Son in Christ, we chose this day for you to make the... tunic and to enter the postulancy because it is the birthday of our Savior. If we think about it today, a birthday is not only a memorial of what happened around 11 years ago or how many years, I don't keep pace with time. It's an It's not only a memorial, it's a renewal. Every birthday is the coming into being of something. In our case, of a human being out of nothing, or of a community, also out of nothing, out of nothing.

[01:11]

We remember that gratefully today. And if you here prostrate yourself and you ask for mercy, and you see the answer lies in the name of the Lord, that means of the risen Christ, then that is your entering into this birthday celebration. And your monastic life is simply a continuation, in fact, of this very externally insignificant little action that you performed here before all the brethren. And for us, the community, it is for us always to enter into that again, to prostrate ourselves before God. And then to receive that message rise, not in your own name, but in the name of the risen Savior.

[02:19]

And that, of course, implies that with him, with Christ, that we enter into nothingness. Just in thinking about these things this morning and thinking of you and thinking of us here as a community and thinking of what's here always, things always go together. It's all one in life. And just a little story came, really fell into my hands, was one of the stories that Martin Buber tells us about the Kasidim in Poland. And there is a tzaddik, that means a venerated holy maron,

[03:21]

to whom people come to bring gifts. And his wife tells him and says, now, you are so patient that you will do anything about the people who attack you and who malign you are your enemies. I tell that story also in connection with the message of today's gospel. the sermon that went with it, the message that we received there. And then this tzaddik answering the question of his wife, he said, yes, I see that there are many people, thousands of people that are coming and bringing gifts to the tzaddik, to the just one.

[04:23]

And I think that is right because Holy Scripture says, you have founded the earth on the foundation of the righteous one. And then he continues and said, now I was thinking why people come to me to bring gifts, because I know that I'm not a savage, not a just one. He said, I searched for an answer. And then I found in the scriptures, I thought of the word that God has said there. And he pounded the earth over the abyss of nothingness. And that is, then he explains that in that, what is this nothingness?

[05:28]

The nothingness is the one who is attacked by his enemies and he takes it. He, in his patience, takes it. That is really nothingness. And that is very important, it's important for us because we have celebrated this dedication day, these dedication days, we are still remembered because we are always aware that where would this place be if it were not supported by the gifts of the faithful. Now, we ask ourselves why do they bring us gifts and why is it right do so we cannot possibly say yes because we are foundations of the earth because the earth is based on the foundation of the righteous ones we couldn't say that not even after 13 years we couldn't say that maybe less so why is it

[06:45]

And there comes then the other question that we are, and realize that we are nothing. But what is really nothingness? Nothingness is simply that patience, the law of the enemy, and also that forgiveness of which the gospel speaks today. That is, where is that accomplished, so to speak? Where has that become a reality? That has become a reality in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is becoming a reality again and again at the holy sacrifice that we offer at the Mass. There it is. And there is something, of course, there we enter upon a level which is, let's say, even beyond that, you know. Or is it really beyond? I mean beyond the Jewish level.

[07:49]

I don't think so it is beyond. It's within. It's on the level. Because the whole of Jewish history tended really to, how can I say, the inner reconciliation, so to speak, of these two sentences. The earth is based upon the just one, the foundation of the righteous one. And at the same time, he expanded the earth over nothing. And where are the two born? How come born? They become born there where the Son of God is united to human nature, to man, in a second Adam, where the one who is the son of his father and is at home in the Father's glory leaves the Father's glory to, as Holy Scripture says, to empty himself.

[08:51]

But what is this emptying himself? It is not only to become man, and it is not only to become a slave, and it is not only to die, but it is to die on the cross for his enemies. That is the nothingness. And upon that the world is founded. And you see right here, again, your monastic life is nothing but just the imitation of this, nothing else. And therefore if you enter here and take that tunic, which after all is nothing but the maybe very poor expression of that, our willingness to do what Christ did and to leave the house of our Father's glory and simply to take on the form of man and the form of the slave and to be obedient unto death and unto the death of the cross.

[10:06]

We do then, if you know what you are doing then, I'm sure that you will persevere and that time will then come where you realize that it's really one thing. The earth has become and is founded on the foundation of the righteous one, but the righteous one is the one who dies for his enemies. expansion, as it were, of God's design of salvation, how with Columbus, by the way, the cross came to this country. And it came to this country under the sign of the unity of the Church. I think we should always keep that in mind.

[11:10]

All these first discoveries and the first settlements, anything that was done here on this side of the Atlantic was really the sign of the cross and the sign of the saints. Then later on, as we know, the role of Spain and of Portugal replaced to a great extent by the role of nations, England and Holland, that had by that time severed their bonds with the Holy See, the center of unity. of the church and in that way then the another element came into this also on this side of the ocean and all the consequences grave and dire consequences also of this division became also a part of the history and the destiny of the new world of this part of the ocean

[12:34]

So today, with the Ecumenical Council going on, I think we, the Church, and all Christians, and of course all mankind, is reaching out again for a new unity, for a new unity. a new cooperation between Catholics and other Christians, between the various nations to which so many have been added since then, and we as monks, of course, Prayer and our spirit, our life, is directed, as the name says, Monarchos Monk is directed towards unity. We are not a factor in any political sense of the word, but still before God. very special sense. I think the monk carries a great deal of responsibility for the destiny of mankind because he

[13:48]

He is for God a sign of the deepest aspiration of mankind. I think the monk should be deeply conscious of that. Sometimes in living in community and in the power of stability as we have it, you realize that we are maybe inclined to a certain provincialism in our outlook. The things that become most important to us are the relatively small things of the community. We may get all excited about one or the other of the little things of the daily life. By that, we narrow our outlook. I look at a day like this, Columbus Day should be for all of us an invitation to rise above any kind of a narrow, too narrow, and provincial outlook, not to consider ourselves simply as a closed island.

[14:55]

but to consider our life as an expression, as an intercession, as something in which the deepest aspiration of mankind take a shape and become articulate. and as such then are brought before God in prayer of intercession. We are simply in that way mediators. Our unity with Christ simply involves that means, that role and that function. And therefore we also realize that our Prayer of intercession is pleasing to God in the degree in which our own inner attitude, meaning attitude of mind, corresponds to it. Therefore, in our lives, in our minds, among us, I think the intention of

[15:56]

Unity should always be the basic one, the deepest one. So may this be a special prayer and a special inner reflection in our own life, our own attitudes to what degree we serve the unity, unity among ourselves, unity as an expression for the aspiration of the world for God. Father Francis. Father Francis, yeah. That was Greek in the chapter of the fall. As I took this, the end of the seventh chapter of the Word of St. Benedict, and the two paragraphs that we read, they are one which goes, concerns the external attitude and the other one which is a summary of the whole

[17:03]

ladder of humility to show the goal, to show where it goes, and what is really the meaning of it all, to give also to the practice of humility, internal and external, the way in which St. Benedict understands it. That glory which really belongs to it and which comes to it from charity as the deepest and motivating force of the moment. Now, I took that then as an opportunity to speak about the liturgical act and the harmony between the internal and the external, especially in the act of worship. I would today just continue that still a little, because we realize, and that is the one thing that St.

[18:14]

Benedict brings out clearly in this kind of direction, that he says, wherever the monk is, either in the garden or in the fields or in the house or in the oratory, wherever, He preserves a certain attitude, and that then brings out the fact that there is an attitude in which he habitually should stay, and which therefore is what we call basic, fundamental. and which should leaven the whole dough, as it were. And as a help for that, also in the external attitude, not to allow, let us say, breaches or inconsistencies. And that is just a point I would like to bring to your attention still a little bit.

[19:23]

What St. Benedict strives after, what this last paragraph summarizes seems to me, is that the monk has to strive for consistency. It is very dangerous, and of course every human being is inclined to that, and that is part of our present condition. That is volubility, the fickleness. eternal because of course what the bows are a means to counteract that in some way to settle the monk we shouldn't forget that but that is it's more to it it's that uh constant striving for consistency. It's very difficult for us, especially, too, because in many cases, I think you have experienced that in your monastic life, that it takes a long time until we even become aware of certain inconsistencies in our own behavior.

[20:42]

and before we draw certain conclusions from certain principles. Man simply doesn't live in the intuitive life of the angel, but he kind of has to find his way through a sometimes tortuous sinuosity of his mind. But that is, it's a point that you all should, that we all should really keep in mind. And also that's for the internal actions, for our decisions, but it's also, and there's so much expression in the external actions. Now there it's evident, you know, that our The actus liturgicus of the monk is not limited to the time he stands at or around the altar.

[21:49]

But it is a thing that in all things God may be glorified all over. Therefore, it's a continuous thing. And there has to be consistency. That is care also for the whole community. It's a great factor of strengthening and of confirmation if the monks observe a certain general recollected attitude and observe the rules that strengthen this kind of recollected attitude. For example, avoid rushing and running. it certainly doesn't go with our life and it weakens our role position and it weakens our our teaching and our words that we spend on these things as topics as recollection and depth and quiet you know and that inner peace if that we don't keep up we rush around you know and in that way show how easily

[23:06]

We are swayed from one thing to the other. That's also, for example, that's always a very kind of a test stone, and that is one of the things, too, in our, we have a little outing, see, that an outing is in itself for the monk, it cannot mean that he kind of completely counteracts his general behavior. And if we, for example, if we insist on a certain restraint in our expressions, in our words, also in the expression of joy or laughter and so on, also at an outing. It should not, you know, just simply become a wild outburst of sound, you know, which then would be in no harmony with our general attitude.

[24:17]

But we should come to a way in which Also, on an outing, we remain mindful of that inner recollection of the seriousness, to say, of our eschatological direction, our standing before the tribunal of God all the time. So that is also in other things. In our daily behavior here, for example, in chapel, people should be aware. Of course, one thing that is so needed also in chapel is that everybody should also in this expression there, of course, show participation. Sometimes I have the feeling that one or the other member of the community seems to, after one psalm, or maybe one and a half psalm, a felicitous psalm, or a recited, then suddenly the voice lapses into silence.

[25:37]

And then one asks oneself now, where is Brother So-and-so's voice? It has certainly disappeared from the scene. And it seems to me as one of those examples of a certain lack of consistency. Certainly somebody stops, you know. And then, of course, he causes his neighbors to wonder, now, what is the matter with Brother So-and-so? Is he in the seventh heaven or is he, I mean, above the earth or beneath the earth? It's a question, you see. So, I mean, that's one of the things. Then also... Sometimes we have, for example, at the Canon of the Mass, I pointed that out the last time, you know, that's a very important moment, you know.

[26:40]

I think that, for example, also in the utterance, if we say the Canon aloud, you know, one should say it with a certain... A certain inner expression of the inner participation. So that is the central act. But it doesn't depend only on the celebrating priest. It depends also on those who stand around. You must always think that you are in full view of all those who also are in the chapel participating. Sometimes there are ages in monasticism where one kind of preferred, you know, to, for that matter, to withdraw somewhere into a little nook, you know, not to be seen by the public, but there we are, and I think it's good in itself to give witness.

[27:41]

But then every member of the community should also be aware of the fact that here he is giving witness, giving witness to the sacredness of what happens there, and therefore gyrations, you know, things, you know, that green masses or things like that, you know, the sternus should be avoided, you know, during the canon of the masses, especially because people who see it from the outside may You get a little shook and say, now what's the matter with the soul? I mean, but that isn't the main thing. The thing is simply that our body is one of our main ways of communication with one another, of sharing. And therefore, the expression and the behavior that rules our body is one of the main things with which we, for example, also influence others.

[28:52]

It's not only through words. is through our daily external behavior. And therefore, we should be mindful of that. Nobody is in a monastery, simply a private individual that can just behave the way he thinks fit or that he doesn't give even any thought to it. But he should be aware that this is his kind of public picture, that is the public image which he projects. Of course, he can. It's not hypocrisy, but that is simply a service to his brethren, because we all are dedicated to his pursuit of perfection, or what the Old Testament calls tamid, that means wholeness. and therefore our external behavior is part of that, an important part of that witness.

[29:58]

So I would ask all, you know, to, again, to revise that, and then I would ask also those who are in charge of the various... groups in the monastery, posturals and the novices and the juniors and the solemnly professed that they would help, you know, and also pay attention to that and that way help each group to strive in the same direction after the same goal. I live in the heat of battle. The idea of the whole war is being fought for is apt to be lost.

[31:02]

The other day an old soldier told me that. And that applies also to the militia Christi. That means to that service which the monk, as a soldier of Christ, tries to render to his Lord in the day by day round of worship and of work. Now it is the purpose of these Sundays of recollection to give to the community as a whole, to the army, the arches, whatever, and to every member the opportunity for quiet, for silence, to provide that creative force which enables us to take a deep breath and to start all over again.

[32:14]

And I see there's a genuine desire for this in your hearts. And I'm sure that you will all respect this desire and not disturb one another but give room to Christ who is eager to come to you and to take his abode in your house. Those, however, who might find themselves called upon to help with the chores, there where life, which is constantly going on, demands our attention, either in the kitchen or in the barn, they should not murmur. God does not contradict himself. As long as you do his will with the attitude of a cheerful giver, he will give you the best thing he has, I mean his peace.

[33:26]

And he will certainly not accuse you for doing what he demands of you. I have weighed and discussed with members of the community the idea of a more active participation in such a day of recollection. However, under the present circumstances and these days, I have the impression that the majority is eager to participate in silence, not a passive silence, but an active silence, entering everyone in his own way through reading, meditation, and prayer into the topic of this day. Now, one idea as far as this topic is concerned seems to be common to all the suggestions I have received.

[34:41]

Namely, that such a day of recollection is a way for us of responding to the will of God as it is made known to us through the concrete situation in which we live. And I mean there in the big context of world history, which is to such a great extent in these our days marked by the Vatican Council. which has been given to us by the initiative of our great Pope John XXIII of truly saintly memory and is being continued by our present Holy Father and implemented by his

[35:52]

memorable pilgrimage to Jerusalem, his encounter with the patriarch Athenagraph. And now by these two new gestures, so full of significance, I mean consecrating the Abbey Church of Monte Cassino on October 24th, and declaring Saint Benedict the father of Europe, and then a month later going to Bombay in India to initiate, usher in, one may say, an encounter between the West and the East on a new basis. not on the basis of power, but on the basis of the spirit.

[36:54]

Now, the connection between these two events cannot possibly escape our attention, I mean, as monks of St. Billy. And as we see St. Benedict representing what is essential and deep and eternal in Christian Europe, now then this presents itself to us as a challenge. I mean to go into the depth of our own heart and from there to go out to meet the heart of the East. But then there is for us as a community living here in our smaller context, there is even more urgent and maybe more evident and simpler indication

[38:05]

a demand which wants a response. I mean our own situation here at home, and I mean our moving into the new buildings. And as we all know, these buildings are not designed simply for accommodation or for comfort. of a certain number of people but they are designed for a certain way of life a monastic life according to the idea of Saint Benedict and for him the enclosure of the monastery is the place where the Word made flesh abides with those who receive him as the place where they see his glory.

[39:11]

The glory of the only begotten of the Father. Moving therefore into these buildings is not only like people in the world moving to a new apartment, busy and eager to check the gadgets, and making themselves at home by arranging the old furniture according to the requirements of their new surroundings, and for the rest eager to get over the change and settling down as fast as possible to their old familiar way of living. To us, moving means to take a new look at the essence of our vocation. I mean to be God's house, where his eye watches over what we are doing, where his ears listen to what we say in word and in thought,

[40:21]

where his heart is eager to love and to be loved. It's the essence of our life, maximums. Bond of unity with God and with God, brethren. The meeting of hearts between God and man. Make me love as I am being. That is the word here from the Giornale dell'Anima from John XXIII. Make me love the way I am being loved. So they become better monks. This is what moving means to us. It's moving closer to God. There's no other justification for us to build a new monastery.

[41:29]

Let us then consider also this day of recollection, let us then lie and think about it. But then there is a third factor in the picture which determines our topic specifically. As monks, we are humans, and we are determined in our actions by events, situations. But we live the natural year, that means the natural course of the days, in the light, and I would say in the power, of the day of Christ, of his Pascha, which, through its sacramental form, is fused into our time and illumines our time, changes it, I would rather say fills it,

[42:48]

The course of the church year, that's 22nd Sunday after Pentecost tomorrow, are not only part of our life, but they are the light in which we see our life. It is as if we are the handwriting on the wall. That's the source of transforming grace. through which the earthly day receives the splendor of the feast. We are children of the resurrection. The church opens to us in these days of the dying supper a tremendous perspective of the day of the Lord's last call. that to us as monks that is of central importance. Our enclosure means not only a place where His glory dwells with His people, but also a new time, a time in which the Lord is knocking at our doors, eager to eat with us His supper and to celebrate the marriage feast of the Lamb.

[44:14]

It is then the eschatological dimension of our life which sheds light on our path, influences our thoughts and our resolutions and our actions. And if we approach this aspect of our life, we do it in hope. Brethren, so we'll be here tomorrow, brethren, we are confident in the Lord Jesus that He who has begun a good work in you will perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus. Now, to make the thing a little easier for us, more concrete, Lord, so for me, I take, in order to touch upon the eschatological aspect of our life as monks, I take the rule of Saint Benedict, Father of the West, and I read in the fourth chapter on the instruments of good works.

[45:37]

I first read to you those tools which take their strength from what we may call the day of Christ. There you find the fourth chapter. It starts with this instrument, which says, To put one's hope in God. And then it continues, to attribute to God and not to self whatever good one sees in oneself, but to recognize always that the evil is one's own doing and to impute it to oneself. And the next, to fear the day of judgment.

[46:40]

Again, to dread hell. to desire eternal life with all spiritual longing. And finally, to keep death daily before one's eyes. Those, one may say, are the tools which, they say, give to our life in practice what we call eschatological character. to put one's hope in God, to attribute to God and not to self whatever good one sees in oneself, but to recognize always that the evil is one's own doing and to impute it to oneself. Now, the reason why I have this book It perhaps might be good if I just give you just a few thoughts that I have in mind concerning the structure and the place where this eschatological chapter stands in all context of the instruments and tools of good works.

[48:08]

And maybe it might be of help for you because I suppose and I wish and hope that you take the Holy Word tomorrow and that you just go and look yourself on these instruments. And you will find then, if you go through the whole of these tools, that there is a definite order there, at least that it seems to me. starts, as you know, first with the basic principle in the first place, that's the beginning, to love the Lord God with all one's heart, all one's soul, and all one's power. That is the first, that is the basic totality of the book.

[49:11]

In that first sentence, the whole thing is included. That is the basis of our vocation. That is the framework, not only the frameworks, the whole thing. Love the Lord God with all one's heart, all one's soul, and all one's power. The heart, the inner man, the soul, the entire physical being, and all the power. That means everything that belongs to us. And then one's neighbor is oneself. Those two things, too, are inseparable, one from the other. God and neighbor, because the neighbor is God's image. And that is the way in which the neighbor is the way in which we encounter God. So those are the first two basic tablets of the law.

[50:15]

And then we have, we come to what we may call I think in analogy, and I think in a real parallel to the initiation of the catechumens into fullness of Christ, there was, as you know very well, that first to them were given what the Church of old called the rudimenta gloriae, the elements, the elementary things of our glory. we would today say in a little more philosophical language, may be the natural basis, not to kill, not to commit adultery, not to steal, not to covet, not to bear false witness, to honor all men. And not to do to another what one would have done to oneself. And after that, a new step is made, a new conversion, as it were. after the conversion, let us say, from the world, from idols to God, to the one God, with, let us say, the help of the Ten Commandments, then comes the other conversion, and that is the entering into Christ.

[51:32]

All that starts in us, you know, with the initiation, the baptismal initiation, our entering into Christ's Pascha, to deny oneself in order to follow Christ, to chastise the body not to seek some living, to love fasting, to relieve the poor, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick, to bury the dead, to help the afflicted, to console the sovereign, to avoid worldly conduct, to prefer nothing, To the love of Christ. Clearly a chapter by itself. After that then, we again, you know, this is our, let's say our entering as it were into Christ, Paschal, into his love and following him. But then, the next chapter is then the purification first of the mind, or one can say the specific monastic level is which.

[52:40]

I would say maybe roughly first the level of natural morality, then the imitation of Christ by imitating his charity, earns then the specific, what we call in the monastic language, the custody of the heart, or the pursuit of the purity of heart. And that then starts first, you know, the mind not to yield to anger, not to nurse a grudge, not to hold guile in one's heart, not to make a feigned peace, not to forsake charity, not to swear lest perchance one swear oneself, to utter truth from heart and mouth.

[53:42]

As far as the mind is concerned, the will not to render evil for evil, cleansing from revenge and those passions that are connected with it, to do no wrong to anyone and to bear patiently wrongs not to oneself, to love one's enemy, not to render cursing for cursing but rather blessing, to bear persecution for justice' sake, not to be proud. And that phase, you know, then, is... And then we go to the last paragraph, that frame from what we call weaknesses. Not a wine-bibber, not a glutton, not a somnolent, not a slothful, not a grumbler, not a detractor, we may call that, maybe gossip. And after that, you see, then comes the surrender of one's whole future to God and entering into the liberty.

[54:52]

after this purification, these what I call the three paradigms of purification, then, one might say, in a new way, a more intimate, more decisive way, the entering into God's kingdom by confrontation with God. To put one's hope in God, to attribute to God and not to self, what our good one sees in oneself, but to recognize always that the evil is one's own doing, and to impute it to oneself, to fear the day of judgment, to dread hell, desire eternal life, though spiritual, longing to keep death daily before one's eyes. Now, in this, let us tonight just, I wanted to give you a few ideas just to this one first thing, to put one's hope in God.

[55:55]

It means to surrender one's whole future to God. See, the committer means really surrender. That means to let go. As we say sometimes, to put it on the altar. Because anything that is, and that is what the future is, the future is out of our control. In looking forward into the future, we face the unknown. And we face a field over which we have no control. It comes to us. We don't make it. And that is, of course, for us, is a critical moment, because everyone holds onto himself.

[56:57]

Everyone is eager in one way or the other

[57:01]

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