Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church St Catherine of Sienna did not have any advantages in her life other than having a very deep love for and therefore a closeness to Jesus. She always remained humble, but obeyed what God directed of her. She learned from Jesus through prayer. She was very attentive to God. Let us follow her example in our lives. We often identify holiness with great service or leadership But in St Catherine of Sienna we see, as in Paul, something that is quite different. She was characterized by humility and quiet prayer and her public influence was more thrust upon her than her looking for it. Her life was lived among many limitations It was a relatively short life, even for the 14th century -living to only 33 years old. She was not well educated and her literacy was at best limited and basic. And whilst yet a community gathered around her, she was not in a prominent ecclesiastical position She suffered both physically in her body, including from fasting and vigils and from her travel at Christ’s behest, and suffered spiritually from knowing about the state of the Church. She lived what she read or what was read to her in Paul, “in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church.” She was very attentive to God She was very attentive to the reading of the Holy scriptures and also attentive to those conversing about God or preaching the scriptures. This attentiveness and reflective spirit laid the groundwork for God’s use of her life. From meditation and contemplation she knew “the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints. . . . which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Not all people receive such visions and raptures as she received, but in some form those who assiduously seek God are taught by him. She experienced what Jesus taught, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.” She drank deeply from Jesus whom she loved so dearly: “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. . . . ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ ” She drank from his heart as from the river from the new Temple. whilst she was humble, she still boldly did what God directed of her. She obeyed God and went to France to see the Pope, a significant trip, and there she could have said, “Him we proclaim, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man mature in Christ.” I do not think we reflect enough on what a woman’s calling the Pope to move back to Italy meant in those days. She continued to advise popes – in an era of multiple popes – but only when consulted. Mostly she would pray for them. She dictated her various writings, especially her life, because God gave her the impulse to do so. She was not seeking influence, but seeking him. Let us, then, make St Catherine of Sienna, an example to guide us in our lives. She points us on to the deep usage of prayer. She will not despise our education – she was a Dominican tertiary not a Franciscan – but will point us to lay it at the feet of Jesus in prayer and to draw our direction from communion with Jesus. And she will show us how to trust Jesus, not letting our apparent limitations stop us from doing all that Jesus calls us to do – not health nor age nor education or situation will stop us. From out of a simple and unknown cloistered group came forth a doctor and wisdom and direction for the Church, but it was a position given by Jesus full of his wisdom to a woman whose only desire was to draw closer to him and to see him heal his Church.Thus, Doctor saint Catherine’s remedy for the sins of the Church was to look to her own sins, and to repent and to change her ways. Because she knew that the only soul she could change and cause to co-operate with God’s grace, to conform to Christ’s will, was her own. So, reform of Christ’s Church comes through each of us as members of the Body of Christ striving to be faithful to Christ and our Christian vocation; each of us allowing Christ the divine Doctor to heal us so that we can play our proper part within his holy Body. Hence, through the “prayers, sweat and tears” of the saints, Christ himself will purify and reform his Bride; it is his Church. With this fundamental knowledge and faith in Christ, and love for Christ’s Mystical Body, St Catherine became a saint, and so can we today. May she pray for us, for God’s Holy Church, and for lay Dominicans for whom she is patroness.