Prayer -- God, You caused St.Catherine to shine with Divine love in the contemplation of the Lord's Passion and in the service of Your Church. By her help, grant that Your people, associated in the mystery of Christ, may ever exult in the revelation of His glory, Amen
In spite of her parents wishes that she marry, Catherine of Siena consecrated her virginity to Christ, In 1365, at the age of 18, she received the habit of the Third Order of St. Dominic.
The next year, 1366, Catherine experienced as she described in her "Dialogue" the "Mystical Marriage" with Jesus. From that time to her death, St. Catherine of Siena administered to the poor and the sick.
During the great pestilence in 1374, she devoted herself to the care of the infected and infirm. While she lived, there was a great schism within the Catholic Church, and through her exhortations, Pope Gregory XI returned, in 1377, from Florence to Rome.
The life of this saint who had been glorified by God with wondrous gifts and miracles ended on April 29, 1380 in Rome, at the age of thirty-three.
St. Catherine has long been regarded as one of the finest theological minds in the Church; in 1970 Pope Paul VI declared her a Doctor of the Church.
Pope John Paul II, in 1999, made her the patron saint of Italy.
Source: "Lives of the Saints" - a Revision of the Original Edition of Rev. Hugo Hoever, S.O. Cist. (1977)
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My aunt, Sister Geraldine, O.S.B. sent me this prayer about Life
The Gift of Life
Teach me, O Lord, not to hold on to life too tightly. Teach me to hold it lightly; not carelessly, but lightly, easily. Teach me to take it as a gift, to enjoy and cherish while I have it, and to let it go gracefully and thankfully when the time comes. The gift is great, but the Giver is greater still. Thou, O God, are the Giver, and in Thee is the Life that never dies.
Theodore Parker Ferris
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