 St. Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656 of an Algonquian Indian mother who was a devout Christian and a Mohawk chief who remained a pagan. She was beatified in 1980 by Pope St. John Paul II and canonized (declared saint) bu Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 21, 2012. In accord with the matrilineal traditions of her people, Kateri belonged to the Algonquin nation. Although she was brought up in the anti-Christian surroundings of the Mohawk community in Ossernenon, in what is now Auriesville, NY, Kateri held fast to the faith of her mother. Both of her parents and her brother died in a plague and though Kateri survived the ravages of her illness, it left her delicate for the rest of her life. Those who had charge of her hated the Christian missionaries and Kateri was persecuted because she refused to give up her Christian way of life. “I want to be a Christian, even though I should die for it,” she said. Her foster parents deprived her of all food on Sunday because she would not work in the fields on that day. Beatings, continual criticism, sarcasm, and mockery were her constant lot. They tried to force marriage on her but she was inspired to remain a virgin and after she became a Christian she took a vow of virginity. In time, Kateri made her way to Caughnawaga, a community of Christians. There she led a life of intense Christian virtue until her death in 1680 at the age of 24. Her renown for heroic sanctity soon spread and many miracles have been worked through her intercession. Kateri Tekakwitha followed the generation of Saints John de Brebeauf, Isaac Jogues, and Companions, thus bearing out the ancient Christian saying that “the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians”
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 In tonight’s Bible study we learnt that timing is everything, and the time of the Lord is never too slow or too fast, but always-just right. Jesus chides his followers and us too for our lack of faith, reminding us again “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” John 11:40 When Jesus learned that his dear friend Lazarus was dead he did not rush to his friend’s side as one might expect but instead waited two more days to make the short journey to Bethany. This was necessary to fully demonstrate the glory of God in the miracle he was to perform. The Disciples did not know what Jesus intended to do and were confused by his slowness. We should remember this when God seems slow to answer our own prayers and needs. We must trust in his plan even though we do not know what it is. When Jesus finally arrives in Bethany he is met by Martha, the sister of Lazarus. She, and later her sister Mary, scolds Jesus, saying, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” These women who were close personal friends of Jesus show the limits of their faith. While they believe that Jesus had the power to prevent the death of Lazarus they do not understand that his power is limitless. Jesus is God. The creator of everything! His power extends over every living thing and even over death itself. The scriptures go on to tell us that Jesus was “greatly disturbed by the spirit” and that he “began to weep”. Have you ever had someone not believe you when you were telling the truth, or had to explain something to someone that they couldn’t understand? Sometimes you feel so angry and frustrated by the experience that you start to cry. Well, this is how Jesus felt when after all of his teaching and preaching, his miracles and ministry, his friends still didn’t understand who he really was! He makes his identity perfectly clear telling Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who believes in me will never die.” John 11:25-26. The story continues with Jesus ordering that the stone be rolled away from the tomb, which is a reminder to us that miracles cannot occur unless we roll away the stones of unbelief from our hearts. Lazarus is revived. This return to life is nothing like the total transformation that Jesus experiences after his own resurrection. Lazarus will get hungry and tired and sick, and eventually die again. Jesus will become fully body and spirit, able to walk through walls, share his body and blood, and reign both in heaven and in our hearts! Isn’t that cool? The most amazing thing is that Jesus intends for us to experience this incredible transformation, too. All we have to do is have faith. Believe in the goodness of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus. “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” John 11:40
 Tonight we looked at the healing of the paralysed man recorded in Mark 2:1-12. Once again we see that faith is a necessary component of God’s grace. In this story however, the focus is not on the faith of the man who is healed but rather on the group of friends who have brought him to Jesus, his community of faith. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My Son, your sins are forgiven.” Mark 2:2-5 Jesus’ reaction here is curious. He is moved not by the faith of the paralytic (although that very well may have been present) but by the man’s friends’ faith. He sees an obviously ill man, and his first concern is for the state of his soul. What are we to make of this? As with most scripture, there is more than one lesson to be learned here. The boldness of the people who brought in the paralytic shows their faith in Christ. Jesus “saw their faith”, was pleased by it and healed the man they had struggled so greatly for. This is a wonderful example of how each of us should put our own faith into practice. We are not called to love our neighbours by merely being nice to them; we also have a God-given responsibility to BRING OUR NEIGHBOURS TO CHRIST. To understand why Jesus would say, “your sins are forgiven”, you need to know that the Jews believed as we do, that only God can forgive sins however they also thought that a person’s illness was caused by his sin. When Jesus says, “your sins are forgiven” he shows the crowd that in healing the soul they cannot see, he has also healed the body, which they do see. Really, he shows that he can do both, and that he is God!
 Tonight we looked at four of the Healings of Jesus portrayed in the Gospel of Mark. We learned about: - the healing of the leper Mark 1:40 - 45 - Jairus and the raising of his daughter Mark 5: 21-24, 35-43 - healing of the sick woman Mark 5: 25 - 34 - blind Bartimaeus Mark 10: 46 - 52 When we look at all of these readings at once several similarities become apparent. In these stories and in other miraculous healings of the Gospels there are four recurrent similarities. In each case the person who is healed or who requests the healing, has faith in Jesus’ ability to cure them. As always, faith is the most important aspect of our relationship with the Lord. Jesus also asked those involved to keep the miracle a secret, or he would perform the healing in such a way as to attract as little attention as possible. When you think about it, this seems like a strange way for Jesus to act when he is trying to convince people that he is the Son of God! But Jesus wanted his followers to have faith in him because of his message of love, and not because of his ability to entertain them or meet their physical needs with miracles. He didn’t want people to follow him for the wrong reasons. He performed miracles out of his own love and compassion, not as a publicity stunt! Those healed were often asked to do something with their gift such as show themselves to the priest. Our gifts and talents are from the Lord and should always be used to love and serve him. Jesus often instructed witnesses to give the healed person something to eat. Perhaps this was intended to demonstrate that the Healed were indeed alive and well. It is also another powerful sign that it is Jesus alone who is our Spiritual Food. Do you believe that God really has the power to heal? The same Jesus who healed so many people 2000 years ago lives today as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He hears our prayers and has the power to answer us. As our loving Savior, he longs to make us whole. Turn to the Lord with hearts of faith and experience the joy of being a fresh, new creation in him.
 “But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.” Matthew 14:13-14 Who was this Jesus who could draw vast crowds into a remote part of the country just to be with him? What were they seeking from him that they would travel so far from their homes with nothing to eat? It was Jesus’ teaching that attracted them – his descriptions of the kingdom of God that filled their hearts with hope and expectation. As evening came, the disciples asked Jesus to send the people away for food. It’s interesting that the people themselves did not make this request; they seemed content just to listen to Jesus. Wanting to continue to care for the people, Jesus fed them miraculously and abundantly – more than 5000 of them! First he gave them teaching and then he gave them bread – food for the soul and food for the body; food for the spiritual life and food for the earthly life. Jesus continues to feed his people. He offers them the ultimate “soul food’ his own body, fully present in the Eucharist. He offers, but he does not force himself upon us. Through scripture study we learn that the 2 fish and 5 loaves that Jesus shared among the crowd belonged to a young boy. See how abundantly Jesus uses even the smallest of gifts that we offer to him? The people who were fed by the loaves and fishes were impressed by Jesus’ powers. They wanted to make him a bread king to satisfy their hunger and other needs of daily life. They allowed their earthly desires to take precedence over their spiritual ones. Because they misunderstood the king and his kingdom, “he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up to the mountain by himself to pray.” Matthew 14:22-23. He is more than a supplier of free bread. He is the “Bread of Life” (John 6:35), who brings the rule of God to us and gives us His goodness and love.
 The Wedding at Cana is found only in the Gospel of John. John’s gospel was written after the other gospels. Rather than give another chronological account of Jesus’ life as the others had, he focused on the meaning of these events. In the same way that Jesus used parables to teach about the Kingdom of God, John uses real events layered with symbols and reoccurring themes to reveal spiritual truths. In his telling of the Wedding at Cana John highlights the themes of compassion, the role of Mary, the sacraments and of faith. It appears that Mary has been helping with the wedding festivities – it is she that notices the wine has run out. It was common for a wedding party to last many days. To run out of wine midway through the celebration would have been a cause of great embarrassment for the host. Mary in her compassion turns to Jesus for help. We know that in the wilderness Jesus spent forty days in prayer and in fasting, devoting himself to knowing and submitting to God’s will. Yet here, he immediately adapts those plans at his mother’s request even though he says, “Woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come”. While Jesus’ response might sound like a rebuke to us, it causes Mary no distress. She knows that ‘Woman’ is a term of honour and respect. She confidently turns to the servants and instructs them to ‘Do whatever he tells you’. Mary’s compassion is rewarded and her role as intercessor is clearly established. Jesus tells the servants to fill six water jugs to the brim. These jugs were used as part of the Jewish washing ritual. Then the water is turned to wine and the dirty made clean. Jesus not only creates wine out of wash water, he produces an abundance of the very best wine. We often see in Jesus’ miracles how he lavishes us with his grace! We are also reminded of the sacraments; the wine turned to blood in the Eucharist and the waters of Baptism. The disciples would have been well aware that both a wedding feast and an abundance of wine were prophecies about the coming of the Messiah. Their eyes were opened as they recognized who Jesus really was and believed in him. The bible often uses the Wedding Feast to symbolize Heaven, and we know that Jesus loved to laugh and party with his friends. What a joy it will be when we are all gathered together with him in a celebration that will never end!
 The temptation of Jesus is the gospel reading for the first Sunday of lent each year. It is the basis for our Lent Tradition. However, the example that Jesus gives us is worth applying to our lives all year long. Jesus is led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit immediately following his Baptism. He has received his ‘calling’ from God and now he removes himself from the distractions of the world in order to pray and prepare himself for this mission. This is a powerful example for us whenever we are faced with an important decision or action. We are told that Jesus does not eat for the entire 40-day period. There are many examples of fasting in the Bible and the church still encourages this practice. Fasting is a symbol of penance but it is also a sign of humility – a willingness to submit ourselves to God and trust in his care. It is an effective spiritual tool when combined with prayer. The number 40 is significant in the Bible. It is a number that symbolizes eternity. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness preparing himself for a ministry in which his redeeming sacrifice would last for all time. Noah, Elijah, Moses and the Israelites all spent 40 days (or years!) in their own time of spiritual cleansing. Jesus is tempted by Satan during this time. Catholic teaching tells us that there are three types of temptation. External temptation occurs when one simply acknowledges the temptation but does not sin. This was Jesus’ experience. Internal temptation occurs when one considers the temptation and takes some pleasure in that. There is a degree of sinfulness in this. The final temptation is that to which we consent. This is always sinful. The devil tempted Jesus in three ways; physical desire (turn these stones into bread), desire for glory (throw yourself down and the angels will catch you) and desire for power (worship me and I will give you the world). The devil’s objective was to entice Jesus to turn away from his divine role as the Son of God. The devil wants Jesus to reject God’s authority and claim power and glory for himself. Jesus might have used his divine power to combat the devil but that would have set an example we could not follow. Instead, he used means available to us – prayer, fasting, watchfulness, not dialoguing with temptation, having the words of scripture on our lips and putting our trust in the Lord.
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