may not exactly fit the purposes of a day of recollection but still it does because recollection as such is not something in which we take kind of leave from reality and withdraw in a vacuum but the meaning of it is always a visitation and a visitation that means an encounter and that therefore is a penetration let us say mutual Penetration of the absolute and the relative. The divine and the human realities. God and ourselves. And God as ourselves as a community and as individual persons. So you realize that this trip there had not only one purpose but many. I start first with the personal one.

[01:04]

That means personal in this way, that it concerns members of our community. I mean Father James and Brother Thomas. You know that both have been away from home for now two years and that a meeting with them certainly was... needed and had a good purpose. That was the case first with Father James. I was delighted. So it was a great experience and joy for me to get there at eight o'clock in the morning and to Roma, Stazione Termini, you know, that looks terrible around that time today. And the world looks grey, you know, grey. Grey, grey. And it was very grey and you are in this, you jump over the ocean there and swishes, you know, and of course the swishing doesn't allow you even to close your eyes.

[02:13]

So after this trip then there and then to see this, the face and the dear person of a brother in Christ is really great. And he was, I must say, also in good shape and good spirits, although he had, in his modesty and so on, he really had to ask Father Augustine for enough financial aid to make this trip. In fact, that Jack didn't even arrive before he left. So he was rather in straits, and therefore he had to do it all on a shoestring, as it were. And the shoestring had to, you know, was a long one from Jerusalem all the way over, you know, to Beirut, and then to Ephesus, you know, and then all through Asia Minor, always in Paul, you know,

[03:20]

traveled under great difficulties, and then up to Istanbul, which he loves very much, and then from Istanbul in trains, you know, of very doubtful quality. It's called the Orient Express. This Orient Express is in a terrible shape because the concepts of the people down there about, you know, any kind of cleanliness or other things are completely different, you know. And so he, but he loves it, Father James loves those things. And so he had traveled there, long hours, you know, from Istanbul over Thessalonica to to Athens, and then from Athens to Corinth, and then he got a cheap boat, you know, that would go through the Isthmus of Corinth, and then over to Brindisi, and then in Brindisi again, you know, a long train, and that had finally brought him to Rome just at six o'clock in the morning.

[04:36]

But he was in good spirits. And here, when I met him, he had already offered Mass at Santa Maria Maggiore at our Sallus Populi Romani, which is very close to his heart. And then that was the first thing we did. We both went there to Santa Maria Maggiore and we offered a Holy Mass, you know, to... Our Lady for her assistance also in this meeting, our talks. And Father James, as I say, his thinking and all that is on the line of monasticism, and he is, of course, very much in love with the holy places, the holy land. He looked so well, and he looked

[05:36]

a little I mean one can see the country there is a country of hardships and of course he is at times you know must feel quite lonely but in fact he really lives very much in a very intense way during the company of our Lord so at meeting these following days we had wonderful talks and we had wonderful little walks, you know, an hour together. We were behind St. Peter's there in these beautiful, marvelous Vatican gardens, you know, just as it only can be in Rome. So, Father James, of course, as I say, very much interiorly feels that the Holy Land in some way is, so to speak, is destined also realizes of course his obligations to the community and he is interiorly really very much a part of Mount Savior and therefore he is now working on his licensure and then when that is over next year and so on he plans then

[07:04]

realizes that his first obligation then is to come here to Mount Savior for a certain time in order also to then communicate and share with the community the various witches that he has gathered up there in the Holy Land during these years. then how things develop later. You see, Father James, I think it's important for us that we kind of live, you know, we must realize we are all one in the eyes of the Lord and everyone has his function there, you know, that everybody must realize, you know, in his own best way. But I think, Father James, you realize that Father James is... He was first, you know, very much in love with the Jewish chosen people.

[08:10]

Now he's very much in love with the Arabs. That doesn't mean that his love for the Jews has cooled off completely. But it isn't as acute, you know, at the moment, because you love what you see. That's, of course, clear. It's amazing, he has a great knowledge, really, of the Near East now, in every direction. I mean, he was down to Iraq, you know, and in every direction, Ankara, Constantinople, and so on, all over there. And he has a gift, I must say that, of making contacts and of being a friend, you know, at least on that kind of basis. You know, I don't know how enduring it always is, you know, in the individual case, but there is a great all-embracing, really, openness and love there, and the way in which he speaks about his experiences, about his encounters, about what he sees, and his...

[09:32]

many, many friends, you know, they have the direction, shows that, you know, there is a great inner openness, you know, and that is, of course, is something which is important for us and for us as a monastery. It's exactly, you know, too, what we are striving for. You realize that this group here is not in that way... let us say, missionary or imperialistic or eager to teach here and teach there and set people straight, you know, and so on. But it is a matter in which now John XXIII is our constant example, you know, this complete inner openness in the love of Christ, you know, and that is really there in Father James, and that it cannot be taken for granted.

[10:35]

You must realize that it's important also in the whole eschatological perspective of a Sunday like this, that there are too many people and too many Christians and too many representatives, even monks, you know, inhabit and cowl and all of kinds of things, you know, and still behind all these and beneath all these covers there is still, you know, that kind of nationalistic, narrow feeling, the cultivating, cultivation of shams, superiorities, all this kind of thing that will just explode into the meaningless bubbles in the moment in which the glory of Christ really reveals itself before us.

[11:37]

Now, two and a monk should live in that perspective. He shouldn't live, you know, in these narrow things, you know, that constantly say, oh, oh, Earth doesn't reach, you know, to my level or to our level or to all this kind of thing, you know. And there is, I mean, in Father James it's absolutely clear there's a real all-embracing good, you know, Christian, and genuine, not affected, in no way affected, but genuine love of the people. and of the Jews as well as the Arabs in all their various shades, you know, that are there, you know, and of course that the Syrians, you know, or other people say, oh, the Syrians, you know, keep away from the Syrians or something like that.

[12:38]

But there are all these kind of general statements, you know, that grow up and that fall barriers, you know, And then the true universality of the Holy Spirit doesn't have a chance. But in that kind of a friendly and an open heart, you know, as a way in which Father James meets these people, there is then a chance, you know, for the Holy Spirit. I wanted, therefore, and Ronald didn't want to talk about Father James and that specific thing without putting that into the bigger context of the present situation, which was brought home to me in a very acute way through the arrival of Father Vincent Martin in Rome, who, as you know, is on his way to Palestine and wants to help Abbot Leo

[13:44]

in some way, say, to, shall I say, to save the Dormition. I would say to kind of save this kind of Benedictine toehold, you know, that we have there in the Holy Land, in the Dormition and Tabga, which of course represents a tremendous, presents a tremendous problem. And the fact that And, of course, we see that clearly, that Western, you know, is at the moment not able to give the support that a place like the Domitian needs. Then the question, of course, arises, what shall we do? Should we hold on to it at all? So very difficult and very, if you can imagine, very responsible questions and problems. Vincent Martin, of course, you know, is a very alive, you know, and a very, say, perceptive mind, and also a mind who penetrates through the surface.

[14:58]

And that one must say, too, that Father Vincent Martin and the level on which he moves, again, is completely free, you know, from any kind of these narrow, you know, prejudices and so on, which so often are just a kind of protection really of an inferiority rather than the expression of, cannot be the expression of any true superiority. And therefore, Father Vincent sees these things under theological, one can say esgena, I would say eschatological. He would say prophetical. point of view, and the connection with the Jews and ours, there are these three, Christianity, Judaism, and, and, uh, and Mohammedanism, and their relation, of course, a very acute thing, and is so alive, too, in the mind of, uh, of our Holy Father at the present time, especially through the visit.

[16:06]

in the Holy Land and the Pope's ideas and dreams about establishing an ecumenical institute somewhere there, but not ecumenical in the sense in which, for example, the Secretariat for Unity works, but an ecumenical thing in the line and in the terms and the ideas, the divinely revealed ideas of the economia salutis, the economy of our salvation. And that is, of course, true from this point of view of God's historical approach to mankind in various steps, the Mohammedanism and Judaism and Christianity form an intimate whole. They are closely And in a very unique way, they are related.

[17:07]

And of course, unfortunately, there is a tremendous gap and enemy, hostility and hatred between Jews and Arabs. But of course, what is the function of the Christians? And especially what is the function, again, of the monks? The monks is always to see bridges, to build bridges. And in that way to bring people together and help and do that, you know, from the eschatological really point of view. And I must say in that way I feel very much encouraged. There are people and men who really devote themselves in a very serious way to these problems connected with them. The role for the Jews is the role of the Arabs. It's a real one.

[18:10]

The Christians cannot simply overlook it. They cannot simply consider these nations and these religions as objects for conversion. There is something more there. Because there is the one living God there. The living God. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And of course of this God too, Mohammedanism is related to it and forms now, shall we say, a part of this bigger community of the living God, the father of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac and Jacob. And therefore the Arabs know it. Muhammad knew it. It would be for us of tremendous importance and tremendously a personal thing to realize.

[19:14]

Now what caused Muhammad, you know, to reject Christianity and to go back really to Abraham and to the God of Abraham. And then you come to all these things. You come to Abraham, and the God of Abraham, the living God, and the God of the desert, let us say. And then you come to the law. Judaism, I mean the Jewish people, is the people of the law. What is the law in this whole context? It is in some way the preparation for the incarnation. that inner meeting and then living together the living day by day living together of god with his people and then christianity has the uh fulfillment of the incarnation so and and in that way not an iota will perish from the law until all things are fulfilled you know and therefore

[20:27]

Evidently, the Jews today, what is their mission? For example, also Jewish Christians. All these Christians are very important. And unfortunately, I mean, that is the somewhat mysterious and sad thing that Father Vincent Martin pointed that out so clearly to me, that today they simply, as far as the Jews are concerned, is absolutely Theologically is a gap, you know. He had a long talk, long conversation with his father, de Lubac, in Rome. He was surprised, you know, to see that even a man like Pedro Lubac, you know, simply says, no, the resurrection and Pentecost, that's simply the end, you know, of any role of the chosen people.

[21:27]

Of course, these things are very, very doubtful and simply need, you know, a deeper, and I wouldn't say not only intellectual study, but these, this thing, I think this whole trinity, so to speak, of the Jewish people, Mohammedanism and Christianity, these three In some ways, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you know, is really reflected in this trinity of religions. That all that needs simply prayer, you know, any dialogue, any encounter, you know, is necessarily based on prayer. It's a confrontation with the Triune God, deep inner, And just this problem, Judaism, Mohammedanism, Christianity may help us to deeper understand even the essence of our own faith, but also in its historical development and in these various relations.

[22:42]

So I just wanted to mention that because I think we should in this big context, you know, it really is not in any way foreign to us, but it's very close to us as monks, you know. It's a fact, you know, that Father James for us is, he is a foothold there for us. He is there on an outpost and he does things, you know, there in a concrete way. He lives now in Bethlehem with the Christian brothers, you know, our are very happy that he's there and he serves as their chaplain which also gives him a basis you know a material basis for his staying there and all that and at the same time he can teach there and in that way and he has time enough to study in relation to the Ecole Biblique so he is there and we should be

[23:47]

thinking of him, praying for him, and seeing that there in him our Savior is engaged, you know, in some way, in this really tremendously important place, as it were, you know, in which these three key religions meet in such a concrete way. Of course, it's a big question what one can do there in a concrete way, and it seems to be the best thing would be to. And that was Father Martin's aim to kind of get this Dormition, this special house that they have there, to institute there a kind of biblical, a biblical institute, depending on San Anselmo.

[24:49]

And that might be, and also get the interest of various abbots, especially American abbots, Albert Baldwin of Collegeville is very interested in there, to have there a possibility of giving, for example, also to younger monks a kind of initiation, initiation into theology. I won't want to expand too much on that because it might abstract you from it. an eschatological point of view. And then we have the second, you know, is our Brother Thomas. Now, Brother Thomas, I met, as you know, I went up there to Bootson, or Bolzano, and that is in Till, up there, and I had this terrible trip there. And then I went also to Bolzano because there was these friends of mine, Baldwin and Leni Schwartz, you know, were there in Iran for a vacation.

[26:05]

And we had a good opportunity also to meet and to talk together. And then Brother Thomas came to the end of this day. I had four days. And on the third day, Father Thomas came in the afternoon, and we had then a good time there to talk together. And that was fruitful and was blessed, you know, in a different way. Father James, I mean, Father Thomas, one could see that there, his mind, you know, really, and also during these two years of and so on in Munich had moved, you know, considerably away from monasticism in such a way that he really come to the conclusion that the monastic life was not his vocation and not the will of God for him. Now, you realize then that that is a very, of course, difficult and sad thing for us and for me too,

[27:15]

And it's also in some way, of course, a dangerous thing. Oh, God alone can judge, you know, and I'm sure that that is why I wanted to mention it also today, this connection that we take this brother really very deeply into our prayers. Because I could see, you see, it's really, and that came very clear there just in in kind of living with him, so hour by hour, and seeing his various reactions. We must be clear that monasticism is the pledge, you know, to constantly follow after what we call perfection, see. I mean, it's constantly we are not, you know, we are not we are under the obedience, and that obedience means that inner radical, inner readiness, you know, that not our will be done, but that God's will be done in the monastic, how could I say, scheme pattern of things, freely accepted, you know, by us in faith, is, of course, the living, what St.

[28:39]

Benedict says, according to somebody else's wills. That is in that concrete relation of obedience to the representative of Christ, there that inner what we call detachment, you know, that renunciation of one's own wills, propris voluntatibus, as Saint Benedict calls it, propria voluntates, you know, because these On that level, you know, of the self-will, it's always many various things and many various things. There are my purposes and my intentions and my will. It's not a unified, you know, deeper thing. But it's on the level, you know, where the self comes in and right away multiplicity sets in, you know. And sometimes contradiction sets in. And that is very evident, you know, too, I mean, in Brother Thomas' case.

[29:45]

But I say, I don't say that in any way to judge, you know, I only say that. And a thing like that, and Father Thomas, who then was another purpose too, I went to Rome because in doing this and talking about this case, you know, in a personal way to the... various authorities there, the abbot private, as well as the congregation of religious, makes it, of course, easier also to obtain, then, the necessary dispensation, which was then also granted, immediately granted. And I wanted to mention that, too, that if you realize that, you see, I mean, that the solemn vows are set to say, externally, you know, so easily dispensed from, you know, that could also, if we move in kind of political directions, you know, if our mind is not really concentrated and rooted, you know, in the eschatological view of things, you know, and so on, it seems to be very easy, you know, and so on in that way.

[31:02]

That, I think, would be a great, great mistake. One should see, one should absolutely have inner, great inner, I want to say, admiration for the, let's say, the wisdom, you see, and also the, I can say, the humaneness, you know, of those who, for example, in the congregation of the leaders, represent the Holy Fathers, the head of the church, and in things like that which concern the church as a whole and which of course every time that uh and solemn vows are dispensed with there's no doubt about it a kind of wound you know a kind of is inflicted you know upon uh the church something you know is kind of uh shaken up you know and is destroyed you know which uh for its inner nature demands, you know, complete, you know, surrender. And that complete, you know, surrender, of course, that is, that is, that was here, was in Brother Thomas' thing, was the big question, you see, and that, perhaps, we can in these things, we can only guess, never was really, fully, and in a mature way,

[32:24]

has come to pass, you know. And certainly, at this moment of our meeting, it was clear that he had interiorly decided, you know, that it was, but in a very conscientious way. I mean, there's no kind of lighty and flighty attitude whatsoever. I mean, that's absolutely clear. Brother Thomas has really struggled, you know, deeply struggled with this decision, if he really sees it, you know, in, let's say, in all its gravity, now that is, again, that we cannot judge about it. Then it's clear, you know, that if one follows and enters into such a relation, discussing and talking about a situation like this one realizes you know that simply this monastic ideal of perfection simply you know has faded away and in brother thomas case it has faded away first under the impact you know of uh of the general kind of upheaval theological upheaval of uh

[33:48]

let us say, new approaches to obedience and so on, a new discovery of the values of the Christian as a layman and so on. And then also the realization of, let's say that monasticism, is it really, and that is of course for us too, before God, before Christ and his revelation on the last day for us, very important thing. Is monasticism, is it convincing for somebody who, like Brother Thomas, is of course by nature, by temperament, critical. He is outside, he cannot associate easily the question of adjustment, you know, is a constant problem. Again, you know, it is something which is beyond his own, of course, making and so on.

[34:50]

It's simply a fact. But once this general attitude is there, you know, and then come, for example, I'm sure that the experience of his trip to Mount Eidos has, in reality, done a great deal to alienate him, so to speak, from the monastic idea, because I wasn't aware myself, you know, really, to what degree really Mount Athos at this present time is. Of course, it gives a picture of real misery and of, one can say, petering out, you know, petering out in a world, you know, there's grease, you know, there's all that which is full, which is throbbing, of course, with life, I wouldn't say the eschatological life, but I mean the, you understand, it's this whole thing, you see, that is going on there, and of course takes the whole imagination of the younger generation and directs them in any direction, but, you say, the second coming of Christ.

[36:11]

So then, He sees at the same time, too, that these representatives of monasticism are just, I mean, hopelessly behind their times, you see, that they are simply not up and completely estranged or foreign, you know, to any kind of theological thinking, to exegesis or anything that since the 10th century has happened in the church and that is something which is of course is discouraging and in a young man of course brings problems then also the situation to say as it is in completely objective, I hope, for Bavaria, you see, but... Munich, you know, and monastic Munich has its own.

[37:27]

Monasticism at the present time is not exactly flourishing in Munich. But that is not only the October visa that I might have some influence there, but there are people too, this highly intellectual, Karl Warner, and the whole thing. See, I must confess that Brother Thomas kind of, how will I say, general skepticism, did not stop at Karl Warner and his thinking either. And that is another thing that I wanted very much, you know, to recommend to your prayers and was one of the main things, you know, at this moment, you know, what is then the next step, you know, also for him. And there is, this is, things are sometimes on a practical level are very difficult. It's theology and in some way,

[38:30]

It seems at the surface, you know, that theology might be even the easiest thing at the moment for various reasons. I couldn't help thinking about this and judging it, you know, the best I could to advise against that and to really try what I could to convince him that he should rather... devote his mental energies to the field of philosophy, because there he is more free, you see, and he has that searching kind of spirit which, you know, attacks every wall, let's say, stands, you know, in order to get deeper, you know, and so on, and I think For that kind of attitude, philosophy may be a better field. And also later, you know, he is simply more free, you see, there.

[39:35]

And so that was Brother Thomas, and I wanted him too, you see, that he is very much at a stake, you know, this brother who is such a good person, deeply good person. But, I mean, through, you know, this is simply the structure of his character, his past resentments that are there, you know, and so on, which still are very much alive, and so on, and which just kind of push him, and on a level, and to live on a level, and I think that's where he feels, and that he can really, let us say, be his own, you see, and on his own, go in his own, you see, if he moves freely and outside this whole pattern and this, you see, of obedience, of surrender, you see, in a way which also is generally...

[40:50]

is obedience in his surrender to God, but not in this acute way of giving up his own will, you see, and that is absolutely clear, and I think everybody here in the community, too, we should constantly be aware of that, you know. Brother Thomas Lyra could see that in every decision, practically, that he had to make, you know, also concerning his... coming to boats and staying there, moving Greece, and then what he would do later, and so on. It was constantly the, simply the following of his own propriae voluntatis, you know. And in that way, incompatibility and an inner, complete inner unwillingness to live according to any other. pattern but this and i say this is a decision that he makes and before god and convinced he makes that in in best faith you know but what at the coming second coming of christ how this thing looks to him in what light he sees himself that is again of course a mysterium a mystery that is completely taken out of our

[42:15]

judgment but one can clearly see there the one can say that the happiness and to my mind the inner rightness you know of course there were vocationists of the monastic approach in relation to for example the level on which brother Thomas from now on is going to live I think that is today's time still. So let us then also think very much of these two brothers in these days and take them in our prayers and also they are all signs always for ourselves. Always something God wants to tell us something in a deeper inner meeting with Brothers are like those two, Father James and Connor.

[43:21]

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