the middle of our life and great life may have. Chapter 49 Of the Observance of Lent The life of a monk ought at all times to be mentored in its character. But since few have the strength for that, we therefore urge that in these days of Lent the brethren should lead lives of great purity, and should also in this sacred season expiate the negligences of other times. This will be worthily done if we reclaim from all sin and apply ourselves to prayer with tears, to reading, to compunction of heart, and to abstinence. In these days, therefore, let us add something beyond the wanted measure of our service, such as private prayers and abstinence in food and drink. Let each one over and above the measure prescribed for him offer God something of his own free will in the joy of the Holy Spirit. That is to say, let him strip himself of food, drink, sleep, talk, and jesting, and look forward with the joy of spiritual longing to the holy feast of Easter.

[01:19]

Let each one, however, tell his abbot what he is offering, and let it be done with his consent and blessing. Because what is done without the permission of the spiritual father shall be ascribed to presumption and vainglory, and not recongratulatory. Everything therefore is to be done with the approval of the abbot. From the 48th chapter. In the days of Lent let them apply themselves to their reading from the morning until the end of the third hour and from then until the end of the tenth hour let them perform the work that is assigned to them. In these days of Lent let them each receive a book from the library which they shall read through consecutively. Let these books be given out at the beginning of Lent. But one or two senior monks should certainly be deputed to go round the monastery at the times when the brethren are occupied in reading, to see that there be no slothful brother who spends his time in idleness or gossip, and neglects the reading, so that he not only does himself harm, but also disturbs others.

[02:27]

If there be such a one, which God forbid, let him be corrected once and a second time, And if ye do not amend, let him undergo the punishment of the rule, so that the rest may be afraid. And the brethren should not associate with one another at unseasonable hours. Lord have mercy upon them. Amen. Speak you well. I apologize for being so late, but it's just... I was a little short to get through these various things, and I was eager to write a little word for everyone, but I didn't succeed. I didn't get through, you know, so it's just a kind of a scribbled, you know, a sign of approval and of blessing.

[03:38]

That's all I could do. some I got to know to write a little words but others I get around to so I hope that in the course of the length and season we have opportunity to meet and to maybe speak about things that are good for the individual soul and belong to the three of the eleven seasons for the individual but I didn't get so... for the community as a whole I thought during these last weeks there a thought came and was especially on my mind that concerns the here interpretation of that the second of our vows the conversio morum conversatio morum as the ruler has it in the newer editions and the interpretation of this vow is not always the same in the

[04:57]

Later times we have several non-scholarly scholars who looked into meaning of conversatio and conversio. They first decided that the original way in which Saint Benedict put it, he used, the form he used is the word conversatio and it is then conversatio morum that means then the really the monastic order of life so that the vow of the conversatio morum would simply mean that one solemnly vows, profession, the observance of the rule.

[06:06]

The conversatio morum, the observance of the rule. Now that is of course in itself it's a, that is I would say a interpretation which naturally gives to think. I mean it really then in a very solemn and official way makes the whole, the accepted and vowed basis of our life. However, In more recent years, the interpretation has changed. First, simply from the point of view of the, let us say, philological, scientific point of view. While Herbert Butler and Matthäus Holdenweissmann, von Zellwegen, are all in fire and flames, Bardic Versace,

[07:12]

In our days it is more again the pendulum is swinging more towards the interpretation that it means here on verse. As you know there is a very interesting a little introduction to that edition that Father Philips Schmitz wrote in his edition to the Rule of Mao Tzu which then was young witch Christina Moorman made this very interesting contribution to the interpretation of the lactility of the rule of St. Benedict. And there she also, at the end, she touches upon the interpretation of this word conversatio. And she brings out, which I think is really a very decisive and very good thing, that

[08:21]

The word conversatio, as it is used in the rule, is a harmony. I mean, it is the same word, the same sound, which however can be reduced or followed up to two roots, which are really different. One, conversatio, from Conversaree, that means the passive, let us say, or the medium case, I mean the intransitive, and there it means then really a way of life. It's true. Conversatio, the way of life. For example, St. Paul uses that, conversatio nostra in suricest. way of life, or we belong, you know, to the polytia, to that way of life which is the heavenly Jerusalem.

[09:31]

There we have our roots, and that is there we walk. There we have our home, and our rights as citizens. That is the intransitive meaning of conversatio, of conversare. But she also points out that in the later Latinity of St. Benedict, the word convertere had an intensive form, which is conversare. And this conversare is transitive, and it means the changing of something, to change something. And conversatio in that way really the, one can say, intensive form of conversio. And in that way, and in this way, it was used as Christina Mormons famous especially in chapter 4, 58.

[10:33]

In the, also for example, you can take an example in the chapter of the rule that we read today about the order of sleeping. You can see that that order should be established according to the order of the Conver. Convergent. Of course you notice that in this translation of Justin McCann that we were reading, the word is really conversion. See, of our conversion. That means our entering into the monastic life. The conversion. And that is the conversion, conversio morum meorum, is the form which is used in our profession, in our formula of profession. and these moments in benediction, he should profess conversatione mom sumo. That means the mores, mores mehi, that means the seculi actus, that means the way of life that man had before he entered

[11:43]

the monastery, that is the object of changing. That should be changed. There comes the conversio, conversatio. So that the monastic life in that way, and also this vow, you know, means the entering to, let us say, the status of the metanoia, of the change of heart, because the kingdom of God is at hand. And that, of course, means, to my mind, makes really very good sense, because we can see that the whole rule of Saint Benedict is really, of course, based, you know, on this. as I say, on this level and legislates and formulates that level of the Christian life where the radical inner conversio takes place. It is a vogatio.

[12:44]

It is the monastic life in that way. It is, as St. Benedict says right here in the chapter that we were just reading, the life of a monk ought at all times to be Lenten in its character. And of course the Lenten season is the season of conversio. That is the character of the Lenten season. It is that in a change from the world, you know, in which we prepare for it's our Pascha in which we prepare for entering into joining Christ then and Easter in his death and his resurrection where the whole meaning of the Lenten season then culminates. But if St. Benedict says the whole life of the monk should be Lenten in its character It's of course this, you know, that the conversion, and understood in this sense of conversion, of a real inner change, that that is the real objective of the monastic life.

[13:58]

And that is a thing, too, which I would recommend to you as a theme for this Lenten season. We have, of course, spoken about that so often, the danger of the monastic life, that it becomes a kind of a routine that it helps in some way even and can if it is not seen in the right spirit it can lead to some form of self-righteousness it can lead to the feeling of that one has made the great and that's therefore one is pretty good you know and that the daily, the level of the daily life, you know, is something which is regulated, protected, established, and as soon as that takes place, as we have said that in the past, so often, and as I can see that, you know, one sees it in oneself, and one sees it in others, you know, constantly,

[15:14]

And then as soon as something becomes a kind of a sure thing, a kind of something that one has, then also immediately it loses the character of a grace, loses the character of a gift. This basic virtue of the fear of the Lord is being toned down, as it were. One, as soon as one is in security, one ends up by knowing and acting as if one's self could do it. Let us say, more or less, on one's own. and that one doesn't need that anymore. This constant casting oneself into the dust before God, in the various forms and ways in which the monastic life tries to heal.

[16:20]

And that seems to me then is the greatest danger that we can fall into in a monastic life. And that is what would prevent us really from celebrating the Easter, the Pascha Domini, the full Easter, the death and the resurrection of Christ. Not only not the resurrection by itself, but the death and the resurrection of Christ in that complete inner truth. We are always intent, as long as man lives in this fallen nature, he's always tempted to, yes, to love God, because that's also his own good, if he's clever enough to see it, but to love him all his own terms.

[17:27]

And that is, of course, really the essence of idolatry. Idolatry is always this. That's the basic question of the Old Testament and, of course, also of the New Testament. Idolatry is always projecting oneself into the Absolute, and then in one way or the other setting oneself up as an Absolute. and that is, therefore, self-deification. And that is the deepest tendency always in man. And it is, of course, the very essence of this stage of monasticism, of the spiritual life, for which Saint Benedict legislates, which, as you know, is a state of beginners. Not all justice is covered and described in the rule. It is a beginner, the reward for beginners. What is the beginning of our salvation?

[18:30]

Conversion. Deconversum bonum meorum. And that, therefore, is the, in my mind, is the one important thing in our life. And to understand that we vow I mean, as monks, we need to live our life in the, let us say, in the general atmosphere of conversion. And therefore, for example, if you would do that, you know, I was thinking, for example, in these three Sundays that we have just lived through, the Septuagesima Sunday and the Sexagesima and dreamcatchers. And these Sundays, I mean, I think they're absolutely possible. Approach to it, you know, are really an overture to the Lenten season.

[19:34]

Starts with this exclamation, Dolores mortis circumliderunt me. So it starts with that looking at that event, our death, which really is It's put up in our life, in the life of fallen mankind, as the sign which should shake us, which should really interiorly take away from us all self-complacency and all self-assurance. And in that way we started on Septuagintism. Then we had there the whole attitude of faith, the attitude of faith. If faith, then, is in its fullness described in the Gospel of the Sunday Septuagint, but if you then look at this faith, it is marked, one can say immediately, it bears the marks, the stamp of the Conversion.

[20:46]

Because there we see, we see these people who are sure of their contribution And then we see God's poor ones, who have nothing to rely on. And out of that inner need, you know, rises then the faith in the love, the goodness of the Lord of the vineyard. And that is really what comes. And that is, of course, immediately also, that spirit is all over in the rule of sin. If St. Benedict says it in the Prologue right away. And if you come to a certain observance for heaven's sake, don't think, you know, that it's you who does it. But, think that it is the grace of God in you. And that you, the next one, the sexagesima, is then the Sunday of Hope.

[21:50]

The year we see rise, O Lord, the Sunday of Hope. But what kind of hope? Not the hope, again, you know, that relies on a careful calculation of one's own personal possibilities, of the things that one has at one's disposal. But it is that hope which is of virtus in infirmitate perfidiae, Power, you know, really comes to perfection in infirmity. That is hope. The hope in which a man like St. Paul lived his life as an apostle and that he describes so beautifully there. The hope that is the seed of the Word. The hope that is based on the promise the promise that God has given in the Old Testament of His mercy, and the promise that He has fulfilled by sending His Son to die for our sins.

[23:04]

That is the foundation of our hope. God's love for us is the foundation of our hope. Therefore, the virtue of hope, again, supposes, necessarily, requires that, cries for the inner conversion. And it is charity, it's the Agape, caritas omnia spirit, caritas omnia spirit. Charity, hopes, And that is then in the third Sunday, in the Sunday Quintuagesima, there is Caritas, that is then in the center of our conservations and of the Gospel, of the Epistle. And that is again, what is it? It is not this kind of human philanthropy, you see, this do-good-it, or how is it, good-doing thing.

[24:14]

No, it's that. It's also not in any way any love that is based on the goodness of the object as we have it, any kind of human love, but it is a creative love. It's the love which God loves. The one who is, is enemy. That is the... And again, you know, of course, then, as a virtuous power in us cannot be there without the conversio, a deep and radical inner change. So, if you just go through something like these three beautiful soldiers that prepare for Lent, you can see they leave, they ask, they demand that inner conversion.

[25:19]

And in the same way, too, the rule of Saint Benedict is, one can say, conceived, one can say, from the beginning to the end, to my mind, in the atmosphere on the level of the conversion. It starts with the abbot. But if you read the chapter on the abbot, you see clearly that St. Benedict warns and sees the abbot as somebody who is constantly interiorly to himself. working, say, at the Converso, that his actions, he should be on his guard, you know, that his actions, his relations that he establishes to the members of the community, that they are not resting on and developed on the ground of human consideration human respect, human consideration, human affinities or inclinations, but it is the Holy Spirit that determines these relations.

[26:34]

And so, also, why is the power given to the abbot? Why, for example, is any delegation of an office or every official constantly ask the seller or the others, and the seller is the official, and what St. Benedict says about the seller is to apply, of course, for any delegation that the abbot gives to any member of the community. Always this party shouldn't do anything without the abbot's consent. Now then, what does it mean? It doesn't make any sense, let us say, on the ground of a philosophical approach to man. If we approach man as, let us say, as a naturally intact being, you know, that therefore has to develop itself, you know, and that has to grow and so on.

[27:38]

or that then this kind of obedience or this kind of dependence, I would say, doesn't make sense. The dependence is only then of real value if it's seen as an expression and as an activation of the vow of the conversion. of that inner change that man does not the official does not therefore the power that is given to him consider as his own and therefore consider as something that he has and with which now he can't proceed and that he can't use but it's something that is given therefore this concept is not in order to train people to be weak It is not in order to cripple, you know, the initiative of people. It's not that there may be constantly, I mean, a constant status of childishness, but it's always that inner reminder and the

[28:50]

the traducing into the translating into reality of that timor domini, of that impending, of the fact that is not on his own, standing on his own feet, but that he receives, you know, what he has and what he doesn't. And so in many other things, if the external behavior of the monk is described in the end of the chapter on humility, and that he should, you know, give that and in some way radiate that inner fear that he has of the last judgment and of death. But what is the reason for that? Again, it cannot be in any way justified or understood if somebody approaches these things from the mere, let's say, human aspect, you know, of how a human being should behave.

[30:05]

That wouldn't make sense. On that level it wouldn't make sense. It makes sense if one realizes again that the Converse humorum is the center of our life. And that is the general atmosphere in which we as monks live. Then it makes sense. So I just wanted to encourage during this Lenten season, to think about these things, consider the Holy Rule under this aspect, you know, that it is written, conceived in the spirit of the conversion. Therefore, in that spirit also, you should yourself, in that atmosphere, you should live. If you leave it, then the monastic life becomes a burden. It becomes a prison, you know, and it becomes something that absolutely stifles you.

[31:09]

But if you conceive it, if you understand it, that whole thing that is put up there, also, for example, the whole Codex, you know, the penal code of the rule of St. Benedict, if you understand it in this way, then, of course, it becomes to you a liberation. In that way it really makes you mature, but mature in the Holy Spirit. Not mature simply on the line of simply and only of human development, human responsibility or things like that. But in the inner, conversion, moral, undertaken together with our Lord in that same Spirit in which He set His face towards Jerusalem, as we had in this Sunday, then naturally also this conversion forum is a thing that leads you into the fullness of charity and it leads you into the fullness of God's glory it ends in the resurrection it has even the power and glory of the resurrection already in it while you are practicing it and I am sure you know that just we, I think you know all the graces

[32:34]

that God has given us. For example, just yesterday night we had this nice celebration of the psychology of man, you know, before goes through the narrow gate of the monastic life, which of course Holy Mother Church calls Paradisi Corte, the entrance gate to paradise, it's what converts you more or less. Then, you see, it is something, you know, which manifests, you know, and which brings in a kind of a happy way for us, you know, it brings to our understanding and to our living experience the fact that while we are living this life as it belongs, you know, in this conversion mode, while we are living with all the restrictions

[33:37]

which this life also puts upon us, lo and behold, something interiorly is growing in our hearts, fraternal charity. It is there that inner joy that we have in one another and with one another, And that then is manifested here and there, in a way, you know, as for example, yesterday we did it, and everybody, you know, feels to my mind, not only that one has a kind of pleasant time, you know, I think that would, for us as monks, you know now, what means the pleasant time. As monks it's a sign, it's a sign of the sweetness and goodness and also the human, let us say, the beauty of that fraternal love which rises, which is formed slowly by this life of conversion.

[34:39]

and therefore also during this Lenten season. Always keep that in mind, that if in the spirit of conversion morum, people have to undertake and take upon themselves certain restrictions, that is only for us to deepen the inner receptivity in our souls for the Holy Spirit, that one precious pearl that the risen Christ then on Easter morning gives into our hearts. Peace be to you and He brings the problem. And that is what we are looking forward to. And I think the living experience of our life shows that it's true. That is the way it is. If we would locally live here simply and only as a kind of a country club, you know, then the thing like yesterday, you see, would be an experience that should be repeated today, and if not, you know, it's just a game.

[35:44]

And then, after a while, everybody gets sick and tired of it. And everybody would say, I'm absolutely fed up with all this. And I go, it's really true, it's absolutely true. Only that confidential world and the discipline that is involved in that keeps us internally, keeps the inner sources of the Holy Spirit so that they lift us up. That is also in all, I could see that in the various works that you undertake during this Lenten season. I would like to emphasize just a few things. One is the the question, you know, that we have, one can say, we have kind of experimented with, you know, in this year.

[36:54]

Well, I would call it certainly more than an experiment. It is an experience, you know, and that concerns the mutual relation of the brothers with one another. we have given deliberately more possibility for that, you know. And why do we do it, you know? We do it, we have done it, you know, because we think, you know, that in a group like ours, where we, let's say, where the general inner goodwill, you know, is there to come closer to Christ and to live a life in Christ really. And where that general tendency is really kind of, I think we can say that without exaggeration, is kind of firmly established. And that in such a group, you know, it is good then, especially if that group is ours, it's not so big, you know, it doesn't have the kind of institutional character, but more family character, that it is good, you know, for the inner expansion of the soul, you know, for that, let us say, more intensive taste of the good things of the Lord.

[38:19]

do give a certain room, you know, so true personal contact between the members of the monastic family. And now, as you know, in those things that are always, you know, there's always, and we knew that right from the beginning, it's very difficult then to establish in these things always, let us say, the right and balanced nature. One always risks, you know, let us say, one takes the risk, you know, that these things here and there, become a little exaggerated. That's simply one of the tendencies of our nature. There is a certain chaotic nature there, but in us. Now there are always, as I tell you, there are always two ways of dealing with it, you know, either make a norm and stick to it, boom, period. That's it. Or there is something, you see, in which you say, now here, let us, you know, do this thing and approach the individual cases and give them a certain, let us say, possibility to breathe, you know, and for expansion.

[39:31]

If that is then done, one can't say, yes, now here, there, this and this and this, you know, and too much time is wasted and so on. Now, there might be, then one is always then in danger to say, Now this whole thing, you know, so and so, you know, they have to abuse it, they use too much time, so it's no good. Let us go back, you know, to where we started, you know. That would be a pity, you see. And to my mind, it wouldn't be good, you know, for the development, you know, of the community. But it would be good, you know. in this lengthy period that we are going through now, you see, really, first of all, to reduce, you see, the number, let us say, and also the time, you know, of contacts. Once a week? Fine, you see. Three quarters of an hour, you see. And so, something like that. I wouldn't say that now. Everybody wants to get around, you know, not for now, could be 50 minutes or something like that.

[40:35]

So, on that line, you see, I would say, you see, in hours. In that line. So, to reduce that, not in order, you see, to say, oh my, now it's all out and so on, you see, but in order to put that all as a community and every member into the spirit of the Converso Mo. impossible. We can even, I would, for example, absolutely not be so unhappy. For example, I know the community, you know, at the start, of course, one, you know, has a kind of a little more friendly relation to this one, then comes another one about another relation, and then finally somebody winds up at five or six or seven, you know, of this kind of relation, and then, you know, there's a little too much maybe of it.

[41:39]

I would say, you know, that one could, for example, also just use the Lenten season to, by one, maybe reduces a little the contact with those to whom one feels close, you know. it deliberately to extend the range and maybe to take and to turn towards somebody, you see, and that also again may be the advice of the superior, to turn to somebody to whom from it would be a great inner boost and a great, let us say, an inner encouragement and an inner opening, an inner blossoming. And in that way to use, you know, let us say, what is there may be restricted in one direction or maybe let it grow in another direction.

[42:45]

And in that way, as we have always understood this kind of thing, you see, that it would not interfere with, but that it should spread, you know, into the whole of the community. And I think I'm personally not disappointed with the results of that policy at all. But I think it would be good, you know, during this Lenten season to think a little in that direction. I just indicate that. It's another thing that I wanted to bring up, you know, just because it was a call to my attention, you see, in this, to help, you know, because we, in these last days, for example, you could see that my grandfather John, probably Elias and so on, have given much time, for example, to tackle this whole situation with the tools, you know, that so often, you know, tools are lost or they are reused for the wrong purposes.

[43:53]

in that way, the ruin, you know, that we have cars, you know, that have to be taken care of, all these things, and Father Augustine, as a seller, you know, has done and tackled this problem too, and we have put a new order there into the tool shop downstairs, and a little Notice, you know, they also put at some place for publication concerning it that people should cooperate, you know, in conserve and preserve, be careful with the Vasasaka monastery. observe the rules, you know, that are formulated, for example, concerning the tools down here at St. Peter's Seller tool shop, and to give full, in that way, cooperation, also part of the conversio.

[45:03]

you know, what a tremendous temptation it is, you know, for the monk, you know, to kind of go ahead, you know, use this, use that, always with the feeling that he is not the one who has to pay for it, I mean, not explicitly, but maybe implicitly, subconsciously, you know, and so on. But a thing that causes much sometimes disappointment, annoyance and really the poverty, you know, that we are striving after is also part of this whole conversio problem that we were speaking of. So I would ask all to cooperate generously and readily with any rules that are going to be made known to the community about this case, about this situation. And then we have the We have made suggestions and...

[46:22]

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Allahumma wa ta'ala al-muhammadan [...]

[48:13]

God is in your way, and your spirit will make him through. You are the shepherd of the Lord. Therefore, help one another, be kind to one another. Warn the other, and have mercy on one another. For those who are in the way of the Lord, have mercy on them. I am not a Muslim, I am not a Christian. [...] Lord, take away the sins of the world, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

[49:15]

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. O our Lord, grant us the strength to stand up to You. Grant us the strength to stand up to You. O our Lord, grant [...] us the strength to stand up to You. My friends, I never expected to meet you here in Bournemouth. We're all very certain we can come. Maybe it's all I can do, but I've got to go through. May I offer you this love that's dearer to my heart.

[50:16]

May I offer you this bit of courage that's been gone for as long as I've been in this world. May I trust that you'll treat me like your own. There is God, the Lord, with most exalted honor. He reigns over the earth and the heavens, and over all [...] the earth and There is a time in the future when we are not going to be able to walk again. We are going to have to get up and walk again. We are going to have to get up and walk again. What can make us more confident than all of what you have to offer?

[51:33]

If it were so that we could be confident in the gift of grace and love, we'd be so filled with the fullness of what God's love has given us. Aum.

[51:54]

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