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Sometimes it can be tempting to think that a saint from the 15th century has nothing to teach modern Catholics.
Yet, holiness is not reserved to the past, as if it were a relic of a bygone era. Holiness is a universal call, and the saints of the past can still teach us many lessons centuries after their death.
St. John Paul II pointed this out by using St. Rita of Cascia as an example in the year 2000.
He gave an address to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square to venerate the relics of St. Rita, holding her up and her virtues for imitation in the 21st century:
In her example of total abandonment to God, in her transparent simplicity and in her unflinching fidelity to the Gospel, we too can find sound direction for being authentic Christian witnesses at the dawn of the third millennium.
But what is the message that this saint passes on to us? It is a message that flows from her life: humility and obedience were the path that Rita took to be ever more perfectly conformed to the Crucified One.
Humility and obedience
St. Rita experienced a very tumultuous life, one that included a great deal of suffering.
She lost many of her family members, and united her physical suffering to the cross of Jesus Christ.
Through it all, she remained humble and obedient to God, placing her trust in him. Many of us would be tempted to lose hope and blame God for all of our suffering.
St. Rita, on the other hand, was strengthened by her love of God and was her rock in the midst of the waves of life.
St. John Paul II commented on this aspect of her life in his address:
If we ask St Rita for the secret to this extraordinary work of social and spiritual renewal, she replies: fidelity to the Love that was crucified. Rita, with Christ and like Christ, goes to the Cross always and only through love. Like her, then, let us turn our eyes and hearts to Jesus, who died on the Cross and rose for our salvation. It is he, our Redeemer, who makes the family’s mission of unity and fidelity possible, as he did for this beloved saint, even in moments of crisis and difficulty. And it is he who gives concrete form to the Christian commitment to building peace by helping them to overcome the conflicts and tensions which unfortunately are so frequent in daily life.
St. Rita reminds us to look to Christ in the midst of our own difficulties and to not look away. When our eyes remain fixed on Christ, we can be obedient to God and humbly accept his will in our lives.
