In its meditation to the mass of tomorrow and the fifth Sunday after, in the conference, And in these Masses of the Pentecost, the beautiful thing is always that they lead us and they activate all the things that we have received, the great gifts of our salvation that we have received in the preceding great feasts of the Ecclesiasticus year, especially in celebrating the Easter mystery that is the centre of all our Christian life, the Christ, the Son of God, made man, became truly our brother and in obedience to his Father. He died for us and he rose for us so that in him all things are done for us so that in him we died and in him we have conquered

[01:17]

And so he has sent us his Spirit. And what is the price is to believe, believe in Christ. Believe in Christ, that means that is eating Christ, eating his flesh, drinking his blood, participate in his death, and in that way also in the power of his resurrection. Now, therefore, the intro is right away that voice of faith. Hear, O Lord, my voice, this voice with which I have cried to thee. So that is the specific voice, that is the voice of the Christian, the voice with which I have cried to thee, the voice not of any who certainly finds himself in distress and then suddenly turns to God in some part of the thought of there having his last refuge or the last escape or the last help in distress.

[02:31]

But it is the voice which we, I cry, that is the voice which will be the voice of Christ in us. That is the voice of faith in us. That is the voice which the Word of God has put into our hearts, the voice of the soul, inspired voice. Hear, O Lord, my voice, which I have cried to thee. Be thou my helper, forsake me not, nor do thou despise me, O God my Saviour. So that is the voice, the voice of the Christian, the Christian who also after baptism knows and realizes his weakness. He knows that for that matter baptism did not perform in him a miraculous transformation, transformation of his character, transformation of those things that he has received from his birth from father and mother.

[03:34]

not, therefore, a certain miraculous transformation that would make him an impeccable saint automatically. That is not the way of salvation. That is not the way of the Spirit. But still, faith has opened a new dimension. And with that voice, I cry. I realize my weakness. I realize that I am still fully and completely a human being, that I am as later on. I think what I'm one of the... The post-communion mentions it, that we may cleanse us from our hidden faults. All that is in us. But you see, the important thing is that we do not have to climb the ladder of perfection before we can cry with a voice that God would hear.

[04:45]

That's the difference. We hear with the voice which faith inspires, not the voice which gives the result or which is the cream, so to speak. of an effort, ascetical effort, the effort of our will, all these things which have finally put us into a state of perfection, and now we can then sing to God as pure and holy souls. The voice of the Christian is different. the voice of the one who realizes his weakness, but more still, deeper still, he believes that Christ is the Lamb of God and carries his weight. and therefore he does not try first to screw himself up into a kind of holy mood of absolute inner tranquility and serenity based on the training of the stoic,

[06:01]

who then, towards the end of their training, doesn't fear death anymore, is not excited about any happiness, but keeps their perfect balance. That kind of voice is not the voice of the Christian, is not the voice which cries here, but as we are in our earthly reality. But, Christian, That means believers. That means those who know that Christ has taken our power, that Christ is carrying our burden. That's therefore there where we are, In confidence that he died for us and loves us here in our depth, we cry to him, Be thou my helper, forsake me not, nor do thou despise me, O God my Saviour.

[07:03]

That's, of course, a voice which carries fulfilment in it. Before you cry to me, there I am. As Saint Benedict explains it in a prologue to his book. And then, right away, comes that first verse of that psalm. The modern exegetes always say, and they would say to this Almighty, it's a fatal mistake because the liturgy of the Church just puts together the two things that do not come together. because they distinguish the first part of the psalm from verse 1 to verse 6, and then verse 7 to the end as a second different psalm, because it's so different, it moves. The liturgy has it this way, and I think we take it this way.

[08:08]

The, uh, that's always, you know, the exocetes always operate in a vacuum. In that vacuum, you know, that guy here with your small boy, you know, all you can say is... nicely, you know, courtesy. I mean, I don't know if there is something to it, what they say. However, the living tradition, in all of the words of Holy Scripture, the living tradition of the Church, you know, synagogue, I mean the Church of the Old Testament, the New Testament, that is their decisive thing, the use, the vital use that the Church makes of this. And certainly not out of stupidity, but out of real recognition. Everybody knows and realises what doesn't have to be an exegete, That's these two things, exalted on it, hear the voice, be thou my helper, forsake me not.

[09:16]

And the other one, the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? That they obviously, you know, evidently and on the surface represent two very different moods. However, then, of course, that is the secret and the mystery of our Christian existence. And that's, of course, the depth of our existence. That's the depth. That is, if you want the paradox of the Christian existence here between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ, that's the paradox. We have, through baptism, through the sacrament of blessing, through that regeneration, through our faith, we have the kingdom of God. And in that way, in this kingdom of God, we have the health and the life of the risen Christ in us. And still we suffer.

[10:18]

Still we are, let us say, morbidly so dumb. And we are so weak. And we realize that weakness. And the closer we come to God here in this life, the more deeply we realize that weakness. That's the Christian paradox. That is what sanctity here in this life means to us. So, let us therefore not be confused, but let us take this, you know, and again, as one of the, you can see, the liturgy of the church is not a state performance. Everything goes, you know, with... great powers and complete balance of form and wonderful beauty and so on. It's not the Christian liturgy. The Christian liturgy is and has room and is the scene, the stage, you know, for the cries of the Christian out of his real Christian existence, out of his everyday experience.

[11:21]

That is, if one looks about and tries to understand an intro like this, in some way it is even good, I think, to just in a very concrete way put yourself into and wander with a Christian, let us say, in the time in which these things were composed. Go into the church. How does he go into the church? He doesn't simply jump right away into the sanctuary, but first he leaves the street. And the first he enters is the atrium or the narthex. So it's that place where the fountain, you know, the fountain, the water purification is in the set of thick, for example, of Sartre. There's an atrium. Very simple, very severe. in some way, and there is the fountain in the centre, and that reminds the Christian of his baptism.

[12:28]

So there is his conversion, there is the reminder of his weakness, there is the warning that he, you know, still that again and again he has to turn away from the powers of evil. Conversion and repentance are therefore the first things that are inspired into him. And then going through that, alive, you know, and with the real, you know, looking around and with the heart open to what he sees, then he enters the church. And in that church, then he sees the face of the cure. There he sees an incitement of... the original thing, but at least he sees the accountus. He sees, I am the vine and you are the branches. And that is what is it. That's the salvation of the Christian.

[13:28]

He is taken on by Christ. Christ has died for me. He is risen for me. And therefore I died with him and I am risen with him. The link of these two propositions, that's what we call faith. So in that way, our salvation, our faculty, let us say, when our possibility or capacity of worship is based on faith. Faith is the foundation of worship. For that matter, one can really say faith is the foundation of worship and not works. One does not take these two in one exclusive way. But faith is the foundation. Faith opens to me the eyes to my sinfulness.

[14:31]

Faith also shows to me the occulta, called a sin, sharpens the eye. And therefore, faith also gives to me the possibility of repentance. But repentance is, of course, that change of power, where I change from the weakness of my heart to the strength and the power and the glory of the heart of the risen Savior. And that is the foundation of worship. So through the atrium I go. and then enter into the place where the character of Christi reigns, in the Basilica, in the Ecclesia. And there I sing that the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? You could not put these two things into a greater, deeper contradiction.

[15:36]

It won't say, I have cried to thee, be thou my helper, forsake me not, and despise me not. Now who could cry that? Only the one who realizes that he is a worm and no man before God. but the same individual, and what can I much better say, the same ecclesia, the same church. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Always this beautiful Semitic and Hebrew way of expression. This is a kind of foreshadowing, the providential, receptacle, really, that language, that Hebrew language of the mystery of the Incarnation. He is my light and my salvation. Why? Because I am a baptized Christian. I see there, if I enter the afternoon, there I see that fountain.

[16:39]

I see that fountain of living water. And that immediately reminds me of my Baptist. He is my life and he is my salvation. Because everything he is, everything that God is, that's the beauty of the Christian faith. Everything that God is, of course, Everything that the Father is, that is the Son. And that everything that God is, is for me, towards me. My life, my salvation. That's why the Word of God became man. The Word became man. And that means he is man's life. And he is man's salvation. So, we can find the echo of this right away in the epistle, as well as in the gospel. That's the beauty of this Mass, this particular Mass.

[17:41]

It brings that bliss. One can say it brings the whole spirit of the baptised Christian in such a beautiful way into focus. Be ye all of one mind on this unanimous stove. That means now St. Peter there addresses himself through the Christian. This is, of course, through the Christian community. What are they as a community? Aren't they all of one mind? Why are they of one mind? Because after all, they received in baptism the same faith. They received the mind of Christ. You are my light and my salvation. If we all tomorrow sing that together around the altar, you are my light and my salvation, and everything sings that really out of the bottom of his heart, now then, what are we if not of one mind and of one heart? Popeye, we really mean what we are saying.

[18:44]

having compassion on one another. On one mind, that means we are all, we have, as catechumens, as Christians, we have received the same tradition, we have received the same faith, we have received the same mind of Christ, we have put him on the mind of Christ. In that unity of mind we say, you are my light, and so we are of one mind. Having compassion of one Therefore, it is not only the light that we have received, but also, naturally, what we have received is the love of that Saviour. Have compassion of one another in the whole realm of feeling. in the whole realm only of that intellectual light, of the mind, I would say, in a theological sense, but also in the field of feeling. Have compassion one of another.

[19:49]

But that of sympathy, that compassion, of course, that is carry one another's burdens. That is not a... sentimental, you know, having this or that affection for this one, for that one, but it is an objective thing. It's that objective thing that Baptism has given to us. It's the spirit, it's the ploima, the ploima of Christ. as the charity urged him to die for all, for each one of us, so also on that basis, naturally, we have compassion with one another, being lovers of the brotherhood, which is such a beautiful expression, philadelphia. the Philadelphia lovers of the brotherhood. The lover of the brotherhood, therefore, is a love which embraces the community, the ecclesia, or the parochia in which I live as such, in which, therefore, I ought to approach the individual through the brotherhood, not the brotherhood through the individual.

[21:12]

Some people do that in and, of course, on this line of foreign picture and of poor as poor. And we human beings, we always do that. We try to come to a brotherhood where the result of our esteem and love for the brotherhood are the affective or intellectual qualities of every single member. so that our love for the brotherhood is nothing but the simple, let us say, addition of the love of the various individuals. And if there is an individual which I do not love, then the whole brotherhood goes to pieces. That is, of course, not the breakup of Christ. It has nothing to do with it. Christ did not die, for that matter, for an individual, but he died, first of all, for the Eccles. Christ was the lover of the brotherhood, of the fraternities. He died for the ecclesia. The death of Christ is the birth of the church.

[22:16]

And therefore, also for us, our love for the brotherhood and the love for the community in which we are is not simply the kind of arithmetic of my love for the individual. My love for the brotherhood just goes as far as my love for various individuals goes. And these various individuals I love because of sentiment, reason, weakness of personal preference, or of greater affinity, and this or that matter, and so on. That is not love of Christ, that's not love of this year, it's not having compassion of one another, that's a saving love. And love, therefore, that loves a unity and community as a whole. Merciful, modest, and holy, not rendering evil. For evil, no wailing. For wailing, contrarized blessing. For unto this are you called, that you may inherit a blessing.

[23:20]

That is the beauty. a word that sums it all up, of it's that word that was spoken to Abraham, and which Abraham, as the father of the faithful, and which stems, as it were, all his descendancy, that whole people of God, be a blessing, be a blessing. That is that. That word, you know, is also, and that is, I wanted to call your attention to that, that the language which is used here by St. Peter as the language, really, of the, naturally, of the fifth chapter of St. Matthew, which, by the way, you have as the gospel, and I'm sure that originally it were not only this, but simply what was read on a Sunday like this, probably the whole Sermon on the Mount, Ernst, that's a revanche in Matthew, Ernst in Luke, in the sixth chapter, as you have an abbreviated form there, the blessings, you know, the blessings.

[24:26]

All right? Beatitudes, the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes. And that's the language here also of this. Peter Ernst, I wanted to mention another thing too, that you could keep your interest in mind. This language, which is the, let us say, part, of course, of the standard language for Christianity, standard language of the Catechism, let's say, of early Christianity, is the language also of Psalm 33. Psalm 33, when we spoke about and analyzed the Baroque of St. Benedict to the rule, And that prologue of St. Benedict to the Rulers, a kind of a baptismal sermon, you know, given to a monk that is entering into the new life, maybe at the consecration of a monk, that sermon is based, you know, in its first part on Psalm 15 and Psalm 33, 14 and 33, an hour later.

[25:32]

And those two sounds are actually, that is the, say, as we called it at the time, the law of the house, the law of the code of the house. Yeah, the law of the code. And that is the language here. We shall see that. For unto you I call the humane heritage blessed. For he that will love life and see good days. Now, there is, by the way, that is Psalm 33, that Psalm that St. Benedict also has put and given such an importance for us as Christians. that he will refrain his talk from evil, that is that Cyrus, that separation. Another thing that I wanted to call your attention to is that these laws, to say, of the baptised Christian, the new law, the baptised Christian is also in close connection with the Levitical laws of Satan, Leviticus 19.

[26:40]

Leviticus 19 is one of the sources that are naturally transposed, transformed into our Christian language. You see there, for example, Leviticus 19, right away shining through the last sentence of this, but then in Christian, you can say transfiguration, Dominum Christum, Sanctificate, Incordibus Vestris. the Levitical formula of Leviticus 19, but transformed into, of course, into the new baptismal situation. See good day, for he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him decline from evil and to the good. Let him seek out the peace and pursue it, because the eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears are to their prayers. But the countenance of the Lord is against him that do evil things.

[27:43]

Now that is, therefore, that is Psalm 33. And Psalm 33 is a part of that instruction, basic instruction, and you know where I will, the first epistle of St. Peter, probably was a sermon or instruction for practice for the new. So we find that Psalm 33 right here, come and you will be enlightened. And beautiful, how many odds are just with the Psalm 26 that we take as the intro for this man. and then, and who is he that can hurt you if you be zealous for good? Now they are caused that, you know, that triumphant. There it comes to my mind. I mean, you can do this. First, let us take, let us warn, let us allow our thoughts to wander. That is the beautiful way in which a Benedictine monk, you know, makes his meditation on the Word of God.

[28:47]

This here, what you find here, that is the law of God. And that law of God, it is here in a living way, in the drama, in the action of the mouth, that makes, that kindles the enthusiasm and the fire of love in our hearts. But you see that right here, the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? And then you have right here, in these words here, Be not afraid of their fear. Do not, you know, be in any way afraid, as they are afraid, that heathen fear of the unknown, of that neutral, of a new destiny, of fate, you know, which commands and determines the human life, you know, without any heart.

[29:48]

Make not this anonymous. law which would condemn us either to evil or to good, to pain or to sorrow or to happiness. Who is he that can hurt you if you be zealous for good? I would translate, you know, if you are enthusiasts for goodness, real enthusiasts for goodness, because that brings out the typical New Testament. That's what St. Peter here speaks to the newborn children, the babes, that means those who are in youth, they're free, not too old, and lip-wound or disappointed or the shortened legs of their disappointment. But these are enthusiasts for goodness, boldly immolato. That, of course, this boni is not adjective to emulatores, but emulatores, the boni is the genitivus, depends on emulatores.

[30:58]

Boni emulatores, that means enthusiasts for goodness. But if also you suffer anything for justice' sake, blessed are ye. If you suffer anything for justice' sake, blessed are ye. That's the spirit of the resurrection. That is Christ is my light and is my salvation. What is it? He suffered for me. Therefore, my sufferings are his sufferings. And if his sufferings are my sufferings, his salvation is my salvation. Therefore, if you suffer anything for justice' sake, blessed are ye. But please, stop for a moment and think what that means. Beati, here it is. Beati. What do you stick to? Beati. Beati, for that matter, is a strictly religious term.

[31:58]

Makarion. We have different terms in the Greek language for being happy. Oedimon, not oedimonos. But that means being, you know, in a pleasant mood. Being comfortable. And because one is comfortable, that is oedimon. Therefore, one is in a happy mood. But that is not makarion. A carrier is more religious on a higher level, on the level of the spirit. Beati, you are blessed. That doesn't mean that the one who suffers for just the sake, you know, just all the way goes around and sings hallelujahs. No, he is simply, you know, he is blessed because he is what makes us blessed, makarioi, only in union with God and nothing else.

[32:59]

Therefore it's a blessedness and it's a happiness which is not derived from the fact that I feel well, that I have no headache, I have nothing you see to that would in any way disturb my comfort. The day is really more nice, everything is closed, everything is nice, I slept long enough and all that. That is oidite. But that is not makarios, somebody, therefore, who is happy because he smokes a pipe and everything is nice. That's not makarios. Makarios is that blessedness which results from nothing but union with God, because Christ is my life and Christ is my salvation. Somebody who has received the sacrament of baptism, that little child, that little baby, may cry, you know, that baby is not carious. Blessed is Beatus, infant Beatus.

[34:03]

Therefore, in that way too, you see, and that is why that comes and is so beautiful just for us, you know, as well. But that's also the beauty of why, you know, in the East, you see, a... You know, the representative, a bishop, you know, is called bestra beatitudo. Beatitudo. That doesn't mean that he sails always on clouds. No, I believe you. But it is because he carries, he carries the word, he is the incarnation of Christ's blessedness. He is therefore all that, his whole person represents that, that holiness and sanctity of the Son of God in its union with the Father. So then, and be not afraid of their fear and be not troubled.

[35:05]

That is really true. One who is beatus is exempt from the law of fear of the creature. of that creature in the fallen state far from and not being a clear stone in the temple of god that of course that fear of loneliness of separation that fear that the Church of old tried to express and to convey to the one whom she would excommunicate from the community of the Church, the excommunicated one. Today, the modern world, of course, considers that as an insult. would sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts.

[36:05]

Christum sanctificate in caudicus vestris. That is the whole summary. That is the beautiful phrase, you know, in comparison and in the light, you know, of Leviticus 19. Be you holy because I am holy. It's such a beautiful fulfillment of that line. Sanctificate. Christum sanctificat in cardibus vesti, sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts. Because how do you sanctify him? You sanctify him with your own sufferings in him and for him and through him and with him. In your hearts, that means in the depth of that new life. the creation that you have received in your baptism, because the spilling is poured out, and I shall take away the stony heart and I will give you a heart of flesh.

[37:06]

And then this one who then sanctifies Christ, the beauty of it again, I mean, we can't speak about it in the Gospel, you know, too. If you want to see also then again in a very concrete example what it means to sanctify Christ in your heart, just read, you know, what is said there. You see, except you just disabound more than that of the scribes and the Pharisees. The new law that is here, the Sermon of the Mount, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. You have heard, thou shalt not kill, whosoever shall kill be in danger of judgment. I say to you, whosoever shall be angry with his brother shall be in danger of judgment. That is the plan. Whoever is angry with his brother doesn't sanctify Christ in his heart. And that, my friends, is a thing which is concrete, concrete for everybody, for every Christian and for every monk.

[38:15]

And whosoever shall say to his brother, shall be in danger of the council, shall say, thou fool, in danger of Pilgrim. If we know not that we have a complaint to another one and then forgive the other one, but if we know that the other has a complaint against us, then Okay. Let not the sun set down upon your anger. Those are the things that really count in the new law, the law of the Spirit. And that is then the thing, you see, that in Holy Communion is really sealed, truly sealed, the seal of fullness, the seal of the Church of Pentecost.

[39:23]

And when we say, one thing I have asked of the Lord, And this will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. And that of me, of course, that means not a bodily, for that matter, dwelling in the temple, which was never the case. It means the spiritual, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. in the ecclesia, in the brotherhood, which is the temple and the house of the Lord, all the days of life.

[39:59]

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