In thanksgiving

My nine day novena to St. Rita finished tonight. When you think about it, nine days is a long time. Well, at least to be devoting to something outside your normal routine, your normal way of doing things...and not to miss a day.

St. Rita is the patroness of impossible cases (which could apply to lots of things in my life!). It's said that God took an extraordinarily long time to respond to her prayers (years, not months or weeks), and now that she's in heaven, there's a much shorter line between her and the Big Guy when she's praying. :) Something else about her life...near the end, she received the wounds of Christ around her head - just like the crown of thorns that Jesus had. Her feast day is May 22 - which is also the day that everyone in the world celebrates Marie's birthday. Interesting coincidence...

For my novena, I prayed for forgiveness of someone who'd hurt me and a restored hope. Her intercession led to God's healing of my heart and a re-found peace in my life.

In thanksgiving, St. Rita gets a page in the new 6x6 scrapbook {which I'm always sure she hoped she would be in :) } and I'm requested to publish that my prayers were answered. You know when you see the "Thank you, St. Jude" ads in the newspaper? Same sort of thing.

To keep things simple, I'm simply publishing her page with the novena inscribed.

Thanks, God, for the renewed hope. You're the best! :)