Gabriella of Unity

Blessed Gabriella of Unity
1914-939
Feast Day 22 April

ROSCREA ABBEY STAINED GLASS WINDOW BLESSED GABRIELLA OF UNITY Maria Sagheddu was born on Saint Patrick's Day 1914 of a devout Catholic family in Sardinia. She probably never met a Protestant in her life and certainly never met a member of the Orthodox Church, yet when Pope John Paul II beatified her on 25 January 1983 he styled her Blessed Maria Gabriella of Unity. She was a young girl of character, with a deep ingrained stubbornness. At school she was top of her class and was proud to be so, but nevertheless she bent over backways to help the less gifted. She was a talented mimic, had a passion for cards and was an inveterate reader. The death of her younger sister in 1932 had a profound effect on her, eventually leading her, as a 21 year old, to enter the Cistercian Monastery of Grottaferrata, south of Rome, having turned down a number of marriage proposals. From the time of her entry Sr. Gabriella, as she was now called, had an unusually deep understanding of monastic life. She saw herself as the bride of Christ, albeit a totally unworthy one. "My sadness is that I don't know how to love Our Lord as I wish to." In due course she made her profession. "I thank you with all my heart, and in making these holy vows I give myself entirely to you." There was in the Community a deep appreciation of the pain of disunity and of the value of prayer and sacrifice for Church unity. This lead Gabriella, after she had sought the advice and permission of her superiors, to offer her life for the unity of the Church, as she had felt her beloved Lord was asking her to do. Within a week tuberculosis was diagnosed. After a year of intense suffering, as she lay on her deathbed, the Abbess whispered: "Offer everything for Church Unity, won't you?" "Yes." Her face lit with a smile, she closed her eyes and breathed her last. It was Good Shepherd Sunday 1939. She was aged 25. The phrase unum sint (that they may be one) is from the tenth chapter of Saint John's Gospel where Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd. It is the keynote of the Ecumenical Movement. These words are written on the book which Gabriella holds in her hand. The Good Shepherd plaque is in the apex of the window. Behind her head to the left is Saint Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral in Dublin, to the right the Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection in St. Petersburg and on the top right a Celtic monastic site with its round tower. Opening up to other religious traditions is the Wailing Wall of the Jews in Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock of the Muslims in the background. Gabriella's eyes were often remarked on. Writing to her mother, the Abbess described: "these great eyes that make one think of Paradise." In the lower panel there is a panoramic view of Mount Saint Joseph with a flock of sheep in the foreground —Go mba aon iad—one flock. Interestingly Gabriella's father and brother were both shepherds. LUMEN CHRISTI Laurence Walsh ocso

Prayer for Vocation

21 April 2010 Saint Anselm

Bishop and Doctor of the Church.

I am reading the newest biography of RONALD KNOX. (Ronald Knox and English Catholicism by T. Tastard).

It suggests a parallel to Saint Anselm.

The experience of Ronald Knox echoes the similar hindering to the pathway of their vocation.

At this Mass, the queue of St Anselm and link with Ronald KNOX inspire us to pray for vocations of the like.

Both of them were hindered on their path by their kindred. At the same time the unrelenting attraction of Christ drew them on their single purposefulness.

We know of such and pray for such vocation in our monastic community.

Background:

• Saint Anselm at the age of fifteen, desired to enter a monastery but could not obtain his father's consent, and so the abbot refused him. Disappointment brought on apparent psychosomatic illness. After recovery, he gave up his studies and lived a carefree life. During this period, his mother died and his father's harshness became unbearable.
• When he was twenty-three, Anselm left home, crossed the Alps and wandered through Burgundy and France. Attracted by the fame of his countryman Lanfranc (then prior of the Benedictine Abbey of Bec), Anselm arrived in Normandy in 1059. The following year, after some time at Avranches, he entered the abbey as a novice at the age of twenty-seven; in doing so he submitted himself to the Rule of Saint Benedict, which was to reshape his thought over the next decade.
• 
  
• Ronnie Knox grew in the life and culture of the Church England and then immersed Anglo-Catholic observance.
  
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• In October 1906 he went to Balliol College , Oxford . In that context Knox joined a group of youngish dons.
• “When Knox joined a group of youngish dons who met regu larly for Friday lunch and discussion of theological issues, he found that German scholarship had strongly influenced them. They tended towards a progressive interpretation of theology. He also heard that seven of the group were collaborating on a volume of essays giving a contemporary restatement of Christian belief. Of the seven, five would become bishops; one of them, William Temple, was a future Archbishop of Canterbury. The book would be published in November 1912 as Foundations with the subtitle A Statement of Christian Belief in Terms of Modern Thought In 1912 Knox went again to the monastery at Caldey for most of the summer, like the preceding year. As he prayed and read he found himself brooding about the forthcomingFoundations. Gradually he worked out a counter-blast: Absolute and Abitofhell, a long pasquinade or lampoon poem written in the manner of Dryden. Knox began by sketching the modernizing tendency in the Church of England: . .” (Ronald Knox and English Catholicism p. 51)
  
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• “The articles he wrote for the popular press appeared regularly in the London Evening Standard and in the Weekly Dispatch. Often they were musings on the ordinary incidents and demands of life, sometimes whimsical in nature, sometimes with a lightly disguised seriousness. The light touch and the evident good humour draw the reader along. Almost anything could set off his train of thought: recovery from an attack of jaundice, the dating of Easter, a proposal to ban smoking, a limerick, the country paths of Hertfordshire, proverbs of the past, the sound of the cuckoo. Many of them deal with trains, such as one on the etiquette of seating yourself in a railway carriage: . . .” (Teacher and Preacher p.111).

In the new Internet age, Ronnie Knox, would have delighted in the “musings on the ordinary incidents” in Blogs, Twitters etc.

Bibliography:

• The Life of The Right Reverend Ronald Knox Evelyn Waugh, 1959 Chapman & Hall
• The Knox Brothers Penelope Fitzgerald, 1977 Coward, McCann & Geoghegan
• Ronald Knox, the Priest Thomas Corbishley, 1964 Sheed & Ward
• Ronald Knox, the Writer Robert Speaight, 1966 Sheed & Ward
• The Quotable Knox 1996 Ignatius Press
• Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan John Hardon, S.J, 1989 Grotto Press
• Literary Converts Joseph Pearce, 2000 Ignatius Press
• Ronald Knox As Apologist Milton Thomas Walsh, 2007 Ignatius Press
• The Detective Stories of Ronald A.Knox William Reynolds, 1981 The Armchair Detective
• English Spiritual Writers, from Aelfric of Eynsham to Ronald Knox ed. Charles Davis, 1961 Sheed & Ward
  

After 50 years:

Ronald Knox and English Catholicism by Terry Tastard (Paperback - Sept. 1, 2009)

For the Year of St. Paul

The Catholic Truth Society has republished a series of Lenten talks by Ronald Knox entitled St.Paul's Gospel. These sermons are included in Pastoral and Occasional Sermons but this new CTS edition is a nice, inexpensive introduction to Knox - if you happen to be in the vicinity of Westminster Cathedral & the CTS bookstore!

The Gospel of Paul
Catholic Truth Society 2008

Resurrection Appearance at TABGHA

Thank you, William,
for taking a great interest.
Note the correction of my reading of the book of Ronald Knox's 'Gospel Story'.
The volume is actually two books in parallel, continuous narrative on the left page, the explanation on the right page.
The work of Knox was astonishing, from the complete Bible translation to the revealing workings of his studies.
Eastertide good wishes.
Donald

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: William J . . .
To: Donald
Sent: Sun, 18 April, 2010 7:44:26
Subject: Re: [Blog] TABGHA

Dear Donald,

You have laid out a veritable feast to celebrate this special day, and I feel like a guest invited to a banquet by the shore of the lake [Tabgha, the stone you brought back for me]. The 'telling' Knox translation ("You can tell that I love you") and commentary, the Vulgate and Greek (into which I peer to discern the words used!), and the sheer delight of the Today's Good News (which is a new website for me and a real discovery!). This is the CLIMAX of my Easter journey. I can now rest on the shoreline and gaze out across the water in the release of this moment.

Thank you .

With my love in Our Risen Lord,

William

18 April [3rd Sunday of Easter]
Jn 21:15-17

Knox ‘The Gospel Story’ p.422 (left hand page continuous, right hand page Italic explanation) JOHN 21.15-17 Jesus appears to five Apostles, Tabgha Feed My Lambs, Feed My Sheep And when they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you care for me more than these others?' 'Yes, Lord,' he told him, 'you know well that I love you.' And he said to him, 'Feed my lambs.' And again, a second time, he asked him, 'Simon, son of John, do you care for me?' 'Yes, Lord,' he told him, 'you know well that I love you.' He said to him, Tend my shearlings.' Then he asked him a third question, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' Peter was deeply moved when he was asked a third time, 'Do you love me?' and said to him, 'Lord, you know all things; you can tell that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep. Believe me when I tell you this; as a young man, you would gird yourself and walk where you had the will to go, but when you have grown old, you shall stretch out your hands, and another shall gird you, and lead you where you go, not of your own will.' (Italic print opposite page explanation) . . .p.425 A shepherd must love his sheep (p. 214); but love of the neighbour will soon grow cold unless it is based on the love of God (p. 318). Peter's love for the Lord must be strong, and deep, and courageous. Three times in the one night his devotion to his Master had been found wanting (p. 382); he now makes amends by a threefold declaration at affection. The first two times, Jesus uses the word agapao ('do you care for me'); it is an act of the will, supernatural love (p. 92). Peter, in his humility, does not lay claim to such exalted love; the word he uses, phileo (‘l love you'), is the natural affection of the heart. He no longer boasts of the superiority of his devotion, as he did at the Last Supper (p. 352); he knows now how weak and unreliable man is without divine help. When Jesus uses the word phileo for his third question, Peter is distressed almost to tears; he makes no attempt to vindicate his profession of love, he appeals only to the divine knowledge of the Master. To this new, humble, contrite Peter, Jesus can safely confide his sheep. He now promises his vicar on earth that he will not only live his life; he will die his death. This is the final seal of divine approval. Ronald Knox Commentary p.271 Peter as Shepherd In verses 15-I7, the distinction between two Greek verbs has been marked by a distinction between "care for" and "love" in the rendering given. But it is very doubtful whether any distinction is intended, either in the Greek or in the Latin. Nor is it by any means certain which of the two verbs is the stronger or the more intimate. The probability is that our Lord used the same word, and St Peter answered him in the same word, three times over, but John (or his Greek amanuensis) introduced a second word in the Greek from a natural (though mistaken) desire to avoid monotony. I t is conceivable, too, that our Lord used the same word three times over for "sheep". Over this, the manuscripts give a wide range of variants; probably the original text had three different words, (i) little lambs, (ii) little sheep, (iii) sheep. The classification thus becomes progressive, and it is even possible to suggest that the use of the word "tend" instead of " feed" in the second category only was intentional-the yearlings being more apt to stray than either the mothers or the new-born lambs.

Knox Bible (‘you’ version). Joh 21:15 And when they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you care for me more than these others? Yes, Lord, he told them, you know well that I love you. And he said to him, Feed my lambs. Joh 21:16 And again, a second time, he asked him, Simon, son of John, do you care for me? Yes, Lord, he told him, you know well that I love you. He said to him, Tend my shearlings. Joh 21:16 Then he asked him a third question, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was deeply moved when he was asked a third time, Do you love me? and said to him, Lord, you know all things; you can tell that I love you. Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep.

Vulgate Joh 21:15 cum ergo prandissent dicit Simoni Petro Iesus Simon Iohannis diligis me plus his dicit ei etiam Domine tu scis quia amo te dicit ei pasce agnos meos Joh 21:16 dicit ei iterum Simon Iohannis diligis me ait illi etiam Domine tu scis quia amo te dicit ei pasce agnos meos Joh 21:17 dicit ei tertio Simon Iohannis amas me contristatus est Petrus quia dixit ei tertio amas me et dicit ei Domine tu omnia scis tu scis quia amo te dicit ei pasce oves meas.

Greek New Testament Joh 21:15 ῞Οτε οὖν ἡρίστησαν, λέγει τῷ Σίμωνι Πέτρῳ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς· Σίμων ᾿Ιωνᾶ, ἀγαπᾷς με πλέον τούτων; λέγει αὐτῷ· ναί, Κύριε, σὺ οἶδας ὅτι φιλῶ σε. λέγει αὐτῷ· βόσκε τὰ ἀρνία μου. Joh 21:16 λέγει αὐτῷ πάλιν δεύτερον· Σίμων ᾿Ιωνᾶ, ἀγαπᾷς με; λέγει αὐτῷ· ναί, Κύριε, σὺ οἶδας ὅτι φιλῶ σε. λέγει αὐτῷ· ποίμαινε τὰ πρόβατά μου. Joh 21:17 λέγει αὐτῷ τὸ τρίτον· Σίμων ᾿Ιωνᾶ, φιλεῖς με; ἐλυπήθη ὁ Πέτρος ὅτι εἶπεν αὐτῷ τὸ τρίτον· φιλεῖς με; καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Κύριε, σὺ πάντα οἶδας, σὺ γινώσκεις ὅτι φιλῶ σε. λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς· βόσκε τὰ πρόβατά μου.

Toay's Good News There on the shore of the lake Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” People like to connect this with Peter’s triple denial of Jesus: he was being given a chance to undo the damage, layer by layer. In addition, something else is happening in the original language, something that doesn’t appear in English. There are several words for ‘love’ in Greek. Look at two of them. ‘Philein’ means to love someone as a friend; ‘agapan’ is more intensive; it means to love someone in the distinctive way that Jesus loved: unselfishly, creatively, unconditionally, endlessly. This second kind is deeper and wider than the first, because it doesn’t depend on like-mindedness as friendship does; it can even reach out to include one's enemies. Now, Jesus first asked Peter, ‘Agapas me?’ (Do you love me with this kind of love?) Peter replies, ‘Philo se’. (I love you as a friend.) The second time the words are the same. But the third time, Jesus asks him, “Phileis me?’ And Peter answers as before, ‘Philo se’. Peter wasn’t yet able to love Jesus in that heroic way; he could love him only as the friend he had known for three years. But the third time around, Jesus steps down, as it were, to accept what Peter was able to offer at that time. Can we put it this way: all forms of love and friendship are capable of advancing gradually towards ‘agapè’, the heroic kind of love Jesus shows. (It is pronounced 'agga-pay'). How do we go along that road? By doing the best we can at the time. Peter was not able to rise to heroic love on that occasion. But he understood friendship. Friendship is the best rehearsal for agapè. It is a deep mystery in itself. “I have called you friends,” Jesus said (John 15:15). But agapè is even deeper. (Web site: goodnews.ie)

Adoration of the Cross

At the Night Office Reading this morning, I was gripped by the reader's speaking - or, again, the Holy Spirit rousing my attention.
A beautiful prayer by Theodore of Studios.

Thursday - SECOND WEEK OF EASTER Prayer in Adoration of the Cross Year I First Reading From the book of Revelation (4:1-11) Responsory Revelation 4:8; Isaiah 6:3 Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come; - all the earth is full of his glory, alleluia. The seraphim cried out to one another. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. All the earth is full of his glory, alleluia. Second Reading From a sermon by Saint Theodore of Studios (Oratio in adorationem crucis: PG 99, 691‑694.695.698-699) In the following reading Theodore exalts the power of the cross in true Byzantine fashion. He lists the Old Testament types of the cross and reminds us that for us the cross means dying to self and putting on Christ How precious the gift of the cross, how splendid to contemplate! In the cross there is no mingling of good and evil, as in the tree of paradise: it is wholly beautiful to behold and good to taste. The fruit of this tree is not death but life, not darkness but light. This tree does not cast us out of paradise, but opens the way for our return. This was the tree on which Christ, like a king on a chariot;, destroyed the devil, the lord of death, and freed the human race from his tyranny. This was the tree upon which the Lord, like a brave warrior wounded in hands, feet and side, healed the wounds of sin that the evil serpent had inflicted on our nature. A tree once caused our death, but now a tree brings life. Once deceived by a tree, we have now repelled the cunning serpent by a tree. What an astonishing transformation! That death should become life, that decay should become immortality, that shame should become glory! Well might the holy Apostle exclaim: Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and 1 to the world! The supreme wisdom that flowered on the cross has shown the folly of worldly wisdom's pride. The knowledge of all good, which is the fruit of the cross, has cut away the shoots of wickedness. The wonders accomplished through this tree were fore­shadowed clearly even by the mere types and figures that existed in the past. Meditate on these, if you are eager to learn. Was it not the wood of a tree that enabled Noah, at God's command, to escape the destruction of the flood together with his sons, his wife, his sons' wives, and every kind of animal? And surely the rod of Moses prefigured the cross when it changed water into blood, swallowed up the false serpents of Pharaoh's magicians, divided the sea at one stroke, and then restored the waters to their normal course, drowning the enemy and saving God's own people? Aaron's rod, which blossomed in one day in proof of his true priesthood, was another figure of the cross, and did not Abraham foreshadow the cross when he bound his son Isaac and placed him on the pile of wood? By the cross death was slain and Adam was restored to life. The cross is the glory of all the apostles, the crown of the martyrs, the sanctification of the saints. By the cross we put on Christ and cast aside our former self. By the cross we, the sheep of Christ, have been gathered into one flock destined for the sheepfolds of heaven. Responsory This most worthy tree stands in the center of paradise; - on it by his own death our Savior overcame death for us, alleluia. Of all the trees in the forest, this one is the most noble. —On it by...

a question of the QUALITY of love

Thank you, William, for your very concentrated searching for the Resurrection "loves" that Jesus draws from Peter.

As you are "wondering if you know of any writings that can take me further…", I am remembering C.S. Lewis's...

THE FOUR LOVES, C.S.Lewis. The Four Loves the author distinguishes are Affection, Friendship, Eros and Charity; and while each has been examined sufficiently often, from Ovid to St. Bernard and from St. Paul to Stendhal, there have been few advocates to do justice to them all. Professor Lewis sees how each merges into another, how one can even become another, without losing sight of the necessary and real differentiation between them. He knows the peculiar values of each without supposing any to be all in all or self-sufficient; and he discerns too the deceptions and distortions which, can render the first three, the natural loves, dangerous without the sweetening grace of Charity, the divine love which must be the sum and goal of all. This anatomy of love is illuminated and enlivened by Professor Lewis's gifts of immediacy, lucidity and aptness of expression and illustration. "He has never written better. Nearly every page scintillates with observations which are illuminating, provocative and original." (Church Times) Collins 1960

---- Forwarded Message ----
From: William J . . .
To: Donald . . .
Sent: Mon, 12 April, 2010 16:31:39
Subject: Fw: [Blog] Mary Magdalene... and a question of the QUALITY of love

Dear Donald,
What an extraordinarily beautiful sermon illustrating and employing the devotion of Mary Magdalene, by one whose writings I am now discovering on the 'outward' trail of Meister Eckhart! "God is infinite and without end, but the soul's desire is an abyss which cannot be filled except by a Good which is infinite"... And what an emotive painting.. the expressions on the face of the Risen Lord and of Mary...
This is truly a delight to come home to, and how it drives me on! Thank you!
With my love in the Risen Lord,
William

PS ...see below
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
May I write of another 'moment' that has had me 'jotting' for hours.... John 21:15-17.... I am still on the lake shore, the dawn encounter with the Risen Lord, His questions of Peter haunting me… especially as I have read something intriguing with regard to the meaning of the word used for “love” in the original Greek. But do I read too much into the use of the meaning of the word? I was wondering if you know of any writings that can take me further…
____________________________________________________________________

NJB commentary: "Love" is expressed in the text by two different verbs which denote respectively love and friendship or cherishing. But it is unclear whether this is anything more than a stylistic variation.

NRSV commentary: The first two times Jesus asks the question, the Greek verb for "love" is agapan. The third time, and in all of Peter's replies, the Greek verb for "love" is philein, sometimes said to represent a lesser type of love. However, the two may be interchangeable.

AMP text (Amplified Bible):

(15) When they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these [others do--with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father]?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord, You know that I love You [that I have deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]". He said to him, "Feed My lambs".

(16) Again He said to him the second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father]?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord, You know that I love You [that I have a deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]". He said to him, "Shepherd (tend) My sheep".

(17) He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with a deep, instinctive, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend]?" Peter was grieved (was saddened and hurt) that He should ask him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You [that I have a deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]". Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep".

Do I read too much into the use of the meaning of the word? Perhaps the first two questions demanded a reply too personal and emotionally urgent for Peter to answer in the same terms used by Jesus. Jesus knew that Peter loved Him and His Father with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, and was seeking confession from Peter as to the quality of Peter's love for Him, as well as of his belief in Him and devotion to Him, in order to confirm Peter in his love for Jesus and to release the distress that had burdened Peter ever since the moment of his denial of Jesus. Peter's replies are wonderfully honest and direct, straight from his heart, expressing that his love is not the impersonal love of some of Jesus' followers, a creedal love established solely by 'reasoning' and 'intention' on the plane of purely 'spiritual devotion'. Peter's love for Jesus is more intensely personal than their love for Him (excluding John who was not present at that moment, following on behind), and for the Father (thinking of Philip's request as spokesman on one occasion, Jn 14:8 "Lord, show us the Father"). One can imagine Jesus delighting in this intensely personal expression of love, so much so, rephrasing and softening the third question; for Peter had twice declared how he loved Jesus with a deep, instinctive, personal affection for Him as for a close friend, seeking thereby to confirm Peter in the depth of his love for Jesus by asking him in the same terms in which he had made his two replies, "Do you love Me with a deep, instinctive, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend?" Peter's final reply says it all, "Lord, you know all things; you can tell that I love you".