If you read this morning, I promise you a sermon because it is the beginning of the new year. And the beginning of the new year presents us, as it were, again with the problem of time. And I think that it is an important, one of the most central issues of our life, is the right understanding of the mystery of time. But in thinking it over between time and doubt, I must say I've led into so many difficulties that I'm afraid I'm obviously too rash. But being here among ourselves and knowing how patient you are, I dare simply to start out on a little ocean voyage into the ocean of time. It's a deep and dreadful mystery, that of time.

[01:11]

And we can deal with it only when we see it in the light of God. And there is one word which seems to offer a light on our voyage, and that is the word of restriction. In your hands, O God, are my time. In your hands, O God, are my tongues. And by the pure temple of God. These words of God, a light by the cross, we see there the two things. We speak of my tongue, temple of God. On one side. And in my little stories, in your parables, are my accounts of the earth. So you see, there are two that were yours, who are fighting.

[02:18]

Who is the Lord of the time? To whom does this time belong? Is it mine, or is it God's? And that is, by the way, the decisive question In this whole mystery of time, that is why time has given us to decide, do we take it as our own, or do we give it to the hands of God? That is the great decision which time has set us to, from woman to woman. Do you know that from your own experience, time is ours. It won't be for our sake. As we say in English, take your time. Take it to fulfill your own worth.

[03:22]

And it's also a daily experience that The more active we are, the more busy we are, the more our own scale wants to expand into activity, the more we are inclined to take time for ourselves, and the more we are inclined to accept any interference with our time that comes from the outside. And there is even worse to speak, the higher the aspirations of man are. When our aspirations and the circle of our responsibilities is only very small, when we live it that humble man within, in a very narrow circle of existence, then we may be more easily inclined to be satisfied with whatever little time we have.

[04:45]

But the greater the aspirations of man are, the higher he is lined up, into the heaven of ideas, the more also the more urgently comes the problem of time. He wants it for himself, not because he wants simply to enjoy himself, but because he wants to accomplish his own high ideals. And their interference with this is precious, purely precious power, is considered even a greater evil and a greater difficulty. And we also know that the more we fill time with our own activity, People usually fill time with two main activities.

[05:47]

What is talking? An immense amount of human time is consumed in talking. And what we call the idle talk is one of the ways in which we fill the time with ourselves and take it. as our own possession. And you know that and you experience that the more you take time into your possession, the more in pastor it flies. You are at the end before you know it. And thought is one of those things in which time flies. And at the end, I look at my watch, and I say to the other one, why, what amount of time we have wasted?

[06:48]

And then comes hope, and a sense of remorse, and of irregularity. Because time has not come yet. We are the one in which the way in which we take time for ourselves is through productive activity. They must follow our air of skills. The British must follow their air of skills. through our activities to achieve the purpose for which we are existing or we deleted to exist in this world as fast as time goes. But as I say, it always ends this identification of myself with my time

[07:50]

It always ends with a kind of right of thinking, a kind of anger. Filling the time with ourselves always somehow then suddenly appears to us as what? We are thieves. We take something for ourselves that we just copy, don't we? We are warped. Your hands, O man, your time, O man, is in my hands. And then we are warped also at moments when we have nothing to do. And then we hear the kicking of a watch, a cry. And listening to the ticking of the clock brings to our interest the fact that time is not out.

[09:01]

That time is something which is outside of ourselves, which is being given to us. Because what is this ticking of the clock? is the constant knocking of God's eternity at our prison of earthly time, warning us that this time of year is running fast to the end. If you hear the proclamation of 1958 today, it is in the same way Only in a bigger way. If not, if not that you cannot miss a God's eternity reminding us that a new existence rises before our eyes and we know it is not ours.

[10:09]

It is given to us by the Creator. because that is a way which man has to look forward into time. He knows that it is something that is being given to him. All these things fill us with fear. They lead us straight to earth in a very concrete way, that our earthly life really is nothing else, as long as our immortal soul is living in corruptible body, then our life will know there's nothing else but our moving in a fast train. And all the doors of the compounds are closed. And we cannot give up impossible. But we know clearly that this train will run to a point where the abyss will swap away, where we come to the inevitable fact that is our human existence, and that fills us with fear that is apt to awaken us to the responsibility which time presents to us.

[11:37]

In other words, it shows that the meaning of this time is that we give it into God's hands at every moment that we really deliberately and conscientiously live. So then, this fact, That time is nothing but constantly renewed existence. That time really is nothing else but the preservation to God's creative power of our practical being. That therefore time is for us constantly hanging in the vacuum of nothingness. And its continuation is a constant miracle.

[12:42]

And can be explained only by one thing. By the will of God as the Lord. He wants us to live on. That's the only explanation of time. And therefore for us, the only way to live this time is to hand ourselves over to the will of God. That is what it means, in your hands, O Lord, our might is right. So let us do that. The monastic life offers us infinite possibilities to do just this little thing, which is really nothing else but a step from the arrows into the eye, from the still light into the love of God.

[13:44]

Because that is what it is. Arrow, spot, eye, point, thing. loving ourselves, declaring it as our own position for them, but that we are warned. We are warned by the great reality, inescapable reality of death, the inevitable irreparable loss of time, and the terrible realization of the condemned ones that they are forever not death. And that wakes us up and that induces us then to give time into the hands of God. But let us do that then in the name of Jesus, because in his name we begin to give life. And to begin it in the name of Jesus, meaning

[14:49]

to be yet children of God, as in his thoughts. So let us keep our time into the hands of a loving Father. Let us realize that our time consecrated to God is the time taken and filled by the love of God for us. That is the essence of time for us Christians, the result of God for us. And there is what the Lord has given. He is constantly reminded by so many things, the things that shut up His time. It is a little people that do not allow Him to plan for a long way, this love is my time, and I will look forward to it, and I'll continue with the activity of the achievement that I love, and that really is love.

[16:09]

The world in that world is extremely good, and this poverty are the bails of the monster. They shut up this love. They constantly intermediate what he would want and love to do. But every day the love for the mother is a mother. But it is not the Lord, O God, darling, and they do not. But it is the bride who do not. The bridegroom with one of his dearest, dearest beloved soul earns this open possession and revives this dear soul to look aside on the another one and on the great love. Indicate to him, you are there for me and not for you.

[17:13]

And in this way you should listen to the veil. And in that way we should respond to those things. It's not like our poverty. The warning, other fathers say, not the indication of a gloving dog that we should hasten to throw ourselves into his arms. And if we do that, then indeed we have eternity already in this hour. That my time is given into the hands of a loving Father, then this my time is eternal. This my time is filled with peace. And therefore, my dear friend, looking forward into a new year which you know as well as I do, is not ours.

[18:21]

But it is God's gift, right? Looking forward into this new year, let us make that resolution. not to waste and destroy our time in murdering. That is destruction of time. You know that so well. But to double our time. What do I say double our time? Extending and refining by gratefully responding to those egyptians which the heavenly father extends to his monks so often throughout the day to exist for him and not to exist for themselves and then to do that then i'm sure you will realize the tremendous lifting of heat that comes just from this area

[19:25]

Just as very as you realize the pains of death, they are a comfort in God. So let us ask the Almighty Lord that in the course of 1958, He may order our work, work it, and our doings in His name. the stages of love. First, one should ask oneself, who am I, a poor, weak, sinful creature? And who are you, O Lord? I wish you would send another one, because I feel my utter inadequacy in front of this soul. But if it is your will, if you send me, you will give me what I lack, because you are able to turn stones into children of yours.

[20:32]

You will carry me beyond my limitations. You will prevent me from giving myself to this soul. You will use me as your instrument. And the second step. Now I approach the soul in that love with which the Father loves it. I say my yes to this soul, the yes of Christ, to whom this soul is infinitely precious. I myself have seen the beauty of this soul, at least I caught a glance of it. I leave all personal irritation which I may feel towards this soul. I do not complain and say, O my Lord, why is he this way? Why is he not more docile, more receptive, more eager? I say, on the contrary, how can I help him? How can I lift him up, bring him to a deeper realization of his supernatural beauty? Third step, one should therefore never start with the secondary thing, I mean the natural failings and the limitations.

[21:35]

One should begin with the primary thing, the beauty of the soul, its divine likeness. If an admonition is necessary, it should remain within the range of that which at the time is within the grasp of the soul. One should help the soul to do the next little step which now is possible. Instead of simply jumping at the most obvious, most irritating faults, which often can only be attacked indirectly, before everything else, the soul has to be attracted, has to be won over, has to be encouraged. These principles should be observed not only by the abbot, by his representatives, the prior, the novice master, by those in charge of souls. but also by other officials, by the cellar, by the heads of certain departments, for example, at the farm, in the kitchen, by any senior in his relations to a junior. Nobody should at any time by anyone be approached on a merely natural level, should never be treated simply as an instrument, a tool, but as a soul, because a monastery is not run for the sake of efficiency, but for the sanctification of the souls.

[22:48]

Every monastic profession constitutes a pact between the soul and the monastery to the effect that the soul pledges to take the shining weapons of obedience and the community helps him to achieve his goal, the peace of Christ. As soon as we would start in this community to regard one another merely from the point of view of usefulness or efficiency, We could not survive for one day. The peace of Christ alone keeps us together, while the arrows, political thinking, competition, departmentalism, bossiness, acrimoniousness, censoriousness, jealousy, pride, all lead to bitter zeal and turn the monastery into hell. Not anger and sharpness heals the wounds, but the love with which Christ has loved us. then a word on fraternal charity. Every member of the monastic community should feel that he is carried by the current of personal love which the Holy Spirit causes to flow through the whole community.

[23:55]

The personal happiness of their brother should be a matter of constant concern to the superior as well as to all the brethren. It should not lead to any coddling one another. It should not be expressed by over-anxiousness concerning health and food and sleep. At least it should not be publicly expressed, but suggestions of this kind should be made only to the proper authorities, the abbot, the prior, the novice master, the infirmary. Neither should it be expressed by gifts of any kind except those authorized explicitly by the superior or the novice master. The best gift to the brother is the devotion to the community, the generosity shown in serving it. The daily community life offers hundreds of possibilities to foster fraternal charity. The divine office becomes a mutual gift of the brethren to one another as soon as it is performed with attention, devotion and consideration for the whole choir by reciting together, singing together,

[25:00]

by avoiding any undue speeding as well as undue dragging, by following the lead of the canter, desisting from individual attempts to push or rush the rest of the choir. The work should be another opportunity, the work to serve one another in the good zeal. A good word, a little thank you note, lifts the heart of the brother, helps the current of love to flow from one to the other. while impatience, complaining about something else's inefficiency, or showing off of one's personal efficiency, leads necessarily to sadness, murmuring, bitter zeal, and opens the door to the devil. Common walks were creations to be used to show kindness and goodness of heart, so that everyone feels appreciated, loved, and helped. Even more important is what we think about our brother in our heart, It is only in the heart that the true good word is born.

[26:03]

Instead of allowing the devil to fix our angry attention on that devil's caricature of God's likeness in the soul of one's brother, we should think thoughts of peace carry our brother in the heart of Jesus Christ, holding him up to our common Father in heaven, who alone plumbs the depth of the heart and therefore reserves judgment for himself. If a personal affection for a brother grows up in the soul, one does not have to withdraw immediately in alarm, but one should ask in the peace of Christ what may be helpful and what harmful in such a relation. Never should one try to hide or to hush up or to suppress the emotions of the heart without letting one's spiritual father in on one's secret, because only in this way one allows Christ to consecrate and transform one's affections. Monastic charity is not built on the suppression of all personal affection. One does not have to kill natural love to love supernaturally, but we have to serve God with all our gifts, also those of the heart.

[27:14]

One should not try to give oneself to the brother, nor should one rest in his affection as in a personal possession. All possessiveness, all exclusiveness, all selfishness has to be eliminated, not by a process of suppression or so-called sublimation, but by giving room to the consecrating and liberating power of the divine agape, which is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit and therefore has the power to transform our errors. The role of the spiritual father is precisely this, to lead his sons into their spiritual depth, to make them see their personal relations to one another in the light of the love with which our Heavenly Father loves us through his Son. His function in the matters of the heart is not that of an ever suspicious disciplinarian, but that of a lighthouse which shows the way through the fog of natural emotions, either of affection or of repulsion, into the peace of Christ.

[28:19]

Now, that is as far as I got yesterday and today. Now, that is not, as you can see, it's not complete, but it is an attempt, and I think if we formulate it still a little more, it will help the community to realize those specific ideals which we love and hope, you know, with the grace of God, to live up to in this monastery. as the Secretary of the Albert Parliament wrote me in a letter just the other day. He said, such a monastery like yours is not being founded so that then after 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 years it's just kind of in there, let us say, and has lost, so to speak, its impetus and its specific functions. But if you start a monastery in this way, a new beginning, then that has to have a very distinctive mission.

[29:23]

And I think the most distinctive mission that a place like this has is to cultivate these inner relations of the heart. The rule of St. Benedict is the school, scola cordis, the school of the heart. It's not the philosophy of life. It is not as an offer us, you know, to say part of mathematical or abstract frame of life, way of life, but it is a way in which we are instructed, in which we can learn to build up in the power of the divine agape in our heart that likeness which God has in mind and for which he loves and into which he loves our soul. That is the main thing. And that is, of course, today, as you know very well, the secondary purposes of the monastery take too much time and too much attention away from this primary objective of the monastery.

[30:25]

a place like this we call it a contemplative monastery has a meaning in the eyes of God in the whole organism of the church only then when we really not having in that way a purpose to which we have to get together and to have which we have to serve with all our attention with all our bodily and spiritual energies, we don't have such a task. There's much work to be done, that is true, but that work, you know, serves the maintenance of the house, it serves our living, it serves so that we can have a ground, you know, in which we take care also of our material existence, then also the work that we do certainly also enhance and tend to the glorification of God as in the field of an inner, deeper knowledge of the divine mysteries.

[31:33]

But the heart, the inner purpose of a monastery like this is that development of the heart, Puritas Cordis. That is what St. Benedict founded this monastery for, to develop and to cultivate the Puritas Cordis. And to do that, that should be our main concern, not so much to look out and to measure, let us say, the success of our life through the concrete external production that is being done, but the inner spirit in which we do whatever has to be done. That is the important thing. And that is all done in the divine academic spirit that we realize that the strongest power in our heart is God's love for every one of us.

[32:39]

And that therefore, whatever we do, obedience, fraternal charity, spiritual guidance, everything has to be reduced, so to speak, to that principle as the source. And if that is done, not only in kind of general, you know, and vague formulas, but if that is done in a concrete effort, from moment to moment, from hour after hour, return into the peace of Christ, begin again, now I begin in that love with which the Heavenly Father loves me, with which He wants me to live, then we can be absolutely sure that we do something, you know, which is really of great, a great joy to our Heavenly Father, which also is a great and important thing for the Church of God. But that is not in our hands.

[33:40]

We don't do it for any external effect. We do it, first of all, that everyone in the monastery may really become more and more, not only objectively, but even in his inner experience, the object of the Father's eternal love and response to that object. And that is my great hope, you know, that we never cease, you know, working at that. The whole thing, what we do with the school and so on, it all goes to that, you know, all builds on that foundation. And therefore, I wish, you know, so much for my part, you know, too. certainly pledge you know to do everything to formulate these things in such a way that they go into and become as it were bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh so that in this way a tradition is being formed and started you know which holds on more than 10 or 20 years but really

[34:46]

carries us into the future, which, of course, is God's. However, that is another thought that should never leave us, and if you read the papers and have an eye for the situation, the political situation as it develops, we can be absolutely sure that God forces us in the next future to concentrate on the one necessary thing, and that is that what we live on is God's love for us and nothing else. Many things may be taken away from us that carry us now, many things, great calamities we may face, who knows it, but it all forces us to the rock bottom of our Christian existence, the Father's love for us. And that is my great joy and also my prayer that you may help me in that way to represent that for you, and instead at the same time, because it cannot be done without response, that at the same time, every one of you too represents that same love to every one of his brethren.

[36:02]

I think we stay here, probably, probably right here. That's the service. But at the bottom, before God, it is the eternal struggle of grace, humility that receives grace against pride that does not want to receive any gifts. It is the fight of mercy against the hardness of heart. It is the fight of those who are willing to serve against those who delight in power. And that is an eternal struggle. That's the struggle which already was visible in the great symbols and signs of the apocalypse.

[37:14]

And the devotion of Mary in our days should be seen and can only be understood in that light. Only then it makes sense for the Christians. Only then it is really in the spirit of the one who we, in our devotion, whom we glorify, the mother of the Savior. Because that is really her deepest interest, so to speak, her greatest desire. And that spirit of grace may prevail in man against a wrong, devilish, diabolic emancipation in the spirit of pride.

[38:27]

The danger is, of course, and we should not hide that from ourselves, that Mary becomes a symbol not of grace, not of the spirit, but of human sentimentalities that she develops not in virtue of Catholic faith and Catholic dogma, but through the weakness of men, the concrete human beings who make up the church today. that she develops into something beside Christ, competing with him, even overshadowing Christ. That the devil uses this great sign, which we see in the Apocalypse.

[39:39]

The sign, I mean, of the woman who stands on the moon and the twelve stars form her crown. The great danger is that the devil, who is apt to hide behind the good and glorious things of God, and he uses that, and instead of Mary being a sign of the new world of grace, she becomes merely the representative or a kind of pretext behind which merely natural desires and natural values hide. That she simply stands for womanhood as such

[40:44]

and said then she becomes, as the woman already in paganism, a symbol of certain basic trends of the flesh. The woman in that way is an attractive symbol to mankind. Before Christianity in the pagan world, we had many woman deities, we had Isis, and we had the Demeter of Ephesus, only to speak of and take an example which is still contained in Holy Scripture itself, and which drew Saint Paul into hard struggles and that symbol of natural motherhood that also reappears in a certain way in our days.

[42:00]

A world that really has lost the meaning and the, let us say, even the capacity of understanding the spiritual character of Mary today cultivates a merely sexual model step. And that certainly is an extremely popular thing. And we as Catholics, we have to be on the lookout because it would be just pride to think that we are immune to the trends of the times. As human beings, we are not. And therefore, we must be on the lookout that Christmas does not degenerate for us into another kind of Mother's Day, with the mother and the child at the center, the core,

[43:11]

No, we have to make a special effort to see our Lady clearly with the eyes of faith. And that means that we see her in the light of the divine Agape. Agape, the love of God for us, is strictly God's gift. It cannot be reached And it cannot be obtained by any human effort whatsoever. It clearly descends. And therefore the first quality which it requires in man is the quality which we call virginity. A spiritual virginity. That spiritual virginity means and is an unconditional surrender to grace.

[44:26]

A willingness to follow wherever the Lamb leads us. A surrender of all our natural claims. That virginity is represented in Mary. Mary is the ideal virgin. And in this way, Mary represents in the most perfect way the attitude which corresponds on our human side to the divine Agape which descends from above. So let us keep that Mary in the Christian sense is first of all the virgin and the virgin is a term of the spirit not a term of the flesh.

[45:34]

And that is the reason why the Church, in her devotion to Mary, has always put that characteristic, that note first. Mary the Virgin, Virgo Maria. That is the foundation, that's the basic approach in our devotion to Mary. So then the next time, let us consider Mary as virgin and as virgin in the way, the three ways in which the church has venerated her and in which the church venerates her during the Advent season and the Christmas season and the Epiphany season, the virgin before birth, the virgin in birth, that means the virgin mother, and the virgin after birth, the bride of the Spirit.

[46:36]

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