Hare Krsna. Hare Krsna. Hare Krsna. Unfortunately I'm not in a position this evening to give you any kind of a well-thought-out conference, and the reason for that is the preoccupation and desperate attempt still to get the final formulation of the Church here in fruition. And maybe I'll just give you a few thoughts, as it were, out of the shock.

[01:05]

in which that masterpiece is being produced. That was the topic of the conference in Cincinnati, which had as a general theme that of the church year, the honesty, the practical value of the church year. There were these three topics on the church here in formation. That means the church here in its historical origin and also in its common and essential features. Then there was the other, the church here in action. That was the church here as inspiration for the faithful here on earth for their activity, for their Christian life.

[02:18]

And then finally, the last topic was the church as information. And of course I agree readily to take that topic because it is kind of up our alley. I mean up on the alley of the monks, whose life that way is a life of contemplation, much more a life in the finis, the telos, perfection as we say. It means that a status which is reached say, at the end of many labours, expectation and historical development, practical efforts, all these things. So the church here in fruition, the church here on, let's say, as a feast, because that certainly is the essence of the feast.

[03:31]

Feast is the and say the anticipation also the making present of the fruition. Because in a feast one is not laboring and working under the yoke of practical purposes. One does not strive after something. that one would like to reach or to produce, but one rejoices in something. The feast is rejoicing, essentially rejoicing, rejoicing in the abundance of life. Man takes then deep breath, and he leaves the monotony of Egypt. of the prison house, of slavery, under the pharaoh, any kind of pharaoh.

[04:39]

And he enters into the inn of freedom. Freedom is only there where one is in possession of one's desires and wishes, and also is the essence of joy. Joy is only there where the good we are striving after is there, where we are in possession of it. There then the direction he towards a goal is changed into the circle he dances about That what is the presence of our salvation, in connection with this Sunday, tomorrow's Sunday, and also tomorrow's feast, fits into that so well. Sarvus bhupuri eko sum.

[05:45]

I am the Sarvus. That is really the object or the content of the feast, is the Sarvus bhupuri. The salvation of well-being, full expansion, and enjoyment of life in wholeness. I am the salvation of my people, says the Lord. And if you think about this, then you also realize that the feast, in the deepest sense of that word, is celebrated by the Christian. Because Christian lives in the spirit of the Word of God made flesh. Jesus Christ who died for us and rose for us, and who is now lording it over his church, over his people, as the salvation.

[06:59]

Here at the right hand of the Father, the Word of God made man, he is the Sarusvoki, the encountered Word of God. the human nature that is the head of this new generation, this new people, united to the Word, the Son of God, and filled with His passion and His resurrection with the fullness and abundance of life, the Holy Spirit, which fills the Church. and makes Christ, in his sacred humanity, the head of a living organism, of the body, the mystical body of Christ. So there, in the mystical body of Christ, people, under the actual influence of the curious, the Lord, the Risen Savior, In the power and splendor of the Holy Spirit, there we celebrate the feast.

[08:07]

There we can sing really truly the salvation of the people. The salvation of the people, says the Lord. And that is the feast. Because tomorrow we sing the mass of the martyrs. is the difference, of course, between, let us say, a feast which is sent around the curious and the feast which celebrates the mount. Ego salus propri, ego sum. Salus justorum ad. The salvation, the wholeness, the fullness of life of the saint, And the martyr is this faith, the classical example of the saint is from and through the Lord. So the feast, in the deepest sense of the words I say, can be celebrated only by the Christian, because the Christian is taken in

[09:24]

to that new fullness of the Spirit which the risen Savior gives to his church in abundance. And that Spirit and his teros and his perfection, because it comes from Christ, David, the one who sits at the right hand of the Father, and the Spirit of Christ naturally participates is that very essence. Therefore also the Spirit in us leads us and must be our participating in this meata sessio, in this sitting at the right hand of the Father. For he is perfection, he is the possession of the final goal of man, already here on salus populi ego sum, now at this very moment. Christ as the risen Savior is the source, the fountainhead of peace, the center of the feast.

[10:46]

He radiates into us the Holy Spirit. symbolically in the Church here in these 50 days between the Resurrection and the descent of the Holy Ghost. And these 50 days, the Alleluia, the continuous Feast, celebrated by the Church. Then afterwards, when the Pentecost, the fullness of the Holy Spirit, is given to the Church, Then something else appears, that are the Feasts of the Saints. In this time between Pentecost and the beginning of Advent, that really is the time in which we celebrate the Saints. Nameless Peter, Paul, here is for example, if we have tomorrow in the Sunday Now that is the Sunday which precedes the Feast of Cosmos of Day, the Physicians, the famous, celebrated, saintly Physicians.

[12:01]

So this time after Pentecost really is to a great extent, one can really say, essentially determined by the Feasts of the Saints. These feasts of the saints have a more local character. They are limited to a local church. They are the feasts of that church, of that community, where these martyrs suffered, or where these saints lived. Now the ecclesiastical year is in that way a fruition. Because its base, the celebration of the ecclesiastical year, is based on the celebration of Holy Mass. Holy Mass is the Christian feast. Because there at Holy Mass the people gather together and enter into that saving passage

[13:13]

in which Christ went through death into the Holy of Holies, into the fullness of life, sitting at the right hand of God. And Holy Mass is just that, our entering into this passage. We enter into this passage listening to the Word And if you want to, let us say, summarize what is the essence of the mass of the catechumens, of the first part of the mass, it seems always to me that the best illustration of what the mass of the catechumens or the mass of the world is, is always in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Saint Luke. I think it's the 16th verse and the following, where Christ, see him entering in the synagogue on a Sabbath day, and there was in charge, gives him the scroll, the scroll of Isaac, to read and then to make content.

[14:35]

And then our Lord takes the scroll and he reads, and he reads that beautiful passage, the Lord has anointed me to preach the good tidings to the poor, to free the prisoners, to give light to the blind, and in this way to give, that's the beauty of this prophecy too, not only a teaching, but a life. the acceptable year of the Lord. And then he closes it and he says, and this scripture has been fulfilled to death in your ears. That means what you hear here, the one who hears the anointed one, the one who, I can say, hears the acceptable year of the Lord, he stands here before you, and he announces

[15:38]

So, in listening to him, you enter into the acceptable year of the Lord. The acceptable year of the Lord is the salvation of mankind. And that is done by the one who is anointed, Dominus umsigme, predicale parperibus umsigme, that I may announce the gospel to the glad tidings, to the That means the poor, that is, I wanted to call your attention to that, so important. The feast in our Christian idea is not, say, the good time for those who have, say, the means to enjoy it. But the Christian feast is a feast for the poor. The Christian feast is a feast of salvation.

[16:40]

Therefore, only those who fear the need of salvation, the poor, are even willing to participate. So Christ himself is the feast, Christ himself the acceptable year of the Lord. He is anointed with the Holy Spirit. And that fullness of the Holy Spirit enables him to preach to the poor and means to share the abundance of life with those who are hungry and are thirsting for justice. That's the mass of the catechumens. Then comes the mass of the faithful. The Mass of the Faithful is, just as the Mass of the Catechumens, is the glad tidings of the Messiah, of the Anointed One, and means of the risen Saviour, to share the words of eternal life with those who are their saviour.

[17:51]

So the Mass of the Faithful is the entering into a saving act. How singing as it were through the veil of His flesh in the canon, being sprinkled with that blood which speaks better than Abel's blood does. This is my blood, shed for the remission of your sins. And this is the voice of the blood of Abel, of the blood of Christ, better speaking, better that means bringing salvation, and the blood of David speaks. And then through the veil of the flesh we enter into the Holy of Holies, and that is the meal, festive meal, that again we have in the Mass of this 19th Sunday after Pentecost, also so beautiful. The calling of Christ is really the invitation to participate in the wedding feast.

[19:01]

The wedding feast is that moment in which life is at its peak, in which life rejoices in its own fullness. That's the wedding feast. That acceptable year that the Lord brings to us as a present reality is a wedding feast. So Christ brings that joy of the feast to it, that fruition, in Holy Communion. Then in Holy Communion we become that festive, celebrating community. Because the meal makes one of us. The meal binds people together. The meal is the community action.

[20:02]

The meal is the trial of peace. So Mass, Holy Mass, therefore, is essentially a feast. And one should not forget that, one should even emphasize that. Today, perhaps sometimes, the liturgical movement, people are too, say, intent to emphasize the sacrificial character of the Mass. But we should not forget that the Mass is a peace offering. A peace offering belongs into that category. It's the fulfillment of that category. And the essence of the peace offering is the sharing in the life of God. being at one table with the Lord. Union is the essence of the peace of faith and of the mass.

[21:05]

Therefore, our churches are characterized by the fact that in their center stands the table. And when the Christian sees that, he should think of it. What is the essence of the table? It's joy, it's abundance, it's sharing of life, it's the feast. So the Mass is the essential element of the ecclesiastical year. Yes, one can say the ecclesiastical year is only an unfolding of the Mass, but the Mass is a feast. That was so understood. by Christians in the early days, that on the day on which Mass was celebrated, the performance of work of something unthinkable.

[22:08]

Mass is a feast, therefore the day on which that Mass is celebrated is a feast day. and that festive character of the Mass which fills the entire day. So we say Christmas, Mass is the work that is really synonymous with feast, means feast. Christmas is the feast of Christ, Michael Mass, the feast of Saint Michael. Mass and feast are synonymous. Today we celebrate Mass every day, and we go from the Mass into our daily work. Now that in some way is a good development. Why? Because it shows that to the Christian, really every day is a fixed day.

[23:15]

Because essentially through his baptism, through his confirmation, participation in the fullness of the Spirit, he is already seated at the right hand of God. He is there where Christ is, in heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven, as St. Paul says, and the daily Mass reminds us of. It is of course that danger always that the daily Mass may be infected. It can work both ways. If Mass is celebrated every day, The danger consists, weak as we human beings are, that the spirit of the everyday infects the celebration of the Mass, so that the daily Mass loses its festive character and takes on something of the monotony and the dreariness of the everyday life.

[24:39]

that the mass is infected by the very fact that the day in which it is celebrated is a working day. And then therefore, too, the celebration of the mass shrinks into something that loses that solemnity and loses the festive character, and therefore shrinks and takes on the monotony of the working day. It should be the other way around. The Daily Mass should radiate and lift up the working day to the dignity and the splendor of the Feast. And that we should remember with the Daily Mass. Therefore it is so important, therefore also we as monks here are so fortunate that we celebrate, are able to celebrate that Daily Mass in real fullness, with real But then let us also think that this daily Mass fulfills its mission in our life only if that festive spirit is being carried into anything and everything we do during that day.

[26:00]

So that we deliberately concentrate on the festive character of everything the Christian does. And that is true just as in the Gospels, as you can see, at the fullness of the Resurrection, fullness of the Holy Spirit, in which the evangelists write what is the effect of the Spirit in their writing and describing the facts of our Lord's Passion, that it becomes a glorious The Evangelist described the Passion of the Lord in the Holy Spirit of the Resurrection, so that we see the grandiose character of the Passion, so that through the pages and the words which describe the Passion, constantly the glory of Christ shines forth. Just as when the Church celebrates Passion Week and Holy Week,

[27:05]

the glory again of Christ shines and transfigures the gruesome historical reality. So also the daily solar paths must remind us and help us to realize that every day of the Christian is a feast day. and therefore also to see the toil, the sweat, the labor of every day in the light of the Holy Spirit, and to realize that just as the martyrs, in their passion, in their suffering, in their death, in their death and in their suffering, experience the glory of Christ, so that their buried dead is a dying angel, and has in it the glory of the resurrection.

[28:09]

But then we have not only this, that's of course the most basic fundamental thing, that as we have it today, at least in the Roman Church, in the Western Church, every day has its mass. And therefore every day is marked out as a feast day. Originally that was not the case. Originally the celebration of the mass, that means of the feast, was first of all limited to the Sunday, to the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is and comes to us After six days of work, the one day of rest, a new day, the Sunday, the eighth day. So after seven days, the eighth day, the Sunday.

[29:16]

And then, of course, that Sunday is Feast Day, that is Resurrection Day. The Eastern Church calls the Sunday simply Resurrection. But that's a beautiful and wonderful idea, too, to realize, you know, that before the Mass was celebrated every day, at least now, the Mass was celebrated every week. In this way, you know, the Sunday punctures the life of the Christian in regular intervals, with the presence of the gloriously reigning Christ. That's the essence of the Sunday. The Sunday reminds us of the fact that while we in this, our earthly existence, go through the six days of birth and of toil,

[30:24]

while we are here on this earth still as exiles and wandering towards our destination, and while we are doing this here as human beings still here on this earth, behind this scene of work and toil and labor and wandering behind it, and ruling over it is the presence of the glorious and great Christ. The glory of Christ presides over every week of Torah. That is the meaning of the Sunday. And the Sunday is not only a day which is dedicated to the memory of the Resurrection, But the Sunday, as the Lord said, is the day which is filled with the presence of the glory of Christ.

[31:31]

What is that, the glory of Christ? We should think about that. It's not just the same radiance, but glory, glory is the fulfillment of history. All human history brought to the end. The end of human history is the Kingdom of God. The meaning of glory is the presence of the Kingdom of God. The end and fulfillment of history. That is why we as Christians stopped working on the sun. in order to give room to the presence of the glory of Christ. So in that way again you see the Sunday and the regular celebration of the Sunday marks the ecclesiastical year as the year of the Lord.

[32:36]

The day of the Lord carries as it were the year of the Lord from week to week. But then, of course, we do not only have this weekly recurrence, which leads us into the presence of the gloriously reigning Christ, but we also have the anniversaries, the yearly recurrences. And these yearly recurrences, of course, in our Christian year, do not depend as in the Jewish year on the moon, but they depend in the Christian year on the sun. And that again, of course, immediately leads you to the fact that the yearly recurrence in our Christian idea, not in the Jewish idea. In the Jewish idea, the fact that the Jewish, so to speak, ecclesiastical year depends on the moon.

[33:43]

makes this ecclesiastical here and binds this ecclesiastical here on themselves in an insoluble way to this time here on earth, on which the moon is the symbol, because the moon decreases and increases and decreases, is subject to constant change. is in this way a symbol of this earthly light, this earthly divinity of man, but of course in the reflected light of God. It's fake. But the sun is different. The question here depends on the sun. It depends on the sun because that is the symbol of glory. It's the way we look. Sun takes its course like a giant, rejoicing. And in this way, the annual recurrence of feasts in the Christian year, and determined by the sun, brings us, shows us, or brings us into contact with the glorious eternity of the risen Savior.

[35:03]

Now there are still many other thoughts that go into this idea, but I wanted only to recommend these things also to your own reflection. See, really meditate on this. Bring these things, make them really a part of your own flesh and bone, so that the celebration of the feast in the sun rays, from day to day, and the sun rays, and the anniversaries, that has that influence and really makes you realize that the essence of your life is really expressed in this sentence, Salus Populi Ego Sum. I am the salvation of the people. pāṇḍita-vijāti, puruṣa-vijāti, kuruṣa-vijāti, viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu-viṣṇu

[36:15]

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