Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Good evening. If anyone would like to just stop in and talk tomorrow or Sunday or Monday, my time is yours. To facilitate that, If you'd like to sign up, this sheet will be here. If somebody just wants to put their name, you don't have to put your name. You can just stop in and knock on the door and I'll receive you graciously. But if you want to sign up, that's a possibility too. So the next three days, I'm here if anybody wants to stop and chat. How is that little exercise of gift going?

[01:07]

Now on the first day that we met, I recommended that you ask the Lord for a special gift that you would like to receive from these spiritual exercises. And that's an open door to let grace into your life. When we receive a gift, of course, a gift means we've got a certain, perhaps, responsibility to be open to receive the gift. Sometimes we ask for gifts and the gift comes in surprising ways, or sometimes we ask for difficult gifts that require a certain response and responsibility on our own part. I would say, reaffirm the gift, the name of the gift that you would like to receive.

[02:12]

It may be a gift of the Holy Spirit, it may be a gift of reconciliation or understanding or peace of soul, or discernment in some area of your life or some aspect of physical or spiritual or psychological healing on your part. You may ask for a gift for your community. Reaffirm that gift. This evening we will read together Psalm 133 you have that in as a vesper hymn it's 132 in our liturgy it's kind of a shocking little psalm because it's not evident

[03:23]

what it's saying. Let's read together the psalm, the liturgy, this little liturgy of Psalm 133 and what catches your attention. Together, how good it is, how pleasant where the brothers dwell as one. Like precious ointment on the head, running down upon the beard, upon the beard of Aaron, upon the collar of his robe, like the dew of Hermon coming down upon the mountains of Zion, there the Lord has lavished blessings, life forevermore. What catches your attention in this song?

[04:33]

An image? A word? A phrase? we've got a couple proper names in this psalm one is Aaron who appears for the first time in the second chapter of Exodus he is a Levite But we've got something strange going on in this psalm. It's a Levite who's receiving a consecration. Now, Robert, the other day I mentioned that after the exile we had kind of a priestly class and we also had a Levite class.

[05:39]

A Levite class, they were the functionaries, the people that took care of things. and the ideological intellectual class and probably the wealthy class were the priests. Now, we would expect the high priest to receive a blessing, an anointment, but here we have Aaron. We'll talk a bit about that. The beard of Aaron and then Mount Zion. Now, just a clue, Aaron and Mount Zion are both liturgical places. So, we'll talk about that in a second, but yes, the person, why was Aaron elected? And then, he's a Levite, he's getting a big blessing, consecration, okay, we'll talk about it. What else? The good of being together are two things do fall and ointment and both of them are

[07:06]

are on a vertical axis. Both of them are coming down, coming down, coming down. So we have this, we start with this horizontal look. How good it is, how pleasant. Brothers dwelling in unity. But then we have the verb coming down, coming down, coming down for ointment and dew. And so we've got the horizontal plane and we've got the vertical axis here. That kind of catches our attention too. And the phrase, coming down, coming down, coming down, or falling down, falling down, falling down, three times, now that's pretty strong. A very short poem, that repetition catches our attention. you know this psalm is just one sentence in Hebrew I think there are 21 words in this psalm and it's just a single sentence it's a main clause with two subordinate clauses and it is a beatitude as a number of the psalms are

[08:46]

how good it is, how pleasant, the attitude. What blessings, what joys, confrères, dwelling slash worshipping in community. We'll talk about that verb. It can be living together, but it's also a verb for worshipping together. And that would make sense if we were talking about the Levitical class of people in the Old Testament. what blessings, what joys, brothers dwelling or worshipping in unity, it's as fine as holy chrism streaming down, streaming down. It's as fresh and refreshing as copious dew falling down, falling down. For there the Lord bestows the blessing life forever. Where?

[09:50]

The big question in this psalm is where is there? What are the possibilities? There where brothers are living together as one? There on the head of Aaron? There on the breast of Aaron? collar of his robe, there on Mount Hermon, there on Mount Zion. Where is there? We're interested because we want that blessing. There are two words here, how good, how pleasant. Describe I would say they describe a community liturgy where God bestows eternal life.

[10:58]

The adjective good, how good it is, recalls Genesis creation where for six days in a row God saw that it was good. God saw that it was good. God saw that it was good. God saw that it was very good. And he blessed it. We have that going on here in this. There's not just God saw that it was good. We see that it is good, but there's also a blessing here. Is our fellowship, is our common life a creative act like Genesis? Or does the reminiscing poet describe an experience that memory and longing has enhanced? Sometimes, you know, when you talk to people, they talk about the good old days as if the present days are not so good.

[12:08]

So we eliminate the bad days and we exaggerate the good old days. Is that where the poet is? Or is he theologically connecting himself with creation and blessing in Genesis? The Hebrew word that I translated dwell as one here is a common translation dwelling in unity, it has the connotation also of worshipping together, of praying together, praying a liturgy together. I didn't mention it, but I've been somewhat, and I am somewhat distracted, I think it was in our Hour of Sext yesterday and today, we were praying

[13:13]

The first psalms, those little psalms from 119 to 133 are psalms of pilgrims. There's a little song book for going on pilgrims. in this part of the Psalter and this is the second last psalm of that of those 15 songs that are pilgrimage psalms now at the beginning we have we have strife and struggle and then we start with and we announce the pilgrimage and then throughout those psalms 119 to 133, 134 we're on our way to Jerusalem and finally but we get to Jerusalem and in this song we're in the temple and we're receiving a blessing so we have this possible how good it is how pleasant when brothers worship together and the lavish anointing catches our attention Aaron the Levite and in a liturgical place Mount Zion that's where the temple is

[14:26]

Then there's a final blessing. The Lord has lavished blessings life forevermore. Does the poet extol the community experience of fine liturgy and remind us that blessings that accrue from seasonal rainfall, life, and fertility will abound if we mind our common worship, take care of the liturgy, and life will take care of itself? Is that what it's saying? The last verse raises questions about precision. There the Lord gives his blessing. Life forever. Where is the adverb there point to? The psalm presents various candidates, the community, the life, the community assembled for worship. There is a blessing. the precious ointment upon the head, upon the beard, upon the collar of his chasuble, or on Mount Zion, where we celebrate the Liturgy.

[15:40]

My brothers, what's that all about? Let's stay for a moment with the Bible. and talk about brotherhood in the Bible. My brothers, do we understand the members of a small family? Or the larger human family? Or the community? Or the church? I wonder what family the poet is referring to. We can't help but think of the biblical family. in Genesis and in the historical books. The first generation of brothers, Cain, the farmer, and Abel, the cattleman, two brothers, they were both religious boys.

[16:46]

Each of them was celebrating the liturgy at his altar in thanksgiving for the produce of his work. But in the end, Cain at his altar was looking sideways at what was going on at the altar of his brother. He lost sight of God while he was celebrating the liturgy, and his envy intensified to the point of fratricide. Another generation let's skip over the sexual abuse in the family of Noah where one of the three boys excommunicates himself from the family for some sexual secret that he has perhaps incest perhaps a homosexual act with his father something happened there

[17:56]

that divided the family. How good it is, how pleasant. What is the poet referring to? Abraham and Lot, uncle and nephew, both herdsmen, their hired hands argued among themselves a disagreement that culminated in a definitive separation. Lot, chose to inhabit the fertile Jordan River Valley with their capital cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham occupied the less fertile mountains of Cana around Hebron. They were never able to live together in the same part of the country. Abraham's first two boys Ishmael and Isaac, they were half-brothers. H was a victim of the rivalry of their moms.

[18:59]

The Ishmaelite boy grew up to be hostile Bedouin tribes who attacked the settled Israelites. The suicide bombings and the terrorist attacks that we read about in the paper and hear about in the news in the present day violence that is perceived as a threat to the safety of Europe and America, terrorist assaults that stem from fundamentalist groups, emit the unholy odor of jihad, holy war against Western civilization, and all in the name of the one true and all-holy God, We're talking about Ishmael and Isaac, Abraham's two boys, which don't get along. The Muslims and the Jewish people.

[20:05]

Isaac's boys, they were twins. The tense fraternal relationships between Esau, dad's favorite, and Jacob, mom's favorite, and their sibling rivalry for the paternal blessing and the rights of the firstborn. The two never outgrew the rivalry and rankling of their upbringing. An internecine aggression inherited by Israelites and Edomites, their descendants. Edomites and Israelites are birth cousins. and they can't get along. And Israel damns Edom in the prayer, the vesper prayer that we prayed yesterday evening, Psalm 136. How good it is, how pleasant when brothers get together and worship in unity. What is the theologian talking about?

[21:10]

Next generation, Laban's girls, the sisters Leah and Rachel, both Jacob's wives. Again, sibling rivalry and jealousy were born of Jacob's preferential treatment of Rachel and Leah's wondrous fertility. Joseph and his brothers, whose rivalry ended in an attempted fratricide, but rather they sold their brother. The alienation of the Judah tribe, the near genocide of the Benjamin people, and the long-standing division and rivalry that at times erupted into outright violence among the families of Israel. To what is the poet referred? To a real life situation? With all these skeletons in the family closet, we wonder about the beatitude of the family.

[22:17]

In the first verse, how good it is and how pleasant when brothers live together in unity. Moses' family is hardly the exception to outright sibling rivalry. Moses was up on the mountain commuting with God and his elder brother Aaron was living it up with the golden calf orgy. Sister Miriam and brother Aaron complained and murmured against their brother over his marriage with the Cushite lady, their sister-in-law, and they jockeyed for the position of prophetic leadership. Is there only one prophet in Israel? Could we not also share that office? Turn the biblical page and we find David He continues in his long line of dysfunctional biblical families. David was a great military leader, and David was a great politician, but he was a complete failure when it comes to being the father of the family.

[23:32]

His amnon, his eldest son, sexually abused his half-sister Tamar, The third son, Absalom, orchestrated the assassination of his half-brother, Amnon. The second son, Abigail's boy, Kiliam, became a sort of ghost in the family album. You know about ghosts in the family album? Somebody, one cousin or one brother or one sister that just kind of occupies the shadows of the family. That was also the case in David's time. Major problems arrived over which son would succeed his father on the throne of Israel. Gritty, underhanded Adjaniah orchestrates his own coronation ceremony. But he couldn't contend with the equally underhanded and ambitious intrigues of the four former bathing beauty Queen Bathsheba, Solomon's mother.

[24:39]

In the end, the newly elected Solomon has his half-brother Adonijah murdered. Behold how good it is, how pleasant, when brothers live together in unity. We can widen the scope to embrace the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel, separated brethren, inhabiting the land of Palestine, the Promised Land, yet divided in politics, religion, and economics, internecine strife between Israelis and Arabs in the occupied territories, presently of great interest to President Donald Trump. They're all descendants of Abraham, They make headlines even today, 3,000 years after David and Saul. This survey of fraternal relations in the Bible and the miscarriage of friendly co-existence calls into question the Beatitude about amiable fraternity, worshiping and living together.

[25:52]

To whom or to what family does the poet refer? In the New Testament we meet we meet problems in the family of Jesus. The Thunder Boys, Jacob and John, James and John, who have dibs on being Jesus' vicar generals when he establishes his reign, the indignation of the rest of the disciples was fanned by their own ambition on this score. The view of the failed biblical experience of fraternity, the failure of living and worshiping together, the question arises. On what basis can we intone the celebrated beatitude of family and fraternity in this song? What situation or to whom does the beatitude refer? Even after Pentecost and the infusion of the Holy Spirit, our experience of the Church has not been all that tidy.

[26:59]

Today we are divided among Roman Catholics, the Orthodox, Protestants, and the multiple sects. The Legion of Mary does not sing in tune with the charismatic renewal, nor do the social justice people invite pious the Tenth liturgists to their cocktail parties. Saint Paul testifies that from her beginnings, fissures opened in the primitive churches as in the cities of Thessalonica and Corinth. Some Christians cheered for Paul, others for Apollo, others for Cephas. In the second mission to Asia Minor, two formidable missionaries, Paul and Barnabas, united in their first mission, eventually suffered divorce over a sentimental issue. Barnabas' nephew was rejected by Paul for their second mission.

[28:07]

We might reflect on our own family experience. The jealousy, the bickering and sibling rivalries, the disagreements and divisions that fracture a family after a parent's death, the dispute over the inheritance, the difficult sister-in-law or the mother-in-law, the petty frictions and misunderstandings that get magnified under the microscope of living too close, the alcoholic brother or uncle, the rebellious sister. How good it is, how pleasant, when families live together in peace and unity, and what monastic family has not been torn by party politics and preferences by change of personnel and even the exodus of monks after the change of a superior now that doesn't happen here but it does happen in some communities that I know people have to leave their community for a time

[29:27]

Usually not forever. I've known communities where somebody has to leave the community for a time until the dust settles, and two or three or four or five years later, or 20 years later, comes back to the community. My own monastery, where I lived for many years, I'm now a member of. My stability is now in Mexico as of one month. when we received autonomy as a monastery in Mexico. But my own monastery of Mount Angel Abbey in Oregon has always been divided between two factions. There are the apostolic school monks and then there are the monk monks who concentrate on the internal affairs of the monastery rather on the seminary and the parishes. And every official election has always been an issue, a party issue, between the monk monks and the school monks.

[30:43]

Something about the opening beatitude raises the question, why does the poet begin with an affirmation that isn't immediately evident and doesn't ring true in much of our experience? But the key here is in the two images. How good it is and how pleasant when brothers live together in unity, but then follows two comparisons. It's like sacred perfumed oil, perfuse, in anointing the head, so perfuse that it streams down the side of the face. falls on the chest on Aaron. Or it's like that copious dewfall on Zion, a liturgical place. How to describe the grace of paternal unity?

[31:46]

Family harmony, like discord, is something apparent. It's something diffuse in the air. it penetrates like humidity or like fetid odor or fresh air. You visit one family and you feel welcome. You feel at ease, enchanted. You can actually sense something delicious and indefinable in the air. It's wonderful. You visit another family and right away you sense that something is not quite right in this household. The atmosphere is heavy The welcome is a formality and you sense the strain or division in the household and nobody has to say anything. You know it's there. The poet concentrates his comparison in two senses. The smell and the present penetrating softness of the lotion.

[32:52]

The fresh spray of the dew. Once you open a flask of perfume, it's impossible to bottle it up again. The perfume, the odor, the fresh fragrance, pervades the atmosphere and has no precise limits. Enter a pine forest and the fresh pine scent enters the nose, the mouth, fills the lungs, Persons who don't suffer allergies breathe not only with the lungs but with the whole body. That's the way it is for a family or a community that fosters healthy relations. The other comparison, the dewfall on Mount Hermon. Now, I don't know much about mountains

[33:57]

east of Idaho but from Mount Angel Abbey which we are at Mount Angel Abbey we are at 420 feet above sea level and on the horizon we can see Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens and the peak of Mount Baker that all of those mountains go up over 10,000 feet, 12,000 feet up. They're all volcanoes. The poet is talking about one of those mountains. He's talking about Mount Hermon. Doesn't he say Mount Hermon? It's like the dew of Hermon, which is a mountain that's 11,000 feet high. above sea level. Mount Zion is only 2,600 feet above sea level.

[35:00]

Now what's the difference between the dew fall on a mountain that's 2,000 feet above sea level and the dew fall on a mountain that is above 9,000 feet above sea level? that the dewfall is much richer, there's much more dew on the higher altitudes. The dewfall on Mount Hermon, after a vigorous workout, soaked in sweat, a person feels thirsty and dehydrated. But climb a high mountain, through the forests, 800 feet above sea level, where the dewfall and the humidity condense in the air, the freshness is invigorating. The skin pours open and relish the moisture. The humidity refreshes the skin and relaxes the muscles.

[36:00]

That's how it is in a family or a monastic community that fosters healthy relations among the members. now it's obvious if we fix our eyes on the horizon and keep our eyes on the horizon we might balk at the Beatitude how very good and how pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony but if we follow the poet's cue our gaze is raised vertically upwards It is oil streaming down, streaming down over the collar of his robes. It is Jew that falls on the heights of Zion. The delight, the refreshing experience of fraternal harmony descends from on high and is concentrated in two places that have liturgical and ecclesial ramifications.

[37:09]

the oil is used to consecrate Aaron, the Levite priest. The recipe for this precious product is given in Exodus chapter 30. In Exodus chapter 30 verses 22 to 25 we have the recipe for the chrism oil that we use at baptism. Its ingredients are myrrh, cinnamon, cane, cashew, all fixed in olive oil. This costly perfume was used to anoint and consecrate the tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, the altar, the candelabra, and all the liturgical vessels. It was also used to anoint Aaron, the Levite priest and his son. The blessing is in... this consecration is in Exodus chapter 30. The poet concentrates on the outpouring of the holy chrism which flows down upon from Aaron's head through his hair and sideburns onto the collar of his chasuble.

[38:23]

The descending movement is symbolic. It flows from the head down the neck onto the chest or poured on the priest it flows from the head the people's representative, the mediator, and the body receives the ordination anointing. What does the oil, the stream of oil, what does it reach on Aaron's breast? The jeweled, hectoral ornament is a little square pouch that holds 12 precious and semi-precious stones in it. Each stone is engraved with the name of one of the tribes of Israel. This is all described in Exodus chapter 28, verses 15 and following.

[39:24]

The community of Israel is like a jewel encrusted with polished stones. When the head, the priest, was anointed, the precious oil flowed down onto his pectoral scapula, his chest, the community of Israel. Now, we're not so far away from talking about St. Paul, where St. Paul writes that Jesus is the head of the body and we are the body. Now, when we talk about anointing the head of the body and that anointment who's the beneficiary of the anointing? it's well who receives the head receives the anointing but the anointing also flows down onto the body of the church Christ's body the people of God

[40:29]

Parenthesis, is your monastic consecration a private devotion or is it a liturgy? Who is the benetitioner of your monastic vocation and consecration? Is it just for you? Or is it a precious treasure for the people of God? I know a lot of people who go to the monastery because something happened to their lives, especially after the Second World War. In the 1950s all of our monasteries were full. Why? Because of all the guilt and all the stuff that was going on when the human race realized that we have the possibility to kill ourselves.

[41:36]

Tremendous genocides. And so there were a lot of people that went to monasteries, entered the monasteries at one time because of, for other reasons. I've got to save my soul. But monastic profession is not about saving my soul. A vocation does not belong to a single person. A monastic vocation, a religious vocation, and a priestly vocation belongs to the Church. And it's the Church that is the beneficiary of our monastic consecration. of anyone's monastic consecration. You've probably heard it from family members or from different people, oh we're so glad that you're a monk because through your vocation the world is a better place and

[42:40]

and also the family is in a better state not economically, not materially but parents even according to the theology of Saint Paul in chapter 7 in 1 Corinthians parents and family members are saved by receive joy and happiness and salvation. The popular idea is by the vocation of their son or daughter. A monastic vocation is a liturgical treasure. The beneficiary of our vocation is the church, is the people of God. and that the Aaron, the Levite's consecration, the oil finally, the perfumed oil finally falls on what he bears in his chest and that is the precious ointment that the precious petrol ornament

[44:03]

that bears the names of the 12 tribes of Israel, the whole of Israel, the whole of the church. And the dewfall, it's copious, like that on majestic Mount Hermon, 10,000 feet in altitude. Such a dewfall refreshes the Temple Mall, a mere 2,600 feet above sea level, where the Israelites congregate for liturgy. The poet describes heavenly dewfall, that of the highest mountain on the holy hill now chosen by God. Both Aaron and the Levite priest and Mount Zion, the Levite priest and Mount Zion play liturgical roles in this song. Once the two images of abundant oil and heavy dewfall are in place, the poet assigns a name and a benefit. where, there, in the liturgy, in the festal celebration, in the community, God sends the blessing.

[45:10]

And what is the blessing? Eternal life. Life is fragrant like perfumed oil. Life is refreshing and fertile like the dew. Fraternal charity is a gift that keeps on giving as it fosters life and freshens the environment. Thus the poet attributes the joy of common life not necessarily to human political efforts and community meetings, but to the grace of God. The joy in our community is a result of our having received the grace of God. Psalm 133 challenges us as monks and as a monastic community. As Benedictines, we are called to afford a preferential place to our liturgy.

[46:12]

In the Krinivaka Priory, my experience tells me that when community meetings become dull and lack of participation and interest is obvious, all we have to do is introduce a topic on liturgy. for discussion, for community discussion, and, oh, everybody has something to say. The psalm is well situated in the Christian context. We call each other brothers. St. Paul condemns discord, argument among brothers. But we bear in mind that fraternal charity is a gift, like the dewfall that descends and impregnates the land. Fraternal charity is a gift, but even so, we expose ourselves to achieve the unity and reconciliation.

[47:20]

Healthy fraternal relations result from a conscious decision and a practice on the part of every member of the society. It's also God's gift, but we must dispose ourselves to receive that gift. When praying this psalm, if we consider the repetition of the verbs running down, running down, falling, we trace the vertical axis. And while we may focus on our brother, At the same time, we glimpse the author of the vocation of each one of us. We are not the author of our own vocation. God has called you, and God has also called your brother. The author and creator of all, our lovely Lord,

[48:22]

And humbly we confess that we are neither the author of our brother's vocation nor his judge, no matter how complicated or fractured our fraternal relations may seem at times. If you've got a bit of time this evening, tomorrow, make an inventory of your monastic consecration and conversion. Part of this inventory is really, name the people, the persons who have been vital in your human and your Christian growth. Your family members, your friends, people who have supported you and encouraged you along the way. What about these people who have channeled you toward the monastic vocation? What about those people who expected from you a grace and instead they received a reproach or a sin?

[49:32]

Make an inventory of the graces that God has showered on you from above to your monastic vocation. a parable. For the first time, I heard this parable when I was living in Israel, 1992, 1993, and it was at Tanpur. We were having an ecumenical discussion about who owns the land. and there were Muslims present and there were Jewish Israelis, Jewish people present and Christians and this story was told and on a later occasion I heard this parable again it was a 1994-1995 movie about the Irish resistance movement

[50:46]

The story is the tragic tale of the scorpion who decided to go on a journey. The scorpion received the bittersweet farewells from his home and set out on the road, delighted to be in the open air, thrilled to breathe deeply and marvel at nature and the scenery. The scorpion whistled or buzzed a tune, so happy he was. But the scorpion had not traveled far before his path was intersected by a river with no bridge to cross, and it was too inconvenient to go up or downstream and hope for a suitable crossing. His disillusion was compounded by the fact that scorpions can't swim. He pondered on his plight, until he spotted a frog sunbathing on the riverbank.

[51:57]

The scorpion cheerfully greeted the frog and said, Hey, friend, you couldn't by chance give me a lift to the other side, could you? I can't swim and I'd like to continue my journey. The frog couldn't believe it. Are you crazy? You, a scorpion? Why, we're natural-born enemies. I can't even get near you, for the threat of your sting." The scorpion's venomous tail innocently undulated back and forth as he oozed confidence with his tongue. How could I possibly harm you if you're helping me? In their conversation, the scorpion and the frog agreed on a peaceable crossing. And in the end, the scorpion gingerly mounted the shoulders of the frog, who then proceeded to swim across the river, scorpion on board. When they got to the deepest part, the scorpion raised his tail, and in a whiplash, stung the frog in the face, and just then he tumbled into the swirling waters.

[53:10]

The venom worked death's agony in the frog, and the scorpion was going under for the third time. The frog's last croak was, You swore you wouldn't sting me, how come you lied? And the scorpion's last gasp, Frogs don't give rides to scorpions. Isn't that how it is sometimes in our personal and community lives? Now, did you get that one? They did both die. The last time I used that story, Yeah, it's just how cruel we can be.

[54:14]

And it's all about community life. We know that. It's all about community life and grace and community life. Let us prefer nothing to the love of Christ. God bring us all together to everlasting life.

[54:32]

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