OUR ATTRACTION TO THE MYSTERY


SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA, VIRGIN, DOCTOR 

1 Jn 1:5-2:2; Ps 103:1-4,8-9,13-14,17-18; Mt 11:25-30

Great Revelation to the Simple

The Son of Man is the attraction point for all of us, for he shows us the true face of humanity. He represents every one of us better than we can ever present ourselves because he assumed the pure copy of our nature from the Immaculate Virgin Mary. Though there is nothing physically in him to hold our attention, he captivates our interest with his authenticity. The authenticity of the operations of his human nature provides an aperture for the outflow of the divine nature. Our original interest in him is similar to our interest in the appearance of someone wearing the original material of a fake and worn-out dress we are putting on. The divine also finds expression through the originality of the operations of the Son of Man, for man is made from the beginning to be the Temple of God. Thus, the attraction of the Son of Man is because of his communion with God. Saint John posits this as the lesson we received from Jesus Christ. “This is what we have heard from Jesus Christ, and the message that we are announcing to you: God is light; there is no darkness in him at all. If we say that we are in union with God while we are living in darkness, we are lying because we are not living the truth.” The first impression he makes on us is our recognition of how weak and sinful we are and removed from what we ought to be due to sin.

Our impression of him ought to make us acknowledge and confess our sins. The acknowledgment of our weakness and sins brings us to him for salvation. The operations of sins and forces of evil in us and our spaces draw us to him, who is free as the Son of Man. God uses the Son of Man as an attraction point to draw us to Himself, to receive forgiveness and salvation. To refuse to be drawn by our sins is to deny our weakness and sinfulness, which makes us liars. “If we say we have no sin in us, we are deceiving ourselves and refusing to admit the truth; but if we acknowledge our sins, then God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and purify us from everything that is wrong.” The Son of Man appeared to be this attraction point for all humanity and a pathway through which we return to God. When we let him draw us to himself, we not only encounter the man, but we encounter God, who makes his home in what is genuinely human. In this sense, the Virgin Mary is full of grace or God. We even discover more than God dwelling in a man; we enter the mystery of the Incarnate Son of God. The entrance into the mystery of the Son of Man and the Son of God is the gradual cessation of sins in our lives. “I am writing this, my children, to stop you sinning; but if anyone should sin, we have our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who is just.”

In the Gospel, the Lord reveals that the foregoing explanation of attraction to the Son of Man is not far removed from our everyday living but obtained in our daily interactions with one another. “Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do.’” We are attracted to the mystery revealed to us through the presence of the Son of Man among us in our daily interactions. In his risen form, he remains with us forever. Our dear sister, Saint Catherine of Siena, demonstrated this truth in her life. The mystery of the Son of Man attracted her as a little girl. She grew in understanding of the same mystery in her daily interactions with her family, the local people, and the parish church. She was born in 1347 in Siena and entered the Third Order of the Dominicans in her teens because of her early familiarity with the mystery of Jesus Christ. She enjoyed a life of seclusion for a long time, which helped nurture and nourish her understanding of the mystery of our faith. Our Lord led her out of seclusion in 1370 to illuminate the world and the Church of her time with the light of the mystery she has understood. She dictated books replete with sound doctrine and spiritual inspirations. She died on 29 April 1380 and was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI.

Let us pray: O God, who set Saint Catherine of Siena on fire with divine love in her contemplation of the Lord’s Passion and her service of your Church, grant, through her intercession, that your people, participating in the mystery of Christ, may ever exult in the revelation of his glory. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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