The saint we celebrate today was born in the 14th century, but she remains a very popular saint today. St Rita of Cascia was born to a peasant family, the only child in the family. She longed to be a nun, but instead, she followed her parents wishes for her to marry. She became a wife and mother at the age of 12. After a violent, abusive relationship with her husband, after the murder of her husband through a feud with another family, and the death of her two sons by dysentery, she was accepted into the Augustinian convent as a religious sister. Rita was well known for being obedient. She was canonized a saint in the year 1900. At her canonization, Pope Leo 13th named her Patroness of Impossible Causes, while in many Catholic countries, Rita came to be known to be as the patroness of abused wives and heartbroken women. Let us unite our prayers with with the prayers of St Rita today, even those prayers that may seem impossible to be answered.
Today’s Letter of James tackles the subject of arrogance in our lives, of how we often ignore the humility God calls us to by thinking we have control of our lives and of the future. It seems like we take our health for grant when we aren’t having any problems, but then a health crisis can strike us suddenly without any warning or notice. Then we know that we are not in control of what the future brings. We can certainly learn about humility from saints such as St Rita, who followed the will of God in their lives and who faced life with an attitude of humility and love.
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