Well, I wanted to try to speak today, maybe already a little, about the mystery of the ascension that will be our feast in this coming week. Reading the Fathers on the mystery of the Ascension, we realize that... That's a little sign of Ascension too, isn't it? That's the... The ascension of our Lord considers the beginning of that glorious transformation of the whole universe that follows and is, shall we say, the logical consequence of the resurrection.

[01:11]

And that with him then as our head enthroned, as we say, the right hand of the Father, that means in the quiet, definite, victorious position of absolute rule, He will from then and out and through this glorified humanity also draw us gradually into his orbit through the power of the Holy Spirit whom he sends then. That is the gift, that is the power of his rule, the all-ruler. He rules in and through the Holy Spirit. But in speaking about it, in speaking about, for example, the transformation of the human nature of Christ through the resurrection and culminating in the ascension, we use figures like, I was reading Schmaus,

[02:24]

Michael Schmaus, he is Father Thomas' teacher this time. Father Thomas tries to write a thesis under him. Schmaus. And Schmaus speaks in these terms of it, you know, it's like a... Now, of course, how can we speak about these things? It's like one can picture to oneself the glorified humanity of Christ like a bull. And we realize then that if a bull which is geared to a low, how does one call that, current, then if a stronger current is set in, it flashes up in a completely new light, and if that current is out of proportion, then the bulb will simply go to pieces.

[03:33]

So there we get something, somehow the idea, you know, that this transformation that is started in the resurrection that accompanies and is the meaning of the whole exaltation of Christ. It's a kind of transformation of matter into a more, what shall we say now, spiritual degree of existence. Of course it doesn't cease to be matter. So there are all kinds of problems and then if we think, you know, that from this general and big burl, you know, then... the current of the Holy Spirit comes down upon us. And all the little bulbs, you know, of the baptized Christians, you know, are then illumined, and the stronger the current, you know, the more is the light, and the brighter is the light.

[04:41]

If you think on those terms, I'm always a little, how to say, leery. Do we not perhaps miss the point? that we speak of those things, this transformation in terms that may be too much still stuck in the physical world. Of course, I am true and everybody knows that we speak about it in these terms. We do it in an analogous way, per analogia, by way of analogy. But then still, should we not really attempt to replace, or at least to penetrate into the analogy, not on terms of physics, but in the terms of the living person? Because what is the Holy Spirit? An energy.

[05:44]

It's a person, it's a divine person, it's the kiss, as we say, it's the gift, the gift, through which the Father, through Christ, draws our heart to himself. So in speaking, therefore, of the ascension and considering the ascension as the beginning in the head of the universe, in the head, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man. The beginning of this transformation of the universe into a higher state in which the ups and downs, in which the limitations, in which the failings of this material world would be eliminated by a bigger, unfailing energy.

[06:52]

Do we really hit the point? And you realize, we all realize that in reality we don't. that we really have to conceive and have to penetrate and especially in our inner meditation, we have to enter into these mysteries in terms of the person, not in terms of electric bulbs. And in thinking about it, you know, it just came then to my mind that we have, you remember that some time ago, I think it's already weeks ago, we spoke about the first part, I think it was also here in this room, we spoke about the first parts, the first paragraph of the 20th chapter of the Gospel of St. John. with the 20th chapter, the description, now shall I say it immediately, of this transformation, I would say of the exaltation of the Lord begins.

[07:58]

You realize that this 20th chapter in some way counterbalances in the Gospel of St. John the story of the passion. And while we can see in the description of St. John of the passion, while we can see their various personalities as types, and in typical ways, that means in ways which immediately concern us and which reflect certain aspects of our own personality and our own personal destiny or certain tendencies in us or dangers in us, shall we say, We see that how in this history of the passion of the Lord, in the history of his emptying himself, his descent into death, we also see the descent with him, around him, of human selfishness into the abyss of apostasy.

[09:10]

And we see that, for example, in the various types and ways which make up the crowd, what is called the crowd in St. John's Gospel, and what is called the Pharisees, St. John, and the disciples with Judas at the end. We see that this descent into the apostasy Parallel to it we have the description of the exaltation of the forty days, the exaltation. And the exaltation is accompanied by the description of the rising, of the transformation, of the transformation of of love, of some kind of human attachment, loyalty, whatever it may be, to the Lord, into the absoluteness of the full faith, which is then expressed in these words, my Lord and my God.

[10:25]

These two things, as I say, are in parallel, but counterbalancing one the other. a descent of one and an ascent of the other. And we analyzed last time a little the first part, the first step as it were, the first phase of this ascent, of this exaltation. And we realized it starts in the dark. Significant enough, in the dark it starts. And where Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb, and there's the first sign that she then realizes, and that is the open tomb. The open tomb. Broken open. you know, robbed of its content? It doesn't know yet. But that's the first sign.

[11:28]

The tomb is open, open. And that is in itself, you know, now, according to what we have spoken about. Then the second sign, you know, is then entering the tomb, entering the tomb, and the empty tomb, realization of the empty And then the third sign, the realization of the garments, was what has happened there. In the napkin that covered the face, carefully folded, everything in peace. It's therefore not an event of violence that has taken place, some miraculous high manifestation of great peace and order. So then, Peter and John, you know, realizing these things. That's the first step, you know, to say the realization of these facts, the external visible facts of the science.

[12:33]

And the disciple whom Jesus loved, he saw it, and he believed. Because they did not know yet, you know, and didn't understand yet what the scriptures had said, that he had to rise. So they go, as it is said, and this first step ends on this note, and they ran into their own. Now Mary Magdalene, the whole thing is in such a tremendous, I mean, just beautiful, art of description, of composition, and the subtlety of the structure, which is just absolutely... Only St. John. But St. Mary Magdalene had started, St. Mary Magdalene continues. And there comes that, and all the, and that is the second step.

[13:39]

And the second step then, around Mary Magdalene, that is then, the touches then, and to my mind, develops the mystery of the ascension. But the mystery of the ascension now in inner terms, in personal terms, Not in the matter of this higher degree and stronger current of spiritual energy or something like that. Not the flashbulb type of thing. But the inner convergence. Twice that word occurs in this little paragraph then on Mary Magdalene. And there it goes this way. Maybe we can just, in some short way, just touch upon it. It seems that in this convergence, shall we say, of Mary Magdalene, the inner dimension of the ascension and what faith in the ascension of Christ means for us, could I think be, at least in some way, could be seen by us.

[15:01]

So one thing is clear, you see that right away, in this little paragraph of Mary Magdalene receiving the glad tidings of the ascension. It's so important that we realize that our Lord does not say to Mary Magdalene, I am risen again and here I am. No, not that. Not that. And right away, we think about it, we realize what the ascension means. And we realize why our Lord said, I have to go. I have to leave you. If I don't go, then what? The Holy Spirit doesn't come. And then we can see that and say, what it means in terms of the inner life. of what we call today inner attitude, spiritual attitude.

[16:05]

We can see that, I think, in Mary Magdalene. So one thing is here that St. Augustine says so beautifully, these two disciples, you know, completely lost in thought, you know, typical men, you know, go back deep in thought, it begins to dawn. something, they begin to remember something about Holy Scripture because men are really usually people of books, you know, the women are not. And then there she says, St. Augustine says, the weaker sex, the stronger sex goes home. happens so often, the weaker sex stays. And as St. Augustine says, is that a good English word, riveted. He said, I've read that somewhere, but I don't know if I pronounce it right, riveted, fixed to the place by the weight of her affection, by the weight of her affection.

[17:21]

See, that's the difference. The men are the brain people, you know, thinking, lost in thought, they leave the place and go home. Although they haven't seen him, they haven't met him. It's just this kind of conviction based on the signs, that kind of faith. But with Mary Magdalene it's different. It is her heart that keeps her there. And she weeps outside the tomb, outside the tomb, without the tomb. And she, yeah, one does not know. St. Augustine, in explaining these things in the treatise to St. John, says that and asks his audience, she stoops down into the tomb.

[18:23]

And St. Augustine said one really doesn't know why she does that. She knows that there's nothing in there anymore. But in this, she stoops down. What is it again? You know, it's that inner, one can say, what is it? It's the inner instinct of affection. This looking and looking again. One does not want affection, never gives up hope. Especially not that loving affection, of the woman. never so deeply eradicated, never gives up hope. She stoops down again. She peers into the tomb. And then she sees as an answer to this her longing, her deep inner emotional love for the one whom she has seen here on earth, to whom she has listened as a master who has

[19:34]

had mercy on her, and had lifted her up, and forgiven her sins, on that she stoops down, if she could not perhaps still find him. And then she sees the two angels, and then St. John is there very explicit, one at the head, one at the feet, so that in between, you know, where Christ had lain, you know, kind of picturing the tomb, picturing the tomb with the two angels sitting on it, right and left, Just in some way one can say as the Ark of the Covenant, who were also the power of God, the presence of God, is seated as it were between the two cherubim. But she isn't really, one can say, she sees the angels, and one can feel, if you read it, one can feel her astonishments and her gazing at them.

[20:45]

But it is so beautiful that she is so completely lost in the one object of all her love, that one cannot One cannot enough realize that. The one object of all her love and of all her thoughts, and all her thoughts are this, where is he? They have taken him away and I don't know where he is. And that is what she answers to the angels when they ask her, woman, why weepest thou? And then, as it were, you know, maybe again, you know, in a kind of instinct for the presence She, that's the first time that this word occurs, she turns around.

[21:47]

She turns around. She sees the, somebody who reminds her in some way of the gardener. There's that meeting. And again, she asks, you know, what? You know, it's so that first that the gardener asked her, you know, and says, woman, why weepest thou? So it's the repetition of the question of the angels. But it is with an addition, because he right away adds this, and he says, whom do you seek? Whom do you seek? Why weepest thou? Tea, in Greek, you know. What, for what reason do you weep? Whom do you seek?

[22:49]

And by that, you see, he already guides from the, out of the, one can say, neutral sphere, leads into the personal sphere. Whom do you seek? And then she answers, you know, my lord, not anymore the lord, and I am seeking him. Not we don't know where he is, I don't know where he is. And then the question, you see, now, Do you, perhaps, do you, that means not the enemies that she always had in mind, you know, do you perhaps know where they have, where he is, where they have laid him, that I may take him

[23:57]

doesn't mention a name, always the, again, the personal object of her love. Him, him, him. Three times, you know, in this one sentence. And, of course, in the inner enthusiasm, the strength of the love, you know, she, not realizing or not thinking that she could scarcely carry him, that I may take So all that, you know, is the manifestation of that deep inner loving, longing, inner, absolute inner attachment to, but to the Lord, to the Lord in his earthly existence, and now seeking him among the dead. And this strong personal inner love for him, you know, has the one kind of goal, one could say, perhaps one would say, the one goal to be with him, dead or alive.

[25:15]

And now since he is dead, to be with him, dead, among the dead, with the dead one. So in that way you realize how her thoughts are completely moving in the, how can one say, the historic human realm. But in this power of love, as it were, continuing, perpetuating perpetuating this inner attachment into the region, into the realm of death. And then comes, you know, slowly then comes the change in the very moment in which our Lord passes from the general address, woman, Why weepest thou?

[26:19]

Whom do you seek? To the personal address, Miriam, That calling her by her name, The good shepherd calling the sheep by its name, And that calling her by her personal name, That is, as it were, the awakening of the inner true self. But one can see that here, what is the instrument, as it were, what is the way in which our Lord, as it were, penetrates or awakens this inner true self? absolutely the response to this deep, let us call it earthly love, come and say earthly completely, come and say that, love of the woman.

[27:21]

That is as if we are taken up, and taken up in the deepest, inner, personal way. Miriam, that name of love. on the lips of Christ, the Savior who loves her. And then the answer, the double answer, Rabbuni, my master, and the casting herself at his feet and trying to hold her. Both these answers, both these gestures, the word as well as the gesture, we realize that are and fail, as it were, in their inner dimension. They are not yet on the line, and that is what I would like to emphasize, they are not yet on the level of the ascension.

[28:26]

They are now on a higher level in this way, because she is not looking for Christ among the dead. She realizes that he has risen, that he has returned. But the answer, or the rabboni, as well as the gesture of falling down, casting herself at his feet and holding him realizes that what her mind is set on at this moment now is the continuation, the beginning anew of that same company and of that same living together that they had before, of that friendship that she had vowed. So for her at this moment the resurrection, if one may speak of it in this way, is return from the dead here upon this earth in order to continue here on this earth a life in the terms of that love with which she was embracing him

[29:53]

Therefore, don't hold me." And then in Greek, in the Greek text, it says, I am ascending to the Father, simply. I am ascending. No, no, it's not in this first sentence. Hold me not, and then it's gone. Because I have not yet ascended. I have not yet ascended to the Father. To the Father, not to myself, to the Father. So that is now, we could perhaps there say, but I think it's not The right interpretation would say, now, at this moment, you know, where I am, the proximity of my ascension forbids me at this moment to enter into any, let us say, intimate relation, contact with you.

[31:05]

Lasting. But I don't think that that is the real depth of it. But it is here that the whole sentence as it is said, because I am ascending to my father and to your father, to my God and to your God. I am ascending. There is in the second sentence, there is that presence, I am ascending as a process, you know, because all these 40 days are the exaltation and they are used by our Lord in order to lift up, to raise up the minds of his disciples to that level. It means to the fullness of the resurrection and to avoid and to make it clear that the resurrection is not, as sometimes here and you know in Brazil, you know, where the spiritism is going rampant, you know, and people have all these sessions and get the ghost, you know, to tell you, you know, what's all about.

[32:12]

I don't know what, you know, but I mean give messages. funny messages usually and all that, that is not the meaning of the resurrection. The meaning of the resurrection is the ascension Therefore, the meaning of the resurrection is not that the Lord would now resume his contact as if nothing has happened as he had before, perhaps now on the line of the messianic rule and messianic happiness here on earth, in the line of the messianic kingdom. That was, of course, the great temptation of the apostles. And what is condensed in this history, in this story of Mary Magdalene, and in the person of Mary Magdalene, are, of course, the basic critical inner decisions and developments at the church as a whole. the group of the apostles underbent in the 40 days, and that the church as a whole has to undergo in every moment of her existence, and which therefore have to become an integral part of the inner experience of every Christian.

[33:29]

We cannot think of the resurrection in the terms of return. We must think of the resurrection in the terms of ascension. And what does that mean? What does that mean? What is ascension? Some people say, yeah, ascension is simply our Lord's last manifestation. And the crowd took him up and that simply means, in a symbolic way, that now the series of manifestations to his disciples is ended. Last of his manifestations. I don't know. It seems to go further, because ascension, what is ascension? And that is what is in the story of Mary Magdalene so evident. I have, I am ascending to my father and to your father, to my God and to your God. And therefore, the resurrection is a home-going ascension.

[34:32]

That is, of course, what always in the Gospel of St. John is the accent on this. You read tomorrow's Gospel and you find it there. I went forth from the Father, I came into this world, and I leave this world and I go home to the Father. So that is the term and the meaning really of the exaltation, and the exaltation is the home going to the Father, and therefore what does it mean for us and to us? It is with Christ going home to the Father, so that the real true meaning of the exaltation of Christ and I would say now of the sending of the Holy Spirit is our union through Christ with the Father. That is the reason too and that is the root of our brotherhood and why we are brethren and why the Lord says, and therefore go to my brethren

[35:41]

and tell them this, give them this news. I go, I'm ascending to my father and to your And that is, therefore, what the Spirit, also what the ascension for us means. It is that Christ is for us with the Father, opening, therefore, for us the way, the access to the throne of grace, the throne of mercy, that in great inner pausia, in the prime mood, in that liberty of spirit, we may stand before the Father. So, really, the last meaning of the ascension is to enable us in the Spirit, through the Son, to give glory to the Father. The community gathering of monists, as the guests gathered together in the context of the enthusiastic year and its time alike, the little route of the cosmos and the excitement, they are gathered together

[37:26]

around Mary in a room in Jerusalem on Mount Sinai. During these ten days between the Ascension and the Antichrist, after the Lord's going and before His coming, during this little while, this little while we are truly An image, a special way of our life here on earth. Between its coming and its going, its constant. Between the ascension and the constant, its life's coming at the end of time. So what we will try to do tonight is to put ourselves, identify ourselves with them. Now we must let ourselves be penetrated, permeated.

[38:29]

Now we must, shall we say, transformed by the inner image. The first characteristic seems to be of this situation that we have, that we meet, especially in Toronto, Spain, is when there is a group, a group, a group of people, that means a small number of people, hidden away in the upper room, with merely as their father, the most intimate room, Remember, it's the time before the descent of the Holy Spirit. Then, at that moment, 3,000 entered the church.

[39:34]

And what does that mean? It means that the dimensions of the whole are transcendent. It means that the smaller group develops into a public institution. Publicity, the public, is their womb. Of course, it has to be that way, because the spirit that descends is the spirit that heals the whole earth. But I think for us, as monks, certainly we were expecting these We remember today so deeply, first and foremost, to our being here. Because so many Christian people in our days, the importance of the group to our salvation becomes clear again.

[40:42]

Because in many ways we realize that that specific sphere of publicity that Christianity had, for example, when society and the Church were identified, when therefore also the political line and the ecclesiastical line We're in close contact as a manufacturer. At the same time, it's gone. Therefore, anyway, I can't get on and say it. In God's wise, confidential ideas, we have lived into our death. And where is this depth concentrated and where does it hopefully develop in the group, what we call the group? Groups, therefore, that number of people where intimate mutual contact is possible, where personal exchange is possible.

[41:58]

where personal support is constant, companionship in the deepest sense. Now the group that is there on one side then has a very special characteristic, and that is, for instance, decisive. This group can also say that the group of people remaining as a small group, now they can, would easily also, as they fall into a certain sufficient attitude, as we have with the teen groups, or ladies, when they are in need, the bond as they be with But a wheel is not meant to be unspinned. The wheel, which spins, has spin, and the so-called spin leads to an impoverishment.

[43:06]

But the characteristic of the groove that we need in the upper groove of Steinway is, first of all, that they are deep. In this time, a time of unique suspense, expectation, is especially acute. Why? Because there is no fulfillment. Christ the Lord in this bodily presence has left, and the power of on high has not descended as yet. So there is in this suspension, there is the experience of great inner poverty, of great longing, of being completely riddled with powers.

[44:17]

lift light off the heart. Therefore the dark moment, but the moment which at the same time is full of great expectation, take that moment as depth. It is looking forward. Doesn't feel lost in that fear that has no hope. It directed towards a deep, sure expectation, towards the coming and fulfilled the coming of the consoled. So, therefore, that is what distinguishes, one point that distinguishes the inner life of the group. If you read tomorrow's epistle, the first letter of St.

[45:24]

Peter, the fourth chapter, then the first thing which opens this paragraph in the original text is not being aware. In tomorrow's liturgy, but still I think we should take it in. There it is said in verse 7, the end, the first part of verse 7, the end of all things is at hand. Then St. Peter continues, and of course, this beginning also gives them the special urgency to his exhortation. Therefore, keep silent and strong, for in your prayers above all, upholding your law for one another, since law powers a multitude of sin.

[46:24]

So let us keep that in mind more when we hear the words of Saint Peter, that this is the way he introduces them. The end of all things is at hand. Now that gives it certainly Pentecost, the descendant of the Holy Spirit, was expected by this living room as the coming, somewhere, as the end. So the life of the group was filled with deep inner seriousness. And that is what I wanted to emphasize. A group can easily disintegrate If the small stuff takes over, for example, as expressed in the chit-chat, if the taking over of the little events, you know, of the day, if the little movement becomes a movement which one entertains one another, it loses its depth

[47:40]

And of course, and also, by the way, the group as such, and the living together, loses its meaning. Now, for us as nuns, for those of our guests who are going to come and read, the means which protects the dead is silence. And then we should also, just being confronted with this sentence, the end of all things is. And we should remember that. Silence is for us one word in which we open ourselves to the enormous urgency of this imminent end of all things, in which we as Christians think we constantly live. towards which the church not only demands, but also the laity is constantly looking for, the end of all things.

[48:43]

Medicine is absolutely not a discounting contempt for the world as it exists around us, not at all, but it is really an opening through the importance of the moment, what we are always speaking among ourselves about, the sentiment of the moment. And silence is, in a way, the sentiment of the sentiment of the moment. Silence breaks out that depth, provided silence is not considered as an observer. If silence is considered as a discipline, if silence is considered as a law, then naturally it loses its true fellowship. The silence must be there. We must live this life in the liberty of the spirit.

[49:44]

and liberty of the spirit as an throwable line of laws or forms of sinful communication and sharing and living. It's for children. But it's gifts and that is meaning. That is the meaning of the liberty of the spirit. We know that very well, if somebody comes into the monastery, he arrives there simply as a postulant, just comes from the home, comes into this thing, feeds everything, gets dragged like this, we don't do this, don't do this, especially there, you don't talk here, you don't talk there, and all that can normally not rule, why? Because the inertness and the inert attitude is not there, they are for the postulant, Naturally, the candidate will feel empty. In some way, he has lost his liberty. But as soon as he enters into the inner meaning of the silence, he gains his liberty.

[50:48]

He becomes then a part of his own inner depth. Therefore, he becomes a thing which is then, of course, spontaneous. The life of the group, if it is willingly preserved, whether by liberty, cannot be a constant teaching part. It cannot, therefore, be wasted in teaching. It must, therefore, be protected by silence, and this silence must stir up in the inner understanding, the living understanding, of the group as a whole. dimension of instantological expectation of a tremendous urgency, work as long as there is within. Then the next step is that this rude life, as St.

[51:52]

Peter describes it in Paul, should be the same and sober. What does that mean? The same sophosyne, that beautiful Greek verb that means the pardons. Pardons. German pardons. Pardons in English is the opposite to exaggeration, for example. Balance is the opposite to panic, to exaggerated excitement, the opposite to uncertainty and unrest. Balance in the soul, to me, is that quiet and total contact with the whole of reality, not with this impression and that impression. And this feeling, and that feeling, and all things get absorbed in every single feeling, and lost in it, and finally then being thrown around in a world of confusion.

[53:00]

But the first step is this. Sanity is that balance judgment. The constantly renewed attempt to keep the view of the totality. Then the sober person, be sane and sober, St. Peter says. What is that, this being sober? Vigilante, they translate it in the Latin text. That means full awareness. What is the full awareness? True awareness is, not the same as self-esteeming, taking into contact all elements of reality, but true awareness is that awareness of the true reality, of the inner state of real, of what is really and truly important in real.

[54:06]

And what is that for us as Christians? It is always God's loving design for us. God's love for us. What we call the Ark. There is the rock bottom of the Ark. There is the rock on which we put our head every afternoon. There the awareness, the watching through which our Lord constantly exhausts us. is that sleeping is forgetting, forgetfulness. The opposite to be aware, and to be aware of the one light and the one life, which is God's love for us. And then, of course, if we, again, if we consider the death that leads us, and so we can see our logical sanctity that is in this exhortation, to us, this little group, and then, that you may be able to pray.

[55:13]

Therefore, seek that sanctity. Don't get annoyed that by a vacuum, you see. keep the same balance of things, and in taking full awareness of what in Greek theology, and in Greek iconology, and of course also in the Psalm, one calls the ever-sleeping eye of the Merciful Father in Heaven. That is His love, that is the awareness. and that he never sleeps. So there is then a balance in this audience forever, so that we may be able to write. And I think that's very, very important for us to realize, because it is true, of course, that prayer requires certain psychological framework, requires recollection, it requires attention.

[56:25]

All these psychological things are there. Theologically, prayer rises out of this Catholic realization of the wholeness of reality, and of the constant, the waking, never-sleeping eye of God's mercy. That makes it, for us, makes it possible to pray, because prayer is really, if we consider it as Scripture, approaching the infinite majesty of God. The act of prayer is a deal. It is context. It requires that the audacity of the audacity of the one who knows that he is being loved. Therefore, again, prayer requires that freedom, that freedom that only faith in the fact that we are being loved gives to us.

[57:29]

And there is again another I wanted to call your attention to, because just in these last days, said several times, my attention has been called to that. Let us not lose, I think it's such a good, you know, concern of the members of the community, let us not lose that spirit and depth of silence. And science has many dimensions. One dimension instead of this is technological depth and seriousness, against which change happens. There's this simple wasteful playing around with time and thoughts and imaginations and so on. But the other one, the other aspect of science, the reverence, but a reverence which is a The Emperor would set silence for us Christians to positive things.

[58:35]

Now to the observers of the law, it is simply a new reflection, and it also wants to make room for God's love and for His healing work in our souls. Then is the other danger of teacher. You see, then we are not only lost in superficialities that pounce, but then we also are too much filled with the importance of our own doings, of what we are doing, of what we are saying, of what we are listening to, of what we have to react especially through what we have to judge, because of the function that we feel all the time sitting on the judge's throne. We hear things, you know, we human beings don't listen only to say that the carnivore reports and the critical things.

[59:41]

So these two things are there, this credibility and not its nullificence itself, and that critical attitude that's constantly absorbed in the more there's hope. world that comes into the form of any speech that is not really controlled, that is not really reliably caught on the signs and so on and so forth. It is clear that there is a good world, but this good world comes out of a good sorrow. And that would so alleviate this crisis of the love of God for us. In its silence, the silence is simply the suffer less, let's say, of man. It's that room in which we weaken oneself, that he has confidence enough that he doesn't have to feel everything with his doings and with his knowledge. But then he can not let the Lord speak, that he gives room for his praise, that he more is able and eager to listen to what comes from above, the message.

[60:57]

So then, as the God of silence is again so involved, The opposite, you know, of this stupid official chapter simply informs us he will be compliant. sometimes stupid, bouncing complications of our own already too complicated being here on earth. I will say that silence is a wonderful way to preserve our enriched simplicity. And that, too, is one of our concerns, isn't it? So in that way, this ultimate silence, which is faith in God's love for me, then it's the essence of sound, it's the essence of movement, ultimate and wisest life. And it can, in and of itself, say that quite otherwise.

[62:00]

Hence the characteristic of a truly the true familiarity. There is a child that speaks to his father, the son speaking to his father. Let our wisdom, let our audacity, let our prayer really win this element. It is our duty to say it. Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. So these dimensions of the human life, that is of course one of the things that characterize the being together of the disciples and merely as they were together playing. that lift up our silent, trusting hearts, and true in expectation for the gift, beholding them that receives the gift.

[63:15]

But then there is still another element in the moonlight that's in detail, and that exalts us to follow tomorrow in the image and likeness of this little moon in the upper room, and that is then in the next sentence, above all, hold unfailing your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Titled these two sentences simply together, because I think they are one. This unfailing love, that love that is coined with text, you know, that is, that holds out, that holds on. The love that doesn't give up. That is what we mean by the failing love. That's what's in it. The love that doesn't give up. Let love cover the multitude of sins, because what fools of God is apt to destroy love is, of course, sin.

[64:29]

Sin and the Holy Spirit don't get together. Still the Holy Spirit was weaned upon the apostles by love, and when you remit sin, you still remain a victim. soul, the spirit, the avoidance, the collective power. It's not a giving up in front of sin, but it is a forging sin, it's overcoming sin. It is as if we're just following sin. It is forgiving. Forgiving God is that God which pulls, and which heals, and which in that way absorbs. And a church in that way then conquers sin, releases sin, as we may say. And then is the other important aspect, basic aspect of the group, because there is again a creed, as soon as we enter into the big realm of politics,

[65:37]

There are Christian emperors, and there are Christian kings, and there are Christian nations, and there are Christian wars. And when you come to the end, you know, this whole thing becomes about a vacuum. And so, again, the goal is different, at the original. And that maybe is the reason why so many things that are being destroyed in our world today. Then a new thing then emerges out of it. And then it's that instantaneous vital contact. Then the Holy Spirit breaks in the heart of the group of those who are together, really experiencing in the being together the community of the Spirit. And then the community of the Spirit doesn't give up in front of fainting.

[66:40]

If it gives up in front of fainting, then the community of the Spirit is done. Because we here on earth, in this little violin in which we live here, we are dressed by the company of disciples. If that symbol, I would say, of forgiving God, I mean male, the brother of the Lord, and not being in their midst, I'm afraid, then men are left to themselves. So the room that I just commenced there, that's what I would say, modern ecology. The quality of our giving, the quality of prudence. If it becomes a mutual condemnation, criticism, tearing this wall down, tearing it up and down, putting people into places where they aren't feeling they can have a recovery, putting them down and

[67:48]

put it aside, not considering them, that is, of course, being of community life. Community life cannot possibly, in this, the lineage between Pentecost and the Last Supper of Christ, cannot be the life and communion of saints. Impossible. cannot be, then, the line of the triumph of the Church. It does not. Everywhere we go, we may still go to the parish, and we may find that the worship is not so very inspiring. more and more into the Biblical aspect of the Biblical life, and we feel alive on the lines of so-and-so and [...] so-and-

[69:03]

And this is certainly an accomplishment, an accomplishment. So we knew them, we know them, and we have replaced them. And it's long to keep up. And every moment, God or girl, in any way, with such an imperfect church, the daughter of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom Church, Look at it, for example, at the present time, you know, where there are so many upheavals, you know, and so many disturbances. Looking down and saying, ah, really, I'm sick of that now, I can't do it. This now, in person, was impossible. but cannot be said in the context of which we speak, although St. Peter speaks in the context in which the Apostles live, the enormous tour there is before the Holy Spirit.

[70:06]

For us, it is always through love, not as a matter of response only, enthusiastic response to great virtue, but as the power, the healing power of forgiveness. Therefore, let us keep unfailing, love unfailing, because it covers the multitude. Now this morning here we are together as the solemn and public assembly of the Church, of the Universal Catholic Church, into the Senate of the Holy Spirit that is founded here on earth. And we celebrate this gathering for almost some time now. in the form of what we call the consideration.

[71:13]

I think all of you who are present here notice it, and it might be good today just to say a few words of explanation. You realize that this, what we are doing here, is part of the greater theological renewal that has been initiated by the Second Vatican Council, and that has for its purpose to bring out again clearly, publicly, and in a living way, that the Church of God is here on earth in order, let us say, to seek, as we sing this morning in these words, to seek the face of Christ, to seek the face of Christ our Father, to live You will stand at this door and remember it that we are righteous now.

[72:19]

It ends that it all means thing to all these things. Glory may be given to God who comes. And there is really the inner purpose of the church. As people of God, we are gathered together in order to glorify in the unity of the Holy Spirit through Christ our Heavenly Father. And that, in some way and in a specific way, is also expressed in the consecration. In that evening, through which the consecration was put into evaluation, was promulgated, It is said that three things are emphasized and are being brought more clearly to the attention of the people.

[73:22]

Realize that this celebration of our Eucharist is, as we say, a sacramental celebration. The sacrament is a sign. and the conduct of the Indian Consecration says that what we want to do is to bring out more the character of the sign. The sign signifies unity, signifies the unity of the priesthood, signifies the unity of the Christian Sacraments, and signifies the unity of the whole Christian people. In these three words, we will proclaim the presence of Christ among his people in the Eucharistic celebration. Our Christian priesthood is not simply and only the individual gift

[74:31]

That somebody has, let us say, a man who has special prophetic gifts, a man who has special religious gifts, a man who has received a special training, all that is not the essence of the Christian priesthood. It's not a personal gift. It doesn't come straight from his personal character. It springs from the sacramental character. And that sacramental character has been given to the priest through his ordination. And this sacramental character means his confirmation, his transformation in a special way to Christ. to Christ as the priest, to Christ as the preacher, to Christ as the ruler.

[75:33]

In these three ways, the priest is, in a simple way, in virtue of his character conformed to Christ. So that his priesthood is, in every way, in every individual person, and in every individual priest, one. It is the face of Christ, the high priest, the structure of Christ, the high priest, to be exercised here for the salvation of the people. So the unity of the priesthood, Christ and we are as one in Christ. And not everybody as, as it were, as individuals. unusual individual way of dealing with people, of influencing people, of leading people to God.

[76:35]

Certainly everybody has that. But it's not in the context of the sacramental life in the church. It's not the decisive thing. not the qualities, the human qualities make the priest, but it is that infusion of special quality with life, which takes place and is ordination. And therefore, every priest acts in the name of God, acts into power of God. And what he gives again, as expressed to beautifully in today's epistle, he doesn't give himself, but he gives Christ to the people. And there is expressed where we are together and we peer together, as in today's show, where not every individual priest goes to his altar and says his words, but they all come together

[77:42]

and they have all got it in faith, and they all know faith, and they all offer what's more, the same sacrifice. And that is the other aspect which this celebration brings to the attention of those who take a part in it. It's the unity of the sacrifice. Just ask in the Church of Christ. He is the priest, the apostle. And every ordained priest presents a special conformity, sacramental conformity, with Christ, so also the sacrifice that is offered is not in person, and is not essential. In order to forgive someone who has done one wrong, another one contributing two dollars, and another one contributing bread, and another one contributing wine, and another one food, or whatever it is.

[78:51]

It's not that the essence of the Christian sacrifice, because the Christian sacrifice is a redeeming sacrifice, Therefore it is a sacrifice which God the Father sends to us by sending to us His Son. And He then is not only praise, but He is also the offering, He is also the giving. So the essential thing is not that everybody that he contributes in his own way But the essential thing is that every one of us takes part in the one sacrifice Christ our Lord. That is the expression of that new charity that comes from above and is sent to us that lives and is brought on in our hearts through the one Holy Spirit and that enables us

[79:55]

to offer the one and the same sacrifice of God that our Lord offered on the cross. And we do it here in this consecration, we are willing and always. And these are the sacrificial, sacramental actions of a priest, our visionary. so that all can see him participating, fused into one, so that all priests together say the Canon of the Mass. And then, this cup, this cup of collegiate action, where is then an answer and a support to the one loud triumphant honor of the people of God, of the congregation. And in this way also we hope that in the time to come, by now, everybody realizes that this Jesuit renewal still suffered from the transfer from the Latin to the English,

[81:10]

And there are difficulties also for the people still to participate. There are many transient, passing, technical difficulties. They will soon be over. We are on the way. That's fine. For the people, for the possibility to express themselves and participate into that action, we are on the way. where the voice of the people of God can be heard in the church. And that, as time goes on, I'm sure, will also be the case here in our church, in our chapel. We are here together, not only exclusively as a monastic community, but when we celebrate the Holy Eucharist, we are volentes, volentes, more voluntary, certainly than voluntary. We are a church. We are like a public gathering.

[82:11]

Nobody can be excluded from the public gathering in a public parlor for as long as this one is, and therefore, we also, and especially, on Sunday, may or may not, as time goes on, we will open the way for every individual that comes here to take part also actively and also in singing his voice in the upbringing of the Holy Sacrifice and the Eucharistic celebration. So let us this, may this The way in which we see many, at least also from the outside, may for all of us be the expression of the inner unity of the Holy Spirit of Chalice, that we express in our being together, that we express in our sin together, and we express in our offering together the same sum.

[83:15]

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