St Rita

Rita’s mom and dad wanted a baby so much that they begged God to give them a child; God sent them Rita.  They loved Rita so much and wanted the best for her, so when Rita asked them if she could join the convent when she was 15 years old, they said that they wanted her to marry a man called Paolo.  Unfortunately, Paolo was very mean to Rita and treated her very badly.  Rita patiently stayed with her husband and prayed that he would stop sinning and start living the way God wanted.  After 18 years, God answered her prayer and her husband realized that God was real.  He also realized how mean he had been to his wife and asked her to forgive him.  Rita was so happy that Paolo had come to know God.  Shortly after Paolo came to know God, he was killed and went to heaven.  Rita forgave the people that killed him, but her twin sons were so angry they could not forgive them.   They wanted to kill the people that killed their dad, but Rita knew that was very wrong.  So she prayed that God would take them up to heaven to be with their dad instead of committing such a big sin.  So God answered Rita’s prayers and took her sons to heaven too.  Since Rita was now alone she decided to join the convent, just as she had wanted to do so many years ago.  She spent all her time praying and growing closer to Jesus, even bearing the mark of one of Jesus’ thorns, from the crown of thorns, on her forehead.