The blessing of roses takes place at the end of Mass on the feast of Saint Rita. It recalls an episode in the life of the Saint of Desperate Causes. In January 1457 Saint Rita, lying ill in her monastic cell in Cascia, asked a cousin to bring her a rose. Tradition affirms that God granted this desire: Saint Rita’s relatives were able to pick for her a rose found blooming amidst the winter snow. In exchange for the thorn in her forehead that she bore for fifteen years as a sign of her participation in the redeeming Passion of Jesus, Saint Rita was miraculously given a rose in winter.
V. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
R. Who made heaven and earth.
O God, whose word sanctifies all things,
pour forth your blessing + upon these roses
that we present to you in memory of Saint Rita,
and grant that whosoever makes use of them with devotion,
may by the merits of the passion and resurrection of your Son,
receive from your goodness
comfort and health in sickness,
and constancy in following your Son
with gratitude along the way of the Cross.
Through Christ our Lord.
The roses are sprinkled with Holy Water.
His Excellency, the Bishop of the Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma has given
Father Mark a special mandate to live in adoration before the Most
Blessed Sacrament, in a spirit of thanksgiving and intercession, that he
might make reparation before the Eucharistic Face of Jesus for all his
brothers in Holy Orders. At the same time, he is available to the
priests and deacons of the Diocese for spiritual and sacramental
support in their pursuit of holiness.
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