"Do we love Jesus enough to defend Him?" he asked.
He noted Mother's love for the Eucharist, lived out in her daily adoration and reception of Holy Communion. She was "able to give life," he said, "because [Jesus] gave life to her."
Another legacy of Mother Angelica was her message of the "call to holiness being attainable for everyone," Fr. Joseph Mary pointed out. She "cared deeply about the ordinary person," and "hers was a practical spirituality for the man in the pew."
"I think everyone here wants to be a saint," he said. "Mother helped us to believe that it is attainable."
He quoted from Sister Mary Michael, who came to Alabama with Mother Angelica in 1962. Mother had a "wealth of spiritual knowledge" combined with "experience" and "common sense," he said, and she had a gift for seeing the "root of the problem."
She even had a "yelling theology" she used if there was no other way to reach a person who wasn't listening, he quipped. But "she never crushed you," he added: she let you know afterward she still loved you.
Mother had to live through many illnesses and difficulties, but she never got discouraged, Fr. Joseph Mary said. She saw setbacks as an "opportunity to look for a solution," and through trust in God "what seemed to be setbacks" would turn into "something better," he noted.
"No pity parties allowed," he said, explaining Mother's outlook.
"Her only fear was not to do God's will."
Matt Hadro was the political editor at Catholic News Agency through October 2021. He previously worked as CNA senior D.C. correspondent and as a press secretary for U.S. Congressman Chris Smith.