Saints are an important part of the unfolding story of Christ and the Gospel. Their stories help us see and connect how the work of Christ on the Cross and in His Resurrection is playing out in different places and times throughout history.
That includes how the work of Christ came into our lives. Of course, usually our parents and family brought us to Church.
But part of our story of how Christ has worked in our lives, includes how He has worked in the lives of those who have labored to build up the Church in our land and among our ancestral peoples, so that the Gospel could come down to us.
It seems very providential that during the month when we celebrate the beginning of this nation (July 4), there are the Feast Days of some Saints who labored with the words, work and lives to proclaim the Gospel here in this nation.
On July 1 we celebrate St. Junipero Serra, a franciscan friar and missionary who worked at establishing the missions along the west coast of California – which had been originally part of Mexico.
In fact, many of the cities there are named after missions that Junipero Serra or his fellow Franciscans started and/or labored in: Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Sacrament, etc.
He labored much to bring the Gospel to the native peoples there, and would stand up for them against some of the oppression by some of the Spaniard colonists.
Then this past week, July 14, we celebrated St. Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk Native American woman who converted to Catholicism as a young age and witnessed to the beauty of the Catholic Faith to her Native American peoples. She consecrated her life to Christ and is called the “Lily of the Mohawks.”
Let us continue to learn the stories of the Saints who shaped our history, especially those who labored to proclaim our faith here, that generations later, we receive the fruits of their labor in our own lives, and with the help of their intercession, continue ourselves to labor for the building of the Church and the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Peace,
– Fr. Kevin
