The Way Out of Our Darkness

"Open the eyes of your understanding to gaze within the vessel of self-knowledge...discover this blood which God has given through his Son.  And since the blood was shed only because of sin, you discover in it the knowledge of yourself...Then you know that God's eternal will wants nothing other than that we be made holy...

"Open, open the eyes of your understanding onto Power, the eternal Father, whom you find in this blood because of the union of the divine nature with human nature.  And you will find Wisdom, the Son.  And in that Wisdom you will recognize God's supreme eternal goodness as well as your own poverty when you discover Mercy, the Holy Spirit, who was the bond that joined God with humanity and humanity with God, and who held this Word fixed and nailed to the wood of the most holy cross.  So your will will be filled and will reach out to love, and you will bind yourselves so tightly with Christ crucified that neither the devil nor anyone else will ever be able to separate you from him.  In fact, anything that may act against you will only serve to strengthen your union with God and with your neighbors.  For virtue is tested by what opposes it, and the more virtue is tested in us, the more perfect our union with our Creator becomes."  --St. Catherine of Siena, quoted in Magnificat, p. 39-40.