Today is the feast day of Catherine of Siena, a remarkable woman of character and courage. Born in Siena, Italy in 1347, she lived in a time of great tumult, when the Church was involved in state politics and war, and the Pope fled from Rome to Avignon, France.
As the writer Mary Ann Sullivan describes Catherine, she “deliberately told popes, queens and kings how to behave. She was spontaneous, unafraid of authority and fearless in the face of death. She was a Dominican religious who corresponded with Popes and peasants alike.” Catherine had a powerful influence on the Church and two Popes relied on her counsel, which was honest and straightforward. After her death, she was named a saint and later one of the first women Doctors of the Church.
How did Catherine have such courage when it seems we so often get mired down in our own fears? The answer may be in today’s gospel. Jesus promises that after he is gone, the Holy Spirit will come in his name. The Holy Spirit will teach us and remind us of everything Jesus told us, including courage in the face of adversity.
Our trust in the Holy Spirit will bring us the comfort, strength and guidance to live our lives as Jesus did, challenging injustice, questioning institutions and comforting and helping the poor.
Dear Lord, give me the courage today to follow your Spirit. Let me take the time to listen, to be emboldened in the struggle for justice and to worry more about those who are in need than my own needs. Let me be honest and direct in your service and help me to be humble and listen with an open heart.
Maureen McCann Waldron
The most important part of my life is my family – Jim my husband of 47 years and our two children. Our daughter Katy, a banker here in Omaha, and her husband John, have three wonderful children: Charlotte, Daniel and Elizabeth Grace. Our son Jack and his wife, Ellie, have added to our joy with their sons, Peter and Joseph.
I think family life is an incredible way to find God, even in (or maybe I should say, especially in) the most frustrating or mundane moments.
I am a native of the East Coast after graduating in 1971 from Archbishop John Carroll High School in suburban Philadelphia. I graduated from Creighton University in 1975 with a degree in Journalism and spent most of the next 20 years in corporate public relations in Omaha. I returned to Creighton in the 1990s and completed a master’s degree in Christian Spirituality in 1998.
As our children were growing up, my favorite times were always family dinners at home when the four of us would talk about our days. But now that our kids are gone from home, my husband and I have rediscovered how nice it is to have a quiet dinner together. I also have a special place in my heart for family vacations when the kids were little and four of us were away from home together. It’s a joy to be with my growing family.
Writing a Daily Reflection is always a graced moment, because only with God’s help could I ever write one. I know my own life is hectic, disjointed and imperfect and I know most of us have lives like that. I usually write from that point of view and I always seem to find some sentence, some word in the readings that speaks right to me, in all of my imperfection. I hope that whatever I write is in some way supportive of others.
It’s an incredibly humbling experience to hear from someone who was touched by something I wrote. Whether the note is from someone across campus or across the world, it makes me realize how connected we are all in our longing to grow closer to God.
