To love the world a little less today...

It is interesting to note that the Peruvian St. Rose was the first saint born in the Americas to be canonized, and now the first North American-born pope also has dual citizenship as a Peruvian himself. Her feast day this year will likely be a uniquely celebrated event given the connection. Like Pope Leo XIV, St. Rose desired religious life from a young age although her mother’s resistance to marriage caused years of strife between her and her mother. Her parents never allowed her to enter the convent but did permit her becoming a Third Order Dominican, like her chosen model St. Catherine of Siena. 

It is an optional memorial and so the readings of the day, Saturday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time, will likely be what one hears at mass that day. Interestingly, they are very pertinent to St. Rose’s story. In Matthew 23:1-12, Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees for tying up “heavy burdens to carry” without lifting a finger themselves to move them. He exhorts his listeners to be humble servants.

I find God’s providence so present in the circumstances of Rose’s parents’ refusal to let her live in a convent as a religious. By secluding herself from the world in her own home with penance and caring for the sick, they inadvertently participated in her life of devotion. One biography talks about the misunderstanding she endured from family and friends – clearly a cross endured, but at the same time, the family home was where her ministry of both personal suffering and care for others took place. 

Her mortification practices are not encouraged nowadays, but the suffering she endured by being faithful to her love of God is definitely something we can imitate. While some of the ways she chose to deny the world – like using pepper to disfigure her face – would be considered imprudent today, her desire to live for the next world and deny herself worldly pleasures is not a bad thing. We live in a world that constantly shifts our focus to self-worth and physical or tangible gifts and her piety is something more than admirable. 

How convicted am I of choosing fidelity to my relationship with God above all else? St. Rose of Lima, intercede for me to love the world a little less today.