CALENDARIUM ROMANUM FORMA ORDINARIA

[Saint Catherine heard God say to her:] O dearest daughter, it is told in the holy Gospel, that when my Truth commanded the glorious apostle Peter to cast his nets into the sea, Peter replied, that all night long he was tired without taking anything (Lk 5,5), but, he added, at your command, I will throw them in. He threw it; he caught such a large quantity of fish that he could not retrieve it alone, and that he had to call the disciples to his aid. Consider this act of Peter! In the reality which has just been described, you will discover a figure, and you will understand by everything that I have told you that this figure applies to you. (…) Peter, I told you, at the command of the Word, cast the net: he was therefore obedient, believing with lively faith that he would catch fish, and indeed he caught many; but it was not overnight. Do you know what time of night it is? It is the dark night of mortal sin, where the soul is deprived of the light of grace. On this night, she cannot take anything, because she casts the net of her desire not into the ocean of life, but into the dead sea, where she finds only the fault which is not something. She tires in vain, all her efforts are useless. Those who impose all these penalties on themselves make themselves martyrs of the devil, not of Christ crucified. But when day breaks, when the soul comes out of the night of sin, to recover the light of grace, it finds at the same time in its spirit the commandment of the law that I gave it, to cast the net, at the word of my Son, loving me above all things, and the neighbor as himself. Docile from then on in the light of faith, with firm confidence, she casts her net, on His word, following the doctrine and examples of this gentle Word of love and of his disciples.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team

Might we not reasonably suggest that the desert is a limitless temple for our God? Because undoubtedly, someone living in silence is going to take pleasure in solitary places. It is there that he often makes himself known to his saints; it is under cover of the solitude that he condescends to encounter people. It was in the desert that Moses saw God, his face bathed in light… It was there that he was permitted to converse familiarly with the Lord; he exchanged speech with him; he conversed with the Lord of heaven just as people habitually converse with their fellows. It was there he received the staff that had power to work wonders and, after entering the desert as a shepherd of sheep, he left the desert as a shepherd of peoples (Ex 3; 33,11; 34). Similarly, when the people of God were to be set free from Egypt and delivered from their earthly works, did they not make their way into a place apart and take refuge in the solitudes? Yes indeed, it was in the desert that it was to draw near to this God who snatched them out of their bondage… And the Lord made himself the leader of his people, guiding them across the desert. Day and night along the way he set a pillar, a burning flame or a shining cloud, as a sign from heaven… Thus the children of Israel, while living in the solitudes of the desert, attained the vision of God’s throne and heard his voice… Must I add that they did not reach the land they desired until they had sojourned in the desert? That the people might one day enter into possession of a land where milk and honey flowed they had first to pass through dry and uncultivated places. It is always by means of camps in the desert that we make our way towards our true homeland. Let those who wish to see “the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living” (Ps 27[26],13) dwell in an uninhabitable land. Let those who would become citizens of heaven become guests of the desert.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team