O Lord Jesus, we come together to seek to understand more fully and love more intently your saving word and to be united more intimately with your sacred heart. Grant by the gift of your Spirit that we may achieve these aims as we Meditate together and pray in this period of retreat. Make this prayer in your holy name. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. So I was peacefully minding my own business in the Hermitage when I got the call from Don Martin. But I'm very glad to have this occasion to come here again. I think it's been about 20 years, at least, since I was here.

[01:03]

I think I visited here just twice, once when Dhammadhammasa was still very alive and active. He had given us a retreat when I was a novice, years ago. And it's one of the few retreats where I remember very distinctly his talks because they seem to me to speak from experience, an experience of God and also from a very rich monastic experience. In any case, we've always felt close to Mount Segar, even though we don't come here very often. The reason is I try to give the right example to monks. Having daughter houses, I have to travel enough as it is, and then I worked also quite a bit for our ardor in different parts of the world.

[02:15]

As perhaps you know, I'll be leaving in a couple of weeks for the Philippines. I just retired about three weeks ago, or no, it's a couple months now, after 30 years in office, and was asked to go to the Philippines about six weeks ago, I guess. So in two more weeks I leave and at the end of February I take office there as their temporary superior. The idea is to get them ready to elect one of their own people. They have 40 monks there. And I think there are three Americans and one Thai. The rest are Filipinos. The Thai is a priest. But obviously there are certain difficulties there. They wouldn't resort to this kind of solution. So I ask your prayers for that.

[03:18]

It's kind of an adventure. Also, at this time, America is sending troops over there. certainly be relying very much on God's mercy and your prayer. So for this retreat, I thought what I would do is just talk about various themes related to our monastic way of life. Come, come at the mystery of our vocation, which is centered on the mystery of the Trinity in the heart of Christ, as I see it. Come at it just from different angles. I've always felt that that is the is the most fruitful approach to our way of life because it models life.

[04:20]

Life comes at us from different perspectives at different periods. And the mystery of the incarnation and of salvation is presented that way by the fathers. They start just any place and go from the periphery to the center. I'll be talking soon about the heart of God, revealed in the word of God. I thought I'd begin today by talking a little bit about our vocation as a call to perfection. I think that would have struck me as a rather dull topic some time back, but it's a biblical way of presenting the Christian life.

[05:22]

And it was Jesus himself who presented Christian life as a life of perfection. Therefore be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect." It's a pretty high model. That's Matthew 5.48, which of course is from his first great discourse. As you know, Matthew's gospel is divided into five major discourses. It's a literary way of presenting different talks that Jesus gave. And this is from the first, in some ways, the most impressive and powerful one. It's the discourse where our Lord's beatitudes are presented. And in fact, this saying of our Lord comes at the end of that chapter.

[06:28]

This statement is then part of a programmatic presentation of all of Jesus' teaching. Consequently, it's fundamental that anybody who wishes to be our Lord's disciple takes these words to heart and strives to comply with them in life. not just monks or religious, but all Christians, called to imitate God the Father. The first step in this process is rightly to understand what it means. What does it mean to be perfect? As so often is the case with more basic principles, Upon closer examination, we soon ascertain that what sounds evident to the first hearing proves to be rather elusive.

[07:35]

Augustine said that of time, you know, I know what it is until you ask me to define it. What is perfection? Our attempts to grasp what our Lord had in mind which is the idea here, not just some abstract perfection, requires a very close look at his teaching as a whole, and in particular, at the context in which this saying is embedded. When Jesus uses the word perfect in our regard, just what does he intend? The fact that this statement begins with the word therefore is perhaps the key to understanding his intention, because this statement is a conclusion. The sentence comes as a conclusion, precisely, of the lengthy instruction in which he describes the behavior required of those who would enter the kingdom of God, the kingdom of the Father.

[08:42]

It is the final verse of this whole chapter that describes in extended detail the attitudes and behavior that those who are considered worthy of membership in the house of God must display. The whole of the Sermon on the Mount, then, is the description of what Jesus means by perfection. Because the pure of heart see God, for instance, those who receive Jesus' words are to cultivate purity of heart. Along with the other characteristics, he is just listed as descriptive of those who are blessed by the Father. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. So to be perfect as the Father is perfect means to take on the attitudes and practices that Jesus has just proclaimed in this memorable sermon, at least as Matthew presents him.

[09:48]

So I say that he puts together a lot of different talks of our Lord, but certainly is faithful to his basic message. To live in such a way is to become like the Father. In other words, to be worthy to belong to the kingdom where the Father rules with His Christ, we must take on the same dispositions that characterize them. It is only those who become like God who will be accepted by Him into His heavenly realm. We must recover the likeness that has been lost through sin if we would enter the divine city and be united with God and those who are his. In his version of this same sermon, St. Luke makes the same point, but he sums up the matter by concluding with a different formula, which places perfection in a somewhat different perspective.

[10:56]

Be merciful, therefore, he concludes, as your father is merciful. That's chapter 6 in St. Luke. It's generous, forgiving kindness to the good and the undeserving both that best assures our becoming like God, St. Luke teaches. This manner of viewing perfection is certainly consonant with Jesus' teaching elsewhere when he summarizes the essence of God's law as love of God and of neighbor. In our own time, we're much less comfortable with the concept that perfection is applied to human behavior, I think, and to character, than with the disposition suggested by the term mercy. Luke's formulation seems more applicable to men than Matthew's, I think, for us.

[11:59]

Instead of conceiving of the idea Ideal human development is culminating in perfection. We prefer to view the person as mature, fully integrated, whole. By these terms, we imply that a man or woman is at home in his or her body, comfortable in handling the spontaneous impulses that all of us are subject to. Such a person, where persuaded is equally at ease in dealing with affection and love, as well as with sexual drives and attraction, is integrated anger and aggressiveness as well, and so is able to take firm stance in the face of opposition. without undue stress. Such maturity is certainly implied in what Jesus taught about perfection, but his doctrine goes further and specifies the particular forms that love and anger are to take in given circumstances.

[13:02]

Willingness to forgive Gentleness and humility, for instance, are possible only to the individual who has learned to direct anger and express it appropriately, and who is able to go beyond natural attraction and impulse and extend his charity even to those he finds offensive, even oppressively so. Accordingly, the ideal of integration and of the mature personality which is so dominant in current culture, while being altogether compatible with the injunction of our Lord to be perfect as the Father is perfect, is not an adequate substitute for the goal of perfection set out in the Gospel. Mercy, understood as Luke conceives it, comes close as an equivalent. But still, the text of Matthew stands. We must be perfect, as the Father is perfect, if we would be worthy children of the kingdom of God.

[14:06]

In 1974, a major publication in Italy witnessed the continuing pertinence of this challenge for our own times. what it undertook to provide a relatively complete resource for study of the history of monastic and religious life in the church. its nature, and its spirituality. The inspiration for the title given to this comprehensive work in nine folio volumes, you may have it here, Dizionario degli Istituti di Perfezione, came from Vatican II, Dictionary of the Institutes of Perfection, its title. The term Institute of Perfection is found in Vatican II in the Decree Lumen Gentium. A related expression occurs in Sacrosanctum Concilium, another document of Vatican II, and it's used there twice, where there's question of, quote, any institute dedicated to acquiring perfection.

[15:15]

This latter phrasing makes it clear that an institute of perfection is not one whose members are perfect, thank goodness, but one which has as its purpose the attaining to perfection. This obviously is a daunting and permanent goal to set for oneself in life, but it's not chosen arbitrarily or from some sense of superiority or belief in having a higher destiny than most other people. Rather, as we've seen, it is a task set by the Lord Jesus for everyone who would be his disciple, for everyone who would enter the kingdom. Thus it is of fundamental importance that we properly grasp what perfection consists in. The fact that there are so many distinct orders, each with its own purpose and spirituality, witnesses to the truth that there are many paths that lead to the fullness of Christian life, to which all are called.

[16:21]

One of the interesting things about that encyclopedia, really, they call it a dictionary, but it's kind of an encyclopedia, is how many ardors it describes that no longer exist, in addition, of course, to describing individual, certain prominent individual houses of these. It's quite an interesting work, I think. Already early ecclesiastical authors have spoken of the power latent in the teaching of Christ. St. Methodius coined a special word. He wrote, I think it was the third century. He's one of the really early fathers. To indicate the spirit-filled force that can effect the perfecting of believers. So this concept of perfection is a classic one, going back that far.

[17:27]

He talks about the perfect making dogmas of the faith, and he has a single Greek word for that, teleopias, perfect making, dogmas of the faith of Christ. St. Basil employed this same term. It's an interesting word. because it is taken up by different fathers through several hundreds of years. And it gives a certain continuity to this idea that we have to keep working for growth. St. Basil employed the same term in connection with the grace of the Holy Spirit. He calls it a perfect making, teleopias, grace. by virtue of which you become adopted sons. The commandment of love, he affirms, is by its nature perfect making, teleopias.

[18:30]

His friend Grebion Nazianzen used this same word as a title. He gives it to the Holy Spirit. It's distinctive of the Holy Spirit, he says, to bring the believer to perfection. So he calls him the one who makes perfect. Tidio Pios. Diadoch of Fotiki maintained that there's a kind of advanced joy that is associated with the truth revealed by the Spirit, and which is free of imagination. It acts to reprove and test the individual, and so joy, too, is perfect making, in that it works to bring about perfection. Some centuries later, St. Maximus the Confessor, He was active in the late 7th century, 668 and so on.

[19:34]

He maintained that the Eucharist is the most perfect and perfect making, sacrificial gift. Obviously then there are a variety of means that bring the believer to perfection. Different writers recommend particular ones depending on their point of view and circumstances in a given situation. Our predecessors in a monastic way of life accepted with enthusiasm and fervor this teaching concerning the obligation to seek perfection. They took practical measures to put it into effect from the very beginning of their vocation. Indeed, it was in order to work toward perfection that the monastic way of life was devised. The first generation of monks were strongly influenced in their manner of conceiving perfection by the example and teaching of the apostles and the early community of Christians at Jerusalem.

[20:36]

Living as they did at another time and under quite different circumstances, they inevitably developed habits of mind and behavior adapted to their situation as they sought to imitate the lives of men and women who had been so singularly inspired by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Here, too, it's instructive to note the different approaches to attaining the goal of perfection. and the various manners of conceiving of its nature. The title of the first chapter of the systematic collection of the Apothekmata, Sayings of the Fathers, is interesting in this regard. So that first chapter has this title, An Exhortation of the Holy Fathers to Advance to Perfection. It's the first point made in that collection. Although the word perfection is not used often in this chapter, it contains 37 sayings by different men of experience that are considered to treat of this topic, no two of them quite the same.

[21:46]

So here are just a few examples of how the Desert Fathers spoke about perfection. A brother asked Abba Macarius the Great about perfection. The Elder answered and said, If a man does not possess great humility in his heart and body, and does not measure himself in any matter, but rather puts himself below every creature out of humility, and judges no one but himself alone, and endures insults, and casts out of his heart every evil, and constrains himself to be patient, benign, fraternal, temperate, and self-controlled, then he's on the way to perfection. Another, Abba Mark says, the law of liberty teaches all truth, and many read this law with knowledge, but some conceive it according to the analogy of fulfilling the commandments.

[22:50]

Do not seek its perfection in human virtues, for in them the perfect is not found. Their perfection is concealed in the cross of Christ. Another saying, they tell us of Abbot Pambo, that as he was perfecting his course, at the very hour of taking leave, he said to the Holy Father standing by him, I go to God as if I had not yet begun to serve him. In his last saying, the word teleo, translated as perfecting his course, is the same word that Jesus used on the cross as he died. It is perfected. Depending on the context, it can mean to complete, to perfect, or to die. Thus it suggests more than it explicitly affirms when it's used at the moment of death of one of the holiest of the Desert Fathers, Abbot Pembo.

[23:55]

It's implied here that he was with Jesus on the cross and he relied not on his life of austere fidelity, but only on the mercy of God. This is what perfection meant for him and for the monks who recorded and transcribed these words. I had an interesting experience about 18 months ago now, when I thought I was at the end. I had a dissecting aortic aneurysm, which the surgeon told my sister I had a 99% chance of dying. I, of course, was aware of that as soon as they diagnosed it, but it didn't seem to be anything to worry about, which surprised me very much. The idea of dying, of course, is anxiety-provoking.

[24:59]

But I didn't find it difficult to accept the fact that I may never wake up from this and they're about to put me under. But I had the experience that that was not my doing, that the Lord was making it easy, and that somehow my whole monastic life was right there at that time. I think it's this same type of thing that Eva Pembo talks about here, that as he was perfecting his life, coming to its end, He relied just on the mercy of God. And so that association that St. Luke makes between perfection and mercy, I think, is one for all of us to keep in mind. In the end, that's all we have. I was so sick I couldn't even breathe right.

[26:05]

even hardly turn over in bed by myself. There's not much we can do at the end, but God can make that seem easy. And anyhow, I think some of these sayings of the Fathers are more subtle than they seem to be at first. That's where the original language often is helpful, and there's a good instance of that, I think. Abba Arsenius, the cultivated Greek and former member of the emperor's household in Constantinople, contrasted the old law with the new. Jesus, he affirmed, established the most perfect and perfect-making law, teaching that one is simply to love, that it is necessary to do good and to view nobody as an enemy. Of course, we're all aware of these points, but I think that it's renewing their significance for us that keeps them alive in our lives.

[27:18]

Retreat's a good time to try to do that. So it's necessary to do good. and to view nobody as an enemy. That's harder at times than it sounds, I think. St. Augustine, whose rule exercised such a marked influence on Western monasticism, dealt with this topic in a work he entitled, On the Perfection of the Justice of Man. I never heard of that before I went into this. That work, it's not a very popular one, wrote a book on perfection of the justice of man. In the course of this book, he provides a lengthy series of citations, both from the Old and the New Testament, that inculcate the obligation to strive for perfection. The first of these is found in Deuteronomy 18.

[28:22]

It may have been in the mind of our Lord himself as he enjoined perfection on his followers. It reads, You will be perfect before the Lord your God." So that's already in the Hebrew scriptures. Augustine then makes the following comments. Some of these passages exhort those who run to run perfectly. Others make mention of the end itself to which they are running. It's not absurd if the man who is not yet perfect but who runs without fault toward perfection, enters in without blemish, being free of anything worthy of condemnation and not neglecting to cleanse away venial sins through almsgiving. For pure prayer cleanses our entrance, that is to say, our path by which we move towards perfection." It's an important idea, I think.

[29:22]

probably none of us can realistically expect to get rid of all of our faults. And what Augustine's saying here is you don't have to, as long as you're working at it. That's where God's mercy makes up for our deficiencies. And I think that There's a great deal of truth in that. I remember a monk at Gethsemane, who I knew quite well, he lived in the infirmary just opposite me, and was quite a character, who created any number of difficulties, especially for the abbot, but also for the infirmarian at times. He was still living when I left Gethsemane and came up to Genesee, but he died a few years later.

[30:30]

And the abbot told me that a couple of days before he died, the abbot went to visit him in the infirmary. And this difficult monk said to him, I have something I want to tell you, Father, before I die. He said, I want to thank you for putting up with me. I know I've been difficult. and that I've been treated better than I deserve." And that was about his last communication. But that may be for him all the perfection he needed. According to St. Augustine, he has a good chance of having made it. Another sense of the word teleo that became important in the life of the Church is to initiate, and the related concept to consecrate, to the priesthood, is used of baptism in the Eucharist as well as the other rites and solemnities.

[31:37]

These are sources of grace that serve to contribute to the work of perfection for the faithful, so that participation in these mysteries is a major practice of those who are on the way to perfection. That Jesus himself taught this wisdom is evident from a number of texts in the gospel. However disconcerting, even scandalous it may be for many of our contemporaries, our Lord was categorical in affirming the necessity of baptism for salvation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved. He who does not believe will be condemned. from Mark. In his regards to the Eucharist, he made his reception a condition for remaining his disciple. I am the bread of life that comes down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Perfection depends then on the reception of the sacraments.

[32:39]

In order to arrive at the fullness of holiness, that is, perfection, we must believe in the efficacy of the sacraments and participate in them with faith. Only then will we receive the graces needed for the completion, perfection of the work of the Spirit in our souls. One of the great paradoxes of the spiritual life is that those who advance most surely toward perfection are best able to see their imperfections. and become keenly aware of how unworthy they are of friendship and intimacy with God. People like St. Teresa of Avila, who receive special knowledge of God's purity, develop a deep sense of unworthiness and fear as they grow toward perfection. She speaks of that as follows, sorrow for sin increases in proportion to the grace received from our Lord and I believe will never quit us until we come to the land where nothing can grieve us anymore.

[33:47]

A soul so advanced as that we speak of does not think of the punishment threatening its offenses but of its gross ingratitude towards him to whom it owes so much and who so justly deserves that it should serve him. for the great mysteries revealed have taught it much about the greatness of God. Isaiah already demonstrated this phenomenon in his inaugural vision. Having had a vision of God seated in majesty on his heavenly throne, his reaction was one of dismay at becoming conscious of his uncleanness. Alas for me, I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." While accepting a principle that we are to strive for perfection, St.

[34:51]

Augustine, like St. Teresa long after his time, was too sharply conscious of the shadows of this life to hold an idealistic concept of what the highest attainment in our present existence might be. He writes, only then will the Church be without spot or wrinkle or anything of the like, then indeed when she is glorious, for not now situated in so great evils and such great scandals and so great a mixture of the worst sort of men, among such great insults from the impious, can she be called glorious? Only then will she be called glorious when that occurs which the apostle says, when Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with Him in glory. Though we're far from attaining our goal of purity of heart and the perfection of life that we're aiming at, yet let us renew our purpose in seeking after it with all sincerity and dedication of purpose.

[36:01]

We can find consolation in St. Augustine's words cited above that were a source of encouragement to him and which he lived by so consistently. It is not absurd, he writes, if the man who is not yet perfect, but who runs without fault toward perfection, enters in without blemish, being free of anything worthy of condemnation, and not neglecting to cleanse away venial sins through acts of mercy, and especially through the other acts of fraternal charity. And that would seem to be our Lord's idea of perfection. Okay. So we meet again this evening, I think, after supper? After Vespers. After Vespers. Okay. Well, that's where the concept of trust, I think, is so basic, too.

[37:15]

to the idea of perfection, that ultimately it's trusting God's mercy, I think, that is the hope that strengthened us in our confidence. But it's interesting to see how monks who have such weaknesses that make you worry about their being able to continue in life, how they die. When I first became Abbott, my predecessor told me there were two monks he was concerned about because they were fragile emotionally. And I've never seen anybody die better than, especially the one when he was told there was nothing more the doctors could do for him. He had cancer of the lung. He came to see me the next day. And I said, brother, I'm very sorry you have to go through this difficult experience, you know, of slowly dying of cancer when you can't breathe right.

[38:49]

So he said, oh, he said, don't worry about it. It can't be anything really bad or my father would heaven wouldn't let it happen. And he showed no anxiety at all at that time, right after discovering this. right up to his death. I was with him when he died. And he was one of the two that I myself was concerned about emotionally. And the other one also died a very, very holy death without any great stress. So, so this, what you say is true, the man is imperfect on one level and stays that way. But this idea of mercy and trusting God's mercy, I think, can make all the difference. But we have to, I think, deal with that day by day, make that our our strength and our prayer as we go through the life, and then it's there when we need it, I think.

[39:56]

That is a difficult thing. We kind of reach a high point and reach a complacency, and we expect there will suddenly be groups of guys who catch up with us. But the day by day, we kind of look at it differently. Yes, I would say that. I spent most of my monastic life in the infirmary. before I became avid, and then of course was involved with everybody who died after I became avid. And it seems to me that that is the key thing, how those who lived very simply and trusting God day by day met death with very little anxiety. It was in marked contrast with patients I dealt with in the world before. Not all, but the majority.

[40:59]

So I think the little flower had it right that living as children who trust in God is the clue to perfection. Will you be eating with us? Yes. I wanted to say, this fits in, it seems off the subject, but it's not for me. I kept thinking how kind it was for you to come here. It's just little donors, Father Martin was kept in the home. Yes. I think it's very beautiful. I just think it's ever since he said he would come. Well, that's what neighbors are for. I mean, I think it's an example because whatever you're saying to us, you showed it. It's in that context. Yes, well, I'm happy to be able to do that. I just got back from a meeting on Sunday evening and I'm leaving in a couple of weeks.

[42:09]

So, but it's no great, it's no great sacrifice. I'm happy to be here. And I'm certainly well set up in your cottage over there. We will get you some cheese. Oh, well, that'll do a great deal. I just ate the same dinner I was having some cheese for Christmas last night. Oh, really? Yes. Some of the best. Yes. All right, so we'll meet this evening then. May the divine assistance remain for this always. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Learn the heart of God and the words of God so that you might desire eternal things more ardently and so that your mind

[43:23]

will be filled with the fire of desire for heavenly joys. These words of Gregory the Great were written to a fervent layman, a physician, a court physician, to the emperor, to encourage him to devote himself regularly to meditation on the scriptures. Gregory here devised a memorable formula, as he so often did, which has a timeless application in the lives of all Christians. Monks above all have the special privilege of being daily exposed to the Scriptures, both in the liturgy and in Alexio Divina. In our Cistercian order, it's the regular practice in an extended period after vigils is made available for this practice. Meditation and Lectio, as well as other forms of prayer in our own schedule, is so arranged as to provide ample time for both of these practices.

[44:35]

Saint Benedict himself favors this practice in his rule. writing that the time remaining after vigils will be employed for the study of the Psalter or of the lessons. Also, he takes care to provide for holy reading an extended period of time. Though he puts it rather early in the morning prior to going out to work, since at that time such reading could be done by light of the sun, whereas after vigils candles would have to be employed, and they were costly. St. Gregory here gives an illuminating orientation to such reading when he states that it is the heart of God, Cor Dei, that we learn through the scripture study. In Latin, it's a striking phrase. Disce Cor Dei, in verbis Dei, learn the heart of God and the words of God. He does not say that we learn sacred theology, the history of the people of God, the style of sacred scripture, and its literary genre.

[45:48]

Of course he was attentive to these matters as far as the learning of his day permitted. And he obviously had studied the Bible with a view to cultivating such knowledge. But he did not stop there, nor does he want us to do so. We are to pass through the words of sacred text to the very heart of the divine person who inspired them. The prayerful study of scripture leads us to the depths of God's own being, which he refers to here as cor de, the heart of God. Though Gregory does not state it here, that will lead us inevitably to think of the heart of Jesus, in whom there dwells all the fullness of divinity bodily, St. Paul puts it.

[46:50]

St. Edward of Reveaux was certainly moved by the same spirit, and possibly was even influenced by this same text when he urged his monks to practice Lectio Divina with the same purpose as their intent. Cordae sacrae scripturae secretus dicitor intellectus, the hidden understanding of scripture, is called the heart of God, he writes. the hidden understanding, secretus intellectus, sacrae scripturae cordae dicitor. Elsewhere, he displays the same sensitive awareness that Gregory consistently expressed to the effect that scripture is a forest of symbols When read with desire to know Christ, it is accompanied by a visitation of the Lord.

[47:54]

Elrod's sense of history derives from his meditation of God's revelation. In the word of the Lord, we remember the past, we experience the present, and foresee the future, he wrote. Be especially attentive, he tells us, to the content and unity of the whole of Scripture. Different as the books which comprise it may be, Scripture is a unity by reason of the unity of God's plan, of which Christ Jesus is the center and the heart, open since the Passover. St. Thomas Aquinas, moreover, actually takes the step of discovering in his reading of Scripture the heart of Jesus as the key. In a memorable passage, he makes a most interesting reflection on the relation between understanding Scripture's true meaning and the heart of Christ.

[49:03]

He writes, the phrase heart of Christ can refer to sacred Scripture. which makes known his heart, closed before the Passion, as the Scripture was obscure. But the Scripture has been open since the Passion, since those who from then on have understood it, consider and discern in what way the prophecies must be interpreted. That's from his exposition on Psalm 21. This passage of St. Thomas was taken up in the New Catechism, as Father Chrysognos of Gethsemane has recently pointed out. It shows how Thomas' insight here is in harmony with one of the three criteria for scriptural interpretation that were set forth in Vatican II.

[50:07]

which it cites and glosses in the following terms. Be especially attentive to the content and unity of the whole of Scripture. Different as the books which comprise it may be, Scripture is a unity by reason of the unity of God's plan, of which Christ Jesus is the center and heart, open since the Passover. So you can see St. Thomas' influence in that passage from the Council. The originality of Thomas here consists in his referring scripture itself to the heart of Christ and giving a sound theological basis for doing so. To penetrate to the deeper and true meaning of the inspired word is to discover what is in the heart of Jesus in the light of his paschal mystery. This represents on his part the fruit of a personal Lectio Divina.

[51:12]

Only someone who read the Bible in a spirit of faith and of seeking in it for a loving understanding and union with the Lord, a Vegetatio Domini, would have the intuition that the heart of Christ lies hidden in the obscure prophecies of the Old Testament. At the same time as Thomas here brings a fresh advance to exegesis itself as a prayerful approaching of the heart of Christ, this passage suggests his familiarity with the earlier tradition, which speaks of both the unity of the mystery of Christ as presented in the various parts of the Bible, as well as of the obscurity of the allegory of the Old Testament. St. Gregory the Great had already read in Augustine that he found the scriptures to be full of obscurity and shadows of mystery, and repeated after him the same phrase with reference to allegories obscurity.

[52:15]

He uses the Latin word opacitas and umbrosus, opacity and dark, shadowy. relative to the allegories of the Old Testament. As regards the unity of scriptures mentioned by St. Thomas in the Catechism, that this was assured above all by the mystery of Christ, hidden in the old and revealed in the new, was the single most important principle of patristic exegesis. Father Lois Merton had pointed this out quite explicitly in connection with Saint Bernard, who, to be sure, was a faithful disciple both of Augustine and Gregory. Merton wrote that Bernard sees all the aspects of the spiritual life only in their relation with the great central mystery, without which they would have no meaning, let us say the paschal mystery of Christ.

[53:26]

Experience teaches us, of course, that such a penetration into the heart of God does not follow automatically from scripture study, even when done prayerfully. Rather, we soon discover that the path that leads to the depths of God passes first to the heart of His Son, which was pierced on the cross. We must accompany Jesus on the way back to the Father if we would arrive at the deep knowledge that is eternal life. And the meditations we make on the Word of God soon bring us to that realization wherever we begin. Gregory himself, to be sure, was very much aware of that. What his words mean then is that scripture will teach us the way we must walk. will also increase in our souls the desire for God, which heightens our determination to take the necessary steps along the road back to God the Father.

[54:35]

This desire arises from the revelation we find in scripture of God's ways with our human race, which in turn bring us to some measure of knowledge of His nature Learning so to read and meditate on the revealed text involves discovering the person, whose being is disclosed in some real, though obscure, measure in the pages of this inspired book. Confunction is invariably the result of an understanding of God's ways with us, and of His loving concern for us. as we come to recognize something of His purity. And in that light, become aware of our own sinfulness and unworthiness. Thus the early steps on the path of return lead to compunction and an awareness of the need for conversion.

[55:44]

St. Gregory the Great's very strong. As Father Jean Leclerc has pointed out in an illuminating study of Gregory the Great, for him, the role of compunction is to introduce into the soul a nostalgia for heaven, which leads to the gift of tears, or at least in most of us, a kind of interior regret and sorrow. It's important to Be aware that when Gregory talks about compunction, he not only refers to sorrow for sin, but to the kind of homesickness, nostalgia, which means homesickness, of far heaven, awareness of God's beauty and goodness and mercy. made him feel and should lead us to experience that we're far from our true homeland.

[56:52]

Intimidating regret and sorrow then is only one aspect of compunction. The other is that of desire. Love accompanies this compunction and leads to an inner joy. Humility is the result of such sorrow, and as it grows, so does desire for the one who can fulfill the emptiness we discover within ourselves. By thus being emptied, we're rendered more capable of receiving God, and as this capacity grows, so does desire. MacLear refers to Gregory, in fact, as the doctor of desire. We see this in his writings, where he uses rather frequently such terms as anhilare, aspirare, suspirare, and you might recall the sentence with which I began this talk, suspires.

[58:04]

suspiras ad eterna, it was sigh after eternal things, anillare, pant after, aspirare, aspire for. Each of these terms denotes a more deeply felt longing, it's even physical, sigh, panting, a longing that affects breathing, thus causing one to pant, to sigh, to breathe forcibly. In our exposure to scripture, the measure of our profit depends not only on our understanding, but also on our being affected in such a way as to alter our attitudes, our goals, our purposes. It's not only intelligence, but will and imagination that are engaged when we study and meditate the scriptures in the way that Gregory and Benedict speak of.

[59:11]

The Slectio Divina, when properly done, serves an integrating function in the life of prayer, the contemplative life, both on the level of psychological development and on the level of spiritual progress. It has long been recognized that our culture produces persons whose sensibility tends to be separated from reason. With all the problems such a dividingness inevitably produces. But it has proved easier to diagnose the cause of this defective development than to correct it. That's hardly surprising when we consider those roots go back to the 17th century, at least, with Descartes. Some would even say it began in the 12th century with Saint Bernard. That's Andrew Louvre's idea, but I don't think it is true of Bernard, although it might be of some of the people who followed him.

[60:14]

In any case, the kind of reading that monks are to practice does involve both reason and affectus, emotion, and attitudes and values. It's not mere exegesis or an attempt at understanding, but includes also experience. St. Bernard was very strong on that. the role of experience in monastic life and the spiritual life in particular. Today, we will read in the book of experience. He begins one of his sermons that way. Specifically, some aspect of the experience of the mystery revealed by Christ, which stands at the heart of the Bible, both Old Testament and New. In fact, I think it's true of works of literature as well as of the Bible to some extent, that until we penetrate through the words and beyond the words to the experience of the author who's writing, we haven't fully exhausted the meaning of any given text.

[61:39]

And often, what the author leaves out is as important or even more important as what he says. That's true also in our personal communications. That when we deal with certain people under certain circumstances, we're very careful not to say certain things that otherwise we would be very free to say. And noting that as we read and as we listen to people often is the clue to understanding their message. So getting behind and going through the words to the experience that they point to is a dimension of good reading of Lectio Divina that we all do well to cultivate.

[62:49]

Modern philosophy and criticism help us here to appreciate better how the true understanding of a text is not simply a question of concepts, but is rather, as Luth puts it, an experience that takes place in one's engagement with the work. our own experience as we read the work. It is, as Gadamer stresses, process in which we are undeceived for every experience worthy of the name runs counter to our expectations. Undeceived of those of our prejudices that do not fit reality. Gadamer, interestingly, developed this concept of understanding as a being undeceived, recognizing that it goes beyond any particular point of knowledge that is involved in the fresh insight to include knowledge of the limitations of humanity, of the absoluteness of the barrier that separates the reader from the divine.

[64:03]

It is ultimately a religious insight, the kind of insight which gave birth to Greek tragedy, in fact. Thus experience is experience of human finitude. It's well to note that Gadamer is not here speaking of reading the sacred text, but of any literary work of quality. It's implicitly an expression of human finitude. The experience of human finitude in the spiritual life is fundamental and is a truth that has long been appreciated by Christian writers as well as by such wisdom teachers of the Old Testament as Ecclesiastes. Bhagavan Nissa, for one, gave prominence to it in his teaching.

[65:15]

He developed this thought quite extensively in his Commentary on Enthusiastics, where he relates it to self-knowledge. In one passage he puts it this way, O men, you who look upon the universe, give thought to your own nature. That which you see in the heavens that which you see of the sun, those things you consider in the sea, interpret in light of your own nature. For there exists a likeness between your nature and the sun's rising and its setting. There is a single path for all things. One is the circle of life's course. When we arrive by birth, we are again drawn down into the region that is natural to us. When our life suffers its setting, our brightness also goes underground.

[66:20]

When the sense that is receptive of light turns into the earth that is native to it, and this circle perpetually turns with the same changes all the time, so that he's very keenly aware as he studies nature of his own finitude and considers this observation of nature that leads to a penetrating insight and experience of one's own humanity and its functions led Gregory to discover in the texts of the ancient Hebrew philosopher, theologian, much support for his view of life as journey. He's convinced that such considerations as flow from this way of reading contribute to understanding for spiritual progress.

[67:26]

In practice, involvement with the creation, striving to learn lessons taught by the creator through the universe, and through human experience is indispensable for attaining the higher reaches of contemplation of God in himself. Greek fathers called it Theoria Physicae and insisted that that is the only proper training for Theologia, the contemplation of God in himself. So involvement with creation, striving to learn lessons taught through the book of the universe and through experience, is an extension of Lectio Divina. Here Gregory spells out in a wealth of detail, using a method of theory of physici, which reveals to the seeker something of God's wisdom and his providence.

[68:32]

by means of Lectio Divina that views the whole of creation as a book in which we may learn by experience meditation of creation's attributes. That is a major element in that process of spiritual transformation that is the very purpose of our existence on Earth. The scriptures preserve any number of writings which preserve for us the fruit of such searchings after wisdom and divine light revealed in the interaction with the cosmos. Our Lectio Divina then is ordered to penetration of reality, not just understanding of ideas, but penetration of reality. the highest of all realities, the one that is revealed to us by God Himself in the texts of the Bible.

[69:42]

For as Gregory has so tellingly taught us, it is the heart of God that we learn as we read the Word of God. Cor Dei Dische In Verbis Dei. Learn the heart of God in the words of God. And the fruit of such reading is to increase our spiritual desire, that are densios aspires ad aeternum. The experience leading to such desire is that which integrates all our powers in the single movement of our being into the very heart of God. Because so much of our experience is in the expense of learning, it's really difficult to fix that gap of experience.

[71:04]

And I'm thinking to myself, yes, it's a tremendous bizarre. But I realized later it was what I think people would describe as a union of the lower end and all of that. But then intellectually, it can't be that effective. to some degree, but it really is, if we're taught to understand. Yes. And I think, well, my own maybe, because of so much of the reading was scientific and there wasn't literature for the sake of literature, and that makes it are more difficult. You think you're doing something in a way that should be understandable. Yes. And I think one of the functions of meditation and of solitude is to become more aware of that dimension of words even.

[72:17]

I find that with a certain Yeah, and becoming aware of the different levels of our being makes us more sensitive that all words have different levels, different references, if it's at all worth reading. That's why Gadamer says his points about The limits of man are implied in all statements. That's true only of real literature. But all the words really have reference beyond themselves because they come out of experience. If you think of it, and we should think of things like that, Well, the importance of words, I may talk about that later, is very radical in life.

[73:24]

Jesus says it, my words are spirit and life. Words give life. And words can destroy life. I had a patient once in psychiatry at Georgetown who, after listening to him, I wonder how he kept from committing suicide. And it went back to some word that was spoken to him by a significant person that obsessed him. And ever since he heard that word, when it was conveyed in the context and by the person that it was, he was so anxious, so filled with anxiety, he could barely get through a day. And I remember him after this, it was like 40 years ago, because you could feel the negative vibrations.

[74:36]

I mean, the contempt and, the destructiveness that he was carrying in his soul. Words have that kind of power. They can destroy people. And they can also give life. Words can be life-giving. So words are really symbols that point always beyond themselves to some reality. They become a reality themselves up to a point. They have a certain reality, but their function is symbolic. Words are symbolic. And their symbols point beyond themselves to the experience of the one who uses the words and puts them together. And often, unless you are aware of the context in which the word is spoken, you'll misinterpret it.

[75:51]

Some people are artists at misleading others that way. I just finished reading the Diary of Eisenhower last week. It's a very interesting book for any number of reasons, but Eisenhower gave the impression of not being very intellectual. And he was no great student when he was at West Point, but he outsmarted almost everybody he dealt with. And one way he did it was by acting dumber than he was. He makes the point there, his press secretary was worried that he had some secrets he didn't want out, and told him, now be very careful at this meeting with the press.

[76:53]

And he said, don't be troubled about it, I'll confuse them. So words can confuse people as to what's real. Intentionally? Oh yes, yeah. It can be. In that occasion, it was intentional. It was a way of keeping a secret. And we can intentionally confuse other people, give them wrong ideas or true ideas about our experience and about life. So getting a feeling about words, I think, is an important part of the spiritual life, especially for those who teach or preach and so on. But for all of us who meditate, because you can't think without words and numbers. Numbers themselves are symbols too.

[77:56]

Of course, you can think in symbols. There is a symbolic logic, but we know the symbols by the words we put on them. Freud had a strong feeling about words. He had some beautiful things to say about words and their power to liberate people. By saying the right word at the right time, we can allow people to become aware of conflicts that had suppressed them, made them feel guilty, so on, seeing through that. So, learning how to go through the words to the heart of God, I think, is what Gregory's talking about, and is kind of a shorthand for the purpose not only of Lectio Divina, but of the whole of life.

[79:03]

It's interesting that in Hebrew, tavar, word, can also mean thing, event, happening. You see it even in the New Testament where it's written in Greek, but often the New Testament writers thought it's Hebrews. For example, when the shepherds had this vision and were given a word by the angel when our Lord was born. They said to one another, the text reads, let us go and see this word that was told to us. They meant this event, this message, but that's what the text says. I think it might be logos, but I'm not sure.

[80:04]

It might be real. In any case, they obviously are thinking the way Hebrews did, that the same word means an event, a thing happening. And a word is an event. It's not just words. It's so working at understanding words, the use of words, and allows us to get more related to reality. In fact, one of the practices that I encourage especially novices to do is just to spend five minutes a day writing a good sentence in which you say exactly what you felt on some occasion.

[81:05]

And make it as precise as you can. How I felt when I walked from the cottage up here. Try to express it so that it corresponds as closely as possible to what you experience. And you'll become more aware of, first of all, of how you stand, how you feel about things, and also of the difficulty of conveying experience in a way that's precise enough that it remains personal, so that I can identify with what I say as corresponding to what I really experienced, felt. So there's an art to using words, to hearing words, to reading words, as there's an art to reading a book.

[82:09]

Mortimer Adler wrote a book on how to read a book. I once gave a series of about six lectures on that book to the novices, and they found it fascinating. But using words well, as Benedict expects monks to be sensitive to that. And I do think that silence and interiority helps us to become more, more sensitive. I know I've worked very hard at choosing the right words when I deal with difficult situations or difficult people, because I've learned by experience that it can make all the difference in the world. The same message stated in a proper way

[83:15]

can determine whether or not that person receives what you had to say or whether he feels rejected or starts fighting or gets discouraged. So working at that is, I think, an important part of communication and administration, as well as advising people. And Gregory himself was a master at that. So was Bernard of Clairvaux. And Augustine. Augustine was a professional, of course. Reading Balthazar's Fire and Spirit.

[84:18]

Yes. Comments often go to that, how much influence Orange and Canada have. Oh, yes, yes, Orange is the most creative. Much of what you're recording, and Gregory and others, they are very much like Orange. Yes. Well, that's right. In fact, it's surprising. When Origen talked about breaking the bread, he doesn't mean the Eucharist, usually. He means interpreting Scripture, which his words also have as a function, not only conveying information, but of binding minds together and hearts. I remember I was talking to a French abbot once, we were traveling together, and after a while, apparently we got along quite well, he said, well, you know, I'm enjoying your company on this trip.

[85:28]

I traveled recently with another abbot, he mentioned his name, I happen to know him, and he said, he's so silent, that not much happened. And then he said, you know, words join hearts together. And there's a lot to that. If you give people to say what they really feel and think and listen to it, your relation with them will change. And if you receive it well, it changes for the better. In fact, we can often think of certain insights only in the presence of someone who knows how to listen to us. I've had that experience a number of times, and I think probably everybody has had it at some time or other, where you're kind of surprised

[86:33]

at what you are able to say to somebody that is very true, but you would never quite express yourself that way. And that's one of the functions of words. They can be very creative, and when we have that kind of experience, somehow we feel that we live more fully, more fully alive. It's the effect of love and of words to enhance life. When someone is listening and needs to hear what you're saying and responds to it, I don't know how it can go on. Yes, it does. And then, you know, then often you're able to see truths or realities about life or about yourself that are new for you.

[87:36]

Now one of the big surprises I've had as a priest over the years is how many people have had some mystical experience that they've never told anybody about. And then if they feel that you're really sympathetic or listening to them, they'll tell you. Yeah, I was interviewing somebody once at the gatehouse who had asked to see me. This is an example, but I could give any number of others. And he happened to be Chinese. He was interested in monastic life, but it wasn't clear to him just where he should go or if he should go. So we were talking. We had a pleasant talk, nothing remarkable until the end of our conversation as he was getting up to leave.

[88:46]

I said, oh, we have a Chinese in our community. He's a hermit, Brother Simon was. He's American, but he's pure-blood Chinese. In fact, his mother never did learn English, so he spoke Chinese with her. And this man, who was about 30, 32 years old, I added, I said, he's one of our best, which he was. He was a very good man to live with. Then he said, what makes him the best? And I thought that was a very good question. So I said, well, he's easy to live with.

[89:36]

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