Sometimes God enters a situation that we feel is unresolvable. When that happens a miracle takes place on many levels. It is a miracle that we might not seek, or might not know we need. But when it happens, when God enters our lives, the miracle is transformational and personal. It is exactly what we desperately needed.
Such is the story of Catherine of Genoa, a 15th century Catholic mystic and saint. After being forced into an arranged marriage by her older bother, following her father’s death, Catherine entered a deep depression. Her arranged union was marked with infidelity, loneliness, depression, and seclusion—all brought on by her husband and his choices. Then, on March 22, 1743, during her Lenten confession, God broke through Catherine’s isolation and brought the words of this prayer to her mind:
“O Love, was it possible that you have called me with so much love,
And have revealed to me in a moment what no tongue could describe?"
From that moment on Catherine entered into a visionary experience of God’s love that saw her work with the sick and the incurably ill as an expression of God’s love for her and for them. She would later write:
“Love is God Himself, infused by His immense goodness into our hearts and ever on the watch for what is useful to us. Benign and gentle in all and to all, Love gives up its own will, and takes as its will God’s will, to which it submits in everything. Then God with His incomparable love enkindles, purifies, enlightens and so fortifies this will that it fears nothing but sin, because this alone displeases God. Rather than commit the slightest sin it would endure the most fearful torment and suffering imaginable.”
I wonder what situation are you waiting for God, and God’s love, to break through today? Perhaps someone close to you needs to hear these words of love given to them by a God who is “love Himself?”
Blessings
Rev. Derek
No comments:
Post a Comment