The Company of St. Ursula In the United States

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Tending the vine – Single

Alone…Lonely…Solitude… Which is it? Well, sometimes that depends on the day. It takes time and attention to recognize that I’m never alone.
When work and busyness crowd out time with friends and family, part of me gets to feeling empty. When they crowd out prayer, it’s even worse.

          Solitude… I relish the peace, the chance to think, the time to pray.
          Lonely… I feel empty, incomplete, yearning for connection.
          Alone…
                    One of me…with my friends
                    One of me… in my family
                    One of me…comfortable in my own skin           Single…
                    One of me…hand in hand with Jesus
                    One of me…leaning on God
                    One of me…listening to the Spirit

A WISDOM-TEACHER

Angela Merici made a courageous decision to remain single. Her family and neighbors expected marriage or religious life. There were no alternatives in her world. Yet Angela constructed for herself a single life based on love, overflowing love.

She never stopped nourishing her heart. For years she shared the family home in Desenzano with her brother and his family. After she moved to the “big city,” Brescia, she returned home to visit relatives around Lake Garda. In Brescia she lived among friends. Agostino and Cecilia Gallo were so captivated by Angela that they “didn’t know how to live without her.” People flocked to her for advice. Affection glows in her words, “My beloved daughters and sisters….”

The most nourishing of all her relationships was with the One she called “My Lover, or rather, the Lover of us all.” In church, in her room, in joy, in uncertainty, in suffering, He was there. Angela taught her spiritual daughters to go into the “secret places of their hearts.” In this solitude, they would never be alone. She knew that they would find Christ’s “brilliant face which soothes every afflicted heart.”

Out of her experience she shaped a life of relationship—the Company of St. Ursula—based upon a central relationship—with Jesus Christ, with God.

To learn more about Angela’s single life in relationship, contact us.

Angela in prayer by Pietro Calcinardi

REFLECTING and DOING

1) Name one person with whom you have a nourishing relationship. What does it develop in you? Humor? Compassion? Courage? Sensitivity? …

2) Identify one activity that you prefer to do alone. What does this activity develop in you?

3) Contact a friend or a relative with whom you’ve been out of touch.

4) Is there something you’d like to do but have hesitated to do alone? Take that step. Afterwards, ask yourself whether you’ve opened a new door – or not.

5) Draw a picture that shows you and significant persons in your life.
• Use size to suggest more/less time and/or effort devoted to each relationship.
• Use colors to suggest which relationships are warmest.

6) Draw a picture that shows you and Jesus. What does it tell you?

7) Close your eyes. Remember a place where you have experienced God’s presence. Imagine yourself there. What do you hear? See? Smell?

8) Identify the circle of relationships that most affirms what is most central to your identity.

9) To learn more about Angela Merici’s relationships, contact us.

SCRIPTURE PATHS

1) Amid the busyness of his life, Jesus needed to find time to be alone: Rising very early, before dawn, Jesus left the house and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed (Mark 1:35).

2) Listen!
The sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice (John 10:3-4).

3) Listen!
Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with me (Revelation 3:20).

4) I bless God, who counsels me; even at night my heart exhorts me. I keep God always before me; with him at my right hand, I shall never be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, my soul rejoices; my body also dwells secure, For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor let your devout one see the pit. You will show me the path to life, abounding joy in your presence, The delights at your right hand forever (Psalm 16: 7-11).

5) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of compassion and God of all encouragement, who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God. For as Christ’s sufferings overflow to us, so through Christ does our encouragement also overflow (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).

6) The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. In green pastures you let me graze; to safe waters you lead me; you restore my strength. You guide me along the right path for the sake of your name. Even when I walk through a dark valley, I fear no harm for you are at my side; your rod and staff give me courage. You set a table before me as my enemies watch; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Only goodness and love will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come (Psalm 23).

PRAYER

1) If you’re not already doing so, commit yourself to a time each day with God. Start with ten minutes.

2) Whom do you carry in your heart? What concerns or needs or blessings or thanksgivings do you want to talk with God about?

3) Is there a person whose words or actions have showed you that God loves you?
• What do you want to say to God about that?
• What do you want to say to the other person? If it cannot be spoken directly, would you like to write it as a letter? You can do that even if the person has died.

4) Is there a group of people whose faith and/or prayer nourish your own faith and/or prayer, or could?

5) Take a few minutes in the evening to discuss the day with God.

6) “Receive my every thought, word and deed, finally, everything of mine, interior as well as exterior, all of which I offer before the feet of your divine Majesty” (Angela Merici, Rule of the Company of St. Ursula, Chapter V On Prayer).

7) “Always let your principal recourse be to gather at the feet of Jesus Christ, and there…to offer most fervent prayers. For in this way, without doubt, Jesus Christ will be in your midst, and as a true and good master, he will enlighten and teach you what you have to do” (Angela Merici, Last Legacy).

8) To learn more about Angela Merici’s prayer life, contact us.