Reflective Moments Moments Reflective May 2006
The Reflective Moments insert in the last issue looked at the early childhood and teenage years of Saint Angela Merici’s life. In this issue, we will reflect on her adult years.
Angela’s Inner Journey By Sister Ann McGrew, OSU, and Sister Marietta Wethington, OSU
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arlier we learned that even when she was very young, Angela had an intense love of God that led her to prayer, meditation, and contemplation. This led her parish priest to invite her to receive her First Communion at an early age. Because of her desire for receiving the Eucharist often, Angela joined the Third Order of St. Francis. In those days, lay persons were not permitted to receive the Eucharist regularly. As a Franciscan Tertiary, she could more easily go to Mass, receive Communion, and go to confession regularly. She was also assured of being able to continue her practices of fasting and penance that were so important to her inner life and relationship with God. Being a Franciscan Tertiary gave Angela the right to combine contemplation and action, a way of life unheard of for women in her day — but a way of life to which she felt certain God was calling her. The spiritual energy of the Franciscans flowed into apostolic work. It was Franciscans who asked Angela to go to Brescia and minister to Caterina Patengola, who was grieving the loss of her husband and children. Because of Angela’s early life experiences of losing her family and the strength God gave her through those experiences, she was able to comfort the grieving widow, help her distribute her alms, and answer her own call to ministry. Brescia was in a state of material ruin and religious decline. The Church in that city was suffering because priests and bishops were not interested in religious duties. The spiritual needs of the people were being neglected while clerics were pursuing life in a secular culture. Seminarians were not being trained to respond to the inner call of God and ministry to the people. Not all was in ruin, however. There were a few mystics in Brescia who, along with a number of disciples, worked to save the city and its people from complete
ruin. There were women in the city who were serious about their spiritual life and in whom Angela found friendship and support. While living in Brescia, Angela felt a call to respond to a variety of situations. Most of the time this happened because people would just show up at her house eager for advice and words of encouragement. She never turned them away. Angela had a great love for the Church and worked indirectly for its reform by counseling priests and other Church leaders. We can be sure she was following the direction of the Holy Spirit in doing this because in her Seventh Counsel she wrote, “You must pray and get others to pray that God may not abandon his Church but may reform it, as it shall please Him and as He sees best for us and for His own greater honor and glory.” Another ministry in which we see the touch of Angela’s hand is with the incurables — those with syphilis. The Company of Divine Amore had been founded in Genoa to restore the Christian life and to plant divine love in the hearts of the people. Three members of the Company living in Brescia established a hospital for incurables. Angela and the women in her group became involved with the Company of Divine Amore. During the many years that Angela lived in Brescia, she felt an interior call to experience the holy places of pilgrims, from which she would draw strength, light, and direction for her life and work. For many years she desired to visit the Holy Land to see with her own eyes and to walk in those places where Jesus had lived and walked. Finally, she was able to set Continued on back