Katharine Drexel

As a fourth grade teacher, my responsibilities for the Religious curriculum do not focus heavily on teaching "Lives of the Saints." However, I am required to focus on a few saints, mainly ones with significance to Philadelphia and the United States, since that's what we study in Social Studies and, you know... cross curricular teaching for the win.

This past Tuesday was the feast day of St. Katharine Drexel who, if you are unfamiliar with her, is a pretty boss lady. When she was growing up her family was enormously wealthy, but also charitable as all get out. Every week, her parents who give out food, clothing, money and let homeless people sleep in their house-- which is now, ironically, a Club Monaco store.

When her parents died, Katharine gave away all her money. A headline in a Philly newspaper read "Miss Drexel enters Catholic Convent-- Gives Up 7 Million." She spent the rest of her life dedicating herself to the education of Black and Native Americans. She opened schools, founded an order of nuns, and basically balled out all over this land. Also, she became a saint by curing people of deafness, which is like the oldest Jesus trick in the book, but she did it from beyond the grave. Snaps for Katie.

If you follow the Bustedhalo.com Fast, Pray, Give Lenten calendar, you may have noticed that she was the featured quotation on Tuesday.

"The patient and humble endurance of the cross-- whatever it may be-- is the highest work we have to do"

In other words, keep on keepin' on. As we trudge through the end of winter, not so patiently awaiting the arrival of the spring, it can be difficult to remember that all trials and difficulties we face eventually lead us to something better. This is especially important to recall on days when the only thing that feels worth doing to getting in bed and calling it quits.

For Lent this year I gave up napping. This is because I felt that I was using sleep as an escape from real responsibility. I went through of period of a few weeks where almost every day when I came home from work I would eat something and then fall asleep. This hurt my work as a teacher and it also effected my other relationships with friends and roommates.

Since I have given up naps, however, I actually feel that I have more energy. Days in school are going more smoothly, because I'm giving more time to planning when I get home. I've been able to actually watch The Bachelor with my roommates, something that on the surface is a tad superficial, but the time spent together is invaluable.

I know I still have a long way to go in using my time more wisely-- i.e. getting to the gym or focusing on more productive hobbies than just watching Netflix-- but in general, I think I am doing well. St. Katharine's words motivate me to not give up and resign myself to complacency, but rather to keep the struggle alive, because eventually it will pay off. As they say, I can sleep when I'm dead.