Memorial of St. Angela Merici, Virgin

Today the Church raises up for our prayer and pondering the life and legacy of St. Angela Merici, foundress of the Ursulines and a visionary in responding to new ways for women to live a Christian life in the world. 
 
Born in 1474 in a small town in northern Italy, Angela was orphaned at age ten and soon thereafter lost a beloved sister. She had a lifelong openness to the needs of children, and even in her youth, moved by the poverty and ignorance of her neighbors, began providing small classes in religious education for their children. Gradually other women were drawn to this work and the radical model of religious life Angela offered -- an alternative to marriage or the enclosure of the convent, living a consecrated life embedded in the family life of the community. They chose as their patron St. Ursula, a legendary fourth-century martyr who was popularly venerated as a protector of women, and dedicated their mission to the education of poor girls. Angela died on this date in 1540 after a long illness. Four years later Rome approved a constitution for her religious order, which in time came to number tens of thousands of women. She was canonized in 1807.
 
In tribute to St. Angela, the readings chosen for this Memorial seem particularly lovely. From First Peter: "Let your love for one another be intense... As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace." From the Gospel of Mark: Putting his arms around a child, Jesus said, "Whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me." And the Psalm Responsorial from Psalm 148 (new to me...): "Young men and young women, praise the name of the Lord."
 
Angela Merici was founder of the first teaching order of women religious, but her name is but one of many women who too found their vocational call looking into the eyes of a vulnerable child. Lucy Filippini, Mary Ward, Maria Montessori, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Katherine Drexel, and other unnamed dedicated teachers and catechists throughout the centuries, each making present the Good News in their time and place, we now the beneficiaries of their work and witness.  
 
The Church teaches us that "saints show us how the grace of God may work in a life. They give us bright patterns of holiness." Perhaps the response to our prayer and pondering today might be a stance of gratitude for the teachers who have shown us how the grace of God has been at work in our own lives. Is it possible to send a note or make a call? What a tribute to St. Angela on her Memorial day.