Kathryn Lopez
1.
Statue @MarysShrine of St Katherine Drexel whose feast is today https://t.co/CUh3QPmudN
— Fr Lawrence Lew OP (@LawrenceOP) March 3, 2016
2.
"Every trial that we experience is an act of God's #mercy to detach us from earth so we approach nearer to God." SKD
— St. Katharine Drexel (@KatharineDrexel) February 17, 2016
3. In Philadelphia this fall, Pope Francis said:
Most of you know the story of Saint Katharine Drexel, one of the great saints raised up by this local Church. When she spoke to Pope Leo XIII of the needs of the missions, the Pope – he was a very wise Pope! – asked her pointedly: “What about you? What are you going to do?”. Those words changed Katharine’s life, because they reminded her that, in the end, every Christian man and woman, by virtue of baptism, has received a mission. Each one of us has to respond, as best we can, to the Lord’s call to build up his Body, the Church.
“What about you?” I would like to dwell on two aspects of these words in the context of our specific mission to transmit the joy of the Gospel and to build up the Church
4.
Visiting St. Katharine Drexel's Philly shrine this summer pic.twitter.com/MiRK5bzjzF
— Kathryn Jean Lopez (@kathrynlopez) March 3, 2016
5. A tour of the same:
6. When he canonized her in 2000, St. John Paul II said:
Mother Katharine Drexel was born into wealth in Philadelphia in the United States. But from her parents she learned that her family’s possessions were not for them alone but were meant to be shared with the less fortunate. As a young woman, she was deeply distressed by the poverty and hopeless conditions endured by many Native Americans and Afro-Americans. She began to devote her fortune to missionary and educational work among the poorest members of society. Later, she understood that more was needed. With great courage and confidence in God’s grace, she chose to give not just her fortune but her whole life totally to the Lord.
To her religious community, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, she taught a spirituality based on prayerful union with the Eucharistic Lord and zealous service of the poor and the victims of racial discrimination. Her apostolate helped to bring about a growing awareness of the need to combat all forms of racism through education and social services. Katharine Drexel is an excellent example of that practical charity and generous solidarity with the less fortunate which has long been the distinguishing mark of American Catholics.
May her example help young people in particular to appreciate that no greater treasure can be found in this world than in following Christ with an undivided heart and in using generously the gifts we have received for the service of others and for the building of a more just and fraternal world.
7. For kids!
St. Katherine Drexel. She was born into a very wealthy Philadelphia family in 1858. Her father was a rich investment banker. Even when she was young, however, because her heart was turned toward the Lord and became like Lord’s merciful heart, she sought to give to the poor, setting up with her two sisters and her step-mother a charity center from their own home, where twice a week they would distribute food, clothing and rent money to the poor mothers and single women of the area. But her young heart was touched hearing stories of the black and native American Indians who were growing up not only in material poverty but spiritual poverty. She began to contribute to their causes even taking long train rides to visit their reservations. When her father died when she was 27, she and her two sisters inherited his $15.5 million fortune, the equivalent of about $250 million in today’s dollars. She thought about becoming a cloistered nun, but a priest friend of the family suggested that she wait a little while to see what God was asking. She took a pilgrimage to Rome where she had a private audience with Pope Leo XIII. She mentioned the plight of the African American and Native American immigrants to the United States and how they need spiritual, educational and material care. The Pope surprised her by saying that she should found an order to care for them. After much prayer, that’s precisely she did, dedicating herself and her entire fortune to the care of the poor and neglected, building many schools and even Xavier University in New Orleans in order to try to gather people to the Lord and help them orient their entire existence to him. She’s interceding for us today to do the same.
And:
Today, on this 20th day of the 40 days of Lent, Jesus wants to help cast out from us whatever is in the grip of the evil one. He wants to cure our hearts, faces, and necks so that they, and our entire body and soul, like St. Katharine’s, may turn toward the Lord, rejoice in his word and his gifts, and through, with and in Him, gather all people to share the Communion Jesus came into the world to give us. He is the Stronger Man who wants to fill us with his strength in our weakness. As we prepare now to receive him, let us ask him for the grace to love him with all our hearts, faces, necks, minds, soul and strength! Amen!
9. Her window at Mundelein Seminary:
10.
"The Eucharist is a never-ending sacrifice. It is the sacrament of love, the supreme love, the act of love." –St. Katherine Drexel
— Franciscan U (@FranciscanU) March 3, 2016
Plus:
If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. — Today’s readings.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In