Thursday, May 30 : Saint Catherine of Siena

It seems that the ineffable charity of God has provided for the fragility and misery of man; for, as he was always ready and inclined to offend his Creator, God, to save him, provided him with a remedy for his infirmity. The remedy for our infirmities is none other than the fire of love, and this love never goes out for us. The soul receives it as a remedy when it looks within itself at the standard of the Cross, which is planted there; for we have been the stone in which the Cross was fixed, whose wood and nails were not capable of holding the sweet Lamb without spot, if love had not held him. When the soul looks at this sweet and dear remedy, it must not fall into neglect; but she must rise up with love and desire, and stretch out her hands with self-hatred, as the sick man does, who hates his infirmity, and loves the remedy the doctor gives him. (…) Let us rise with the fire of ardent love, with the hatred and deep humility that the knowledge of our nothingness will give us, and place our infirmities before our physician, Christ Jesus. Stretch out your hand to receive the bitter medicine given to us. Yes, the medicine that man receives is often bitter. These are darkness, temptations, trouble of the spirit or other tribulations which come from without; they seem very bitter to us at first but if we do like the sick wise man, they will then be very sweet for us, considering the tenderness of the sweet Jesus, who gives them to us, and seeing that he does not not out of hatred but out of love, because he can only want our sanctification.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team