ST. CATHERINE’S EXAMPLE
What would the 14th century be, or the Church of the 14th century be, without St. Catherine of Siena, who died at the young age of 33? A young girl and woman, without formal training and study, was able to influence popes and the history of the Church. She convinced the popes, who resided for 70 years in Avignon, France, to return the papacy to Rome, to the tomb of St. Peter. She admonished Pope Urban VI to control his temper because it had already caused the cardinals to elect an anti-pope, which resulted in division and turmoil in the Church. About 400 of her letters have been preserved, not to forget her profound mystical work, Dialogue of Divine Providence, in which she dwelt on God’s incredible love for humankind.
Who is this extraordinary woman? She was the youngest of 25 children. At the age of six, she had her first vision of Christ. She resisted her mother’s insistence for her to marry and, at age 15, joined the Dominican Tertiaries, dedicating her days, months and years to intense prayer until the age of 19. These were years in close union with Christ, whom she saw in visions, but she also experienced many temptations and spiritual dryness. No saint is exempted from these obstacles — how much more us!
What makes a saint a saint is that, in spite of temptations and periods of spiritual dryness, the person does not give in to discouragement but goes on searching for God and trying to still remain in close contact with God.This grounded Catherine firmly in God and prepared her for a life of action, making her a contemplative in action.
We live in the world full of action. We don’t write letters to admonish popes and cardinals. What has St. Catherine to tell us? There is, first, her love for Christ and her intense prayer life in spite of many demands. And secondly, she loved the Church which was far from being ideal. She did not turn her back on this Church but served Her with her efforts, which we can do, too, with our prayers for our Church today. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD
REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you postpone or cut short your prayers because of the many activities demanding your attention?
