Here we discuss some important concepts from the Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena, which we will abbreviate as (CS).
Saint Catherine of Siena is one of only four women given the title of doctor of the church, meaning that her writings, including the mystical, “The Dialogue” and her prayers and letters, have special authority in Roman Catholicism. The other three women doctors of the Church are Saint Hildegard of Bingen, Saint Teresa of Avila, and Saint Therese of Lisieux.
First, we will learn that God the Father has nothing from God the Son.
In St. Catherine of Siena’s book titled “The Dialogue of the Seraphic Virgin”, in chapter 62 titled, ”Why Christ did not say I will manifest My Father, but I will manifest Myself”, God the Father says:
Chapter 26: “My Word said, “Who sees Me sees the Father, and who sees the Father sees Me.” This He said because He was one thing with Me, and that which He had, He had from Me, I having nothing from Him; wherefore, again, He said to Judas, “My doctrine is not Mine, but My Fathers who sent Me”, because My Son proceeds from Me, not I from Him, though I with Him and He with Me are but one thing. For this reason He did not say, I will manifest the Father, but I will manifest Myself being one thing with the Father.” (CS)
So, here we learn that God the Father has nothing from God the Son because God the Son proceeds from God the Father.
Using this same line of reasoning, since God the Holy Spirit proceeds from both God the Father and God the Son, then God the Father has nothing from God the Holy Spirit and God the Son has nothing from God the Holy Spirit.
Since God the Father has nothing from God the Son, then God the Father’s own Personal Word, does not originate from God the Son.
Since God the Father has nothing from God the Holy Spirit, then God the Father’s own Personal Love, does not originate from God the Holy Spirit.
Since God the Son has nothing from God the Holy Spirit, the God the Son’s own Personal Love does not originate from God the Holy Spirit.
Since God is selfless Love as is written in the 1st Book of St. John 4:7 “He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity.”, then each Divine Person is pure Love itself:
God the Father is pure Love, God the Son is pure Love and God the Holy Spirit is pure Love.
Therefore, the Love of God the Father begot God the Son, and the Love between God the Father and God the Son, generates God the Holy Spirit.
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We will now learn that the Divine Nature cannot suffer; however, God the Father endured Jesus' crucifixion.
Eternal Deity is defined as the Divine Nature
Page 71: Chapter 22: “It was, therefore, necessary to join human nature with the height of My nature, the Eternal Deity, so that it might be sufficient to satisfy for the whole human race, so that human nature should sustain the punishment, and that the Divine nature, united with the human, should make acceptable the sacrifice of My only Son, offered to Me to take death from you and to give you life.” (CS)
The Divine nature, though united with the human, could suffer no pain.
Chapter 78: “Such as these follow the Immaculate Lamb, My only-begotten Son, Who was both blessed and sorrowful on the Cross. He was sorrowful in that He bore the cross of the Body, suffering pain and the cross of desire, in order to satisfy for the guilt of the human race, and He was blessed, because the Divine nature, though united with the human, could suffer no pain, but always kept His Soul in a state of blessedness, being revealed without a veil to her, so that He was both blessed and sorrowful, for, while the flesh endured, neither the Deity nor the superior part of the soul, which is above the intellect, could suffer. (CS)
A human being is made of body, soul, and spirit. We learn this from Jesus Christ to the prophet John Leary:
Thursday, November 9, 2017: (The dedication of Lateran Basilica) Jesus said: “My people, it is good to recognize your body as the house for your soul and spirit. The human person is made up of body, soul, and spirit. Just as the angels are spirits without bodies, you are also spirits contained in an earthly body. I have given you this lesson before, but you need to remember how all three make up a human person. The spirit is how you are conscious of Me, and it is seen as intuition, conscience, and communion with God. The soul is how you are conscious of self, and it is seen in the mind, emotions, free will, and the intellect. The body is how you are conscious of the world through all of your senses. This is why you can think of the body as a holy temple..." (JL)
So, this implies that the human spirit is the superior part of the soul, which is above the intellect. Now Jesus Christ was fully Divine and fully human, so He did have a human spirit as part of His soul, which contained His intuition, conscience, and communion with God. However, Jesus Christ's human spirit was one with the Holy Spirit, just as the Mother of God's spirit was one with her Divine Spouse, the Holy Spirit. I believe this may be why Jesus Christ did not suffer in his spirit as God the Father said, '"for, while the flesh endured, neither the Deity nor the superior part of the soul, which is above the intellect, could suffer. "
Divine Nature drew to Himself the pain
Note, this is Jesus speaking: Chapter 75: “Thou seest then that these Baptisms, which you should all receive until the last moment, are continual, and though My works, that is the pains of the Cross were finite, the fruit of them which you receive in Baptism, through Me, are infinite. This is in virtue of the infinite Divine nature, united with the finite human nature, which human nature endures pain in Me, the Word, clothed with your humanity. But because the one nature is steeped in and united with the other, the Eternal Deity drew to Himself the pain, which I suffered with so much fire and love. And therefore can this operation be called infinite, not that My pain, neither the actuality of the body be infinite, nor the pain of the desire that I had to complete your redemption, because it was terminated and finished on the Cross, when the Soul was separated from the Body ; but the fruit, which came out of the pain and desire for your salvation, is infinite, and therefore you receive it infinitely. Had it not been infinite, the whole human generation could not have been restored to grace, neither the past, the present, nor the future.” (CS)
God the Father cannot have pain, but God the Son can have pain.
Chapter 53: You were all invited, generally and in particular, by My Truth, when He cried in the Temple, saying : Whosoever thirsteth, let him come to Me and drink, for I am the Fountain of the Water of Life! He did not say Go to the Father and drink? but He said Come to Me. He spoke thus, because in Me, the Father, there can be no pain, but in My Son there can be pain. And you, while you are pilgrims and wayfarers in this mortal life, cannot be without pain, because the earth, through sin, brought forth thorns. (CS)
God the Father cannot suffer pain but he did endure when Jesus was crucified
Chapter 126: “It is thy duty to be a mirror of honour, and thou art a mirror of shame. Thou hast directed all the members of thy body to work wickedness, and doest the contrary of that which My truth did for thee. I endured that His eyes should be veiled, for thy better illumination, and with thy lascivious eyes thou aimest poisoned arrows at thy own soul, and the heart of those on whom thou gazest with such miserable passion. "I endured that My Son should drink gall and vinegar, and thou, like a disordered animal, delightest thyself in delicate viands, making of thy belly thy god ; the foolish language of dishonour dwells on thy tongue, with which thou art bound to counsel thy neighbour, to announce My word, and heartily recite the divine office. Yet I perceive nothing but the stench of thy profanity, of thy constant blasphemy, for thou swearest and perjurest thyself like an auctioneer. I endured that My Son's hands should be bound, in order to set thee and the whole race of man free from the bonds of sin, and thy hands which have been anointed and consecrated, and administer the most holy sacrament, are hideously occupied in loathsome touches.” (CS)
So, God the Father did not endure pain as He said but He did endure something that was not pleasant as He watched His Son’ passion and crucifixion. Who can measure what God the Father and God the Holy Spirit endured during God the Son’s passion? Very likely what They endured was equivalent in some way to God the Son’s pain and suffering in His human nature.
God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are also offended when we sin, which is also not pleasant for Them.
In the same book, God the Father also said He laid down His life for us and condescended to our passions and weaknesses as shown in the next two quotes.
Chapter 26: “My Goodness, seeing that in no other way could you be drawn to Me, I sent Him in order that He should be lifted on high on the wood of the Cross, making of it an anvil on which My Son, born of human generation, should be re-made, in order to free you from death, and to re-store you to the life of grace ; wherefore He drew everything to Himself by this means, namely, by showing the ineffable love, with which I love you, the heart of man being always attracted by love. Greater love, then, I could not show you, than to lay down My life for you; perforce, then, My Son was treated in this way by love, in order that ignorant man should be unable to resist being drawn to Me." (CS)
Chapter 47: “And truly they have no excuse, because I have condescended to their passions and weaknesses in such a way that they, wishing to remain in the world, can do so, possessing riches, retaining their dignities, living in the state of matrimony, bringing up their children, and striving for them, and remaining in whatever condition they may choose, provided that they truly cut out the venom of their own sensuality, which gives eternal death.” (CS)
In addition, God the Father is offended when people sin as shown next.
Chapter 37: “Wherefore, they, having depreciated My mercy, I with justice send them, with their cruel servant, sensuality, and the cruel tyrant the Devil, whose servants they made themselves through their own sensuality, so that, together, they are punished and tormented, as together they have offended Me. Tormented, I say, by My ministering devils whom My judgment has appointed to torment those who have done evil." (CS)
God the Father said, “they are punished and tormented, as together they have offended Me.” This Implies that although God the Father cannot have pain, when He is offended, He experiences something so unpleasant that it causes Him to send unrepented sinners, to Hell for all eternity.
Therefore, even though God the Father cannot have pain, he did lay down His life for us, condescended to our passions and weakness, and is offended when people sin.
When you see Jesus Christ on the cross, you also see God the Father on the cross, because Jesus said; John 14:9 “Jesus saith to him: Have I been so long a time with you; and have you not known me? Philip, he that seeth me seeth the Father also. How sayest thou, shew us the Father?"
And although God the Father cannot have pain, but God the Son can have pain, God the Father must have experienced something very unpleasant when He sent His only begotten Son, because otherwise, why would scripture read “For God so loved the world”, John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting.” This means that it was a sacrifice of God the Father to give His only begotten Son.
So, when we look at Jesus Christ on the cross, we also see God the Father and God the Holy Spirit on the cross, and although They cannot have pain, they endured watching God the Son endure His pain.
We have yet to be told what God the Father and God the Holy Spirit experienced as God the Son suffered pain, but it is certain that all three Divine Persons were experiencing something very real as they are One God, and this is why God the Father said to Saint Catherine of Siena, “Greater love, then, I could not show you, than to lay down My life for you; perforce, then, My Son was treated in this way by love, in order that ignorant man should be unable to resist being drawn to Me.”