Latest / Spiritual Dialogues of St. Catherine of Genoa / 033 - Part 3 Chapter 1

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033 - Part 3 Chapter 1 · Spiritual Dialogues of St. Catherine of Genoa

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  Speaker 1: Part three, Chapter one of Spiritual Dialog by Saint Catherine
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  Speaker 1: of Genoa. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain
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  Speaker 1: recording by Anne Boulat, Part three, Chapter one, Soul, O Lord,
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  Speaker 1: when I see THEE so enamored of Man, I long
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  Speaker 1: to know the cause of this great love, especially as
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  Speaker 1: in his manner of life, man is so opposed to
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  Speaker 1: Thy will estrange from thy love, averse to thy operations,
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  Speaker 1: contrary to THEE in all things full of this world, blind, death,
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  Speaker 1: dumb and stupid, without the power and without the means
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  Speaker 1: of acting according to Thy will. I confess, o, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: that I know not what is this man, of whom
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  Speaker 1: thou art so mindful. I know not whether thou art
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  Speaker 1: his master or his servant. It seems to me as
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  Speaker 1: if love had so blinded THEE, that when thou seest
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  Speaker 1: not the depth of his miseries. I pray THEE, o,
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  Speaker 1: my Lord, to satisfy me fully in this matter. The Lord,
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  Speaker 1: you demand a thing beyond your comprehension. Yet in order
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  Speaker 1: to satisfy your understanding, which in these matters is weak
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  Speaker 1: and uninformed, I will show you a scintillation of this love, which,
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  Speaker 1: if you should behold clearly you could not live if
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  Speaker 1: I did not sustain you by my grace. Know then,
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  Speaker 1: in the first place, that I am God, with whom
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  Speaker 1: there is no change, and know two that I loved
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  Speaker 1: man before I created him. I loved him with a
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  Speaker 1: love which is infinite, pure, simple and sincere, and without
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  Speaker 1: any cause. It is impossible that I should not love
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  Speaker 1: those whom I have created and designed for my glory,
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  Speaker 1: each in his own degree. I have also provided him
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  Speaker 1: amply with all needful means of attaining his end, both
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  Speaker 1: with natural gifts and supernatural graces, and on my part
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  Speaker 1: these never fail him. I am ever surrounding him with
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  Speaker 1: my infinite love, now in one way and now in another.
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  Speaker 1: Then I may bring him under my care. I find
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  Speaker 1: in him nothing which is contrary to me but the
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  Speaker 1: free will which I have given him, and this I
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  Speaker 1: am always combating through love until he yields it to me.
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  Speaker 1: And when I have accepted it, I reform it little
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  Speaker 1: by little by my secret operations and loving care, and
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  Speaker 1: never abandon him until I have conducted him to his
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  Speaker 1: appointed end. To your other question as to why I
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  Speaker 1: love man who is opposed to me and laden with
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  Speaker 1: sins that are so hateful in the sight of Heaven.
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  Speaker 1: I answer that, by reason of the infinite bounty and
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  Speaker 1: pure love with which I love him, I can neither
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  Speaker 1: see his defects nor fail to accomplish my work, which
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  Speaker 1: is purely to benefit him. I cast such light on
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  Speaker 1: his defects that perforce he sees them, and doing so
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  Speaker 1: he bewails them, And bewailing them, he purges himself from them.
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  Speaker 1: He offends me only when he puts hindrances in the
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  Speaker 1: way by which I am endeavoring to lead him to
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  Speaker 1: his end. That is, when he hinders me, by mortal sin,
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  Speaker 1: from accomplishing my loving designs according to his necessities. But
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  Speaker 1: that love which you desire to know is beyond your comprehension,
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  Speaker 1: for it has neither form nor limit. Neither can you
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  Speaker 1: know it through the intellect, for it is not intelligible.
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  Speaker 1: It is in part made known by its effects, which
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  Speaker 1: are small or great in proportion to the measure of
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  Speaker 1: love which is brought into action. If one who had
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  Speaker 1: not lost faith should desire to see the effects of
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  Speaker 1: this work, which is accomplished in man by that spark
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  Speaker 1: of love which infuses into his heart, be assured that
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  Speaker 1: he would be so inflamed by love that he could
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  Speaker 1: not live, for so great would be its power that
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  Speaker 1: he would melt away and be no more. Though man,
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  Speaker 1: for the most part, is forever in ignorance of it.
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  Speaker 1: Yet for this hidden love you see those who abandon
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  Speaker 1: the world, leave their possessions, friends and kindred, and hold
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  Speaker 1: in abhorrence all other loves and joys. For this love,
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  Speaker 1: men have sold themselves as slaves and remained in bondage
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  Speaker 1: to others until death, and its force increases so continually
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  Speaker 1: that they would suffer martyrdom for it a thousand times,
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  Speaker 1: as they often have done and will ever continue to do.
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  Speaker 1: You see this love transforms beasts into men, men into angels,
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  Speaker 1: and angels becoming God, as it were. By participation. You
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  Speaker 1: see men change from earthly into heavenly, and devoting themselves
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  Speaker 1: with both souls and body, to the practice of spiritual things.
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  Speaker 1: Their whole life and manner of speech are altered, and
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  Speaker 1: they do and say the contrary of what was formerly
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  Speaker 1: their custom. All are surprised at this, and yet it
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  Speaker 1: seems good to all, and men are almost envious of it.
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  Speaker 1: But unless by experience, no one comprehends how this has
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  Speaker 1: been brought about. That deep, sweet, and penetrating love which
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  Speaker 1: man feels in his heart is unknown and can neither
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  Speaker 1: be described nor understood except by the light of the
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  Speaker 1: affections in whose exercise he feels himself occupied, bound, transformed
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  Speaker 1: in peace and harmony with the bodily sensations, and without
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  Speaker 1: any contradiction, so that he has nothing, wills nothing, and
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  Speaker 1: desires nothing. He remains quiet and satisfied in his inmost heart,
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  Speaker 1: knowing this love, and knowing it alone. He is kept
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  Speaker 1: closely bound by a very subtle threat, held secretly by
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  Speaker 1: the hand of God, who leaves him to struggle and
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  Speaker 1: combat with the world, the devils, and himself. While fainting,
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  Speaker 1: weak and helpless. He fears ruin on every side, but
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  Speaker 1: God does not let him fall. The true love which
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  Speaker 1: you are striving, o soul to comprehend, is not this,
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  Speaker 1: but is seen only when I have consumed the imperfections
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  Speaker 1: of man by every mode of human misery, both exterior
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  Speaker 1: and interior. As for that which cannot be seen, this
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  Speaker 1: is my mode of action. I let down into the
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  Speaker 1: heart of man the slender golden thread of my hidden love,
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  Speaker 1: to which is attached to hook which enters the heart,
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  Speaker 1: and man feels himself wounded, but knows not by whom
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  Speaker 1: he is bound and taken. He neither moves nor wishes
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  Speaker 1: to move, because his heart is drawn by me its
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  Speaker 1: object and its end, although he does not comprehend it.
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  Speaker 1: But it is I who hold the thread in my
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  Speaker 1: hand and draw it even closer with a love so
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  Speaker 1: penetrating and so subtle, that man is conquered and subdued,
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  Speaker 1: and entirely taken out of himself, as the feet of
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  Speaker 1: one who has been hanged do not touch the earth,
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  Speaker 1: but his body remains attached to the cord by which
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  Speaker 1: he received his death. So the spirit remains suspended by
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  Speaker 1: the slender thread of love, whereby all the subtle and
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  Speaker 1: hidden imperfections of man receive their death. All that he
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  Speaker 1: now loves, he loves by virtue of the tide by
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  Speaker 1: which he is bound. All his actions are done by
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  Speaker 1: means of that love, and through sanctifying grace, because it
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  Speaker 1: is now God who works alone, by his pure love
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  Speaker 1: and without man's assistance. And God, having thus taken man
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  Speaker 1: into his own keeping and drawn him entirely to himself,
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  Speaker 1: so enriches him with his favors, that when he comes
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  Speaker 1: to die, he finds himself drawn unconsciously by that thread
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  Speaker 1: of life into the divine abyss. And although man in
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  Speaker 1: this state appears a lifeless, lost and abject thing, yet
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  Speaker 1: his life is hidden in God amid the treasures of
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  Speaker 1: eternal life. Nor can it be told or imagined what
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  Speaker 1: God has prepared for this beloved soul. The soul hearing
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  Speaker 1: all this, is so inflamed by ardent love that she
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  Speaker 1: breaks forth into exclamations. End of Part three, Chapter one,