In this week’s Pearls of the Interior Life (click here to watch or listen) we focus on what Christ’s Ascension means for our interior life – with particular guidance from St. Catherine of Siena.
St. Catherine, in her short 33 years on this earth, experienced most every mystical phenomena known to man – ecstasies, levitation, bilocation, mystical death, stigmata, exchange of hearts, becoming a spiritual mother while a teenager, writing a spiritual masterpiece when she was still illiterate, and becoming a victim soul for Christ. She even had King David playing the harp at her mystical betrothal to Christ – no offense to the “Electric Slide” but we would much rather hear David in all his glory with Psalm 112 on the lute.
Most importantly – and most indicative of her colossal holiness – was her ardent love for God and every single person God placed before her.
So, like the old E.F. Hutton commercial, “when St. Catherine talks, we should listen.”
And if God gives us mystical imagery through her, we should reflect on it.
And in St. Catherine’s Dialogue (the diary of her conversations with God) – we are given the imagery of Christ and His teaching (the doctrine of the Church) as a bridge.
All bridges have three things in common: (1) a starting point; (2) a hazard they cross over; (3) an end point.
Here’s how God describes those three features to St. Catherine: “This Bridge, taking its point of departure in you, rose into Heaven, and was the one road which was taught you by the example and life of the Truth … I have given you the Bridge of My Son, in order that, passing across the flood, you may not be drowned, which flood is the tempestuous sea of this dark life”
So, #1 – the starting point is “in us” – that is to say, the bridge starts in our spiritual soul. Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange observes that to even desire a relationship with God is to take the first steps along the mystical path. When we say “yes” to that spark of grace, to desiring God, we step onto the bridge. We step onto safety.
That brings us to #2 – the bridge protects us from drowning in “the tempestuous seas of this dark life.” Have you read the “news” lately? Virtually every public institution is corrupted through and through. Even a fleeting glance at most “social media” sights subjects your brain to perversion of one sort or another. In short – there is no safe haven in the culture apart from the bridge that is Christ and His teachings.
And #3 – the bridge guides us “into Heaven.” In other passages of the Dialogue, God (and St. Catherine) specially note that the end point of the bridge has been established by Christ’s Ascension.
When we remain close to Christ by following His teaching, we are on a bridge, safely above the troubled waters. Can we still see the churning waves beneath us? Sure, but we need not get seasick – the bridge is steady as a rock. Will we splashed by spray from waves? You bet. But they won’t wash us off the bridge.
In fact, regarding that last point (getting splashed by the waves), God says this to St. Catherine, “Whatever happens to you, never think that it comes from men; think that it comes from God and is for your good. And then see how you may profit by it.”
When we are on the bridge, not only are we protected from harm, but any buffeting or spray from the wave will work for our good, because we are close to Christ, and He will show us how to profit from it.
This weekend is an opportunity to reflect on this imagery- spend time in meditation with the passage quoted above and ask God to reveal to you how He is protecting you, right now, from the raging seas of your own life, and how He desires that “you may profit” from those storms.
Easter blessings –
Steve and Karen Smith