Friday, April 24 : Saint Catherine of Siena

[Saint Catherine heard God say to her:] O my dearest daughter, open wide the eye of the intellect to contemplate the abyss of My Charity. There is not a single rational creature whose heart ought not to break under the pressure of love, when considering—after all the blessings with which I have showered you—the benefit you receive in this Sacrament. (…) Who tastes, sees, and touches this Sacrament? The senses of the soul. With what eye does it see it? With the eye of the intellect, provided that eye is furnished with the pupil of most holy Faith. This eye sees, beneath that whiteness, God entire, Man entire—the divine nature united to the human nature; the Body, the Soul, and the Blood of Christ; the Soul united to the Body; and the Body and Soul united to My divine nature, without that nature being separated from Me. (…) And who touches it? The hand of love. Yes, it is with this hand that the soul touches what the eye of the spirit has seen and known in the Sacrament through faith; and it touches with this hand of love to verify what the intellect has seen and known through Faith. Who tastes it? The palate of holy desire. The bodily palate tastes the flavor of bread, whereas the palate of the soul—which is holy desire—tastes the God-Man. You see, therefore, that the senses of the body are here deceived, but not the senses of the soul, by virtue of the light and certainty it possesses within itself. For the eye of the intellect has perceived through the pupil of most holy Faith; having seen, it knows; and then, through the hand of love, it touches—in faith—that which it has known through faith. Finally, through this taste that is within her—through ardent desire—the soul savors what it has seen and touched: the ineffable love of My ardent Charity. It is this Love that has deigned to invite her to receive so great a mystery, together with the grace it produces, in this Sacrament.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team

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