FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER APRIL 24, 2016
MOTHER ANGELICA
LISTEN TO WHAT PAUL AND BARNABAS SAID TO THE PEOPLE OF ANTIOCH IN THE FIRST CENTURY. “IT IS NECESSARY FOR US TO UNDERGO MANY HARDSHIPS TO ENTER THE KINGOM OF GOD”.
TODAY I WANT TO TALK ABOUT A WELL-KNOWN WOMAN WHO COULD TELL YOU PLENTY ABOUT HARDSHIPS SUFFERRED FOR THE KINGDOM.
HER FATHER ABANDONED HER WHEN SHE WAS 6 YEARS OLD. HER PARENTS DIVORCED IN 1929. SHE SAID: “THAT’S WHEN HELL BEGAN”. MY MOTHER AND I WERE DESPERATE—MOVING FROM PLACE TO PLACE, POOR, HUNGRY AND BARELY SURVIVING.”
AT SIXTEEN SHE HAD SEVERE STOMACH PAINS. THAT WAS THE TURNING POINT OF HER LIFE. HERE’S HOW SHE DESCRIBES IT:
“I REMEMBER THAT TIME AS IF IT WERE YESTERDAY. IT WAS FRIDAY, JAN. 8, 1943. I HAD BEEN EXPERIENCING SEVERE STOMACH PAIN FOR FOUR YEARS, DUE TO AN OBSTRUCTION, AND WAS PHYSICALLY AT THE END OF MY ROPE. THE DOCTORS WERE UNABLE TO PROVIDE ANY REMEDY OR HOPE.
“ONE DAY, MY MOTHER CAME HOME WITH NEWS OF A WOMAN IN CANTON, OHIO, NAMED RHODA WISE WHO HAD BEEN HEALED OF TERMINAL CANCER AND NOW BORE THE STIGMATA OF JESUS. WE WENT TO SEE HER AND ASKED HER TO PRAY FOR ME...HOPING GOD WOULD USE HER TO HELP ME.
“I CAN'T EXPRESS THE FEELINGS THAT SWEPT OVER ME AS I ENTERED THE ROOM WHERE JESUS APPEARED TO MRS. WISE. I CAN ONLY SAY IT WAS AWESOME. WE WERE THERE A SHORT WHILE AND SHE GAVE ME A NOVENA TO ST. THÉRÈSE TO RECITE.
“AT THE END OF PRAYING THIS NOVENA FOR NINE DAYS, SOMETHING BEGAN TO HAPPEN. I WENT TO BED THAT NIGHT AND WOKE UP EXPERIENCING THE WORST STOMACH PAIN. BUT IT WAS OVER IN ONE BRIEF MOMENT. I GOT UP THAT MORNING, SUNDAY, JAN. 17. SUDDENLY I REALIZED THERE WAS NO PAIN WHATSOEVER IN MY STOMACH. I WAS HEALED.”
I AM TALKING ABOUT MOTHER ANGELICA THE FOUNDER OF EWTN WHO DIED ON EASTER SUNDAY OF THIS YEAR, AT THE AGE OF 92.
MOTHER ANGELICA WAS BORN, RITA RIZZO ON APRIL 20, 1923. HER LIFE WAS MARKED BY DEEP PAIN AND SUFFERING. AFTER HER MIRACULOUS HEALING SHE SAID: “I BECAME AWARE OF GOD’S LOVE FOR ME AND BEGAN TO THIRST FOR HIM. ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS TO GIVE MYSELF TOTALLY TO JESUS.”
SHE ENTERED THE CONVENT OF THE POOR CLARES OF PERPETUAL ADORATION IN CLEVELAND AND TOOK THE NAME SISTER MARY ANGELICA OF THE ANNUNCIATION.
IN THE 1950’S SHE SUFFERED A SERIOUS BACK INJURY WHEN AN ELECTRIC SCRUBBING MACHINE WENT OUT OF CONTROL. THERE WAS A 50/50 CHANCE THAT SHE WOULD NEVER WALK AGAIN.
FOR THREE DECADES, HEAVY, PAINFUL BRACES ENCASED AND STABILIZED HER LEGS AND BACK.
SHE SAID:” I WAS PANIC-STRICKEN. I MADE A BARGAIN WITH GOD. I PROMISED IF HE WOULD ALLOW ME TO WALK AGAIN THAT I WOULD BUILD HIM A MONASTERY IN THE SOUTH. ” SHE SAID: “GOD KEPT HIS END OF THE BARGAIN AND THROUGH DIVINE PROVIDENCE I KEPT MINE.
AFTER OVERCOMING MANY MEDICAL HURDLES SISTER ANGELICA WAS READY TO FULFILL HER PROMISE TO GOD. WITH PERMISSION FROM THE BISHOP IN MOBILE- BIRMINGHAM ALABAMA TOGETHER WITH PERMISSION FROM THE BISHOP OF ROME SHE FOUNDED OUR LADY OF THE ANGELS MONASTERY IN IRONDALE ALABAMA.
MOTHER ANGELICA BECAME KNOWN AS A CHARISMATIC SPEAKER. PEOPLE LOVED TO LISTEN TO HER. SOON A CHRISTIAN CABLE NETWORK ASKED HER TO SEND THEM A SERIES FOR TELEVISION WHICH SHE TAPED AT A LOCAL BIRMINGHAM TV STATION.
BUT SOMETHING HAPPENED THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF HER MISSION. SHE SAID: “WHEN I FOUND OUT THAT THE STATION WAS GOING TO BROADCAST A BLASPHEMOUS MOVIE, I CONFRONTED THE STATION MANAGER AND OBJECTED.HE IGNORED MY COMPLAINT, SO I TOLD HIM I WOULD GO ELSEWHERE TO MAKE MY TAPES.
HE SAID: “YOU CAN'T DO THAT! YOU LEAVE THIS STATION AND YOU'RE OFF TELEVISION.” BEFORE MOTHER ANGELICA STORMED OUT OF HIS OFFICE SHE SAID TO THE STATION MANAGER: “I DON'T NEED YOU, I ONLY NEED GOD! I'LL OPEN MY OWN TELEVISION STATION.”
THAT’S EXACTILY WHAT SHE DID. THIS FEISTY NUN BEGAN A TELEVISION STATION IN THE GARAGE OF THE MONASTERY. THAT WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD-WIDE NETWORK KNOWN TODAY AS ETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK, OR EWTN. THEY WENT ON THE AIR ON AUGUST 15, THE FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.
IN 1981, A SIMPLE NUN, USING MERELY HER FAITH, HER TRUST IN GOD AND HER BUSINESS INSTINCTS AND $200, LAUNCHED WHAT WOULD BECOME THE LARGEST RELIGIOUS MEDIA EMPIRE IN THE WORLD.
IN A MONASTERY GARAGE IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, UNDER HER GUIDANCE, THE ETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK GREW AT A STAGGERING PACE, BOTH IN VIEWERSHIP AND IN INFLUENCE.
EWTN HAS BECOME THE LARGEST RELIGIOUS TV NETWORK IN THE WORLD, BROADCASTING TO OVER 145 COUNTRIES IN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES. THE NETWORK ALSO INCLUDES RADIO BROADCASTS, WIRE SERVICES, PUBLISHING, THE LARGEST CATHOLIC WEBSITE IN THE UNITED STATES, AND ONLINE AND PRINT NEWS SERVICES, INCLUDING "THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER."
ARCHBISHOP CHARLES CHAPUT OF PHILADELPHIA CELEBRATED MOTHER ANGELICA’S FUNERAL MASS. HE NOTED THAT THE U.S. BISHOPS HAD POURED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS INTO A CABLE-TELEVISION INITIATIVE THAT NEVER GOT OFF THE GROUND.
INSTEAD, HE SAID: “A CLOISTERED POOR CLARE NUN IN THE BIBLE BELT SET THINGS IN MOTION WITH A SIMPLE PRAYER OF PETITION DURING A VISIT TO A CHICAGO TELEVISION STUDIO.
IN AN INTERVIEW WITH THE NEW YORK TIMES IN 1989 MOTHER ANGELICA TOLD ABOUT STANDING IN THE DOORWAY OF THAT CHICAGO TELEVSIION STUDIO, THINKING: “LORD, I’VE GOT TO HAVE ONE OF THESE.”
MONEY WAS NEEDED FOR THIS IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT, BUT MOTHER ANGELICA, WHO, LIKE ST. FRANCIS, TOOK THE VOW OF POVERTY, NEVER LET MONEY PREVENT HER FROM MOVING FORWARD TO BUILD UP THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
A POSTER IN HER PRINT SHOP READ: ‘WE DON’T KNOW WHAT WE’RE DOING, BUT WE’RE GETTING GOOD AT IT.
SHE FOUNDED AND GREW A NETWORK THAT APPEALED TO EVERYDAY CATHOLICS. THE FOLLOWING STORY ILLUSTRATES HOW A MESSAGE THAT GOES OUT TO OVER A HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE AFFECTS ONE PERSON. MOTHER ANGELICA TELLS THIS STORY:
“I HAD A GUEST WHO WAS TALKING ABOUT ALCOHOLISM. WHEN IT WAS TIME TO TAKE PHONE CALLS FROM OUR VIEWERS, THIS LITTLE VOICE CAME OVER THE SPEAKER AND SAID, ‘I WANT TO TALK TO THE MAN ABOUT BEING AN ALCOHOLIC.’ AT FIRST I THOUGHT THE CALL WAS A JOKE, BUT SOON REALIZED THE YOUNG CALLER WAS VERY SERIOUS.
“SHE WAS A LATCHKEY CHILD ABOUT 14 YEARS OLD. HER PARENTS WORKED UNTIL LATE, SO SHE WAS HOME ALONE EVERY NIGHT AND HAD BEGUN TO DRINK.
“MY GUEST HAPPENED TO BE FROM THE SAME CITY AND HE ARRANGED FOR HER TO GET PROFESSIONAL COUNSELING.”
MOTHER ANGELICA SAID: “FOR THE EWTN STAFF AND MYSELF THIS WAS A TURNING POINT.WE KNEW WE WERE REACHING AN AUDIENCE, BOTH IN AGE AND NEEDS THAT WERE MORE THAN WE HAD EVER IMAGINED.”
THE FOUNDRESS OF THE LARGEST RELIGIOUS MEDIA NETWORK IN THE WORLD BELONGED TO A LONG LINE OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN WHO WERE PIONEERS IN APOSTOLIC CREATIVITY AND BOLDNESS. MOTHER ANGELICA JOINS THE GREAT WOMEN IN THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH WHO FOUNDED HOSPITALS, SCHOOLS UNIVERSITIES AND CHARITIES ALL OVER THE WORLD.
REMEMBER WHAT PAUL AND BARNABAS TOLD THE PEOPLE OF ANTIOCH IN THE FIRST CENTURY? “IT IS NECESSARY FOR US TO UNDERGO MANY HARDSHIPS TO ENTER THE KINGOM OF GOD”.
THE AMAZING LIFE OF MOTHER ANGELICA CONFIRMED THE WORDS OF PAUL AND BARNABAS AS SHE CARRIED A CROSS TO THE KINGDOM.