Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter and St. Rita of Cascia

Today the Church celebrates the Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter. It is also an optional memorial of Saint Rita of Cascia.

In today's "Daily Ignatian Reflection," Father James Kubicki, S.J., writes

"Tomorrow we will light the Easter candle one last time. For the rest of the year it will be used only at Baptisms and funerals. The Easter Season ends with Pentecost and today's first reading, with the story of Paul's arrival in Rome, the center of the known world, brings our Easter readings from the Acts of the Apostles to a conclusion (Acts 28:16-20,30-31).

"Today's Gospel is also a conclusion, the end of John's Gospel. After Peter's triple attestation of his love for Jesus and Jesus' prediction of his martyrdom, he asks about John. What will happen to him? Jesus responds: 'What concern is it of yours? You follow me.' (John 21:20-25)

"A common temptation is to wonder how we compare to others and what others think of us. Such comparison and competition is deadly. We either end up judging others harshly in order to build our own ego, or we end up with the short end of the stick, comparing how they look on the outside to how we feel on the inside. Jesus challenges Peter and us not to worry about others but to keep our focus on Him and to follow Him.

"St. Rita must have known this. She is called 'The Saint of the Impossible' because of the impossible odds she faced in life. As a child she wanted to be a nun but her parents opposed her desires and married her off to an abusive and unfaithful man. She prayed hard for his conversion and was rewarded when, after he got into a fight with some other men, he died in her arms begging forgiveness. Her two sons decided to avenge their father's death and she prayed for their conversion. Before they could carry out their plan they took sick, forgave those who killed their father, and died. Now free to follow her dream, Rita applied to the Augustinian order of religious women only to be refused entry because she had been married. After much prayer and several attempts she was finally accepted.

"In the midst of impossible situations and difficulties, Rita kept her eyes fixed on Jesus. May we always do the same."

(Father Kubicki is the National Director of the Apostleship of Prayer.)

For more information about St. Rita:

     Saint Rita of Cascia