“I have nothing to give but what You Yourself have given me.” (St. Catherine of Siena)
When we take these words of St. Catherine of Siena deeply to heart, we awaken to the joyful reality of our lives, for they lead us into loving humility. The Heavenly Father has given us everything and entrusted it to us. It is His vineyard to which we are called, and He gives us everything we need to be good workers. Everything that is pompous, self‑centered, vain, or proud seems like a masquerade that all too often parodies the very essence of our existence.
How simple, by contrast, is our saint’s insight. It comes from our Heavenly Father, who, of course, gives her everything in His love. With the gifts bestowed upon her, she glorified the Father and served Him. This makes her happy and fulfills her. She will never forget that these are our Father’s gifts. She will never treat them as if she had produced them herself by her own authority. She will be careful not to commit “spiritual theft,” as though she were the mistress of someone else’s property.
Our Father has made it easy for us. The more we realize that everything comes from the Father’s love, the more natural our lives become. They unfold before our eyes, and everything becomes a proclamation of our Father’s goodness and wisdom. Thus, our lives become an act of thanksgiving, and we remain aware that we are the recipients and the gifted ones, and that everything comes from the “Father of lights” (James 1:17). Then we become still and worship Him.