  This was in my inbox just before the christmas holidays. I was struck by how spot on it was: we usually have thoughts of worship and praise and the grace of God, but they often do not translate into any real life-transformations: 12/17/03 When Theology Becomes Doxology Jill Carattini More than six hundred years ago, a young Italian laywoman brought to a dark world a quiet but reverberating voice. Catherine of Siena, as she is remembered, lived within a century marked by insecurity and fear, war and economic distress, terrifying disease, and corruption within the Church.
Yet, her short life was one marked by a passion for the truth, intense care for humanity, and a fervent life of prayer. Administering care at the bedsides of plague victims, writing letters to feuding church leaders, she emphatically declared in word and deed, "The way has been made. It is the doctrine of Christ crucified. Whoever walks along this way&#8230; reaches the most perfect light. " (Footnote 1: Mary O&rsquo;Driscoll, Ed., Catherine of Siena (New City Press: Hype Park, NY, 1993), 13.
) Not surprisingly, Catherine is best remembered as a compassionate intercessor, for she prayed with the same intensity with which she lived. "O eternal God&#8230; I have nothing to give except what you have given me, so take my heart and squeeze it out over the face of the Bride. " (Footnote 2: Ibid, 11. ) In the frailty of her own life, which was racked with great illness and sorrow, Catherine&rsquo;s severe desire was that God would take her life as an offering, using her in whatever way to mend the vast brokenness all around her.
Reading through a book of her collected prayers and letters recently, I was struck by a phrase the editor used to describe Catherine of Siena in prayer. In her prayers, the editor notes, "her theology becomes doxology. " The statement is certainly rich with thought. What Catherine believed to be true about God became in her prayers&#8212;and arguably in her life&#8212;an expression of praise to God. But think about this. Shouldn&rsquo;t all of our theology naturally lead us to doxology? That is, shouldn&rsquo;t our understanding of God and of God's relation to the world naturally become expressions of praise to God?
==== Copyright(c) 2003 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. A Slice of Infinity is a ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries 
