February, 2012:

Last night in my Medieval Church History course, Dr. Colberg read an excerpt from Angelina Foligno. Angelina describes her life as self-indulgent and worldly. Disatisfied with her life, she came to Christ. And in order to affect real change she decided to become a Franciscan. Following Saint Francis entailed taking a vow of poverty. She spent much time ministering to the poor and relieving the suffering of the sick. She wrote of visions that she had in which the Lord awakened her passion for Him. An interesting thing she has said is that “no one can be saved without divine light.” I thought I’d share the below quotation from one of her writings Book of Visions and Instructions, in which she has quite an inspiring section on prayer: 

“The purpose of prayer is nothing other than to manifest God and self.  And this manifestation of God and self leads to a state of perfect and true humility.  For this humility is attained when the soul sees God and self.  It is in this profound state of humility, and from it, that divine grace deepens and grows in the soul.  The more divine grace deepens humility in the soul, the more divine grace can grow in this depth of humility.  The more divine grace grows, the deeper the soul is grounded, and the more it is settled in a state of true humility.  Through perseverance in true prayer, divine light and grace increase, and these always make the soul grow deep in humility as it reads, as it has been said, the life of Jesus Christ, God and man.  I cannot conceive anything greater than the manifestation of God and self.  But this discovery, that is, this manifestation of God and self, is the lot only of those legitimate sons of God who have devoted themselves to true prayer.”