Tuesday, November 16 : Saint Catherine of Siena

Here is a sweet remedy when downhearted and small: we should do what Zaccheus did. He was not tall and climbed a tree in order to see God. His zeal merited him to hear these sweet words: Zaccheus, go home for today I need to dine with you. We should do the same when we are low, when our hearts are constricted and lacking in charity: we should climb the tree of the most holy cross and there we will see, we will touch God, there we will find the find of his ineffable charity, the love which caused him to run, even to the insults of the cross that raised him up and made him ardently desire the honor of his Father and our salvation with hunger and thirst. (…) If we wish, if we are not prevented by our negligence, we can accomplish these words in ourselves, emanating from the lips of Truth when we mount the tree of the cross: “when I ma lifted up on high, I shall draw all things to myself” (Jn 12:32). It would take a heart hard as diamond not to be moved by so great a love. As soon as the heart is wounded by this arrow, it rises with all its strength and, not man alone is purified but the soul, for whose sake God has done everything, is stripped of its imperfections. (…) Climb this most holy tree on which are the ripened fruits of all the virtues borne by the body of the Son of God; run eagerly. Dwell in the holy and sweet dilection of God. Sweet Jesus, Jesus love.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team