Today, we celebrate the feast day of St Catherine of Siena. She is one of 4 women named as Doctors of the Church, the others being St Teresa of Avila, St Therese of Lisieux, and St Hildegard of Bingen. St Catherine was an important figure in the Church in the medieval era, having lived in the 14th century. A Dominican lay woman, she was a mystic, author, and advisor to the Pope and Church leaders. She was proclaimed a patron saint of Europe in 1999 by Pope John Paul II. Catherine strongly influenced the return of the Pope from his exile in Avignon, France back to Rome, which was quite an extraordinary crisis for the Church of medieval Europe. Catherine then carried out many missions entrusted by the pope, which was quite unusual for a lay woman in the medieval era. Catherine stated: “Proclaim the truth and do not be silent through fear.”
Our first reading today from Acts tells us about the disciples of Christ in the early Church, of how they lived in community. From the beginning of this reading, it mentions four elements that distinguished this early Christian community. The believers formed a community. They were of one mind and one heart, united with each other. No one in the community claims their belongings for themselves; these things were held in common. And they witnessed their faith, their belief in the risen Christ. They witnessed this faith through signs and miracles of healing. The community of believers in the Early Church give us a great example of faith and we live in the modern world as disciples of Christ.
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