St Catherine And The Eucharist

St Catherine of Siena: The Dictation of The Dialogue

I didn't want to let the day end without honoring St Catherine of Siena whose feast it is today. Today being Sunday, the Lord's Day takes precedence over saints' feast days. (Somehow I don't think they mind.)
The Dialogue are the words spoken to Catherine by God the Father. This is an excerpt from that Dialogue on the Holy Eucharist and its effect on the soul.


Nor is the sacrament itself diminished by being divided, any more than is fire, to take an example. If you had a burning lamp and all the world came to you for light, the light of your lamp would not be diminished by the sharing, yet each person who shared it would have the whole light. True, each one's light would be more or less intense depending on what sort of material each brought to receive the fire. I give you this example so that you may better understand me. Imagine that many people brought candles, and one person's candle weighed one ounce, another's more than that, and they all came to your lamp to light their candles. Each candle, the smallest as well as the largest, would have the whole light with all its heat and color and brightness. Still, you would think that the person who carried the one-ounce candle would have less than the one whose candle weighed a pound. Well, this is how it goes with those who receive this sacrament. Each one of you brings your own candle, that is, the holy desire with which you receive and eat this sacrament. Your candle by itself is unlit, and it is lighted when you receive this sacrament. I say it is unlit because by yourselves you are nothing at all. It is I who have given you the candle with which you can receive this light and nourish it within you. And your candle is love, because it is for love that I created you, so without love you cannot have life.

~The Dialogue
St. Catherine of Siena

Comments

CWrites said…
Hi, Karin. This is beautiful excerpt. I have read other excerpts from The Dialogues before, but I have brand new copy that I haven't read in my little locker at home. I keep having other books jump up ahead of this one. Have you read this? Do you like it as much as St. Faustina's Diary or St. Gertrude the Great . . . I guess it would be hard to compare direct revelations though. The thought does remind me of one of the entries in St. Faustina's Diary that she has a lively faith and it is why receiving Jesus was so much more for her versus others receiving the same Jesus.
Unknown said…
Colleen,
Glad you liked this. I haven't read all of the Dialogue; it is not an easy read. I find St Faustina a little easier. I have only read bits and pieces of Gertrude as well, but she too has some powerful writings. All the saints who write about the Eucharist seem to have the same common thread running through them~ we get what we are disposed to to receive which is why it is so important to pray that we receive Jesus properly disposed as well as take advantage of the sacrament of reconciliation.
Thanks for your thoughts on this one and God bless.