Charlotte Collins Reed
Trinity Cathedral
April 26, 2017
Catherine of Siena
When
Catherine of Siena, the 14th century mystic, philosopher,
theologian, and political mover and shaker, was 5 years old, she had her first
vision of Christ. When I was five years
old, I was engaged in deep philosophical thought about whether it would be
worse to sit on the school bus by myself or have to sit next to a boy.
When
Catherine was 16, she cut off her long hair in response to her parents who wanted
her to improve her appearance so she could attract a husband. When I was 16, I spent a ridiculous amount of
time trying to convince my straight blond hair that it was really curly locks.
When
Catherine was a teenager, her adolescent rebellions was to see her father as
Christ, her mother as Mary, and her brothers as the apostles. She saw serving them as her opportunity for
spiritual growth. That is not how my
adolescent rebellion went down!
At the age of
21, Catherine married. Finally! Something in her life that I can relate
to! I married at 22. Oops.
Hers was a mystical marriage to Jesus and mine was to my husband
Don.
Perhaps you
can tell that I sometimes have trouble relating to the lives of the
saints. Sometimes their lives were so
pious, so pure, so faithful, so heroic, that I find it hard to locate a point
of connection and I wind up just sort of annoyed. But here is the real point of
connection. Catherine’s relationship
with Christ might have been extraordinary in ways we have a hard time
imagining. We may not have had the sorts
of mystical experiences Catherine had or be called to the life to which she was
called. But there are as many ways to
experience Christ as there are people to experience him. We might experience Christ in nature, in
friends, in worship, through music, poetry, visual art, silence, prayer…the
list goes on and on.
What Catherine’s
life teaches us, all of us, is that our experience of Christ is both real and not
an end in itself. Catherine was told by
Christ to take her life out into the world, where she served the poor and the
sick, and brokered political deals in Florence, and through out Italy. She wrote letters advocating for peace
between Florence and Rome, and worked for the return of the papacy from Avignon
to Rome. She had no problem with
speaking the truth to power, which, in the 14th century, was just
not something women did. Catherine’s
life of faith was a life rooted in her experience of Christ which drove her to civic
engagement.
In the gospel
reading, we hear Jesus say to his disciples “Therefore I tell you, do not worry
about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.” Catherine models that for us. She did not worry about what she would eat,
or wear, or look like, or what people would think about her. When I wonder what I could possibly say to
the powers and principalities, what truth I would speak, I am reminded of what
Jesus said to his disciples in all three synoptic gospels when they were
worried about what to say when brought before councils and synagogues. He promised them that the Holy Spirit would
teach them what to say at that time.
While it is not the gospel reading for Catherine, I imagine she did not
worry about what she would say for that very reason. All she worried about was striving for the
Kingdom of God, where there is no sickness or poverty, and no disunity or strife
in church or state. She reminds us that
our relationship with Christ sends us out into the world to make a difference
in the world. She reminds us of the
power each of us has, the power of one, when we are rooted in Christ. Catherine of Siena was the 14th
century mystic version of Love God, Love your neighbor, change the world.
Amen.
Information about Catherine of Siena from:
No comments:
Post a Comment