About WINGS
St. Monica View / Download (PDF Document)
St. Theresa View / Download
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
The final gathering for WINGS will be held on Wednesday, June 4 at 7 pm in the Faith Formation Center. The presentation will be on Mary Magdalene. All are welcome.
About WINGS
WINGS spring session meets on Wednesdays at 7pm in the Parish Center. We will be sharing insights of Sr. Macrina Wiederkehr from her book, A Tree Full of Angels. Books are available by calling Diane Dupont at 508-428-6019. Come and grow spiritually with other women on the journey!
WINGS welcomes women of all ages who want to grow in their relationship with God and with each other. We offer an eight week session in the fall and in the spring from 7 PM to 9 PM in the parish center, usually on Wednesdays.
During each session we concentrate on a particular book that we study and discuss. Leaders of the WINGS group discern which book is to be used each session. This is done by the leaders through prayer and discussion.
A typical evening of WINGS would be:
Opening prayer, reflection, song
Quiet time, where each woman can read, write, or meditate
Round table discussion of chapter
Sharing to large group by a table representative
Closing prayer
During the evening we have a prayer table set up with a Christ candle and our intention book. Women can place their intentions in this book and these are remembered during our closing prayer. Women are also encouraged to pray for their table partners between meetings.
For many women, WINGS has been a source of faith enrichment and given them a new circle of friends who share their beliefs.
For more information, contact Diane Dupont at 508.428.6019 or dianedupont@prodigy.net
Monica was born in 322 into a Christian family in Tagaste, North Africa. Her parents selected a husband for her, a pagan named Patricius, who was a bad-tempered man and unfaithful to her. His mother lived with them. His mother taunted Monica and told lies about her. Monica, however, ignored the indignities heaped on her and practiced good works instead, giving to the poor and helping the sick while still caring for her family. Eventually, her faith and kindness were rewarded: her husband and his mother converted to Christianity.
Monica and Patricius had 3 children, Augustine, Navigius, and Perpetua. Perpetua and Navigius entered religious life, but Augustine was much more difficult. She prayed for him for 17 years, begging the prayers of priest who for a while tried to avoid her because of her persistence at this seemingly hopeless endeavor. St Augustine was baptised by St Ambrose in 387. St Monica died latter that same year in the Italian town of Ostia.
Excerpts about Monica can be read in Confessions by St Augustine.
PRAYER
O Lord who taught Monica to persevere for the good of her family, help me to be a better parent to my children. Help me to have patience with them when they misbehave and give me the strength to guide them gently to the right path. Permit me always to forgive their misdeeds and keep me from speaking harshly or punishing unwisely. Please help me to be a beacon of goodness for them as they grow to adulthood and to be a good example to them in all I do.
WINGS: WOMEN IN GROWTH SPIRITUALLY
Our Lady of Victory Parish ~ All Welcome
BACKGROUND ON ST. TERESA OF AVILA
Here are some small bits of biographical information about her; some suggested readings should you wish to learn more about her before attending the gathering; and a prayer she wrote that was especially meaningful to me, and I think will speak to many people eloquently as we struggle with our busy lives; a prayer to her; and some quotes from her writings. You can also find a wealth of information by simply using the Google search engine to find resources on the Internet. I especially recommend the entry at the website of the Catholic Encyclopedia. Regardless of whether you do a great deal of advance reading or none at all, come prepared to learn about the life of this amazing woman, and talk with other women about the ways she might inspire your spiritual journey.
Biography
St. Teresa of Avila (1515-82) entered a convent at the age of sixteen. She exhibited an independence of spirit not readily tolerated by the sixteenth-century Church. Her expansive nature, intensity, and energy would fuel a lifetime of accomplishment, including, most significantly, the reform of Carmelite convents and the writing of a body of work that today is considered the cornerstone of Christian mysticism. She was a woman of very human contradictions: a devoted daughter of the Church who bent the rules and barely survived the Spanish Inquisition; a practical, no-nonsense manager whose very personal brand of spirituality manifested itself in flamboyant, arguably erotic, raptures; a woman who, despite debilitating illness, traveled around Spain with the assurance (if not the authority) of a man to organize and strengthen Carmelite communities. (excerpted from the cover of Medwick’s biography, see below)
Selected Resources
Works about St. Teresa of Avila
Green, Deirdre (1989). Gold in the Crucible: Teresa of Avila and the Western Mystical Tradition. Longmead, Shaftesbury, Dorset: Element Books Ltd.
Gross, Francis L., Jr., and Gross, Toni Perior (1993). The Making of a Mystic: Seasons in the Life of Teresa of Avila. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Judy, Dwight H (1996). Embracing God: Praying with Teresa of Avila. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
Medwick, Cathleen (1999). Teresa of Avila: The Progress of a Soul. NY: Doubleday.
Sackville-West, Vita (1944). The Eagle and the Dove: A Study in Contrasts. St. Teresa of Avila, St. Therese of Lisieux. NY: Doubleday, Doran & Co. (eccentric and entertaining, but out of print, so available only in libraries or used book shops)
Works by St. Teresa of Avila
Cohen, J.M., translator (1957). The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself. London: Penguin.
Kavanaugh, O.C.D., Kieran, and Rodgiguez, O.C.D., Otilio, translators (1979). The Interior Castle. New York: Paulist Press.
Peers, E. Allison, translator (1944-46). The Complete Works of Teresa of Avila (3 volumes). London: Sheed and Ward. Includes Camino de perfeccion, The Way of Perfection.
Prayer for a Busy Life by St. Teresa of Avila
How is it God, that you have given me this hectic busy life when I have so little time to enjoy your presence? Throughout the day people are waiting to speak with me, and even at meals I have to continue talking to people about their needs and problems. During sleep itself I am still thinking and dreaming about the multitude of concerns that surround me. I do all this not for my own sake, but for yours.
To me my present pattern of life is a torment; I only hope that for you it is truly a sacrifice of love. I know that you are constantly beside me, yet I am usually so busy that I ignore you. If you want me to remain so busy, please force me to think about and love you even in the midst of such hectic activity. If you do not want me so busy, please release me from it, showing others how they can take over my responsibilities.
Prayer to St. Teresa of Avila
Lord Jesus Christ, You raised up St. Teresa of Avila to be a guide in the ways of prayer and contemplation. Give me the grace to follow her example with fidelity and generosity. Lead me into the wine cellar of Your love where, refreshed by Your Spirit, I, too, may sing of Your mercies and be set aflame with the fire of Your love. Amen.
Quotes from the Works of St. Teresa of Avila
I do not fear Satan half so much as I fear those who fear him.
Pain is never permanent.
The feeling remains that God is on the journey, too.
There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers.
To have courage for whatever comes in life - everything lies in that.
To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience.