Feast of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha

Good morning. Do you ever have days where you just want to hang it up? No, of course not! I’m certain I’m the only one that ever feels that way. So where do we turn? Where do we find the strength to go on? Jesus gives us the answer in today’s Gospel reading from Matthew: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” What tends to be rather crazy is that when we are confronted with challenges in our marriage we tend to turn elsewhere, we all too seldom think to turn to Jesus. No, we are more likely to exhaust all other means of resolving whatever the issue is versus turning to Jesus. Yet, it ought to be the very first place we should turn. Blessed Pope John Paul II reminds us in Familiaris Consortio that “prayer, the source of light and strength and the nourishment of Christian hope” should be where we turn. In this same document he reminds us that Jesus is the source of our strength and that the “Eucharist is the very source of Christian marriage. The Eucharistic Sacrifice, in fact, represents Christ's covenant of love with the Church, sealed with His blood on the Cross.” That same sense of sacrifice is lived-out in the union between a man and woman in marriage and replicated in the giving of self between a husband and wife. It should go without saying that no marriage is without trials and tribulations, but it should be clear in Jesus’ words to us today that He is there for us as a ready source of strength, and He is there for the asking. If as married couples we have the Eucharist at the center of our relationship and if as a married couple we routinely turn to Jesus for strength and guidance the love between us cannot help but grow and be there as a source of joy for our journey together. Make a great day!

Today we recall the good life, gifts, and works of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha— Lily of the Mohawks and Lily of the Holy Eucharist.