Transcript of Abbot Clement’s Talk, Monday, 11 November 2002

        First of all, I want to thank the community for their extended hospitality yesterday, not just the choir people that sang, they did a good job, of course, but also I noticed not really watching you, but just noticed, how charitable you were in terms of welcoming, and talking and accepting the opportunities to talk to the people at the benefit. So I really appreciated that. The responses have been overwhelmingly positive in all kinds of directions and I suppose it will continue, I hope so.

        I want to share the first thought of Sunday’s homily for you because not all of you were there. I thought everybody was going to be there but I understand it’s not possible so it’s O.K. Those who have heard it they can reflect on it all the better because they can hear it again because I want to add some little things to it.

        The gospel was extremely powerful. The reign of God can be likened to ten bridesmaids who went out to meet the groom. Who is the groom? First of all the figure of a groom is the manifestation of disinterested love. Disinterested love means: I want to do good because it’s good to do. But it’s also a figure of passion. And what’s passionate love? There’s eagerness to want to do good to the beloved. And this truth is already present in the Old Testament and certainly is manifested in the New. Already in the Old Testament, the people of God began to see that in creation God just didn’t reveal himself. He just didn’t show His power, His wisdom, His order. He became a gift to the people of God of the covenant. He gave Himself. And so we have the statement, "I will be your God and you will be my people." And of course the prophets really make this strong and clear. But it becomes exceedingly visible, tangible, graspable, in the New Testament under the statement of St. John in his gospel, "God’s so loved the world that He gave His Son." And what did Jesus do? He made it even more concrete.

        In his gospel life, just listen to John’s first epistle, the first chapter, "what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of life, for the Life was made visible, we have seen it and testified to it and proclaimed to you eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us." In the cross and the resurrection, the infinite merciful love of God for humanity took on a power of redeeming love. So who is the groom? The groom is the redeemer of the world, Jesus Christ. But because He took on that love, He is the spouse of the church, for the church. Therefore you and I, each of us, are called to go out and meet the groom. But way before we even begin to do that, He as groom, is reaching out to us, to give of Himself, to us. This is obviously not Fr. Clement’s private opinion. This is the power of this passage. For Jesus himself clearly says one of His titles is to be "groom". So what do we do with this? Where do we go with this? Do you hear Jesus say to you, "I love you very much." Is it embarrassing? Do you know what to do with it? Can you let it in? Does it affect the way you live life? You know one of the things that monks are supposed to be eventually getting at, especially the rhythm of the Office and stuff, is to pray continuously. Now obviously it doesn’t mean babbling off words. But it means a consciousness of a relationship with the living relational life. And so you can get up every morning and hear Jesus say to you, "I love you very much." How does that impact the day from then on? And what do you do with this when you go to the Eucharist? Where it’s obvious that Jesus wants to enrich us with Himself, body, blood, soul and divinity. Not things. The enrichment, the wealth of Himself. I’ll tell you what I do. I pray for you every day that the Lord would inflame your love so that you would be transformed into Him and that it would especially happen through our daily celebration of the Eucharist and that our desire to be transformed into Jesus becomes alive and effective.