The accompaniment of the psalms, you know, indicates a certain difficulty which we meet here in this chapter on the lack of ventilation. We want, let us say, I don't feel like one of the three youths in the fiery furnace, absolutely committed to the furnace as such. So if it gets too bad, we just move out. But in the meantime, Maybe it's a good idea to think for a moment, you know, just on the meaning of a chapter room. I must confess that there is a certain... In my thinking about it, it's just another example for the situation in which we are, in which we try to recapture certain values and a certain order, that to some extent, one is always, one has lost, one is always up to lose, one is always up to, again, in some way to disturb

[01:22]

new developers and so on, all this kind. The church is constantly subject to it and monasticism is subject to it too. Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda is certainly a valid expression and monasticism is a kind of professional constant renovation and reformation. So I think in the history of the monastic life, if one considers, because there is a problem that has occupied us in the past, that maybe is still occupying us, and that is the relation and function or the need for chapter room and what we call a common room. I think that was one of the problems too that accompanied us during the building of these, especially this Eastern building.

[02:30]

I think in looking at the rule as well as the history of monasticism, the chapter has, let us say, a certain priority. in that way that Saint Benedict in the Rule does not know the elements that has developed the introducing of the recreation, recreation as an element of the Ranggansevan, of monastic discipline. that our father Stephen Hilpisch always put it in this way, that there was the, in the original monasticism, there was the desert, and the desert stands for renouncement, and there was the There was the Sophia, the element of contemplation, of theory, and that corresponds to Greece and to Athens and the academy and all these things.

[03:45]

And then we have the element of the obedientiae, a special way introduced into monasticism by St. Benedict in legislating for the synobitic life, the community life. And that corresponds to the, in some ways, it's, I'm going to say, it's prefiguration in the Roman order and the Roman idea of the state, of state authority and all these things. So the Roman, Father Albert Hildefonds always used to refer to the Roman pater familias. And then comes another element, and that comes with the Nordic nations, that is, when monasticism goes to England and places like that, questionable, and Germany, you know, St. Boniface, and then Rather, Stephen puts there the oak tree as a kind of symbol of that, you know.

[04:54]

What does it stand for? For the gemüt, you know, and for these, you know what gemüt is, you know, that famous word, you know, which is so difficult to translate, but one feels what is needed. And there we have people in monasticism and in this English and Northern Molasticism. We have people like, very colorful people, you know, like Saint Bernard, or like Saint Aylred, you know, who writes the Amicizia Spirituale, where now, I want to say, the heart, the whole field of of human relations, but not merely human relations, but human relations informed and transformed and guided and lifted up, and for that matter also purified by the Holy Spirit.

[05:59]

But an element which more and more has been found to be a thing which constitutes an element, at least in the cenobitical line, the cenobitical stage. Of course, it's really not the last word in the monastic striving. But nevertheless, in this specific status, you know, of where the conversion of morals is the theme, where the fraternal charity is the theme, where the souls of the monks are still in that stage in which they need encouragement and they need the support from various people and they need from their brethren a verbum bonum.

[07:04]

They need this personal encounter and meeting one another on a deeper, let's say, personal level. That whole element, you know, that hasn't in the original monasticism, as we know it from the regular registry around the time of Saint Benedict, And also in the Rule of St. Benedict himself, he speaks of ours very beautifully and one can see that the 72nd chapter really is a product of deep personal experience and wisdom. It certainly has all these elements, you know, of also the activation and of a fraternal love. on the spiritual level, but in such a way that it remains really and truly human.

[08:10]

We must always take that into consideration. Wherever there is a question of redemption, it is the redemption, of course, of man. And therefore redemption can never consist in the killing of man, but only in the bringing to life of man. And there is now, I mean, we, anyhow, the, this element of the, of the meeting, of the, what's in Benedict the Concilium, where the community as such speaks, where two or three are gathered together, I am in their midst, therefore in the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit may reveal to the younger one what is good. All these things which presuppose and which indicate spiritual maturity which indicate also the seriousness and the solenity of this meeting, that then, I don't know exactly at what time, I didn't have the time to follow it up or look it up in a way, has found its expression in the chapter.

[09:30]

and in the chapter room. And evidently, the chapter room has been traditionally built in the form of a chapel, just as also the refectory has simply and manifests clearly the character of a certain sacredness. Why? Because the meal of the monks is a continuation of the Eucharist. And therefore, of that whole part of the Mass, which we call today, we call the Mass of the Faithful, which is really the sacrament, you know, the sacrament of the meal, the sacrificial meal. And that is in the chapter, in the Reflectory is expressed. And therefore, the Reflectory too is and takes place, the eating takes place in this, definitely in this, let's say, atmosphere of the Eucharist.

[10:36]

The chapter room, evidently, is for the Word, and it corresponds, therefore, to the Missa Catechumenorum, to the Mass of the Catechumens, or the Liturgy of the Word. in the monastic life. And therefore it is there, it's that room where the teaching of the abbot, the words of the abbot to the community as a whole takes place, where also the concilium fatum, this mutual common search in Christ, you know, of his holy will for the community. A search is pursued in that inner liberty and that parousia, you know, that is so characteristic, you know, also for the mass of the world, and which culminates always our Father who art in heaven, in that prayer.

[11:42]

So that for that is then is the chapter, but of course it's always in the refectory as well as in a chapter room, it is the community as such. which meets on the level and in the framework of the monastic life. I think that is an element which strongly contributes to the solemnity of which is given in monastic tradition to the meal as well as to the It means to reflect as well as to the chapter is that element of what we call eschatological element, you know, that I think if one looks, you know, and asks, you know, what is the meaning of solidity?

[12:47]

In the monastic life, it certainly isn't. The meaning of solenity is not the necessity for the unfolding of a certain pomp and circumstance. But solenity in the monastic sense is the source for our, let's say, most solemn inner reactions. It is the parousia, it is the becoming present. of the curious among us, in his, among his people, with his people, and of course that has, in this time between the Pentecost and the second coming of the Lord, where we shall come see and come back again, as we have seen outstanding, has of course the eschatological element, is that source, seems to me, of solemnity.

[13:53]

Solemnity which is in the monastic life at the same time, that seriousness. And that seriousness which is also in our lives so much expressed by the silence. silence is that solemn way and serious way in which we receive and in which we turn toward and experience the presence of the curious, of the Lord, Lord Jesus. Now it is, there comes then the question, you know, in the, about the common, what we call common room, or what we call recreation room. Now, where is that place? And I can, I think if one considers this context of the monastic life, one easily realizes that this element of recreation, whatever you might call it, relaxation, and so on, constitutes really and truly a development.

[15:04]

But a development, which we can see at least as in the Benedictine Confederation, is absolutely universally accepted in various ways and in various degrees. And maybe in our community here at Mount Saviour, I think from the very beginning, we always have tried to get and to live, say, the recreation in such a way that it isn't another kind of stiff community performance. always in Magyar Lath, the recreation room is dark green and black, you know, and that's of course, it saves nothing, that is very lifting up. But then everybody has his solemn dark chair, you know, big oak chair, and everybody sits on it, and then everybody waits until the abbot says the first word, you know, and then

[16:18]

Great mutual communication is of course very difficult under those circumstances and the whole thing, you know, it may be more exhausting than a chapter meeting. We try to avoid this, you know, and to take then the recreation as, of course, in the declarations of the Bolognese Constitution, the recreation itself, you know, too, is seen completely under the, let's say, under the angelic point of view. It is a, how could one say, the minds of the monks, you know, should kind of be lifted up on the level of the angels, you know, and the conversation should be, kind of have that angelic character.

[17:24]

A conversation, the type of that is always St. Benedict and St. Scholastica. But of course, St. Scholastica knew that she was approaching her end. So that had a strong eschatological character. And maybe our creations, now can we say that, they are less eschatological. But you realize, you know, in thinking about it, and I say these things just, you know, that we may also among ourselves, you know, weigh these things and maybe come to a solution. We will never come to a solution. But to see the function of recreation, you know, we pass little things, you know, for example, we pass little energy, as we call it, it's a wonderful word, you know, in this context now, energy in the recreation in Marie Allard and the Abbot Ildefonds would be absolutely impossible, you know, completely out of place.

[18:41]

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