St. Catherine was one of the most revered saints of the
early Church. She lived at the end of
the third century in the city of Alexandria in Egypt. She was so beautiful and wise that she
attracted the attention of the Emperor Maximian. She however, would not marry the emperor
because she had consecrated herself to Jesus.
The Emperor sent his 50 wisest philosophers to convince
Saint Catherine to change her mind, but they proved no match for Catherine’s superior
intellect; they were so impressed with her, and her explanation of the Gospel,
that all 50 became Christian.
The Emperor had Catherine imprisoned; yet while imprisoned
she converted the empress, the leader of the armed forces, over 200 soldiers,
and other members of the emperor’s family,
The Emperor, infuriated that Catherine would not give up her
faith and marry Him, ordered her to be tied to wheel affixed with sharp knives
and spikes and tortured. From her lacerated body prayers ascended to heaven,
and the wheel however was struck by ‘fire from heaven’ and was shattered. This angered the emperor even more, so he had
her beheaded.
Neither political pressure, imprisonment, torture, or death
could cause this great saint to compromise her faith. Through her reception of the Eucharist,
through prayer and study, Catherine was filled with tremendous faith and love
of God which transformed the lives of others even as she suffered.
Yesterday, families gathered for the great thanksgiving
meal. It is a good and holy thing for
families to put aside the worldly occupations in order to share a good meal
with each other. Yet, God calls us to
gather as a family of faith every week, for the Eucharist. Many would never dream of skipping
thanksgiving dinner, but have no problem skipping Sunday Mass.
Saint Catherine and so many thousands of martyrs, by their witness show us that the practicing our faith is more important than anything else; they reveal the
urgency to form our minds and hearts through word and sacrament, study and
charity; that we may be equipped for the building up of the kingdom.
Over the centuries Saint Catherine has been invoked as
patron saint of Apologists; craftsmen who work with a wheel (potters; knife
sharpeners, millers); archivists; attorneys; barristers; dying people;
educators; girls; jurists; lawyers; librarians; libraries; maidens; mechanics;
nurses; old maids; philosophers; potters; preachers; scholars; schoolchildren;
scribes; secretaries; spinners; spinsters; stenographers; students; tanners;
teachers; theologians; tire-repairmen; unmarried girls; wheel-makers.
Through her intercession and holy example may Saint
Catherine help us to be strengthened in faith and constancy and spend ourselves
without reserve for the unity of the Church, for the glory of God and salvation
of souls.
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