Daily Reflection for the Pontifical Mission Societies July 14, 2026

Msgr. Roger J. Landry
National Director, The Pontifical Mission Societies
Daily Reflection for July 14, 2026

Here is the video of today’s reflection.

The YouTube generated transcript for today’s reflection is:

I’m Monsignor Roger Landry, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies. It’s Tuesday, July 14th, the feast of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, the Lily of the Mohawks, and I’m coming to you from Mundelein Seminary in Chicago. See the beautiful grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes behind me. And through the trees, you can see the lake around which Saint Mary of the Lake Seminary has been built, including its beautiful watchtower. Today in the gospel, Jesus upbraids three places where he worked various miracles because they hadn’t yet fully converted as a result of those mighty deeds. He said, “Woe to you, Chorazin. Woe to you, Bethsaida. If what has been worked in you were done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have already repented in sackcloth and ashes. And as for you, Capernaum, Peter’s town, the place that became Jesus’ home base, if what had been done in you were done in ancient Sodom, it would long ago have repented.” Jesus wants us to change our life because of his miracles. 2,000 years ago, he worked miracles of physical healing. He did exorcisms. He raised people from the dead. He calmed stormy seas. He stopped the winds. So many extraordinary miracles Jesus did. But he does even greater miracles for us. He heals us of all our sins in baptism and the second baptism of confession. He allows through his own human creatures, his priests, to come from heaven to the altar closest to us. And he remains miraculously in the tabernacle, the same Jesus who is once in Mary’s womb, held in Joseph’s strong arms, pinned to timber on Calvary, is in our neighborhoods waiting for us to come. Even greater miracles than he worked. But he wants to see a change of life as a result of that. He expects it. Otherwise, we’re not learning the lessons of Corazine, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. We’re not learning the lessons of Tyre and Sidon, or even Sodom and Gomorrah. Saint Kateri Tekakwitha was someone who was soon as she got word that God could be alive, wanted to do what was most pleasing. The North American martyrs had been killed in what’s now modern-day Auriesville, then Ossernenon, 10 years before she was born. And she kind of grew through the fertilized soil of their blood. Eventually, other black robes, other Jesuits came. It was a Father Jacques de Lamberville there in Ossernenon, and she went up to him at 16 and said, “What do I need to do in order to be baptized?” Normally, the Jesuits were slow to baptize because there was a high rate of recidivism. Many who didn’t convert tried to get people back, and it was even harder on women because it was through the women’s line that the whole culture was formed. So, when a woman married a man, that man became part of her family, and all the fish he caught belonged to her family. All the animals he hunted belonged to the family. And so, she became the first consecrated virgin in this hemisphere. She gave her entire life over to the Lord. And that was a very dangerous move, and so she suffered. So, the Jesuits had to get her out. They got her up all the way to just south of Montreal, place called Kahnawake, where the Jesuit had built a mission. And they answered her question, “What would be most pleasing to God?” And he wanted us to be able to receive him, and so she would adore him in the Eucharist 4 hours a day, 2 hours in the morning, 2 hours at night, even out in the middle of the frigid snow. She’s a great patron, not just for Native Americans, but for all of us who seek to do what’s most pleasing to the Lord. So, in her honor, through her intercession, let’s adore him today and behave differently like those in ancient Corazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. God bless you.

The Gospel reading on which the reflection was based on: