Nothing special, huh? prepared for this conference, but I thought we hadn't seen one another for such a long time. Why, it was such a Saturday evening conference that it should not be skipped again. this week. And of course there are things to tell about and things that interest us all very much in connection with this little trip that I went on during these two days. It was a very edifying experience really to meet people, parents like that, good Catholic

[01:09]

parents, first of all the fact that an over fabulous, how to say, social and economical rises as they are possible only in this country of the unlimited or unlimited possibilities. A boy who came here in 1926, 20 years old, 22 years old, not a penny to his own and simply a mechanic and comes to this country and now is I don't know how often a millionaire and a man who runs not one factory or corporation but literally a dozen. And still absolutely, you know, keeps his head even.

[02:11]

See, at least I... Even keel and is really very much deeply attached to the church. He was born in Trier. That's the reason for these contacts. And then, as I say, came to this country simply as an apprentice. Then just was carried upwards, probably not only carried, but also as we say, made his way up, but kept his deep attachment and loyalty to the church. His wife was a Protestant imagined from Northern Ireland so it's a difficult problem but I think he turned her or is turning her into a saint in many different ways.

[03:18]

It was wonderful also to see them in this great distress because this was their only son of six children so tremendously attached to him, but the way they took the news as well as the, at the moment, as well as later on, you know, was really tremendously edifying. to met the situation really with their whole faith in Christ and also an absolute resignation in God's will and that was not only a phrase but really something very very real then thank God it seems that he has passed the crisis you know it was yesterday They said if he would live for 12 more hours, that would mean that he would really have passed the crisis.

[04:23]

And so he did. So it seems he is now on the way up. But it was very badly hurt. He had a fractured skull, fractured jaw, and so he was completely cut off in the face. And so he was thrown through the windshield. and was found about 50 feet away from the car which had overturned and had gone at such speed that it simply had chopped off a telegraph pole and then had bumped into and destroyed a telephone booth. as I say, they met the situation with great faith. So that's in itself something very edifying on this day, but then it was also very consoling to meet Father Prior Eucharius and then Father Albert Leo came down from his western priory

[05:37]

and we met in Albany then yesterday evening at a long meeting and I think very fruitful about the question of the monasticism, I mean the monk who is not becoming a priest and as you know that's a vital, very vital question for us and for the three of us because Father Prior O'Carriou's monastery is St. Matthias in Trier. St. Matthias in Trier had been kind of excommunicated by the Bolognese congregation. It was expressed in this way that their connection with the Bolognese congregation had been suspended. It was inactive. but it remained inactive for about six or seven years.

[06:39]

Now as Father Akaryu says, and I think he's right, you know, you cannot keep a community during six or seven years simply in a state of suspension, that's impossible. It's a living organism and as a living organism it develops and So you cannot expect that after seven years it simply forgets what has happened in the meantime and goes back. But the thing was this, that certainly without his knowing it, without the Bolognese congregation knowing it, the congregation of religious simply sent a how can I say, a declaration that the reasons for the suspension had ceased and that St. Matthias was again a member of the Baronese congregation.

[07:42]

As I say, to the great surprise of both parties. And that creates a very difficult situation. creates especially a difficult situation because St. Matthias then in the meantime accepted the idea of the monasticism and the monastic community without lay brothers but all monks and that is an idea which had great success in the meantime And St. Matthias is the, one can say without exaggeration, the only monastery in Germany that during these last years had a considerable number of vocations. He has in the novitiate right now eight novices, one of them intending to become a priest and seven not.

[08:47]

So, of course, these three are already professed, simply professed, on the same line, with the same idea in mind. And, of course, the whole training of the novices has been in that direction. Their whole way of life has been established in that direction. So, therefore, it is very difficult now to to adjust or to take over a system that they had never accepted. You see, when St. Matthias separated from the Bolognese congregation, then the abbots called all their lay brothers away, back home, from St. Matthias. So, Fr. Eukarius found himself without lay brothers. now then he decided this was the moment to start another system and now it started and so we hope it will continue but as I say there are many problems connected with it and that is what we have discussed because Father Abbott Lee of course is also on the same line plus minusque, literal you know

[10:13]

waverings, on the whole, yes. So there we were, the three, and we spoke about it, but it was very heartening then to see that Father Eucharist had sent questionnaire to various abbeys which he had heard that they were trying to go new ways in this question. And I read one letter which was written by the prior of Mariazell. Mariazell, you know, is that famous sanctuary where we have the copy of Our Lady of Mariazell in the sacristy. You know, it's that wood, painted wood. the statue, and that's Our Lady of Marietzell with the tremendous crown, and the baby also with that tremendous crown.

[11:21]

Now that's Marietzell, and that's one of the big sanctuaries of the whole of all these countries there, the Habsburg countries, you know, I mean all the Catholic Slavic countries. And Marietzell had been entrusted to the Abbey of St. Lambrecht in Austria. But then a community developed there which then separated from the Austrian congregation. And there were some years too of suspension. But then, in connection with last year's centenary of Mariazell, the Priory was also declared an independent Priory and a conventional Priory.

[12:24]

So he showed me a letter from the Priory of this, new monastery, also a monastery that through the end of the course of the turmoil of the post-war period kind of suddenly got the chance to start its own ways and I saw to my great surprise and joy that there too had exactly the same ideas that he had written a very beautiful letter to Father Eukarius explaining their ideas about it. They have also introduced this system with a great success and also with quite a few vocations, quite in contrast to the other Austrian monasteries. Then I also studied letters that were written for Maritzu,

[13:28]

The Abbey of Maritzhu also had and was trying out a new system with monks, not priests. Then there was a letter from East Africa, a missionary country, where one of the Benedictine bishops had started a community of natives also on this basis. then there was another one in the Congo. So it showed, you know, that there is in many various parts of the world there is that same groping for a form of monasticism closer to the original meaning of the Holy Rule. In connection with all these readings of these letters and of memorandums, and of the talking to Father Euclidius and to Abbot Leo and so on.

[14:39]

There are a few points, you know, that came out here in our minds that maybe I wanted to, you know, we could reflect upon a little. In this whole question of the monks, not priests, is a question of the concrete realization under concrete circumstances of the ideal which Saint Benedict has shown to us in his rule. And the Confederatio Benedictina as it exists now is of course instituted for that purpose to bring together all those various realizations

[15:43]

under historical and local circumstances of the rule of Saint Benedict. And that has to be kept well in mind, because in tackling this problem, also in proposing it to the public, seems to me that we have to avoid two extremes right from the beginning. One is, of course, that the congregations which are already in existence and which are now bound together in the Confederation of Black Benedictines, that they do not exclude from their confederation Those attempts which are being made in this our day ought to, too, realize in a concrete way, under given historical circumstances, in their own community, the ideal of the Holy Rule.

[17:00]

Naturally, if they would do that, then they would I mean the congregations which now exist and which are organized in the Confederazio Benedictina. They would then naturally kind of canonize and declare absolute their own various modifications of the rule. and they would, by that, exclude new interpretations as not Benedict. That, of course, is impossible. But we can speak about that maybe later, because that is one of, I say that, because that is one of the questions which will be discussed at the Congress of the Abbots. the real occasion, I mean, for our getting together, and also partly for Father Eucarius Congham over here, was this, the approaching Congress of the Abbots.

[18:15]

Now, an order, a suggestion has been sent out for topics which the Abbot Primate has compiled for the topics that have to be discussed and should be discussed at this coming meeting and there I must confess with rather mixed feelings I found that the central question really was that of the monasticism in the way in which we try to realize that and then of course in some way it is very I mean, it shows that this question has, in the past twelve years, or six years even, six years after the last Abbots Congress, Congress of Abbots, has really taken on a very central importance in Benedictine life.

[19:22]

Six years ago, it was already, it was a kind of a very unimportant question. and it was discouraged from the beginning to the end as something that wouldn't be of much interest at all. The idea was that the Lay Brother Institute had solved that question, finished, period. Now, in these six years, that has evidently changed, so that for this coming year now, exactly this question is, at least in these propositions that the Abbott Parliament is sending around, takes a central place. Now, if it will be that way at the Congress of the Abbots, that's again another question. Maybe the abbots have some other problems on their minds which they consider as very important. This, what we saw there on the suggestions, were the things that the abbot Primer considered as very essential.

[20:26]

So, and that of course brings this question, and of course it was there, that is the thing which was stated, you know, now is this a way which know, which is possible, you know, within the Confederazio Benedictina. Then, so that is one thing that to my mind is absolutely to be avoided, because this Confederazio Benedictina, if it has any meaning, can only have this meaning, that it is a confederation of various congregations, abbeys, which in their various ways and according to their history, historical circumstances, local circumstances, all these counting and all these having their importance and their influence on the formation of the monastic life as it is lived in these abbeys, are bound together all by the common love to the rule of Saint Benedict.

[21:35]

that they are therefore consider the rule of St. Benedict as the foundation, as the inspiration, and therefore St. Benedict as their spiritual father. But of course if they then would, which I don't see how that would be possible, would kind of exclude the interpretation of the monk without priest, I don't think so, then of course they would kind of canonize what the Confederation and the existing congregations have now at this moment. Now, if one considers and kind of feels the general climate of the congregations that exist now, I think a part of this general climate is that they all are feeling their way to, let's say, new horizons in various directions. But still, I mean, there is certainly at this moment not an attitude with whom one would simply exclude one thing, which simply is an absolute legitimate interpretation of the rule of

[22:48]

But, of course, it is also necessary that the new attempts do not, you know, declare their own interpretation as the only Benedictine way of life, and consider all the others as kind of watering down, and so on. because that would be completely against the existing realities of Benedictine life. the existing realities that have come into being historically, and there they are, approved by the Church, and in a certain way established, and of course also through the stability which has its roots in the rule of St. Benedict, kind of fixed. So therefore we cannot, and one could not, even make as one and any one, let us say, pure interpretation of the letter of the rule, the norm according to which now the entire Benedictine life has to be reformed.

[24:10]

That was, to my mind, the mistake which was made in the seventeenth century by the Abbot of Orsay. and which took, naturally, this special group of monasteries out of the context of the general Benedictine life the world over, and made it a special order. and making and doing it then, organizing it as a special order, again, you know, of course, committed, shall we say, a grievous fault against the rule of St. Benedict. So this kind of little interpretation of the rule, maintained and kept up through centralized authority in a group of monastery in order to prevent them from corruption, in order to keep up and maintain their standards, is also something which today, in fact, is not in the mind of anybody who during these last years has started new forms of benedictine life.

[25:33]

But naturally also, and that is another question which we have to keep in mind, and a tendency which has developed, there is a question, what is really, or what keeps this Confederatio Bendictina together? And there are, of course, there are several, everybody is clear about it, that it is not the Abbot prime. But what then keeps them together? It's certainly not the one interpretation of the rules. And there the explanation has been offered, you know, now what keeps us together is the discretio, you know, the famous discretion of the rules. We are one in the spirit of discretion. Now that, of course, has then its certain danger, you see, and that also can be filled, you know, from the part of several abbeys, you know, that therefore these modern attempts, you know, they have a Trappist smell, you know, and they are practically Trappists, you know.

[26:53]

That one hears that too. And because we are all one in this wonderful spirit of discretion, therefore they kind of don't belong to us, you know. Now, that of course, you know, has to be met, but it's absolutely clear that on the principle, in that way, of discretio, you know, it's really a matter of discretio to let the other one live, especially then, and as long as he sincerely, you know, tries under his own local historical circumstances to put into practice an interpretation of the rule which evidently is closer to the original idea. What you see there is then united with the idea of discretio is another one, and that is the idea of development, of development, that one has in the meantime developed, that the whole church is constantly developing.

[28:03]

and that we cannot turn back the wheel of history to the sixth century, but we have to recognize developments. Now, I would say that that's fine, you know, yes, let us recognize developments, but then, for heaven's sake, let us also recognize the possibility that this theory of development does not only justify the present explanations and realizations of the rule. I mean, the principle of development does not only work for the past, you know, it continues to work, you know. So if there has been development in the past, maybe there is also a development into the future. So therefore, you know, also there, one should then, if one believes in development, believe in development after the 19th century, too, you see, not only until the 19th century.

[29:07]

So, because if one doesn't do that, you know, then if one says, this creates you is, you know, our mother, that keeps us together, and believe in development, you see, and therefore this is what we have, and that's fine, is all came into being through discretio and development. Discrete development. So, if that is the case, you know, then of course the great danger really exists, you know. the monastic movement and the monastic spirit, I mean, that elementary desire and urge, you know, that is essential to Christianity as a realization of the messianic age in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, that that simply goes into other channels, and that the future development of the monastic idea will be found, or withdraws,

[30:09]

into the secular institutes, as the only way in which then it would be possible to do it. And that, of course, would be a tremendous blow to the existing configuration. It's simply not thinkable. It's absolutely impossible. But, of course, there are already examples, you know, which shows that to talk about and see these dangers is not without actuality, because we see already certain monastic institutions, or also, let us say, ways, modern ways, of living the monastic idea, developing outside the Bendican Confederation, as I say, in the form of secular institutions. So, therefore, those two extremes, you know, we have really to avoid, you know, not to excommunicate one another.

[31:19]

That, to my mind, is the worst thing that would happen. And so, therefore, also in your own prayers, in preparing the way for the Holy Spirit, for this meeting of Abbots, which it seems, you know, can be of very decisive importance, you know, really, for the future of the whole order. I think it's so necessary, you know, to have that in mind. No mutual excommunication. Avoiding of that extreme, of excluding. On one hand, you know, for the purpose of the status quo, exclude simply the attempts, you know, that are being made of a new realization of the monastic idea, and, on the other hand, too, those who, through the inscrutable divine providence, have been placed into a position where this new development can be attempted, not to fill the hearts with any arrogance, not with a spirit of exclusive kind of reform,

[32:34]

And of that, as I said, that arrogance that is so often connected with that kind of approach. But to do that with respect and with reverence and with love for those who through centuries have worked hard to maintain the life of the Holy Rule, have made under the pressure of various historical circumstances, many of which were absolutely not in the power of those who were leading the monastic life in these abbeys, have come to various explanations and various forms in which the rule of St. Benedict today is being realized. So that is very in that real spirit of humility which respects the other one and does not, in a kind of haughty way, simply say, no, no good.

[33:37]

And another thing which I think is also important for all of us, and that would be then maybe a topic for another conference, and that is And one can see that too in the points which are given in this program for the coming Congress of the Abbots, that this question of the monks, not priests, communities made up therefore of one class, one group, monks, that is not considered simply as a kind of a concession to the spirit of the times. That is a thing which is just now, which is being found, can be found so in various places and various, you know, minds.

[34:44]

And that I think is so. Certainly, I mean, What we do and what we try to do is not to say, we are the only ones who really live the rule of St. Benedict or something like that. But certainly this question comes about not as a concession to the spirit of the age, but it comes about through the rule itself. It is founded in the very spirit of monasticism, as the witness in the Church of the fullness of the Messianic Age, the fullness of the Spirit, let us say. And that this, therefore, is then, as organization, a part of it, an expression of that.

[35:47]

So it is the Holy Spirit, it's not the Spirit of the Age, you know, which induces or which urges us to go on in this direction. The Spirit of the Age may have something to do with it in this way, that of course various historical developments or cultural or sociological circumstances may shift the emphasis, may also give new possibilities to monastic ways and monastic realizations which have not existed in the past. One must always think, you see, that On one side, the spirit of the ages is not something that should be by all means, you know, considered by the monks as a important factor to which, you know, to make concessions.

[36:59]

No, certainly not. But on the other hand, it's also in this way that the spirit of the ages has something positive. It's not only a thing that has to be considered with suspicion all the time. Historical changes, cultural changes, can and should be contemplated by a Christian under this aspect. Not that it is corruption and that it's all wrong and that we have to resist it, you know, with always a tooth and nail, you know, and so on. to the last moment. Not every change, and every historical change, is always on to something which is a challenge and which opens a new opportunity. Maybe in the Middle Ages it could not be done. Monasticism, considering the social circumstances, prejudices the whole structure of medieval society, maybe it was impossible.

[38:00]

But in our days, there it is. The possibility is there. Therefore, the Spirit of the Ages there is there as a challenge and is there as an open door. So, let's go in, you see. Let's use this open door. For what purpose? Not to serve the Spirit of the Ages, but to serve the Holy Spirit. That should be and is really our aim. We don't do that, you know, because the Now in our age it isn't possible anymore to have the class of the educated on top and the class of the uneducated below, certainly. And that is futile, and because the futile age has passed, therefore we must go, no, not in that way. The fact that the feudal age has passed simply opens to Christianity new possibilities. But the steam and the power with which we move then into a new age is the Holy Spirit, and that also should be kept in mind by all of us.

[39:12]

I mean, the very fact that in our own lives, here at this place, it wouldn't have any meaning before God, it would never have. the right, let us say, to become in any way recognized if we are not lived in the Holy Spirit. And that must be clear to all. This is a question of the Holy Spirit. And therefore also, the success depends entirely on the way, the undividedness with which we serve the Holy Spirit in our community. God bless you.

[39:55]

@Transcribed_v004
@Text_v004
@Score_JJ