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Ut Unum Sint

Although the Roman Martyrology notes the day of her death on April 23, 1939, the Cistercian and Trappist calendars commemorate Blessed Maria Gabriella, a nun of Grottaferrata in Italy, on April 22. Pope John Paul II beatified Blessed Maria Gabriella dell'Unità in 1983 and in his Encyclical on Christian unity, Ut Unum Sint, presented her again to the whole Church as a model of "the total and unconditional offering of one's life to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit." Her monastic life was brief: three and a half years. She died after fifteen months of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-five.

The Dilated Heart

Blessed Maria Gabriella is, in many ways, a woman to whom anyone touched by suffering and disability can relate, and for many reasons. The physical limitations that reduced her "doing" expanded her "being" until, at length, the Holy Ghost dilated her heart to the dimensions of the Heart of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. How can I not think here of my esteemed friend Vincent Uher at Tonus Peregrinus?

Silence Turned to Praise

Blessed Maria-Gabriella is one of those who, having heard the Word, held it in silence: in the silence of wonderment, in the silence that confesses God present, in the silence that allows the Word to sink into the deep and secret places of the soul. For Maria-Gabriella, this silence turned to praise: a sublime praise uttered by Christ the Eternal High Priest in the seventeenth chapter of Saint John's Gospel. At the end of life, she confided: "I cannot say but these words, 'My God, your Glory.'"

Pages Become Transparent

Maria Sagghedù, leaving her native Sardinia for Grottaferrata, entered a monastery that was economically and culturally poor, although governed by Mother Maria Pia Gulini, an abbess who believed in keeping a window open onto the wider Church. Maria Gabriella lived a hidden life circumscribed by the cloister, by silence and by obedience. Her monastic life was short; she crossed the threshold of the Abbey of Grottaferrata in 1935 and died in 1939, a mere three and a half years later. It was Good Shepherd Sunday at the hour of Vespers, the Church's evening sacrifice of praise. The Gospel that day had been from Saint John: "There will be one fold, and one shepherd" (Jn 10:16). After Maria Gabriella's death, her sisters found that her little pocket edition of the New Testament, worn from use, opened by itself to the seventeenth chapter of Saint John's Gospel. Those few pages of Jesus' Priestly Prayer, so often touched by Mother Maria Gabriella's feverish hands, had become almost transparent.

The Unity of the Mystical Body

Blessed Maria Gabriella's offering for Christian unity witnesses to the fundamental thrust of every monastic life, both in its canonical form within the enclosure walls, or in its interior expression, without cloister or habit, in the world. Monastic conversion is a movement from the divided, fragmented self to the whole self, healed and unified in the love of Christ. The restoration of unity is the great monastic work; it is the end and fruit of every Eucharistic Sacrifice. Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches the end proper to the Sacrament of the Eucharist is the unity of the Mystical Body. Let us then go to the altar, letting go of things that fragment that unity, and ready to receive the gifts by which unity is repaired.

Read more about Blessed Maria Gabriella dell'Unità here and here.

Father Garrigou-Lagrange, professor of Dogmatic and Mystical Theology at the Angelicum in Rome from 1909 to 1960, wrote this in 1952:

The modern spirit of unbridled pleasure leads inevitably to destruction, as is only too evident from the past two wars. No genuine peace has resulted, precisely because men have refused to see the meaning of divine chastisements and to return to a life which is both naturally upright and Christian. And so the Holy Ghost has implanted in many souls the seeds of genuine and fruitful reparation.

In view of this widespread sterility in human endeavour many would-be reformers are asserting that what is needed is a new approach to the priestly and religious life, in order to adapt them to the needs of the modern era. So far as the religious life is concerned, they are of the opinion that its austerity ought to be mitigated since it is now out of date: time devoted to prayer should be cut down to leave more time for external activities. They would also adapt the priestly life to the spirit of the times: to them it seems no longer suitable for priests to wear a special dress or the tonsure or any outward sign of their priesthood, or even to recite the breviary--perhaps even celibacy has become outmoded--and so on.

But what is required is a careful study of the actions and ambitions of the saints, whether they were founders of Orders or excellent secular priests; and this study must be undertaken not in any mere historical or theoretical frame of mind but from a practical point of view. Neither must we neglect the perennial teaching of the Church and the Popes about the religious life and the priestly life. . . . We will then discover the real changes that have to be made, in a spirit of faith, trust in God, and self-diffusive charity.

The Very Reverend Father R. Garrigou-Langrange, O.P.
(1877-1964)
The Priest in Union with Christ, pp. 67-69
The Newman Press, 1952

Thursday, April 2, 2009 will be the fourth anniversary of the death of the Servant of God, Pope John Paul II. In preparation for this anniversary, Dr. Alex Roman, Oblate of Saint Benedict, has graciously authorized me to share with the readers of Vultus Christi the Akathist he composed for private recitation in honour of the Servant of God.

Kontakion 1

To you, our great Pastor, Pontiff and Successor of the Chief Apostles, Peter and Paul,
entrusted for many years with the guidance and welfare of Christ's Holy Church, we
sinful ones gather to sing a triumphant hymn of praise in your honour, thanking the Lord
Jesus Who chose you and consecrated you according to the order of Melchisedek to
confirm us in our faith and, now, to be our speedy intercessor in the mansions of His
Father's House, and we incessantly sing :

Rejoice, O Holy Father, John Paul, Pope of Rome, great Servant of Christ and our
unfailing heavenly Protector!

Ikos 1

"Feed my sheep, tend to my lambs that are not of this flock," the Lord Jesus commanded
Peter before His Ascension to the Right Hand of the Father. "And I will be with you and
the Church unto the consummation of the ages!" Heeding our Lord's call in your heart,
you took upon your own shoulders the shepherd's pallium as a new fisher of men in the
footsteps of him who was called "the Rock" by our Lord, and we sing:

Rejoice, Successor to St Peter the Apostle!
Rejoice, Inheritor of his commission!
Rejoice, Rock of faith that was revealed to you by the Heavenly Father!
Rejoice, Preacher of Christ and Him Crucified!
Rejoice, Father of Peace!
Rejoice, Defender of the poor and oppressed throughout the world!
Rejoice, Man of prayer, lost in adoration of the Most Holy Trinity!
Rejoice, fervent in prayer to the Lord Jesus in the Holy Eucharist!
Rejoice, devoted son of the Most Holy Virgin Mother of God!
Rejoice, Teacher of the ways of the Lord!
Rejoice, Defender of the Apostolic preaching!
Rejoice, Example of piety, drawing all to new Life in Christ!
Rejoice, O Holy Father, John Paul, Pope of Rome, great Servant of Christ and our
unfailing heavenly Protector!

A Tale of Two Cardinals

Before writing about Saint Peter Damian whose feast we are keeping today, I want to acknowledge the birthday of the Venerable John Henry Newman, born in London on February 21st in 1801. I picture the two cardinals in Paradise; the one quintessentially British, given to careful reflection and sober understatement; the other, Italian, blazing like lightning and hurling thunderbolts in his zeal for reform.

When Grace Perfects Nature

Although both men received the cardinal's red hat, their tastes and temperaments could not have been more different. In art, the fierce and passionate Peter Damian -- a man rather given to extremes -- is often depicted brandishing a discipline or knotted scourge. I see the gentle Newman, on the other hand, seated in his study with a comfortable cup of tea near at hand. It's all splendidly Catholic.

Love of Christ and of the Church

Today's Collect expresses the two guiding principles of Saint Peter Damian's life:

Grant us, we beseech Thee, almighty God,
to follow the counsel and example of the blessed bishop Peter,
that by preferring nothing whatever to Christ
and always set upon the service of Thy Church,
we may come, at length, to the joys of eternal light.

The Monk

The first principle comes directly from the fourth chapter of the Rule of Saint Benedict: "To set nothing before the love of Christ" (RB 4:21). Before being or doing anything else, Peter Damian was a monk, a son of Holy Father Benedict. He belonged to the white-habited Camaldolese who, down through history, have given so many holy monks and solitaries to the Church.

The Bishop

The second principle of Peter Damian's life -- being ready always to serve the Church -- is inseparable from the first. "To set nothing before the love of Christ" translated, for Peter Damian, into a passionate devotion to the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the Church.

The Reformer

The Church that Peter Damian loved and served was beset with troubles and scandals of all sorts: sacred offices being bought and sold, a clergy addicted to gambling, wine, concubinage, and other vices best left unmentioned, and the widespread collapse of monastic discipline. He wrote a book on the sexual immorality of the clergy that is shocking -- even by today's troubling standards.

The Affairs of the Church Are the Affairs of Christ

For all of that, Saint Peter Damian also had time to write a little book for cave-dwelling hermits who wondered if, in their celebration of the Divine Office, they should say or omit the Dominus vobiscum. For Peter Damian, the affairs of the Church were the affairs of Christ. "The love of Christ put before all else" made him a man of the Church, an apostle and a prophet.

Reform Begins in Silence

In every age of the Church there are conditions that, while they demand reform, also stir up a lot of talking. True reform comes not from much talking, but from much silence. Holy Father Benedict says that "if you talk a lot you will not escape falling into sin" (RB 6:4).

A tongue obedient to the Holy Spirit can do immense good; a tongue that wags this way and that is, as Saint James says, "a restless evil, full of deadly poison" (Jas 3:8). Authentic prophecy begins in silence; true reform begins with holding one's own tongue.

The Work of Redeeming Love

There comes a moment when even the conversation of the saints and prophets must return to the silence whence it springs. In that silence, redeeming Love carries out the work of making whole all that is fragmented, of healing the weak and wounded members of Christ's Mystical Body.

Ye, Who Would Weed the Vineyard's Soil

Cardinal Newman has a little poem that addresses the tension between zeal and meekness, speaking and silence. I wonder if in paradise he has recited it for Saint Peter Damian.

CHRIST bade His followers take the sword;
    And yet He chid the deed,
When Peter seized upon His word,
    And made a foe to bleed.

The gospel Creed, a sword of strife,
    Meek hands alone may rear;
And ever Zeal begins its life
    In silent thought and fear.

Ye, who would weed the Vineyard's soil,
    Treasure the lesson given;
Lest in the judgment-books ye toil
    For Satan, not for heaven.

Off Sardinia.
June 20, 1833

Good Friday 2005: A Prayer by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

Lord, your Church often seems like a boat about to sink, a boat taking in water on every side. In your field we see more weeds than wheat. The soiled garments and face of your Church throw us into confusion. Yet it is we ourselves who have soiled them! It is we who betray you time and time again, after all our lofty words and grand gestures. Have mercy on your Church; within her too, Adam continues to fall. When we fall, we drag you down to earth, and Satan laughs, for he hopes that you will not be able to rise from that fall; he hopes that being dragged down in the fall of your Church, you will remain prostrate and overpowered. But you will rise again. You stood up, you arose and you can also raise us up. Save and sanctify your Church. Save and sanctify us all.

When I chanted the Canticle from the Book of Daniel (3:3, 4, 6, 11-18) at Lauds this morning, it became, by the grace of the Holy Ghost, a prayer for the Church, a supplication for her purification and healing. This happens so often in the Divine Office. In the prayer of the Church, nothing is stale, nothing old, nothing removed from the Passion of Christ prolonged in His members until the end of time.

Blessed art thou, O Lord, the God of our fathers,
and thy name is worthy of praise, and glorious for ever:

Today, January 27th, is observed as Holocaust Remembrance Day. Radio Vaticana has two feature broadcasts marking this observance. You can listen to them here and here.

Associated Press notes the feature programs with the following release:

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican is highlighting Pope Benedict XVI's record of condemning the Holocaust and anti-Semitism amid an outcry that he rehabilitated a bishop who claims that no Jews were gassed during World War II. Vatican Radio aired a lengthy program Tuesday to mark Holocaust remembrance day. It recalled Benedict's 2006 visit to Auschwitz, his 2005 visit to the main synagogue in Cologne, Germany, and other remarks over the years in which he has denounced the "insane, racist ideology" that produced the Holocaust. The Vatican has been intensifying its defense of Benedict after Jewish groups voiced outrage that he lifted the excommunication of a traditionalist bishop, Richard Williamson, who has denied that 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

Update:

Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X, has forbidden Bishop Williamson to speak on political or historical matters. Go to Rorate Caeli for the text of Bishop Fellay's communiqué.

Cardinal Dulles died this morning, on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The following lines written in 1946, and already marked by profound humility and wisdom, are taken from the Cardinal's account of his conversion to the Catholic faith, "A Testimonial to Grace."

Humble Love and Confidence

Brethren outside the Church, do not be scandalized by the frailty and ineptitude of Catholics. Our human faults, the whole burden of fallen nature, remain with us as much as with you. Your conduct is often more praiseworthy than ours. The sufficiency of which we seem to boast so much lies not in ourselves, but in Christ. There is no sin so hideous that He refuses to pay the debt for it, provided that we go to Him with sorrow, humble love, and confidence.

Sin Conspicuous and Hidden

The acquisition of virtuous tendencies is a slow and difficult process, in which many of us will never greatly succeed. By the power of our own will we can to some extent avoid the more conspicuous acts of sin. But the evil, thus repressed, continues to live underground, and, unless grace be present, will exhibit itself in other ways such as the stiff-necked complacency of the Pharisees. The world will never condemn secret pride as bitterly as it condemns the shameful sins. But Christ condemned it more severely because it is more incompatible with love.

The Crowning Virtue of Simplicity

True progress can be made through love alone. By forgetting ourselves and living entirely for the glory of Almighty God we can unite ourselves efficaciously with Jesus Christ, Who offered His Sacred Humanity to the Father without stint or hesitation. When one lives completely in the presence of God and for His sake, commendable actions become easier and more fruitful. The saints are able to conform their actions fully with their faith, exercising the necessary tact and delicacy, because they possess the crowning virtue of simplicity. Their whole body is filled with light because their eye is single. They have acquired the spirit of prayer.

Spiritual Childhood: To Cast All Our Care on Him

To advance in the life of grace is to become more childlike, more conscious of one's own littleness and ineffectiveness and of the bigness and strength of God. Gradually, and after many falls, we learn how to cast all our care on Him Who has a fatherly care for us, to trust Him completely because He is all-wise, all-loving, and all-powerful. As one loses oneself in Him one learns what it is to wrestle against principalities and powers. At the same time, however, one learns the meaning of that peace which was the parting gift of Christ to His children in the world.

A Struggle Not Without Rich Rewards

Through a gradual growth in humble Christian hope and faith and love one rises on the ladder of perfection. The ascent is difficult because the spiritual life is a continual struggle. The field to be subdued is as broad as the eye can see, and as one rises the horizons widen. Yet the struggle is not without rich rewards, even at the bottom rungs of the ladder.

"We institute the Feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ to be observed yearly throughout the whole world. . . . We further ordain that the dedication of mankind to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which Our predecessor of saintly memory, Pope Pius X, commanded to be renewed yearly, be made annually on that day."

Quas Primas, Encyclical of Pope Pius XI, December 11, 1925.

The mandate of Pope Pius XI to recite publicly the Act of Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has never been rescinded. It was customary in the past to renew the Act of Consecration at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament on the afternoon or evening of the feast of Christ the King. Failing that, could it not be presented in the homily, and then recited at the end of Mass? In how many cathedrals and parish churches will the Act of Consecration be recited publicly today? Read it attentively. It is extraordinarily relevant to the current and coming situation of the Church in the United States.

Act of Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Most Sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before thy altar.  We are Thine, and Thine we wish to be; but to be more surely united to Thee, behold each one of us freely consecrates himself / today to Thy Most Sacred Heart. Many indeed have never known Thee; Many too, despising Thy precepts, have rejected Thee.  Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to Thy Sacred Heart.

Be Thou King, O Lord, not only of the faithful children / who have never forsaken Thee, but also of the prodigal children / who have abandoned Thee; Grant that they may quickly return / to their Father's house / lest they die of wretchedness and hunger.

Be Thou King of those / who are deceived by the erroneous opinions / of whom discord keeps aloof, and call them back to the harbor of truth / and unity of faith, so that soon there may be / but one flock and one shepherd.

Grant, O Lord, to Thy Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give peace and order to all nations, and make the earth resound / from pole to pole with one cry; praise to the divine Heart that wrought our salvation; To it be glory and honor forever.  R. Amen.

Pope Pius XI promulgated this text on December 11, 1925, in the Encyclical Quas Primas, instituting the feast of Christ the King. Read it, if you will, in the light of the recent elections in the United States. My own comments are in italics.

A Remedy for the Plague Which Now Infects Society

If We ordain that the whole Catholic world shall revere Christ as King, We shall minister to the need of the present day, and at the same time provide an excellent remedy for the plague which now infects society. We refer to the plague of anti-clericalism, its errors and impious activities. This evil spirit, as you are well aware, Venerable Brethren, has not come into being in one day; it has long lurked beneath the surface.

Anti-clericalism here refers, among other things, to a systematic opposition to the right and duty of bishops and priests to address issues of faith and morals in public life. Anti-clericalism would silence the prophetic voice of the Church; its goal is to erase the Church from society insofar as she represents a "sign of contradiction" and a threat to the implementation of the societal agenda shaped by the powers of this world.

The Religion of Christ Under the Power of the State

The empire of Christ over all nations was rejected. The right which the Church has from Christ himself, to teach mankind, to make laws, to govern peoples in all that pertains to their eternal salvation, that right was denied. Then gradually the religion of Christ came to be likened to false religions and to be placed ignominiously on the same level with them. It was then put under the power of the state and tolerated more or less at the whim of princes and rulers.

One can only wonder if Catholics in the United States will soon experience what Catholics of other times and places have so often experienced in the past.

Secular Humanism and Aggressive Atheism

Some men went even further, and wished to set up in the place of God's religion a natural religion consisting in some instinctive affection of the heart. There were even some nations who thought they could dispense with God, and that their religion should consist in impiety and the neglect of God.

Look around. Both trends are alive and active today, especially in Europe, the United States, and Canada.

Insatiable Greed and Immoderate Selfishness

The rebellion of individuals and states against the authority of Christ has produced deplorable consequences. We lamented these in the Encyclical Ubi arcano; we lament them today: the seeds of discord sown far and wide; those bitter enmities and rivalries between nations, which still hinder so much the cause of peace; that insatiable greed which is so often hidden under a pretense of public spirit and patriotism, and gives rise to so many private quarrels; a blind and immoderate selfishness, making men seek nothing but their own comfort and advantage, and measure everything by these; no peace in the home, because men have forgotten or neglect their duty; the unity and stability of the family undermined; society in a word, shaken to its foundations and on the way to ruin.

The economic crisis is the result of greed, selfishness, the frenzied drive to secure one's own comfort and advantage, and the undermining of the family.

Slowness and Timidity in Good People

We firmly hope, however, that the feast of the Kingship of Christ, which in future will be yearly observed, may hasten the return of society to our loving Savior. It would be the duty of Catholics to do all they can to bring about this happy result. Many of these, however, have neither the station in society nor the authority which should belong to those who bear the torch of truth. This state of things may perhaps be attributed to a certain slowness and timidity in good people, who are reluctant to engage in conflict or oppose but a weak resistance; thus the enemies of the Church become bolder in their attacks. But if the faithful were generally to understand that it behooves them ever to fight courageously under the banner of Christ their King, then, fired with apostolic zeal, they would strive to win over to their Lord those hearts that are bitter and estranged from Him, and would valiantly defend His rights.

Catholic leaders reluctant to engage in conflict or opposing but a weak resistance? Sound familiar? Those fighting under the banner of Christ the King have a twofold mission: 1) to win over to their Lord those hearts that are bitter and estranged from Him; and 2) to valiantly defend His rights. His rights are, of course, the rights of those who cannot speak for themselves or defend themselves, beginning with the child in the womb.

Suppression of the Name of Our Redeemer

Moreover, the annual and universal celebration of the feast of the Kingship of Christ will draw attention to the evils which anticlericalism has brought upon society in drawing men away from Christ, and will also do much to remedy them. While nations insult the beloved name of our Redeemer by suppressing all mention of it in their conferences and parliaments, we must all the more loudly proclaim his kingly dignity and power, all the more universally affirm his rights.

I am thinking of the European Constitution and the refusal of entire nations to even acknowledge the Christian roots of their cultural patrimony. The principle is this: change words, that is, change the public discourse and, in the end, one will succeed in changing the face of society.

An Amazing Story

Madrid, Nov 12, 2008 / 09:21 pm (CNA).- The Spanish daily "La Razon" has published an article on the pro-life conversion of a former "champion of abortion." Stojan Adasevic, who performed 48,000 abortions, sometimes up to 35 per day, is now the most important pro-life leader in Serbia, after 26 years as the most renowned abortion doctor in the country.

"The medical textbooks of the Communist regime said abortion was simply the removal of a blob of tissue," the newspaper reported. "Ultrasounds allowing the fetus to be seen did not arrive until the 80s, but they did not change his opinion. Nevertheless, he began to have nightmares."

In describing his conversion, Adasevic "dreamed about a beautiful field full of children and young people who were playing and laughing, from 4 to 24 years of age, but who ran away from him in fear. A man dressed in a black and white habit stared at him in silence. The dream was repeated each night and he would wake up in a cold sweat. One night he asked the man in black and white who he was. 'My name is Thomas Aquinas,' the man in his dream responded. Adasevic, educated in communist schools, had never heard of the Dominican genius saint. He didn't recognize the name"

"Why don't you ask me who these children are?" St. Thomas asked Adasevic in his dream.

"They are the ones you killed with your abortions,' St. Thomas told him.

"Adasevic awoke in amazement and decided not to perform any more abortions," the article stated.

"That same day a cousin came to the hospital with his four months-pregnant girlfriend, who wanted to get her ninth abortion--something quite frequent in the countries of the Soviet bloc. The doctor agreed. Instead of removing the fetus piece by piece, he decided to chop it up and remove it as a mass. However, the baby's heart came out still beating. Adasevic realized then that he had killed a human being,"

After this experience, Adasevic "told the hospital he would no longer perform abortions. Never before had a doctor in Communist Yugoslavia refused to do so. They cut his salary in half, fired his daughter from her job, and did not allow his son to enter the university."

After years of pressure and on the verge of giving up, he had another dream about St. Thomas.

"You are my good friend, keep going,' the man in black and white told him. Adasevic became involved in the pro-life movement and was able to get Yugoslav television to air the film 'The Silent Scream,' by Doctor Bernard Nathanson, two times."

Adasevic has told his story in magazines and newspapers throughout Eastern Europe. He has returned to the Orthodox faith of his childhood and has studied the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas.

"Influenced by Aristotle, Thomas wrote that human life begins forty days after fertilization," Adasevic wrote in one article. La Razon commented that Adasevic "suggests that perhaps the saint wanted to make amends for that error." Today the Serbian doctor continues to fight for the lives of the unborn.