Interior

“I see clearly with the interior eye, that the sweet God loves with a pure love the creature that He has created, and has a hatred for nothing but sin, which is more opposed to Him than can be thought or imagined.” (Saint Catherine of Genoa).

Saint Catherine of Genoa Vision (Unknown)

The world is a strange place.  Everything in this world leads us to think that we need to make our home here in this physical place.  We work and study hard so that we can “get ahead” and we do all sorts of things to make ourselves comfortable.  We feather our nest – so to speak.  And yet, there is a serious problem with all of this.  And the problem is that we really do have no control at all over what we do and how we do it.

Instead of being able to plan for the future, things could change in an instant.  How many times have we heard a story about someone who was healthy one day and then very sick on the next?  How many times has a person had an accident, or lost a job or lost a great deal (or even all) of their money?

And these things happen to good people who do not deserve these things to happen.  People who are simply minding their business and trying to get ahead are sometimes overcome by the problems of this exterior world…

And this is why the words of Saint Catherine of Genoa ring so true to me when she said, “I see clearly with the interior eye, that the sweet God loves with a pure love the creature that He has created, and has a hatred for nothing but sin, which is more opposed to Him than can be thought or imagined.”

It is in that interior eye that I need to see.  But the problem is that it is difficult to focus on the interior eye when everything in the world is so busy and bright.  After all, it is much harder to see all the stars in the night sky when we are dazzled by the little lights of the city.  Sometimes, to focus on the far greater light, we need to remove those small distractions that can seem so big and important in our life.

Saint Catherine of Genoa understood this.  Born in the late fifteenth century, this Saint tried to become a nun when she was thirteen; however, she was rejected.  She was later married to a violent and sinful man and entered a state of terrible depression, losing her religious fervour in the distractions of the external world.  Upon advice from her sister, who was a nun, the Saint received the Sacrament of Reconciliation and experienced a mystical episode where she saw the depths of her sin compared with the extent of God’s love for her.  As a result of this she was transformed.  Following her conversion, Saint Catherine of Genoa was able to pray for her husband’s conversion and the two – who had no children – joined the Franciscans and served the poor for the remainder of their lives.

And I have been thinking about that Saint today as I have been thinking about my interior life.  For it seems I have spent far  too long thinking about my exterior life for my soul to be pleasing to God…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.