SAINT RITA-


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SAINT RITA-
Exemplary Wife and Powerful Advocate/1381-1457/Feast:May 22-#47

fr:Dear Saint,you are the patroness of those in need,and for your 
lavishness in granting favors you have been called the Advocate of 
the "Hopeless" and even of the "Impossible."
*You are so humble,so mortified,so patient,and so compassionate in 
love for your Crucified Jesus that you can obtain from Him even the 
most difficult of favors.
Symbolic of this was the rose you requested when dying.
Blooming in winter,it achieved the impossible!

St:You must remember always that it is God who achieves the impossible.
Like His other servants,
I am merely His instrument through whom He grants favors to human 
beings.
*Perhaps I have more concern for those in desperate straits because my 
life seemed to be filled with problems.
Married against 
my inclinations to a man of violent temper,
I lived in terror for eighteen years.
My only salvation lay in our Lord Who helped me grow in patience and 
accept--and even love--the cross that was mine.

fr:Your husband was then stabbed by an enemy.
Helped by your kindness and prayers,he repented and died a good death.
Shortly afterward your two sons also died.
*You then joined the Community of Augustinian Nuns at Cascia in Umbria 
and became a model Religious,practicing charity toward all.

St:I had a great devotion to our Lord's Passion and often expressed the 
desire before a Crucifix to suffer for love of Him.
One day one of the thorns fell from the Crucifix and left a deep wound 
in my forehead which refused to heal.
For the rest of my life I suffered a pain similar to that of Jesus.

fr:You provide a good illustration of the accuracy of one of 
Saint Augustine's sayings:"
Where there is love there is no suffering; and if there is suffering,
suffering itself is loved."

pr:0 my God and my Crucified Lord,
You were innocent and without sin or crime,yet You suffered so much 
for love of me!
You suffered arrest,buffeting,insults,a scourging,a crown of thorns,
and Finally a cruel death on the Cross.
Why do You wish that I --
Your unworthy servant who was the cause of Your sufferings and Your 
Pains --should have no share in Your sufferings?

fr:Dear Saint,teach us that through the Cross of Christ heavenly grace 
is given us,our minds are strengthened,and we experience spiritual joy.
*Help us to accept our own cross each day with sentiments similar to 
Yours,and.to follow our Crucified Lord through earthly sorrow to 
eternal happiness in heaven.

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