A word from St. Catherine of Siena

“If you are what you should be, you will set the world on fire”

– St. Catherine of Siena

I’ve told this to my kids all their lives, even before I knew Catherine had said it: If you do the thing you’re born to do, you will excel, you will excite, you will change things.

“But how do you know what you’re born to do?” they would ask, “If you do lots of things well, how do you know what you are born to do?”

Some of us might not be so blessed, of course, maybe some of us can only do one thing, but we do it very well. I think most people have several things they can do well…but only one thing they do exceedingly well, a thing that, when they engage in it, places them outside of time.

“What’s the thing you can do that you can really lose yourself in – so that when you look at the clock you find yourself surprised at how much time has gone by…and you are not tired at all.” I would ask them. “That’s the thing to look at. If it lifts you up rather than drags you down…if it takes you out of time and into the Eternal – that’s it, that’s the divine spark!”

And it’s not just about life in general, either. It’s about faith, too. And surrender. Think about it.

When God visits you with measureless gifts, let your memory open immediately to receive what your intellect knows in His divine love, and let your will rise with burning desire to receive and gaze at the blazing heart of the giver, the gentle, good Jesus. Thus, you will find yourself burning and clothed with fire, and with the gift of the blood of God’s Son, and you will be free from all pain and unease. This is what took away the pain of the holy disciples when they had to leave Mary and one another, although they willingly bore the separation in order to spread the word of God.

Run, run, run.
— Saint Catherine of Siena

UPDATE: A reader sent me to this website of an 11-year old artist. Seems to fit a bit with this post.