Well, I feel that I could begin this morning by saying that no retreat, and especially in a Benedictine house, would be complete without some specific reference to Mary, the Mother of God. I say this not for sentimental reasons, But at the Benedictine level alone, I have realised over the years, both at Dowie and nearly every community that I have visited, the deep devotion that Benedictines have had, and have, and have had down the ages to Our Blessed Lady. At the liturgical level, we remember her throughout our year.

[01:07]

We begin the year now, January the 1st, with the solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. In February, not now considered a specific feast of hers, as we've changed the emphasis somewhat, but on February the 2nd, the presentation of our Lord in the temple and the role that Mary plays in that. In March, the Annunciation. And sadly, no main feast in April. Perhaps the liturgists should do something about that. But in May, the Visitation, and normally in June, The Saturday after the second Sunday of Pentecost, the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Again, one of those feasts that were changed in the revision.

[02:14]

July, Our Lady of Mount Carmel. August, the Assumption. And also on the 22nd, Our Lady, Mother and Queen. In September, her birthday, as well as on the 15th, Our Lady of Sorrows. Perhaps a liturgical link could be made there between her birth and the sorrows, the suffering that she would have to endure. October, Our Lady of the Rosary, and in November, her own presentation. by her own parents. And then finally, in December, the great feast of the Immaculate Conception, which plays such an important role in the liturgical life and the dedication of this country.

[03:18]

And we know too, that despite these main feasts of hers that the Church has highlighted, we are able to remember her on any ethereal Saturday, those Saturdays throughout the year that have been set aside, which we can have the memorial mass to Our Blessed Lady. So just on that level alone, there are liturgically many, many times in the year when we are reminded of different aspects of the life of Our Blessed Lady and the role that she plays in the Church's liturgical life. And then again, there have been numerous sermons preached, there have been numerous books written, Musicians have composed hymns and canticles, and all these in honour of Mary, the Mother of God.

[04:30]

And, in fact, we cannot really talk about Mary, I feel, without expressing our thankfulness for the Church's devotion to her. That devotion, as I say, that has gone on down the ages. And this devotion, although perhaps it took time to gather momentum, yet how immeasurably rich we are by it. When you look at the period of the Reformation, it's interesting to note how the absence of Mary in the Reformed church is almost painful to behold.

[05:42]

For us, she has got that wonderful intimate title of Our Lady. For the Protestants, for many of them still, she's just that rather cold title, The Virgin. Now I do feel that there are many ways that we can approach Mary. One of the The first prayers that most Catholic mothers teach their children is the Hail Mary. A prayer that I think we gradually discover is so meaningful. There is a simplicity about it and yet the mother's desire to teach it

[06:45]

is almost something that comes spontaneously and naturally to a mother. And it is interesting, too, the role that Mary has played in the life of the church, and also the opposition that she engenders in those who find it hard to accept her role in the church. Her title, for instance, of the Immaculate Conception seems to cause a great deal of opposition. And I think that it is perhaps a subtle realisation of the pro-abortionists in our age that a recognition of this title undermines so many of their arguments.

[07:55]

Again, was the fact that Innocent XII in 1695 imposed the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on the whole church a response to the degradation that Mary's title had suffered throughout the Reformation. And it's good to realize that this, in fact, was 159 years before the dogmatic formula was proclaimed by Pius IX in 1854. And that dogmatic formula in itself, that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race,

[09:13]

was preserved free from all stain of original sin. There it was, proclaimed the dogma. Now, the church had to accept it. There was no more argument. But it is interesting, as you look back over the history of that particular dogma, of that particular question of the exciting time that theologians had down the ages over it. As I was saying to Gabriel yesterday, trying to recall a patristic Jesuit, a well-known one, I can't remember his name so he can't be that well-known, but in fact he is well-known in England. he teaches at Heathrop and at Oxford, and Abbott Gregory invited him to give us a retreat, a patristic retreat, one of our annual retreats at Dowie.

[10:26]

But what he reminded us of during that retreat, which was, as I say, totally taken up with patristic spirituality, that although many of the early fathers of the church completely disagreed with each other and were quite cruel in their writing, in their condemnation of each other, the underlying unity that was always there was the desire to bring the love of God and the knowledge of God to their hearers. Now, I say that because, in fact, the question of the Immaculate Conception, not only through the early Fathers, especially in the medieval controversy, caused great disputes and great arguments. Pius IX, when he drew up the dogma, also turned to sacred scripture in combination with what the early fathers of the church had said.

[11:49]

and what tradition had taught, dating back to the fourth century. And as I say, although some of the opinions were controverted, we have such great names as Ephraim, Ambrose, Augustine, Maximus of Turin. In this pastoral letter that the Archbishop of Boston wrote in 1971, he refers to Saint Ambrose among the early fathers. Saint Ambrose was the first to express another dimension of Mary's intimate relationship with Christ when he spoke of her as Maria Typus Ecclesiae, Mary the model of the church.

[12:52]

And the church is not a place but a happening. It is an event by which union in Christ is constantly taking place among men. Now, if Mary is the model of the church, then there we have, going right back to Saint Ambrose's time, this aspect that by our union with Christ through Mary, we can draw closer to him. It's interesting that our own particular patron of St. Anselm's sat on the fence on the wrong side on this question of the Immaculate Conception when put to the vote, he voted against it. And yet his, the honor and respect which he had for Mary, giving her that beautiful title of just lady, even forgetting the putting away side the hour, she was the lady.

[14:02]

is beautiful in itself. But for us, as Benedictines, I think that we can take great pride on the influence of the great liturgist, Dom Guéranger. It was an essay, in fact, that he published on the subject that made Pius X state that he thought it was the best article that he had ever read on the subject of the Immaculate Conception. What then, we might ask ourselves this morning, is the strong call to devotion to Mary the Mother of God? Why has this devotion always been so strong?

[15:05]

Surely it is that all men and women, young and old, poor and rich, find Mary so easy to relate to. There is a strong yearning in us for the love of a mother. and Mary can so wonderfully fulfill that role. She who was so uncomplicated, whose life was so simple and yet profound, has an appeal, I feel, for all to follow. Her ideal has persisted and been interpreted in each age and culture according to its mentality. In medieval times, she was regarded as one who had compassion.

[16:11]

At the Reformation, it was one who showed sincerity. And in the 19th and 20th centuries, numerous religious founders pointed to Mary as the model of apostolic activity. But I was delighted to hear yesterday of Father Martin when he gave me some little article about Basil Hume ought to be defrocked because of his attitude to Fatima and sometime in that discussion pointing out that The title now for Mary seems to be Queen of Peace for this age in which we are living in, a title that I know that you have adopted here as a community. And I must say that in the few days that I have spent here with you, I have certainly felt within this community

[17:22]

a deep respect and sense the honour of which you yourselves treat Mary in your lives. I mean, most Benedictines at the end of Compline do go to the statue or the triptych or whatever it might be in the Church of Mary and sing the Salve. but how moving it is here as you descend from the upper church down to the lower church, so the crypt, and stand around that very beautiful statue. There are many ways in which we can look at Our Blessed Lady. And it must be remembered that although she was close to our Lord in one way, by being honoured as the Mother of God and giving birth to the Son of God, she was not spared the agony of the faith.

[18:37]

Our Lord, even when here on earth distanced himself at times from her. Staying behind in the temple is one that we all know. And what consternation comes through in that gospel story for Mary and Joseph when they lose him. And we know that she had to give way to his work as Messiah. We learn too that she pondered these things in her heart, perhaps an encouragement especially to us as monks that we too need to ponder the life of Christ and her role in that life. Her life was full of a round of monotonous chores, of any mother in the Holy Land of that day.

[19:41]

Simplicity, but never monotonous. And often as monks, a great deal of our life is taken up with just monotonous chores. With regard to our relationship with her and her relationship with us, she is certainly one who will always be sympathetic if we turn to her in prayer. She will always be one who will be understanding to an eminent degree. Her role now, perhaps on earth, is Queen of Peace, but in heaven is Queen of Heaven, but she is still our Mother. Her holiness, which we know is so great, does not mean that she will be or ever will be horrified or disgusted at our lack of it.

[20:51]

The impact that she can make on us can perhaps be likened to the impact that she made on Bernadette when she saw Our Blessed Lady at Lourdes. The beauty that transformed Bernadette, people speak about and spoke about at the time. Our Lady's virtue is not a negative thing. It comes out in the way that she is there to help us. It is not something of the past. It can be something very much of the present. And when we look at her life, we see that she very often had to wait to see how things developed, just like we have to wait to see how things develop for us.

[21:56]

Who is my mother? Those who do the will of my father. There I feel we have for us a way in which we can imitate Our Blessed Lady. And to finish up, I would like to give what to me has become an aspect of devotion to Our Lady, which came about in a very strange way. Some years ago, I had given the first of some pre-nuptial instructions to a couple. A girl who was studying up at Oxford to a young man who was not a Catholic, but who had studied law, whose father was a governor in one of the African countries, or had been, with pots of money, but who had spent the prior

[23:09]

previous 12 months to this engagement, what he said, bumming it around the world, just blowing money with no job or anything. And I was very concerned in my first talk that this couple seemed completely incompatible. I couldn't see how they could possibly settle down and make a go of it with such a bad start. And perhaps for the first time in my prenuptial talks, and perhaps because I'd become a tribunal judge and saw some of the difficulties, I spoke very outrightly and then promptly went on holiday. So there was no comeback. When I got back, there was a message to say that this marriage had been postponed. That was all. And that the girl, who had a strange name called Pandora, that she would be in touch.

[24:14]

And about a month later, she asked if she could see me. And she said that the wedding was off. She realized that what I'd said on that first occasion was correct. And then she produced a package And she said, Father, I'd like to give you this as a present of gratitude. And when I opened it up, it was one of these icon pictures that she had painted as part of her art program up at Oxford. She had done it out of her head, but it was based on the typical icon Madonna pictures of the mother and child. And I looked at it, oh gosh, and I thanked her. But I didn't show her that when I thanked her. I just thanked her gratefully. And I took it back to Dowie and just left it in my room.

[25:21]

I didn't hang it. And then I came across this article about icons. And this is what I just want to read to you and then tell what happened to me. The profound beauty of an icon is gentle. It does not force its way. It does not intrude. It asks for patience with the uneasiness of early acquaintance. And I certainly had that with this one. It asks for time spent before it in stillness and gazing. And more important, it asks the one praying to allow himself to be gazed upon by it. One must yield space within himself to the icon in its persistent beauty.

[26:23]

An icon is prayer and contemplation transformed into art. When exquisite art combines with prayer to become a work of worship and wonder, the art becomes sacramental. It manifests to us the God who breaks through all signs and symbols with truth. The West treats the icon as an edifying picture. The East regards it as a redeeming mystery, a window through which to look into the world, transcending time and space, a work that is a continuation of the life of the Christian on Earth. The icon inspires and instructs.

[27:26]

It makes present the Holy One depicted there. It is a channel for divine grace to pass to the worshipper. And then he gives a quotation. Yes, it ceased to wander. It stayed until the church was closed for good. People worshipped it and said their most heartfelt prayers to it. Well, they might. for it wasn't just holy, it was mercilessly beautiful too. There's never been such beauty. I was struck by Pasha's phrase, mercilessly beautiful. She had meant, no doubt, to refer to the merciful virgin.

[28:29]

but had got confused in her expressions. And yet I reflected, all beauty is power, an absolute, indestructible power, which either throws you at the feet or lifts you up to itself. Beauty is that which we cannot resist. and therefore it is indeed merciless. And these words elaborate on this universal glance. While I looked on this pictured face, whether from the east or from the west or the south, it seems in like manner itself to look on me. And after the same fashion, according as I move my face, that face seemeth turned toward me.

[29:36]

Each of you shall find that from whatsoever quarter he regardeth it, it looketh upon him as if it looked on none other. And as he knoweth from the icon to be fixed and unmoved, he will marvel at the motion of its immovable gaze. Thy being, Lord, letteth not go of my being. I exist in that measure in which thou art with me, and since thy look is thy being, I am because thou dost look at me and if thou didst turn thy glance from me I should cease to be. Now when I had read this I put up that icon picture and I realised that in the East the icons very often are in the dark with just the lamp in front of it

[30:51]

And honestly, the first occasion that I did that in my room, I almost went into ecstasy. Because that picture, which I thought was so horrible artistically, came alive. I was amazed. And in fact, it means so much to me that... In this particular monastery there seems to have been, or still is, a great sort of interest in iconography. And I wonder if we are aware of just how powerful that can be to our spiritual lives. May Mary bless this community And may the peace that she has as Queen of Peace be ours and also part of our world today. And Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

[31:54]

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for our sinners now that they are of our death. Amen. And as this is the last of official conference or talk that we have, I would like to thank you very much for allowing me to be with you, to join in your monastic life. The contrast is amazingly different from St. Anselm's or from Daoí, but I am very taken by it. and find it very uplifting. I did at one time in my life actually want to become a cistercian just before I made my solemn profession. But my brother, who wasn't a priest then, was still at seminary, was furious and disgusted.

[33:00]

He said, I couldn't. They didn't wash, and they slept in their habits. And that was the end of it. But we know how wrong that is. Although, having read Merton's book, I sometimes wonder how right he was. But certainly in England, I didn't gather that. But it was the country and farming aspect of the Cistercian life that was making its appeal to me then. And then, that was my brother speaking, when I thought that he had had his final word, I asked my confessor and spiritual director, who was a very down-to-earth person, and he literally rolled around in the confessional laughing and told me that I wouldn't last a week. So, that was the end of my Cistercian life.

[34:04]

I carried on at dowry. But it's nice to sense it and be with you for a week. I've last almost a week here, haven't I? I must admit, as a young novice, and I don't know what you feel, but When any retreat father said, well, now we mustn't let an occasion like this pass without saying something about Our Blessed Lady, I used to say to him, oh, gosh, I've heard it all. I mean, what's he going to say that's new? And if you feel that, we seem to have such a devotion to her, and she's so much part of our life. What new thing can he say? I often used to very uncharitably think that. What we call our conception, not a fact of it, but our conception was the permission was given on the 11th of October, which then was the Feast of the Concerted Heart.

[35:33]

We always remember it. But then one of the things that, you know, it is important, I mean, it's one of those subliminal things, drawing from what I've realized. The chapel was dedicated on the function, on actually the original blessing of the day afterwards. We had the chapel consecrated on So those two things come together. That statue of course is very lovely, it has its own attraction, focus, and kind of your own. That was Father Thomas' idea that our beginnings are really in the darkness, in the light and glory. It's that movement between light and darkness. So I think in a very natural way or subtle way, in a very general way, I think it's grounded.

[36:43]

Stevenson looks very similar. But it is, you know, there is always something new out there. For instance, the disciple, which again is one of the things. What? The disciple of the old world. And again, the old women's thing. when it came through Loomis, and you know, the whole time it was superior. But at any rate, we're old enough, as you say. And I've always thought too, myself, that that kind of proof of product is a There is in England, I don't know about America, quite a strong movement within the Anglican Church of Marian devotion that seems to be growing. And now we've got a lady champion on the survey.

[37:58]

Yes. But this seems to be a stronger emphasis of getting a sort of more balance into it. I mean, I have met people, lay and priests, who sort of drive me away from her because every sentence is almost Marian. And I can't take that. So what I call the sugary sort of devotion, I find very difficult to take. But what I've always found in Benedictine spirituality is there's a simplicity and a sort of sensibleness about it, as if it's sort of natural that she has this role. It's not sort of pushed or overemphasized. I mean, Unless we're children, none of us rush around saying, here's mummy, here's mummy, here's mummy. We just, mummy is there and mother is there. She's part of the family, you know.

[38:58]

She's accepted. And I think that's what I find so wonderful about the Benedictines' spirituality and devotion to our blessed lady. It's probably interesting how they deal with burning, you know. Burning is pain, right? I mean, I would suspect it was, you know, before burning as well. played, I think, a great role. Richard Barnard is the first Catholic charismatic. He mentioned the Marian devotion. I don't know, I've searched it up in my negative years. One of the Catholic faith schools which I've taught and learned, I went to a high school which was run by a boy called Marianist. or a 19th century French orderly, a French bound worker, straight division, married.

[39:59]

By the time I was 18, I had enough. And I hadn't much thought about it, but yeah, it's a whirlwind, a whirlwind pearl actually, I found extremely good in balance, compared to more, more chief civilian exploration. Questioning greater things, were they? I found that an insight, again it was on a pastoral level, which made me sort of look at Mary's relationship with our Lord so much differently, and especially at the birth of our Lord, was that it took me maybe 10 years, I think, as a priest, to discover just

[41:16]

what traumas many mothers go through before their child is born. You know, it's not something they talk about, certainly not to the priest, and I'd met a number of these mothers that, you know, were quite sort of close and talked about lots of things quite openly, but they never seemed to give an indication that they were worried. And then I was at a hospital where a mother who'd given birth to a child turned around and said how worried she'd been. And I mentioned it to the matron. She said, oh yes, they go through terrible. The thing that they look for most is the little tag that says normal on the baby's arm after it's born or on the cot. That's their great fear, that it will be abnormal. And this is the thing that worries them. I sort of was thinking about this and I thought to myself, yes, it's so wonderful when you see in hospital a newborn baby with its mother.

[42:24]

the mothering instincts, despite the worry aspect that they've gone through, seems to just overflow in a most endearing way. And our blessed lady, knowing, you know, having been told who she was giving birth to, what it must have been for her as a human mother to give birth to this baby. I mean, what was going on in her mind on that first Christmas night? You know, and the perplexity of it all, knowing who he was and where she'd ended up. But just, you know, the link, the maternal instincts must have been great. This is not, are we taping this? We are, so I won't... Oh, I will tell you. A doctor, who was a great friend of mine, who got married at the age of 40, phoned me up once a day and said that his wife had just given birth to their first child.

[43:29]

And I happened to be actually setting off for Reading, which is 10 miles away. I was going to the dentist or something, so I went straight to the hospital. I saw the mother and everything, and she was delighted. And Elizabeth, Caroline was a child. She was the first baby. It was the first one they'd had, you see. And then the husband came in looking terribly red-faced, you see. And he said, oh, it's you to me like this, you see. And I looked at him and said, yeah. I was coming in, so I came. He said, but when I got here, I went to the matron and said, can I go and see my wife? She said, oh no, can I go and see Elizabeth Hawkin? That's what he'd said to her. She said, oh no, the father's in there with her. So we've had many a laugh about that.

[44:39]

That's kind of it. So if I talk tonight, maybe we can just financially think it better for you to see the whole bunch of us in the world and in Germany and America. Yes. Okay. Right. I think we're really very grateful. Well, I'd say. Good. You've scrapped that off the tape.

[45:19]

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