not our father. We ask you to help us to be monastic in spirit. Be sensitive to mystery. Look for the goodness that is hidden just below the surface of life. Help us to respect all people and all creation. Then it will be even for us to keep our lives. We have to return to normal. Amen. In this last half hour, last regular appointment, I'm going to say something about each of the five, but I'm not going to attempt the impossible, which is to give a discourse on the five. But I will say something about each one of them,

[01:01]

And I think that this is not going to be that useful in a way. I mean, I'm not just going to say something in order to have it said. But what I'm trying to do is to lay a kind of foundation, talk about a spirit, an attitude. It seems to me then that one can just naturally show how each vow is a kind of implication. kind of extraction of this deeper reality. First of all, in regard to the monastic attitude or spirit in general, there's still one or two things I want to note. I mentioned that it is seeking the transcendent, therefore represented by the kind of restlessness of a creative restlessness. It's seeking, looking, And ultimately, this transcendence is mystery.

[02:05]

And mystery is centered in the person of God and shared with all other men and with creation. And so, to know God as a person this way, to know God as Father, to know Him as the center of mystery and surprise and gift, is to rejoice in his uniqueness, in his freedom, his sovereignty, his holiness. And this manifests itself as the serene confidence of a son. When John says in his prologue, we have seen the glory, which is his glory, the glory as of his only son. He's not talking about rays coming off Jesus. He's talking about deep, The inner confidence, God is my Father. I have no fear.

[03:10]

Martin Luther King said this in Harlem's Lost Bridge. He really thinks that there is no God in his Father. Fear is driven out. The serene confidence of the Son, the peace characteristic of benediction. who know that the Father's strength and omnipotence is for their benefit, and the Father's great wealth is their inheritance, and who can therefore be calm and play and celebrate, even though they cannot understand, much less control, what is happening in this time and place. There's no need to control everything or to foresee everything. In fact, it's almost better not to. I sometimes think that faith means not to know and still to be at peace.

[04:14]

To know God as person or as Father is also to respect and cherish mystery, as I said. Not just in God, but especially most difficult in many ways, to recherish mystery in other men, which is, I think, the highest form of charity. Give people bread and water and clothing and shelter if you can. But most of all, give them a sense of their mystery. Tell them that they tend to cry, especially you. If nobody is so poor, it hurts them. who thinks that everybody can see through him. There is no personality. They can't tell a joke. If we can help people to discover their mystery and their sense of confidence, this is the greatest of charity, because this gives them freedom.

[05:18]

This creates it. This respect for mystery, I think, will be expressed primarily in gentleness. I would think that a monk must be a gentle person, non-violent, not harsh, not so efficient that people are run over. It doesn't mean that that you're constantly, you know, tiptoeing around. And that means it won't make those big blunders of which people are terribly offended and you don't even know to have them, partly. This will be a respect for mystery, first of all, of course, of people, gentleness toward people, gentleness toward oneself.

[06:23]

We don't get angry with ourselves, violent with ourselves. It doesn't mean indulgent, firm, but gentle. And gentle with creation. I think there is something very, very close between this deep sensitivity to mystery and light and the monastic tradition of education. First, let's gentle with children, drawing out all that potentiality and beauty. Gentle with people who are hearing the good news for the first time. Gentle with the savage. Gentle with the soil, in the Latin tradition of farming. Gentle with animals. The religious man, in some sense, and especially the monk, will in some sense be a poet, an artist, no matter what he does.

[07:39]

And I think, of course, the artistic tradition of monasticism is well-attested. What is that, except if you look at something, you know, a piece of marble, well, that is just a stone, somebody says. The monk says, oh, no, that is stone. You see, that hidden possibility in stone and sticks and all kinds of things, that's what the artist sees, and that is only a matter of trying to bring it out. And even in disputes. I remember one of our old professors in Rome, Baptist Russell Curtis. He said, you know, the monks have never gotten themselves embroiled in these terrible, bitter disputes. Scrotius versus somebody else and so forth and so on. No, the truth is too deep, too mysterious to take a black and white position on things. I think I have good insight. And so, I'm not a reasonable person.

[08:51]

I had the good fortune of seeing in my father, this kind of thing. And I think we all know people, you know, he was a farmer, he was so gentle with the soil, he didn't savage the soil. You know, you can caress the soil, you can plow in a way that doesn't tear up and break the earth. Even with a tractor you can do that, but with horses it's easy. You know, they don't rip and tear up the soil. And animals too, you know, He would never go to bed until the horses were currying. He would never think about those horses in their sweat all night. Well, that's just one little example of this gentle attitude toward life. Once again, I'm not talking about something indulgent, let everything happen. No, you can be very firm and disciplined and still gentle. Let's look at some of the characteristics of a rapid life against this black rush.

[09:58]

One of our chief characteristics is the calmness or centipede form of life. The gathering of men who share the same vision, who are looking for the same basic thing, who want the support of each other, A place where one is looking for good example and wide guidance. A place to learn the truth about oneself. Not in a brutal way, but in a kind way. Your paternal reminder. A place above all. where one can be lifted up on those days when one is down. So you can't keep the transcendent up there all the time. So there's solid days, let's hope there's some days within the community. Because there won't be solid days.

[11:02]

And also a place of hospitality. What is hospitality? Greeting and welcoming and giving the benefit of the doubt to the stranger. Hospitality. That's mystery. Entertaining mystery. Hospitality goes way beyond guess. And it certainly includes guess. I'm very happy to see so many here from Sudan. Thank you. Well, is there a presentation for the hospitality? I know. This has always been a hallmark of Manassasism, but because of that respect for mystery. Not because, you know, Francis can sit there for a few hours and he sits there to guess. No, it's a deeper thing than that. Well then, another characteristic of Manassasism, flight from the world. Flight from the world doesn't necessarily imply flight into the desert.

[12:06]

Well, I guess this background which we've tried to sketch, this doesn't mean life from the city necessarily, although I think that has its points too, but that's not really what they're talking about. It is fleeing from Egypt, from the world insofar as it is secularist, insofar as it is closed to the transcendent, insofar as it operates on the principle that this is all there is. Get it while you can. It's fleeing from that. Fleeing from the world insofar as close to the future. Insofar as it is a negative conservativeism. We got it. We're going to keep it. Close to discovery. Close to sacrifice. Close to risk. Close to the young. Any threat from the future. No. Bleeding the world is bleeding that foolish philosophy which says that the past will guarantee the future.

[13:16]

The past is a thing to be grateful for. The future is a thing to grieve. And the desert is the unknown, the unmapped future, God's country, the place of hidden treasure, the desert flower. is found in the future, the oasis. The place where mystery is courted and beauty is found. In other words, what the love does, looks at the future, acknowledges that it is full of threat, and freely and deliberately calls it promise. Refuses to call the future threat. Even though you'll find plenty of people in the discourse saying, things are getting worse, won't you see what's going to happen? Death, death is coming. No. Home is coming.

[14:18]

Then there's condescension of the Lord, sitting in his bowels. By the way, prayer, of course, is one of the great characteristics of monasticism, but I'm going to say something about that tonight. Ten minutes worth of prayer. Conversatio Morum. There's been a lot of arguing on what this means, and I think in the larger context, it's not that difficult to understand. I think conversatio morum means that Benedict wants to explicitly have the monk vow that he will never stop searching. Never stop the journey. Constantly push ahead. Never turn back, turning back to the future. Now I think it's clear in the Koran, remember before he said... Right before that, it's... In the process of convergence and faith. Therefore in this process, by which one tries to change and grow and allow faith to become dominant, gradually, it says, one's heart will be expanded and he'll begin to run the way of God's commandments.

[15:47]

So, this vow, this vow never to give anything in return. Bless everything. There's a whiskey there, I don't know what it is. Make silence more beautiful. Constantly promising never to start living in the past. This is fatal for everybody, but it's especially fatal for the monk, because he's supposed to give an example bearing witness. Never slipped into that thing, well, in the good old days, We used to respect the old depositors. You know, even if we think, well, let's just stay in our rooms, you know, possibly aware of the future, even if it's only to complain. I recall at the gallery, I used to wonder how you lived so long.

[16:52]

Then one day he came to the chapter room and he said, I didn't open the paper in the morning, there's always something new. But that's why he's alive. He thought, I don't think I'm dying, I don't care. Well, when you stop caring, then you're dead. So, this caused a quest for the Columbus accountants ever younger at heart. Brother Benedict, Here's an example. Many of these things, I'm sure you recognize it. Immer faster. Immer faster. On what basis? He understood them in half the fabric, too. He drove there by a little tree. Once we work and work and work, the field will be better. Then there's about stability.

[18:01]

Stability, of course, a lot of jokes about stability. You know, the joys of what it's doing to the world. I think stability is related to place. People who gather around all over the country all the time, you know, I think are really people of liberty, which is about stability. But it's not primarily a matter of place. I think stability in dealing with the very, very well-known principle of spirituality. That is, that one cannot make any real progress spiritually without authentic self-knowledge. The vow of stability, I think, was requested of the monk by Benedict to counteract the very common monastic abuse of those days expressed in the Conflicting Houses of St. Jerome. Monks who wandered from place to place testing the wine and the food.

[19:02]

But as soon as the monks of that place begin to ask them personal questions, then they say, hold on, I'm going to the next monastery. Otherwise they're fleeing from themselves as they go from place to place. So when the monks say, how long have you been going like this? Time to get out of here. Well, so I really think it doesn't make sense to stay in a community where the college prayers will tell you who you are. Hopefully in a very kind way. But if you listen, you'll find out things about yourself that you need to know. And if they're interspersed with compliments, you can accept it. If they're only critical, then of course you can't hear them. But if you're interspersed with support and confidence or compliments, then you can hear the negative things and deal with them and begin your spiritual journey with truth rather than illusion.

[20:09]

This is a great basic necessity for spirituality. Then there's the vow of poverty. Poverty has something to do with living simply. It has nothing to do, in my opinion, with turning off lights at night, especially when they're needed. Or hoarding bed linens, because I don't need one every week, or things like that. No, there's been a lot of abuses, a lot of neuroses that have been excused as poverty. I think poverty is a carefree attitude about affluence and also about all the signs of success. A carefree attitude. Why? Because one wants to be carefree? No. Not because it's nice to be carefree, but because one can afford to be carefree.

[21:16]

about all these signs of success which are cherished and required by secularist culture, one can afford to be carefree about these because one is so rich in the sure knowledge of the goodness of God, which is for my benefit. Monastic poverty, Christian poverty, comes out of an experience of wealth. of spiritual wealth. I am so rich in hope. I am so rich in the goodness of God and my brother that I can afford both. It's not a love of destitution. It's an expression of liberation. Liberation from the need to have all kinds of signs of war, recognition, get your name in the papyri so often. even degrees and stuff like that. Now, we all have to accomplish somewhat to work our way up, but hopefully a day will come when, you know, we can laugh about those things, you know.

[22:25]

When it's so rich in the hidden gift, and we're the struggler of mystery, and the inheritance, and the knowledge of God's love, and the love of God's friend, then we're going to form to be tore in every other way, which means that in regards to quality, in regards to other possessions, can use them but in a character way. Not claiming to have the cards, they're not part of one's definition. My definition is not in these things. This has something also to do with Sabbath, but I don't want to do that now. There are three papers dealing on Sabbath in the next general chapter. on monastic leisure, or Sabbath, or working leisure, or something like that. I have to give one of them, before I'm recording that. But it is a very rich and very deep monastic value. And it's that business of not making the purpose of life work.

[23:30]

Working all the time, but not defining oneself in terms of work. Because then when you retire, you're finished, you're dead. You define yourself in terms of people, of persons, of friendship, of concern, of community, things that last forever. Obedience. Benedict's cause did abound with good things and boons of obedience. Well, I've heard Paul pretty adamantly. They're all good. But I think that's just a hint as to what obedience is. I think, originally, it was something that the monks discovered they had to have in order to avoid self-delusion in seeking transcendence.

[24:34]

We know of the aberration that is possible. how they did all kinds of ridiculous, pathetic practices, you know, vying with each other and in groups carrying more rocks on their backs. You know, real, real aberration. And I think gradually they learned that, you know, a man cannot find this path to the transcendent, which is bound to be mysterious and bound to require a great deal of sacrifice. One cannot find that without the advice and counsel of an objective person, and especially of an experienced person. And so the first abbot, the first fanatic superior, was a spiritual director. The whole administrative and juridical thing began much later. He was a thalmatikos, a man of the spirit. And I think this still must remain.

[25:37]

as the essential element in obedience. I think we must distinguish between administrative obedience, which means obedience I owe to the department chairman, or to the pastor, or to the bishop, or, you know, in doing my job, and then monastic obedience, which is not for the purpose of getting a job done, But it is for the purpose of discovering the most unselfish way of spending my life. The most unselfish and serviceable way of spending my life. There's quite a bit. And I think, you know, one should sit down with the Abbot or his delegate every so often and talk about this. And maybe suggest, I think there's a more unselfish way that I could serve. Put it in that way, and again, a lot of things you're looking for. And he'll say, well, maybe so, but what you're doing now is pretty unselfish.

[26:40]

I mean, you ought to think of that. Well, OK. But I have the assurance, then, that Sidney is unselfish. He might very well say, look, you're building up a little criminality. I think we're going to have to break that up. So it is the test of one's sincerity in seeking the transcendent. After all, the transcendent is only found on the path that Jesus took. And that's self-sacrifice. And that's hard. And that cuts against the grain. And one is not likely to counsel himself always to follow that path. Some objective, experienced person can be of great help in deciding what that is. I think, too, that is why Benedict says we should obey the Conference. You know, the juridical concept of obedience, that makes no sense at all. Obey the conspirators, obey one another. But in this explanation, that makes a lot of sense.

[27:42]

I can go to a conspirator, you know, why bother the devil all the time? Look, I was thinking of doing this, what do you think? Oh, God, let's forget it. Okay. But one can get spiritual direction from conspirators too, in regard to how one can best, you know, serve. Translate one's freedom into service, and you are unselfish. And then, finally, there is celibacy. First of all, I think it's important to know what it is not. It is not neurotic bachelorhood. It can't be that. It is not a refuge for those who cannot deal with people. A refuge for those who cannot initiate or maintain a healthy personal relationship. This is a problem. This is a psychological and character problem, not to be solved by jealousy.

[28:49]

Jealousy, like Virginia, is for lovers. Jealousy is for lovers, for people who are able to love other people. People who are not able to love should be careful not to take the vow of celibacy. You have to know, in our tradition, according to the word celibacy, that there are chances that almost all of them get amber light, red light, caution, caution, stop. Very few green lights in that, on that road, for 100 years. Now, people who take the vow of celibacy, ought to be people who are practically normal and healthy and loving, who would make ideal husband and wife, if they so chose. But, they have caught a glimpse of the transcendent, perhaps through a random game, with the state of the Kingdom of God, some choose this way.

[29:58]

Now there's a connection. First of all, you provide the kind of radical personal freedom. Not for selfish pursuits. And that very easily can happen because this freedom can give us the freedom our brothers and sisters don't have. Freedom to boomerang. And often in selfish ways. No, freedom for service. But the critical thing as far as personal relationship is concerned, I think, is not to avoid loving, but to know how and when and why to say goodbye. Loving doesn't mean avoiding goodbye. There's something about self that you would say, I'm on a journey.

[31:05]

There's something about this journey which requires that one do it alone, to some extent. I have an illustration which, although like all examples and analogies, lives. In the best way I know to express what I'm thriving at here, what I'm trying to explain, That is to compare the celibate with the wandering minstrel in the Middle Ages. An unusual kind of person. Now, I'm not going to defend every wandering minstrel. I don't know what they all did. But you recall at least the romantic version of this story. But the wandering minstrel, you know, took his musical instruments, guitar, whatever, banjo, and he went from village to village. And he entered the village and the people would gather around and he would sing a song. And usually a song that he himself would sing out.

[32:09]

And I think by and large they were songs about our ancestors. You know, the ethnic of our people. Songs about the kings and queens in our ancestry. About the great exploit of our forefathers. And so these poor shoemakers and tailors and so forth would gather together and they'd take their noses off their benches and they'd begin to dream a little bit. Why, my God, I'm not just a shoemaker. I'm not just grubbing for a living here in this little village, waiting for war to come. I'm some person singing. So they'd dream for a while. And this is so important for their spirit. that they want the minister on the shore to stay with them. Look, we like their song, we like their music, settle down here. We'll find a nice little girl, get you a job, won't be too hard.

[33:12]

And every so often, together in a nice square, we play that music and play that song. And he says, no, get to it. I said, why not? Why not? Don't you think we like you? Don't you love us? Well, brother, I love every Dutch. That's my trouble. Because sometimes I argue in my sleep. My mind can fall in love and it looks like there's no wind. No, I can't stop. And I'll tell you why. You see, this song, I hear it in the trees and the wind. I don't hear it in the Dutch. I hear it on the road. It's a traveling song. And I know it's going to happen. We're going to try it. And I know it's going to happen. I stay here. two, three, four weeks, months, one evening or twice, no song. I'm one of you, then. It's up to you to find out. No, I'm condemned by my song.

[34:18]

I'm a victim of my song. I got it, they went around, Go from village to village, that's my destiny. Sing this song to put hope in people's eyes. It's a song about going home, so don't worry, I'll see you sometime, but not now. We've got another village down here that hasn't heard anything yet. Well, this song has a song about Jesus. That's how he enforced the black knight of death. Our brother Jesus. Now he brought hope to men, drove out fear, and told them we don't have to live under the power of death. And that song needs to be heard, yes. And there's something about that song, and its nature as a traveling song, that requires that people, that some people, at least, who take the loneliness,

[35:24]

is going with that song. And that's what I thought of like today. And I think that has a lot to do with those.

[35:36]

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