Our Saint of the Day made a place in her life for God’s grace, and like St. Francis, saw death as the gateway to new life. 🙌
September 4, 2024
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Even as a child, Rose had a great desire to pray and to aid the poor. While still very young, she began a life of penance in her parents’ house. She was as generous to the poor as she was strict with herself. At the age of 10, she became a Secular Franciscan and soon began preaching in the streets about sin and the sufferings of Jesus.
Viterbo, her native city, was then in revolt against the pope. When Rose took the pope’s side against the emperor, she and her family were exiled from the city. When the pope’s side won in Viterbo, Rose was allowed to return. Her attempt at age 15 to found a religious community failed, and she returned to a life of prayer and penance in her father’s home, where she died in 1251. Rose was canonized in 1457.
Reflection
The list of Franciscan saints seems to have quite a few men and women who accomplished nothing very extraordinary. Rose is one of them. She did not influence popes and kings, did not multiply bread for the hungry, and never established the religious order of her dreams. But she made a place in her life for God’s grace, and like Saint Francis before her, saw death as the gateway to new life.
Saint Rose of Viterbo is the Patron Saint of:
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The saints lived lives marked by the promise of liberation that Jesus brings forth through his life, death, and resurrection. They became vessels of God’s hope to God’s people. They allowed themselves to be transformed by the truth of Scripture, practicing the traditions and teachings of our faith in a way that welcomed all people to the table. As a universal Church, we can learn from these three holy people how to love our neighbor, make space for others, and live daily lives marked by the love of the Gospel.
The lives of the saints beckon us onto the road to Emmaus. They draw us into the conversation of faith, life, and the ways in which we can love each other and, in doing so, love God. They draw us out of isolation, indifference, and darkness to walk along a road that leads us to a table where everyone is welcomed to come and break bread with the Messiah.
Today, ponder these uplifting lyrics: “O, the deep, deep love of Jesus/Vast unmeasured, boundless, free/Rolling as a mighty ocean/in its fullness over me.” What calls to you the most in these lines?
Pray
God, you are fully ineffable. So when the words of a song come near to catching you after miles of marsh, it’s a breathtaking delight to take in that first glimpse of the waves and horizon past the crest of a sand dune. Yes, your boundless love is the seascape I long to behold, and will never cease to seek.
Act
Do you have a favorite spiritual song that has sustained you? Write the words down and put the paper in a place you can see them upon waking tomorrow.
Today's Pause+Pray was written by Maureen O'Brien. Learn more here!
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