Towards the end of the Holy Mass in commemoration of the 258th death anniversary of Venerable Mother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo who died on 10 September 1748, Sister Maria Rita Ferraris, RVM, PhD, CA, shared her reflections on the life of this Servant of God. At the outset she lifted a line from St. James 2:5 as follows :
"Listen, my beloved brethren: Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that He promised to those who love him ?"
The rest of her talk appears below.
For this 258th death anniversary of Venerable Mother Ignacia, we have chosen to reflect on the Beatitudes as witnessed in her life. The Lord Jesus, in His sermon on the Mount, placed in focus the outstanding qualities of the elect in His scale of values: the poor, the meek, the pure of heart, the peacemakers, those who mourn, the merciful, those who hunger after justice, and those persecuted in the cause of right...they are those who deserve a share in His kingdom, inheritors of His promises. We can journey with Mother Ignacia's earthly pilgrimage and identify the peak points in her life that recall significantly the beatitudes she lived. And it is the ardent desire of everyone here today when the Church will formally declare that already "hers is the kingdom of heaven."
On this day of remembering, I'd like to dwell specially on how Venerable Mother Ignacia lived the beatitude of poverty, in her unique expression of merging her cultural orientation and the evangelical counsel. Jesus' modeling of poverty was captured in His words "The foxes have holes and the birds in the air have their nests, but the Son of Man had not even a stone whereon to rest His head." The young Ignacia, the precious "unica hija" of the Chinese merchant Jusepe Iuco, upon receipt of God's invitation to "remain in His service," resolved to "live by the sweat of her brow, although she had parents that would have supported her decently." Murillo Velarde, S.J.) She had skills by which to earn her keep, and for the rest she placed her trust in God's Providence.
Religious institutions for women during her times, had to prove financial stability in order to be allowed to exist. This audicious "yndia" had the temerity to resolve to live by the labor of her hands. it was this that she legislated as a legacy for her religious family. Echoing St. Ignatius' words, she urged her companions to "love poverty as a mother, for it is rampart to persevere other virtues." Treasuring her indigenous heritage as well as her Chinese inherited values, and in solidarity with the working class, she responded to any need by resourcefulness and ingenuity. lacking firewood ? Scrounge the streets for wood; no oil for their lamps ? East early or wait for the moonrise. She was not medicant, but she did not hesitate to send out her Sisters to productive Pampanga to solicit alms. The Jesuit friends and mentors diverted some of their benefices to the beatas, but when the expulsion and supression dried up this source, they survived by their efforts, so that until the end of the Spanish colonial period the Beaterio of the Society of Jesus did not constitute a burden to the Royal Treasury.
Two hundred and fifty-eight years have elapsed since the Venerable Servant of God slipped into eternity. her religious family is still living by the labor of their hands, whether in Manila, Ipunan, Caraga, Borongan, Elverta, Pago-pago, Bechem Abianbase, Dili, Port Morseby or Islamabad. The Congregation had further incarnated the principle of mutual love and union of mind and heart legislated in 1726 so that the mission houses will not have to close its ministry because of dire circumstance. The resources of St. Mary's College of Quezon City and Pasay and Caloocan and University of the Immaculate Conception are centrally managed by which resource-sharing is implemented. To be poor in spirit according to the legacy of Venerable Mother Ignacia, is to be in solidarity with the poor, to live by the fruit of our labors, to employ resourcefulness and ingenuity, to practice holy indifference with regard to material possessions, all for the gretaer service of the Father, "whose honor and glory is the motive of all our actions."
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