For Catherine, God may test humanity, provoke growth with suffering, and even permit the devil to tempt souls. But God never violates or coerces human free will—an arena that is off-limits to the devil as well. Participation in the incarnation is not automatic but depends on our desires. Catherine warns against purely external and superficial engagement with God. She encourages her followers to attend to their deepest desires because it is precisely these authentic desires within their hearts that make possible the link between the human and the divine.
—from Accidental Theologians: Four Women Who Shaped Christianity
by Elizabeth Dreyer
