christians of today. \nEager for solitude and union with God\, this giant of the apostolate lived in \nconstant prayer: “he never turned his mind away from prayer\,” according to the \nexpression -later picked up by the liturgy- of his contemporary and first \nbiographer Sulpicius Severus\, who adds that once he was elevated to the \nepiscopacy\, the servant of God “remained what he had been before and bore the \ndignity of bishop without abandoning the design of life and the virtue of a \nmonk.” \nWas not his principal means of evangelization to found churches and \nmonasteries everywhere?… And thus it was that\, thanks to him\, monasticism \nwas introduced into France. \nThrowing light on this side of the activity of the great convert-maker is a \nway of reminding us of the immense benefits that the monks brought to their \ncountry; it is a way of drawing their attention\, which is so easily distracted at the \npresent time by the agitated pace of modern life\, back to the lasting greatness \nand beauties of monastic life; it is a way of inviting them to hold this form of life\, \nand\, in general\, the grace of a religious vocation\, high in their esteem… \nThe example of St Martin\, which has been confirmed by the experience of \ncenturies\, shows what invaluable instruments for spiritual elevation cloisters \nare in Christian society and what an effective contribution they make to the \napostolate of the Church.… \nMay the great Bishop\, model of the monk and the pastor\, succeed in \nstirring up a new spirit of fervor for the service of God.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-martin-of-tours-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241110
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241111
DTSTAMP:20260403T134802
CREATED:20241110T101749Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241110T101749Z
UID:12816-1731196800-1731283199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils reading - 32nd Sunday
DESCRIPTION:LET US GIVE GLADLY \nFrom a commentary by St Paulinus of Nola1 \n◊◊◊ \nWhat have you\, asks the Apostle\, that you have not received? This \nmeans\, beloved\, that we should not be miserly\, regarding possessions of our \nown\, but should rather invest what has been entrusted to us. We have been \nentrusted with the administration and use of temporal wealth for the common \ngood\, not with the everlasting ownership of private property. If you accept the \nfact that ownership on earth is only for a time\, you can earn eternal possessions \nin heaven. \nCall to mind the widow who forgot herself in her concern for the poor\, and \nthinking only of the life to come\, gave away all her means of subsistence\, as the \njudge himself bears witness. Others\, he says\, have given of their superfluous \nwealth\, but she\, possessed of only two small coins and more needy perhaps than \nmany of the poor – though in spiritual riches she surpassed all the wealthy – she \nthought only of the world to come\, and had such a longing for heavenly treasure \nthat she gave away\, all at once\, whatever she had that was derived from the earth \nand destined to return there. \nLet us then invest with the Lord what he has given us\, for we have nothing \nthat does not come from him; we are dependent upon him for our very \nexistence. And we ourselves particularly\, who have a special and greater debt\, \nsince God not only created us but purchased us as well – what can we regard as \nour own when we do not possess even ourselves? \nBut let us rejoice that we have been bought at a great price\, the price of the \nLord’s own blood\, and that because of this we are no longer worthless slaves. \nFor there is a freedom that is baser than slavery\, namely\, freedom from justice. \nWhoever has that kind of freedom is a slave of sin and a prisoner of death. So let \nus give back to the Lord the gifts he has given us; let us give to him who receives \nin the person of every poor man or woman. Let us give gladly\, I say\, and great joy \nwill be ours when we receive his promised reward.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-32nd-sunday/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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