God's providence at work

Today the Church celebrates and honors St. Catherine of Sienna. She played a vital role in the ending of the Avignon Papacy and led a holy life. The beginning of the reading for the office of readings this morning gave me some much needed words of consolation: "Eternal God, eternal Trinity, you have made the blood of Christ so precious through his sharing in your divine nature. You are a mystery as deep as the sea; the more I search, the more I find, and the more I find the more I search for you. But I can never be satisfied; what I receive will ever leave me desiring more. When you fill my soul I have an even greater hunger, and I grow more famished for your light. I desire above all to see you, the true light, as you really are." For the past few weeks I have been reading St. Matthew's gospel and this morning the passage of the ten maidens came to my eyes. St. Catherine's life was an imitation of the 5 maidens that had their wicks trimmed and ready for when the bridegroom came to the wedding banquet. The bridegroom knew the voices of the 5 wise maidens and they were able to enter the wedding banquet. The five maidens and St. Catherine reminded me this morning to persevere through the difficulties that present themselves in academics, the spiritual, and pastoral life.