This week. Fr. Ho speaks of St. Rose of Lima. Born in 1586, she was known as a child for her admiration of St. Catherine of Siena and her severe mortifications. Once, when her mother gifted her a flower wreath, she intentionally dug the pin into her scalp to mortify herself. And when she was complimented for her looks, she smothered pepper over her face out of humility. When St. Rose grew older, she was told to get married, but her true desire was for the religious life. Both the Archbishop St. Turibius and her Dominican friend St. Martin de Porres advised her to enter the cloistered Poor Clares but her mother was adamantly against her entering the religious life and refused to budge even when the archbishop personally spoke to her. Eventually, St. Rose decided to run away from home and join the Augustinian sisters. Accompanied by her brother, she stopped by a Dominican church near their home to pray. After some time, her brother grew worried that she would be noticed by one of their relatives. Finding his sister praying in front of a statue of the Blessed Mother, he tried pulling her away, but St. Rose was unable to move. St. Rose realized that perhaps God did not wish her to become an Augustinian and prayed to God to be released if it was His will to serve Him at her family. Immediately she was freed and upon returning home, became a Tertiary of the Dominican Order. She dedicated her life to prayer, meditation, and mortification and her life was filled with constant misunderstanding by others and severe penances. She was not afraid, however, and constantly prayed to be given greater sufferings so as to receive greater graces from God. At the young age of 31, St. Rose died in 1617 and was canonized as the first saint of the Americas.
Spiritual Talk – St. Rose of Lima
