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Saint Katharine Drexel, Holy Name Cathedral, Raleigh NC ©CAPG

Saint Katharine Drexel in North Carolina

Quotes from Saint Katharine Drexel:

• "The patient and humble endurance of the Cross - whatever nature it may be- is the highest work we have to do."
• "Ours is the Spirit of the Eucharist, the total gift of self."
• "The Eucharist is the never ending sacrifice. It is the Sacrament of Love, the supreme love, the act of love."
• "My sweetest Joy is to be in the presence of Jesus in the Holy Sacrament. I beg that when obliged to withdraw in body, I may leave my heart before the Holy Sacrament. How I would miss Our Lord if He were to be away from me by His presence in the Blessed Sacrament!"
  

"The opening chapter of the rule admirably defines this twofold purpose of the life of a Sister of the Blessed Sacrament: "The object of the Institute is the honor and service of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. The sisters admitted to this religious congregation, besides attending particularly to their own perfection, which is the principal end of all religious orders, shall, by an apostolate of prayer and work, zealously endeavor to procure through Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament living temples for His Divinity amongst the Indian and colored races. To attain this end the sisters admitted to this religious congregation shall consecrate themselves, body, soul and spirit, to the service of their Eucharistic Lord by their twofold apostolate, and feel convinced that even if they were to perform heroic acts of virtue, they would only be doing their duty; that is, they would be conducting themselves as it is meet and fitting for the honor of Him who has given Himself entirely to them." (...)

Devotion to Jesus in the Holy Sacrament is the great central devotion of the sisterhood. The rule says, "Jesus really present in the Holy Eucharist shall be the constant object of their affection. They shall often reflect, on the infinite charity displayed for us in that ever adorable Sacrament, and by frequent visits every day, pay assiduous court to their Heavenly Spouse on His throne of love, uniting their acts of adoration, prayers and thanksgiving, to those of the angels who continually attend Him in the tabernacle. In all their sufferings and anxieties, in all their fears, afflictions and temptations, they shall seek comfort and consolation at the foot of the altar. They shall endeavor to model themselves on the gentleness, humility, obedience and annihilation of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. The practical rule of their conduct should be, what does our Lord Jesus Christ want of me at this moment? In this action is there anything for His service, for His glory? What would our Lord do on such or such an occasion?" (...)

"The Feast of the Purification following witnessed the opening of "Holy Providence House." In an incredibly short time the building was filled to its utmost capacity-one hundred and fifty children. The majority are girls, whom the sisters keep until their twenty-first year. The boys, when they have reached the age of twelve, are transferred to industrial or trade schools. The girls receive a good common-school education, the larger ones spend one-half day in school work, the other half in domestic employment. Some take a course in scientific dressmaking; the steam laundry instructs others in all the details of fine laundry work; while the bakery and cooking classes afford instruction to an equally large number. The aim is to give the girls a good, solid English education, and a thorough knowledge of all the branches of domestic economy." American Ecclesiastical Review

"Envy is a sadness which we feel on account of the good that happens to our neighbor.

Envy my children, follows pride; whoever is envious is proud. See, envy comes to us from Hell; the devils having sinned through pride, sinned also through envy, envying our glory, our happiness. Why do we envy the happiness and the goods of others? Because we are proud; we should like to be the sole possessors of talents, riches, of the esteem and love of all the world! We hate our equals, because they are our equals; our inferiors, from the fear that they may equal us; our superiors, because they are above us. In the same way, my children, that the devil after his fall felt, and still feels, extreme anger at seeing us the heirs of the glory of the good God, so the envious man feels sadness at seeing the spiritual and temporal prosperity of his neighbor.

We walk, my children, in the footsteps of the devil; like him, we are vexed at good, and rejoice at evil. If our neighbor loses anything, if his affairs go wrong, if he is humbled, if he is unfortunate, we are joyful. . . we triumph! The devil, too, is full of joy and triumph when we fall, when he can make us fall as low as himself. What does he gain by it? Nothing. Shall we be richer, because our neighbor is poorer? Shall we be greater, because he is less? Shall we be happier, because he is more unhappy? O my children! How much we are to be pitied for being like this! St. Cyprian said that other evils had limits, but that envy had none. In fact, my children, the envious man invents all sorts of wickedness; he has recourse to evil speaking, to calumny, to cunning, in order to blacken his neighbor; he repeats what he knows, and what he does not know he invents, he exaggerates. . . .

Through the envy of the devil, death entered into the world; and also through envy we kill our neighbor; by dint of malice, of falsehood, we make him lose his reputation, his place. . . . Good Christians, my children, do not do so; they envy no one; they love their neighbor; they rejoice at the good that happens to him, and they weep with him if any misfortune comes upon him. How happy should we be if we were good Christians.

Ah! my children, let us, then, be good Christians and we shall no more envy the good fortune of our neighbor; we shall never speak evil of him; we shall enjoy a sweet peace; our soul will be calm; we shall find paradise on earth."

Source: The Blessed Curé of Ars in His Catechetical Instructions, 1951

Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen