These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin, November 13

For we ourselves were once hateful ourselves and hating one another. (Ti 3:1-7)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111324.cfm
“Hateful ourselves and hating one another” is a pretty good description of the politics of hate and division we have today. We desperately need grace . . . God’s abundant grace so that we can imitate the kindness and generous love of God poured out on us by the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Lord. Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917) an immigrant missionary sister who became the first United States citizen to be canonized. I remember how some folks said that Mother Cabrini really didn’t count as a US saint because she was an immigrant. These folks were pushing for the canonization of Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821) as the first “native-born” US saint. (Mother Seton wasn’t born in the United States either, but rather in the British Colonies that became the United States!).