The Miracles of St. Catherine of Sienna

one

Today is the Feast of St. Catherine of Sienna. I want to share with you some of my favorite miraculous events from her life. Catherine’s total devotion to God began at a young age, as St. Raymond of Capua says in her biography, “One day -she must have been six at the time- she had to go with her brother Stefano, who was a little older than she was, to see her sister. (Then) having accomplished their mission, the two were coming back down a certain lane, when Catherine happened to look up, and there, hanging in the air over the roof of the church, she saw a splendid throne occupied by the Lord Jesus Christ, clothed like a King with a crown upon his head. With him were St. Peter and Paul and John the Evangelist. At the sight of all this Catherine remained rooted to the ground, gazing lovingly with unblinking eyes upon her Lord and Savior, who was revealing Himself to her in this way in order to captivate her love. Then, gazing straight at her with eyes full of majesty, and smiling most lovingly, He raised His right hand over her, made the sign of the cross, and graciously gave her his eternal blessing.

 The grace of this gift was so immediately effective upon the little girl that she was taken right out of herself and entirely into Him she lovingly looked upon, and although she was very timid by nature she stood there in the middle of the street, filled as it was with men and animals, looking upwards with her head quite motionless, forgetting not only her journey but all her other concerns; and she would have remained there as long as the vision lasted, had not her attention been interrupted.”

 The vision ended when her brother Stefano came back, realizing that he’d left her behind. When he came up to her, tugging on her arm and calling her name, she looked at her brother and said, “If you could see what I can you would not be so cruel and disturb me out of this vision.”

two

This moment changed Catherine forever. The vision of Jesus and heaven gave her a completely new perspective on life that never left her. This life is only a journey to our true Homeland – Heaven. This is not our home. Yes, there is joy on earth - but perfect happiness and the fulfillment of all our desires can only be found in heaven. And from that moment until the end of her life all Catherine’s thoughts and actions were directed to loving God and leading as many people as possible to Christ and heaven.

Catherine said to her brother: “If you could see what I can see…” How would we change our lives if we saw what Catherine did and knew without doubt that perfect happiness was only found in God?

three

In the 14th century it was not uncommon that the water was unsafe to drink. Instead they drank a kind weak wine in place of water. However, one year there was a grape blight that caused a shortage of wine and the poor were in real danger of dying of thirst. 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.

“This cask of good wine, on a normal estimate, contained just about enough to last the whole family two to three weeks. Before the wine from this cask was given to the family to drink, Catherine had been giving a generous helping from it to the poor daily for a number of days, for no one had the right to prevent her from giving away whatever was in the house.

... A fortnight went by, three weeks, a month, with the whole family drinking the wine too, and the cask showed no signs of giving out. The virgin’s brothers and all the other people in the house were amazed at this and told their father about it, delighted that the cask should go on providing so much wine for such a long time and yet still seem to have plenty for the future. It was a delightful miracle for all who drank the wine, for they could not remember ever having drunk anything more pleasing or satisfying…

While they were unable to 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.

four

The barrel of wine that would not run dry was a great sign that God took care of Catherine and her family in proportion to her trust in Him and her generosity to others. It was this complete dependence upon God that allowed her to give so greatly, and as they said, the wine only tasted better and better the more she gave it away to the thirsty.

As Jesus said to St Faustyna (548)

“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.”

five

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 and he quite literally 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.

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

Every Mass is intended to be an exchange of hearts.