The miracle Jesus wants

A Reflection for the Memorial of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin

Find today’s readings here.

What did St. Kateri Tekakwitha see and hear that convinced her that Jesus Christ was the Lord and that she should dedicate her life to him? She had every reason to resent the missionaries and colonists who brought Christianity—and smallpox—to the Native people of North America. When she was around 4 years old, both her parents and her brother died from the disease, and though she survived, her face was permanently scarred by the infection and her sight was impaired. 

Yet when the Jesuits told her about a man who lived long ago in a foreign land, healing the sick and casting out demons, she converted to Catholicism despite opposition from members of her tribe. Kateri dedicated her short life to prayer and humble service, and was known, in the words of Pope Francis, for her “everyday holiness.”

In today’s Gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus asks us to examine the gap between what we have seen and how we have lived. He condemns the cities where he has spent the most time, which have seen his mighty deeds and still refuse to repent. 

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!
For if the mighty deeds done in your midst
had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes.”

Surely those who saw Jesus perform miracles were impressed by him; they might have even believed that he was sent by God. But Jesus doesn’t simply want to impress us with his power, to awe us into belief. Jesus is saying that it is not enough to just see and hear him. You have to be changed. Our conversion is the miracle he really wants. 

Saints like Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint whose feast we mark today, show us that holiness does not need to be flashy, and probably shouldn’t be. But it does have to be chosen every day. Kateri only lived five years after converting at age 19. She did not accomplish very much by worldly standards, and likely would be lost to history had those around her not sensed how close she was to the Lord. She taught children to pray; she cared for the elderly and the sick; and she bore many crosses with patience and humility. Those of us who have seen and heard Jesus in the Word and sacraments must choose every day to turn toward him and do the same.