Feast of St Angela Merici

On this day, 27th January, 1540, Angela Merici died in a little room adjoining the Church of St Afra, in Brescia. The Church is now known as the Sanctuary of St Angela and her incorruptible body can be venerated at an altar to the right of the sanctuary. I was recently privileged to spend some days in Brescia pondering Angela's message to us. Two aspects of her spirituality in particular struck me: her freedom of spirit and flowing from it her abundant joy. So I hear Angela say to us:-

Claim your freedom and your joy.

HAPPY FEAST DAY

Feast of St Ursula: pilgrimages past and present.

Plaque of St Ursula
standing and trying to protect her companions

Today is the feast of St Ursula, whose name and patronage St Angela Merici chose for her Company.  St Ursula was a  medieval saint who together with her companions was slaughtered on her way back from a pilgrimage to Rome.  For more about her life visit the Ursuline website.  Each month on the Ursuline website there is a reflection, this month the reflection is on St Ursula 

In 1524, St Angela  went on a long pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  It was not usual for women to travel alone, but Angela was prepared to risk all the dangers to visit and pray at the holy places where Jesus had lived and died. Her pilgrimage as you can read on the life of St Angela included some unexpected challenges, including a period of blindness.  However, on her return, Angela was soon to go on pilgrimage to Rome, here she was able to 'pray for God's help and encouragement to take the next step which she knew, in her heart of hearts, she was being asked to take. For more on Angela's life.

Taking time out of our everyday lives gives each of us an opportunity to review our lives. Going on pilgrimage or making a retreat are ways to help us on our journey.  I am fortunate to have that opportunity. There will be a short break during this time when I ask for your prayers.  I will return with news of my pilgrimage on the Feast of St Angela, January 27th 2014.  Until then I leave you with words of encouragement from St Angela Merici.

May they rest in peace ...

Sisters carrying scrolls with the names of deceased Ursuline sisters

During the mass on 18th September a scroll with the name of each sister who has died since the last Chapter was brought up and laid at the altar.  This mass was offered for all deceased Ursulines.  This moving ceremony gives us time to remember and thank God for lives of those who have lived out their vocation under the charism of St Angela.

Sr Maureen Coyne RIP

In the English province we remember Sr Maureen Coyne who died earlier this year.  To read more about her life and to hear her talking about her vocation see below.

WWW.Wednesday Woman of Witness: Sr Maureen Coyne including short video of her talking about her vocation

Little Acts of kindness 

Many hands make light work

A copy of her tribute Memories of Sr Maureen by Sister Anne Benyon

Angela's titles for Jesus (2)

 

One of the titles that Angela likes to use of Jesus is "TRUTH". It is Jesus as "TRUTH " who will teach us . This learning for Angela takes place especially at the foot of the Cross. She says:

 

"take refuge at the feet of Jesus Christ because if he directs and teaches you, you will be well taught."

 

7th Counsel 

 

Angela at the feet of Jesus - icon at Le Grezze

Jesus for Angela

 

 

In today's Gospel Jesus asks us : "Who do you say I am?" It is a question addressed to each one of us personally. We need to ask ourselves:  " Who is Jesus for me? "and following from that : "Who am I for Jesus?"

 

Angela uses a number of titles for Jesus and in subsequent posts we will consider some of them but today let's focus on a central one , that of Spouse a

 

"gentle and loving Spouse"

Rule Ch XI





 

Linked to this is that of a "Lover" who cannot be resisted and "whose light and joyful splendour of truth will surround you at the moment of death."

Last :Legacy



The Sacred Heart in Ursuline Spirituality

 

Today we keep the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Before the apparitions of Jesus to St Margaret Mary this devotion can be found in the spirituality of a seventeenth century French Ursuline, Blessed Mary of the Incarnation. It features in her Apostolic Prayer found below. In it are to be found many echoes of St Angela's Prayer given in Chapter V of her Rule.

 

" By the Heart of my Jesus, who is the Way, .the Truth and the Life,

I approach Thee, O Eternal Father.

By this divine Heart, I adore Thee for all who love Thee not;

I love thee for all who love Thee not;

I acknowledge Thee to be my God for all who,

wilfully blind, out of contempt, refuse to acknowledge Thee.

By this divine Heart, I would render Thee the homage which all thy creatures owe Thee.

In spirit I go round the wide world in search of all the souls

redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus.

I embrace them all to present them to Thee by Him and by Him,

I ask for their conversion.

Oh! can it be , Eternal Father, that thou wilt allow them to remain in ignorance of my Jesus?

Wilt thou suffer that they should not live for Him who died for all?

Thou seest, O Heavenly Father that they live not as yet!

oh ! give them life by this divine Heart.

 

On this adorable Heart, I present to Thee all who labour for the extension of the Gospel,

in order that by its merits they may be replenished with Thy Holy Spirit.

 

On this Sacred Heart, as upon a divine altar I present to Thee especially..........

.....................................................

Thou knowest, Incarnate Word, my beloved Jesus, all that I would ask Thy divine Heart, by Thy holy Soul. I ask it of Thee, when I ask it of Him, because Thou art in Thy Father, and Thy Father is in Thee.

Deign to do all this together with Him.

I present Thee all these souls; make them one with Thee. Amen

 



Visit from Rome

 

St Angela tinvites us:-

 

"Please go often, as you have time and opportunity, especially on feast days,

and visit your dear daughters and sisters." 

 

 

During these past two weeks we have had the joy, in the English Province, of a visit from our Mother General Cecilia Wang and one of our General Councillors, Sr Brigitte Brunet. It was interesting to hear about the lives and activities of Ursuline sisters round the world and to share with our visitors something of our mission in this country.

 



Sr Brigitte and Mother Cecilia in the garden at Wimbledon

Golden Jubilee Celebration at Wimbledon

 

In her writings Angela encourages us to "rejoice together" and we did just that yesterday  afternoon when the Wimbledon Community hosted a  celebration for the two Golden Jubilarians, Sisters Frances Oakley and Zela Procter.All the Province were invited.

 

The afternoon started with a buffet lunch and concluded with Evening Prayer I for the feast of the Holy Trinity. Angela's spirituality is very Trinitarian, she begins and ends her writings with invoking the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The mutual love within the Trinity was to be the model of the love lived by the members of the Company of St Ursula.

 

This love we experienced in our celebration together and as we sang with joy as our opening hymn some of her words:-

 

"I am here in your midst with Jesus,

my love and yours,

lending aid to your prayers.

 

I am more alive than when I was on earth;

I can help you more and hold you dearer.

 

Act, bestir yourselves,

make efforts, cry to him;

you will certainly see wonders.

 

Raise your hearts on high;

don't rest in things of earth.

Jesus is your only treasure.

 

Live in harmony,

be bound by bonds of love;

Sign of Jesus'favour; lead a new life.

 

 

Sr Zela and Sr Frances

 

 







 

 

Angela and the Church

 

For Angela, Christ and his Church were two loves which became one; two implications which were superimposed on each other.Idntification with the person of Christ her "one and only treasure" meant  active participation in the mission of the Church by evangelisation.

 

Prolonged prayer gave Angela the light and the courage to carry her intuition through to fulfilment.In founding the Company of St Ursula she provided for others a way for doing likewise. 

Hymn to the Holy Spirit

 

Spirit of God, on the waste and the darkness

hov'ring in power as creation began,

drawing forth beauty from clay and from chaos,

breathing God's life in the nostrils of man,

 

Come and sow life in the waste of our being,

pray in us, form us as sons in the Son,

Open our hearts to yourself, mighty Spirit,

bear us to life in the Three who are One. 

 

I think Angela would like this hymn to the Holy Spirit from Stanbrook Abbey with its focus on the creation of life out of chaos and darkness. Angela lived in a time which she described as "perilous and pestilential" and yet from that chaos she brought forth new life by being open to the action of the Holy Spirit in her heart.

 

Links between St Angela and St Paul

 

Paul's letter to the Ephesians, the second reading for today's feast of the Ascension ,reminds me of aspects of Angela and her teaching. Paul prays may God

 

" give you a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed..".

 

God certainly gave Angela this gift. Her contemporaries speak of the many people of all walks of life who came to consult her on every kind of problem including the interpretation of Scripture.

 

Paul continues:

 " May he enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit.."

 

Angela writes in a similar vein.Shortly before her death she instructs the local leaders:-

 

"Tell them that they should long to see me not on earth, but in heaven, where our love is. Let them set their hopes on high and not on earth.Let them have Jesus Christ for their only treasure, for there also will be love,which is to be sought not in this world, but above, in the high heaven at the right hand of the Father. "

St Angela and the Holy Spirit

 

Today we start the novena to the Holy Spirit in preparation for the feast of Pentecost. This feast  celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church. It has also been said of the Company of St Ursula that it was born from the pierced side of Christ.So, as on the cross the Church became the bride of Christ ,the vocation of an Ursuline is to live this mystery of the Church as bride of Christ. Angela speaks of Jesus as our spouse and urges us to live as befits a spouse of Christ.

 

At the same time Angela instructs us:-

 

"Above all: obey the counsels and inspirations which the Holy Spirit unceasingly sends into our hearts."

 

Rule Ch 8

Stick at It

 

" Only one feat is possible - not to have run away."

Dag Hammarskjold

 St Angela also calls us to stick at it. She writes in the Prologue of her Rule:-

 

" seek and desire all the ways and means necessary to persevere and make progress to the very end."

May: Prayer of the Heart

 

 

This month's Prayer of the Heart, in preparation for our General Chapter due to start in September this year, is taken from the opening phrase of the sample prayer given to us by St Angela in Chapter V of her Rule. It is:-

 

"Lord, light up the darkness of my heart."

 

Angela's writings reveal a fascination with light. In our Constitutions of 1969 we read:-

 

"The clear sunlit beauty and deep silence of the countryside found an echo in her soul and awoke in her a need for light and for the infinite; a need for God.When she speaks of obedience, truth, knowledge of God or the happiness of heaven, all alike are expressed in  terms of light."





Saying Yes To God

 

Today we keep the transferred feast of the Annunciation: Mary's YES to God. She did not know where that " Yes" would lead her.We know it led her to the Cross and Resurrection. 

 

Angela's "Annunciation" took place in a field at Brudazzo: a vision of a ladder that stretched from earth to heaven. On it were ascending  and descending  angels and women. Angela was to learn that she was to be that ladder, the way others would find their way to God. Her "yes" to the inspiration of that moment was to lead, many years later, to the foundation of the "Company of St Ursula."

 

Since then many people, from all walks of life, have found their way to God through the ministry of Angela's daughters scattered throughout the world.

 

 

Angela and Hope

 

Easter is a time when we rejoice in Christ's victory, a time for renewing hope. The late Basil Hume wrote:

 

"Christian hope makes us have confidence in God, in his ultimate triumph,and in his goodness and love,which nothing  can shake." 

 

He might have been quoting St Angela who had great confidence in God's goodness.She tells us in Chp X of her Rule to place

 

" all our love and delight .......

in God alone and in his gentle and ineffable Providence alone."

Rejoice Jesus is Risen

 

In today's second reading Paul tells us

 

" Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is , sitting at God's right hand."

 

Angela quotes this passage in her Fifth Counsel, a counsel which is full of guidance and encouragement. Interestingly the reference to the passage from Colossians follows on her invitation:-

 

"Let them have

JESUS CHRIST

for their only treasure,

for there also will be

LOVE." 

Waiting: Holy Saturday

 

There is a message in Holy Saturday which is sometimes missed.

 

WAITING IN SILENCE,

not knowing what the future holds, can be painful, especially at a time of grief.

At the same time it is an opportunity to grow in trust,

TRUST IN GOD'S LOVING PROVIDENCE.

 

 Angela knew deep sorrow early in life with the death of her parents and much loved sister. She waited; indeed she waited a very long time, before God's plans for her unfolded in the birth of the Company of St Ursula.

 

Angela's waiting in love enabled her to be a fountain  of God's love for others. Today, that fountain  of love continues to flow  all round the world through her daughters in every continent.

 

As we wait in trusting silence on Holy Saturday may we, in turn, be fountains of love for others.

 

 

St Angela and the Passion

Tomorrow we hear the reading of the Passion at Mass. Angela constantly sought to enter ever more deeply into the Passion of Jesus. There she found the supreme expression of God's love for her. In turn, it is in the  Blood of Christ that Angela would have her daughters united in mutual love and concern. 

 Icon at Grezze of Angela at the foot of the Cross

"Take refuge at the feet of Jesus Christ"

  

St Angela, 7th Counsel

  

The Transfiguration

Yesterday we read the account in Luke of the transfiguration. One of my favourite icons of this mystery depicts,  in addition to the event, Jesus leading Peter, James and John up the mountain and then down it. This suggests what Lent is all about: taking time to go apart with  Jesus, spending  time in prayer with him and returning  with him to take up the challenges of life. 

The important element in the story is that it is all done WITH JESUS,we are never alone.

Angela tells us

"Find no other recourse than at the feet of Jesus Christ."