Something that might not be obvious in the first reading is the fact that Paul and Barnabas at first didn't know what was about to happen until they got surprised by the sacrifice, because in Iconium, or in Lyconia, they spoke a dialect that was very different from Greek, so they couldn't understand what the crowd was saying about the gods have come down to us in human form and calling Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes. So suddenly a priest shows up with a bull that he wants to sacrifice in their honor, and they have to rush into the crowd and stop this.
But I mainly want to talk today about Saint Catherine of Siena, who was born in 1347 in that city. She was the 24th of 25 siblings, which could be a good argument for her large families.
If we don't see the saints we'd like to see in the world, maybe they just aren't being born.
When she was six years old, she had her first vision. Christ appeared to her over the Dominican Church. Among the white-robed figures with him, she recognized three holy apostles, Saints Peter, Paul, and John. At the age of seven, she made a vow of virginity, but her father opposed her vocation for many years, until the day he saw a dove hovering over her head in her room as she prayed. Her intense life of prayer led her to desire to join the Mantillate, a group of Dominican tertiaries. There too, she found it difficult to be accepted, because the others were widows and she was unmarried, a 16 year old virgin. She persisted, however, and at 18, finally received their habit. Unlike the other members of the group, she didn't spend her days in works of charity. She began to live in solitude and silence in her room, going out only for Mass.
Despite the extraordinary graces she received, she still had a hard fight to subject the flesh to the Spirit. As signs of her unusual holiness began to appear, some admired her, others envied her, and some just saw her as a problem. When she would go into ecstasy during Mass, the Dominicans would sometimes drag her out of the church and leave her on the porch. At the beginning of Lent in 1367, Christ mystically espoused himself to her, giving her a wedding ring that only he could see, or only she could see, rather. 
And so now, the contemplative, having completed her purification, became active. Urged on by charity, she served her family, which had fallen into poverty after the death of her father. She also went around serving the poor, to whose doors she brought bread, wine, flour, and eggs by night. Her family members soon became convinced that her charity was not just blessed by God, but even miraculous. In Siena, the cask of Saint Catherine is still proverbial. Although the wine that it held should have run out within three weeks, the tap continued to supply wine for over six months. Her prayers obtained the miraculous healing of her mother, to keep her from dying a mortal sin. At a time when mortal hatred, plague, leprosy, and cancer were wreaking havoc on souls and bodies, the saint, carrying a staff and a lantern, entered the homes of enemies to make peace with them, and went into Nazaretos and hospitals to serve, console, convert, and to help the suffering die well. 
Disciples began to gather around her, and she also worked miracles. She had to suffer calumnies even from people whom she had especially helped, but she patiently bore it until she converted them, and they confessed that they had lied about her. 
In 1373, she began writing letters to princes, urging them to respect justice and preserve peace. She also wrote to clergymen, asking them, or urging them to be exemplary in virtue. Despite her awareness of the human shortcomings of priests, St. Catherine always felt very great reverence for them. Through the sacraments and the Word, they dispensed the saving power of Christ's blood. Her profound and constant love for the Church was the sole motive that led her to urge them, including the Pope, whom she called the sweet Christ on Earth, to be faithful to their responsibilities.
The following year, she went to Florence, 1374, where the Dominicans were holding their general chapter. The chapter entrusted her spiritual direction to Blessed Raymond of Capua.
To see if God was really working in her, he thought of a test. He asked her to obtain for him the forgiveness of his sins, and as a sign of this, a greater contrition than he had ever felt in his life. As a theologian, he knew that only the Holy Spirit could produce true contrition.
The next day, as he was speaking with her, he had a vision in which he received what he had asked for. They went on to become very dear friends. In one of her last letters, she referred to him as the father and son given to me by that gentle Mother Mary.
On April 1st of the following year, 1375, she was in the Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria in Pisa. While she was absorbed in prayer in front of the crucifix, bright rays came from it and impressed the stigmata in her flesh. They remained invisible at her request. 
One of the great problems of the Church at that time was that the Pope lived in Avignon and served the interests of France. St. Brigid had managed to get Blessed Urban V to return to Rome, but then he gave up and went back to France, where he soon died and was succeeded by Gregory XI. St. Catherine put everything that she had into convincing the new Pope to return. She prayed and sent letters. She even made a trip to Avignon herself as the ambassador of Florence, which had rebelled against the Pope, come to regret it, and now sought peace. God was also working in the Pope's heart to bring him back to Rome. He had made a secret vow to return, but when he spoke to his court about going to Rome, they were so opposed that he left his vow unfulfilled. When St. Catherine was talking to him, she said, fulfill what you have promised to God. He was amazed that she could know the secret to God that he had never revealed to anyone, and took this as a sign from God that he had to return. Overcoming all obstacles, he and his court left Avignon on September 16, 1376. 
He died not long after his return, and his successor was Urban VI, who had a problem with anger. St. Catherine wrote letters pleading with him, but his severity soon led to a break with the Cardinals. They declared his election invalid and elected another Pope, who was really an anti-Pope. Unfortunately, few could tell who the real Pope was. Were the Cardinals telling the truth when they said the election was invalid, or were they not telling the truth? And so, Christendom became divided with different parts of Europe following different Popes.
St. Catherine died at just 33, having said, in leaving my body, truly I have consumed and given my life in the Church and for the Holy Church, which is for me a most unique grace.
We have a collection of her letters, and at one we read this, remember Christ crucified, God and man, make your aim the crucified Christ, hide in the wounds of Christ, and drown in the blood of the crucified Christ. She had a special devotion to the precious blood. Her masterpiece, however, was the dialogue of divine providence, or as she would say, God's masterpiece, or he had dictated it to her, or it was a dialogue between her and God. In it, she describes Christ with an unusual image as a bridge flung between heaven and earth. This bridge consists of three great stairways, constituted by the feet, the side, and the mouth of Jesus. Rising by these stairways, the soul passes through these three stages of every path to sanctification, detachment from sin, the practice of the virtues, and of love especially, and finally, sweet and loving union with God. God speaks in the dialogue of how we must grow out of slavish fear and mercenary love and come to the love of friendship, and then God says, I will show myself to them, just as my truth said, those who love me will be one with me and I with them, and I will show myself to them, and we will make our dwelling place together. 
This is how it is with very dear friends. Their loving affection makes them two bodies with one soul, because love transforms one into what one loves, and if these souls are made one soul with me, nothing can be kept hidden from them. 
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever