March 16, 2010: Divine Mercy and St. Catherine of Siena
Last Tuesday, Fr. Miles began his homily with the following words that Jesus spoke to St. Faustina: "The greater the sin, the greater the Mercy of God. The greater the sinner, the greater his right to partake from the infinite abyss of God’s Mercy." Hence, Fr. Miles spoke about Divine Mercy as Super-Abundant Satisfaction for Sin. We often wonder "How can God forgive me for truly unforgivable things that I dare not mention to priests in confessional?" Our Lord gives the following image to describe his mercy--the Ocean of Mercy, unfathomable in depth and in width that envelops the whole world. There is no sin which the Ocean of Mercy cannot wash away with giant tsunamis. I've been asked the past two weeks in confessional, "Father Paul, if God forgave me all of my past sins, why is it that they still come up in my mind and bother me? Have I truly been forgiven? Should I confess it again? "
This question is related to what I'm going to speak to you tonight. The topic is Divine Mercy as revealed to St. Catherine of Siena. We have been looking at how God's mercy was there at the very beginning of time starting with the Book of Genesis and then throughout the New Testament. In each generation, God desires for us to be able to understand his mercy, so he sends apostles of mercy. For our century, He sent St. Faustina. For the 14th Century, He sent St. Catherine of Siena.
St. Catherine was born in 1347 in Siena, Italy, to a very large family. Beginning at the age of six, she had a vision of Christ, and at age seven, she made a private vow of celibacy to Christ. At the age of 18, Catherine was admitted into the Dominican Third Order. Thereafter, Catherine began a most remarkable life of prayer, asceticism, literary output, and political activism. Because of her holiness, many bishops, cardinals, and even popes consulted her. At that time, the pope took his residence in Avignon, France instead of Rome. Catherine persuaded the Holy See to relocate back to Rome. For us, Catherine is well known for her great spiritual masterpiece, The Dialogue. The writings of this book was dictated by Catherine to three secretaries while she was in a state of mystical ecstasy over a period of five days (from Oct. 9-13, 1378). In her mystical experience, Catherine dialogs with Heavenly Father, and these dialogs she dictates to her secretaries. Although this mystical experience lasted only five days, it produced nearly 300 pages of document.
Let's go back to the question that some people were asking in my confessional: "Father Paul, why do my old sins still bother me if they have been forgiven?" To answer this question, let's look at one of the dialogs of Catherine with God. She said to the Heavenly Father, "O eternal Mercy, you who cover over your creatures' faults! It does not surprise me that you say of those who leave deadly sin behind and return to you: "I will not remember that you had ever offended me." If Heavenly Father is that generous in forgiving our sins, why does our forgiven sins still feel like thorns on our side, thorns on our conscience? For example, if a husband comes into confessional and asks for forgiveness for cheating on his wife, why does it still bother him after going to confession numerous times for the same forgiven sin?
One possibility is that we feel a guilt or a need to pay restitution for the damage and hurts that we have caused. Sin leaves behind broken hearts. And in the case of this husband, he sees how his infidelity still causes daily anguish in his wife and even in his children, for they have lost their trust in him. For the husband, he will have to carry this cross as a reminder and a reparation for his sin. If the husband feels that this reparation is not satisfied in this earthly life, he himself will feel compelled to satisfy it in Purgatory. In Anne the Lay Apostle's book "The Mist of Mercy," Anne tells how when a person dies and the soul meets Jesus, the soul will be shown the movie of his life. And this time, the soul will have the full truth, meaning he will know beyond the shadow of his doubt the impact of his own sin without self-deception or self-delusion. And it will be the soul who will accuse his own self; the soul tells Jesus, "Lord, I'm unfit to enter Heaven just yet. Let me spend some time in Purgatory praying for those whom I have hurt by my sins." Yes, God has forgiven his sins out of his generous mercy, but the soul, in a sense, has not forgiven himself because he realizes that he still needs to make reparation. By analogy, when a teenager breaks a neighbor's glass, he is glad that his dad paid to have glass replaced. Yet, the teenager feels compelled, out of love for his dad, to forgo his allowance for the next several months to in someway make reparation for what he has done, until the teenager feels satisfied he has done all he can.
Heavenly Father, as told to Catherine, desires for us to move to repentance not because of fear of divine punishment or not because of shame and disgust with ourselves, but because out of love for Jesus. We should be sorry because our sins have betrayed His great love for us and we have let him down. This is what's called "perfection contrition." How do we get to this "perfect contrition"? St. Catherine says it is vital to our spiritual health that we come to self-knowledge, especially knowledge of how dependent we are upon God for everything: for existence itself, and for the grace that sets us free from sin. We hear the echo of this in the Diary of St. Faustina where a sinful soul dialogs with Jesus:
Soul: Lord, I doubt that You will pardon my numerous sins; my misery fills me with fright.
Jesus: My mercy is greater than your sins and those of the entire world. Who can measure the extent of my goodness? For you I descended from heaven to earth; for you I allowed myself to be nailed to the cross; for you I let my Sacred Heart be pierced with a lance, thus opening wide the source of mercy for you. Come, then, with trust to draw graces from this fountain. I never reject a contrite heart. Your misery has disappeared in the depths of My mercy. Do not argue with Me about your wretchedness. You will give me pleasure if you hand over to me all your troubles and griefs. I shall heap upon you the treasures of My grace...Child, speak no more of your misery; it is already forgotten. (Diary, no. 1485)
This question is related to what I'm going to speak to you tonight. The topic is Divine Mercy as revealed to St. Catherine of Siena. We have been looking at how God's mercy was there at the very beginning of time starting with the Book of Genesis and then throughout the New Testament. In each generation, God desires for us to be able to understand his mercy, so he sends apostles of mercy. For our century, He sent St. Faustina. For the 14th Century, He sent St. Catherine of Siena.
St. Catherine was born in 1347 in Siena, Italy, to a very large family. Beginning at the age of six, she had a vision of Christ, and at age seven, she made a private vow of celibacy to Christ. At the age of 18, Catherine was admitted into the Dominican Third Order. Thereafter, Catherine began a most remarkable life of prayer, asceticism, literary output, and political activism. Because of her holiness, many bishops, cardinals, and even popes consulted her. At that time, the pope took his residence in Avignon, France instead of Rome. Catherine persuaded the Holy See to relocate back to Rome. For us, Catherine is well known for her great spiritual masterpiece, The Dialogue. The writings of this book was dictated by Catherine to three secretaries while she was in a state of mystical ecstasy over a period of five days (from Oct. 9-13, 1378). In her mystical experience, Catherine dialogs with Heavenly Father, and these dialogs she dictates to her secretaries. Although this mystical experience lasted only five days, it produced nearly 300 pages of document.
Let's go back to the question that some people were asking in my confessional: "Father Paul, why do my old sins still bother me if they have been forgiven?" To answer this question, let's look at one of the dialogs of Catherine with God. She said to the Heavenly Father, "O eternal Mercy, you who cover over your creatures' faults! It does not surprise me that you say of those who leave deadly sin behind and return to you: "I will not remember that you had ever offended me." If Heavenly Father is that generous in forgiving our sins, why does our forgiven sins still feel like thorns on our side, thorns on our conscience? For example, if a husband comes into confessional and asks for forgiveness for cheating on his wife, why does it still bother him after going to confession numerous times for the same forgiven sin?
One possibility is that we feel a guilt or a need to pay restitution for the damage and hurts that we have caused. Sin leaves behind broken hearts. And in the case of this husband, he sees how his infidelity still causes daily anguish in his wife and even in his children, for they have lost their trust in him. For the husband, he will have to carry this cross as a reminder and a reparation for his sin. If the husband feels that this reparation is not satisfied in this earthly life, he himself will feel compelled to satisfy it in Purgatory. In Anne the Lay Apostle's book "The Mist of Mercy," Anne tells how when a person dies and the soul meets Jesus, the soul will be shown the movie of his life. And this time, the soul will have the full truth, meaning he will know beyond the shadow of his doubt the impact of his own sin without self-deception or self-delusion. And it will be the soul who will accuse his own self; the soul tells Jesus, "Lord, I'm unfit to enter Heaven just yet. Let me spend some time in Purgatory praying for those whom I have hurt by my sins." Yes, God has forgiven his sins out of his generous mercy, but the soul, in a sense, has not forgiven himself because he realizes that he still needs to make reparation. By analogy, when a teenager breaks a neighbor's glass, he is glad that his dad paid to have glass replaced. Yet, the teenager feels compelled, out of love for his dad, to forgo his allowance for the next several months to in someway make reparation for what he has done, until the teenager feels satisfied he has done all he can.
Heavenly Father, as told to Catherine, desires for us to move to repentance not because of fear of divine punishment or not because of shame and disgust with ourselves, but because out of love for Jesus. We should be sorry because our sins have betrayed His great love for us and we have let him down. This is what's called "perfection contrition." How do we get to this "perfect contrition"? St. Catherine says it is vital to our spiritual health that we come to self-knowledge, especially knowledge of how dependent we are upon God for everything: for existence itself, and for the grace that sets us free from sin. We hear the echo of this in the Diary of St. Faustina where a sinful soul dialogs with Jesus:
Soul: Lord, I doubt that You will pardon my numerous sins; my misery fills me with fright.
Jesus: My mercy is greater than your sins and those of the entire world. Who can measure the extent of my goodness? For you I descended from heaven to earth; for you I allowed myself to be nailed to the cross; for you I let my Sacred Heart be pierced with a lance, thus opening wide the source of mercy for you. Come, then, with trust to draw graces from this fountain. I never reject a contrite heart. Your misery has disappeared in the depths of My mercy. Do not argue with Me about your wretchedness. You will give me pleasure if you hand over to me all your troubles and griefs. I shall heap upon you the treasures of My grace...Child, speak no more of your misery; it is already forgotten. (Diary, no. 1485)
