By Carol Younger

Memorial of Saint Rita of Cascia

Patroness of Impossible Cases

My friend and I pray together on the phone almost every day. We make so many impossible requests for ailing friends, those who have calamity in their lives, and those who need our intercession. However, when we pray for our family members facing health and personal crises, we turn to St. Rita. She was the wife of a murdered husband. She clung to the Crucified Christ, begging God for the repentance of her sons before they carried out their avowed vengeance on the murderer. She told God she would rather they die than commit mortal sin, endangering their eternal life. Their repentance did come with illness and death, and Rita chose convent life, suffering many years with illness and obscurity there. 

Perseverance in Prayer

God has preserved her incorruptible in Cascia. Innumerable miracles are wrought through her intercession. Her clothes wear out and are replaced, but her body still endures. So dedicated to Christ, she may have been a stigmatist, as she endured a thorn and wound in her forehead for many years. What we can be sure about her is that she was not afraid of her present times nor of the future. Rita is powerful with God because she knew her God is all-powerful.   So, when my friend and I feel powerless over the trials our family, friends, or ourselves endure, we turn to St. Rita.  

Asking for God’s Will 

Our prayers always include wanting to do His will in their lives. We lean on St. Rita’s repeated asking God for His holiness in the lives of her sons, and imitate her prayer for whomever we pray for, knowing that whatever is good will be given them by God. It’s our job to ask, though.

Prayer:

Dear St. Rita, so devoted to the crucified Christ, teach us to be constant in prayer for others to endure the crosses in their lives and so find repentance, forgiveness, and holiness. Help me to imitate your humility, prayer, and pursuit of God’s will.

Call to Action:

Recall a time when you were desperate for a prayer to be answered. How was that prayer answered? Thank God for His will in that matter, and write it in your journal.

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