but for another reason that I'll tell you. Praise be to the Lord and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the all-merciful Father, the God whose consolation never fails us. He comforts us in all our troubles. so that we in turn may be able to comfort others in any trouble of theirs and to share with them the consolation we ourselves receive from God. As Christ's cup of suffering overflows and we suffer with him, so also through Christ our consolation overflows. If distress be our lot, it is the price we pay for your consolation, for your salvation.

[01:06]

If our lot be consolation, it is to help us to bring you comfort and strength to face with fortitude the same sufferings we now endure. And our hope for you is firmly grounded. For we know that if you have part in the suffering, you have also part in the divine consolation. This epistle of this morning is, I think is a wonderful unfolding of that what I would like to call the inner, the mystery of the body of Christ, the church, as in so far as it is beyond the actual psychological experience.

[02:19]

I also wanted to point out that in this beautiful paragraph, the two things, I mean, the suffering of Christ and the other part of it, of despair, the consolation, are inseparable from one another. And that, of course, too. Why? Because ontologically That means, in a way which is beyond our psychological grasp, the Christ's sufferings are, by virtue of the very fact of the incarnation, that the one divine person, divine in human nature, suffers, is inseparable ontologically connected with the consolation.

[03:23]

And that, therefore, just as what we have, what we live in, are Christ's sufferings, means ontologically Christ's sufferings. So also what we then may experience in our hearts, or not experience, that doesn't make any difference psychologically. The Christ's consolation is an ontological thing. we lose sight too much of the ontological character of our salvation. And that became clear in one way, became very clear to me yesterday, and I wanted just to make a kind of a practical application of this paragraph to our concrete situation. And in this concrete situation, as far at least as I'm concerned, but for me only because that's the hint of the community, it's the same with you, the members of the community, see the question of

[04:32]

of Brother Matthew, you know, to, in real quiet, in the peace of Christ, with a certain distance of objectivity from the immediate psychological pressure of the, let's say, the psychological effects of the situation here, with all its various demands and so on. This withdrawal from this actual psychological pressure is done in order to in-depth, that means in the ontological depth, you know. to find, you know, the help and the answer in this so important question, where is, so to speak, his place, you know, again, in the structure of the body of Christ, the inner structure of the body of Christ.

[05:38]

And that, of course, is a question when we spoke yesterday and Russell, such a happy coincidence, you know, I mean, just kind of worked by divine providence, you know, that I was all set, you know, to go down to Morristown. and take part, you know, in the abbot's blessing because it was very important, you know, all these things. And, you know, naturally too, I mean, it was natural that I would go down if I had been able to go down and somebody else had come down and would not have been the right thing to do. So, I mean, it's objectively true. But, I mean, there is certainly both. The back fails, you know. Some little thing in our body, you know, that just ceases to function right. And from experience, knowing that I would sit there for four or five hours, especially in a Volkswagen, being bumped around, you know, I might land down there in Morristown, not even capable to assisting at any kind of Abbott's blessing, you see, but just lying in bed and receiving the new Abbott's blessing.

[07:05]

But not being much of a consolation. So, more of a cross, so to speak. And then, you see, and then through that, you know, the possibility was given that we have sent Father Basil down there and he He was glad to go because there are many friends, many contacts and so on, and maybe also some stimulus for his own work as first captain of these things. And then the room was given for a really good, you know, vis-a-vis, you know, encounter best sense of the word, you know, with Brother Matthew. And there came this tremendous joy also for having this opportunity, you see. The whole time, thank God, we had Mass an hour earlier, you know, and this interval became long, you know, from 10 to 1, so on.

[08:16]

So in real time, you see, to now, I would say again, to be able to get over the psychological little impediments into the ontological inner meeting, also into the ontological aspect of the situation. And then, for example, to justify it, you know, and I say that only because, again, you know, what one member of the community suffers, it has an effect upon all members. Sometimes even the sufferings of one are de facto the sufferings of all, the failings of one are the failings of all. everybody seeing himself practically in some facet of his own existence in the other one, again, ontologically, so to speak. And this, one of the basic differences, you know, to make the step from the ontological reality, for example, the fact of baptism,

[09:28]

and the supernatural and spiritual character we receive of union with Christ and the union that simply is beyond our psychological reach. It cannot be made, it can only be received. so often, you know, the relation, this relation, see, that we in the innermost heart, I mean, beyond the psychological reality. What we found out just with Mother Matthew was that just he wasn't able to make the step from the, what is real, one can say. The psychological realities, the only thing that's real or is beyond that another reality, the ontological reality, which is interpreted. One can say the ontological if you want.

[10:31]

Psychologically, consider the ontological hypothesis that we are in Christ. It's a hypothesis. The hypothesis which is in faith, you know, is to take a hold of it, or try to take a hold of it. And then faith, the action of faith is to translate in every moment the ontological reality into the psychological reality. That's of course the whole thing of the art of the spiritual life. It concerns every single Christian. It's absolutely not a problem that's not limited to the monastic reality at all. But of course, we as monks, as professional Christians, first of all, we, of course, have the obligation to learn the art

[11:36]

of interpreting the ontological reality, which is the object of faith, into the psychological and practical reality of everyday, and through and in what we call the light of faith, guided by love. And that was really one of the basic difficulties. It's very much, of course, everybody's difficulty. What is the celebration of the mass? It's not living enough, you know, monotonous, or it's the same thing. I grant you that it is very desirable that the celebration of mass, you know, should have, you know, say, a certain vivacity, a certain radiating quality. That certainly is true, but they are desirable also for us that it gets there, has

[12:43]

But of course, firstly, the whole thing culminates, so to speak, in the breaking of the bread and in the eating of the bread, you see. And that's, of course, what is that? As it were, eat the sufferings of Christ and drink his consolation. But it is the bread and the wine. So that is of course possible only as an ontological, basically ontological act and gift. Give us today our daily bread. See, that's the whole. It's not only a matter, you know, of obviating hunger, son, or physical needs, but that's simply our relation as sons to God, Father. The eating of the bread is simply the willing receiving of his, one can say, the concursus, that in our presence of God, working in us, not only, let us say, 10 billion years ago at the moment when in some way, you know, the universe got into existence,

[14:06]

But it is today what we call the conservation, and that's simply an ontological reality. It's not something which I psychologically experience. It's an ontological reality, which is grasped in that way in a clear light by faith. our daily bread, give us today our daily bread. That's the conservation of our entire being every moment by God the Father. So that is, therefore, the great necessity, the great need for us to learn this art, you know, to interpret the ontological gift. as I say, a psychological and practical way. And that, of course, I grant you, that only is the whole reality.

[15:09]

The ontological, the psychological, the practical. That's the whole reality. That's, therefore, the characteristic of the messianic age, see? work at that, because that alone is the fullness of law, plenitudo legis, law, agape, which in Asta Navis again, you know, belongs into the realm of the ontological realities, first But I wanted, so that is therefore, because I wanted to invite you, you know, all the members of the community, to enter kind of interiorly with Brother Matthew in this very important, very important, vital field, you know. Again, how ontologically, so to speak,

[16:12]

Through our intercessions, in some way, what do we do? We establish this ontological, beyond trans-psychological contact before God, who is the source of being for all of us. Then the other reason why I wanted to talk to you about this, you know, is another reason that I think it's just like a sign from heaven. You know, you all realize that in these last months, you know, there was a, through the visit, you know, of Virginia here in the monastery, in the community, You know, I would say an ontological contact, you know, was established there. Maybe it was there before. Zin was there before, maybe through the fact, you know, that in some seemingly completely accidental fashion, you know, she was.

[17:19]

connected, in fact, through the instrumentality of Brother Matthew, became kind of, in theory, connected with Maud Saviour. Maud Saviour simply meant to her a very special, again, inner reality. If one may call it that, why do point out the ontological reality of this, the reality of poverty? and the reality which comes out of that of the spontaneity of paternal charity which simply needs.

[17:57]

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