Good Morning My Friends,
‘Ecstasy and Mysticism’ and words that without fail excite the minds of those seeking a religious purpose in their lives, and for many they seem to be the experience of others. But in our prayers today we remember St Catherine of Siena, a teacher of the faith, a mystic, an activist and a Doctor of the Church.
It is said that she is one of 25 children born of her mother, many of whom didn’t survive into maturity.
From an early age she wanted to devote herself to God, but this was against the will of her parents.
As a child Catherine was so merry that the family gave her the pet name of “Euphrosyne”, which is Greek for “joy”
It is thought that she had her first ‘Vision’ of Christ when she was about 6 years old. She had another when she was seven, when, on her way home with her brother after visiting a married sister, she saw a vision of Christ in Glory seated with Peter, Paul and John. From then on she vowed to give her whole life to God.
Later on she joined a tertiary or 3rd order Dominican Order which means she was associated with the Order, but did not live inside the Convent, but followed Dominican Spirituality.
When Catherine was sixteen, her older sister Bonaventura died in childbirth; already anguished by this, Catherine soon learned that her parents wanted her to marry Bonaventura’s widower. She was absolutely opposed and started a strict fast. She had learned this from Bonaventura, whose husband had been far from considerate but his wife had changed his attitude by refusing to eat until he showed better manners. Besides fasting, Catherine further disappointed her mother by cutting off her long hair as a protest against being overly encouraged to improve her appearance to attract a husband.
This pattern of fasting came to influence her throughout her life, and may had had an impact or her religious experiences and ecstasies.
Catherine rejected both the path of marriage and motherhood, and the path of ‘Taking the veil’ and becoming a nun, but created her own path between the two living an active and prayerful life.
She soon found herself teaching others about Spirituality, and when having ecstasies or visions she would often dictate her experiences or ideas.
One of the most unsettling was her vision of her becoming spiritually married to Christ. This on its own is fine, but her experience involved the receiving of a wedding ring made from Jesus’ foreskin! When asked later where her ring that she gave to Christ was, she said it was invisible! (This is too much information for me)
Her most famous work is The Dialogue of Divine Providence. It is a dialogue between a soul who “rises up” to God and God himself.
The monastic idea of a cell is the place you go to in order to retreat and commune with God in silence. It is where you experience heaven. Catherine used this idea to formulate a part of her spirituality as she teaches us to ‘Build a cell within your mind from which you need never flee’. I her own inner cell she made people close to her into representatives of Christ, or the Blessed Virgin, or the Apostles, and in so doing was able to serve them humbly.
She would constantly give away her food or clothing to those who were in need, and this generated both tensions within her family, and delight amongst those she served. She wanted nothing for herself, and eventually spent some time living on the Eucharist alone! Looking forward to the table laid for her in heaven where she could eat with ‘Her real family’.
She had another vision where Christ calls her out of her spiritual nature of being withdrawn, and to enter the world, which she did, so that she could care for the ill and the poor.
Catherine developed into a hugely wise and well respected Spiritual Leader who influencedPopes and paupers. She could converse on every level, and loved the idea of a simplicity of faith. She describes God in her work, ‘the Dialogues’, as a “sea, in which we are the fish”, the point being that the relationship between God and man should not be seen as man contending against the Divine and vice versa, but as God being the endless being that supports all things.
I like the simplicity and beauty of this on so many levels, particularly that idea that God is there, we don’t need to search for him, just accept that we are in his presence.
Catherine died on 29th April 1830 at the age of only 33. She had founded convents, inspired thousands, influenced the development of the church, called for reform of the clergy, written hundreds of letters, some well know prayers, and of course her book.
She is remembered in the Church of England with what is called a lesser festival, which means appropriate to a local church.
The collect
God of compassion,
who gave your servant Catherine of Siena
a wondrous love of the passion of Christ:
grant that your people may be united to him in his majesty
and rejoice for ever in the revelation of his glory;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
There are always wonders to behold with those who have eyes to see.
Bless you, Bless you, Bless you,
Fr Marcus