July 14 2021 - St. Kateri Tekakwitha - The blossoming of real holiness

 Kateri Tekakwitha was born at Auriesville, New York in 1656, near the place where the Jesuits St. Isaac Jogues and John de Brebeuf had been martyred—tomahawked by Iroquois warriors just nine years before. 

Kateri’s mother was an Algonquin who had been baptized, but she was taken captive by the Iroquois and given as a wife to the chief of the Mohawk tribe.   Two children were born of this marriage, but only Kateri survived; her parents and her brother died in a smallpox epidemic when Kateri was 4 years old.  Kateri’s own face was permanently disfigured and her eyesight was impaired because of the disease.  

New Jesuit missionaries were granted permission by the new chief of the Mohawks to minister to the Christians, most of them Iroquois captives like Kateri’s mother. And Since her mother was Catholic, Kateri was allowed to study the catechism with the Jesuits.  She was baptized on Easter Sunday at the age of 19.

At 23, she took a vow of virginity, consecrating herself to the Lord. But the celibate life was not held in high regard among the Mohawks, and Kateri was subject to constant abuse and insults.  She was ridiculed for keeping Holy the Sabbath and for praying the Rosary. 

On the advice of a priest, she fled the abuse and walked two hundred miles to an Indian Mission village near Montreal.  There she devoted herself to prayer and works of charity and penance and her sanctity blossomed.  She is known as the Lily of the Mohawks.  

Kateri herself said: “I am not my own; I have given myself to Jesus.  He must be my only love.”  She was beatified by Pope St John Paul II in 1980 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

At her canonization, Pope Benedict said, “Her greatest wish was to know and to do what pleased God. She lived a life radiant with faith and purity.  Kateri impresses us by the action of grace in her life in spite of the absence of external help…”

Kateri repeats the example of so many saints before her: Holiness thrives on the cross, it blossoms on the cross. Faith grows when its tested. Charity grows when it costs something. Holiness is like a muscle that grows through resistance training: it only gets stronger as it’s strained. 

St. Kateri had to face quite difficult circumstances, hostility, open hostility by those closest to her for loving Jesus. She is a model for all those who are rejected by their own because of their fidelity to Christ. 

May Kateri, Lily of the Mohawks, help us all to endure our crosses faithfully and to blossom in holiness for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That every nation, tribe, and tongue may be gathered into the Church of Christ and magnify Him through works of praise.

That all those persecuted for their faith may know the strengthening grace of the Lord and come to receive the reward of the saints for their perseverance.

For the consecrated virgins of the Church, that as Christ as their spouse, they may inspire us to seek Him above all things. 

For the healing of all those afflicted with physical, mental, emotional illness, for those in hospitals, nursing homes, hospice care, those struggling with addictions, for those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for deceased priests and religious, for those who have fought and died for our freedom, we pray to the Lord.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ our Lord.