Today, July 14, we celebrate the feast day of
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha (pronounced
Gah-deh-lee Deh-gah-quee-tah, 1656-1680). Known as the “Lily of the Mohawks,” Kateri demonstrated an instinctive and deep faith, committing herself to the Lord despite her tribe’s and family’s objections. For her newfound love of Christ, Kateri suffered, never losing faith. Her purity of life, and love for all God’s creatures, inspired growing devotion among her people, and led to countless missions across the United States and Canada ministering to the people of the First Nations.
Tekakwitha was born in modern-day New York state, near Ossernenon, in the territory of the Mohawk Indians. Her father was a Mohawk chief, but her mother was a Christian Algonquin captive. When Tekakwitha was four, her parents and infant brother died from smallpox. She suffered alongside them, with the same illness, but through the grace of God recovered. The disease, however, left her face covered with little scars and her vision was damaged such that bright lights caused her intense pain. She was adopted by her father's brother and his wife.
Tekakwitha lived a typical life from that time on, working and tending to her uncle’s family. During her teens, French priests (known as the “Blackrobes”) established a mission at Caughnawaga, her uncle's village. Tekakwitha, curious about her mother’s faith, wished to speak with them—but she was very shy and her uncle forbade it. She obeyed her uncle, until one day, home alone with a foot injury, Father Jacques de Lamberville, one of the Blackrobes, passed by her door. Thinking no one was home, he ducked his head in the door, finding Tekakwitha. She told him that she wished to be a Christian.
After preparation, Tekakwitha was baptized on Easter Sunday. She took the name of Kateri, which is the Mohawk translation of Catherine. She took her new faith to heart and had a great love for Jesus and His holy mother, Mary. Kateri’s family was angered by her conversion, and began treating her as a slave. As she refused to work on Sundays, she was given no food that day. They attempted to trick her into marrying, but she had consecrated herself to the Lord, instinctively remaining a virgin despite not knowing the call to celibacy common in religious life. Generally an outcast in her village, she sought the advice of the Blackrobes, eventually leaving the village and traveling on foot and by canoe over three hundred miles to Montreal.
In Montreal, ad the Saint Francis-Xavier Mission, Kateri made her First Eucharist, during which her eyes were miraculously healed. She continued to serve the mission, spending long hours in prayer and demonstrating great love and kindness for all—especially the sick, the abandoned, and the elderly. She is remembered for saying,
“Who will teach me what is most pleasing to God, so I may do it?” She made crosses for the local children out of the bark of trees, and prayed the Rosary without ceasing.
Vocalizing her desire to become a nun, she asked permission to build a convent near the mission. Dissuaded by her confessor, who believed her to be too young and inexperienced, Kateri was content to continue her “ordinary” life of service without taking the veil. She maintained her vows of chastity and poverty.
Unfortunately, sick for most of her life, Kateri died at the young age of 24, her last words being,
“Jesus, Mary, I love You!” Within minutes of her death, the ugly smallpox scars faded from her face, and a sweet smile appeared on her lips. Before her death, Kateri promised her friends that she would continue to love and pray for them in heaven. Both Native Americans and settlers immediately began praying for her heavenly intercession. Several people, including a priest who attended Kateri during her last illness, reported that Kateri had appeared to them and many healing miracles were attributed to her. Kateri was beatified in 1980, and the cause for her Canonization is underway.
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha is remembered for saying:
“I am not my own; I have given myself to Jesus. He must be my only love. The state of helpless poverty that may befall me if I do not marry does not frighten me. All I need is a little food and a few pieces of clothing. With the work of my hands I shall always earn what is necessary and what is left over I’ll give to my relatives and to the poor. If I should become sick and unable to work, then I shall be like the Lord on the cross. He will have mercy on me and help me, I am sure.” Her life and words inspire us to an “ordinary” life of service, sacrifice, and confidence in the Lord. Instinctually, without instruction, this Lily of the Mohawks followed her heart, giving herself in her entirety to God. We are called to do the same, listening to our hearts, where the message of the Lord resides within us. What are we called to do today?
Blessed Kateri, favored child and Lily of the Mohawks, I come to seek your intercession in my present need.
I admire the virtues which adorned your soul: love of God and neighbor, humility, obedience, patience, purity and the spirit of sacrifice. Help me to imitate your example in my state of life. Through the goodness and mercy of God, Who has blessed you with so many graces which led you to the true faith and to a high degree of holiness, pray to God for me and help me.
Obtain for me a very fervent devotion to the Holy Eucharist so that I may love Holy Mass as you did and receive Holy Communion as often as I can. Teach me also to be devoted to my crucified Savior as you were, that I may cheerfully bear my daily crosses for love of Him Who suffered so much for love of me. Most of all I beg you to pray for me that I may avoid sin, lead a holy life and save my soul. Amen.
Inspired by the origins and spiritual history of the Holy Rosary, we continue our meditation on the psalms, one each day, in order, for 150 days.
Today’s Psalm: Psalm 80: Prayer for the Restoration of the Lord’s Vineyard
1 Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock;
you who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth
2 before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Awaken your might;
come and save us.
3 Restore us, O God;
make your face shine upon us,
that we may be saved.
4 O LORD God Almighty,
how long will your anger smolder
against the prayers of your people?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears;
you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.
6 You have made us a source of contention to our neighbors,
and our enemies mock us.
7 Restore us, O God Almighty;
make your face shine upon us,
that we may be saved.
8 You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it,
and it took root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches.
11 It sent out its boughs to the Sea,
its shoots as far as the River.
12 Why have you broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pick its grapes?
13 Boars from the forest ravage it
and the creatures of the field feed on it.
14 Return to us, O God Almighty!
Look down from heaven and see!
Watch over this vine,
15 the root your right hand has planted,
the son you have raised up for yourself.
16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire;
at your rebuke your people perish.
17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
the son of man you have raised up for yourself.
18 Then we will not turn away from you;
revive us, and we will call on your name.
19 Restore us, O LORD God Almighty;
make your face shine upon us,
that we may be saved.
Day 195 of 365
Prayer Intentions: Moments of true encounter with the Lord; Conversion.
Requested Intentions: For successful conception (I); Thanksgiving for blessings received (K); Healing and financial assistance (F); Employment; Discernment of God’s will (A); Healing of illness (P); Small business assistance, blessings on jobs, financial aid for college student (M); Financial assistance (F); For a recovery and sanctification (X); For a daughter struggling with disease and illness (T); For all lost children (I); Prosperity, health, healing, and conversion for a family (M); Health and healing of a mother (A); Healing of heart and mind (T); Health for an ailing nephew (A); Those suffering from depression (J); Successful adoption (S); Healing of a father battling cancer (S).Psalm: Psalm 80: Prayer for the Restoration of the Lord’s Vineyard
Be sure you refer to Kateri as a SAINT now