the meaning of the spiritual meaning of the desert. In this sentence, it's the place of testing. The test is whether Man can withdraw from his habitual desires and interests sufficiently to meet God on God's terms. That is the meaning of the desert. Man can withdraw from his habitual desires and interests sufficiently to meet God on God's terms. Let us maybe just consider a little the idea of temptation.

[01:13]

There is a kind of a, let us say, popular notion that if we speak about temptation in some days, then we always connect with that word, the solicitation to sin. The tempter, something is tempting me, is solicitation to sin. The example would be the way in which, maybe not quite, but in which, in paradise, the serpent, the tempter, you know, the tempter, as you see right away, patience, plays an important role in Holy Scripture and goes from the first page to the last. the first page, where the tempter appears to eat.

[02:21]

Then at the end, the apocalypse comes again, but on a different level, because we have kept the word of my patience. I also stole the words of the Lord. Now also we keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come on all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Now, there is that in that first, in the beginning of Genesis, there is that the solicitation, or the showing, and it's this height, you know, and Eve looks at the apple tree, looks twice, and the more and more she looks, you know, the better it looks. And so, you know, it slowly comes in, you know, it enters into her, that is,

[03:32]

in this beautiful homily that, of course, fortunately, I'm holding a small piece of it today at Bridges, but in the whole homily of St. Gregory on this gospel, on today, which he held on the 1st of September, there he speaks about temptation, and he announces this, so it consists of three elements, suggestion, Solicitation, consent. Suggestio, solicitatio, consensus. That is the process of temptation. You see, that is the St. Gregory's who often is already a salvatorensia, a representative, you know, I wouldn't say exactly of the two worlds you were there, but it is already, you know, it is the opening of the Middle Ages.

[04:34]

And so he takes that word, temptation, as a psychological sense, as the suggestion from the outside, and there is, of course, the solicitatio, the delight from the inside, and the consensus. So, in that way, it's a psychological process. But of course, if we look at temptation in the context of the economy of salvation and the way in which temptation is used there in the Old Testament, then, of course, He comes to a different, but essentially different, but to a different approach. Temptation also has temptatio, of course, in German it says versuchung.

[05:38]

Versuchung. the word the same as comes down to trial trial and pursue of course the German language trial is I pursue I try out something Then we have the trial in the sense of testing, the war of testing. And that's a good word because it puts the whole concept into its context, the context of God's loving plans.

[06:41]

A trial in the Old Testament is a grace. It's a grace. It is part of that loving providence with which God, the God of Israel, educates, brings his people to maturity. Or, as we saw it this afternoon, I think this morning, too, the temptation, I mean, in chapter 8, you know, Deuteronomy, it's there to see, to prove, to test what is in your heart. To test what is in your heart. It means to, in some way, to awaken or to deepen the presence of God in our hearts, the power of God, the virtue of God in our hearts.

[07:49]

You will be proved to, in the desert, to test what is in your heart if you are ready to observe his commandments. You see, then you have the whole idea of what Father McKenzie seems to me refers to. The desert is a trial. It's a trial. Therefore, it's in that way for the... For the chosen people, for God's chosen son, it is an instrument of education. And to test what is in your heart. Namely, are you ready to observe the commandments? Therefore, to test if one is... eager to meet God on God's terms.

[08:55]

Meet God on God's terms, not on one's own terms. That, of course, is the difficulty if people, a nation, or a person swims easily on the ocean. of life and he finds himself carried nicely by the waves of comfort and of success and the world in history is a wonderful mirror of his own will and of his own desires. Then, of course, no test can come about. The testing can only come about when it goes against him. And that's, of course, the desert. That's what we heard this noon, you know, about that, the harshness of the desert, the desert's forces into absolute sincerity.

[10:01]

And, of course, only those who can survive, you know, who really, I mean, with determination, meet the desert in the one way in which it only can be met. So the testing, are we ready to meet God on his own terms? That also has the meaning of temptation. Temptation, therefore, is a way to get man out of himself. while the comforts may leave him in himself. They usually do. And in that way, of course, modify him, and do not prevent him, darlings, to meet God on his terms. That is to say, what we call sometimes the bourgeois piety, you know, that's what we sometimes ridicule a little,

[11:05]

The Bolshevik concept of God in the 19th century, see, God is for aren't, you know, the God who let grow iron, you know, in the German soil so that the Germans may make swords and cut off the heads of other people. So, of course, God gave this iron to the Germans, so these swords are God's swords, you know, and our heads are God's heads, and the other heads are idol heads. Wonderful identity, you know. God meeting us on our patriotic terms, you see. And that's the danger, you see, there. And that is what the desert is against. Therefore, the real temptation, I mean, that temptation which proposes man to meet God on God's terms, that, of course, is a grace.

[12:12]

It leads him into the freedom of God's realm. And therefore, In the Psalms, you always find the real mirror of all these basic terms of the divine economy, and there also the whole concept of trial, temptation, plays a central role. The Lord tries, that's a very important word from Psalm 10, The Lord tries or tempts the righteous, but the wicked soul he hates. That of course shows you in that way trial, temptation is here a means in the hands of God. to test what is in the heart. Are we ready?

[13:12]

Do we have that love of God which is ready to meet God on God's terms? Or Psalm 138, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. Psalm 68. O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard. For you, O God, have test-approved us, and you have tried us as silver is tried. So that is therefore, the trial is a way, a means in the hands of, as again the chapter 8 of the book of Deuteronomy says so, so well it is a means in the hands of God who educates his son.

[14:13]

So, in that way, temptation should be seen also by us in this context. And then, of course, there is then an important consideration And that is, I don't know if I'm able to interpret it right at the moment, but we ask in the Our Father, in that eschatological prayer, the Our Father, we, of course, we as community, we as church, We asked, do not lead us into temptation. Do not lead us into temptation. Don't bring us into temptation. You see there, you can see there right away that there is a different concept of temptation.

[15:19]

Temptation may be, if you take it as solicitation, you know, then it is an appeal to man's lower evil instincts from the outside. However, here lead us into temptation, which is, of course, temptation is not something that, first of all, happens in us, a process, but temptation is a situation. It is something into which we come. in which we find ourselves. And therefore, Oris Katcha always speaks in that context of the hour of temptation. The hour of temptation. And this hour of temptation, that is, does not lead us into temptation.

[16:20]

This hour of temptation is, then, in the apocalypse, has an eschatological meaning, and it is that last crisis, that last catastrophe, cosmic catastrophe, because before a witch, and we asked, you know, that the church, the church here on earth, may not be led into that temptation. Why? Because we are, as ecclesia, as church, we are sanctified. We are in the new Ion. We are already through the sacramental life. of the church and also through the graces, the spiritual life, our incorporation into the risen Savior. We are, for that matter, as a church, as a community, beyond that temptation. It seems to me that that is kind of alluded to in this sentence there of the Apocalypse, because you have kept the word of my patience.

[17:31]

Now, the word of the Lord's patience, that seems to me is really, I mean, I can't prove that. It's just a kind of, take that as an infallible pronouncement of tremendous scholarship. Because you have kept the word of my patience. The word of my patience are the suffering, the death of Christ, you know, and his resurrection. And that word of patience, that is, of course, is the Holy Eucharist. In and through the Holy Eucharist, we are placed into the end. We are, as we have that beautiful word, Mavanatha, O Lord, come. And he says, yes, I come. The Holy Eucharist carries us beyond the hour of temptation. carries us already into that peace, the Easter peace, or the church's peace already here on earth.

[18:36]

So he says, because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world. to try them that dwell upon the earth. I shall keep you from that hour of temptation. And it seems to me that in this prayer of the Our Father, that idea is alluded to at Nenos in Dukas Intentatione. Nos, that means as a community. As Ecclesia. Ecclesia is the bride of Christ. She has been redeemed by his blood and we have, as it's so beautiful also said in the Gospel of St. Luke, where our Lord addresses the apostles, his intimate circle, you are they that have continued or that have held out with me in my temptations.

[19:44]

You are they that have held out with me in my temptations. Because we have a high priest who was, in our points, tempted like as we are. and in him and with him we are being tempted. So, in that way, our temptation is the cross. It is the beata passio, blessing, suffering of the Lord, sacramentally reenacted by the Church. So, in that, now, if we go back, literally, to the scene in the desert, where our laws are still naturally, and it is true, in my mind one should look at temptation. I mean, in this also temptation as we understand it. But I would say, by the way, don't by any means understand by temptation only the temptations of the flesh.

[20:52]

either Gula or Floricatio or so on. Don't limit it to that. That is because that immediately, if you do that, the whole concept takes on a merely kind of psychological form. But temptation is something bigger. The greatest temptation is, of course, anything that is directed against our drive. That is the way I understand, for example, the enormous importance of the opprobria, of the trials, opprobria, for the temptation, that means for the testing of the novice. Test the spirits if they are of God. That is, of course, the wheel. That's the big theological meaning of temptation. There is also the importance of that concept, for example, for anybody who enters into the monastic life.

[22:01]

Test the spirits if they are of God. And the way in which, to say, the most critical way in which they are tempted are the appropriate. Therefore, also, the importance of that in a monastic life. Again, for us, the great danger that we don't practically don't have it. It's a thing that constantly really should fill us with great apprehension and make also... The young ones eager for appropriate, eager for appropriate, because that shows that they really have that, what is in their heart, or as St. Benedict says, if they're truly seeking God. So therefore, let us keep that idea of the temptation as the temptations of the flesh.

[23:06]

It has put that into its place. There is only a part and a small part and not the most important part of the entire vast, more bigger field of temptation and purpose. of temptation. But if we look at, just come back, you know, to the story of the temptation of our Lord, then we see there, as I tried to explain before, the temptation takes place after the baptism, after the baptism, after the promulgation, you know, this is my beloved Son, and in him I am well pleased. And heavens are open. So as a whole, a whole, one can say, a very anticipation of the Lord's transfiguration, of the Lord's glorification.

[24:08]

That's it. Asset. Gets out of the Jordan. And there it is. And then the Spirit, the Spirit then leads them into the desert. In the place, the place of temptation. And then there he is fasting. Fasting for 40 days. And then, after those 40 days, the end of the 40 days, then he becomes hungry. He is hungry. Now, that is, and then the devil. So then, it's very important for the temptation, the way in which it also plays a role in our life. We have been baptized. We have seen the heavens open. We have been called, this is my beloved Son.

[25:12]

We have received the name of our Son. And the Spirit has carried us into the monastery, into the desert. and then 40 days of fasting. What kind of fasting? That is a fasting which is done in the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit. It is, one can say, a kind of ecstasy. Simply, the Spirit takes over, and in that way, the bodily desires are suspended, as it were. are taken up, filled, fulfilled by the Spirit, suspended, let us say. That's really the way. And that is, of course, something that takes place in more or in greater or lesser degrees in everyone. In everyone. There is the love of God really coming up in the soul

[26:17]

taking possession of the heart of man. And that way leads him, for example, to a joyful, cheerful carrying of the burden of virginity. Cheerful carrying of the burden of virginity. That is, in some way, is in affinity with the state of spare. Hunger is not there. That means that bodily functions in some way are suspended, and the spirit does that also. The supernatural love of God is able, certainly after the resurrection, and after the great temptation of our Lord, is able to fill us to such a degree, and in some way we are simply free from, dispensed from the urges of our lower self.

[27:21]

So in many other ways, for example, the zeal for the Word of God, The zeal for studies can, for example, make our heart completely insensitive to avarice. I mean avarice in a specific sense. Two senses to avarice, a more comprehensive sense and a more specific sense. In a specific sense, a man who loves books, you know, and speculates like Joseph Gravely, which was an exception for Maltz, these philosophers are not interested in Maltz. But, you see, they are. Why? Because they're fans of Trump. takes their own attention and makes them perfectly happy.

[28:24]

So in that way, you see, one is not interested in attention. And here the situation is different, and that has to be understood. The temptation, the tentacles, at the moment in which this suspension ceases, is withdrawn. Now the Lord certainly begins to realize that the hunger, the flesh cries, you know, has its own claims. But that is then the moment. Then the temple comes, and then he says, now here, and those stones, they really, I mean, I don't know what kind of stones they are called, you know, but

[29:33]

They look, you know, too like breads, and I don't know in what, you know, or how the tempter appeared, you know. It's, you know, it could be that, you see, now he needs to put in that. He has proposed stones, and it looks already exactly like a loaf of bread. Nothing more easy for you. You are son of God. This is just a repetition of what has been promulgated at baptism. You are son of God. You can change this here. They say to bread, and the situation is fine. And then our Lord answers, the man lives for every love word. It's again a kind of, I mean, it's a white word. translation, but from every instruction, from every direction that comes from the mouth of God, from any institution, institutio, the Latin says, from every institution that comes from the mouth of God.

[30:46]

And so he therefore puts that, you know, under the obedience. To do the will of the Father is my food. That is what our Lord says in the Gospel of St. John. To do the will of the Father is my fruit. The obedience is my fruit. The temptation, therefore, is answered in this way, in this absolutely right way, the reliance, the loyalty to the Father. And that is, of course, what the temptation wants to bring out. wants to see what is in the heart. In the heart is then loyalty to the Father. The real attitude of the son. The real attitude of the son. That is something, you know, which we have to think about.

[31:48]

Because that's the situation constantly that we meet. We are, for example, there comes, we are carried, you know, for weeks and months, we are carried with enthusiasm and love for the divine office. Or we begin the study of Holy Scripture, and we are all taken up by it. Wonderful it is, all the possibilities that open up, you know, and one is completely taken up. And one is carried, one is carried by this enthusiasm. But one should not think, you know, that this being carried by this enthusiasm is already it, and that it has to stay that way all the time. We are not made that way. We are pilgrims, we are pilgrims on this earth. We have therefore to be tried in the desert.

[32:51]

And the desert sets in at the moment in which this delight that we had in the things of God ceases. And that ceases. Then one should by no means say, no, this is the end. No. But one should realize this is now the hour of opportunity. I wouldn't even call it hour of temptation. I would call it hour of opportunity. That's what it really is. In a household of God, that's what it is. The hour of opportunity. Everyone should immediately then do, of course, as the Lord does, in that complete answer, as a son. And stand firm on that walk upon sonship and that love of the son for the father. So therefore, that happens in all various forms.

[33:55]

Of course, every form in which it happens has again its own urgency, its own evidence, and it's a challenge to the natural mind to make the wrong judgment. Or it's a common observation that monks, when they enter in their forties, should enter a new novitiate. Now, I would say novitiate is a monastic life, something like travelling through the desert till the certain profession opens the gates of paradise. Else the forties, in his forties, he should start a second novitiate. Why? Because usually in the 40s the first enthusiasm ceases. Man finds himself closer to his own reality. We call it maturing.

[34:56]

And that's why he takes himself for important. And of course he is always in that situation disenchanted. The disenchantment is a way of meeting oneself. And then you see, there comes a big decision. Because then the Templars will say, now you have grown, now you are really a man, now you should leave, you know, what is the child's business. and you should really enter into the house. And therefore, you know, should take the reins of your life into your own hands, or something like that. In all various forms, you know, it appears to men, and one should be able to discern this situation.

[35:58]

If one then takes oneself too seriously, Then, of course, one falls into that mistake, basic mistake, that one loves God, yes. But, of course, I love Him on my own terms, especially when I'm 40. I don't, because then my own terms are clearly formulated. Before that, when I entered the monastery, my terms were not formulated, unfortunately. But now they are formulated. We love God on my terms. That is the tremendous decision there. That is a very important thing. All those, you know, who go through the whole lionastic life, you know, take the words, you know, of an older man, you know, don't be surprised if these things happen. Don't think that that is the end of it, you know. Don't think, you know, that this crisis has this challenge, has to end in a no.

[37:06]

But remember, this is now the temptation. That means this is the opportunity. Now God is testing you. Are you really ready to love Him on His, God's own terms? I haven't. Such exorbitant acumen with us, that I would like to present except benedict. Come on, let's do it.

[38:08]

Very poor leftist. So when we have Father Benedict's feast day, where is he? We congratulate you, you know, to give you the tax today, too. And Father Augustine is there, celebrating his anniversary on this day, but we haven't had any opportunity yet to give us a little report. Maybe you'll group me down tonight, you know. We're in New York. We'll make you many good rafts, you know. We'll make you many good rafts. Father Augustine, you know, too, comes home from it, so we can do that, maybe tonight.

[39:20]

This afternoon, perhaps, we are invited to a little visit, feast day visit to St. Gertrude's. It's great to understand that. I also wanted to greet Mr. Burgess, you know, here. It's such a great joy to have you with us during these days. And I hope that you were... I'm not too disappointed in coming here to the sticks, you know, from a city like Chicago.

[40:27]

It's quite a pleasure to come here. It's quite a pleasure to come here. I have learned much being with you. I'm glad. I certainly want you to know that we appreciate so much that you took the time and the labor, you know, to come here to take part in this first little meeting that we had, you know. We hope that there might be further developments later on, you know, in that field. Father Abbot, you should give us a little... Thank you, Father. All right. I do count prayers. beloved brothers in Christ. It's a very great privilege to be with you today on this great feast. As I mentioned last night, I knocked at your door because it's been 30 years since I have missed being at home on this day.

[41:35]

So I felt that I should go someplace where I could be with brothers and also seek some very special inspiration. It was my prayer and hope that Father Pryor would not ask me to speak, rather that he would speak and inspire me, as he did when I was a student at Notre Dame. He often gave a little homily at the Mass on those occasions, and it used to inspire me greatly. I came to you after almost three weeks, over three weeks, being more or less the sounding board for members of our Benedictine American Cassinese congregation as one of the visitators. And during this time, I have learned that many monks in many monasteries desire very much to reevaluate

[42:37]

are to re-examine the nature of our apostolate, which has become to a great extent educational and parish work, and which has made it quite impossible to live the monastic ideals as you so beautifully demonstrate, even in a modified form. For that reason, I have been a bit confused as I sat through these visitations and therefore I needed to come to such a place. St. Paul says it seems to me that if the trumpet sounds an uncertain note that who will rise to battle It seems to me that you monks here at Mount Xavier have sounded a note, a trumpet note, which has no uncertainty. It's very clear, very distinct, and it has been heard way down in Alabama.

[43:42]

I think that you're... demonstrating to us that the victims got throughout these states a very beautiful form of a principle of monastic life so it's a real inspiration to be with you not only on this feast day but just to be with you and you can i can understand that by our father gregory told me that I owed it to our community as well as to myself to spend some time here with you. As I see this Benedictine vocation, we are living in a period of migration again, very much worse than the period of our Holy Father St. Benedict.

[44:43]

The hordes, the vandals, the tribal groups were on the move in those days, and he stabilized things by calling a halt, by stopping the tribes, and by even stopping the roving monks. In this day and time, our world is so set into motion that I don't think anything will be accomplished by stopping anything. But we need to know that there are places like this where there is a particular group and a particular time doing what needs to be done, day after day, living the vow, the beautiful spirit of humility and obedience and privation. in such a way that they can be very close to the union with God through their divine service through their dedication to the love and service of God and that just for us out in this turmoil in this move to know that there is such a place as this where we might stop once in a while might return from time to time it might

[46:11]

be rejuvenated is a tremendous help to society. And I think that our Benedictine groups must begin to imitate your example if we are to fulfill our mission to this 20th century. It was a time when the educational program, the missionary program, was probably necessary. Now other groups have taken over those things, and so we've got to concentrate more on these ideals that you've placed before us. I want to encourage you and to congratulate you on the work that you are doing and urge you to continue to set this beautiful example for us. that we might receive the grace and the strength to imitate you in your presentation of the principles of our Holy Father, St. Benedict. I don't know what else I might say at this time other than to thank you for the remembrance of myself at Mass and the remembrance of our Trinity and the special notation you gave to that during Mass.

[47:24]

And also to assure you that this morning I said, man, it's not just for our own community at home, but also for your community, that the spirit of our Holy Father, St. Benedict, might prosper and grow and earn it. Thank you. That would be a conclusion to this feast. God speaks in different ways to these positions. Age is one thing that we should keep in mind, otherwise we all realise that this is a feast which deeply really goes into

[48:25]

roots of our own existence as mums, as individuals, as well as a community. This Feast of the Incarnation through Mary the Virgin who became mother through her faith, that loving faith that she had in the very depth of her heart. That is the basic condition for all, the possibility of an exchange, really the commercial reveal between heaven and earth. No exchange if this inner humility and openness and patience and love tension and also that subjection of the whole will to an inscrutable design, a design that simply transcends all understanding.

[49:41]

That is not there, and the exchange cannot be, it never takes place. That is, of course, also in a cumulative brothers meet one another, it has to be done in the spirit of this feast, the Annunciation. Any kind of talking together should be done in this way. The power from all on high cannot be there, cannot overshadow it, be the Shekinah presence. guard if this is not at mutual trust and openness and humility isn't there one meets the other other with his own terms and makes it clear that that is his whole intent to kind of serve as a steam roller, you know, to push the other one into his own position, then that is not the spirit of pronunciation, it's not the spirit in which, in a world of faith, we can live together.

[51:02]

It's just not. It kills love. kills understanding, it builds up barriers, and in the end it only meets, in every direction in which it wants to turn, it meets barriers, dead-end roads. It just cannot succeed. So let us, therefore, I say that also with view to this coming encounter there in Boston, we, the whole community, should really keep that and take it into your hearts and hold it up to God and pray that it is done in that spirit of this feast. If that is the inner disposition that animates those who take part in it, then the Virtus Altissimi

[52:04]

will be present and will be able to work miracles that we ourselves would not dare to believe, but still it will happen. The world will again become flesh in a new dimension, greater depth. What a tremendous thing it would be if all these centuries of fighting one another, of condemning one another, and going even into bloody wars. defend positions if that all may be in God's wonderful providence may end in a deeper common understanding on a deeper level than has ever been before been achieved in history we know that the this whole process of the world becoming flesh is not ended with Mary

[53:20]

is continued through the centuries in the church. And there is no doubt, if we look at the history of the church, that there simply have been general climates, circumstances, political circumstances, and therefore also circumstances which affect the general thinking of an age, which have prevented to this message and this gift of the Word, the Son of God, take flesh in the minds of men. That's a green in that way which really corresponds to the intention of our Heavenly Father's heart. Intolerance, the inner... satisfaction that man is always inclined to have if he can formulate things, you know, on the sharp edge of a sword, you know, and then can kind of use it as a weapon, as Carlo Martini said some times ago, use the truth as a club, you know, to hit where everybody else is hit, you know, with the

[54:52]

And that, of course, is the attitude which has done enormous harm. And it contradicts this whole spirit of the Annunciation. And therefore, we, as monks, we constitute in the Church just that spirit of the Annunciation. It's the reason when I first came to Bergerdach, then one of the things that... I was told right away as a novice that we, the Benedictines, the monks, were not controversists, you know. It is not in our tradition to engage professionally in theological controversy, because there are people who love the fight, you know. field, any field, a lot of theology, all those kind of play balls for a superior intellect, but that is a terrible danger.

[56:04]

So for the Benedictines really it's true, we never have developed a great system of theological tremendous arm of these, but we have always turned to history, because history, that is the world incarnate, that is the living process. Our Father Albert always took that example of two approaches. If you want to know what is a cherry, you can just take the cherry, pick it from the tree take a knife and cut it in two and see what's in there and then describe it accurately or you take the whole process of the genesis of the cherry and you understand it that way in its inner the inner law of its growth and in that way feel your way as it were into

[57:13]

the very essence of this product, of this fruit. That is the way in which the monks do it. For example, now in these building plans, Discussing these things, the obituary, of course, for us is not just a place to live in or sleep in, but it is the place of the annunciation. That is the very idea which is expressed and also which the architect tries to express in the form of the building. That's the reason why it has a center as its heart, a circle as its heart, so to speak. It's the symbol of that deep inner loving, universal and total receptiveness to the Word of God.

[58:20]

that is the meaning of the theme of the whole building so in all these things we we rejoice you know in that way in our heritage and what we um what god has given us the rule it's another wonderful way and written by a man who uh although he considers boys, you know, with a certain, what do you say, realistic attitude. He doesn't make angels, but he doesn't expect them to be angels. That's obviously a consoling thing. Even boys who come at oblati, you know, to the monastery with a tremendous, you know, being there, you know, the good boy, you know, still they have the devil in them too, and that devil can only be met, you know, with whipping.

[59:26]

There's in the church, of course, too, there's the exorcism, and that's about the opposite to the Annunciation. That's of course true. One cannot, in every direction, one cannot turn with an attitude of the Annunciation there where the devil is talking. That was Eve's big fault. That is why we have a cloister where we listen in the spirit of the Annunciation. So let us celebrate that feast and let us hope and pray to God, you know, that in the community here of Long Savior that the various members, you know, always live in that spirit. And if we heat up the moment, you know, to call somebody into the periphery of controversy, of agitation, and in return,

[60:29]

to that center that the feast today shows to us. I think this is a holy day. We have come to believe that you live. Never have you gone. You won't get to believe that you will come again. I am also only the wayward person that he has never been enough of. Not only in being it, but partly because also of the fact that it's a sickness. And let me tell you, you waste it. You laugh at it. I would be spoiled if I was not so.

[61:31]

I don't know if we had enough time to put all this in. But, there we are. We're part of it. We believe in the form of Allah, yet we don't know how to do it. But, we're trying to speak. That's not fair enough, you know. Once again, goodbye. But that is the thing, being a man of the moral department, getting through old schism, getting through old war, when you get to a state post, a group, a family, a lady, a clock, a bank, a house, a store, a home, But then I thought to myself, it's a good thing, not too bad. And I spoke to her, and she said, no, that's not a good thing.

[62:37]

She said, no, I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it. And that is the difference between what he wanted to do and what he wanted to do. And that is the difference between what he wanted to do and what he wanted to do. I have to go to work. This year is going to be a new year for me. It's [...] going to be a new year for me.

[63:38]

That was the opportunity for me to be directed towards the same thing. The same thing all the 50 years later. Both of the books write the same stuff now. And they write things more than just the screenplay. They write the routine now. The things they probably, they are, they are beautiful, but they are the things I also believe that I am not. But then comes the difference, and that is the world we live in. That's why I say it's very important for us to understand what I feel, how I feel, a continuity, But to the best of my knowledge, thank you God, I am a distinction.

[64:46]

One element of time is different from the other. I am also part of the human time. It's very out of this team unit. There is distinction with knowledge. Now, there it comes. into the coolness and consciousness of the up-and-coming, of the suddenness, and you will just live on the spot. All the faith be clear. May it be just as I would like it to be done. With God in the group, may all the complete good news It's through the work you've done for this whole world, of humans, of the earth, of the time, for all of us. And you can do it.

[65:47]

And as you can, I'll be proud of you. But as you are, because you are great for the planet. And as much as I'm proud of you, I'm proud of you. And as much as I'm proud of you, and would be great, and would be fantastic. Then green waves happened back there. So if it's a real time, they're trying to pull you up out of it. If they don't have the power to stand in front of you, and you stop watching them, and you stop all to be seen, And the word came to the wake of the Lord. And the gift was given to me. And I obeyed to it, and I went to the exaltation of the Father, and [...] the Father,

[67:00]

This is a great view of heaven and into it. What a great view of heaven. We are going to the time when God went away, and that we are timing, and that we will be filled with peace and freedom. With peace. Death and resurrection are a song. At this time, at this time, they had a lowly couple. The couple lay down on the throne bed. The son recited, he said, there is a man, one great king, but the king told him, he said, that's one great book. When his father read it, he wrote it. The pivotal achievement we have over the history of service on long-term care, as regards the provision of services for the grassroots, was created from simple, but importantly, the vast capacity of the West that is reserved for those who wish.

[68:22]

But in which way can it be reserved for those who wish? That is part of the collection. And that part of the collection is important. And that will always be present. And you should never forget about it. We do that. We have said it all the time. That there is full of life. And full of God's love for us. who looked out for Christians and such, and that was quite perfect. That problem has become a lot. But, the fact is, we've got to treat this declaration as a way to be powerful on the ground, to heal people. The very problem is that that's not the problem already is. That is the way that we believe, that really concern us and gain.

[69:24]

We think that we gain things, but we get also the riches of things. But then, it was made to be our past. We think of all these things that we are celebrating. And we thank them. And we thank God for serving us. The serving of the Lord. The pastor. The pastor of the Lord. And we pray that what we are doing now is really and truly the power of the Easter celebration. For the sake of all of us, Father, And therefore, our need to be in the desert has this pattern. First of all, if you look at the desert gospel, it is really and truly the spirit of the resurrection that leads us into the desert. This goes with the desert, but as far as I know, and therefore on the part of the church, and therefore on the part of the Lord, whatever is going to the desert is defeated,

[70:34]

That belief is not even open. It is very obvious. But we can't lose again. And what is the better tool to take a feeling like that of the world, from being the world's best? And I'm taking on my own. We have a great chapter of control on it. This 8th chapter probably is a holy gospel, but we ought to keep the meaning of it in mind. Why have the Lord made Israel into the dead? Because he wanted Israel to be part of it. He made no part of it. That is imperfection. That would be outstanding theological knowledge. And it is said in the 8th chapter of the Proverbs 3, my dear children, whatever that you may become, that other thing is this that will wake them up over time.

[71:50]

That will be the beautiful work that they've got. They will be started with God. Good Lord, what we are doing. I need that power to do it. I have reached the point where it would pass better. If it was the right of the world to stop, it would have been better off to do it. God on this earth, and God on the earth, and through the world's plan, and fear of the world to come. In the name of the Lord, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. And I just want to make sure you read this text.

[72:52]

It ain't that big of a mess. But the problem you see is that the hour becomes two hours in our face. Our brilliant capacity for reading. The brilliant capacity that we know not how to face this way. That we know not what to say. to submit to the government. If our country's voice cannot reach the people of the West, it's our dream to have this part that we do not have. Otherwise, we use our mission to take work and work and work, and use all of the extra information that we do not know. and sanctify the Lord for us. Your gospel of command makes us first perfected, makes us perfected. Who perfects?

[73:54]

That is our God, that is God. It has already been done. The Lord, like you, the power and strength in all things changed, This doesn't mean you're great. Whatever that means, the author knows that David Williams was a good writer. This doesn't mean you're great. You will be all right. And that is, I would say, an author in the context of the Bible. That is, let me make it perfect. Great things make fine men. The word is the proof of its very existence. The word is the most effective thing that we, the complete world, have prepared for itself by keeping the word to itself throughout life.

[74:59]

And therefore, I think that the word was kept by the Father, the Father. But Maitreya said, well, you know, for him, if you magnify this, what is not this complete world, come from the way of death, give. Therefore, freely, with the touch of the wrist of the devil, the offer to the other, whispered, with the approach of God. And we could listen to God. So we had to take a deep-heartedly place in which to say He was in the middle of everything. What? I am God. [...] So then we met God. And it was God who made me.

[76:04]

And I did. Propose to Jesus. They tried to put down the devil's good-natured head, but it was not successful. The little girl said to the man in the bed, My dear, I have a few things to tell you about my uncle. There are rather little things to worry about. And then the uncle of the dog, the man of the tree, got away, What a good word that would see me come out of the door. That word could cross rocks with me. That word could cross life. That word could cross stuff. The one that I want, that we may want, I want. They took back even the bridge, the power, and the bridge of the Holy Spirit.

[77:06]

They took back even the bridge, the power, and the bridge of the Holy Spirit. They took back even the bridge, the power, and the bridge of the Holy Spirit. They took back even the bridge of the Holy Spirit. The old truth could be the hand of God one day, and the genius of the new world, and could be out of our eyes the temptation that we need to stop. We're going to stop with the sound of Instead of probably doing something about our policy as a group, for example, maybe take us to the farm and the store, we will talk with them. This whole recovery may be very powerful.

[78:11]

And I believe that our first natural path, and our first growing path, can be This morning refers to that 8th chapter of Deuteronomy taking the scriptures to look at it again. That is said in chapter 8 of Deuteronomy. It's the one that we read as the first reading on Friday evening.

[79:12]

And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to make you poor, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, where thou wouldst keep his commandments or not. And he made you poor, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with money, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know. That he might make thee know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord does man live. Thy raiment then waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swill these forty years.

[80:20]

Thou shalt also consider in thine heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord thy God chastens thee. The word is always translated to the river picture. And as a man educates, educates, raises, forms his son, so the Lord thy God forms thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to feed him. For the Lord thy God brings thee into a good land, a land of brooks, of water, of fountains, and of deep springs, a land of berries and hills, a land of wheat and barley, rinds and fig trees, and corn granites, a land of oil, olive, and honey. That way thou shalt eat bread without scarceness.

[81:24]

Thou shalt not lack anything in it. And when thou hast eaten an artful, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he has given thee. Beware that thou forget not the laws thy God, in not keeping his commandments, his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day, lest, when thou hast eaten and art full, and who hast built good with houses and dwelt, then, when thy herds and thy flocks are multiplied, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and thy gold and thy gold is multiplied, then thy hearts be lifted up, till thou forgets the Lord thy God which brought before out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, and who fed thee the wilderness with manna.

[82:39]

Thy fathers knew not that he might make you poor, and that he might prove thee to do thee good, that the latter end And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of thine hand hath gotten me all this way. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which we swear unto thy fathers, as it is this day. Now there are many things perhaps we just stay a little with it and let our thoughts, you know, take it all in a little. Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness.

[83:44]

So if one looks at the whole The whole context, you know, then you see right away, of course, this way in the wilderness comes after the people has been redeemed, after the Pascha sacrifice has been offered. Yes, then they have left. Egypt, and they were first brought into this place between the sea and the wilderness, where there was no way out, and where the army of Pharaoh was mightily approaching, and where they all were in extremis. And then the Lord said, now let me do it, and you just keep quiet. And that then opened the Red Sea.

[84:46]

And they went through there. And then they entered the wilderness. And then there were these 40 years of preparation. But of course years of preparation for taking possession of the Holy Land for the rest. Enter into the rest. I must also say that during these 40 years, there was then on Mount Hoved was given the law and the covenant was established. Then what we have here, the way through the wilderness, which is described here, there is a preparation for that giving of the law, for this establishment of the covenant. And all that is important also for our monastic life, because as we have emphasized that so often, and one cannot often enough repeat it, the rule of Saint Benny is conceived as a beginning, it's conceived as a preparation.

[86:04]

I'm not going to say where, you know, in that way. It is for the given, for what we call essentially, I mean, for the Vida Purgativa, for the purification. That is exactly also what the period which is taken and where this way to the wilderness takes place. It's a period of purification. The essential act of redemption where God has led his people out with a With his arm, you know, lifted up. That has taken place. The baptism has taken place. They went through the Red Sea. As they were on the other side, they were in the land of freedom.

[87:06]

They were not slaves anymore. This house of slavery was left. And for that matter, wilderness and the concept of the wilderness is also connected with that of freedom, liberty. He speaks that up until the, up until our days. The life in the desert may be a very hard one, and Father McKenzie describes it in such a drastic, good way. And it's facing death, certainly. But the nomads and the Bedouins, you know, to our days, they are tremendously, exceedingly liberty-loving. And they prefer the desert to these terrible human constructions and these houses where you have to

[88:09]

go this way and that way, and sit down on something, you know, that has been made by God, you know, and so on, and all this kind of thing, and all the furniture, and the apparatus, you know, and the pertinences of her complicated way of living. All that, they just hate it. Why do they hate it? because it's against liberties. It's a tremendous experience of the desert. Yes, it's true, it is a hard life, but no tyrant has ever, for that matter, entered or was able to touch the way of life that these Bedouins have established for themselves. Whoever has been visited a tent of a Bedouin, he knows that tremendous manner of the grand seigneur, the one who is here, who is Lord in his tent and who receives the gift that

[89:27]

Grandeur, a gesture of a free man. liberty or death, one can say. And so the Egypt, of course, is different. There are the witches, and there is the water, and there is the good ground, and there the people just get together, I know, and everything is a thickly populate area, as it says in New England, every corner of the road, you know, thickly populate. Therefore, you know, don't blow the horn or go slow. It's absolutely right. And there is, of course, there is the power. There is the human power.

[90:31]

Everybody, you know, alone, And then comes the mightiest one and he gets everybody to work for him. That's then the end of it. So the slavery is the end of all these riches. But that slavery has never found any entrance into the desert. In that, I would already put, I mean, not that I would dare to correct Father McKenzie, but I would just mention that, you know, as an element, you know, too, that seems to me is very important to understand this desert in the light of what we were talking about this morning, in which, of course, there's always a practical background right away. that this whole preparation, the march through the wilderness, belongs already into the realm of salvation, belongs already into the Sabbath realm.

[91:34]

And it's really the Sabbath glory is shining through Those who enter who have passed through the Red Sea and then enter into the desert. The desert is the atrium. to the promised land. And it's the atrium also in the spiritual events which take place, the spirit that is there on this desert marsh. And the reason why, the spiritual, yeah, the attitude which our Lord, you know, wanted there to, to bring about, you know, in this Geson whom he takes. You can see that, of course, by the way, that as soon as the Ossi, or also Jeremiah, speak about the desert, or Ossi, God takes his own into the desert in order to speak to their heart.

[92:57]

So it is therefore, and that is a note which I, which you of course, which you see also in today's Sunday right away, is that we constantly repeat that, you know, that God has these opinions of his love are extended over us and they overshadow us. And we are the pupil of his eye. And we are therefore the special object of God's love and God's care. And that is right there in the wilderness. Man is free. The slavery and peril and all that suppression, oppression by the powerful ones of this earth, all that are seized. The Israelites can now breathe freely. And naturally then the desert is of course a country that doesn't have anything to offer by itself.

[94:10]

It is therefore not something where you can nicely settle down and build houses. That just isn't possible. But it leads the one who is entering into it, leads him into freedom, but also poverty. And freedom and poverty belong together. That is here, it's so, it's interesting to note that, for example, just that we always keep to Holy Scripture and interpret it in its own way. Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to make you truly poor. The root of the word here is the same that we have in this word, anaph, anaphim, God's poor ones, which is so familiar to us.

[95:12]

To make you poor, the translation here in English is to humble thee. I don't know such a thing, but it's King James. And that is a thing which we should consider now. You see the poverty here. And that again, you know, I think we should understand that because then it gives us that sweetness and that joy which should be in this true spiritual poverty. It's said here, and thou shalt remember all the way which thy Lord, thy God, led thee these forty years in the wilderness. So we should remember it. It's very interesting, I mean, you know that, you know, that there is one feast in the Jewish year, liturgical year, in which this remembrance of the wilderness takes and receives a cult expression, a liturgical expression.

[96:29]

And that is, you know, the Feast of Tabernacles. And the Feast of Tabernacles this year, one can say the poverty of the wilderness is being celebrated. Poverty of the wilderness being celebrated. Because the Feast of Tabernacles is a feast of joy. And as the name indicates, its main symbol are the huts. These huts that in these days stand for seven days, you know, every Jewish housefather builds in remembrance of these days of the wilderness and where then the Jews during these three days take up their boat. And what is the meaning of it? The meaning of it is that

[97:31]

That absolute trust that the poor man has in God, that God is the one who feeds him. Poverty is an act of surrender into the hands of God's law. Therefore, poverty is such, to my mind, is the external expression of faith. It's faith in charity. Poverty is faith and charity. We should remember that, because to understand monastic poverty, some people know that they try, and of course we have to watch that too. I wish, you know, that from year to year, from generation to generation, you always, and I have asked you to do that in former years, you know, that nobody here at Mount Xavier should forget all these days when we were really living here in huts.

[98:40]

Sometimes I look with apprehension at... complexes of new buildings, you know, and discussions what kind of floor we should have, you know, and say there and there, and all these things, and all the technicalities, that is, for a bedroom, a kind of, I would say, not dangerous prisoners, but I mean, a prisoners get somehow against his way, and I think for every monk it's somehow against his way, you know, it's just because Always to remember in our beginnings, you know, that we really, when we came out here, that was going into the wilderness and that was really the act of faith in God's charity.

[99:42]

There's no doubt about it. And I wish that that would always remain very much alive. all the members of the family. That, of course, this act of charity, if you see what they're here, this chapter, you know, makes it clear. The chapter says, God does not redeem you in order to lead you in the wilderness. The whole work of redemption is not for its purpose to leave man the victim of any scarcity. No, the last meaning of redemption is that I want to lead you into a good land. Into a good land. You see, the rest in a good land, that's the goal of it.

[100:44]

But how is that, that rest, you know, how these, all the gifts of the good land, it's so wonderful here, explained in this chapter. And the land where thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it. The land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills thou mayest dig copper. The King of the Furnace of Solomon. That head is right there, you know, right next to it. When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. Then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. So the rest in the good land consists in this, that you bless the Lord for it. Bless the Lord.

[101:48]

The aim and goal of all of it is the Eucharistia. The Eucharistia. One can see how the Christians of old, you know, felt that way. They're playing that again across the Jordan. And that Christ, the risen Savior, is leading them into the promised land. And the day in the Promised Land, as they say it so beautifully in the Acts of the Apostles, they were eating and taking their food in gladness of heart. That's so characteristic for the whole religion, the real religion of the Old and the New Testament. Taking their food in gladness of heart. And so but, see that glance of heart is expressed, real glance of heart is to bless God, to the Eucharist, and then of course what the rich man doesn't do, cannot do.

[103:00]

Therefore, this poverty which is said here in chapter 8, that you remember that, remember that always. And when you are in the good land, remember the poverty of the desert. For what purpose? That this reliance on God, that this faith in his charity may be with you. and that in the good land it may bring forth the beautiful flowers of thanksgiving on the Eucharist year. That's really what the remembrance of the desert should always bring into our hearts. And there you can see that part of the poverty or the crowning of poverty is Thanksgiving, the Eucharist. And that I would again also ask you to this whole thing concerning the poverty has of course, as you know, it has a practical material application.

[104:17]

And that is to live day by day, the life of the monk, under the rule of pachitas. Pachitas. That is the way. That is the way in which the idea of poverty, as far as material things are concerned, are kind of defined by Saint Benedict. If he finally sees that material aspect of poverty fulfilled in the general law of archytasks, by all means get away and avoid surfeiting. That's the general practical application in the material field. That is, that also then implies, you know, all that, you know, these positive, one can say also again, sabbatical thoughts, you know, that whatever is there in the monastery, you use it not as your own property, but as vasa altaris.

[105:35]

That means you use it as ministers of God's altar. not as lords that rule over these things, but as ministers of God, as edict, you know, in that way. It's all part of your ministry, of your abode. And that is, again, you know, it's of course what the poverty leads to. Poverty, for that matter, is part of wherever God establishes his kingdom. there, all the goods that He gives us, they are given into our hands as into our trust. We are the trustees of these goods, you know, that God gives us, but we are not the owners. And therefore, we should never use them either to serviting, that means to over and beyond our needs,

[106:38]

No, we should use them in a spirit of negligence, of neglect, because that is the same as surfeiting, really, you know, it's the same. We use them simply with that kind of inner indifference, you know, here it is, you know, at my disposal, you know, after all. We said before, I don't have to work for it to get it, and I don't have to pay for it to get it, and all these things with these terrible dangers that are always in the monastic life. Or also the whole question of the way of life, the manner of life that we live. That is such a great question, really, and also for our building, that we must live as those who not live in a kind of a palace, but live in a poor way.

[107:42]

They take what is necessary for us and leave the other things. And then, therefore, let's know how difficult it is, you know, really to determine where is the limit, and which in many ways would be good. I would ask also the prayers of the community, because in these days and weeks, you know, we are going to sit together and to... to go through these plants and determine more the details which give the whole atmosphere, you know, the whole spirit to this building. And that we do it really as locks in the spirit of poverty, not always this. All of this may be a little better, you know, to do this for that reason. For that reason, finding numerous reasons for doing things better and better and better.

[108:44]

And before one knows it, one kind of glides, you know, beyond it and into a realm which is not in harmony anymore with the Patrick task, which is the kind of key word for material poverty. And then there is, because much more important, is that kind of spiritual poverty. And this spiritual poverty, you know, here, the text here says, in order to make you poor, and to prove you, and to know what is in thy heart, whether thou wouldst really keep the commandments or not. That is so true, you know, that the monastic life, that here with this proving, I would say that the element of proving is that in our monastic life it is the application, the humiliations, you know, that are the kind of the tests in the monastic life, what we call the opprobria, they are

[109:58]

We will test them. They are, of course, there in order to prove what is in your heart. This is such a wonderful expression because we all know that without testing, we don't know what is in our heart. We don't know what is in our hearts, especially not if we sit, and I don't make exception on myself, you know, sit all day long. We are in books, you know. You don't know what is in your heart. It's not the way to test what is in your heart. It just isn't. But the opprobria, the difficulties of the community life, you know, they bring it out, what really is in your heart. And there, again, one can say that in that whole field, one of the main principles is spiritual poverty.

[110:59]

Spiritual poverty. As soon as a monk gets either kind of blown up with his natural capacities and capabilities, what he's able to do, I reminded you before of this whole chapter that St. Benedict has on the artifices, if there are any in the monastery, so he doesn't take it for granted. And then he says, now, for heaven's sake here, be careful, you know, because there is, of course, the, by the way, there is that horrific tendency, easy there, you know, what is described here in this eighth chapter. I lead you out into this good land, and in that good land there are strings, you know, as much as you want, and there's wheat, and there's oil, and everything.

[112:02]

And then before you know it, what you do, you say, I did all this. You have herds, and you have silver, and you have gold, and riches. First thing is, I did all this, you know, I. That's exactly also possible in the monastery. We can, let us say, cope in some way or find a way of dealing with the material poverty of the monastery and the spiritual poverty we forget. We forget, for example, our natural capacities in their use. especially intellectual capacities, that they are God's gifts, just as the good land has all the sources and the springs in the good land and all the water and the wheat and everything. It's all God's gifts. But we forget it.

[113:03]

It's our personal. We stand. We cut this and this figure, you see. And before we know, we are chasing after our building up our social image and making it richer and richer and richer until we are a sheep, you know, with a turban. There it is. And therefore, this morning, as you know, I'm so very often in these little sermons, things might just get clear while one talks. And there is not always, it would be too easy for those who listen. The thing is there, you know, that tomorrow, this morning, you see, we have that. We point, you know, where the spiritual poverty is really rooted, you know, as to my mind, what we would call, with the general word, epiclesis, you know, epiclesis.

[114:13]

The invoking of the name of the Lord. The invoking of the name of the Lord. Because in this, as you see, that's what I refer to at the end, you know, that says here, you are in this land, why are you there? In order to offer the rakah, in order to bless God. The invocation of the name of the Lord. That is, of course, the first expression of our poverty. The invocation, epikaline. to cry to the Lord. And that is something that we should all, during this Lenten season, we should all practice that. The other day, somebody asked me about it, and I think it was a good question. He said, you see now, we were speaking, for example, about this beautiful prayer of St.

[115:14]

Ephraim, which is such a wonderful crying to God, you know, a real, truly an epiclesis in which we, what do we do? One can say we simply take our poverty and we make a prayer of it. I would even say that that way, that it is poverty which is the root of prayer. And therefore, that's another reason why, when we are in the Promised Land, God wants the Israelites to remember the desert, to remember their poverty, in order to enable them then to bring forth the Eucharist here and to cry to God, as Moses always did. It would be a good Think where you may be in the course of these first two days, Monday and Tuesday.

[116:15]

You're explaining Wednesday we enter into another field, but Monday and Tuesday still. So I will read in your Bible the march of the Israelites through the desert at these various stations there. And then you can see there is always then that there is that calamity in need is there. For example, right after this tremendous liberation, you know, that tremendous liberation out of the hands of the Egyptians and the passing through the Red Sea, three days afterwards, you know, the whole thing at, I forgot now the name, Assaf. where there was no water. They said there was no water here. And then they said, there is something. They all run, it's salt water. Terrible. They really were in arms about the whole thing, you see, that there was water that needed to be, and it was salt water.

[117:25]

And therefore, by the way, criticism would say, oh, we only have salt water. gotten out of Egypt. I told you right from the beginning, this was wrong. We should have stayed on the other side of the Red Sea, on the right side of the Red Sea. We shouldn't have gone through there. All those great things and criticism right away, here's the soul. And then Moses, you know, cries to the Lord. It was that invocation of the name. The name Jahveh is, of course, the name I shall take care of tomorrow. I am there today and I take care of tomorrow. That's me. I am who shall be. And then, you know, take a piece of wood, you know, put it in there. There it is. Everybody was happy, but they didn't exactly know, of course, what that piece of wood meant, you know, that would turn the salt water into sweet water.

[118:36]

Of course, we know it, you know, it is the cross. It's that inner entering into the poverty of Christ. That is, that's into the cross the poverty of Christ. There's the turns the bitter water into sweet water. And again, you can see, you know, that, for example, just a little event like that, you know, tells you, you see, that the desert really already belongs to the new days of the Sabbath day, to the Pascha. It's filled, you know, with the grace and the presence of the love of God, of the... that law which will later then be manifested in Jesus Christ our Lord in his cross. Turns the salt water into sweet water. Everything is fine for about two days.

[119:37]

Then again, you know, it starts on another end. So then that is, you know, all these things just go through it, you know. and see, you know, how it is described. And that is, that's the monastic life, you know, just as it is there. And the spiritual there, I said that, you know, because in all these crises, you know, in all these moments of crisis, there stands Moses, and he is the one who cries to the Lord. Invocare, normandum. of course, the epiclesis. And that is something that we should, that belongs to the Lenten season. And that should be a real constant spiritual exercise for everyone here in the house. Deliberately you're crying to the Lord out of the poverty, the experience of our spiritual poverty.

[120:44]

And this guy, somebody asked me, you know, here and there I have seen one or the other who made a, what we say, a post-kinesis, you know, a prostration or went down on his knuckles, you know, and made that form of prostration. And what is just done here and there. Now, oh, I would like to do it, but I'm then, I think I'm kind of made to kind of a strange figure, you see, because it isn't done usually. I would, you know, just say as a general thing, during the Lenten season. I think it's absolutely in the spirit of the Lenten season if one would not be in any way in one's hearts of manifestations of that inner poverty, that crying to the Lord.

[121:52]

One should not be hindered by any kind of a human respect. Something that comes, really, that's of course what one must always think about. Because, you know, as soon as it is done for ostentation, then of course it is on the pharisaic line, and that is, again, the poverty is lost. Here I am, O Lord, and I make a prostration, and it's too bad, and rather so-and-so never makes it. And it's again gone, you see, spiritually, spiritually. But on the other hand, you know, the one who would like, you know, to make a frustration, for example, he shouldn't say, ooh, now if I do it in one of the senses, you know, and I do it now, I kind of, you know, it looks kind of artificial.

[123:02]

It looks kind of. What it looks or what it doesn't look doesn't make any sense. It must look before God. We do these things before the face of the Lord. And that proskynesis is that experience of the presence of the Lord in our poverty. what it is. And for example, if you continue in these chapters, you know it's Exodus 15 and 16, you know, 17, those chapters there. where the way of the Israelites through the desert is described. After the one calamity with the bitter waters is over, the next one is then there is not enough to eat.

[124:04]

Then the next thing is there is not enough to eat. Moses has to cry again to the Lord because they all say, God, And we only were back at the fresh cuts of Egypt. I told you this would be a tough position. Very doubtful. He survived. So there it was again, the old man in Moses' mind. Then, of course, at the end of this entire story there, which is then answered, you know, by God, as you know, with the manna, the giving of the manna, and I only wanted to call your attention there to just watch for one thing and see how often at the critical points the word daily, every day, you know. that comes up, which is then right away reminds you of the hour.

[125:03]

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