of their impression of the Yiddish and the Holy Father, the joy and the spirit in these days. Like him, make it a return to the fountainhead. That was the first thing that he proclaimed at the beginning of the second session of the Vatican Council, is that going back to Christ, Christ as the head of the Church. And this image too is a realisation, first interior, not religious, spiritual realisation, more than a gesture of going back to those, to that place especially where Christ himself, Lazarus, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem, these three places where, especially in Jerusalem, We have the city, the symbol, the heart of the world, the center of mankind, where he himself proclaimed in the Seneca Domitian the great program of unity for all of mankind.

[01:25]

So it's at the same time flowing into the center a type of tremendous far-reaching horizons, and a recollection and an expansion of the two things. I was so glad and happy to read this morning that the Holy Father takes one and with him always so, whom he considers really and truly as his spiritual father, Monsignor Baby Lakma. Signor Bevilacqua is one of those who were instrumental, the one who introduced him really to the whole world of the liturgy. That's what we may call his Christ-centered, Christo-centered, Christ-centered attitude, you know.

[02:26]

Him, he's now over 80. He's the compass of the product. I say is, in some way, the spiritual father, the one brought into his heart, this whole, now that we call it a terrible word, a new orientation. It's really a calling, actually, to be source. And in that sense, we should do that, too. And now, we see that in this intervention that Yodhika, of course, That way to join himself in such a special and intimate way to the person of our Lord and Saviour, to visit sweet places, the neighbour of the world, so to speak, Jerusalem. And we see there, there is that deep inner personal element of Tzitzug, so close to the heart of the monk, the monarchos, who strives in his life to collect, gather together all the things of his life, one center, take them all from this one source.

[03:57]

Then there are the great, by the way, the great horizons that go into every direction, taking the whole of mankind. There is that meeting with the Dominican patriarch. There is the Dominican patriarch's suggestion of a gathering of all Christian leaders of the world. and an idea which opens also tremendous possibilities. We don't know if it may be realized, may be realized, but we pray for it. Because imagine, if you think about it, and we have here the cause of the council, the council has run up, as it were, to several problems as the proclamations about the Jewish people and other things, proclamations about religious liberty, where really some people felt, maybe rightly so, that they are not really deeply free-worker within the

[05:22]

the nature of this council as it was um called but on the 2030 i really saw a of a much wider scope of a much uh very of the nature which is not uh in the which is really in the realm of the finding together and gathering together of all Christians certain basic, most basic inner principles that Christ the Lord has brought into the world and in which really the Christians all over the world are born and where they are longing for a I would say authentic and really comprehensive personal manifestation and witness of the whole of Christianity before the world in these days for those ideas of peace of reconciliation

[06:31]

among men, and peace for all men. That is the meaning of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the place where all the nations go. It has a universal aspect in the divine plan. But then we see these tremendous possibilities arise. And at the same time, in between, I would say in between this inner point of the recollection of the heart going into the depth and from there then expanding into a wide all embracing horizon and between the two we see that the little things of the everyday world. There is great agitation now. Who is going to wash the windows in the Basilica of Bethlehem on that side?

[07:34]

And many other things, and one can see there also the reasons for the reticence, you know, of the, say, official resources concerning this thing, because there's For example, the question now, if the Holy Father goes, as he certainly will go to Bethlehem now, how is he going to go there? Is he entering the Basilica through the main entrance, and then going up the main aisle, and then going down to the portal? Or is he really do what I have to do to speak all the Roman Catholics said to do, go through a little side entrance, practically through the sacristy, what we call St. Catharine's Chapel, which is a little appendix there, and then go down. See, of course, all these things, I've only gone to indicate that because that's what we need.

[08:40]

That's what we need also in our seraphs. That's what we need, for example, for IT in our community. that is that in our collection, there is the tremendous, let us say, all-embracing, world-embracing idea. And then in between, there are all the little human steps and all the little human frailties and all the selfishness and all the bickering that human pettiness puts in between. And in that way, is apt to just nullify, apt to frustrate, you know, the deepest inner longing. But who is doing it? Men are doing it. Men. Therefore, in these days, one sees more than ever the Lord standing there at this place overlooking Jerusalem, saying, Jerusalem, Jerusalem.

[09:43]

Often have I tried to gather the little chickens under the wings of God's all-amazing love, but you did not watch. You have seen. You didn't do it. Now, of course, there is freedom, and there is the freedom of decision. It goes into every individual question, every individual man, and that is... where things then, the greatest ideas, the greatest impulses come, so often get stuck, watered down, and in the end the words for which really the whole of mankind is waiting is not spoken. The moment is past, the moment of grace is past. So let us realize that here, I mean, if we spiritually join the Holy Father on this pilgrimage to Jerusalem. That is true. Jerusalem is there.

[10:45]

It's divided, you know, between the Ammon country and between Israel. And there is Jerusalem divided, and everybody, every Christian sick has a little peace. And Jerusalem has been, up to now, it has been a stumbling block. for tourists and visitors who have had ample material to ridicule and to point out the pettiness of Christians in their relations to one another, the complete lack of charity, being wound up with political teachers fighting for every little inch of ground, you know, that they have there, conserving their rights, and starting battles, you know, on what business or the activity should be of what was not good. There had been a scandal all over the place. So, if we make this trip to Jerusalem, I mean spiritually to the Holy Father, let's look at our own little Jerusalem.

[11:54]

I mean Mount Saviour. Let us look at the own Jerusalem of our individual person. that's also a little city, and let us interiorly, at least in our prayer, let us ask the Holy Spirit that he may lift us out of the narrowness of our human ambitions or selfish interests of our sleep, that he may wake us up and give us that dilacatio cordis, broadening, widening out of the individual heart, but effectively, not only in dreams, but effectively, and therefore really then in our life, in our own community lives, to be generous, generosity, that is the first way in which we imitate, in which we that all have raised in character the Holy Spirit that Christ has given to us, that He sent it in the synagogue in Jerusalem, He sent it over to this Christian community.

[13:08]

in that way that has sort of joined this egregious village in our heart, not only the theoretical and the practical way. Humanity of Christ, one of the great ones, typed out a little quotation from a Jewish prayer, and I wanted to read it to you because it really leads us so real and deeply into this thought. One can see how the Promised Land in Jewish faith, we know that of course, takes the place and is really a prophecy of the Incarnation. Christ's humanity is the Holy Land. In last analysis, there is an inner, naturally there is an inner affinity between the two.

[14:21]

So that prayer runs this way. Master of the universe, make it your care that our heart, our thought, be knotted and bound to your sacredness. Let us be worthy and our mind enlightened that we may understand the sanctity. Sweet to us may the sanctity be of the Holy Land, where from eternity you have made your sanctity rest, over against the land of Israel that lies in heaven. You have chosen that land from all the world that your presence may rest therein. And the prayers form a broad journey by way of the land of Israel, and by way of Jerusalem, and by way of the Holy of Holies.

[15:27]

That is the journey that all prayers make to you. It's a wonderful foreshadowing of our air dog and lustful years through Christ to the Father, through all the chosen people, through the land, to the sanctity of God, to the land of Israel. so in thinking about it and meditating about it and of course what i said this morning is always every human world is always limited it only can give one aspect you think a little further and you see how the aspects open up widen and deepen and become more comprehensive but that is the matter for every bond of you to kind of interiorly follow it up and meet the picture with the lights that everyone is given according to his own meditation.

[16:39]

Then I think we should Always that first exhortation, that is the light. Then comes the resolution, and that's the life. Light and life, those are the two elements that celebrate, as it were, their wedding feast, this feast of the Epiphany. Light and life, Christ is the light, the Magi follow the star. and then the life, and the life is the fullness of life, that is the bride of the bridegroom, that is Jerusalem, that is the church, that is the community here, that is everyone as an individual, as a little Jerusalem, light and life, that is the wonderful theme of the Epiphany.

[17:46]

and that the two things may be in harmony. That is then the meaning of the monastic life. That's the meaning of the monastic profession. One has seen the light and one calls it all one has in order to let it become life in one's heart and in one's body in the way it is described there in this last verse. of the first paragraph of the product of the Holy Book. That's also when we to think again about the Holy Father and his pilgrimage. You can see in some way here in this white coat, and the white we looked at yesterday, how the white skirt cap is kind of, you know, kind of coming out of this crowd, and perhaps it's disappearing there.

[18:53]

Again, so at the ground there is this joyous throng. Joy is the height of life. The greatest joy, of course, is the joy of worship. And that is what Jerusalem stands for. But then we also see that, and we follow the idea of Jerusalem in the Old Testament, and you can see that they are Jerusalem as the life. There are two things. One, that is, Jerusalem in its wholeness and integrity as the chivitas, whole, compact, united. and therefore a place of peace, therefore a place of joy, therefore there is the presence of the Shekinah, of God's light, but on the other hand there are the ruins.

[20:03]

We don't think about it, and sometimes maybe we have difficulties also in our own personal life too, and I think mankind on a whole, To realize what really sin means. Sin is of course the opposite. It's death, as we know. It is the refusal to put oneself completely into the light. the glory that the glory of the lord that shines over jerusalem there's the selfishness of people there is their their stubbornness all these things thirst for power they think of the whole problem of power as it comes also here into this feast there are All those who go down to the Jordan, all those sinners together with John to gather around John the Baptist.

[21:09]

Sometimes we have a little difficulty maybe to realize the darkness and the evil of sin. But I think that we follow it up in the Old Testament. We see how Jewish people gathering together in the old days, year after year, at the Wailing Wall. these last ruins that stand of Jerusalem, last windows of the glory, but the city in ruins, the temple in ruins, and then the tremendous inner sorrow that rises from that. Many people in Europe have experienced that during this last war, their homes and their cities were destroyed.

[22:13]

And the tremendous feeling of desolation that results just from that, that men have lost their homes, and they have lost the joy of life. And Jerusalem, the vision of peace has been turned into ruins. That is, of course, what we see there too, what we see today when the Holy Father enters into Jerusalem, and Jerusalem is divided. There's all that. There's all, with all the joy together is at the same time the sadness. Let us, in our own meditation, let us think about that. The sin is the destruction of the joy of Jerusalem. The sin prevents that unity and that wholeness of life which Jerusalem stands for and which is so beautiful and so satisfying and such a wonderful thing for the heart of man.

[23:25]

As it is said in the psalm, my heart and my flesh exult in thee. and towards you and that destroyed that is the sadness of man that is also for if we consider our own situation and our own sins and our own faithlessness we have not been the faithful bride we have not been life for this light We have not given it our souls, our hearts, our bodies so that the beauty of Jerusalem could shine forth in us. On the other hand, we feel that also if we put that here right into our own community life, then we feel that too. On one side we have We fear of the joy which it means, and which is included in that, that we grow in heart to assume in ease, and rejoice in what I was told, and let us go to Jerusalem.

[24:37]

And there we do that, here we do it, and there we get around, you know, around Mount Sinai, around the altar, and there we sing, there we are present, there we have that peace of the Lord is there with us. But then at the same time we fear sadness and the ruins. We, in our weakness, if we don't live up to the peace of the community, if wounds are there, if frictions are there, if the minds, you know, go into separate, different directions, all that causes cynicism. That is purgatory that can even be hell. And we should think about our contribution to the great ecumenical effort which is being made, which again also this pilgrimage of the Holy Father stands for, this reaching out over the whole of the world.

[25:47]

It depends for the Church, the success of it depends on the wholeness, the integrity of every little cell, that is included in this church every family integrity and unity of the family the integrity and unity of the of the spiritual families monastic communities religious communities the diocese and then the diocese along each other the bishops absolutely all that depends, you know, and that there is the strength and the real power of the Germanic movement. So let us see that today. It's a wedding feast. Let us rejoice, but at the same time let us again, you know, as in the profession our two countries did on this day, and also ourselves, renew that inner that emotion, that inner, that promise, that pledge we gave to the life that we would be the life of this life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[26:57]

But it was a wonderful experience really. was done so well and brought this great event so close to us and really I think had a tremendous impact on millions of people. If we consider that, I think that is one of the big differences which our time simply has brought about by the providence of God that while in former centuries these reunion attempts were made at, one can say, exclusively at top level, and then remained in a kind of diplomatic atmosphere, now if such attempts are being made they have the means to let the people such participate in it and to bring it before the ears of all and I think that's a completely new situation

[28:18]

in overcoming historical differences and historical prejudices and all kinds of barriers which in the past have been built up and no publicity was able to let us say to to overcome them but they simply remained and the uh The separation between East and West, which had grown up, was simply a social separation, and the word that got the glad tidings, the message of the Pope and the humanity, patriarch giving one and giving one another, the kiss of peace was not to be conveyed to the masses, so that they stayed really in their position, in their, let's say, provincial nowness.

[29:30]

Now we have the whole world is growing into one big city. And I think that has to be taken into consideration. Today Jerusalem is part and is the heart really of one big city which goes all over the world. takes in all nations, because that is the great advantage of the city, that people don't live in isolation, but that they live together, that they hear one another, that they take part in their further city, able to hear the message of Jerusalem's dying shells, or the wise of Jerusalem and stand on high because the messenger is coming who announces the coming of the king and the king goes to the city and there he appears before the public there he he meets the people that is the background the seal and that is the city today it's really the entire world so

[30:48]

I think we have all reasons to, especially as monks, because our heart is the heart of unity, and our rule, the rule of Saint Benedict in our life is by itself a natural bridge between the East and the West. We have all reason to be hopeful, and I think it's a new inspiration also for us to live our monastic life in a real living way and maybe we can this year it would be appropriate to celebrate the octave of the prayer for unity in a maybe more articulate way than we have done in the past. There are good means and ideas and so on put before us which are being followed by many people, say millions, in the Catholic Church, Protestant churches,

[32:00]

Orthodox churches and I think that would be a thing we should consider to make that unity after this year for us as community really a spiritual experience you have in the in the gospel today is the Our Lord, He is twelve, and He goes up to the city, goes up to Jerusalem, because when twelve years old, that is his maturity, he comes of age, and he manifests that. His mind reveals itself and shines forth in its divine fullness and clarity. This coming of age is experienced in a certain way also by us.

[33:11]

Holy Father goes, leaves Rome, goes to Jerusalem and meets the patriarchs. A new coming of age. It is a growing out of an epoch which in these concrete contacts and, to say, bold moves, was hesitant and in a certain way stagnant and did not have maybe for all kinds of reasons, only God knows. It would have the boldness and the courage to do it. But now we see that it's a copying of age. But there are always the two things in any copying of age. It's copying of age, of course, in itself, the repetition of being born. It is a rebirth, entering into a new phase of life,

[34:17]

means leaving the old phase and proceeding and entering into a new phase. So it is, in some way, it's an exodus. It's a passing over. And the story this morning that we have heard in the Gospel has all these marks of the Passover. And we should keep that in mind and see, for example, also the relation to to what we have just written in the book. It's wonderful how these things always kind of fall into place. We approach them in the depths with God's months to them, which they are waiting for. But there we see also, we see the abbot, you know, as the one who recognizes and serves the fullness of the Spirit in the monastic family.

[35:21]

Therefore, this leaving, the division, of a younger age and entering into a weight of fullness entering into freedom and then in the freedom of the spirit now not establishing a kind of anarchy but in this freedom of the spirit establishes where a hierarchy an order not an order which is clearly based on the spirit and not be based on physical age or any kind of norms that nature also fallen nature would invent or find and hold on to and emphasize the emphasis shifts shifts to freedom it shifts to the to air The quality of fullness at the same time is not, of course, a proclamation of anarchy, but it is an establishing of the dual.

[36:33]

I think that is what we see, too, nowadays within the Church. There is, at the present moment, is that big, the tremendous, I can say, struggle for what we call the collegianity. Now, there is a new step is being made, a step into greater fullness, but not in order to leave, for example, the order. what the Holy Scripture also here says when our Lord has established himself in this way that he had separated himself from his mother and his foster father St. Joseph in one can say on the earthly plane or one can say on the natural plane And this separation causes grief and great sorrow to the parents.

[37:37]

And they are seeking. And in this way, they are dying. But then they finally begin. And finally, of course, there is a resurrection. But on a higher level. I can, in my father's heart, did you not know that I had to be in my father's about my father's business so it's not an emancipation of the song it's a declaration a deeper more glorious declaration of his of the fatherhood of God through the song and the same time later on he goes and he rose with his parents back to Nazareth and he was subject to them now that is of course not a restoring or going back to the old order that is in harmony with what has done before it's not a revoking the greatness and the depth of the new

[38:50]

fatherhood that was revealed and a new sonship that was revealed there but it is a living it you know now under concrete circumstances in a concrete way at home at home in nazareth and he was subject now as as you noticed that yeah this morning in the uh The homily of St. Ambrose, how beautifully he explains it, just with one word. He says, this obedience, what was it? It was not because of weakness. It was because of infirmitas. But what is it? Pietas. It's the piety. That means it is the inner, that wonderful virtue in which the son, without losing anything of his, let us say, his own dignity, practices the pietas towards his father.

[40:05]

That means loving weapons and loving acknowledgement of the father's glory and the father's supremacy so that is of course also in the monastic life it's the slave and the free man that doesn't work in monastic life and the class distinction of the the well-educated and the uneducated, or the rich or the poor, or with a racial background, black or white or Jewish or Arab and all that sort of thing, that doesn't, that lets not belong. And the Holy Spirit, that is not the same.

[41:06]

and also the mere physical seniority. The fact that somebody is a few years older in age than another one in the spirit, that doesn't make a difference. But, of course, then what is left? Left is a new hierarchy, a new family, a new bond. But the real soul of that bond then is not infirmity, weakness, but it is pietas, that inner loving reverence and acknowledgement of what we may call then the real value, the real value. And therefore, the abbot is asked, now, don't be led by in your relations to your monks don't be guided by any kind of earthly in that way consideration or what we call human respect anything like that but at the same time don't don't retire don't in that way give up so to speak but be father of the father in the spirit and therefore take the woman those who are excelling

[42:32]

in obedience, excelling in the monastic virtues. And in that way, on that level, establish a new order. But then a new order which would also from within be recognized and joyfully accepted by all those who in the monastery strive really and truly for maturity for the coming of an age. and therefore are lifted up beyond the limitations of envy, jealousy, and comparing any kind of what we call simply political standards. So then it's a beautiful Sunday today in that way, and let us see all these things, a special call which, by God, is directed to our generation hour to us at this moment to live up and to realize and to see these deep, alert decisions which in our days have to be taken in the monastic life, in the ecclesiastical life, for Christianity, for the whole of mankind.

[43:52]

of the heavenly commemoration of baptism of our God, whose our thoughts go back to our own baptism, to that basic first time, that new creation that took place in our souls, and which took place there through the all-transforming, all-creative power for us, in which we participate through the death and the resurrection of Christ, sacramentally accessible to us through baptism. That is also not only the blueprint, as it were, of our entire Christian life, but especially of our monastic life. in a monastic life in a higher degree.

[45:02]

I think the success of our monastic endeavour depends on the intensity and depth in which we live our baptism every day, I can say, every moment. monastic life is here to have death and resurrection, but always the two together. But death as a real death, and that is of course not easy for us. We as human beings, we are always inclined to kind of buy ourselves off with a little bit here a little bit there and then keeping this and keeping that trying to kind of hide it before God, so that we still are there in some way untouched, not given, and not surrendered.

[46:07]

That is simply a basic fact in our existence. And that is the reason why the monastic life is really a lifelong endeavor, where it most always Although it will not be immediately successful, maybe in the individual situation, maybe never successful. We are completely successful. Probably not. Before we die, before we learn that we are bodily dead in our costumes, we at that moment, we are that real mouse. Otherwise, living here from day to day and from situation to situation, we are always somewhere in our depth, untouched. But we should know that and realize that.

[47:08]

And therefore, first in our prayer, prayer is always that inner act where we we'll even reach into our temple, not through ourselves, but opening ourselves for the grace of God. Prayer is that, somewhere, opus operatum in us. It's something that goes beyond our limits, our natural limits, and we know it. And therefore there is the, our baptism, This is how the fundamental and first leads to prayer. It is continued through our life through prayer. But that prayer which, you know, is the purification of the one who knows that he is surrounded by death on all sides, that only God can snatch him out of many waters.

[48:14]

And then it is, the other part is the thanksgiving, seeing heaven open and seeing the door of the Sydney and seeing, hearing the voice of the Father. This is my beloved son in whom I am very pleased. That is the prayer as a continuation and a repetition of our Out of that then come the other things. First, the repentance. The monastic life is near to that. The other external forms of the monastic life, many of them, can be explained only by this readiness for repentance. All that is said about humility, all that is said about accepting opprobria, it all tends to and wants to open our hearts and as Holy Father said, you know, plough open the arid ground and the hard ground, plough repentance in order to repeat that surrender and that death that we have sacramentally experienced in baptism.

[49:43]

so therefore our endeavor in the monastic life is really and truly to make it baptism is the sacrament of personal encounter with the savior it is really a matter of death and of life therefore our constant inner Our tendency, our resolution, our longing must be to live the monastic life in such a way that really every moment is a death and a resurrection. That we reach really more and more that decisive killing and vivifying encounter with the glory of God that baptism is and that monastic life is.

[50:46]

So let us just pray for that. Sir, I ask the Lord to expect ways to live our monastic life not as routine but as this, personal encounter with God who is at the same time a devouring fire, you know, That dual from heaven that gives us the glory. The chapter on the Adventist Owl and the Erased Horseman. One looks at it and, of course, you can't always read it. It's not a thing of intention and sight, and it brings actually always the thought of one's mind, how one lives up to this idea that St.

[51:49]

Benedict has put there. One thing is sure, and that is that this chapter on the Abbot belongs to the heart, in some way, of the whole. It is one of the most beautiful documents in which to explain the Christian faith. the meaning of fatherhood to the abbot in a sense in which he is not, of course, in any way the absolute monarch or anything like that, but he is in some way and should be the window through which father's love looks at every member in the community and that is you can very very imagine for any uh human being with his frailties and it's uh shortcomings, his limitations of character is a task which is really beyond his possibilities.

[52:56]

Therefore it needs to its realization constant prayer, constant acts really of faith on the part of the abbot as well as on the part of the community. way in which the effectiveness, which the blessedness and healing power in which a new period shows to the monastic community, family, The love of the Father depends in our human circumstances also to a great extent on the response, the reaction, the faith that he needs within the community. Those two things simply are co-relative. real constant cooperation of both sides it's not so that um one has the initiative and the others can sit back and see now and see how it's doing or something that is certainly

[54:14]

The Holy Spirit, that way, is the thing that descends from the Father and returns to the circle. So the monastic life also is made that way. Therefore, this chapter, the reading of this chapter, is, I'll say it's great. warning the great challenge to the superior to hear and the superior has to also turn to the members of the family and has to ask that through their cooperation, their peer tasks, this burden that is upon them may be made easier. that before the habit stood, the law of the habit, depends on the degree and the kind of obedience that he finds, and by obedience I mean not the fulfilment simply of commands and orders, but rather this kind of formalistic obedience which so easily can be simply an external manner of observing foods and so on.

[55:44]

without reaching it in any way. The heart can be therefore an observance, can at times even cover up a completely different attitude. But I mean, there is, you know, obedience of the heart, which again is, of course, can be only given in faith. Faith is for the average, as well as for the community, that is the room, in which we can breathe, that is the loud space of liberty which is given to us. Wherever it is lacking, wherever it fails, wherever we are too lazy to really enter into it, There we narrow our minds and our hearts and we end therefore in failure, we end in indecision, we end in thirst and hunger in every way. So let us think about that and let us have faith.

[56:48]

For example, things that are of real importance or of real great importance for the individual. Things that he considers, that he fears, is very important for the individual. welfare of the community, of the inner life of the community, letting not hesitate to bring that to the attention of the superiors. That way, the mutual cooperation can be realized. Well, that's quite the first of them. because that is, in some ways, the father of the dynastic life, which means that now the addiction given of that new period where the imitation of Christ and our union with him in the martyrdom was followed by another

[58:06]

wave, one can say, of eschatological zeal, of reaction to the changing circumstances of time, to the building and coming into being of any Christian, of any Christian civilization, any Christian empire, with all the various problems and activities that led to it. At that time that was the witness of monasticism. who is contradicted, but who gives witness of nature in such a way then that this is not we are convinced in one act that bloody baptism of martyrdom, but it is a

[59:11]

lifetime job. It is a real systematic effort to live on that level as a matter of everyday renewed effort, everyday again dying and rising, but in a systematic way, not in an improvised way, has a way of concentration, deliberation, and in a way which develops, in some ways supposes skill, skill in spiritual matters, it supposes schooling, therefore naturally grows into, in some way, into a worldwide sin. And Sinatony is the first great example and father of that gift that in some way also has, and has in the past, such a great importance and is such a

[60:26]

link between West and East, between the West that organizes, West that is out to do things, government rule this world to build up a Christian civilization. It's an effort that wants to do all the concrete chiefs and tasks with them. It's difficult to try to comment old text which was read to us this morning. But I thought, because it is the octave of church unity, I would like to make a few remarks on the last instance of the bridge.

[61:31]

Not to wait to be called holy before one is holy. first to behold that what we would probably so call, it seems to me this is what we often hear, you know, in the mouth or in the writings of Sir Eric Stokes. because it concerns the elastic life, concerns that life to which I must say is great, always great, you know, joy and great gratitude. I was about to pledge myself And this Benedictine life, according to the whole witness of history, as you so very well know, is, I can say, roughly composed of these two elements.

[62:47]

There's the desert element and there's the city element. There's the renouncement and the withdrawal. There's the silence and there's the solitude. And there's, on the other hand, there is the charity, the community, the reference. shining forth of the goodness and maritas of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the mock. So these two elements have always been present in the Benedictine monastic life. He would have said Benedict himself, who became the patriarch of the monks of the West just because he had that peculiar, that particular mission, that genius, that charism to open up the domestic life to those who are not exactly heroes of

[64:08]

the mortifications and hardships of the desert but who also are weak and who feel their human weakness therefore offer in the context of the monastic life they are admitted into it a field of humanitas, of mercy, of love, of support, of help, bodily help, and all these things that the rule emphasizes so much. And so these two things, that the withdrawal of the individual into the desert, for what we call the convivance of the individual, and then this living together,

[65:12]

in the Humanitas Dei Salvatores those are the two elements which in the various developments of the monastic life always sometimes the emphasis is on one side and the other the law sometimes the emphasis is more on the Humanitas side and the what we call cultural things civilization and all that belongs to the city goes more uh puts his world in the foreground that we today we uh we experience that in our sales this um not to hear in our old community and the individual members of the community experience that same uh i'll say that that same enough call it tension but of course these two elements their own life see there's a task to

[66:20]

at the same time to combine them in a synthesis. That is, of course, not always easy, especially when the monastery grows in numbers and it's therefore through the natural factors and already reaches more points, more into the direction of the city, then immediately actually the cultural elements now that comes in and they are so great part they are determined also influenced by the civilization and the culture that surrounds us. By the place in which we go, for example, in a place like this, with the climate as it is, and if things are unnecessarily needed, they would not be needed in another climate that would not require so many human protection, human preparations.

[67:37]

human effort to carry on the simple business of life, community life. And so those two things are simply there. And if we look out or to realize, you know, how grateful we have to be to Father Ehret for having undertaken this mission in time, which is not the prime of the most beautiful part of the year, so it wasn't always a joy ride in the school, but it was hard work, thank God. Now, we are, I am personally too, and I think speaking in your name too, we are I'm really very, very grateful to him for having done this and for having been able to cover the whole range of things that we have in view.

[68:49]

You realize that all this is a kind of preparatory step. like members of the community to get excited at this moment of, where do I fit in? I am myself exposed to that. I mean that I see myself among the Germans in Maine. But I think we should take all this in a spiritual sense. One thing is absolutely sure, and that is I was so glad that I received a note from one member of the community, which this was expected.

[69:55]

Now, you always, as you know, the pastor looks always greener on the other side of the fence. Therefore, you live in this temptation and say, oh, my God, there may be something. really, and so on And in reality, really any monastic foundation or anything like that is and has to struggle with the same hardships and difficulties and a greater simplicity which would correspond more to this whole desert element in the monastic life is by no means an automatic removal of all kinds of difficulties but the decisive element is always to hold on in faith and in prayer to the mother of that to be the providence and the will of God the wisdom of God points to us perhaps we have done that here we came here to this place there wasn't anything

[71:15]

to show in the first beginnings, but simply then faith of those who were those early stages, joined the community and kept holding on to God's grace and God's providence in prayer and in perseverance that has made place. and let us be the same with any new foundation those who would go they can't expect a paradise but they will have to meet the same elements of renouncement they have to go to purgatory there's no doubt about it that's the way in which the monastic life is the only way in which we can really spiritually grow. Personally, I think that I feel so sure, and I'm so happy about it, there's a real deep meeting of mind between myself here, and just about the character of such a

[72:33]

The foundation, as I said, really has to have marks of simplicity and of property and therefore also has to carry all the burden of real, faithful, humble, daily work. Work that is connected with the soil that God has given us. He has given that mint for us as the scene of our toil, struggling for subsistence, survival, that will be in a place like that too. That is the set-up. So, what you can expect, you know, to kind of take a flight, you know, like a dog to a contemplative paradise. That's not the meaning of it.

[73:38]

But the other elements that give simplicity, harmony, and the right order between prayer and work, that are the vital factors in the foundation that, with the help of God and under his providence, able to uh look i'm sure that that would be if we do it we do it in the right spirit i'm sure it will not in any way unsettle our Savior, threaten that, introduce an element of another element of insecurity, but it will be a help, it will be something that we would consider as our Savior, as part of our own life. from here would do it with not as a separate undertaking and not as a taking against what say we have got in connection with and in order to strengthen in order to purify in order to help and realize certain tendencies that ideas and ideas that we

[75:01]

uh always have also had uh here in the advanced area right from making so uh in that way i hope that also your own thinking and more than thinking what is needed is will help to bring about this dream in due time. We realize that this cannot be done from one day to the other, but it needs much time and preparation. So I hope that there will be a real deepening of our whole life, not only in the future, but right at the present moment. It's for everybody an invitation to think over his own life and to see where we fail or where we do not win, really, together into harmony, at least two elements.

[76:06]

of the desert and of the city where we believe the city element prevails or the desert element leads us into a long isolation into a dream world of this day and of this day in us and check them, and let us put them into God's hands, and let us initially also, these coming months and weeks, carry in our prayers the God we have heard himself, who has done so much to bring us a step closer to the realisation of this idea of Francis. Praying for unity had this prayer taken, this beautiful prayer from the sacramentary of Serapio to Mois. It's a beautiful text, one cannot pray it, one cannot listen to it without internally

[77:19]

uh being moved and feeling that the question which we are engaged in these days so very decisively and acutely the question of the unity of all christians by the way i was glad to hear read in the New York Times that Countess Berman and Archbishop Jacobus have met in great progeny and publicly. as a application to the policies of the hierarchy of this country, to the example that has been set by the Holy Father. So, thank you very much. You must, of course, realize, you know, that all that thing that is very fascinating, it's a tremendous cause, it's a wonderful thing, but it is, of course, a supernatural thing.

[78:42]

There cannot be any machination of the beings. It must be supernatural, it must be a thing of the spirit. And the spirit only operates through living individuals. The individuals that are really serving are servants of the spirit. Therefore, the first thing is always that we must, since Christianity is not a matter of organization, it's not law, it is a matter of sharing a divine life, Of course, one cannot share a divine life without being deeply, personally engaged. So, therefore, the first question is always, and any ecumenical question is, how far and how deeply is the one who is engaged in this work himself in the, let's say, under the law, under the spirit of peace.

[79:45]

And that is, of course, also for us as a monastic community. It's absolutely evident, there can be no doubt about it, that we must always keep in mind that the presence of this rapport small between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church has been repaired by monks. Repaired first by monks. really did approach this thing in a deeply deliberate way was Father Lambert Wood. The first monastery founded for that purpose was Shepetonia, the first real periodical that, on a deep level, has worked for years and years for this thing. It is a heretical So therefore, monasticism has, according to the Pius XI, was the one who wanted to give the Oriental Institute to the Benedicts.

[80:52]

At the time, unfortunately, the Benedicts didn't have enough lumbered boulevards to do it. It was just a man who was practically by himself alone. They were not prepared for him, you know. That was the will of the Holy Father. He said that the Benedictine rule, the rule of St. Benedict, is a natural bond between East and West. That's absolutely true. So what I wanted to say is just that monasticism has any part in it. The first, the basic thing is that the monks live in peace. We can see that in a person like our Holy Father of blessed memory, John XXIII. A man who radiates peace. Why? Obedience and peace.

[82:02]

The tremendous success of of John XXIII. This tremendous breakthrough that he was able to accomplish would never have come about if he himself had not, through obedience, reached the inner peace. And we can see that in the life, in his life, you know, that that obedience wasn't always easy. And he knew it, and that is the reason why he put it there, took it and chose it as his thing. So the man who has initiated this entire movement towards unity had for his motto the words, Obedientia et Pax. So that's an absolutely benedictive monastic motto. that we must keep that in mind. And we must keep that in mind also for everyone individually, for himself, the community as a whole too,

[83:07]

And we must, therefore, concentrate in connection with these readings that we have now about the Holy Scripture, about obedience. We must really get and tackle this problem. Everybody, interiorly, by himself, see it in a positive light. There is no shortcut to, let's say, what we may call the mystery of obedience. or to obedience rightly lived. It is not simply a capitulation of individual and personal liberty. It is not a renouncing of one's personal responsibility. Let's say for the simply as a In abstract, there's a holocaust. Most difficult thing to do.

[84:10]

That's not the case. That's not the meaning of our meetings. It's not Christian meetings and not monastic meetings. And one can see that so clearly in these words that we have just heard read in our holy rule, our holy fable. He certainly clearly lays down the law, you see, puts down the law. But at the same time, he makes it clear that this obedience that he describes as a swift obedience, that means full-hearted obedience, That means, I would say, backed up by the whole person, but, of course, by a loving person, not by a hating person, hating oneself or hating others, and therefore kind of a suicidal action or simply a panicky dictated by personal fear or personal failure, a panicky self-abdication.

[85:30]

It's not the meaning of obedience. But in the heart of obedience is love for Christ. It's love for Christ. One cannot obey. Then obeying, of course, means the renouncing of one's will, of one's self-will, renouncing of one's deeper self, renouncing of Christ, one's soul. life of Christ therefore the obedience and disobedience that Saint Benedict proposes and that he proposes only to people who want to go into it he doesn't put that up as a law for the entire church he said this is a specific way but if you want to do it you can only do it for the love of Christ for no other purpose therefore Love is the heart of obedience.

[86:33]

And therefore, nobody should ever, you know, take the vow of obedience in order to kind of secure himself, to build up a kind of, or to go into a frame, you know, which then would kind of take care of his troubles. That's a negative attitude. You cannot do that. You must, you can only do it for the love of Christ. Therefore, and for that love of Christ, which, as St. Benedict says, for those who hold nothing dearer to them than Christ. They hold nothing dearer to them than Christ. So it's therefore an exclusive love in that matter. It's a total love. It's just as you cannot ignore, you cannot ignore. take a vow of chastity because you renounce one form of love you can do that only for pledging yourself and living a higher form you cannot do it otherwise you would do it otherwise you would absolutely fail you would not do the will of God not do a thing that's even moral in itself it's not moral question

[88:00]

Morality cannot accept it. A vow is only pledging yourself to a better thing. And, of course, we know better things. We know through the will of God. We know that through the teaching of the Church, the traditional Church, what is the better thing. And, therefore, it is the same also with this whole matter of renouncing possessions. The poverty cannot by nature the church holds that a person that is working on his own free will and with his own responsibility is and has a right to be rewarded, has a right for and let us say for wages as a right to the value which corresponds to the effort that this person as person puts into the thing because the person in that way is sovereign and therefore the person has a right to its own let us say resources and energies and the fruits that accrue from these energies and therefore

[89:19]

We cannot simply, for all people, wipe out the right of property. We can't do that. That doesn't matter. That doesn't mean that there are not many different ways of handling and of serving and fulfilling one's responsibility, you see, towards poverty. Of course, again, a completely different thing, that's what we... But a self, you know, you cannot, you know, resign and simply throw away, you know what I'm saying, your deepest personal rights without pledging yourself to a better, Of course, in the case, you know, too, of poverty, that one renounces, you know, these, as I say, the fruits, you see, of one's effort for what purpose, you know. for the community, for the oneness, you know, for that, again, you know, the charity, which I argue with, which is represented, you know, in this poverty.

[90:33]

Poverty, for that matter, is, if it is following Christ, who became poor for us, that we may become wealthy, spiritually, as a community for me. So the same is also for obedience. We cannot resign the right to what's will and to what's decision if one doesn't do it for a higher purpose. Which is the higher purpose? It's the identification, complete identification with Christ, Neil Carlius Christus. who is the Son of God and who as Son of God has become obedient unto death. What was the meaning of all this? Was that simply suicide? No, it was the resurrection, opening up and leading us back to our Heavenly Father so that we all and the whole of mankind may again be one family united under

[91:45]

our Heavenly Father through Christ the Son in the spirit of Sonship in which we say Abba Father so that is the inner positivity that's the splendor of obedience and that is what Saint Benedict said in the beginning of his rule he says now mankind is simply in a historical condition in a historical situation we have We all suffer from the fact that man as man, that means Adam, you know, man has violated, you know, the law of God, has put his own will against God's will. The disobedience has been exiled. And exiled means, you know, out of the glory of God. Not anywhere, you see, in the realm of God's glory. Now how can we go back? We can only go back in the way in which the second Adam went.

[92:47]

The second Adam is the response to the counteracting of the first Adam and through his absolute obedience, of course. But what, of course, what is the meaning of this absolute obedience? Well, it's the glorification of the Father. So it's something that went positive. So for us, the same thing. But we cannot simply sit down and say, now, we want to do that, as simply as human beings, you know. So it's a very, very functional thing. We solve many problems in our life. We can only do it if we feel, if we are drawn to by bonds of love, to that eyes of restless good belief, the identification with Christ, nothing is dearer to us than He. And then, of course, we are, you know,

[93:48]

for God and for our Heavenly Father, then the sacrifice of our will is an acceptable sacrifice, otherwise it isn't. So those things, we must see that absolutely clearly. But then, of course, once we have entered into this and we have taken our vows on this basis, clearly, no deliberately, then, of course, we also are obliged, you know, to the things that, you know, Andrew St. Benedict puts it there. It is, that is not, you know, I mean, a kind of an exaggerated, you know, procedure of a man who was still along to an immature age, you know. We now, of course, are in a more mature age and therefore has to be taken cum granus salis. If we did that, then we would get So I only wanted to say that the center, the heart of the whole thing is love.

[95:00]

Love is the heart of obedience. Obedience in love leads to peace, and peace in the individual. and resulting the peace in the community just the community those are the first essential steps that eventually then also lead us to the peace and the reunion of all the christians for which we pray so much and i think we should today to you in these days when we read about the obedience Pray to John the 23rd. Pray to John the 23rd. And give us that and help us in that spirit. Obedience. What a day. Something. know that from the South, but there's no disappearing and the mud appearing.

[96:08]

And it's that fear too is a way of facing God, of being actually related to him as a person to a person, not only in a mental way but in a total way. That is the deep, mysterious and beautiful fact that the more we think about it, the realize that matter and that the body is not something opaque and not something simply putting up resistance to the spirit. We sometimes still live in this kind of Thinking of Descartes, on one side the spirit, on the other side matter. The two are just at opposite ends, in opposition.

[97:14]

It really is not true at all. God created all these things and they were very good. So also the body. Such a wonderful thing that... the body goes into subjection and becomes the instrument of satisfaction and reparation, and the body expresses, becomes an instrument in which we express, for example, just the fear of God, one of the glories, really, of the Eastern icons, especially the Russian icons, that they represent man in that beautiful attitude of intercession, of this humble, reverent, and still so glorious

[98:23]

attitude of the servant who stands before the face of the Lord, but with that royal mission to intercede for other men. So all that is causing our monastic life has such a great meaning and plays such a great role around the altar, in choir, wherever we are. It's that beautiful capacity of of the body to visibly become an expression, become a picture, become an image God's glory through the attitude of reverence, the various ways in which we express our meeting God in prayer. The very fact that man is really, if we think about in last analysis,

[99:28]

created to be a eucharist be a thanksgiving to the to the father and for all the whole universe the whole world of creation he represents it and he gives thanks but this thanksgiving we express it in lifting up our hands so entering into the fall of the cross the form of the cross is at the same time the greatest dignity and the greatest glorification we are when we stand at the altar we say lift up your heart and then with the lifting up of our hearts we lift up our hands and there we stand in the form of the cross and this form of the cross is than the external, the real true expression of God's mission as image of God to be thanksgiving, to be a Eucharist.

[100:37]

So all these things are so beautiful and wonderful and we are grateful to God to have the possibility, I think it's one of the meanings of the monastic life, the fact that we set apart a certain region, let us say, a concrete little piece of this earth, that also then, within this sanctuary, this holy temple, of God's special presence may express also with our body that these deep inner spiritual relations in which we realize our fact that we face God and that God is our Lord and our friend and we his sons and his slaves.

[101:41]

So, now, in connection with that chapter that we have just heard from the Bodhi rule, I wanted to come back to this article, Karl Rahner's article on obedience, because there is a way in which we, in monastic and religious life, in which we try to fulfill this a specific command not to do our own will, to do the will of God. Now, Caruana has explained, as you remember, here in some ways first some misconceptions of obedience, any kind of, for example, obedience as the basis for a kind of autocratic regime or what you call paternalistic regime in which then the superior was kind of

[103:05]

self-justified, all kinds of decisions which are of the nature of, you know, maybe out of his reach, out of his competence, and then in the name of religious obedience Let's say the sphere of doing the reasonable thing as much as we can, the natural sphere, and then kind of mix it or kill it in some way by a hasty supernatural shortcut oh it says now here it's all you know the will of god almost all to uh comply with this so so i mean this kind of um mixing up of the uh fears you know which uh that you remember too and the things that are reset in the past for example a

[104:13]

thing like we are working on at the present time, thinking of the schools, just of those points, you know, in the school which tries to avoid this, you know, and make and establish what we call a reasonable obedience, and not in that way a kind of a, let's say, a magic obedience. But after destroying these misconceptions of obedience, then Father Walner goes on to explain the positive meaning of the religious obedience. And there he stresses, and very much in fact, that's what I've just wanted to point out also for your consideration, That religious obedience should not be considered primarily as obedience to individual commands, nor is it the abstract notion of a general readiness to fulfill all kinds of commands.

[105:30]

But it is, of course, primarily has to be seen in its context. and it has its inner justification only in the special religious setting. That is, I think, so very important to see, that this religious obedience is specified by the general setting of what we call the striving for perfection and the fulfilment of what we call the councils. Primarily, it is the permanent binding of oneself to a definite mode of life, to life with God within the framework of the Church. It involves, therefore, the exclusive dedication of one's energies to those things which are the concern of the Lord and to what is pleasing to Him.

[106:31]

We accept as a form of life the expectation of God's coming kingdom of grace from on high. That is so true. The religious obedience is a way in which we expect, in which we open ourselves to the coming of God's kingdom of grace from on high. Obedience is concerned with the sacrifice and renunciation of the world's most precious goods, renunciation of the right to erect a little world of our own as a field of freedom through the acquisition of wealth. Obedience, of course, in an inner, very profound inner bond, for example, with the whole idea of poverty, religious poverty. renunciation of the right to one's own path, and the felt security to be found in the intimate love of another person through conjugal bond.

[107:41]

Therefore, it is part, in their way, too, of the whole, bound up with the idea of virginity and chastity. It is concerned with prayer. It's really, it is part of, it's an act of virtue. obedience, the religious obedience, simply a specific form, I don't say, of course, a universally binding form, but a specific form, and as such, of course, also sanctioned by the church, in which we, in this form, in a certain totality, kind of say, try in ourselves, the monk does try to kill, as it were, idolatry at its very roots, because the last objective of obedience is the radical destruction of idolatry.

[108:43]

And that is also the meaning of giving up one's own will. That is also in the whole person, the sending, the manifestation of Christ as the Son. Christ comes to us as the Son. And I think, well, it would be good, you know, sometimes to think about it and to see it in that context because, as you know, the main in our concern of the Old Testament, of course, the destruction of idolatry. I think it would help very much in our whole, also in our relation, for example, now with the, towards the Jewish people, to see that the sending of the song And his fulfilling the Father's will through the crucifixion is really, one can say, the access to, or one can say, destruction of idolatry.

[109:57]

is the means through which man is enabled, uniting himself with Christ and his sacrifice, to really and truly and fully glorify the Father. And that is, of course, also the meaning of religious obedience. It is in the context of the monastic life, especially our life, we conceive it according to the rule of St. Benedict, the obedience of the members of the community serves really, one can say, the virtue of pietas, of piety, of devotion, of that, therefore, of the virtue, as we say, of religion. Therefore, in contact, you know, in inner contact with the basic admonition and law of Saint Benedict, nihil opere de preponatur.

[111:02]

That is really, it seems to me, is the meaning of obedience. Religious obedience is, in last analysis, something absolute positive. It is the overcoming of idolatry and its roots, which is the human self-will, and therefore the way in which we fully glorify the Father through the song. It's the manifestation, as Vano puts it here, I think, too, in a very good way, it's the manifestation of God's otherworldly grace beyond the reach of earthly merit. to be accepted by faith alone in spite of all human impotence. In this manifestation, the Church achieves her existential visibility and becomes historically tangible through Dr. Netzach.

[112:11]

Of course, also, it's happening in the present situation, the present time. I mean, if we consider then the ecumenical fields, it seems to me that one of the ways in which the Roman Catholic Church in the actual bound in the actual obedience and the one can say even tangible obedience you know the witness here is given through our obedience to the head of the church to the successor of saint peter Of course, in today's world, it is a tangible way, a witness to this really glorification of God. It is, in some ways, a witness against idolatry. Of course, it's too...

[113:14]

Again, you see how all human things, of course, are always exposed to ambiguity, and that is the great danger. There is nothing, there is no human way of doing things which not in some way could also be used by the devil to kind of achieve the opposite. And that is, of course, here, So the great danger is that this relation to the head of the church, that thank God, through the grace of God, the Roman Catholic Church has, that that is again, you know, this witness is distorted by a kind, let us say, of idolatry, you see, by a kind of a... a relation to the head of the church that doesn't really hit the inner meaning of obedience. It can always be, as we call, for example, one of the difficulties we have today, I mean, the primacy of the Roman, the Bishop of Rome,

[114:29]

can, let us say, degenerate or can be taken on the form, external forms, of a certain Byzantinism, what we call, you know, Byzantinism. A kind of, therefore, a kind of political adulation. That is, as you know, is also, of course, possible in the realm of religious obedience, in the realm of the monastic community, too. The forms, for example, with which a superior, let us say, is treated in the way in which one meets him, you know, is, of course, always against subject to, let us say, to political interpretation. Oh, he likes that, you know. He likes to be, you know, kind of, you know, to receive incense from all sides, you know, and just... as they say, smells it up. Or otherwise, you see, and then, oh, no, you can't come across with this, you know, you can't take these things superior.

[115:38]

He will be deadly against you, you know, for the rest of your life. So, I mean, all these things and also what we call the fullness of power, you know, can, of course, in that way be misinterpreted, can be distorted. So, but... That doesn't matter, you know, that doesn't change, let us say, the interior order of things. The order that has been established, you know, in the Church by Christ, and therefore it is our tremendous responsibility, responsibility one can say of the people of God, not to to let the devil into this and color and distort the relation we have of obedience that we have to the authorities that God has set over us. But therefore, in this obedience, and that is also so true,

[116:40]

What Carl Weiner says there in this collection is, of course, this, let us say, this tangible witness, you know, and it's the life to which the religious immediately and primarily, that's, of course, the kind of distinctive, you know, pledges himself. His obedience with reference to the individual commands which a superior may enjoin, He specified, that means receives a certain character. It isn't simply, this is what he says, without, as we say in the school, drawing out the lines to Christ. That means without hitting and without getting in contact with the, let us say, personal reality which is hidden in this adjoining of this or that command. Therefore, it is specified by this life form, giving it a definite religious significance.

[117:56]

Therefore, in that way, religious obedience is, of course, as we say that so often, a matter of faith. And that means it is specified by our personal faith union and relations with Christ and through Christ with our heavenly Father. through the representative in a given community, the Pope in the church and the superior in the monastic community. So I wanted to call your attention to that, to do things in that way, and then I'm sure that many tensions, uneasiness, feeling of now where are we and in which direction are we going and so on could be easily be taken away I think.

[119:01]

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