EWTN, Mother Angelica and Miracles

EWTN, Mother Angelica and Miracles

EWTN, Mother Angelica and Miracles

Because I had what my friend Jack Capparro vividly termed “the grunge,” I isolated mself last week and didn’t leave the house…at all. For a daily Communicant like me, missing daily Mass feels like sin. And then I remembered EWTN’s daily eight am Masses with the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word. Hence, it was like seeing good friends when I ‘attended’ Fathers Joseph, Mitch Pacwa and John Paul daily Mass. But it’s Father John Paul Mary’s homily on the feast of Saint Aquinas, that sticks, days later. Father John Paul declared that day was the twenty-fifth anniversary of Mother Angelica’s miraculous healing.

Before continuing with the homilist’s remarks, a bit of background.

Until those awful days when churches were closed all over the world, I knew nothing of EWTN, Mother Angelica. or televised church services. But EWTN’s daily Mass was a lifesaver. Neither my husband John nor I ever doubted the spiritual efficacy of those five-AM Masses (we were living on the west coast back then.) We were exceedingly grateful for the solace of EWTN television Mass. In fact, in April of 2020, during that pandemic of fear, I wrote of an extraordinary homily given by Father John Paul. Extraordinary for many reasons but primarily his phrase, making a gift of our wounds that burned into my psyche.

This last Tuesday, Father John Paul spoke of Mother Angelica and miracles. The priest’s loving tribute to the founder of EWTN begins with the Italian mystic Paola Albertini‘s many attempts to meet with Mother Angelica. It was 1998, the priest explained, and there were many pseudo-mystics attempting to meet. Paola’s persistence finally persuaded the nun to see her. During their first meeting, praying the rosary together, the mystic declared that “Our Lady is here! She has a message for you!” Father John Mary relates that the portrait of Saint Francis kept over her desk shone as Paola said,

“What joy you give to the Heart of Jesus your beloved Spouse!….Defend the holy Eucharist even with your own life.  Yes, Jesus still today is being made a fool of and sneered at….. I bless this location; I bless you, my daughter, and with so much love I tell you: Don’t stop! Go forword for the love of Jesus, unperturbed along the way that Jesus traced for you since you were in your maternal womb…”

Mystics of the Church

I’ve embedded Father John Paul’s beautiful homily here below, it begins on minute 19

Mother Angelica’s healings

Later, in another rosary, Mother Angelica praying in Latin and Paola in Italian, “Mother Angelica had a sudden “feeling” that God wished to heal her. She then said to herself interiorly:
“Lord, all of these years You have used me as a comfort and an example for all of the handicapped and crippled. If You want to change this it is okay with me”.
Moments later, Paola asked if she could pray for Mother. When Mother Angelica consented, Paola fell to her knees and recited a prayer in Italian.  After several minutes, Paola then requested that Mother remove both of her leg braces.

Her legs became more and more stable as she walked across the room, her feet and legs straightening into the proper position, the weakened muscles regenerating and strengthening with every moment. When Mother Angelica paused for a moment, Paola placed a crucifix on her back and her legs.“Lets walk” she then ordered. Mothers wobbliness and unbalance was now gone and she walked almost normal, unlike she had done in 42 years. She then opened the door and peered out at the security guards down the hall and stated:
“Look no braces and no crutches!”

Mystics of the Church

Rita Rizzo, (Mother Angelica) was no stranger to miracles. Born with a debilitating malady of “dropped stomach,” Rita was miraculusly healed at nineteen.

…the young Rita Rizzo [Mother Angelica] was at her wits end because of the severe pain that she was experiencing in her stomach. Thankfully, a sympathetic friend brought her to a Ohio mystic and stigmatic named Rhoda Wise on January 8, 1943. (Those interested in reading more about Rhoda Wise can read the article I wrote about her here). At this providential meeting, Rhoda told young Rita Rizzo to make a Novena (9 days of prayer) seeking the holy intercession of St Therese of Lisieux, and she gave her a Novena prayer pamphlet to St Therese to recite, asking the intercession of St. Therese for a cure for her stomach illness. On the last day of the Novena to St Therese, that is precisely on Sunday, January 17, 1943 Rita Rizzo woke up in the middle of the night with a strong, sharp pains in her stomach –
“It seemed like something was pulling my stomach out”, she later stated.

When she arose later that Sunday morning, she immediately thought of putting on the corset around her waist as she was often obliged to do to avert the pain, but she “heard” and inner voice telling her to get up, and then suddenly she realized that the usual pain was gone, and that she was miraculously cured. She looked into the mirror and indeed the bluish color around her waist and also the bulging lump on her lower abdomen was completely gone. And time has shown this cure to be permanent because over the many passing decades the stomach pain and swelling has never returned.

Concerning this first miraculous healing she stated:
“When the Lord came in and healed me I had a whole different attitude. I knew that God knew me and loved me and was interested in me. I didn’t know that before. All I wanted to do after my healing was give myself to Jesus.”

Mystics of the Church

A “classic entrepreneur,”

say author Raymond Arroyo and Lee Iacocca about the fifty-eight-year-old nun, the only Roman Catholic figure, who launched a broadcasting network heard all over the world. I’m quoting from Ramond Arroyo’s biography of Mother Angelica. Hers is yet another impossible success story. This one though, isn’t about becoming a billionaire or supermodel. It’s the strory of a woman determined to follow God. And one I plan to read as soon as it arrives.

Angelica told author Arroyo that :

“If you’re following God, He never shows you the end. It’s always a walk of faith. Franciscan virtue is to follow the Providence of God. And God’s providence goes as far as you go. Now that’s the scary thing about it. If you don’t go, He won’t go.

2 thoughts on “EWTN, Mother Angelica and Miracles”

  1. Mother Angelica is a true example of blind faith and complete trust in God’s providence! She has opened my heart and soul to the fullness of Truth that is the Catholic Church 🙏❤️

    1. I remember you used to listen to her on EWTN while working—-I understand why! I’m looking forward to reading Arroyo’s biography of her.
      Have a blessed Sunday, my friend!

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