Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
Another concrete image of the Church living out its mission of mercy is seen in the Acts of the Apostles: they sold what they had, set it at the feet of the Apostles, and then it was distributed to those in need. This is a mission of mercy that continues to be lived out in the generosity of so many throughout the world. From financial benefactors to apostolates of the Church such as schools and hospitals, to benefactors who share their time in volunteering at church and in helping their neighbor. It is beautiful to see the Holy Spirit move the hearts of the faithful to take care of those in need.
While serving parishioners who were subsistence farmers in Southern Belize, I was deeply moved when it was time to make diocesan donations for families who had suffered from a hurricane which had hit Belize City. Families for whom a few dollars were extremely hard to come by would use those few dollars to buy some necessities such as soap or canned food, and then donate those for the hurricane victims. They might not have been able to buy anything for themselves for a week or more, but they said that they remembered when they had suffered from a hurricane twenty years before, and their hearts were filled with a desire to do what they could for their brothers and sisters in the other part of the country.
Saint Catherine of Siena was known to the pope through her letters and her prophetic visits to the papal court, and the Holy Spirit was at work in her in those communications with the pope (she is the one largely credited with getting the pope to return to Rome after the papacy had moved to southern France). Yet, long before she met the pope, and much of the time in the midst of her calling the Church back to fidelity to the call to holiness, Saint Catherine was known to the local poor families of Siena and the other cities in which she lived. She would beg for them, care for them, feed and clothe them. Let us ask for her intercession, that we may let the Holy Spirit give us generous and merciful hearts, that we too may help the Church and the world to be faithfully configured more and more to Christ’s loving and merciful heart.