Saint Catherine of Siena: "Have recourse to Mary, while embracing the Cross"

Faith in Providence flows from a complete faith in God the Creator: after God created, he did not withdraw into the distance, but he remains present to his creation.

Catherine of Siena wrote:

"Take comfort: for God has provided and will provide for you, and his providence will not fail you. Make sure that in everything you have recourse to Mary, while embracing the Cross." (letter 267)(1)

Faith in Providence is not, therefore, a blissful belief that everything will go easily; the Christian follows Jesus to the Cross, with Mary. The doctrine of Providence takes on its full significance in the general context of the teaching of Catherine of Siena, which says:

By ourselves, we think of limited things. Faith in Providence reminds us of the infinite measure of God. For example:

- Temptations are providential: they make us aware of the difference between the infinite and the finite (thus gluttony concerns finite goods, and makes me lose the sense of God who is infinite. Another example, I am tempted by self-love, which is finite and turns me away from God who is infinite).

- Penances: the important thing is to believe in Providence and to embrace the Cross (letter 267), in other words, to accept all things (coming from God, with infinite openness) and not to impose self-measured penances  (letter 64).

- Encounters are providential: they are an opportunity to offer our neighbor something infinite, which is the love of God (infinite), not a love of fear (which fears punishment, finite), nor a mercenary love, but the love of God for his own sake (infinite)(2). This is why we must have recourse to Mary (letter 267), in order to arrive at a spiritual love, centered on God.

 F. Breynaert

(1) Letter 267, Epistolario, U. MEATTINI [ed], S. CATERINA DA SIENA, Epistolario, Ediz. Paoline, Torino 1993 (not yet a critical edition), p.1293.

(2) See especially chapters 56-63 of the Dialogues