St Catherine of Siena died today in 1380. A Dominican nun, she was a major theologian and philosopher. Born as the Black Death ravaged her home town, she was her mother's 23rd child; her twin died not long after her birth.
Catherine's sister Bonaventura died in childbirth and her parents wanted her to marry the widower. She refused to do so, cutting off her long hair and fasting in protest. Against the wishes of her parents refused marriage and a family and became a Dominican 'tertiary', living outside the convent with her family but seeking silence and solitude. She had a mystical experience when she was 21 which shaped the rest of her life.
Here are 10 quotes from her letters.
1. [Sin is] loving what God hates, and hating what God loves.
2. You are rewarded not according to your work or your time but according to the measure of your love.
3. The human heart is always drawn by love.
4. Do not be satisfied with little things, because God wants great things!
5. In your nature, eternal Godhead, I shall come to know my nature. And what is my nature, boundless Love? It is fire, because you are nothing but a fire of love. And you have given humankind a share in this nature for by the fire of love you created us.
6. What makes people patient, so that they patiently bear hurt, reproach, slander, and abuse from others, and torments and assaults from the devil? Gratitude.
7. Isn't God more ready to forgive than we are to sin? And isn't he our doctor, and we the sick ones?
8. Do not presume to choose your own way of serving instead of the one I have made for you.
9. He will provide the way and the means, such as you could never have imagined. Leave it all to Him, let go of yourself, lose yourself on the Cross, and you will find yourself entirely.
10. You are a fire always burning but never consuming; you are a fire consuming in your heat all the soul's selfish love; you are a fire lifting all chill and giving light.
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