I chose St. Catherine of Siena as my patron saint at my Confirmation. I love her! Here is a lengthy quote I wish to share from her and a prayer I wrote to the Lord in response to her wisdom:
“God was in love with you before you even came to be. If He had not so fallen in love with you, He would never have created you. But because of the love He had for you as He saw you within Himself, He was moved to grant you being. He is our gentle God, and He has no need of us. He loved us before we loved Him and He gave Himself to us as a gift, not because He had to.”
God my loving Father: The time I spend searching for ‘true love’ and mourning the ways in which I am not loved as I desire by other people is, in many ways, a waste of time and it always is unfair to those from whom I expect perfection. I will never be loved in the way I desire by another human being–and I am already loved more purely, completely, and lavishly than I could ever desire and certainly more than I deserve. O Lord, open my heart to more fully receive the love you have for me. Help me receive what I do not deserve and could never earn. Help me to not search for the fullness of love away from you. Help me, Lord, to rest in You and You alone. Help me to love you completely–with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul and with all my being. Help me to see each person I encounter as another being loved into existence by you. I thank you, Father God, for the love that created me, the love that sustains me, and the love that draws me to my future with you in heaven. Amen.
Flourish Catholic 