I once kneeled at the tomb of St. Catherine of Siena, sitting on the altar of the St. Maria Sopra Minerva Catholic church in Rome. I am not a practicing Catholic and did not know who St. Catherine was, but I was visiting the church and the nuns of the church’s convent invited me to take my turn at the single-human-spaced kneeler at the entrance to her tomb, so I did. As I knelt down and tucked my head under the outer protective wood and glass structure and bent my face toward my clasped hands, the already-quiet sounds from inside the church dropped away almost entirely. This was what some call a thin space, where the veils between dimensions are drifting and lifting. So I prayed. “Please tell me my purpose,” I asked. “What am I meant to do with my life?” Immediately, I heard an answer inside me. You don’t need to look, it said. Your purpose is already inside of you. Be patient. In time it will be revealed. 

The following year, a quote on social media caught my eye: “Be who you were created to be, and you will set the world on fire.” That’s it, I thought, remembering the message I received keeling on that altar as my eyes fell upon her name. The quote was from St. Catherine of Siena. One never knows where and how messages of wisdom come to us, but we must be open to receiving them.