From the dialogue On Divine Providence by Saint Catherine of
Siena, virgin and doctor
(Cap. 167, Gratiarum actio ad Trinitatem: ed. lat., Ingolstadii 1583, f. 290v-291)
I tasted and I saw
Eternal God, eternal Trinity, you have made the blood of Christ so
precious through his sharing in your divine nature. You are a mystery
as deep as the sea; the more I search, the more I find, and the more
I find the more I search for you. But I can never be satisfied; what
I receive will ever leave me desiring more. When you fill my soul
I have an even greater hunger, and I grow more famished for your
light. I desire above all to see you, the true light, as you really are.
I have tasted and seen the depth of your mystery and the beauty of
your creation with the light of my understanding. I have clothed
myself with your likeness and have seen what I shall be. Eternal
Father, you have given me a share in your power and the wisdom
that Christ claims as his own, and your Holy Spirit has given me the
desire to love you. You are my Creator, eternal Trinity, and I am your
creature. You have made of me a new creation in the blood of your
Son, and I know that you are moved with love at the beauty of your
creation, for you have enlightened me.
Eternal Trinity, Godhead, mystery deep as the sea, you could give
me no greater gift than the gift of yourself. For you are a fire ever
burning and never consumed, which itself consumes all the selfish
love that fills my being. Yes, you are a fire that takes away the
coldness, illuminates the mind with its light and causes me to know
your truth. By this light, reflected as it were in a mirror, I recognize
that you are the highest good, one we can neither comprehend nor
fathom. And I know that you are beauty and wisdom itself. The food
of angels, you gave yourself to man in the fire of your love.
You are the garment which covers our nakedness, and in our hunger
you are a satisfying food, for you are sweetness and in you there is no
taste of bitterness, O triune God!
Te Deum Laudamus! Home
The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!