REVELATION OF THE FATHER

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 

The Knowledge of the Father

The Son of God took our human nature to make known to us the goodness of the Father, which is hidden from us. The goodness of God the Father seems hidden to us because of our sins. Sin has turned our minds and hearts away from God and fixated them on the earth and the passing things of this world. As Saint John informed us in his first letter, familiarity or friendship with the world is enmity with God. Cf. 1 Jn 3:15. The goodness of God is always visible everywhere to those with spiritual eyes; it is only invisible to carnal eyes. Thus, the coming of the Son of God in human nature is to reveal the goodness of the Father to all in a more concrete way. The central revelation of the Son of Man is the revelation of God as our heavenly Father. By purifying us of sin through his death and giving us a new birth by his resurrection, he has given us spiritual faculties to understand the goodness of the Father. The knowledge of the Father which we have commenced here is the beginning of the beatific vision which will come to fruition in heaven, when we behold God face to face. The same knowledge of the Father is our birth and journey into the mystery of Jesus Christ.

The fact that some people have opened their minds and hearts to receive the revelation of the Father was the cause of great joy for the Son of Man. “Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and 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.” Our Lord confirms here what we stated above concerning sin and our inability to know God. Every sin is our attempt to exalt self over God in our lives. Humility, which is the hallmark of conversion and the character of a soul seeking God, brings down the self in order for God to take first place in our lives. The central lesson of our Lord’s Incarnation is humility or obedience to the Father’s will. By lowliness, we model ourselves on the Son of Man and commune with him. The scripture testifies that God makes his dwelling with the humble and accords them great favours. But he flies away from the proud and clever. Cf. James 4:6. The great humility of the Son made the Father dwell fully in him, even in his humanity. This is the meaning of our Lord’s statement: “Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Here, he confirms the fact of his beatific vision from conception. With knowledge of God comes fullness of life and power.

Subsequently, our journey into the mysteries of Jesus Christ is our journey to the beatific vision of God and divinity. The Risen Lord merited the beatific vision of God for his brothers and sisters. So, by revealing the Father to us, he confers glory and divinity on us, his sheep. Saint John describes the journey as the revelation of light. “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. But if we live our lives in the light, as he is in the light, we are in union with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” His blood continues to purify us as long as we live united with him. If we are still being cleansed, then we have not ceased sinning due to the weakness of our nature, which is under renewal by grace. To believe that we are sinners no more is to deny the ongoing purification through the grace of the Sacraments of the Church and the word of God. Thus, acknowledgement and confession of our sins is the way to travel deeper into the mysteries of Jesus Christ. Saint Catherine of Siena lived and taught this doctrine all her life. She was born in Siena in 1347 and entered the Third Order of the Dominicans when she was still in her teens, in search of perfection. Our Lord taught her the way of holiness of life within the confines of her family life. In 1370, she was commanded by a vision to leave her secluded life and enter the public life of the world for the salvation of souls. She helped the Church through a very difficult time in its history. She fought hard to defend the liberty and rights of the Popes and worked for the renewal of religious life. She dictated books of sound doctrine and spiritual inspirations. She died on 29 April 1380.

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.