So, Abbot Jerome, in recent years, there's been some question of whether any good could come out of Arkansas. We've got a couple of examples that are sort of a huge problem. We have a monastic who has no guile. At least, that's what we hope. So, we welcome you all. Really, it's a very great pleasure. We know it's a question of taking time from the community. It's a great service to others, and we greatly appreciate it. So, we thank you very much. Okay, well, in the name of the people of Arkansas, I want to thank you for giving our former governor residence in your state. uh... well i'm very happy to be here and uh... the first time that i ever received uh... an invitation to give a retreat saying that the the only problem with the date was that it had to end before the sheep shearing so and uh... that this would be bad weather but actually this was the best weather i had all day was here i'm going to uh... to be speaking on some biblical and monastic themes

[01:16]

And the theme is going to come from the prologue about the way. See how the Lord in his love shows us the way of life. Clothed then with faith and the performance of good works, let us set out on this way with the gospel for our guide that we may deserve to see him who has called us to his kingdom. And also, as we progress in the way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God's commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love. the way with the gospel for our guide now the way is a very big uh... biblical theme and of course saint benedict with his his uh... theme of movement running progress has the idea the way also uh... do it by looking especially at the exodus theme

[02:30]

and uh... as it makes its way through scripture beginning with this text in exodus thirteen when pharaoh let the people go god did not lead them by way of the philistines land though this was the nearest for he thought should the people see that they would have to fight they might change their minds and return to egypt instead he rerouted them toward the red sea by way of the wilderness road. What we find when we look for the way of the Lord is that it is a wilderness road and that the wilderness road, the wilderness way, is the standard way, the standard biblical pattern for the spiritual life. Now, it's very important that the scripture is clear on this and that God doesn't doesn't pull any punches because we all find ourselves in the wilderness and we don't know why and so we rebel we think there's been a mistake and because we've been so good we don't deserve it but we're in the wilderness the wilderness is the standard setting for the spiritual drama

[03:56]

And I use the word wilderness, even though in the passage I just read out of this New American Bible, it said, He led them by way of the desert road. The reason that I use the word wilderness is that the Hebrew word means both, but the word desert, I think, has been overused. And when we think of desert, in our part of the world we usually think of a sandy wasteland with camels and hopefully an oasis but uh... the scripture has many different uh... there are many different areas which are called midbar which is the wilderness or desert some of them are not sandy wastes at all some of them are jungles some of them are grassy plains and uh... but the idea of the wilderness is not that it is barren but that it is uncharted, untracked and that uh... you don't know the way you see the way in the wilderness you can't make your way through the wilderness without a guide because you there may be good food in there there may be good fruit poisonous fruit good water poisonous water no water

[05:19]

It may have a lot of riches in there, but if you don't know what's in there, how to get through there, you can't make it. So the wilderness is, the main idea of the wilderness is that there's no way, there's no charter, there's no map, there's no trail, and you have to have a guide. You have to have a guide to get through. The biblical theme, the great biblical theme of liberation is from bondage to freedom, from sin to grace, and the Exodus clusters that theme. In the Old Testament, everything, in one way or another, is a meditation, a reflection, an exposition on that event of Exodus. And in the New Testament, it's the New Exodus, the death and resurrection of Jesus. Everything in the New Testament is all about that. One way or another, it boils down to what does the Exodus mean?

[06:23]

What does the New Exodus mean? Now, the theme of the way in the wilderness begins in the book of Exodus, but it keeps popping up. We hear it in the Psalms, we hear it in the Prophets, especially it comes up at a time like the exile, when Isaiah says, in God's name, I am making a new, I'm creating something new, a way in the wilderness, a new way, or showing you the way that you should go, a more precise way. When we get to the New Testament, in the gospel writers presenting as Jesus, the synoptics all started out right in the desert. I send my messenger before you to prepare your way, a herald's voice in the wilderness, crying, make ready the way of the Lord, clear him a straight path. So the way of Jesus is not presented as something out of the blue.

[07:24]

But it is a continuation of that way that's been talked about and been followed by Israel under God's guidance all the way through. And then the final turning in that way of the wilderness is going to be the way to Jerusalem. And the way to Jerusalem is the way of the cross. So that the word for wilderness in the New Testament most of the time is the cross, but it's the same thing. And you could speak about the whole thing as the way to Jerusalem. One point, especially in Luke's gospel where it's highlighted so much, Jesus It says after he had presented himself as Caesarea Philippi, hardened his face toward Jerusalem. He turned toward Jerusalem and it says he hardened his face. He had made a definite decision he was going to go down there and be mocked and scourged and spit upon. And that was the turning point in that journey.

[08:27]

Now the wilderness journey is the way of all of us. that walk the way of Christ, walk the way of the Scripture. And Saint Benedict, when he talks about, we set on the way with the gospel as our guide, knows what that way is. And some of the themes that are dealt with in the way in the wilderness are dealt with by Saint Benedict and applied to the monastic life. I want to go back to to set the scene really in the book of exodus further back with the story of moses because the call of moses is uh... sort of like the uh... getting the stage directions for the whole thing uh... the beginning but in the beginning we see ourselves we see that everyday we go through the same struggle in a way that moses went through on his first day

[09:33]

and I'm sure he did, too. So, tonight, I mainly want to just give you this Moses image. It's a story of the call, the vocation, and the faithfulness of God. And it's our story. Everybody in here has this story. And the story of Moses, you know, Some of these books, like the Book of Exodus, present these stories like ancient drama, where there are these interactions between figures, and usually just two on the stage at the same time, at one time. Moses and Aaron, Moses and God, God and Pharaoh, Moses and Pharaoh. This one is Moses and God, the one I want to present. And I just want to do this chapter three and four. when we... Moses comes upon the burning bush now when Moses comes upon the burning bush he has already had in biblical terms two complete careers he has had a growing up in the uh... court of uh... the egyptians and he's a hebrew in an egyptian court he's living both ways because

[10:58]

uh... they don't know who he is and as we know as he grows up he sees the hebrew people being being mistreated and eventually he kills a man and has to run for his life later on the bible as the bible contemplates this they will think of that as a complete career forty years old he runs away he goes into Midian he is uh... he has another career he becomes a shepherd he has a family everything seems to go well for him he uh... starts over and everything blossoms and then that career is complete he's at his old age he goes out into the desert he's watching his sheep it's hard for us uh... who have seen the Ten Commandments movie to realize that Moses didn't look like Charlton Heston that time he was in biblical figure he was eighty years old and uh... he was not looking for something new wasn't on his timetable he was going to his retirement time and uh... his plans were made and uh... he didn't really he probably wish he hadn't seen that burning bush but he saw it and uh... uh... the interesting thing is see this this story

[12:24]

has been meditated and reflected on for hundreds of years before it's put down in written form. The event took place in the 13th century B.C. The final form of this is in the 6th century B.C. So, this thing has been reflected on until it has become kind of an icon to see yourself in. and nobody was there with a camcorder you know picking it all up but uh... the sensibilities uh... of the people seeing this through the face of the exodus uh... interpreted for us all after all these years and uh... moses uh... has had a full life he's uh... he's probably got his plans made and he sees this bush and says moses, moses, now moses says here i am and he means it but he doesn't mean it as deeply or he maybe means it very deeply but he doesn't know exactly what he means because as soon as he finds out what God has in mind he backpedals so there are five dialogues here and every one of them Moses is trying to get out of it because he's beginning to see the implications and uh... God says to Moses I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt

[13:46]

and have heard their cry of complaint. See, for 450 years the people have been waiting for the promise to be completed, that God will deliver the people. And Moses is the one. He's the one that hears this voice. I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land. And Moses, of course, is saying, you're wonderful, wonderful. And then God says, I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people out of Egypt. And then Moses begins to respond. And you'll notice Moses' favorite word is but. But, God, did you think of this? Did you think of that? Did you realize that I just got my social security started coming in? Did you realize that I just got my new camel paid off? Did you realize that I've got to take care of my children?

[14:49]

And God says, well, your children are 60 years old. They probably take care of themselves. So, Moses says, wait a minute. And the first thing he says is, But Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt? And of course, why Moses? There's no good reason that Moses didn't think of. His age, his situation, he doesn't know Egypt. He hasn't lived there for 40 years. Why should he go? And it's sort of a Maybe it's a false humility. But his wheels are starting to turn because he realizes what this is going to mean for him. His whole life is going to be upset. And why should he go? Send someone younger. Send someone local. So it isn't about... This is typical because all of these stories is not about efficiency. It's not about getting this thing worked out on a computer.

[15:52]

it's about God's plan and uh... people like Gideon for example who were told to gather an army he got a thirty thousand man army and God said get it down to three hundred and he did didn't make sense so someone has come up with this statement which I think is a very good way of putting it, because these stories all say this. God doesn't call the qualified, God qualifies the called. When God calls, God makes it happen. But to the eyes of the world, it doesn't always make sense. But if the person is willing, it can happen. So then God answered Moses. Now here, Moses gets his first answer from God. It's enough to be the last answer. It's the only answer you'll ever need. And this answer keeps coming up all through the Bible when people have the same problem that Moses has.

[17:00]

But it's very, very hard to hear this answer. And we hear it. And we believe it, but then it slips away. If you believe this, at every moment, you're free. And all that God says is, I will be with you. I will be with you as you go through this wilderness, as you go to lead the people out of Egypt. I will be with you. Now, if you can really believe that, not that God exists somewhere, but God is with me here and now, and God has a plan. And though I can't see it, God knows what He's doing. He has the power to execute it. He knows what I'm going through. He knows my doubts, my problems, my weaknesses, but God is with me. and uh... it's interesting to go through the bible and see all the great figures and how this comes up in their lives like jeremiah like paul uh... right at critical moments god will say i will be with you one of them that very interesting to me is in jeremiah where jeremiah uh... is so angry at god because he's gotten into such trouble for being a prophet that he calls god he calls him a treacherous brook

[18:16]

He tells God, you are like a brook that you come to for water and is dry. And God doesn't say anything. He doesn't apologize. All He eventually says to Jeremiah is, if you will shut up, I will take you back. And I will be with you. I will be with you. This is the Emmanuel promise. God with us. and uh... again to take it over to the gospels matthew's gospel has this one of the techniques is to make this a frame of the gospel so that in chapter one when when uh... jesus is uh... given his name call him emmanuel which means god is with us and then at the end the very last thing jesus says remember i am with you all days until the end of the world i am with you i am with you So Moses can't really take that in, though. So Moses says, but when I go to the Israelites and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, if they ask me what is his name, what am I to tell them?

[19:26]

I'm not trained for this job. I don't even know your name. And so God just says, tell them, I am who am. I am sent me to you. Well, that's not very much help. Moses probably says, thanks a lot. but it's another way of saying i am with you i am here i am who i said i was i am who i am in other words don't take yourself too seriously when uh... jesus says it in the new testament he says when you're taken up before kings and and uh... governors don't worry the holy spirit will teach you what you are to say it's about the same moses then goes further and he says but suppose they will not believe me now listen to my plea or they may say the Lord did not appear to you I see this is something that it makes very good sense why would they believe that this old man from a foreign country has been sent and to tell them to let the people go tell him next time you go out in the sun wear a hat

[20:37]

Now, religious leaders and people from all times always have this problem. Why would God speak to you? You don't have the same credentials maybe that someone else would have. And now, God starts to stoop down to Moses because he can't make Moses see it. on his own level, so he starts showing Moses signs. He says here, put your hand in your cloak and it'll come out a leper's hand. Throw your rod on the ground and it'll be a snake and that'll help them believe you. And they talk a little bit more and Moses really has the fear of consequences. What will they do to me if they don't believe me? They might beat me up. And then he says again, After God has talked quite a while, Moses then says, but, if you please, Lord, I've never been eloquent, neither in the past, nor recently, nor now that you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and tongue.

[21:44]

He says, you want me to do this speaking job and I can't speak. And not only couldn't I speak before you came to me, your presence hasn't done me any good, but I still can't speak. please send one else go and and he says uh... the lord says who makes one man who gives one man's speech and makes another deaf and dumb is it not I the lord go and do what I say moses has his last time he says please lord send someone else and so the lord says okay don't you have a brother Aaron I know he is an eloquent speaker he will speak for you There's a slight undercut here, I think, because Aaron is 83, and so someone has called these the two late bloomers of Israel. In all of this, we've got the patience of the Lord.

[22:44]

We've got the unexpectedness of the call. We've got the inappropriateness of the call at his age and in his place. We've got his reluctance to do it, and in all of it, God's patience, because God is going to work through Moses. If Moses will just give a little bit, and Moses does, Moses doesn't say no. He just questions, but he never says no. And so, as it goes on, God works it out. And see, this is a story for all of us, because None of us is perfectly positioned for what we're called to do. None of us is perfectly talented in what we need to do. That's not the way God builds the kingdom. And there are things that come up that we're not ready for. And it takes a lot of discernment to know whether we're supposed to do them or not, but the tendency is to excuse ourselves. That's just the way it is. We don't think we're the one. And it's not that the burning bush happens just one time.

[23:47]

Certainly it happened for all of us when we joined the monastery. But it happens, it can happen any day, where something comes up where we're called to do something that we didn't expect. And we have to judge, is this for me? Is this really the burning bush or is this just an illusion? And that was the same for Moses. Now, you can tell, for myself, I wouldn't have had that much patience. If I'd planned for 450 years to pick somebody out, and I had selected this guy, and he had responded the way Moses did, you would never have heard of Moses again. been the end of it. But that's the way God behaves with us. Very patient. Doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. And when something comes up, we automatically, just naturally, begin to backpedal or we begin to think of the implications. Well, how will this affect what I was going to do? How will this make me tired? Will it make me miss my meal or my siesta?

[24:50]

And then the worst one is, Okay, but what about him? Point at somebody else. Say, he never does anything, and I do everything. And I remember, I think Jesus had this problem at the end of the Gospel of John. You remember when Peter was made three times to say, I love you. And Peter didn't, just made him feel terrible. Do you love me? Three times, yes. And then, Jesus might have thought, well, I finally got this settled. And then Peter turns and says, what about him? He points to the beloved disciple. Jesus says, what about him? You follow me. You follow me. Now, the road of faith, the road through the wilderness is not a road. All of us have crossed the sea. Crossing the sea is the first thing.

[25:54]

You have to cross the sea. Now, we cross the sea through baptism. Maybe we cross the sea in a deeper way through our vocation or to some really conscious acceptance of the call of Christ. But that is just the first thing. You've got to cross the sea. It's like baptism to get into the body of Christ. Then, you've got to go through the wilderness. and the wilderness is terrifying and the wilderness is tough and we can spend our time looking for an oasis and even finding one and staying in there or never going out in there standing on the shore of the sea, the far shore looking back to Egypt and that theme comes up several times in Exodus and Numbers and other places that the people keep looking back they want to go back to slavery Slavery, the known slavery is better than the unknown freedom. It's not as terrifying. And it doesn't take any trust. The whole point, the whole thing we're working for is trust in the guide to get us through.

[26:58]

And so the wilderness is necessary because it keeps uprooting us, it keeps taking away the control and leading us forward. Cardinal Newman has the image of the candle. you know the hymn lead kind light amid the encircling gloom lead thou me on the idea is that in front of us we have this darkness we can't see the road we can't see the way uh... we don't know what's out there but we have a light of faith that gives us enough light to see the next step maybe not as soon as we want to but it's there glimmer and so we have enough just keep keep making our way but behind us we have a floodlight showing us where we've been how the Lord has been with us and if we we tend to forget that we've been in some very very difficult places in our past when we didn't know what we were going to do we didn't know which way to go we didn't know how to get out of it but here we are

[28:02]

So we have to keep looking and seeing how the Lord got us around whatever it was that was an obstacle and God will lead us on. And one of the saints has said that the fact that we don't know what lies ahead, that we don't know the future, is a special blessing of God because then we don't have to fear it but also we're not responsible for it until we get there and by the time we get there many of the obstacles that we would have seen if we could see have already gone because of some change and they're not there and some are there but when we get there we'll have the grace to deal with them too so there is no way the way opens up as you go and uh... moses was not given a map God could have said to Moses, it's going to look pretty bad when you've got Pharaoh's army coming behind you and the sea in front of you, but don't worry, I'm going to open it up and let you through.

[29:06]

He didn't say that. Moses got to the sea, Pharaoh was coming behind him, he didn't know how he was going to get through, but he trusted in God. Then he gets over, God kept saying, when you get over there, people are going to be thirsty, and there's no water, but there's this rock over there, and I'll show you which rock to hit, and water will come out. didn't tell him that till they got there. So the road of faith opens up as we go. There's a statement by one of the fathers of the church which I think is a very good statement of this theme and this is a good way to end it for the night, a good way to start late at night with this whole issue. This is a statement from Saint Gregory of Nyssa whose feast we had earlier this week. Saint Gregory of Nyssa said this, and he was talking about Abraham, but it's the same as talking about Moses.

[30:08]

He said, Abraham left his home at God's call. not knowing which way he was going. A sure sign he was going the right way. The key there, of course, is that he left at God's call. Abraham left his home at God's call not knowing which way he was going. A sure sign he was going the right way. So during the next conferences different ways, we'll be going over this theme of the road through the wilderness and the way with the gospel as our guide. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Some people want to see. I would say, but I mean, the best place would be to be the best.

[31:22]

I don't know anybody that does this.

[31:26]

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