Mother Angelica - Mother Angelicas Answers, Not Promises

M OTHER A NGELICAS

A NSWERS,
NOT PROMISE S

Mother M. Angelica

with Christine Allison

Foreword by Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe, MFVA

EWTN PUBLISHING, INC.
Irondale, Alabama

Copyright 1987, 2016 by EWTN Publishing, Inc.

Mother Angelicas Answers, Not Promises was first published in 1987 by Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. for Our Lady of the Angels Monastery and Christine Allison.

Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

Cover and interior design by Perceptions Design Studio.

All quotations from Holy Scripture are taken from Jerusalem Bible, 1966 by Darton Longman and Todd Ltd. and Doubleday and Company Ltd.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

EWTN Publishing, Inc.
5817 Old Leeds Road, Irondale, AL 35210

Distributed by Sophia Institute Press, Box 5284, Manchester, NH 03108.

Nihil Obstat : Colin B. Donovan, S.T.L.
Birmingham, Alabama

Imprimatur : + Robert J. Baker, S.T.D.
Bishop of Birmingham in Alabama

Birmingham, Alabama, August 30, 2013

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: M. Angelica (Mary Angelica), Mother, 1923-2016 author. | Allison,

Christine, author.

Title: Mother Angelicas answers, not promises / Mother M. Angelica, with

Christine Allison.

Description: Irondale, Alabama : EWTN Publishing, 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016010068 | ISBN 9781682780046 (paperback : alk. paper) ePub ISBN 9781682780053

Subjects: LCSH: Catholic Church Miscellanea. | Theology,

Doctrinal Miscellanea. | Spiritual life Catholic Church Miscellanea.

Classification: LCC BX1754.3 .M23 2016 | DDC 248.4/82 dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016010068

Lovingly dedicated to
Ginny Dominick Kelly,
without whom it would not have
been conceived or completed

Contents

, by Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe, MFVA

Foreword

In 1984 I was enjoying a successful career as an engineer with a company car, a new grand piano, money in the bank, and two promotions. The world promised that this would bring me happiness and fulfillment, but it was an empty promise and I was looking for something more. It was then that I was transferred to Dubuque, Iowa, where I first came across Mother Angelica and the Eternal Word Television Network, then just three years old. As I watched and listened to the fledgling networks first programs, I began to find answers to what I was searching for, and I sometimes watched the entire evenings four hours of programming. There was something different about this station, something remarkable about this nun who understood the heart and offered answers to the confusion and anguish that everyone sometimes experiences. She offered answers, not promises, and did it with practical real-life stories, humor, and a ready laugh.

One evening, during Mother Angelica Live , EWTN kept dropping off the air, and Mother announced that they had need of an engineer. I soon wrote, visited, and was hired for the job, not knowing that the remarkable adventure on which I was setting out would enrich the rest of my life, giving me the answers I was looking for.

In this book, you will find the same down-to-earth approach to lifes questions with a few laughs. One of my favorite humorous quotes is from a chapter many would not expect a nun to have written: How Can I Overcome Lust? She wrote: Believe me, it is not my goal in life to rap anybodys knuckles. Ive got plenty to do without having to chase people around with a ruler. But then Mother speaks of the reality of the struggle that the reader may well have and the turmoil he may be experiencing: But if you are wrestling with sexual temptation right now, theres a good chance that you feel confused and, on a certain level, uneasy. And finally she becomes your companion in the battle for virtue as she continues: Admittedly, lust is not something that I wrestle with, but like all human beings, I wrestle with other temptations constantly. I know how it feels to want to throw in the towel and then regret it. I am not perfect, and in other ways I know what youre up against.

Real-life struggles, questions, and problems are addressed with answers, not promises answers that are ultimately resolved in the One Who is the Truth (cf. John 14:6) and for whom the Eternal Word Television Network is named: Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word, who was made flesh and dwelt among us (cf. John 1:14).

May this ever-relevant book find a new audience and make its own contribution to the New Evangelization by answering the questions of the man in the pew whom Mother so wanted to reach. May God bring renewed success to this work from her heart to yours.

Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe, MFVA
EWTN Chaplain

Acknowledgments

No words could ever express my gratitude to all those who helped me in the writing of this book. Christine Allison, my coauthor, listened to many hours of tapes, viewed live shows, and pored over notes and other books I have written for all the material we used in it. Her tireless dedication and perseverance carried this book through its many phases and brought it to a successful conclusion. Ginny Dominick Kelly worked on composition and rewriting. Her encouragement renewed my hope when my spirit lagged. I am also grateful to John Boswell for his enthusiasm and counsel. My nuns prayers kept us going, and their generosity allowed me to spend so much time writing this book.

Special thanks to Bill Steltemeier for his advice and encouragement; Sister M. Raphael for indexing, researching, and typing scores of papers; and Sister M. Antoinette for days and nights of typing and editing manuscripts and for her invaluable suggestions. Additionally, Sister M. Gabriel, O.P., and Father Don McDonagh were most helpful in critiquing and proofreading for theological content. Finally, Brad Miner convinced me of the need for this book and assured me there were people by the thousands who would begin new lives by reading its pages.

I am most grateful to all these people for their unique contributions to this project. Most of all I thank the Lord God for giving me answers to so many questions.

The Beginning

You may be a bit surprised to be reading a book by a nun. Actually, that makes two of us. Because a nun is the one thing I never wanted to be.

As a child, I remember sitting in church in Canton, Ohio, watching the Sisters pray. The headpieces of their habits were so enormous that they blocked my view of the priest celebrating Mass. And their facial expressions were so sour that I was convinced they were the most unhappy people I had ever seen. I even remember praying, Lord, Ill never be one of those. But the Lord works in mysterious ways, because now I am a nun, and Ive been one since 1944.

I am a cloistered nun. That means that instead of teaching or nursing or engaging in other professions, my life is devoted to prayer. Prayer takes many forms, and the center of my prayer is Adoration of the Holy Eucharist. The strength that I receive from Jesus in the Eucharist enables me to carry out the mission God has entrusted to me. That mission includes being faithful to my monastic life. It has also included being involved in a work thats a little unusual for a nun the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). After the usual preparations, I would sit before the cameras to host a live program beamed by satellite to millions of homes across America.