- Deuteronomy 31:6 -
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of
them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor
forsake you."
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January is an occasion to entrust the past to God's keeping and the future
to his service. In his final message to the Israelites, Moses tells them
to
be strong and courageous, and even mindful of God's presence as they
crossed
the Jordan and entered the Promised Land. God may have something new for
you
in 2008. The Lord repeatedly led individuals into new territory in the
Bible, and not once did he fail to show them the way. So be strong and of
good courage. He will never leave you nor forsake you.
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January 4th - Bl. Angela of Foligno, Mystic
(1249-1309)
Saint Angela was born in Foligno, Italy, and lived most of her life in the
small Umbrian town of her birth. There was nothing remarkable about
Angela's
early years, and there was nothing scandalous about her life. Yet she
tells
us in her later writings that for over thirty years she led a mortally
sinful life. Perhaps she was referring to the pride and comfort of a
wealthy
and fa****onable existence, for she came from a family of great property,
married well, and afterwards ruled a large household of children and
servants. As she describes her conversion, it reads like the story of many
a
soul today. Fear of her damnation led her to the confessional one day. But
she was afraid to tell her most serious sins, and so made a bad
confession,
then a sacrilegious Communion. Only greater remorse followed. Tormented in
soul, she prayed to Saint Francis of Assisi, and he appeared to her in a
vision. The next day she made a complete and sincere confession.
From this point on, her life was completely changed. The thought of her
sins
gave her a desire for penance, suffering, and reparation. In Foligno and
its
neighboring town, Assisi, the memory of Saint Francis, who had died in
1226,
was still fresh. It is not surprising, then, that Angela was inspired by
Franciscan ideals from the time of her conversion until her death in 1309.
When one by one her mother, her husband and all her children had died, she
became a Franciscan tertiary and later lived as a mendicant, a poor
beggar,
completely dependent upon the charity of others.
She was a soul whom God chose to fulfill the role of a mystic. Her
confessor
recorded from her own lips the visions and ecstasies that were granted to
her with startling frequency. For Angela "the whole world was filled with
God," and she was in almost constant communion with Him. Yet we would
misunderstand the interior life of this mystic, or any other, for that
matter, if we imagine that her life was without pain, without constant
suffering. Angela herself tells us that at times she was overcome with
grief
because she could see nothing but the extraordinary goodness of God and,
in
contrast, the vanity of earthly things and the ingratitude of creatures.
The
sight of a crucifix produced in Saint Angela torrents of tears. The
intimacy
she enjoyed with God was a grace which at one period of her life was
entirely withheld from her, that she might like Job, become a model of
constancy amid great and prolonged torments.
Of the thousands of tourists who annually visit Assisi and pray at the
tombs
of Saint Francis and Saint Clare, few travel the short distance to
Foligno,
where Angela is buried in the Franciscan church. But she, like the Saints
of
Assisi, has many a lesson for our day. No sinner who would have recourse
to
her would ever despair.
Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on
Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea
(Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des
Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 1.
Saint Quote:
Had you but tasted one drop of the sweetness which inebriates the souls of
those religious from their wor****p of this Sacrament, you would never have
written as you have, nor have apostatized from the faith that you formerly
professed.
-- Saint John Fisher, writing to the bishop of Winchester
Bible Quote:
He who is mighty hath done great things to Me, and holy is His Name. (St.
Luke 1:49)
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IDLE TALK
A sin that is most common and very little recognized is the sin of idle
talk. Let us ponder what the Holy Bible has to say on this subject and
then
adjust our lives accordingly. From the Holy Bible: "But I tell you that of
every idle word men speak, they shall give account on the day of judgment.
For by thy words thou wilt be condemned" (Matt. 12:36-37). What is the
general rule about the use of the tongue? "But let every man be swift to
hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. For the wrath of man does not work
the justice of God" (James 1:19-20). What does idle talking lead to? "But
avoid profane and empty babblings, for they contribute much to ungodliness
and their speech spreads like a cancer" (2 Tim. 2:16:18).
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