Catherine of Siena

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Today is the feast of St. Catherine of Siena. She is a doctor of the Church which means what she has to share is universally beneficial.

Jesus said to Catherine, “Do you know who you are and who I am? If you know these two things, you will be blessed and the Enemy will never deceive you. I am He who is; and you are she who is not.”

This is essence of humility which overcomes the source of all sin, pride.

Humility consists of two truths:

First, God is the source of all that is good. He created a good world, He holds everything in existence and He is guiding all things to a good end.

I am not God. I cannot do all things or control all things. I have limitations.

The second part of humility is that with God, sharing in His life we have become children of God, partakers of the divine nature called to be like God and live like God forever.

Do we act according to who are really are?

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The second truth Jesus taught Catherine was this: once when she was overwhelmed with many cares and worries Jesus said to her, “Think of me; if you do, I will immediately think of you.”

What Jesus meant was this:

We should think and make plans and take responsible action to follow through.

Worry prevents us from thinking about Jesus and is counterproductive.

So Jesus made a deal with Catherine. If you think of me, I will think of and take care of everything you are worried about.

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From these two truths, that Jesus is God, and we are not; and all we need to do is think of Jesus and he will take care of the things we are worried about Catherine learned to rely on Divine Providence.

St. Raymond of Capua, her confessor and biographer relates: “Whenever I or one of our companions was afraid of some danger Catherine would say, ‘What have you to do with yourselves? Leave it to Providence. However much afraid you are, Providence still has its eyes on you and is turning all things to your greatest good.’”

Whenever we are overcome with life, experience some anxiety or fear, follow the advice of Catherine. Immediately think of Jesus. He has his eyes on you. Ask him what to do. Do that. Leave the rest to him because he will turn all things out of your control to the best conclusion.

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The Unlimited Cask of Wine

In 14th century Italy, the water was unsafe to drink. Instead, they drank a kind weak wine. One year there was a grape blight that caused a shortage of wine and the poor were in real danger of dying of thirst. Catherine’s family was down to one barrel, which normally last two to three weeks. But Catherine made it known that anyone could come to their home and receive as much as they needed because she knew Jesus would provide.

Two weeks, three weeks, a month went by with the whole family drinking the wine, plus serving the whole district of poor people, yet the cask showed no signs of giving out.

While no one could account for this, Catherine, knowing the source of all good from whom this miraculous event proceeded, began to give out the wine openly and unstintingly to all the poor people she knew, but even then the cask showed no signs of drying up or the wine of losing it’s flavor. So a second month went by, and a third came, and still there was as much wine as ever.

Finally, the new grape harvest came and it was time to empty the cask so that it could be filled with new wine. Then a marvelous thing happened: the cask from which the wine had been flowing abundantly the day before was opened, and it was found to be as dry as if it had not contained a drop of wine for months.

The barrel that would not run dry should remind us that God will take care of us in proportion to our trust in Him.

As Jesus said to St Faustyna:“My daughter, I assure you of a permanent income on which you will live. Your duty will be to trust completely in My goodness, and My duty will be to give you all you need. I am making Myself dependent upon your trust: if your trust is great, then My generosity will be without limit.” 548

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Once when in fervent prayer, Catherine said to the Lord,

“Create in me a clean heart O God: Change my Cold – Stony Heart, full of Temptation; and lacking in Love. Jesus - Give me a new heart.”

Jesus then appeared to Catherine, H opened her left side, took her heart, and went away. This vision was so impactful that she truly felt that her heart had been removed, and she told this to her confessor – St. Raymond of Capua. Naturally, he explained it was impossible to live without a heart. She responded: Nothing is impossible to God.

Not long after, Jesus reappeared to Catherine, this time holding out to her His Sacred Heart in his hand. Like before, he opened her left side, and this time, placed his own heart inside, saying,

“I took your heart that you offered to me. Now, you see, I am giving you mine, so that you can go on living with it forever.”

Every Mass is supposed to be an exchange of hearts.

In the Mass the priest invites us to “Lift up your heart,” and we respond, “We lift them up to the Lord.” We should offer Jesus our cold and stony heart as Catherine did. Then at Communion, Jesus gives us His Sacred Heart so that from then on, we can live with His heart, with His strength and with His love.

Make every Mass an exchange of hearts.