MOTHER
IGNACIA DEL ESPIRITU SANTO IS WOMAN
OF THE EUCHARIST
 Two hundred and fifty-six years (256) ago a small community
of beatas laid their beloved
leader to rest. Although they mourned for her, it could
have been a great consolation for them to presume that
she must be resting in everlasting peace in the bosom
of the loving Father whom she loved and served in her
life.
The memorable day was 10 September 1748 . Mother Ignacia
del Espiritu Santo, Foundress of what is now popularly
known as the Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin
Mary, is best remembered by the members of the institute
she established in 1684 .as a woman with remarkable devotion
to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Great was her love for
Jesus Christ that it could have been a great joy for her
every time she received Him in the Holy Eucharist. Such
posture characterizes her as woman of the Eucharist. Holy
Communion is a moment of close union with Him. At all costs
Mother Ignacia gave up her very self completely in the
service of the Lord.
Tradition has it that Mother Ignacia left this earthly
sojourn as she knelt after receiving Holy Communion. What
a beautiful way of dying ! It must have been an experience
of the Beatitude that every saint yearns for.
As a woman of the Eucharist, Mother Ignacia’s every
Mass must have been a source of peace, of strength, of
courage. With these gifts, she was able to reach out to
others with a love that knows no frontiers. Doing this
is an act of evangelization--forgetting self and going
out to serve the needy. No self-seeking but self-giving.
This transformation of a person into the image or likeness
of Christ is one of the effects of receiving Holy Communion.
Mother Ignacia’s zeal in proclaiming the Good News
marks her as a missionary—a missionary after the
heart of Jesus. As Jesus was broken for others, the missionary
witnesses to God’s compassionate love for all.
As we celebrate the 256 th death anniversary of Mother
Ignacia del Espiritu Santo, woman of the Eucharist, may
the good Lord hearken to our prayer for her beatification
to glorify Him and to render more service to His Church
in the Philippines as well as to the Universal Church . |
