We see that the history of civilization begins with an act of God's charity. He was the first to clothe the naked, and he did it for a twofold purpose, to protect the helpless and to restore his dignity. You see, my dear sons in Christ, that as soon as we not only read what has been written, but also try to understand what we have read, the Word of God carries us far beyond the superficial considerations of our human and worldly sense. In its light, in the light of the Word of God, The human garment appears not as a protection only against indecency, but first of all as a reminder and as a promise to fallen man of that divine likeness which lifts him up infinitely high above the level of the animal.

[01:17]

But in emphasizing this, I don't want to exclude by any means from the meaning of the garment, the element of humble recognition of our evil desires, which may easily be aroused by the knowledge of our nakedness. The story of the shameless behavior of Noé Sondkamp is an illustration of this, just as the action of his brothers, Sim and Japheth, is an example of that delicatesse which reverence before the secret of man should dictate to every human being. If anyone would consider these two brothers as examples of stuffy prudishness, He would only show that he has not even begun to raise his mind above the level of animality to penetrate into the true character of human sexual relations.

[02:34]

Noah had withdrawn into the inner centre of the tent, as Scripture says. The sexual activity of man is hidden from the public eye, and in this differs again from that of the animal. When speaking of the marital act, Holy Scripture uses the term, man knows his wife, a term of infinite delicacy and of infinite depth. as different from the modern matter-of-fact attitude as heaven is from earth. It indicates that the marital act in man is not only a bodily function for the propagation of the species as it is in beasts, but that it is inseparable

[03:43]

from and is only a symbol of the spiritual fusing into one of two persons who share with one another their inmost hearts. This sharing is as intimate as it is exclusive. It is unique and it cannot be shared with other parties. The reason why this should be so why monogamy should be the rule for human sexual relations, can only be understood when we see them in the light of God's relation to man. Monogamy is a realisation of monotheism. The one and only God is a jealous lover. because he alone has in his hands the key to the inmost heart of men, whom he created in his image and likeness.

[04:49]

That man leave father and mother to cleave to his wife, in an intimate and exclusive union is indeed a great mystery, I mean in Christ and in his Church, in God's love for his spouse. This love is as intimate as it is exclusive, and of this union human marriage is a symbol and the carnal union of husband and wife is again a shadow of the intimate union of their souls. The human body essentially differs from an animal body. It differs in this that it is translucent, sending the light of the spirit into the material world. An animal does not have a face as man has it. The entire bodily form of man is transparent of his personality, and therefore when this bodily form develops into full sexual maturity, it becomes an expression of that intimate exclusive personal love which unites the hearts of husband and wife, a love of which children and teenagers are incapable.

[06:15]

This is the reason why the meaning of garments for children differs from that for adults. For the latter, it is not only a protection against the elements and not only a reminder of their dignity as human beings in comparison to animals, but it is also a protection of that personal secret which is to be known only by the one to whom it is devoted in legitimate marital love. It is certainly not by mere chance that carnal union between man and woman takes place while the two face one another. The husband knows his wife. He lifts the veil. He is admitted into the inner personal secret. Husband and wife have nothing to hide from one another.

[07:18]

But this union takes place, as we have said, in connection with Noah's drunkenness, in the centre of the tent, hidden from others because it is a living symbol. of the bridal union between God and his people, which the Canticle of Canticles has put into the classical formula, I to my beloved and my beloved to me. In the light of these considerations, it is clear what the habit means to the monk. There have been movements in the history of the Church which declared that Christ's redemptive work had restored to man his original innocence, and that therefore he should prefer Adam's costume to any man-made garment. However, these movements were those of heretical enthusiasts.

[08:26]

they certainly have nothing to do with monasticism. And the rule of St. Benedict reveals quite a different attitude. I think one can rightly say that there is no Christian saint who, with the progress of his spiritual life, became more free, as we say today, in matters concerning modesty. Even when St. John the Evangelist, the Virgin among the Apostles, sees the new heaven and the new earth and the communion of saints gathered around the throne of the Lamb, he sees them clothed in white garments. At no point, therefore, neither at the beginning nor at the end of his new life in Christ, does the Christian return to the primitive nakedness of our first parents before the fall. The reason for this is easy to see.

[09:29]

The first coming of Christ does not mean a return of mankind to the peace and the innocence of paradise. Although clothed with the new garment of sanctifying grace, the baptized Christian still remains a soldier who has to fight the battle with the enemy within him and without him. not in the boldness of self-confidence, but in the humility of one who realises that whatever is good in him is a gift of God's grace. This is especially true of the monk and of the saint. The closer he is to God, the more he will live as a conversus, as a man who knows that he has been snatched out of many waters by God's mercy, and that he can be the more confident of his help, the less he trusts in himself.

[10:41]

Here is one reason why the monastic habit covers the monk. I would like you to compare chapter 55 of the Holy Rule, where St. Benedict prescribes expressly that the abbot should see that the habits are not too short. Maybe at Mount Saviour we have not paid enough attention to this point. covers the monk, I say, by day and by night, as St. Benedict especially states in chapter 22 of his rule. He wears his habit in the spirit of humility, of contrition and of penance. St. Benedict knew how hot it could become in the Italian summer, even at night. But the idea that the monk could uncover to be cooler is certainly foreign to him, although this was the common practice in pagan antiquity.

[11:50]

To sleep, as he says, clothed and girt with girdles or cords, chapter 22, is the way a conversus sleeps. who neither by day nor by night ceases to be a humble servant of his Lord, always on his guard against the enemy and willing to pay the price of bodily discomfort. The same ideas determine Saint Benedict's attitude toward baths. He wants that they should be offered, as he says, to the sick as an act of solicitous care. but that they should only seldom be granted, as he says, to the healthy, and especially, he adds, to the young. This is to be found in chapter 36. Saint Benedict naturally speaks here of warm bath, given in a special bathhouse individually and generally considered as a luxury.

[13:00]

Their frequent use could produce, especially in the young, an attitude, a soft and effeminate attitude. Our occasional dips in the Angus pond are not likely to have such an effect on the members of the community. However, I would like to ask the members of the community not to go swimming without trunks or bathing suits. and to be deliberately careful, dressing and undressing, either there or in their dormitories or in their private cells. From what I have said before, it is clear that the reason for this is threefold. One is the humble realization of the conversus that the beast in him is not dead, and that he simply cannot afford for a minute to relax in his vigilance. and where there is a whole group of professional conversi, as in a monastery, the individual who feels safe enough, so to speak, has certainly not the right to demand a special rule for himself.

[14:17]

He should be glad to carry in all humility and charity the burden of all. or if he finds he cannot, he should leave and he should join a group of the pure ones. The second reason is that in a monastery we don't know one another according to the flesh. Christ alone is the bridegroom of our souls and of our bodies. The habit is the wedding garment which hides the secret of our inmost heart and its physical sign, our nakedness, from the eyes of others, because it belongs to Christ alone. I don't think I am in disagreement with St. Benedict if I warn especially the young to be careful to keep that distance of reverence between one another and to respect the fact that their brother belongs to Christ and not to them.

[15:23]

Where young men live together habitually, it cannot be avoided that they pass occasionally through phases of being infatuated with one another. This is not perversion and has nothing to do with homosexuality. But anyone who is mature enough to consecrate himself to Christ in the wedding feast of the monastic profession should also be able not to violate or to give away the secret of which his body is as it were the seal. Embracing or other signs of sensual affection are therefore banned from the monastery. The kiss of peace is certainly not such a sign. To give it to one another, especially at conventional Mass, in a way which shows concern not to come too close, in too close a physical contact with the brother, is certainly not a manifestation of chastity.

[16:33]

The kiss of peace, the holy kiss, as the apostle calls it, is as old as Christianity itself. It has its home in the sphere of worship. It should be beyond suspicion because it is a sacramental, a vehicle of that chaste brotherly love which is always eager to forgive and to establish one another in the solidity of the love of Christ our brother. In any case, the kiss of peace is a traditional liturgical and monastic custom and to consider it as a threat to chastity would be preposterous. It is given in holy obedience as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, so that there does not remain much room for the devil. But there certainly is room for the devil where relations of particular friendship are being cultivated outside and against the obedience to the spiritual Father,

[17:41]

which to the monk is really the most effective safeguard of his virginity. Through the practice of obedience, the monk shows that neither his body nor his soul are in his own power. In particular friendship, the monk disposes at least of a part of his soul according to his own desires. how the devil would laugh if he would succeed to induce monks to consider it prudish to hide their nakedness from one another, but who at the same time would hide closely the secrets of their evil desires and of their emotional relations from the eyes of their spiritual father. Here we come finally to the third reason why a monk should never leave his body uncovered in the presence of one another.

[18:44]

It is the symbol of the new life which he has received as a child from his heavenly Father. This life is a dignity and a glory which exceeds that of Adam, and therefore the body can never be its adequate expression. This is the reason why St. John sees the saints around the throne of God not in their certainly pure bodies, but clothed in a white garment which indicates their new priestly dignity as members of the new Israel. Whenever monks are together, they are together as children of God, as brethren of the Son. And to always wear something over our bodies when we are together reminds us of this precious plus that God has given us when he clothes us through his representative, the abbot, with the monastic habit. That it is our habit who gives this habit to us also shows that to the monk holy virginity is a gift which he constantly receives from the hands of his spiritual father.

[19:59]

I am inclined to think that a monk who considers trunks and other precautions as unnecessary, awful to purity, may be guided by the thought that innocence has nothing to hide. There is a deep truth in this, as long as we realize that the true nature of innocence is to be a child of God in all simplicity, and therefore is the fruit of obedience. I am as much against prudishness as you are, because prudishness stems from a self-centered attitude which does not want to surrender the gift of sex to whom it belongs, to the husband or the wife in marriage, or to Christ in holy virginity. The latter is done through the means of childlike loving obedience to Christ's representative and complete frankness in all matters concerning the desires of the flesh and emotional relations

[21:01]

to our brethren or to persons outside the monastic community. This is the window which we should open to allow the Holy Spirit to change the air in our human hearts. And if you add to this a true understanding of the reasons why we wear our habits and stick to it by day and night, I don't see how you could ever become prudish by observing the rules of the monastery concerning our

[21:38]

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