Angela Merici – Her Charism

When we're with somebody we love very much, we often find ourselves saying, "I have so many things to tell you, I don't know where to start!"  And the other person usually answers, "Start anywhere!  Let it come simply."  So, that's what I'm going to do with you, because I love you very much, and my heart is filled with good news for you.
In preparing this presentation, I never ceased praying for you, and I would ask St. Angela, "Tell me what you want me to say to them."  I'm sure you've noticed in her Writings how she often says, "Tell them…"  So let's immediately come to her, and let her speak to us:

"I give you this charge, to greet them and shake hands with them on my behalf.  And tell them that they should want to be united and in concord together, all being of one will."  (5th Counsel, 19-20)

"Also, tell them that now I am more alive than I was when they saw me in the flesh, and that now I see them and know them better.  And can and want to help them more.  And that I am continually among them with my Lover, or rather ours, the Lover of us all, provided they believe and do not lose heart and hope."  (5th Counsel, 35-39)
Yes, Angela loves us "together" and leads us to Him who has gathered us here together today, Ursulines, Associates, and friends of ours.

My greatest wish for you is that you experience Angela's living presence and thus be warmed, encouraged, inspired, comforted, and consoled, according to your needs, and that together we may become more and more committed for Jesus.

I believe that we were not thrown haphazardly into existence but that, in His loving plan, the Father created us in clusters, together.

His great project is to gather together those who are connected by the same bond of creation.  To be associated with a community is to recognize in oneself some interior similarity with this community, some affinity placing us in the same spiritual lineage.
We sometimes hear people saying, "Why so many different groups of Associates?  There are Associates to the Holy Rosary Sisters, the Ursulines, the Clercs St-Viateur, Myriam, the Third Order, etc.  There should be only one Association.  It is the same Lord and the same Gospel!"  True, but I believe Our Lord wanted it this way.  St. Paul says, "In the Church, there is a diversity of gifts, but it is the same Lord."  The same with our body.  It is one entity with several members, and all the members, in spite of their number, form only one body.  The same with Christ.  All, Jews or pagans, slaves or free citizens, were baptized in one Spirit to form one body.  All satisfied their thirst by coming to the same Spirit.  Just as the human body has many members, and not just one, so are you the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of this body.

In the Church, God has put all in place: in the first place apostles, in the second place prophets, and in the third place teachers; then those who perform miracles, followed by those who are given the power to heal or to help others or to direct them or to speak in strange tongues.  They are not all apostles or prophets or teachers.  Not everyone has the power to work miracles or to heal diseases or to speak in strange tongues or to explain what is said.  "Set your hearts, then on the more important gifts."  (1 Cor 12-31)

God is so great that there are multiple aspects to His greatness.  And each of us, according to our inner attraction, is called to witness to one of His features.  For example, the Myriam Family, unless I'm mistaken, tells us that God is our Father, and that we should live as His trusting children.  Everyone is a child of God.  It is Myriam's mission to remind us of this. 

A community's charism or gift was first given in fullness by God to its Founder.  Each member will draw on this charism as long as the Institute lasts and will live one aspect of it in a special manner, according to his/her own particular grace.

When we are gathered around St. Angela, what are our special colours?  What characterizes Ursuline spirituality?  for, to be an Associate, is to participate in the spirituality and mission of a community.

In 1 Cor quoted above, after enumerating different gifts, St. Paul says, "Set your hearts, then on the more important gifts," and, in his beautiful hymn to charity in Chapter 13, he tells us that love is the best gift.  What is better than love?  My father used to say, "If God created something better than love, He kept it for Himself."  Psalm 63 says, "Your constant love is better than life itself."  The best gift that the Father wanted for the Ursulines is love.  Of course, the other Institutes also received love, but each has its own way of loving.

Angela left us a heritage of intimate love (a personal love, a close relationship with God, an inner love of God) and the tender love flowing from it for our sisters and brothers.

At His appointed time, for the salvation of His people, and for His joy and ours, God raised up a humble woman whom He fashioned and prepared first of all to be His spouse, and then to be the living mother of the multitude that we are.

Let us look at the way God proceeds.  In Exodus, it is said that God saw the misery of His people in Egypt.  He had pity on them, intervened by creating Moses, preparing and educating him to free His loved ones.  It is always in this manner that God saves us.

Angela received – forever, "as long as the world will last", she promises – the call to live an intimate relationship with God, the grace of spiritual marriage.  She indeed received the "best gift", the boldness to acknowledge being loved to the point of being able to approach God's Heart, to become one with Him, to dare call Him her Spouse, and to espouse His interests, His children, His Church.

Angela's spirituality is based on that of one of the twelve foundation stones of the Church, the apostle John, who leaned on the Heart of the Incarnate Word to discover the Father's secrets.  It is this spirituality of the Incarnate Word that is given to us to live.

The Incarnate Word is not only the man Jesus who lived 33 years in Palestine.  It is the Son of the Eternal Father, a person of the Trinity, who one day took our humanity.  Christ Jesus espoused humanity.  He died, rose again, and is forever living.  He is Christ Jesus, the Lord.  The man Jesus of Nazareth is the first human person to be espoused by the divine.

When we speak of "spouse", certain people may be disturbed, men, in particular.  But it is our being that is espoused or, if you prefer, our soul, our spiritual being, where there is no longer man or woman, race, age, or social condition.  Each of us, therefore, like Marie of the Incarnation who experienced this spiritual marriage at a very high level, will say, "It is not in the human manner."  We use symbols and parables to express a reality that is infinitely more profound.  This is not a grace reserved for religious only; it is for all baptized Christians.  It is the normal effect of Baptism, but we speak of it so little!

In 1 Jn 1.1-4, we read:  "We write to you about the Word of life, which has existed from the very beginning.  We have heard it, and we have seen it with our eyes; yes, we have seen it, and our hands have touched it.  When this life became visible, we saw it; so we speak of it and tell you about the eternal life which was with the Father and was made known to us.  What we have seen and heard we announce to you also, so that you will join with us in the fellowship that we have with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.  We write this in order that our joy may be complete."

This passage from 1 Jn summarizes the spirituality of the Ursulines, what we are called to live in a special manner.
If we were to headline Angela's message, it could be done in three words:
1.       Spouse
This word appears thirteen times in Angela writings, and hundreds of times in Marie of the Incarnation's.  Their relationship to God is one of intimacy.
2.      Spiritual Maternity or Paternity
The word "mother" appears twice in Angela.
The word "daughter", twenty-six times.
We are called to a life of great fruitfulness.
3.      Communion
Together in unity, in communion.  All of Angela's message is clothed in this reality.  Angela's mission and that of her lineage is to be true spouses of the Son of God and to say, through life and word, that God is Spouse and that, in His Word, He espouses our humanity.

God promised this in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea.  It isn't a human invention to call God, "Spouse".  He gave Himself this name, when He revealed Himself as the Spouse of His people.
Let us look at a few of these wonderful passages:
"The Lord will be like a husband to your land."  (Is 62.4)
"Your Creator will be like a husband to you."  (Is 54.5)
"Although I was like a husband to them, they did not keep that covenant."  (Jer 31.32)
See also:  Hosea 2.19;  Is 49.18;  Jer 5.7;  Ez 5.13;  2 Cor 11.2;  Eph 5.25 and many more.

Note that it is at the heart of our infidelities, of our sins, that God espouses us.  He reaches out to His people in their misery to reveal His love and tenderness to them.  The life of the prophet Hosea is a good illustration of this.  He marries a prostitute who is unfaithful to him and, yet, he continuously takes her back.  God says to us in Hosea 2.19-20: "Israel, I will make you my wife; I will be true and faithful; I will show you constant love and mercy and make you mine forever.  I will keep my promise and make you mine, and you will acknowledge me as Lord."  The Spouse's love will triumph, and the unfaithful spouse (the People of God) will be changed into a virginal spouse (Is 61.10;  Is 62.45).  God will be united with her for a new and eternal covenant.

All Christians are called to be God's spouses.  It is in our Baptism that takes root our charism to be and live as true spouses of Jesus Christ (or, if you prefer, in a state of espousal, intimacy, proximity, friendship) and to tell all the people that they, also, are called to this.

The people of God needed a long time of preparation and journeying before God could reveal Himself as Spouse.  Their image of God, at first, was that of a powerful God whom they feared and tried to appease with sacrifice offerings.  Then, that of a Saviour God (with Moses).  And, finally, with their experience of being saved and constantly forgiven for their sins and idolatry, they concluded: "Only a father can love in this way," and they falteringly uttered the name, "Father".  Then, much later, with the prophets, they heard how God wanted them as life-giving partners for eternity by revealing Himself as Spouse and proposing a new covenant to them.  The covenant, which up to now was a social pact, takes on a nuptial character to the point that the person who defaults is charged with adultery.

The promise comes true in Christ Jesus who calls Himself, "Spouse".  (Mt 9.15; 25.1;  Jn 3.29;  2 Cor 11.2;  Rev 21.9)
The New Covenant is sealed in the Blood of Jesus Christ, from whose open side was born the Church, His purified and virginized spouse.  For Christ's spouse is the Church, all the people of God, in which each one of us is called to live this great mystery.  If all the Church is spouse, each of its members must be "espoused".  In each of our lives, also, after having received grace upon grace in our journey of ever greater intimacy with God that He reveals Himself, at His appointed time, as the Spouse of our being.  This is a grace that we may desire and pray for, but which we cannot give ourselves.  It is pure gratuity.

It is in the logic of our relationship with God that He progressively pervade every area of our life and being, that He occupy more and more space, that He draw us ever closer to Him, and that we belong totally to Him.  It is a game of mutual seduction.  I am seduced by God (Jer 20.7) and God is seduced by me (Ps 45.12).  What a mystery!  God is seduced by beauty, His beauty that He clothed me with.  He will have to give me the strength to bear so much love.  "Recognize," Angela entreats us, "what such a thing implies, and what a new and astonishing dignity it is.  You have been chosen to be the true and virginal spouses of the Son of God … and to become queens in heaven.  Thank Him infinitely that, to you especially, He has granted such a singular gift."  (Rule, Prol. 5, 7, 8, 17)

Angela's role with regard to us is to show us our Spouse, prepare our hearts, adorn them, embellish them for our marriage with Him.  She is the mother of our marriage with the King of kings and the Lord of lords.  She even uses the expression, "become in a way the mothers-in-law of the Son of God" (4th Legacy, 15).  Like John the Baptist, she is the Bridegroom's friend (Jn 3.29).

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a wedding feast, Jesus tells us, to which we are all invited (Mt 9.15; 22.2; 22.11; 25.1-10;  Lk 12.36; 14.8;  Jn 2.1;  Rev 19.7-9).  We are gathered together to feast and make merry at our wedding.  It is not a purely human coincidence if today couples and families are invited to be part of Angela's family.  Your marriage is a parable and symbol for us Ursulines as it is for you, dear Associates.  It reveals to us the reality of Christ's union with His Church and with each person.

And our commitment as celibates in the world or as religious is also a parable for you who are married.  A parable is a reality that evokes another reality, hidden and truer.
Angela invites us to live love in its purity, that is, as God created and wanted it, whether in the married or celibate state; and for this, we need one another.  It is in the logic of God's gift to Angela that couples and families are associated to the Ursulines. 

It is in contemplating the Holy Trinity that Angela entered into this great mystery of covenant or espousals.  She understood that God is eternal communion.  Her writings begin by invoking the blessed and indivisible Trinity and end with her blessing "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Testament). 

In 1 Jn 1.3, John sees us "in the fellowship that we have with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ."  He invites us to enter into the intimacy of the Trinity, to live the Son's union with his Father. 

Marie of the Incarnation, who perfectly illustrated the spirit of St. Angela, also received, in a Trinitarian revelation, the knowledge that the Word (2nd person of the Holy Trinity) is truly the Spouse of the faithful soul.  In the Trinity, God is revealed as a family.  Rooted as they are at the heart of the Blessed Trinity, it is my conviction that marriage and the family are sacraments, or signs, of communion; signs of this intimacy to which we are called.

I would like to quote here a passage from Maurice Zundel's book, "Ta Parole comme une source" (Your Word, a Mainspring), p. 126:  "The family established in God, the family rooted in the heart of the Holy Trinity, the family open not closed, the family given to the whole universe and all of humanity, the family consecrated by God, the family become sacrament in the marriage instituted by Him, the Divine marriage, sealed in the Most Holy Trinity, this bond can become Love."

Yes, that's how it is.  And Angela, who has given us love as our heritage, can lead you there.  She has a special love for couples and families.  She wants and can make you become Love.  Together, let us become what we are: Love.  This finds an echo in our hearts, doesn't it? It means that it is true.  It means that it wants to live, that it lives already!

In our next conference, we will look at the fruitfulness of a life of intimacy with God: the spiritual maternity or paternity that flows from it.


Sister Monique Gagné, o.s.u.