On July 14, we Catholics celebrate the “Lily of the Mohawks,” Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha (“Gaw-deh-lee De-ga-kwe-tha”). Because my daughter Alicia chose Blessed Kateri for her patron saint at her confirmation, it's an especially appropriate day to give her a great big bearhug and tell her that I love her very much! I think she knows how much I love her, but it's always nice to hear it, too. She is always in my prayers and I hope she is in yours, as well.
Kateri was born near the town of Auriesville, New York, in the year 1656, the daughter of a Mohawk warrior. Her mother died when she was young, she was raised by aunts and uncles, and eventually rejected by her tribe when she converted to Christ. She had to leave her family to practice her faith. In the four years that she lived as a disciple of Jesus before her death at age twenty-four, she cared for the sick and aged and dedicated herself to prayer and penance. Her greatest devotion was to the crucified Jesus and the Eucharist. Blessed Kateri lived a simple, humble life. She is a beautiful “icon” through whom we can catch a glimpse of the message of Wednesday’s scriptures.
In the Isaiah passage the Lord pronounces woes against the nation Assyria. Assyria was an instrument God used to punish other nations but then attributed its might and wisdom to itself. Assyria becomes arrogant, and for this God plans to bring punishment. Arrogance is defined as "an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions."
No word could better define how the nation of Israel had become at the time if Isaiah. To show the people of Israel their folly, Isaiah uses some beautiful imagery asking, "Will the axe boast against him who hews with it? Will the saw exalt itself above him who wields it?" Of course, the answer is no: the axe has no power over him who swings it, just as the saw can do nothing to the person who cuts with it. Axes and saws are powerless, inanimate objects.
The Israelites were nothing more than axes and saws, but in their arrogance they believed they had great power and could ignore God's laws. In reality they had no power at all, especially in the face of God's anger.
As our scientific knowledge, our success and our seemingly great accomplishments continue to expand, it seems God gets smaller and smaller. But as our own presumptuousness grows, God really never gets smaller. In fact our true need for Him grows larger and larger. Don't ever be fooled by letting arrogance creep into your life!
Blessed Kateri is the anti-Assyria because she never forgot her Creator and never exalted herself. In humility and love she served God.
The refrain of the responsorial psalm is “The Lord will not abandon his people.” Blessed Kateri was persecuted by her own tribe. Although she loved her people, she felt compelled to travel to a place where she could practice her faith. I can’t fathom the courage required of a twenty-year-old, single, Native American, young woman living in 1676 who abandoned all to embrace the crucified Jesus. Yet, through it all she experiences the love of God. The one who made the ear hears her cry. The one who made the eye sees her faith. Her inheritance is the Spirit who does not abandon His people.
The gospel lesson records one of the prayers of Jesus. Jesus praises the Father for hiding His will for the world from the wise and learned and revealing it to the childlike. It is the Blessed Kateris of the world to whom the Father reveals His will. The haughty, the proud, the wise, the learned simply are not enough like children to be able to receive it. God would give it to us but we are too full of ourselves. There is no room within our hearts for the gracious will of God.
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