Today's Ornament of Grace for Tuesday for the Fourth Week of Advent is Bl. Maria Gabriella Sagheddu.
Isaiah 7:10-14
Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God; let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky! But Ahaz answered: “I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord.” Then he said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary men; must you also weary my God? Therefore, the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.
Born to shepherds in the Sardinian Region, an island to the west of Italy, Maria Sagheddu recognized the sign given by a loving God as Immanuel, God with us! She learned to trust Him even in difficult times. Unlike Ahaz who was a king and rejected a prophet’s guidance, Maria let Jesus be her king, allowing Him to care for her.
Maria’s father and one brother died in 1919 when she was only five; two more brothers died in childhood. Such grief surely brought little Maria to an early understanding of how quickly life on earth can pass. Though excelling in school, she had to leave after an elementary education to help her mother care for the other children and the home.
Maria’s sister, Giovanni Antonia, just a year younger, was her closest sibling in every way. In 1932, Giovanni died at age 17. After that, Maria’s devotion to the Lord grew. She began to teach religion to children and teens. She also reached out to help elderly people in the area in any way she could. These good works seemed to spur Maria to spend more time in prayer and study.
Soon, she felt called to religious life. With the help of her Jesuit confessor, she entered the Trappist Convent near Rome and received the name Maria Gabriella. Making her vows on the Feast of Christ the King in 1937, she entered wholeheartedly into the Trappist way of life and learned much about the need for ecumenism, a closer relationship among all Christian churches. She suffered from bouts of anxiety, but abandoned herself completely into the hands of God and found relief. The Sisters found her trusting, humble, cheerful, and always ready to do the most tiring jobs happily.
Maria Gabriella gave thanks to God for allowing her to be at one with Him through her vowed life. Still, she longed for all Christians to grow in understanding of one another and to develop a relationship with one another in Jesus. In January, 1938, during a time of special prayer for Christian unity, Maria offered herself as a spiritual sacrifice so that all might be one. This sacrifice, in God’s plan, was not only to be spiritual but physical as well. By May of the same year, doctors told her she had incurable tuberculosis. After suffering with the disease for over a year, Maria peacefully gave herself to the Lord and died on April 23, 1939. It was Good Shepherd Sunday, and the Gospel proclaimed “… and there will be one fold and one shepherd.”
During her very short life of 25 years, her love for unity had been welcomed by the Anglican Church and other believers as well. After her death, vocations flocked to her religious community. St. Pope John Paul II referred to Maria Gabriella in his encyclical Ut Unum Sint (That They May Be One) as an example to follow: someone who realized it is our duty at all times, everywhere, to pray and work for unity. The Pope beatified her on January 25, 1983.
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