Day: February 14, 2016

I’m not sure when it started, but I know today that I absolutely need light in my life.  My house is light, with lots of windows and two huge skylights.  I don’t usually dress in somber clothing, light is better, or at least bright colors.  I get sad when too many dark, gray days in a row roll by my windows.  We often hear about the “Light of Christ,” or “God is light,” giving credence to my belief that light is good.  Scriptures tell us that darkness will never blot out the light.  Oh God, I certainly hope so.  For me light is my soul food.  Nourishing my essence.  Kissing me with renewed freshness.  When I am still and wait for God’s presence, I am filled with sacred light.  I love that.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  John 1:5

I was named after Saint Rita because my mother believed she was the saint of the afflicted.  She named me after this saint because my sister, some 8 years older than me, was born with Down’s Syndrome.  My mother thought I might take after my name-saint, Rita, and help my sister.  After my sister died at age 37, I decided to do some research on St. Rita.  Turns out she is not the saint of the afflicted, but the saint of impossible causes. My youngest daughter thinks there is nothing I can’t accomplish, so maybe the name fits in an odd sort of way.  I like St. Rita, and I have been told she is more popular than St. Mary in Italy.  I guess we all have a lot of “impossible causes.”  Human nature is just that way, a lot of impossible situations we have to pray our way through or around. I’ve never personally prayed to St. Rita, but I know many people who do pray to her. I know my mother, as a good Catholic, prayed to her and lit candles regularly for my sister. May they both rest in peace; I know they have risen in Glory and now live among the saints.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all. Psalm 34:19