Catherine of Siena
Summer Stillness Retreat
Mercy Center
Summer, 2001
The term “mystic”is something we Christians bandy about, and I found myself intrigued by this term and wanting to understand it more fully. There is actually a book called An Anthology of Christian Mysticism by Harvey Egan that explores many of the world’s great mystics. Egan describes mysticism as “a way of life that involves the perfect fulfillment of loving God, neighbor, all God’s creation, and oneself.” He also says that mysticism is “an ordered movement toward ever higher levels of reality by which the self awakens to, is purified and illuminated by, and is eventually fully united with, the God of love.”
I chose to talk a little about the Christian mystic Catherine of Siena, to explore her wisdom surrounding this topic of mercy and compassion. Catherine was a woman who lived in the 14th century in Italy. Some of us who know about her may be aware of the extreme asceticism that she practiced, that may have in fact led to her early death. Rather than dismiss Catherine because of this and throw the baby out with the bathwater, I think it’s important to remind ourselves that we are all mixed bags,that none of us is a complete paragon of virtue. Parmisano sates that . . .”Catherine is a shocking reminder to us that by whatever means we come to the divine or at whatever time, God must be there if ever we are to love truly, and that we must continually pray our human loves into the full heart of Christ.”
I think Catherine is a wonderful saint to help us think about the mercy and compassion of God because of her primary stance towards God, which is that she was nothing next to God’s greatness. Now we in the 21st century with what we know about the importance of self-esteem, might have trouble with this kind of language, that we are “nothing” next to God. But for Catherine, this was a way of reiterating her dependency on God, and showed the importance for her of self-surrender to God’s care and providence. And embracing God’s will meant for Catherine not suppressing her own will but allowing herself to be transformed by God through prayer. As her will became more conformed to God’s she found herself more concerned about the needs of others. In fact, the only way, according to Catherine, to show our love for God is through service to our neighbor. Catherine regards as most insidious the sin of ignoring one’s neighbor’s need, lest one lost one’s own ‘contemplative peace of mind.’ So mercy and compassion toward other human beings was also an important part of Catherine’s spirituality.
There is a book about Catherine’s recorded conversations with God called The Dialogue, and here I quote Alison Munro, a scholar who has written about Catherine, that it is “the theme of truth fostering love that is the thread running through the Dialogue.” Catherine’s love and concern for the truth was a very important facet of her spirituality. For Catherine, the Truth and love of God are identical. According to Mary Ann Fatula, O.P., Catherine felt that God’s compassion encompassed all truth, even that which hurts us, because God’s love embraces all. Catherine thought that truth, or God’s love for us, helps us to relate to others with love and acceptance, and it is Jesus crucified and risen who brings us to the truth and love of God. Jesus is the Way to the love of God, but the Way is no “moving walkway” that brings us to our goal with no effort on our part.
Catherine used the image of the bridge to describe Jesus: he is the bridge that connects heaven and earth. The goal of all who walk along the bridge is union with God, and there are various stages along the way. What is important for Catherine is our growth into the mystery of Truth and Love that is God. Catherine’s image of the bridge speaks to me of the spiritual life as a journey, which is an important metaphor in both the Old and New Testaments. Her own growth into truth and love was not easy or smooth – those of us who are aware of the historical context in which Catherine lived know of the schism that took place within the Catholic church during that time, and this schism was agonizing for Catherine. She worked very hard to bring about unity within the church, and she died feeling like a failure despite her efforts.
Part of Catherine’s quest for intimacy with God was her desire for self-knowledge. Self-knowledge for Catherine was by no means self-absorption, rather, it is a knowledge of self gained by looking at ourselves in the light of the one who created us. Catherine thought that self-knowledge was synonymous with our understanding that we are wholly reliant on God. According to Catherine, once we begin to discover that God is merciful, and her I quote Suzanne Noffke, “Our tears [for our sins] become tears of hope springing from the beginnings of self-knowledge and knowledge of God’s goodness.” Catherine knew that it was important to know herself before she tried to know God, but she felt that we know ourselves and others better after having been touched by others. In fact, Catherine states that the basis for discernment in the spiritual life is our relationships with others rather than our ‘interior states of soul’, because our faults as well as our virtues are played out in our relationships with others.