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Alberione Angels
Do you remember 1969? The Vietnam War was raging.
Hippies were wearing flowers in their hair. In Chicagoland, Yippies
nominated a pig for President of the United States.
In that exciting year, I was an unhappy student at the University of
Illinois. College seemed irrelevant. The world was jumping with action.
Shouldn't I be out in the thick of it? I called my mother with the news.
I was dropping out of college. She was devastated.
In turmoil, I went to the university bookstore. Something drew me to a paperback copy of Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. I bought it and what a providential buy it was!
The protagonist, Jude, was a farmer with a burning desire to acquire a college education. He longed to leave his rural life behind and become a man of letters.
Jude’s yearning turned something in my own troubled heart. My mother had longed to go to college too. She had sacrificed so that her children would be able to do what she could not. How could I throw away a gift so valuable to her—and to Jude? Education suddenly seemed important. I called my mother. I would stay in school and finish my education.
Blessed Father James Alberione—Founder of the Daughters of St. Paul and the Pauline Family—once wrote that a good book can “become a church and pulpit.” In 1969, I certainly was not attending church. I didn’t hear any sermons. It was this unlikely novel that became the “church and the pulpit” through which God reached out to me and gave direction to my life. I call moments such as these “Alberione moments.” Do you have such Alberione moments in your life?
Fast forward to 2013. I am a lay member of the Pauline Family founded by Blessed Alberione, a promised Pauline Cooperator. Together with my brother and sister Paulines around the world, I strive to use the new forms of media as “church and pulpit,” that is, as channels of grace bringing life to the world.
“We must always lead others towards heaven,” Father Alberione insisted, “but we must lead those who live today, not those who lived ten or more centuries ago.” Throughout my life, I have discovered what a spiritual gift the media can be.
Learn more about Blessed James Alberione
Looking back, I can see that reading Jude the Obscure was not the only “Alberione moment” in my life. There have been many others. I am no longer a college student, but life can still deal unexpected blows. In the course of ministry, I alienate a good friend and fellow Catholic. She feels betrayed. I feel betrayed. We talk, we pray, we forgive each other’s harsh words. But we cannot reach peace. The rift is real and painful. I fling myself into the arms of Jesus Master in the Eucharist. My Alberione angel visits me again. This time it is a film, Wes Anderson’s Rushmore.
The movie tells the story of three people: high school prodigy, Max Fischer; millionaire, Herman Blume; and teacher, Rosemary Cross, with whom both men fall in love. An improbable romantic rivalry ensues which is both hilarious and heart-breaking.
Max pursues life with optimism, enthusiasm, and a fierce intelligence. He gives his heart away to both Mr. Blume and Miss Cross. When he thinks they betray him, his heart breaks.
As my heart broke when I felt betrayed by my friend.
Unlike me, Max decides to wreak full-throttle vengeance on his friend. He informs Mr. Blume’s wife of her husband’s marital transgressions. He unleashes angry bees through the air vents of Mr. Blume’s hotel room. He rigs a tree to fall on Mr. Blume and crush him. But in the end, he gives up and tells Mr. Blume the reason why. Max says it doesn’t matter because Miss Cross will never love him, as he loves her.
Max acts out the anger he feels and gives in to revenge, but he is reconciled with both Mr. Blume and Miss Cross by the end of the movie. Slowly, dealing with the forces unleashed by the situation, Max comes around. He even reaches out to Mr. Blume to help him through his own dark night of the soul.
Pauline Cooperator
Delaware http://store.pauline.org/SinglePages/AlberioneAngels/tabid/279/Default.aspx
In turmoil, I went to the university bookstore. Something drew me to a paperback copy of Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. I bought it and what a providential buy it was!
The protagonist, Jude, was a farmer with a burning desire to acquire a college education. He longed to leave his rural life behind and become a man of letters.
Jude’s yearning turned something in my own troubled heart. My mother had longed to go to college too. She had sacrificed so that her children would be able to do what she could not. How could I throw away a gift so valuable to her—and to Jude? Education suddenly seemed important. I called my mother. I would stay in school and finish my education.
Blessed Father James Alberione—Founder of the Daughters of St. Paul and the Pauline Family—once wrote that a good book can “become a church and pulpit.” In 1969, I certainly was not attending church. I didn’t hear any sermons. It was this unlikely novel that became the “church and the pulpit” through which God reached out to me and gave direction to my life. I call moments such as these “Alberione moments.” Do you have such Alberione moments in your life?
Fast forward to 2013. I am a lay member of the Pauline Family founded by Blessed Alberione, a promised Pauline Cooperator. Together with my brother and sister Paulines around the world, I strive to use the new forms of media as “church and pulpit,” that is, as channels of grace bringing life to the world.
“We must always lead others towards heaven,” Father Alberione insisted, “but we must lead those who live today, not those who lived ten or more centuries ago.” Throughout my life, I have discovered what a spiritual gift the media can be.
Learn more about Blessed James Alberione
Looking back, I can see that reading Jude the Obscure was not the only “Alberione moment” in my life. There have been many others. I am no longer a college student, but life can still deal unexpected blows. In the course of ministry, I alienate a good friend and fellow Catholic. She feels betrayed. I feel betrayed. We talk, we pray, we forgive each other’s harsh words. But we cannot reach peace. The rift is real and painful. I fling myself into the arms of Jesus Master in the Eucharist. My Alberione angel visits me again. This time it is a film, Wes Anderson’s Rushmore.
The movie tells the story of three people: high school prodigy, Max Fischer; millionaire, Herman Blume; and teacher, Rosemary Cross, with whom both men fall in love. An improbable romantic rivalry ensues which is both hilarious and heart-breaking.
Max pursues life with optimism, enthusiasm, and a fierce intelligence. He gives his heart away to both Mr. Blume and Miss Cross. When he thinks they betray him, his heart breaks.
As my heart broke when I felt betrayed by my friend.
Unlike me, Max decides to wreak full-throttle vengeance on his friend. He informs Mr. Blume’s wife of her husband’s marital transgressions. He unleashes angry bees through the air vents of Mr. Blume’s hotel room. He rigs a tree to fall on Mr. Blume and crush him. But in the end, he gives up and tells Mr. Blume the reason why. Max says it doesn’t matter because Miss Cross will never love him, as he loves her.
Max acts out the anger he feels and gives in to revenge, but he is reconciled with both Mr. Blume and Miss Cross by the end of the movie. Slowly, dealing with the forces unleashed by the situation, Max comes around. He even reaches out to Mr. Blume to help him through his own dark night of the soul.
Rushmore was a
parable that spoke to my broken spirit. Watching the film, I learned
once more that friendships can break. And although we may, through an
act of will, forgive a wounding friend, our hearts won’t necessarily
mend. As the credits closed, I felt at
peace for the first time in weeks. My Alberione angel had struck again.
How have you been visited by the spiritual gift of a movie, a book, or
some other form of communication?
Rae StaboszPauline Cooperator
Delaware http://store.pauline.org/SinglePages/AlberioneAngels/tabid/279/Default.aspx
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