27/01/2021
ST ANGELA MERICI
At fifty-seven, St Angela Merici organized a group of twelve girls to help her in catechetical work. Four years later the group had increased to twenty-eight. She formed them into the Company of St. Ursula (patron of medieval universities and venerated as a leader of women) for the purpose of re-Christianizing family life through solid Christian education of future wives and mothers. The members continued to live at home, had no special habit, and took no formal vows, though the early Rule prescribed the practice of virginity, poverty, and obedience. The idea of a teaching congregation of women was new and took time to develop. The community thus existed as a secular institute until some years after St Angela’s death.
A lot of the spiritual life, like farming, is about waiting. Even when a seed falls into good soil, it doesn’t bear fruit immediately. It lays dormant in the soil for a while, then begins to grow when conditions are right. The Apostles and those in the crowd who had open hearts began “growing” in understanding and finally bore abundant fruit when the right conditions were available. The descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost provided the right conditions. Like the Apostles, we too need the Holy Spirit to fully understand what Jesus taught.
