ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Dear Friends in our Lord Jesus Christ,

With joy, we recall that wonderful day ten years ago-interspersed with heavy rain and bright sunshine-when Venerable John Paul II declared Mother Katharine Drexel a Saint of the Church. I extend greetings to Sister Patricia Suchalski, President of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, the members of the Leadership Team, as well as all of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and their associates and friends gathered for this Eucharistic celebration.

The Prophet Habakkuk bewails the horrible conditions which plagued the people of Judah as they were under siege by the Chaldeans: "Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery?" (Hab 1:3). Similarly, with tremendous compassion, Saint Katharine Drexel beheld the plight and misery of people oppressed by poverty, racism and ignorance. The condition of life for numerous Native American and African American peoples weighed heavily upon the young heiress from Philadelphia. Just as God revealed to Habakkuk a vision of hope-a vision which "presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint" (Hab 2:30-so God instilled in the mind and heart of the Saint Katharine a vision of justice, light and renewal in Jesus Christ. This vision would bear fruit in the gradual use of her share of the Drexel fortune to eradicate injustice and discrimination, and in the eventual donation of her entire being as she consecrated herself to a life in imitation of the chaste, poor and obedient Christ.

To the young Bishop, Timothy, the great Apostle Paul wrote: "I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God you have received. . . . For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. ... [B]ear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God" (2 Tim 1:6-8). For young Katharine, there was a process of discernment as she considered her vocation to the consecrated life. Her objections were well considered, based on her own fear of the unknown, her weakness, her devotion to her family, and her attachment to the comforts which had surrounded her since birth. However, her list of positives portrays a young woman of wisdom, insight and devotion. She wrote: "We were created to love God. In religious life we return Our Lord's love for love by a constant voluntary sacrifice to our feelings, our inclinations, our appetites against all of which nature powerfully rebels, but it is only by conquering the flesh that the soul lives" (printed in Saint Katharine Drexel, Apostle to the Oppressed, by Lou Baldwin, p. 42). Ultimately, as expressed in a letter to Bishop James O'Connor of Omaha, Katharine felt that "If all of this is for God's greater glory-I must drown inclination and say Fiat" (ibid., p. 46).

With admirable courage, Katharine Drexel immersed herself in the establishment of a new Religious Family solely dedicated to the transforming power of the Holy Eucharist. Their mission was to the Native Americans and African Americans. To them, Saint Katharine and her Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament brought the message of hope: hope in the dignity of all human beings; hope for a brighter future through access to Catholic education; hope in the goodness and mercy of God who relieves them in time of poverty and suffering; hope in Christ, who gives Himself totally in the Eucharist. In his homily at the Canonization Liturgy, Pope John Paul II clearly summarized the life and legacy of Saint Katharine Drexel: "To her religious community, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, she taught a spirituality based on prayerful union with the Eucharistic Lord and zealous service of the poor and the victims of racial discrimination. Her apostolate helped to bring about a growing awareness of the need to combat all forms of racism through education and social services. Katharine Drexel is an excellent example of that practical charity and generous solidarity with the less fortunate which has long been the distinguishing mark of American Catholics."

Katharine Drexel was acutely aware of the wonders contained in and worked through the Eucharist. "If God in His mercy consumes self as Victim of charity-love of God," wrote Saint Katharine, "self must be consumed and changed as the Sacred Host....The bread is changed into Jesus Christ; so I must be changed into Jesus Christ so that His Will alone lives in me" (Reflections of Life in the Vine Found in the Writings of Mother M. Katharine Drexel, p. 11). How beautifully Saint Katharine lived the mystery of the Eucharist! She emptied herself completely-sacrificing comfort and fortune-in order to be filled with the self-giving love of Jesus Christ! That love was poured forth like a torrent from the generous and compassionate heart of Mother Katharine, whose vision for justice and transformation of hearts never faded and continues to press on to fulfillment. Not only did this love flow in her every missionary journey, in her every establishment of a new school, in every personal encounter with everyone she met. This love flowed forth from and rushed back to Jesus truly present in the Holy Eucharist. In her daily participation in the Mass, in her daily reception of Holy Communion, in her many hours spent in adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Saint Katharine Drexel was revitalized and in turn helped to vitalize the missionary endeavors of her community and of the entire Church. All that Saint Katharine Drexel accomplished for God derived from her relationship with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. In her own words, "The life of adoration associates us with the power of God" (ibid., p. 16).

Today, the first Sunday in October, the Church observes "Respect Life Sunday." In our own day, when the dignity of the human person is disregarded; when moral values and gospel teachings are cast aside; when the most defenseless are threatened with extermination, we are spurred on to engage actively in defense of life, in the sharing of faith. The life and witness of Saint Katharine Drexel place before us the marvels which God accomplishes when we, with our weaknesses and limitations, surrender ourselves daily to His Will, to His plan for us as we participate in the mission of the Church. In his 2004 Apostolic Letter on the Eucharist, Mane Nobiscum Domine, Venerable John Paul II wrote: "The Eucharist not only provides the interior strength needed for this mission, but is also-in some sense-its plan. For the Eucharist is a mode of being, which passes from Jesus into each Christian, through whose testimony it is meant to spread throughout society and culture" (no. 25). Pope Benedict XVI, in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, noted that, "'Worship' itself, Eucharistic communion, includes the reality both of being loved and of loving others in turn." Our Holy Father added, "A Eucharist which does not pass over into the concrete practice of love is intrinsically fragmented" (no. 14).

Saint Katharine Drexel, as a fruit of her Eucharistic Communion and Eucharistic Adoration, donated herself completely to the glory of God through the Christian formation of all people, but most especially for the poor and oppressed. Her vision still presses on to fulfillment. With the strength which comes from Jesus in the Eucharist, we press on to combat the oppressive and destructive forces still rampant in our society: racism and poverty, violence and greed, substance abuse and addictions of all sorts, sexual abuse and promiscuity, abortion and euthanasia. By our knowledge of the truth, by our living of our holy faith, and by our encounter with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we are equipped to evangelize our culture; we are strengthened in our service in charity to others; and, our hearts are drawn to the Kingdom that is prepared for those who love God.

May Saint Katharine Drexel remain by our side as we walk in her footsteps in service and love, and may she pray with us that we have a more ardent devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. Also, may Our Lady of the Rosary inspire us and lead us to victory as we entrust to her intercession our efforts and our prayers in the cause of life and of justice. Sustained by the Eucharist, may we seek always to accomplish the Will of God that we may say with the servants mentioned in the gospel, "We have done what we were obliged to do" (Lk 17: 10). Amen.