Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 14, 2021
At that time Jesus exclaimed:
“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”
“You have revealed them to the childlike.” Like many young men, I was an altar server during
my grade school years at my parish in rural Virginia. I learned the ritual of the Mass, and I
enjoyed being so close to the altar when the priest consecrated the Eucharist, ringing the bells
at the proper times as if to alert the mostly adult congregation that the bread and wine had now become Jesus in our midst.
Fast forward 50 years to the pandemic of 2020. Due to Covid-19 protocols and restrictions, my current parish, the Basilica of Saint Mary in Alexandria, VA, had the sacristans on the altar to ring the bells at the consecration rather than altar servers. Much older now, I was once again just a few feet away from the altar.
Our parish had three priests, one of whom was just one year out of the seminary on his first parish assignment. As Father Nicholas elevated the host and chalice, I was in awe of how intense and absorbed he was in that moment of prayer. I relayed this comment to him after Mass, and his response was, “Please continue to pray for me that I never lose that focus during my priesthood.”
Although no longer a child, Father Nicholas witnessed a childlike love for the Eucharist even as his priesthood was in its infancy. He was my parish priest, and he revealed to me an entirely new appreciation for the Holy Eucharist and thereby challenged me to become more dedicated and childlike in my faith.
Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, whose feast we celebrate today, I ask for your intercession on behalf of all Catholic priests, our spiritual fathers on our journey to heaven. May God’s grace sustain them in their holy mission of sharing God’s Word and the sacraments with the Church and the world.
Prayer
Loving God, you have called us by name to continue Christ’s mission of reconciliation and healing. Give us patience in times of challenge, hope in places of suffering. May we recognize your kingdom in our midst, near to us. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Kateri Tekakwitha was a Native American who was known as the “Lily of the Mohawks" for her purity and devotion.
She was born in 1656 in what is now New York; her indigenous name is Tekakwitha. Her father was a Mohawk warrior, and her mother was an Algonquin who was captured and brought into the Mohawk tribe.
When she was four years old, both of her parents and her brother died of smallpox. Tekakwitha survived the disease, which left scars on her face and damaged her eyesight; she was adopted by her extended family. As she grew up, she would avoid social gatherings because of her scars, and sometimes wore a shawl or veil over her face.
When she was 17, Tekakwitha’s family encouraged her to marry, but she refused. Soon after that, she met a Jesuit missionary and began learning about the Catholic faith. When she was 19, she was baptized, and took the name “Catherine,” or “Kateri,” after Catherine of Siena.
Because of her faith, and her unusual reluctance to conform to traditional practices to marry, Kateri was shunned from her family and village. They ridiculed her, gave her difficult workloads, and threatened her. She left her home village to live in a Jesuit mission for Native Americans on the St. Lawrence River south of Montreal.
She continued to grow in the faith there, practicing rigorous mortifications. In 1679, Kateri formally dedicated her virginity to God, and encouraged a number of other women who felt the same calling.
When she was 24, her health faltered, in part due to her zealous fasting and harsh bodily disciplines. Kateri died during Holy Week in 1680. She is reported to have appeared to several of her friends and family after her death, telling them that she was “on her way to heaven,” and a number of cures were reported by people who appealed to her help in prayer.
St. Kateri was canonized in 2012 following a miracle in Washington State when a boy was cured of a flesh-eating bacterium through her intercession. The chapel in Welsh Family Hall is named after St. Kateri Tekakwitha, and the image and statue shown above are displayed there.
St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Lily of the Mohawks—pray for us!