just in kind of jail in spite of desperate efforts. And so what I wanted to do then tonight is just quietly let us prepare for tomorrow's Mass, which is that of the sixth Sunday after Pentecost, and then the last before the 24th Sunday, which is and on the ecclesiastical year and the beginning of a new one. So we could start in explaining tomorrow's Mass with the last sentence we have in tomorrow's Gospel. Jesus spoke in these parables that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables, and I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the word.

[01:17]

I will open my mouth in parables, that is the Hebrew mashah, that word which brings out the deeper truth, which is in a form, in the form of a simile. So it is an old way of teaching, as you know very well, a way of teaching which is fulfilled in the incarnation of the Word of God. Christ, the Word of God, made man. He is the simile. But you realize right away that he is simile. Isn't that simile? Not simile. That's I-M-I-L-E.

[02:21]

Simile. Simile. It is a simile This is the word of God made man. And this word of God, the glory of God, the power of God empties himself. And he became one of us. And he was found in the form of the slave. And he died. obedient down into the very hidden depth of the death on the cross. And therefore God exalted him, gave him a name which is beyond all names, that in the name of the curious, the Lord every need should make

[03:24]

so that there we should find ourselves, all of them, as the servants, the servide, the servants of God. That is the masha, that is the parabole, that is a word which transcends itself, a small little word, a word which in itself is very humble, very simple, And still in some mysterious ways, it contains all the power of God, all the glory of God, all the salvation of God. And that is, you remember, that is what we have spoken about so often in the past, that we should not think of the kingdom of God. and its realization here in between the times on this earth, its realization in the church.

[04:34]

And we should not think of it on the lines of any kind of human, mere human associations, on the lines of a denomination of something, a human association, which somebody can enter at will and leave at will without gaining too much or losing too much, except perhaps some social reputation. Not that way we should think about the kingdom of God, about the church, but we should think about it in these terms of his humility. In this visible organization, which is subject to all human laws, to the laws of history, the failure, the ups and downs of history.

[05:38]

And still, in this sinily, the power of God is effective and makes us to know what constitutes the kingdom of God. makes us to servants, to the servants of our heavenly in and through Christ. So that is a word by which wisdom now adapts itself, bends low as it were, in order to be received, in order to be full, become full, digestible by the children. But special character of this divine food, of this divine power, this divine mashallah, which is perfected in the incarnation, the death, the resurrection, the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ, is that this wisdom

[06:53]

is power. This word is an effective word. And that is the message of tomorrow Sunday. It's what the church wants to remind us of. The church, the kingdom of God, is filled with the presence and, as I say, the operating presence. That means the power, the dinner, Pogitationes purchase the thought of peace that God thinks are effective, are saving, as his world is created. So the example of that is given here first in the Gospel of St. Matthew.

[07:53]

Well, you find that Jesus the Lord opens his mouth to parents so that he may utter things hidden, that means enigmatic, from the foundation of the word. The best translation of that probably would be in the light of the beginning. In the light of the beginning. from the foundation of the world. Because what is the object of these powers? The object of these powers is the power. And that is the incarnation, the death and the resurrection of the word of God made flesh. That's, that is the real, the reality.

[08:56]

which is hidden in these paragraphs. Christ, when he speaks about the kingdom of God, speaks about himself. It's his own, one can say what we call it, mysterious. Hidden things, the mysterious. But a mysterious in this sense, as we always spoke about it, during all these conferences that we had, these nights, a mysterium which is not only an intellectual wither or something that simply is beyond our comprehension, no, a mysterium in the sense in which we have explained it, a mysterium as the manifestation and presence of glory, a mysterium in the sense of the redemption of the sinner as the manifestation of the Divine Agape, the Mysterium.

[10:04]

The Mysterium as the thing which lasts through all the ups and downs of history and makes really and constitutes its, what we call in Hebrew, Ula, its eternity. That is the Mysterium. And that is the word of God, in whom the word was created, through whom the word was redeemed. So he himself is the, what is expressed in these parables. And we see in the light of the beginning, that means it's Christ himself who speaks about himself. and therefore puts things into the light of the beginning. The situation that you have here in the Gospel, in the 13th chapter of St.

[11:06]

Matthew, is evidently that this little band of the Lord's disciples. And what disciples? Just look at them. How limited in their understanding in their character. Small in number, absolutely insignificant. And of course in this little band there is timidity, and there is a lot of fear, anxiety for the future, what will we cause? And these parables here in which the Lord speaks, Evidently, in order to open to them what is covered and hidden beneath the surface, this poor surface, this thing that hides the glory.

[12:09]

That is the essence of it, you know. Hiddenness is that what hides the glory. And there they are, afraid, deadly afraid. And then the Lord opens to them in these two parables the inner power which is present under this very insignificant historical beginning. And so he says, Jesus spoke to the multitude this parable. The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed. a man took and sowed in his field is the least indeed of all seeds but when it is grown up it is greater than all herbs and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and dwell in the branches they are in the right way another parable is added so that these two in some way may complement each other

[13:19]

The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened. All these things Jesus spoke in paragraphs. So those are the two, two paragraphs. They are like two, one can say, words, you know, which in themselves are again sacramental. The high beneath them is hidden, the whole power of the kingdom and means of the world made flesh that dies and rises. One can say that here, what is it that our Lord speaks about? What is it that he reveals? One can say, really, what is indicated in the intro, cotitationes arches, a non-affliction. I think thoughts of peace and not of affliction.

[14:22]

That is the mysterious, the meaning, the inner divine meaning of history. As it is realized in the way in which God here on earth, through the ups and downs of history, establishes his kingdom in order to lead men into the fullness of salvation. The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed. Now, we know that here the point of this parable is the absolute disproportion between the beginning and the end. Usually one may say that this parable here speaks about the miraculous and rapid extension or growth of Christianity. In some times one calls these parables, parables of growth.

[15:26]

Now, there is, there is something true, some truth to it, no doubt about it. Provided one realizes, or let us say, put it this way, provided one does not approach this, these parables or this growth, which is here hinted at with the mind, you know, of the Western man. Western man always thinks of development. The Eastern and the East, the Orientals are different. They see the beginning and they see the end. A very insignificant, small beginning and suddenly a marvelous, Tremendous dimensions, disproportional. What is it? A miracle. What is in between? Now, of course, now the Western man comes and says, now let's see what happens to this seed.

[16:31]

The seed disappears, but he will kind of pick it out of the ground, and he will see now, you have to see what has happened here. And in the end, it's all very natural. For the oriental man, this kind of, you know, the accent, one can say, is not in the inquiry and the discovery of what happens between the beginning and the end. But he sees that tremendous disproportion. And what is the bridge between the beginning and the end? Then for him, it is the power of God. And so in this way, certainly, the parable is meant here when it is applied to the kingdom of God. The tremendous difference between the beginning and the end in the history of the church.

[17:33]

But let us right away also remember that this is just an imitation, as we will see in the epistle, the beginning and the end of Christ. He himself, the word of God, made man, is the seed. And there he is, the little mustard seed. The child born in Bethlehem, born in the stable. And there he is, that mustard seed. That he himself proclaims, yes, you're right, I am a king. But Nobody else believes it. He is actual home. Look there. What a pitiful human being. Actual. A pitiful human being. That is the mustard seed. And then the mustard seed is buried.

[18:34]

Buried in the ground. Descended underneath us. Passus mortus sepultus est. He died and He was buried in the ground. And then out of there he rises again. And then he breathes the breath of life upon the apostles. And in that way the church, his kingdom, starts its triomphant march through history to Rome. So that is what is meant here. is that there must be the kingdom of God. What is the essence of the kingdom of God? It is that power which, how shall we say, which binds together the small humble beginning and the exaltation, the glorification.

[19:38]

In that way, the kingdom of God, of course, is really also among ourselves. What we learn and what the rule of our Holy Father Saint Benedict, what is it? What else is it but the rule of the kingdom. Those who are humbled, they will be exalted. Those who are exalted themselves, they will be humbled. It's the whole seventh chapter of the rule of Saint Benedict, which is here in the That is a real mysterious. The power of God works through this kenosis, through this emptying of oneself, of itself. And through, in this world, one single little seed has to die. It's buried in the ground, and then

[20:41]

it grows and it multiplies. That is this who died in order to blossom into the fullness of God. That is the mystery, the mystery of the kingdom, exemplified, stated forever in the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ. repeated in the whole history of the church and in the history of the soul of every individual Christian. And in a similar way, the other parable brings out the same. The first parable, that is true, gives then and ends with this picture of the tree. The tree, in comparison to the seed, the seed is the human element.

[21:45]

The seed is the historical element. The tree is the divine fullness. The tree is the divine end, the completion, the, what we call in Greek, the pleoma, the fullness. And that tree then here, as this said in the parable, the king, the birds of heaven, They make their nest. And that, of course, is an old expression for the power of a kingdom. A kingdom is likened to a tree already in the Old Testament, in which the birds then take and make their nests. And so it is said here of the kingdom of heaven. So it is true. And in this first parable, in some way also, the note, let us say, of extension comes.

[22:47]

It's an expansion. There is one, let us say, little word in the beginning. There's a tremendous tree in the end. And many that make their nests in this tree. Then the other Parable is and has the same disproportion. There's a little, small little piece of level. And in the end, there are, I don't know how he said here, three measures of meal. Three measures of meal. Now, one has to keep in mind that there is enormous mass. That is enough to feed about a hundred people. So it is again emphasized. And that is also so beautiful here in these parables. That, as in the first part, the little grain of mustard seed, which is the least indeed of all seeds.

[24:01]

And then it is described where man takes it and he puts it So it is set here in his field. It's rather he puts it into the ground in his garden. And then when it is grown up. So man we see man here. Also that's so significant. Doing a small insignificant little thing. Just imagine him. Taking this little little thing you know. Out and putting this little seed. into the ground and then carefully covering it with earth. In itself, that is a completely insignificant little action. But again, so typical, because as you know so very well also from our whole monastic approach to the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of heaven is not something

[25:05]

that is built up in tremendous, spectacular accomplishments. But it is done in very small, humble little things. Think of St. Teresa of Lisieux. Think of the little way. And that is such an important thought, just in the realm of our monastic life. Because in some way, the retirement of the monk into the monastic realm as retirement of the world is also retirement and renouncement to the big, great things of history. The one who becomes a monk renounces all dreams, you know, of being the leader of an army, of being the tremendous popular representative of the people, or anything like that. And in that way then, pushing and pulling his weight, you know, around, and pushing his weight into spikes of history, and then turning this whole immense machine.

[26:19]

All that for the monk, that's finished, that's all. We are not here in order, let us say, to do and work in tremendous dimensions. We put a little seed And there is the little seed from and say, of our humble goodwill. And then we put it into the ground and we bury it. And out of that then rises the kingdom of heaven, the tremendous tree. And the birds come. They make their nests in it. It's not our doing. Once man has finished putting the seed in the ground, his work is done. And that is the idea for the oriental mind. The rest is up to God. And then after time I look again and lower and beyond. Something has become of it which manifests a power which is completely different from it.

[27:25]

It's God's power. It is that power, I can say, that raises the dead into life. It's the power of the resurrection. And that is what's indicated in these parables. It's the glorified Christ and his spirit which is revealed. And that is very evident, you would think, of the level. Because the level, you know, adds another element. The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven, which a woman took What happens? Again, the woman. So it's not the man. In the first it was at least it was the man who puts it into this garden. Here it's the woman. The woman is, as you know, in the Orient, not considered as the crown of creation.

[28:27]

So the woman comes, and these little things of the daily life that keep the family going, while the man is out, the husband is out, you know, to, [...] to cleanse the big deals. The woman is there and takes this little piece of devil. And again, you know, that of course isn't simply, you know, our own subjective, let us say, and devotional, you know, approach and further, let us say, I wouldn't even say explanation, but further spinning out of the thoughts which are begun in this parable in some way, the woman. We think, of course, right away there too, of Our Lady, and we think of the church as the woman, And we think of the level which is taken, that is Our Lady's humble contribution, so to speak, that she, the open hand of mankind, she gives her own flesh and blood so that the words in that way may then penetrate the whole mass of mankind like a new level by dying.

[29:55]

So here it is, the woman takes that leaven and she puts it into this enormous mass of dough. And then what happens, usually that mass of dough is covered, you know, and then one just leaves it to itself. One doesn't move a finger. That's the reason maybe why the woman's work is not considered as such a tremendous contribution, just as in the first panel. And then the whole level, the whole is leveled. So that indicates, again, you know, the power of the resurrection. But I would say still in a more, in a more, I would say, beautiful, in a more precise way, And this power of the resurrection, when we speak about it, what we mean again is the word which becomes flesh, and in this way enters into the whole door of humanity, and then there dies, and in this way then, in the power of the spirit penetrates the whole, and in this way,

[31:25]

changes it, as it were, into the kingdom of heaven, puts it into the hands of our heavenly Father. Now, the way in which that, in a concrete form, is, let us say, appears to us, that is then shown so beautifully in the epistle, tomorrow's epistle, where St. Paul speaks about the Thessalonians, You know, the Thessalonians were kind of his first fruits after he had passed from Asia into Europe and under the impetus of the Spirit, you know, urged by the Spirit. And then he had, speaks about them, we give thanks to God always for you. making a remembrance of you in our prayers without ceasing.

[32:28]

Much could be said about that. Be mindful of the work of your faith and of the labor of your charity and of the endless enduring waiting of your hope, of our Lord Jesus Christ before God And of course, this last trinitivus of our Lord Jesus Christ before God and our Father could be really drawn to all the three things. Faith, charity, and hope. And the way which St. Paul describes the works is just in the way in which he speaks, in which the gospel speaks about the mustard seed. The work of faith. the labour of your charity, that endless patient waiting of your hope. It is beautiful that the faith is here considered as error, as a work.

[33:37]

Now, I would not, at the moment, you know, I would not like to go into that because I'm not in my own way too sure about it. But one thing is clear, you see, that here Faith, which is the first gift, which is the light that is given to us, and which is the first act to baptism, the first act through which we are received into the kingdom of God. And this faith here is called an ergo, a work. Then the next, charity agamem, the labor of your charity. labor of your charity. That means that just as faith is not simply something which falls from heaven and then is there in our minds as an undisturbed light, but as faith is something which constantly works in us, which leads us from conversion to conversion,

[34:50]

which leads us from death to death, which has to be gained every day again, or which we not simply can't say, you know, that we have it once and for all, and now we can look down about everybody else who doesn't have it. No, faith cannot be separated, really, for conversion. It's the beginning and essence of our What is faith? It's the conversion from the idols to the glory of the living God. That's faith. And that conversion is not only once in us and then forever, but it is there as a constant renewed experience, as something in which we die and rise every day again. I believe, O Lord, That's the inner, one can say, the divine mystery of faith.

[35:57]

It is light in darkness. That's the mysterious. And that is the entrance into the kingdom of God. That's the work of our faith. The labor of your charity. That means the labor of your love. In the human sense, if you take it as apples, love is something which is a delight. Love is something which means a fulfillment of man. Love is something which has in itself, as we said, in the past, the taste of eternity. But this is agape, the labor of your agape. And what is it? naturally is evident when we look at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the labor of charity. And therefore, wherever that charity is, there is that labor.

[37:04]

And again, that is the mystery of the kingdom of God. We die, and in this way we live. As those who have nothing and still we have all things. And omnia posidentes, possessing all things. That is the labor of charity, the enduring, patient waiting of the hope. That's the other one. Hope in itself, you know, is something which lifts up the mind, certainly. Hope is like a Beautiful perspective in the future to which we are drawn. But still when we think of the Christian hope, enduring, patient waiting. Waiting from day to day. I would be tempted to say, waiting from night to night.

[38:09]

And how much we experience that in this time and also in the Advent season. So it's all, in all these virtues, light in darkness, love in death, and it's then patient waiting in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ before God and our Father. Knowing, brethren, beloved of God, your election, for our gospel has not been unto you in word only, but in power also. And there again is that same basic motif. The power of God in the word, in the word of the apostle. And you know very well how the apostle, how Paul himself, spoke about each other. That the wisdom of his word is not the wisdom of the wise of this world.

[39:14]

that there are few wise there who believe, you know. So, in word only, but in power also, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much fullness. Such a wonderful, such a wonderful trinity there is in these three. Not in power also, the word in itself, one can say the spoken word, is something of the most, I'm going to say, of the weakest thing in the world. The world, easily produced, but what it passes like with the sound, has in itself is a weak instrument. And still this world then filled, as the kingdom of the whole kingdom of God, with dynamism. in the Holy Ghost and in much fullness.

[40:21]

That means an absolute deep, quiet persuasion. The fullness of knowledge and the fullness of virtue. As you know what manner of man we have been among you for your sakes. And you became followers of us and of the Lord immediately. the word in much tribulation with joy of the Holy Ghost. There again you have that mystery of the kingdom of God. That word is received in much tribulation but with joy of the Holy Ghost. Death and resurrection. So that you were made a pattern to all that believe. in Macedonia and in Raphael. Those of you who have received the word in this way, in much tribulation and in the joy of the Holy Spirit.

[41:31]

Again, think of our own and apply it always to our own monastic life. How true that is. In much tribulation, in the joy of the Holy Spirit. And then what do you become? You see, then the growth starts. The growth of the kingdom. But how is this growth? You become then a typos. You become a pattern. How does a pattern work? Not by, you know, again, you know, moving the earth. But simply by its being. There is a pattern. What do I say a pattern? A canon, a norm. What does this norm do? It simply lives according to its own standards. But what is the effect? Other people see it and they say, ah, there is something completely new.

[42:36]

There is something that we have never seen or experienced before. And in that way, The word spreads. And the kingdom spreads. And in every place your faith. Which is to us God. Is gone full. Though that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves. Relate of us. What manner of entering we had unto you. And how you turn to God. From idols. To serve the living and true God. And you wait for his son from heaven. Jesus. Who has delivered us from the wrath. So again, it's not great and skillful propaganda. But it is simply that there a sign rises. Who is that sign? It is the question itself. And what does he do? He lives, lives according to his deep conviction, in that fullness, in the Holy Spirit, in the power of the resurrection, in much tribulation, in the joy of the Holy Spirit.

[43:43]

That's the new thing. That is what the world does not know. And that is the mystery of the kingdom of God. And that, let us live that in our monastic life.

[43:57]

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