ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA
1
Samuel, Chapter 18, Verse
29
So,
Saul feared David all the more and
was his enemy ever after.
David was pursued by Saul, but David never returned
the enemy status to Saul. No, David knew our only enemy is anything that
opposes the love of God. Saul was seduced by the world, the flesh and the
devil. These are our enemies. Love brings unity in its truest form. The Father,
Son and Holy Spirit are not three but one and one in Love. This unity of love
is reflected in the married life and the life of the religious.
THE
SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY
MARRIAGE IN GOD'S PLAN
1602 Sacred Scripture begins with the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God and concludes with a vision of "the wedding-feast of the Lamb." Scripture speaks throughout of marriage and its "mystery," its institution and the meaning God has given it, its origin and its end, its various realizations throughout the history of salvation, the difficulties arising from sin and its renewal "in the Lord" in the New Covenant of Christ and the Church.
1604 God who created man out of love also calls him to love the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being. For man is created in the image and likeness of God who is himself love. Since God created him man and woman, their mutual love becomes an image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves man. It is good, very good, in the Creator's eyes. And this love which God blesses is intended to be fruitful and to be realized in the common work of watching over creation: "And God blessed them, and God said to them: 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.'"
1605 Holy Scripture affirms that man and woman were created for one another: "It is not good that the man should be alone." The woman, "flesh of his flesh," his equal, his nearest in all things, is given to him by God as a "helpmate"; she thus represents God from whom comes our help. "Therefore, a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh." The Lord himself shows that this signifies an unbreakable union of their two lives by recalling what the plan of the Creator had been "in the beginning": "So they are no longer two, but one flesh."
1607 According to faith the disorder we notice so painfully does not stem from the nature of man and woman, nor from the nature of their relations, but from sin. As a break with God, the first sin had for its first consequence the rupture of the original communion between man and woman. Their relations were distorted by mutual recriminations; their mutual attraction, the Creator's own gift, changed into a relationship of domination and lust; and the beautiful vocation of man and woman to be fruitful, multiply, and subdue the earth was burdened by the pain of childbirth and the toil of work.
1608 Nevertheless, the order of creation persists, though seriously disturbed. To heal the wounds of sin, man and woman need the help of the grace that God in his infinite mercy never refuses them. Without his help man and woman cannot achieve the union of their lives for which God created them "in the beginning."
1610 Moral conscience concerning the unity and indissolubility of marriage developed under the pedagogy of the old law. In the Old Testament the polygamy of patriarchs and kings is not yet explicitly rejected. Nevertheless, the law given to Moses aims at protecting the wife from arbitrary domination by the husband, even though according to the Lord's words it still carries traces of man's "hardness of heart" which was the reason Moses permitted men to divorce their wives.
1611 Seeing God's covenant with Israel in the image of exclusive and faithful married love, the prophets prepared the Chosen People's conscience for a deepened understanding of the unity and indissolubility of marriage. The books of Ruth and Tobit bear moving witness to an elevated sense of marriage and to the fidelity and tenderness of spouses. Tradition has always seen in the Song of Solomon a unique expression of human love, insofar as it is a reflection of God's love - a love "strong as death" that "many waters cannot quench."
1613 On the threshold of his public life Jesus performs his first sign - at his mother's request - during a wedding feast. The Church attaches great importance to Jesus' presence at the wedding at Cana. She sees in it the confirmation of the goodness of marriage and the proclamation that thenceforth marriage will be an efficacious sign of Christ's presence.
1614 In his preaching Jesus unequivocally taught the original meaning of the union of man and woman as the Creator willed it from the beginning permission given by Moses to divorce one's wife was a concession to the hardness of hearts. The matrimonial union of man and woman is indissoluble: God himself has determined it "what therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder."
1615 This unequivocal insistence on the indissolubility of the marriage bond may have left some perplexed and could seem to be a demand impossible to realize. However, Jesus has not placed on spouses a burden impossible to bear, or too heavy - heavier than the Law of Moses. By coming to restore the original order of creation disturbed by sin, he himself gives the strength and grace to live marriage in the new dimension of the Reign of God. It is by following Christ, renouncing themselves, and taking up their crosses that spouses will be able to "receive" the original meaning of marriage and live it with the help of Christ. This grace of Christian marriage is a fruit of Christ's cross, the source of all Christian life.
1616 This is what the Apostle Paul makes clear when he says: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her," adding at once: "'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one. This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church."
1617 The entire Christian life bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the Church. Already Baptism, the entry into the People of God, is a nuptial mystery; it is so to speak the nuptial bath. which precedes the wedding feast, the Eucharist. Christian marriage in its turn becomes an efficacious sign, the sacrament of the covenant of Christ and the Church. Since it signifies and communicates grace, marriage between baptized persons is a true sacrament of the New Covenant.
"For there are eunuchs who have
been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men,
and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the
kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it."
1619 Virginity for the sake of the
kingdom of heaven is an unfolding of baptismal grace, a powerful sign of the
supremacy of the bond with Christ and of the ardent expectation of his return,
a sign which also recalls that marriage is a reality of this present age which
is passing away.1620 Both the sacrament of Matrimony and virginity for the Kingdom of God come from the Lord himself. It is he who gives them meaning and grants them the grace which is indispensable for living them out in conformity with his will. Esteem of virginity for the sake of the kingdom and the Christian understanding of marriage are inseparable, and they reinforce each other:
Whoever denigrates marriage also
diminishes the glory of virginity. Whoever praises it makes virginity more
admirable and resplendent. What appears good only in comparison with evil would
not be truly good. The most excellent good is something even better than what
is admitted to be good.
Catherine, the youngest of
twenty-five children, was born in Siena on March 25, 1347. During her youth she
had to contend with great difficulties on the part of her parents. They were
planning marriage for their favorite daughter; but Catherine, who at the age of
seven had already taken a vow of virginity, refused. To break her resistance,
her beautiful golden-brown tresses were shorn to the very skin and she was
forced to do the most menial tasks. Undone by her patience, mother and father
finally relented and their child entered the Third Order of St. Dominic.
Unbelievable
were her austerities, her miracles, her ecstasies. The reputation of her
sanctity soon spread abroad; thousands came to see her, to be converted by her.
The priests associated with her, having received extraordinary faculties of
absolution, were unable to accommodate the crowds of penitents. She was a
helper and a consoler in every need. As time went on, her influence reached out
to secular and ecclesiastical matters. She made peace between worldly princes.
The heads of Church and State bowed to her words. She weaned Italy away from an
anti-pope, and made cardinals and princes promise allegiance to the rightful
pontiff. She journeyed to Avignon and persuaded Pope Gregory XI to return to
Rome. Even though she barely reached the age of thirty-three her
accomplishments place her among the great women of the Middle Ages. The virgin
Catherine was espoused to Christ by a precious nuptial ring which, although
visible only to her, always remained on her finger.
Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius
Parsch
Patron: Against fire; bodily ills; Europe;
fire prevention; firefighters; illness; Italy; miscarriages; nurses; nursing
services; people ridiculed for their piety; sexual temptation; sick people;
sickness; Siena, Italy; temptations.
Symbols: Cross; heart; lily; ring;
stigmata.
Things to
Do:
- If you have
never done so today would be a good time to read some of St.
Catherine's Dialogue.
- Learn more about the Order of Preachers founded by St. Dominic.
Day of Remembrance for all the Victims of Chemical
Warfare commemorates the victims of chemical warfare and serves to reaffirm the
world's commitment to eliminate chemical weapons. Thus, the day also serves to
promote peace, security and multilateralism. Although, chemical weapons have
been banned for some time by the Geneva Convention, they are still infrequently
used. The United Nations proclaimed the Day of Remembrance for all the Victims
of Chemical Warfare in November of 2005. It has since been celebrated on April
29th, the same date on which the Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force
in 1997. The day aims to destroy chemical weapons and further gain adherence to
the Convention's articles in order to achieve a safer and more peaceful world.
Remembrance for Victims of Chemical
Warfare Facts & Quotes
·
Chemical
weapons were used for the first time on a large scale in battle during World
War I at the battle of Ypres in 1915. The chemical that was used as a weapon
was chlorine gas.
·
90%
of the world’s declared chemical weapons stockpile of 72,525 metric tons has
been verifiably destroyed.
·
There
are three different schedules of chemicals:
1) Schedule One: these are typically used in weapons such as sarin and mustard gas
2) Schedule Two: these are used in weapons such as amiton and BZ
3) Schedule Three: these are typically the least toxic chemicals and are used for research and the production of medicines.
1) Schedule One: these are typically used in weapons such as sarin and mustard gas
2) Schedule Two: these are used in weapons such as amiton and BZ
3) Schedule Three: these are typically the least toxic chemicals and are used for research and the production of medicines.
·
For
the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or
biological weapons against us, or our allies is the greatest security threat we
face. – Madeleine Albright, American politician and diplomat, first woman to be
secretary of state.
Remembrance Victims Top Events and Things
to Do
·
Watch
a documentary or movie on the perils of chemical warfare. Some popular options
are: Science at War: Laboratory of War, Chemical Warfare Watch, Avoiding
Armageddon: Chemical Weapons, and Total Recall.
·
Read
a book on the widespread dangers of chemical warfare. Some good suggestions
are: War of Nerves, Chemical and Biological Warfare: America’s Hidden Arsenal,
and a Higher Form of Killing.
·
Spread
awareness on social media by using the hashtags #peacenotwar and
#remembranceforallchemicalwarfarevictims
·
Visit
the site of some of the chemical weapon use. Some ideas, the Battlefields of
Ypres, the Battlefields of Passchendaele and the Tokyo Subway.
Daily Devotions
·
Manhood of
Christ Day 6, Eighth Week.
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