the time with receiving holy Communion on Sunday. No, let those who are unaware, be informed that sanctity is not measured by fasting but by holy charity: let them know that we should not decide upon things with which we are not acquainted, and also hear the words of incarnate wisdom on this subject. (Luke, vii. 32) " Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation ? and to what are they like ? They are like children sitting in the marketplace, and speaking one to another, and saying: we have piped to you, and you have not danced: we have mourned, and you have not wept?" And our Lord adds. "John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and you say: he has a devil. The son of man is come eating and drinking; and you say, that he is a glutton and a drinker of wine." These words of the Saviour refute those who offered the first named objection to Catherine.
As to the second, those who avoid all extraordinary ways, we may easily reply, that if a soul ought not to adopt these ways through an impulse of self-will, she ought to follow them with gratitude, when God deigns to indicate them; she would otherwise despise his grace, and when the Scripture says that the just man ought not to seek what is above him, he adds directly: For many things are shown to thee above the understanding of men (Eccl. iii. 25) That is, thou must not be inquisitive concerning things above thee; but if God reveals it to thee, be thankful. This happened in the case of which we are now speaking; the agency of God was manifest and no one had a right to apply the common rule. The servant of God concealed this under the veil of sincere humility, when she answered those who asked her why she took no nourishment: "God," said she, "on account of my
