Kateri and Other Friends

Tags

Lily of the Mohawks, Native Americans, st. kateri tekakwitha, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

When I was twelve years old, my family moved from Massachusetts to New York. I rarely think consciously about the cultural impressions that are part of my make-up because of the history that resides in me and shines through at certain moments. For example, stories of my childhood included visits to Plymouth Rock and stories of the pilgrims, to holidays like the Boston marathon commemoration of Paul Revere’s ride and all the historical places that told the stories of the early settlers like the first Thanksgiving where Native Americans and the pilgrims shared a grateful meal.

Moving to Central New York added a whole new vocabulary of places, towns like Syracuse, the “Salt City,” and those with more difficult names like Ouquaga, Onondaga, Oneida, and of people like Kateri Tekakwitha, known by Catholics as “Lily of the Mohawks.” I learned of the Five Tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy who live in New York State (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca) and the reservation – the Onondaga – that is located on the south side of Syracuse where I came to live and which gives its name to the County of Onondaga. I hold precious the customs of these Native peoples and the writings of their leaders that counterbalance stories of war that still sully the image of their entire history.

This reverie, as some of you may have guessed, was sparked by the fact that today we remember Kateri, canonized as saint—the first saint of the native peoples in the United States. I have been privileged to twice visit Auriesville, her home, which deepened my 13-year-old appreciation of her story and called my adult self to remember to note her place in any “tour” for Sisters of St. Joseph from across the USA who happen to be visiting our Albany Province.

I urge all of us to reflect on the gifts of the “First Nations” citizens in our country and to work for justice for all—their descendants and all who have come over the centuries to make up the tapestry of what should be the United States of America. May it be so in our time!

Kateri, “Lily of the Mohawk”

Tags

connectedness, gifts, gratitude, Jesuit, missionaries, st. kateri tekakwitha, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today is the feast of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint, whom we New Yorkers claim for our own. Kateri  was born in 1656 in what is now Auriesville, New York and died only 24 years later. The daughter of a Mohawk chief and an Algonquin mother, she became an orphan at age four when a smallpox epidemic claimed both her parents and her brother. Her short life was one of generosity and holiness, influenced by Jesuit missionaries and her own deep faith.

In our day, we have learned to celebrate the spirituality of Native peoples who understand more clearly than most inhabitants of our beautiful land that we are not here to take advantage of the natural world but rather to protect and honor it. As Chief Seattle wrote, “Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect…”

Today would be a good day to pray in gratitude for the gifts of the natural world and for those who work to protect it. A question to consider in our reflection might include our assessment of ourselves as environmentalists. Do I walk softly on the earth, trying never to disturb the balance of nature? Am I aware of my “carbon footprint” and taking steps to reduce it? Do I recycle and work to keep our waterways pure? The list goes on…How can we be kinder to our Mother Earth, each of us doing our part?

May you walk in beauty today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lily of the Mohawks

Tags

Catholic Church, Christian Algonquin, conversion, Great Spirit, Jesuit, Native Americans, prayer, religious community, sacrifice, st. kateri tekakwitha, storytellers, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

In 2012 Americans – especially Catholics and Native Americans living in upstate New York – celebrated the canonization of two women – one a Franciscan Sister, Marianne Kope, and the other a 17th century Mohawk maiden named Kateri Tekakwitha. Today is the designated feast day in the Church for Kateri.

So many streams of thought run through my mind as I ponder Kateri’s life and destiny. I read that “her mother, a Christian Algonquin, was taken captive by the Iroquois and given as wife to the chief of the Mohawk clan, the boldest and fiercest of the Five Nations.” (This reminds me that I know little about the natives that have inhabited my state since long before my ancestors came to America.) Kateri lost her parents and her younger brother to a smallpox epidemic at age four; she herself was left disfigured and half blind by the disease. (Blessed with health and loving family including long-lived parents, I cannot imagine her desolation as a child.) God, her mother’s spirit and the Jesuit missionaries influenced her life such that she converted to Christianity at age 19 although that meant she would be treated as a slave by her village. (Her courage in conversion was monumental.) Fearing for her life, she stole away in the night and walked 200 miles to a Christian village near Montreal where she would be safe. (Amazing!) There she desired to start a religious community but was dissuaded by a priest and so lived out her life in prayer and sacrifice for the conversion of her nation to peace and to God. (How sad that this opportunity was missed for the Catholic Church! How graced was Kateri to know that God meets us in whatever life circumstances we find ourselves!)

Today I am grateful for storytellers who have kept the record of Kateri’s life alive until now. She is a model, not only for native peoples but for New Yorkers like me and others who have come to appreciate the wonderful spirituality of Native Americans and to regret the injustices done to them when others came to this land. May the Great Spirit open our hearts to love the land and all creatures and to reverence one another as members of one family.

 

 

 

 

A First

Tags

Auriesville, jesuits, missionaries, Mother Marianne Cope, saints, st. kateri tekakwitha, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

When I was a child in Catholic school, we learned about missionaries from Europe who came to North America in the 1600s to work with the Native Americans. The native people called them “Blackrobes” because of their religious habit. They were members of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits. There were exciting stories which sounded like the “Wild West” but were situated much nearer to where I lived in Massachusetts. We learned about a place in upstate New York called Auriesville – about 30 miles from Albany where St. Isaac Jogues and his companions ministered to the Iroquois nation and were protected by a peace treaty. Unfortunately Jogues was killed at the hands of a Mohawk war party, but his companions continued to serve the five nations and it was there that a young native maiden named Kateri Tekakwitha came under their tutelage and converted to Christianity. Because she was Christian she was always in danger from her own people, who treated her as a slave. Eventually, on the advice of one of the priests, she stole away and walked 200 miles to Canada, where she joined a Christian Indian village near Montreal. She dedicated her life to prayer and good works and dreamed of starting a religious community with two friends but since at the time there were no such communities she accepted that she was rather to live an “ordinary life” which for her involved constant prayer and fasting for the conversion of her nation.

When my family moved to upstate New York one of our day trips was to Auriesville where the stories came even more alive for me and after which I always kept Kateri close in my heart. In 2012, Catholics and Native Americans in New York State were blessed to have two women canonized as saints of the Church – one a religious Sister from Utica, NY – Mother Marianne Cope, often referred to as Mother Marianne of Molokai for her work as a missionary of her community in Hawaii working with the lepers (victims of Hansen’s disease) on the island of Molokai. She was also a great light in her native place as she was instrumental in founding two hospitals (in Utica and Syracuse, NY) and lived until 1918 so memories of her are alive in that community today. The other new saint is Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American recognized as a saint of the Church.

Today I plan to keep both of these women close in thought, grateful for strong women of faith who, as women “ahead of their times” contributed to the Christian story and heritage, women to look up to as examples of courage and willingness. I will also remember all our native brothers and sisters whose spirituality is so rich and from whom I have learned to reverence all creation.