sister and saint rita

I have to tell you about my answered prayers to St. Rita. I recently found St. Rita while up late one night or should I say she found me. I couldn’t sleep so I sat down at my computer and began one of my many late night sessions surfing the net.

I don’t know why but it usually doesn’t occur to me until after 12 midnight that I have one of the most powerful and cutting edge pieces of equipment (my computer) at my finger tips. Soon “can’t sleep” quickly becomes “don’t won’t to sleep” once I stumble upon something really interesting and then I’m glued to my computer screen for the rest of the night.

Several weeks ago I had such a night. I couldn’t fall asleep and naturally went to my computer and was prepared to mindlessly surf the net when all of sudden I typed in my search engine “Saints for hopeless causes”. From time to time I’ve tried to make a connection with some of the saints I’ve heard about on EWTN or read in my studies, but, for the most part I really haven’t made a strong connection with any saint.

I thought I would have connected with St. Jude since my son’s situation is often referred to as “Hopeless”. I’ve tried praying to some of the female saints hoping I would experience some of the nurturing I receive from Mother Mary.

I was excited about Padre Pio when I first learned of him and after only praying to him once I felt a demonic presence, which I hadn’t even been aware of, lifted from me and my home.

But when the search results returned and St. Rita’s name was the first on the list I was interested in reading something about her since I’d never heard of her before.

As I read her bio it was as if I could hear her voice telling me about herself. I felt as if she was speaking directly to me.
This feeling, this connection, was so strong the next day that every time I thought of her I said Sister Rita instead of St. Rita silently in my mind.

I looked up as much information about her as I could find. And once again with each word I read about her it was as if she was telling me all about herself.

I could feel her helping me with my prayers. When I prayed to her I felt her near me and even helping with my words and helping me to stay focused on my prayers. I felt a kinship with her like a sister.

Besides praying for the obvious things in my life that seem so hopeless I asked St. Rita to help me with other things as well. While these other things aren’t really hopeless having them materialized in my life in a timely manner I thought was next to impossible.

After a couple of days I thought I would try praying a novena. I’ve never really prayed a novena before. It was probably about my 3rd or 4th day praying the novena and I had a lot on my mind as I walked into work that night.

Saturday night when I walked into the Major’s wife room at the rehab center I was startled by her room mate. Mrs. D sat up in bed and motioned for me to come over to her bed side. As I approached she reached out and grabbed my arm to pull me closer and said in a loving and sweet voice, “It’s going to be okay”.

I smiled at Mrs. D because she is such a sweet lady. She’s always talking usually out of head and not making any sense.
But her words to me made perfect sense and they caused me to pause for a moment and think about her words and Mrs. D.

Sunday morning on my drive home I prayed most of the way. About 2 miles from my house an alarm went off in my car and a red light began to flash on the dashboard. Apparently my car was running hot. My car had never run hot before so all the alarms and flashing lights were surprising and almost scary to me.

As I pulled the car over to the side of road I notice something white almost like a cloud rise above the hood of my car. At first I almost dismissed it as steam coming from my hot engine but when I looked at what I was actually seeing and not what I thought I should be seeing I saw it wasn’t steam at all. I didn’t know what it was and didn’t think more about it until later.

I called my son and told him I would be a little late because I was going to sit in my car on the side of the road until it cooled down.

I had only sat there about a minute before I looked across the street and saw a man holding up a garden hose with water pouring out. As I drove the car across the street I could see he was washing a very large bus in a church parking lot.

I kept the car running as I explained to the man what had happen with my car and asked if he could put some water in my car.

He was very polite and said he would be happy to help. But when he looked under my hood he said the car wasn’t hot at all. He put a little water in the over flow and said maybe my thermostat had gone bad. Then he put his hand on the radiator to show me and said , “It’s not hot”.

When I got home my son and I put some coolant in the overflow and that was that.

Monday morning, to my surprise, before 10 o’clock 3 different agencies called and had new clients they wanted me to possibly take on.

I was a bit taken back because it would have been good if only one agency had called but to have all 3 calling it was really an abundance of work. Immediately I knew St. Rita had answered my prayers.

Recently one of my clients had died and I needed another client to take their place. But more importantly and not just another client, I needed the right hours so I could continue to home school my son. I had prayed that all these things would fall into place so we could prepare for Simon’s school this fall.

I was at the grocery store trying to buy milk for my son’s cereal when the last call came in. The agency told me that the client I had interviewed with the week before but hadn’t gotten the job, now, the client had reconsidered and wanted to contract with me. I immediately thanked St. Rita.

I had been disappointed the week before when I learned I had not gotten the client because the hours would have been perfect for me and Simon and his home schooling. And even the agency was surprised the client had not chosen me. But, at last the job was mine!

The next weekend I returned to the rehab center to see the Major’s wife. As I approached her room I let my eyes glance over at the names on the side of the door. The major’s wife’s name was there
and right above her name was the name of her room mate, Rita D. I had always called Mrs. D by her last name and hadn’t really known her first name.

“Rita”, I asked with a smile and on lips, “Are you catholic”?. She smiled and said,
“Yes”.
“Why”, she asked


I said because I noticed your name, Rita.
She paused for a moment and then said, “ I was named after St. Rita”.

This experience is very far reaching and I’m still learning each day what exactly all this entails. For instance, the job I got but only after they had reconsidered. The coordinated told me that the reason they didn’t contract with me at first was because I had told the client I was Christian.

I know now that the client is in such a state that he doesn’t even want to be around someone who is a Christian. Not because he is muslin or Jewish or anything like that but because he is so hurt and hopeless.

The client is in his mid 60’s and as had cerebral palsy all his life. It is obvious how he has suffered in every way all of his life.

I can’t imagine a better witness than one who must remain quiet. My actions must speak louder than words. I feel through St. Rita’s prayers to Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit I am right where the Lord is pleased to have me.

As for the car, I don’t know why St. Rita would help with such a trivial matter like my car running hot except to say she was just near by.

I have found a sister and a saint in St. Rita.

thank you for posting this - it is a beautiful testimony and deeply inspirational ....

many blessings

Nicole