in preparation for Good Friday tomorrow, I wanted to call your attention first to the oration which the priest says at the beginning of tomorrow's afternoon service, in which I think a key note is uttered, which we should keep in mind during the celebration of this sacred triduum. You realize, and it really is not necessary to repeat it every year, that the celebration of this triduum is not and does not consist in the artistic performance of something which we would enjoy simply as a form, nice to look at, pleasant to listen to, and which evokes then in our heart

[01:19]

certain remembrance, memories, and associations which make us feel good. That naturally cannot be the meaning of this celebration, which is a reality. To celebrate something means to enter into the reality which is being celebrated. To make that our own, enter into it as the source of our own life, as something that is not only objectively contemplated, But there's something that becomes a formative power, and that is expressed so beautifully in that oration which the priest says right at the beginning of tomorrow afternoon's celebration.

[02:25]

Daud conformes Christo facti. Give us that we may be conformed to Christ. Conformes Christo. sic ut imaginem terrene nature necessitate portavimus, that as we have carried in the past the image of our earthly nature by force, the necessity of that fate which has been imposed upon us by the fall of Adam, Ita imaginem celestis gratiae sanctificatione portens. So we may carry the image of heavenly grace through sanctification. Anybody who reads that would immediately become aware of the fact that the word immaculate

[03:36]

image is not used in order to describe an external form. But here imagery is our inner reality, our inner form. Und imaginem terrene nature, that we who have carried The image of our earthly nature, that image of our earthly nature as a reality, that is we ourselves as sinners, as children of Adam. So immaculate is our very nature, as far as it is through our earthly birth, like that of Adam. Ita imaginem celestis gratiae, sanctificatione portemus.

[04:42]

Again, you see right away, image here is not meant as a kind of an external form, but it is the inner life, imago celestis gratiae. Heavenly grace is an inner essence, is a being. and we carry it, sanctification, as we carry our earthly fallen nature through the fall of Adam, so we may carry the inner fall of the new man through sanctification. So therefore the purpose of a celebration is the sanctificatio, the sanctification of those who celebrate. And this sanctification, again, is something ontological, is a meaning, is something that affects us in what we are.

[05:52]

The sanctificatio is the inner substance of our being as those who are reborn. in the image of the gratia celestis. So by the necessity of earthly birth, we carry the imago ade, the image of the first Adam. And through the sanctification, we carry the image of heavenly grace. St. Ephraim once says, and that is such a beautiful word to illustrate the meaning of this celebration of the Christian Pascha, he says, Moses instituted a memorial, the Pascha is a memorial of the liberation from Egypt. But Christ instituted the Pascha for our sanctification.

[06:58]

In the Old Testament, we live in image and shadow. But in the New Testament, we live in the reality of sanctification. And that is what we have to keep in mind in the celebration of this Pascha Domini this year. Now I want to just, in the light of this basic principle, that our entering into and celebrating the transitus Domini means and is our inner rebirth. is our confirmation to the image of heavenly grace, that you may, because I'm always afraid in speaking in these terms of being, and using the word ontological, and trying to make clear that there is a difference between, let us say, the mental commemoration and the inner transformation.

[08:10]

and that the mental commemoration is in itself something much more superficial than the inner transformation, ontological transformation. I've always the fear, in speaking about these things, that those who listen to it may not be capable to follow it. Understanding, yes, the mental commemoration, but not understanding the ontological transformation, because there the imagination leaves us, and there we come into a realm which seems also to be in, how can I say, in a certain conflict with the realities of the everyday life, because after all, you may go home and you may go back, And what will happen to you is that the weight of the imago ade, again you will be darkened, the imago celestis gratiae.

[09:19]

And then one asks oneself and says, now is it really what has happened to me this Easter? Is it really a transformation which is lasting? Or is it just a conglomeration of impressions? pleasant, good, edifying impressions, some not so edifying impressions, some annoying things, you know, that always happen. But what was it really? So therefore in order to, as I say, to continue, you know, and to help you to follow this idea conformatio, the confirmation to the image of heavenly grace, I wanted to go a little just into the most contemplative of the offices with which we start Good Friday Tomorrow, and that is maths.

[10:24]

And just to show in the Psalms, for example, that, as I say, in that process of transformation, that when we sing tomorrow at Matins the Psalms, that these Psalms are, how can we say, not merely words, but that they represent an open and inner reality. into which we are able to enter through the Word in faith. And that if we enter through the Word in faith into the inner, or let us put it this way, transitus, the drop, the pascha of the psalm, that then this of which we speak so often as the substance of this liturgical celebration, I mean the ontological transformation, may have, now let us say, more of a chance to become a real conscious reality, something of which we become true.

[11:39]

something that is not only a matter of faith, so that we say, yes, of course, I'm in the state of grace, but what is the state of grace? Is that something beyond my thinking of it, and whatever is psychologically connected with it? And where is that? Let us say, I will put it this way. the matins with this tremendous amount of sun. That's the first thing that when you come, especially from the outside, into a monastery and you celebrate with us the matins, you are confronted first of all with a kind of discouraging amount of matter, that you are confronted And that is very difficult to enter into without a guide, without a life.

[12:46]

And it's only one can say this, or I can put it this way, the fact that we say so many songs, that very fact that we say so many songs, more than the individual can really grasp, where does it come from? comes from the fact that here the Church celebrates the very, let us say, amount, the length, the length of time which we spend in contemplation, in singing the Matins. that already is in itself a manifestation of the fact that we celebrate the Pascha Domini not only, let us say, with the upper stories of our mind, but that we enter into it in the attitude of a certain eternity, as something that lasts, as the ecclesia,

[13:53]

See, when you enter in the celebration of this whole Holy Triduum, you must remember that you do not celebrate this as just one thinking and feeling individual, but that you enter here into a greater entity. And that greater and bigger entity is the Ecclesia. And this ecclesia as a community and as a super-personal entity lives and is rooted in the new being, in the sanctificatio which Christ has given to this church as the image of heavenly grace. and which is in the Church, and I say beyond the understanding and the realization of the individuals that by chance make up this Church in the year 1958 and today when we celebrate this, but that this sanctification is something that is beyond and over more powerful and deeper

[15:18]

than these individuals. This image imbago celestis gratia, which transforms us into sanctification, is the curious Christos. Christ lives in the sacraments of the Church. There is the ontological reality, and there is the fountain through which we receive this ontological reality. I would say a part, or let us say an effect or manifestation, of this ontological reality, this imago gratia celestis, is the quiet, long, meditative entering into these psalms which really all reflect just this imago celestis gratia.

[16:27]

Now let us go and let us stop a little, you see, and just, you know, as I say, the material of the Martins is so enormous that we cannot possibly cover it. Therefore, it is frustrating every year just to repeat the same little, let us say, survey in which one would try to give to those who celebrate Martin's Tomorrow a kind of a structure, a general structure. I don't want to do that this year. Also because I have always a certain resistance against the way which we see so often practiced in people who explain the liturgy of the Holy Triduum to the people.

[17:28]

They systematize too much. They want to make it something that can easily be grasped. and therefore certain schemes are being put over it, which then make it appear to be, let us say, a succession of various emotions or something, now a changing scene. But then, in reality, it is not. It's surprising, for example, in assisting at the mantel's tomorrow, how little the scene changes. It's really something static, something stable. It's even, one can say, a constant repetition of the main central thoughts, but a repetition which is an introduction into the living reality of this imago celestis.

[18:32]

So I will put it this way, those of you who come tomorrow to the mountains and pray them with us, just consider every psalm as an entry, as a possibility for you to enter into that inner Tarsica Domini itself. Consider the psalm as a real sacramental action. as the imago celestis gratia, into which, by singing it, praying it, you are being transformed. So the first nocturne tomorrow starts then with that sentence, a sentence which is taken from the second psalm. Asciterunt regestere et principes convenerunt in unum adversus dominum et adversus Christum eis. the kings of the earth.

[19:34]

As the tale rolls, the principes convenerunt in unum, and the princes were banding together, adversus dominum et adversus Christum eis, against the Lord and against his anointed The conspiring forces of the great men of this earth, against God and against his anointed one. So it right away places us into that inner which is really the background of the drama of tomorrow, the rising or the bearing of earthly power, earthly glory, that whole tendency which has been described in the 11th chapter of Genesis.

[20:48]

We want to make a name for ourselves, and therefore we build the Tower of Babel in order compete with God and reach his height, power, and majesty. And then comes the psalm, second, one of the sects. Already that is so beautiful, you know, that question. It's really sometimes, and I just coming back from Mexico and seeing so much, you know, of that, because there is that visible, so clear, you know, today the situation of the church is still what it has been since the days of Cardenas and so on, who make the presence still in our days.

[21:50]

I mean, church cannot possess any property, every church building belongs to the state, the church is simply a non-entity, does not exist, has no official existence in the eyes of the political power, is systematically ignored. And so there is that question. Why do the heathen nations rise against God, who is God, our Father in Heaven, who is the Anointed One, Christ the Lord, who kneels down to wash our feet, the One who came to redeem us through His love? That is the principle. That is the approach of the Heavenly Father to mankind.

[22:55]

And then comes that mysterious reaction, which is so difficult to explain, which cannot be rationalized, which simply is considered and always was considered by the Fathers as the mystery of iniquity. Mysterium iniquitatis. The attitude of somebody like Judas Iscariot, who reprises the world and the kings and the powers, is simply something which escapes our grasp, which cannot be rationalized. It is that mysterious thing that the Old Testament always called causeless hatred. A hatred which really, in last analysis, has no reason. Causeless hatred.

[23:57]

Unreasonable hatred. And that is here to indicate a crowd of familiar objectives. Why this terrific upheaval and these desperate attempts of man to tear down divine grace and divine charity and build up something, the Tower of Babel, which in itself is nothing but mud, brick, clad with unreal gems? And that is so beautiful, I think, that we facing the mysterium iniquitatis tomorrow in the murder which has been committed on the cross. And looking at it, we start far from where we should be. What is the reason for this banding together, this conspiration of the powerful of this earth against the one who came, the king who came in order to establish his kingdom by shedding his blood for us?

[25:19]

That is this, you know, this strange thing. One can see that also in a country like Mexico, you know. I mean, there is that. The cry and the words that are displayed everywhere by the present political power are two words, independencia and libertad. Independencia and libertad. And there are these paintings of Rivera, you know, that face of Juárez. You know, the Indian liberator, Huaraces, they presented this enormous wall painting, and then all these bishops with their mitres and their croziers, a pale-looking, terrified bunch, and they all are crushed by the tremendous explosion of this courageous, victorious

[26:37]

a face, as the commons call it, a face of Uris. It's just fantastic to look at it. But it's a very interesting little commentary to that. These princes and kings, who really up to this day in Mexico too, are not too intent, you know, to give libertat and immedendencia really to everybody, you know, because they are afraid for their own thrones in that case, that they always start their upheaval against thee, celestis gratia, by saying, erudamus vinculai, let us destroy the fetters with which they bind us. That is something which is very rare in this country, too. Et projiciamus anobis eucalyptus, and let us throw away their yoke.

[27:49]

Vi habitat in surlis ir deviteus, who he who thrones in heaven He, eerie David, he is full of irony, but an irony of the absolute in relation to that causeless hatred, to this mysterium iniquitatis, which at the same time is vanitasia, something blown tremendous dimensions, and still something which in itself is absolutely nothing. Now in verse 6, there comes the against the revolution of the political powers, which proceed under the motto of independencia and libertad, let us break their fetters.

[29:03]

That means the fetters that God and his anointed are putting on mankind. And then comes in verse 6 the answer, I am constitute to sum rex apeo supersion monte sanctum. You see that, you must right away, if you read that psalm in a meditative way, right away you must realize there is the term. There comes the new principle. See? Before there was that. The kings of the earth, their wisely and the mighty ones gathered together, you know, their power against the Lord and against this anointed one, and they said, let us break their fetters. Revolution. You see, there is that dynamic movement from below, striving, the building of the Tower of Babel.

[30:10]

But then comes in verse 6, the messianic verse. I am constituted king on Mount Zion by God. And I promulgate God's will. See, there's the other principle. Against that of evolution, that of, one can say, constitution. I am constituted king. Against the principle of rising from below in order to compete with heaven, the other principle of being sent by the Father, not in competition to him, but as his mouthpiece, as the Logos, who is, as a living person, the manifestation and the Lord, the face of the Father.

[31:28]

Or as it is expressed here then more beautifully, more deeply, Dominus Dixitat me, Filius meus est. The Lord God has said unto me, you are my son. That is the Messianic principle. against their ascending from below in order to compete, the descending from above. The Anointed One, that is the essence of Christ, He is the Anointed One. That means He is sent, He is constituted, He is His Father's Son. So in Him the Father's love descends to us. Filius meus est tu ego hodie genuite, and today I have brought you into life.

[32:35]

That is that beautiful sentence in which, again, if you ponder, if you enter into it, a word like this is like a seed of life in your heart. Today I have begotten. We have sung that on Christmas, we sing it again on Easter. On Christmas we have sung it in relation to the psalms entering into this world. On Easter we say it because the psalm, in the fulfilment of the divine law, enters into the night of death, is born again in his resurrection. Oh dear, today, that is Easter, today I have begotten thee. Postula arme et darbo tibigentes erinitater tuna.

[33:40]

You see, that's all the opposite of the revolution. I don't mean that now as a political principle, I mean it as a spiritual principle. which has to be applied to every one of us because there is a revolution and there is a Cardenas in every human being. There is a Juarez in every human being. But postulami, ask me, see, that is prayer. The omnipotence of the soul is, as we say in a popular way, omnipotence on its knees. And that is prayer. That's the messianic principle. Postulare, ask me for it, and I shall give you the nation's hereditary denture as your inheritance. not as something that you grab from your own power, but as something that you receive from your father.

[34:53]

You see? This song is the heir. And all these terms, you can see that right away, I am constituted a king in order to promulgate your law, not mine. I am your son, and the kingdom, the gentes, the nations are given to me as my inheritance. All these are terms of love. You see how closely even one can say this word. The only principle of order is love. The only principle of order is love, and it is that love which says to the Son, today I have begotten you. And then you must, of course, you must say that to yourself when you enter into and we celebrate the death of our Lord tomorrow, and must be absolutely clear to you that that day is a judgment

[36:07]

that day means a decision, and that day means a separation, that on that day you do away with something and you receive something. You do away with that tendency to wield the power of man, to join the kings who say, let us go away as yoke. The church wants the church. It's only a power organization. Let's break that yoke. You must enter into that new and true liberty, the true liberty of Christ, and it has its only source in the cross, in his death. Because what is liberty? Liberty is being God's son. There is no other liberty. You are not free as long as you consider your own son. We are only free when we are the Father's son.

[37:09]

So therefore tomorrow too, entering into that mystery of the Lord's death, you have to hear the voice of your Father in your own heart saying to you, today I have begotten you. a conversion to that law of the Father, which makes you king, constitutes you a king, and makes you son, and makes you heir, whom you ask, whom you pray to. Servite Domino in timore, ed exsultate e contremore. serve the Lord in fear and exert before him in trembling.

[38:14]

That exultate cum tremore seems to be such an unreasonable thing that many interpreters of the Psalms try to change this verse. But I think it's absolutely right. Exultate cum tremore. That's the essence of sonship. The son is, in the right, timor patris, lives in the fear of the father. But that fear is filial fear, and that fear therefore means the realization of absolute dependence on the father. I am his son. My glory is not my glory, but the glory of the one who sent me. As our Lord says, that is the tremor. But this very tremor in which we become, and in which we profess ourselves to be God's children, at the same time is exultation.

[39:24]

That makes us free, that enables us to dance before him, the dancing always that movement of the fullness of grace of the creature that is in absolute harmony with the heart of the Creator. That's the last verse of this first psalm. And when his wrath is kindled for a short time, beate ones we confidunt in him. Then blessed are those who trust in him." The trust in God is the quiet heart of the storm of divine wrath, and that's always open to us.

[40:30]

And therefore, especially tomorrow, because to tomorrow's mystery, these words refer. The direct death of our Lord on the cross is the bravest era, the short time of wrath. May our dear homeless be confided in you, all those who stand by the cross, like Mary and St. John, They are beati, blessed. That means children of the Heavenly Father. To be blessed means somebody who lives in the life of God. That's to be blessed. Therefore, beati omnes, fi confidunt in eo. It's so evident in those two, in St. John and Avila. Behold your mother. Woman, behold your son.

[41:32]

That is a blessing. The next verse, the next psalm is Psalm 21. And this Psalm 21 is again, you know, introducing into the drama of redemption, but now into the Messiah himself. The Psalm 21 carries in himself the imago fili, image of the soul, and the imago celestis We send you the Psalm 21, and you must, in the light of that Psalm later on, read also the Gospel of St. John, the Passion according to St. John. Because in the Passion according to St. John, it's most obvious the influence of the Psalm 21 concerning the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is in the first part of the Psalm. They are the inner spiritual sufferings of Christ, described.

[42:38]

And they are the bodily sufferings of Christ, described. And they are going down to the smallest details. I only call your attention to Psalm 2, verse 19. The vestimenta, the plural, are the outer garments, consisting of various pieces. The more pieces you add, the more you express dignity. in the, let us say, in your civil standing as citizen, that is expressed in the autoguards, in the coat, and several things that you carry, just as we see in the missionary, when he takes, mainly he takes on all kinds, jewelry, and that magic, and that chasuble, and on the chasuble, the pallium, and so forth, all these that are the vestimenta, in their variety,

[43:48]

adding up to civil glory, dignity. So that's the external level. But then outside of that we have one piece and that's the, that is what is called here, superveste mea, mi se unsochte, that is in the singular. That singular, that bestis, that is, in the Gospel of St. John it's clear, that is the tunica inconsutilis. That tunic, which this year, by the way, is again exposed in Trio, the tunica inconsutilis. That, how would you call that, that shirt? The same with the outer arms, the same, the same tunic are inconstant, the one piece that covers the body.

[44:52]

And those two things, of course, reflect and indicate the two, the external, what belongs to a person, and the tunic, what a person is. The tunica inconsutilis is the inner, one can say, the inner simple being of man. But also in the Old Testament it's very often called, and also in these Psalms, the unica, you know, the soul, the inner center of the person. Unica, my only one. You find that expression very often in the Psalms. Unica, the only, my only one. That is the inner man, that is the point in which we stand in all simplicity and truth before God.

[45:55]

And then, of course, now the soldiers can't, in some way, can't touch it. So they throw the lot on those. They can't touch it. It's so beautiful, that too. They can divide, you know, and say, now, you get the coat, you get this one, you get the manifold, you know, that is the handkerchief, and you get this, and they make several heaps of it, you know, and they can divide that up. But this tunica inconsultalis is the inner simple essence of man, as he is before God, and cannot be touched. And that is here too. It's in itself this division of the garments, and the stopping in front of the unseen tunic is in itself already a picture of the resurrection, of the victory of Christ. So then comes in verse twenty-seventh, in verse twenty-seven, no, no, no, that's not right, in verse twenty-three, there comes the second part of the psalm.

[47:13]

Until verse twenty-two we enter into the depth, the passion of Christ. On the morning twenty-three, there is the noon, there is the resurrection. And there we enter into the fullness of Christ, of the Risen Saviour. That is that beautiful, again you know that, what you have to experience really, in reading and praying the psalm meditatively. In the first part of the song, how is it? Shukum de deun me khanes multi, dogs all about me. Now you know dogs, I just the other day experienced it in the Bahamas. You know, there are these immense multitudes of dogs, you know, and then sometimes they all gang together, and you know, and then ganging together, gives them courage, and then boom, you know, they start, from all sides, you know, not only barking, but it's really a dangerous situation.

[48:24]

So, circumdeneon me canes mut, e concilio malignantium obsedet me, barking all the time. Then there's the wall picture, see, at first in his passion. But then in verse 23, complete change, something completely new. I shall tell your name to my brethren. In the midst of the gathering of good, friendly people. I praise your name. What a difference! These suffering messiahs, surrounded by dogs. And then the resurrection, and of course that is what happened, because what does our Lord say to Mary Magdalene?

[49:28]

Go and tell my brethren that I am risen from the dead. Go and tell my brother, in clear reference to this psalm. That's the fulfillment of this psalm. So you see, the Psalm 21 is a psalm which comprehends the entire transitive story. It's not only a psalm of the sufferings of Christ, but it's a psalm which includes the fruits of redemption, the fruits of the resurrection, and what is the fruit of the resurrection is that charity which makes those brethren who have entered with the Lord into his death. So, narabo lomentum fatibus mex. I give your name to my brethren." Now just stop for a moment and think for a moment, what is that name that the risen Savior gives to his brethren, that he explains to his brethren?

[50:39]

Well, you can see that from his meetings in Mary Magdalene, because what does he say to Mary Magdalene? to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God. So what is the name? Godfather. That is the name which the Risen Son announces, not certainly as a kind of an intellectual title, but which he calls, one can say, into the hearts of his brethren, Godfather. God, my Father, and your Father." That is the name that he announces to the Church in the midst of the Church. And then, Queen Hymatis, Dominum, those who fear the Lord, praise him. Universum Semiliaco glorificanem, all the generation of Jacob glorify him, all the seed of Israel.

[51:47]

See, there's that multitude of the Messianic seed, the seed of the womb. Quoniam nunt spravid nequilis fixi defrecationem agueris, and he does not turn his face away from me. and with him is laus mea in ecclesia. And then it comes, Eden, Pampheres, et cetera, buntur, the poor will eat and they will be satisfied. Who are the poor? Those who stand beyond beneath the cross, those who were together at the last supper, those who will be together and the Lord's supper. Poverty the poor will eat, but the poor of course are the opposite to the kings and the princes, that we have to keep always in mind.

[52:50]

And they will be satiated, and laudato domino, and they will praise the Lord, and they will and their hearts shall live in eternity." That is now the description of the kingdom of Christ. The coming generation. and annunciaban sulli justitiam eius pocoli quina sceturum, to the people that shall be born, the people that the Lord has made.

[54:05]

See, that's the end of the psalm. Therefore, we go with Christ into his solitude, surrounded by dogs who bark at him. dying with Him to rise with Him in a new company of brethren, in a new family of children who have God for their Father. And that is the new generation, the generation of the future, the people that will be and is being born in baptism, that the Lord has named. not the princes and the kings. So therefore, that only may give you a little example, the time is up and we have to finish this, of the way in which these psalms should be prayed, seeing them as the image, the living image of that gratia tristis, of that heavenly grace.

[55:19]

It is being born in us who still carry the imago communis terreni, the image of this earthly man, and to whom therefore nothing human is alien to us. We are also involved in our own soul in this conspiration of the kings against the Lord and against his anointed one. and we ourselves are inclined and quiet, praying, let us break their fetters. Then through that we enter into the new world, which the risen Savior opens to us. And I would say that just celebrating, for example, this afternoon, the holy mysteries of Christ, Kneeling, washing one another's feet, one must certainly really, yes, here it is, the image of the Grazia Genestis.

[56:32]

See, that is the great and tremendous responsibility and the mission of the Church. We, not so much as individuals, but still much more as a unity, as an ecclesia, have the obligation and are only as ecclesia, as a unity, we are able to give testimony to that new life that the risen Christ has put into our hearts through his resurrection. It is evident we cannot give glory to the Father without doing this as a family of his children. So let us, and then is the lesson of Psalm 21. So as I say, let us just a little taste, you know, of the tremendous treasures that we have in the meditative area of the church, and then let us ask the grace of God to

[57:45]

Open our eyes more and more for that imago celestis gratia, that image of heavenly grace, which is not an emotion, not a thought, but a being. And through this being we are members of the ecclesia. of the ecclesia which is beyond a single human life, which extends from generation to generation and triumphs in the end in that heavenly communio sancto, where we possess, and only in this communio sancto, the fullness of eternal life.

[58:35]

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