In the list of things we value, close relationships would probably be featured near the top, along with health and life itself. Relationships and friendships are precious, aren’t they? Without them, we could hardly get through life. Have you ever thought about the number of times Jesus revealed the preeminent relationship in His life, His relationship with His heavenly Father? Throughout the Gospels, Jesus tells His followers that there is a profound and unique intimacy to this relationship, but it is not a closed circle from which all others are excluded. Thanks be to God for that!
Each of us is invited into the bond of trust and love between Jesus and the Father. After all, Jesus still reveals and shares the Father with us. Together, they seek to draw us into their mutual relationship. We, then, are asked to reflect their love to others. For this to happen, we are given abundant grace and we are asked to adopt the innocence and trust of a child.
In this spirit, the Church celebrates today the Feastday of St. Kateri Tekakwitha. She was the first Native American to be canonized and is affectionately known as the “Lily of the Mohawks.” She lived a life of holiness, simplicity, innocence, and virtue, despite obstacles and opposition within her tribe. She was born to a Christian Algonquin woman and a pagan Mohawk chief. When she was a child, a smallpox epidemic attacked her tribe and both of her parents died. She was left with permanent scars on her face and impaired eyesight.
When three Jesuit missionary Fathers were visiting the tribe in 1667, they spoke to her of Christ, and though she did not ask to be Baptized, she believed in Jesus with an incredible intensity and a yearning for God’s friendship. She had to struggle to maintain her faith amidst the opposition of her people who ridiculed her for it and ostracized her for refusing the marriage that had been planned for her. When she was 18, she finally asked to be Baptized.
Eventually, St. Kateri escaped from her village and arrived in the town of Caughnawaga in Quebec, near Montreal, where she grew in holiness and cultivated a great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. She lived out the last years of her short life there, practicing austerity and constant prayer. Many miracles were attributed to her while she was still alive. She died in 1680, at the age of 24. Witnesses reported that within minutes of her death, the scars from smallpox completely vanished and her face shone with radiant beauty.
Let us pray. “O Saint Kateri, your love for Jesus was so strong, so steadfast; we pray that we may become like you. Your short and painful life showed us your strength, humility and childlike innocence. Pray that we may become humble like you. Like the bright and shining stars at night, we pray that your light may forever shine down upon us, giving light, hope, peacefulness, and serenity in our darkest moments. Through your generous intercession, fill our hearts with your love for Jesus and pray that we may have the strength and courage to join you one day in the glory of heaven. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
