I came across a passage which I thought might be interest and useful to the members of the community, speaks there of the two kinds of charity, how they are combined. So his answer is it raises the question of the role and way of the emotional life, the monastic life. He says there is charity in action and there is charity in feelings. I think the law concerning charity which has been given to men has reference to the former. For who could keep it if feelings were met? It is charity in action that is commanded. Charity in feeling is given as its reward. We do not deny that by the grace of God we can begin to have charity in feeling even in this life.

[01:09]

that we even make some progress in it. But we are positive that its perfection belongs only to our future bliss. Why, then, is it commanded if we cannot have it? But if you insist that the commandment must refer to charity in feeling, I will not dispute it, provided you agree that nobody else ever has been able to fulfill it perfectly. For who would dare to say that he achieved what Paul himself confessed that he had failed to do? And he who gave the commandment did not conceal the fact that its fulfillment was beyond the powers of men. He saw fitters to make them realize their own insufficiency, so that they might know the precise goal of righteousness that they were aiming at. And so by commanding the impossible he made them not transgressors of the law, but humble, that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may answer it well, because by the works of the law no flesh shall be accounted righteous in Israel.

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That is what I would say about it if we were all agreed that the commandment refers really to charity in feeling. But what makes me think that it refers to charity in action is that when our Lord said, Love your enemies, He at once added the practical injunction, do good to them that hate you. It is written also in another place, if thine enemy hunger feed him, if he be thirsty, give him to drink. And the Lord himself said, if you love me, keep my commandments. And again, whatsoever you would that men should do unto you, that do you unto them. All these are practical commands. And yet I do not say that we ought to be without affection, doing things with our hands only, out of a withered heart. The apostle reckons lack of affection among man's most serious offenses.

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But there is one kind of affection which is begotten by the flesh, another which is ruled by reason, and a third which is seasoned by wisdom. The first, as the apostle says, neither is nor can be subject to the law of God. The second, on the other hand, accords with it, for it is good. These two are obviously opposites, but the third is quite distinct from both of them, for it is the affection which tastes and knows how gracious the law is. This third kind banishes the first and rewards the second. For if the first is sweet but shameful, the second is jejune but strong, the last also is rich as well as sweet. It is then by the second that good works are done, and in it charity consists, not indeed the affective charity which is seasoned with wisdom and fills the mind with divine sweetness, but the practical soul, which kindles in the soul the love of that other love,

[04:27]

though it cannot afford the same refreshment of itself. Let us not love in words, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. That is to say, let it be the living truth that impels us to do good works, and not our emotions. He said in order, charity within me. Which kind of charity? Both, but in opposite ways. For active charity is concerned with the lower things of life, affective charity with the higher. For instance, a well-disposed person will put the love of God before the love of man. He will prefer heaven to earth, eternity to time, and soul to body. But where his actions are concerned, he will nearly always put things the other way about. for he will be much more often occupied with caring for the temporal needs of his neighbor, and will find himself obliged to labor more for the peace of earth than for the glory of heaven.

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Our Lord's words, the last shall be first, and the first last apply here in essence. A man when he is praying speaks to God. yet how often does charity itself tear us away from prayer because somebody needs our help or our advice how often does a godly motive require us to exchange godly quiet for the tumult of affairs how often do we lay down our book with a good conscience to go and sweat at manual work? How often even do we quite rightly omit to celebrate mass that we may see to temple affairs? It is an inversion of the proper order, but necessity knows no law. The active charity follows its own order, beginning with the last, and has the mass of the household made. With effective charity, however, it is otherwise. That puts first things first, for wisdom assesses everything at its true value, and it is truth that determines the order followed by affective charity.

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If, then, you love God with all your heart and soul and strength, outpassing in your greater fervor that mere love of love which was enough for active charity, and are set all on fire with the divine love that you receive, you certainly have such knowledge of God as you are able for. And you also have knowledge of yourself, and you realize that you have nothing in yourself that merits love except what comes from God. Your neighbor, whom it is your duty to love as you love yourself, is a man as you are. If then you know yourself, you will know him too. So if you love yourself only because you love God, you will love as you love yourself all others who love him. Further, though you who love God cannot love an enemy as yourself, because he who loves not God is nothing, you can nevertheless love him with the intent that he may learn to love.

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Give me then a man who loves God before all things and with his whole being, who loves himself and his neighbors in proportion as he and they respectively love God, and his enemies as though he might love him someday, who loves his kindred truly, his spiritual teachers even more, who looks away from earth to heaven, uses this world without abusing it, employing transitory means for transitory ends, but yearning ceaselessly for things eternal, give me, I say, a man like this, who sees things as they really are, and without hesitation I will say that God has set in order charity in him. should not allow this beautiful day pass without stopping and trying to realize at least in a small way the beauty and greatness of the

[08:59]

Holy Mysteries that we celebrate today on this second great day of the Traditio, the Tradition in Lent. The other one was last Wednesday of the week past, where the word of the law was given, and today when we are gathered together in the Basilica of St. Paul, the great preacher of the Gospel of the Tidings of Reconciliation and where the Gospels are handed over to the candidates for baptism, the Traditio of the Word of God of Christ our Lord. texts of this mass and the whole context in which they are given to us is really so big and so comprehensive that trying even to grasp it is

[10:05]

A difficult thing, however, we see then also from the verse that St. Augustine said today in his homily to the Gospel, that the man born blind is the representative of humanity as it is after the fall. And that's therefore what our Lord does, is really the re-creation of Adam. And the creation of man, the creation of Adam, we always see the three basic elements. It's the dust, and it is the water, and it is the breath, the wind, so to speak. These three elements, they occur in the creation of the first Adam, in the dust that is taken from the earth, the earthly element from below.

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It is the water which forms and makes it possible to bind the dust together into a unit and therefore makes it possible to shape it. to an image, image and likeness, hence then the breath which God gives to this figmentum, to this product of his potter's skill, so to speak. And those basic elements, again, because they occur in the creation of god's firstborn son of the old testament we have last wednesday where the people coming out of egypt and wandering through the desert to that time a holy scripture says a rabble a just a multitude the kind of multitude that we find again in the

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gospel of our Lord, which we see so clearly today, in today's gospel, that wavering multitude without any inner firm hold on things, without a backbone, so to speak, similar to the dust that is taken from the earth over which Adam, the first Adam, was made. But then to that A rabble, this multitude that listens to the word, to the law that is given it from Mount Sinai. And that whole word is received and gives to that dust where epho, the community, make the covenant and therefore creates of the multitude a unity, what we call a people, the holy people of God. That is the unity of the ecclesia, which is appearing there.

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Today we have that Again there is our Lord himself who takes the dust from the earth and in that way repeats the way the first creation of Adam that we read in the first pages of Genesis. And he adds to it the sputum, the saliva, which is the symbol of the word of divine revelation. that words that is given to us today in the Gospels. Those two, the dust, the dust of human humility, the dust of the recognition of our sinfulness that is brought together with the, receives the binding power of the word, the divine word. And then

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this symbol also of himself, the world incarnate, he puts that on the eyes of the blind man, as it were, closes them even more and seems to bury them. make the situation even more hopeless, as God does so often in his ways, that through death we reach life, that through obedience we reach liberty. And then arbeit, arbeit, vedit, credited. He went away, that means he changed his ways, the conversio, and following in obedience the word of God, lavit. He went to the pool of Siloamissus. In obedience he washed in the one with his sin from the Father in baptism.

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And read it, he sees the miracle happens. His nature, his natural power is restored and that's then leads him to the other greater lights of faith. Curing of his sickness is then the, or becomes the way for him to see the divine light, the supernatural light. So it's really a wonderful picture also of our own And we want to renew this, our inner confessio fidei today. And we want to interiorly, before the bottom of our heart, cast our sails down at the feet of the Son of God. Now, tomorrow we celebrate the feast of St.

[16:58]

Gregory and still we don't celebrate it. I mean, here, for the biblical of wisdom, it's order to bake something. It's a kind of a joyous note. It's a promise. A prophetic one. It's going to make the dough. Yes. Then now, I mean, I just don't want to prevent any generosity for tomorrow's feast. So I'll be back, and I'm not envious, you know. I'm glad, you know, in any act of, of, of liberality on that day tomorrow, but I wanted to, put in a little claim for Sunday evening still, this coming Sunday, and that would be our feast then too, the Great Waste Feast on Sunday, so perhaps I just wanted to give that to my gay

[18:13]

be a little housewarming down there at St. James. We have never been down there. It has greatly changed. I think we should take advantage of the opportunity and celebrate the celebratory feast there. But already now I wanted to express also my congratulations for that feast, and especially our fellow Gregory, but as I say, the last word will be sorted on Sunday. separate the feast and the attitude. Our Lord Jesus Christ took care of the little infant when the family was depending on his health and the fact that he was, our Lord was

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member of his household shows that he wanted to share with us all those conditions which are essential to our human nature and he wanted to enter into the humble home of somebody who his own way as a craftsman through the work of his hands was taking care of his own needs and will work in all honesty and with an industrious hand wanted to take care of the Son of God made man. Such a beautiful thought also for us first of all because we are grateful to Saint Joseph that he has helped in these first years of our own existence when we landed here. This poverty hill, as they called it, where we came, has taken care.

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of our needs in such a miraculous way. We should never forget the assistance that we have received from him and the St. Joseph. The building that is named after him should remain a constant memorial of those days. Our community, that means that Christ was going to be born here in this community of Lord Saviour was simply in the hands of Saint Joseph, right from the beginning of our existence on, always with great confidence turned to him, certainly not in vain, and therefore his feast is a great source of joy and thanksgiving for us too. Let us also thank today all those who in the footsteps of St.

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Joseph carry on that same spirit. All those also the members of the community in a special way are engaged in the helping and caring for the bodily needs of the community through work. We are all that are engaged in that but say special also thought and prayer for them and thanksgiving for those who work on the farm, those who work in other places like the kitchen, the laundry, the vestuary, take care of the needs of the community. They represent in it them. St. Joseph lives among us in a special way, not so for our congratulations and best wishes to brother joseph whose patron feast it is today and also all those who have that same name and are known to us joseph stewart whose feast it is today and others those not the operates joseph

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Schwartz, who is so devoted to our Saviour. All those are in our hearts and in our prayers today, all with a grateful remembrance. And I hope that this spirit, the spirit of Saint Joseph, which also is the spirit of our Lord, who himself entered into that same kind of life and helped his father for thirty years, really the greatest time of his life was taken up and was lived right there. That's where our Lord himself also helped to take care of his own bodily needs. That is such a great warning to us that charity always starts with that basic thing, that willing and eager to take care of one's own needs and that was not falling to the temptation which is always there especially in a country which is as good and generous as this and which is also as rich as this and temple means it's always that nature

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of degenerating into what the Fathers used to call a Christ Emporos, a trafficker in Christ, Christmonger. And that certainly is a great, great danger. And may God help us to be free for that. And gradually, as we get more on our own feet, Let us thank God for it that we can in that way establish a healthy order that we do not depend on the charity of others but that we take care of ourselves. Maybe later on also the time comes where we can do more for others who are in need, that is, the right order of things for monks. Let us use this day and let us also ask St. Joseph for his intercession, that he may help us to establish this right order of charity.

[25:32]

Yesterday, opening of the Holy Week, celebration of the East of St. Gabriel's Day. which we will repeat later, after the Easter Octave, a good opportunity to celebrate the feast, especially since we have three of St. Gabriel's Spires here with us, and therefore as already there in the tip-tick sphere on this day very close to Western Priory and certainly have already in the course of the day remembered the community of Western and the Pryor and the Abbot on this day.

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Also the announcing of the Feast of Our Lady of the Annunciation shows us the close connection between these two mysteries, that of the incarnation and that of the sufferings of our Lord, so clearly shown in the liturgy of these days, so close to the liturgy of Christmas and of the Epiphany. see that, also the fact that the 25th of March is observed as the birthday of the good thief. You can see that according to one tradition, the life in the church, therefore also represented in the Roman martyriology, is that the Good Friday was the day of the Incarnation, the Annunciation, and the death of our Lord fell on the same day, the 25th of March.

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Now, as I say, this is the Feast of Saint Gabriel and the Angel of the Annunciation and the Feast of Our Lady. show that close connection between these two mysteries and what should he does or would it not be also an a thought which we should think about that the angel who consoled our lord and get seminary was the same angel who also announced the glad tidings of the incarnation to our lady the fact And in the dispensation of salvation, in the communication of this mystery, the first who were called to believe in the incarnation, accept the mystery of the Son of God made man, they were the angelic hosts, is in itself, I think,

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a tremendous incentive for our own meditation and for our own admiration and veneration. We saw the other day, you remember that, in the icons that we showed of the Russian Church, the traditional icon, very popular in the Eastern Church of the Synaxis, of the gathering together of the angels. And there were the archangels, Gabriel and Michael, holding the Emmanuel, the traditional figure of the Word of God made man, the Emmanuel, in a sphere, indicating that this Emmanuel, this represents not, say, the historical incarnation, but it represents the idea the plan, the divine design, the thought of the Incarnation, the mystery of the Incarnation, hidden from the ages in the bosom of the Father, and made known to the angelic hosts first.

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And there is for them, there is the great decision. the potestates, the powers and the thrones and the dominations, the most powerful and the most splendid one creatures that the Creator went forth from the hands of the Creator. They were called upon to accept the incarnation, the becoming dust, so to speak, of the Word of God, the Son of God. In some way by calling them first because the angels are the firstborn of the rational creation. That means of those who in their own essence represent the likeness of God. and they are therefore in comparison to humankind they are the older brother and there is right in let us say the first beginning of the manifestation of the great mystery of redemption there we see that fatal decision taking place what will the first born do what will the one do who is created in power

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and as God's creature, when shown that the younger one, the lower one, will be the one who will be honored first by the descent of the Word of God to the lower one, to the younger one, to the human race. That is, you know it, that's the basic theme of Holy Scripture from the sons of Isaac down to Jacob and through the entire history of the Old Testament down to the New Testament the election of the Gentile church in comparison to the synagogue and the Herbal of the prodigal son and the older one protesting, as it were, that is going through from the beginning to the end, is therefore one of the most decisive, saving thoughts and situations that we are presented with as soon as we enter into the realm of the incarnation of the Word of God.

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So we can immediately apply that to ourselves, because there are the angels, and there are the powers and the dominations, and they are called to agree that the lower one is, as it were, honored first, and in a very special way, through the descent of the Word of God. And that's the acceptance of that mystery that is presented in this Synaxis, torn under that we saw the other day. Therefore, they hold that. They accept it. And therefore, they are united. They form a real community. They are, as it were, the beginning of the church. That's, as you know, for example, in the second epistle to St. Clement, you know, one document from the oldest, the first beginnings, really, of the Church, that is the Church before all ages, is this gathering of the powerful ones, of the most splendid creatures, gathered around the picture, the revelation of the Word of God made man.

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and in that way humbling themselves. That is again also realized in that action which we see there in that icon. And that is also at the beginning of this Holy Week so important for every one of us because there is certainly, we all in that way, spiritual creatures, and as spiritual creatures, creatures of endowed with the mind, we also, we all experience the power of the mind. And we all are therefore also thrown to the pride of the mind, which is worse than, as it were, the pride of the flesh, the pride of the mind. And therefore, let us at the beginning also of these holy days, let us humble ourselves.

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And let us who are supposed to lead the Vita Angelica here on earth, let us be gathered, united around the Word of God made flesh that died for us and for that reason has been exalted. In that spirit of true humility we can be sure that then we also receive the assistance of the angels, just as our Lord was assisted. by the angel who brought him the chalice of consolation in that hour in which he filled most all the misery of matter, of this material world, of this world, subject to inferiority and frailty and to sin. So we too, let us, as monks, and reaching out for the spiritual life and trying to practice the ars spiritualis, let us never lose sight that the first thing the angels had to learn was the mystery of the one who took off his garment and...

[37:02]

Indeed, the Benedictine Papyrus may attribute, like Luke was today's intro, it, come, blessed of the Father, and receive the kingdom. What wonderful sense it makes, the word blessed of the Father, we think. of the Easter Mysteries of our dying and rising with Christ, of our being put as living stones into the Lord's temple, into the Lord's body as members. That is benedicti patris mei, those are blessed by the Father who are incorporated into Christ his Son. And they now receive the kingdom, acipite regnum. And that is the theme of today's Mass, because the kingdom of God is the greatest gift that the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ has given to mankind. What is the kingdom of God? It's not a theoretical question.

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It's a practical one. It's not something to read in books, but it is something to be seen. to be seen in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is, as Origen always used to say, the auto-Basileia. He is himself the kingdom. The Son of God made man is the kingdom. The one who died on the cross, fulfilling the will of the thousand, and then was raised from the dead, this risen Christ is the kingdom. and therefore our possessing the kingdom is our receiving christ the lord and we receive christ the lord through the holy mysteries through the sacrament of holy mass and they are the altar there is the kingdom and from there we receive in holy communion you receive the kingdom so blessed of the father receiving her kingdom

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in this beautiful easter octave but if we turn to the readings then we also learn more about the human weakness in confronted with the king saint peter gives us a wholesome admonition puts before us as a constant warning and monument of human ignorance, the fatal choice, which the Jews made in a wrong desire for the wrong kingdom, in that they asked for Barabbas, who was the murderer, while to have him free, the one who kills people, instead of the prince of life. The prince of life, he is the head of the kingdom. He is able to give to man the kingdom. and then they delivered him to the hands of death. But just by that, of course, they were only instruments in their ignorance in the hands of God's supreme wisdom.

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So Saint Peter tells us that this fatal choice that the Jews, blinded in their ignorance, did, Instead of choosing the kingdom of life and the prince of life, they chose the kingdom of death and the prince of death, the one who kills man. And that should be, therefore, for us a constant reminder that we cannot approach the kingdom without changing our minds. Changing our minds, that is what the Jews at that moment did not want. And then you see in the Gospel there, you see the choice with which everybody is confronted in the New Testament, even after the resurrection, after the resurrection, because what we are told there takes place after the resurrection. And one must in some way, I think, a picture to oneself the tone of voice with which saint peter says oh what's the use let's go fishing they are kind of that's the leg down after the resurrection it has all taken place they have all seen it and still three days after i mean it's a few days after it's all gone the uh

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Splendor has faded away, and they feel lost, and they feel alone. The Lord is gone, so what's the use? Let's go fishing. That means let's go back to what we did before it all happened. That's the constant temptation of man. That's also the temptation of those who celebrate the Holy Mysteries, celebrate the Easter, the Paschal Vigil, A few days pass, and what's the use? Let's go fishing. Let's do something. Just do something. Let's do our old things that we were used to before. That is the burden of custom, the burden of habit, of the fallen nature that constantly drags us down, even interferes with the celebration of an octave like this. And then they go, and they work, and of course it's night, you know, because everywhere night where disappointment reigns and rules.

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Disappointment is never the rule of the kingdom of God. It cannot be. That's the rule of the one who kills people. And to give in to disappointment is giving in to the rule of Satan, but not giving in to the rule of the risen Christ. And therefore they sweat, you know, there through the night, and of course their disappointment rises, you know, and say, oh, my, this doesn't go either, you see, and so on. So all night long. And then day breaks. The breaking of the day is, of course, something that is not dependent and not made by any human hands as the fishing. that is the event that comes from heaven from the other world and then at daybreak they see him standing on the shore that's the risen Christ he is in the security of this eternal life of peace he stands firm he is the column and

[43:56]

He is the kingdom. So then he tells them really what to do. First he asks them this question. Children, it's always the way in which people who are working or lapsed in the cold night of disappointment, the only way that that really can, let us say, get them out of their disappointment is the some address of love. children that that that somehow you know is a sound from from home from from the other country from the prince of life so the prince of life calls his own word kind of given him up and we're working in the night he calls them blessed of the father and so then they do then what he says the second phase of their work they don't know him yet they are so completely absorbed that's another thing that we should keep in mind they're so vivid in this scene you realize that this is the twenty-first chapter of the gospel of st john

[45:15]

And that is the chapter in which the work of the church is described by our Lord. The future, our present status in which we are. And then they work and they put down the net at the right side. What is the right side? It's the side of the resurrection. It's the side of life. That's the side of faith, of charity, of rightness. So, putting the net down at the right side, then they catch the many fish. In the meantime, there is St. John and St. Peter. St. John is the one who rested on the breast of the Lord during the Last Supper. St. John is the representative in the Gospel of saint john of the contemplative life st peter is the representative of the active life and saint john who says then certainly because he sees that here this here what happens here this this catching of the fish that is something that has to do with the curious with the lord with the one who reigns supreme over all living things

[46:39]

So he has to do something with the fullness of this wonderful, miraculous catch. And he takes another look and sees it is the Lord. It is the Curious, the Risen Savior. He is the Prince of Life. He is the Kingdom. And then while he says that, then St. Peter goes into action. That's one of those things that one sometimes . and then reaches the shore, reaches the shore, and then they, from there, another phase, you know, they are dragging in the fish, you know, see, now comes the harvest, you know, there's the firm ground is reached, and the harvest comes, they bring you in, and then it does not break, because as St. Gregory says, wherever St. Peter is dragging the net, the net doesn't break.

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So, he then is the unity, the symbol of the unity, the mark of the kingdom of God, the great gift for that matter of the risen savior with all whole and gives the peace and the unanimity of his spirit breathes it into his apostles and the debtors and the unity of the church is there the fullness of the church but then another phase comes and St. Peter has to bring the first fruits of this Lord-directed labor. He has to bring it to him, the first fruits. That is the other. You see how that gradually grows, how first St. Peter, you notice, kind of in this general disappointment, says, oh, let's go back to what the only thing that we know is the fishing.

[48:44]

Everything else is not. So let's go. at least do something that's the first thing see that's in the darkness working in the darkness without food then comes the second phase working according to divine direction and that is of course the work of the priesthood the work of all the christians as priests in this world catching the fish saving And then comes the third phase, and that is offering of what you have caught. If you have caught and if you have labored in nomine, in the name of Christ, then of course what you have, the fruits of what you have done, do not belong to you. You have to give it to the one who has the prince of life directed you, who is the source of all life.

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Anybody who labors in the name of the Lord, every priest, catching souls to speak, does not do so for himself. He has to bring what he has caught to the Lord. It isn't his. So that is to be made clear, that inner expropriation. We are not the lords of the fruits of our labor. They belong to Christ, and that is nowhere more evident and more clear than in the work with souls so he brings the first fruits and then the third phase sets in and that is now the Lord feeding his own he has there prepared the coal the burning coal which which is necessary for a meal to make things to say so that they can be eaten one needs the fire and that is the holy spirit that's coal that is that burning coal that is his

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The Lord as the Lord of the Spirit. Here in Dominus enim Spiritus, as the Lord is Spirit. Then in fiery tones he will descend upon the apostles and upon the church. There is the fire, there are the coals. And then the fish has to be put on that and has to be made ready for the meal. And that is the Holy Sacrament. There is the Spirit is called upon on the altar, descends, and He makes, brings, repairs our food, the food of Holy Communion. And what in this way has been the piscis assus, you know, the fish that has been broiled, that then will be offered in the Holy Spirit, in the sacraments at Holy Mass, that is then offered to celebrate the feast.

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And that's Holy Communion, and that's a picture of the heavenly kingdom of our eternal life. So there you have a beautiful picture picture of the kingdom. Therefore let us rejoice that is being said to us today, O blessed of fathers. Amen.

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