St. Angela Merici

Hi everyone!  I hope that you are having a warm and cozy day!

There are a lot of options for the saint of the week, this week.

St. Francis de Sales, St. Paul, St. Timothy, St. Titus.and St. Angela Merici.

I have settled on the lesser known and the woman. . . St. Angela Merici.

 

St. Angela Merici lived in the 1500's.  When she was on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, she suddenly became blind.  Everyone wanted her to turn back, but she went on, choosing to "see" with her heart.

On her way back, her vision returned.  Once home, she began seeing things, that she was previously "blind" to; one of which was the plight of the uneducated women in her home town. The only educated women were nuns and they were not allowed to leave their cloister.  She saw that the old way wasn't working, so she set up a new way. . . She set up a Franciscan community of unmarried women.  They were educated and then, helped the poor.  (It was unheard of for a women to travel alone in those days!).   She said that we needed to help the poor, more that they needed us to help them.  (think about what that means, if you have been to Appalachia, you'll know what that means. . I hope). 

 

St. Angela, too, was a shaker and mover.  She saw what worked and what didn't and went on from there.   Kind of like what we talked about in INTERSECTION today.  Look at your life and see what is working and what isn't, and go from there.  Don't be blind to your shortcomings and the areas in your life that need to be improved.

 

Along these same lines, monday, Jan. 22 is the March for Life.  At our last youth mass, during the homily, Jesse saw my 'ABORTION IS MEAN' pin on my guitar strap and asked me what it meant.

I whispered to him that it meant that a pregnant women could decide that she did not want to have a baby and the doctor would take it out and the baby would of course die.  His jaw fell to the floor.  His eyes bulged.  "you mean a doctor will do that!!"  yes, I said.  'that is so wrong'.  Yes it is, I said.

That is why Father is talking about the prolife march. I told him, Many people from many religious go to Washington to show that they want this law to be changed.  "oh,' he said, "I hope that it works."

So, today, let's pray for the shakers and movers who see the need for a change and are doing something about it.  You can help today too.  Pray for them, and our country.  Educate yourself and others on what it means to be prolife.  (Hint:  it means ALL life, not just babies).  Did you know that our society has been compared to the Aztecs because abortion is considered a human sacrafice?

Gross, but true. 

 

 Don't turn a blind eye here, either.