Catherine of Siena – The Noontimes

1 Samuel 13: The Heat of Self-Knowledge – Part II

1 Samuel 13: The Heat of Self-Knowledge – Part II

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

We watch a conflagration take hold in the Middle East and pray that peace might come to these people and to all peoples of the world.

The fire of battle is a familiar setting for scripture stories and for our own lives as well. Whether the skirmishes are physical, mental, emotional or spiritual, blood of one kind or another is constantly spilled. Misery seems to be a constant human companion and because of this we may begin to think that God is not present as we suffer. But in this thinking we will not be correct, for God is always present, even – and perhaps especially – when circumstances are bleakest.

We generally consider the fires of life to be destructive but today’s Gospel brings us another perspective (Luke 12:49-53). Jesus says: I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! What are to make these words uttered by the Lamb of God who constantly speaks of unity and peace? What can he possibly mean when he asks: Do you think I have come to establish peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. What Jesus is speaking of here is the fact that when we are acting in the Gospel, when we are true disciples of Christ, there will be friction and even conflagration. There will be destruction; yet this destruction will be an opportunity for new building.

Catherine of Siena has this insight to today’s Gospel when she describes how we become alight with the fire of self-knowledge, the fire of Christ: The soul’s being united with him and transformed into him is like fire consuming the dampness in logs. Once the logs are heated through and through, the fire burns and changes them into itself, giving them its own color and warmth and power. It is just so with the Creator . . . We begin to experience the heat of self-knowledge- which consumes all the dampness of our selfish love for ourselves. As the heat increases, we throw ourselves with blazing desire into God’s measureless goodness, which we discover within our very selves. (Cameron 312)

What we see in yesterday’s and today’s Noontime reading is Saul allowing the dampness to consume him rather that the fire of the heat of self-knowledge. Many of us back away from self-examination because we do not want to face the demon within. What Christ tells us, and what Catherine of Sienna clarifies for us, is that without Christ’s fire of self-knowledge we too, are lost because it is this very conflagration that purifies and binds. It is this fire that transforms. It is the blaze that makes us new again.

Tomorrow, fire in the desert.

Cameron, Peter John. “Meditation of the Day.” MAGNIFICAT. 22.10 (2009): 312. Print.

Images from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul and https://www.petesantucci.com/13-reasons-why-king-saul-wasnt-as-bad-as-sunday-school-teachers-make-him-out-to-be-2/

October 24, 2023

Catherine of Siena, fire, King Saul, Luke 12:49-53

Micah 2:1-2: Confronting Dangerous Winds

Micah 2:1-2: Confronting Dangerous Winds

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

In days when we experience doubt and uncertainty, we return to a Favorite from October 17, 2010.

Teresa of Ávila and Catherine of Siena

I cannot understand what it is that makes people afraid of setting out on the road to perfection. May the Lord, because of who he is, give us understanding of how wretched is the security that lies in such manifest dangers as following the crowd and how true security lies in striving to make progress on the road of God. Let them turn their eyes to him and not fear the setting of this Sun of Justice, nor, if we don’t first abandon him, will he allow us to walk at night and go astray. Teresa of Ávila, MAGNIFICAT Meditation for October 15, 2010.

This past Friday was the feast day of Teresa of Ávila and on that day the readings focused on the fact that we are chosen by God, that God loves us more than we can imagine, and that nothing we think or say or do is secret from him. Today’s readings are about how we are to be persistent in prayer, just as were Teresa of Ávila and Catherine of Siena, two women who have been named Doctors of the Church, two women who did not let their fear of anything earthly keep them from doing as God asked them – even when it involved great risk to themselves and to all they struggled to do in God’s name.

Following is an excerpt from today’s MAGNIFICAT Day by Day reflection taken from one of Catherine of Siena’s letters. You know full well, most holy Father, that when you accepted holy Church as your bride you agreed also to work hard for her. You expected all these contrary winds of pain and difficulty to confront you in battle over her. So confront these dangerous winds like a brave man, with strength and patience and enduring perseverance. Never turn back because of pain or discouragement or slavish fear, but persevere, and rejoice in the storms and struggles. Let your heart rejoice, for in the many contrary things that have happened or will yet happen the deeds of God are surely being done, nor have they ever been done in any other way.

Both of these women remind us that we are called to perfection and that perfection lies in our persistence to do God’s will despite the inconveniences and risks we meet along the way because God will never let God’s work go undone. In today’s Noontime we read that woe befalls those who plot iniquity, those who lie on ivory couches to lay schemes and plots, those who covet what others have and are, those who cheat others out of what they are due.

Today’s readings (Exodus 17:8-13, Psalm 121, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2, and Luke 18:1-8) remind us that Moses and the Israelites, Paul, Timothy, the nameless Persistent Widow, and Jesus himself did not abandon the work given them by God – even in the face of great odds and overwhelming fear. All of this reminds us that when we are doing the work of the Gospel we will encounter unforgiving and dangerous head winds. We will experience great darkness and be tempted to undo our walk of perfection and persistence. All of this reminds us that in the midst of the greatest suffering and distress we do not find agony alone, there also do we find our God, and other who would do God’s will.

Teresa of Ávila image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_of_%C3%81vila

Catherine of Sienna image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Siena

Cameron, Peter John. “Meditation of the Day.” MAGNIFICAT. 15 & 17.10 (2010). Print.

June 21, 2023

2 Timothy 3:14-4:2, Catherine of Siena, Exodus 17:8-13, fear, Luke 18:1-8, perfection, persistence, Psalm 121, Teresa of Avila

Psalm 118:19-29: Open the Gates

Psalm 118:19-29: Open the Gates

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Open the gates of victory; I will enter and thank the Lord.

Today we are reminded that we labor in vain if the Lord himself does not build the house in which we shelter. (Psalm 127:1) If our relationships – personal and professional – are based on fear rather than truth, all our efforts are futile. If our goals – individual and collective – aim at preservation of self rather than the common good, all of our secrets hide nothing. If our strategies – emotional and spiritual – rely on anything but God, we are doomed. We have failed to open the gates; we have failed to thank the Lord; our house is built in vain.

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

Catherine of Siena knows about the building of houses and the strength it takes to endure tribulation while we work. She reminds us that as we allow God to build with us, we will be ridiculed and even scorned. In today’s MAGNIFICAT Meditation of the Day Catherine gives us a view of how the divine builder operates; she gives us a window to open that pierces our own darkness with the light of God: I give and permit everything out of love, and they are constantly scandalized in me. Yet I patiently endure and put up with them because I loved them without their having loved me. They are always harassing me with impatience, hatred, complaints, and with all sorts of infidelity. They want to set themselves up to investigate with their own blind sight and opinion of my hidden judgments, which are all made justly and lovingly. They don’t yet know themselves, and so they see falsely. For those who do not know themselves cannot know me or my judgments in truth. (Cameron 33)

We are often frustrated by the idiocy of ourselves and others. We do not understand why or how God allows falsehood and deception to take hold in our hearts. We see God’s world as an imperfect place and we watch as cornerstones are rebuffed; doors and windows close tightly; hidden judgments and injustice overpower goodness and right. We become discouraged when we believe that we have labored in vain and yet it is precisely when the obstacles are the greatest that we best see God at work.

If we become disheartened by our tribulations we have forgotten what God has told us – that we die to be born, that the lowly are exalted, that the meek reign and the humble rise. We become perfect in our efforts to love eternally as God loves. We build strong houses when we build them through and in the Lord. We let in God’s mercy and justice when we open the gates of our hearts.

Open the gates of victory; I will enter and thank the Lord.

Cameron, Peter John. “Meditation of the Day.” MAGNIFICAT. 1.12 (2012): 33. Print.

Images from http://nature.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/142799/ and http://www.proactivesafetytraining.co.uk/Key-Holding-and-Alarm-Response(2006254).htm

December 22, 2019

Catherine of Siena, justice, mercy, Palm 127:1, rejected cornerstone, tribulation

Tag: Catherine of Siena

1 Samuel 13: The Heat of Self-Knowledge – Part II

Share this:

Micah 2:1-2: Confronting Dangerous Winds

Share this:

Psalm 118:19-29: Open the Gates

Share this: