In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. I think the last time we were together here we spoke about the obedience which the monks owe to the abbot and we followed that principle of obedience into the field of important business has to be decided in the monastery, questions of policy concerning the, let us say, the support of the monastery, activities of the monks of the monastery as a whole, and so on.

[01:18]

And the principle there is always the same idea. On one side, as you can see from the third chapter of the Rule of Saint Benedict, which we explained the last time, omnia facum concilio et post factum non beniteris. You should do everything cum concilio. That means with the full use of all the material and all the gifts that God has given us, cum concilio, no decision simply falls from the sky out of the infallibility of a superior. That does not exist, and that is not the meaning of the monastic hierarchy, of the monastic authority and monastic obedience.

[02:24]

It's always the principle which we always also follow in what we call the school. The decision has to be made, get all the material, that means use all the gifts that God has given you. in which you persist in your nature as man, as an animal rationale, as a reasonable and the abbot should use all the gifts which God has invested in the monastery in its various members should be no member in the monastic community that should not be asked to contribute so all the gifts should be used very important authority is never a shortcut which could then perhaps be used by a not supernatural but very natural laziness.

[03:35]

Oh, it's so difficult for me to make up my mind. Just leave it to the abbot or the superior. That is not the meaning of the monastic obedience. Everybody should contribute and he shall contribute with all the gifts at his disposal. But these gifts should always be used as consecrated gifts, that means in the Holy Spirit. not simply in the emancipated individual nature, but in and under the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the giving of advice should not become a pretext for the individual to push through his own stubborn individual ideas.

[04:42]

but it should do whatever he suggests in a way which corresponds to the ways of the Holy Spirit, which therefore is in harmony with the monastic attitude, in humility and always with the readiness to accept whatever decision finally is made, even if that decision does not correspond to the advice or to the idea which I have, this or that individual member of the community. So the gifts should be used, but always in the readiness to put them on the altar. Or one could even put it in this way, that the using of one's personal gifts of prudence, of practical genius, of planning capacity, all these gifts should be—and that's the meaning then of the council of the community—should be kind of put upon the altar.

[05:55]

should not be used as means to promote one's own opinion at the expense of charity, of the unity of the whole. That, of course, is only possible if every member of the community has the feeling and knows that the last decision will not be made by any individual member, but only by the head, by the abbot. The abbot is for the whole monastic body the coordinator, or the principle of unity. He is the principle of unity. And he is in that way necessary for the preservation of charity. Because without that individual obedience of everybody, under the act as the head, the charity among the brethren could not be preserved.

[07:00]

We would immediately have parties, we would have people springing up as various heads according to their natural aggressiveness. or according to their some other natural gifts of persuasion or whatever it is, and we would have parties, the order of the community would be destroyed, charity would disintegrate immediately. So the abbot remains always the principle of unity in the monastery. You realize that very well. If everybody would try to have his own way, then the unity of the monastery is destroyed. So without everybody putting his projects, that is what is treated in the Council of the Brethren, putting his plans under the abbot's authority, the unity of the monastery is being preserved.

[08:07]

So that all corresponds, you know, to the main principle that the dominating idea in the monastery is always, and in every field, sanctification. The sanctification of the members. And there is also the principle in the important decisions and important matters that have to be made in the monastery. Therefore, in that way, Saint Benedict does not know a field in which would be simply given into the hand of human nature. that doesn't exist. In that way, the monastery and your whole idea of the monastery is to follow the Spirit of the Kingdom of God in all decisions.

[09:14]

That is the meaning of the enclosure. Through the enclosure, the monastery is set apart as a total world in which the totality of the Spirit dominates every angle and region and section of life, and in which that is set off from the world at large. So, Saint Benedict knows, of course, very well that in the state of fall nature it simply has to be that way, because otherwise Even objective truth or objective rightness and goodness and fitness and utility of certain projects would immediately give occasion to self-will.

[10:19]

That is the strange thing, you see, that man, even when he tries to be objective, Still, he always identifies his own self with even the most objective ideas that he proposes. There always is that innate tendency of fallen nature even to use truth as a means of self-promotion, and to identify oneself or to persist as one's own property even the good things that spring out of our nature. So also one identifies oneself with the project, all for the purpose of serving the whole, and still the own ego, you know, goes into this project and makes it part of my own old self.

[11:22]

And therefore the community, as well as the individual, has to be safeguarded against that danger through the rule, as St. Benedict puts it, and in which govern the giving of advice, of the treating and deliberation on certain important community prospects and projects. It's the same principle which also forbids the monk to have anything of earthly concrete material possessions of his own. Nobody should give or accept anything, St. Benedict says, without sine jusione abatis. So the principle is not in a monastery that who is a monk should resign all his natural gifts and should not use them.

[12:24]

That's not the principle. The principle of the monastic life is that he should use all the natural gifts that God has given him, but in obedience, according to the Iusio Apatis, and leaving the last decision up to him. The principle of St. Benedict concerning poverty is not that no monk should have, or give, or accept anything. That is more the Franciscan idea of poverty. But St. Benedict's idea of poverty is that the monk should not have, or give, or accept anything sine ius iun albatis, without the seal of obedience. Because in that way, through this, the abbot, as it were, is the sacrament or the means through which what the monk proposes, suggests, does, or possesses, is, as it were, taken from him.

[13:32]

taken from him, so that it cannot become a field in which the old self plays for its own pleasure. Also the cellar is the same thing, omnia mensurate facia, he should do everything in moderate way, mensurate facia, et secundum viocionem avatis, and according to the order of the abbot. So here, you know, sometimes, just the other day, one of you asked me how it is in the monastic life. The Benedictine principle is not this. In essentials, unity. In accidentals, liberty. In all things, charity. Now, that is in some way right and in some way wrong. In essentials, unity. In accidentals, liberty. In all things, charity.

[14:35]

The question is, what does the man, the monk, consider as essential? And the essential things in a monastery are different from the things that are considered... I mean, the division between what is essential and accidental is not a philosophical decision, and not on philosophical grounds. but has to be made on the spiritual grounds. In the spiritual life, something which is objectively accidental can become subjectively absolutely essential. The one who decides what is for this, for example, member accidental and what is essential is in a monastery the heads, the abbots. the one who raged animas, the one who directs the souls. And you can see that in all these things. As soon as the principle of obedience comes up, no distinction is made between essentials and accidentals as something which would be left to the individual.

[15:48]

But everything is under the seal of the obedience. So there, that distinction of essentials and accidentals is not made. A monk cannot say, oh my here, I think, you know, that I can, let us say, make a little song, or I receive this, you know, by mail. I think that is very unimportant and I think I shouldn't take that. Or maybe I can this year, it's a nice thing, got that for Christmas from somebody, and I think brother so-and-so maybe would like it, you know, and so I, of course, I give it to brother so-and-so, yeah. That is such an unimportant thing and it may just, you know, give him a little lift, you know, and so on, and things like that. It's impossible. A monk cannot, in those things, make a distinction by himself between essentials and accidentals.

[16:54]

That's evident. Everything in that field is essential. One cannot, and therefore St. Benedict says, nothing. He cannot accept anything nor give anything. without the iusio apatis, that means without having that under the seal of obedience. So that's important, but you must always, always be aware of the fact that this, let us say, this strict, you know, and this totality of obedience, what is the meaning of that totality? It's not the destruction of initiative. but it is the liberation of the individual from the wrong tendency of his selfish nature, and it is the protection of the community against the presumption of individuals.

[17:58]

That is a very—in one word, you know, that goes like a red thread. Through the rule is always this word presumption, or the presumption of the individual. And the body of the monks has to be protected against that. For what purpose? Really for the purpose of the Preservatio Caritatis. That's the last reason really for it. Then because otherwise, you know, the body of the monastery would constantly be, how could one say, imposed upon by the presumption, that means by the whims of individuals. And that, of course, would right away lead, if somebody, an individual, takes a presumptuous initiative, every other member of the monastic body would right away react against it and say,

[19:03]

this dear brother so-and-so follows his pet ideas, you know, and interferes with others, you know, in following his own projects and so on. So it's a liberation for that individual that everything that he wants, he lets it pass through the judgment of the abbot by that in this way it may be consecrated. and that it may be put on the altar, and that he may be protected against the wrong individualistic tendencies of his own foreign nation. Hence, then, that the charity and unity of the whole community may be preserved in that way. So as far as that is concerned, obedience in St. Benedict does not want to exclude or suppress initiative. but it wants to consecrate and sacrifice initiative. It doesn't want to kill every individual, but it wants that the individual life may really be used for the profit and the welfare and the prosperity and the development of the whole.

[20:21]

so there is then another important field in which the abbot's activity is important and vital and in which also the obedience of the monk is vital and there is the field then which we still have to consider of rager animas the abbot has not only two order of things, I mean exercise his authority, and has to be met in the way in which chapter 5 indicates it and outlines it. The avidus not only to direct the community projects and things like that, and the material side, but the most important function of the abbot is that rejere animas rejere animas, he is pastor animarum and that is of course the most important field in the monastery and we are also the the function and the spirit of obedience has carefully has to be analyzed

[21:47]

In the second chapter of St. Benedict on the abbot, this regere animas is divided into two main functions. One is, the individual souls are being directed how? By the doctrina of the abbot, which, and as far as it addresses itself to the whole of And then also the Rajah Animas is an individual meeting between the abbot and the individual soul. In these two ways, the abbot performs his function of Pastor Anima, of Rajah Animas. He addresses himself to the whole body of the monastic community and he addresses himself to every individual monk.

[22:52]

To the whole body of the monastic community he gives what St. Bendy calls the Doctrina. That Doctrina Abaltis is, as our Holy Father points out, consists in two things. It consists in verbal teaching, and it consists in the concrete example, in the life. Verbal teaching and life. Now let us first speak about this, the abbot addressing himself to the community through his teaching, the Doctrina Apparatus. Saint Benedict in the chapter on the abbot right away establishes the basic principle which should direct the verbal teaching of the abbot.

[23:54]

when he says, nihil extra praeceptum domini quod sit, debet autocere, autoconstiture, per iubere. Autocere, autoconstiture, per iubere. He should teach, nor constitute as a norm, nor order in an individual case, Anything that is outside, extra, preceptum dominum, outside of the comma order, or I would say preceptum, precept of the law, let us put it that way first. nihil extra preceptum domini. St. Benedict does not say nihil contra preceptum domini, but nihil extra preceptum domini.

[24:56]

It's evident that he should not order anything which is contra preceptum domini, but he uses the word extra preceptum domini. So nothing that would be outside of the field, or let us say one can maybe translate that even against the spirit of the preceptum domini, now that is of course given to us in the Holy Scripture and in the tradition of the Church, the magisterium ecclesiae. That is the preceptum domini here, the Scripture and the tradition, the magisterium ecclesiae. Nothing outside of scripture or tradition, nothing that is against the spirit of scripture or tradition, he should nothing either teach or impose as binding norm on the community, or order in a concrete case. Niel docere, conciturere, rejubere.

[26:00]

That is the principle that the abbots Of course, it's very, very important. The doctrina abortis should not be something, let us say, which the abbot, out of his own, let us say, individual predilection or out of his own choice, you know, kind of either teaches the community or imposes upon them all that he would ask for in the individual case. but his teaching should be determined by, should be imbued by the spirit of Holy Scripture and the tradition of the church, the precept Dum Domini and that is of course is important in any monastic because the monk and the monastic community There is always a certain danger that a monastic community, let's say, withdraws into a kind of, develops into a kind of a group all by itself, because there is that withdrawal.

[27:17]

Everybody, the monastic community, lives behind the enclosure wall. The danger is that the abbot would use that, deliberately or maybe unconsciously, that situation, and instill certain doctrines that simply are his own subjective choice. He has a special, you see, the monastic, the nature of the monastic community is as the nature of the monk, or the nature of contemplative life, I've told you so often, is that it is in the center of the church. It must be and must live out of the essentials, the inner center of the church. The monk, that's the meaning of contemplation.

[28:20]

The meaning of contemplation is that the monk lives in an atmosphere, one can say, or in a region, in the quiet center of the storm. It really has been that way also in the history of monastic life. The monks have never been controversialists. The monks have never fought the controversial battles in the field, for example, of theology, of philosophy, of heresies, anything like that. The monks rather constitute the inner quiet heart of the store. It's the nature of their life. in a very special way in the heart of the church.

[29:23]

The monk represents the being of the church. The monk is not a soldier who fights the battle in the trenches. That is much more, first of all, the meaning of the diocesan clergy, but not of the monk. The monk belongs and represents and lives the being of the Church. And therefore the teaching of the abbot, too, cannot be a controversial teaching. The teaching of the abbot should be fed from the very heart, the essence of the Christian message of Scripture and tradition. In our case also, the abbot, of course, has the function of being, and his teaching too. The teaching of the abbot must have the function of applying, of interpreting, always the essential and always remaining eternal truth

[30:38]

to the individual circumstances, to the individual situation, and to the individual group with which he deals. That is absolutely certain. That is, in that way, the abbot's function as a teacher is similar to the function of the individual priest when he or the pastor in a parish or the bishop in a diocese who applies to his church and to his circumstances of his days the universal and eternal law of Christ. So therefore one can put it in this way, that the abbot's teaching has two aspects. The first aspect is that it must be inspired by the Preceptum Dominum. I mean, the source of the abbot's teaching must be in the very heart of the divine revelation.

[31:40]

But then this, the abbot's work, or the abbot's function, is to apply this to the special circumstances of his place and of his time. And that is the reason why I've told you so often also of the teaching that I try to follow, you know, is why do we emphasize and kind of put into the center of our whole thinking and of our life the idea of the divine agape, that means that specific descending love of God that St. John has so emphatically shown to us as being the center of Christian revelation. The reason for that is because there is absolutely something, the central point of the Christian teaching.

[32:41]

And therefore the abbot has the right and has the obligation to call his monks to these sources, the essential sources of their life. He cannot, he should not feed, say, his monks, you know, with certain, let us say, passions of some kind. No, he should interpret for them the eternal Word of God. But then, of course, too, the abbot has to do that in such a way that the individual, the whole body of the monastery, listens, you know, and says, Ah, there is something, you see. And he has to put that also in such a way that the body, the monastic body, sees, yes, here is a teaching which really is able to unite us, which is able to give to us a certain esprit de corps, but an esprit de corps which is not based on some sectarian teaching,

[33:56]

but an esprit de corps which is based on the very essence of revelation. That, of course, you see, that is the great, so to speak, you know, the great difficult task, you know, of an abbot, that on one side that he does not indulge in novelties, Novelties would simply disturb the mind of a community, and if he would base his teaching on novelties, then he would not succeed in creating any unity of spirit. On the other hand, you know, the abbot, of course, may deprive his teaching from its effectiveness if he would simply follow, say, some theological book, you know, some treatise, you know, the Golasic Theology or the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas, maybe that would be very good in certain cases, you know, but, I mean, there would be, you know, that would be much worthy.

[35:04]

A monastery, you know, as such, of course, is not a theological class, you know, it's not a theological course. Monks have to live together their entire lives. Therefore also, the abbot has to show and has to start, you know, his teaching from a point which is eminently practical. His teaching, that is the important thing. You see, also, if you take the very word doctrinal, you can see that right away, the way in which Saint Benedict uses that word doctrinal in the second chapter of the Rule. That doctrinal is not a theoretical, let us say, simply objective, speculative development or exposition of dogmatic truth. That is a professor in theology who does that.

[36:04]

But the abbot who is the head, the abbot who is the pastor animarum, his doctrina must be something that, as St. Benedict puts it, goes like a fermentum, like a leaven, into the hearts of these disciples, and there begins to work and begins to work in such a way that it turns them upside down, and that it opens new avenues of sanctification for themselves and of mutual sanctification, because that, again, is the meaning of the abbot's teaching in the whole monastic life. So the doctrina has to be something practical. That is, by the way, one of the reasons, too, why I emphasize so much, you know, this specific approach which we call the school. For what reason was that done? It was not done for the reason to put everybody into a kind of a mold, you know, out of which he could not, you know, that he would kind of feel completely stifled, you know, feel completely suppressed.

[37:20]

only done, you know, for this very reason, that to open to an old thing, let us say, and to an old truth, a kind of practical access, you know, a kind of practical way, because people don't only want to know what is, but they want to know what they should do. and that is absolutely otherwise doctrina would not be doctrine so people have to see the disciples have to see a certain way and say oh yes there is something that we can really practice And the reason why I put a thing like this, the school, to the whole community, everybody, is because it is not only, see, the teaching of the abbot, it's not only something, it's the same with the principle of obedience, too.

[38:24]

It's not only the abbot who teaches when people are gathered together and they listen to a conference. medicine. This doctrina has to be something in which every individual monk also can participate in an active way, so that just as the obedience which is given to the abbot Or let us put it also in this way, just as the authority which is given to the abbot is shared, according to the evident teaching of St. Benedict, is shared by all individual members, because they all should give obedience to one another, which shows that the authority of the abbot is shared by every individual member. So also the doctrine which the abbot teaches should be something which is shared by everyone in the monastery.

[39:28]

Just as the obedience doesn't deprive the monk of a certain authority, so also the teaching of the abbot does not deprive the monk of sharing actively in their teaching. And that is one of the meanings, you see, of the school. Again, the unity of the monastery would be short if everyone, let us say, think for example, let's say we have people in Rome, you see, now they are in San Anselmo, they hear about certain things in theology, and in scripture, and so on. But then, of course, we have, let us say, we have another one who is in the Catholic Union. Now he has different approaches, you know, and a different thing. Then maybe later on somebody, you know, maybe go to Lorraine or something like that, you know, or maybe go to Munich. Just to bring the Germanic part into it.

[40:31]

So that is a rather remote possibility. But I mean, so there are people, or Lyon, you know, I much recommend it, or Strasbourg, we go to Strasbourg. And there, you see, therefore they go to different places. Cannot be avoided, you know, in a monastery. Even, I would say, going of monks to different places, you know, contributes to the spiritual, let us say, spiritual ways of the monks. That's a contribution. Provided, however, you see, that every individual monk, again, you know, conceives, let us say, of his role, you know, and his function that he has as teaching, you see, as a participation in the abbot's teaching. The abbot also in this, but the abbot, of course, cannot in that way interfere and, let us say, curtail theological truth.

[41:35]

See, it's the same way in the matter of doctrina as it is in the following of a practical project. In a practical project, the abbot calls the Council of the Brethren, in order to use all means that I am understanding. So also, necessarily, you know, in the proposition, the explanation of theological truth or of holy scripture, the abbot should not say, I'm your theology book, you know, or I'm your scripture commentary, or something like that. That was Aberderose. I thought that was an approach, you know, but that's not the Benedictine approach. But the average in that way should, you know, also examine. That would be a very good, very beautiful thing, even As we do it, you know, in the field of liturgy, it's absolutely clear in the idea of St. Benedict that the abbot in last analysis determines, for example, also the form, let's say, of monastic worship, just as St.

[42:38]

Benedict puts his order of psalms there. And he says, but if somebody else has a better order, then he should not hesitate. It's a beautiful idea of St. Benedict always. So there too, you know, in the field of liturgy, for example, this Thursday conference line would be good, you know, if all the talent that is there could be used. If even, let us say, various members of the community could get started, you know, on contributing and working at certain problems of our monastic rituals, it would be a wonderful thing. But in all these things—theological teaching, liturgical ritual, everything— The last coordinator of that, the one who gives to all this teaching its unity and harmonic, organic unity, is the Abbot. And in that way, you know, the teaching of the individual has to be conceived always as a sharing in the teaching authority of the Abbot.

[43:49]

then that was the danger, you know, in many monasteries, that people come back, you know, and then immediately they do as they would do with some practical project and make it theirs. So also they make the teaching of some theological school, you know, let us say Louvain or so on, theirs, and coming to a monastery and set up, let us say, a kind of an autonomous teaching. And then, of course, did they destroy the unity of the monastic community. So in that way, the counsel of the abbot and the teaching of the abbot should be, on one hand, should be determined by the essentials of revelation, it should be practical so that it becomes ephemeral, and the various individuals should coordinate and conceive and share in the teaching authority of the abbot. He's probably gonna say, you peeped my old red door, mama.

[45:00]

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