Fr Richard's words for today
Readings: Universalis: Mass
Beauty and eloquence
Today we honour the wonderful St Catherine of Alexandria, one of my favourite saints. She is most popularly known because of the instrument of torture she was set to be martyred on: "the Catherine wheel".
Born around 287 in Alexandria, Egypt, she was part of a noble family. She was, therefore, an impressive scholar, especially as Alexandria at the time was a centre of learning. At the age of 14, Catherine had a vision of Mary and the infant Jesus which transformed her life and moved her to become a Christian. Catherine was renowned for her beauty, heroic virtue and holiness. She was dedicated to Christ in virginity and chastity. All these virtues make her a very attractive saint for us to imitate.
When the emperor Maxentius began persecuting Christians, Catherine confronted him and condemned his cruelty. The emperor summoned fifty orators and philosophers to debate her. But the highly intellectual Catherine was moved by the power of the Holy Spirit to speak eloquently in defence of her faith. In God's providence, the Gospel that falls on this day is Jesus talking precisely about what his disciples are to do when faced with persecution: "you are not to prepare your defence, because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will able to resist or contradict." St Catherine's words were so moving that several of the pagans were converted to Christianity and were immediately executed. Catherine refused to renounce her faith and, after the "Catherine wheel" miraculously shattered when the virgin touched it, she was, in the end, beheaded.
Saint Catherine teaches us many things. Notice how, when Our Lord says "I will give you the words to say" when we are being persecuted, He doesn't say: "in that case, don't bother learning anything about the Faith." Saint Catherine's dedication to study reminds us that we do need to engage intellectually, to ask questions in our search for the Truth, and to be prepared to answer questions. Yes, the Lord will give us the words we need - but we need too to "do the groundwork" in order to cooperate with His help. As Catholics, we are people of both Faith AND Reason. Our Faith makes rational sense. We can ask Saint Catherine, the patroness of philosophers, to help us keep the resolutions we make to study our Faith.
Also, Saint Catherine's powerful witness unto the shedding of her blood poignantly makes us ask the difficult question: if it came to it, would we too give our lives rather than renounce our Faith in Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ?
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