Feast of St Rose of Lima. Reflection. Mass Readings & Comments

Saint Rose of Lima Feast Day - August 30 Patroness of The Americas, South America,  Latin America, Peru, Philippines and Florists This South American Saint's real name was Isabel, but she was such a beautiful baby that she was called Rose, and that name remained.  As she grew older, she became more and more beautiful, and one day, her mother put a wreath of flowers on her head to show off her loveliness to friends. But Rose had no desire to be admired, for her heart had been given to Jesus. So she put a long pin into that wreath and it pierced her so deeply, that she had a hard time getting the wreath off afterward. Another time she became afraid that her beauty might be a temptation to someone, since people could not take their eyes off her. Therefore, she rubbed her face with pepper until it was all red and blistered. St. Rose worked hard to support her poor parents and she humbly obeyed them, except when they tried to get her to marry. That she would not do. Her love of Jesus was so great that when she talked about Him, her face glowed and her eyes sparkled. Rose had many temptations from the devil, and there were also many times when she had to suffer a feeling of terrible loneliness and sadness, for God seemed far away. Yet she cheerfully offered all these troubles to Him. In fact, in her last long, painful sickness, this heroic young woman use to pray: "Lord, increase my sufferings, and with them increase Your love in my heart." Rose was the first canonized saint of the New World. She has one characteristic of all saints—the suffering of opposition—and another characteristic which is more for admiration than for imitation—excessive practice of mortification. The saints have so great a love of God that what seems bizarre to us, and is indeed sometimes imprudent, is simply a logical carrying out of a conviction that anything that might endanger a loving relationship with God must be rooted out. So, because her beauty was so often admired, Rose used to rub her face with pepper to produce disfiguring blotches. Later, she wore a thick circlet of silver on her head, studded on the inside, like a crown of thorns. When her parents fell into financial trouble, she worked in the garden all day and sewed at night. Ten years of struggle against her parents began when they tried to make Rose marry. They refused to let her enter a convent, and out of obedience she continued her life of penance and solitude at home as a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic. So deep was her desire to live the life of Christ that she spent most of her time at home in solitude. During the last few years of her life, Rose set up a room in the house where she cared for homeless children, the elderly and the sick. This was a beginning of social services in Peru. Though secluded in life and activity, she was brought to the attention of Inquisition interrogators, who could only say that she was influenced by grace. When she died at 31 (1586-1617), the city turned out for her funeral. Prominent men took turns carrying her coffin. Many miracles followed her death. She was beatified by Clement IX, in 1667, and canonized on 2 April 1671 by Clement X, the first American to be so honored. She is represented wearing a crown of roses.
	Help me to remember what is really important:  that I am Your child You are my Father You love me for who I am and how I live Not what I look like or what I own. Let me praise You who sees into my heart, who is always with me and who eases my suffering.
In today's world, where beauty and possessions seem to mean so much, the story of St. Rose is just as relevant as it was when she was canonized in 1671 - particularly to young people who are bombarded with message about what to buy and how to look.  While it is difficult to avoid distractions, most of us don't have to move to a hermitage or isolate ourselves to bring Rose's message of humility and comfort in the Lord into our homes. First reading from book of Ruth 1:1.3-6.14-16.22. Once in the time of the judges there was a famine in the land; so a man from Bethlehem of Judah departed with his wife and two sons to reside on the plateau of Moab. Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons, who married Moabite women, one named Orpah, the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion died also, and the woman was left with neither her two sons nor her husband. She then made ready to go back from the plateau of Moab because word reached her there that the LORD had visited his people and given them food. Again they sobbed aloud and wept; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth stayed with her. "See now!" she said, "your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god. Go back after your sister-in-law!" But Ruth said, "Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! for wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Thus it was that Naomi returned with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. Ps 146(145):5-6ab.6c-7.8-9a.9bc-10. Blessed he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD, his God, Who made heaven and earth, The sea and all that is in them. The LORD keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets captives free. The LORD gives sight to the blind. The LORD raises up those who were bowed down; the LORD loves the just. The LORD protects strangers. The fatherless and the widow the LORD sustains, But the way of the wicked he thwarts. The LORD shall reign forever; Your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia. Mt 22:34-40. When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." Commentary of the day : Can you honestly say you keep Jesus’ commandment of loving God with all your heart etc and loving your neighbour (not just those next door) as much as you love yourself? I know I can’t. I still have a long way to go. But I pray that I can at least treat others like I would like to be treated. Which is why I would never be rude to a person, even if she were doing my make-up (not likely to happen). Why? Because imagine if you were that person, would you like to be talked down to? Would you like to be abused? So why do it Mr Rudd? Listen to what Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Carmelite, Doctor of the Church says in her book: “Interior Castle”, Fifth Dwelling Places, ch. 3 (trans. ©Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc, 1980) If you have never read it, I highly recommend it if you want to advance on the way of sanctity. The great commandment The Lord asks of us only two things: love of His Majesty and love of our neighbour. These are what we must work for. By observing them with perfection, we do His will and so will be united with Him. But how far, as I have said, we are from doing these two things for so great a God as we ought! May it please His Majesty to give us His grace so that we might merit, if we want, to reach this state that lies within our power. The most certain sign, in my opinion, as to whether or not we are observing these two laws is whether we observe well the love of neighbour. We cannot know whether or not we love God, although there are strong indications for recognizing that we do love Him; but we can know whether we love our neighbour. And be certain that the more advanced you see you are in love for your neighbour the more advanced you will be in the love of God, for the love His Majesty has for us is so great that to repay us for our love of neighbour He will in a thousand ways increase the love we have for Him. I cannot doubt this. That is why it's important for us to walk with careful attention to how we are proceeding in this matter, for if we practice love of neighbour with great perfection, we will have done everything. I believe that, since our nature is bad, we will not reach perfection in the love of neighbour if that love doesn't rise from love of God as its root.
	"Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven." St. Rose of Lima