Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Thankful To All Who Inspire

Today is the Feast of St. Catherine Siena. I have a little cross that my husband bought for two dollars at a sale in a local Convent when the building was being closed and shuttered, when he got home he noticed that there was a tiny screw on the top of the cross, and when he took the screw out the cross opened to reveal a relic of St. Catherine Siena.
This is such a pretty little mosaic cross with lots of intricate detail. We were fortunate to have it find it’s way into our home.

The pictures don’t really do it justice at all but I will post them anyway.






Sister Sara Fairbanks wrote of St. Catherine:

The source of St. Catherine's extraordinary apostolic life was her relationship with God, a relationship with God that she described as, "a fire that takes away the chill in my heart."

Catherine teaches us that there is no greater gift than God's Self-Gift to us in Jesus Christ. In prayer she exclaims to God,

And what more could You have given us than to give us Your very Self? You can truly ask us, "What should I, or could I have done for you that I have not already done?”

Catherine recounts Christ's words of His promise to us:

“If you choose Me as your Companion you will not be alone; My Love will always be with you…
Trust in My love and set aside every fear…
Confront the princes and tyrants of this world with My Strength.
Take from Me the fire of My Spirit and share with all My Mercy and My Burning Love.
You are not alone. You have Me.”

Catherine calls us to contemplation:

*Do we recognize the Gift of God in our life?

*Do we take time everyday to be aware of God's Presence, to savor Him, to trust Him?

*Is God "a fire that takes away the chill in our hearts" and moves us out in service of
one another?


I love when I find people that inspire me to find a deeper relationship with God. I loved reading that the core of Saint Catherine's life was her relationship with God and how much she valued that relationship. Saint Catherine's story is just one of many that inspire me. There are the stories of many Saints that do that for me, but also there are so many people in my life today who inspire me and bring me closer to God. There are so many family members and friends (all too numerous to mention by name), and even strangers whose stories I may come across by accident who have helped me forge a greater bond with God.
I am thankful for all of you wonderful people who inspire.

6 comments:

  1. This is amazing...I just finished reading my e-mail "saint of the day" about St. Catherine and then another blogger with that name wrote about her. I finally pieced together the fact that it is my sweet mom's name's day even though she was a Kathryn. So I have been blessed with close moments to Christ through both of you...thank you!

    blessings,

    marcy

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  2. Oh, Marcy, I just got back from your beautiful garden pictures and here you are!
    What a nice remembrance of your Mom today too.
    When my oldest daughter was born I wanted to name her Katherine, and my husband wanted to name her Kathleen, but we both liked 'Katie' so that's what we named her!

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  3. Eileen, I loved that cross! What a wonderful find. Funny too that I wanted the name Kate for my daughter,as I love Katherine Hepburn and they called her Kate. My husband however liked the name Caitlin so we settled on Katelin. She only likes to be called Katie!

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  4. Diana, one of the little girls in the Kindergarten where I used to work was named Kaitlin, and I was wishing I had thought about that when naming our daughter! I like your version of the spelling too! I think we would have called her Kate or Katie no matter what we named her though!

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  5. I love my name! I do get a little tired of people asking me, "But, what's your REAL name?" - Like 'Katie' isn't good enough! Thank you for picking the most perfect name in the world for me! Without it, Far-Far wouldn't have been able to sing me MY K-K-K-Katie song!

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  6. The cross is just lovely!! And so is your name! That is so pretty!! I always hated my name, but as I've gotten older..now I finally don't complain anymore. I actually like it..Have a wonderful week!!

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