Reflective Moments with Saint Angela

May

Silence

We live in a world polluted with noise – so much noise that every part of our life is inundated by it. Our culture provides us with many ways of avoiding silence. We are constantly exposed to sounds: voices, televisions, cell phones, iPods, radios, music, and traffic. We are so drawn into the noise that we can miss the creative power and fruitfulness of silence.Silence can feel so uncomfortable and so unproductive. In a world of producing and doing, silence can seem like a real waste. Yet scripture tells us that it is in the stillness and the silence that we meet and know God.

Be still and know that I am God. (Ps. 46:11)Silence before God, all the earth! (Habakkuk 2: 20)Then the Lord said, “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the Lord; the Lord will be passing by.” …After the earthquake there was a fire – but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound.(1Kings 19: 11-12)Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. (Luke 5:16)

It seems that a real experience of God happens in intentional silence. The beginning point of knowing God is deep interior silence. In the depths of our being God speaks to us. Only silence leads us to that depth. Silence is not empty space. It is more aptly described as fertile ground for intimacy with God. Union with God is birthed in wordlessness.For me, Angelus Silesius says it well in his short poem, Silent Prayer.

God far exceeds all words that we can here expressing silence. God is heard in silence worshiped best.

Reflection:
Invite Jesus and Angela to go with you to the hermitage of your heart.Rid yourself of outer and inner noise.Simply sit in silence for five minutes. (Use a timer if needed to avoid watching the clock.)It may help to be aware of your breath.Gradually increase your time until you have reached 20 minutes.

Activities:
Be in touch with the ways you avoid or resist silence.
Do you constantly have on a television or radio for background noise?Try doing without them.
Be present to whatever you are doing with a listening heart.
Avoid turning on the radio or television when you first rise in the morning.
Spend those first moments of the new day in quiet thanksgiving.
Turn off your car radio and ride in silence.
Spend the last few minutes of your day before retiring in wordless prayer.
(written by Marietta Wethington, OSU)

Taken from "Following The Spirit Angela Merici and the Ursulines"

St. Angela's spirituality continued:

With regards to poverty, Angela refers above all to "poverty of spirit, through which a person strips the heart of every affection and hope for created things, and of self. In God one has all wealth... Let each one strive to be stripped of everything and to put all of her wealth and love and delight not in possessions, not in food and over-eating, not in relatives and friends, not in herself, nor in any of her own attributes and knowledge, but in God alone, and in the kind and ineffable Providence that is his alone." (Rule Chapter 10)

She urges obedience to God's Commandments first, and then to what "Mother Church commands," and finally to individual spiritual and secular authorities. However, one other form of obedience seems to be far more fundamental: "Above all, (the women should) obey the counsels and inspirations which the Holy Spirit continually sends into the heart..obey God and each creature for the love of God, as long as nothing is commanded against one's own integrity." (Rule chapter 8) The individuals obedience to the Holy Spirit and to God's guidance, as well as her personal integrity, takes priority over obedience to all earthly authorities.

This spiritual understanding of the Evangelical Counsels, more than anything else, distinguishes the first Ursuline Rule. Angela admittedly included traditional characteristics of religious life, but she interpreted them anew and thus created a freer, more independent, yet committed way of life for women. The independence of this new way is also visible in the leadership structure which Angela intended for her community. It is true that, if the need arose for material affairs to be put in order, four "prudent and honorable" widows and four "mature men who have led upright lives" were to be called in. However, the spiritual leadership lay in the hands of four women elected by the community, from within the community. It is remarkable that no office of leadership was provided for priests. They had an important function as father confessors and as ministers of the Eucharist, but they played no role in the spiritual or secular leadership of the community. As an assembly of women, the community was intended to be independent of outsiders. (9th Legacy)

Continuation of the Spirituality of St. Angela

As true sisters of a religious order, the members of the community lived according to the Evangelical Counsels. They committed themselves to a life of virginity and practiced chastity, poverty, and obedience. In this observance, Angela had in mind above all the spiritual dimension of their lives. Therefore, her Rule emphasizes that any woman who wishes to make this commitment must give her heart to God voluntarily. Living it purely means total spiritual dedication. "Above all, let her keep her heart pure and her conscience clean of every evil thought, of every shadow of envy or ill will, of every discord and evil suspicion, and of every other evil appetite and wish. Rather, be happy, and always full of charity and faith and hope in God. " (The Rule, Chapter 9).

Her orientation toward Christ gives the individual the inner freedom for undivided service in the Kingdom of God. As a result, she is also able to devote herself lovingly to others.

We will pick up on the meaning of the vows of poverty and obedience next time.

Saint Angela's Spirituality

With her "Company of Saint Ursula," Angela had created a religious community of women which was fundamentally different in its self-concept from other Orders existing then, e.g., Benedictines or Poor Clares. The basis for this was the spirituality which she explained in her writings-the Rule, Counsels, and Legacy. Angela combined open-mindedness and religious commitment in a way which had hardly been possible for women until that time.
Unlike other nuns of that time, the first Ursulines did not live cut off from the world. Instead, they remained integrated in their families or stayed at their workplaces.
However, they still saw themselves (more than Third Order members for example) as religious committed to an ascetic life with regular prayer, fasting, and Holy Communion.
The basic motivation of Angela's whole life was her personal relationship with God, especially her deep relationship with Christ, in whom she found the life-shaping energy for her sisters. "Let them have Jesus Christ as their only treasure," she said in her fifth Counsel.
In her biblical image of being a "bride," Angela expresses the great dignity bestowed upon each individual. In community with one another, she sees mutual love and high esteem as the symbol of community with Jesus Christ. "The more you are united, the more Jesus Christ will be in your midst." (10th Legacy) As a final legacy, she leaves her sisters with urging that their first refuge must always be "to gather at the feet of Jesus Christ, and there, all of you, with all your daughters, to offer most fervent prayers. For in this way, without doubt, Jesus Christ will be in your midst, and as a true and good Master, he will enlighten and teach you what you have to do..."

... to be continued