Catherine of Sienna, Current Reports, and the Need for Obedience
Suzanne Noffke O.P., has an excellent 1989 article on "The Ecclesial Obedience of Catherine of Sienna," here. The piece is chock full of poignant quotations from this robust saint who called the world to the Church in the sort of turbulent times such as we are now facing:
"Our season in the Church is no less a season of conflict and tension than was Catherine's. And no less does our reason for hope lie in those who are willing to be open to each other, no matter what their positions, in our common search for conformity to Truth and Love in Jesus Christ. It is not an easy way. Only witness those who have been willing both to speak their convictions and to maintain their love for and loyalty to the Church even in the limitedness and sinfulness of her members (knowing that none of us is without sin). But if it is indeed the Truth and Love of God that we are about, the service of the Word and the Blood, we can continue the sometimes painful and always exciting search together even through our very conflicts and tensions, singing as Catherine sang in the midst of rebellion and schism and personal frustration: "My soul is jubilantly happy in this grief -- because among the thorns I smell the fragrance of the rose about to open!"(Letter DT45, to Matteo di Fazzio de' Cenni, p. 143.)
..."Every faithful Christian is obligated to be faithful and to serve holy church, each according to his or her situation." (Letter T191, to Tommaso d'Alviano.)
"Our season in the Church is no less a season of conflict and tension than was Catherine's. And no less does our reason for hope lie in those who are willing to be open to each other, no matter what their positions, in our common search for conformity to Truth and Love in Jesus Christ. It is not an easy way. Only witness those who have been willing both to speak their convictions and to maintain their love for and loyalty to the Church even in the limitedness and sinfulness of her members (knowing that none of us is without sin). But if it is indeed the Truth and Love of God that we are about, the service of the Word and the Blood, we can continue the sometimes painful and always exciting search together even through our very conflicts and tensions, singing as Catherine sang in the midst of rebellion and schism and personal frustration: "My soul is jubilantly happy in this grief -- because among the thorns I smell the fragrance of the rose about to open!"(Letter DT45, to Matteo di Fazzio de' Cenni, p. 143.)
..."Every faithful Christian is obligated to be faithful and to serve holy church, each according to his or her situation." (Letter T191, to Tommaso d'Alviano.)
posted by MM at 6:05 AM
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