I had just finished a nap, lunch, and made a cup of iced rose, mint tea with coconut milk. I knew I had to spend time with Rose of Lima soon.
I had plenty of connections to her that fascinated me, but really didn’t know her.
We have a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe from the mission of Dominican Sisters’ of Springfield, IL located in Lima, Peru. My mom passed away on my dad’s birthday, August 23rd, which is the feast day for St. Rose of Lima. My mom’s name is Roseanne and I volunteer for a non-profit that serves in Peru. When I started praying the Rosary, these connections continued to be revealed. St. Rose continues to seek me. There are no coincidences that she was a Third Order Dominican, I am a Lay Dominican and we both have a love for the Rosary.
I am writing today on the feast of Corpus Christi, but it’s also the first official day that I start my training for Rim-to-Rim at the Grand Canyon. I did not grow up with an athletic desire. I leaned more towards ballet, choir, poetry and anything that evoked beauty with words, visual, or movement. I now understand that the feats and endurance of athletics also invoke beauty through sacrifice. I would prefer spending time in Adoration, contemplating the real presence of Christ like St. Rose, but God also calls me to go out like St. Dominic. I love nature and being close to God’s creation, so why not go into the canyon. I know this will take sacrifice, discipline and prayer to train.
St. Rose has much to teach me.
I learned in “Hounds of the Lord” by Kevin Vost that St. Rose extensively sought mortifications because she was the closest to Christ in suffering. She slept on a mattress stuffed with hard gnarled pieces of wood and broken pottery chards so she could stay awake in prayer. While I probably won’t seek the extent of St. Rose’s sufferings, times of training will take sacrifice to prepare for this day.
I will ask for the intercession of St. Rose to reach out of my comfort zone as I train for Rim-to-Rim. As I go into the canyon, while my mortifications won’t parallel St. Rose’s, I pray that I draw closer to Christ’s suffering as I take on this new challenge.
St. Rose of Lima, pray for us.
