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Dear Members of the Mother Angeline Society,
Warm greetings to you as we note the halfway point of 2014. These are the weeks and days of summer, and I hope each of you is able to get a little vacation and change of scenery. These are also the days when the Church and Carmelite Order mark the Feasts of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and of our Father the Prophet Elijah. As members of the Mother Angeline Society, all of you and all of your intentions were remembered in a Novena of Masses offered before the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. During that Novena, we sincerely thanked Our Lady for the many helps we receive as her children, and asked God through her intercession that the members of the Mother Angeline Society would receive the graces that they need and the answers to their prayers. We remain grateful for your ongoing support of the Cause and Charism of Venerable Mary Angeline Teresa McCrory, O.Carm. in the Church.
As you are probably aware, our Holy Father Pope Francis has called upon the Church to renew her mission of evangelization – a big word which simply means to spread the gospel, the Good News of Christ, to others and within society by our words and actions. To bring the gospel to the ends of the earth was the mission which Our Lord entrusted to the Church before His Ascension into heaven.
We have remembered Mother Angeline Teresa this very year as a Disciple of the Gospel, and recalled that she was totally given to the message of Christ, treasured His word and His example as her plan of life, and saw in the totality of her life a mission to bring Christ’s compassion, healing and love to others particularly the elderly and the sick. We do not need a pulpit or a newspaper to be an evangelizer. Spreading the gospel comes first from a conviction in the heart and soul of a person, who then allows that conviction to become determination, and then converts that determination into attitudes and actions which bring the light of Christ’s message to others.
None of us needs to be reminded of the dark forces in our world, the struggles within our own country, and the violence and oppression present around the globe. As men and women of the gospel, those who believe in Jesus and keep His memory within the Church, we cannot be overwhelmed that we don’t know how to respond. We have the light of Christ within us! This is our defense and this is our tool of evangelization. In attitude, in word, and in deed, we are always able to bring the charity and truth of Christ to any situation.
The Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm in big and small ways bring the charity and truth of Christ and His gospel to others in the way they live their religious lives and in the way they care for the residents in their Nursing Homes. Venerable Mary Angeline Teresa gives us a marvelous example of how in even the smallest detail, we can radiate the gospel, the light of Christ and make the Lord Himself visible for others, particularly those most in need. Every one of us can do so according to our means and abilities for no matter how small the gift, love enlarges it.
Once again, thank you for your interest in and support of the Cause for the Beatification and Canonization of Venerable Mary Angeline Teresa and for the advancement of her beautiful charism in the Church. Please continue to be generous in your prayers and material aid of this wonderful work.
God bless you and Mary keep you always.
In Christ,
Very Reverend Mario Esposito, O.Carm
Vice- Postulator
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