Alabama – USA (Monday, 04-04-2016, Gaudium Press) The Archbishop of Philadelphia, His Excellency Charles Chaput, on April 1, presided over the funeral Mass of Mother Angelica of the Annunciation, a remarkable figure of the Church in the United States and founder of the Catholic Television Network EWTN. The homily was preached by Father Joseph Mary Wolfe, from the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word, the community founded by Mother Angelica.
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On her coffin laid the Bible she always used and that she liked to open at her favorite passage 2 Corinthians 3, 18: ” And all of us, with our unveiled faces like mirrors reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the image that we reflect in brighter and brighter glory; this is the working of the Lord who is the Spirit.” This biblical citation inspired Mother Angelica to proclaim her famous invitation to the audience: we can all be saints.
“We cannot understand Mother Angelica without reference the One that she loved with the passion of a bride, Jesus, the Eternal Word Who became man and dwelt among us,” said Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe, MVFA, in his homily at the funeral Mass. Fr. Joseph Mary pointed out. She “cared deeply about the ordinary person,” and “hers was a practical spirituality for the man in the pew.”
“Her legacy is a legacy of His work in her,” Fr. Joseph Mary added.
“I think everyone here wants to be a saint.” “Mother helped us to believe that it is attainable.” “Her only fear was not to do God’s will.” he said.
Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia said the Mass, joined by the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, as well as Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Bishop Richard Stika of Knoxville, Bishop Robert Baker of Birmingham, and his predecessor, Bishop David Foley, Mother’s long-time bishop.
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An estimated 2,000 mourners attended Mother Angelica’s funeral Mass at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, 45 miles north of Birmingham. (GPE/EPC)
Source CNA
