Thursday, April 29, 2021

 Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, virgin

(Acts 13:13-25; John 13:16-20)

The first part of the movie The Sound of Music takes place in a convent.  An aspirant named Maria seems devout but acts in unconventional ways.  Some of the nuns criticize her for singing all the time and coming late for activities (except meals). Although she hardly ate too much, today’s patron, St. Catherine of Siena, provoked the same type of criticism.

From childhood Catherine wanted to dedicate her life to God.  Her parents thought she should marry and have a family.  But she saw herself wedded to Jesus.  Living during the Avignon papacy and the Great Western Schism, Catherine campaigned for a Church united to the Bishop of Rome.  She shunned conventual life to live as an ascetic peripatetic.  For a woman who belatedly learned to read and write, she had an outsized influence on Church and political affairs in Italy. 

Catherine’s legacy inspires people of different ways of life.  She instructed kings and popes when most women stayed home with their families.  She carried on a healthy dialogue with the Lord through prayer and meditation.  She donated what she had to the poor and visited prisons.  She wrote and dictated works that still engage thinkers today.  All of us can find something to emulate in the life of this great saint.

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