Daily Gospel Reflection
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March 3, 2020
Jesus said to his disciples, “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
“Pray then in this way:
‘Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.’
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
As a child, I recall praying a rather silly prayer: that the Lord would grant me 20/20 vision. You see, I was afflicted with near-sightedness at the ripe age of seven and so began my awkward phase. During weekly Mass at my Catholic grade school, I would close my eyes, pray for God to remove the planks of myopia from my eyes, and then slowly open them. It should come as no surprise that the altar remained hopelessly blurry in front of me.
“My will be done.”
As I grew up and the anxieties of the world settled in my heart, I prayed with increasing specificity. I provided scrupulous details for fear that God might misunderstand my prayers. For example, if I prayed for my family’s safe return home from a trip to the store, I would mention our home address to God, lest he mistake my reference to “home” for “heaven” and allow an accident to befall them.
“My will be done.”
It may be easy to dismiss these prayers as those of a foolish child, but I find my prayers still take this shape – “God, give me what I want. Please, do this for me.” When I pray the “Our Father” at Mass each week, I try to tune my heart to the words that challenge me the most: “Thy will be done.” What does this mean for us?
Jesus utters these words again in the Garden of Gethsemane as he faces his death. But, in his full humanity, he does not do so before offering a prayer that this cup might pass him over. Jesus teaches us how to pray in the “Our Father,” and it is the work of a lifetime to allow our will to be formed and shaped by God’s will.
“Thy will be done.”
Prayer
Lord, your Son taught us to call out to you as our Father. Every time we pray as he taught us, may we realize ever more deeply our dignity as your children, and also the fellowship we share as brothers and sisters in Christ. United ever more closely with each other and with you, may we become a sacrament of communion in our alienated world. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Katharine Drexel voluntarily stepped beyond her privileged upper-class life in Philadelphia to encounter and heal the suffering she saw in America. She is the second American-born Catholic saint.
She was born 1858 to a family of wealth—her father was an investment banker, and her uncle founded Drexel University. Her mother died giving birth to Katharine’s sister, and the girls were sent to live with an aunt and uncle for two years. They returned to her father’s home when he re-married.
Despite their wealth, Katharine’s parents did not allow their girls a sheltered life. The family traveled widely, and Katharine saw much of the emerging American nation as well as Europe. Three days a week, their home was opened to feed the hungry and serve the poor with clothing and rental assistance. If they heard of a widow who was too proud to come to them, they quietly sought her out to offer their support.
When Katharine’s stepmother fell ill from a terminal illness, Katharine nursed her, and began to understand that no fortune could save a person from pain or death.
She was particularly moved by the plight of Native Americans and African Americans, and on a trip to Europe, she had the chance to greet Pope Leo XIII. She asked him to send missionaries to help Native Americans in Wyoming. He replied, “Why don’t you become a missionary?” This response shocked her and helped her open up new possibilities as to how to spend her life.
She very easily could have married, but after discernment and spiritual direction, she decided to dedicate her life to serving Native American and African American people. Her decision made big news in the elite social circles of Philadelphia; newspapers wondered how she could walk away from married life and an inheritance worth more than $100 million in today's dollars—to serve poor people.
Katharine founded a religious order of nuns—the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament—to serve people marginalized by American society. They began with a boarding school in Santa Fe, and by 1942, they were running schools and mission centers for black children in thirteen states and ministering to Native Americans in fifteen states. In 1915, Katharine opened Xavier University in New Orleans, the first Roman Catholic university in the nation that accepted black students.
Segregationists were not happy with her efforts and burned a school in Pennsylvania. A stick of dynamite was discovered at another mission site. In 1922, the Ku Klux Klan threatened a school the sisters had opened in Beaumont, Texas, but a few days later, a severe thunderstorm devastated the area and tore down the Klan’s headquarters there.
When she was 77, Katharine suffered a heart attack and was forced to retire. Many thought the foundress was near the end of her life, but she lived for nearly two more decades. This last period of life was intensely focused on prayer and meditation.
St. Katharine Drexel was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000. Along with her story, the illustration featured today is used by high school students who come to campus for a summer conference with the Notre Dame Vision program.
St. Katharine Drexel, who gave her great wealth to serve America's marginalized—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Katharine Drexel is an illustration by Julie Lonneman, who holds exclusive rights to the further distribution and publication of her art. Used with permission.