“Make me, O my sweet Jesus, a participant, if not of all of Your Passion, at least of a part of it. Recognizing my indignity and my unworthiness, I do not ask You to imprint on my body, as You did in the hearts of St. Augustine and St. Francis, the wounds that You still preserve as precious rubies in Heaven. I do not ask You to stamp Your holy Cross as You did in the heart of St. Monica. Nor do I ask You to form in my heart the instruments of Your Passion, as You did in the heart of my holy sister St. Clare of Montefalco. I only ask You for one of the seventy-two thorns which pierced Your head and caused You so much pain, so that I may feel a part of the pain You felt. O my loving Savior! Do not refuse me this favor. Do not deny me this grace. I will not leave here consoled, if You send me away without so desired a pledge of Your love.”
When St. Rita had concluded her prayerful petition, her Divine Spouse, not wishing to resist any longer the desire of His faithful bride, granted her request. Making of His crown of thorns, so to speak, a bow, and of one of the thorns, an arrow, Jesus fired it at the forehead of St. Rita with such impetus and force that it penetrated the flesh and bone, and remained fixed in the middle of the forehead, leaving a wound that lasted all of her life—-and even to this day, the scar of the wound remains plainly visible. The pain that followed, when the thorn penetrated the forehead of St. Rita, was so acute and intense that she fell into a swoon, and she would have died then and there had not Jesus, who wounded her, preserved her life, so that she might feel, as she had earnestly desired, at least a part of the pains and torments of His Passion. On recovering herself and knowing that she had been favored with a signal and precious token, St. Rita returned fervent and heartfelt thanks to her Divine Lover and Spouse.
The pain caused by the wound increased day by day, and the wound itself assumed so ugly and revolting appearance that St. Rita became an object of nausea to some of the nuns, who could not bear even to look at her. Not wishing to be the cause of the least inconvenience to the nuns, St. Rita remained nearly all the time in her cell engaged in Divine contemplation, and glorying, even in the midst of the pains of the wound caused by an arrow of Divine love. Sometimes the nuns visited her in her cell, either to bring her some nourishment or to speak a few words with her, for they all loved her dearly; And as often as they came, they departed edified by her wonderful patience.
But St. Rita was happy, even in the midst of her sufferings, and when she felt that her sufferings were becoming more intense, she said to her Divine Spouse: “O loving Jesus, increase my patience accordingly as my sufferings increase.” This prayer, like all the prayers of St. Rita, was answered, and so great was her patience amidst all the pain she suffered that she called the little worms which were generated by the putrid humor of her wound, “her angels” for they increased her sufferings whenever they moved or fed themselves on her tender and aching flesh, thus giving her new occasions to practice patience and to merit more and more the love and esteem of her Divine Spouse, Jesus Christ.
Fr. Leslie Gomes