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Holy Mass offered ad orientem in the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama (Image from the Canadian Vox Cantoris Blog).
We've just watched the Solemn Funeral Mass of Christian Burial for Mother Angelica on EWTN.
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput presided, with Papal Nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, Birmingham Alabama's Bishop Robert J. Baker and several other bishops, priests and deacons in attendance. Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe (MFVA), who also attended Mother Angelica in her last hours, was the homilist. At the end of Mass, Archbishop Vigano read out a message of condolence and support from His Holiness, Pope Francis. The church was packed and large screens relayed the liturgy to the overflow seating areas out in the monastery grounds.
In light of our recent post, it was a great blessing to see that Bishop-Emeritus David Foley was present to concelebrate this ad orientem offering of the Holy Sacrifice during a live broadcast. May God bless him. We pray that this can now open a new beginning in American Catholic broadcasting!
In addition to the reverence, beautiful chant and use of the altar rails, there was also a deep sense of the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ during this broadcast - and of the love of Mother Angelica for Him and for souls.
When Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe preached his comforting and inspiring homily, we were particularly struck by three simple things that, perhaps, we could all take forward with us.
He said of Mother that, ''she wanted each one of us to love Jesus more.''Â
Later on, speaking of the call of all people to holiness, he recalled: ''Hers was a practical spirituality for the man in the pew.'' Anyone familiar with the old re-runs of Mother will know what he means by that.
And he also spoke of Mother's great love for Christ and His Church being the motivation for her great defence of the Faith - she was a true bride defending her spouse.
That Great Love for Jesus
After the Mass, there was a good video interview with an old man who knew Mother Angelica before she became a nun, when she was still a young woman working in Ohio.
He saw her kiss the Crucifix during the Good Friday liturgy in the parish and noticed that she kissed Jesus like a wife would kiss her husband. It was clear to this man how much she loved Our Lord. He added that she had a picture of Him at her workstation and that she defended the practice before some girls - who had claimed that this practice was forcing her religion on them - by reminding them that they had pictures up of their sweethearts or favourite movie stars. That old gentleman also remembered Mother Angelica hearing Jesus speak to her from a statue in the Church. He said that Christ asked her how long she was going to keep Him waiting before becoming a nun. This last point ties in with several other mystical experiences that are publicly known from her later life.
It must be said that Raymond Arroyo did a marvellous job of hosting the segments before and immediately after Holy Mass. Having prayed before the statue of the O Divino Nino Jesus in the grounds when we visited in 2005, we were very moved when Mother's mortal remains were taken there, prior to the final committal of her mortal remains in the monastery crypt. As well as Mother's experience with the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus telling her to build Him a Temple, Mother Angelica also had experiences of seeing the infant Jesus running along the cloisters of the monastery. He would stop and talk with Mother. Who can doubt this spiritual intimacy in light of her immense spiritual maternity and the compassion she showed to so many broken people who phoned in to her live TV-shows over the years?Â
We were also ''in bits'' - as we say around here! - when Raymond concluded with a final prayer of Mother Angelica's. It is reproduced beneath this image of her.
Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation - one of the most remarkable Catholic women of the 20th-21st Centuries: Thank you for all you have done, and are likely only just beginning to do, for God and for souls. May you rest in Christ's peace forever. Amen.
The Last Word
Since there is no more time, and you and I may not pass this way again, I will ask the Holy Spirit to touch your hearts and teach you all these marvellous things: how to live in the Present Moment, how to be at peace when distress is assailing you, how to love when you don't feel loved, how to always commune with God in the depths of your soul, and how to bear those beautiful gifts of the Holy Spirit, always.
I love you and God loves you more than you know.
