Failure To See

Jesus puts the woe on Chorazin and Bethsaida, two cities where he evidently worked many "mighty deeds" because they failed to repent. (cf Mt 11:20-24). What a woe-deserving castigation for ignoring an obvious good  like turning their back on a cancer cure as if  they  were entitled to it and down playing the miracle as if it were nothing.   We can be like that, so full or ourselves, so blind to the gifts we are given every day.
In contrast, we celebrate St. Kateri Tekakwitha today,  the "Lily of the Mohawks", whose simplicity and total gratitude to God enabled her to seek what would be most pleasing to God and do it. A survivor of smallpox, her face was marked with scars, which hid her natural beauty. Converted as a teenager, she grew in the faith even though she had to wait till she was twenty to be baptized, and even longer before making First Communion.  How she longed for that day, and how she went out of her way to walk through the woods to attend early Mass and receive Jesus.  She was not blind to the gifts that were given daily and in turn gave of herself in prayer and service to the elderly and ill of the village. She, like St. Therese of Lisieux, died at the early age of 24.  The small pox scars disappeared and her face was radiant with beauty, as was her pure soul.  Her canonization was LONG in coming, but her gift of seeing and accepting will long outlive the blindness of Chorzin and Bethsaida!
Bro. Rene