OPTIONAL MEMORIAL OF ST RITA OF CASCIA, FRIDAY OF THE SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTER, MAY 22, 2026

MASS READINGS:

GOSPEL John 21:15-19

After Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and eaten breakfast with them, 

he said to Simon Peter,

"Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?"

Simon Peter answered him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."

Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs."

He then said to Simon Peter a second time,

"Simon, son of John, do you love me?"

Simon Peter answered him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." 

He said to him, "Tend my sheep."

He said to him the third time,

"Simon, son of John, do you love me?"

Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time,

"Do you love me?" and he said to him,

"Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."

Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.

Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger,

you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; 

but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands,

and someone else will dress you

and lead you where you do not want to go."

He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.

And when he had said this, he said to him, "Follow me."

Reflection

“Do you love me?”

We find ourselves in the post Resurrection scene between Peter and Jesus. The world would think that following the betrayal there would be fireworks, angry words, guilt flying all over. Instead we see a loving Christ still making Peter the head of the Catholic Church

How many of us have been on the receiving and giving end of betrayal, either by direct betrayal, words spoken in haste and without thought or physical harm. Television and movies show us the reaction to betrayal: by vengeance, by way of physical harm, social ostracization or death. The world tells us inflicting pain to others--whether physical or mental- gives us the control we want over a bad situation. But Jesus Christ shows us how to behave.

Today’s saint of the day St Rita of Cascia is the model on how to live agape love through her radical forgiveness of her husband’s murderers. In spite of ongoing turbulent rival family feuds, a tumultuous life filled with secrets and criminal activity, she prayed for her husband and two boys. She found time to feed the poor and answer the call to shepherd others. Married into a troubled family dynamics, she never wavered in her duties and love for Jesus. She prayed for her sons to die rather than committing mortal sin in avenging their father’s murder. They died of a deadly disease.

Having lost her family she answered God’s calling by becoming a Dominican nun. She was able to convince her family to find peace between the two dueling families.

While meditating on the Passion of Christ and praying before the Crucifix at the age of 60, she experienced a mystical wound on her forehead resembling a puncture wound of a thorn. The stigmata!

St Rita of Cascia is the patron saint of impossible causes, widows, loneliness, abuse victims, and difficult marriages. St Rita, please pray for us.

You are our letter....

written not in ink,

but with the Spirit of the living God,

not on stone tablets,

but on tablets of human hearts

2 Corinthians 3:2-3

God Bless You