We love Mother Angelica!
On April 20, we celebrate Mother Angelica’s birthday.
In a video published on the social media channel, “Gabi After Hours,” Gabriel Castillo describes three incredible life lessons Mother Angelica provided him over the years. He explains that Mother Angelica is one of the most influential figures in his life.
Castillo is a youth minister, videographer, and lay evangelist. He evangelizes the Catholic faith, especially spreading the power of the Holy Rosary and advising Catholics in navigating spiritual warfare.
Castillo says he was a “moral mess” in college when he first found Mother Angelica’s programs on EWTN. He says she taught “authentic Catholicism…unapologetically.”
“She preached about morality and spirituality unapologetically, and that provided me with a foundation upon which I could build my life,” Castillo says.
Castillo then says Mother Angelica’s biography, “Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles,” by Raymond Arroyo, also deeply impacted his faith life.
“It is filled with spiritual wisdom. The way she lived her life, in my opinion, was far more powerful than anything she said."
Here are three lessons Gabi After Hours says we can all learn from Mother Angelica:
1) Absolute Confidence in the Power of God’s Providence
“If God is really calling you to do something, do it. Take the risk. He will provide,” Castillo says of Mother Angelica. “You will get the grace as you step.”
2) Authenticity Over Vanity
Castillo says authenticity over vanity is especially important in today’s culture.
“Social media says you have to look this way. You'd better get Botox. You're getting old. Your hair is turning gray. You'd better dye it.”
But Mother Angelica stressed authenticity and humility over vanity.
“Mother Angelica said, ‘Stop with the vanity. What matters most to people is authenticity,’” Castillo pointed out.
“That’s exactly what you saw,” he adds. “Mother Angelica would come on her program and have an eye patch on. She would stop to cough. She would blow her nose in the middle of her program. This was who she was. What matters most is not how you look, but the message.”
3) Root Everything in Prayer and Contemplation
Rooting everything in prayer and contemplation is “the most important point,” Castillo says.
“Mother Angelica taught that a spiritual growth network must be rooted in contemplation,” he continues. “Conversion is a grace, and the number one way to obtain that grace is through prayer.”
“It was her prayer that supplied graces that flowed out to the people she was trying to minister to.”
As Saint Peter says: “Let he who speaks speak with the words that God provides.”
“Mother Angelica understood that what she needed to offer the world was not herself, but Jesus Christ,” Castillo concludes. “God’s message can only be heard in silence and in prayer. Then it becomes our responsibility to share the Lord with others.”