In the explanation of the rule we come now to the first chapter. The first chapter is, as one realises right away, one of those I'll call it a stroke of genius. It means one feels immediately that here a true magister, master, enters upon the scene, who with a deep insight and a long experience cuts through, as it were, through the variety and sometimes confusing variety of various manifestations and forms. of the monastic life as it had developed in the times of Saint Benedict and naturally many also accompanied by many signs of degeneration and of abuse.

[01:11]

The monastic scene was at the time of Saint Benedict certainly a confusing one and therefore even The whole way of the monastic life was maybe the danger of losing its reputation among the faithful. And as we, for example, we have right here in this chapter room, we have a beautiful example of what we call a classic, means a product of art. which a real master has produced, as in our case, André Houblot, in this picture of the Holy Tragedy. He had a long tradition before him.

[02:13]

We saw many various types of this same visit to Abraham of the three angels and with a tremendous insight and guided by the Holy Spirit he leaves out everything and anything that is not essential and creates a piece of work which dispensing from all accidental things, circumstances and embellishments, why it is to the very eternal sense and meaning of that scene that is beauty of this icon of the visit of the angels. Abraham has disappeared, Sarah has disappeared, the various additions to the mirror that have disappeared.

[03:15]

A brahm himself running with a nice dish, the lamp and all these things, all that has disappeared. Instead of that, the whole attention is concentrated on the essential meaning, the eternal meaning of that scene as a real person. entering into an opening of the life of the Holy Trinity. And really, in that way, the scene has not been represented in its historical factuality, but it has been transfigured. It has been lifted up. onto a higher plane, the plane truly of contemplation. Now, that is also, it seems to me, the case in this first chapter of the Rule of Saint Benjamin.

[04:16]

He right cuts with the knife of his intuition to the jungle of various manifestations of the monastic life, and with the sure instinct of the master, points out what is the essential thing, and what needs all the attention, and what promises all the future, what is the real essential and wholesome, way and form of the monastic life at the same time, not without leaving open and also pointing out the even higher ideal of the hieroglyphs. And I think by that he has done a tremendous service to the whole following development of the monastic life. It's when we put

[05:18]

the prologue and the first chapter of the rule of Saint Benedict together, then we see how in the eyes of Saint Benedict the Christianity is constructed under the aspect of perfection, not under the hierarchical aspect. but under the spiritual aspect of perfection. There we have those who are addressed in the prologue, and that is the multitude. The multitude that are what we would call today the laities. But multitude, they are not, because it is dating, not in a deteriorating sense, but not deteriorating sense. Majority sense, that's right. Majority sense, but there is that great majority of Christians living in the world, they are

[06:24]

place where they live is, let's put it, the marketplace of this world. And there, in that marketplace, they live, try to live the life that Christ has given to them. Now, what does that mean? Therefore the laity, as we have said that so often in the past, the pattern of their life, the setup of their life is determined, at least what the great majority of the time is concerned, I mean, certainly the six days of the working week, I wouldn't say also the Sunday, but the six days of the working week, their pattern of life is determined by the market. I mean, by the needs of their profession, of their place here in this life, their obligations in this life.

[07:31]

The laity is engaged, of course, in the married life. The married life means the bringing up of children. It's in that way a contribution, as you would say, to the continuation of this world so that the number of the elect may once be perfect. That's the function of the laity and of the married life. But naturally, that married life is, as St. Paul points out, is divided. The husband has to see how to please his wife. And that's a very important, crucial element. He cannot get away from that because he has made a solemn pact. He has promised himself to his wife. These two together are now going to live their human life as a unit.

[08:36]

And therefore, there he is bound. And of course, to be bound to the wife means at the same time to be bound not to the world in the bad sense, but to this visible cosmos with all its need and with all that it brings about. Therefore, the taking care of the children absolutely is an obligation. But that care of the children actually also involves much work to provide the needs of living, therefore entering into competition. Therefore, put all your attention to it, that you are good businessmen, that you can survive in this struggle, survival of the fittest, which this world is, so that this world is really dominated by the six days of the working.

[09:37]

The seventh day, yes, that is the reservation of the God alone. And the love of God, you know, has created a reservation, so to speak, where the mind can enter into the joy of the Lord. Six days are taken up by the other. And then you have the... Therefore, the pattern of life is determined by this obligation for the layman. And therefore, he has to see then how he fits Christ and how he fits his religious obligations and also his religious, let me say today, needs into this pattern. Now, that's the example, the classical example for that is reserving this one day out of seven for God.

[10:41]

That is the way in which the Jews in the Old Testament conceived of the life in this world. The sixth day means this visible cosmos. The seventh day means this visible cosmos under God, the recognition of the rule of God. And of course, to that, every Christian is obliged. But then we have outside of it, no, we have then those who, as St. Benedict says, enter into the tabernacle, to dwell in the tabernacle. Make the church their home. Not the marketplace, but the church. The tabernaculum altissim. And that's, of course, symbolic. Symbolic for what? That now the pattern of life changes. The pattern of life is not the marketplace anymore, but the pattern of life is the presence of God, that perfection, what we call perfection.

[11:44]

Therefore with thy whole heart, the intimate, center of one's person with the whole soul. That means your entire physical, biological, concrete, bodily existence. Everything that belongs as a realm and as you are surrounding your property to this field that you are. Everything there should be and serve the one king from the morning to the night, every moment of the night. That is to dwell in the tabernacle. That is the meaning of the Monarch Cross. He just has one idea, and that one idea is Christ, and is Christ the king.

[12:48]

The king of the heart, that means of the inner center of one's person, residing one's will in obedience, that is subjecting the heart to God. Then with one's whole soul, that means with the whole realm of one's bodily life, emotional life, imagination, all these things, the monk does not have even his body in his own power. But that, too, is put under the service, in the service of Christ the King. In virginity, the vow of virginity, And then you have the other one, even everything that you use, everything that you work with, the whole realm of your manual labor, the other activity of life. While the beasts in all roam in the night,

[13:51]

Man goes out in the morning to his work, to his service. And therefore all the tools and everything that belongs to them, the whole property of the monastery, of his own property, is sacra altaris vasa. They all are holy vessels. Therefore, holy of holies in every direction. That was the ideal of Zachary that he saw the prophets, that he saw for the messianic time. Every part in Jerusalem, the sacred vessel. So then he said, you see, that's what we call life of perfection. the heart subject to God, the body subject to God exclusively, that is the meaning of rigidity, and the work, all that what's the field of man's activity, exclusively under God's sacra altaris vasa.

[14:55]

But then this life here, these are those who dwell in the tabernacle, and there St. Benedict still distinguishes the two degrees. One is the genobitarum fortissimungi, the strong kind of the serviles, those who live their life in community, subregula e abate, under a rule and an act, in the archies paterna. And that, of course, is an absolute necessary stage. That is clear, what St. Benedict says in this first chapter, and that also makes the beauty and the importance of that chapter, St. Benedict's position towards the highest degree of perfection. The solitary life is this, that he does not exclude it, that he leaves this open, and we have spoken about that in the past, how important that is.

[16:06]

that St. Benedict leaves that hermitical life and that ideal open to the celibate, because that then reflects on the entire celibatical life and also on the concrete practice and on the whole spirit of the celibatical life. As soon as we understand the celibatical life as a preparation for the hermitical life, it will seem completely different. We'll speak about that maybe later. So there is one thing that St. Benedict keeps that ideal open, and therefore the celibatical life as, let us say, possible preparation for the hereditary life. On the other hand, he also states with all gravity, and that's, of course, the other important thing which he certainly is not alone, that is, that the hermitic life is possible only after the hermit has gone through the aces vagana of the synoptic life.

[17:22]

So this eremitical life has a necessary preparation for the eremitical life. That's the way we could perhaps formulate easily and clearly that relation. No hermit without having been a seminar. But no celibate who could not possibly also become a hermit and would his life have going out in that direction. Those two things that are, to my mind, absolutely essential. And one should not in any way let that be darkened. You know, we have very many. I just yesterday came across the page of it. in which this word, you know, it's interesting, it's just a little, let me just tell you, you know, it's just two pages in this publication by Vasileios Staitlis.

[18:34]

Now, the way he points out, you know, that this word that we find in the first chapter of the book, that, as it is said here, having learned in association with many brethren how to fight against the devil, go out well armed from the ranks of the community to the solitary combat of the desert. . Now this is one of the years. of the terms that Leo the Great used.

[19:47]

Of course, that is true. Leo the Great certainly greatly influenced Saint Benedict and the text of the rule in many, many passages. For example, we have it now in the Lenten season. But he brings here, you know, some passages. Saint Leo points out by that, you know, and as you know, the Archies Christiana, that is, the Ecclesia Especituae Lett, That is the army of the Christians now fighting together. And St. Leo, of course, has that wonderful teaching so clearly that this Lenten exercise, this campaign that we are fighting against the devil in these weeks before Easter is a community thing.

[20:55]

A community is. He has that beautiful principle, which is, which is indeed a fundamental principle if only Christians in our days would see that better than they do. That's this beautiful sentence here. Publica enim preferendas un propriis. That's a real Roman principle. Publica preferendas un propriis. That means the public thing, the community thing, runs before the prime. That has made the Roman Empire great. And that's, of course, also part of that spirit, only in a Christian way, enters certainly into the monastery. And it's a heritage. of the Benedictine tradition, the heritage. And that's a heritage which we have in these individualistic times where people consider religion only as a matter of their private sentiments and feelings,

[22:08]

That is the thing we have with all power possible to represent also for and preserve that for the Church. Publica pragerendas un propri is also a thing which has to be applied to the worship of the Church. Publica pragerendas un propri All the rubrics of the church, every ordo which is published, has that really as its meaning. Publica preteritum. So that certainly is an immensely important thing. But I would say this, that the preeminence of the hermit, if it is conceived on the lines in which St Benedict has it in his first chapter, that hermit cannot be considered an individualist, because that is the reason, you know.

[23:12]

The hermit is the state of perfection. To the state of perfection, absolutely essential is courage. But therefore the hermit does not leave the Ecclesia because he's going into the desert to have any otherwise. So let us keep that in mind. Maybe one can still continue that. But I think that's very important. You see, in that spirit, the old rules of the sayings of the fathers always say that the monk is far removed from everybody and still closed. That is true of the hermit, of the one who has been trained in the actions of the other.

[24:19]

Therefore is rooted and founded and firmly grounded in charity. and then go out. And if he doesn't do that, if he goes out as a homo privatus, preferring his own desires to that of the public spirit of the church, he would suffer shipwreck. He would not be in that way, really ever reach his status.

[24:49]

@Transcribed_v005
@Text_v005
@Score_93.01