In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The readings today are very beautiful.
They first teach us in the first reading, they teach us so beautifully the call to never give up on others as God has not given up on us, and that Jesus, the grace of Christ, the grace of God, has transformed our lives and continues to transform our lives.
And so we, in our part, also want that same grace, that same transformation to take place in others.
And so St. Paul is encouraging us by this to be patient with others in their own journey, but also to pray for them and to strive always to be a witness for them.
The Gospel today also reminds us of the importance of giving thanks, that we must never take God's grace for granted, but thank God for all the graces and blessings he gives to us each day.
And, of course, the Gospel particularly points out that the one who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan, a Samaritan who oftentimes the Jewish people looked down upon.
But this Samaritan came and thanked God for his healing, reminding us how important it is for us to thank God daily in our own life.
Amongst all the stories there are of St. Padre Pio, there's one story of a certain man who recounted the story himself, that he went to confession and he confessed, he said he confessed in that confession some various serious sins.
But the one sin that Padre Pio chastised him on and corrected him on was not having made a thanksgiving.
He had confessed that he did not make thanksgiving after receiving Holy Communion at Mass.
And that's the one thing that Padre Pio, of all his sins, he said the other sins were far greater.
That's the one thing that Padre Pio corrected him on, to always make sure to give thanks for receiving Holy Communion and receiving the Eucharist, and not to take that moment, that gift for granted, but to always give proper thanks for it, to give thanks for it.
But also this extends to all the graces God gives to us, that we must each day make an effort to thank God for all the blessings and graces he gives to us, even that we must learn to thank him for the trials and sufferings we have in life, and that we may bear them with ever greater love and generosity.
Today we honor in the liturgy a very special saint, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini.
She is the first canonized American saint, though she was born in Italy, she became an American citizen, and so thus she's the first canonized American citizen.
Her life is very interesting.
She was the youngest of 13 children.
Let's just see, why do I mention that specifically?
That if her parents had not been open to life, she would not have been born.
She was the youngest of 13.
So thank God that her parents were so generous and open to life.
She had poor health, and she originally applied to enter an order, but they denied her because of her health.
But she was very well educated, and she had her certificate for teaching, and she taught in a school, and eventually the bishop, seeing her skills and her great skills and her piety, asked her to found an order in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the missionary sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
So she became the foundress and wrote the rule and so forth, all the constitutions for that order.
Eventually she met Pope Pius, I think it was Pope Leo XIII now, Pope Leo XIII, and she had asked, she went there to ask, she wanted to go to China to found missions in China.
But the Pope told her, your mission is not in the East, but in the West.
And he wanted her to go to America because he said there were so many Italian immigrants going to America, and he did not want them to lose their faith or to be lost.
And so he sent her to America, and so she was to go to New York, and there was a house set aside for the sisters in New York, a house had been provided for the sisters, that she with six sisters went to New York, but when they arrived in New York, the house had already become, that house was taken over by someone else, and the Archbishop actually tried to get her very hard to return to Italy.
He said, go back to Italy, we can't provide for you, go back to Italy.
He was very determined that she was to return to Italy, but she didn't.
She stayed, and she just knew that this was God's will for her.
And of course, the Pope himself had sent her, and so she, with God's trust, she was welcomed with her sisters into a convent of another order of sisters, and until they were able to establish their own community, stayed with these sisters.
But their work flourished.
Mother Cabrini opened 67, I believe it is, 67 institutions.
She opened many orphanages, she opened schools, she opened hospitals, not only here in the United States, but in South America, in Brazil, in Nicaragua, and in other parts of Europe.
So she was responsible for founding 67 institutions, and many of those institutions are still in operation today, hospitals and so forth, schools and so forth.
And she died, I believe, in Chicago in one of her own hospitals in 1917, I can remember that because it's this, I know it's the same year that Our Lady appeared in Fatima, but she died in December of 19, I believe it was November or December of 1917.
But one thing that we can learn from Mother Cabrini, and her shrine, her major shrine is in New York City.
If you ever visit New York City and Upper Manhattan, there's a beautiful shrine where her body is, and you can visit that shrine and pray at her, pray at her, pray where her body is at rest.
And also there's a little museum there that has some of the, some of the things that Mother Cabrini used.
One thing I remember specifically in that museum was, and of course, this is something that no one should do without the permission of their spiritual director, she had a, the thing that they used to scourge themselves with, and it was with real sharp, flat pieces of sharp metal that she had, she had used, but again, those things must be done only with the permission of a spiritual director.
But one thing I really think we can learn from Mother Cabrini is to trust the Lord and to trust God's plan for us.
We, here she was, she wanted to go to China, but God had another plan for her to come to America.
And even in the difficulties of arriving and being rejected, being told to go back to Italy, she just had a great trust in the Lord and confidence in God's help and in providence.
So I think we can ask Mother Cabrini today to help us to always trust the Lord, to always trust him no matter what situation we find ourselves in, knowing that he is with us and guiding us and will assist us in whatever mission we have been given in our own life.
I know that Jesus told St. Faustina the one thing that caused him disappointment in us is that we don't trust him.
And so we can ask Mother Cabrini, Francis Xavier Cabrini today to deepen our trust always in the Lord and his divine assistance.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.