The Mission of Jesus
The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me ----------(Luke 4:18)
The course of Nano Nagle's life was shaped by this same Spirit.
God's Spirit led her through uncertainty and failure
to an ever clearer understanding of her mission.
That understanding enabled her to to take steps
to liberate the poor from ignorance and injustice.
Nano: In the face of danger ..........
The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me ----------(Luke 4:18)
The course of Nano Nagle's life was shaped by this same Spirit.
God's Spirit led her through uncertainty and failure
to an ever clearer understanding of her mission.
That understanding enabled her to to take steps
to liberate the poor from ignorance and injustice.
Nano: In the face of danger ..........
Drawn into deep contemplation, Nano's life experiences a profound awakening. She was radically changed. Stepping away from and leaving behind the comfortable nest of position and privilege, Nano deliberately moved, in the words of Pope Francis, to the 'peripheries' and 'frontiers' of the Cork of her day. She aligned herself with the 'caravan of the peoples', the poor of the city, who daily trudged its winding lanes and filthy hovels.
Entering into communion with people who lived in conditions of rampant hunger, disease and ignorance, she spent herself for the poor.
In Dr Coppinger's Panegyric in 1774 he wrote:
How often have we seen her, after a well spent day,
returning through the darkness of the night,
dripping with rain mingled in the bustling crowd,
moving thoughtfully along by the faint
glimmering of a wretched lantern, withholding from
herself in this manner the necessities of life to administer
the comforts of it to others.
Nano became a prophetic, pioneering, courageous, daring voice for people who had long been in the throws of despair and hopelessness, due to intolerable, unjust, and oppressive systems. Now, entirely at the disposal of God alone, she became the Woman of the Lantern, whose words give voice to the voiceless and whose actions beam light into hopeless places. she becomes a wonderful agent of change and transformation for the people of her day and by the enduring power of her inspiration, for our world too.
"Praying our Journey"
Nano Nagle Prayer
Lord God,
you raise up people from age to age
to speak anew Your Word to us
and to show us your ways.
Such is Nano Nagle.
In days when courage is needed,
you give us this woman of strength
to walk before us with conviction.
In days of great change you
present us with a prophet
whose faith is firm.
As the light of her lantern brought hope
into lives made wretched
by poverty and oppression,
so may she inspire us
to compassionate action
for those in need around us.
Lord God,
you raise up people from age to age
to speak anew Your Word to us
and to show us your ways.
Such is Nano Nagle.
In days when courage is needed,
you give us this woman of strength
to walk before us with conviction.
In days of great change you
present us with a prophet
whose faith is firm.
As the light of her lantern brought hope
into lives made wretched
by poverty and oppression,
so may she inspire us
to compassionate action
for those in need around us.
Would you like to know more about the Presentation Sisters???
Contact: [email protected]
Contact: [email protected]
Nano Nagle was born in Ballygriffin, Co Cork, Ireland in 1715 to a wealthy family. www.nanonagle.org
They were dark days in Ireland during penal times when culture and religion were threatened. Nano loved the carefree life in the country on the banks of the Blackwater River and in the shadow of the Nagle mountains.
It was here that unbeknown to her she was being prepared for a life of courage and daring, surrendering herself to the spirit of God to alleviate the pain and suffering of her people in Ireland.
The penal laws brought great poverty and misery to Ireland and after an education in France Nano eventually returned to Cork and at great personal risk, established schools for poor Catholic children deprived of education because of their religion.
As her health failed she was anxious to ensure her work continued after her death and so founded the Presentation Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
www.pbvm.org
They were dark days in Ireland during penal times when culture and religion were threatened. Nano loved the carefree life in the country on the banks of the Blackwater River and in the shadow of the Nagle mountains.
It was here that unbeknown to her she was being prepared for a life of courage and daring, surrendering herself to the spirit of God to alleviate the pain and suffering of her people in Ireland.
The penal laws brought great poverty and misery to Ireland and after an education in France Nano eventually returned to Cork and at great personal risk, established schools for poor Catholic children deprived of education because of their religion.
As her health failed she was anxious to ensure her work continued after her death and so founded the Presentation Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
www.pbvm.org
A series of 'disorienting dilemmas' |