St. Catherine of Siena was a great mystic. At certain periods of time in her prayer life she actually would have conversations with God. These “discussions” are contained in a book of hers called “The Dialogues”.
In one of her conversations with God she was marveling at the overwhelming love of the Father. She said to the Lord, “You must be drunk with love!” And from a human perspective we can see why she is saying this. It seems incomprehensible that God would love us—we who are so weak, sinful, forgetful, ungrateful, unfaithful. What would God see in souls like us? He must be drunk if he loves us this much!
But what we see here is that in our struggle with certain weaknesses or sins we actually have an opportunity to personally experience God’s love on a deeper level. God is trying to reach out to us in our struggles. God can use our struggles with sin to help us grow in compassion for our neighbor who also has many shortcomings. We also see how God uses our weaknesses to help us grow in humility, in greater awareness of how much we need God.
So, coming to terms with our weaknesses can then lead to a greater knowledge of who God is in our life. But this brings us to a very important point: Do you look at your many faults the way God wants you to look at them? Or do you view them the way the devil wants you to? God wants you to see your faults the way he sees them—through what St. Catherine calls “The Gentle Mirror” of his love. But the devil wants you to look down at your problems and never look up at God and His mercy.
The devil wants to the lead the soul into a preoccupation with self and this often can lead to despair and a sense of hopelessness. The focus ends up being on ourselves and not on God.
As we contemplate God’s overwhelming love, and we try to understand such images as “The Gentle Mirror” we can see how all of these things are so easily connected to the image that we hear of today in John’s Gospel: That of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. This image paints a very vivid picture of the overflowing love that the Father has for us that he would send us His own Son who died on the Cross and rose from the dead.
Seeing Jesus as the Good Shepherd gives us a feeling of being protected—that “the Lord is watching out for me”. What does it say in the Gospel: “A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep”…and further down “I know mine and mine know me”. The Good Shepherd knows us, even the things that we try to hide from Him!
So, don’t pass too quickly over the truth that God loves you. Remember that our weaknesses and sins can actually help us to grow in knowledge of God and lead us into a personal experience of his mercy. Gaze in faith through the Gentle Mirror and see the truth of God’s love. Don’t look down in shame, but look up in hope!
