Saint Catherine of Siena: Human and Divine

“Nothing is unworthy. Take it in, don’t turn away. That is what I wanted to say.”

Human and Divine

This rainbow came in a shaft of sunlight on the heels of a severe storm on our farm not too long ago. I was reminded of it in the conversation below with St. Catherine of Sienna who seems to want to talk about what it means to be connected to the Divine while still in human form. This rainbow seems to say that it can be done – but no one so far has said it would be easy. St. Catherine who died in 1380 seems to still be working on this problem so I guess us current humans can cut ourselves some slack.

I’m a little – no, make that a lot – in awe of St. Catherine. After all, from what I have been able to discover, she had visions of Christ when she was 5 or 6 years old, refused her parents requests to marry or enter religious orders (though she later did so on her own terms) and practiced her faith in her own way including radical fasting, devotion to the poor, and as a counsellor to Pope Gregory XI. She died at the age of 31 from complications of malnutrition. Clearly she was a devout and powerful person, but you might be surprised at what she had to say about being both human and divine, I know I was. See what you think of the conversation below.

Ann: Hello, Catherine, would you have time to talk to me?

Catherine: Yes, I have been wanting to do so. I think you are reluctant a bit due to my status as a “saint”. Please do not let this deter you. Nothing, nothing could be farther from the truth. I was imbued with holy energy and an almost frighteningly open channel to spirit and to other beings. I chose to live my life in that world exclusive and to the detriment of my development as a human being.

A: But you had to honor those gifts, did you not?

C: Yes, no choice really, it was almost a takeover of the human body. I think that is what people do not understand, how overwhelming it is. I did not try to fight it or to learn other ways of being human to complement my spiritual union with God. I would have been better off if I could have gone back and forth.

A: But you could not?

C: I endeavored to relate to others through good works, taking food and touch to those in the direst of circumstances, but I myself did not partake of the human side of life.

A: And you didn’t eat?

C: No. It made me physically ill. I think in my heart I just wanted to return to spirit, to union, to the bosom of the One who created all of us. So I labored as hard as I could for as long as I could and welcomed death with a heartfelt sigh.

A: Do you regret any part of this?

C: No, I did what I had come to do unsuited as I was for this world. But now I want something else, something that you can give me which is the common touch.

A: Really?

C: Yes. You have that in your humor, your light touch. Your insecurities of course hamper you, but that too is human.

A: OK, what do you want to know?

C: Not know really just be with.

A: Haven’t you incarnated again where you could do this in the first person?

C: No. Couldn’t face it. I never thought of myself as a coward and still do not, but the prospect of being blind to the reality of God, separated from my Source has been too much for me to contemplate. You have no recollection of who you are – and I can help you with that – but still you grope and stumble your way back to Source and in so doing take some of your acquaintance with you whether they know it or not. That takes uncommon courage.

A: Really? It seems to me that that’s what most of us are doing in one way or another.

C: Yes, true with the exception of those who have denied the light so long and so vehemently that they no longer allow it to penetrate the shields they have thrown up, but they too will eventually succumb. What I am interested in is your attraction to the humanness of life. I never saw that and still view it from afar much as one might gaze at an unknown species.

A: Well, that’s pretty much what I am doing, isn’t it?

C: No, not really because, although you are of a species similar to myself having arrived from a different dimension and not an organically developed soul upon this planet, you still find comfort in the touch of your dog’s head under your hand, the breeze on a beautiful day, the taste of something delightful on your tongue.

A: Didn’t you do that?

C: No, I was cloistered, not in actual fact but in spiritual space and time, and never fully participated in the physical world.

A: I don’t either really.

C: No, but more than I did. So I have been sent to tell you that these tactile encounters have been given you for your pleasure, that that pleasure comes in many forms and is many times that of God and God’s creation. This I could not accept. You must try to do so, for returning a gift of God is not a healthy place to be as I can attest.

Open to the experiences offered you. Do not cloister yours to these writings, go out and experience what has been given you so that you can reach out in understanding to those who meet you and read your words. I did my part, what I was sent to do but missed out on the gifts of my journey that I deemed unworthy. Nothing is unworthy. Take it in, don’t turn away. That is what I wanted to say.

A: OK. Thank you. Will you come back?

C: Yes, if you will let me. I wait to be invited and sense that you don’t know quite what to do with me.

A; True. Archangel Michael said I should call you Cathy.

C: I don’t believe I’m quite ready for that but we can explore these matters at a later time. I never learned to laugh, you have that gift, cherish it.

A: Right, will do. Bye, Cathy.

C: Till later, Ann.

All blog entries are works of the imagination and are for spiritual and entertainment purposes only.