MADRID, Spain
Bishop Fidel Herráez, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Madrid, presided and concelebrated with fourteen other priests, the Eucharist in memory of Maria Angeles Galino Carrillo. The Mass was celebrated at the Parish of Saint Francis Borgia, on March 14, 2014. Among the priests were the pastor, José Ramón Busto, SJ; and José María Martín Patino SJ.
Academic, civic and religious leaders, colleagues, disciples, former students, family, friends, members of associations of the Teresian Association, members of TA youth, those who cared for Angeles at the end of her life, representatives from various institutions and with diverse backgrounds filled the temple, located in the Salamanca district in Madrid and close to the International headquarters of the Teresian Association. Undoubtedly, many of us gathered together to give thanks for the life of Angeles and to pray that she may rest in God's peace. Many others joined us from the distance.
The celebration, which lasted more than usual, was a gathering in faith and hope, a moment of remembrance, gratitude and joy for a rich life, one of those that stand out, like the life of Angeles.
The Cantigal choir, led by Ignacio Yepes, was responsible for the music and songs of the celebration: Let us walk in the light of your face; Forever I will sing the mercy of the Lord; Ave Maria; Next to You, Lord; Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you; and Magnificat anima mea. This was an appropriate program for the climate of serenity and prayer that permeated the ceremony.
She radiated essential joy
At the introduction to the Mass, Arantzazu Aguado Arrese, who succeeded Angeles Galino as President of the Teresian Association in 1988 and currently resides in Chicago, U.S.A., highlighted joy as an evident trait of Angeles, a joy that welled up from within:
"We have now come to this church as family , friends, colleagues of Angeles Galino, and members of the Teresian Association, people who have been with her sharing tasks and dreams.
And it is no coincidence that this celebration, which is a celebration of life, even though this farewell is difficult, is taking place at a time when, as a Church, we are relearning, guided by the Pope Francis, what it is to live "the joy the Gospel." To celebrate and thank God for the life of a woman of faith and hope, of expansive and serene joy in her many tasks and responsibilities, in her relationships – so many!- is for us a shot of courage that sustains us in the concerns and searches we live through in this complex time.
When the aforementioned exhortation "Evangelii Gaudium" was published, the person of Angeles was already silent, without words, but alive and radiating an essential joy. It seemed as if she told us from her stillness: 'This joy of mine has come to its fullness' (John 3:29) 'You have brought me abundant joy and great rejoicing' (Is 9:2) and 'your hearts shall rejoice and no one will take your joy away from you' ( John 16:22).
Pope Francis reminds us that 'every authentic experience of truth and beauty seeks in itself an expansion.' 'Life grows by being given away...' 'life is attained and matures in the measure that it is offered up in order to give life to others.' 'An authentic faith always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better that we found it.' ( EG 183).
Why remember these words when we say farewell to a woman such as Angeles Galino? Because she, a woman of faith, a woman of culture and thought, throughout her personal, professional, ecclesial itinerary, has contributed abundantly to leave that 'something better' for our world. She was convinced that 'to be bearers of hope –these are her words- we have to do something, whatever we can, both as it refers to the life of the world and to the life of every person.' As she said, 'Jesus opens in our life the possibility to transform and humanize the world through the violence of love.'
In this endeavor, Angeles received the gift and responsibility to build ties between the lived faith and the deepest human concerns. And this message of life is active in generations that were formed by the style of her strength and love, as proposed by Saint Pedro Poveda and learned in close relationship with María Josefa Segovia. In that school she understood and helped others understand that science, knowledge, and culture go well with the sanctity of life.
This testimonial has reached many parts of the world and is set to last over time because it contains within it the expansive force of true joy. Today we welcome the witness.
I think that Angeles would be happy if today we remember Mary with the words of Pedro Poveda that she repeated many times and that we, in the Teresian Association, repeat 'may your memory be my light, my strength and consolation.'
Well, while we pray for her, we celebrate the life we have received fom the Lord Jesus, risen and alive forever. We celebrate her in the Eucharist, that she always lived with so much faith, in the Eucharist that gathers us in the family of the Church and strengthens us and sends us forth into a new life."
An admirable and real mosaic
In his homily, Bishop Fidel Herráez offered a fraternal and caring greeting to everyone and dedicated kind words and devoted affection to Angeles and the Teresian Association. "This evening, he said, we open ourselves to the love of God, giving thanks for our dear Angeles as we present her whole life to the Lord.” In this greeting, he repeated, which is fraternal and close to each and everyone, let me greet my dear brothers the priests who are here, the episcopal vicar, the pastor and the other priests, many of them have journeyed good and long walks with Angeles, not only in their pastoral work, but also in being close to her.
Also I greet to the members of the Teresian Association with affection. Among these I recognize in a special way the President and her Council, the Director of the TA in Spain and her Government, the Prsidents and members of the associations of the Teresian family ... to each and every one, my special greeting.
When this morning I told Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco, Archbishop of Madrid, that we would celebrate this Eucharist, he said he feels very close to this thanksgiving for Galino Angeles.
This evening we are gathered to thank God for our beloved Angeles and to present our prayer to Him. We are united by real bonds of faith and hope in the risen Lord, and we are also joined by bonds of friendship and affection for her, bonds that are strengthened and consolidated.
Let me share an experience that for me has been special these days, and it is related specifically to Angeles Galino. I have been reviewing the gift God gave me of having some conversations with her which, although not many, they are for me unforgettable conversations and meetings with her. I have been going over what has been written and said about this disciple. She is certainly a disciple of Christ but also a disciple and collaborator of Saint Pedro Poveda and of the Servant of God Josefa Segovia. I have read and reviewed much of what has been said about her in ecclesial, social, and educational circles. She was an expert in the history of education. And I assure you that the following has impressed me a lot: everything I have read and collected forms an admirable, real mosaic. Those of us who have known and loved her know that the writings were not cheap praise, but a real mosaic, with a flavor of certainly something greater ... When I was reading, I felt urged to continue on. It is because Angeles has left her imprint.
What I saw led me, on the one hand, to give thanks to God for what he has been doing in her and for the life He has given her, but also to thank her, Angeles, because she has been responding to the Lord. And I was also led to thank you, members of the Teresian Association, and also to congratulate you for having members like Angeles.
It is very difficult for me, and this is part of the experience that I am trying to convey, to summarize the flavor and everything I have been reading because it is a very large mosaic. So, let me turn to an expression said by Saint Pedro Poveda in reference to Saint Teresa of Jesus, because this is so hard to summarize: the life of Angeles is a very beautiful and large mosaic.
Thus, I turn to two expressions. First, it was said of Saint Teresa that she was 'fully human and fully God’s.' I think this also applies to our beloved Angeles Galino.
And there are two expressions by Saint Pedro Poveda that I also feel may sum up that which I do not know how to summarize, the mosaic I have found. 'The men of God and the women of God are unmistakable. They are not recognized because they are bright, neither because they shine nor because of their human strength. Rather, they are known because of their holy fruits "and other words of St. Pedro Poveda "your life is to be all God’s, but being all God’s, it has to be distinct because of its eminently human character.'
I have not evoked this experience as vain praise, but to open it to the Word of God ... In Revelation, chapter 21, we are told of 'a new heaven and a new earth.' To this new heaven and new earth is where Angeles has been called to and where we, hopefully in active hope, are walking towards. This text from Revelation also says, 'I saw the holy city,' 'God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his peole and God Himaself will always be with them.”' She has been called to that holy city. And the passage also says, 'to the thirsty I will give a gift from the spring of life-ging water.
The Word of God once again speaks of the water that quenches our thirst, as in the dialogue with the Samaritan woman. That water id the Spirit itself, the Spirit of God. It is the closest intimacy with God, as St. Augustine said. Because when God gives, he not give us things; He gives Himself to us. And this life-giving water is Himself ... And Revelation says, 'I will be God to him and he shall be my son.' How well the word of the Lord sounds to us! This word is aplied to Angeles and to everyone of us. We know how this passage ends, 'God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.' He has wiped her tears in this difficult journey of Angeles, when about a year ago it seemed that she was leaving us and yet she had a year left for the Word to be applied to her: He will wipe away every tear, every difficulty . This human journey ended and then there will be neither death, nor fire, nor crying, nor pain.
We must thank the Lord that this Word, which is the Word of life that He continues to offer us as He also offered it to her. So, we prayed the responsorial psalm singing "'orever I will sing the mercies of the Lord, I will announce joy for all ages ....”' And we also opened ourselves to the words of the Gospel of St. John 'as the Father has loved me, so I love you. Abide in my love.'
We want to give thanks this sevening for everything that made Angeles abide in God’s love: we feel that this has been much. And so the Lord keeps saying to us through St. John, 'that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.' That serene joy also accompanied Angeles and I think that it is the result of welcoming the Father's love in the spirit of Christ.
The Word of the Lord also tells us: 'I appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.' He says this to everyone. This is the Word of this evening, the Lord speaks to each one of us so that we continue bearing fruit and that the fruits remain, as He also addressed his Word to Angeles to bear fruit, and this fruit shows signs that it will remain.
Let us thank God first for Angeles, who has had, has, and will have a specific uniqueness in the history of the Teresian Association. Let us give thanks for Maria Angeles who has responded to God in such a way that whoever met her, I say this from personal experience, did not remain the same. We were always left with a better flavor, with a better taste in life; one wanted to continue being good. Let us thank God for the gift of Angeles. Thanks, Angeles! We are grateful for her response to Christ in the Church and, within it, in the Teresian Association.
We know that Angeles had a burning and tender love for Our Lady. May She welcome her into her Child 's love forever. And, hopefully, that she may also be united forever to Saint Pedro Poveda, to Blessed Victoria Diez and the many members of the Teresian Association that have been received into the love of God forever."
Thanksgiving
Maite Uribe, current Presidentof the Teresian Association, offered a few words of thanksgiving in which she referred to thoughts of Angeles Galino, which displayed the humanistic anthropology that guided the life and practice of the great educator that she was.
“We have placed the life of (Maria) Angeles Galino in the hands of God, who is rich in mercy. We prayed for her, so that united forever to the Lord, whom she always sought with simplicity of heart, may rest in peace.
Saint Pedro Poveda wrote in 1925:
'The men of God and the women of God are unmistakable. They are not recognized because they are bright, neither because they shine nor because of their human strength. Rather, they are known because of their holy fruits, because of that which the apostles felt on the road to Emmaus when they were in the company of the Risen Christ, whom they did not know; they felt the effects of His presence.'
In Angeles we have received many of these holy fruits, many gifts that God, the giver of all gifts, gave to the Church and humanity through her. For all these gifts, because they did us a lot of good and they are still are doing so, we give thanks. And we do it in her own words, as we listen in them an echo of the call of God for each of us to live according to human dignity and the universal call to holiness.
1. We give thanks for her generosity to place her life at the service of a Christian project, engaged in history, the project that the young priest Poveda, today Saint Pedro Poveda, proposed to a group of young women in the first quarter of 20th century. She says:
'Poveda understands history as an occasion of grace, where Christians are called to live the experience of God in the world and act in it with evangelical transparency. Such is the intuition of Poveda, who was ahead of his time, when he created a movement of lay people--the Teresian Association- willing to incarnate and to contribute to society criteria, values, and substantive endeavors.
Ours will be a Christian spirit willing to leave any isolation, to penetrate the turmoil of time, to become a brother/sister to those who need it most, and to participate within the framework of history by helping to transform structures.'
2. We give thanks because, through her words and deeds, she taught us to discover the extraordinary greatness of the human vocation.
I read her words:
'The human being looks beyond oneself at something that is not oneself, points to a meaning to be discovered, to another human being to whom we turn with love, toward another BEING who is a point of absolute reference for our precarious living.
The challenge for this education in a world dominated by technology and experimental science is the ability to articulate ethical principles, solidarity demands, respect for the rights of others, education of the heart (of which educators have spoken so little, as if reduced to just being teachers), tolerance, and responsibility towards the weaker and the excluded. '
3. We are grateful for her living and teaching us to live – according to Poveda’s School- a truly human and God-filled Christianity.
Let us listen to her:
'A Christian life that aspires to be significant for our contemporaries must be transparent to Christ, Sign par excellence, and has to be Church, fundamental sign in the course of history.
Yes, holiness is a sign par excellence, because it does not lend itself to cheating. It is inextricably linked to the person who becomes a sign of God, who loves and forgives.
Believing is above all a challenge for those who have faith. Through our Christian faith we have an earthly task: economics, knowledge, labor, nations, state, history, science, progress ... We have to recover the subversive element of faith that is so clearly found in the Magnificat.'
4. We appreciate that she always encouraged and invited all of us - and especially the young - to unite realism and hope, the ability to look with clarity at the truth of life, and the strength to opt –with the clarity of the gospel - for the transforming power of hope and love, which, in her words, is not easy but a fruitful invitation.
'It is urgent for our culture to be transparent to hope (...) to tell <the youth> that that which is meaningless and absurd does not have the last word, that there are commitments that are worthwhile.'
5. We appreciate that, as the good teacher that she was, she was not satisfied with only setting goals, but she also showed the way and personal witness. She pointed to people whom we could imitate because in them what seems impossible becomes possible: Mary, the Mother of the Lord, Teresa of Jesus:
'Mary, Angeles says, is presented to us in a very particular way as "Woman of Hope." Our times, torn between rebellion and disappointment, are very sensitive to the issues of waiting and hoping.
How can we cultivate a Teresian spirit as committed as our Teresian vocation demands? For Saint Teresa there is only one way: prayer. There is no action or commitment that does not emerge out of the truth from within the depth of the person saved by of Christ' (AC p.96)
6. We appreciate her authenticity, a trait that Angeles Galino recognized with excitement in the Servant of God Josefa Segovia, to whom she was united with a special relationship, and that she wanted for the Teresian Association.
Angeles says
'If I were to keep one or a few traits of the inner profile of Josefa Segovia, I would choose her authenticity, the truth of her relationships with God and people. Telling the truth is always wonderful. But to live it at all costs, it is even more so.'
'I would like the image of the Teresian Association to be that of a helpful group, available, that offers society Christian projects, some outstanding, others more modest, but always Christian, always in the service of others.'
I would like to conclude with a text from Saint Pedro Poveda which undoubtedly she read many times, a text that helps us understand and interpret many situations, not only in words but also, and especially, with life:
The Incarnation well understood, the person of Christ, his nature and his life give are, for those who understand it, the sure pattern to become holy with the truest holiness, while at the same time human with a true humanism."
Words of gratitude
Concha Romera, Director of the TA Sector in Spain had the final words: “The Teresian Association wants to thank the many people who have been with us these days.
Thanks to Bishop Fidel Herráez , Auxiliary Bishop of Madrid, for having agreed to preside this Eucharist, and to all the priests who have concelebrated with him, who are close friends of the Teresian Association.
Our thanks to the academic leaders who are present, faculty, researchers, colleagues students of Galino Angeles, and other people from the educationational field. Thanks also to those among us, from different social, religious, and cultural fields.
Special gratitude to alumnae and students, to the school teachers who are with us today and who have expressed their condolences for the loss of Angeles Galino.
Thanks to the relatives and friends of the Teresian Association.
Thanks to the members of the Teresian Association from all its associations who have come from different places in Spain and elsewhere, and to the young TA Movement .
Thanks to the people who have been caring for Angels in the last stage and that are here today.
Thanks to the Society of Jesus, which has offered us this great parish to celebrate the Eucharist.
Also, we thank those who could not come to this celebration but have been present in various forms, sending us their words, solidarity, appreciation and affection for Angeles Galino.
May the memory of Angeles Galino always accompany us as a blessing from God. THANK YOU VERY MUCH."
Everyone present received
a card in memory of Maria Angeles Galino with some words of gratitude from Maite Uribe and an invitation to give thanks to God for the life of Angeles.
Laura Moreno Marrocos
Photos: Aurora Martín
English Version: Guillermina Dama