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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mass
115
413
622
415
416
417
418

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

2nd
Rom 9:1-5

1 Cor 15:20-27

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2nd
Phil 3:17-4:1

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vigils Reading - St Pius X
2023-08-21
AN EXCERPT FROM “CERBO NIMIS”
An encyclical on the teaching of Christian Doctrine by St Pius X 2
◊◊◊

Those who still are zealous for the glory of God are seeking the causes and reasons for this decline in religion. Coming to a different explanation, each points

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

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

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

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

practice of virtue

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

5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mass
121
425
634
427
428
429
430

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

2nd
Rom 11:33-36

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

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

Vigils Reading - 21st Sun ORD
2023-08-27
THE PILLAR OF THE CHURCHES
From a commentary attributed to St John Chrysostom 1
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Peter was to be entrusted with the keys of the Church, or rather, he was entrusted with the keys of heaven; to him would be committed the whole people of God. The Lord told him: Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you lose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Now Peter was inclined to be severe, so if he had been impeccable what forbearance would he have shown toward those he instructed? His falling into sin was thus a providential grace to teach him from experience to deal kindly with others.
Just think who it was whom God permitted to fall into sin – Peter himself, the head of the apostles, the firm foundation, the unbreakable rock, the most important member of the Church, the safe harbor, the strong tower; Peter who had said to Christ, Even if I have to die with you I will never deny you; Peter, who by divine revelation had confessed the truth: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
The gospel relates that on the night that Christ was betrayed Peter went indoors and was standing by the fire warming himself when a girl accosted him: You too were with that man yesterday, she said. But Peter answered: I do not know the man. Just now you said: Even if I have to die with you, and now you deny him and say: I do not know the man. Oh Peter, is this what you promised? You were not tortured or scourged; at the words of a mere slip of a girl you took refuge in denial!
Again the girl said to him: You too were with that man yesterday. Again he answered: I have no idea what man you mean.

Who was it that spoke to you, causing you to make this denial? Not some important person but… a doorkeeper, an outcast, a slave, someone of no account whatever. She spoke to you and you answered with a denial. What a strange thing – a girl, a prostitute, accosted Peter himself and disturbed his faith! Peter, the pillar, the rampart, could not bear the threat of a girl! She had but to speak and the pillar swayed, the rampart itself was shaken!
A third time she repeated: You too were with that man yesterday, but a third time he denied it. Finally Jesus looked at him, reminding him of his previous assertion. Peter understood, repented of his sin, and began to weep. Mercifully, however, Jesus forgave him his sin, because he knew that Peter, being a man, was subject to human frailty.
Now, as I said before, the reason God’s plan permitted Peter to sin was because he was to be entrusted with the whole people of God, and sinlessness added to his severity might have made him unforgiving toward his brothers and sisters. He fell into sin so that remembering his own fault and the Lord’s forgiveness, he might also forgive others out of love for them. This was God’s providential dispensation. He to whom the Church was to be entrusted, he, the pillar of the churches, the harbor of faith, was allowed to sin; Peter, the teacher of the world, was permitted to sin, so that having been forgiven himself he would be merciful to others

1 Journey with the Fathers – Year A – New City Press – NY 1999 – pg 118-119.

Vigils Reading - St Augustine
2023-08-28
PICK IT UP, READ IT
From the “Confessions” of St Augustine 2 ◊◊◊
I flung myself down under a fig tree… and gave free course to my tears. The streams of my eyes gushed out an acceptable sacrifice to thee. And, not indeed in these words, but to this effect, I cried to thee: “And thou, O Lord, how long? How long, O Lord? Wilt thou be angry forever? Oh, remember not against us our former iniquities.” For I felt that I was still enthralled by them. I sent up these sorrowful cries: “How long, how long? Tomorrow and tomorrow? Why not now? Why not this very hour make an end to my uncleanness?”
I was saying these things and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when suddenly I heard the voice of a boy or a girl I know not which—coming from the neighboring house, chanting over and over again, “Pick it up, read it; pick it up, read it.” Immediately I ceased weeping and began most earnestly to think whether it was usual for children in some kind of game to sing such a song, but I could not remember ever having heard the like. So, damming the torrent of my tears, I got to my feet, for I could not but think that this was a divine command to open the Bible and read the first passage I should light upon. For I had heard how Anthony, accidentally coming into church while the gospel was being read, received the admonition as if what was read had been addressed to him: “Go and sell what you have and give it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.” By such an oracle he was forthwith converted to thee. So I quickly returned to the bench where Alypius was sitting, for there I had put down the apostle’s book when I had left there. I snatched it up, opened it, and in silence read the paragraph on which my eyes first fell: “Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.” I wanted to read no further, nor did I need to. For instantly, as the sentence ended, there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty and all the gloom of doubt vanished away.

Closing the book… I began — now with a tranquil countenance — to tell it all to Alypius. And he in turn disclosed to me what had been going on in himself, of which I knew nothing. He asked to see what I had read. I showed him, and he looked on even further than I had read. I had not known what followed. But indeed it was this, “Him that is weak in the faith, receive.” This he applied to himself, and told me so. By these words of warning he was strengthened, and by exercising his good resolution and purpose–all very much in keeping with his character, in which, in these respects, he was always far different from and better than I — he joined me in full commitment without any restless hesitation.
Then we went in to my mother, and told her what happened, to her great joy. We explained to her how it had occurred — and she leaped for joy triumphant; and she blessed thee, who art “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.” For she saw that thou hadst granted her far more than she had ever asked for in all her pitiful and doleful lamentations. For thou didst so convert me to thee that I sought neither a wife nor any other of this world’s hopes, but set my feet on that rule of faith which so many years before thou hadst showed her in her dream about me. And so thou didst turn her grief into gladness more plentiful than she had ventured to desire, and dearer and purer than the desire she used to cherish of having grandchildren of my flesh

2 St Augustine. Confessions. Trans. Albert C. Outler. 1955. 108-109. Accessed Online: Aug, 2023.

Vigils Reading - Martyrdom of St John the Baptist
2023-08-29
ON THE DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST
From the writing of Fr Jean Danielou 3
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John’s death appears as the supreme expression of sin. It revealed the sin of the world. Herodias’ action in obtaining the head of John the Baptist was a clear manifestation of the human desire to be self-sufficient and to set oneself up apart from God. It was a victory for the inhabitants of the earth who, as Revelation says, rejoiced over the death of the prophets, “because they had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth”. It was an expression of a triumphant world, a world which had done away with God. No longer could anything disturb its pretension that it was giving itself its own law. In that respect John’s death set a pattern: in a decisive moment of history, it summed up the whole world of sin.
John’s death was also the expression of the supreme condemnation of the world. His blood “fell upon this generation”, together with all the innocent blood that has been shed. Thus did it call for the supreme condemnation. It was the judgment on the world, bringing down on it the cup of wrath spoken of by Revelation. It showed forth the mystery of iniquity; it revealed clearly that mankind is the slave of sin. Just as John the Baptist marked the last stage in the preparation for the parousia in the long line of the prophets, so his death marked the last stage in the preparation for the parousia in the order of the mystery of sin…
But John’s death also marked the end of this history of condemnation for, after John’s blood, another blood was going to be shed. It would not fall as a condemnation upon those who shed it, but it would be poured out as redemption for many. John’s death prefigured the death of Jesus. Jesus wished to say first of all that his death resembled John’s: “I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of man will suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.’ The rejection and death of John the Baptist prefigured the rejection and death of Jesus. This latter death was really the high point of evil. Jesus fulfilled completely the figure of the servant of Yahweh rejected by the sinful world.

But John only prefigured Jesus, for with Jesus the shedding of blood takes on a different meaning. Blood was not shed for condemnation but for redemption. The unresolved conflict between prophets and sinners came to an end with the prophet who took the sins of the world upon himself. John had pointed out Jesus as that lamb. He knew that he himself still belonged to the world of denunciation of sin, not that of liberation from sin. The Spirit had been given to the prophets; blood had been poured out by sinners. The Spirit had been poured out as a blessing, but blood had been poured out as a curse. John’s blood was the last to belong to this order. Henceforth the blood which would gush forth from the side of Jesus would be spirit and life

3 THE WORK OF JOHN THE BAPTIST, by Jean Danielou S.J. (Helicon 1966) pp. 137-38.

Vigils Reading - SS Warren and Amadeus
2023-08-30
ST AMADEUS OF LAUSANNE4 ◊◊◊
Amadeus’ religious formation began, in fact, well before the days of his youth. He was only a few years past the days of his babyhood when his father, Lord Amadeus d’Hauterives of the ancient and noble house of Clermont, turned apostle of monastic life and, sometime around 1119, brought to the newly founded Cistercian abbey of Bonnevaux, near Vienne, not only himself but his ten-year old boy, Amadeus junior, and seventeen knight-companions as well. Whatever else the senior Amadeus had given up in coming to the poor, struggling community of Bonnevaux, he had not given up the idea that his son should receive a solid education. At Bonnevaux the lad did begin receiving an education, but hardly of the sort deemed suitable by his concerned father. The philosophy of education held by the saintly Abbot John… was that ‘the anointing of the Paraclete could teach the lad more in a second than the teachings of an apostate grammarian like Priscian in a stretch of many years. The force of the argument was lost on Amadeus senior. In a moment of depression he apostatized; and one day, probably in the year 1122, he took his son and rode off with him to the great abbey of Cluny, with its tradition of enlightened humanism.
The account of Amadeus senior’s brief, unhappy life as a monk of Cluny, his anguished repentance, and his return to Bonnevaux, belongs to another story. But if Bonnevaux could not provide Amadeus junior with a suitable education, neither could Cluny; for almost immediately the lad was sent for further studies to the court of his kinsman, Conrad of Hohenstaufen, the future Emperor Conrad. The three years Amadeus spent in Germany could hardly have sufficed to complete the education of the adolescent, but we nevertheless find him in 1125, shortly after

having fulfilled the minimum age-requirement for acceptance as a Cistercian novice, knocking at the gate of Clairvaux…
For fourteen years young Amadeus had the joy of living under the tutelage of Saint Bernard himself; and it was in this setting of Clairvaux, with all its contagious enthusiasm, devotio iocunda, and seriousness of purpose, that the stripling Amadeus grew to full manhood. The attainments of the mature Amadeus must have impressed even Saint Bernard, who, in 1139, deemed him ready to become abbot of the Savoyard abbey of Hautecombe. This monastery had been founded much earlier in the century, but had become affiliated with the Cistercian Order only in 1135. Amadeus’ abbacy coincided with the change of location of the original abbey and the construction of the monastic buildings; and it was also under Amadeus that the consolidation of the Cistercian ideals in the recently affiliated community took place.
The young abbot’s gifts as administrator and spiritual father were considerable enough to draw attention to him well outside the immediate sphere of the Cistercian family. For when the deplorable Guy de Maligny finally resigned his episcopal dignity in 1144, it was the thirty-four-year-old Abbot Amadeus of Hautecombe whom the clergy and faithful of Lausanne chose to succeed Bishop Guy. Accepting the burden of the episcopal office only at the insistence of Pope Lucius II, Bishop Amadeus remained very much Amadeus the monk. At no time during the troubled fourteen years of his episcopacy did the faithful of Lausanne find reason to regret their choice of pastor; and when Amadeus died on 27 August 1159, those who were with him were well aware that they were attending the deathbed of a saint. The liturgical memorial of Saint Amadeus of Lausanne is celebrated to this day, and is assigned in the Cistercian calendar of saints to August 30

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

Vigils Reading
2023-08-31
THE JOY OF THE ONE WHO LIVES FOR GOD ALONE
From the letters of Saint Rafael Arnaiz5
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God alone. How difficult it is to understand and live these words, but once you do, even if just for a moment… there is nothing in the world that can trouble your soul… A great peace fills the hearts of those who live for God alone, and only those who desire God alone find peace…
He gives what the world and its creatures cannot. Our misery, forgetfulness, and ingratitude are covered with His infinite Mercy. The consolation that people so often deny us when we are in pain can be found in His cross, alone with Him on Calvary. The only Truth can be found in His Gospel, the words of eternal life. And as if that weren’t enough, everything else can be found in His Mother Mary…
Blessed are those who mourn, Jesus said on earth, by the water’s edge, and a crowd made up of the sick, the lame, the poor, and sinners followed Him. . . I believe that after turning toward Jesus, their faces, once tear stained from all their weeping, were transformed with joyful laughter, blessing their afflictions and miseries, which united them to Jesus. And Jesus looked at them with the tenderness that won over the world, and let Himself be loved by the poor, the afflicted, the sick, and sinners. And Jesus healed them, and Jesus consoled them, and Jesus forgave them…
What a great joy it is to realize you are beloved of God! To be counted among His friends, to follow Him step by step in Jerusalem with your eyes fixed on His divine countenance, blessing our own misery for having inspired Jesus to attract our gaze, so that He might reach our hearts, heal us, forgive us… and love us enough to die for us on a cross… That is true joy, the joy of the one who lives for God alone, who trusts in God alone, who hopes in God alone. And it is not a raucous joy; it is the serene joy of a soul who might still live on this earth, but expects nothing from this world. It is the joy of one who lives for Christ and dreams of Mary…

If the path proves difficult, or arduous, or long, it won’t matter, Jesus goes before us… We’ll press on, day or night, drunk with joy, utterly mad with it, not listening to the world… “God alone…” our heart will bellow… And that is how we shall keep our silence as we walk around in this world… Oh, we can indeed weep and suffer, but not because of our own crosses and sorrows, which are very small indeed, but rather… over how ungrateful we are toward Jesus, and how often we forget Mary… Mary. It wasn’t enough for God to give us His Son on a cross; He gave us Mary, too. How is it possible, brother, that we aren’t better than this?…
Neither the body, our soul’s prison, nor the world with all its creatures can damage the soul that hopes in God, no matter how harshly they chafe against it. We can conquer and disregard the body, and instead of fearing contact with creatures, love them, even searching them out in order to teach them the science that Christ taught us… love…
Let nothing trouble you, for He gives so much to the souls of His friends, only to have us shrug off the treasure that is Christ’s gentle yoke at every vain disturbance that life provides… God alone. Let us not grow tired of repeating it. If we were to take the intensity of the effort we put into earthly matters and put it into love for God instead… things would be different… With silence, prayer, and a whole lot of inner madness, we can wait well for what is to come… and it will all come

5 Saint Rafael Arnaiz. The Collected Works. Trans. Catherine Addington. Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2022. 566-573

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

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

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

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

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

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