Fr. Nate's Letter - November 10, 2024

When I was growing up, I remember serving Mass for Fr. Morrison, who once shared a fond memory of growing up in Chicago. When he would come home from school he would run up the steps of his family’s row house, through the front door, drop his book bag and call out to his mother that he was home. On a number of occasions his mother would be down the hall in the kitchen, sometimes having a cup of tea with a kindly religious sister from Italy. 
 
This sister would do her rounds at the markets, and go door-to-door seeking help for the poor and the less fortunate, collecting clothes or scraps, asking for pennies or whatever one could give. Fr. Morrison fondly remembered when she would visit because his mother would often be occupied and he could escape for a short time, going out to play before having to complete his homework. This sister who used to visit his mother is now a saint of the Church, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, or as she is often and affectionately called in our area, Mother Cabrini. My experience has been that referring to her as “Mother” is a privileged form of endearment used in those areas where she lived and worked. Chicago is privileged to be one of them.
 
Mother Cabrini is recognized for her missionary efforts - she founded sixty-seven schools, orphanages, convents, and hospitals in the United States and South America. It was Pope Leo XIII (honored in one of the windows in our basilica) who asked Mother Cabrini to leave home and go to the United States. Even though she was afraid of water, she crossed the ocean twenty-five times in her lifetime to carry out her mission. Though she became a citizen of the United States in Seattle, Washington, it was here in Chicago that she spent a significant amount of her time. Mother Cabrini died just before Christmas in 1917, in what was then Columbus Hospital, one of the many she founded. Mother Cabrini is the first U.S. citizen to be canonized a saint. The National Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini is located in Lincoln Park, near the original location of the now closed Columbus Hospital.
 
This story that Fr. Morrison related about Mother Cabrini visiting and conversing with his mother at the kitchen table makes this saint of the Church very real to us. Thinking of Mother Cabrini actually walking our Chicago streets, being present in our neighborhoods, praying and sitting in the pews of our churches, always seemed to bring her particularly close. In a special way this made her “one of ours.” Mother Cabrini’s feast falls mid-week this coming week.
 
The region of Lombardy in Italy, Mother Cabrini’s birthplace, seems to carry a reputation for producing saints across many different eras and generations. I don’t think we could attribute such a feat to any particular influence other than there were good people who took their relationship with the Lord to heart and desired to love and serve God as best they could. We see a good example of this relationship in this week’s Gospel. I know for a fact that there are many good and holy people who live and work in Chicago, quietly serving the Lord in a variety of ways. Isn’t it a nice encouragement to you and me to really intensify our efforts to become saints ourselves? Wouldn’t it be something if Chicago fostered saints like the region of Lombardy?
 
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini lived and worked and prayed in our city just like we, ordinary people, do today. In many ways I like to think of her as one of the patrons of our city. Mother Cabrini, pray for us!
 
Once again, a plea for a prayer on behalf of the souls in Purgatory!
 
Wishing you all God’s blessing this week! 
 
Keeping you in prayer – and say one for me!
 
- Fr. Nate