We spend endless hours planning and worrying about some distant future that is promised to none of us, and yet effortlessly overlook the fact that how we deal with the here and now will determine what the future looks like. 

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, commonly called “The Lily of the Mohawks,” knew that tomorrow wasn’t promised. So she focused on the here and now that determined everything.

Kateri is the first Native American saint in Church history. She was born in 1656 in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon, the daughter of the tribe chief and a mother who had converted to the Catholic faith. Tragedy struck Kateri’s family at a young age when a smallpox epidemic ravaged the tribe, and both of her parents succumbed to the illness. Kateri was left orphaned and physically scarred, with her vision impaired. 

Kateri was adopted by her uncle, who despised the Catholic faith because one of his daughters had converted. Kateri, however, had a deep love for Jesus from a young age. In this difficult spot, what could Kateri do?

Rather than running away, Kateri stayed in her tribal village, and spent her youth working with the Jesuits to take care of her neighbors who were succumbing to disease. She cared for the wounded after battles, and she buried the dead. In the midst of a society skeptical about Christianity, she lived her faith in small but bold moments of love and sacrifice.

When Kateri was 17, her adoptive parents tried to marry her off to a man in her village. She refused and told a visiting priest that she would like to officially convert to Catholicism. He began catechism classes with her, and two years later she was baptized into the Church, on Easter Sunday, 1676. 

The rest of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha’s short life was full of challenges, but she remained steadfast in her faith. Her commitment to bringing Jesus to her community, day by day, has inspired many people over the centuries since her death at age 24.

When we stay in the here and now, we’re able to take immediate actions. The real beauty of focusing on immediate actions is that it lifts the clouds of confusion. We all feel confused at times, but we are rarely confused about what we should be doing right now. 

Stay in the here and now, act in the here and now, live in the here and now. You’ll be amazed by how clear your life becomes.

And to read more about Saint Kateri, consider reading Emily Cavin’s incredible book Lily of the Mohawks: The Story of St. Kateri.



Feast Day: July 14

Feast Day Shared By: Saint Camillus de Lellis

Patron Saint of: Ecologists, Ecology, Environment, and Environmentalists

Also Known As: Lily of the Mohawks

Symbols: Lilies and Turtles

Canonized: October 21, 2012

Canonized By: Pope Benedict XVI