Abba Willie and Laci

Abba Willie McNamara has found a friend in Laci,

my friend and service dog.

She loves anyone who loves God.

Dogs know.

For more on Abba Willie,

go to http://earthymysticism.com/

St. Isaac the Syrian

Let yourself be persecuted, but do not persecute others.

Be crucified, but do not crucify others.

Se slandered, but do not slander others.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep: such is the sign of purity.

Suffer with the sick.

Be afflicted with sinners.

Exult with those who repent.

Be the friend of all, but in your spirit remain alone.

Be a partaker of the sufferings of all, but keep your body distant from all.

Rebuke no one, revile no one, not even those who live very wickedly.

Spread your cloak over those who fall into sin, each and every one, and shield them.

And if you cannot take the fault on yourself and accept punishment in their place, do not destroy their character.

The person who is genuinely charitable not only gives charity out of his own possessions, but gladly tolerates injustice from others and forgives them. Whoever lays down his soul for his brother acts generously, rather than the person who demonstrates his generosity by his gifts.

God is not One who requites evil, but who sets evil right.

What is a merciful heart?

It is a heart on fire for the whole of creation,

for humanity, for the birds, for the animals,

for demons, and for all that exists.

By the recollection of them the eyes

of a merciful person pour forth

tears in abundance.

By the strong and vehement mercy

that grips such a person’s heart,

and by such great compassion,

the heart is humbled

and one cannot bear to hear or to see

any injury or slight sorrow in any in creation.

For this reason, such a person offers up

tearful prayer continually

even for irrational beasts,

for the enemies of the truth,

and for those who harm her or him,

that they be protected and receive mercy.

And in like manner such a person prays

for the family of reptiles

because of the great compassion

that burns without measure in a heart

that is in the likeness of God.

~St. Isaac the Syrian

Let me introduce you to Father Andrei Urusov. He was indeed an unforgettable character, whom I was privileged to know in the '60s, when he was at the Russian Center in San Francisco. Born a prince in 1914 of an aristocratic family in Moscow, he emigrated with his family from Soviet Russia after the Revolution. Eventually he came into the Catholic Church and entered the Society of Jesus. He studied at the Russicum in Rome and in 1946 was ordained a Russian Catholic priest. He ministered in the Jesuit mission in China and in the USA. In 1966 Father Andrei returned to the Orthodox Church, founding the Russian Orthodox Center in Oregon. He died in 2002 and is buried on the grounds of his humble hermitage in Trail, Oregon.

The following is a news report of his death.

Father Andrei Left His Little Bit of Noise

By Paul Fattig MEDFORD, OR, March 17, 2002 (MT) -- One of our more fascinating Rogue Valley residents quietly left us March 9. You may have noticed his short but intriguing paid obituary at the bottom of the Records page on Thursday: "Father Andrei Urusov. Sept. 6, 1914 March 9, 2002. A Priest-Monk, a servant of Christ was born (did not choose to be born), made a little noise, and died." The Moscow-born Russian Orthodox monk who founded the Research Center of Christian Russian Culture near Trail a quarter-century ago did make a little noise. But those who knew him say it was a beautiful noise filled with wonder at the world and warmth for fellow humans. "He was a philosopher who was greatly influenced by St. Thomas Aquinas," says Suzanna Canonizado. "He was a great listener and talker. He never judged you." Canonizado was his gardener over the years as well as his caretaker at the end of his days on Earth. "He was very sensitive with a deep maturity," she says. "Yet he could also be an imp at the same time. He had a great sense of humor." For instance, he liked to try to blow out candles on her children's birthday cakes before the traditional wishes were made. The result was Father Andrei in a long black cassock robe and a flowing white beard chasing someone carrying a lighted cake around the house. "He would say Russian ladies don't like priests because they collect soup in their beards," she says. During a 1996 interview for the Mail Tribune, Father Andrei recalled the time in California when a police officer pulled him over. The monk was driving a borrowed, flower-painted Volkswagen. The officer was a bit befuddled by the whole scene but decided no ticket was warranted. "Far out!" Father Andrei exclaimed. And there was the conversation with the science professor who told Father Andrei that God doesn't exist. "That's too bad," Father Andrei replied. "Someday you'll meet Him anyway." Perhaps it was having seen the uglier aspects of humanity that caused him to seek a higher calling. Born to Russian nobles lost during the Bolshevik upheaval of the Russian Revolution, he was orphaned at 9. He was raised by Russian expatriates in Belgium, ordained by a Russian bishop in Rome when he was 30. He lived in Ireland, Shanghai, a Philippines island and in several cities across the United States and Canada. Before moving to Oregon, he spent 17 years as a college lecturer in San Francisco. "He loved Trail, and all the people here," Canonizado says. At his retreat, he received visitors of all faiths from around the world. In addition to performing liturgies in the chapel, he also conducted marriages and funerals. "There was really only one thing Father Andrei wanted," she says. "His one goal was to sit on the lap of our Lord. He said the rest was secondary. He said you make a little noise in life and then you disappear. The rest was secondary, he always said." Had he written his obituary, he would not have used the term "died," she says. "No, he would have said disappeared," she says. "He never said 'dead.' He often complained about the American language as being too heavy. He was a romantic." In addition to speaking English, albeit with a rich Russian accent, he was fluent in Russian, French and Italian. He could also communicate passably in Spanish. "He touched a lot of people," Canonizado says. "A lot of us who knew him never knew each other but we knew of each other through him. He had friends all over the world." His funeral service began Monday night with a special priest service conducted by his monastic brothers from the Monastery of St. John in Point Reyes, Calif. "It was a long beautiful funeral, and all-night thing," Canonizado says. That service was followed by an Orthodox service, then the gathering of friends. He was buried as he wished, on the grounds of the retreat looking out over Trail. "I miss him but at the same time I don't because he is here anyway,? she says. "You can still feel his presence." And maybe hear a little bit of his wonderful noise. [Mail Tribune, Medford, Oregon] March 17, 2002

A personal Experience

The following, in his own words, is the account of a spiritual experience of Father Andrei. It gives us a glimpse into the inner life of this man of faith. It makes no claims, you can believe it or not, but for those who have ears to hear what he saw and heard it can be a source of comfort and even joy. I share it with you just as it is.

A Personal Experience

Hegumen Father Andrei

(as shared with Frank Clyburn summer 1998)

We all have spiritual experiences. Most people don't dare to mention it because they're afraid of being accused of being proud or something. To me it's normal. The spiritual life exists - so we have spiritual experiences. And, I think my duty is to share my experiences. I believe that's the will of God.

The experience I'm going to talk about is about the children killed in the womb of their mother. Now, I must say that I am, of course, against killing. All those nice explanations, liberation of women, etc., is nonsense because there are dead babies. I suppose the guilt is up to the person. Often the young girls are allowed it because they're panicky but the ones who do it are the doctors and that's up to their conscience I'm not the judge.

But what happened to me is the following:

I was having Liturgy Sunday, as usual, and I was paying attention to the prayers and suddenly I heard inside me a voice that said, "Look, up, up!" (Not physically - spiritually.) First I said "no!" I said "no" about 5 times before I finally said "yes." You know I'm a prudent person if I may say so. So, finally I put my eyes up, and it happened all in a second but I have to explain, and I see a sky, an enormous sky and clouds. Then the voice says "look with more attention." And I see little faces, millions of little faces of babies. The voice said "those are who are killed to expiate the evil of the present time and they were baptized in their own blood. They are saved. And also they suffered physically without committing sin like Christ himself. Also, at the last coming of Christ, they will be the size our Lord wanted them to be if they had not been killed and, they will have a name. Then the vision disappeared.

Of course I have trained myself to not give an interpretation unless I have an interpretation in my mind but I didn't have any. You see, the problem is, that people usually try to interpret before they have any light about that. Actually, most of the heresies came for that reason. So I've trained myself, if I don't know, I'll say nothing. So I let it stand as such, still being puzzled.

Then another Sunday again there was another interruption. "Look up in the sky!" I said "no" again about 5 times then I finally give in and looked. This time I saw a sky, an enormous sky and little twinkle little stars. The voice said, "now look again with more attention." Those stars are little faces of those babies. Again, babies killed in the womb of their mothers. And again the voice explains, "They are killed to expiate the evil of the present time. They were baptized in their own blood and they are saved." "Also they have suffered physically like Christ without committing sin." And also the voice says, "at the last coming of Christ that they will be the size that the Lord wanted them to be if they hadn't been killed and they will have a name."

That's not all - a voice come to me and said they are asking me to be present at my Liturgy. They have never had Liturgy although they call it Mass. This was the first Mass in their lives so they were present all during the Liturgy. And I felt a great joy coming from that.

Now of course I'm still puzzled as to why I'm involved in that. I didn't destroy clinics, I didn't beat up any doctor, also I don't march in groups for the following reason; if I take one side then I'm incapable of speaking to those who are supposed to be corrected or something like that. So I think that for me it's meant just to meet people one-on-one.

And then this didn't end the visions. One day I had to travel, it was November and raining, from Trail, Oregon I had to travel south toward Las Angeles, near the desert, to meet some people. I said to myself, "my.. woof, how hard." Suddenly! I felt the presence of those babies and they say that they'll travel with me as a sort of protection. "Ha," I said, " you have some power. Can you do something? In Medford there is a certain Judge...." As I continued traveling south they said that they can do nothing toward interfering with that person. They have no power but they will tell the people, that I'm supposed to meet, that I'm arriving. When I arrived they were ready for me. And that was it.

I still was puzzled as to why I was involved in abortion, I don't approve of that, but still I don't know why. I remember I was in Russia with the Russian Bishop. I spoke about that vision. He said, "Father, aren't you supporting abortion?" I said, "no, I don't support either the killing of Christ but He died to expiate us. So I simply give facts and not the interpretation, that's all."

And then I had another experience. I'm invited sometimes to speak to some groups of ladies about abortion. Of course they see in their mind those mangled little bodies, often thrown into the garbage and so on, it's distressing, and they are all crushed. But when I tell them the story of my vision they understand that evil will not triumph. And like Christ crucified, which was of course terrible, there is a meaning - evil will never gain the upper hand. So there's a meaning in that spiritual vision and the Bishop finally agreed with me.

And then also I had another experience, and this is for those ladies as a kind of hope - it's not hopeless, in the end God will triumph. I met a young woman and she had the courage to say that she had let her child be killed. Of course you understand that the young woman often is panicky or allows it for psychological reasons. The killer, is the one who kills, the doctor. He's the one who takes the responsibility. Of course God is the judge of all of them. Anyway I told her, "you know what? You had that baby, give a name to that baby and pray to it, it's there in the lap of our Lord." She did that and then she got forgiveness, consolation and joy - She had a protector in heaven.

Again it doesn't mean that I'm supporting abortion, I'm sorry, simply the facts of life and there's a meaning in everything. So that is what happened and why I'm involved? I'm sorry, I haven't burnt clinics yet and I don't plan to do that. Well that is my personal experience which I repeat once in awhile and I still feel at the present time the presence of those babies. I feel a kind of friendly feeling from them, a kind of warmth and I feel at home with them, they are saved souls, they are saints.