[00:00] Today, we celebrate a young woman who is named Lily of the Mohawks. St. Kateri, or Kateri Tekakwitha, was a saint born almost 400 years ago in 1656.

[00:32] She was a native of North America, born in what's known now as Auriesville, New York. And she lived among the Iroquois, although her mother was from the northern tribe of the Algonquin. And while she was living amongst the Iroquois, both her mother and father passed away at a young age. She was only four years old. They died from the smallpox epidemic.

[01:05] And then she herself had contracted it, and it actually disfigured her face, scarred her face and caused a loss of vision, some of her vision. And that's why her family named her Tekakwitha, which means she who grows or she who stumbles into things. And although she may have stumbled into things because she lacked some of her vision, she

[01:37] truly had a vision for God. She was always a pious young girl, especially when she met the Jesuits when she was 10 years old, when the French were coming to stop the Mohawks or the Iroquois from attacking the Huron nations. And at one point, they had to hide out all winter in the woods.

[02:10] But then she met some of the missionaries and she was shocked at how kind and generous they were. And later on, she asked to be baptized and they sent a catechist to teach her the faith. So when she was 20 years old, she was baptized into the faith and she had to suffer much persecution because immediately she did not want to be married, although her family were trying to get her to be married.

[02:41] She wanted to offer herself up to God and they would make fun of her when she tried to practice the faith. When she would head to the chapel, they would throw little stones and rocks at her. They made fun of her features and they tried to prevail on her to be married, but she refused. And then when there was a Jesuit priest who came, he convinced her to go to a Christian

[03:15] community amongst the nations of the Hurons and the Algonquin in the north, in Canada. So she went there. It was along the St. Lawrence, across from Montreal, and that's where she ended up staying. And while she was there, she continued to be an example of virtue. She worked hard doing what she could with the loss of her vision. She made like beads and artifacts and things like that.

[03:46] And she also helped collect berries and sticks and stuff for the fires that they would use for cooking. And she really was an example of the faith because no matter what happened to her, no matter what physical ailment she had, she always kept a cheerful countenance and the love of God. In fact, Pope John Paul II, in calling her the Lily of the Mohawks, set her up as an

[04:20] example when she was beatified in 1980, and he told us in his address on that day of beatification that St. Kateri is an example to all of us of not taking advantage of the freedom of the faith that we have. She withstood all the obstacles and became a great saint, one who practiced her faith despite all the things that she had to go through, and she was able, with the means

[04:55] that God had given her, the strength that God had given her, to become a great saint so that there is no excuse for any one of us not to follow her example. And he said that the faith and sanctity is not something that's reserved for those in great positions or those that are religious or priests or bishops or popes. It is for every single one of us in whatever state that we find ourselves in. And she is an example of one who is a light set up on a hill and a salt of the earth because

[05:35] she truly was a light in the darkness to those who did not know the faith or rejected the faith. The Iroquois and the Mohawk Nation was not one that was, you know, accepting of the faith or the teaching of the Jesuits. She did, she was able to go to the Christian community, but she still had to endure many different things. So let us pray to her, asking her to give us her, through her example, to give us a

[06:12] motivation and the disposition to follow that example that she left. If we were to go amongst the tribes back then, if we were in a time machine and went back and we saw her walking around, we wouldn't see anything remarkable. She wasn't working many miracles, she wasn't a wonder worker working many miracles, but at the same time she practiced virtue, we would have seen a young lady who was diligently working at her tasks, going to the chapel and praying, but we would also see someone

[06:51] that was faithful to the graces that God gave her. And we too can have that faith, the same faith that she had, a faith that not only moves mountains, but will change our hearts internally to hearts that are focused on God and this pilgrimage towards our heavenly reward. So let us pray to her, asking her to guide us as she guided those around her by her example

[07:26] to our heavenly reward where we will be with the blessed, the saints, the angels, the Blessed Virgin Mary and be able to see God face to face for all eternity.