The Narrow Gate
We walk in truth along
the way of the consumed spotless Lamb, and through Christ crucified, the gate,
we enter into the eternal Father's wedding feast.
We rejoice with God's servants who are rejoicing, and we
weep with the wicked who are living in a time of weeping, in the compassion and
sorrow we bear because of their offence against God. And we willingly surrender
ourselves to every kind of pain and torment in order to bring the wicked back
to the condition of those who are rejoicing, who are living as lovers of
lovely, royal virtue.
When I say that [this garment] consumes our coldness, I
am referring to the coldness of selfish love for ourselves. This sort of love
blinds us, keeping us from knowing either ourselves or God. It robs us of the
life of grace. It gives birth to impatience as the root of pride sends out its
branches. In our misplaced love we become offensive to God and to our
neighbours, and unbearable to ourselves. We are constantly rebelling against
[God's] commands. And all of this is the result of selfish self-love.
But the true garment I've described consumes it all and
rids us of it. It leaves us in the light of divine grace, so that we are [no
longer] walking in the dark. No, we walk in truth along the way of the consumed
spotless Lamb, and through Christ crucified, the gate, we enter into the
eternal Father's wedding feast. There we are established firmly in God, and
have no more fear that the world or the flesh or the devil can separate us from
him. There we find life without death, satiety without boredom, and hunger
without pain.
No more, then! Carry on! Carry on! Make your shoulders
like those of a porter, and don't refuse any load if you really want to keep
earning right up to the end.
Saint Catherine of Siena (d. 1380), Doctor of the Church,
was a Dominican, stigmatist, and papal counsellor.
was a Dominican, stigmatist, and papal counsellor.