A Word of Welcome
Dear Sisters, Dear Friends,
At the moment of the celebration of the anniversary of the Foundation of the Company of St Ursula, 25th November, we are publishing the first part of a collection of new source documents for all those who collaborate in our work of education.
URSULINE EDUCATION (click here)
We have chosen the SYMBOL of the TREE, with its roots, trunk, and branches for presenting articles from all the regions, written by colleagues representing our Ursuline schools and colleges in different parts of the world.
The ROOTS, a source of life, will include articles on Angela’s spirituality and life; and aspects of Ursuline education and history.
The TRUNK, drawing life from the roots, will offer articles which focus on core values and on profiles of Ursuline educators and students.
The BRANCHES, will present articles which express the lived realities of the core values n various schools and colleges worldwide. This first section published in November 2011 presents the roots. St. Angela herself did not found schools, but her vision has inspired education over four centuries, for women and girls for whom education was often simply not an option. In the 21st century, this inspiration touches the lives of many young women and men in many different countries and cultures. May these source documents be the occasion of an openness to the spirit of St. Angela and to the depths inherent in our Ursuline educational traditions.
Mother Cecilia Wang, OSU, Prioress General
Please visit our “Vocations” box on the homepage for more insights on this issue. And please click HERE to enter the back issues of Journeys, thought-provoking aids for your own spiritual journey.
(Click on the shield above to learn more Ursuline history.)
'Getting to Know Your Religious': Ursuline Sister Bernadette Mackay Posted: 04.22.2011 This is one in an occasional series of profiles on priests, brothers and sisters of the Diocese of Orlando. The profiles… More>>
Today with Saint Angela
They are all creatures of God. And you do not know what he wants to make of them.
8th Counsel/2
Angela as Spouse. Icon by Alice Pedrotti, Rome
Scriptures of the Week
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – February 5, 2012
Job 7:1-4,6-7
Psalm 147
1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
Mark 1:29-39
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In this Gospel passage, Jesus left the synagogue and entered the house where Peter’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a fever. It was Saturday, the Sabbath day, holy to the Jews. The sick woman was a sign of the type of exclusion the synagogue could not solve. Jesus left the center and entered into relations with the socially excluded.
The patient was prostrate in bed, unable to move, a prisoner of the disease that symbolized all victims of sin or slaves of inhuman situations (injustice, oppression and war). Jesus draws near to all, taking each one by the hand and invites them to begin a new life. Jesus enters our lives, He supports us with His hand and makes us stand, a sign of life and freedom, and so in freedom, we can serve Him. Peter’s mother-in-law represents the Diakonia of all Women. With Jesus, she is freed from being dependent and begins to serve in the spirit of Serviam for the benefit of the community. Witnessing this service, the entire town comes to the house and not to the synagogue, and brings in the sick, the weak, the marginalized, and those do not have anyone to turn to for help.
The mission of Christians today is to repeat the gestures of our Lord: be close to those who have no strength to stand and pull them out of the inhuman conditions in which they find themselves. Jesus is the One that releases us for service and not for domination. If in the synagogue he has freed a man from his infirmity, now in the home he frees a woman: a sign of equality and overcoming every division. Jesus holds her by the hand to enable her to walk alone. The beauty of this act, contemplated in faith, moves us to discern our Mission to be disciples and missionaries of Jesus.
Sister Cecília Vierira Célio, Province of Brazil
Our visual meditation is Paolo Veronese’s “The Savior Healing Simon Peter’s Wife’s Mother,” late 16th century. Oil on canvas. Louvre, Paris.
Wisdom of the week
Heaven and earth may change, but God’s mercy will never be exhausted. St. Faustina Kowalska
