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| Photo by Fr. Edward |
From: William . . .
To: Donald Nunraw . . . .
Sent: Sun, 10 July, 2011 14:51:26
Subject: Fr. Edward
Dear Father Donald,
I am completely in awe of Fr. Edward OP ! The breadth of his knowledge and power of expression leave me gasping! During his stay at Nunraw it must have been like entertaining the brother of Benedict XVI perhaps? It is not only 'intellectual' but pastoral too, as he describes in the paper "Foundational Theological Views on the Priesthood" (a fascinating piece of writing indeed):
"Those who undertake the spiritual direction of others cannot merely adopt for themselves an abstract teaching about what is a living reality in the highest sense. It demands experience and discernment, a higher prudence; it is not just in itself a good thing which can be taught without a sensitivity to the spiritual gifts of the learner – and this whether in the class-room or privately."..and:
"We must expand our minds to accept [the writings of the masters of the spiritual life] with their full value. Once we open ourselves into this ethos we find that the harmony of the unity of faith will so expand itself in us to accept a wider and higher horizon...which brings its spiritual gifts and encouragements which are so much more powerful and beautiful than an inferior moralising".
His homily for the 14th Sunday tells of his own 'harmony of the unity of faith' being expressed through his priesthood:
The Son has, like the Father, a reflective power such as also guides the Son in his illumination of men. So the Father is also present in the revelation of divine Truth to men...He asks for humility in the face of a truth which is more precious than the truth that is natural to men; this truth has all the fresh vitality of its divine source; it is Wisdom itself in its original divinely Personal nature as it emerges from the Lord who stands behind heaven and earth.
and expresses his own "sensitivity to the spiritual gifts" of those he is addressing, applying such words of encouragement:
The labour is easeful, which makes what is the highest knowledge in itself to be totally unburdensome. Their vocation to pursue the divine Wisdom is confirmed, and they are communicated with a far higher knowledge than they would have expected. That is a mark of divine favour, introducing them to within the most universal and delicate love in which things now appear within the Tri-une God in their essential timelessness and endlessness.
And in his homily for 15th Sunday how graciously he warns us of the dangers of the 'inferior moralising' he writes of, referring to the false search for 'exotic meaning' by the attendant Pharisees as they missed the 'unexpected lessons' in which 'the meaning is multiple and profound'.
The "index" of his homilies - may it yet become the source of several further books -www.simnet.is/e.booth/english/index.htm!
Thank you for a fascinating introduction to a remarkable priest.
Thank you for a fascinating introduction to a remarkable priest.
... in Our Lord,
William.
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