I don't know. We are being cured for eternity. But what I wanted to talk to you all this morning about is the kind of... I have said these things a hundred times and now my imagination always runs in the same tracks. And so I just wanted to to propose this whole, to me, very basic idea of the Divine Agape within the present situation of the Church. And I just throw first some keywords, you know, at you, which I love, you know, to provoke in you the associations, you know, and get you, let us say, into contact, you know, with our present situation, so that we are not giving the impression we are just talking here in a kind of vacuum.

[01:05]

It's important. Not a theological vacuum. Not a contemplative vacuum. It seems to me the present ecclesiastical situation in the church, in the world as a whole, is characterized by a lack of depth orientation. Orientation in depth. That means there is evidently a great confusion existing everywhere. And this confusion, to me, results from the fact that many people don't realize, you know, what, let us say, change means, or what kind of change they want, or what renewal means. Does it mean adaptation to the needs of the times? Then, which are these needs?

[02:07]

Of course, the answers are innumerable. Is it the problem of autocracy against democracy? Some are in the church, some are on the political line. Dictatorship, democracy, how much and to what extent are we a democracy? And all these questions, which throw people into confusion. obedience to the authority of office within the church, also in the political line, or charismatic freedom for the prophets. The other problem, for example, is that between what is the relation between, if there is any relation, between the sacred and the profane. I just throw these things at you, so that you know. formalism or informality.

[03:11]

There's a whole host of practical problems, birth control, abortion, justification of war or pacifism, draft or volunteer army, race questions, for example in parishes, between the old people who are in possession and the new try to get in. Capitalism and its effects on the church, power machines, dictatorships and their effects on the church, take Brazil. The ethics of fighting, massacres in Vietnam, what are we fighting for? celibacy, religious vows, position of the woman, liberation, matrimony, etc.

[04:17]

Vows are weapons of the institution, and we are the captives of the institution. Consequently, exodus of priests, even more of sisters, There are those who are disappointed by the way the hierarchy is trying to get back to normal after Vatican II. Those who are vexed by what one may call libertinism, either liturgical libertinism or sexual, swapping wives, you know, that's part of Catholic ethics of our time. juridical, ecumenical, or theological. Think of resurrection. So all these things are there.

[05:21]

I just told Matthew, so we are in the picture. Now of course this presents a kind of an inextricable maze. with the result of confusion, generating some desperate attempts here and there to keep the ship from sinking, trying to stop the leaks, you know, either by authoritative pronouncements here and there, or permissive attitudes, you know, or overlooking of ecclesiastical disobedience, all this kind of thing. Now, in the face of this situation, it seems to me that the important thing, and I speak here as a monk, you are in a monastery, you want to hear, you didn't come here, you know, to just get the usual line or something like that, but what is the situation?

[06:30]

How can the situation be met? And there, it seems to me, what we have to do is a kind, first of all, of strategical withdrawal. A strategical withdrawal, I say, to the heart of the matter. It seems to me this is the function of contemplation in the church. And we should well consider that contemplative life is not a specialty for some chosen soul. what is a common Christian, I would say, human dimension, which however is brought to practical effectiveness by a necessary division of tasks. As in, for example, the chemical industry, it takes work in laboratories

[07:33]

to lead to new inventions or perspectives. And the work in the laboratories is accomplished by people who are freed from the pressures to which, for example, the salesmen of the public front or the production people in the factories are exposed. They have to watch their customers or the machines. but the laboratory is contemplative now it seems to me that in the church the monastery at least should correspond to this function analogically now what do the contemplatives you know then in quotation marks come up with they should by not by any means come up with theory of theological jargon, but with something that at the same time is essential, that means this is central, or we could say has depth, depth, dimensional depth, and at the same time, to my mind, these two are correlatives, are correlated,

[09:02]

and at the same time offers liberty or the possibility of growth or expansion. The more depth, the more liberty. The more central, the greater the possibility of expansion. Depth, concentration, The essential leads out of the narrowness which is always inherent in the mere partial solutions of acute practical needs, and leads into the wider spaces of external possibilities and of prospects for the future. The more you have your eyes fastened to the needs of the moment, the more you are apt to lose the vision of the future.

[10:12]

Death gives vision. What is needed today for every single Christian who deliberately stays in the church is vision. just staying there out of stubbornness or out of laziness, you know, it's not the justification anymore in our times. It has been, and we are still living in a certain compact, you know, kind of Christian situation, but it isn't compact anymore. So, therefore, this is necessary for everyone in order to live And in order to be able to creatively meet the situation, not always passively, with this attitude of conforming, you see, either conforming to the general prejudices of the day or what, you know, taking things.

[11:19]

So we have to meet them as Christians in the power of the resurrection. That's creation. Now, thinking about all these things, it seems to me that the heart of the matter is, and I'm simply drawing the conclusions for myself, you know, from 50 years of experience in the contemplative life, starting just this year. This is my jubilee. It seems to me that the heart of the matter is Of course, nothing new, not meant to be a revelation by the Father. Father, that's a term of love. Through the Son, it's a term of love. Who became our brother, that's another term of love.

[12:21]

In the actual light and power of the gift of the Spirit, the power of the Lord, of his agape, the Father's agape. Now this agape of the Father, which is the revelation of the New Testament, and is in itself the only possible, let us say, justification for accepting a special communication of God to man, which transcends the communication already made, let us say, in creation, in the nature of things, in the cosmos, whatever you want. Here we come, looking at the effect, we speculate about the cause, but that's not theography. One does not really love

[13:25]

without first experiencing love given to one. In order to love, one has to be loved first. And that is exactly the situation into which Christian revelation has put us. Revelation is a term of agape, of love. It doesn't make sense in the context of speculative philosophy. and doesn't make sense in the concept of science. Science is always, you know, observing, observing, but observing from the outside. But love is a matter of revelation. The one who loves has to declare himself. So the one who loves, shares this love out of the freedom of his person.

[14:28]

And that is, of course, the case here, that the Father reveals his love. Therefore, the role of Holy Scripture kind of has as its climax the Revelation, the Book of Revelation, Apocalypse. That's the term of love, I think. Agape. Now what is this, what does this Agape of the Father involve? I would say, first, it is the beginning of our life. Not we have lost him first, but he has lost us first. So it is written, say, in the first epistle of Saint John. Then second, there it is, this law, reconciliation. That means it is forgiveness, it involves expiation, and so on.

[15:37]

Now both these aspects of the Agape show that it starts from the initiative of the Father. He is the first who loves us. And secondly, that it descends from above. It descends from above. Christ descended from above. He did not think it robbery, you know, to be equal to God, to stick to his divine position. But he emptied himself. That's the descent. That's the essence of the Agapit. Therefore, this Agapit now brings about, because it comes from above, and it is a creation, a rebirth.

[16:45]

Therefore, who are the material of the Agapit? The poor, the children, the fools, the sinners. They are the, as it were, natural objects of divine agape. And St. Paul has said that very well, just as Christ did. I thank you, Father, that you have hidden this thing from the wise and have manifested it to the poor and the fools. St. Paul says the same thing. Not many wise around here, not many philosophers. Why? Because we are here concerned and confronted with the foolishness of God. That's a strong term. So this now, these objects of God's agape, of course, can be drawn by the Father only with the cords of love.

[17:53]

What are these cords of love? First of all, they are within. They are not external chains. But they are in the heart. Alive in the heart of man. the only possible place for the Agathe. And the codes of love are corresponding to the very nature of the divine Agathe. And there are two kinds of codes. Repentance and trust. Repentance and faith. Repentance includes always the willingness to change And of course, the actual change. You have to do something about it. That means the actual change of direction.

[18:56]

What's in Hebrew we call teshuvah. But more than that, a new attitude of the heart. What the Greeks call the metanoia. And finally, the realization of guilt with the willingness to expiate. That is what is expressed in the word pernitentia. The Romans are always on the deridical side. Now, I must confess that up to now my basic concern has been to try to open the people to an awareness of the decisive difference between this divine agape and the human arrows.

[20:06]

Always kind of worked with this. This kind of contrast, you know, was only, I would say, a methodical contrast in the last analysis. Now, but it is this, and I might just remind you of it. I try to do that through in the pictures in terms of Holy Scripture. There we have He, Adam and Eve, I would say. Or Cain and Abel, maybe more, you know, the more pronounced way. Cain, the man who is, the man of hard work, you know. He works on the land, on poverty hill. And Abel, you know, who sits, you know, on his, on his, on his,

[21:09]

rocked, you know, and looks at the seam, and then everything happens kind of by itself. They feed for themselves, they multiply by themselves, a neighbor sits and counts them. And Cain works, you know, and therefore he finally gets the idea, oh my God, it might be good, you know, to, to, you know, make my doing of things more effective by giving something to God, too. Not necessarily the most important products of my labors, but something. It's all in Holy Scripture. Abel is different, you know. He's the easy-going type, and he receives, you know, kind of abundance, I will say automatically, and therefore he is more easy in spending.

[22:13]

That was Dickens' difficulty. Then there, for example, is Jacob at Beth-El. Jacob, he is the founder of the House of Israel. This House of Israel is the real home of Job, on this earth. So, at Bethel, you know, the father of Israel kind of experiences the nature of God abiding, you see, making his home with his people. Then, you see, there he is. Of course, he got into difficulties by certain machinations of his mother. One of the characteristics of the description of the woman is always a little on the shady side.

[23:17]

So it is so with Eve. But Adam was shady too, you know. No, look at her, she told me. instead of using his own guts. But that simply means that man has lost his erection and has to taken up too much, you know, from the woman. Now that's a completely different page. Jacob is there, you know, I mean he really is in a bad position and he is what we call in exile. That means in angusties, you know. in the narrow spaces. And he's there at this place and the miserable place at that. Not, not deserve, doesn't deserve any specific description. It's just a place.

[24:18]

And some rocks are around there. And a vast horizon of desert all around. And there he is, poor man. And then what does he do? He finally That means he surrenders. He's at the end of his wits. What goes to sleep at the end of one's wits? And then he puts his head on the stone. And that stone, of course, that is the famous rock of the divine agape. which abides, you know, which is firm, which is irrevocable, a mercy that lasts from age to age. In other words, the rock of the ages. So, that's what Jacob does. And then, you know, sleeping on the rock of the ages, this famous rest that the epistle to the Hebrews later on describes, you know,

[25:22]

when he describes the Sabbath rest, and that this rest is essentially faith in God's love for me. That puts us to rest. So it put Jacob to rest, not only to rest, but he had the vision, see, a new perspective opening up, and this perspective not, you know, in the horizontal, but Unfortunately, in the vertical. In the vertical. He looked up, and there he saw that something happened, you know. Out of the infinite heights of heaven, a ladder came down to him, that evidently descended. And in a very concrete way, or at least that's how to describe it. It was just rammed into the earth, you know, right next to him. Now, that's the divinography.

[26:25]

And there is, of course, the bridge. That is reconciliation. And there is communication, the angel ascending and descending. And the lord of the house watching over poor Jacob, who thought he was completely left in the lurch by awe, not only by his family, more by his brother. I'll be afraid of, and so on. So he had nobody. That reminds us of Christ. And of course, there it comes again in the New Testament. The arrows and the agape. Judas, oh, all this money is spending on another thing. It teaches us to anoint the thief in the womb. Why spending these $200, you know, for such a purpose? Who will need it? Those reminders. Then comes Peter and Christ, you know, it's another wonderful contrast of course.

[27:27]

Peter, the man who's not like Judas, you know, kind of jealous, recalcitrant, you know, always, you know, filled with all kinds of envy and so on. But Peter, the loyal man, you know, golden heart, well, you know, following the Lord, you know, because he thinks he's the Messiah King. and he will give to Israel, establish the kingdom, and then everything will be fine. Problems will be solved, including his own. And so he can understand, you know, he's very much attached to the mountain of the transfiguration. But he's less, you know, with less, how would I say, comprehension or understanding, meets Golgatha. So when it says, the Lord said, I have to go to Golgotha, I will be spit upon.

[28:32]

And then Peter said, absolutely not. I know me. I will be just absolute plain foolish, which it was. And so I'm not, you see. And he sticks to him, says, no, I go with him, I stick to him, just to be near in case of any emergency. And then, you know, it goes further to the point in which then finally, after all his hesitations, don't wash my feet, you know, this is not your business. I should maybe, maybe wash your feet. If you don't wash your feet, you have no part in me. Oh, not only feet, but everything, head, you know. So, never, always missing the point. So, you know, it's really just that way. So, and then finally, when he is flat, you know, all his dreams and his, I don't want to say complacency about his loyalty, the Lord says, where I go now, you can't go, Peter.

[29:50]

I want to go right now. Why all this nonsense, you know? And then finally, you know, he comes to the realization why the Lord had to go where he, Peter, could not go. Because there's one Savior, and there's one source of the divine, and there's one man of peace, and there's one body and one head of Peter. Because he didn't realize these things. But then he comes to the point where he capitulates to another little thief, you know, who asked him, well, I have known you before. I know exactly where you come from. And people laugh at this, you know, because all the loyalty, you know, is... Now we have a German expression for that, but I bet I don't use. He gets cold feet, let's say, you know.

[30:53]

and he warms himself at the fire of his enemies, the soldiers of fate. So then it all comes to the, he finally actually hears the cock crowing that brings certain reminiscences back to him and he realizes and he goes out and he weeps bitterly. And that is, I would say, with all emphasis, this is the Juba. This is a change. This is a new creation. Because tears are simply a capitulation. Again, you know, the end of one's wits, you know, tears. And of one's self-control. all these wonderful things, whoop, you know, it's a river of tears they go down into the ocean of divine agony so that is what happened to him and then our Lord turns around to him and he doesn't say Peter now, now you know what you did but he looked at him with a friend and his glance was the

[32:16]

A new vision for Peter. Finally, the sun breaks through the clouds in the face of Jesus Christ, and Peter is saved. He is not anymore on the side of the Satan, you know, who thinks the thoughts of man, not the thoughts of man, of God. But now the thought of God kind of dawns on him. And with that, his salvation. Later on the question, do you love me? Then peed my sheep. This do you love me is not the arrows. But this loving of the one who is crucified and is risen only be the italy nothing else the understanding why he died you know and with this understanding that he died for me peter see if you realize that then feed my sheep so that's the authority of divine agape the authority of of the elves you know it's called the

[33:37]

It's a completely different thing. So it goes through all of holy scripture. Mary and Martha. Martha working her head off, you know. Oh, if I see Mary there, why don't you tell Mary to help me that we get lunch on the table on time. Mary, don't get excited, Mary, or else we can get a problem. Then... Welcome, Patrick. And then come Peter and John. See, there is another one. Peter and John. You tell me, you follow me. But what about this man here? What about John? Your office seems to have a lazier part, you know. You follow me, and he should stay the way he is. Now, there are two dimensions, aren't there?

[34:43]

Then, of course, Christ's preaching. The Beatitudes, blessed are the poor and sparing. Now, that's a revolution, the entire thinking. Christ's passion. Everybody ran into his own, the apostles and so on. There is the one who stayed in the realm of the Agape. which is, in that way, selflessness, you know, or, as it really is in the light of the Agape, the exaltation, the glorification of the Father and of the Son and His resurrection, see? Mary Magdalene, where have they left my Lord? a tomb, where is he in the tomb? Then the call into another direction.

[35:48]

She turns around, doesn't recognize him yet, you know, thinks he is a gardener, but then hears Mary. That's the voice of the divine Agapit. This is directed to the heart. my master. See? There is my master. Everything impersonal is gone. And therefore the next, you know, impulsive impulse is to just embrace his feet. And then, now don't keep me. Now don't touch me, because it's white, you know, up to, you know, moral standards, you know. Don't keep me. Don't keep me. Because I ascend, and then what, to whom?

[36:53]

To my father and to your father. Plus absolute fusion of the person. of the father and of the children. My father and your father. This is the proclamation. Child. Children. Divine. Rebirth. And then, of course, this other question. Peter, do you love me? And then his prophecy now, when you were young, Peter, then you went where you wanted to go. I would say that is arrows in our head that way. And instead of that then, you know, when you are old, that means when you are come to your fullness, then another one will come and will gird you

[38:02]

where you do not want to go. That's a different realm. That's the kingdom of God. That is the Agapit. Evident. And so he went where he didn't want to go. He was crucified upside down. It's like a seal on the whole idea of conversion. Head down and feet up. now you see from here you can of course go further and then in the light of this for example and I would consider that as always you know as one of the of the real contemplative dimensions of Christianity and of the church an examination of church history not just fact after fact you know that have

[39:05]

And then again, some trouble with Luther, you know, and so on. Of course, keep doing unity and all that. No, but an examination of church history in the light of the divine agape is done today. I mean, people try, but you know, one has to do it in the spirit of repentance. And repentance means basically love. Criticism as such has nothing to do with religion. Criticism can essentially be just another way of putting yourself on the throne. And in that way, and in this context, in my mind, the word of St. Paul has absolute deep meaning, you see, that only a spiritual man can judge, a spiritual being. That means agape.

[40:09]

The agape judgment's completely different from power judgment, political judgment, social order, police judgment, or anything like that. Entirely different. I don't say opposed, but entirely different. So why not enter into a real, let us say, quiet, not polemical, because the agape and fighting just doesn't go together of church history for example first of all in a positive way the understanding of the struggles that led to the formulating formulation of the creed think of the divinity of Christ All the Aryans saying, no, no, he's not God, you know. Well, what is he then? Well, some in-between.

[41:13]

He's typically German. And then, the seeing the incarnation of Christ, the Son of God, made man, Not in this constant, you know, this shows how human God is. You know, I would make such a statement with some kind of misgivings, especially in our days. But then, let us take, for example, take the Trinity. Three divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. my mind, as equal, as oneness in the unity of divinity. Only understandable in the context of divine agape. Take the whole thing, the controversies about the spirit and how the church has struggled.

[42:20]

For example, about the central question in the West, which is always in the practical West, These central questions are always grace and free will. It's typically for the West. Grace and free will. That's always a hard nut to crack. Especially for German minds, you know, again. I would say Anglo-Saxons too, you know. Saint Jerome always said one of the great faults of Pelagius, you know, was that his breakfast was too heavy every morning. It's a fact, you know. St. Jerome says it. Too much porridge in the morning, you see. Brings about what ends up in Pelagianism, you see. And you know what Pelagianism is. The will comes first.

[43:21]

And then the divine grace kind of comes. Very close to Molinism, but I shouldn't say that too loud. And so, you see, that's the example of the tremendous problem of the West, to my mind, in connection with this whole grace of free will. Listen to this, you know, what is the relation between the spirit and political power? in application to the Pope. Here comes the famous donation of Constantine. There are the Crusades, you know, and one should never forget, you know, that great Copes have made Crusades, not only against the Sartans, you know, in the East, but against the I think they were the Orsini who had the biggest fortresses too close to Rome.

[44:32]

So there is the problem, you know, the political power of the papacy. There is the problem between hierarchy and political power. I'm not a French revolution. And then of course we come to an examination of our modern times, but now the bell is ringing, that means Damasus has to shut up. There I would say that there are two of course to be considered and there will be always the meaning of retreat. Actual attitudes in our devotional life, you know, Let's just say the 19th century church, the 20th century church, the early 20th century church. And of course in ourselves, what about the agony in ourselves? Do we really understand it? Do we apply it? It's... Schluss.

[45:35]

Should we maybe get together this afternoon again?

[45:40]

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