Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
Dominican tertiary, Doctor of the Church, co-patron of Europe
On Providence and Mercy; chapt. 7 The dialogues
I know well what you need!
HOW CAN people see me [God] feeding and nurturing the worm within the dry wood, pasturing the brute beasts, nourishing the fish in the sea, all the animals on earth and the birds in the air, commanding the sun to shine on the plants and the dew to fertilize the soil, and not believe that I nourish them as well, my creatures made in my image and likeness? As a matter of fact, all this is done by my goodness to serve them.
No matter where they turn, spiritually and materially they will find nothing but my deep burning charity and the greatest, gentle, true, perfect providence. But he does not see, because he has deprived himself of the light, and he does not want to see. From then on he is scandalized by the ordeal, he restricts his charity towards his neighbor, he becomes miserly and worries about tomorrow, as if my Truth had not forbidden him when it said: “Do not worry about tomorrow: for each day has enough trouble of its own” (Mt 6:34)! He thus reproached you for your lack of confidence, by putting my providence and the brevity of time before your eyes. Don’t worry about tomorrow, he said. It is as if he had said: Do not worry about what you are not sure of having: it is enough to be contented with the present day.
He taught you to ask first for the kingdom of heaven, that is, for the good and holy life. As for these trivial things, I know well, your Father in heaven, that you need them, since it is for you that I made them, since it is for you that I commanded the earth to give you its fruits.