Tag Archives: Meditation

Do You Believe in the Impossible?

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My meditation today brings forth the quote “God is the God of the impossible”. This is probably something that rings in my soul since Sunday’s homily, as Father mentioned our faith within the Church is for us to expect the impossible and to have this kind of FAITH.  What more can we ever ask for if God the Father is always taking care of our needs?  My question that seems to shout out today is “Do YOU believe that He can change the things that are not to what can be?”  St. Rita would find that God would show her His glory through the many challenges she would face.  Do we love God enough to meet these challenges that He is asking of us for the sanctification of our very souls?  Prayer is the answer, taking time to be with Jesus as Saint Rita learned to do in her own life journey.  We are all called to walk with the Lord in this life; we are all called to be saints.  We all have a cross that God has given each of us individually as a gift and this will never be seen as a gift until you decide to hand it over to the one that has set you free on the day of His crucifixion.   All of us need to recognize this part in our lives.

 

Saint Rita was one person that recognized this gift, as she always wanted to be a religious sister but God had other plans for her and that was to marry Paolo Mancini, an ill-tempered, abusive individual.  Rita’s heart would be broken due to the bitterness and hatred that was part of the Mancini family.  “She put up with Paolo’s abuses for eighteen years before he was ambushed and stabbed to death. Her sons swore vengeance on the killers of their father, but through the prayers and interventions of Rita, they forgave the offenders.”

 

Rita endured the trials of many dark nights and through these trials God the Father would strengthen her soul and faith in HIM.  For it is not in man that we find faith and hope but in Our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment of all our trials and tribulations that we will ever endure in this life.  Christ would mend Rita’s broken heart of sorrow and loneliness and He would bring her to a place of great peace in HIM alone.  Rita’s future trials would be a suffering sent from HEAVEN that would be so united to Our Lord Jesus Christ that souls would be healed!

 

“Rita lived 40 years in the convent, spending her  time in prayer and charity, and working for peace in the region. She was devoted to the Passion, and in response to a prayer to suffer as Christ, she received a chronic head wound that appeared to have been caused by a crown of thorns, and which bled for 15 years.  Confined to her bed the last four years of her life, eating little more than the Eucharist, teaching and directing the younger sisters. Near the end she had a visitor from her home town who asked if she’d like anything; Rita’s only request was a rose from her family’s estate.  The visitor went to the home, but it being January, knew there was no hope of finding a flower; there, sprouted on an otherwise bare bush, was a single rose blossom.

Among the other areas, Rita is well-known as a patron of desperate, seemingly impossible causes and situations. This is because she has been involved in so many stages of life – wife, mother, widow, and nun, she buried her family, helped bring peace to her city, saw her dreams denied and fulfilled – and never lost her faith in God, or her desire to be with Him.”

 

Let St. Rita be an example to you today and never let anyone or anything cause you to lose your faith in GOD or take your desire to be with HIM.  God loves you so very much and HE wants to flourish you with His LOVE.  Take time to be with HIM today and seek out the nearest Catholic Church and visit with Jesus or rest with Him in the quiet of your own home, He is with you always no matter what you are struggling with today, know that HE is with you and that HE can take care of the issues that are troubling you.

The music is in Arabic, but the words are in English and they are truly a beautiful tribute to St. Rita.

 

 I believe in the impossible, do YOU?

 

Resources: Quoted

The Gift of Grief?

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I found this post this morning browsing through facebook.  I think this is something that we can all grow from as we all go through moments of “GRIEF”.  

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Good Grief: A Meditation of How Grief can be a Gift in Strange Package
By: Msgr. Charles Pope

As a priest I walk with a lot of people in their grief. It’s a regular part of priesthood. I remember back in 2007 how tough it was for me:
  • The Deacon of my parish, Nerus, like a father to me, died after a long battle with cancer. His final words to me were, “I’m not so good right now, but I’ll be better soon.”
  • My administrative and pastoral assistant, Catherine, like a mother to me, developed a rapid form of Alzheimer’s and within that year went from being at the top of her game to no longer recognizing anyone, within a year she was gone.
  • My Parish bookkeeper, Shirley, also like a mother or an aunt, died suddenly.
  • I was transferred from a parish I loved. This too was like a death, death by a thousand cuts.
  • My father died shortly thereafter, after a long illness.
  • A new parishioner lost her 4 year old nephew when, climbing on a dresser, it fell over on him and he was killed
  • Another parishioner lost her 25 year old son, know well to us all, when he was shot to death.
All in a year. I remember telling God it was too much. And though I got no answer, I haven’t had a year like that since.   (story continued here)

The Seventh Sorrow-the laying in the tomb

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The Seventh Sorrow

7. The burial of Jesus: “Now there was in the place where He was crucified, a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein no man yet had been laid. There, therefore, because of the parasceve of the Jews, they laid Jesus, because the sepulchre was nigh at hand.” John XIX, 41-



Dear Little hearts,

And so we come to the seventh and last sorrow, the laying in the tomb. A mystery that we can all identify with, for in the midst of life death is always with us.

The Battle is over Christ is laid to rest, the seed is laid within the ground…

One of the greatest lessons to learn in life is the dichotomy often on many levels of the difference between appearances and reality. That applies equally to this mystery, “nothing is ever quite like what it seems”…. this appears to human eyes to be the end , but it is in reality just the beginning. It seems like failure and the end of all…. it is but the prelude to the greatest overture and drama of LIFE… the Resurrection.

Hope in God we shall praise him still, we can never trust our God enough, even though he may lead us in strange and painful ways. HE IS LORD !