Saturday, January 27 : Saint Catherine of Siena

“I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer» (Lk 22,15). Remembering these words of our Savior, should you ask me what that Passover is that I, in my turn, desire to make with you, I would reply: none other Passover than that of the Lamb who was sacrificed, the same one he made of himself when he gave himself to his sweet disciples. O sweet paschal lamb, prepared in the fire of God’s love on the most holy cross! Divine food, source of joy, happiness and consolation! Nothing is lacking because you have made of yourself table, food and servant for your servants… The Word, the Only Son of God, has given himself to us with so great a fire of love. Who will give us this Passover meal today? The Holy Spirit, the servant. Because of the measureless love he has for us he cannot be content to let us be served by others; he himself wants to be our servant. This is the table where my soul desires to be… to eat the Passover before I die… Know that, at this table, it is good we should present ourselves as both naked and clothed: we, too, should be stripped of all self-love, all attraction for the world, all negligence and all sadness… – for an evil sadness withers the soul – and we should clothe ourselves with the burning charity of Christ… When the soul contemplates its Creator and the infinite goodness it sees in him, it cannot not love him… At once it loves what God loves and hates what displeases him because it is stripped of itself by love… Because of his hunger for our salvation and the honor of his Father, Christ humbled himself and gave himself up to a shameful death on the cross, mad with love, drunk and lovingly desirous of us. This is the Passover I, too, desire to celebrate.

maronite readings – rosary,team