Memorial of Blessed Kateri Tekawitha

Title: Homily for the Memorial of Blessed Kateri Tekawitha

Date: July 14 1987

Readings: Exodus 2,1-15 / Psalm 69,3.14.30-31.33-34 / Matthew 11,20-24

Those of you who follow the calender of the saints like myself may have been surprised today to discover that the Church in the United States has substituted the memorial Mass of St. Camillus de Lellis for that of our own Blessed Kateri Tekawitha. Those of you who might not know who Saint Camillus was, there was a beautiful portrayal of his life contained on the bulletin this past Sunday. It told of an incredibly strong and worldly man who chose the life of a soldier. However, his loses at gambling and treatment for an illness that had particularly infested his legs, pressed him into service for the sick. Experiencing a conversion of heart, he devoted his life to the sick and dying. So great was his fervor that he became a priest and even founded an order to carry on this most lowly but admirable work. As for Kateri Tekawitha, she stands forth as a sign that saints are also in our midst. She was a young Indian girl who showed her love for Christ by loving with a virgin's heart and surrendering her life in the cause of this love.

May we all be like these two followers of Christ, by devoting our love and lives to Christ. Who knows, a few years hence, one of you in this very congregation, may be held up also as an example of holiness for all others to imitate; you might even bump one of the older saints off the list yourself. There is nothing in the way of our being saints except our own stubbornness and weakness. If you want another example of greatness emerging from those who are weak, look at our first reading. Moses was a child condemned. He was abandoned to the waters, probably doomed to die. But, he was rescued, raised as a prince, and became God's chosen liberator for his people. We too are lowered to die in water, the waters of baptism. What we need to remember, is that just as God did not abandon Moses, or St. Camillus, or Blessed Kateri Tekawitha, so too does he not forget us. Out of the waters of baptism, we rise with Christ to new life -- out of these waters, we too are well on our way to holiness and being saints, if only we will continue to cooperate with God's grace.