-- John 14:27 --

 -- John 14:27 --

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the
world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
The end result of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives is deep and lasting
peace. Unlike worldly peace, which is usually defined as the absence of
conflict, this peace is confident assurance in any circumstance; with Chris=
t's
peace, we have no need to fear the present or the future. If your life is f=
ull
of stress, allow the Holy Spirit to fill you with peace.

<<>><<>><<>>
September 1st - Bl. Gabra Michael, Martyr
Also known as Gh=C3=A9bre Michael, Mikael Gabra
d. 1855

Ethiopia, a mountainous land in Eastern Africa, has an unusual ethnic
mixture of Black and Semite. It is one of the oldest Christian lands
in Africa and to this day the population is one half Christian. But
the ancient Christian Church in Ethiopia has been separated from the
bishops of Rome since the fifth century. The division was on the basis
of the apparent denial by Ethiopian Christians that there were in
Christ incarnate two natures, that of God and that of man. Only one
nature, they said.

Attempts were made by Catholic missionaries in the 16th and 17th
century to win these Ethiopian Christians back to union with Rome.
They failed largely because the Portuguese Christian missionaries
tried to impose upon them the liturgy and legal practices customary
among Latin Rite Catholics.

A later effort, in the 19th century, was more respectful of local
customs and achieved some success. In 1839 a Vincentian priest from
Italy, Justin De Jacobis (now Blessed Justin), was sent to Ethiopia to
head a mission. He soon met Abba Gabra Michael, an Ethiopian of
Portuguese Semitic and black ancestry, but a monk of the non-Catholic
Ethiopian church. Gabra was not a priest, but a very learned
theologian. Father Justin invited him to accompany him to Rome along
with a delegation of the Ethiopians to meet the pope. The visit
convinced Gabra that he should become a Catholic himself. He did so,
in 1844, when aged over fifty. Gabra was a great help to Father Justin
in the latter=E2=80=99s effort to found a seminary, and he accepted charge =
of
it. With Father Justin, Gabra composed a catechism adapted to
Ethiopian needs, and translated a work of moral theology into the
local language. Fr. Justin, banished for a while, was secretly
consecrated a bishop. When he returned, he ordained Gabra as his first
priest. Later he received him into the Vincentian order.

Although Bishop Justin=E2=80=99s apostolate was now permitted to a certain
extent, a reaction occurred against this European =E2=80=9Cintrusion=E2=80=
=9D,
especially after a man named Kassa rebelled and usurped the crown,
becoming Theodore II.

Theodore launched a persecution of Roman Catholics. He arrested Gabra
and four of his fellow-Ethiopians, and threatened them with torture if
they would not give up their allegiance to the Pope. For nine months
they were imprisoned, being brought out at intervals and urged now
gently, now brutally, to renounce the Pope. When they refused, they
were tortured and whipped with a giraffe=E2=80=99s tail =E2=80=93 an instru=
ment like a
steel cable in its cutting effect. Abuna Salama, the head of the
dissident Ethiopian church, was behind this persecution, despite the
fact that Gabra had saved his life some years before.

In March, 1855, when Theodore was about to set out on a military
expedition, he asked Gabra once more to give in. Gabra would not, so
the Emperor condemned him to death. At this point, however, the
British consul intervened, and the king commuted the sentence to life
imprisonment.

Gabra now sent word to his fellow Catholic Ethiopians still in prison:
=E2=80=9CBe steadfast to death for your faith. I have no hope of seeing you
again on this earth. If they kill me, I shall die testifying to my
faith; if they spare me, I shall go on preaching it.=E2=80=9D

The Emperor, always on the move, continued to drag Father Gabra along
as a prisoner wherever he went. Now in his mid-sixties, the priest was
loaded with chains and treated with studied neglect. He caught
cholera, but survived it, though weakened. The small rations he was
given he shared with other prisoners. Even his guards held Gabra in
esteem.

Finally, on August 28, 1855, Father Michael could walk no farther. He
just lay down at the side of the road and died. The guards gently
removed his chains and buried him.

In 1926 Pope Pius XI beatified this Ethiopian priest. Gabra had proved
once more that faith and love are stronger than death.

=E2=80=93Father Robert F. McNamara


<><><><>
Saint Quote:
=C2=A0A servant of the Lord stands bodily before men, but mentally he is
knocking at the gates of heaven with prayer.
-- Saint John Climacus

Bible Quote:
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ;
that every one may receive the things done in his body,
according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."=C2=A0 (2 Cor. 5=
:10)


<><><><>
Prayer of Thanksgiving to the Blessed Trinity

=C2=A0 =C2=A0Heavenly Father, creator and sustainer of all that is seen and
unseen, You have known me with Your infinite love since before time.
Thank You for the gifts of faith, of hope and of love. Praised be your
name now and forever.
=C2=A0 =C2=A0Beloved Jesus, Son of the Father, God from God and light from
light, You have invited me to be more than Your servant and more than
Your friend. You have invited me to be your brother/sister. Thank You
for suffering and dying for me. Thank You for being present--body and
blood, soul and divinity--in the Eucharist.
=C2=A0 =C2=A0Holy Spirit, Lord and giver of life, You have filled my life w=
ith
graces and blessings. Time and again, You have offered me Your Gifts
and presented me with the opportunities to use these gifts in service
to others. Thank you for wisdom and understanding, thank You for
counsel and fortitude, thank you for knowledge and piety, thank you
for a deep reverence for the Triune God:
=C2=A0 =C2=A0Who Is, Who Was, and Who Always Will Be, the Father, the Son a=
nd
the Holy Spirit. --Amen