I believe in the communion of saints.
When I was going through the most difficult time of my life (infertility, family strife, divorce, a long uncertain annulment process), I became the unexpected recipient of a first class relic of St. Rita. It came from a priest friend with official papers and contained a tiny bone fragment of St. Rita. I knew I had something special, but to tell you the truth, I'd never heard of her and the thought of keeping it in my home was very foreign to me. I started reading. I found out that St. Rita had been a (very) young wife and mother, in the middle of a violent family feud, a young widow, and then became a religious sister. After her canonization, she became known as the patron saint of difficult marriages, impossible causes, and infertility. She seemed like the perfect heavenly friend for me. I needed a lot of help, so I often asked her to pray for me. I prayed a novena to St. Rita leading up to her feast day for several years and lit a candle by the relic. Gradually, in God's time, my impossible causes came to happy conclusions. Lots of winks from God along the way gave me peace and hope. When I found myself, years later, marveling at the many answered prayers St. Rita had brought to God for me, I knew it was time to gift her to someone else. I carefully packed up her relic with the document and thanked God for the beautiful communion of saints. I'm looking forward to the day I will be able to thank her face to face. For more information about St. Rita's amazing life. The portrait of St. Rita was created by Kristyn Brown of the Saints Project. The quote from Pope St. John Paul II came from this beautiful speech he gave to pilgrims gathered at the centennial celebration of St. Rita's canonization in 2000.
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