On Tuesday April 29th we will honour Catherine Benincasa, perhaps more commonly known as St. Catherine of Siena. She was a reformer and spiritual teacher in fourteenth century Italy.
“Born at Siena in the year 1347, she devoted herself to prayer and meditation from a very early age. Her family opposed and harassed her, until her steadfast purpose wore them down and they let her become a postulant in the order of Dominican nuns. For several years she underwent a series of terrible visions and at times felt utterly abandoned by the Lord. This lonely struggle ended at nineteen, when she experienced a vision of the Saviour, with Mary and all the heavenly host, in which Christ espoused her to himself. Catherine became a nurse, caring for patients whom other nurses hated to treat, people with leprosy and cancer. In time she gathered a mixed group of disciples, and together with them she went on extensive tours to preach the gospel.
Soon afterwards she began another mission – this time, to heal a schism which had split the Church between two rival Popes, on in Rome and one in the French city of Avignon. She went to Rome and publicly fasted, attending the Eucharist every day in order to pray for the unity of the Church. The strain of this last campaign proved too much for her and, felled by a stroke, she died on April 29, 1380 at the age of thirty-three.” – An excerpt from For All The Saints
Taught by her example, let us pray for peace and unity within the Church. Let us pray for those in health professions, that their work with the sick and those in need may serve God’s purposes of love and healing. Let us pray for those who feel distant from God and pray that they may once again feel the joy of knowing that God is with them always.
I have a quote from St. Catherine on the desktop of my computer - she said, “If you are what you should be, you will set the world ablaze.” Let us always seek to be the people God calls us to be, setting the world ablaze with our love, our passion and our great hope in Jesus Christ.
“Born at Siena in the year 1347, she devoted herself to prayer and meditation from a very early age. Her family opposed and harassed her, until her steadfast purpose wore them down and they let her become a postulant in the order of Dominican nuns. For several years she underwent a series of terrible visions and at times felt utterly abandoned by the Lord. This lonely struggle ended at nineteen, when she experienced a vision of the Saviour, with Mary and all the heavenly host, in which Christ espoused her to himself. Catherine became a nurse, caring for patients whom other nurses hated to treat, people with leprosy and cancer. In time she gathered a mixed group of disciples, and together with them she went on extensive tours to preach the gospel.
Soon afterwards she began another mission – this time, to heal a schism which had split the Church between two rival Popes, on in Rome and one in the French city of Avignon. She went to Rome and publicly fasted, attending the Eucharist every day in order to pray for the unity of the Church. The strain of this last campaign proved too much for her and, felled by a stroke, she died on April 29, 1380 at the age of thirty-three.” – An excerpt from For All The Saints
Taught by her example, let us pray for peace and unity within the Church. Let us pray for those in health professions, that their work with the sick and those in need may serve God’s purposes of love and healing. Let us pray for those who feel distant from God and pray that they may once again feel the joy of knowing that God is with them always.
I have a quote from St. Catherine on the desktop of my computer - she said, “If you are what you should be, you will set the world ablaze.” Let us always seek to be the people God calls us to be, setting the world ablaze with our love, our passion and our great hope in Jesus Christ.
1 comment:
Very nice.
There is a story about Catherine that she was riding somewhere in a cart in the rain. A wheel fell off and she fell into a big puddle. Looking up to the heavens she said, "If this is how you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few!"
-t
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