Annual Retreat

We are in the course of our Annual Retreat. 

The Director speaks excellently on the Rule of St. Benedict and on Cistercian Community.

Providentially, the Readings of the Night Office echo in powerful harmony with St. Paul 1Cor 12, Eckhart, and Hugh of St Victor

SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Monastic Night Office

WEDNESDAY

First Reading

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Responsory        1 In 4:1-2; 1 Cor 12:3

Test the spirits to see whether they come from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you may recognize the spirits that come from God: t every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

V. No one can say "Jesus is Lord" except under the influence of the Holy Spirit. t Every spirit ...

Second Reading        From Talks of Instruction by Meister Eckhart

All people are not called to God in one way, as Saint Paul says.

• If then you find that your shortest way does not lead by many external works and great hardship or austerities - which, to be frank, are of no great importance, unless someone is specially impelled thereto by God, and has the power to do them well without injury to his inner life - if you do not find anything of this in yourself, be quite content and do not pursue it any further.
• Then you might say: "If this is of little importance, why then did our ancestors and so many saints do this?" Then remember that our Lord gave them these practices and he also gave them the strength to carry them out and this was well pleasing to him on their part, and by so doing they were to achieve their salvation. For God has not restricted human salvation to any particular way of life. What one possesses another lacks. God gave efficacy to all good ways and it is not denied to any good practice. For one good thing is not opposed to another good thing.
• Now you might say: "Our Lord Jesus Christ had at all times the highest way: we are in duty bound to follow him." That is quite true. It is right that we should follow our Lord, but not in every detail. Our Lord fasted forty days. No one should venture to follow him in this. Christ did many works with the intention that we should follow him in spirit, but not physically. Therefore one should strive to be able to follow him sensibly, for he aimed at our love rather than our works. We should always follow him in our own way. As I have often said, I think much more of a spiritual work than a physical work. What do I mean? Christ fasted forty days. Follow him by paying attention to the thing that you are most inclined to do or ready to do, renounce that and watch yourself well. It is often more fitting to keep yourself from anxiety than to abstain entirely from food.
• In the same way, it is sometimes more difficult to suppress one word than to be absolutely silent. It is sometimes more difficult to endure one little contemptuous word of no importance than to receive a hard blow that one was expecting, and it is much harder to be alone in a crowd than in the desert. It is often harder to abandon a small thing than a great one and to do a small work rather than one which we consider great. Thus we can quite well follow our Lord according to the measure of our weakness, but we cannot and must not consider ourselves to be far from him.

Responsorial      1 Cor 12:4-7

There is a variety of gifts but the same Spirit; t there is a variety of

          service, but the same Lord. -

V. In each of us the Spirit is manifested in a particular way for the good of all. t There is a ...

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THURSDAY

First Reading

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Responsory        Rom 12:5; see 1 Pt 4:10; 1 Cor 12:21

We, though many, are one body in Christ, and as members of that body, we belong to one another. t Each of us has received a gift, so let us use it in mutual service, as good stewards of God's varied graces.

V. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you; nor can the head say to the feet, I have no need of you. t Each of us ...

Second Reading

From a treatise by Hugh of Saint Victor

• As breath passes from the head to the members of the body to give them life, so the Holy Spirit comes to Christians through Christ. The head is Christ, the members are Christians. There is one head and many members, a single body consisting of the head and its members, and in this single body a unique Spirit who is fully in the head, and in the members by participation. Since then there is one body and one Spirit, no one who is not in the body can be vivified by the Spirit; as scripture says: Anyone who does not possess the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. Anyone who does not possess the Spirit of Christ is not a member of Christ. There is one Spirit in one body. Nothing belonging to the body is dead; nothing separated from the body is alive. By faith we become members; by love we come alive. By faith we receive union; by love animation. The sacrament of baptism unites us; the body and blood of Christ vivifies us. Through baptism we become members of the body; through the body of Christ we share in that body's vitality.
• Holy Church is the body of Christ: one Spirit vivifies it, unites it through faith, and sanctifies it. The members of this body are individual believers, who all form one body because they have one Spirit and one faith. In the human body each member has its own distinctive function, but it is not exercised for itself alone. Likewise in the body of holy Church, the gifts of grace are distributed, but even if some gift is given to only one member, it is not for that member's exclusive use. Only the eyes see, yet they do not see for themselves alone but for the whole body. Only the ears hear, yet they do not hear for themselves alone but for the whole body. Only the feet walk, yet they do not walk for themselves alone but for the whole body. So it is that any gift possessed by only one person is not merely for that person's own use; for he who gives his gifts so generously and distributes them so wisely desires each of them to be for all, and all for each.
• Thus it is by analogy with the human body that holy Church, that is, all believers, is called the body of Christ, for it has received the Spirit of Christ whose presence in a person is indicated by the name Christian which Christ has given him. This name designates Christ's members, those who share in the Spirit of Christ, those who are anointed by him who is the anointed one; for the name Christian comes from Christ, and Christ means anointed, anointed with that oil of gladness which he has received in fullness above all his fellows, in order to pour it out on all his companions as the head upon the members of the body: like precious ointment upon the head which runs down from the head to the beard and then to the edge of the garment to flow over all and give life to all. So it is that when you become a Christian, you become a member of Christ, a member of the body of Christ sharing in the Spirit of Christ.

          Responsory        Eph 4:11; Rom 12:6

Christ's gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, t to build up the body

of Christ.

. V. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given us, let us use them t to build up ...