"Since I began to love, love has never forsaken me. It has ever grown to its own fullness within my innermost heart."
Our catechesis today deals with Saint Catherine of Genoa, a fifteenth-century saint best known for her vision of purgatory. Married at an early age, some ten years later Catherine had a powerful experience of conversion; Jesus, carrying his cross, appeared to her, revealing both her own sinfulness and God's immense love. A woman of great humility, she combined constant prayer and mystical union with a life of charitable service to those in need, above all in her work as the director of the largest hospital in Genoa. Catherine's writings on purgatory contain no specific revelations, but convey her understanding of purgatory as an interior fire purifying the soul in preparation for full communion with God. Conscious of God's infinite love and justice, the soul is pained by its inadequate response, even as the divine love purifies it from the remnants of sin. To describe this purifying power of God's love, Catherine uses the image of a golden chain which draws the soul to abandon itself to the divine will. By her life and teaching, Saint Catherine of Genoa reminds us of the importance of prayer for the faithful departed, and invites us to devote ourselves more fully to prayer and to works of practical charity.
Vatican City State, January 12th, 2011
More at Franciscan Wiki at this link: http://wiki.franciscanweb.com/wiki/Catherine_of_Genoa
Also of interest:Saint Catherine of Genoa Treatise on Prayer at this link- Treatise
Jesus in your heart! Eternity in your mind! The will of God in all your actions! But above all, love, God’s love, entire love!
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