Today is the Feast of St Rita of Cascia. I have a great devotion to her and I have a good reason for it. She and her heavenly cohort, St Jude Thaddeus, are the Patrons of Impossible Causes, and I had what I thought was an impossible cause. Let me tell you the story.
In 2005, my wife 'divorced' me. It was my fault, I had been a horrible husband and a not much better father. I do not blame her in the least. Over the next decade she never even spoke to me. I laid 'siege to heaven' calling on all the angels and Saints to help me, with special prayers to St Rita and St Jude.
I saw her only once during the period. She had driven our middle son to see me. I met him at my local pub. There was a woman at the other end of the bar, reading a book, but I didn't recognise her.
After a while, she got up and walked up to our son and asked him when he would be ready to leave. I recognised her voice, but she had lost a great deal of weight since I had last seen her. She didn't even acknowledge my presence.
I turned to Charley and asked if she had been ill? He said, no, she had just decided to lose the excess weight.
Fast forward two or three more years. In November 2016 my sister's husband died (R+I+P, Charles). The Cuter and Shorter Half had always stayed close to my family. In fact, she had visited Charles in his last illness.
Knowing from our children that I no longer drove, out of the clear blue sky she called me to ask if I would like a ride to the funeral. Of course, I said yes, because otherwise, I'd have been unable to attend.
We went to the funeral and on the round trip of about an hour and a half each way we chatted amicably with no obvious tension. After we got home, we started chatting on Facebook with an occasional telephone call.
In February 2017, I visited her for several days. In May, just before Memorial Day, I stopped for several days on a trip to visit my widowed sister and her family. I stopped again for several days on the return trip. I got back to Council Bluffs just before the holiday.
Usually, we chatted late in the evening, but on Saturdays, she knew I liked to go to the pub for karaoke. I don't sing, but I enjoyed listening to my friends! At about 19.00 she said she'd let me go so I could get to the pub.
Upon arrival, I realised that being Memorial Day Weekend there wasn't going to be a crowd singing karaoke. It was so dead that I messaged her on FB again. After we had chatted for a bit. She said she was 'officially asking me to come home'!
On 1 July 2017, I moved to Wilber to be with her. When my friends ask me how it's going, I reply, 'Well, she hasn't killed me or kicked me out yet!'
I learned two things from this experience. 1) PRAYER WORKS! And 2) St Rita and St Jude are powerful intercessors before the Heavenly Throne!
Thank you, St Rita and St Jude!
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