start immediately without any other explanation of my presence here. See that I was asked to give some lectures on the Cistercian fathers, give a sort of introduction to the study of our fathers in the American region. We have reached They have a secretary for ongoing education or something like that. And so they ask some, they're trying to organize some studies. And instead of sending students outside the monastery, I found it was more prudent, which is not very, very absolutely certain, to send the teacher outside the monastery. So the teachers are going around and Father Edmund Mikes who is an historian of the Cistercian Fathers started and I went last spring in the West Monasteries and this time in the East Coast Monasteries and since I was in this part of the country and that's

[01:29]

Father Martin sometime asked me to come and be with you. I accepted and was very glad, and I am certainly very glad to be here. So, we have a booklet. Perhaps it would be interesting to explain, first of all, what this booklet means. We are not going to read all that here together. It's just an idea. I want to have some text that you would have some text in hand, so that I could just give quotation, long quotation, and read together passages of important text, actually basic text, I think, of St. Bernard, St. Lawrence of Riveau, and one sermon of Gericovigny. And you will see it's quite easy. And in order to not simply give quotation, which are very often misleading.

[02:30]

I want to have the context, and so that you have this booklet, which has been produced by Tennessee. Tomorrow, we shall read the text of the two basic treatises of St. Bernard on the love of God, and on the steps of humility. That's page 1, 8, and 9, 15. And tonight, I just wanted to give a general introduction to the Cistercian Father in a very simple and general way. One of the reasons why people everywhere now in our monasteries found necessary to go back to the sources, least precisely because we have been, since the council and since all the arginamento and adaptation and changes and all that, sometime now we don't exactly, some people don't know where they are, where they stand.

[03:44]

I don't know what you have done, but I suppose all the monastic order, don't have been the same thing. We've been very quick to change and drop things and adopt other things without a clear picture of the whole. And therefore, we have been in a way disrupting the harmony of our life. What many people feel nowadays in our monasteries. Now, monasticism can be a And monasticism is something which has been always present in the West and even more in the East. But there is nothing. You cannot have monasticism without tradition. Monasticism is not a revelation.

[04:47]

It's not an invention. of today, as some people would sometimes tend to do, some kind of new monasticism, brand new. Everything which is new, of course, is improved, as we see on all the produce, on the products in the kitchen. But it's not necessarily true for spiritual things. And there is nothing in our orders. You are a Benedictine and we are a Cistercian. And these are orders, we are very old, very ancient. There is no way for us to know what we are, but through a reference to history and to the origin. And there is a great need to know what we are. Because if we don't know what we are, it's absolutely impossible to adopt things.

[05:51]

or to see what we need. You have to know what you are. In the scholastic terminology, you have to know what the substance is in order to know what accidents can be acceptable. And if you change a substance, then there is no way to know what we are. So that's a bit in that idea that everywhere now we feel the need and the two go back to the sources, to the origin, to the founders of our order. Now when you study the history of monasticism, you can, well, you know that monasticism has always consisted in reforming. We've all been reforming somehow, as well as the Benedictine order and the Cistercian order.

[07:00]

And reforming because I suppose there were deformations somehow. But what we, every time, every century, want to try to find was precisely to recover to the very first idea. And after all, even in our time, if you are sincere and if you want to be a monk, we are trying exactly what during all the centuries monks have been trying to do, to be a monk. And that is a very simple thing. And perhaps the best way to know what a monk is is to read the rule of St. Benedict. And eventually it can be summed up in two words, to see God. That's all. Now, to see God in a monastic way means immediately setting an organization, main principle, separation from the world, society, certain amount of silence, quiet, organization of

[08:20]

the day, a balance of work, prayer, study, reading. And after all, all the monastic orders, all reforms and so on, have always been trying to find a balanced way for men in order to be able or to give him the opportunity to seek God in complete sincerity and with the best means he could find in human condition and in the church. Also, all the reformation down the century and various periods have always been very much determined by the time, by the civilization, by the culture of the time.

[09:32]

And it also has to be clearly seen in order precisely to know what today we have to do. If we have to do exactly what's our predecessors, when they try to perform or to adopt or to adapt their monasticity to the time, their own time, we have to know exactly also what is the requirements of our time. Sometimes I believe, I don't want to make generalization, but sometimes I feel that we have not started yet the Arjun momentum, spade away. Well, the first we did, we haven't started. Because we much too much think that the external things we need are satisfactory. And very often, the mistakes we made, when we speak for Cistercians, was to think that

[10:42]

Adaptation to the present time or form of the order had to be secularization, to be more in contact of the world, to do as everybody else, not to look conspicuous, strange in the margin and all that. It was a feeling that we are going to be left, you see, Progress go harm, century, and we've just been dropped in the margin of the sort of guilty bystanders. This title I just mentioned is precisely a challenge because Thomas Merton really wanted to be a bystander in order to be very present to his time. As a monk, that's precisely the paradox. So perhaps that the real, which I meant to, is going to be in the future, perhaps I will not see it, but some younger will realize it, will be more modern than many of his time, with not only, you know, not only

[12:10]

the clothes and blue jeans, you know. But what I mean is a mentality. Mentality has to change. You are to be thinking the modern trends of seeing the universe, you see. How we see the world. That's most important. And that is only... Only the young people will be capable of doing that. But at the same time, it will be an emphasis on a more drastic monastic life, more significant and perhaps more absolute. Otherwise, if we are not really what we should be, monks, we shall simply dissolve. And some are already dissolved, already dissolved.

[13:20]

And they announced that in 10 years times, well, all monasticism will be completely dissolved. There wouldn't be any monk left. So prepare yourself to find a career, quickly. Let's see. But that's not true. That's not true. I am not a futurologist like John Leclerc, but I'm sure that even if the monastic form we have today disappear, well, there will be something else. Because there will be always men in any tradition or great religion who will feel the need to find a way of life which will be... basically the same as it has always been from the very beginning of monastic life. It's not very difficult to see the basic element. One is certainly the most important, is the separation from the world.

[14:30]

In a very general meaning. Not that the world is bad, but that we want to find another way of living, because we want to be free. for implication and so on and pleasure and ties and simply because you want to be free to see God as the only occupation or the main occupation of our heart and of our soul. Now at any great renaissance, so very often at the time of renaissance that the spiritual life, or the monastic life, take another look. So we have many, many more Renaissance than we usually think. It's not only the 17th century Renaissance, but you have the 12th century Renaissance, and the Carolingian time Renaissance, where it will be always and we have props.

[15:33]

in a time of renaissance today. Hopefully we are. But it's never very clear when you are in a time of renaissance, what's going to happen. What is the renaissance? It's coming, but we are in the growing process, and that is very painful because we don't know what you're going to be. a crisis in our world, which is quite comparable with the great crisis of the history of the past, the fall of the Roman Empire, the 10th century, or the time of Reformation. This is to say that one of the characteristics of a Renaissance is that it forms a new idea of man. A new idea of man means also and chiefly a new idea of his relation with his fellow man and with God.

[16:47]

The Renaissance of the 12th century are quite very definite characteristic, and it's good to leave some since we are going to read authors of the 12th century. It may be interesting to point out that historians, we have nothing to do with monasticism, but even with history of the church, say that two main characteristics of the 12th century, mind of people, attitude of people, were intense curiosity, intellectual curiosity, and that the authority was questioned. that makes us very close to the 12th century. This intense curiosity for new ways of life, new ideas, new form of looking at the world or at the future, really effervescent time.

[18:06]

You know, those who know the history of the church knows that. In the way of theology, for instance, you have Abelato, starting with the first, we say, to be the first modern man, starting this new theology. It's a new theology. And you have, in architecture, the beginning of the Gothic, which is great revolution in building churches and in many other fields. And this idea of men is also always a new balance or a new equilibrium, a new way of connecting activity and contemplation. Because that's the two main characteristics of men. Aristotle will say.

[19:09]

So ideas and activity. And also for monks, that means a new way of balancing, arranging, adapting the ascetic life and spiritual life. Now this 12th century was therefore a time of changes in the social life too, very much so. Social and even economic life from feudalism to the first towns, first communes, and also the first university instead of the local cathedral church, first university. sort of breaking the parochialism and having a sort of more open world exchange of ideas.

[20:15]

It may be interesting to quote the text of Anselm of Avelberg. It was of the 12th century and he was a German and he was quite a famous author. And he just says something which could be found in a conservative Catholic paper of all day. Why are so many innovations in the Church? Who wouldn't scorn a Christian religion, subject to so many diversity, destroyed by so many inventions, overturned by so many new laws and customs? tossed about amid so many rules and regulations invented nearly every year. What is prohibited today as sacrilegious suddenly is authorized as holy and salutary.

[21:20]

So it's been always the same thing. Or changing, mutation, always been had reaction of this kind. One of the important traits of the anthropology of the 12th century with reference to men. Anthropology is referring to men. Two main traits are the discovery or a new sense, a keener perception of liberty and conscience. And of course... We can say that today there's a new, also, perception of what liberty and conscience means, especially in the phenomenology or the existentialism philosophy. St. Anselm started that, St.

[22:24]

Anselm Cantorbury started this new idea, perception of the value of conscience, but the 12th century developed it very much. Abelard, especially. Value of personal. And when you speak of liberty and conscience, obviously you speak of greater perception or notion of personality. The person began to be more aware of of its liberty and its own value as person. And it's one of the reasons, probably, why the Cistercian monks wanted to have a certain amount of freedom in their organization. When we speak of structure today or

[23:25]

establishment or constitution and all that, we tend to minimize the value of this legislative organization, external, social, organization of monasticism. Well, it has great importance because it reflects the desire, the tendency of the type And obviously, a reform doesn't start by new laws. But new laws are immediately, quickly necessary. Very interesting, for instance, to see Thésée. Thésée is starting just like that, just a sort of group of young Lutheran monk, Lutheran student of theology from Geneva to start, just free, of course. They didn't want any rule, anything like that.

[24:27]

Very, very quickly, in 10 years' time, they had all recovered practically all the rules and the vows of the traditional monasticism. It's very typical. I asked one day, one of the brothers of Tezi, to write me an article on the L'institution, on the institution in Artesay. It was Brother Pierre-Yves Emery, who is very good children, one of the first founders. So he wrote me an article. All the words in the organization, the traditional way of monastic life has been discovered by these men who were not based on any tradition, only on the gospel. And he told me that when he showed his article to the prior, he said, institution, what are you talking about institution?

[25:38]

We don't want institution. But I said, read the article first before you say, we have all the institution. It's done. It's too late. They don't want to write anything, but they have the institution. It's very strict. Obedience, celibacy, poverty, it's extremely strict, you see. Well, this is to say that reformers in the 12th century, I'm not going to develop very much that, but they wanted to break away from the Prunyak organization, which were very oppressive as a girl to big organizations. And they wanted to be free, not to do anything they like, but precisely to be free to develop their own spirituality in a group of men, a real community, which would be free to develop it under the guidance of a master and have a certain continuity of

[26:48]

community, therefore become very autonomous. Cito was a very autonomous community and by the child of charity they managed to give to the others which were immediately founded quickly the same autonomy by a system of visitation and of general chapter. There is no authority in a monastery than the abbot. It's the abbot who gives his own spirituality. He interprets the rule of Saint Benedict himself for his own community and in reaction of his local community of actual present real monks, not in a sort of ideological theory. And then you had the control of the visitation and the general chapter.

[27:52]

So if you just see that they wanted to have this feeling of respect, this notion of personality. And St. Bernard and St. Everett of Rivo, who have created spiritual masters, would not have existed as auteur spiritual masters if they had not this freedom of developing a school of spirituality with permanent, stable community life. And I believe that it's very important today. I don't know if I will be able to say something about that in general chapter. I'm not there as an abbot. If I can't say something, I will just try to do that. Because, you know, modern, I don't know how it is in this Benedictine order, but in modern system, we tend, again, to have sort of general or to refer to commissions or regional meetings and and all that.

[29:07]

So the local superior and the community, of course, because Local superior cannot do anything without a responsive community and collaborating. The Heidi would be lost, and we would then have direction from the central authority, and that would just be waste. A reform never came from the top, or from a general chapter, or from any organization. Reform as well as in the Benedictino, the Gauss, as in the Cistercian, Latrap, and so on. Always started from one local community. You cannot reform another. But you can start something with a community of united people, family, and a spiritual master. And that is possible. And then it spreads, you see.

[30:08]

And then eventually the chapter is said, that's good. Then we close and make an institution and constitution. But it always starts from a local, real, living community. Inspired. I don't think the Holy Spirit inspires the crowd. The Holy Spirit inspires men. Living in a unity in charity. Yes. In the 12th century, there are some ideas. In this whole movement of a fervous sense of research, of thought, of movements of all kinds, there is something which is important to know, which is the creation of the 12th century, and it is called the Ministry of Literature.

[31:12]

the culture's love, l'amour courtois. That is an invention of the 12th century. And it has some importance to think. It is important to know that, because this style, l'amour courtois, the troubadour, has a direct influence on the style, and even more on the style, on the way of thinking, on the outlook of St. Bernard and his school. Now, if you want to read something excellent on that, you can read C.S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love. It's the first chapter, which is titled Cult of Love. It gives you exactly the best thing being written. Now, the thing is that this a kind of notion of love. The notion of love we have today when we speak of being in love, love which you see in the movies and in the fiction, theater and romantic love, all that started in the 12th century.

[32:30]

We are so much used to it that we cannot imagine that it was all the way before. Obviously, there are people who married before. But a question of being in love, like we speak of that, didn't exist. And sometimes you can, even today, find the same thing. It was told that in India, if you ask a simple person, a man who has not been influenced by the Western civilization, somebody told me that it's a mission in Africa. Oh, I read it. I forgot. But if you ask him if he's in love with his wife, if he's still in love with his wife, he doesn't know what it means. He's kind to his wife. He gives everything that she wants. But the idea to be in love doesn't register. It doesn't mean anything. So he's very curious.

[33:32]

This is godly love. This is love in the head, you see. romantic love was studied by this very mysterious people, scholars are still trying to find the origin and the first sources. The Arab influences certainly also the Manichaean or the Cathars of the time. The idea is that you are longing for the lady who is far away and the farthest she is, the best. And the more you are longing for her. And that idea was easy to transpose in spiritual world. It's easy to transpose because love of a Christian is also for an object which is very far, an object of desire.

[34:38]

and remains of objective design, never possessed God. And therefore, all the mystical message, or mystical sermon of Saint Bernard on the Canticle, was inspired, in its language, by this language of the Trabatul. After all, they were men of their time, they were usually 25, 30 years old, and had been hearing all this. songs and regret all this literature. So it's important to know that when you read the literature, therefore to be aware of this new sensitivity which is being certainly used by these authors. One of the main difficulties for us for young people, be trained in critical knowledge of the scripture, critical reading of the scripture is precisely the use of the scripture by the Cistercian fathers, authors of the past, the allegorical use of the scripture.

[35:54]

This can be very, very difficult, very irritating sometimes for me. I've been sending a very long time out as a young man before I accepted it. the way St. Bernard used the scriptures. Now, this has to be, again, understood in the way they were using the scripture or commenting the scripture in antiquity, in the Middle Ages. But, as you know, Fr. Leroy Beck wrote a huge volume of work, four volumes, l'exégèse medievale, quatre sens de l'écriture, four senses of scripture. Let's see if anybody read that. I think there is an English resume of that for the title, The Essential of... I don't forget...

[36:57]

This way of reading the scripture according to the four senses was traditional in the church for 16th century, from religion up to Erasmus and the Renaissance, even Luther used the four senses. So you have to know this technique. It was technique. It was a way of teaching. All the doctrines of the chair have been exposed, have been given, taught from origin on even, according to the four senses. We may perhaps come to that sometime in a week. The language is a monastic language, which is traditional, patristic. and also liturgical.

[38:02]

And then, during this week, reading the text, we shall especially be attentive to the anthropology, the anthropology of St. Bernard, especially, what you could call a theological anthropology, anthropology, men directed to God, of course, in grace. And I may perhaps introduce it just now in order to be a bit start. Two main themes. First theme is the theme of love, which is St. Bernard is a theologian of love, Dr. Amoris. All this doctrine is based on the affectus or passion in men, one of the most dynamic, you say, dynamic power in men, love.

[39:04]

Understood in a very general meaning. And the other theme or other main point of this doctrine is is the doctrine of men created at the image and likeness of God. And the two are very much related, and we shall probably see that in the text. I shall try to see the actuality of this theology, not in order to make Sam Bernhard a man of the 20th century, that's not at all, That would be very long. But there is, in history, sometime affinity between two periods. And as we gather, the 12th century and the 20th century, there is quite a number of affinities of props due to this drastic change in society, way of living, and especially a way of looking at the world.

[40:18]

or you see the world, or you see reality, or you see the whole destiny of man, the place of man in the cosmos, and so on. And one of these affinities between 12th century and 0th century is the notion of experience. See? And the best definition I know of the Cistercian or St. Bernard theology of spirituality is a definition of very short, three, five lines. In the dictionary, the American Dictionary of Ruins, you may have here, Dictionary of Philosophy, it's a dictionary. and it's the article scholasticism curious to find the best definition there anyway when he comes to present Cistercian he says juxtaposed to the dialectic syllogistic and rationalistic tendencies of this age was a mystical movement headed by St.

[41:46]

Bernard this movement did not oppose itself to dialectics in the uncompromising manner of Peter Damien, refusing absolutely any intelligence or any, you see, it was a sort of refusal of dialectic, but sought rather to experience and interiorize truth through contemplation and practice. It is a perfect definition. And you have there, in these four words, the whole idea, the whole success also of this school. Experience and interiorize the truth through contemplation and practice. I hope the main purpose of reading this text is precisely

[42:47]

to try again to find a connection between practice and theory. There's been always the way of unifying our life, and that's perhaps where we are very uneasy today. We have many observances, a way of life, and all disciplines of kind, and we don't see very often how they are connected. or that their purpose is purification of our soul or to help us, to lead us to the union with God, to see God. And that's perhaps the main task today, to find again this beautiful harmony we had, the monks of the past had. Because it's the only way to be happy in our life, to find it beautiful, harmonious, really one, making one thing.

[43:51]

There is no beauty except in unity and harmony for life. And so for the way of thinking, our interior life should be connected and harmoniously adapted to the result of the exterior life And it's not a way of thinking only or rationalizing these things, but simply to live, but to understand it by experience and interiorization.

[44:28]

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