Novena to St Catherine of Siena

As promised we share here some of Catherine's writings on which we are reflecting during these days of preparation for her feast on the 29th.

The following is an extract from a letter addressed to Fr Bartolomeo Dominici, in Florence in 1375: (taken from Suzanne Noffke's translation of Catherine's letters, Vol I)

I Catherine, servant and slave of the servants of Jesus Christ am writing to encourage you in the precious blood of God's Son. I long to see you set afire, swallowed up and consumed in His blazing charity, for we know that those who are set afire and consumed in that true charity lose all self-consciousness. That is what I want you to do.

I am inviting you, in this blazing charity, to plunge into a peaceful sea, a deep sea. I have just rediscovered the sea - not that the sea is new, but it is new to me in the way my soul experiences it - in the words "God is love". Just as the sun shines its light on the earth and a mirror reflects a person's face, so these words echo within me that everyting that is done is simply love, because everything is made entirely of love, This is why He says "I am God, Love". This sheds light on the priceless mystery of the incarnate Word, who out of sheer love, was given in such humility that it confounds my pride. It teaches us to look not just at what He did but at the blazing love this Word has given us. It says that we should do as a loving person does when a friend comes with a gift, not looking at the friend's hands to what the gift is, but looking with the eyes of love at the friends's loving heart. This is what God's supreme, eternal, more tender that tender goodness, wants to do when He visits our soul.

So when He comes to you with His incalculable blessings, let your memory open up at once to receive what you understanding has seen in His divine love, and let your will rise up in blazing desire to receive and gaze upon the burning heart of the giver, the good gentle Jesus, In this way you will find yourself swallowed up and clothed in the fiery gift of the blood of God's Son. You will be freed from all suffering and grief. This is what relieved the holy discioples' pain when they had to leave Mary and one another, though in order to spread God's word they gladly endured the separation. Run! Run! Run!
May God be ever in your soul. Amen.