"For those who desire Eternal Life, a pure love, prescinding from themselves, is necessary, for it is
not enough for eternal life to fly sin from fear of punishment, or to embrace virtue from the motive
of one's own advantage. Sin should be abandoned because it is displeasing to Me, and virtue should be
loved for My sake. It is true that, generally speaking, every person is first called in this way, but
this is because the soul herself is at first imperfect, from which imperfection she must advance to
perfection, either while she lives, by a generous love to Me with a pure and virtuous heart that takes
no thought for herself, or, at least, in the moment of death, recognizing her own imperfection, with
the purpose, had she but time, of serving Me, irrespectively of herself.
"If they love Me, as a servant does his master, I pay them their wages according to their desserts, but I do not
reveal Myself to them, because secrets are revealed to a friend, who has become one thing with his friend, and
not to a servant...a servant may so advance by the virtuous love, which he bears to his master as to become a very
dear friend...but while they remain in the state of mercenary love, I do not manifest Myself to them."
Dialog of Catherine of Siena
Where many of the mystics write of the soaring heights and depths of the soul in God, Catherine of
Siena's work seems remarkably plain in it's content. From beginning to end it is little more than
an exposition of the basic doctrines of the Christian faith, and a treatment of some questions arising
from those doctrines. It is, however, the richest and most sublime treatment of those doctrines that
I have ever encountered; perhaps due to the fact that this document was reported to have been dictated
from the depths of an ecstatic trance, as if God Himself were opening the scriptures to her. In reading
it I was constantly stunned by the depth of understanding of her (God's?) exposition. It is not only
an excellent bridge between fundamental Christian doctrine and higher mystical theology, but it is the
best basic theology textbook I can imagine, with it's sole end the capturing of the soul by a revelation
of the love of God revealed in all things. This is definitely a book to be read slowly and
savored. If someone would update the language and break up some
of the 60-word sentences, it would make a wonderful discipleship manual.