LOVE
LOVE is at the heart of the gospel and the source of our Eastertide joy. I’m reflecting on it today as we celebrate the feast of St Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church.
A third order Dominican she was called to make the love of Christ reality in her life and for her challenging and dangerous times.
This led her to a public role in the life of the church, speaking out against schism, promoting unity and advocating for clerical reform. These words from her dialogue on Divine Revelation touched me:
“By your light you enlighten our minds… In this light I know you and I picture you to myself as the supreme good, the good beyond all good… Beauty beyond all beauty, wisdom beyond all wisdom. You are the food of angels, who gave yourself to us in the fire of your love.”
She speaks to me especially powerfully in these times when our world seems so consumed by war and suffering. In such times it can be hard to see and witness to the love of the risen Christ in our lives.
It’s easy to get discouraged, to feel swamped by sufferings we can’t alleviate and situations we can’t fix. It becomes too risky to reach out to others in love so we withdraw into ourselves becoming protectionist and isolationist.
St Catherine’s example suggests an alternative. She calls us to seek to become so connected to the risen Christ we are consumed by the fire of God’s love. Then, following his example we can reach out and share that love with all those we encounter in our challenged and war-torn world.
How does the fire of God’s love enable you to love those you encounter this Eastertide?