3 March 2015
Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent
Today is the feast of the American St. Katherine Drexel (1858-1955). It would be difficult to find anyone who better put into practice the Lord’s words in the first reading of today’s Mass: “Make justice your aim; redress the wronged.” She is the concrete image of justice and charity; the iconic model of what genuine Catholic social justice is and how it differs from social humanitarianism.
In the Gospel Jesus teaches that his religion is not about external show, but it is the expression of exactly who we are: sons and daughters of the Father; brothers and sisters to all men. Every Christian action should be both filial and fraternal. Such is the insight we receive in our daily prayer and in contemplating saints like St. Katherine.
It is through Jesus that we are sons and daughters of the Father, brothers and sisters to all. This is what we celebrate in the Eucharist. If our work in the social apostolic is not built on daily prayer and the Eucharist, it may be laudable, but it risks not being filial and fraternal. It can also be the formula for pharisaical self-deception.