Homily for the Feast of Saint Catherine of Siena (Friday in the Second Week of Eastertide), delivered at Our Lady Star of the Sea, Gladstone, Qld., 2022.

"One member of the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee called Gamaliel, who was a doctor of the Law and respected by the whole people, stood up and asked to have the apostles taken outside for a time. Then he addressed the Sanhedrin, ‘Men of Israel, be careful how you deal with these people... If this enterprise, this movement of theirs, is of human origin it will break up of its own accord; but if it does in fact come from God you will not only be unable to destroy them, but you might find yourselves fighting against God.’..." (cf. Acts 5:34-42).

"Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?’ He only said this to test Philip... [but] see[ing that] they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, [he] escaped back to the hills by himself." (cf. Jn 6:1-15).

"Eternal God, eternal Trinity, you have made the blood of Christ so precious through his sharing in your divine nature. You are a mystery as deep as the sea; the more I search, the more I find, and the more I find the more I search for you. But I can never be satisfied; what I receive will ever leave me desiring more. When you fill my soul I have an even greater hunger, and I grow more famished for your light. I desire above all to see you, the true light, as you really are." (From the dialogue On Divine Providence by Saint Catherine of Siena, virgin and doctor).

Artwork: Saint Stephen Mourned by Saints Gamaliel and Nicodemus, by a follower of Carlo Saraceni, (c. 1615).