I think one of the rules I have done according to the expression in Krina are the clothes. Dyeing the ear of your heart. It's such an important expression. So just in the context of our present liturgical week, the week of Sexta Gesumus, Sunday, in preparation to lend the time of listening, the hearing, the idea that the heart is in a room, so to speak, and in an org, which, in the way of God's Word, we receive, and may have an eternal and lasting residence.

[01:17]

Such an important idea as the whole idea of the heart, as you know, we say that the Holy Scripture the word of God being addressed to the heart of man because it is a word of love. It is a heart-to-heart talk that undertakes the essence of revelation in the field of actual reason There we have our senses, and our senses receive objects, and receive these objects according to their external manifestation, their shape, their size, their color, or strength, something neutral.

[02:19]

The reason, then, can go a step further and discover in some of these objects which the senses present to us, discover there a deeper principle, spontaneity, what we call the soul. We are so various. degree of interiority in these objects, the vegetative, and reason can kind of analyze what is the spontaneity, the interiority, the inner depth, so to speak, of vegetative life. One can define those things. And then one can proceed in also seeing the animals, Another step, another dimension, another depth, so to speak, is the appetitus, the appetite, the desire, the going after an object which is then seen or known some way.

[03:38]

But then there's also, of course, then the last phenomenon, that's the phenomenon of man, and there too reason can One can come to a certain philosophical idea of man as a person, his autonomy, the degree of his autonomy, and his spontaneity. and his intellect and will, all these things, from there on can then in an analogous way, because they make also and certainly go still other steps further to completely immaterial spiritual beings, angels, or the first cause, creator, the actus purus, God.

[04:40]

But if we follow, you know, in the realm of reason, of our natural reason, what we can see, as I say, is somewhere always a, now let's call it a kind of a neutral scheme. A pattern, you know, that we can't follow, and that we can't think of, a framework. But the real, the mystery of the person remains inacceptable to reason, to human reason, to abstract reason, to abstraction. gets there, we can have certain categories. These categories certainly reveal us something of the essence. We always have even the inner feeling, the inner experience. We are not satisfied looking or analyzing a person with our intellect.

[05:48]

Soon as it comes to the person's deeper region, of our inner self come into motion, that is, that we see the person and we begin to love the person. We begin then to divine an inner secret of that person. That person is a mystery to us. So, in other words, reason can, let us say, the kind of come to the threshold of the, let's call it the heart. But the heart of man still is and remains something that Trump thinks is all abstract thinking. Because abstract thinking is always something neutral. And as soon as we deal with a person,

[06:53]

Abstraction does not bring about a meeting. And that is what it is. If we are confronted with a person, then the decisive thing is to meet that person. That is even, I mean, in the daily relations between human beings. One doesn't, if we meet a person, then the usual thing that is being done is that this person is being introduced to me. And the person is being introduced to me by mentioning to me or revealing to me the name of that person. And that name of that person stands for the unrepeatable, unique, inner depth, the heart of that person.

[07:58]

And therefore, then, the way in which I meet that person is a handshake. You see, as soon as we go, or you turn on, let's say, to other forms of soul, life, plants or animals, you are not introduced to a dog. Or if you are, I don't know, if you think that a person makes something out of a dog, then he isn't. It's a kind of degradation. And what does the dog do? It barks. And then wears his cape. So that certainly leads us into great depth. But it's good sometimes just to make that absolutely clear, you know, what happened.

[09:03]

We learn from the distinct, from different. That's the way we are made. We penetrate the astronomical thing by distinguishing. And sometimes the thing that prevents us from distinguishing are the indefinitely unreal and sentimental identification, you know, which our time is so prone to, which is always some kind of masquerading, you know, some kind of escaping, some kind of moving, you know, willful, you know, turn on its feet, which is rather theater stage, you know, not the true reality. So, Lady Lenay, the person, is introduced to it. The name is revealed, and I call that person by its name. And then I answer that being introduced by stretching out my hand, and then a handshake follows.

[10:10]

Now, that's much better than anything, and I couldn't again shake hands with a dog. The handshake, that means that I put my hand into the other hand, and I grasp that hand. And that is at the same time a surrender. It's an expression of trust. An expression of trust. And it's a kind of entering into, I open up, I give myself. And at the same time I take a hold. That means I take in a certain way possession of that person. Those two things are there. And that is then the communication, that's the meeting of two persons.

[11:14]

So, the same as another way in which two persons meet is they give one another the kiss of peace. What is the kiss of peace? The thing is a communication, a sharing of one's inner life, of the breath. And that is a symbol of the inner reality. Again, we have to say a lot. So we see there, you know, that the heart is something, the inner secret of a person. And if we, you know, this picture, if we enter into the field of revelation, I mean, not of natural, the search of God is the means of reason, but if we enter in the realm of revelation, now then, revelation takes place by the word.

[12:24]

As that word is of course where we have to deal with the person of God, of the Creator, It is that He revealed His Name. His Name is His Word. The Word is the illumination of that inner sequence of the forms of God. Therefore, in the whole realm of revelation, it means that we have two Seers. With the ear of our heart. With the ear of our heart. Not with our senses, not with our intellect, but with the ear of our heart. That's according to that beautiful word that I mentioned some time ago, which They are a bad day, but the intelligent don't call it a day.

[13:34]

Learn the words of God. No, that's not right. Listen to the words of God to learn the heart of God. That's the way St. Bernard formulated it. Listen to the words of God to learn the heart of God. That is the realm of revelation. That's why we have, in addition to this created, visible world, we have the word. Word is the expression of the heart. So that the whole realm of revelation and listening to the word of God being to enter into the heart of God, but of course we cannot enter into the heart of God without giving our own heart. It's the shaking of heart. I have to stretch a heart and say, here I am. I trust that being in our absolute heart.

[14:38]

And then taking of hope. enter into that personal conversation in the cause, homily. So therefore, everything depends then, as soon as we enter the realm of revelation, then we hear the Rama thought. The father who speaks to his son, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we hear it. in the Spirit. It is what I'm saying, the Spirit is the room in which we hear the Word of God. The Spirit is really in us, that is what we call the silence in the Christian sense of how we are looking at the Holy Spirit. It's gospel, it's gospel, and we constantly read that, that wants to lead us to that.

[15:49]

Therefore, there's the word, you know. There's the seed of the word. Therefore, the word is something living. Something living, something that wants to unfold. Interior, all these things are connected. You have words of eternal life. And then this word, and then, of course, our Lord explains the dangers. That when we hear the word that some people, the devil comes and takes it out. We hear it, and the devil says, what is that? Now that is, we know so well, everything in hearing depends Do we, is the room of our heart really open or not? And how often is it so? We hear and still we don't hear.

[16:49]

There is contempt for the person who speaks to us, but never takes our place. Or there is this inner, simply inner unwillingness of pride. I know it all, nobody has to tell. Or there is that inner tendency to defeat the one who talks to me. Right from the beginning is that tendency. Defeat is it. If, for example, if somebody reads, you know, in Holy Scripture, the word of our Lord, all that solemnity. You are Peter, or you are rock, and upon this rock I build my church. Somebody reads that and says, how can he ever build his church on a permanent rock? That's a typical reaction, you know, where the word is heard, and the devil takes it.

[17:55]

So there is the depth. The echo of the heart is simply not there, because the heart isn't open. And we have all kinds of things, you know. Our reason of which we are so proud, you know, and so on. Our, you know, sophistication. Our eagerness, you know, to show our superiority. Because listening to somebody is always in some way submitting to against them. And that's what we all want to do. And the devil, of course, has the feel, you know, and takes away the feel. Or there is the other way, which we also know so well. There is that kind of temperance by natural temperament, you know. Maybe he doesn't have too much of his own convictions. And then his inner room is kind of filled with emotions, you know.

[18:59]

And there is that inner ease, you know, readiness, sometimes simply also dictated by vanity. If somebody talks to me, I have to let him know that I understand him, that I'm all there, on, and then simply, you know, you say something, or you preach, you know, and right away later on the sacristy is filled, and you don't find another one. Well, that's just like honey in my teeth. It's all in there. And it's sad, you know, that emotion, that translatory reaction makes my voice. That is the sudden, you know, growing up, you know, and then no roots, you know, no depth. The heart is filled with all kinds of emotions. It doesn't have that purity, the senselessness, you know, the objectivity isn't there.

[20:05]

There are people who, by temperament, see everything in a subjective light. We men always blame the reason for that. It's another way, you know. It's another way, and then it's then, you know, that what takes that same other type is more serious, you know, even melancholic, you know. Therefore, everything he said, he takes it very seriously. But then he turns around, and then, poor mother, the worries and the cares of the world, you know. And she gets all entangled, you know, who takes himself and his being entangled, you know, let us say, too seriously, and so on. He is drawn into the territory, into the territory of all the variety of cares and worries. not trusting, you know, in God. He doesn't have that, you know, liberty.

[21:07]

He's not at the disposal of the world, but he's always thinking of his own schemes, what he has to do, what he has to do. And without him, it just doesn't, nothing works, you know. So he's drawn into it, and then forgets. The birds, you know, simply just then, as Holy Spirit just said, so beautifully, simply suffocated, you know, and suffocated by all the weeds, you know, that grow up these worldly jigs. And the more slaves enter their ensemble, the more, you know, these things grow in dimensions, and, remember that, And therefore the law can say, therefore, blessed are those who call the bono et optimo audient, verum principium et fructum patrum, in capisciensia.

[22:09]

They have raised the dimension of the heart. Bono et optimo. We always think of the wonderful thing, we think of that in the The secret of a person, the way we describe it, gives it the adjective, the word of value. The goodness of heart. The goodness of heart. A heart is good. Why it is the inner intent what makes, you know, a person, the inner value of a person. That's the heart. Goodness of the heart. Mono-exotic. Book-tum-parched, impartial. The heart is something, a dynamic source of life. All the whole garden of the person is irrigated from there. It's the fountain of the inner life.

[23:14]

But something that goes then into the whole realm of a person. Nothing except the whole realm. Activity all over the person does, you know. The whole life is penetrated, permeated by that. Fugtum vatthu. Even about this hearing field, it's something productive. The good heart is something productive. Therefore, that's the father's heart. It's the mother's heart. We pray it in a special way. So, that is therefore, in glina aurum, called this We stay there, we are in the realm, really, of grace, of the Holy Spirit. So, as we say, you know, we have in order to listen, we have to do the little steps, you know, make the start, you know, and that means we have to get out of our mind the worries and cares of the world.

[24:18]

In Judaism, we put to the bowels of our happiness. Then when we needn't realize the superficiality of our nature, you know, that mobility, that curiosity, all these superficial things which listen but don't listen in the depth, are not deep enough to be a real resonance here. Now then, we simply have to turn to God's mercy and pray. Open our heart to fully clamor beyond the dormant. There is the depth. Why, if we are aware, you know, that the devil is there ready, you know, to prevent, you know, that inner willingness to listen at all.

[25:20]

Well, then we have to remember that the baptism, you know, the first thing that was done to us, you know, was that exorcism really. The exorcism, where the priest, you know, takes out the stickle of his mouth, which is the symbol of divine wisdom, makes the cross on each one of our ears and says, Beyond words. After beyond words. So, um... And those things we should talk about because they are of exceeding importance. I try my best. We are disciples, we are listeners. The monasteries raise the gauge of our denial. We hear a small voice of God's silence.

[26:22]

Next week, we have the visit of a monk of the community, the Protestant community of Pisa, where at the present time he lives in this country, and is in this country together with another director of a little center of ecumenical study in the state of Massachusetts. of Boston, Packard Mountain. And I invited them, even, you know, to come because I had heard so much of St. Celia ought to be influenced of that community which is very near to the place of the old Abbey of Cuny. In fact, I was able to go there. get any personal contact on this trip, but then I was invited to a conference with this, I don't know how, that was going to give this month in Boston, so we got in touch, and invited them, they couldn't come here, and they

[27:33]

and now he's in charge for me, you know, and I'm trying to get him to be consular next week on the 18th, the 20th. and also another of the linkage that we have to ask you to remember that in your prayers or to our thanksgiving because we finally succeeded to pay all the house that we had in France to relatively favorable terms, because now difficulties in the colonies, North African colonies, especially in Alshia, was a big call for the re-migration of many veterans into the metropolitan area. We serve at the doctor's office, the hospital.

[28:53]

Taking over my organization on the island, but we serve as a school. They get only a very nice place. They get it in very favorable conditions. So we have a solution all the time. You have to pay for it. It costs a thousand pounds, you know, in a week. So, again, that has been great. Also, of course, the beginning of the conflict, you have to maintain the house all the time. I think we all remember the place that I was

[29:54]

in gratitude that visitor of the two officers came here to visit and to explain their approach to the problem of the reunion of the churches and also in the case of their local to explain the idea and the spirit of the plastic life, this community And now, out of that, Unitas for Gerne lived in a monastic circle, for then this serves as the concrete starting point for an extension of that same charity, Virtuoso. this way receives a truly hegemonical Catholic character. Some people have asked me if we could devote the beginning to a

[31:16]

discuss these things a little among ourselves. I think that would be very useful for us, because it is also, as Laurent explained, it is their position that they start from another background, and to use that to the best advantage really for the whole of the church. That is their idea, not to use their present situation as a departing point for an attack on other positions, but to use their present position outside of the as the visible body of the Church and the authority of the Church, as not as an attack against the authority, but as a possibility in which, for the public, we are the whole, God willing, we are disposing that way, for the experience of the whole Christian body, then a fresh approach may be made.

[32:41]

Now that is something that we all could also seek in a man like that, that sincerity of that deep spiritual quality, that deep faith. In Christ, the love for Christ is there, and that gives faith. He was a lawyer before he entered the monastery, so we had no professional theological background, but that may help. the grace of God, in a case like that, to approach the things, the traditional things of the faith, to which we are so used, which are so familiar to us, with new eyes, and then also with a new enthusiasm. And that may be a real service for the whole, because we always suffer from the fact that maybe we are too familiar with the things, the good gifts that Christ has given to us, too familiar with the tradition of the Church and with our own litany, the Holy Rule, so that we take too much for granted

[34:12]

And therefore the edge of our understanding becomes a little dirt. We don't get the fresh color, the newness of it. That's very often the great grace for a convert. has not grown up within the church, and he suddenly sees these things with new eyes. And that is certainly here too, that the approach or the attempt is made for new formulas, for the words, formulas, which may have a greater or more immediate, or easily accessible, to modern man, who has an entirely different background, entirely different way of thinking, and also of speaking.

[35:19]

And all that gives, therefore, for example, a comparison between the rule of King James and the rule of St. Benedict, which for us, I think, is a very fruitful thing. I mean, I don't say that now for a very confessional reason. I think that the rule of St. Benedict would stand very well under the comparison, because I think that the basic idea, that's the thing, the rule of Tennessee, expressed right in the beginning, nobody can take up the rule if not for the sake of the Lord Jesus, for following Him, to imitate Him. Thus the instrument that we were emboldened into that divine image of the Lord.

[36:21]

Because that is also the principle of the rule of St. Benedict. And that is what we wanted to, well, just to see into and make it clear to us what way St. Benedict's rule is conceived, exactly on those scriptural lines, the lines of the true, classical, enthusiastic spiritual tradition. And there's a word that I just found so beautiful, I think, in this connection, and it's very much a book, a conference, it's really a little book. of the father Carlisle, where he quotes Rupertus of Dorian, who speaks about this character of the rule. Such a beautiful thing, he says, if it's fitting in proper terms to say of the already mentioned rule of our most holy father Saint Benedict,

[37:29]

that the Holy Spirit, with whom the saint was filled, disposed it truly by his mind, and that he spoke by his mouth, that the rule was built entirely upon the foundation laid down by God, the foundation of the evangelical authority, upon which our Builder The writer gazed with the open eyes of his mind while he wrote. Such a beautiful scene, I think, that characterizes really the spirit and the attitude of St. Benjamin. He gave the form, the norm, the way, we can say the instruction, the Torah, direction laid down by the evangelical authority, the advocate of evangelical authority, under the leadership, the guidance of the gospel, we away follow the way of the fiction.

[38:36]

That is why in the beginning always so beautifully expressed in the gospel, the whole thing right away is followed and begun in a positive way, and right way, followed into the center of the entire business. Auskulta of fee. The one who is willing to listen to the instruction of the rule, heals by that very desire, already feels he is strong. He is prodigal son, he is coming back, but he is strong. is accepted by his father, aus Kulta of Filii Recepta Magistri, that you may return in obedience to the one whom you have left in the slog of disobedience. That is the basic scriptural situation. the word of scripture about the fall of Adam, the first of Adam, and the coming of the second Adam.

[39:44]

That basic teaching, gospel, the noose of the scripture is right away made there the starting point for the entire rule that follows. That is our situation. We are disobedient sons. Therefore, The way in which we return, and that is what the rule is all about, is that we return to conversio, to shulba, as the response says in Hebrew, and for that we go back to him through obedience, because we have left him in a state of disobedience. And there, that is the key to all. Anybody who is willing to do that, anybody who sees himself as political song, sees what is the obstacle to its union with God, and it is his poise and his disobedience, and then opens his ear, the ear of his heart, to the teaching of his loving Father,

[40:52]

by the way, taken into this living process of salvation. He becomes a member of the economy of salvation. He follows the ways of God. In him, Scripture, the Word of God, really and truly, it lives. and that is the meaning of the whole book. So we really rejoice in that clear and in that classical way in which Saint Benedict right away characterizes the situation, puts before us the setting in which our life develops, and the goal, and me, and all that in the Holy Spirit addressing us, and so on. So that is for example something that, if you compare that with the rule of Thessalonians, I must say that Maybe there is a point, but I say that with great hesitation and not as a kind of unfriendly criticism of it, but maybe there is a point where we should remove yourself

[42:10]

which is not as clear there as it is, by the way, clear in the world. That is the typical gospel situation, that the disobedient prodigal son returns to his father, and that the world is the way for that return. That word humility may not, seems to me, doesn't play re-roll the central wall, which is thus in the Road of St. Benedict. But we have not. They're not in the treatise of the father Collatin, by the way, the Commander-in-Chief, and even Dengen is the great father of the Commander-in-Chief's orders. It would be the day today also to remember the two foundations that have been made in this country recently of the Italian Commander-in-Chief.

[43:19]

Now, in developing this, it's clear that monastic spirituality is the spirituality of scripture. The spirituality of scripture is the divine economy, or that dispensation, which our Heavenly Father, through which our Heavenly Father leads, mankind into the eschatological fullness of the last days. And he applies this principle then first to monastic hagiography, and shows how in the detail of the monk's saying, this basic pattern of the divine economy is followed. And when we look at the, for example, the dialogues of Gregory the Great, right, see the description of the life of Saint Benedict, also that of Saint Hiccupio, this abbot, or monk, who lived near Yorkshire.

[44:32]

You met Laura, which I told you before, visited this fall. There the simple pattern is evident, that the individual enters into that divine autonomy first by following the call. That is the obedience here, following the call, listening to the call. That's the first act which God's doings, saving doings, with man start. We have in Holy Scripture, we have evidently right in the first pages too, on the call, which the supernatural life for the first time gets a foothold in the soul. It's the creation of Adam. but then also, later on, the call of Abraham.

[45:36]

These two things, as we have seen in the past, are always already, by the rabbis, always put into paradise. The call which is directed to Abraham, the moment he follows it, that is again a new creation. So, the creation of Adam is being brought into paradise, There is Abraham, the being of the pagan knight, following the call into the promised land. Then after the call follows the second and the decisive period, and that is the period of temptation. Everyone who follows divine call is first exposed to their testing, the temptation. And this temptation in the case of Adam, the third chapter of Genesis, in the case of Abraham, the son of Isaac,

[46:40]

And then after the period of temptation, when that is successfully overcome, then comes the period in which the spirit has taken root, the period of stability, or the period of spiritual fatherhood. So this basic pattern that we can see developed in the lives of the saints, that is the kind of fine work in which the monastic spirituality develops. And it is interesting if we apply that principle to an understanding of the Prologue of the Rule of St. Benedict, because there we can immediately see how this, at least seems to me, how this pattern there is clearly followed.

[47:44]

If you look at the Prologue, maybe these days, talking about these things would be good for you also to read it and think about it. And then in the prologue we can distinguish three, let us say, main parts. And I distinguish them nearly, and again under this following, our basic thoughts. That's the rule of St. Benedict himself, being a moralist, which the Word of God has offered to him, and which he hands down to every one of his followers. Now, there are three, it seems to me, paragraphs, because there are many ways in which they can be divided. I only suggest here one thing, and that is, if you take the first paragraph of the Prologue, what we read on January 1st, a very external sign, you can see there that there are in that paragraph are no direct quotations from Holy Scripture, but it is are the words of St.

[49:05]

Benedict himself. Then also if you look At the end of the Corvo, again what we read in January 6th and January 7th, again you have a paragraph which consists exclusively again of the words of the author. But then, in between these two, you have a whole series of quotations of Holy Scripture. Even one can say that in the central part of the prologue is a mosaic of quotations from Holy Scripture, one after the other, so that really the Word of God itself is introduced as speaking and as acting. And the message, or the way in which the Word of God speaks to us in this central part, the heart of the twilight, is essentially, it seems to me, it follows the same pattern that I have just briefly outlined.

[50:18]

Because if you take What we read on January 2nd, there is that call. That is, in this way, the first stage of the call which is arousing us from sleep. Wake up. That is all there is in all. We have seen that in the past, too, in every education of the human heart. The first thing is the awakening. arousing us from sleep. Up with us, then, at last! For the Scripture arouses us, saying, Now is the hour for us to rise from sleep. That is the first, and then comes in the second, let us say, paragraph of this arousing, after the arousing, after the trumpet call, after the bugle, has been heard comes then the Vox Invitantis, the sweet invitation, to the one whereas who wakes up and now he is invited to speak after his outpouring.

[51:35]

and which is what is more sweet than the voice, this inviting voice of the Lord. So there is the keeper, first arousing, second inviting. And there is the call, and comes in the following paragraph, if you read on January 4th, that to me is then, and explains now, then you have followed, the voice of the Lord who invites you and who promises you His presence, constant presence, then what is the law of life when you are in the tabernacle, in the king, in that place where you now begin to live, and to live naturally again according to the will of God, according to the Word, And there is, in that chapter, which we read on Sunday the 4th, seems to be that there the key word is really that of temptation, because there it is.

[52:42]

He that taketh the evil spirit that tempted him, and casteth him and his temptation from the side of his heart, bringeth him to naught, rasts its evil to death as they arise and dash them to pieces on the rock That is Christ. That is the, one can say, negative temptation, the basic temptation. The one who has followed the call and settles down. in the tent of the kingdom, he is first exposed to the desires of the flesh. That is, say, the most primitive form of temptation. But then is the other, even more decisive, more critical form of temptation, that is, that when he, or those who dwell at God, he begins to become proud of his achievement, of his good observance, so that the second essential temptation is not that anymore of carnal desires, but it is the temptation of pride, pride in our good works, the good observance.

[53:58]

After these two essential temptations, then comes the third, and that is, the man builds his house. That is the wise architect, that is his spiritual father. That is the one who has his house built on the firm ground. So, in this way, I just give that as an The suggestion, it seems to me, is again, as Saint Benedict has in a beautiful way, right from the beginning, following bit by bit, step by step, the world of Holy Scripture, outlines the essence of the spiritual life of the monk, according to that pattern which the divine economy shows us. I think we are all very pleased that yesterday's report is on the leading of carbon east scheme, and now we must release things to follow on.

[55:09]

I hope that you can think about it before too late. some objections to real difficulties which may this scheme may raise but that we must also consider the south-north approach now that that way Hong Kong took a decision which way we want to follow The cult were detailed study of the media. the practical layout of it. So let us do it this way and formulate your things again on this feature, on these cards, which you then can put onto a board and so have them accessible to everyone.

[56:10]

But, you know, all these things, you know, so then that brings us back to the theme that we were talking about in these conferences on the Holy Rule, that, you know, building has one thing, it's an external thing, gives the body, so to speak, the visible body, to the order of our life, But naturally the inner order, the order of the heart is the first thing. The monastery is being built in the heart of the tongues. And that is why the way is drawn. So clearly in our walk through the wall, St. Benedict addresses it to us. pointed out in the past and just repeated to bring it again to my, to those, maybe you haven't heard it or not aware of it, that the Codex of the Rule is couched in the form, the rhetoric form, which belongs to a definite category of

[57:32]

announcing the word, preaching the word, it is what we call the exoptatio, or the admonition. That kind of preaching which is intended to pierce the heart, to produce contention, and in that way to bring about in the first step of any spiritual life, in the step of the convergent, repentance, convergent, mentalia, the change of mind, which is, you know, is one of others. leads them, those who respond to it, leads to the instruction.

[58:37]

The instruction gives what we call catechetical teaching, gives and leads into the, systematically, into the element of the Christian life and of the Christian faith. Catechism, catechetical teaching. And then that again leads to another step, another, let's say, step, dimension. of Christian preaching, and that is the homily, the homily which is the friendly, intimate intercourse in which the individual that has followed the first admonition that has been instructed in the elementary elements of the faith, then penetrates and is led more deeply into the intimate knowledge, into what we call the gnosis, the intimate knowledge, the genome knowledge, the intelligentsia of the things of the faith.

[60:01]

And in the whole, The rule is addressed to us when we express them to beginners. Therefore the rule essentially moves, let us say, on the elementary level. To this elementary level belong these two things. The admonition, the exhortatio, the trumpet called hence the instructions in the simple elements of the, in our case here, of the monastic means of the perfect line striving after perfection, while the third degree intimates conversation, God, the whole wide realm of what later Cassian calls the Caritas, the field of the Agape, there is not expressly treated in the rule.

[61:17]

But for that, St. Benedict points to, let's say, higher teaches than he is to Cassius and Saint Basil. So the United States secrets, I may say, of the mystical life the, let us say, contemplative life in the stricter meaning of the words, they are not contained in the regular. In fact, in some way, in a very deep sense, That realm, which is the realm of union, is not subject to irregular. That is beyond the mental, just as the hermetical life is not any more under irregular. So, these two stages where we are as Saint Benedict is concerned, because he writes for those who begin

[62:25]

And this is so beautiful that the Qu'alloc is prefixed to her, because that keeps once and forever the idea that first of all, the woman is addressed to the individual as cult of the Egyptian magistrate. Every conversion, every election starts from the own personal state. That is a principle which we have to consider every day of the day. is the salvation of our state. It is the person who is involved in this movement. Without the total surrender of the old state, the old person, without the heart

[63:27]

Nothing can be achieved in the whole life of perfection. And we must take that into account every day when we wake up, when we start in the morning. The old tale which is confronted with the doubt, is the doubt of the founder. meets us, before in whose and under whose eyes we live. But at the same time we also realize that the one in whom we meet is the Father, was Guldauf, therefore he is facing a matter of love. That's because the human heart is involved, engaged, one can say, essentially in the things of love, not in the things of external force, violence, and so on.

[64:39]

Not external. of, say, constriction, but it is only the inner conviction, and that inner conviction is brought about only by God, by love. And therefore it is the Father who addresses us. And that is also so beautiful that here in this connection that the Father addresses the Son. This father, maybe, that while away, will feel there, thinking, what is it, not a difficult thing, but a wonderful depth, various dimensions here. There is a father, St. Benedict, the author of the rule, who is our father, that addresses us. And we are taken into that We are part of that dialogue that St.

[65:40]

Benedict, during his lifetime, was leading every one of his disciples. All this Father is, as other commentators want it, is Christ himself, who is our Father. Because He, through the power of His Word, through His own sufferings, He has brought us to life. But of course Christ is power because he is the face of the Father. Behind sickness is where we see the Father, the first person of the Holy Trinity. So right away this first sentence of the Holy Rule leads us into a living contact, into the inner conversatio of the divine persons. thus therefore characterizes the beginning as well as the end of the perfect life, the participation in the inner life of the Holy Trinity.

[66:47]

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