Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey

Skema
2023-10-01
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
26th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
October 1 – 7, 2023

Sun
1
Mon
2
Tue
3
Wed
4
Thu
5
Fri
6
Sat
7

Office
26th Sunday
Weekday
Louisville Cathedral
St Francis
Weekday
St Bruno
Our Lady of the Rosary

Vigils
1 Sam 16:14-17:11
1 Sam 17:12-37
2 Chron 7:1-16
1 Sam 17:38-18:5
1 Sam 18:6-30
1 Sam 19:1-24
Judith 15:8-16:2, 11-16

Lauds
Amos 7:7-9
Amos 7:10-17
Ezek 43:1-7a
Amos 8:1-8
Amos 8:9-14
Amos 9:1-6
Sir 39:12-22

Mass
136
455
701.1, 706.2
457
458
459
460

1st
Ezek 18:25-28
Zech 8:1-8
1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30
Neh 2:1-8
Neh 8:1-4a, 5-6, 7b-12
Bar 1:15-22
Bar 4:5-12, 27-29

2nd
Phil 2:1-11

Gospel
Matt 21:28-32
Luke 9:46-50
Luke 19:1-10
Luke 9:57-62
Luke 10:1-12
Luke 10:13-16
Luke 10:17-24

Vespers
1 Pet 4:12-19
1 Pet 5:1-7
Rev 21:1-5
1 Pet 5:8-14
2 Pet 1:1-9
2 Pet 1:10-15
2 Pet 1:16-19

Vigils Reading - 26th Sunday ORD
2023-10-01
WHAT I WANT IS MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE
A commentary by St Clement of Alexandria1
◊◊◊
The doors are open for all who sincerely and wholeheartedly return to God; indeed the Father is most willing to welcome back a truly repentant son or daughter. The result of true repentance, however, is that you do not fall into the same faults again, but utterly uproot from your souls the sins for which you consider yourself worthy of death. When these have been destroyed God will again dwell within you, since Scripture says that for the Father and his angels in heaven the festal joy and gladness at the return of one repentant sinner is great beyond compare. That is why the Lord cried out: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. I desire not the death of the sinner but his conversion. Even if your sins are like crimson wool I will make them as white as snow; even if they are blacker than night. I will wash them as white as wool.
Although only God has power to forgive sin and to cancel transgressions, the Lord commands us also to forgive our repentant brothers and sisters every day. So if we who are evil know how to give good gifts, how much more generous must be the Father of mercies, the good Father of all consolation, who is full of compassion and mercy, and whose nature it is to be patient and await our conversion! Genuine conversion, however, means ceasing to sin without any backward glance.
God pardons what is past, then, but for the future we are each responsible for ourselves. By repenting we condemn our past misdeeds and beg forgiveness of the Father, the only one who can in his mercy undo what has been done, and wipe away our past sins with the dew of the Spirit. And so, if you are a thief and desire to be forgiven, steal no more. If you are a robber, return your gains with interest. If you have been a false witness, practice speaking the truth. If you are a perjurer, stop taking oaths. You must also curb all the other evil passions: anger, lust, grief, and fear. No doubt you will be unable all at once to root out passions habitually given way to, but this can be achieved by God’s power, human prayers, the help of your brothers and sisters, sincere repentance, and constant practice

1 Journey with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press – NY – 1999 – pg128-129.

Vigils Reading
2023-10-02
DEATH AND THE MONK
From “The Meaning of the Monastic Life” by Fr Louis Bouyer2 ◊◊◊
It is not purely and simply by dying that we shall live, but by dying such a death that it kills death itself — and it is only the death of Christ that can do that. For it is not the life of the mortal body which has injured the life of the soul. It is, on the contrary, the death of the soul which has injured the body and made it mortal. Life will be won back by the resurrection, not of the soul alone, but of the human being in its unity, inseparably body and soul. And if the passage through death can lead to the resurrection, it is only in as much as the soul, which has become alive again in Christ, has been made capable of burning away the death of the body as with a red-hot iron and of causing it to evaporate in its own flame.
The monk goes forward to meet death because he believes that this miracle, the greatest of all, has been accomplished in the death of Christ: because he believes that Christ was Life, the very Life of God, and that in making physical death his own, he has robbed the evil one of all his power and all his empire which are annihilated by this very act. Again he goes forward to meet death because he believes that Christ now and for the future lives in him: and finally because he believes that what has taken place in Christ will be reproduced in himself, in the same manner.
The death of the monk, so desired and sought after day after day, is then only the supreme evidence of his faith, his faith in Christ vanquishing death in himself, his faith in Christ present in his followers to vanquish it in them. The monk’s mortification is ultimately nothing more than his witness given to Christ,

the witness of his faith, which makes it clear that it is not only an intellectual thing but an engagement of the whole being

2 New York, 1955, pp. 53-54.

Vigils Reading - Louisville Cathedral
2023-10-03
THE CATHEDRAL OF THE ASSUMPTION3 ◊◊◊
Catholics were a small and scattered lot in the earliest days after Louisville’s founding in 1778… The roots of the first real Catholic congregation can be traced to about 1805 when the small Catholic community of Louisville was served by regular priestly visits from Father Stephen Badin, the first Catholic priest ordained in the United States. Badin and other clerics came up from “the Kentucky Holy Land” to minister to that primal congregation that was to become the Cathedral of the Assumption. The congregation got its first building in 1811 on Tenth Street, between Main Street and the Ohio River. The name St. Louis was adopted for the parish, commemorating the saintly King Louis IX of France. But presumably the name of Louis was also a reference to Louisville’s own naming in honor of France’s Louis XVI, for the aid he rendered to the American Revolution…
When the seat of the Bardstown diocese was transferred to Louisville in 1841, St. Louis became the new cathedral, and Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget took up his residence next door. Perhaps his last public act was his blessing of the cornerstone for a new structure, today’s Cathedral of the Assumption, on August 15, 1849. Because that was the Feast of the Blessed Virgin’s Assumption, that name was affixed to the Cathedral that had been known under the patronage of Saint Louis… The new American Gothic structure… was dedicated October 3, 1852, with eight bishops and the first American cardinal present.
The Cathedral parish immediately began to function. It established the St. Vincent de Paul Society for relief of the poor in 1853…

At heart, the Cathedral of the Assumption retains its identity as a vital, truly Catholic community of faith <and> has marched into the third millennium with renewed hope and promise

3 Cathedral of the Assumption. Accessed online: https://www.archlou.org/parishes/cathedral-of-the-assumption/.

Vigils Reading - St Francis
2023-10-04
THE HUMILITY OF ST FRANCIS
From “The Life of St Francis” by St Bonaventure4 ◊◊◊
In order to render himself contemptible to others, he did not spare himself the embarrassment of bringing up his own faults when he preached before all the people. Once it happened that when he was weighed down with sickness, he relaxed a little the rigor of his abstinence in order to recover his health. When his strength of body returned, he was aroused to insult his own body out of true self- contempt: “It is not right,” he said, “that the people should believe I am abstaining while, in fact, I eat meat on the sly.”
Inflamed with the spirit of true humility, he called the people together in the square of the town of Assisi and solemnly entered the principal church with many of the friars whom he had brought with him. With a rope tied around his neck and stripped to his underwear, he had himself dragged before the eyes of all to the stone where criminals received their punishment. He climbed up upon the stone and preached with much vigor and spirit although he was suffering from a fever and the weather was bitter cold. He asserted to all his hearers that he should not be honored as a spiritual man but rather he should be despised by all as a carnal man and a glutton.
Therefore those who had gathered there were amazed at so great a spectacle. They were well aware of his austerity, and so their hearts were struck with compunction; but they professed that his humility was easier to admire than to imitate. Although this incident seemed to be more a portent like that of the Prophet [Isaiah] than an example, nevertheless it was a lesson in true humility instructing the follower of Christ that he should despise the fame of transitory praise, suppress the arrogance of bloated bragging and reject the lies of deceptive pretense.

He often did many things like this so that outwardly he might become like a discarded utensil while inwardly possessing the spirit of holiness. He strove to hide the gifts of his Lord in the secret recesses of his heart, not wanting them to be exposed to praise, which could be an occasion of a fall. For often when he was praised by the crowds, he would answer like this: “I could still have sons and daughters; don’t praise me as if I were secure! No one should be praised whose end is still uncertain.” This is what he would say to those who praised him, and to himself he would say: “If the Most High had given so much to a brigand, he would be more grateful than you, Francis.” He often used to tell the friars: “No one should flatter himself for doing anything a sinner can also do. A sinner,” he said, “can fast, pray, weep and mortify his flesh. This one thing he cannot do: be faithful to his Lord. Therefore we should glory in this: if we give back to the Lord the glory that is his, if we serve him faithfully and ascribe to him whatever he gives to us.

4 Translation and introduction by Ewert Cousins, (Classics of Western Spirituality series), New York: Paulist Press, 1978, pp. 230-231.

Vigils Reading
2023-10-05
TRUE LOVE
From “The Story of a Soul” by St Thérèse of Lisieux5 ◊◊◊
At the beginning of my religious life Jesus wanted to have me experience how sweet it is to see Him in the souls of His brides. When I was guiding Sister St. Pierre, I did it with so much love that I could not possibly have done better had I been guiding Jesus Himself. The practice of charity… was not always so sweet for me, and to prove it to you I am going to recount certain little struggles which will certainly make you smile. For a long time at evening meditation, I was placed in front of a Sister who had a strange habit… during meditation. This is what I noticed: as soon as this Sister arrived, she began making a strange little noise which resembled the noise one would make when rubbing two shells, one against the other. I was the only one to notice it because I had extremely sensitive hearing (too much so at times). Mother, it would be impossible for me to tell you how much this little noise wearied me. I had a great desire to turn my head and stare at the culprit who was very certainly unaware of her “click.” This would be the only way of enlightening her. However, in the bottom of my heart I felt it was much better to suffer this out of love for God and not to cause the Sister any pain. I remained calm, therefore, and tried to unite myself to God and to forget the little noise.
Everything was useless. I felt the perspiration inundate me, and I was obliged simply to make a prayer of suffering; however, while suffering, I searched for a way of doing it without annoyance and with peace and joy, at least in the interior of my soul. I tried to love the little noise which was so displeasing; instead of trying not to hear it (impossible), I paid close attention so as to hear it well, as

though it were a delightful concert, and my prayer (which was not the Prayer of Quiet) was spent in offering this concert to Jesus.
Another time, I was in the laundry doing the washing in front of a Sister who was throwing dirty water into my face every time she lifted the handkerchiefs to her bench; my first reaction was to draw back and wipe my face to show the Sister who was sprinkling me that she would do me a favor to be more careful. But I immediately thought I would be very foolish to refuse these treasures which were being given to me so generously, and I took care not to show my struggle. I put forth all my efforts to desire receiving very much of this dirty water, and was so successful that in the end I had really taken a liking to this kind of aspersion, and I promised myself to return another time to this nice place where one received so many treasures.
My dear Mother, you can see that I am a very little soul and that I can offer God only very little things. It often happens that I allow these little sacrifices which give such peace to the soul to slip by; this does not discourage me, for I put up with having a little less peace and I try to be more vigilant on another occasion. Ah! the Lord is so good to me that it is quite impossible for me to fear Him. He has always given me what I desire or rather He has made me desire what He wants to give me; thus a short time before my trial against the faith began, I was saying to myself: Really, I have no great exterior trials and for me to have interior ones God would have to change my way… what means, then, will Jesus find to try me? The answer was not long in coming, and it showed me that the One whom I love is not at a loss as to the means He uses

5 Story of A Soul: The Autobiography of St Thérèse of Lisieux. Trans. John Clarke, O.C.D. Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1996. 279-280. PDF ONLINE VERSION.

Vigils Reading - St Bruno
2023-10-06
A READING FROM THE STATUTES OF THE CARTHUSIAN ORDER6
◊◊◊

12

Master Bruno and six companions entered the desert of Chartreuse in the year of our Lord 1084 and settled there; under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they and their successors, learning from experience, gradually evolved a special form of hermit life, which was handed on to succeeding

generations, not by the written word, but by example…
The more sublime the path that opens before us in the holy way of life handed down to us by our Fathers, the more easily can we fall away from it; not only by obvious transgressions, but also by the drag innate, as it were, in routine. Since, however, God gives his grace to the humble, let us have recourse to him above all and stand fast in the combat, lest the chosen vineyard fall into ruin.
For the continuing quality of our life will depend more on the fidelity of each individual than on the multiplication of laws, or the updating of customs, or even the zeal of Priors. It is not, indeed, enough to obey the commands of our superiors and observe faithfully the letter of the Statutes, unless, led by the Spirit, we savor the things of the Spirit… Now no longer a child, but a man, let him not be tossed to and fro and carried about with

every new wind, but rather let him try to find out what would please God and do it of his own free will, enjoying with sober wisdom that liberty of God’s children, concerning which he will have to render an account before God. Let no one, however, be wise in his own eyes; for it is to be feared that he who neglects to open his heart to an enlightened guide, will lose the

quality of discretion and go less quickly than is necessary, or too fast and grow weary, or stop on the way and… fall asleep… In simplicity of heart, then, and in purity of mind let us strive with all our power to fix our thoughts and affections continually on God. Let each be forgetful of self and what lies behind, and press on towards the goal to win the prize which is God’s call to the life above, in Christ Jesus.

“But he who has no love for the brother he has seen, what love can he have for the God he has not seen?” And since brotherly fellowship between men can never be perfect unless based on mutual esteem, it is certainly fitting in the highest degree that we, who live in the house of God, should bear witness to the love that comes from God by lovingly welcoming our brothers with whom we live, and by making a real effort to understand with heart and mind their characters and temperaments, however different from our own. For the source of hostilities, disagreements, and the like, often lies in contempt of others. Let us carefully avoid anything that could injure the blessing of peace…
Finally, in these times, we must be extremely careful not to model ourselves on the behavior of the world around us. For, too eagerly to seek and too readily to accept the comforts of modern life is altogether opposed to our state of life; especially as novelty always calls for more novelty. The resources granted us by divine Providence are not given that we may seek

the good things of life; indeed, if the way to God is easy, it is because it is traveled not by loading ourselves with burdens, but by getting rid of them. Let us then, free ourselves from possessions to the point that, having given up everything and having left even self behind, we may share in the way of life of our first Fathers

6 The Statutes of the Carthusian Order. Accessed online: https://carthusiansusa.org/book-i/.

Vigils Reading - Our Lady of the Rosary
2023-10-07
THE ROSARY IS NOT A ROAD, BUT A PLACE
From the writings of Fr Romano Guardini7
◊◊◊
To linger in the domain of Mary is something divinely great. One does not ask about the utility of truly noble things, because they have their meaning within themselves. So it is of infinite meaning to draw a deep breath of this purity, to be secure in the peace of this union with God.
With this we come back to what was said in the beginning. We need a place of holy tranquility that is pervaded by the breath of God and where we meet the great figures of the faith. This place is really the inaccessibility of God himself which is opened to us only through Christ. All prayer begins when we become silent, when we recollect our scattered thoughts and feel remorse at our trespasses, when we direct our thoughts toward God. If we do all this, the place is thrown open, not only as a domain of spiritual tranquility and mental concentration, but as something that comes from God.
We are always in need of this place, especially when the convulsions of the times make clear something that has always existed but which is sometimes hidden by outward well-being and a prevailing “peace of mind”: namely, the homelessness of our lives. In such times, a great courage is demanded from us: not only a readiness to dispense with more and to accomplish more than usual, but to persevere in a vacuum we do not otherwise notice. So, we require more than ever this place of which we speak, not to creep into to hide, but as a place to find the core of things, to become calm and confident once more. For this reason the Rosary is so important in times like ours — assuming, of course, that all slackness and exaggeration are done away with, and it is used in its clear and original forcefulness. This is all the more important because the Rosary does not require any special preparation. We do not need to generate thoughts of which we are not capable at the moment or at any other time. We step into a well- ordered world, meet familiar images and find roads that lead us to the essential.

The Rosary has the character of a sojourn. Its essence is the sheltering security of a quiet, holy world that envelops the person who is praying. This is particularly evident when we compare it with the Stations of the Cross, which have the character of a journey. We follow the Master from one “station” to another, and feel at the end that we have reached our goal. The Rosary is not a road, but a place, and it has no goal but a depth. To linger in it has great compensations

7 The Rosary of Our Lady, New York 1955, 33-36.

Skema
2023-10-08
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
27th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
October 8 – 14, 2023

Sun
8
Mon
9
Tue
10
Wed
11
Thu
12
Fri
13
Sat
14

Office
27th Sunday
Office for the dead
Weekday
St John XXIII
Weekday
Weekday
Memorial of the BVM

Vigils
1 Sam 20:1-24a
1 Sam 20:24b-21:1
1 Sam 21:2-22:5
1 Sam 22:6-23
1 Sam 23:1-28
1 Sam 24:1-25:1
1 Sam 25:2-22

Lauds
Amos 9:7-10
Amos 9:11-15
Obad 1-7
Obad 8-14
Obad 15-18
Mic 1:1-9
Mic 2:1-5

Mass
139
461
462
463
464
465
466

1st
Isa 5:1-7
Jonah 1:1-2:2, 11
Jonah 3:1-10
Jonah 4:1-11
Mal 3:13-20b
Joel 1:13-15; 2:1-2
Joel 4:12-21

2nd
Phil 4:6-9

Gospel
Matt 21:33-43
Luke 10:25-37
Luke 10:38-42
Luke 11:1-4
Luke 11:5-13
Luke 11:15-26
Luke 11:27-28

Vespers
2 Pet 1:20-2:3
2 Pet 2:4-10a
2 Pet 2:10b-16
2 Pet 2:17-22
2 Pet 3:1-7
2 Pet 3:8-13
2 Pet 3:14-18

Vigils Reading - 27th Sunday ORD
2023-10-08
THE VINE AND THE VINEDRESSER
A commentary by St Basil the Great1
◊◊◊
You need only look at the vine to be reminded of your own nature, that is, if you observe it intelligently. No doubt you remember the image used by the Lord in which he says that he is the vine and the Father the vinedresser. Each of us who have been grafted onto the Church by faith he calls branches, and he urges us to bear much fruit so as not to be rejected as useless and thrown into the fire.
Throughout the Scriptures the Lord continually likens human souls to vines. He says for instance: My beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; and again: I planted a vineyard and put a hedge around it. Clearly it is human souls that he calls his vineyard, and the hedge he has put round them is the security of his commandments and the protection of the angels; for the angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him. Moreover, by establishing in the Church apostles in the first place, prophets in the second, and teachers in the third, he has surrounded us as though by a firmly planted palisade.
In addition, the Lord has raised our thoughts to heaven by the examples of saints of past ages. He has kept them from sinking to the earth where they would deserve to be trampled on, and he wills that the bonds of love, like the tendrils of a vine, should attach us to our neighbors and make us rest on them, so that always climbing upward like the vines growing on trees, we may reach the loftiest heights.
He also requires that we allow ourselves to be weeded. To be spiritually weeded means to have renounced worldly ambitions that burdened our hearts.

Anyone who has renounced the love of material things and attachment to possessions, or who has come to regard as despicable and deserving of contempt the poor, wretched glory of this world, is like a weeded vine. Freed from the profitless burden of earthly aspirations, that person can breathe again.

Finally, following out the implications of the comparison, we must not run to wood, or, in other words, show off or seek the praise of outsiders. Instead, we must bear fruit by reserving the display of our good works for the true vine dresser

1 Journey with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press – NY – 1999 – pg 130-31.

Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
2023-10-09
THE INVISIBLE CHURCH
From “The Paradise of the Heart” by John Comenius2 ◊◊◊
A still greater light began to shine around me… He who spoke to me, my Lord… said, “I live in two places, in my glory in heaven and in the penitent heart on earth. So from this time forward, I want you also to have two dwellings: one here at home, where I have promised to dwell with you; the other with me in heaven… Whenever you wish, you will be able to raise yourself up to me so that we may experience delight in one another.”… Go, then,” he said, “and return to the place you passed over earlier…”
Remembering where it was that I went astray, I arose and hurried back eagerly. Although surrounded by the turmoil of the world, I paid no attention to it. Entering the temple called Christianity and seeing in its innermost part, which is the choir, a curtain or screen, I went directly toward it not even looking at the <factions> quarreling on the sides… The curtain had two parts. The exterior, which could be seen from the outside, was dark-colored and was called… ‘contempt of the world.’ The interior was brilliant and was called… the ‘love of Christ.’…
Still standing outside and observing, I saw something strange and amazing taking place. Although many thousands of people were constantly walking around the enclosure, they did not enter it. I do not know whether they simply did not notice it or whether it seemed unattractive to them from the outside. I saw those learned in the Scriptures, as well as priests, bishops, and many others who pretended to be holy walking around it. Some even stopped to look at it, but they did not enter. This made me sad. I saw that when someone stepped closer, a ray of light flashed through a crevice or a fragrance wafted out and attracted him, so that he wanted to find its source. But even some of these people, while beginning to look for the door, turned back. The brilliance of the world dazzled them once more, and they went away again.

When I approached the door of the enclosure, however, I saw the real reason why so few people arrived there; namely, because of the very rigorous examination that was held there. Those who wished to enter had to surrender all their possessions and even their eyes, ears, minds, and hearts; for, they said, whoever wants to be wise in God’s sight must become simple in his own; whoever wishes to know God must forget all else; whoever wants to possess God must forsake all else. Therefore, some who did not want to relinquish their possessions or their learning, contending that these were aids to heaven, remained outside and did not enter…
Having observed this at the door, I went further beyond the screen to look at these things… With unspeakable delight, I observed that everything here was in opposition to the world. In the world I had seen blindness and darkness everywhere, but here bright light; in the world deception, here truth; the world was full of disorder, here was marvelous order; in the world was striving, here peace… For although upon entering, Christians must lay aside and relinquish reason, yet it is returned to them again by the Holy Spirit, refined and polished. Thus, they are as if full of eyes; wherever they go in the world, whatever they see, hear, smell, or taste above them, below them, or around them, they see everywhere the footprints of God and know well how to turn everything into the fear of God. Therefore, they are wiser than all philosophers of the world, whom God blinds by his righteous judgment so that while supposing they know everything, they know nothing… Their learning is fixed only on the outer shell, that is, a survey of the exterior; it does not penetrate to the inner kernel where God’s glory pervades all. But in everything that he sees, hears, touches, smells, or tastes, a Christian sees, hears, touches, smells, and tastes God, having the certainty within that this is not mere supposition but the real truth

2 John Comenius. The Labyrinth of the World and The Paradise of the Heart. Trans. Howard Louthan and Andrea Sterk. New York: Paulist Press, 1998. 195-199.

Vigils Reading
2023-10-10
MARY AND MARTHA
From a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux3
◊◊◊
Jesus entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. Why is it, my brethren, that we read that only one of the two sisters welcomed him, and she was the one who seems to have been less important? After all, the one whom Martha received affirms that Mary chose the better part. Martha appears to have been the elder, and action has a greater claim on the beginnings of salvation than contemplation does. Christ praises Mary, but he is received by Martha. Jacob loves Rachel, but Leah is substituted unawares. When he complains about the trickery, he is told that it is not the custom for the younger to be given in marriage first.
If you picture this house as made of clay, it will be easy to acknowledge that Martha should receive him in it rather than Mary. When the apostle says glorify and bear God in your body, it is said to Martha, not to Mary. The first uses her body as an instrument, whereas to the other it is a hindrance. A perishable body, it is said, weighs down the soul, and its frame of clay burdens the soul, which is full of thoughts. It is not the same for the one who works, is it? Martha, then, receives the Lord into her home on earth, but Mary thinks rather how she may be received by him in a house not made with hands but an eternal one in heaven. Yet perhaps even she seems to have received the Lord, but in spirit…
You notice that each received the Word, the one in the flesh, the other in the voice. But Martha was busy about much serving, and she stood and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me alone to serve?” Is it possible, do you think,

for murmuring to be heard in the house where Christ is received? Happy the house, and blessed the community where Martha complains about Mary! On the contrary, it is altogether both shameful and out of bounds for Mary to be jealous of Martha. Where do you read of Mary lodging the accusation, “My sister has left me alone to be still”? God forbid, and I repeat, God forbid that the person who is empty for God should aspire to the turbulent life of the brothers holding responsibilities in the monastery. Let Martha always seem to herself insufficient and hardly qualified, and let her wish that the work she is entrusted with be confided to others instead!
But Jesus replies to her, “Martha, Martha, you are troubled and anxious about many things.” See Mary’s privilege, that in every conflict she has an advocate. The Pharisee is indignant, the sister complains, and even the disciples murmur, but Mary remains silent, and Christ speaks for her. Mary, he says, has chosen for herself the better part, which shall not be taken away from her. For that is the one thing necessary, that one thing that the prophet so constantly asked for: one thing have I asked for from the Lord; this I seek…
Truly this is the better part that shall not be taken away; this is the best intention that will not change, whatever you call her to… Rejoice and give thanks, Mary, because you have chosen the part. Blessed are the eyes that see what you see, and the ears that are worthy to hear what you hear

3 Bernard of Clairvaux. Sermons for the Autumn Season. CF 54. Trans. Irene Edmonds, OCSO. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2016. 26-28, 32.

Vigils Reading - St John XXIII
2023-10-11
THE SPIRITUAL TESTAMENT
of St Pope John XXIII4
◊◊◊
On the point of presenting myself before the One and Triune Lord who created me, redeemed me, chose me to be his priest and bishop, and covered me with unending graces, I entrust my poor soul to His mercy; I humbly ask pardon for my sins and deficiencies. I offer Him the little good, although petty and imperfect, that with His aid I have succeeded in doing, for His glory, for the service of Holy Church, for the edification of my brethren, begging Him finally to receive me, like a good and kind Father, with His Saints into eternal happiness.
I profess once again with all my heart my entire Christian and Catholic faith, my adherence and subjection to the Holy Apostolic and Roman Church, and my complete devotion and obedience to her August Head, the Supreme Pontiff, whom it was my great honor to represent for long years in various regions of the East and West, who at the end chose me to come to Venice as Cardinal and Patriarch, and whom I have always followed with sincere affection, aside from and above any dignity conferred upon me. The sense of my own littleness and nothingness has always been my good companion, keeping me humble and calm, and making me employ myself to the best of my ability in a constant exercise of obedience and charity for souls and for the interests of the Kingdom of Jesus, my Lord and my all. To Him be all glory; for me and for my merit, His mercy. “My merit is the mercy of the Lord. O Lord, You know everything: You know that I love You.” This alone is enough for me.
I ask pardon of those whom I have unwittingly offended, of all to whom I have not been a source of edification. I feel that I have nothing to forgive anyone, for all who have known and dealt with me – including those who have offended me, scorned me, held me in bad esteem (with good reason, for that matter), or have been a source of affliction for me – I regard solely as brothers and benefactors, to whom I am grateful and for whom I pray and always will pray.

Born poor, but of honorable and humble people, I am particularly happy to die poor, having given away, in accord with the various demands and circumstances of my simple and modest life, for the benefit of the poor and of Holy Church that had nurtured me, all that came into my hands – which was little enough as a matter of fact – during the years of my priesthood and episcopacy. Outward appearances of ease and comfort often veiled hidden thorns of distressing poverty and kept me from giving with all the largess I would have liked. I thank God for this grace of poverty which I vowed in my youth, poverty of spirit as a priest of the Sacred Heart, and real poverty. This grace has sustained me in never asking for anything, neither positions nor money, nor favors – never, not for myself, nor for my relatives or friends.
The goodness directed toward my poor person by all whom I met along the path made my life serene. As I face death, I recall each and every one – those who preceded me in taking the final step, those who will survive me and who will follow me. May they pray for me. I will repay them from Purgatory or from Paradise, where I hope to be received. I repeat it once again, not because of my merits, but because of the mercy of the Lord.
At the moment for saying farewell, or better still, arrivederci, I once more remind everyone of what counts most in life: blessed Jesus Christ, His Holy Church, His Gospel; and in the Gospel, above all, the Pater noster in the spirit and heart of Jesus and the Gospel, the truth and goodness, the goodness meek and kind, active and patient, victorious and unbowed.
My children, my brethren, arrivederci. In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit

4 The Encyclicals and Other Messages of John XXIII – TPS Press – Washington DC – 1964 – pg 465

Vigils Reading
2023-10-12
A MAN WHO IS HUNTED
From a sermon by John Tauler5
◊◊◊
The hypocrites, or Pharisees, are those who rank themselves good spiritual men, and yet are full of self-esteem. Their own plans and customs are the only rule they follow, and their one aim in life is to be praised by men… These men take the discipline, they pray and fast and watch, and yet God is not purely and simply the motive of any of these practices, but only poor, deluded human nature… This vineyard was never planted by the heavenly Father, but will be disowned and destroyed, as our Lord Himself declared: “He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth.” When the time of the harvest has come, then God will gather in His corn, that is to say, His elect; and those who do not gather with Him shall be rejected; in whatsoever souls He finds a harvest that He has not planted, those also shall be rejected…
Alas, dear children, how few men there are who appreciate the value of interior suffering and of interior persecution, or being hunted! Yet nothing in the world is so honorable or so precious as that both these trials should meet together in our souls. When one has safely gone through such an experience, then alone can he understand what nobility of soul and what fruit of virtue result from these bitter struggles. But what do I mean by a man who is hunted? I mean that an interior man must insist on being always close to God as the only true state of his soul, and this forces him incessantly to hunt and drive himself inward to God’s presence in his interior consciousness. Now, this provokes the violent resistance of the outward man that is in us all; we would ever and again seek to return forcibly to the outward things that minister to our natural weakness. Here, then,

is the conflict. The inner man’s proper place is with God; of this he ever thinks and for it he ever yearns, and toward that union with God our Lord is ever driving and hunting him. Now, to our outward man this is always offensive and against nature, and he always fights against it. St. Paul tells of this struggle: “I am delighted with the law of God according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members fighting against the law of my mind.”…
You can easily understand… that from this constant hunting of a man’s soul bitter anguish results. But when at last he is content to abide, for God’s sake, without any consolation, then will Jesus surely come to him and possess him… For there are many trials of body and of soul whose end and purpose is little observed by us, and which, if humbly and thankfully received from God and patiently endured, will end happily with the inpouring of Divine grace…
What can this poor, belated and desolate man do that he may hold his own, and not be driven to extremities in this dreadful hunted condition? No otherwise than the <Canaanite Woman> did in her deep sorrow—run to Jesus Christ and call out to Him with all her strength: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Ah, children, in this hunted state of soul, there is granted a voice to utter a holy call to God; the answer will be the measureless joys of the interior life. Our prayer is a sigh of the spirit yearning for God, so deep and so sad that it flies through measureless space far over all the range of nature — straight to the Divine heart. Indeed, it is the Holy Spirit Himself that now assumes charge of and perfects this work in us; and as St. Paul says, it is His voice that pleads for us: “The Spirit Himself <asks> for us with unspeakable groanings.” And, dear children, when the Holy Ghost thus prepares us, no other preparation can compare with it..

5 John Tauler. The Sermons and Conferences. Trans. Very Rev. Walter Elliott. Washington, D.C.: Apostolic Mission House, 1910. 194-197.

Vigils Reading
2023-10-13
ON HUMILITY
From a discourse by Dorotheos of Gaza6
◊◊◊
ONE OF THE FATHERS used to say, ‘Before anything else we need humility: a being ready to listen whenever a word is spoken to us, and to say, “I submit”, because through humility every device of the enemy, every kind of obstacle, is destroyed,’ What is the force of this saying? Why did he say, ‘before anything else we need humility’, and not, ‘we have need of self-control’? Because, the Apostle says, ‘Everyone who strives for mastery abstains from all things.’ Or why did he not say, ‘Before anything else we have need of the fear of God’? For it is written, ‘The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord’ and again, ‘With the fear of the Lord a man turns away from evil.’ Or why did he not say, ‘Before all else we need almsgiving, or faith’? For it is said that by faith and almsgiving we are cleansed from sin, and the Apostle says, ‘Without faith it is impossible to please God.’ If, therefore, it is impossible to please God without faith, and faith and almsgiving cleanse from sin, and by fear a man turns aside from evil, and the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and a man who strives for the mastery abstain from all things, why does he say, ‘Before all else we need humility’ and leaves aside all these very necessary things?
The holy man wishes to show us that neither the fear of God, nor faith, nor self-control, nor any one of the other virtues can set us right without humility, and therefore he says, ‘Before anything else we need humility, being ready to listen whenever a word is said to us, and to say, “I submit”, because through humility every device of the enemy and every kind of obstacle is destroyed.’

Consider well, brothers, how great is the power of humility. Consider how great is the spiritual energy behind saying, ‘Pardon me’. Why is the devil called not only ‘enemy’, but also ‘adversary’? He is called ‘enemy’ because he is a hater of men, one who hates what is good, a traitor; an ‘adversary’, because he always puts obstacles in the way of good. If someone wants to pray he puts obstacles in the way through evil suspicions, shameful thoughts, and spiritual torpor. If a man wants to give alms he obstructs it through avarice or procrastination. If a man wants to keep vigil he obstructs it with hesitations or laziness. In every single thing he is against us when we desire to do good. This is why he is called the enemy and the adversary and why, by lowliness, all his attacks and devices are brought to nothing. Lowliness is really a great thing, for every kind of good is advanced by lowliness, and by working at it we cut short our journey, as it says, ‘See my humility and my toil, and take away all my sins,’ and ‘I was humiliated, and the Lord saved me’! For humility alone can bring us into the spiritual life… even if slowly.
Therefore, let us also be humble for a short time and we shall be saved. Even if we cannot endure much labor because we are weak, let us be set on humbling ourselves. I firmly believe that, in the mercy of God, the little thing done with humility will enable us to be found there, in the same place as the saints who have labored much and been true servants of God…
We are very weak, and cannot labor very much, but can we not at least be humble? Happy indeed, brothers, is the one who has true humility. A great thing is humility; rightly was it pointed out by that holy man who had true humility and who said, ‘Humility does not grow angry, and does not anger anyone.’… May God, who is so good, grant us the grace of humility which delivers man from so many evils and delivers him from the greatest temptations

6 Dorotheos of Gaza. Discourses and Sayings. CS 33. Trans. Eric P. Wheeler. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1977. ,94-95, 102.

Vigils Reading - Memorial of the BVM
2023-10-14
THE VIRGIN AND THE HUMAN RACE
From the writing of Matthew the Poor7
◊◊◊
“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word”. These first recorded words of the Virgin reveal awesome depths of her character, but unfortunately because we tend to concentrate on her youth and simplicity, we pass over her words without pondering over them and so miss their depth.
The Virgin here is taking a firm and decisive stand with respect to herself, the world, and God. She believed the annunciation of the angel and perceived that it was a heavenly proclamation that she had indeed been chosen to bear in her womb a child begotten by God without human seed. God would be His father directly, so He would be called Holy, one of the most special and supreme attributes of God. He would also be called Son of the Most High, and Emmanuel (God is with us). When Mary believed this she gave herself to God as His handmaid, or slave, in the sense that she committed herself totally to Him, body, soul, and spirit.
By this commitment, which took the form almost of an oath or everlasting covenant, the Virgin consecrated her whole life to God after the mystery had taken place in her. According to this covenant that she took upon herself, she became, as far as she herself was concerned, committed to virginity, and as far as the world was concerned, she became the supreme example of purity, and as far as God was concerned, she became a slave, completely owned by Him and living for Him alone.

Her heart, which God made his possession through the Holy Spirit, beat now only for the sake of the holy Word of God that was born of her.
We cannot overlook the feelings and emotions that were shared by the Virgin Mother and the Holy One who was born her son. The Virgin gave all her love and affection as a mother to the Christ she bore, and Christ reciprocated as her son with the same emotions and affection, showing her obedience… It is true that she was a handmaid, but the handmaid of God became the mother of the Son of God, though by her vow of total submission and obedience, the mother remained a handmaid.
When the Virgin understood clearly through the annunciation that she was to become the mother of the Holy One, the Son of God, she vowed that she would be a handmaid of God all her life. How different from Adam and Eve, who refused the word of God and deliberately and willfully ate of the food that God had forbidden them, intending to become like God Himself. The Virgin, by her words of commitment –“Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word” — took Adam and Eve back to their state before the fall. Adam and Eve rejected the living and life-giving word of God and so the sentence of death was passed on them. The Virgin accepted the Word of God, the Word of life, and He entered into her and removed from her the curse of death: “Blessed are you among women”. The Virgin’s words, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord,” which come after God had elevated her to be the mother of His Son, the Holy One, reveal her determination to go back before the fall and openly repudiate the sin of Adam and Eve

7 Matthew the Poor. The Communion of Love. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1984. 205-207.

Skema
2023-10-15
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
28th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
October 15 – 21, 2023

Sun
15
Mon
16
Tue
17
Wed
18
Thu
19
Fri
20
Sat
21

Office
28th Sunday
St Hedwig
St Ignatius of Antioch
St Luke
North American Martyrs
Weekday
Memorial of the BVM

Vigils
1 Sam 25:23-43
1 Sam 26:1-25
1 Sam 27:1-12
Ezek 1:1-14
1 Sam 28:1-25
1 Sam 29:1-11
1 Sam 30:1-25

Lauds
Mic 3:5-8
Mic 3:9-12
Mic 4:1-5
Isa 52:7-10
Mic 4:6-8
Mic 4:9-14
Mic 5:1-8

Mass
142
467
468
661
470
471
472

1st
Isa 25:6-10a
Rom 1:1-7
Rom 1:16-25
2 Tim 4:10-17b
Rom 3:21-30
Rom 4:1-8
Rom 4:13, 16-18

2nd
Phil 4:12-14, 19-20

Gospel
Matt 22:1-14
Luke 11:29-32
Luke 11:37-41
Luke 10:1-9
Luke 11:47-54
Luke 12:1-7
Luke 12:8-12

Vespers
2 Cor 1:1-7
2 Cor 1:8-11
2 Cor 1:12-18
Acts 11:19-26
2 Cor 1:19-24
2 Cor 2:1-7
2 Cor 2:8-13

Vigils Reading - 28th Sunday ORD
2023-10-15
THE LOVE THAT SPRINGS FROM A PURE HEART
From a commentary by St Augustine1
◊◊◊
All believers are familiar with the story of the wedding of the king’s son and the banquet that followed it, and of how the Lord’s table was thrown open to all comers. When everyone was seated the master of the house came in to see the guests, and among them he noticed one without a wedding garment. So he said to him, “My friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?”
Now what precisely does this mean? Let us try to find out what it is that some believers have, but which the wicked lack, for that will be what the wedding garment is.
Can it be one of the sacraments? Hardly, for these, as we know, are common to good and bad alike. Take baptism for example. It is true that no one comes to God except through baptism, but not every baptized person comes to him. We cannot take this sacrament as the wedding garment, then, for it is a robe worn not only by good people but also by wicked people. Perhaps, then, it is our altar that is meant, or at least what we receive from it. But we know that many who approach the altar eat and drink to their own damnation. Well, then, maybe it is fasting? The wicked can fast too. What about going to church? Some bad people also go to church.
Whatever can this wedding garment be, then? For an answer we must go to the Apostle who says: The purpose of our command is to arouse the love that springs from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a genuine faith. There is your wedding garment. It is not love of just any kind. Many people of bad conscience appear to love one another, but you will not find in them the love that springs from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a genuine faith. Only that kind of love is the wedding garment.

If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, says the Apostle, but have no love, I am nothing but a booming gong or a clashing cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, if I have all knowledge and understand all mysteries, if I have faith strong enough to move mountains, but have no love, I am nothing. In other words, even with all these gifts I am nothing without Christ. Does that mean that prophecy has no value and that knowledge of mysteries is worthless? No, they are not worthless but I am, if I possess them but have no love. But can the lack of one good thing rob so many others of their value?
Yes, without love my confession of the name of Christ even by shedding my blood or offering my body to be burnt will avail me nothing, for I may do this out of a desire for glory. That such things can be endured for the sake of empty show without any real love for God the Apostle also declares. Listen to him: If I give away all I have to the poor, if I hand over my body to be burnt, but have no love, it will avail me nothing. So this is what the wedding garment is. Examine yourselves to see whether you possess it. If you do, your place at the Lord’s table is secure

1 Journey with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press – NY -1999 – pg 132-133.

Vigils Reading - St Hedwig
2023-10-16
ST HEDWIG OF SILESIA2 ◊◊◊
The father of this saint was Bertold III of Andechs, Marquis of Meran, Count of Tirol, and Prince of Carinthia and Istria… Her mother was Agnes, daughter of the Count of Rotletchs. St. Hedwig, by a distinguishing effect of the divine mercy in her favour, was from her cradle formed to virtue by the example and lessons of her devout mother and of those that were placed about her… She was placed very young in the monastery of Lutzingen, in Franconia, and only taken thence when twelve years old to marry Henry, Duke of Silesia, descended of the Dukes of Glogau, in that country; to which match she only consented out of compliance with the will of her parents…
Whether in prosperity or adversity, her whole comfort was in God and in the exercises of religion. The duke, at her persuasion and upon her yielding into his hands her whole dower for this purpose, founded the great monastery of Cistercian nuns at Trebnitz, three miles from Breslau, the capital of Silesia; upon which he settled the town of Trebnitz and other estates…
The duchess practiced in her palace greater austerities than those of the most rigid monks, fasted and watched in prayer, and wherever she travelled had always thirteen poor persons with her, whom she maintained, in honour of Christ and his apostles, waiting upon them herself upon her knees at table, where they were served with good meat before she took her own coarse refection. She often washed the feet and kissed the ulcers of lepers, and having an extreme desire to hear that amiable sentence from Christ at the last day, “I was in prison and you visited me”…
Upon receiving the news of her husband being wounded in battle and taken prisoner by the Duke of Kirne, she said, without the least disturbance of mind, that

she hoped to see him in a short time at liberty and in good health. The conqueror rejected all terms that could be offered for his freedom; which obliged Henry, our saint’s eldest son, to raise a powerful army to attempt his father’s rescue by force of arms. Hedwig, whose tender soul could never hear of the effusion of Christian blood without doing all in her power to prevent it, went in person to Conrad, and the very sight of her disarmed him of all his rage, so that she easily obtained what she demanded.
The example of our saint had so powerful an influence over her husband that he not only allowed her an entire liberty as to her manner of living and exercises of piety, but began at length in some degree to copy her virtues; observed the modesty and recollection of a monk in the midst of a court; and became the father of his people and the support of the poor and weak… He died happily in 1238… From that time she put on the religious habit at Trebnitz, and lived in obedience to her daughter Gertrude, who, having made her religious profession in that house when it was first founded, had been before that time chosen abbess…
The passion of Christ, which she had always made a principal part of her most tender devotion, was the chief entertainment by which she prepared herself for her last passage. God was pleased to put a happy end to her labours by calling her to himself on the 15th of October 1243. Her mortal remains were deposited at Trebnitz. She was canonized in 1266 by Clement IV, and her relics were enshrined the year following. Pope Innocent XI appointed the 17th of this month for the celebration of her office.

2 Accessed online: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/saints/hedwig-598

Vigils Reading - St Ignatius of Antioch
2023-10-17
FROM A LETTER TO THE ROMANS
by St Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr3
◊◊◊
I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God if only you do not stand in my way. I plead with you: show me no untimely kindness. Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become God’s pure bread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God.
No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire. The time for my birth is close at hand. Forgive me, my brothers. Do not stand in the way of my birth to real life; do not wish me stillborn. My desire is to belong to God. Do not, then, hand me back to the world. Do not try to tempt me with material things. Let me attain pure light. Only on my arrival there can I be fully a human being. Give me the privilege of imitating the passion of my God. If you have him in your heart, you will understand what I wish. You will sympathize with me because you will know what urges me on.
The prince of this world is determined to lay hold of me and to undermine my will which is intent on God. Let none of you here help him; instead show yourselves on my side, which is also God’s side. Do not talk about Jesus Christ as long as you love this world. Do not harbor envious thoughts. And supposing I should see you, if then I beg you to intervene on my behalf, do not believe what I say. Believe instead what I am now writing to you. For though I am alive as I write to you, still my real desire is to die. My love for this life has been crucified, and there is no yearning in me for any earthly thing. Rather within me is the living water which says deep inside me: “Come to the Father.” I no longer take pleasure in perishable food or in the delights of this world. I want only God’s bread, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, formed of the seed of David, and for drink I crave his blood, which is love that cannot perish.

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

3 The Liturgy of the Hours – vol. IV – Catholic Book Publishing Co – New York – 1975 – pg 1490

Vigils Reading - St Luke
2023-10-18
THE GOSPEL OF MERCY
From a commentary by Servant of God Dolindo Ruotolo4
◊◊◊
The Gospel of Luke is called by the Fathers “The Gospel of Mercy… The inspired author is a converted pagan, as it is usually believed, indicated by his very name Luke, which comes from the Roman name Lucius. He was from Antioch, he was an excellent medical doctor and fluent in the Greek language… He remained a virgin, did not marry, and once converted to the faith, he kept his purity blameless. True purity, the fruit of virtue and love, generates in the soul sensitivity and a compassion for the failings of the poor human heart.
The harshest judges of the poor fragility of sinners are not found among souls who are pure, but among those who know the slavery of the flesh. It is very possible that the human reason that motivated St. Luke to write his Gospel was indeed a feeling of compassion toward sinners. He heard the preaching of so many events on the goodness of Jesus and not having found them in any book, he thought to record them, almost as prescriptions of mercy to cure souls. The apostles, from fishermen became physician of souls… God is marvelous in every disposition of His goodness; he made use of the compassion of St Luke toward the sinners oppressed by sicknesses resulting from their sins, to leave to us a most precious memory of the mercy of our Savior.
St. Luke, who was a virgin, dealt more closely with the Immaculate Virgin, and he knew from Her the details of Jesus’ infancy… An evangelist virgin and doctor could talk to Mary, Mother of Mercy and gather from her most pure lips the stories of the fulfillment of the divine mercy upon earth with the Incarnation of the Word.

Being a physician, he could appreciate, more than others, the miracle of the virginal conception, and he could affirm it with the authority of a person who could not believe such an incredible miracle, if he had not perceived in the story of Mary… the splendor of that virginity which was beyond any comparison…
From the Blessed Mother he learned the beauty of virginity and mercy, and maybe for this reason he remained a virgin; his heart, in contact with the most pure lily, became spotless and perfumed, succumbing to the divine love. Fascinated with the divine mercy, he wrote his Gospel, to prove that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all people, be they Jews or pagans…
Let us collect ourselves to meditate on this precious book that can be called the Gospel of Mary. What our Blessed Mother kept in her immaculate heart and did not say to anyone, she told to St. Luke and we must be grateful to this evangelist who kept for us the memory of a story so tender and admirable. Had he kept for us only the Magnificat, he would already deserve all our devotion and gratitude… We can, therefore, go to him with our sicknesses and beg him to intercede for us with the Most Blessed Virgin, to obtain for us especially the health of our souls and the gift of eternal life

4 Rev. Dolindo Ruotolo. The Sacred Scripture: The Gospel According to Luke. Trans. Giovanna I. Ellis. Published by Giovanna Ellis, 2014. 14-16.

Vigils Reading - North American Martyrs
2023-10-19
FROM THE SPIRITUAL DIARIES
of St John de Brebeuf, priest and martyr5
◊◊◊
For two days now I have experienced a great desire to be a martyr and to endure all the torments the martyrs suffered. Jesus, my Lord and Savior, what can I give you in return for all the favors you have conferred on me? I will take from your hand the cup of your sufferings and call on your name. I vow before your eternal Father and the Holy spirit, before your most holy Mother and her most chaste spouse, before the angels, apostles and martyrs, before my blessed fathers Saint Ignatius and Saint Francis Xavier – in truth I vow to you, Jesus my Savior, that as far as I have the strength I will never fail to accept the grace of martyrdom, if some day you in your infinite mercy should offer it to me, your most unworthy servant.
I bind myself in this way so that for the rest of my life I will have neither permission nor freedom to refuse opportunities of dying and shedding my blood for you, unless at a particular juncture I should consider it more suitable for your glory to act otherwise at that time. Further, I bind myself to this so that, on receiving the blow of death, I shall accept it from your hands with the fullest delight and joy of spirit. For this reason, my beloved Jesus, and because of the surging joy which moves me, here and now I offer my body and blood and life. May I die only for you, if you will grant me this grace, since you willingly died for me. Let me so live that you may grant me the gift of such a happy death. In this way, my God and Savior, I will take from your hand the cup of your sufferings and call on your name: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!

My God, it grieves me greatly that you are not known, that in this savage wilderness all have not been converted to you, that sin has not been driven from it. My God, even if all the brutal tortures which prisoners in this region must endure should fall on me, I offer myself most willingly to them and I alone shall suffer them all

5 The Liturgy of the Hours – vol. IV – Catholic Book Publishing Co – New York – 1975 – p 1503.

Vigils Reading
2023-10-20
SURRENDERING OUR WILL TO GOD
A reading from the works of St Teresa of Jesus6
◊◊◊
We can promise easily enough to give up our will to someone else, but when it comes to the test we find it the most difficult thing in the world to do perfectly. But God knows what each of us is able to bear, and when he finds a valiant soul he does not hesitate to accomplish his will in that person.
So I want to warn you and make you understand what God’s will is, so that you may realize with whom you are dealing (as the saying goes) and what the good Jesus is offering on your behalf to the Father. I want you to make sure you know what you are giving him when you say, “Your will be done.” You are asking that God’s will may be done in you; it is this and nothing else you are praying for. You need not be afraid he will give you wealth or pleasures or great honors or any earthly good things; his love for you it is not so weak as that. He sets a far greater value on your gift and desires to reward you generously, giving you his kingdom even in this life.
Would you like to see how he treats people who make this petition without reserve? Ask his glorious Son, who made it genuinely and resolutely in the garden. Was not God’s will accomplished in him through the trials, the sufferings, the insults and the persecutions he sent him until at last his life was ended on the cross? You see then what God gave to one he loved best of all, and that shows you what his will is. These things are his gifts in this world, and he gives them in proportion to his love for us. To those he loves most he gives more, to those less dear he gives less; his gifts are measured by the courage he sees we have and the love we bear his Majesty. Fervent love can suffer great deal for his sake, while lukewarmness will endure very little. I myself believe that love is the gauge of the crosses, great or small, that we are able to bear.

So if you have this love, think what you are doing. Do not let the promises you make to so great a Lord be no more than empty compliments, but brace yourselves to suffer whatever God wishes. Any other way of surrendering our will to him is like offering someone a precious stone, entreating him to accept it, and then holding onto it when he puts out his hand to take it. Such mockery is not for him who endured so much mockery for us. If for no other reason, it would bewrong to mock him in this way every time we say the Lord’s Prayer. Let us give him once and for all the precious stone we have offered him so many times — for he in fact first gave us the thing we now give back to the Father.
My whole aim in writing this is to encourage us to yield ourselves entirely to our Creator, to submit our will to his, and to detach ourselves from created things. Since you understand how important this is I will say no more on the subject, but will explain to you why our good Master wishes us to make this petition. He knows very well how we shall benefit by fulfilling the promise we have made to his eternal Father, for in a very short time we shall find ourselves at our journey’s end, drinking at the fountain of living water

6 Obras de Santa Teresa, pp. 238-242; reprinted in Meditations on the Sunday Gospels: Year C; introduced and edited by John E. Rotelle, Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1995, pp. 106-107.

LCG Retreat at the Abbey
2023-10-20 - 2023-10-22
LCG Fall Retreat
October 20th – 22nd
The theme for this retreat is the Cistercian Charism

Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
2023-10-21
TO A TEACHER: ABOUT THE APPEARANCE OF THE THEOTOKOS
From the missionary letters of Saint Nikolai Velimirovich7
◊◊◊
You write to me with exhilaration how the Mother of God appeared to you and how you are now on the sure path of faith. Your little daughter was in bed with a terrible fever. You called for a number of doctors. They examined the girl and went to the other room to assess the situation. You listened in to their conversation with trembling. One of them said that she might be saved if the ailing girl could perspire. Others considered it was too late even for that.
In desperation, you wrung your hands and cried. Over the child’s bed was an icon of the Theotokos. Until that moment, you saw that icon more as a decoration of the house, not a necessity. But in that desperate hour, you kneeled before the icon and choking with tears, you cried out to the Mother of God, “O Holy Mother of God, you see my pain. You know, O Mother above all mothers how it is to lose an only child. You watched your only Son suffer on the Cross. I beg you, have mercy on me a sinner and help me. I place all my hope on you now. My hope in people is over. The whole world cannot help me now. Only you, O Precious Mother, can help me if you will. You have comforted more than one embittered mother throughout the ages. Comfort me also, O Most Holy, Most Pure one!” After long prayer and sobbing, you looked at the icon and you saw tears in the Virgin’s eyes.

A moment after that, you looked at your child and she was all in sweat. The day after, she sat up and ate, and soon after that she was completely recovered. Thanks be to the Holy Theotokos. And thank you for sharing this. Our faith is founded upon experience, not on self-willed judgments and theories. Your episode is most precious to me too. Last winter, we had a case like this happen also. The daughter of a poor widow was gravely ill. For a month, she was out of her senses and did not say a word. All hope was lost. The grieving mother started collecting money for the funeral items. One evening, the mother was sitting by the deathbed of her daughter and crying quietly. Suddenly, without opening her eyes, the girl said, “Do not cry mother. Take me to Kalishte tomorrow and I will get well. That’s what my Heavenly Mother said to me. She is now standing by me!” The shocked mother was quivering. The next day she took the sick girl to the Monastery of the Holy Theotokos at Kalishte, and brought her back healthy.
But were there only two instances of this happening; or three or ten? There is no number and no end of the appearances and intercessions of the Theotokos. Saint Seraphim of Sarov, fallen asleep exactly a hundred years ago, said that the Mother of God personally appeared to him six times during his life. And if the whole of this quiet people which considers all those heavenly visions to be its precious and sweet secret — if all of them would open their mouth and speak of all they have seen, the earth would be filled with amazement. Believe me, when one enters the knowledge of the working and appearing of the heavenly world in our earthly life, one feels like he has entered a new boundless and unstudied kingdom of a most wondrous reality, Into that darkness for the worldly eyes, the soul can enter only with the lit torches of faith and love, according to the wondrous words of the Apostle Paul, “may Christ by faith move into your hearts, that you may be rooted and grounded in love, so that you may later understand what is width and length and depth and height.” And you ought to thank God and His Mother that your spiritual sight was open. Do not blind it with sin and carelessness anymore. May God always help you

7 Saint Nikolai Velimirovich. Missionary Letters of Saint Nikolai Velimirovich – Part 1. Trans. Hierodeacon Serafim. Grayslake, IL: New Gracanica Monastery, 2008. 120-122.

Skema: 29th Week in Ordinary Time
2023-10-22
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
29th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
October 22 – 28, 2023

Sun
22
Mon
23
Tue
24
Wed
25
Thu
26
Fri
27
Sat
28

Office
29th Sunday
Weekday
Weekday
Office for Vocations
Weekday
Weekday
SS Simon & Jude

Vigils
1 Sam 31:1-13
Neh 1:1-11
Neh 2:1-20
Neh 3:33-4:17
Neh 5:1-19
Neh 6:1-19
1 Cor 4:1-16

Lauds
Mic 5:9-14
Mic 6:1-8
Mic 6:9-16
Mic 7:1-7
Mic 7:8-10
Mic 7:14-20
Jerm 3:11-18

Mass
145
473
474
475
476
477
666

1st
Isa 45:1, 4-6
Rom 4:20-25
Rom 5:12, 15b, 17-19, 20b-21
Rom 6:12-18
Rom 6:19-23
Rom 7:18-25a
Eph 2:19-22

2nd
1 Thess 1:1-5b

Gospel
Matt 22:15-21
Luke 12:13-21
Luke 12:35-38
Luke 12:39-48
Luke 12:49-53
Luke 12:54-59
Luke 6:12-16

Vespers
2 Cor 2:14-3:3
2 Cor 3:4-11
2 Cor 3:12-18
2 Cor 4:1-6
2 Cor 4:7-18
2 Cor 5:1-10
2 Cor 5:11-15

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
2023-10-22
WHOSE LIKENESS AND INSCRIPTION IS THIS?
From a commentary by Lawrence of Brindisi1
◊◊◊
In today’s gospel we find two questions: one put to Christ by the Pharisees,
and the other put by him to them. The Pharisees’ question concerns this world
alone, while Christ’s has an entirely heavenly and other-worldly sense. Their
question derived from profound ignorance and perversity; his stemmed from
perfect wisdom and goodness.
Whose likeness and inscription is this? Caesar’s, they reply. Then give to
Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. To each, he
says, must be given what belongs to him. This, surely, is a judgment full of heavenly
wisdom and instruction. For it teaches that authority is twofold, having an earthly
and human aspect, and a heavenly and divine aspect. It teaches that we owe a
twofold duty of obedience: to the human laws and to the law of God. The coin
bearing Caesar’s likeness and inscription must be given to Caesar, and the one
stamped with the divine image and likeness must be given to God. We bear the
imprint of your glorious face, O Lord.
We are made in the image and likeness of God. So you, O Christian, because
you are a human being, are God’s tribute money – a little coin bearing the image
and likeness of the divine emperor. Therefore with Christ I ask: Whose likeness and
inscription is this? Your answer is, God’s. To which I reply, Then why not give God
what belongs to him?
If we really want to be God’s image, we must be like Christ, for his is the image of God’s goodness and the perfect copy of his nature, and God foreordained
that those he has chosen should take on a likeness to his Son. Christ undoubtedly
gave Caesar what was Caesar’s and God what was God’s. He fulfilled to perfection
the precepts of both tablets of the law, becoming obedient unto death, even death
on a cross, and he was most highly endowed, both inwardly and outwardly, with
every virtue.
In today’s gospel the reply, most wise and discreet, by which Christ
sidestepped his enemies’ trap shows his great prudence. His teaching that each
must be given what belongs to him, and also the example he gave by being willing
to pay the temple tax and giving a shekel for himself and Peter, shows his justice.
His declaring it to be a duty to pay taxes to Caesar, openly teaching the truth
without fear of the Jews who would be offended, shows his fortitude. For this is
God’s way, of which Christ is the authentic teacher.
Those therefore who resemble Christ in their lives, conduct and practice of
virtues, they are the ones who manifest the divine image; for the way to recover
this image is by being absolutely just. Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and
to God the things that are God’s; that is, give to each what belongs to him.
1
Journey with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press – NY -1999 – pg 134-135.

Weekday
2023-10-23
CONFIDENCE IN GOD IS THE CURE OF SELF-LOVE
A letter from Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade to a religious sister 2
◊◊◊
My dear Sister,
When you have neither time nor inclination to read, try to keep yourself
simply in peace in the presence of God… If you seem to be wanting in courage for
many things, compel yourself at any rate to retain in your heart a determination
to be all for God. Humble yourself with the consideration of the inefficacy of your
own resolutions, and look upon yourself as having so far done nothing. The less
confidence you place in yourself, the more easy will it become to have entire
confidence in the mercy of God alone, through the merits of Jesus Christ. This is
that solid and perfect confidence which completely annihilates self-love by
withdrawing all those resources upon which it was accustomed to rely. There
could be nothing more salutary for some souls than this kind of martyrdom…
The more these sacrifices touch us to the quick, and the more they make us
die to ourselves, and detach us from all consolation, and sensible support, the
closer they draw us to God and unite us to Him. This union is all the more
meritorious in being hidden and further out of the range of the senses. Self-love,
therefore, has no share in it, since it cannot feed on what it can neither know nor
feel. May God deign to convince you of the truth of this consoling assurance, which
is the teaching of all the Doctors of the Church, and is confirmed by every
experience. In order to understand it thoroughly you must remember that in
almost everyone there is such a depth of self-love, weakness and misery, that it
would be impossible for us to recognise any gift of God in ourselves without being
exposed to spoil and corrupt it by imperceptible feelings of self-complacency. In
this way we appropriate as our own the graces of God, and are pleased with
ourselves for being in such or such a state. We attribute the merit to ourselves, not,
perhaps, by distinct and studied thought, but by the secret feelings of the heart.
Therefore, God, seeing the innermost recesses of the heart, and being infinitely
jealous of His glory, is obliged… to convince us, by our own experience, of our utter
weakness. It is for this purpose that He conceals from us nearly all His gifts and
graces…
For my part I can bear witness to this constant action of divine Providence.
God has so completely hidden from those who have appealed to me, the gifts and
graces with which he has loaded them, that they cannot see their own progress,
nor their patience, humility and abandonment, nor even their love of God. Then,
too, they can hardly help weeping at the supposed absence of these virtues and at
their want of generosity in their sufferings… God withdraws what He had given,
but He does not take it away to deprive us of it absolutely. He withdraws it to give
it back in a better way, after it has been purified from this malicious appropriation
made by us without our perceiving it…
In this terrible state, one simple “Fiat,” uttered very earnestly in spite of the
repugnance experienced in the soul, is an assurance of real and solid progress.
Then there remains nothing but bare faith in God, that is to say, an obscure faith
despoiled of all sensible devotion, and residing in the will… “We draw near to God
by faith,”… “The just man lives by faith.” All this ought to convince you that it is not
in anger but in mercy and in very great mercy that God deprives you more than
others. It is because He is more jealous of the possession of your whole heart and
all your confidence….
2
Jean-Pierre de Caussade. Abandonment to Divine Providence. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Company, 1921. 192-193.

Weekday
2023-10-24
THE RETURN OF THE MASTER
From a commentary by St Gregory the Great 3 ◊◊◊
At that time Jesus said to his disciples, “Let your loins be girded, and let your lights be lighted in your hands.” And you, be like men who wait for their master on his return from the wedding, so that when he arrives and knocks on the door, they open him immediately…”
Here two things are ordered at once: girding one’s loins and holding lamps; which means that chastity must make our bodies pure, and the truth our actions luminous. For neither purity nor light can please one without the other to our Redeemer, whether we do good without renouncing the faults of lust, or excel in chastity without exercising…good works. Without good works, chastity is therefore very little, and without chastity, good works are nothing…
It is thus immediately added: “And you, be like men who wait for their master on his return from the wedding.”… The Lord comes when he approaches to judge; he knocks on the door when he warns us of the proximity of death by the attacks of an illness. We open it immediately if we welcome it with love. We do not want to open the Judge who knocks, if we are afraid of dying and we dread to see the Judge that we remember to have despised. But he who draws his assurance in his hope and his works opens to him as soon as he knocks on the door, because he is waiting for his Judge in joy, and seeing the approach of the moment of death, the thought of the glory that will reward him the height of joy. This is why is immediately added: “Blessed are these servants whom their master, on his return, will find vigilant!” He watches, he who keeps the eyes of his soul open to contemplate the true light; he watches, he who strives to act as he believes; he watches, he who repels the darkness of numbness and lukewarmness. It is in this sense that Paul says, “Watch, O righteous, and sin not”…
But what must the servants do if they have been negligent on the first watch?… Those who have been careless must not despair, nor give up the exercise of good works. For the Lord, declaring his extreme patience, adds: “And if he come on the second watch, and come to the third watch, and find them thus, happy are these servants!” The first watch…is the time of…childhood. The second is adolescence or youth… As for the third watch, it means old age. Thus, he who did not want to remain awake during the first watch, he observes anyway the second… And he who did not want to stay awake during the second watch, he does not let escape the remedies of the third… that he can recover at least in his old age.
Consider, dear brothers, how the goodness of God leaves no escape for our hardness of soul. Impossible for men to find excuses! God is despised, and he waits; he is scorned, and he calls again; he endures disdain, and yet he goes so far as to promise to reward those who will one day return to him…
3 St Gregory the Great. Patristic Bible Commentary. Accessed Online: https://sites.google.com/site/aquinasstudybible/home/luke-commentary/gregory-the-great-homily-13-on-thegospels.

Office of Vocations
2023-10-25
THE EXERCISE OF VIRTUES
From “Introduction to the Devout Life” by St Francis de Sales4
◊◊◊
Charity never enters the heart without lodging there all the other virtues in its
train, exercising and disciplining them as a captain does his soldiers. It neither
employs them all at the same time, nor in the same manner… for charity waters the
soul and produces a variety of good works, each one in its proper time…
Among the virtues unconnected with our particular duty we must prefer the
more excellent to the more showy. Comets usually appear greater than stars and seem
to our eyes to occupy a greater space. In reality, neither in magnitude nor equality can
they be compared to the stars. They only seem great because they are nearer… There
are certain virtues which are greatly esteemed and always preferred by the general
run of men because they are near at hand, apparent to our senses, and, so to speak,
material. Hence it is that so many prefer corporal alms before spiritual; the hair shirt,
fasting, going barefoot, using the discipline, and other such corporal mortifications,
before meekness, mildness, modesty, and other mortifications of the heart, which are,
nevertheless, more exalted. Choose then… the best virtues, not the most esteemed;
the most noble, not the most apparent; those that are actually the best, not those that
make the most show.
It is profitable for everyone to exercise some particular virtue, not so far as to
abandon the rest but more properly to keep his spirit ordered and occupied…
Eulogius of Alexandria desired to render God some particular service, but did not
have strength enough to embrace a solitary life, nor to subject himself to the
obedience of another. Hence he took a poor wretch quite eaten up with the leprosy
into his house, that he might exercise toward him the virtues of charity and
mortification. To perform them the more worthily, he made a vow to honor and serve
him as his lord and master. Both Eulogius and the leper having a temptation to quit
each other, they addressed themselves to the great St. Anthony, who said, “Take care,
my children, not to separate from each other. Both of you are near your end. If the
angel should not find you together, you run a great risk of losing your crown…
When assaulted by any vice we must embrace the practice of the contrary
virtue as much as we can, and refer all the others to it. By this means we shall
overcome our enemy and at the same time advance in all the virtues. Thus, if assaulted
by pride or by anger, I must in all my actions yield and turn toward humility and
meekness and adapt all my other exercises of prayer and the sacraments, of prudence,
constancy, and sobriety to this end. In order to sharpen his tusks, the wild boar wets
and polishes them with his other teeth and by this means sharpens all of them. So also
a virtuous man who has undertaken to perfect himself in the virtue that he most needs
for his own defense, files and polishes it by the exercise of the other virtues. Even
while they help to refine that one, they make all the others become more excellent
and better polished.
So it happened to Job. He exercised himself particularly in patience against the
many temptations wherewith he was assaulted and became perfectly holy and
confirmed in all kinds of virtues… As St. Gregory Nazianzen says, that by the perfect
exercise of only one virtue a person may attain to the height of all the rest. For this he
alleges the example of Rahab, who, having exactly practiced the virtue of hospitality,
arrived at a great degree of glory. This is to be understood of a virtue that is practiced
with great fervor and charity… In this, if we conduct ourselves with humility and
fidelity, God will infallibly elevate us to heights that are truly great.
4 St Francis de Sales. Introduction to the Devout Life. Trans. John K. Ryan. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers,
1950. 76-79, 82.
