I am Stephanie Morris, formerly the Director of Archives of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and an Associate of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (ASBS). Sister Annette Marie O’Donnell had begun this blog as “Companions on the Journey” but has retired from actively writing. St. Katharine said we are all typewriters in the hands of the Lord; it has been a pleasure and privilege for me to serve as St. Katharine’s typist for many years.
We start the
month with the 25th anniversary of St. Katharine’s canonization and
the feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. Therese visited Pope Leo XIII to
request permission to enter the Carmelites at fifteen. He said if God wants it,
it will happen. This was during the same year when Katharine Drexel asked Pope
Leo XIII for missionaries for the United States and he suggested that she
become a missionary herself.
October is
the beginning of the fall season. Schools are in full swing. Trees are changing
colors; the squirrels are gathering and burying nuts and the deer are showing
their winter coats. Saint Katharine’s father, Francis A. Drexel, called the
beauty of nature “God’s picture gallery.” Do you see the beauty of God’s
creation in the changing scenery?
We also
celebrate the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels. Do you think of your guardian
angel? When I merge into traffic, I say “thank you.” I don’t specify who I am thanking but my
guardian angel is my first choice.
We also
celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Saint Katharine and Louise Drexel
Morrell were secular Franciscans. Saint Katharine requested the privilege of
wearing the Franciscan cord with its indulgences. Louise was buried wearing her
Franciscan habit.
The month of
October is the month of the Holy Rosary. Saint Katharine called the Rosary the
“symbol of love.” If you look at all of the mysteries, you see the life of
Jesus Christ and the Blessed Mother’s role in our salvation. May your
meditation on each mystery deepen your faith, hope and love.
May
appreciating the beauty of God’s creation bring you to a re-creation of your
sense of beauty and of God’s graces.
Stephanie Morris, Ph.D., ASBS
September 23, 2025
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