A Spirituality Of
ABBA!

“For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear; but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry:  
 Abba Father”  (Rom. 8:15).  
                                                                                                                                                                                             
“And because you are sons, God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying: Abba, Father” (Gal. 4;6).

 Let us recall that St. José Marie Escrivá, having had a tremendous mystical experience of ABBA in the city of Madrid, Spain, expressed that he wanted to run throughout the whole city and proclaim “ABBA” everywhere and to absolutely everyone.

What is widely unknown is that in all the languages and words and expressions throughout history,“ABBA” must be the dearest, most intimate, potent & mighty, glorious & glorifying, most pleasing invocation & impetatory prayer,and more. Why? Because Jesus Himself proved this from the Cross, calling out to His Father “ABBA” at the very start and end of His Last Testament before dying. Does this not demonstrate that Jesus Christ went about with this Expression in the Very Core of His Being throughout His life on earth? While Jesus is the Name above all names, Abba must be the greatest of all pronouns, words, and all possible expressions… Yet we leave off with it daily. We take the Pauline texts (above) as though ABBA is but some charismatic phenomena or spontaneous outcry only from the heart, and not a whole spirituality. In fact, just as wisdom is the greatest gift of the Holy Spirit of Charity, so too we can grasp how “ABBA” is The Very Way of Jesus at all times, and above all when on The Cross Itself. Let us profit from this true Way of Tree-mend-us Wisdom of all wisdoms, and His Way of Soul.

Let us also affirm that while Jesus is the perfect reflection and splendor of The Father, our Heavenly Father is not a bearded Man as He oft must be portrayed… He is Pure Spirit, beyond all creatures, images, flesh and any other spirit. His one dogmatically known distinction within the Trinity is that He is the originless Origin of all (but evil), the very Fount of all founts of goodness.  We affirm St. Thomas Aquinas’s spirituality, too, of how “sensuum defectui” shows how we may go beyond images altogether, while not being iconoclastic either, since the Pure Spirit of The Father is imageless, though reflected even in us as the image and likeness of God (even more, once glorified in heaven with other saints, if eventual), but in the sense of free will and sentience (self-consciousness) far more than in any whiskers, while certainly loving so humbly those pulled off from Jesus’ holy beard.

Now, then, the following are the main 12 points of an ABBA spirituality that is in development. Observe, too, how as the letter A is the 1st letter of the alphabet, ABBA is the 1st Person of the Trinity…. These 12 points all have “A.”  

 1. ABBA (in a trinity of terms, like 3 A(s) in one: as One God, but 3 Persons…)

           > Alleluia: “ABBA – ALLELUIA!” in the spirit of rejoicing, jubilation, resurrection, etc. with Our Father.          

           > Amor (Agape — acts of oblation as did our Best Friend to His Abba):  for “Charity conquers all things.”

           > Anima (Soul): “ABBA!” especially with all my SOUL (the very core of my being), not just my heart or mind or spirit.                     

    [Tip:To recall all the points, you can hymn it as Abba Ah Ah Ah A… to the tune of Whatsoever You Do… More later on how.]
 
2. ABBA  Always. We want ABBA written all the more on the very bedrock of our beings, and this should occur by ever growing in these 12 main points. Also, we are always in Abba’s sight. Too, we will always know Abba in heaven if we enter there.
 
3. ABBA At 33/24. This is easy to recall since this is the 3rd point — 33. 24 for all hours. 33 for the age of Jesus when He died, according to the vast majority of all reliable sources. One may renew the” ABBA” at every 33 seconds or minutes (without scrupulously watching the clock) or more or less every hour or even every so often (see #11 and #12 below) in honor of Jesus’ 33 years. One could especially be extra grateful if already beyond the age of 33. 

 4. ABBA  All. Indeed, the way to remember it here in this 4th point is “All (4) for Abba!” This isJesus firstly and foremostly for His Father = The Supreme WAY of The Christ.   We can go through Joseph to Mary to Jesus to ABBA in the H. S. with the aid of our guardian angel, our patron saint, a special group of saints and angels, the just on earth — especially even all of them.

 5. ABBA  Awe. That our Truest Bliss is spiritual and in (the will of) The Father, as The Son proved!  [Let us already find a bit of this bliss! Let us deny self before tempts to lesser blisses, mediocrities, even vices. Divine are the” delights at His right.”]  Practice recollection over the personal favors from ABBA, but above all the perfect love of ABBA in Himself, in the Trinity, in His Generative Love of the Son, ‘Spirated’ Love of the Spirit, Creative Love of the angels and man, and of the entire universe, with special attention to what the New Heavens and New Earth will forever possibly be like in everlasting, divinized, super-Reality.

 6. ABBA  Almighty (in the oft daily Crucible). No matter the cross of the day or night, “ABBA!” can get us through. Too: “ABBA Shmayana!” which means – Heavenly Abba! ABBA becomes our main interior gold mine in this via #9 below.                                                                        

 7. ABBA  Absolutes (of His Divine Attributes a/k/as ‘Transcendentals’). But firstly, God as ABSOLUTE. No relativism. Among others to bring to heart and all: His Divine Goodness, Greatness, Glory…. His Perfect Peace, Love, Bliss (He is these)… etc.

 8. ABBA  Ascetic. How Jesus’ Way is one of “the straight and narrow,” and not of “the wide and crooked” for Abba Father.   A disciplinary lifestyle is very central to this Spirituality, and especially that discipline of following #3 and #4 (above), and #10.

 9. ABBA  Abode. We go in to Abba and renew ourselves in Him as one entering a tent that is for us our primary refuge, shield, and strength – against any fading off of our Abba Ways – quickened(!) in tempts, if beginning to rest or sleep, if sitting or other. We are greatly grateful no matter what the Job-like losses in life if but in the state of grace since we never know the day nor the hour in which we will be taken up and out from all our earthly trials, trippings and trappings, tribulations, trepidations, etc.    [St. Paul was a tent-maker: grace builds on nature.   Working as he did in making tents he surely could have profited from it by internalizing it into a prayer-life from the inner sanctum beyond both the dark night of the senses as also of the soul.]

10. ABBA Unadulterated. (Particular vigilance over the initial little ‘wheels of the mind’ before they may begin to turn wrong.) Here one’s personal rule (geared to the individual history, temperament, character, etc.) of self-control in Christ is necessary, and as a rule to never break, to never ever become wicked; rather, to be ever the more innocent and wise. {‘Call on Paul,’ too!]

11. ABBA  Amen.  Each ABBA 33 At 24 is good to bring to an AMEN — to the sacred affirmation.

12. ABBA  Affixed. As a seal is affixed to a document or letter, so too we affix “ABBA” or “ABBA Amen!”  or even “Affixed” or “SEALED” or other to each of these AMENs and even to every (merit we may have attained in) good word or work or wonder or whatever in Our Heavenly Father’s honor. Too, the more frequently used, the better —  depending upon the quality of our “ABBA,” which we neither ever take in vain nor avoid as if risky: daily familiarity without overfamiliarity — both greatest and highest love and respect for Our Father’s most loving Expression, as well as for the Whole Trinity. We strive to affix It more and more perfectly in the example of the life of this Greatest Expression, whether vocalized or interiorized only.