« Offer yourself honestly to God »
Faith is God’s invitation… Only when we entrust ourselves as we are can we finally be transfigured by the Lord’s love.

The series' first instalment features Fr Anselm Grün, the inaugural interviewee, whose books are regularly found in the religion sections of bookshops, with hundreds of them translated into many languages around the world, reaching tens of millions of readers. Yet the central message of the monk, who has lived for more than half a century at Münsterschwarzach Abbey of the Order of St. Benedict in Germany, is simple: « entrust yourself to God just as you are. » He speaks about his writings and spiritual experiences, his advice for those living in an anxious age, his message to The Catholic Times as it approaches its centenary next year, and his words of encouragement to the Korean Church and its young people preparing for World Youth Day (WYD) 2027 in Seoul.

Still active at eighty

 Fr Grün turned eighty on 14 January 2025. Yet he remains fully active. At the abbey’s retreat house, he gives spiritual formation courses and leadership courses for executives, and at the request of various institutions, including Berlin’s Ministry of Labour and the Federal Intelligence Service, he also takes part in leadership training. At a spiritual healing centre for priests, religious and Church employees experiencing spiritual crisis, he quietly accompanies them as a spiritual director.

 Asked about the secret of his prolific writing, he said « I try to explain things in the simplest language possible, so that people may find real help in their own lives as they try to live out Christian spirituality. Rather than putting moral admonition or instruction to the fore, he added, I try to speak to the wisdom that resides in the human soul, and I write with a constant awareness that within every person there is a longing for God and for spirituality. »

 The central theme running through his writings is ‘healing’: he traces his focus on this theme to the Desert Fathers of the early fourth century. « The spiritual journey of the Desert Fathers was always a path that transformed and healed the human person, he said, as I came to see afresh that Jesus’ public ministry, too, was essentially directed towards healing and restoration, I became more deeply interested in healing and inner growth. »

 Asked what core message he most wants to convey to readers through his books, the priest replied, « Faith frees us from the pressure constantly to display ourselves, justify ourselves and prove ourselves. »

 He explained: « Faith allows us to lay down the burden of having to make ourselves into better people, and went on to say, only when we acknowledge what is within us as it is and entrust it to God does change truly begin; only what we fully accept and offer to God can, in God’s hands, move beyond mere ‘change’ and be transfigured. »

 As the most important virtue for discovering one’s true self and growing spiritually, he named « honesty. » Speaking of his own practice, he said, « I remain quietly before God and entrust to him everything that rises up within me, he added, in that quiet encounter, I come to know myself by facing even the dark sides that I had long kept suppressed in ordinary life. »

The era of AI… consolation comes not from a screen but from human encounter

AI is now penetrating deeply even into the realms of counselling, consolation and spiritual advice. On this point, Fr Grün drew a clear line, stressing that « modern technology must be used carefully, but we must not be dominated by it, he said, AI in particular cannot provide ‘consolation’, because consolation requires not words read from a computer screen, but a concrete encounter with another person. »

As a practice for preserving spirituality in such an age, he proposed « a healthy ascetic discipline (Askese): we need a good form of restraint, a discipline that resists constantly filling ourselves with information, he said, when we entrust to God in prayer what we read and hear, we can escape the danger of circling endlessly around the world’s problems and becoming powerless because of them. »

Fr Grün has long stressed the balance between work and faith, spirituality and everyday life. « To maintain this harmony, he said, the most effective way is to have a personal daily ‘ritual’ (Rituale), because it gives a person a ‘sacred time’ that belongs to God and to oneself alone. »

« What is just as important is one’s inner attitude. Only when we are fully engaged from within do we avoid burnout, because we are constantly drawing strength from the inexhaustible spring of the Holy Spirit. »

He explained, « this is precisely what St Benedict’s teaching, ‘Ora et Labora’ — pray and work — means. It means working not out of the ‘ego’, which seeks to display itself before others and prove itself, but out of the power that wells up from the inner centre, the ‘true self’ (Selbst). »

Asked what the deepest spiritual experience of his long life as a monk had been, he answered, « It is bringing everything I have gone through to God and facing him there, he continued, only then does inner transformation truly begin. What I have learned is that what matters is not simply changing myself, but becoming new in an essential way. When I accept myself as I am and offer myself to God, everything within me can at last be transfigured. »

To the Korean youth looking forward to Seoul WYD

Looking ahead to World Youth Day (WYD) 2027 in Seoul, Fr Grün turned his thoughts to Korean young people: « We should be grateful that so many young people in the Korean Church are serving and taking an active part in the Church, he said, I hope that young people in the Korean Church will be an example to young people in Europe, who have to preserve their faith in a secularised world. »

To young people weighed down by employment pressures, competition and anxiety about the future, he offered this counsel: « You must never lose hope. Hope is different from expectation. Our expectations may end in disappointment, but hope cannot be disappointed, he added, hope is not about drawing a concrete picture of the future, but about trusting that life, whatever form it may take, will be led towards the good. »

The priest repeatedly stressed, « I hope young people will come to feel that, in this uncertain age, faith offers us support and stability, and that the Church can be the very place from which hope is drawn. »

What he hopes for from The Catholic Times

Speaking of The Catholic Times as it marks its 99th anniversary this year, Fr Grün said, « on the one hand, it must face the problems of the age with courage; on the other, it must provide a space for reflection in which people may be invited into silence, he added, for that, faith must be proclaimed in a language that people today can understand. »

And to the readers, most of all, he commended gratitude for those who have gone before them in faith.

« I hope people will carry within themselves a spirit of gratitude for the many who walked the path of faith before them. We live upon the roots of faith they laid down, and we share in the strength of faith they possessed. »

The priest also asked people to trust that the Christian Gospel remains, even in these times, good news that brings healing and courage: « in this confused age, this Gospel offers hope, concluding the interview with these words: I hope the faithful of the Korean Church will become leaven in Korean society, fostering reconciliation and hope. »

■ His handwritten message in celebration of the journal's 99th anniversary

Dear readers,

I congratulate The Catholic Times on its 99th anniversary,

and I pray for God’s blessing upon you all.

May the writings in this newspaper strengthen your faith,

so that you may become trustworthy witnesses

who proclaim the Gospel of Jesus in Korean society.

May our Lord’s blessing always accompany your path,

and may you yourselves become a blessing to the people of Korea.

Yours,
Fr Anselm Grün

reported by Lee Juyeon milki@catimes.kr

translated by reporter Bak Juhyeon ogoya@catimes.kr