From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Even after miracles they did not repent   
      
    "Our Savior laments Chorazin and Bethsaida, cities of Galilee,   
   because after such great miracles and acts of goodness they did not   
   repent. Even Tyre and Sidon, cities that surrendered to idolatry and   
   other vices, are preferred to them. Tyre and Sidon are preferred for   
   the reason that although they trampled down the law, still Chorazin   
   and Bethsaida, after they transgressed natural and written law, cared   
   little for the miracles that were performed among them."   
    by Jerome (347-420 AD) (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 2.11.22.1)   
      
   ===============   
   July 14th - Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha   
   Also known as   
   Catherine Tekakwitha   
   Lily of the Mohawks   
   Protectress of Canada   
   Tegakouita   
   Tegakwitha   
      
   Memorial   
   17 April   
   14 July (United States)   
   25 March on some calendars   
      
   (1656-1680)   
   In the year of 1655 a young Indian maiden was captured during the   
   savage Iroquois invasions. Her name was Kahenta, born of the   
   Algonquins and later converted by the Black Robes to Christianity.   
   Taken to the territory of the Mohawks, she was wed to a non-Christian   
   Mohawk chief, of the Turtle Clan, which allowed her to escape torture   
   and death.   
      
   Located near Auriesville, NY, along the South bank of the Mohawk   
   River, lay the Village of Ossernenon in which they lived. Their union   
   blossomed, and in 1656 brought unto them a child. This child, a girl,   
   was named Tekakwitha the "One Who Puts Things In Order". Soon after   
   followed the birth of her baby brother.   
      
   At the age of four, smallpox attacked her village, taking the lives of   
   her parents and baby brother, and leaving Tekakwitha an orphan.   
   Although forever weakened, facially scarred, and partially blind,   
   Tekakwitha survived the dreaded disease. Following five years of   
   ravagement by the disease the survivors moved the village to the North   
   bank of the river to begin life anew.   
      
   Tekakwitha was adopted by two Aunts and her Uncle, also a Mohawk   
   chief. They took her with them and moved to a Turtle Clan Village   
   called Gandauoque(Caughnawaga).   
      
   Although her mother had been baptized, she had not, but in her heart   
   she was a Christian. She was unhappy with her life and sought much   
   solitude, both because of her poor eyesight and because she felt in   
   her heart that much of the life of the Mohawks was wrong.   
      
   When she was around ten the Iroquois were vanquished by the French.   
   There followed the signing of a peace treaty that allowed the Black   
   Robes access to the Mohawk villages. Even though hated by her people,   
   the Black Robes came to preach their faith and spread their beliefs.   
      
   Despite opposition to Christianity from her tribe, family and   
   especially her uncle, Tekakwitha often met with the priests who came   
   to the village to learn all she could about God. In many ways her life   
   was the same as all young Indian maidens. It entailed days filled with   
   chores, spending happy times with other girls, communing with nature,   
   and planning for her future.   
      
   St. Peter's Mission was established in 1670 in the Village of   
   Caughnawaga and a chapel was constructed in one of the longhouses.   
      
   Though she was only able to understand bits and pieces of the faith   
   preached by the missionaries, it continued to stoke the fires that   
   burned within her to learn all she could of Christianity. She wanted   
   more than anything to be baptized and live her life as a Christian.   
      
   Father James de Lamberville came and took charge of St. Peter's in   
   1674. One day, while Tekakwitha was at home nursing an injury to her   
   foot, she was visited by Father de Lamberville. Tekakwitha could not   
   contain the burning desire she had to learn all she could of   
   Christianity and be baptized. So she poured her heart out to Father de   
   Lamberville and he agreed to give her religious instruction which   
   would lead her to baptism.   
      
   Through all of this Tekakwitha was increasingly scorned by her people   
   and although she had to suffer greatly for her faith she remained firm   
   in it.   
      
   At the age of twenty she was baptized on Easter Sunday, April 5th 1676   
   and given the name of Kateri or Katherine.   
      
   At this time she became the subject of increased cruelty and derision   
   from her people. Her people hated her for her conversion to   
   Christianity, as well as her refusal to marry and to work on Sundays.   
   Kateri made it clear to all that she wished to be a bride of Christ,   
   to remain forever a Virgin and to never marry among mankind. And for   
   all this she was taunted, tortured and held in contempt by all.   
      
   Because of increasing hostility from her people and because she wanted   
   to devote her life to working for God, in July 1677, Kateri stole away   
   from her village and fled to go and live at the Mission of St Francis   
   Xavier Sault, in Sault St. Louis, near Montreal. This was the new   
   Christian Colony of Indians in Canada. It took over two months, and   
   traveling on foot about three hundred miles through woods, rivers and   
   swamps before Kateri arrived at the Mission in the Autumn. Because of   
   her determination in proving herself worthy of God and her undying   
   faith through all she was allowed to receive her first Holy Communion   
   on Christmas day 1677.   
      
   Although uneducated and unable to read and write she lived her life   
   dedicated to doing good for others. A life filled with prayer,   
   penitential practices, devoted to teaching the young, and to the care   
   of the sick and elderly.   
      
   Through all of these wonderful works she did and all she gave to   
   others there were still some unhappy with her. There were some of her   
   people who still wanted Kateri to marry among the tribes. They thought   
   that if they attacked her virtue that she would be forced to marry one   
   of the braves. So during a winter hunt they falsely accused Kateri of   
   having sinful relations, with one of the braves, at a private spot she   
   often sought out for private prayer. Never did they count on the   
   strength of her faith to give her the patience to endure these lies   
   till the truth was exposed. Kateri continued with her good works and   
   flourished.   
      
   On March 25, 1679, Kateri became a Bride of Christ and after receiving   
   Holy Communion pronounced her vow of perpetual virginity.   
      
   Kateri and Mary Teresa (Tegaiaguenta) became great friends and in 1679   
   were allowed to begin a small convent at the Mission.   
      
   As a result of the tribulations and austerities in Kateri's life she   
   was struck down in her last year with a terrible illness. She suffered   
   great pain but never released her hold of the faith in Jesus Christ   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)