Perhaps it is simply a result of my not having been a Catholic
in this lifetime (rather than an indication of any ignorance), but I confess that Saint Rita of
Cascia had totally escaped my awareness until this past week. I eagerly read these
words about her, "She is known as the Saint of the Impossible. Those who
bear heavy burdens, especially women, worship her as the patron saint of
desperate causes."
Now, a patron saint of desperate causes seems like something we
would want others to know about. Especially at this time in our world. I am sharing the information with
you all now.
She had repeatedly begged her parents to allow her to become a nun,
but at a mere twelve years of age, she was forced to marry. After having given birth to two
sons, she lived with an abusive husband until he was violently murdered some eighteen
years later.
After the death of her husband, she still wanted desperately to enter the
monastery, but she was refused entry because of the violence around his death. She finally entered the monastery of Saint Mary Madalene at Cascia, Italy,
when she was 36 years old!
The story of her entry is considered a miracle. One night, while all the doors to the monastery were
locked, she was "transported" into the convent by her patron Saints.
When the nuns discovered how she got in, she was allowed to stay, and she
remained there until her death.
The symbol most often associated with St. Rita is the
rose. Lying in the monastery, near death, she directed a friend to the garden of her childhood
home to pick a rose and bring it to her. Although it was January, the rose was blooming
right where she said it would be!
Another remarkable story is how she would (against her
husband's orders) often make and take food to the poor. One day, as she was sneaking out of the
house with a loaf of bread tucked within the folds of her dress, her husband ordered her to show him
what she was hiding. When she obediently pulled back the fabric, she revealed a bouquet
of roses!
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| Nathan Jonas, doing his morning meditation. |
From now on, I will remember that the Catholics believe
you can say a prayer to Saint Rita, and you can expect she will be able to
assist you with the seemingly impossible. Perhaps when dealing with desperate causes, her devotion works miracles. And
perhaps we, too, were born hard-wired for this devotion to the
divine. Looking at this photo of Nathan doing his morning meditation, everything inside me says you can know that is true.
