Friday of the Thirty-first week in
Ordinary Time
Gospel: Saint Luke 16:1-8.
"The children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their
own generation than are the children of light. (v. 8)
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| Catherine of Siena (Saint) |
A Prudent Approach to Apathy
To make holy desire
grow in
you and not flag, I want you to open your mind's eye and come to
know God's
unspeakable love for you. In love he gave you his only-begotten Son, and that Son gave
his life for you in such blazing love that it
should melt the hardness of any hard heart.
Here focus your mind's eye, considering
and pondering the price [paid for you], God's Son. In his blood wash your
soul's face.
Wake up and rouse yourselves from the slumber of apathy!
And once you've
washed, be sure you put on the white of purity and the colour of blazing charity, both of which you will
find in the blood of the Lamb. I want you to consider ... that you cannot have
this purity
of mind and body if you are ... setting your love and desire on ... created things apart from God's will. Nor is it compatible with selfish love or physical self indulgence. No, it is won with very
earnest watching and prayer, and with continual remembrance of your Creator and
constant acknowledgement of God's unspeakable love for you.
After you have acquired purity in the way
I've described,
you will see
that there is no service you can do for God, and so you will extend your love to your neighbours,
doing for them
the
service you cannot do for God. You will visit the sick, help the poor, and console those who are troubled. You will weep with
those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. I mean you will weep with those who are grieving
in deadly
sin by being compassionate and by offering continual prayers for them in God's presence. And you will rejoice with those who are glad because they are
true servants of Jesus Christ crucified, always happy to be in their company.
SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA
________________________________________________________________________
Catherine of Siena (Saint)
From The
Letters of St. Catherint of Siena. Vol.
II, Suzanne Noffkc, O.P. Tr. MRTS Vol. 203 (Tempe, AZ. 2001). Copyright
Arizona Board of Regents for Arizona State University, Used with permission.
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