Most of us probably feel comfortable with God the Father and God the Son, but perhaps we don’t quite know what to do with God the Spirit. I remember one of the prisoners once telling me – Father Lincoln – I pray all the time to God the Father and to Jesus, but I just don’t know how to pray to the Spirit. Today’s reading from the book of Wisdom states that “in Wisdom is a spirit;” then it lists over twenty different adjectives and attributes that are characteristics of Wisdom and of its spirit. We could probably spend a great deal of time meditating on just one of these adjectives or attributes. The author of the Book of Wisdom asserts, “Wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me.” In our life of faith, do we see God’s spirit fashioning us and molding us and forming us, or do we relying entirely on our own will, our own intuition, our own desires? Further, the author states – “Wisdom is “a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty.” May the breath of God come upon us today, enlightening us, molding us, and guiding us.
St Agnes of Assisi is the saint we celebrate today. She was 15 years old when she joined the convent with her older sister, St Clair of Assisi. Her parents disapproved of this decision, trying to forcefully bring her back home, but Agnes prevailed and stayed true to her vocation. St. Francis of Assisi assigned her as a young nun to San Damiano, where she learned the life of poverty and prayer. Eight years later, Francis assigned her as the abbess of a newly founded convent in Florence. Under her leadership, the new convent flourish. In August of 1253, St. Agnes was called to her sister’s side as she lay dying. St. Clare solemnly pronounced that her sister would soon die as well. This prophecy came true several months later when Agnes died on November 16, 1253. She was first buried in her convent in San Damiano. Her remains were later moved to the Church of Santa Chiara in Assisi to be with the remains of her sister St Clare. When Clare, Francis, and Agnes started their way of life of contemplation and poverty, it was a unique form of living a religious vocation that the world did not really understand. We are called to respect the way that different people live out the proclamation of God’s kingdom in their lives.
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