| How Great is Our God |
| Various, 3rd October |
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PURIFYING FIRE CATHERINE OF GENOA | 15TH CENTURY Saint Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510) was an Italian Catholic saint and mystic, admired for her work among the sick and the poor. The Spirit now obliged Humanity to take another step, requiring great submission of mind and body. She was directed to live in the hospital and devote herself to the service of the sick, as though she were a servant, hardly daring to speak and obedient to all that was imposed upon her. But she said to the Spirit: “If you wish me to perform these works, give me the power to do them. I refuse none of them, but they must be done with some love, or they will be done poorly.” Accordingly, she was granted some interest in her work; and in these employments, and in great poverty, the Spirit left her for many years. When the Spirit had disciplined Humanity by such trials and humiliations, until she was able to look not only without disgust upon things which at first, she naturally loathed, but also willingly busied herself with whatever was most offensive, she was put to another trial, being placed as superior in charge of this hospital, that it might be seen if her humanity would anywhere discover itself, by reason of this promotion. She was tried by the Spirit in this way for many years, yet also aided and directed by him. And she remained in that love which was secretly increasing as Humanity was destroyed, for as she became rid of Self Love, did she become possessed by Pure Love, which penetrated and filled her proportionately as she became dead to self. And thus this soul, burning with Pure Love, melted in that divine flame, and as this continually increased, the soul was always consuming with love; therefore she completed all her duties with eagerness, never resting, that she might forget the flame that devoured her more and more. She never could speak of this to anyone, but she talked of it to herself, unheard by others. The Spirit, having now taken possession of her, said: “I will no longer call her a human creature, so entirely do I behold God in her, and with nothing human remaining.” READ: ZECHARIAH 13:9 |
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Included in this classic collection of the greatest Christian thinkers throughout history are writings from St. Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, G. K. Chesterton, Ignatius, Richard Baxter, John Wesley, Thomas a Kempis, A. W. Tozer, Hannah Whitehall Smith, Jonathan Edwards, John Milton, and Andrew Murray—all updated in contemporary English for easy accessibility.
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Daily Readings Drawn From Every Century and Every Tradition of the Christian Faith You‘ve heard their names. Now hear their hearts. They are the voices of classic Christianity through the ages... Ignatius Catherine of Siena Polycarp C.S. Lewis Dietrich Bonhoeffer John Wesley John Calvin Thomas Aquinas Karl Barth Augustine Martin Luther Billy Sunday Their names, and so many others, fill the pages of church history. Yet they remain strangers to most of us. How Great Is Our God will introduce you to Christianity’s most influential thinkers from every century and every tradition—all in one year’s worth of daily inspirations modernized for today’s reader. As you hear the convictions of these men and women across two millenniums, their foundational words will echo in your life— grounding you in the wisdom of the ages, and instilling a deeper understanding of the heart of our faith...and the greatness of our God! |
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