It takes its principle, it takes its impulse really from the mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ himself. The Word of God made matter. That is the light in which we see his mother and all the early Dogmas, the early and most basic dogmas of Christianity, always have been formulated in terms, really, of Mary. There was the first, you know, this difficulty about the humanity of our Lord. Is he really and truly man? where the pindar became the pointing, the road sign, the way sign, to the true humanity of God.

[01:01]

He is born out of the woman, as St. Paul says. The true motherhood of Our Lady was seen, developed first in the light of this heresy. Then later on there comes the other difficulty or heresy, a controversy about the divinity of Our Lord. There again, the virginal conception, the mystery of the Annunciation, Our Lady as a Virgin, is again the way in which the Church approaches and expresses, proclaims the divinity of Christ, the virginal birth, not out of man. but God.

[02:02]

Then, later on, the combination of the two, the humanity and the divinity of Christ, and there, in Ephesus, then the cry and the proclamation of Our Lady as the mother of God. It means that she, as the handmaid of the Lord, as the one who gives to our Lord the human nature, the human body, that she is really and truly, because of the hypostatic union between humanity and divinity, is the mother of God. So in that way, the position or the histories of Our Lady have developed in relative to and independence on and really moved by the prime and principal search of the Church of Christianity for the precise expression of the revelation concerning the true nature

[03:16]

of our Lord as mediator between God and man. So that, in that way, what we say about Our Lady is not really something that is just completely independent of the Lord, but it really developed relative to him and was, in that way, serving him, as also then Our Lady as she stands before us, the immaculately conceived. one who, as the mother of Christ, also accompanied him in the work of redemption, and then later on exalted into heaven. All these things are really the likeness of Christ in Our Lady as the first redeemed, the image of the Son. in Our Lady who in that way is the subtotal image of all the redeemed and the first and most perfectly redeemed and of course in our days and I think that is for us at the present time is the most important aspect

[04:33]

of our devotion to Our Lady and the development of our thinking about Our Lady is that she is the image of the Church and that what happens in her, through her, is in some way the archetype of what happens with every one of us. She represents the community of all the faithful and she represents every individual of faithful. As such, her image is again reflected in us. The fact of our birth, not of the flesh, but out of the spirit, through baptism and through confirmation. The power of the Holy Spirit overshadows every individual Christian.

[05:35]

For what? That the Word of God may be born in every individual Christian, and that in that way we may become mother of the Savior in this way that Christ and His Word is born in us and that Christ takes form in us and takes it, of course, to our cooperation, incorporation which is determined by the grace we receive, which is not our own natural initiative, but it is always the spirit from above, just as she is the Immaculate One, whilst the Immaculate Conception is the the fact, you know, that God's saving power is first and basic and fundamental, that he that is concerned, and our being goes down into the very root of the existence of Our Lady, so also of every Christian.

[06:51]

And then in the Assumption that we celebrate today, there is before us is the consecration of what we call the flesh, all that that is in man, serving God, let us say, in two ways, I would say, with the gifts of the heart and with the gifts of the body. Both these two things are so closely united in one human person. They cannot separate the heart and the body. And the gifts of the heart that is in our the old traditional way of the celebration, the feast of the Assumption, she stands before us as the wisdom, as the prudent one, as the wise one.

[07:54]

as the one who listens, who receives the word, who sits at the feet of the Lord, and their wisdom is born, the heart develops, and the gifts of the heart. That is, if we look at ourselves in celebrating this feast also as a community and it's the one thing I would call your attention to and recommend to you to implore the help of the Assumpta, the one who is taken up into heaven to help us in what we may call the ways of the heart, the culture of the heart. Monastic life, monastic community life without that is really a great cross and can easily be then to the individual member and degenerate into a kind of isolation and into individualism and into a lack of mutual relation and regard for one another.

[09:07]

The gifts of the heart must be developed. Our life here is not the casual living together of bachelors who are insensitive to the real, tender and finer and beautiful relations of the heart, but it is something that should be animated by the heart, and everybody should give his heart, first of all, always and besides, into the community life. In our ways in which we treat one another, in which we meet one another, all kinds of things, writing notes to others, should be determined by the heart and should not therefore degenerate into a kind of dagger fight. That is against the entire meaning of not only of our Christian existence but especially of our existence here in this place which is in that way dedicated to the

[10:14]

and to Our Lady as, one can say, the Queen of the House. But not only that, but also the body. We have spoken in these last days often about the ministry of the Spirit in glory. What is the ministry of the Spirit? A great part of this ministry of the Spirit in glory is that the supernatural gifts of the heart redound also into the body, in our behavior, in the manifestation. The flesh is always the way in which the Spirit becomes visible. The flesh is the sign and the sacrament of the Spirit. Without the flesh, we as human beings couldn't get and couldn't receive the Spirit, and therefore the ministry of the Spirit, and that's first of all, of course, in our liturgical celebrations.

[11:25]

In liturgical celebrations, in a feast, in some way not prepared, for example, by those who have a role in it, you know, is of course immediately something that influences and kind of is, if it's, for example, if it's evidently due to a certain sloppiness, it is against the the whole spirit, for example, of a feast like this that we celebrate today, the Assumption, because that is expression of our deep faith in the capability of the body to become the carrier, the vessel of the spirit. That is, in the assumption of Our Lady, that's proclaimed, that's the message that emanates from this feast.

[12:27]

But it isn't not only the liturgy, it's not only that. What we do in chapels is, of course, the first way in which, as it were, The ministry of the spirit redounds into bodily visible forms. It's also in our daily communication, the way we behave during the day. And I don't blame anybody, you know, who would say coming from the outside into the monastery of a world in which forms, social forms and especially kind of the external expressions are not cultivated. very much, but are everywhere in a kind of falling apart, you know, or being neglected. If then suddenly, as I say, it rubs him the wrong way, then one does this that way, there's another way that way, that there are so many

[13:35]

kinds of things, you know, I am not surprised about that at all. But that is not, we must, of course, also on the other hand, not simply take external forms in a simply and only in a spirit of passive conformity. But it must be taken and become a matter of conviction. The concrete way in which they saw that be done is, of course, never so absolutely determined that it could be adapted or changed in one way or the other. That is evident. But the general idea must be clear that ceremonies and their customs, monastic customs, the way one deals with one another are not simply and only an arbitrary way of kind of disturbing or vexing people, but it is a thing which is based on that constant human effort in some way to make the body the expression of something spiritual.

[14:53]

really, the ministry of the Spirit. That ministry of the Spirit certainly is in glory. So much can be, for example, in the refectory, the way one sits, the way one eats. All these things are part of the ministry of the Spirit. If somebody simply disregards, you know, external forms and behaves in a kind of eccentric way, one or the other, bizarre, you know, kind of... it is somehow interferes, you know, with that general ministry of the Spirit that the community as such, you know, should try to follow and to serve during the day. And so they are in these days, you know, we have, of course, we have had some talks and sessions, for example, on discussion and so on, and we don't want to let these things and what we learned, we don't want to let it simply kind of go without any results.

[16:13]

And in the coming, of course, we have still the dedication, of course, and that takes much time also. It's also in some way part of the ministry of the Spirit. But we should, I think, in these days also get together. And two topics, it seems to me, are there very urgent, and one is how in the community in the spirit let us say of the heart and with the gifts of the heart to meet and to for example feel to know that constantly every turn you know becomes again very acute you know is that for example the liturgy of our celebration the liturgy we have had some work done in the liturgical committee that shouldn't be wasted that should be uh become a thing that in the whole community as such can be discussed can be confronted with in that way we serve the spirit in serving our our external form also in in other ways we have other

[17:34]

problems and questions that we have to meet as a community and of course also just for example this question of customs, you know, and Aztec customs is a very urgent one. And we should continue that, and we should work at it in these weeks to come, the course of this summer. But all these things, let's always remember, let's do it in the spirit of this feast. is that rejoicing of the heart and not creating sorrow of the heart but joy of the heart in our mutual context and then also this serving of our external expression this body as the instrument of the spirit

[18:41]

The expression, as in Our Lady, of humility, of the spirit also for us, the spirit of conjunction but at the same time too of the spirit of joy and of the freedom and the glory of the christian so let us ask our lady to help us in these in these attempts in the weeks to come i would also ask you that all things that are being connected are being done in connection with the dedication celebration please do it and see it also in that same spirit it's really in that way serving the in an external celebration serving the glory of God and serving the the people who come here for the purpose of taking part and rejoicing with us in the celebration.

[19:47]

All that is connected with it, let us do it in our participation and with joy and cheerfulness and the good zeal may transform and put everything into the service of Christ's glory. the world and the relation of the monk to the world and of course in order to find the answer it is necessary for us first naturally to take the those signposts and those truths which divine revelation has handed down to us. And then naturally also to use our own eyes to see how the world, what the concept of the world means in our days.

[21:00]

And in order to do that, we had taken Psalm 103. and had made it the object of a little meditation and just wanted to continue a few thoughts that impose themselves when we think about Psalm 103 as an interpretation of the first chapter of Genesis. There is, I called your attention to it, there are two things. There is on one side there is God and his greatness and his, you know, very great, greatness, greatness beyond all conception. And this divine greatness is clothed in light.

[22:06]

The light is the manifestation of God's greatness. The light is the way in which he becomes present, visible, And then we have the light is like his garment, God's garment. Then we have seen on the other side, we see the earth. The earth has also a garment, but the garment of the earth are the waters and the darkness over the waters. And that indicates the essential difference that we have to keep in mind.

[23:09]

The waters and the darkness of the earth are, by the creative word of God, establishing his covenant with the earth, they are in some way brought into a dominant order. In other words, the light is separated from the darkness, and the waters are separated. This, one can say, this chaotic element, darkness and of water, are brought under control, as it were. And then, in some ways, the expressions, the word, the word, what we translate by create, expresses them.

[24:12]

The word of God brings order. into this chaos in which the world is veiled as in a garment. But if we look at it the way it is done, then we can see that this chaos is brought under control by separation, putting order into it. There are the waters above the heavens and there are the waters beneath the earth. Hence, there is the darkness that we call night, and there is the light that we call day. Both, through the ordering word of God, receive a function, receive a meaning, and therefore become part of the history or the workings of this world. And that's, of course, a very important idea right at the beginning.

[25:17]

The creation or the world of God, the divine revelation, is, in looking at the world, is realistic. This is not the optimal world in which there is no imperfection. No, that is not the case. There is in the world, this created world, there is an element, what we call, of chaos there. There is an element of disorder. The disorder is brought under control, but not so and not in an degree that the disorder would be completely banned or would be completely excluded from the world. Disorder remains in some way, mistake, way in the world. You realize that all this, but what we try to do is The way in which Holy Scripture speaks about the creation of the world is, of course, what we will call an idiom.

[26:22]

It is not a scientific proposition about the physical nature of the world, but it is an idiom in which spiritual, and especially, of course, the spiritual reality of man, are presented to us. And they are refined, you know, and that is, of course, very important. On one side, we have to recognize, you know, and also there's so evident in, we can say, the physical manifestation of the world. We have, for example, Certainly a separation of the waters and of the earth. But if you look at the earth after the separation of the waters and after the waters as it were have find their place and are fulfilling their function, Still on this earth you have, that's very evident in the scripture, you have two things.

[27:30]

You have what one would say the cultivated earth. Cultivated earth. That's, let us say, the world that in some ways serves man as a garden. Cultivated. And on the other hand you have the desert element. in this physical world, and that desert element which resists cultivation, which is inaccessible to cultivation, and which therefore then is considered as a remnant of chaos, so to speak, the element of chaos and the real presence of that element, not only in the physical earth, but naturally also for men. In this way, the desert is the kind of home of the evil spirit, the home of Satan, and in some way represents his presence here, of course, in human history and in human decisions.

[28:38]

So there is that, and you have the same thing. You take the waters. The waters have this life-giving function, but at the same time also, Holy Scripture knows of the flood. That means the waters out of control, and the waters that are there for an element of death. And then you take what lives on this earth. Take the animals. And there you have again, you have those animals that are domesticated, accessible to them, and can enter into a community with man on a common ground, as it were, of entering into his household in a certain way. And then you have, of course, those animals, rapacious beasts that are inaccessible to it and that have, therefore, there and exercise their activity and their dominion during the night, this element of chaos that is left in the world.

[29:56]

You have the same thing, of course, with the fish in the waters. There you have those that, as the Old Testament explains, you have those that have fins. And with that, you know, take their direction and they swim. They can even rise, you know, to the surface. Even some of them can take a little flight. the air. That's a symbol of the resurrection, the so-called, of man, in the world of the fish, representing also in vitality, for example, the vitality of man, people of God here. But on the other hand, you have, of course, also these fish there that never have fins, eels, for example, otherwise with those beards, catfish or so on, should never present in any piece of art as a symbol of the Christian.

[31:06]

But they are what we call unclean fish. They might swim in the Mississippi, and they're probably at home. Everyone takes the home products for the symbols. But it's just, you know, their home is the mud. Their home is mud, you know. And therefore, they represent, you know what the Old Testament calls unclean. You can't. And so in all these various regions of life, there's always that element of, one can say, of chaos, which is present. That is, of course, very important also for our view of the world. But one thing seems to me is now is very important, and that is that the Old Testament or the New Testament never divide the world into two enemy camps.

[32:08]

in this way that one would be absolutely and radically evil and the other one would radically and absolutely good but the two in a struggle that is not this kind of thing is not the Old Testament they question people that's of course for us very very important that we keep the right in our attitude towards the world, especially for us as monks, very important, that we never conceive our attempt, our effort, the monastic life, in any way as a retreat or as a position in which we fight a world which would be essentially evil, the material world is essentially evil.

[33:20]

That is not the case. But everything in the world is, according to Christian revelation, everything in the world is under God's command. and therefore enters into the service of God's designs. There what is in itself, physically perfect and good, and also that is physically defective, for example, being in the desert. And that is extended also, that in some mysterious way, also those forces, spiritual forces, which are evil, how did they become evil? Not because they were evil in their essence, but they are evil through an apostasy, because they, through a historical decision, turned against the rule of God, against the kingdom of God, their freedom.

[34:33]

At the same time, their influence is fulfilled in the world, but still, even in that apostasy, remains a part of God's world in a mysterious way. That is so, I think it's very important for us that we see that, you know, and that we take the right way. Therefore, the attitude also for the monk towards creation is in that way a positive one. Is that same? We are repeating. We do that in our praises. We are repeating, as it were, the words of Genesis, and God saw that it was good what he had created. But at the same time, this kind of goodness is not a superficial kind of optimism, saying everything is fine, that evil is just an illusion, as is something like, for example, Christian scientists.

[35:49]

Now the best thing is simply to ignore or to do as if death didn't exist or something like that. That is not the monastic attitude either. I'm thinking about these things because just yesterday I read you a little letter from Father Hewitt. Of course, we see that the world is not an optimum, not even in New Mexico. And that there is, there are waters out of control. Oh, see, there is there, and it washes out the road. There is the little scout, and it's just everything like grease, and so all the elements turn against it, you know, and all that. And there's the struggle that comes, you know, and results from that, which is so much a part of the monastic life also, and the whole meaning of Christ in the desert.

[36:55]

That is a notion which we should also think about, and interiorly carrying our brothers with us in our hearts, we should think about that, that the Christian and the monastic notion with that too. And therefore, the key word of this foundation is Christ in the desert. There you have the optimum and you have the pessimism. And you have these two facing one another, as it were. But of course you have at the same time Christ in the desert, that means the one, the Son of God, the one who is the glory of his Father, who in the deepest and most perfect sense is the garment of light for the Father, and who therefore is manifest to us here in the light, the light of our faith.

[38:00]

What does faith and the light of faith show you, show us? But the faith of Christ, the gloriously reigning Christ. And he enters the desert. Why? Because the desert is part of his creation. The desert is part of his vow. Then out of the battle, as it were, the meeting, let's say, between... Christ, you know, and the desert. That means Christ and the devil, really. Then, what is the result of it? The result of it is the establishment of the kingdom of God. And the angels came and served him. That is the view of the messianic time, and that is the view of the end of all of God's ways. So, let us think about these things in our own consideration, seven times. not because they are vital.

[39:03]

They are absolutely vital for us. Perhaps we can continue that. that really means so much to us in all of St Bernard, the person of St Bernard as a monk and as a reformer, a man with a tremendous heart who experienced the goodness as well as also the dangers of the heart. and developed and represented also in his time in many ways the monastic wisdom, the wisdom of the monk kind of culminating in his in a beautiful work, De Considerazione. So difficult to translate that on consideration, but of course in the full sense of that word.

[40:10]

I don't know if that word has something to do with the sidera, with the stars, you know, that... that God once showed to Abraham and said now here look up to the stars to this manifestation of the tranquility of the beauty of order the result of pure and loving obedience to the Father of all the stars. And maybe it has. But in this work on the consideration which he wrote, as you know, to the Pope Eugene, The third spiritual son who was thrown into the world of, as he said, the occupaciones, you know, occupations. Busy, terribly busy.

[41:13]

the father of all Christendom. It's a terrible job today, but in the Middle Ages, imagine, all the kings and so on had to be taken care of. So it was quite something. And, of course, he was probably saying that, you know, received some discreet news telling him that he was, that the Holy Father was quite drawn into the whirlpool of the world's politics, you know, too, and all the things. So he wrote this Work de Considerazione, too, and it's really, in some way, if you look at it, you know, it's basically absolutely the same as our We cannot compare those things, but I mean our little thing there about the school. Oh, it's the same thing. Stop, stop and see that I am God.

[42:16]

That is the basic considerations. That's what we call confrontation with God. Confrontation with God. That means this getting out of the immediate pressure of all the things to be done. then to consider this one thing, you know, that I am God. So that is so, it seems to me, yesterday we spoke about it, you know, that in the world as a world, the world we find before us, in every realm of this world, the Old Testament divine revelation sees it. In every realm there are left what one may call the dregs of chaos. In every realm there are the waters, and there's the to-home, and there's the ocean, and there's the whole thing. And the waters that under the rule of obedience are a blessing.

[43:29]

When they get out of control, they mean death. And then there's the earth. And on the earth, you know, there is the garden. There is also the desert. There's the realm of the living things in the ocean. And it's just full of it, you know, the vitality. There is also the famous Leviathan, you know, that among them makes his own sports. And then you have the animals of prey, and they go out at night, and during the day they are... hidden in their layers. So the every way, that's of course also in man. Man, Holy Scripture, has a special work for this earth as offering a living space for mankind.

[44:36]

The Holy Scripture, the Hebrew Torah, calls it tibir, tibir. And that is maybe the translation. It's in the Septuagint. It's always translated with Orbis Terrarum. Orbis Terrarum. Orbis Terrarum is the Latin equivalent to the Greek Ecumene, Oecumene. And Oecumene means, of course, this earth as inhabitation, used as habitaculum. as habitaculum for man. So it's more or less that word, yes, it's man's world. If you consider that realm of creation, this orbis terrarum, man's world, teper, then you can't say again, you know, there are evidently the dregs of chaos left there because there is the whole tremendous problem of power and the abuse of power and the organization of power which forces then this mankind into a form of life, you know, which might be over the kingdoms and over the earth

[45:55]

might be opposed to God as the Father and Creator. And the golden statue of Nabucodonosor might be erected in one form or the other, and with all the symbols and all the... the orchestra that drums and whatever there is, you know, that make men, you know, kind of fall in line with the wishes, you know, of some kind of dictatorial power, that all this big concerto, you know, that they all fall down and adore the golden statue that is the world. So that is in every realm. It's also in the realm of the individual heart. There's nobody who has seen that more deeply and beautifully than Jeremias. Jeremias, in some ways, the prophet of the heart.

[46:57]

The human heart, and of course, seeing the dangers. It means that the chaos there in the heart. Who can prove it? Unsearchable is the human heart. So there is everywhere, there is this element, you know, that last analysis one is in the wisdom books that we are just reading here during the month of August, which is the month where the whole church kind of enters into this realm of wisdom. There is Kohelet, Kohelet, Kohelet. The preacher, the preacher, we have just read him, we know the sum total of his wisdom is vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas, vanity of vanities, and all things are vanity. And that points to this tremendous big question mark, this threatening nothingness, vanity in all earthly things.

[48:09]

And that is the function that he has in the wisdom books. As you can see, there are two things. One, the wisdom is praised, you know, as the one that plays like the son of the Almighty here, the universe in a harmony of the universe. But there is also the voice of Kohelet, the voice of the preacher, who points out systematically the disharmony, the vanity of all created and earthly things. And that is, of course, necessary, and that is part of our, especially of our monastic vocation. We shouldn't stand before the world always and only as Cassandra, you know, and prophesying perdition and pessimism in that way. Well, it should be that way.

[49:12]

We are just with St Bernard, who knew it very well that when this whole question of power came so close in his own spiritual son being elevated to the highest power of the Middle Ages, and there this wisdom of the consideration, the consideration. There's one thing in which... That's of course that the monk also in his own heart and in his own little cosmos has to follow. There is that whole tremendous busyness, you know, of thoughts and thoughts and thoughts, you know, rising in the mind, you know. And every thought there, Holy Scripture always calls thoughts, you know, little children. And these thoughts, they come, and they clamor, and they say, here we are. And now you have to not only think us out, but you also have to, right away, communicate us to others.

[50:21]

You have to announce us. That is the way that out of this chaotic human heart, the thoughts rise immediately. We have to be expressed. We have to be shared. Through us, you have to give time. Now, wait a moment. Also, the consideration is always that moment that is, for us, the meaning of silence through us as monks. It's that moment of, please, just for a moment, be careful, and just stop. Because... Your heart, your thoughts, and all these things, they are not by nature in perfect balance. There's always that impulse, you know, that inordinate impulse is always there. Therefore, stop.

[51:22]

Stop for a moment and see that I am God. And then think about it, you know. Think about your tongue that has just received the Holy Eucharist, that has tasted of the good word, you know, that our Heavenly Father gives to us on the table, on the altar. Now, please just wait for one thing. how you use the tongue that has received the Holy Eucharist. And that it should be under the consideration, that it should be directed by consideratio. It should not follow immediately the impulse of God's nature. So that is what Saint Leonard, certainly by nature, impulses. You can see that everywhere. by nature deeply, as I say, in his own experience, acquainted with the profundities, unsearchable profundities of the human heart.

[52:27]

There he is, where he writes this beautiful book, the Conservazione. I would recommend, you know, to very zealous novices here in our little family, maybe, for example, take a thing like that. I just see, you know, to take, to pluck the little good things and thoughts and words, you know, that are coined by St. Bernard's tremendous power of word, you know, power of coining, are just, you know, have a form that is so arresting and so penetrating. Maybe we can pluck some of these beautiful things out of that book and put it to use in our own life, because we know in our own life how close we always are to chaos.

[53:35]

and how that then is constantly there waiting, you know, at the doorsteps of the monastery, going to the community. So let us think about these things today, and let us thank God for this gift of a real great monk and great teacher and great man. Now then, Francis.

[54:04]

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