24 February
BLESSED ASCENSION NICOL GOÑI
Virgin, Sister and Foundress
Greater China Region: Optional memoria
Blessed Ascensión of the Heart of Jesus, born Florentina Nicol Goñi in Tafalla, Navarra, Spain, she entered the Dominican Third Order Nuns in Huesca. She was a teacher and directress of the school adjacent to the convent. At 45, upon the invitation of the Dominican Bishop, the Servant of God, Ramón Zubieta Les, she traveled to Peru and pioneered the missionary work in the Amazon jungle, evangelizing the Amazonian tribes and elevating the status of women and children through education and social service. She helped found the Congregation of Dominican Missionary Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary, which she led with prudence and wisdom as its first general superior. In 1933 she led a group of sisters to make a foundation in China and cooperated in the foundation of the Congregation of the Dominican Third Order Sisters of Funing. In her last years she dedicated her soul and energy to consolidate her foundations, with prudence, abnegation and wisdom. All these activities were coupled with her failing health, which she bore with heroic patience. She died at the Congregation’s Motherhouse at Pamplona on 24 February 1940. She was beatified by Benedict XVI in 14 May, 2005.
From the Common of Virgins: For Women Religious, except the following.
THE OFFICE OF READINGS
Second Reading
From the Apostolic Letter «Mulieris Dignitatem» of Pope Blessed John Paul II, Pope.
(Apostolic Letter, «Mulieris Dignitatem», 15 August, 1988, no. 20)
They realize the personal value of their own femininity by becoming “a sincere gift” for God
On the basis of the Gospel, the meaning of virginity was developed and better understood as a vocation for women too, one in which their dignity, like that of the Virgin of Nazareth, finds confirmation. The Gospel puts forward the ideal of the consecration of the person, that is, the person’s exclusive dedication to God by virtue of the evangelical counsels: in particular, chastity, poverty and obedience. Their perfect incarnation is Jesus Christ himself. Whoever wishes to follow him in a radical way chooses to live according to these counsels. They are distinct from the commandments and show the Christian the radical way of the Gospel. From the very beginning of Christianity men and women have set out on this path, since the evangelical ideal is addressed to human beings without any distinction of sex.
In this wider context, virginity has to be considered also as a path for women, a path on which they realize their womanhood in a way different from marriage. In order to understand this path, it is necessary to refer once more to the fundamental idea of Christian anthropology. By freely choosing virginity, women confirm themselves as persons, as beings whom the Creator from the beginning has willed for their own sake. At the same time they realize the personal value of their own femininity by becoming “a sincere gift” for God who has revealed himself in Christ, a gift for Christ, the Redeemer of humanity and the Spouse of souls: a “spousal” gift. One cannot correctly understand virginity – a woman’s consecration in virginity – without referring to spousal love. It is through this kind of love that a person becomes a gift for the other..
Women, called from the very “beginning” to be loved and to love, in a vocation to virginity find Christ first of all as the Redeemer who “loved until the end” through his total gift of self; and they respond to this gift with a “sincere gift” of their whole lives. They thus give themselves to the divine Spouse, and this personal gift tends to union, which is properly spiritual in character. Through the Holy Spirit’s action a woman becomes “one spirit” with Christ the Spouse.
This is the evangelical ideal of virginity, in which both the dignity and the vocation of women are realized in a special way. In virginity thus understood the so-called radicalism of the Gospel finds expression: “Leave everything and follow Christ” (cf. Mt 19:27). This cannot be compared to remaining simply unmarried or single, because virginity is not restricted to a mere “no”, but contains a profound “yes” in the spousal order: the gift of self for love in a total and undivided manner.
Responsory
R. How great is your beauty, Virgin of Christ* you have been proved worthy of the reward given by the Lord, the crown of perpetual virginity.
V. Nothing could bring you to surrender virginity; nothing could separate you from the love of the Son of God.
R. * you have been proved worthy of the reward given by the Lord, the crown of perpetual virginity.
Alternative Second Reading
A reading from the Encyclical Letter «Redemptoris Missio» by Blessed John Paul II, Pope.
(Encyclical «Redemptoris Missio», 7 December, 1990, nn. 33-34.)
The missio ad gentes knows no boundaries
By virtue of Christ’s universal mandate, the missio ad gentes knows no boundaries. Still, it is possible to determine certain parameters within which that mission is exercised, in order to gain a real grasp of the situation.
Missionary activity has normally been defined in terms of specific territories. The Second Vatican Council acknowledged the territorial dimension of the missio ad gentes, a dimension which even today remains important for determining responsibilities, competencies and the geographical limits of missionary activity. Certainly, a universal mission implies a universal perspective. Indeed, the Church refuses to allow her missionary presence to be hindered by geographical boundaries or political barriers. But it is also true that missionary activity ad gentes, being different from the pastoral care of the faithful and the new evangelization of the non-practicing, is exercised within well-defined territories and groups of people.
The growth in the number of new churches in recent times should not deceive us. Within the territories entrusted to these churches – particularly in Asia, but also in Africa, Latin America and Oceania – there remain vast regions still to be evangelized. In many nations entire peoples and cultural areas of great importance have not yet been reached by the proclamation of the Gospel and the presence of the local church. Even in traditionally Christian countries there are regions that are under the special structures of the mission ad gentes, with groups and areas not yet evangelized. Thus, in these countries too there is a need not only for a new evangelization, but also, in some cases, for an initial evangelization.
Situations are not, however, the same everywhere. While acknowledging that statements about the missionary responsibility of the Church are not credible unless they are backed up by a serious commitment to a new evangelization in the traditionally Christian countries, it does not seem justified to regard as identical the situation of a people which has never known Jesus Christ and that of a people which has known him, accepted him and then rejected him, while continuing to live in a culture which in large part has absorbed gospel principles and values. These are two basically different situations with regard to the faith.
Thus the criterion of geography, although somewhat imprecise and always provisional, is still a valid indicator of the frontiers toward which missionary activity must be directed. There are countries and geographical and cultural areas which lack indigenous Christian communities. In other places, these communities are so small as not to be a clear sign of a Christian presence; or they lack the dynamism to evangelize their societies, or belong to a minority population not integrated into the dominant culture of the nation. Particularly in Asia, toward which the Church’s missio ad gentes ought to be chiefly directed, Christians are a small minority, even though sometimes there are significant numbers of converts and outstanding examples of Christian presence.
The rapid and profound transformations which characterize today’s world, especially in the southern hemisphere, are having a powerful effect on the overall missionary picture. Where before there were stable human and social situations, today everything is in flux. One thinks, for example, of urbanization and the massive growth of cities, especially where demographic pressure is greatest. In not a few countries, over half the population already lives in a few “megalopolises,” where human problems are often aggravated by the feeling of anonymity experienced by masses of people.
In the modern age, missionary activity has been carried out especially in isolated regions which are far from centers of civilization and which are hard to penetrate because of difficulties of communication, language or climate. Today the image of missio ad gentes is perhaps changing: efforts should be concentrated on the big cities, where new customs and styles of living arise together with new forms of culture and communication, which then influence the wider population. It is true that the “option for the neediest” means that we should not overlook the most abandoned and isolated human groups, but it is also true that individual or small groups cannot be evangelized if we neglect the centers where a new humanity, so to speak, is emerging, and where new models of development are taking shape. The future of the younger nations is being shaped in the cities.
Speaking of the future, we cannot forget the young, who in many countries comprise more than half the population. How do we bring the message of Christ to non-Christian young people who represent the future of entire continents? Clearly, the ordinary means of pastoral work are not sufficient: what are needed are associations, institutions, special centers and groups, and cultural and social initiatives for young people. This is a field where modern ecclesial movements have ample room for involvement.
Among the great changes taking place in the contemporary world, migration has produced a new phenomenon: non-Christians are becoming very numerous in traditionally Christian countries, creating fresh opportunities for contacts and cultural exchanges, and calling the Church to hospitality, dialogue, assistance and, in a word, fraternity. Among migrants, refugees occupy a very special place and deserve the greatest attention. Today there are many millions of refugees in the world and their number is constantly increasing. They have fled from conditions of political oppression and inhuman misery, from famine and drought of catastrophic proportions. The Church must make them part of her overall apostolic concern.
Finally, we may mention the situations of poverty – often on an intolerable scale – which have been created in not a few countries, and which are often the cause of mass migration. The community of believers in Christ is challenged by these inhuman situations: the proclamation of Christ and the kingdom of God must become the means for restoring the human dignity of these people.
Responsory Mk 16:15-16; Jn 3:5
R. Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation: * He who believes and is baptized will be saved.
V. No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born from water and Spirit.
R. * He who believes and is baptized will be saved.
Concluding Prayer
Lord you bestowed upon your virgin, Blessed Ascension Nicol countless apostolic virtues and inspired her to offer her life to serve and educate the poor, the marginalized, the women and the weak; may we cherish what she treasured in life and put her teachings and counsels into practice. (We make our prayer) through our Lord. (Through Christ our Lord.)
Or
God, the Father of mercy, you called Blessed Ascension to serve you with generosity in the most needy: allow us, through her intercession to discover the treasures of your love and to share them with all humanity. (We make our prayer) through our Lord. (Through Christ our Lord.)
By Fr. Jarvis Sy.