Monday, August 25 : Saint Catherine of Genoa

God prompts man to rise up from his sins… The more swiftly a man acknowledges his wretchedness, the more swiftly, too, he humbles himself and abandons himself to God knowing that the work of converting him belongs to God alone. He becomes aware of it by degrees through the constant inspirations God sends him and, noticing this work and the benefits he gains from it, he says to himself: “It honestly seems to me that God has nothing else to do but take care of me. How sweet and loving God’s working is on our behalf!”… Already in this life the service of God is truly to reign. When God frees man from the sin that holds him captive, he looses him from all bondage and sets him in true liberty. Otherwise man is always going from one desire to another without finding rest; the more he has the more he wants; seeking satisfaction for himself, he is never content. Indeed, whoever desires is possessed by that desire; he is sold over to the thing he loves; seeking his own liberty, offending God by following his own appetites, he endlessly becomes its slave. Therefore consider what is the strength and power of our free will, which contains within itself two such opposed and contrary things: eternal life or eternal death. It cannot be forced by any creature if we do not want it to be; which is why, so much as in your power, you should ponder well and be careful what you do.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team