Catherine wept and humbly replied, like St. Peter; "Lord, thou know what I will, thou know that I have no other will than thine, and that thy Heart is my heart." Then the thought was suggested to her that Mary Magdalen gave herself totally to our Lord, when she bathed his sacred feet with her tears; and as she felt the sweetness and the love which that Saint then experienced, her eyes remained fixed upon her. Our Lord to correspond to her desires, said to her. "My beloved daughter, in order to sustain thee, I give thee, Mary Magdalen for mother; thou can address thyself to her in all assurance, I charge her with you in a special manner." Catherine was profoundly moved to thanksgiving and recommended herself with fervor to Mary Magdalen; she humbly implored her to watch over her salvation, since the Son of God had entrusted her to her care. From that moment she enjoyed a tender devotion towards that Saint, and always called her Mother. There is, it appears to me, a signification in these relations with Mary Magdalen that we ought to observe. That Saint passed thirty-three years on a rock, without taking any nourishment and in continual contemplation; those years represent the life of our Lord upon earth; Catherine, from that apparition, until her thirty-third year, (in which she died,) was so absorbed in divine contemplation, that she had no need of any aliment and lived by the graces that superabounded in her soul. Mary Magdalen, seven times a day was borne towards heaven by Angels, and beheld the secrets of God; Catherine was continually ravished in celestial contemplation, in order to praise God and the Angels, and her body was often raised above the earth, in presence of a multitude of witness. Hence she saw, as I will relate, admirable
