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Saint Isaac Jogues was a French-born missionary who was one of the first Jesuits to try evangelizing the Native Americans.
Within a few years of landing on the shores of America, he was beaten, tortured, imprisoned, and eventually killed.
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On the surface, his mission seemed like a failure.
But nine years after his death, a young Native American girl was born near the site where Isaac died. This girl later became the first Native American Saint, who’s feast day we celebrate today.
Her name was Kateri Tekakwitha.
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Kateri’s parents and younger brother died in a smallpox epidemic when she was four. She herself was left disfigured and half blind.
But as she reached her teenage years, she began interacting with other Jesuit missionaries who followed in the footsteps of Isaac Jogues.
They taught her about Jesus, baptized her, and welcomed her into their small Christian community, where she dedicated herself to Christ, living a life of prayer, fasting, and penance.
If only Isaac had known how fruitful his efforts would be!
But his life reminds us of an important lesson in faith:
We don’t always get to see the fruit of our labor.
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It’s easy to feel discouraged when we share our faith with others, as Isaac did, and we don’t immediately see the results.
But we should never give up. Keep planting seeds of faith.
God will watch over its growth.
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Who knows, your life and example may also lead to the birth of a Saint.
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Image credits: (1) Ignatian Solidarity Network (2) Wikimedia Commons (3) Fine Art America, Terezia Sedlakova