As we continue our Novena to St Catherine, I will read a short extract from a letter she wrote to Pope Gregory, calling on him to end the conflict with Florence:

In the name of Jesus Christ Crucified and of Sweet Mary Most Holy, holy and reverent father in Christ sweet Jesus, your unworthy daughter Catherine, servant and slave of the servants of Jesus Christ, writes your Holiness in His precious blood with desire to see you achieve peace, having peace yourself and your children around you.

We often hear the phrase ‘the war is being fought on two fronts.’ This is as true for the war in the Ukraine as it is for any previous war. But there is also a deeper sense in which this war is being fought on two fronts. There is a battle going on between light and darkness, between good and evil, between grace and sin. It has never been put any better than it was by St. James over 2000 years ago. “Where do all these battles between your selves begin? Is it not in your own hearts? Is it not your passions that are at war in your members?