Tragical movement as it is spreading there. And then we want to... Man of my peace, in whom I put my trust. We have at the beginning of this the Euclidean Brethren pointed out the homo pacis who was Jehovah. He was blessed with the divine blessing. As he said, a stranger did not stay without. but my door was open to the travel. It is essential for the man of peace that he becomes a host to those who are pilgrims here on earth.

[01:11]

The monastic hospitality is proverbial, but let us not forget that it is not merely a matter of politeness, of convenience, of rendering some kind of a socially and materially useful service. Not a question of some social need, but it is a matter of theology. Hospitality is a matter of ism. through the monastic life. And that is what I would like to point out to you this morning. We look first at the Old Testament and we realize they have the classical situation of hospitality is the paschal meek.

[02:20]

At this Pascha meal, she celebrated, first took place and then was celebrated, the liberation of the Jews from the Egyptian captivity. In Egypt, the Jews were strangers. And they were strangers under the rule of Cain, who used their position in business to make them slaves. They had no home, and that means they were exploited. They had no home, that means they were not surrounded and carried by love. but they were exploited by the lust for power, selfishness of men.

[03:27]

Then the paschal need is to them the glorious passing over into the hospitality of God. And there is an element which is alive, of course, visible right away, in Holy Scripture, in the Old Testament, the Exodus, but also still in the present celebration of the seder meal in the Jewish camp. The father of the house lifts up the seder plate on which the matzohs are placed, the unleavened bread, And he says, this is the bread of exile, which our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. Everyone who is hungry, he may come and eat.

[04:33]

Everyone who is in need, he may come and celebrate the Pascha with us. that are the solemn words of the Jewish house father at the Seder meal when he breaks the bread. So the Seder meal is always connected, cannot be separated from the idea of hospitality. The one who has himself experienced the fate of the stranger and who has been taken into God's home and there receives the precious gifts of God's hospitality in the security of this home. He then turns to those around him who are strangers.

[05:38]

The one who has been a stranger and has been received into the home, he is the one who really and fully appreciates the blessing of the home. He who has suffered the fate of the stranger feels the ghosts who are still strange, and therefore is waiting. desire is to take them and bring them in contact and let them share the blessings of hospitality. So hospitality is a source of peace, the restoration of human dignity and joy and peace. But it is, may I use that word, a contagious one, something that spreads The Caritas Dei urges the one who as a stranger has been taken into the house that now this peace which he there experiences may be given to others.

[06:46]

Even the experience of peace makes him more sensitive to what the stranger is missing or he is lacking. And therefore the urgent need desire to help him. In this way, instead of going a step further, the Jewish saying has it, that the table of man redeems, as once the altar did. The altar, you know, in the temple, that is for the Jewish temple, the place in which divine hospitality becomes visible. And it is there when the gifts are offered, transformed, become God's possession, and God himself becomes the host, And those who offered the peace offering, they take part at the Lord's and God's table, and there is that covers the multitude of sins.

[08:01]

Maybe it is in this light that one may look at the beautiful scene that we have in the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Saint Luke, where Simeon of Amazigh does not fulfill the function of the Pope's, while Mary Magdalene does. And the sins are not forgiven to Simeon, but they are forgiven to Mary Magdalene. Hospitality, therefore, is a work of redemption. It is satisfaction and healing for sins. covenant is restored through hospitality. So that is in the Old Testament, where the bread, the unleavened bread, the bread of captivity, is then the gift which the strangers receive at the house, at the table of God, and protected of the blood of the Lamb.

[09:11]

And the Lamb, it says also, is part of the meal. You sense right away that the relations on this part to the New Testament are innumerable and go in every direction. In the New Testament, it is the song. Son, that means the one who is in his father's home, in the home, who is the father's peace. He becomes the lamb and he becomes the bread of life, the matzah, the unleavened bread, because he comes to us in the likeness of sinful treachery. He takes on that appearance, the fall, you may say, of the unleavened bread of the place that the Jews ate in their lowly state, in the state in which they were subject to the servitude of Pharaoh and did not have time to do the things

[10:28]

which be gone to the household, and which make the happiness of the house. There was no time. But the son comes from the Caritas Etio, from the eternal love, from his father's house. And he becomes a stranger for us. He has no place to put down his head. But it is received as a gift by the poor ones, by the strangers, suing a non-magician. Those who were of this people, they did not receive. But the strangers, the poor ones, that are here, is an essential element. Those who have not experienced the misery of exile, they did not receive the Jews of his time.

[11:35]

But the poor ones, the strangers. And then he becomes host. Host to those who have taken him in. Come, stay with us. because evil has come. And then he breaks the bread for them. The one who is invited as a gift becomes the host. And they recognize him at the breaking of the bread. In all these things, you see the relation to the cascading. There is this breaking of the belt as the act of hospitality. And there they recognize, they recognize their love as opposed to them that becomes the light in which they recognize, in which they see.

[12:45]

That is what happened to Abraham, you see. Abraham was sitting at the entrance door of his house, waiting for a stranger to be calmly opposed to the stranger. And there they come, the three angels, and Abraham roams to them. And he casts himself down, and he adores them. So he sees in the stranger the heart. So also in his Sipna way he... And that was again a constant, essential feature of hospitality. I only mention these things so that you will right away sense, you know, what is all connected with the virtue of hospitality. I would say I would like to convey to you the Mysterio Hospitalitatis, as Senor Durston calls it.

[13:56]

The mystery of hospitality, shall we say. The sacrament of hospitality. And that cannot be separated from fear. You see it right away in the Holy Room. Hospitality of the morning. is an act which ends in the recognition of God. That is, our Holy Scripture is read to the guest, the breaking of the world flood, in which we recognize God. So, our Lord, at the Last Supper, that is, we worship the classical re-fulfillment of hospitality. There he builds the course that he himself would wave, and there he leads them into the depth of his own divine mystery, in the sermons, in the Word, which accompanies the meal with your culture.

[15:05]

And then, at the end of it, He tips himself up, and he puts on the apron of a slave, and he kneels down, and he poses his guest's feet in that way, but showing himself as the classical, absolute host. whose love is his servant humbly. It was as the feet of the pilgrims, those who had the dust of this earth on their feet, as the pilgrims did on shore. away from what all appears, struggling in them and with the powers of darkness that surround us, the powers of sin that surround us. So, this service, soon as they accept it, God's poor ones, as soon therefore as they begin to live in terms of divine hospitality,

[16:17]

which is so different from the Middle-sized princes holding their court. So as soon as St. Peter gives up the idea that this is the Messiah as Prince holding court with his court children, the apostles are not members of the court. Then he is taken into the stream and union, communion of love. And, by the way, I do this to you I give you an example that you may do the same. The acceptance of the divine hospitality, I mean of that humble service of chedidic love, of sacrificial love, as the meaning of hospitality is in the New Testament.

[17:20]

When they assume, as they accept it, then they become hosts and gifts to one another. It is the contagious character, shall we call it that word, of that divine hospitality. So I gave you an example that you may do likewise. And that is, of course, a word which is given at an essential moment. You can say that this is the heart of the Lord's mission. That's the fulfillment of his mission. It's the last second. And at this moment, this example, and let me say this commandment on hospitality is a thing. To be forgotten, or to be somewhere interpreted out of the way, or to be taken literally. That is the mystery of hospitality.

[18:21]

Therefore, the commandment of Christ to love one another finds in hospitality not impossible or convenient, but it's essential expression. There has to be clearly an essential expression. And so, therefore, these two ideas of Philadelphia and Philoxenia, of brotherly love and of hospitality, become inseparable. To such an extent, actually, that the moment of this perfect Christian is the post-catechism. So that one is later on says, a worldly who helps a poor fellow is higher in the kingdom of Danak than a hermit who refuses hospitality.

[19:25]

That's a very important word to remember. So contemplation is no dispensation from hospitality. Then I wanted, and this of course, by the way, is understood by the apostles. Just take the Acts of the Apostles. The holy propagation of the faith is based on hospitality. The essential act Where the church, the new community grows, is the door. It's the house. They go to the temple, take part in the singing of the psalms, and so on. But in their houses, they quite the way. And that means in the intimacy, there where they are in their home. There where they are with the protection of love. There where they are safe. The door is the place of peace.

[20:30]

There they break the bread for one another. And there they fulfill the communion. The Christian, there in the Acts of the Apostles, through the communion, he is the koinonikos, the man of communion. And that is, of course, what makes this, again, this love, this hospitality, this communion in the world, as something which is contagious, as Julian the Apostate says. The Godless, and he makes the dream, he calls the questions and worries, regardless, spread over the entire world through hospitality. It's really true. And that can be seen in the Acts of the Apostles so clearly. But also, that is also the teaching of the Apostles.

[21:35]

And I remind you especially, when we read to you the Epistle to the Romans, in the 12th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, where it's in verse 9 to 20, explains now the Mysterium Hospitalitatis. He starts with the sentence, Let love be without pretense. Simple. Love one another with fraternal charity, anticipating one another with honor. That is the typical gesture, the essential gesture of hospitality. Be not slow for conceit, Be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope. Be patient in tribulation, persevering in prayer. Share the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

[22:37]

Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Be of one mind towards one another, Do not set your mind on high things, but condescend to the glory. Be not wise in your own concepts. No man are evil for evil, but provide good things, not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of all in it. Be, if it be possible, as wise in your lives, be at peace with all in it. Do not avenge yourself, beloved, but put the place to the divine judgment. Be not overcome, but if thy enemy is hungry, give him food. If he is thirsty, give him drink. For by doing so, thou wilt heap coals of fire upon his head.

[23:42]

Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with God. Now that is all the mystery, the mysterium, waspitatis, as an essential expression of the divine charity. Then we have the same in the epistle to the Hebrews. I wanted to call your attention to that. Because the Epistle to the Hebrews is the, shall we say, classical, theological exploration, the unfolding of the mystery of Paschal, of the trans-epistolary. the Passover. It's written, it's addressed, you know, to a Judeo-Christian community, and that is the point to say which the Apostles, where the Apostle sits in and starts, you know, to unfold to them the harmony or the fulfillment of the old in the new.

[24:47]

And this The mystery of hospitality, again, is merely expressed. Let bodily love abide in you, and do not forget to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels and whales. So that is the clear reference to the Paschal meal as well as to the Bible. to those two meetings, the classical meals of the Old Testament in which the whole paps of the New Testament is in signal anticipated. And therefore that also the last reference I want. If you will see the verse, St. Peter know it all, the fourth chapter, the eighth and ninth verse, the brotherly love is But above all things, have the constant mutual charity among yourselves, for charity covers a multitude of sins, the idea of the redeeming power.

[26:00]

Be hospitable to one another without murmuring, according to the gift that each has received. That is the exact idea of hospitant. So you see, it is a virtue, a mysterium, which cannot be separated from the goal of the divine economy of our salvation. And that therefore gives this special character to hospitality, and that also accounts for the position which hospitality holds in the rule of St. William. So let us not think that hospitality is something that simply a kind of a social service that at a time where there were no hotels, you know, the monasteries and the logical places. Did you think like that?

[27:02]

It is not for that reason that St. Benedict unfolds in his rule to hold careful that it is a ritual of hospitality. It again shows that hospitality is a ritual act, a mysterium. A mysterium has a ritual form. And that is exactly what it has in the rule of St. Benedict. There is the copyright. finding oneself in the love of God, both, you know, strangers, realize, see that they are at home in that place where the Son of God reflects the glory of the Father. Then there is the kiss of peace, which is again essential, essential gesture of the mysterious hospitality, where, because that is the meaning of it, The gift that we receive and the gift that we serve is the peace, the peace of Christ.

[28:08]

And then there is the washing of feet. That is hospitality is essentially a service. It is humility. It is the incarnation of the Word as made flesh. becomes a pilgrim, and that in this way, now realizes also the misery of other pilgrims, and in that way, it serves. And therefore, just as humility, and as an act of humility, so deeply rooted in the whole monastic idea. The more prostrating self before the guest. And in that way, we, the Nazis, are expressing, you know, that this guest, he needed to work the army. I was a stranger. Our Lord here speaks in reference to the last judgment. He speaks the language of the seed of the Passover, the Old Testament.

[29:11]

I was a stranger, and you have taken me on. Stranger, therefore, is in this connection, not simply to say again the kind of human concept, but it is a theology. stranger and you have taken the in you have accepted so in that way the hospitality is therefore set you out of the elastic line nothing can be impossible and for that reason you see we have here as long as you realize that We as monks, of course, we always are strangers. That is, that's our state, that's our condition. We are pilgrims. But now, of course, at the same time, as pilgrims, as monks, we live in the peace of Christ, you see, too.

[30:19]

We have that peace of Christ. Why? Because we have vowed, we have established ourselves through the grace of God in the status of perfection. And therefore, we are structures, but in the peace of Christ. That leads, and that leads, of course, also to the situation in which we, as a community, community of all the altars, that we receive the divine hospitality, the gifts of the divine hospitality, that we there grow up being surrounded, scattered around the altar, that we also become naturally hosts to one another in mutual charity, and that in this way we constitute a haven of peace. A monastery is for that matter a house, a dorms, a place of peace.

[31:21]

But the one who is in that way secure in the place of peace, turns to those who are straight. He cannot do otherwise. You see, I wanted to point that out because there is a difference between the idea of Benedict Muller's decision and, for example, the idea of the Medicaid problem. A mendicant brother, St. Francis, understands the idea of poverty as being literally a stranger, a pilgrim. And that, of course, has always, in Christian tradition, been more than a way of renouncing, of following Christ, being a stranger. I remember I read about two of the first monks. The Irish monks, their form of renouncement was to become a beggar and to live, say, on the mercy of others.

[32:28]

And that same idea is expressed in the idea of poverty, which is specific in the medical orders under the influence of St. Francis. But St. Benedict has a different way. There is the idea of stability. And this idea of stability around the altar, that gives us really and truly also here, in a material sense, a hope. And that has, in some way, now has become, let us say sometimes, a thunderbolt. Because one says, there is the monk who wants to leave the world, and then he sits down comfortably in a monastery, where he has everything that he needs. Now, this objection to the monastic life would be absolutely justified in this very moment,

[33:33]

in which the man would refuse to serve strangers after he has himself settled down in the home of peace. But the very attraction of that he settles down in this home of peace for what reason? To make it open to those who are strangers and pilgrims here on earth? That he himself protected in the love of the Father for him That's the wonderful blessing of the monastic life. But if he then locks himself, he has to, and I would absolutely and emphatically state, you know, that no prayer for the people outside can ever substitute for hospitality. That these things, and that may be another point, you know, that's the cause of this particular thing, It's good, you know, to maybe to mind our sickness off.

[34:35]

It would be we can do that when we speak about manual labor. You see, you have to fight something. We have to be aware of the wrong concept of contemplation. I have tried to explain that to you in the past, what is really a tremendous longing on my part, a responsibility I feel very strongly. The Christian aesthetic aligned is a hope. One cannot simply separate it. One cannot say, I set it down for the things of the spirit. And therefore I am dispensed for that delay. It's impossible. Just as you can't do that, you know, the classical time for the entire church, in which the, let us say, the fullness of the Christian life is lived, let us say, in the common retreat of the church, is the Lenten season. He said, you cannot separate your prayer from the fasting of the body, and you cannot separate the fasting of the body from the fasting of the body.

[35:51]

These things are absolutely correct. And one without the other becomes ludus, it's true. It's hopeless. And therefore, too, one cannot, you know, take, and that's the reason why I mentioned this word, you know, one cannot take, you know, even the highest, say, the ideals of contemplation as a kind of There's a kind of title under which one is dispensed, you know, in that way, to render concrete, ordinary service, you see, to those who, when we say it twice, who are twice the strength here. It cannot be done. And therefore, hospitality without knowing will always be a part of a mastermind. strongly convinced that we can at least guide others. It's absolutely essential.

[36:54]

I drag them away, you know, also of the, let us say, dangers, you know, that are implicit in hospitality. I mean, in the monastic life kind of loses, you know, its own balance, you know, something. These things are always, you know, there. Of course, But maybe we speak about that still a little tonight. But the essential duty is simply absolute. And it is more even in our times than it was, you know, in the times of Sinti, because You see, the essential question of hospitality is not simply, I think that's evident from what I've said, you know, to help somebody with food and shelter who has no other place to go. But it is a matter of sharing the clean, sharing the light, sharing the love of God.

[37:59]

That's what it is. He carried it with him. And that is today, is more needed than an arrow There are more homeless people, and I think most of the homeless people, to be in the most comfortable apartments, let us say, on Park Avenue. Now, these homeless people, they realize that what has been a thick humanisticism, somehow is the realization of this being in God's home. And literally it does. They see the monastery really and truly as a domus, not as an institution. And seeing it as a domus, that is just what attracts them. And therefore, if those domes would say, no, no time, it would be really a great betrayal of the peace that we have received simply as a gift.

[39:05]

And that we have received as a gift to administer. Administer it to us. I give you my peace, said the two apostles. And therefore, that you may Give this peace to others, who since you forgive, they are forgiven. Now the most marvelous way is to do that kind of hospitality in the monastery. Wherever you have here, the table and the altar, where you have the table in the refectory, where you have the concrete service of iniquity, And where you have the forgiveness of sins and where you have the illumination of the light. The participation in the fruits of our condemnation. Where could it be done in such a perfect way than in a monastic? Where this wholeness is there.

[40:07]

They are living people. who are together in the peace of Christ, and who take a concrete person, not only of books, but take a concrete person, you see, you must always say, if you, you see, experience the gift of the love of God for you, if you are in peace, then you can turn, you are able to turn to the world which is i told you before i think which is a jungle of care that is that's what the world is a jungle of people worshiping about what is manifestation much peace and by there is no peace people can't even look at one they have your time

[41:08]

They cannot waste their time looking somebody else into the eyes. Of course, what is it? No, they are lonely. Lonely. Because they are all, you know, running about in circles. and have no time. Therefore, they don't even have the possibility to sit down and say, now, let us look at this. Now, what is me? Where do you serve? What is me? How can I? But if you live and have experience with gift of the peace, When you are at home at the Father's table, there you simply take the world, takes a different view, takes a different aspect. You, you are able to look at other people.

[42:14]

You are able to discern, develop, you know, that is gracious, spiritual. If you see already on the face, you know, of suffering comes, well, maybe there is a service. And then you are able, out of your peace, you know, to speak a word, you know, that people who are filled to the brim with cares can never speak. So, and of course, you know, the peace of God is God's gift to you. You have received, you, when you say it, has claimed to. You, God has taken you on as his gift. Now, you have to become a host. So, therefore, let us see that clearly. Of course, I also know hospitality can be abused. Hospitality can be... It means, you know, if somewhere, for example, somebody who, let us say, is a little bored with day-by-day company on his own weather, you know, finds a little diversion.

[43:24]

Or a little consolation for him's sin. A little change of faith. We say something, you know, an angel, you see, outside and the devil at home. And that can be also, of course, forever, you know, it can be also, you know, just really it kindles, you know, turns around and shows, you know, kind of a face, you know, to those who are with the world day by day, you see. And those who realize that is, oh yes, you know, they think now, it's good, you know, that, well, so, so, you know, you know, A little, you know, with freshmen, you know, being nice to others. Now we may be out, you know, for another day. I mean, that is, you know, that may be not, I mean, our reality is too, I can see this.

[44:30]

But, I mean, that is, that is, you know, you see right away, that there is a meaning of hospitality. one, you know, kind of sees its own image, you know, and so on, and this is the point, isn't really a host. But, you know, let us not, you know, I would like to emphasize too, let us not by such weaknesses and occasional abuses, you know, simply then, you know, do away with the whole of hospitality. I would think, of course, that monastic hospitality should really be mysterious hospitality. And that's why I mention these possible human distortions. Hospitality may become an instrument for our sin, for our vanity, whatever it is. No, as long as we are hosts, we will do it as mysterious hospitality.

[45:36]

Or in that sense. And therefore also the forms of monastic hospitality should be in that way. And that's therefore always the closure of the past. Our hospitality should be strictly on the line of the Spirit. Therefore also in such a way that there might be, of course, very inconveniences, but so that the essential peace Otherwise, daring will not be destroyed. Therefore, I say, one place where hospitality is absolutely divine, for that is the woman in which we celebrate. That is the Mysterio Hospitalitatis. Then, therefore, also logically, you know, one table is in connection with the other table, and that is the table of the refectory, then the Mysterium Hospital, because there is your whole community in peace, as a community.

[46:45]

And why? And as a community, there we are all united. Man of the community. There we are calling on the call. And therefore there we can be sure that there we break in with that peace. Which is the essence of hospitality. What we are to give as a call. And there we serve the gift. but not in a private manner, not as this picture of mine, or as this relative of mine. No, there is the whole community as whole, which takes, invites the guests to be coveted. And I would say, what's the main need? But then breakfast and all those things that are additions, you know, and they are guests, you know, food and so on.

[47:50]

We, because the two of us have maybe different diets and so on, and we need maybe, you know, a straw of coffee for the breakfast, then we get the monastic table or so. And that is therefore that good, good work. It's also good, you know, to have people there where the bread of life is being broken. Therefore, in a conference, and there also what can be there was always, you should not forget that, a law and a rule, you know, of hospitality in the antiquity, as well as in the Christian tradition, that the host, let us say the guest, It's not only this, but he's also invited, you know, to do things in the house. I have a whole homily of St. John Chrysostom in which he explains. He says, if we have a stranger staying with us, if you have a stranger staying with you, let him do things in your house.

[48:58]

Because that takes away the esteem. is merely there being invited, and merely to receive. It gives him the feeling that he also does something for the host, and St. John President says that makes him more at home. Absolutely true. Absolutely true. And therefore, there is then also a certain participation. I mean, it works, I would say, that comes and gets to work together. all the time, but here and there, under certain circumstances, wisdom and discretion, that could be arranged, as a matter of who the guests should, when they stay longer, become an active part of the community, in that way that they do some work or some service for the community. But it is a different thing I would like to mention, too, in the creation

[49:59]

There I would say now that the community is there together, not officially, but there we are together, let us say, as human beings. And therefore that it has more a private character. And there I would say as a rule, keep the guest out. That that is something that we do as a certain, well, sage, as a certain being. but for those who lead, let us say, the monastic life, the monastic discipline, and who have there a certain way of expressing their humanitas towards one another. But that is, I would say, on a different level. And that is, therefore, not something that is a rule for guests. There might be an exception. Foreign operators are who is in some way close or closely connected, but as it would not. And it should also not be that the individual, one out of his own initiative, goes to the gift and starts to challenge.

[51:10]

That is not all. If he goes to the guest, he does it as a delineator, as a representative of community, and he walks there for the purpose. He is sent, you see there. The monk is sent. Just as the Father sends the Son, and the Son then sends the Apostles, and they are then received everywhere, so the mystery of hospitality expands, so also in a monastery. Only the one who is sent should then go as the Son, who invites the other, and they break together the bread, the bread of life, the bread of life. And in that way, together, they recognize the Lord. And there the mystery of hospitality recedes in climaxes. Let us pray.

[52:15]

We pray and beseech thee, Lord God Almighty, perfect in us thy grace, and by our hands, pour forth thy gifts and love and the tender mercy of thy divinity. And bless them be for the satisfaction of the deeds of thy people and for the remission of all the sins of the sheep of thy pasture, which by grace of thy love thou hast chosen to thy self through Christ our Lord. Amen.

[52:48]

@Transcribed_v005
@Text_v005
@Score_87.72