3rd Week, Monday, Jan 27th; Angela Merici
Hebrews 9:15, 24-28 / Mark 3:22-30
Christ will come again; He will bring salvation to all.
In the early days of American history, black slaves sang spirituals while they worked. One of those spirituals expresses their longing for the second coming of Jesus:
"There's a king and captain high, And he's coming by and by, And he'll find me hoeing cotton when he comes. "You can hear his legions charging in the regions of the sky, And he'll find me hoeing cotton when he comes.... "He'll be crowned by saints and angels when he comes, They'll be shouting out Hosanna! to the man that men denied, And I'll kneel among my cotton when he comes."
The faith and longing expressed in that spiritual capture the spirit of the final line in today's reading.
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How eagerly do we long for Jesus' coming? "Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!" Revelation 22:20
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Once for all, Jesus offered himself, and there came, negatively, the forgiveness of sins, and positively, the new covenant, the new and permanent union of life and love with God. Once and for all, never to be repeated.
It is strange and really sounds like ill will when the Scribes ascribe the good that Jesus does, especially that he drives out demons, to the power of Satan, the prince of demons. Should they not have recognized that God’s Spirit was working in Jesus? In messianic times, the Jews expected the Spirit of God to overcome the spirits of evil, and in Jesus, the good Spirit was visibly active. We too have to make our option between God’s Spirit and the spirits of evil that make us sin. If we hear the word of God and act accordingly, we let God’s Spirit overcome evil in and around us.
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It is amazing as well as astounding how much words can come out of our mouths and what effect it has on others. Good words of encouragement and support are pleasing to hear and we will have a feeling of peace and joy as those words resonate in our hearts.
On the other hand, we are also capable of saying very bad words that hurt and break the hearts of others and will also cause them to get angry and retaliate with violence. In the gospel, we heard the scribes saying something very disgusting as well as evil. They said that Beelzebul (the devil) is in Jesus, and that it is through the prince of devils that He casts out devils.
It is disgusting because, if there is nothing good to say, then it would be better not to say anything. But to say that the devil is in that person when that person is doing something good is certainly very vicious and evil. Yet Jesus did not react with anger or retaliation. Rather He reasoned out with them that Satan won't fight against himself and cause his own destruction. Of course, whether the scribes will listen or not is another issue. In fact, the devil would only want to make us fight against each other by spewing vicious and hurting words at each other and causing us to fight against each other and be divided against each other.
Hence we need to learn from Jesus as in how He handled the situation when those scribes accused Him of being possessed by the devil and working for the devil. We need to be calm and vigilant because the devil is prowling around looking for someone to eat (1 Peter 5:8). We need to stand by Jesus who will keep us firm in faith and be at peace.
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Prayer
God our Father, you are the origin of all that is good. Let our heart not be a house divided between good and evil. Send us your good Spirit to enlighten and guide us, to give us joy and strength and to follow your Son wherever he leads us on the road of goodness and service. We ask you this in the name of Jesus, the Lord. Amen
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Saint Angela Merici
Feast day January 27
Women like St. Teresa of Ávila and St. Catherine of Genoa contributed significantly to the Catholic Reformation. But in the 16th-century church perhaps no woman responded more creatively to the need for reform than St. Angela Merici. She built communities that trained single women in Christian living and provided them a secure place of honor in their local societies.
A single lay woman herself, Angela established groups of unmarried women of all classes in Brescia and other northern Italian cities. She wanted the women to be in the world, but not of it. So they consecrated themselves to God and promised to remain celibate. But they lived at home with their families and looked for ways to serve their neighbors. In 1535, Angela organized the groups into the Company of St. Ursula, later called the Ursulines. Unique for its time, her avant-garde association anticipated modern secular institutes and covenant communities.
Angela gave the Ursulines a military structure, dividing towns into districts governed hierarchically by mature Christian women. This design allowed the community to support members in daily Christian living and protect them from spiritually unhealthy influences.
The rule that Angela wrote for the company required members to remain faithful to the Christian basics. In the following excerpt, she explains the importance of daily vocal and mental prayer:
Each one of the sisters should be solicitous about prayer, mental as well as vocal, that is a companion to fasting. For Scripture says prayer is good with fasting. As by fasting we mortify the carnal appetites and the senses, so by prayer we beg God for the true grace of spiritual life. Thus, from the great need we have of divine aid, we must pray always with mind and heart, as it is written, “Pray constantly” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 NJB). To all we counsel frequent vocal prayer that prepares the mind by exercising the bodily senses. So each one of you, every day will say with devotion and attention at least the Office of the Blessed Virgin and the seven penitential psalms (Psalm 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143) because in saying the office we are speaking with God.
To afford matter and some method in mental prayer, we exhort each one to raise her mind to God and to exercise herself in it every day. And so in the secret of her heart, let her say: “My Savior, illumine the darkness of my heart, and grant me grace rather to die than to offend your Divine Majesty any more. Guard, O Lord, my affections and my senses, that they may not stray, nor lead me away from the light of your face, the satisfaction of every afflicted heart.
“I ask you, Lord, to receive all my self-will that by the infection of sin is unable to distinguish good from evil. Receive, O Lord, all my thoughts, words, and deeds, interior and exterior, that I lay at the feet of your Divine Majesty. Although I am utterly unworthy, I beseech you to accept all my being.”
At Angela Merici’s death in 1540 she had started 24 groups. Over the years the Ursulines have flourished as the oldest and one of the most respected of the church’s teaching orders.
To the long list of authorities Ursulines were to obey—Ten Commandments, Church, parents, civil laws—St. Angela added “divine inspirations that you may recognize as coming from the Holy Spirit.” A refreshing and liberating rule. Also a dangerous one, for when it’s obeyed, the Holy Spirit may act in unexpected ways.
