The last verses in today’s gospel express teachings of Jesus which were very close to the heart and life of the Venerable Margaret Sinclair. She had a strong sense of accepting the cross of Christ in her life, and of following in the Lord’s footsteps in carrying this cross in whatever way it presented itself to her. She must have developed this sensibility from childhood as her life was exposed to poor living conditions and deprivation, but also from her life of faith in Christ fostered through family prayer and participation in the devotional life of the Church. As she grew she had her trials also in the workplace, which would not have been exceptional for a young woman of her time, but which at times may have been difficult to cope with, especially if people criticised or made fun of her religious convictions, so dear to her.

On entering religious life, in the Poor Clares, she chose the name of Sr Mary Francis of the Five Wounds – indicating her attachment to the way of St Francis, and in particular his attachment to the Crucified Christ as the model and inspiration for those who followed his way of life. When she took ill with tuberculosis and spent the last nine months of her life struggling against  its effects,  her particular and painful share in the Cross of the Lord became very real for her, as did her willingness to accept the path of suffering as God’s will for her and the means given to her to offer herself on behalf of others so that they could be saved. Hers was a life then in which the Cross of Christ played a significant part, and in recalling this life and asking her intercession we pray for the strength to accept the cross in our lives also, and to understand it as the closest way for us to follow Christ and be more closely modelled in his image.

I am aware in coming to the church of St. Patrick’s today, now cared for by the Redemptorists, that one of the priests who served here in recent times – Fr Richard Reid – has been gravely ill, and I think that it can be a particular intention at this Mass today to pray for his full recovery, and to ask the Venerable Margaret Sinclair to join in our intercession with the Lord.

I recently spent some time in Ecuador, visiting Fr Colin MacInnes, a priest of the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles, who has worked among poor communities there over the last 20 odd years. While in Ecuador I saw many images and heard a lot said about a recently canonised saint of that country – St Narcisa de Jesus Martillo – and I was struck by some of the parallels with Margaret Sinclair. She was born about seventy years before Margaret, and although her family were wealthy her mother died when she was young and she had to take on many of the domestic chores to help look after her brothers and sisters. Like Margaret she carried a strong sense of God presence in her life from her childhood, and strove to live a holy life.

When she was a teenager she moved to the city of Guayaquil and worked as a seamstress to provide for her  eight brothers and sisters as her father had since died also. Her Christian care and dedication extended also to helping the poor and sick and seeking out abandoned children. She always sought a more intense spiritual life and eventually moved to Lima in Peru where she lived as a lay person in a Dominican convent, where she spent many hours in prayer and fasting, while continuing to serve the poor in the surrounding areas. Her health declined and she passed away at the age of thirty six, recognised by many as a living saint and soon honoured as such both in Peru and in Ecuador, to where her incorrupt body was eventually returned. She was canonised in 2007 after a miracle was recognised as having happened as a result of her intercession.

Like Margaret her story has an ordinary, yet in some ways an extraordinary, feel to it – a girl who experienced suffering in her life, and then was willing to sacrifice herself on behalf of others, but all founded on an intense love for God and a desire to grow in her awareness of God’s loving presence and how this touched and transformed her soul. Two lovely people who sought nothing for themselves, but rather gave themselves entirely to God and their neighbour and left an extraordinary witness of the Christian life, lived to the full, joyful in knowing the Lord’s presence and eager to share in carrying his cross for the salvation of others.

St Therese of Lisieux is another woman of the same time who sought the Lord in her soul and served him by doing his will in the small things in life, while accepting the cross and its demands, especially in her time of pain and suffering in the months before she died.

These young women, living part of their short lives in the world of human work and service, and part in the obscurity of religious community, offer a fine example of lives given over to knowing God through living their Catholic faith to the best of their ability. The foundation of all that they did was their relationship with the Lord, fostered through prayer and being frequently in his presence, especially in the time spent praying before the Blessed Sacrament, and in welcoming his real living presence into their lives through receiving him in holy communion. This close and personal knowledge of the Lord gave them an inner strength and depth which equipped them to give of themselves entirely in his service and to accept whatever life threw at them, especially the suffering which came their way which they willingly accepted as their share in his cross.

It was not a disembodied spirituality which left the cares of the world behind, but rather one which gave them an intense desire in their own particular ways to put into practice the principles presented to us by St James, namely the need to show the reality of our Christian faith in our good deeds – their lives radiated with a love for their neighbour, whether in the poor people they encountered in the streets around them or those they lived with and cared for, first in their own families and then in the religious communities in which they lived the later part of their lives. They have been remembered and venerated after dying because of this love which touched the lives of their fellow religious and those to whom they brought the love of God in their charitable, sacrificial giving.

As we are drawn frequently to the presence of the Lord in and among us here in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, and have the privilege of receiving him, perhaps daily in holy communion, we pray for the same spirit of loving service and sacrificial giving so that our lives of faith in Jesus Christ may be marked by the good works so strongly commended by the Apostle James.

 Another person whose sanctity we admire greatly is Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and once again she gives the testimony of an intense and deep spiritual life, fostered by devotion to Christ in the Eucharist, accompanied by loving service of the poor. A group of her sisters visited me recently – on their return from a short visit to Iona – and I was struck, just by sharing their company and exchanging a few words about their lives and vocations, by the variety of nationalities who, inspired by Mother Teresa, serve God as Missionaries of Charity, and the simplicity of their lives. They are prepared to live very frugal lives in order to witness to Christ and to bring his love to the poor they encounter in every part of the world, including Scotland. By being poor themselves they make a statement of intent, which is powerful, both for those they serve and for those who see them and are attracted to give of themselves in this sacrificial life of dedication to the Lord.

The Church and the world are greatly enhanced by the service and love of religious women, of whatever congregation, because their love for Christ is so strong and so centred in bringing that love to others. Their lives of prayer are fruitful also because the prayer of intercession  expresses the many and varied needs of our world and asks the Lord to redeem and make new the face of the earth and to be with those who most need his love and protection.

In honouring one of their number, an ordinary yet extraordinary girl like Margaret Sinclair, we express our awareness of the value of the religious life vowed entirely to the Lord in poverty, chastity and obedience, and we ask the Lord to inspire other young women to follow in her footsteps in giving themselves entirely to Him in love and service of the His Body, the Church.

Margaret Sinclair chose Mary as her first name in religious life, indicating her trust and hope in Our Lady’s motherly care, and on this day blessed in her memory, as we pray for her beatification and canonization, Mary’s own words from the Magnificat sound fitting and inspiring:

“My soul glorifies the Lord, My spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.
He looks on his servant in her lowliness, henceforth all ages will call me blessed.
The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name.”