Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 04-29-05, Memorial, St. Catherine of Siena, virgin and doctor

For your reading, reflection, faith-sharing, comments, questions, discussion.

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St. Catherine has long been one of my hero saints.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03447a.htm

St. Catherine of Siena

Dominican Tertiary, born at Siena, 25 March, 1347; died at Rome, 29 April, 1380.

She was the youngest but one of a very large family. Her father, Giacomo di Benincasa, was a dyer; her mother, Lapa, the daughter of a local poet. They belonged to the lower middle-class faction of tradesmen and petty notaries, known as "the Party of the Twelve", which between one revolution and another ruled the Republic of Siena from 1355 to 1368. From her earliest childhood Catherine began to see visions and to practise extreme austerities. At the age of seven she consecrated her virginity to Christ; in her sixteenth year she took the habit of the Dominican Tertiaries, and renewed the life of the anchorites of the desert in a little room in her father's house. After three years of celestial visitations and familiar conversation with Christ, she underwent the mystical experience known as the "spiritual espousals", probably during the carnival of 1366. She now rejoined her family, began to tend the sick, especially those afflicted with the most repulsive diseases, to serve the poor, and to labour for the conversion of sinners. Though always suffering terrible physical pain, living for long intervals on practically no food save the Blessed Sacrament, she was ever radiantly happy and full of practical wisdom no less than the highest spiritual insight. All her contemporaries bear witness to her extraordinary personal charm, which prevailed over the continual persecution to which she was subjected even by the friars of her own order and by her sisters in religion. She began to gather disciples round her, both men and women, who formed a wonderful spiritual fellowship, united to her by the bonds of mystical love. During the summer of 1370 she received a series of special manifestations of Divine mysteries, which culminated in a prolonged trance, a kind of mystical death, in which she had a vision of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, and heard a Divine command to leave her cell and enter the public life of the world. She began to dispatch letters to men and women in every condition of life, entered into correspondence with the princes and republics of Italy, was consulted by the papal legates about the affairs of the Church, and set herself to heal the wounds of her native land by staying the fury of civil war and the ravages of faction. She implored the pope, Gregory XI, to leave Avignon, to reform the clergy and the administration of the Papal States, and ardently threw herself into his design for a crusade, in the hopes of uniting the powers of Christendom against the infidels, and restoring peace to Italy by delivering her from the wandering companies of mercenary soldiers. While at Pisa, on the fourth Sunday of Lent, 1375, she received the Stigmata, although, at her special prayer, the marks did not appear outwardly in her body while she lived.

Mainly through the misgovernment of the papal officials, war broke out between Florence and the Holy See, and almost the whole of the Papal States rose in insurrection. Catherine had already been sent on a mission from the pope to secure the neutrality of Pisa and Lucca. In June, 1376, she went to Avignon as ambassador of the Florentines, to make their peace; but, either through the bad faith of the republic or through a misunderstanding caused by the frequent changes in its government, she was unsuccessful. Nevertheless she made such a profound impression upon the mind of the pope, that, in spite of the opposition of the French king and almost the whole of the Sacred College, he returned to Rome (17 January, 1377). Catherine spent the greater part of 1377 in effecting a wonderful spiritual revival in the country districts subject to the Republic of Siena, and it was at this time that she miraculously learned to write, though she still seems to have chiefly relied upon her secretaries for her correspondence. Early in 1378 she was sent by Pope Gregory to Florence, to make a fresh effort for peace. Unfortunately, through the factious conduct of her Florentine associates, she became involved in the internal politics of the city, and during a popular tumult (22 June) an attempt was made upon her life. She was bitterly disappointed at her escape, declaring that her sins had deprived her of the red rose of martyrdom. Nevertheless, during the disastrous revolution known as "the tumult of the Ciompi", she still remained at Florence or in its territory until, at the beginning of August, news reached the city that peace had been signed between the republic and the new pope. Catherine then instantly returned to Siena, where she passed a few months of comparative quiet, dictating her "Dialogue", the book of her meditations and revelations.

In the meanwhile the Great Schism had broken out in the Church. From the outset Catherine enthusiastically adhered to the Roman claimant, Urban VI, who in November, 1378, summoned her to Rome. In the Eternal City she spent what remained of her life, working strenuously for the reformation of the Church, serving the destitute and afflicted, and dispatching eloquent letters in behalf of Urban to high and low in all directions. Her strength was rapidly being consumed; she besought her Divine Bridegroom to let her bear the punishment for all the sins of the world, and to receive the sacrifice of her body for the unity and renovation of the Church; at last it seemed to her that the Bark of Peter was laid upon her shoulders, and that it was crushing her to death with its weight. After a prolonged and mysterious agony of three months, endured by her with supreme exultation and delight, from Sexagesima Sunday until the Sunday before the Ascension, she died. Her last political work, accomplished practically from her death-bed, was the reconciliation of Pope Urban VI with the Roman Republic (1380).

Among Catherine's principal followers were Fra Raimondo delle Vigne, of Capua (d. 1399), her confessor and biographer, afterwards General of the Dominicans, and Stefano di Corrado Maconi (d. 1424), who had been one of her secretaries, and became Prior General of the Carthusians. Raimondo's book, the "Legend", was finished in 1395. A second life of her, the "Supplement", was written a few years later by another of her associates, Fra Tomaso Caffarini (d. 1434), who also composed the "Minor Legend", which was translated into Italian by Stefano Maconi. Between 1411 and 1413 the depositions of the surviving witnesses of her life and work were collected at Venice, to form the famous "Process". Catherine was canonized by Pius II in 1461. The emblems by which she is known in Christian art are the lily and book, the crown of thorns, or sometimes a heart--referring to the legend of her having changed hearts with Christ. Her principal feast is on the 30th of April, but it is popularly celebrated in Siena on the Sunday following. The feast of her Espousals is kept on the Thursday of the carnival.

The works of St. Catherine of Siena rank among the classics of the Italian language, written in the beautiful Tuscan vernacular of the fourteenth century. Notwithstanding the existence of many excellent manuscripts, the printed editions present the text in a frequently mutilated and most unsatisfactory condition. Her writings consist of

* the "Dialogue", or "Treatise on Divine Providence";
* a collection of nearly four hundred letters; and
* a series of "Prayers".

The "Dialogue" especially, which treats of the whole spiritual life of man in the form of a series of colloquies between the Eternal Father and the human soul (represented by Catherine herself), is the mystical counterpart in prose of Dante's "Divina Commedia".

A smaller work in the dialogue form, the "Treatise on Consummate Perfection", is also ascribed to her, but is probably spurious. It is impossible in a few words to give an adequate conception of the manifold character and contents of the "Letters", which are the most complete expression of Catherine's many-sided personality. While those addressed to popes and sovereigns, rulers of republics and leaders of armies, are documents of priceless value to students of history, many of those written to private citizens, men and women in the cloister or in the world, are as fresh and illuminating, as wise and practical in their advice and guidance for the devout Catholic today as they were for those who sought her counsel while she lived. Others, again, lead the reader to mystical heights of contemplation, a rarefied atmosphere of sanctity in which only the few privileged spirits can hope to dwell. The key-note to Catherine's teaching is that man, whether in the cloister or in the world, must ever abide in the cell of self-knowledge, which is the stable in which the traveller through time to eternity must be born again.

Easter Reflections -- 50 Days of the Easter Season

Prayer of Saint Catherine of Siena to the Precious Blood of Jesus

Precious Blood,
Ocean of Divine Mercy:
Flow upon us!

Precious Blood,
Most pure Offering:
Procure us every Grace!

Precious Blood,
Hope and Refuge of sinners:
Atone for us!

Precious Blood,
Delight of holy souls:
Draw us! Amen.

Some other choice St. Catherine words:

Charity is the sweet and holy bond which links the soul with its Creator: it binds God with man and man with God.

Eternal Trinity, Godhead, mystery deep as the sea, you could give me no greater gift than the gift of yourself. For you are a fire ever burning and never consumed, which itself consumes all the selfish love that fills my being. Yes, you are a fire that takes away the coldness, illuminates the mind with its light, and causes me to know your truth. And I know that you are beauty and wisdom itself. The food of angels, you gave yourself to man in the fire of your love.

-from On Divine Providence by Saint Catherine of Siena

Everything comes from love, all is ordained for the salvation of man, God does nothing without this goal in mind.

-Saint Catherine of Siena

Habemus Papam! -- We Have a Pope! -- Pope Benedicit XVI [Photos, Writings, Links]

(Live Thread)The Solemn Mass of Inauguration of Pope Benedict XVI

Lots of pictures in both of these!

Homily Thread -- HOMILY OF INAUGURATION MASS OF BENEDICT XVI

At First Public Audience, Pope Benedict Explains Name

9 Day Novena - St. Catherine of Siena - to protect Pope Benedict XVI

EWTN New Program - St. Catherine of Siena: Mystic and Reformer

Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin(d.1380)

Catholic Caucus - St. Catherine of Siena

From: Acts 15:22-31

The Council's Decision

[22] Then it seemed good to the Apostles and the elders, with the whole
Church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with
Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas,
leading men among the brethren, [23] with the following letter: "The
brethren, both the Apostles and the elders, to the brethren who are of
the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greeting. [24] Since we
have heard that some persons from us have troubled you with words,
unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, [25] it
has seemed good to us in assembly to choose men and send them to you
with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, [26] men who have risked their
lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. [27] We have therefore
sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by
word of mouth. [28] For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to
us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: [29]
that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood
and from what is strangled and from unchastity. If you keep yourselves
from these, you will do well. Farewell."

The Reception of the Council's Decree

[30] So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch; and having
gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. [31]
And when they read it, they rejoiced at the exhortation.

Commentary:

22-29. The decree containing the decisions of the Council of Jerusalem
incorporating St. James' suggestions makes it clear that the
participants at the Council are conscious of being guided in their
conclusions by the Holy Spirit and that in the last analysis it is God
who has decided the matter.

"We should take," Melchor Cano writes in the 16th century, "the same
road as the Apostle Paul considered to be the one best suited to
solving all matters to do with the doctrine of the faith. [...] The
Gentiles might have sought satisfaction from the Council because it
seemed to take from the freedom granted them by Jesus Christ, and
because it imposed on the disciples certain ceremonies as necessary,
when in fact they were not, since faith is the key to salvation. Nor
did the Jews object by invoking Sacred Scripture against the Council's
decision on the grounds that Scripture seems to support their view that
circumcision is necessary for salvation. So, by respecting the Council
they gave us the criterion which should be observed at all times; that
is, to place full faith in the authority of the synods confirmed by
Peter and his legitimate successors. They say 'it has seemed good to
the Holy Spirit and to us'; thus, the Council's decision is the
decision of the Holy Spirit Himself" ("De Locis", V, 4).

It is the Apostles and the elders, with the whole Church, who designate
the people who are to publish the Council's decree, but it is the

Hierarchy which formulates and promulgates it. The text contains two
parts--one dogmatic and moral (verse 28) and the other disciplinary
(verse 29). The dogmatic part speaks of imposing no burden other than
what is essential and therefore declares that pagan converts are free
from the obligation of circumcision and of the Mosaic Law but are
subject to the Gospel's perennial moral teaching on matters to do with
chastity. This part is permanent: because it has to do with a
necessary part of God's salvific will it cannot change.

The disciplinary part of the decree lays down rules of prudence which
can change, which are temporary. It asks Christians of Gentile
background to abstain--out of charity towards Jewish Christians--from
what has been sacrificed to idols, from blood and from meat of animals
killed by strangulation.

The effect of the decree means that the disciplinary rules contained in
it, although they derive from the Mosaic Law, no longer oblige by
virtue of that Law but rather by virtue of the authority of the Church,
which has decided to apply them for the time being. What matters is
not what Moses says but what Christ says through the Church. The
Council "seems to maintain the Law in force," writes St. John
Chrysostom, "because it selects various prescriptions from it, but in
fact suppresses it, because it does not accept ALL its prescriptions.
It had often spoken about these points, it sought to respect the Law
and yet establish these regulations as coming not from Moses but from
the Apostles" ("Hom. on Acts," 33).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

From: John 15:12-17

The Law of Love

[12] "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved
you. [13] Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends. [14] You are My friends if you do what I command
you. [15] No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not
know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all
that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. [16] You
did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go
and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you
ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you. [17] This I command
you, to love one another."

Commentary:

12-15. Jesus insists on the "new commandment", which He Himself keeps
by giving His life for us. See note on John 13:34-35.

Christ's friendship with the Christian, which our Lord expresses in a
very special way in this passage, is something very evident in
[St] Monsignor Escriva de Balaguer's preaching: "The life of the
Christian who decides to behave in accordance with the greatness of his
vocation is so to speak a prolonged echo of those words of our Lord,
`No longer do I call you My servants; a servant is one who does not
understand what his master is about, whereas I have made known to you
all that My Father has told Me; and so I have called you My friends'
(John 15:15). When we decide to be docile and follow the will of God,
hitherto unimagined horizons open up before us.... `There is nothing
better than to recognize that Love has made us slaves of God. From the
moment we recognize this we cease being slaves and become friends,
sons' ([St] J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 35).

"Sons of God, FRIENDS OF GOD.... Jesus is truly God and truly Man, He
is our Brother and our Friend. If we make the effort to get to know
Him well `we will share in the joy of being God's friends' ["ibid.",
300]. If we do all we can to keep Him company, from Bethlehem to
Calvary, sharing His joys and sufferings, we will become worthy of
entering into loving conversation with Him. As the Liturgy of the
Hours sings, "calicem Domini biberunt, et amici Dei facti sunt" (they
drank the chalice of the Lord and so became friends of God).

"Being His children and His friends are two inseparable realities for
those who love God. We go to Him as children, carrying on a trusting
dialogue that should fill the whole of our lives; and we go to Him as
friends.... In the same way our divine sonship urges us to translate
the overflow of our interior life into apostolic activity, just as our
friendship with God leads us to place ourselves at `the service of all
men. We are called to use the gifts God has given us as instruments to
help others discover Christ' ["ibid.", 258]" (Monsignor A. del Portillo
in his preface to [St] J. Escriva's, "Friends of God").

16. There are three ideas contained in these words of our Lord. One,
that the calling which the Apostles received and which every Christian
also receives does not originate in the individual's good desires but
in Christ's free choice. It was not the Apostles who chose the Lord as
Master, in the way someone would go about choosing a rabbi; it was
Christ who chose them. The second idea is that the Apostles' mission
and the mission of every Christian is to follow Christ, to seek
holiness and to contribute to the spread of the Gospel. The third
teaching refers to the effectiveness of prayer done in the name of
Christ; which is why the Church usually ends the prayers of the liturgy
with the invocation "Through Jesus Christ our Lord...".

The three ideas are all interconnected: prayer is necessary if the
Christian life is to prove fruitful, for it is God who gives the growth
(cf. 1 Corinthians 3:7); and the obligation to seek holiness and to be
apostolic derives from the fact that it is Christ Himself who has given
us this mission. "Bear in mind, son, that you are not just a soul who
has joined other souls in order to do a good thing.

"That is a lot, but it's still little. You are the Apostle who is
carrying out an imperative command from Christ" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way",
942).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

Friday, April 29, 2005
St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin, Doctor of the Church (Memorial)

First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:

Acts 15:22-31
Psalm 57:8-10, 12
John 15:12-17

In this holy abandonment springs up that beautiful freedom of spirit which the perfect possess, and in which there is found all the happiness that can be desired in this life; for in fearing nothing, and seeking and desiring nothing of all things of the world, they possess all.

-- St. Teresa of Avila

Catholic Culture

Collect:
Father, in meditating on the sufferings of your Son and in serving your Church, St. Catherine was filled with the fervor of your love. By her prayers, may we share in the mystery of Christ's death and rejoice in the revelation of his glory, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Recipes:

» Baked Ziti
» Heart Cake (cut-up)

Activities:

Prayers:

more

less

April 29, 2005

Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena, virgin and doctor

Old Calendar: St. Peter of Verona, martyr

Catherine Benincasa, born in Siena at a date that remains uncertain, was favored with visions from the age of seven. Becoming a tertiary of the Dominican Order, she acquired great influence by her life of prayer and extraordinary mortifications as well as by the spread of her spiritual writings. Her continual appeals for civil peace and reform of the Church make her one of the leading figures of the fourteenth century. Worn out by her mortifications and negotiations she died in Rome on April 29, 1380.

Before the reform of the General Roman Calendar St. Catherine's feast was celebrated on April 30 and today was the feast of St. Peter of Verona. He was born about 1205 at Verona. His parents were Manichaeans, but he was converted and entered the Order of Preachers with the ambition not only of preaching the faith but of giving his life for it. He had his wish, for in the course of his apostolic work he was assassinated by the Manichaeans on the road from Como to Milan in 1252.

St. Catherine of Siena
Catherine, the youngest of twenty-five children, was born in Siena on March 25, 1347. During her youth she had to contend with great difficulties on the part of her parents. They were planning marriage for their favorite daughter; but Catherine, who at the age of seven had already taken a vow of virginity, refused. To break her resistance, her beautiful golden brown tresses were shorn to the very skin and she was forced to do the most menial tasks. Undone by her patience, mother and father finally relented and their child entered the Third Order of St. Dominic.

Unbelievable were her austerities, her miracles, her ecstasies. The reputation of her sanctity soon spread abroad; thousands came to see her, to be converted by her. The priests associated with her, having received extraordinary faculties of absolution, were unable to accommodate the crowds of penitents. She was a helper and a consoler in every need. As time went on, her influence reached out to secular and ecclesiastical matters. She made peace between worldly princes. The heads of Church and State bowed to her words. She weaned Italy away from an anti-pope, and made cardinals and princes promise allegiance to the rightful pontiff. She journeyed to Avignon and persuaded Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome. Even though she barely reached the age of thirty-three her accomplishments place her among the great women of the Middle Ages. The virgin Catherine was espoused to Christ by a precious nuptial ring which, although visible only to her, always remained on her finger.— The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Patron: Against fire; bodily ills; Europe; fire prevention; firefighters; illness; Italy; miscarriages; nurses; nursing services; people ridiculed for their piety; sexual temptation; sick people; sickness; Siena Italy; temptations.

Symbols: Cross; heart; lily; ring; stigmata.

Things to Do:

If you have never done so today would be a good time to read some of St. Catherine's Dialogue.
Learn more about the Order of Preachers founded by St. Dominic. See what they are doing today.

St. Peter of Verona

Peter entered the Dominican Order in 1221, the year when St. Dominic died. He was a zealous preacher, and as Inquisitor converted many heretics. While attending school at the age of seventeen, he was asked by his uncle, a heretic, what he was learning. Candidly the boy replied, "The Apostles' Creed." Neither threats nor honeyed words from father and uncle were able to shake the boy's steadfast faith. Years later, when death was near, he once more recited the Apostles' Creed that he prayed so courageously in his youth. The mortal stab soon fell, and he received the martyr's crown. — The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Patron: Inquisitors.

Symbol: Dominican with a large knife in or splitting his head; holding a knife; man with a knife in his head and a sword in his breast.

Things to Do:

As he lay dying, it is said, Peter wrote the word Credo on the ground with his own blood. To us also may the Creed be a source of blessing in life and in death! To that end we might occasionally meditate on one or another of its articles. Devoutly, reverently the words should pass our lips, especially at Mass. Remember that martyrs' blood has flowed for all its phrases.
Read more about St. Peter of Verona.

St. Catherine of Siena

Bible study bump.

Let us give thanks to the Lord among the peoples and natioms.

Catholic Culture bump.

Looking forward to the Homily of the Day and Voice in the Desert.

btt

I was over at church working on some publicity for our next evening of catechesis. I put together a display with pictures of nine images of the Blessed Virgin Mary from apparitions.

I learned a lot in researching it this morning on the internet.

Homily of the Day

Homily of the Day

Title:	Love Is Stronger Even Than Death
Author:	Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.
Date:	Friday, April 29, 2005

Acts 15:22-31 / Jn 15:12-17

By the time of Jesus’ coming, the rule book for practicing Jews was exceedingly long and complicated, so much so that most ordinary folk just gave up trying to figure it all out. The scribes and pharisees battled endlessly about fine points of the law, and the whole enterprise moved further and further from real life and deeper into irrelevance.

Unlike the scribes, Jesus knew that the law should be a liberator, freeing people from what is hurtful and what is void of purpose, and focusing their efforts on what really counts. Jesus saw that that wasn’t happening, so he cut through the life-threatening tangle that the lawyers had made. He declared that there is really only one commandment, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

And how exactly did he love us? Wholeheartedly, absolutely, and unconditionally! His love had no limits, not even death. That’s the norm he’s given us to measure up to. We’ll fail miserably if we try to do it on our own, but we’ll have a chance of succeeding if we let his love fill us and do its work within us.

The Spirit of Jesus is powerful and can overcome anything. Let his Spirit do his work in you.