The Lamb is the Lamb. of the New Jerusalem. For the Lamb is Christ as the final revelation of the Father's agape, of his saving love to men. Let us then take the lamp of the Lamb as our guiding light when we devote ourselves to the Lectio Divina. That was the topic which we wanted to discuss this evening.

[01:07]

Only the lamb on the throne is able to open the book with these seven seals. That means only the lamb is able to reveal and to enact the divine plan which rules the history of mankind. That is the book with the seven seals, God's hidden counsel of salvation, the hidden plan of God's love with man. And only the Lamb is able to open it to reveal and to enact it. Because through the Lamb's sacrificial death on the cross, he received the power to establish the kingdom of God's love here on earth and for all eternity.

[02:28]

Pascal is right when he says the sole end of the Scriptures is love. And only in the light of love are we able to understand its meaning. The crucial fact in the Scriptures is the cross. The cross is the key to the scriptures, and only love is able to understand the mystery of the cross, which is a scandal to the Jews, that means the fanatics of the law, and it is foolishness to the Greeks, but it is the power of God to those who believe.

[03:36]

Our Lord speaks in the seventh chapter of the Gospel of St. John to the Jews, and he says, You search the Scriptures because in them you think you have life everlasting. and it is they that bear witness to me. Yet you are not willing to come to me that you may have life. And then he continues and says, I do not receive glory from men. but I know that you have not the agape of God in you just in a parenthesis one could mention that this expression the agape or love of God you have not the love of God in you that this genitivus here is to be understood as the genitivus subjectivus

[04:57]

the love which God has for us, you do not have in you. He continues and he says, I have come in the name of my Father and you do not receive me. If another one comes in his own name, him you will receive. And how can you believe who receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory which is from the only God. Now the glory which is from the only God is the glory of the divine agape, of the divine love, which is revealed in the Son, whom the Father sent to be a propitiation for our sins. Those who love the glory of men more than the glory of God, as our Lord puts it in John 12, 43, cannot believe in the one whom God has sent.

[06:10]

So in order to understand the scriptures, that certainly is necessary, that we do away with all glory, self-glory, and that we become completely devoted to the divine agape, that love which descends from the Father. Now we wanted in this conference to show a little how Holy Scripture and the reading of Holy Scripture could be guided by the light of the Lamb, by the light of the Divine Aga. And perhaps we could take as a first example the lessons of today's feast, start with that, the dedication of the Church of the Holy Saviour, the Mother of all churches. Certainly the mystery of the Church is a mystery of the divine agape, God's love for us.

[07:20]

And there in the lesson today we heard we saw the new Jerusalem descending from him, from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. And we heard the voice from the throne, behold the tabernacle of God with men, and he will dwell with them. and they shall be his people, and God himself with them shall be their God, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and he shall say, Behold, I make all things new. How a more beautiful revelation of the divine Agathi could not be thought of. The divine agape is the power which makes all things new because God's forgiving love is the endless and infinite possibility for man to be renewed in the way through the baptism of repentance.

[08:48]

renewed in forgiveness, in the baptism of repentance. The divine agape is the source of all newness. Even we must say that, and that is already a good thing to know, and it helps you to understand the scriptures, everything that is called new in the scriptures is the revelation and the fruit of the divine agape. As soon as we hear the Spirit in the Scriptures speak about the new Canticle, that new Canticle is the echo of God's love, of the Agape. If we hear speaking about a New Testament, that New Testament is the full revelation of God's Agape. If we hear speaking here of New Jerusalem, that New Jerusalem is root of God's agape.

[09:53]

If we here speak about a new name that is being given us, that new name is the name which God's forgiving love gives to those who are baptized in the divine new name. Both these things are mentioned in the Apocalypse. So a new canticle, the canticle of God's love, The new Jerusalem, the church as the creation of God's agape, the new name of God, the revelation of God's love, the new name for the Christian, the stamp of God's love on him. So here the new Jerusalem, Visio Pacis, vision of peace. Jerusalem itself is a name and term of divine love. Descending from heaven, from God,

[10:55]

If you see that in the context of the whole of the apocalypse, you can see right away that this descending from God from heaven is the opposition and clear contrast to the dragon and the beasts that rise from the water and that rise from the earth in the ascending line of arrows and of effort, of human effort. therefore descending as a gift, a gift of grace, of divine free love, from heaven, from God, there is the source, as we are born, not from man, not from the flesh, but from God, as we are reborn, kato, from above, according to St. John's Gospel. prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. That what descends from God is in that way enabled to enter into a living fruitful exchange vis-à-vis the bride and the husband.

[12:15]

A wedding feast is the result of all that God gives from above to mankind redeemed by his love, his grace. The voice from the throne says, behold the tabernacle, tabernacle again, such a term also of the divine love because it means meeting place, it means dwelling place, It means that place where God's name dwells. But what is God's name? God's name is Emmanuel, God with us. So therefore it's continued also, tabernacle of God with men, God with us. And that is remember also is the key word of that very story which plays such an important role in the feast of the dedication of a church.

[13:20]

We always celebrate this feast remembering Jacob who built the first house of God. And the key word of that story in Genesis 28 is God with me so therefore hear the tabernacle of God with men and he will dwell with them and dwelling again is in holy scripture that term technical term one can say which reveals the lasting union which God himself will create at the end of time in the age of the Messiahs with those whom he draws to him as his children.

[14:21]

And he will dwell with them. Therefore he will not only come for an occasional visit, he will dwell with them because charity remains. Charity is final. And they shall be his people, because charity is never limited to an individual. It's always the whole that charity builds up, the temple that they build. And they shall be his people, and God himself with them shall be their God, as the Vulgate expresses that so beautifully. God himself with them. That has to be taken as one. That is the new name. God with them. And God himself with them. That means God in his very essence with them. Because agape, real love, gives itself completely without keeping anything for himself.

[15:30]

So God with them. will be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, the love of the mother for the child. And behold, I make all things new. And this beautiful lesson is even still more glorious when we compare it to the lessons of the first nocturne which we read in today's vigils. And the angel showed me the spouse, the wife of the Lamb, Uxorem Agni. The church, that kingdom which the Lamb builds here on earth is Uxorem Agni, the wife of the Lamb.

[16:33]

That means totally united to the Lamb in the unity of the divine agape. And there is then the meaning also of all the numbers that we find there, the shape and numbers of the city, for example. as we are told in the lessons in today's vigils. Four and three, seven, that is the number which expresses the unity between God and mankind. Four and three. Four stands for this world, for man's world, And three stands for God, four and three. The seven is God with man. Or also four multiplied by three, which gives the fullness of twelve.

[17:40]

Four is this earth, three is God. And those two together, four and three, seven, Four multiplied by three, twelve. Twelve is the fullness of the apostles of the Lamb, the Apostoli Agni, as it says in this lesson. So one can say, and maybe we continue a little just on this line, one can say the whole book of the Apocalypse shows the triumph of the Lamb. as the ultimate meaning of history. The triumph of God's agape as the ultimate meaning of history. And therefore the Apocalypse, we read it, begins immediately with the greeting, grace to you from Jesus Christ who is the faithful martyr.

[18:49]

or testis fidelis. That means the one who witnessed through the divine agape by his death on the cross. Fidelis testis fidelis, because Christ, the Son of God, descended and was obedient unto death, and that is his faithful witness. He was therefore the primogetus mortuorum, the first fruit of the dead, the princeps regum terrae, the prince of the kings of this earth, qui delexit nos, who loved us in divine agape, and he washed us from our sins in his blood, And he made us a kingdom and a priesthood for God his Father.

[19:53]

And therefore to him be glory and power in all ages. So that's the beginning of the apocalypse and the whole program and the whole meaning of the divine love is right away shown in these words. All these words again are, we look at them really, are expressions and titles that are given to Christ through and on account of the divine agape of which he is the messenger and one can say the incarnation. So also that is the last result and fruit of the mission of the divine agape in Christ here in this world, that regnum and sacerdotium are bound together, that kingdom and priesthood become one unity.

[21:00]

Kingdom that represents in this world power, retributive justice. Priesthood, that is the expression of the divine of the forgiving love. One can say that the kingly royal power is the reflection of the power of the creator in this world. and that the priesthood is the reflection of the love of the Redeemer here in this world. And it was always the great conflict of the Old Testament that these two, which in the plan of God's love should be one, in the reality of a fallen world are two. and two hostile powers opposed to one another, the kingdom against the priesthood, while the characteristic of the messianic age as the age of the triumph of divine love is the union between kingdom and priesthood, between power and mercy.

[22:21]

And this also then is the root, I mean this union of power and mercy. And I say of the glory of creation in power and mercy is also the root then for the full praises of God's glory. God on this earth can be praised fully only when Kingdom and priesthood are united when power and mercy meet one another. So that is why I explained right in the beginning of the apocalypse. And that is, one can say, the program of the workings of God's agape here on earth. Then comes when, for example, you go a little further in the Apocalypse, you come to the seven letters to the seven churches.

[23:28]

Now, again, there, as soon as you take the light of the divine agape as your guide to understand it, then you yourself will have ears to hear and you may listen to what the Spirit tells the churches. What the Spirit tells to the churches is really always a message of God's judgment, but the norm of God's judgment is his agape. The agape is, as it were, the scales on which the churches are weighed in these letters. They are judged according to the measure of agape. And therefore it's right in the first letter. It is said, you have left the first agape.

[24:32]

You have lost that fervor. which on Pentecost was sent here on this earth, the fire that was sent there, and that according to the will of God should burn in us, and you have left it, and it has cooled off, as it were. And in the last letter, condemning lukewarmness, why, the amen, amen again, as a title for Christ is a title of the divine agape. Amen is the stability and faithfulness, the eternity of divine agape. The faithful witness says, you are neither cold nor warm because you say, I am rich and I am full. and I don't need anybody's help.

[25:35]

That is the extreme opposite to the divine agape. That is the fatal attitude which blocks clearly and necessarily the descending of God's love into the heart. I'm rich and I'm full, I don't need anybody's help. And therefore the message continues, you don't know that you are miserable, poor, blind, and naked. And after this accusation then comes the wonderful revelation, but I stand at your door and I knock. And if you open the door, as soon as you open the door, I enter and I dine with you and you with me.

[26:38]

That again is such a beautiful, wonderful revelation of the meaning of the divine agape and of our attitude, the practical attitude that follows for us. He stands before the door. Christ is waiting. Christ is there. He knocks. As soon as we open, he enters and he dines with us and we with him. That mutual unity response of the divine agape. Then after the seven letters to the churches, then we come to the, I'll let us say, the manifestation of the glory and the triumph of the Lamb. There is the new song. Worthy are you, Lord, to take the book and to open its seals, because you have been killed and have redeemed us for God.

[27:44]

In your blood, from every tribe and every tongue and every nation and race and has made us a kingdom and a priesthood. That is the new song. The new song, therefore, proclaims the glory of the Lamb. Worthy are you, Lord, to take the book and to open its seals because you have been killed, the mystery of the cross, and have redeemed us for God in your blood. And that divine agape naturally is universal from every tribe and every tongue and every nation and race. not limited to any racial or political borders, man-made limitations, and you have made us a kingdom and a priesthood, the same motif that we have spoken about before.

[28:54]

And then we see after that the people of God itself and the mystery of that people, and the mystery is indicated to us in these words, There are those who washed their garments in the blood of the Lamb. I think in a more beautiful way the mystery of divine agape, as applied to our own personal life, could not be found. We have washed our garments in the blood of the Lamb. Washing our garments in the blood of the Lamb means to believe in God's charity and means in repentance to allow him to kneel down and to wash our feet. And therefore also the life of those who are in this way washed in the blood of the Lamb is It is explained as a saeque annum, as a following the Lamb, the following the Lamb, following the Lamb whithersoever it goes.

[30:09]

That is the essence of the Christian life. As our Lord already had said so often in the Synoptics, as well as in the Gospel of St. John, saeque me, you follow me. To follow Christ means naturally, as our Lord puts it, to take upon oneself one's cross, his cross, and in this way to follow him. So it means to share the spirit of the divine agape, enter into the spirit of that love that seeketh not her own. beginning with chapter 12, then we enter into what we may call the judgment of divine agape. God's love is not and cannot be confused with the philanthropy, as we have said that so often. Philanthropy belongs to the level and plane of the arrows, is not the divine agape.

[31:19]

Therefore all that kind of love, which in the desire for peace smooths things over and denies truth, has nothing to do with the divine agape. Divine agape is judgment. His judgment over the sin of man. But in the light of divine agape, what is the sin of man? Pride, and nothing but pride. And what is then the divine judgment? As far as this divine judgment means condemnation, it is the dethronement of pride. the beautiful words in the Apocalypse is which reveals the very essence, for example, of that tremendous question of what is hell and what is the meaning of hell and how can the mystery of hell fit into the picture of the divine agony of a God who is love.

[32:29]

The answer to that is given in the Apocalypse when it is said of Babylon, the great whore, when it is said of her, as much as she glorified herself, so much torment she shall receive. So the condemnation is the condemnation of glory, of that self-glory, which essentially excludes the divine agape. And therefore also the divine agape. We find as soon as we enter chapter 12, the woman, the child, and the dragon. And right away already, you know, if you just focus a little on the very meaning of these words, the woman and the child, and they are persecuted by the dragon. The dragon is, you can say, the apocalyptic transfiguration of the serpent of the beginning of Genesis.

[33:36]

This dragon, the serpent, is called the accuser. in in revelation 12 10 the accuser the accuser naturally as contrasts against the redeemer just as the divine agape in christ the redeemer forgives sins so the dragon the serpent accuses detects sin And he is then conquered by Michael. Michael is the name of humility, who is like God. Also, the fight is continued against the beast rising from the sea. The sea is always the symbol of chaos, of disorder. rising from the sea as contrast to descending from heaven.

[34:46]

The other beast rising from the earth and that other beast rising from the earth is later on called the pseudo-propheta, the pseudo-prophet. That pseudo-prophet which announces, one could today call it a minister of propaganda or something like that, that is able to deceive public opinion, has two horns like the lamb, two horns like the lamb. This beast, the pseudo prophet, always takes The one can say the similarity, the deceiving likeness of the Lamb. And He does signs and wonders, and then all those who don't adore the statue of the beast are killed, and all those who adore the great ones and the little ones, the rich and the poor,

[35:58]

They have to receive the stamp of the beast so that they may be able to buy or to sell. Nobody in this kingdom of the beast is able to buy or to sell without having the stamp of the beast. Anybody who has gone through the Nazi Hitler dictatorship will need to see all the similarities that are there. And not only there, you know, it's probably in Russia the same thing. Nobody can buy or sell if it doesn't have the stamp of the beast in one way or the other. And that stamp of the beast is six, six, six, three times six. And that six means, as we have often heard already and explained, six are the six working days of the week.

[37:05]

The six working days of the week. So it is the work without God. The seven-day week is work culminating in rest. human work culminating in rest. The moment, the seventh day, is the day on which all human efforts stop so that they may be given room to God's descending love. That's the meaning of the Sabbath. So what they have is 666. That means a tripled... a tripled, absolute, emancipated work without God, work without rest. One can say human effort without grace and with the refusal of grace.

[38:09]

That is the meaning of the number of the Antichrist, 666. So, intensified absolute self-redemption, self-effort. And that is then delivered into the judgment of the divine agape. And that judgment of the divine agape is in the Apocalypse most clear paint picture in the condemnation of Babylon. And there comes that in the 18th chapter, so beautiful. As much as she glorified herself in that measure, give torment to her and give mourning and sorrow to her.

[39:16]

Because she said in her heart, Say, dear Regina, I am enthroned like a queen. And I am not a widow. And I shall never see any sorrow. and their pride has to be answered by the judgment of the divine agape even one can say is already in itself the judgment of divine agape therefore in one day her plagues will come death and mourning and hunger and in fire she shall burn, for God is a strong God, and he shall judge her. And then comes the judgment, and then that beautiful description, all the merchants of the earth shall weep, and all the ship owners, and all the captains, and all the mariners.

[40:29]

As much as she glorified herself, so much torment give to her. That is the opposite to the New Jerusalem, the incarnation, one can say, of worldly love. And to that then comes the answer in the last chapters of the Apocalypse, the New Jerusalem as the bride. And then the spirit of that New Jerusalem, so beautifully described at the very end of the Apocalypse, And the spirit and the bride say, come. The spirit and the bride say, come. You see, assume that is the essence of faith, and that is the essence of the attitude which enables us to meet the divine agape. There is the opening of the door, the one prayer, come. You see, Ersula, I wanted to call your attention to that because what is really the deepest heart of the monastic life?

[41:41]

It is what we call the eschatology, the waiting, the desiring, the longing for the coming of the end. Veni, Domine, veni. Come, O Lord, come. That is the meaning of our vigils. The vigils that we celebrate are the preparation and expression for our longing that the bridegroom may come. Our watching that we don't miss the moment when he comes. Therefore, to have the oil burning in our lamps, that is the constant meaning of the monastic life. And this, the spirit and the bride, you know, that means the spirit is the divine agape as speaking in us. The spirit and the bride say, come. We do not say, we shall ascend and we shall go and we shall build.

[42:50]

But our prayer is, come. If we say that, we leave it to God to answer it. We don't start out on our way to reach him. We pray and say, you may come, because the God of the divine Agape descends. He comes to us. It's not a matter for us to reach him, but it's his initiative to come, and we can only invite him. And then it continues and says, and who hears may say, come. You see, the attitude of divine agape is and begins and is founded in faith. Faith is our capability to listen to the word of the divine agape. Throughout it, who listens, he may say, come.

[43:54]

And also it's so beautiful just if you put that and see that in connection with Lectio Divina. In Lectio Divina, there you listen. The spirit in which you read Holy Scripture or books which explain it or are in some connection with it, the bread that you receive You must receive it always in this and with this prayer on your lips. Come. Come with your reality, with the reality of your grace into my heart, into the world. Establish your kingdom. And then it's continuing and said, And who is thirsting, he may come to me. And who is willing, he may receive the water of life gratis.

[45:04]

That means as the gift of God's grace. And then comes to that the answer to this prayer. Amen. That's the beautiful end of the Apocalypse. means, yes, I come soon. Amen. And then the last word, ,, come, O Lord Jesus. So there is the dialogue, one can say, between the two subjects of the divine agape, God and Christ, the messenger and bearer, and we, the bride, on bridegroom and the bride. Yes, I come soon, truly, absolutely, you can be sure of it. And that is the essence certainly also of our monastic life.

[46:14]

So may all the Lectio Divina, especially of the Gospels, lead us always to that great prayer and desire expressed in these words, Veni Domini Jesu, come, O Lord Jesus.

[46:30]

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