In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is seen praying to the Father. He thanks the Father for the beauty of how he rewards the humble and reveals special things to “infants” while not extending the same grace to those who deem themselves “wise and…intelligent”. Saint Catherine of Siena whom we celebrate today was a powerful example of how God exalts the lowly.
We’ll get to her in a minute, but let’s begin by acknowledging, shall we, that all of us have been too proud at times to truly listen to Jesus’ words and we all know of those who unfortunately remain obstinate in their arrogance and pride so that their minds are closed to any ideas which run contrary to their convictions. A lot of us have been blinded to the extent that even when the truth is right in front of us, staring us in the face, we are oblivious, indifferent, little interested at best.
Many of the Scribes and Pharisees who refused to listen to the teaching of Jesus were poisoned in this way, and were hindered from seeing the Word of God in his words and actions. His disciples on the other hand, through a gradual and reasoned assent to what was happening and an adherence to Jesus’ words, and an overall humility which was pleasing to God, began to discover his identity more and more through the aid of grace.
They eventually recognise him as the true Messiah, the Suffering Servant of Yahweh whom we find foretold in Isaiah, the Prince of Peace and Mighty God indicated through the same prophet, the Son of David as promised from all eternity, but something even more wonderful… they discovered him to be the Word of God, who was with God and who was God and who chose to dwell among us out of love. All of it was by design, for
“…no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” Matthew 11:27.
Many are called, and few were chosen, yet even those who are chosen to hear the message may reject it or lapse from it.
This is where Saint Catherine of Siena comes in today, on her feast, as this gospel is indeed so applicable to her story. She couldn’t read or write due to little if not a non-existent formal education so she was clearly one of those “little ones” to whom God revealed his greatness. Given these special graces, and that she dedicated her virginity to God by the age of seven, even if it was against her parents will who desired to see her eventually get married, she became a person of high intelligence and would eventually become considered a formidable philosopher and theologian. Mingling with popes, bishops and political leaders, came easy to her and she would often act as a mediator between them. She was raised to the dignity of “Doctor of the Church” due to her profound theological writings. From her earliest years she had a special gift of mystically communicating with God.
At the age of 19, in 1366, Catherine experienced what she described in her letters as a “Mystical Marriage” with Jesus, after which she began to tend the sick and serve the poor, taking care of them in hospitals or homes. She, like Saint Francis, was also mystically adorned with the Stigmata. While they both bore the wounds of Christ in their bodies, the manifestation and significance of the stigmata differed between them. Saint Francis received the stigmata in 1224, on Mount La Verna as a six-winged Seraph in direct imitation of Christ's crucifixion, with marks resembling the wounds of Christ's hands, feet, and side. His stigmata was a visible sign of his union with the suffering
of Christ and his deep love for the Crucified One. Two years after, he would go home to be forever with the Triune God whom he cherished and preached.
In Catherine’s case, about a 150 years after Francis’ death, she received the stigmata in 1375 when she was 28 years old and it was invisible to the majority, yet when she allowed for it, it became visible to a chosen few. It caused an intense and crushing pain in her heart, symbolizing her spiritual communion with Christ's Passion and her desire to share in His loving and redemptive sacrifice.
Both Saint Francis and Catherine bore the stigmata as a profound expression of their love for Christ and their willingness to suffer for the sake of souls.
Her simple conviction that she could be a means of healing in the divisions of the Church by remaining an instrument in the hands of God would shape her entire natural and spiritual life.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” Matthew 5:9. How often does God call us to be instruments of his peace to others, something as Franciscans, we hold very dear to our vocational journey—to bring God’s Light, Jesus himself, to people in special ways… into the lives of the individuals the Lord places on our path who will even oppose us at times.
Catherine's whole life was about bringing the Light of Christ into the life of the Church.
As the First Reading today says,
“…God is light and in him there is no darkness at all….if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” 1 John 1:7.
This was the mission of Catherine – to bring the light of Jesus and his Gospel into the Church so that it might be cleansed of all sin, especially the sin of corrupt power and scandalous division, much akin to Saint Francis’ calling to rebuild the Church, not with violence, or with hammers and stones, but with patience, compassion, humility and loving truth.
The Church still needs people like Catherine and Francis, courageous enough to defend Christ’s words always, while preaching more by the way they live than by the words they say.
May our Dearest Queen in Heaven, who was the precious Mother to these great saints, and continues to be so in heaven, remain always with us as she tenderly invokes the Holy Spirit on our daily lives and our blessed labour in Jesus’ vineyard.
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