St. Rita of Cascia is a saint we can look towards for inspiration and ask for her intercession. Her life was full of faith and trust in God, particularly in impossible situations. Throughout every trial, she was able to persevere and remain faithful. In 1381 she was born to parents who thought they would not be able to have a child- miracle 1. Legend has it that when she was a child her parents brought her into the field where they worked and a swarm of bees came and deposited honey into her mouth. Presently,in the convent at Cascia, there is a particular type of bee that has no stingers or feelers and only come out during the Passion and return on her feast day. Crazy!
Though Rita wanted to be a religious, she dutifully obeyed her parents and married. She and her husband had an extremely difficult marriage, and she had to endure her husband's anger and mean disposition. She incessantly prayed for him however, and in their 3rd year of marriage he repented and they enjoyed 15 more years of marital happiness.- Miracle 2.
However, her husband was assassinated because of a village vendetta, and her sons soon got caught up in the business of revenge. Rather than have them avenge their father's death, Rita prayed for God to take her sons rather than them commit sins. Her prayers were answered and they fell ill and repented before they died. Now without family Rita was able to join the religious orders.
She was not accepted into the order she wanted to enter (an Augustinian order- St. Mary Magdalene in Cascia) because of village vendettas again, but through the grace of God and help from other saints she was able to broker peace between two families and was allowed to enter the order. There she received the gift of stigmata- a single wound on her forehead, a single thorn from the crown of thorns. Her wound was not pleasant smelling like others, hers was an open wound and was described as fetid. The sisters had to confine her into a room and she became a contemplative.
She deeply desired to attend a pilgrimage to Rome, but Mother Superior would not allow her because of her wound. She again took this issue to prayer and right before the others left for pilgrimage her wound healed. Miracle 3. Upon returning to the Cascia, the wound reopened.
She died in 1457 (Feast Day: May 22); her last words being "I am seated in the shadow of the one I desired"
We can truly learn a lot from the life of this saint. We must ask ourselves what things are "seemingly impossible" that we can pray for, and ask God for help in. Maybe it's social justice causes like an end to hunger and homelessness, or maybe it's in a broken relationship. Prayer is such a powerful weapon against despair and brokenness. This is a new year, and we can make this a new year of prayer - we can be like Saint Rita and no matter what our vocation in life make the best of our circumstance and continue to be faithful and prayerful despite our situations. What can we do to find the time to really pray?
Seemingly "ordinary" YAGs too can pray fervently and intercede for others
-Teresa Chu
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