A Lamb Among Wolves

Homily for the Memorial of St. Kateri Tekakwitha

If ever there was a story of the Lamb who lived among the wolves, St. Kateri Tekakwitha is someone who immediately comes to mind. She was born in present-day New York. Her father was a Mohawk chief, and her mother an Algonquin who had been converted to the Christian faith by Jesuit missionaries. When Kateri was four years old, a smallpox epidemic killed her entire family and left her partially blind, disfigured, and crippled. The name “Tekakwitha” means “She who bumps into things,” but it can also be translated in a variety of ways. I remember hearing about her in elementary school from the Sisters of the Congregation of the Sorrowful Mother. However, I learned much more about her from a fellow member of CUSA. Mike had a very strong devotion to Kateri because he was also partially blind. In each of his letters written to his fellow group members, he would consistently bring up St. Kateri. Because of her disfigurement and her blindness, she was constantly mocked by the other members of her tribe.

She was raised by her uncle, who detested the Christians. As she grew up, Kateri longed for the Catholic faith of her mother, and was very drawn to the missionaries evangelizing near her village. At the age of twenty, she was baptized with the name Catherine (which was translated as “Kateri”) after St. Catherine of Siena. Her uncle opposed her conversion to Christianity, and as a result she was ostracized by her people and treated harshly. When it was clear that her life was in danger, a priest helped her flee to a French Jesuit mission in Montreal, Canada—a journey of over 200 miles alone and on foot. There she lived a solitary life of prayer and penance, rejecting an opportunity for marriage. Her great sanctity, virtue, and love for Christ amazed everyone who knew her. She was also known as a miracle-worker. Kateri died of illness at the age of twenty-four. She was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in 1980, and canonized in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI as the first Native American saint.

The instructions that Jesus gave his disciples before he sent them out, two buy two, to preach the nearness of the Kingdom of God, are more extensively detailed in the Gospel of St. Matthew. The Gospel text that we have been reading throughout this week have been taken from his instructions. We will continue to read from this particular discourse next Monday. The discourse is filled with instructions as well as warnings. Because her own people rejected her, St. Kateri particularly comes to mind as we read the warnings, especially when Jesus warns that the apostles will be rejected by members of their own families.

In order to draw away from the mockery of her tribe, St. Kateri would frequently go into the woods where she would use two branches to form a rudimentary cross. She would then kneel before the cross in prayer. Because of her love for nature and wooded areas, she has become a patron saint of environmentalists. She is also esteemed among the community of people with disabilities.

Despite the hardships of her life, St. Kateri remained a lamb, innocent and docile. The church recognizes her sanctity and celebrates her on this date each year. Together, let us pray that we too will be people of prayer who guard themselves from the wolves of our own society.