American Holiness

Maybe you've heard people say, "There will never be an American pope" ... "The American Church is out of line with the rest of the world" ... "What do Americans know about true sacrifice?"

Well, today we hear from the Church that holiness is possible, even for an American. We celebrate the Memorial of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, a wonderful woman who came over from Italy to work with Italian immigrants in New York City and later in Chicago. They were looked down upon by the culture at large as "different" and "less than us."  Yet through this work -- in which she herself was looked down upon -- St. Frances Xavier Cabrini was the first American citizen to be canonized, in 1946.

She was so inspired by the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that she formed a religious order (The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart) to help her to do what she was doing: care for the sick and poor in America. The love He has for us is supposed to flow out through us to the world around us, and St. Frances Xavier Cabrini recognized that.

Even though most of us are not part of a religious order, and not many of us are Italian, we are all baptized and thus beloved children of God, sharing in the love of that Sacred Heart of Jesus.  How can we reach out in love to those around us, especially the forgotten and those who are looked down upon as "less than us"? How can we show through our own actions that holiness is very possible, even in Cary, North Carolina, USA?