of the whole organism of Christ's redemptive action, This is an idea which later on was more and more unfolded until it reached the fullness of the ecclesiastical year, which today divides, as it were, the white, clear, pure light of the redemption of Christ as the prism divides the light of the sun into its various colors. A very early complement to the mystery of Christ was the mystery of the martyr.

[01:03]

In this mystery, the church in a certain way celebrates the mystery of the ecclesia, but in a concrete way in an individual hero or saint. And therefore also the feasts of the martyrs are bound to local churches. which celebrate the martyrs as their most outstanding or most precious flowers. Also in the Feast of the Martyrs we see the idea of the Christian feast in its purity. The Passion of the Martyr runs parallel to the mystery of Christ. In this Passion of the Martyr, an action is celebrated which, through Passion and Death, leads into the glory of the Resurrection.

[02:19]

In this, the Martyr's Passion and Triumph are represented, or made present again, in the Holy Feast, in His Feast. But, of course, a martyr has not conquered out of his own power, but as a member of Christ, who is the caput martyrum, or the head of martyrs. And, therefore, the feast of the martyr is not celebrated as an autonomous feast, but the passion of the martyr is celebrated as part of the mystery of Christ, and therefore reaches its climax in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. In the canon of the Mass, the martyrs, retain up to our days a special place of honor as genuine sprouts on the tree of the Lord, the cross of the Lord.

[03:36]

This idea, too, showed its fertility in the course of time. a crisis entered a crisis when in the fourth century the time of the martyrs came to an end in the old church the martyr was considered as the perfect disciple of christ the perfect imitator of christ but now after the end of the persecution what was going to take their place There was before all other things the monarchism, monastic life, which had in the Church the task or the mission to continue or to perpetuate the spirit of the martyrs of the First Church.

[04:45]

the time of the, it had the mission to hand down or continue into our days the fullness of the original spirit and of the God-consecrated or God-dedicated virginity. The idea of the Confessoris, which existed already before the fourth century, was now transferred into the desert by the ascetics. As the confessor confessed Christ without, however, shedding his blood for him, but belonged in the church to the honored status of the confessors, only slightly below in rank and in appreciation, below the martyrs.

[06:04]

So now all those who give their life undividedly to Christ are being called confessors. And their anniversary, the anniversary of their death, was celebrated as the sum total of their holy life, which was considered as a quotidiano martyrium, a daily martyrdom. And they were celebrated as their passing into perfection. And in this way, the Feast of the Confessors of the Doctors originated. Holy virginity was a form of holiness or sanctity which was characteristic especially for the woman and was always appreciated in the church as a preparation for martyrdom. as the confessors, also the virgines, the virgins, develop into a special class of saints.

[07:17]

Apostles, martyrs, confessors, doctors, virgins, widows, all these are first of all spiritual ranks of the Church, and then also they become classes of saints. All the saints are venerated in the liturgy only as members of Christ's mystical body. Those saints to whom Christ was closest in his earthly life and his activity as Redemptor, as Redeemer, and who therefore were outstanding members of the mystical body, are in a special way also drawn into the Christ mystery.

[08:22]

The Nativity and the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary still more her Annunciation, then the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, and the Feast of the Apostles. All these are celebrations or feasts which take a middle place between the celebration of the saints and the cry feasts of Christ in the proper sense of the word, the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, for example, is celebrated as a celebration of the Church insofar as the Church is founded by Christ on the Apostles. In this way, the original idea of liturgical celebration grows and is developed, but always keeps the clear relation to the true mysterium, the redemptive action of Christ.

[09:39]

This redemptive action becomes mystically present, and the faithful take part in this sacred action, and in this way also take part in the grace which is shared in this action. The feast of the dedication of the Church also falls into this general idea. It is a feast of the ecclesia, of the community which is redeemed by the blood of Christ. The Church sees herself in the building of stone. The dedication of this building as the bride of Christ, through the mystery of a bridegroom, initiation and a baptism in confirmation Eucharist, is celebrated symbolically in the dedication of the Church and is celebrated every year again.

[10:59]

Therefore, the day of the dedication of the church rightly is called the birthday of the church and celebrates the mystery of the church. Therefore, also here, necessarily, the climax of the dedication of the church, as well as of the anniversary, Our exedication is the Eucharistic Mysterium from which the Church receives all her sanctity. In this way, in the course of time, the liturgy has developed into a great variety of Christian feasts. The circle of liturgical feasts therefore appears like a rose of light which in its inner center, the redemptive action of Christ is in its full fire, and towards the edges, slowly,

[12:24]

less and less reflecting the fullness of this glow, but still in each single leaf it is illumined by the same radiance of Christ's redemptive action. The following has nothing to do anymore with the idea of the ecclesiastical year. It concerns rather the school. And I try to formulate some and answer some objections or difficulties which people seem to have with the school. And first I treat the first objection or difficulty in this way.

[13:34]

It seems that the means of our transformation in the monastic life is, first of all, the Lectio. The one who devotes himself to sacred reading will slowly, as through an osmosis, fall, as it were, or be changed under its influence. rather than through a definite method which has always a certain limiting, narrowing effect. Now, as far as this objection is concerned, the right and true point or the truth of this objection is that I always must go spiritually and mentally to that place where Christ speaks to me.

[14:54]

That may be Holy Scripture, There may be the rule, there may be some other father or spiritual author. It is also true that by the very fact that man moves in the sphere of truth, he is influenced by the truth. This kind of influence certainly is not sufficient. Besides this and beyond this, man must be ready to receive that concrete warning or that word of admonition which shows to him his false and dangerous tendencies, the tendencies of his fallen nature, and which warns him to return through the labor of obedience to him whom he has left in the sloth of disobedience.

[16:22]

Every human being is always inclined to serve his own nature with his own will and to call that wholly what he himself wants. For him, therefore, Saint Benedict wants to institute his school. that he may learn to take seriously what Saint Benedict considers decisive in his rule. We all want to serve Christ, but we cannot serve him only by exposing ourselves to his word. but by learning to renounce our self-will.

[17:32]

And to this, the help of a teacher is necessary, of a teacher who teaches us how we have to fight by taking seriously what the teacher takes seriously and by not considering seriously what he takes lightly. There is then another objection. Why should we bother with the school? since we have the Holy Rule. It is a fact, however, that the Rule very often remains an empty letter to us. The School is a way to make the Rule, the Holy Rule, concrete, to let the Holy Rule speak to us.

[18:44]

because the school teaches us concrete steps by which the principles of the rule are applied to the formation, the forming of our daily decisions. And in this, the school remains only an application of the rule as the rule is nothing but an application of the gospel, and still the rule is not made superfluous by the gospel. Everyone who wants to serve God at Mount Seville must have the readiness to listen with the ear of the heart. And he should not refuse this inner readiness in order to keep his flexibility or freedom.

[19:59]

And there is a third objection. The seven points are too complicated. To this I answer, every decision requires deliberation, and every deliberation requires a certain order. The seven points are a means to avoid that one makes one's decisions without deliberation or without the right order in one's deliberations. Already in the natural realm, things have to be done one after the other according to a certain order.

[21:04]

One cannot boil an egg before one has put a pot with water on the stove and has brought it to the boiling point. The gospel, too, certainly never avoids or overlooks the order. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. The school may be compared to the Place des Toiles. in Paris, that central place from which all various streets go into the different directions. The school, the meaning of the school is to lead us to the place of peace, which is in the very depth and center of our heart.

[22:13]

From there all streets of action are open to us. But only after one has reached this place one can ask oneself which street I now have to take. If one, on the contrary, starts arbitrarily in one side street, some side street, then one is already in a certain direction, pinned down in a certain direction, and therefore one is unable to find one's way out of the labyrinth. The school does not start, that's the whole point of it, in one of the side streets. but it leads us to the central place from which all the streets of life radiate into various directions.

[23:22]

And the school does so by teaching us our being safe and hidden in God's love for us, and to ask ourselves in this haven of peace, now what, O Lord, is your will in this case? And to ask ourselves before we have committed ourselves in a certain direction. This certainly does not mean a narrowing of our limiting of our possibility, possibilities, but it means a liberation. And that place from which all various streets go into various directions, there we ask the one who knows all of them, which of them we have to choose for ourselves.

[24:28]

The seven points may appear to us as complicated, especially in the beginning. However, every skilled action with which we are not acquainted or familiar first appears to us as very complicated. For example, to drive a car is a very complicated thing for the beginner. He has the feeling that he will never be sure or find out easily which gear he has to, how he has to put the car into gear and how he has to handle the brakes and so on. But after some exercise, the mechanism of steering and the handling of the car becomes a part of his body, as it were, and he acts then and does the various

[25:43]

handgriffe without any great lengthy considerations. The school and the practicing of the school has a similar effect. First one has truly the feeling that it makes things more complicated and what one has done up to now out of the force of habit Now, for a while, it all becomes a problem. But one will see after a while that the experience of every beginner playing tennis becomes ours. The man who plays tennis has perhaps first had no teacher and just handled the, what is it, racket according to his own ideas, but he soon learns that in this way he'll never really master the play.

[27:04]

Now, therefore, he goes into school with a coach, and he teaches him to hold the racket in a different way. Now, that may first have the effect of making it more complicated for him. However, if he perseveres, he will see that this is the only and right way to come to master the game. The foundation of our Christian life. This is a short explanation of the seven points. The foundation of our Christian life is the faith in the love of God as it appeared in Christ Jesus. I believe in Christ as He loves me now, at this very moment.

[28:16]

This basic act of faith in the love of Christ for me is always possible since Christ has offered himself for me on the cross and has in this way worked my redemption. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Here therefore is the source out of which I always can draw water. Here is the place where I am being reborn again and again. The place from whence I can always start all over again.

[29:19]

The second point, the certainty of the fact that God loves us should never allow us to become or to act like spoiled children. but it must awaken in us the right fear of God, the anxious desire not to want to do anything which is not the will of God. the conviction of my absolute obligation to serve nobody but God and to give myself exclusively and alone to Him.

[30:32]

This certainly runs against the basic tenets fallen nature which is always eager to get rid of the yoke of divine service. But it is the beginning of the spiritual art to know that I am obliged to put my will explicitly at God's disposal. Initium sapientiae timor domini. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. And as the eyes of the servants are on the hands of their Lord,

[31:44]

so are our eyes on God. Then, therefore, to the divine love for me has to correspond in me the deep goodwill not to want to do anything which is not the will of God. The third point. This goodwill must be upheld or has to be upheld against the cleverness

[32:49]

of our nature which urges us or compels us to make certain premature decisions for Entscheidungen through which nature, our fallen nature tries to get away with its own inclinations in order to escape the snares of nature a certain spirituality advises to act always as a matter of principle against nature.

[33:54]

But this kind of self-denial is not practiced in school. Even the expression, The often used expression, holy indifference, can also easily lead to misunderstandings. The misunderstanding, I mean, that we are asked to deny the values And we ask for the sake of perfection to refuse the inner response to a value, something beautiful or something interesting or whatever it may be.

[35:12]

But this we should not forget in our time, which is so blind against values, it brings with it the danger that the grey monotony of a false mortification may cover the beauty and the color of the values that God has put into this creation and may be an obstacle to our realizing and experiencing the beauty of the values. For a monk, this holy indifference is asked in front of or in face of values which have to do with the agreeableness.

[36:28]

But we are not asked to keep a holy indifference in face of those values and goods which have a deeply lifting effect on man, which fill him with true happiness. as, for example, the beauty of the liturgy, the beauty of man, the radiance of divine revelation. Holy indifference may be a virtue for the hermit, but it certainly is not a virtue for the cenobite.

[37:31]

Then point four, the following marks. Point one, two, and three. Points one, two, and three teach an attitude. With point four, the work, the labor begins. And there is that taking that step in which one submits the thing to a teacher. This going to the teacher means and is a step into objective truth. We appear before the judge. I submit, I put myself under the judgment of somebody else.

[38:35]

But naturally, it cannot be just somebody, but it must be the one who is a legitimate judge. He must be recognized by God, a wrong judge, can never lead me into truth and into liberty. I should never try to prove myself before other men. I only have to prove myself before God. Then the fifth point, One could take the seven points together, summarize the second points in the following three.

[39:38]

First, be at the place of rest in the haven of peace, safe in the love of Christ. The second point is the theme of Christ. And the third, with all my gifts. A wrong supernaturalism very often relies for the making of decision relies or demands signs. Or somebody may also simply resign and leave the decision blindly to the superior and his judgment without taking even the effort, making the effort of giving the superior all the material.

[40:53]

upon which he could base his decision. Deo gratia. Some consider this already as an attempt to influence the superior's decision and therefore to interfere with the divine will. However, this idea is completely opposed to the Spirit of Saint Benedict. He is completely opposed to the Spirit of Saint Benedict who wants that we should serve God with all the gifts which he has given us, the tuis donis octatis. And for this reason, as indeed also in the third chapter of his rule recommends the gathering together or calling together of the Concilium Fratrum on the part of the superior whenever something indecisive for the community as a whole has to be considered.

[42:13]

Omne fac cum concilio et post factum non penitibus. Everything do with counsel, and then afterwards you will not have to regret what you have decided. Then 2.6, the sixth point serves the purpose to preserve the living character, the vitality of the process. with which I now tend to prepare my decision. The seventh point, what attitude do we take towards our own decision? Offer which was contained in the situation comes from God, this God's message to us.

[43:22]

So I also should make my decision in God as creature. What I do now is not my own doing, my own decision, but it is God's, it is God's decision. who will now take care of my decision, the decision which I made in him. And therefore, in confidence, I put the matter and its outcome into his hands. But at the same time, I'll always remain ready to revise, to correct the decision, or to learn for the future if the decision I made should prove to have been the wrong one. The ideal example of a martyr.

[44:18]

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