Thursday, September 7 : Saint Catherine of Siena

[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