22 May 2023
Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter
There is a time to be lifted from this world, to transcend its cares and frivolities, and to think only of the one true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent. There is also a time to engage this world. Even though its shortcomings are many, the world is a creation of a wise and loving God who rested and looked on all he had made and found it very good (Genesis 1:31). If we would love God, then, we must not contradict his judgment, but, like him, find all creation to be very good. We must also, like God’s only Son, do what we can to make the world a better place.
Take for example St. Rita of Cascia, who died on this date 566 years ago. From her childhood, she had a desire to leave this world and enter a convent of nuns so that she might live for God alone, but, as it turned out, her childhood was not the time for her to do so. Instead her parents entered her into an arranged marriage when she was 12 years old and which lasted for 18 years until her husband was murdered in a family feud between the Chiqui and Mancini families. Horrified and overwhelmed, St. Rita again sought entrance into the convent. There she could be with God and far away from her troubles. But again, it was not yet time. First, the sisters told her, she must reconcile the Chiqui and Mancini families. She engaged in negotiations with both families for years, until, ultimately the vendettas were peacefully resolved. Then, at last, the time came for St. Rita to leave this world and enter the convent.
In your own way, and according to the dispositions of divine providence, there will be times for you to transcend this world and look to God alone. There will also be times for you to engage this world with the love of Jesus Christ, who commanded us to love one another just as he loved us.