Staned Glass, Stained Hearts in our Suffering

Back in the mid 1980's while I was still a Protestant, a friend of mine had a sister who was a nun. We went and visited her at her convent and she took us on a tour of the chapel. When she came to the window which depicted St Catherine of Siena, she paused dramatically and said with a flourish of her wrinkled hand, "...and here we have OUR doctor of the Church, St Catherine of Siena." Funny thing, she wasn't Dominican, and yet she felt such a strong kinship with one of the few women doctors of the Church. "OUR Doctor."

I suspect there was more kinship here than meets the eye. "Strong" women in the Catholic Church have found themselves advocating for womens' ordination for years. They point to the gifts of women like Catherine of Siena as evidence of the validity of womens' priestly calling. I won't go into the arguments pro and con here today. Nor can I hide the fact that I support the Church's practice or ordaining only men to the ministerial priesthood.

However, I'd like to look deeper.... from the stained glass to the stained hearts of those who experience the suffering a delayed or denied vocation can cause.

Bitterness, disallusionment, listlessness.... My own experience is that this agony itself becomes the fount of a deeper identification with our Lord in his suffering. The old Catholic adage of "offer it up" stands up against the worst tests we can put to it.

Bloodied hands and side and the interior bloodied hearts, need not be signs of weakness, victimization, or defeat. If, in the citadel of our souls, we bend to accept God's will, whatever that might be, we can join our sufferings to the One who made Himself as nothing for us. It is the way of the inward stigmata, the way in which Catherine of siena walked. It is the sword which pierced our Blessed Virgin's heart also, all unseen and unknown by any but her most intimate Confidant, the Holy Spirit.

This hold true for almost any unchangeable circumstance in our lives. Here are some relevant quotes from St Catherine, well worth meditating on for this her Feast Day:

"O Eternal God, receive the sacrifice of my life in this Mystical Body of Holy Church. I have naught to give save what Thou hast given me." -----Prayer of St. Catherine

"It is not the hour to seek one's self for one's self, nor to flee pains in order to possess consolations; nay, it is the hour to lose one's self." -----Letters of St. Catherine

"I turn me and lean against the most Holy Cross of Christ Crucified, and there I will fasten me." -----Letters of St. Catherine "What hast Thou taught me, O Love Uncreated? Thou hast taught me that I should bear patiently like a lamb, not only harsh words, but even blows harsh and hard, and injury and loss." -----Letters of St. Catherine

"To the servant of God . . . every place is the right place, and every time is the right time. -----Letters of St. Catherine

"I have no other desire in this life save to see the honor of God, your peace, and the reformation of Holy Church, and to see the life of grace in every creature that hath reason in itself." -----Letters of St. Catherine of Siena

St Catherine of Siena asked for the privilege of receiving the pain of the stigmata without the outward marks thereof. May we do so also and happily pray as St Paul did (Colossians 1:24-29):

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church, of which I am a minister in accordance with God's stewardship given to me to bring to completion for you the word of God,

the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past. But now it has been manifested to his holy ones, to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; it is Christ in you, the hope for glory.

It is he whom we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. For this I labor and struggle, in accord with the exercise of his power working within me."

St Catherine of Siena, pray for us!

the Father's Love

I love the comedy show "Seinfeld," and one episode that stuck in my mind and recently resurfaced is "The Burning." Part of the plot is that Elaine's dim-bulb boyfriend Puddy turns out to be a Christian. She's disappointed for two reasons.... because one of the attractions was that he was so one-dimensional.

A further issue, and the one I've been thinking about, is that Puddy didn't seemed to care that Elaine was going to hell. He believed, but it didn't make any difference to him that she didn't.


Then in this morning's Office of Readings I read this from Catherine of Siena:

My sweet Lord, look with mercy upon your people and especially upon the mystical body of your Church. Greater glory is given to your name for pardoning a multitude of your creatures than if I alone were pardoned for my great sins against your majesty. It would be no consolation for me to enjoy your life if your holy people stood in death.

For I see that sin darkens the life of your bride the Church – my sin and the sins of others.It is a special grace I ask for, this pardon for the creatures you have made in your image and likeness. When you created man, you were moved by love to make him in your own image. Surely only love could so dignify your creatures.

She's right, you know. And her observation about how love dignifies God's creatures is soooooo true.

Reading this passage makes me yearn once againto share that Father's love with everyone, not just in word and deed but in prayer. And for those who are within my circle but not yet responsive to God's love, I especially pray today.

"To Judge or Not to Judge... Not," Part 2

I remember being at the Archdiocesan Ministry Day in Spring 2002 and watching Archbishop Flynn celebrate Mass. It was the big middle of the Aweful Lent that was the entire year of 2002. Daily the headlines were blaring about priestly sexual abuse.... here, there and everywhere in America. Archbishop Flynn was thrown into the middle of it all, not because of what was occuring here in our diocese, but because he is chair of the USCCB's Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse.

Archbishop Flynn appeared very tired that particular day, seemingly bone-weary from what was no doubt a constant diet of information and meetings on this important topic.

I remember thinking to myself at the time "well, the world is only holding the Church to the standard the Church itself set up. If a priest truly acts in persona Christi then the world has not only the right but the obligation to call the entire Church to account on the basis of that high standard."

Now its five years later. A lot has happened both "out there" in the Church and in my own life. And I am working in the Church full time. Many times over the past few years I have had the opportunity to observe clergy close-up ... to see their foibles and their sometimes tragic mistakes and sins, as well as the heroic and everyday sacrifices they make for the People of God.

Sometimes one is tempted to get critical and then cynical about clergy. They give us plenty of reasons to do so. It helps then to read again the words of God the Father to St. Catherine of Siena about his "ministers," the priests. She recorded it in her dialogue (cited in the article "The Danger of Criticizing Bishops and Priests" by Thomas G. Morrow, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, February 2007, p. 18).

[It] is my intention that they be held in due reverence, not for what they are in themselves, but for my sake, because of the authority I have given them. .... Indeed I have appointed them and given them to you to be angels on earth and suns, as I have told you.

When they are less than that you ought to pray for them. But you are not to judge them. Leave the judging to me, and I, because of your prayers and my own desire, will be merciful to them.

In this time of transition to a new Archbishop, in this time when many on all sides are tempted to be critical of bishops and priests, I'd ask everyone (myself included) before we say a word, positive or negative, about our clergy, to first say a prayer for them.

Love pushed Him

Playing a bit with today's Gospel reading, the account of Jesus and the Pharisees discussing the "image" of Caesar on the Roman coin (Mk12:13-17),.....

....here is a snippet of prayer from Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), Dominican tertiary, Doctor of the Church, Co-patroness of Europe

From Dialogues, chapter 13

"In becoming man, God restored in us the image of the Trinity,... Eternal Love…

I ask this grace of you: have mercy on your people in the name of the eternal love, which pushed you to create the human being in your image and likeness (Gen 1:26)…

You only did that, O eternal Trinity, because you yourself wanted to let the human being participate in everything. That is why you gave him memory, so that he might remember your kindnesses and thus participate in your power, O eternal Father.

That is why you gave him intelligence, so that he might understand your goodness and thus participate in the wisdom of your only Son. That is why you gave him will, so that he might love what he sees and know your truth, and thus participate in the love of your Holy Spirit.

Who pushed you to give such dignity to the human being? The inexhaustible love with which you looked at your creature in yourself… [But] because of sin, your creature lost this dignity…

Pushed by that same fire with which you had created us, you then… gave us the Word, your only Son… He fulfilled your will, eternal Father, when you clothed him with our humanity, in the image and likeness of our nature.

O abyss of love! Which heart could defend itself for not giving in to your love when seeing the Most High joining the lowliness of our humanity? We are your image and you are ours through the union that you consummated in man by covering your divinity with Adam’s clay (Gen 2:7)…


What pushed you to do that? Love! You, God, became man, and man became God. By that unspeakable love I beg you, have mercy on your creatures."

Sweet Boundless Fire of Love

On this "Love Sunday" we again heard the words "love one another" from our Lord in the gospel ( John 13:34-35). I was reminded of similar words from our Archbishop Harry Flynn, spoken to the gathered crowd after the funeral Mass for Monsignor Schuler several weeks ago: Jesus' parting demand of his disciples, "remain in My love, remain in My love, remain in My love."

Love demands that we speak the truth to each other, whatever the cost. However, it seems that in the last few years our society has become less able to dialogue rationally with each other. In society at large, and even sometimes within the Church, discussion and civility have given way to Jerry Springer-like exchanges: yelling and inuendo, mixed with large doses of unfriendly, objectifying antagonism.

Here are some words of encouragement to love from St Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church, Dominican nun, stigmatist and counsellor to popes.

Oh sweet boundless fire of love,
how clearly you show your creature's magnificence!
For you have created everything to serve us,
and us you have made to serve you.

Let our hearts and our souls burst with love!
Let them be quick to serve
and stand in awe of the good gentle Jesus!