Our saint for today, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha was born near the town of Auriesville, New York, in the year 1656, the daughter of a Mohawk Indian warrior. Auriesville is not too far from where I was also born in New York State, but in the middle of the 20th century. Kateri was not a particularly attractive woman – her face was disfigured from an attack of smallpox. When her parents died she was adopted by her two aunts and uncle. She converted to Catholicism when she was a teenager, and was baptized at the age of 20, incurring the great hostility of her tribe. Although she suffered greatly for her Faith, she remained firm in it. Leaving Auriesville she went to the new Christian colony of Indians in Canada. Here she lived a life dedicated to prayer, penitential practices, and care for the sick and aged. Her mainstay was the Holy Mass and she was deeply devoted to Eucharistic Adoration and to Jesus Crucified. She died April 17, 1680 at the age of twenty-four. She is known as the “Lily of the Mohawks.” Devotion to Kateri is responsible for establishment of Native American ministries in Catholic Churches all over the United States and Canada. Kateri was declared venerable by the Church in 1943 and was Beatified in 1980. Work is currently underway for her canonization. Hundreds of thousands have visited shrines to Kateri both in Canada and in Auriesville, her birthplace. I am one such visitor – having visited there when I was about 12 years old, and again just two summers ago. What an amazing experience it is to be at Auriesville which is not only her shrine, but also that of the North American Jesuit Martyrs: Isaac Jogues and companions.
The gospel passage reminds us today that “repentance” is what it is all about: turning away from what is not of God, and deliberately, resolutely and happily turning, with a great sense of relief and joy, to all things that are of God. God has always given us significant figures in Church history (such as Moses, the Prophets, Jesus himself, and all the saints who came after him, and just ordinary people like you and me) to point out the way for those who need this conversion process. Blessed are they who are attentive to the signs and allow their hearts to be melted into his – which is really the bottom line of conversion: it is a heart to heart thing; from Jesus heart to ours and then back to his!
Turn to me (says the Lord) in your need, and you will live!
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