In our first reading from Isaiah, King Ahaz of Judah is scared of an alliance that is forming between Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel. He should turn to the Lord in his fear, but instead, he tries to form an alliance with Assyria for protection. The prophet Isaiah advises King Ahaz to remain calm in the face of his fear. We are to turn to our faith as a refuge when we confront our fears. If we do not stand firm in our beliefs, we will falter.
Today we celebrate the memorial mass of St Kateri Tekakwitha, a young native American woman who was born in 1856 near the present day town of Ossernenon, New York, which is near Albany. She followed the Good News of Christ that was presented to her. She survived many struggles and tribulations on her journey of faith and took many risks to follow the Lord. She was born to the chief of the Mohawk tribe. She was struck ill and became severely 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 many other native people. She died at the young age of 24 in the year 1680. 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. I had the honor to visit her shrine in New York and the nearby shrine of the North American martyrs, a pilgrimage that had a big impact on me.
No comments:
Post a Comment