Saint Catherine of Siena, whose feast day we celebrate today, is famous for her mystical visions of Christ.
In one of them, Christ opened her side and placed his heart within her, saying, “I took your heart and gave you mine so that you can go on living with it forever.”
This vision inspired Catherine’s famous quote: “Be who God created you to be and you will set the world on fire.”
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But what is this “fire” Catherine is speaking about?
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The fire of divine love.
If we model our lives after Jesus, making his heart our own, then we will consume the world with love.
How much of my heart belongs to Christ? Can I give him even more?
And how do I share his love with others?
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Together, we can set the world on fire, renewing the face of the earth.
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Image credits: (1) Catholic News Agency (2) The Quotable Coach
The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Imagine tallying all of the different voices we hear in a single day.
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There are the voices of those living within our homes; voices on social media; the car radio; the television; the cashier at Food Town; the teller at the bank.
There’s even our own inner voice, which can lead us in a variety of directions. Sometimes that voice lifts us up; other times it tears us down.
With all of these different voices vying for our attention, how do we hear the voice of Jesus, our Good Shepherd?
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We must pray.
“And when you pray,” Jesus says, “go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.”
Our “inner room” isn’t a physical place; it’s the deepest part of our selves, that place where we hide our fears, our hopes, our insecurities, and our dreams.
When you pray, Jesus says, go there. Go to that deepest part of yourself, open the door, and allow the Lord in. Let him look around.
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What is my “inner room” like? Is it a place filled with noise? A place of fear? Or a place of peace? Are there competing voices in that room? Or do I leave space for only one, the voice of God?
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“I am the Good Shepherd,” Jesus says. “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
It’s only when we push all other voices aside and make room for the voice of Christ that our hearts – our “inner room” – can be filled with peace.
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Image credits: (1) Watchtower Online Library, jw.org (2) Scripture in Song, Ben Eaton (3) Pin on Hope City, Pinterest
The Apostles and the brothers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles too had accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem the circumcised believers confronted him, saying, ‘You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them.” Peter began and explained it to them step by step, saying, “I was at prayer in the city of Joppa when in a trance I had a vision, something resembling a large sheet coming down, lowered from the sky by its four corners, and it came to me. Looking intently into it, I observed and saw the four-legged animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky. I also heard a voice say to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.’ But I said, ‘Certainly not, sir, because nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But a second time a voice from heaven answered, ‘What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.’ This happened three times, and then everything was drawn up again into the sky. Just then three men appeared at the house where we were, who had been sent to me from Caesarea. The Spirit told me to accompany them without discriminating. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. He related to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, saying, ‘Send someone to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter, who will speak words to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’ As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as it had upon us at the beginning, and I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?” When they heard this, they stopped objecting and glorified God, saying, “God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.”
The Word of the Lord.
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The Acts of the Apostles describes the life of the early Church, and though in its infancy, the Church is already filled with tension.
The disciples are questioning each other and disagreeing over many things.
As we hear in our first reading, could the Gentiles be saved? Or was salvation only for the Jews? Did Christians have to follow Old Testament rituals? Could you eat meat sacrificed to idols?
What was the work of a deacon or a female deaconess?
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Although Jesus instructed his Apostles for three years, he didn’t answer every question they had. Nor did Jesus leave answers for the questions that would arise as the Gospel started mingling with other cultures and religions.
The disciples would have to pray and discern together as a Church.
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We are no different today.
There seems to be an endless amount of questions and concerns about how the Gospel is relevant to our lives – and how the Church can minister to people from every walk of life.
It’s a challenge we’ll even feel here in our parish.
How will we bring people back to St. Pius X? How will we welcome people from different walks of life? How will we evangelize our young people and make the Gospel relevant to their lives?
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As we’re reminded in the Acts of the Apostles, we have to work together. We should voice our concerns – and not be afraid to disagree – but then we have to pray together. Discern together.
Be open to the Spirit, who often generates new ideas and creative solutions, and at times inspires change.
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, enkindle in us the fire of your love, and you shall renew the face of the earth.
