Thursday, July 14, 2011
Feast of Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha
Fr. Jason Welle, O.F.M.
Gospel: Matt. 11:28:30 “My yoke is easy and my burden light.”
Homily summary: We make excuses of why we won’t make commitments. “I can’t attend Mass on Sunday because of my work.” This is the kind of excuse of why we can’t follow Jesus the way we should.
Moses and the Israelites led a bitter life of oppression. Even after God freed them into the land of milk and honey, they were stiff-necked and struggled to keep faithful.
The foundress of a community of Dominican sisters was only 18 when she entered a religious community and found herself heartsick over leaving home and missing her native Poland. What did her superior say that resolved her anxiety? Read “Mother Superior Frightens Roza Out of Her Homesickness.”
Go to the website of the Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.
Blessed Kateri didn’t wait for life to get easy to follow Jesus. Her tribe was not mostly Christian, and yet she accepted Baptism and was persecuted. She remained a virgin, and yet was not a religious. She learned the faith through the Blackrobes, the Jesuits. She so fell in love with Jesus so much that she gave up marriage. Her love for Jesus made her burden light. It made any burden seem insignificant.
Whatever obligations we have in life, if we are faithful to the Lord, He will make our burden easy and light.