I choose to live up to my name.

Last night, reading John Paul II - a collection of front pages taken from newspapers the day after he died – I discovered that my beloved “Papa” truly lived up to the name that he took.

He was a great mystic, poet, and philosopher, as was the Gospel writer John.
One of the newspapers spoke of him as a “modern apostle”, traveling the world to spread the Good News as Paul did.

This morning, I glanced at my door:

and realized that it is perfectly illustrative of my name.

How grateful I’ve always been to have been given the name “Angela”! The angels are not necessarily winged people from baroque masterpieces; they are much more beautiful. They are “purely spiritual creatures, incorporeal, invisible, immortal, and personal beings endowed with intelligence and will. They ceaselessly contemplate God face-to-face and they glorify him. They serve him and are his messengers in the accomplishment of his saving mission to all” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 328-333, 350-351).

If I were to ever have my life summed up in any way, I would hope that all of those things were at the center. In a world that cares neither for God nor the sacred mysteries, I choose to glorify him, ceaselessly contemplate him, and forever serve him as his messenger. Many times, I know that my guardian angel has heard me ask God to help me love souls.

By the way, thank God for your guardian angel! I have no doubt that mine is right next to me as I write this, protecting me and loving me as always. He is a constant friend, closer than all my best friends in the world combined. I sometimes wish that I could see him, but I love him and trust and confide in him nonetheless.

When I was confirmed in the Catholic Church, I was the weird girl who picked a guy saint to model. Still, he isn’t truly a “guy” since he has no body! I took the name of Michael the Archangel, who is the chief and commander of the heavenly host. “Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it” (Revelation 12:7-8). For centuries, Christians have asked Michael to thrust Satan and his demons into hell. He is depicted in religious art as a mighty soldier, thrusting Satan into hell.

So, why did a teenage girl choose such a seemingly masculine saint to emulate? At the time, I realized that life is a battle - that war on earth is nothing compared to the war for souls being waged all around us, every second of the day. I believe that the angels had sent this message to me, because there really is no “rational” explanation for why my conviction of this fact was so strong.

Michael has been a guardian of my family for many years. Losing dangerous amounts of blood, near to death as she gave birth to my cousin, my aunt recalls seeing an angel above the doctors. He wore the armor of a soldier.

St. Paul urges us to put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10). This is what I aim to do. As Michael, I must cry, “Who is like God?” and trust wholeheartedly, solely in the Lord. In what the popes of my lifetime are calling the culture of death, I must bring the Lord. And with Him: life.

Finally, around that angel on my door is a weapon of mass destruction given to me by my Mother. In Portugal ninety years ago, there appeared to three shepherd children an angel. He prepared them in prayer for the greatest event of their lives: several visions of the Mother of their Lord Jesus. She gave them many secrets (including the foretelling of the Second World War & the assassination attempt of John Paul II), but she also gave them a steadfast message: pray and do penance. The rest of their lives were spent doing just these things.

In these visits, Mary asked the children specifically to pray the Rosary. She has also visited many others, asking them to do the same, in relatively recent times.

Mary knows: God is not welcome in the modern world.

Sure, the warm, fuzzy feelings brought on by prayer, fellowship, community service, and youth group are welcome in the modern world. Everyone loves to smile, laugh, and feel warm fuzzies. The trouble comes when the warmth turns to heat; when what is right doesn’t match up with how we feel.

At the foot of the cross, Mary stood (John 19:25). She did not abandon Jesus like the apostles, nor did she kneel in anguish. Mary had strength. In times of fear, disappointment, anxiety, persecution…we must stand with Mary, whom Jesus gave us to be our Mother (John 26-27). I was given the middle name Marie in honor of this Woman, our Mother and the Mother of God.

Angela Michael Marie: three strong names. My task now is to live them.

At this point in our lives, almost all of us have experienced heart-wrenching events that have left us angry, depressed, crying ourselves to sleep, even suicidal.

i’ve had my share, and i thank God that i’m alive today.

This morning, as i reflected on these times in my life, i was moved to write an exhortation to you. i hope that it gives you insight.

Have you ever offered up your sufferings? This idea has been central to the way i now live my life, due largely to the life story of a girl named Therese who lived in Lisieux, France not two hundred years ago. She died when she was only 24.

In her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, Therese is somewhat shocking. Her life was lived in the most simple way - centered around love:

Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love. Our generation knows well that “love” is not what prime-time TV preaches. Love means sacrifice. This is how i now live my life: offering whatever i suffer - however large or small it may be - as a sacrifice. These sacrifices - what Therese called “flowers” - i offer to God with love, as a sign of my love. And although i know that i do not perfectly love God, i show Him that i want to love Him perfectly. Each flower is a prayer: Please, God, teach me how to love. or Lord, this bit of suffering i offer as a prayer for my friend.Talk to a guy like John Corapi, a missionary priest, and you’ll learn that this way of living is a characteristic of the Catholic faith. Father Corapi’s grandma always used to tell him, “Don’t like to eat your spinach? Offer it up!” Every little sacrifice that you make out of love, God lovingly accepts as a prayer.

Try it; i challenge you. Entrust your suffering, humiliation, physical and emotional pain and struggle to God as a prayer,

a flower offered with love.