Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter

Saint Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church, (1347-1380): Co-Patron Saint of Italy (with Saint Francis of Assisi) and of Europe (with Saints Benedict of Nursia, Cyril and Methodius, Bridget of Sweden, Edith Stein).

Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 71 Mutual Obedience
Mass: Acts 8:1b-8; Resp Ps 66; Jn 6:35-40

Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

HEART OF JESUS, SACRED TEMPLE OF GOD,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

We have a great saint to celebrate today, a force to be reckoned with, namely, Saint Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church. I was blessed to have a semester long class on her (taught by a Dominican scholar) during my studies in Rome. On this date every year, I would join the line of people that gathered to pray at the tomb of Catherine's body at the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. And oh to wander the streets of Siena and visit the Basilica of San Domenico where a reliquary contains her head and one of her fingers! The treasures of our faith.

St Catherine's greatest theme was that of self-knowledge. I include here parts of one of my favorite chapters (13) from The Dialogue as dictated by St Catherine, a conversation between the soul and God: "As the soul comes to know herself she also knows God better, for she sees how good he has been to her. In the gentle mirror of God she sees her own dignity: that through no merit of hers but by his creation she is the image of God." We pray to God with Saint Catherine: "It is my will, then, and I beg it as a favor, that you have mercy on your people with the same eternal love that led you to create us in your image and likeness … it was love that made you create us and give us being just so that we might taste your supreme eternal good." Amen.

May we grow in self-knowledge and embrace our dignity as human persons made in the image of likeness of the God who loves us more than we can ever imagine.

We pray with the Holy Father:

May the example of Saint Catherine of Siena help everyone to understand how to be united, with Christian consistency, an intense love for the Church with an effective solicitude for the civil community, especially in this time of trial. I ask Saint Catherine to protect Italy during this pandemic, and to protect Europe, because she is the patroness of Europe; to protect the whole of Europe so that it may remain united.

SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA,

PRAY FOR US.

© Gertrude Feick 2020