Jesus spoke to the people of his day, particularly to the people of the Israelite villages where he spent a lot of time proclaiming God’s kingdom and performing miracles as signs of his divine identity and of the reign of God that was at hand. However, many in those villages did not heed this message. Jesus provides those villages a warning. This message, nevertheless, is relevant for us today. How often do we ignore our faith or make excuses for not participating in our parish as much as we should? Would we see the teachings of Christ reflected in the words and actions of non-Christians more than they are reflected in us?
We celebrate today the memorial of St Kateri Tekakwitha, a young native American woman who heeded the Good News of Christ that was presented to her. She survived so much struggle and strife in her journey of faith & took many risks to follow the faith. She was born to the chief of the Mohawk tribe, yet she was struck ill and disfigured from a smallpox epidemic that killed most of her family. Kateri had to flee from her uncle’s household in order to practice the Catholic faith that was the guiding light in her life. Although she was born after the death of Jean de Brebeuf and the other Jesuit North American martyrs in the mid-17th century, the light of the faith that they brought to the Americas found root in St Kateri and other native people. She died at the young age of 24 in 1680, yet her faith remains a witness to us today, reflected in her beatification by Pope John Paul II in 1980 and her canonization by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.
May we heed God’s call to us today. May we serve as faithful disciples of Christ just like St Kateri Tekakwitha.
No comments:
Post a Comment