Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, virgin and doctor
of the Church
(Acts 14:5-18; John 14:21-26)
An expert in medieval music was commenting on the
composition of a nun from that era. The
expert mentioned how the nun was motivated by love for her spouse, Jesus
Christ. To the expert’s credit she did
not doubt the reality of the nun’s spousal love or the possibility of its
enhancing the ability to compose beautiful music. Catherine of Siena demonstrated such love for
the same Jesus.
Catherine also considered herself the spouse of Christ as
indeed we all should. Her love moved her
to enter in such profound spiritual union with Jesus that she thought of his
heart as being hers. She used to pray, “Lord,
I give you your own heart.” Out of love
for Christ, Catherine exhausted herself seeking the reunification of his Body, the
Church. She died in effort to bring the
pope back to Rome from Avignon where he lived in self-imposed exile.
In today’s gospel Jesus asks his disciples to love him which
in sum means to love one another. We
should not hesitate to do this because we wonder whether our love will go
unrequited. No, Jesus loves each of us
with even greater intensity than Catherine loved him. He can have such love for all not because he
is human but because he is God. We need
only to trust in his love to realize its richness.
