As in Sunday we have, we start as three solemnitas paschalis, which is, how can I say, which is... ruled by the moon set us around the full moon that beautiful picture of the ecclesia of the church which is bathed completely and in a perfect degree by the sun with the source of all salvation the symbol of the Father. So the Ash Sunday, April, is 14 days before the full moon, so Easter is the first Sunday after the full moon, so Ash Sunday is the first Sunday after the full moon.

[01:07]

New Moon, that is then the beginning, as it were, really already, of that Paschal day, of that Solemnitas Paschalis. And it is beautiful to see that This beginning with the Passion Sunday really constitutes and is the idea of the High Priest and of the Father, the source of our salvation, is so beautifully placed before us. that has a certain connection also with the Regula Sancti Benedicti. As you know, we wanted to consider the rule and the aspect of Regula as the way through which the living word

[02:22]

Holy Scripture, that word which proceeds from the Father's mouth, becomes the source of life for the monastic community, monastic family. And we have spoken in that connection about the Prologue, and we have spoken about the first chapter of Rahul, But the real beginning of the Regula as such is really the second chapter. And it is so beautiful that that beginning of the Regula as such starts out with the word Abbas, Father. So that right in this opening of the Regula as such that divine economy has clearly placed before us.

[03:25]

The whole meaning of the life which is described and legislated about in the regular sense is the realization of that world which comes from the Father's mouth and which is a living world and which therefore entrusts the spirit in the hearts of the disciples and therefore they reference immediately that this name Father, this word father he should always remember what he is called what he is called it's also it's a beautiful quote one can never speak about the word father as a mere title that would be really a pity that word father is not say the

[04:34]

a title for an official, but it is something that in the spirit marks an inner quality, not only a juridical rank, but an inner supernatural quality. What did you do? He is called something which represents a being, something ontological, something that is there through the grace of God. And that's what was also the only consolation for the abbot that he did call the abbot by because of a divine gift of the guest. What did he do? Yes, that the therefore that he should

[05:36]

live, you know, up to that word, which is, as I say, which is a real character. And so that, therefore, the continuation right away, he is called to that through and in the Holy Spirit, the Pneuma. We enter with the title Father. We leave completely the rank and file, so to speak, of any officialdom, of human authority. We enter into something completely different. into the field of the Holy Spirit. The exousia, the power which the Holy Spirit gives, which is not given, makes self-feeling good.

[06:37]

It makes well-intacted feelings, it makes them. And therefore, in the Holy Spirit, the psalms call the Abbot Barber. Norman Majoris, . Norman Majoris, that means, I would say in English, maybe the best translation of that would be the name of head. Because that is what abbas, that is the mark, the essential thing of the word abbas or father. He is head. He is source of life. Norman Majoris. not an official source of life. And because that is what really determines the rank of the hierarchy, the up and the down, you know, the higher as the lower is fatherhood.

[07:46]

That is so in the kingdom of God, because the kingdom of God is based on the Spirit. It's therefore a living thing, not a juridical thing. It's a living thing. As soon as we enter into the realm of the kingdom of God, then in the order, it's always, in some way, the order of fraternity. That's the essence of it, spiritual fraternity. and therefore that is then of the abbot is called by the sons, we say Abba, that name which expresses expressly not a dignity, not anyway a glory, but which expresses the tender affection of the one who to the one who gives life.

[08:50]

That is what we should always remember also nowadays, because the word Father has received that kind of quality, unfortunately, but that is not the real meaning in the Kingdom of God. It's simply major, that means the head, and that means the one from whom life proceeds. Therefore, Father McCann, in writing a little note about this quotation, thinks it's rather unfortunate, because originally, of course, the quotation of St. Paul would not apply to Christ. and everything sits then with more or less dexterity than the patristic exegetes or writers kind of shift from one to the other.

[09:51]

That is a judgment which is hard to understand, you know, because Norman Majoris, as soon as one understands it, as life-giving head, one also knows that in the kingdom of God and in this time between the passion of our Lord, Easter and his second coming, what is really he is, it's Christ who is the Father, because the Father has given all power to the Son in the Ascension, and the Ascension makes Christ the father, the bio of the ecclesia. He is the husband of his church. Therefore, of course, the father of all the faithful. And in this interregnum, so to speak, that means before Christ, at the end of history,

[10:54]

gives and turns over the whole regimen that he has received to the Father, Christ is the Father of the Church. In the Kingdom of God as it is now, between Easter and the Second Coming, Christ is the Father. and so also therefore the abbot is as head of his monastic community in the holy spirit he is the representative of christ because the christ the church lives from that spirit which the glorified christ gives to her. And through this spirit, Christ is the father of the ecclesia, and he is the father of his monastic family, as I say, in this order in which we are now. So the beautiful thing then is, you know, that here we also can apply that immediately to this present feast, to the Solemnitas Moschalis, that there we see Christ before us as the Father.

[12:11]

There are always two ways in which that fatherhood of Christ, or fatherhood of Christ as it is realized in the church now, is represented for the Christians of old. One is what we call the traditio legis, where Christ is seated on the throne of fatherhood. and gives the law to the apostles, Peter and Paul and the others, the traditio legis. The traditio legis, of course, is continued right away in the monastic tradition, in the monastic life. The abbot receives, elects, from Christ, and he himself then hands it down again. And that is also here right away indicated in this chapter, extra legem, that means outside of the precepta domini, outside of the law of Christ, but the law he should nothing, either order or command or say.

[13:27]

And that's such also an extra legion, not only against the law, but nothing that is outside the law. That means that it's without Christ. The abbots, the valios, office in the monastic community, the monastic life, everything that comes by the way confronted with Christ. bring it into the life, into the light of Christ. And therefore, all decisions that have to be made in the monastic life, the abbot's obligation to put it all into religion, to see it within the life of Christ, or the light of Christ, and the law of Christ. And that is one, I think, the most important which the habit has always everything in any case that comes up always bring it back you know reduce it as it were link it up with Christ so that nothing is done merely out of human considerations but that everything is confronted in that way with Christ who is

[14:49]

then through the abbot, the actual head of the monastic community. So that is the one aspect so beautiful. The paternity of Christ in this time, between Easter and the second coming, represented in the traditio legis. And to that, of course, the abbot is taken. He is Mario because he receives the law from Christ and he gives it. Then the other one is Christ, the good shepherd, Christ who sits at the table and there gives to his apostles his body and his blood. But the two, of course, are really one. And that's the beauty of it. That's the reason why the word of Christ, the lex, the projectum, which is really his body and his blood, the will of the Father.

[15:49]

That is really living nourishment for us. That is a fermentum. That is therefore something that transforms the life of those who receive it and makes them then sons and children in the Spirit. Now, Brother John, to you. Father Master, the class preparation in the morning, the library in the afternoon. Father Pastor, the pruning. Father John, the dentist appointment in the morning and the park in the afternoon. Father James, the class, and we should be technical today. Father Augustine, the class preparation in the morning, and the cleaning around the grounds there.

[16:52]

Fr. Luke B. Sharp, Fr. David P. to the Restoring in the Icon of St. Nicholas, Fr. Francis B. George, Fr. Boniface B. Ruffalo, Fr. Lawrence B. George, and you have a Baptist appointment this morning, Fr. Andrew, Fr. Kitchener, Fr. Christopher the Lawless, Fr. Gabriel the Chaplain-Sacristi, Fr. Kelly the Files. Under the aspect that the monastic life is the application, realization of the Divinest Transition, which is into which we enter, are able to enter through the word of god so this chapter then on the average is based first of all on a scripture word the key word is that taken from holy scripture the word abbas which in its application to the ruler of a monastic community of domestic family is the avas christus

[18:13]

Because Christ is who sees me, sees the Father. Christ is the visible representation of the Father. Therefore, wherever in this time between the first and the second coming of Christ, there is the matter of visible representation of the Father, it is in Christ. Christ is the Father. And then St. Benedict, You can say, maybe, I say that tentatively, one could maybe divide the whole chapter just on that basic principle. Say, the first paragraph of this chapter is Abras be praised at Dinosaur Monastery. The first paragraph in which they derive from the very name, scripture name, Abras, The responsibility of the Albert is extinct and its limitation is just indicated.

[19:27]

And the responsibility of the Albert finds its limitation there, where the response that in the Holy Spirit we say other Father, where that response is not found. So this responsibility is within the realm of the Holy Spirit, within that realm in which the name Father is really and truly pronounced. Outside of it, In the hard-hearted and obstinate disobedience, there is no Holy Spirit, and there is also the responsibility of the abbotins. Then comes the second paragraph of this chapter, and that, I will go to the Holy Spirit in the name of the Baptist. So the theme of the chapter is taken up again. And now it is explained what the name Abbas means practically and the light it gives to the abbot for the administration of his office.

[20:37]

Therefore, when anyone has received the name of Abbas, He holds to rule his disciples, true for teaching, displaying goodness in all his body, and by words. So that the first paragraph, which is in this way introduced, reads then on the doctrine about this, the teaching of the abbot. And this teaching of the abbot is the whole one, let us say, not only an intellectual instruction, And therefore, because it's a spiritual thing, and therefore it, in the realm of the spirit, those two things, words and deeds, cannot be separated, and therefore they also should be one in the abbot. That is the first thing that is important and basic for the Doctrina Abbatis. It's therefore a demand which is made on the abbot himself.

[21:37]

And then comes the herein. Following this, in his doctrine, he should turn to all in that unity in which in the equality which they all want in the Holy Spirit. So what the abbot should see in those who are connected to his care is the love of Christ, is the Holy Spirit, and that equality and liberty which we have They are not being guided by any, let us say, political considerations or any earthly considerations, considerations of the flesh. That's the equality. The second, of course, is that this doctrine then also should be adapted to the capability of the various gods, one more and one less. One, there might be the group of the indisciplinati and inquieti, and maybe the other group of the mites and pazientes, and the other one of the negligentes and the contendentes, auque obsica intima.

[22:52]

It's, of course, there where all these means are not possible, then the corporal punishment should be applied. That is the doctrine. Now then, again, the theme of the chapter is taken up. Again, taking up the guiding principle, derive the role of function of the abbot and the whole of the community from the very name. Then the last paragraph reads about the most important thing, and that is the rule of souls. That rule of souls in which we are to be guided by the elasticity, but by that elasticity which is inspired by the love of God. and not an elasticity which is inspired again by politics or by any kind of human consideration, human weakness in the avatar, anything like that, but the elasticity which preserves from the very fact that the ruler of souls on the part of the avatar should be animated, should be the expression of his constant renewed

[24:20]

prayerful attempt to move towards every individual in the family on the wings of God's love for that soul. That is the basic principle that then the abbot should follow and he should therefore remember that that is his foremost office. Saint Benedict then mentions at the end the great difficulty to which every avid naturally sees himself exposed that he who is called to be to take care of the souls at the same time as the head of the monastery sees himself involved in all kind of external administrative detail of things worries financial earthly worries to the upkeep of the community earns very deprimant random day that scripture rule the average should constantly keep before his mind and he should therefore in himself in order of his own activity always keep this hierarchy that the first thing that he has to represent is the law of God appearing in

[25:44]

A strong man for every individual. You can imagine that certainly is a tremendous program to realize that no human individual, considering human weakness and human limitations, is able or would dare to take upon himself such an office. It's only therefore in prayer that the Father can do it, in prayer and in obedience. Therefore, I also want to ask everyone in the community, always on the Saturday crime, to insinuate, to offer that psalm that we have just sung, the Psalm 17, just in

[26:29]

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