of Mount Xavier Monastery in Elmira, New York. Adamus was born in Hanover, educated at Göttingen and Munich, entered Maria Locke, and after his profession was sent to the International Benedictine College, Saint Anselmo in Rome, where he received his doctorate in philosophy. He then became professor of philosophy and rector of studies at the Philosophical Academy of Maria Locke. And, of course, these were the great years, I think, at Maria Locke under Abbot Wildefance Herbegin. It was in the study sessions that were conducted there during those days that many of the things which we now enjoy and consider great progress in the modern church got their impetus. During this time, he wrote a two-volume commentary on the sacramental teaching of St.

[01:07]

Thomas Aquinas and was active in the Catholic youth movement among university students in Germany. He came to the United States in 1938 and taught at Macular Conception Seminary at Darlington and at Manhattan Hill College, and became the first chaplain of the Benedictine nuns of Regina Laudis in Connecticut when they arrived in the United States. He has been an associate editor of worship and a director of the liturgical conference, published books of pathway through sacred scripture and symbols of Christ. But since 1951, when he, with a group of three other monks, founded Mount Savior and became prior of this monastery, he has devoted his full time and interest to this good work. He is, happily for us, one of the three advisors of our Catholic Art Association.

[02:07]

And for me, he is a friend. And I think I could say it's my joy that I am able to think some of the same thoughts that he thinks. But I'm only in the art, you know, as Sister said yesterday. The Father Damasses, I think Sister Vernard will agree, has arrived. normal Montessori person. I think it is my opinion and I think this is an objective opinion that our speaker this morning, Reverend Father Damasus, is a man of great stature, a great spiritual leader, a great father of monks, and I think we can say a great light of the church in this 20th century I would just like to ask you to rise in respect and gratitude to his coming or for his coming to speak to us this morning about the formation of the Christian people through the liturgy.

[03:30]

Brothers in Christ, these warm words of Father Phelan and your reception, I think, fit in well some way to the topic that we wanted to treat today, the formation of the people through the liturgy. I think we feel it at this convention. We are not here only as brains, but we are here as human beings with our whole heart, and bonds are being established between us, bonds of friendship, bonds that only the love of Christ can establish. between men and between the members of this mystical body.

[04:38]

Now, before I launch into the depth of our topic today, I would like to recount an anecdote from the life of St. Anthony. I feel it would be particularly apt for this occasion. I, as a Benedictine, I have to speak of education to teachers. We have it in the life of Erdmar, that Erdmar wrote about St. Athlon. He says that once an abbot, who had a reputation for great sanctity, conversed with Athlon about the boys being educated in his monastery. "'What on earth will become of them?' the abbot asked in answer. "'They are corrupt and impoverished, "'and though we keep on beating them day and night, "'it only makes them worse.'

[05:52]

"'Antham was greatly surprised and answered, "'What, you beat them constantly?' What kind of men will they grow up to be? Dull and crude as beasts, the avid replied. But how can you waste good food this way, asked Anthony, to waste beasts instead of human beings? Who does, asked the avid. What can we do about it? We try to constrain them on all sides in order to improve them with And yet they make no progress at all. You constrain them? Now tell me, Father Abbott, if you plant a young tree in your garden and at the same time constrain it on all sides so that its branches cannot spread, and years later set a tree, what will the tree look like?

[06:56]

Barren, I suppose, with bent and crooked branches. And who would bear the blank for it but you for having handed in without discretion? And this is precisely what you do to your boys. By their oblation, their parents planted them into the garden of the church. And there they should grow and bear fruit. But you surround them with scare-throws, threats, and beatings. so that they can never grow into freedom. Thus, particularly restricted, they fall victim to poisonous thoughts that are nourished until the hearts of the youth have pardoned, and they refuse anything that could lead to their betterment. Never perceiving any love or tenderness in you or mildness in their behalf, they have no confidence in your intentions.

[07:59]

and consider grudge and hatred your motives. The sad fact is that as their bodies grow, hatred and suspicion grow apace, and they fall more easily victim to evil. Not having been brought up to love anyone genuinely, they can only regard everyone with jealousy, looking at the world with shifty eye. But tell me for the love of God, why do you vet your anger on them in this way? Are they not human beings? Are they not brethren? Would you want to be treated as you are treating them? Put yourself in their place. But let us have no more of this. Are blows and stripes the only means of education? Have you ever seen an artist passion a beautiful sculpture, sculpture, from an ingot of silver or gold by hammering the loan?

[09:00]

I doubt it very much. How does the artist go about it? At times he presses and pushes the metal carefully with one tool in order to give it the right shape. Then he smooths and polishes it, yielding gently to the nature of his material. If you want to bring up well-bred boys, you must give them the hammering of discipline, but also the head full concession of the loving kindness of a father. What, shouted the amateur, make head full concessions to them? We wear ourselves out trying to lead them by the bridle to serious and mature Precisely, said Ansel, but strong food is good for one who can digest. Not, however, rye bread for infants. Substitute bread for the infant's milk, and you will soon see that far from making them stronger, it will only kill them.

[10:08]

Why? That is evident. I need not tell you. Remember that just as a tender body needs different food than a hardy one, So does the weak soul need different treatment than a strong one? A strong one enjoys every food, patience, and sufferings. Not to be covetous, turning the other cheek to him who struck one. To pray for one's enemies, to love those who hate us, these things are for the strong. But frail souls, still weak in the service of God, need milk. That is, the kindness of others, favors, mightness, cheerful exhortation, loving help, and other things like this. In making this kind of adjustment to the strong and weak among your pupils, you will win all of them for God as far as depends upon you. And when the abbot heard this, he heaved a deep sigh.

[11:15]

Was he converted? May him hope. Must be doctoressa had not yet been, you know, born in those days. However, you see, even in the dark Middle Ages, we have some rays of light. A man likes an anthem, a real monk, who had grown up under the mild rule of his spiritual father, Saint Benedict, in a life which was feeding on the essential sources of Christian life, Holy Scripture, and the liturgy. And formed in this way, he first being a good son, then also becomes a good and wise father. So you see, this little anecdote leads us right into our topic, because here we feel and we see that when we speak about

[12:17]

Formation of the Christian people through the liturgy. We mean not formation through external discipline, but formation from within. Formation from within, as we have heard so beautifully expressed and put to us during this convention, is a matter of love. I remind you of one of Goethe's take. where he reports how an old man says to the younger generation, three big factors are ruling the world, wisdom, fame, and power. And then the young man comes and says, but dear father, you have forgotten law. And then the old man says, Love does not rule.

[13:19]

Love forms. That's a translation of the German building. Build. And building for education. Love forms. That is therefore the kind of formation that the liturgy gives. And it is the formation of the people of God. That we should not forget either. During this hour, the object of the liturgy's proclamation is the people of God. Now, who are the people of God? Not many wise according to the flesh, not many noble, not many mighty, but the foolish things of the world God hath chosen to put to shame the what? And the weak things of the world hath God chosen to put to shame the strong.

[14:21]

And the base things of the world and the despise hath God chosen and the things that are not to bring to naught the things that are. Lest any flesh should glory before God. Formation is, as we see here then right away, applied to the people of God, is a matter of salvation, a matter of a rebirth. The material with which we deal in this Christian formation is not human nature in first line, but it is the fallen nature, it's the sinner, it's the poor one, in the sense of the Bible. Therefore it is a formation from above, a spiritual formation.

[15:25]

And therefore Saint Paul continues in this quotation from the first epistle to the Corinthians, from God you are in Christ Jesus who has become for us God-given wisdom and God-given justice and God-given sanctification and redemption, so that, just as it is written, let him who glories glory in the Lord. That is really the aim and purpose of the formation of the people of God. We are as a people in Christ Jesus. That is the essence of the church. Not an association. Not an ethical society. Not only a school.

[16:27]

Not a law. But the body of Christ. Body of Christ. That has not been collectivism C.S. Lewis, in his beautiful address on membership, says, a convict has a number instead of a name. That is the collective idea carried to its extreme. But a man in his own house may also lose his name. because he is called simply Father, and that is membership in a body. Lost of the name in both cases reminds us that there are two opposite ways of departing from isolation.

[17:32]

Now, the Old Testament idea of the people of God is already strictly and clearly opposed to what the Old Testament calls the rabble. Rabble is the lonely crowd, a gathering, getting together of individuals without a law. The people of God is an older society, but in the Old Testament united under the law and very important and a thing that will never be lost, this law rules every detail of life. The law of the Old Testament is already, you may say, a total law, precluding completely the idea that religion is simply a private affair.

[18:36]

But making it absolutely clear that religion penetrates into every detail of our life, takes the whole human being. But of course in the Old Testament, with this limitation, and the people of God under this law is a nation. The law is given to the sons of Jacob and to them alone. Now the new Israel is different The new Israel Christianity is certainly, we are not a rebel. We are not what the Jews call the horrible law, this undefined mass of the Gentiles. We are an order, community, and the very word of a layman or laypeople. means laos, that means members of an altered society.

[19:43]

But naturally we are not children of Abraham physically, but we are brought into being by God who is able to turn stones into children of Abraham. Those who were far, he brought near. through the cross of his son, which does away with barriers and war, and makes us all war in the law, in which the Son of God did not think it glory to be equal to his Father, but took on flesh, obedient unto death, and then was exhorted That in the name of Jesus every knee should bend and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord in the glory of God the Father.

[20:49]

That is the essence of the people of God. Formation of the people of God. That means of the church. That means of the body of Christ. Of members who in this unity of the body glorify the Father. The church is essentially not a school because she shares the life of God. And she is not only a school because she also has for her last end purpose the glorification of the Father. She is essentially a cult community, born out of the liturgy and directed towards the heavenly liturgy. It is a cult community.

[21:52]

Now then, what is liturgy? It's Christ's work of redemption. Christ's work of redemption was and is the highest act of worship. Redemption and cult are one already in the earthly life of our Savior. His death on the cross, the highest glorification of the Father. And he wanted this this opus de, this divine work, to continue in the church, in his body. He handed it over to his church in this last solid moment of the Last Supper where he says to his apostles, do this in memory of me.

[22:54]

Now if we see clearly What are, let us say, the terms of our topic? It is formation from within. That means through God. Of the people of God. That means through those who are born again. Through the love that the Father sins with his Son. Who dies for us that we may live in him. And this community, this people of God, then, is here on earth as well as in heaven to glorify the Father in the Holy Spirit through the Son. And then the liturgy is, you see it now clearly, that we are not an association, not a scruple, that Christ is not a prophet, that he is not a philosopher, that we are therefore not intellectuals, but that we are living, being members of the word incarnate that died and is glorified.

[24:08]

And you ought to realize that the liturgy has the central position, really, in the formation of God's people, born out of the cult acts of the Lord's death and resurrection and continuing this very worship of the Father here on earth. Now then, this, one can say the decisive thing in the history of the Christian Church caused this problem. In the early centuries, it's simply a fact that the liturgy had and was the central formative power in the building up of the church. Our Lord said to his apostles, not only teach, but he said, go and teach all nations and baptize them.

[25:10]

It is the word and the Sabbath, the two together. And he said to his apostles, do this in memory of me. And there was the last supper, And this dark supper should be continued and inconsistent of two things, of words, of the outpouring of the Lord's wisdom to his disciples, and of his breaking the bread, this is my body, and giving them the chalice of his blood. Word and sacrament. And this unity of these two, that is the fight in the formative power of the liturgy. Historically that unfortunately things have developed in this way, that on one side the teaching was emancipated and moved away from the liturgy, from the altar, from the sacrament, and on the other side, as a consequence of this, the sacrament itself lost to say its

[26:26]

transparency, its power really to radiate the divine significance, what do I say, the divine light into the hearts of the people. But you must consider, and you see already from what we have said, that this whole thing, Christianity, is a matter of love. Believe in charity. That's the foundation of our entire life. That's the part of it. Therefore, the symbolism or the supplemental, let us say, infallibility of the liturgy can never work in a magical way. Christianity is not, and the liturgy is not magics. But the liturgy is the union or the power color of God's love drawing us into it.

[27:30]

And that, of course, can be done only if somehow our hearts are open, and our hearts are open together with our minds. That is one unity. And therefore, if on one side the teaching is intellectualized, and if on one side the spreading of the teaching of the church or the conveying of the teaching is concentrated only in catechism, in concepts. And if on the other side, then, the sacramental action is, let us say, performed in an atmosphere which is not able to penetrate into the minds and the hearts of those who assist at it, then the sacramental spiritual power of the liturgy cannot have its full effect upon the people of God.

[28:36]

Therefore, we are confronted today with this question. The sacramental power is there, but we cannot possibly say as long as the liturgy is performed correctly, we get everything we should get. Absolutely not true. If only, let us say, the secret of the liturgy would be its validity, what we call the validity, then the inner true character of our bond that unites us through within Christ as persons, in a person, with a person. The person of the Father is simply not seen. So we have to ask ourselves today in order to restore in our days the formative power of the liturgy.

[29:41]

We have to do two things. One is the celebration of the liturgy in such a way that it becomes transparent, that it can develop all its symbolic, significant power, that it can really reach the hearts and the minds and the bodies of those who participate in it. On the other hand, we have to take care of the real appreciation on the part of the people. We have in some way to prepare, as it were, the way, the general attitude of the people. I think in this whole question of restoring the formative power of the liturgy in our days, I think we have to be aware of putting the accent too much and maybe to exaggerate the importance

[30:44]

Of the intellectual side, and that means of the actual understanding. With the question, what do the people get out of it? Can they really understand? And then, of course, first comes the latter. And there's that. But then comes... I think I touch on a sensitive... And maybe this is a sensitive moment. We don't want to miss it. I don't want to escape it. But I just want to say this, you know, let us be aware, you see, of one thing, and that is that the literally can have its formative power only if it really, let us say, comes from above, there's always the danger of talking down.

[31:52]

There's always the danger of diluting things. And language is a marvelous way of diluting things. Especially... But don't draw any wrong conclusions to life. Don't think that, oh my. Vetrum Sapientia changed his mind. It's not. But there is, you know. It's simply a fact that we have to consider that the English, you know, and also the present-day English, is not a language which is more on the, let us say, out of the ground, out of the soil of the civilization, which is essentially determined by its color. That is, of course, the old concept, the real, let us say, concept of culture, is, then it is, a living which grows out of the center of the cult.

[32:54]

That is culture. So, we are not that way. Our language, and the language is always the most sensitive reflector of the life of the people. The language is a living thing, And you know how associations, you know, clutter around worlds, you know, and before we know it, the old cult associations are lost, and new, let us say, baseball associations have taken its place. And then you certainly come around, you know, and work, for example, the crowning of Our Lady, and you think crowning, and you get all kinds of associations, and you say, no, it's impossible. can't use that word. So we are retreating, you see, as I say before, a sexual word. All we think, you see, now is really what we give, as I say, for example, to people in the everyday language.

[33:55]

Is it really, in the end, truly the word of God? For example, the translation of Ronald Knox, of the New and even more of the Old Testament. It's very good English. However, we have to ask ourselves if not here and there to say the power of the word of God has to a certain extent been sacrificed to the beauty of the English, to the writer. So I'll only indicate this in order to tell you that at this moment, it was rather instead of immediately focusing on this wrong concept of understanding what is being done. Therefore, for example, the prince has to say, everything at the altar aloud, so that all people may understand. Then he has to speak that next thing in a language that everybody understands. But what is the language that everybody understands today?

[34:59]

So, I mean, there are problems. You understand what I'm doing. But let us rather see, and I see in that, let us say, or I will try to convey also in this paper, let us rather see the implications. You see, the liturgy is a total thing. Therefore, let us be got to declare it's not only a matter of the actual understanding, but it is a matter of attitude. It is a general thing. It's something that goes into the whole, let's say, the whole carpet of our life. And therefore, for the understanding and the efficacy of the liturgy, it is so important that not only the words are understood, but that the general actions, for example, the meal, let us say, the

[35:59]

the fact that we go into the house of God, he said, the fact that we have an altar, the fact also that the liturgy is to say and start from within, from the heart, that it is essentially a matter of law. What does Christian law involve in our everyday life and so on? Those things are it seems to me, of really great importance, and they are at the same time a thing which, in an association like the Catholic art association, are of great importance. You realize, and you realize again from this meeting that we have here during these days, that art, the understanding of art that we have in the Christian society, in the Catholic Art Association, is a broader one.

[37:00]

It's a total one. Art is in some way the expression of the inner soundness and goodness of man, and of Catholic man, that means of the redeemed man. You saw it in the presentation of icons that Frayden gave us, and here the absent is on the wholeness of the all-rule of Christ, and we are drawn into this salvation so that the art of making icons is really a part of this whole process of salvation. Hence, there are others, the teaching that occupies us today, and all we heard about Maria Montessori. That is, of course, again, you see, another way the child is approached, let us say, in its wholeness from within.

[38:03]

And it is therefore done with love. It is done in the spirit of joy. It is not, you know, with a rule and everything has to conform to this rule. That's an organic thing. And so we can certainly say that also the church really and truly is a kindergarten rather than a prison. Hence, therefore, the way in which we are formed by God is in the way of love. It's in the way of noblesse. It is the respect for the glory of the Christians. It is then also in the liturgy the sense of abundance. which is so essential for the understanding of what the New Testament at the time of fulfillment really and truly is for us.

[39:04]

So let us just consider, and I wanted to give you a few thoughts, you know, just on the way in which the liturgy, you see, forms the Christian people so that you, you feel, you know, may in that way more easily conform, I would say, to the spirit of the liturgy. So it's a matter, I would say, of the liturgy conveyed to us in the power of its spirit, basic human attitudes of the redeemed Christian. Take, for example, here the first, let us say, stage. in which the liturgy forms the Christian people. We have it in the Lenten season. And that's, of course, very important. One can say the liturgy starts with Lent. Then there's preparation for the rebirth.

[40:06]

The material of the Lenten season are the pagans and are the sinners. Therefore, there are those stones. But God is able to turn these stones into children of Abraham. God is able, not man. And the church in that way, what does she do? She approaches these stones. In what spirit? Now we, let us say, in the spirit of a mother. The first form, let us say, the basic form of saving love, you know, is one can say, incorporated on the natural level in the mother, but also on the supernatural level. It is the church is really and truly our mother. And how does she approach these, this material, these ignorant pagans and these sinners?

[41:07]

Now, the old beginning of the Lenten season was the Sunday letari, the Sunday rejoin. And on this Sunday, the church, gathering them together in Jerusalem, in the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. And you know here already, see how the liturgy draws people into space and a certain sacred space. And here is Jerusalem. And here is Holy Cross in Jerusalem. There we are gathered together at the feet of the cross. All these sinners. and ignorant people, poor people. And then the church says, Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and celebrate. Here he has said, Celebrate a convention. Convent. Convent. And come together, you know. Celebrate an assembly.

[42:10]

That's against her. That's a real liturgical prayer. with tragical words, you know, celebrate an assembly. And rejoice with joy all those that love you, you that have been in sorrow, that you may be filled from the breath of divine consolation. That is the way in which we address, you know, those who come. in which we are being addressed, because, for that matter, we are all in the same boat, and the Lenten season, the beauty of the Lenten season is this, that we don't say to pagans and heretics, you afford, you afford, you afford, but that we say, our afford, because the Holy... That's the spirit of the literature, you see. That's far away, you know, from...

[43:12]

Intellectualism. And Finchers. So in that way, you know, we deal. The mother church deals with the material that has to be formed, you know. And that is the rabble. And that are the pagans and the sinners. What war is the power? The power is the divine agape, that descending law. which, as Clement of Alexandria says, so beautifully, but sometimes through the ears of the intellectual, a little scandalous, that makes God the Father a mother. It's really true. So there we are. And that, you know, I would just remind you, you know, that this kind of attitude is something that should become and be general among us. I'm thinking, for example, religious communities.

[44:15]

To appreciate the liturgy, that's not only to read the Missal every time you assist at Mass, but that is the whole spirit, for example, of a religious community. I think, and I'm speaking here, say, for a community like Mount Saviour, you know, a monastery, a monastic family. I think it is a therapeutic community. It's a community that gets together, people that want to be healed, you know. So, we are, this is, our community life is a process of salvation. Therefore, it's a process of the formation, not of the perfect, but of the imperfect. Therefore, for example, just this common, let us say, common penance also a certain way of openness. You know all so well how in our modern society, alcoholic anonymous, you know, is a success.

[45:19]

Why? Because the isolated alcoholic, you know, who lives behind the prison bars, you know, let us say, of his vice, which is clear to everybody else, but he thinks he has to hide it, which in itself is an absolute frustration, then certainly breaks out into a community of those who know what he's talking about, you know, because they are or were like him, and then are all eager to hear. And what a tremendous effect that has, and naturally also that would be, in religious communities. That living humility of living repentance, you know, is something that is of tremendous importance. A religious community, the idea of a religious community is not that everything goes according to rule.

[46:19]

And with rule, that is absolutely a straight line. In the end, our community life exists of straight lines. And all these straight lines, you know, things... Straight up into a... But to those outside, it looks beautiful like a glacier. And the more perfect the community, the more glacier. And it's this lawless correction. Long is correct. That is the way you take the last risk, you see. But that is not realistic. It's not our human life. The church has never considered herself as a group of an elite.

[47:21]

We are always here together as sinners. And one of the things, you know, for example, is a celebration of what he passed, which is a celebration really for the faithful, let us say, constantly The Lamb of God who carries the sins of the world. Now, are the sins of the world always the other one? My own inheritance, you know. And then, you know, in this attitude, we go to Holy Communion. Dominant, non-subti. But Lord, I'm not worthy that thou shalt enter under my Wonderful word in itself. Then comes after this, you know, I just indicate, for there is the spirit of the Lent season. There comes another element, too, is associated. I would say the love which meets us in the liturgy is not only the love of the mother, it is also the love of the father.

[48:25]

The father is another tremendously important concept. which indicates a general attitude, now I would say an attitude which degenerates us, you know, in our modern civilization. And therefore, it contributes, this degeneration contributes to the relative, let us say, inefficacy of the liturgy in our days. The father, see, what is the concept of the father? All through the history of mankind, that he is the teacher. He is the one who is concerned with the raising, see, the raising, not only, not of the baby, but of the intellectually, you know, capable child, the raising. And there, for example, there's the tremendous, the tremendous function of the father giving direction, but a direction which comes out

[49:30]

We have that so often. We have beautiful testimonies of that. For example, a last testament of a father to his sons, where he sums up the sum total of his life, in this light of our Lord at the Last Supper, to give it then, hand it over to his sons. Where is that done today? The fathers who really look at their life in this way and try to formulate what God has taught them in their life, those fathers are rare, and therefore real fathers are rare in our time. And a father is not simply a real in a business. He's not only the provider. What does that mean, provider? If it only concerns the material needs, that my family, my wife, and the children can live as the Joneses.

[50:31]

And for that, he really has to work hard and... I always think back, you know, on my own home, you know, when I was a boy. One of the things that stand out in my memory is the fact that nearly every evening the Father was gathering us around, all those who wanted to come, those who didn't want to come down. And he was reading, see, to us, reading to us. And in that way, you know, he conveyed something. I still have that in my ears, in my mind today, the various things which he read to us, to mother and the children. And in that way, he brought us in contact, you know. He was feeding us and feeding us through the word of God. Now, in the pedagogy of the liturgy, that of course is reflected in the fact that during the Lenten season, the church puts emphasis on the catechetical teaching.

[51:44]

But what is catechetical teaching? First of all, it's not all of the teaching of Christianity and not the only category that the liturgy knows. That is, in all simplicity, the introduction into the elements, first of Christian living, and then also of Christian faith. So, but beyond this catechetical teaching, which in the liturgy of the church and during the Lenten season is always bound up. I mean, there is clearly one consideration that the church always had, and that is that of progress and organic growth. And this progress and organic growth were punctured, punctured not only by examinations, accentuated not only by examinations, but it was accentuated also by certain sacramental actions, exorcism or

[52:55]

the conveying of the signing of the poetry of the cross, or the conveying of the sacrament of the catechumens, the salt, and so on. So that this, thank God, you know, that this possibility has been restored just recently to us again, so that this, all the things were in our days, you know, kind of cluttered together in the one act of baptism, and never understood by those who who have participated in it because it's very difficult for a priest in 20 minutes to recapitulate the whole season of Lent. The catechetical teaching is one element. The other element, then, of the activity of the Father in the Church is the homily. The homily is the deeper exchange. That is the sharing in the inner secrets, the secretal wages that those secrets that the love of God has revealed to his church as his bride, and which are give already to us the foretaste in our preparation of the last goal to which this whole training or this whole formation leads, and that is the wedding feast between the church and the land.

[54:24]

And therefore, it is the homily that means the friendly, loving, deeper exchange. Take the Feast of the Assumption. And the Feast of the Assumption has been considered by the church in past centuries as one of these inner secrets of the heart. Not to be divulged right away to the uninitiated. It is too bad. That our way of publicity in our days, you know, puts all these things before the crowd, the lonely crowd. And the lonely crowd cannot do anything with the assumption. They are very hesitant when it comes to the Mother of God and speaking about the Mother of God. Doesn't please an intellectual person. or the Bohemian and all these things. But today, all that, you know, is, of course, immediately thrown to the wild beasts of publicity and in that way then devours and loses its taste, becomes a matter of controversy before it is really tasted in its inner beauty.

[55:42]

For example, during the Feast of the Assumption, the octave the church always used to read the canticle of canticles, kiss me with the kiss of your mom. That points into that deeper region of exchange of the harmony, which should be between the father and his community. For example, between the pastor and his parish, between the bishop and his church, between a religious superior and the community that is entrusted to his care. In this whole thing and into this whole field fits very well the problem that we face today of the lessons of the reading of Holy Scripture. We simply face the fact today that the official worship of the church, you know, is kind of, has been for a long time, frozen in the freezer of the rubrics, as Father Bowie has said.

[56:52]

And then, you see, this, therefore, you know, what is, let us say, the whole, the warm, the emotional part of now? We saw it yesterday, more so beautiful, you see, that this whole problem, you cannot approach the hillbillies with the whole armor of the present Roman liturgy. You have to give it, feed it to them, you see, and with little spoons, you know. But one principle that they insist on is, but we believe without a doubt, the Christian has a right to shout. Absolutely true. That's a liturgical principle. That means before the liturgy, before the liturgy was frozen, you see, but now we have to intrigue. And therefore, all you know that is emotion at war tries to take refuge in devotions.

[57:53]

And the devotions at the same time, there is absolutely no reading of the word of God. No. So you see, it is not only what we suffer from today, this absolute separation of intellectual teaching and sacramental celebration, but it's also the separation of sacramental celebration and the emotional life of man. Now, therefore, these basic attitudes, these have to be restored, first of all, to our understanding. Let us think of the church in the liturgy as a mother. Let us think of the one who leads the liturgy as a father, feeding his sons, raising them with the power of God's word. And then we come to the other stage of love, and that is brotherhood, brothers and sisters.

[58:58]

That unity that we have, as we say, on the horizontal, between one another, between neighbors, and that is in the Eucharist. The meal, the whole celebration of the mass of the faithful is geared to this. It is really not only a matter of a priest pronouncing the words correctly, but it is a matter of everybody really participating in the same body and in the same blood, and by that really becoming brothers and sisters in Christ. And there is another thing. It is very important. And the liturgy, this, you see, one, this marvelous thing that we celebrate at the altar, where we become one in the body and the blood of Christ, has again, it has to be embedded in our daily way of life. There's nothing more dangerous to the efficacy and the soundness of religion but to have tremendous high words on one side, everything burning with love, and on the other side, in reality, no reaction to it at all.

[60:21]

That is tremendously dangerous. If we have a curse, And it discovered the assembly around the altar, the family table. We take the body of the Lord and the blood of the Lord. And that is a superlative of the highest kind. It must have its radiation. It must have its repercussions, its reflections in the whole social life of man. But take, I only remind you of a few things there. I remind you, first of all, you can see how things develop, you know. In the antiquity, and when all these liturgical concepts that we speak about were formulated, and I think they are eternal human values, and not only values for one civilization, but not for another civilization. These are the things which man lives on, and without which he cannot live.

[61:23]

But there we have, for example, the home. In history, I can still remember that from our home in Hanover. The greatest sanctuary of that home, and especially I as a dirty little boy, you see, was the salon. That was the room of ceremony. And what was it for whom were the ceremonies? For the guests, to receive the guests. They had to give honor to the guests. That salon was not to be used by the family. It was for the guests. We lived in the drawing room, but the drawing room, that was all a little kind of cozy little corner, you know, but without formality. And that's a very important distinction. But today, in the home today, first of all, if you think, you see, what he does to home today still... For example, observe the same hierarchy of love in the rooms, in the very form in which people live.

[62:32]

We live today. I mean, when I came to this country, then the main thing, you see, the glory of the room really was the kitchen. Marvelously, spotlessly, stainless steel, you know, as the kind of, you know, the... the tone, the general tone for the kitchen. Today, I think we have made another progress, and we are, as I say, we are becoming fast the kind of bathrooms, if you say, in this response. But we are, for example, in modern hope, the guest rooms. The guest rooms. And hospitality, you may read the New Testament, And hospitality was one of the basic virtues of all the people of God that went together and got together every Sunday around the table where Christ himself was the host and we are the guests.

[63:34]

And therefore every home had accommodation for guests. This life, where is it? Or take, for example, the other thing. Friendship, the very nature of friendship, you know. A thing, you know, the apostles were sent out to preach the glad tidings, be me and be me, two by two. Not for what? Purpose. Of course, for the purpose that these two by two, wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst. And therefore they were sent out two by two to face one another, to establish and to have and to cultivate the inner deep personal closeness in Christ. And by that, of course, as preparation as always, for then in this unity to praise the Father in heaven better, who is more pleased by the

[64:44]

the glory that he receives from a family than from an individual, because he's father. And so, therefore, we see, for example, St. Paul and Silas. They're all into a prison, two by two. What do they do? In the middle of the night, they get up and they sing the Psalms, two by two, one to the other. What a wonderful picture. That is the missionary spirit of the old church. Today, it's an individualistic spirit, the missionary spirit, to a great extent. A missionary is sent out, and he is prepared to be a self-supporting, orthotic individual. That old is so trained that it doesn't need any support from the outside. And, of course, certain advantages are high ground there.

[65:45]

But on the other side, the great danger is that Christianity doesn't really win the hearts as a people of God formed by the Eucharist through the mutual love which is manifest. Look at them, how they love one another, how they are facing in that way one another. There was the delight of Christianity, there was the power of Christianity, there was the joy of Christianity. And so we have, in this whole field of the mutual relation of the community, again, you know, something that is necessary that the liturgy would convey to the Christian people at large this attitude of personal warmth, let us say, the spirit of friendship, maybe in the form of hospitality, maybe in the form of working together for the salvation of people, of certainly being and living together in the unity of fact.

[67:02]

That brings us to the last step in this. In last analysis, the liturgy prepares us for that bond of love would exist between Christ as the bridegroom and the church as the bride. And due that is the spirit of which with which the liturgy is satiated or soaked in, we leave this in our relation of bridegroom and bride. What does that, for example, imply? I can't give all the barriers. But one is that this inner relation of love is a relation of a holy place. It has a festive character. It is a celebration. Therefore, the liturgy in our days will not be able to take a hold of the people and to really develop its power if its celebration does not have

[68:09]

this character of the feast, this character of a holy play. The characteristic of the play is always, we have spoken here during this convention, and in a very beautiful and very interesting way, for example, about the child in his formation, and then this stage, you know, see, it was one of the marvelous things, you know, that we saw that the child has, in his own sphere, certain basic forms, not yet in the, let us say, intellectual clarity of the mature man, but in his own ways, certain symbolic attitudes and actions which exactly already prepare the future development. On the level of the child, an anticipation of what comes later. And therefore also in the child the role of play.

[69:13]

But the child lives according to his, and I'll say, state of life, to his structure, in a unity of work and play. And this unity of work and play is really one of the basic things for the children of God that Christ, reborn in Christ, reborn in the wisdom, in that wisdom which plays before the Eternal Father all over the earth in order to make the whole world a mirror of the Father's glory. That is the spirit of the liturgy, the spirit of this holy play. But this holy play is, of course, has the gospel, the wedding feast of the And that, again, you know, is such an enormously important thing.

[70:14]

Jean Leclerc, as for some time, a year ago, saw the English translation of a book of his, published, The Desire of God and Learning in the Monastic Life of the Middle Ages. And then he brought up very beautifully that certainly the monk and the Christian should look towards the end of his life as the last, towards the last judgment, as a real crisis, and therefore should live in the fear of God, but that cannot be separated this picture from the picture of the heavenly Jerusalem or the wedding feast of the It is the heavenly Jerusalem which already throws, you know, here all its splendor into our world. Yesterday, the day before yesterday, you could see it in the Oriental churches.

[71:15]

That is the heavenly Jerusalem. And there is the dome that is the all-rule of Christ. And here we are all united under him and we are celebrating in this sacred space. We are anticipating already the glory of the heavenly Jerusalem. St. Benedict and St. Scholastica is, for example, such a beautiful thing, you see, little story, how they get together. And St. Scholastica knows that she has to die pretty soon. And she knows that this is her last visit with her brother. So they get together. And then they speak. all night long. And St. Benedict, of course, has great, you know, things because he's responsible for a community and is a lawgiver and all these things. But then St. Scholastica gets him around, you know, to do, you know what, to speak about the joys of heavenly life. And when we celebrate that feast of St.

[72:19]

Scholastica and of St. Benedict, we always say that, that here in St. Scholastica, love triumphed over the world. But you know, at the time of the heavenly Jerusalem, therefore, and they say they shared the joys of heavenly life. And if you read this report of St. Gregory, you don't know if St. Gregory means by heavenly life the monastic life here on earth or the eternal life. And that's just the point. The two cannot be separated, you see, monastic life and heavenly life. And therefore, that is the same then if we go one step further in this line to, for example, virginity. Holy virginity is really this anticipation of the heavenly wedding feast of the land.

[73:21]

That is the essence of virginity. And therefore, virginity lives, as the Church says so beautifully, in the consecration of her virgin. We don't know the act, but we live the mysterium. Mysterium actum neximus, mysterium vivimus. We live, as the Wayfather said, Phelan pointed out the other day, the inner heavenly reality. The heavenly reality. But it is so important to know that the heavenly reality of virginity and of Christian marriage is, in last analysis, the same thing. It is the love of Christ, of the bridegroom for his bride, and he gave his blood for his bride. That is the eternal love that binds him forever to the church and that lives on in the religious life of the church and in the married life of the church.

[74:32]

And what is the essence, again, of holy virginity as well as of marriage? That they may praise you in greater fullness, O Lord. That is what we say, that's said in the prayer, as we say over bride and bridegroom. We give them together that they may praise you in greater fullness. And this fullness, of course, is the family in Christian marriage, and it is the community in the Christian, what we call the religious life. But the same essence of love and the canticle of Catechus, and it's so beautiful that the canticle of Catechus is filled The bridegroom says to his bride, always this way, my sister, my bride. My sister, my bride. That is the comprehensive character of that love which really and truly is perpetuated for us in the literature.

[75:39]

And then from there, you see, what I speak about up to now is the inner, let us say, the order of the heart, the order of love, the order of the mother, the order of the father, the love of the brethren, sister, the love of bride and bridegroom. In the end, then this love, you see, any formation that starts from the heart, necessarily also penetrates into every fiber of the living being. When you touch the center, you naturally also change the periphery. And at the same time, too, as we saw that yesterday, and that's also in the method, a thing which is so completely in harmony with the liturgy. It is not only a process from within to without, but it's also a process from the periphery to the heart, provided that the heart

[76:41]

is open for the periphery and that therefore we stop and pause and give us time to, as it was put yesterday by a sister, then we take in what we see, shape or whatever it is. Therefore, I want to just to point out that there are two fields, let us say, which The liturgy and information process that the liturgy does with the people of God that are necessary and which are influenced. And one is the field of time and the other one is the field of space. That are the two things, the two dimensions in which we live. Time, what can I say, just to put it in a very brief way, time loses its face. without the peace. As faith loses its face without the hope, those two things are absolutely necessary in the context of that restored humanity that the risen Savior has brought to us.

[77:58]

Time loses its face without the peace. If time is simply and only A succession of working days, you know. Man loses his anchor. He becomes absolutely in that way. The effect of that concept of time is soul sadness, pessimism, in the heart of man. He loses his impoverished. Time is in reality, when we look at it with the eyes of the liturgy, it is room for penance. That's the first, let us say, inner dimension of time. Time is God waiting that we may return. It is God waiting for our conversion. That's the first, let us say, level, spiritual level of time.

[79:02]

But then there is another level. Time is, as the New Testament calls it, the kairos. That means the right moment. The right moment. That divine, wonderful today. When you hear your voice, his voice. Today, don't harden your heart. Or this Elias beautiful word. Today I stand before the living God. That is what we call the sacrament of the moment. And it is the liturgy which trains us in a concrete way to realize the sacrament of the moment in the celebration of Holy Pass. There is the moment. This is my body. This is my blood. That is the moment of dying and rising. It is the Pascha moment. It is that day of which we sing

[80:03]

in the church on Easter. This is the day that the Lord has made. And this day that the Lord has made, that is the time of the wedding feast. That is the time of love. Again, remember the canticle of Pentecost. The winter is past. The time of spring has come. God's country again brings forth flowers. That is the kairos of God. That is the coming for the wedding feast. And that is the celebration into which we enter on every Sunday, on every great feast day. And therefore, how important it is that, for example, in our days, in the dual lives, that the Sunday has its real place. It's the last oasis thing. which is left to us, you know, from the only destruction and devastation of secularism.

[81:05]

And if we don't take care of it, if we don't use it as a wedding feast, just as the Jewish people consider the supper as a bribe and on Friday evening waits the coming day as the block and makes the whole house cleans it, you know, and sets it, you know, and puts it in order, and then in the ordered house the feast is celebrated. And the same, therefore, for the space that already leads us to the space. Space has no face without a home. A home gives to man, you see, that space, which really, let us say, has a face, that means makes sense. Without it, we, and especially in this time with the clock, the space age. Faster and faster. In five hours, you can take your breakfast in Rome and take your lunch in New York.

[82:13]

And all that. But that only makes you, in the long run, sick, you see. No, it really makes you homesick. homesickness. And it's the meaning of homesickness. And, of course, what is the meaning of homesickness? The loving of the soul, of the heart, you know, to have a nest, you know. The bird hound in earth. The time of love hath come. Who, what is the nest? Your order, O Lord, Savior. That's the beautiful word of the psalm. The whole meaning of the human life, Christian life. So in these ways, you know, I hope that these words in some way that you understand the general depth of it. What I want to say is don't go too much into technical details. See that the liturgy is a matter of the heart. And then therefore the first thing is give it a chance to work on your heart in the depth of your heart.

[83:18]

And then I'll put it, you know, I'll put it to life in those regions that really are important in human life. And that are the personal relations. Love. It is the love that we receive and it's the love that we give. The vertical and the horizontal. And the two make the cross. And that is the heavenly reality. And it's our reality. I thought at the beginning of the story about the abbots with St.

[84:20]

Anton was for me who had been beating people into meetings for him. I think that we have all always felt as an association that whenever my Savior has come to us in the presence of Father Damasus or Father David, that we have then re-baptized that somehow our whole life has been revitalized, that new mysteries have been opened to us. They have come down from the holy mountain, from the heavenly life, to remind us that we suffer from our wounds and to open our hearts to the possibility of healing and to teach us that It is in the liturgy where the love of God comes to heal us that there is hope for us and for our world.

[85:20]

I think we must all say that we are as individuals and as the association disciples of our advisors. I think we can say too as his monks, his spiritual children, and to express now are really, really basic, deep, heartfelt gratitude to him for having come to us now. His own commitments to his monks, of course, keep him, I think, at Mount Xavier almost completely and absolutely, and of course his own help in recent years have also limited possibilities for his doing things of this sort. But I think I can say express your feelings and the feelings of the association that we are deeply grateful and that we attempt to show this gratitude by becoming in the truest and most complete sense children of this good father.

[86:29]

Thank you very much. During the past few years, if I may insert this, I, myself, have been very privileged to work on this committee, the nominations and medal committee. And during these years, we have honored some of those outstanding people, all of which we can be very grateful, and all of whom I think we can look to with real honor. And today, too, this year, we again have decided to give someone this honor of the Catholic Art Association. Our theme this year is the art of teaching and the teaching of art. And as members of the mystical body of Christ, we all share in the good work that other people do.

[87:31]

And as members of this mystical body, therefore, we all share not only in the things that other people learn, but also share in their work. We are all teachers. We are all helping each other. And as such, therefore, we really and truly share the truth which is given to us by our divine Savior and then promulgated throughout the world by our teachers, by all of us. And so we all have something in common today, and we all have something in common with our theme. And today we are honoring a man who is an outstanding teacher, one of his that outstanding work not only for himself, but for the entire world. Such a man is today that we wish to bestow the honor, the greatest honor, which the Catholic Art Association can bestow. And to make the presentation of the medal and the citation, I present to you our President, Father Figaro.

[88:34]

Father Emrick's remark that it's a great honor to ourselves, too, that Mr. Atwater and our other members have accepted the Catholic Art Association memo, and I think we feel perhaps more honored than we consider ourselves giving to others. We are essentially, I think, as members of the Catholic Art Association, propagators of a philosophy, a normal, philosophy of art, a practical approach to human doing. We believe that our philosophy is most in accord with the demands of the Christian vocation, which again we feel is the normal vocation. We are therefore what I suppose we might call ourselves Christian apostles or Christian teachers. Seems fitting to me, then, that we should honor a man who is a practical philosopher, concerned with a Christian life, and certainly a teacher.

[89:53]

I would like, then, to read for you the citation with which the medal is presented. Let me say first that Mr. Atwater thought at first he could be with us, found that his teaching work made such a demand upon him and feeling the responsibility for this work, decided it would be much better not to take the time for honors, but to stay at home and do the good work. We, feeling that this is by far the best approach one could take to the subject, were very happy to bestow the medal upon him in absentia, and were fortunate in having with us his friend and fellow countryman, Peter Watts, Don Carter, whose works you have seen in our exhibition, who is to receive it for him and to read his paper, which is entitled, We Are All Teachers. So then the citation. The Catholic Art Association holds to the classical view that art is a virtue of the practical intellect and that therefore all men are potentially artists.

[91:09]

Donald Atwater, is an artist whose material is the minds of those sufficiently educated to know that education never ends. His subject is Christendom. As editor of Butler's Lives of the Saints, he describes her in terms of time. In his writings on the Eastern churches, he presents her in her cultural breadth. In a Catholic dictionary, He depicts her both temporally and spatially. All his writings demonstrate his greatest gift, an unusual power of distinguishing what is essential to the faith from what is inessential, of separating truth from opinion, goodness from what is customary, and beauty from mere pleasantness. He is always outspoken and always charitable.

[92:10]

an example to every man and woman seriously concerned with Christian unity. The members of the Catholic Art Association have asked him to accept this medal as a token of their esteem and gratitude, given at Rosary Bill College, Buffalo, in the state of New York, on the Feast of St. Helen, August 18th, in the year of grace, 1962, signed, but the president for the association. We asked Mr. Watts then to accept this for Mr. Atwater, and our hand at this time, I guess we must say, is for Mr. Atwater,

[92:53]

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