servants of Lent. The life of a monk ought at all times to be Lenten in his character, but since few have the strength for that, we therefore urge that in these days of Lent the brethren should lead lives of great purity, and should also in this sacred season expiate the negligence of other times. This will be worthily done if we refrain from all sin and apply ourselves to prayer with tears, to readings, to the function of heart and to abstinence. In these days, therefore, let us add something beyond the wanted measure of our service, such as private prayers and abstinence in food and drink. Let each one, over and above the measure prescribed for him, offer God something of his own free will in the joy of the Holy Spirit. That is to say, let him state himself of food, drink, sleep, talk, and jesting, and look forward with the joy of spiritual longing to the holy feast of Easter.

[01:19]

Let each one, however, tell his abbot what he is offering, and let it be done with his consent and blessing, because what is done without the permission of the spiritual father shall be ascribed to presumption and vainglory and not written meritorious. Everything, therefore, is to be done with the approval of the abbot. From the 48th chapter. In the days of Lent, let them apply themselves to their reading from the morning until the end of the third hour, and from then until the end of the tenth hour, let them perform the work that is assigned to them. In these days of Lent, let them each receive a book from the library, which they shall read through consecutively. Let these books be given out at the beginning of Lent. But one or two senior monks should certainly be deputed to go round the monastery at the times when the brethren are occupied in reading, to see that there be no slothful brother who spends his time in idleness or gossip and neglects the reading, so that he not only does himself harm, but also disturbs others.

[02:27]

If there be such a one, which God forbid, let him be corrected once and a second time. And if he do not amend, let him undergo the punishment of the rule so that the rest may be afraid. And the brethren should not associate with one another at unseasonable hours. Lord have mercy upon you. Thanks be to God. as a whole, I thought that during these last weeks there a thought came and was especially on my mind and that concerns the interpretation of that, the second of our vows, the conversio moro, conversatio moro.

[04:43]

And the interpretation of this vow is not always the same. In these later times, we have several now scholarly scholars who looked into the meaning of conversatio and conversio they first decided that the original way in which St. Benedict put it, the word that he used, the form he used, is the word conversatio. And if you stand conversatio morum, that means then the really the monastic order of life.

[05:50]

So that the vow of the conversatio morum would simply mean that on solemnly vows in profession the observance of the rule. The conversatio morum. The observance of the rule. Now that is of course in itself it's a that is, I would say, an interpretation which naturally gives to think, you see. I mean, it really then, in a very solemn and official way, makes the rule the accepted and vowed basis of our life. However, in more recent years, interpretation has changed, first simply from the point of view of the, let us say, philological, scientific point of view, while Herbert Butler and Matthäus Rottenhäusler and von Zerwegen all in fire and flames bar de conversatio.

[07:14]

In our days, it is more, again, the is swinging more towards the interpretation that it means here, conversum. As you know, there's a very interesting little introduction to that edition that Father Philip Schmitz wrote in his edition to the rule of Maratou, which then was in which Christina Moorman this very interesting contribution to the interpretation of the Latinity of the rule of St. Benedict. And there she also, at the end, she touches upon the interpretation of this word conversatio. And she brings out, which I think is really a variety

[08:17]

and very good thing, that the word conversatio, as it is used in the rule, is a homonym. I mean, it is the same word, the same sound, which, however, can be reduced or followed up to two roots, which are really different. Conversatio, from conversari, that means the passive, the medium case, I mean the intransitive, and there it means then really a way of life. It's true, conversatio, the way of life. For example, if St. Paul uses that conversation, our way of life, or we belong to the politia, to that way of life, which is the heavenly Jerusalem.

[09:32]

There we have our roots, and that is there we walk. There we have our home and our rights as citizens. That is the intransitive meaning of conversatio, of conversari. But she also points out that in the later latinity of St. Benedict, the word convertere had an intensive form, which is conversare. And this conversare is transitive, and it means the changing of something. to change something. And conversatio, in that way, really, the, one can say, intensive, intensive form of conversio. And in that way, and in this way, it was used as Christina Mormon's things, especially in chapter 458, in the, also, for example, you can take an example in the

[10:40]

chapter of the rule that we read today about the order of sleeping, you see, that that order should be established according to the order of the convert. And, of course, you notice that in this translation of Justin McCann that we were reading, the word is really conversion, see, of our conversion. our entering into the monastic life, the conversion. And that is the conversion, conversio morum maiorum, is the form which is used in our profess, in our formula of profession. And these morum, as St. Benedict says, and he should profess conversatione morum su morum. That means the mores, mores mei. That means the sacri actus. That means the way of life that man had before he entered the monastery.

[11:47]

That is the object of changing. That should be changed. There comes the conversio, conversatio. So that the monastic life in that way, and also this vow, you know, means the entering through, let us say, as a status of the metanoia, of the change of heart, because the kingdom of God is at hand. And that, of course, means, to my mind, makes really very good sense, because we can see that the whole rule of Saint Benedict is really, of course, based, you know, on this as I say, on this level, and legislates and formulates that level of the Christian life where the radical inner conversio takes place. It is a purgatio. It is the monastic life in that way.

[12:48]

As St. Benedict says right here in the chapter that we were just reading, the life of a monk ought at all times to be Lenten in its character. And, of course, the Lenten season is the season of conversion. That is the character of the Lenten season. It is that in our change from the world, you know, in which we prepare for, it's our Pascha in which we prepare for entering into, joining Christ, then an Easter in his death and his resurrection. where the whole meaning of the Lenten season then culminates. But if St. Benedict says, the whole life of the monk should be Lenten in its character, it's of course this, you know, that the conversium morum, and understood in this sense of conversion, of a real inner change, that that is the real object

[13:56]

of the monastic life. And that is a thing, too, which I would recommend to you as, let us say, as a theme for this Lenten season. That we have, of course, spoken about that so often, the danger of the monastic life, that it becomes a kind of a routine that it helps in some way even and can, if it is not seen in the right spirit, it can lead to some form of self-righteousness. It can lead to the feeling of that one has made the grade and that, therefore, one is pretty good, you know, and that the daily, the level of the daily life, you know, is something which is regulated, protected, established, and as soon as that takes place, as we have said that in the past, so often, and as I can see that, you know, one sees it in oneself, and one sees it in others, you know, constantly, and then as soon as something becomes, you know, a kind of a

[15:20]

a kind of something that one has. Then also immediately it loses the character of a grace, loses the character of a gift. This basic virtue of the fear of the Lord is being toned down, as it were. One, as soon as one is in his security, one ends up by knowing and acting as if oneself now could do it. Let us say more or less on one's own. And that one doesn't need that anymore. This constant through casting oneself into the dust, you know, before God, in the various forms and ways in which the monastic life twice, you know, two years on that way.

[16:24]

And that seems to me then is the greatest danger that we can fall into in a monastic life. And that is what would prevent us really from celebrating the Easter, the Pascha Domini, the full Easter, the death and the resurrection. not only the resurrection by itself, but the death and the resurrection of Christ in that complete inner truth. We are always intent, as long as man lives in this fallen nature, he's always tempted to love God, because that's also his own good, clever enough to see it, but to love him on his own terms.

[17:27]

And that is, of course, really the essence of idolatry. Idolatry is always this. That's the basic question of the Old Testament and, of course, also of the New Testament. Idolatry is always projecting oneself into the absolute. And then in one way or the other, setting oneself up as an absolute. And that is therefore self-deification. And that is the deepest tendency always in man. And is, of course, it's the very essence of this stage of monasticism, of the spiritual life, for which Saint Benedict legislates. Which, as you know, is the state of beginners. Not all justice is covered and described in the rule. Not. It is a beginner. The rule for beginners. What is the beginning of our salvation?

[18:30]

Conversion. We converse your moral male. And that, therefore, is the one important thing in our lives. and to understand that we vowed, as monks, really to live our life in the, let us say, in the general atmosphere of conversion. And therefore, for example, if you would do that, I was thinking, for example, in these three Sundays that we have just lived through the Septuagesima Sunday, and the Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima Sunday. And these Sundays, I mean, that is, I think, an absolutely possible approach to it, you know, are really an overture to the Lenten season, starts with this exclamation, Dolores Mortis Circumdeterum,

[19:40]

So it starts with that, looking at that event, our death, which really is put up in our life, in the life of fallen mankind, as the sign which should shake us, which should really interior or take away from us all self-complacency, and all self-assurance. And in that way we started on Septuagesimus Sunday. And then we had there the whole, let's say, the attitude of faith, the attitude of faith. A faith that is in its fullness described in the gospel of the Sunday Septuagesima. But if you then look at this faith, it is Marked, one can say immediately, it bears the marks, the stamp of the conversion.

[20:48]

Because there we see these people who are sure of their contribution. And then we see God's poor ones who have nothing to rely on. And out of that inner need, you know, rises them. the faith in the love, the goodness of the Lord of the vineyard. And that is really what comes. And that is, of course, immediately also, that spirit is all over in the rule of St. Benedict. If St. Benedict says it in the Prologue right away, and if you come to a certain observance for him and say, don't think, you know, that it's you who does it. Think that it is the grace of God in you. And that you, the next one is the sexagesima, is then the Sunday of hope.

[21:51]

There we see rise, oh Lord, the Sunday of hope. But what kind of hope? Not the hope again, you know, that relies on a careful calculation of one's own personal possibilities, of the things that one has at one's disposal. But it is that hope which is virtus in infirmitate perficitum. Power, you know, really comes to perfection in infirmity. That is The hope in which a man like St. Paul lived his life as an apostle and that he describes so beautifully there. The hope that is the seed of the word. The hope that is based on the promise. The promise that God has given in the Old Testament of his mercy.

[22:57]

And the promise that he has fulfilled by sending his son to die. our sins. That is the foundation of our hope. God's love for us is the foundation of our hope. Therefore, the virtue of hope again supposes necessarily requires that, cries for the inner conversion moment. And it is charity, it's the agape, caritas omnia, Caritas, only of spirit. Charity, hopes for everything. And that is then in the third Sunday, in the Sunday Quing Vagesima, there is Caritas, that is then in the center of our considerations and of the gospel and of the epistle.

[24:00]

And that is again what is it. is not this kind of human philanthropy, you see, this do-gooding, or how is it, good-doing thing, you know, it's that of, it's not the, you know, this also not in any way, you know, any love that is based, you know, on the goodness of object, you know, as we have it, any kind of human love, but it is a creative love. It's the love which God loves, the one who is his enemy. That is the, and again, you know, of course, that as a virtue, as a power in us, cannot be there without the conversion of a deep and radical inner change.

[25:03]

So if you just go through something like these three beautiful Sundays that prepare for Lent, and you can see, they leave, they ask, they demand that inner conversion. And in the same way, too, the rule of Saint Benedict is, one can say, conceived, one can say, from the beginning to the end, to my mind, in the atmosphere, on the level of the conversion. If you, it starts with the abbot. But if you read the chapter on the abbot, you see clearly that Saint Benedict warns and sees the abbot as somebody who is constantly interiorly to himself, working, say, at the conversion, that his actions, he should be on his guard, you know, as in actions, his relations that he establishes. the members of the community, that they are not resting on and developed on the ground of human considerations, human respect, human considerations, human affinities or inclinations.

[26:27]

But it is the Holy Spirit, you know, that determines these relations. And so, if you also, why is the power given to the abbot? Why, for example, is any delegation of an office, or every official, constantly asks the cellar or the others, and the cellar is the official, and what St. Benedict says about the cellar is to apply, of course, for any delegation, that the abbot gives to any member of the community. It's always this, poetry shouldn't do anything without the abbot's consent. Now, what does it mean? It doesn't make any sense, let us say, on the ground of a philosophical approach to man. If we approach man as, let us say, as a

[27:28]

intact being, you know, that therefore has to develop itself, you know, and that has to grow and so on and all that, then this kind of obedience or this kind of dependence, I would say, doesn't make sense. The dependence is only then of real value if it's seen as an expression and as an activation of the vow of the conversio morum will. of that inner change that man does not, the official does not, therefore, the power that is given to him, consider as his own, and therefore consider as something, you see, that he has, and with which now he can proceed, and that he can use. But it's something that is given, and therefore this concept is not in order to train people to be weak,

[28:29]

It is not in order to cripple, you know, the initiative of people. It's not that there may be constantly, I mean, a constant status of childishness, but it's always that inner reminder and the traducing, translating into reality of that of that impending, of the fact that he's not on his own standing on his own feet, but that he receives, you know, what he has and what he needs. And so in many other things, if the external behavior of the monk is described at the end of the chapter on humility, and that should, you know, give that and in some way radiate, you know, that inner fear that he has of the last judgment, you know, and of death and so on.

[29:44]

But what is the reason for that? Again, it cannot be in any way justified, you know, or understood if somebody approaches these things from the mere, let's say, human aspect, you know, of how a human being should behave. That wouldn't make sense. On that level, it wouldn't make sense. It makes sense if one realizes again that the conversio morum is the center of our life, and that that is the general atmosphere in which we as monks live. Then it makes sense. So I just wanted to encourage you during this Lenten season to think about these things. Consider the holy rule under this aspect, you know, that it is written, conceived in the spirit of the conversium morum, and that therefore in that spirit also you should yourself

[30:55]

in that atmosphere you should live. If you leave it, then a monastic life becomes a burden. It becomes a prison, you know, and it becomes something that absolutely stifles you. But if you conceive it, if you understand it, that whole thing that is put up there also, for example, the whole codex, you know, a penal code of the rule of St. Benedict, you understand it in this way, then, of course, it becomes to you a liberation. In that way, it really makes you mature, but mature in the Holy Spirit, not mature simply on the line of simply and only of human development, human responsibility of things like that, but in the inner converseum morum undertaken together with our Lord, you know, in that same spirit in which he set his face, you know, towards Jerusalem, as we had in this Sunday, then naturally also this converseum morum is a thing that leads you into the fullness of charity and it leads you into the fullness of

[32:16]

of God's glory. It ends in the resurrection. It has even the power and glory of the resurrection already in it while you are practicing. And I am sure, you know, that just we, I think, you know, all the graces that God has given us. You know, for example, just yesterday night, you know, we had this nice celebration. psychology, you know, of man, you know, before one goes through the narrow gate of the monastic life, which, of course, the Holy Mother Church calls paradisi corte, the entrance gate to paradise, this is what conversion is. Then, you see, it is something, you know, which money you know, and which brings in a kind of a happy way for us, you know, it brings to our understanding and to our living experience the fact that while we are living this life as it belongs, you know, in this conversio moro, while we are living with all the restrictions which this life also puts upon us,

[33:41]

Lo and behold, something interiorly is growing in our hearts, fraternal charity. It is that inner joy that we have in one another and with one another and that then is manifested here and there in a way, you know, as for example, yesterday we did it and everybody, you know, feels to my mind, not only everyone has a kind of pleasant time, you know. I think that would, for us as monks, you know now what means the pleasant time. It's a sign. It's a sign of the sweetness and goodness and also the human, let us say, the beauty of that fraternal love which rises, which is formed slowly by this life of conversion. Therefore, also during this Lenten season, always keep that in mind, that if in the spirit of conversion morum, people have to undertake and take upon themselves certain restrictions, that is only for us to deepen the inner receptivity in our souls for the Holy Spirit, that one precious birth,

[35:09]

that the risen Christ then on Easter morning gives into our hearts. Peace be to you. And he breathed the problem. And that is what we are looking forward to. And I think the living experience of our life shows that it's true. That is the way it is. If we would locally live here simply and only as a kind of a country club, you know, then the thing like yesterday, you see, would be an experience that should be repeated today, and if not, you know, it's just too bad. And then, after a while, everybody would sick and tired of it, and everybody would say, I'm absolutely fed up in the world, and I go, and it's really true, it's absolutely true. Only that conveys your moral and the disciplina that is in it. involved in that, you know, keeps us interiorly, keeps the inner sources of the Holy Spirit, you know, so that they lift us up, you know, and that is also in all I could see then, I'm glad about the various works, you know, that you undertake during this Lenten season.

[36:34]

And I would like to... emphasize, you know, just a few things. One is the question, you know, that we have, well, I can say we have kind of experimented with, you know, in this year, but I would call it certainly more than an experiment. It's an experience, you know, and that concerns the mutual relation of the brothers among them, with one another. we have given deliberately more possibility for that. And why do we do it? We do it, we have done it, because we think that in a group like ours, where the general inner goodwill is there to come closer to Christ and to live

[37:37]

alive in Christ, really. And where that general tendency is really kind of, I think we can say that without exaggeration, is kind of firmly established there. And that in such a group, you know, it is good then, especially if that group as ours is not so big, you know, and doesn't have a kind of institutional character, but more family character, that it is good, you know, for the inner expansion of the soul, you know, for that, let us say, more intensive taste of the good things of the Lord, you know, to give a certain room, you know, also to personal contact between the members of the monastic family. And now, as you know, in those things that always, you know, there's always, and we knew that right from the beginning, it's very difficult then to establish in these things always, let's say, the right and balanced measure.

[38:45]

One always risks, you know, let's say, one takes the risk, you know, that these things here and there become a little exaggerated. That's simply one of the tendencies of our nature, you see. There is a certain chaotic nature there, but in us, you Now, there are always, as I tell you, there are always two ways of dealing with it, you know, either make a norm and stick to it, and bomb, period, you know, that's it. Or there is something, you see, in which you say, now here, let us, you know, do this thing and approach the individual cases and give them a certain, let us say, possibility to breathe, you know, and for expansion. If that is then done, Well, you can't say, yes, now here, there is this and this and this, you know, and there's too much time, it's wasted and so on. Now, there might be. Then one is always then in the danger to say, now this whole thing, you know, is this so-and-so, you know, they have abused, they're used too much time, so is no good, and let us go back, you know, to where we started, you know.

[39:56]

And that would be a pity, you see, that to my mind wouldn't be good, you know, for... the development, you know, of the community. But it would be good, to my mind, in this Lenten period that we are going through now, you see, really, first of all, to reduce, you see, the number, let us say, and also the time, you know, of contacts. Once a week, fine, you see. Three quarters of an hour, you see. And so, something like that. I wouldn't say that, no, everybody wants to. you know, now it could be 50 minutes or something like that. So on that line, you see, I would say, you see, an hour or so. So to reduce that, not in order, you see, to say, oh my, now it's all out and so on, you see, but in order to put that all as a community and every member

[40:59]

into the spirit of the conversion mode. So you cannot do any harm. It's impossible. We can even, I would, for example, absolutely not be so unhappy. For example, I know the community, you know, where they start. Of course, one, you know, has a kind of a little more friendly relation to this one. Then comes another one of us relation and then finally somebody winds up at five or six or seven, you know, of this kind of relation and then, you know, there's a little too much maybe of it. I would say, you know, that one could, for example, also just use the lenten season to, while one maybe reduces a little the contact with those to whom one feels close, you know, and deliberately to extend the range, you know, and maybe to take and to turn towards somebody, you see, and that also again may be the advice of the superiors, to turn to somebody to whom it would be a great inner boost and a great, let's say, inner encouragement.

[42:27]

and an inner opening, and an inner blossoming, and in that way to use, you know, let us say what is there may be restricted in one direction, or maybe let it go in another direction. And in that way, as we have always understood this kind of thing, you see, that it would not interfere with, but that it should spread, you know, into the whole of the community. And I think I'm personally not disappointed with the results of that policy at all, but I think it would be good, you know, during this Lenten season to think a little in that direction. I just indicated. There's another thing that I wanted to bring up, you know, just because it was call to my attention, you see, in this, to hilt, you know, because we, in these last days, for example, you could see this, only Father John, Father Elias, and so on, have given much time, for example, to tackle this whole situation with tools, you know, that, so often, you know, tools were very lost, or they were used for the wrong purposes.

[43:54]

ruined, you know, then we have cars, you know, that have to be taken care of, all these things, and Father Augustine, as a seller, you know, has done and tackled this problem too, and we have put a new order there into the tour shop downstairs, and a little notice, you know, also put at some place for publication concerning it that people should cooperate, you know, in conserve and preserve and be careful with the Vasa Saka Monasterii. And then observe the rules, you know, that are formulated, for example, concerning the tools down here at St. Peter's cellar and to give full, in that way, a cooperation.

[45:01]

Also part of the conversion. Do you know what a tremendous temptation it is, you know, for the monk, you know, to kind of go ahead, you know, use this and use that, always with the feeling that he is not the one who has to pay for it. I mean, not explicitly, but maybe implicitly, subconsciously, you know, and so on. But a thing that causes much sometimes disappointment, annoyance, and really the poverty, you know, that we are striving after is also part of this whole . We were speaking of so I would ask all to cooperate generously and readily with any rules that are going to be made known, about this situation. And then we God bless you.

[46:32]

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