but for another reason that I will tell you. Praise be to the Lord and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the All-Merciful Father, the God whose consolation never fails us. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we in turn may be able to comfort others. in any trouble of theirs and to share with them the consolation we ourselves receive from God. As Christ's cup of suffering overflows and we suffer with him, so also through Christ our consolation overflows. If distress be our lot, It is the price we pay for your consolation, for your salvation.

[01:06]

If our lot be consolation, it is to help us to bring you comfort and strength to face with fortitude the same sufferings we now endure. And our hope for you is firmly grounded. For we know that if you have part in the suffering, you have also part in the divine consolation. This epistle of this morning is, I think, is a wonderful unfolding of that, what I would like to call the inner the mystery of the body of Christ, the church, insofar as it is beyond the actual psychological experience.

[02:19]

I also wanted to point out that in this beautiful paragraph, the two things, I mean the suffering of Christ and the other part of it, of this pair, the consolation, are inseparable from one another. And that, of course, too, why? Because ontologically, that means in a way which is beyond our psychological grasp, The Christ's sufferings are, by virtue of the very fact of the incarnation, that the one divine person, divine and human nature, suffers, is inseparable, ontologically connected with the consolation.

[03:26]

Therefore, just as what we have or believe in are Christ's sufferings, it's ontologically Christ's suffering. So also what we then may experience in our hearts or not experience, that doesn't make any difference psychologically, the Christ's consolation. It's an ontological thing. We lose sight too much of the ontological character of our salvation. And that became clear in one way, became very clear to me yesterday, and I wanted just to make a kind of a practical application of this paragraph to our concrete situation. And in this concrete situation, as far as at least as I'm concerned, but this is for me only because that's the head of the community. It's the same as you, the members of the community.

[04:29]

You see, the Christian of Brother Matthew, you know, to in real quiet peace of Christ with a certain... distance of objectivity from the immediate psychological pressure of the psychological effects of the situation here with all its various demands and so on. This withdrawal from this actual psychological pressure is done in order to in-depth, that means in the autological depth, to find the help and the answer in this so important question. Where is, so to speak, his place? Again, in the structure of the body of Christ, the inner structure of the body of Christ.

[05:38]

And that, of course, is a question where we spoke yesterday and also such a happy coincidence, you know, I mean, just kind of worked by divine providence, you know, that I was all set, you know, to go down to Morristown and take part, you know, at the abbot's blessing because that was very important, you know, what's wrong. All these things. Naturally, too. I mean, it was natural that I would go down. If I had been able to go down and somebody else had come down, it would not have been the right thing to do. So, I mean, it's objectively true. But, I mean, there on this, and certainly both. The back fails, you know. Some little thing in our body, you know, that just ceases to function right. And from experience knowing that I would sit there for four or five hours, especially in a Volkswagen, being bucked around, you know, I might land down there in Morristown, not even capable to assisting at any habit's blessing, you see, but just lying in bed and receiving the new habit's blessing.

[07:08]

but not me, not such a consolation. So more of a cross, so to speak. And then, you see, and then through that, you know, the possibility was given that we have sent rather Basil down there and he was glad to go because there are many friends, many contacts and so on, maybe also some some stimulus for his own work in his first count and all these things. And then the room was given for a real, you see, good, you know, long vis-à-vis, you know, encounter the best sense of the word, you know, with Brother Matthew. And there came this tremendous, you know, you know, joy also for having this opportunity, you see, you know, the whole time, you know, thank God we had mass an hour earlier, you know, and then this interval that came long, you know, from 10 to 1 and so on.

[08:17]

So a real time, you see, to now, I would say again, you know, to be able to get over the psychological little impediments into the ontological inner meeting and also into the ontological aspect of the situation. And then, for example, to justify it, you know, and I say that only because, again, you know, what one member of the community suffers, it has an effect upon all members, sometimes even. The sufferings of one are de facto, the sufferings of all, the failings of one are the failings of all. Everybody seeing himself practically in some facet of his own existence in the other one, again, ontologically, so to speak. This is one of the basic differences, you know, to make the step from the

[09:22]

ontological reality, for example, the fact of baptism and the supernatural and spiritual character we receive of union with Christ and the union which simply is beyond our psychological reach. It cannot be made, you know, it can only be received. So often, you know, the relation, this relation, you see, that we in the innermost heart, I mean, beyond the psychological reality. What we found out just with Mother Matthew was that just he wasn't able to make the step from the, what is real, one can say. The psychological realities, the only thing that's real Or is it beyond that an other reality, the ontological reality, which is interpreted, one can say the ontological, if you want, psychologically consider the ontological hypothesis, that we are in Christ.

[10:39]

It's a hypothesis. It's a hypothesis which is in faith, you know, we take a hold of it or try. to take a hold of it. And then faith, the action of faith is to translate in every moment the ontological reality into the psychological reality. That's of course the whole thing of the art of the spiritual life. It concerns every single question. It's absolutely not a problem that's not limited to the monastic reality at all. But of course, we as most, let's say, professional Christians, first of all, we of course have the absolute obligation to learn the art of interpreting the ontological reality, which is the object of faith, into the psychological and practical reality of every day.

[11:51]

And through and in what we call the light of faith, guided by love. And that is really one of the basic difficulties. That is very much, of course, everybody's difficulty. What is the celebration of the mass? It's not living. It's the same thing. I grant you that it is very desirable that the celebration of mass, you know, should have, you know, to say, a certain vivacity, a certain radiating quality. That certainly is true, but very desirable also for us that it gets that. But of course, there is the first, the whole thing culminates, so to speak. in the breaking of the bread and in the eating of the bread.

[12:57]

That is of course what is that, as it were, eat the sufferings of Christ and drink his conservation. What it is, the bread and the wine. So that is of course possible only as an ontological basically ontological act and gift. Give us today our daily bread. It's not only a matter of obviating hunger or physical needs, but that's simply our relation as sons to God, Father. The eating of the bread is simply the willing, receiving of his, one can say, the concursus, that inner presence of God working in us, not only, let us say, 10 billion years ago at the moment when in some way, you know, the universe got into existence, but it is today what we call the conservation, and that's simply an ontological reality.

[14:16]

not something which I psychologically experience. It's an ultra-logical reality, which is grasped in that way in a clear light by faith. Our daily bread gives us today our daily bread. That's the conservation of our entire being every moment by God the Father. So that is therefore the great necessity, the great need for us to learn this art, you know, to interpret the ontological gift, you know, in, as I say, a psychological and practical way. And that, of course, I grant you, that only is the whole reality, the ontological, the psychological, the practical. That's the whole reality. That's therefore the characteristic of the messianic age to work at that.

[15:25]

Because that alone is the fullness of law. Plenitud o legis. Law. Aga. which in the last analysis again, you know, belongs into the realm of the ontological realities, first of all. But I wanted, so there you stay for there, because I wanted to invite you, you know, all the members of the community to enter kind of interiorly with Brother Matthew in this very important, very important, vital field, you know. Again, how? ontologically, so to speak, you know. Through our intercession or intercessions, you know, in some way, what do we do? We establish this ontological, beyond, trans-psychological contact, you know, before God, who is the source of being for all of us.

[16:33]

So, then the other reason why I wanted to talk to you about this, you know, is another reason that I think it's just like a sign from heaven. You know, you all realize that in these last month, you know, there was a, through the visit, you know, of Virginia here in the monastery, in the community, was a, I would say, an ontological contact, you know, was established there. Maybe it was there before. was there before, maybe through the fact, you know, that in some seemingly completely accidental fashion, you know, she was connected, in fact, through the instrumentality of Brother Matthew, became kind of interiorly connected with Maud's savior. Maud's savior simply meant to her a very special, again, inner reality.

[17:38]

if one may call it that way, to point out the ontological reality of this, the reality of poverty, and the reality which comes out of that of the inner spontaneity of fraternal charity, which simply means

[17:57]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_90.72