Forgiveness and Faith

http://usccb.org/bible/readings/111119.cfm
Wisdom 1:1-7
Luke 17:1-6

The first part of today’s reading from Luke is about forgiveness and faith. Following is the reading.

“Jesus said to His disciples, “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.

And the apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith.’ The Lord replied, ‘If you have the faith the size of a mustard seed you would say to this Mulberry tree ‘Be uprooted and planted into the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

(Luke 17:1-16)

Last week John Pearring told us that God knows we will sin and through His mercy we will be forgiven if we repent. This week there is an addition to what John told us. If we cause someone to sin, then it would be better if a millstone were put around our neck and cast into the sea. Notice that this is given to us in a future tense. That is, it would be better to have our life taken from us before we cause someone to sin. The Lord also tells us to forgive someone who wrongs us if they ask for our forgiveness. Finally, the gospel tells us that if we have the faith the size of a mustard seed we can tell a Mulberry tree to be uprooted and cast into the sea and it would obey you. It seems this last part is completely separate from the first part of the gospel.

I was at a total loss as to what to write about this gospel. It is very short and to the point and I did not want to drone on and on about something where the point was already made. While I was thinking about where to start, for no apparent reason, the story of St. Rita of Cascia came to my mind. All I remembered was my mom telling me the story of how her patron saint, St. Rita, prayed that her sons would not commit murder and the Lord answered her prayers. That is it. So I looked up the story of St. Rita.

St. Rita of Cascia is the patron saint of the impossible, abused wives and widows and her story incorporates several of the key issues in the gospel.

She was born in 1381 to an elderly noble family. When she was a baby white bees would swarm around her and even enter her mouth, but she was never stung. From a very young age she wanted nothing more than to enter a convent. However this was not to be. Instead she was given in marriage to a rich nobleman, Paolo Mancini. Although she wanted very much to enter the convent, she simply thought that this was the will of God. By the ripe old age of twelve she had her first child, Giovani. This was followed by a second child, Paolo. She raised her children in the Catholic faith. In her marriage she endured insults, abuse and infidelities. Over the 18 years of her marriage, through her humility and kindness, she led her husband to become a better person and to renounce a long and ongoing family feud, known as La Vendetta, with the Chiqui family. However, Paolo was betrayed and brutally stabbed to death by the head of the Chiqui family. At his funeral Rita pardoned his murderer. Bernardo, who was still interested in revenge for his brother’s death, talked her two sons into living with him at the family villa. Bernardo then convinced the boys to avenge their father’s death by murdering the killer of their father. Rita pleaded with her sons not to commit murder but to no avail. She was afraid her sons would lose their souls through the mortal sin of murder and petitioned the Lord to take her sons rather than have them lose their souls. One year later her sons died of dysentery. It is believed that her sons’ death by natural causes was God’s answer to her prayers.

After their death she petitioned to join a monastery but was rejected because of the scandal of her husband’s death. When she persisted the convent finally relented on the condition that she reconcile the feud between the two families. The convent probably thought this impossible condition would put an end to her persistence. That was not the case. Rita implored her three patron saints, John the Baptist, Augustine of Hippo and Nicholas of Tolentino to end the family feud. Shortly after her petition the Bubonic plague broke out and Bernardo became infected and lost the will to continue the feud with the Chiqui family. She was finally allowed to enter the monastery at the age of 36. When she was in her sixties she was praying before a crucifix and a wound appeared on her forehead as if pierced by a thorn. The wound is considered a partial stigmata by the Catholic Church. The wound never healed.

Late in her life she was confined to bed. She asked her cousin to go to her garden and bring her a rose. It was January and very cold. Her cousin thought that there was no chance of finding a rose. Yet, when she got to the garden there was a single blooming rose. At her death in 1457, a small drop of red blood appeared at the wound. She was exhumed three times and the wound and drop of blood remained. St. Rita’s body remains incorrupt to this day and is venerated in a shrine named after her in Cascia. St. Rita is frequently pictured with a swarm of bees around her, roses in her hands and the wound on her forehead.

When I think about how hard it would be to forgive someone seven times in one day, it pales in comparison to what St. Rita had to deal with. How many times did she forgive her husband over a period of 18 years? Instead of hating him she worked toward his conversion. At her husband’s funeral she forgave his murderer. Could I have been that forgiving? I don’t know that I could, but that is what we are called to do.

What about Bernardo? Did he not work toward having her sons commit murder? I would think this definitely would fit into the millstone scenario. Only through her prayers was he spared from that. What his ultimate outcome was is in the hands of God. Are there occasions in my life where I may have led someone to sin? Could I have said something innocently that led someone to sin? I don’t know, but I hope not.

Going back to the gospel, I believe St. Rita could have uprooted an entire orchard of Mulberry trees and planted them all in the sea.